HIGHER EDUCATON BUBBLE UPDATE: Nathan Harden: The End of the University as We Know It. “In fifty years, if not much sooner, half of the roughly 4,500 colleges and universities now operating in the United States will have ceased to exist. The technology driving this change is already at work, and nothing can stop it. The future looks like this: Access to college-level education will be free for everyone; the residential college campus will become largely obsolete; tens of thousands of professors will lose their jobs; the bachelor’s degree will become increasingly irrelevant; and ten years from now Harvard will enroll ten million students.”

A WHILE BACK, I MENTIONED Verily Magazine, but I should have also noted that they have a blog.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Who Can Still Afford State U? As public colleges spend more and get less from the states, tuition costs are shifting to parents and students—often putting higher education out of reach.

A number of factors have helped to fuel the soaring cost of public colleges. Administrative costs have soared nationwide, and many administrators have secured big pay increases—including some at CU, in 2011. Teaching loads have declined for tenured faculty at many schools, adding to costs. Between 2001 and 2011, the Department of Education says, the number of managers at U.S. colleges and universities grew 50% faster than the number of instructors. What’s more, schools have spent liberally on fancier dorms, dining halls and gyms to compete for students.

Administrative bloat is a big problem. But the really interesting story is how higher education is being outcompeted in state budgets by various social-welfare programs of the sort that higher education folks tend to support. Oops!

MAYBE THE “PUBLIC HEALTH” PEOPLE SHOULD FOCUS MORE ON, YOU KNOW, PUBLIC HEALTH, INSTEAD OF GUNS, TWINKIES AND BIG GULPS: Chlamydia And Gonorrhea Are On The Rise. “The CDC believes the rise in gonorrhea cases could be due to increased antibiotic resistance.”

VIOLENCE AND DEINSTITUTIONALIZATION.

AT AMAZON, Holiday Deals in Home, Kitchen & Garden.

KENNETH ANDERSON AND MATTHEW WAXMAN: Brave New War: What are the ethical and legal considerations of using killer robots?

NATIONAL REVIEW: Eliminate The Deduction For State And Local Taxes. “A tax reform that more than clears the $800 billion mark, falls most heavily upon the wealthy, and has the support of many conservatives: You would think that the Democrats would be quick to embrace such a thing. But to the great surprise of no one, the party’s house organ has editorialized against it.”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Todd Zywicki: From Wall Street to College Street: All too often, trustees focus on branding, image, and reputation rather than their academic mission. “I submit that the core principle animating the modern university is a fundamental dishonesty that subverts its core mission.”

PAUL MIRENGOFF: The municipal bond tax loophole — low-hanging fiscal fruit.

MICHAEL WALSH: Where’s Mitt? “The more I ponder the chimerical presidential campaign of Mitt Romney, the more I’ve become convinced it was all a practical joke played on gullible suckers by the GOP’s krack kadre of kampaign konsultants, a phantom ‘run’ designed to hoover as much money out of the fat cats’ wallets as possible and deliver almost nothing in return aside from a few swing-state ad buys. . . . Fortune favors the bold, as the saying goes. The Romney fiasco should be the death knell of the Washington Generals approach to competing against the Democrats, and the whole lot of the Old Guard — starting with weepy John Boehner — should be tossed out and replaced with those who can distinguish between strategy and tactics and who understand that the only acceptable strategic outcome should be total victory over the modern Left and its alien, imported ideology.”

FRANK MUNGER: Not so pretty: This is where Y-12 processes bomb-grade uranium.

CAYMAN UPDATE: Defiant leader of Cayman Islands under pressure to resign. “Embattled Cayman Islands Premier McKeeva Bush faced growing pressure to resign on Friday after his arrest on suspicion of theft and corruption in the offshore Caribbean financial center. A defiant Bush, who has blamed his troubles on the governor of the British overseas territory, has said since his detention that he did nothing wrong and has no plans to step down.”

BLAME: Obama administration, Congress quietly let school security funds lapse. Well, they needed money for Solyndra.

HELP, I’VE FALLEN AND I CAN’T TESTIFY ABOUT BENGHAZI! “I can only think of 2 reasons why her people would let us hear this story that she fainted, addled her pate, and can’t face up to Congress on Benghazi: 1. She’s not going to run for President, or 2. What she would have to say about Benghazi is more damaging than this effort to avoid testifying.”

A BRIEF HISTORY of the movie camera.

WHY SO FEW DIED AT THE CLACKAMAS MALL SHOOTING: Clackamas Shooter Was Confronted by CCW Holder.

NOTE THAT THIS WAS NOT DEMANDED BY A BOY: Hasbro to meet with girl, 13, on gender-neutral Easy-Bake ovens. Make them available in camo.

UPDATE: Reader Melissa Lambert points out that boys would like this toy grill. But I’m sure that counts as perpetuating gender stereotypes or something.

AT AMAZON, Deals Of The Week, in Movies & TV.

POLITIFACT, WRONG? THERE’S A SHOCK. Mike Riggs: Dear Politifact: Your Analysis of Obama’s Drug War Record Is Factually Wrong.

IS CUSTOMER SERVICE ACTUALLY GETTING BETTER? Or has it just hit rock bottom? My experiences have been good lately, for whatever that’s worth.

PHOTO ESSAY: Poor Little Rich Girls Of Mexico. “There has been a melodramatic pattern of saying these women are evil; they represent corruption; they represent 70 years of PRI rule. …”

MARK SHIELDS HAS NO IDEA WHAT HE’S TALKING ABOUT: “In the United States of America in 2012, it’s easier in many states . . . to buy an automatic weapon than it is to rent an automobile.”

Er, no, it’s not.

He and Rupert Murdoch need to do a little bit of studying before trying to capitalize on this tragedy.

UPDATE: Reader Bruce Goldston snarks: “Why should you need ID to buy a gun when you don’t need ID to vote for the people who want to take away your right to buy a gun?” (Bumped).

SCIENCE: Junk Food Can Make You Dumber. “Eating a high-fructose diet over the long term alters your brain’s ability to learn and remember information.”

INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY: 26 States Decline ObamaCare Exchange; ‘Administrative Nightmare’ Seen.