HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Mike Bloomberg’s University of Michigan Commencement Address:

The most useful knowledge that you leave here with today has nothing to do with your major. It’s about how to study, cooperate, listen carefully, think critically and resolve conflicts through reason. Those are the most important skills in the working world, and it’s why colleges have always exposed students to challenging and uncomfortable ideas.

The fact that some university boards and administrations now bow to pressure and shield students from these ideas through “safe spaces,” “code words” and “trigger warnings” is, in my view, a terrible mistake.

The whole purpose of college is to learn how to deal with difficult situations — not run away from them. A microaggression is exactly that: micro. And one of the most dangerous places on a college campus is a safe space, because it creates the false impression that we can insulate ourselves from those who hold different views.

We can’t do this, and we shouldn’t try — not in politics or in the workplace. In the global economy, and in a democratic society, an open mind is the most valuable asset you can possess.

Sadly, higher education is run by people who no longer believe this. It will not end well.

AS ANY PARENT WILL TELL YOU: The Truth About Parental Leave.

GOVERNMENT LIKE IT’S THE 19th CENTURY: SSA Putting Millions of Americans at Risk for Identity Theft.

I DON’T KNOW.  HAS HELL FROZEN OVER?  Then she might get what she wants. Hillary Wants to Make It Illegal to Criticize Her.

THERE’S SEVERAL STORIES IN THIS: Astronomers have discovered a super-fast star system that breaks current physics models.

SOMETIMES THE GOOD GUYS WIN ONE: History Has Been Made. Female Genital Mutilation Banned In Nigeria.

SHOCKED, SHOCKED, SHOCKED: Poll: Not a Single White House Reporter Is a Republican

SHOCKED FACE TIME: Yet Another Study Confirms The Vaccine/Autism Connection Is — Wait For It — Nonexistent.

THAT HUGO THING: The Hugos BURNING IN THE FLAMES OF CONTROVERSY! (Geek Gab, Episode 51!) — audio.

MATH IN THE ABSENCE OF DATA IS JUST NUMBERS: Physicists have calculated that we’re *probably* not the only advanced civilisation ever in the Universe.

HATCHET-THROWING AND BEER: A Can’t Miss Venture?

AT AMAZON, it’s the last day for the April Garden Sale.

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CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: White House reporters hoard $500 swag bags at “Nerd Prom.”

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: First U.S. Death Tied to Zika Is Reported in Puerto Rico.

The victim, a man in his 70s, died in February from internal bleeding as a result of a rare immune reaction to an earlier Zika infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Puerto Rico now has 683 confirmed Zika infections in its outbreak, which began in December; 89 are in pregnant women, according to Dr. Ana Ríus, the territory’s health secretary. Fourteen of those women have given birth, and all their babies are healthy, she said.

Seventeen patients have been hospitalized for Zika-related causes in Puerto Rico. Of those, seven had Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare form of paralysis that strikes about two weeks after an infection and, although frightening, is usually temporary.

I wonder how long before spraying for mosquitoes and draining swamps comes back?

WELL, THAT WON’T DO MUCH TO BOOST THAT ANEMIC GROWTH: The Coming Tax Increase. “The debt held by the public has approximately doubled since President Obama took office and is now equal to 74% of gross domestic product. It is true that with the right policy mix, economic growth—stuck at just over 2% during the Obama “recovery”—will help close federal deficits and pay down the debt. At the end of World War II, for example, the debt-to-GDP ratio was at 104% and shrank to a low of 23% by 1974. But letting growth or future belt-tightening close the gap is the exception, not the rule. More often, higher taxes are the result.”

Well, if that’s how it’s going to be, I’ve got some revenue enhancement suggestions of my own.

THINGS ARE REALLY GETTING EMBARRASSING AT HARVARD LAW: New video of Harvard race protesters interrupting Law School dean honored for … race relations.

TEACH WOMEN NOT TO RAPE! (CONT’D): Molasky Junior High math teacher arrested for sex charges.

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Also, today’s in the mail link to Charisma: How To Be Charismatic And How To Be Charming Using Science was bad. Here’s the correct link.

TEACH MEN NOT TO LIE ABOUT BEARS: Man admits he lied about bear attack.

Interestingly, he was punished more harshly than many women who file false reports of being attacked by men.

THEY SHOULD HAVE HAD SOMETHING MORE DIVERSE, LIKE AN ALL-FEMALE PANEL: “America’s premier game-design program canceled an all-star industry panel last week for the sole reason that the lineup was all-male.”

Cost of attending the University of Southern California: $67,212.

GOT A SUITCASE AND A GUN, GONNA LEAVE IT ALL BEHIND: Don’t Kill The Candidate. Maybe I’m a pessimist, but this post seems more like information on timing for potential assassins. I certainly had never given this particular issue any thought, and I’m pretty knowledgeable about this stuff.

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NEWS YOU CAN USE: 10 reasons older men make the best boyfriends.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Teens enter vocational school, come out with jobs, no debt.

DIVERSITY PROBLEM: Poll: Not a Single White House Reporter Is a Republican.