Critical Mass

The BBC recently reported that YouTube gets 100 million hits a day. That may seem incredible, considering the site’s only been around a few months, but it doesn’t surprise me one bit. Neither should it surprise this blog’s readers—college students.

My friends and I have always been avid video clip viewers, even in high school. There were always the five or six favorites that never got old and were always whipped out whenever we were together or a new person was in our midst. Anybody remember “The Pizza Guy”? Some pizza delivery guy gets nailed by a fast-moving vehicle as he crosses the street. It’s a dummy, of course, but it looks stinkin’ real. It’s one of those shockers that makes the viewer gasp—especially the girls. Or how about “John West Salmon. We endure the worst to bring you the very best” mock commercial which pits some guy against a bear with a salmon? Hilarious. Of course, there were the ubiquitous “light up the fart” home videos and the idiotic attempts to recreate “Jackass” stunts. I never laughed at those. I promise.

As far as I’m concerned, YouTube is simply a huge database of the video clips me and my friends all kept (uh, keep?) on our computers to crack up at over and over. And over. So YouTube, I salute you, because now I have 24/7 access for the rest of my life to puerility and the jokes that never, ever get old. May you stay out of the clutches of the copyright freaks.

The AP reports that nearly half of all college students get loads of credit card applications in the mail, and that 30% of them are tossed in the trash unshredded. "[ID theft and data breach expert Terrence] DeFranco, who heads the security firm Edentify, notes colleges and universities are sitting ducks for thieves because of the amount of data they handle." He recommends being cautious with credit card use on the Internet and using a secure browser.

My personal tips: get a good firewall, shred your card offers, and get Firefox.

The latest poll has Senator Joe Lieberman leading left-wing newcomer Ned Lamont by 12-points.  Let's hope that gap never narrows.

By Dan Gelernter 

Earlier today I drove into New Haven to do a little chore. I parallel parked along the too-narrow streets as usual, and got out a pair of quarters to feed the parking meter.

I quickly loaded the two quarters into the slot, and was shocked when, expecting the city to grant me 40 minutes of parking time, the meter registered only 24! Could this be a faulty piece of equipment? But no, it looks brand new. And then, underneath the little digital readout, I saw “$1.25 per hour.”

It seems that the city of New Haven had a great idea: instead of hiring more policemen, or fixing the streets, they could buy brand new meters – and hike the price. Last week it was 75 cents an hour.

But that’s not all. After I put the coins in, I stood in wonder for a moment, and became aware of a bizarre ticking noise, accompanied by the rotation of a little yellow and red disk. Suddenly the disk became green.

Big deal, I thought, and reached into my car to retrieve a now-necessary third quarter. I slide it in the machine, and nothing happened. It then occurred to me: that inane colored disk actually times you when you put your coins in! To prevent you from overstaying the two-hour limit, the machine is disabled after ten or so seconds and swallows (without even a note of thanks) any money inserted afterwards.

What an innovation! Indeed there is no limit to what a malicious thieving bureaucracy can accomplish.

We should have known they were lying when they told us back in the 1940s that the parking meters were a temporary addition to help the war effort.

In case you were wondering what the Editors meeting in Cape Cod this summer was like, it was something like this.

A new piece by our friends over at FOX News outlines the various rising costs of higher education. The piece is part of a new "daily series that takes a look at the college experience, from how to choose what school and course of study is right for you to finding innovative ways to pay the bills." I, for one, can certainly empathize with high tuition and absurdly large student loans.

Just kidding.  This story is sick.  How do high schoolers become so depraved....in a Red State, no less!