CHANGE: Oil Tanker Market In “State Of Panic” As Charter Rates Plunge, Cargoes Rejected.

ADVICE: I married young. What are you waiting for?

LIST: The most overrated and underrated law schools. Pepperdine, which seems to be punching above its weight these days, makes sense as “underrated.” But where has Touro ever been over-rated?

FEAR AND LOATHING IN THE LOWCOUNTRY: Stacy McCain reports on the South Carolina special election results.

FISH OIL: Eating fish associated with lower risk of dying among older adults. “Older adults who have higher levels of blood omega-3 levels—fatty acids found almost exclusively in fatty fish and seafood—may be able to lower their overall mortality risk by as much as 27% and their mortality risk from heart disease by about 35%, according to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the University of Washington. Researchers found that older adults who had the highest blood levels of the fatty acids found in fish lived, on average, 2.2 years longer than those with lower levels.”

NEWS YOU CAN USE: 28 Reasons Doctor Who Would Make A Terrible Boyfriend.

HEY, IF THE FALLEN ANGELS SCENARIO IS TRUE YOU’LL SOON NEED IT YEAR-ROUND: Up to 70% off on winter clothing.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: The Absurd Lies Of College Admissions.

These days, a nearly-perfect GPA is the barest requisite for an elite institution. You’re also supposed to be a top notch athlete and/or musician, the master of multiple extracurriculars. Summers should preferably be spent doing charitable work, hopefully in a foreign country, or failing that, at least attending some sort of advanced academic or athletic program.

Naturally, this selects for kids who are extremely affluent, with extremely motivated parents who will steer them through the process of “founding a charity” and other artificial activities. Kids who have to spend their summer doing some boring menial labor in order to buy clothes have a hard time amassing that kind of enrichment experience.

The irony is that even admissions officers seem to be put off by this dynamic; presumably that’s why I’m told that kids now have to have fake epiphanies about the suffering of other, less privileged people instead of just having fake epiphanies about themselves. This proves that they are really caring human beings who want to do more for the world than just make money so that they, too will, in their time, be able to get their children into Harvard.

This entire thing is absurd. I understand why kids engage in this ridiculous arms race. What I don’t understand is why admissions officers, who have presumably met some teenagers, and used to be one, actually reward it.

Perhaps they hope that students who have lied shamelessly to get in will be less angry when they find out that schools have lied shamelessly about their job prospects when they get out . . . .

Meanwhile, I recommend Andrew Ferguson’s excellent book on the college application process, Crazy U.

HEY, KIDS: Get Off Piers Morgan’s Lawn!

ON THE RUN: Shea-Porter flees from tax questioner. “Democratic Rep. Carol Shea-Porter fled a questioner asking about controversial Democratic-sponsored tax increases in what is only the latest in a growing series of damaging videos for elected Democrats in the Granite State.”

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU DRIVE: Progressive’s ‘Snapshot’ driving device worries consumer advocacy group. But there’s no such thing as a “progressive” privacy violation.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: How To Create Your Own Custom Shoes From Scratch On The Internet.

TAXES ARE FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE (CONT’D): France’s former tax tsar admits having undeclared Swiss bank account. The apparatchiks are the same everywhere.

AT AMAZON, bestsellers in Kitchen Small Appliances.

A SCULPTURE MADE FROM 4,000 PIECES OF CHEWING GUM.

WHY MEN GET CREWCUTS: “A crewcut signals transition and commitment.”

SHIKHA DALMIA: ObamaCare Is Obama’s Iraq War.

RICHARD EPSTEIN: The Persecution Of Joseph Bruno.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Pace of college tuition hikes outpacing incomes. “Georgia’s public colleges and universities say they have raised tuition to make up for the Georgia Legislature holding back on taxpayer funds. But even in years when the legislature has fully funded the University System of Georgia’s requests, the Board of Regents still boosts tuition.”

Related: UNH tuition: It’s about costs, not subsidies. “University of New Hampshire President Mark Huddleston last week blamed UNH’s rising tuition costs on declining state subsidies. That is the party line within the entire University System of New Hampshire. If it were true, then tuition would have been declining in the years before the last budget, the years when state subsidies to the university system were going up. Tuition then did not decline; it rose.”

REPORT: Purdue President Mitch Daniels is winning over skeptics. “Daniels appears to have supporters in most corners of the university – including many faculty members who previously expressed trepidation. He has challenged institutional orthodoxy on the way higher education budget decisions are made, and he is still standing.”

VIDEO: James O’Keefe vs. Piers Morgan.

MORE LOST BUSINESS: Colorado Shooting Competition Canceled In Wake Of New Gun Control Laws.

READER BOOK PLUG: Now out in paperback, from John Stossel, No, They Can’t: Why Government Fails-But Individuals Succeed.

INVENTIONS: The Oreo Cup. Personally, I was always a Hydrox man myself . . . .

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: NRA On The Offensive.