Higher education.

Friday, February 22nd, 2013

College visit the first. It only looks like Hogwarts.

Posted at 11:10 am in iPhone |

77 responses to “Higher education.”

RickB said on February 22, 2013 at 11:13 am
Somewhat related to this and previous post: “But what if MOOCs actually turned out to be part of a right-wing plot?”

http://www.salon.com/2013/02/22/conservatives_declare_war_on_college/

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Peter said on February 22, 2013 at 11:31 am
Is that U of C? It looks like the undergrad library up there, but hey, that’s not unique.

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Kirk said on February 22, 2013 at 11:38 am
Dorothy would know about this, but when I visited an old friend at Kenyon a couple of years back, he showed me one of the dining halls. He said lots of folks think that a Harry Potter scene actually was filmed there.

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Dorothy said on February 22, 2013 at 11:44 am
Yes indeed, Kirk. That dining hall gets lots of attention for that very reason. Check out this cool picture from the Alumni bulletin from a few years ago: http://bulletin.kenyon.edu/x3216.xml

This page shows a B&W picture that’s pretty cool, and then an up-to-date one.

http://mikaelpowell.blogspot.com/2011/11/campus-cultural-analysis-kenyon-college.html

P. F. Kluge who is referred to in that second link is the writer who wrote the story that led to the movie “Dog Day Afternoon”. I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before so apologies for repetition.

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nancy said on February 22, 2013 at 11:51 am
Yep, University of Chicago. I want to live here for the rest of my life.

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Dorothy said on February 22, 2013 at 11:53 am
Wait… of course the movie was NOT filmed here. Hope that is clear!

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Peter said on February 22, 2013 at 12:19 pm
“I am winner.” And maybe familiarity breeds contempt, but no you don’t want to live here for the rest of your life. Although maybe it’s no more Hyde Park Coop and Harper Court that’s talking…

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Suzanne said on February 22, 2013 at 12:19 pm
I’ve only been to the U of C a few times. The Rockefeller Chapel alone is worth a visit. Beautiful campus which, back in the 70s when I was starting college, I did not even know existed. College visits? People just didn’t as much back then and I had blue collar parents who raised us well but had not a clue about college.

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Dexter said on February 22, 2013 at 12:33 pm
My YouTube guru Ken, known as artistmac, shot this video of The University of Chicago five years ago on a June morning at 6:00 AM, birds chirping, school out for summer. Midway Plaisance is empty in the shoot, but during school days it a hub of activity , a place to chill and catch some rays or, God forbid, kick up some hacky-sack.
The ivy on the buildings just screams “academia”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgtObIox0a8

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Dexter said on February 22, 2013 at 12:38 pm
Seven years The University of Chicago was voted #1 of the 361 schools that participated in this survey.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp_YVt7CfJI

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Prospero said on February 22, 2013 at 12:42 pm
UChicago? Fermi and Tillich, and Jay Berwanger. They made a statue out of the last guy. American home of process theology, stolen lock,stock and barrel from Teillhard, but without the poetry. Time Invades the Cathedral.

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Dexter said on February 22, 2013 at 12:46 pm
I noticed this video and it is indeed pretty funny. It’s been a long time since I knocked around for a couple years at colleges, but nothing has changed much. Guaranteed to get a couple smiles if you watch this. SFW no problem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcNT2pMyFn4

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Peter said on February 22, 2013 at 12:51 pm
Oh and hey, Nancy, if you’re still on campus, you should check out the Robie House on Woodlawn and 58th, or the Keck-Gottschalk-Keck apartments on South University.

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George said on February 22, 2013 at 12:57 pm
I assume you will stop in at Hutchinson Commons which is an almost exact reproduction of the hall at Christ Church where Harry Potter was actually filmed.
http://www.hogwartsprofessor.com/miss-granger-goes-to-hogwarts/

As someone with three UofC degrees, I am biased. But I do not think you can better education anywhere than in the College. Think liberal arts college within a major research university.

The picture is of Harper Library from inside the main quadrangle. Harper is not a library anymore. Its reading room is spectacular and my favorite place on campus.
http://aprettybook.com/2011/05/21/harper-memorial-library-university-of-chicago/

Tell your son or daughter to fully embrace their inner nerd and go for the UofC experience. Unfortunately, the term UofC is slowly being replaced by uchicago.

The University of Chicago – where fun comes to die.

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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on February 22, 2013 at 1:17 pm
Visit Bond Chapel at the Divinity School and the Chapel of the Holy Grail in Disciples Divinity House; and the Oriental Institute, you lucky creature! And the Robie House, and the “Parade of Time” on the Midway Plaisance by Lorado Taft. (Or Pizzeria Uno if you must; I’m a Lou Malnati’s guy.)

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velvet goldmine said on February 22, 2013 at 2:34 pm
Our #1’s #1 was originally a series of dairy farms, so I’m not sure what movie it evokes. There was literally not one person in sight on campus when we arrived, so all in all I’d go with The Village.

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dull_old_man said on February 22, 2013 at 3:19 pm
I found that it is easier and less expensive to let them apply where they want, then take a look when they get in. A friend said the talk/tour at Duke and Northwestern was the same–even had some of the same jokes. I found the junior and summer college tours bad to dreadful. Thought the tour guides had a pool about who could tell the biggest lie without getting called out. The US News & World Report ranking depends so heavily on getting the admitted applicants to accept the college that those two-day sessions are great. I loved Williams, but I was a preppy myself.

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Deborah said on February 22, 2013 at 4:04 pm
Ah College visits, I did a lot of that with my daughter and my two step daughters. I found it fun and was kind of resentful that I never got to do that because my father didn’t have a clue and my sister and I had no choice but to go to a Missouri Synod Lutheran College, and not the one near Chicago.

The University of Chicago has a wonderful campus. Are you looking at Northwestern while you’re there? I have a friend who teaches writing at Northwestern only she’s on a sabbatical and in VIenna now.

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Peter said on February 22, 2013 at 4:15 pm
I would second Deborah’s recommendation. There’s a lot to be said about Northwestern and Evanston, and based on my friends recent experience, Northwestern is easier to get into and more generous with the grants.

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MichaelG said on February 22, 2013 at 4:42 pm
My old man did his graduate work at the U of C. When I was a little kid we lived in student housing right smack on the corner of 59th and Cottage Grove. The North East corner just across the street from the Midway. Back then (1946 – 1950) it was just the “Midway”. There was no “Midway Plaisance”. The student housing, called “The Prefabs” for obvious reasons, was torn down years ago. That prefab had coal heat and an ice box. That’s right. A guy delivered ice and that’s how we or my parents, really, kept food cool.

Now it’s a parking garage. Look on Google street view and there are a couple of white what look to be some kind of cryo tanks right where our house used to be. My sister was born in Lying-In hospital in June of 1950. I remember the area as a beautiful and happy place.

Is Evanston still dry?

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Tom said on February 22, 2013 at 5:00 pm
Speaking as an NU (Medill) alumnus, if she can get into UofC, don’t even bother visiting NU.

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alex said on February 22, 2013 at 5:13 pm
Heavens, no, MichaelG. I used to pig out at Pete Miller’s Steakhouse because they poured such generous cocktails. There was a craptastic Irish bar there too, the name of which isn’t coming to mind at the moment, where the college kids go.

I think the only ban they’re known for these days is one on free-standing fast food outlets and carry-out fast food — they don’t want shit-ass commercial architecture and they don’t want styrofoam burger boxes on the ground. Mickey D’s is a storefront facility and dine-in only.

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Kim said on February 22, 2013 at 5:15 pm
As someone who will have two college tuition bills to pay for the foreseeable future, unless you have scads of cash save the $58K/year bill for grad school! If you are in the sciences (as in not ‘liberal arts and’) and a U.S. citizen, like my husband, you will likely have your very expensive grad school paid for in full. But U of C is a beautiful place, as is Northwestern (where my husband got his free grad school). Apologies for sounding cranky; I just listened to an acquaintance complain that the Ivy League undergrad philosophy degree they bought their kid wasn’t translating into a job, let alone the six-figure one they believe the kid deserves. No. Shit.

Nancy, I am pretty sure you aren’t that crazy parent. I hope your daughter – and all the other offspring in NN.C Land – can go to college wherever she thinks is the right fit. It’s fun to visit places and show the kids the world is their oyster if they’re willing to do what it takes.

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Hattie said on February 22, 2013 at 5:31 pm
Holy flying monkeys! That building looks serious!

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Prospero said on February 22, 2013 at 5:34 pm
MichaeaelG, How the hell old are you? I went to Holy Cross until the English Department ruled me out. Then I went to serious J School at the Grady School. With the great Elliot Brack, that was the best editor in God’s history. Ran his own newapapers in Gwinett, and a better writer than anybody and fast on the dollar. Better than anybody Nancy Nall ever knew.

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alex said on February 22, 2013 at 6:18 pm
I was going to link to the great U of C pictures on Bob Pence’s web site, but it looks like it’s no longer in existence, dangit.

My Freudian analyst was a U of C alum and a smart cookie. A friend’s dad was a cancer researcher there and a big advocate of medical marijuana—and this was not some hippie but an 80-something WWII Jewish refugee from Hungary. I knew people who worked at the Oriental Institute (and in fact got some cool vintage bullet light fixtures, first rate quality, from the place when they remodeled their art gallery at one time). And I used to go visit the Robie House of a Sunday, and even attended some events there. Oh, how I miss Chicago.

I used to spend a fair amount of time in Hyde Park and one of the most remarkable things I remember about it were the wild parrots. That’s right. The trees were full of tropical birds, all descendants of some pets turned loose, that have adapted themselves to Chicago’s inhospitable climate. Clever animals. They build giant enclosed nests that typically surround such heat sources as electrical transformers. And, yeah, they go boom a lot.

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Deborah said on February 22, 2013 at 8:03 pm
Let’s not forget that Obama taught at the University of Chicago. They say he is still deciding where his presidential library will go, Hawaii or Chicago. I hope he chooses Chicago.

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Jolene said on February 22, 2013 at 8:34 pm
I got my graduate degrees at Northwestern, but, good grief, it was so long ago. Probably only some general truths persist. First, it’s a very strong school with lots of opportunities for undergrads to be involved in all sorts of things–music, sports, faculty research, community projects. Second, I’d guess there’s more emphasis on undergraduate teaching at NU than at U of C. There was, way back when, more of a traditional collegevatmosphere at NU than at U of C. Third, NU has strong programs in everything having to do with the performing arts, including opportunities for undergrads to participate in musical theater and other performances even if they aren’t majors.

Lots of other strong programs too, of course. I mention music because of what you’ve told us about Kate. Has she decided what she wants to study?

Evanston can be a lovely place to live, though, again, much has changed since my time there. Of course, Chicago has everything.

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David C. said on February 23, 2013 at 6:36 am
I never had the chance to visit colleges. The old man decided to be an asshole and not sign my FAF (“They have no business knowing how much money I make”). So I knew it was Grand Rapids Junior College for me and would be paid by me. I wanted to study engineering at Michigan State or Purdue. I ended up getting studying mechanical design at JC, going to work as a draftsman at a company with tuition reimbursement and earning an engineering technology degree at part-time over 15 years at Ferris State. Sometimes it’s hard not to think of what might have been if I could have had a BS at age 22 and gone to work then as a full fledged engineer instead of the winding road I took.

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basset said on February 23, 2013 at 7:41 am
That building reminds me of Edmonson Hall at IU, my freshman dorm in what was then called the Living Learning Center and is now something else. It was some kind of soft and gooey learning-community situation, just a little too refined for me. anyway, I went to the Willkie Co-Op the next year, standard limestone IU dorm where you got a break on the price in return for doing janitorial and kitchen work. Between that, several part-time semesters, and dropping out to work for awhile it took me seven years to get through a four-year program.

Mrs. B. got an associate’s at Ferris in the middle Seventies, I have a Ferris t-shirt around here somewhere.

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Suzanne said on February 23, 2013 at 9:23 am
Oh, David @ 29, I hear you! My dad filled out the financial aid forms every year along with a tirade about how we wouldn’t get any money and how if he had been a jerk and divorced my mother and spent all his money on loose living, I’d get all kinds of money but nooooo, he’d been responsible all his life and was getting screwed because of it. I thought of it every year when I filled out the FAFSA for my kids…without the editorial comments.

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Jolene said on February 23, 2013 at 1:09 pm
My dad’s contribution to my college choice was to tell me, when I began sending away for catalogs from exotic places, that the college up the road would be fine.

Nobody in my family knew anything about choosing a college or paying for it. I only had the idea to explore possibilities because a graduate student from a counseling program came to our school to practice on us. She suggested applying to more selective colleges, but when the catalogs started showing up in the mail, my father shut down that idea. I didn’t especially resist, partly because I was a fairly compliant child and partly because I didn’t know how to proceed. And, by that time, the counseling student had disappeared, so there was no one to ask what to do about applying, seeking scholarships, or talking with my parents about possibilities.

To be fair, my dad was a pretty generous guy, but he likely had no more clues than I did about the college thing, and he had lots more kids to think about. Still, I didn’t have a particularly great undergrad experience; nor did I graduate particularly well prepared to either find a job or go to graduate school. I haven’t thought about it much lately, but I used to wonder if life might have unfolded differently if I’d been able to go someplace that did a better job of educating and advising its undergrads.

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MichaelG said on February 23, 2013 at 1:46 pm
I’m sixty eight, Pros. I can remember when I was five years old but I can’t remember what I had for dinner last night.

My old man never did get his PhD. I think it ruined his life but he never was a very communicative person. He ended up with an instructor’s position at Loyola in Chicago, off Michigan Ave., right behind the water tower. He made crap wages there and we were always poor but he refused to take a better paying job in industry somewhere.

I ended up going to U of I at Champaign. I had a National Merit scholarship that paid tuition and fees. At that time the tab was less than $300 a semester. Somehow, between my working and my parents’ contributing, I survived until I quit school in Dec of my senior year and joined the Army in Jan. Later I finished up at San Francisco State. U of I was a very good school and I had a great time there. Probably too great to the detriment of my grades.

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MichaelG said on February 23, 2013 at 1:51 pm
By the way, I have no idea what happened or why he didn’t finish his degree. By the late fifties my mother was working full time and he sort of didn’t do too much. This continued until he died in the mid nineties. They moved to Berkeley in 1964 and my mother started working at Cal as a secretary. She retired shortly before my father died. I don’t know what was behind it, but he just basically lived off her for the last thirty years of his life.

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Deborah said on February 23, 2013 at 3:24 pm
What a cutie-pie, and the woman can dance! http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/michelle-obama-dances-with-jimmy-fallon-video?ref=fpb

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MaryRC said on February 23, 2013 at 3:52 pm
Deborah, I love that she is having so much fun. I like Fallon’s show too, it seems to have a kind of child-like exuberance that the other late-night shows don’t.

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basset said on February 23, 2013 at 4:07 pm
Jolene, my parents both left school at fifteen or so and didn’t know anything about college apps either… and I don’t remember ever having a conversation with a high school guidance counselor about college choices, or anything else for that matter.

The basketball coach did go off on me one day, though… I didn’t play ball but had him for world history, he threw a literal screaming fit in front of the class and told me I was worthless and stupid and would never get into college. I suppose that counts as a counseling experience.

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Jolene said on February 23, 2013 at 4:14 pm
Agree, Deborah. That video is being shared again and again on FB and Twitter. Michelle has definitely got the moves. I see why Barack can’t seem to keep his hands off her–not that he should.

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Jolene said on February 23, 2013 at 4:27 pm
These stories about lack of guidance and support when we were at college and career-choosing ages give me renewed sympathy for kids from poor families. My parents’ ideas about the whole college-going enterprise were narrow and, like mine, vague. I was clueless in a world without signposts. Still, my family was, by local standards, reasonably well off, and my parents both definitely wanted me to go to college and were willing to pay. Must be so much worse for kids who don’t have even that much going for them.

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brian stouder said on February 23, 2013 at 6:35 pm
So, add NASCAR + premier event + ESPN + tragedy and you know what you get? Mealy-mouthed double talk and outright lies.

See this link from Deadspin, which is a website that is doing something that ABC-ESPN/CNN is NOT doing…reporting the damned news.

Scroll down the link for the video that NASCAR has already tried to quash, and failed

http://deadspin.com/5986464/todays-nascar-nationwide-race-at-daytona-ended-with-kyle-larsons-car-going-through-the-security-fence-and-torn-in-half

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Sherri said on February 23, 2013 at 7:19 pm
As I’ve said here before, ESPN is not and never has been in the journalism business, so never expect anything different. That’s why I read Deadspin regularly, because for all its faults, it tells me what ESPN won’t. ESPN protects the content, first and foremost.

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Charlotte said on February 23, 2013 at 8:47 pm
Where I’d go to college was the last battle in my parents scorched-earth divorce (well, last official battle — 40 years on they’re still slagging one another to me). My mother wanted me to go somewhere expensive and prestigious (didn’t have the grades) and my father told me he’d only pay for a state school — reprising his own father’s asshole-ness about college. Spent one miserable year at Champaign, then Beloit, a college I’d turned up my nose at (geography) gave me a lot of financial aid, and miracle of miracles, told me *they’d* deal with my father when he got behind on the bills. No one had *ever* done that for me before and I remember bursting into tears in the Registrar’s office.
So it’s been enormously satisfying doing a little freelance college counseling for the kids here — “my Audrey” who wound up at Beloit — her parents didn’t know schools like that existed, nor that they have endowments.
Grad school was easier — there were fellowships, and teaching, which I loved. I was just terrible at the politics … got the PhD paid off in January this year — 13 years later. I’ve only used it in an official capacity one year when I was a visiting writer, but it did bring me in at a higher pay grade as a tech writer … hardest thing I’ve ever done. Was sick the last 3 years, but I finished.
Good luck to Kate — so exciting — looking at schools, trying on potential identities — and learning that a big part of it is luck too …

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LAMary said on February 23, 2013 at 9:43 pm
My dad put three brothers through college. Well, one of them flunked out of University of Miami while simultaneously bouncing checks all over Florida, but the other two graduated. When it was time for me to go to college I was told by my father it would be a waste of money. One of the older brothers figured out a way to tap into some money my father had put in my name to avoid taxes and that paid first semester tuition at art school. Second semester I got some financial aid, but then my father died about two months after the started. I finished the semester and was basically homeless. The brothers had inherited the houses,boats and businesses. One of them helped me out and let me stay with him in Denver until I could get into a school and figure out how to pay for it. Three part time jobs and financial aid got me through University of Denver.
My father was a brilliant business man, a sslf made millionaire, and a drunk. He didn’t think much of women and he had a terribly sad life.

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MichaelG said on February 23, 2013 at 10:01 pm
I had been out and about and when I got home I turned on the tube to watch the end of the race. I saw the crash live. ESPN went a long time after the wreck with interviews and the usual tap dancing and the rest. They showed very clear and close up pictures of the engine and a wheel lying next to it in the spectator area adjacent to the fence again and again but never panned up the stands to show the effects on the spectators. It was at least a half hour and probably more before they showed the first replay of the crash. Usually they have replays from multiple cameras within seconds. The announcers spoke in the quiet, hushed tones usually reserved for a situation where somebody has died. So I could tell without their saying anything that things were serious. At long last they had some big wig from NASCAR on to report that there were injured spectators, many of whom had been transported to hospitals. As of the time they signed off, they still had not given the order in which cars had finished other than to show that Tony Stewart had won and that drivers they interviewed had finished here or there.

Other than reporting the final standings, I really don’t see what else ESPN could have done. They certainly had the ability to show clear and close up pictures of the carnage in the stands. There is no question of that and I’m sure tape (do they still use tape?) of that exists. But what purpose would showing the suffering in the stands have served? I believe there is stuff we really don’t need to see. The commentators were in a studio above the track and what with the confusion inherent in an incident such as had just taken place would have had nothing more than random reports and rumors to report. I can’t fault them for tap dancing. So, as far as the live ESPN broadcast goes, I really can’t say that they suppressed anything or that they tried to sugar coat anything. They were in the midst of a developing scene and did the best they could with the fragmented reports they must have been getting.

Understand that I’m not throwing carnations at the network but I’m certainly not throwing brickbats either. I really don’t see how else they could have handled the live broadcast.

Did NASCAR or ESPN try to suppress a fan video? I have no idea.

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brian stouder said on February 23, 2013 at 10:26 pm
Michael, I get what you’re saying; as a longtime racefan, and an occaisional fan in the stands, I’ve seen things like this from time to time.

It is predictable that, every so often, a bad thing will happen…and sometimes a very bad thing. And at that moment – which these broadcasters know will come – sooner or later – they should have been more prepared to shift from entertainment to news broadcasting.

As a seasoned racefan, I immediately thought it was bad stuff….but the announce crew went into such a soft-shoe routine that I began to think things were OK. As you say, they kept showing the engine at the base of the grand-stands, and I took this as a GOOD thing, because they were showing us any pictures at all.

But then the race winner got out of his car and was all subdued, and it was plainly obvious that it wasn’t a question of whether a bad thing had happened, but rather – just how bad.

They tap-danced to the end of their broadcast for a good half hour – and then I went onto the internet and found the news that ESPN was so steadfastly avoiding.

And I will admit that it may be opportunistic of me to bitch about this, because – as an F1 fan – I’ve grown accustomed to racing that does NOT actively MARKET “BIG CRASHES”/”THE BIG ONE”, etc.

NASCAR very plainly markets these big crashes, and when they start killing fans, it might take the shine off of that stuff. (in F1, as you know, Mercedes had a horrendous crash that cost many fans their lives, about 60 years ago, and put them out of F1 racing for a few decades after that)

Simply put – I get that it’s “the big show” and all of that. But these sons of bitches market crashes, and they damned well ought to report the news when a few dozen fans get clobbered amidst a crashing climax.

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brian stouder said on February 23, 2013 at 10:44 pm
“My father was a brilliant business man, a self made millionaire, and a drunk. He didn’t think much of women and he had a terribly sad life.”

Mary, as always – you have struck a chord.

I’ve been thinking back for the past few months about my dad, while the fast-approaching (and now past) death of my mom loomed, and now recedes.

If I tried to reduce it to two sentences with as much punch as yours, I think I’d say:

My father was a personable salesman (and then a trucker!), a self-destructive smoker (I believe 3+ packs per day), and a drunk. He (apparently) disn’t think much of himself, and he seems to have actively shortened his life.

Adding to my reassessment of him is the fact that this year I will surpass his lifespan, and I simply cannot imagine running my life the way he ran his. My first temptation is to think that some big failure back in his younger days must have derailed him – but I know not what. We did learn that he and his brother once had a plan, wherein the brother would be an optometrist and the other (my dad) would be a dentist.

And in fact, his brother DID become an optometrist, but my dad left (dropped out? Ran out of money?) college, joined the navy, met my mom in Alameda, and came home to Fort Wayne to raise five boys – selling real estate and, later, group life insurance (suits and ties and a company car), and then chucked all that when he was in his early 40s to become a truck driver.

Clearly, there’s more to that story, but I suppose that’s always the case, eh?

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MichaelG said on February 24, 2013 at 12:12 am
I get your point, Brian. I’ve been a race fan for years and years. I attended my first NASCAR event long ago at the old Ontario Motor Speedway and have been to three NASCAR races at Sears Point or whatever they are calling it today. I have seen several Indy car races at Long Beach and Laguna Seca and one F-1 race at Long Beach along with dozens of club races at Laguna, Sears and other venues. I saw a couple of Can-Am races at Laguna that were mind boggling. I spent two years as a crew member on a BMW 1600/2002 B-Sedan at club races. Mostly staying out of the way of the guys who really knew what they were doing. I guess it’s not all that much but I do enjoy motor racing.

All of which is to say that I’m as big a race fan as anybody. NASCAR has been losing me steadily over the last years for a variety of reasons. The result is that I dip into races on TV from time to time as they progress. If I’m interested in the venue. F-1 lost me years ago for many reasons which I don’t feel like addressing tonight simply because I’m too lazy to do so and it would be an imposition on nn.c to elaborate.

ESPN and Fox do tend to sell crashes and I don’t like it. I fully agree with you on that point.

I suppose you’re right that the live broadcast people on ESPN should have reported that spectators had been injured but that they didn’t know the number of injured or the extent of the injuries. It was a fluid situation and somebody had to make a call on the fly. I guess that NASCAR was probably leaning on them to be discreet. At any rate, the live broadcast wasn’t that bad. They extended their broadcast in an attempt to get a coherent account of the events in the stands and it all ended with the appearance of that NASCAR official. Maybe they were following the party line. What the follow up is will be more telling.

I will say this: After having seen many kinds of racing from the biggest leagues to the smallest, the most enjoyable, the most thrilling and competitive events can be seen at your local SCCA venue. I happen to like sports car racing so SCCA is my brand. If there is a track anywhere near you that hosts SCCA amateur racing I would recommend that you head thattaway and bring your offspring. The events are family friendly. The paddock is open and the racers are happy to bore you with all the details of the things they have done to their cars and to share their happiness with you. Vintage racing is the same. Sometimes they even need somebody to help work a corner. The racing is fully as thrilling, as competitive and cut throat as any big time F-1 or NASCAR race if at a somewhat reduced speed. At any rate, I guarantee that you and your kids will have a very enjoyable day and the cost is miniscule. An afternoon with SCCA amateur or vintage racing will make you forget all those twits in F-1.

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MichaelG said on February 24, 2013 at 12:22 am
Brian, that horrendous Mercedes Benz accident you refer to actually occurred at Le Mans. M-B retired from the race and from the sport for a while. The retirement from the race has been the subject of a continuing dispute between two of the participants. John Fitch, an American who was driving for M-B convinced management to withdraw from the race. Stirling Moss, a British driver, wanted to continue. The dispute continued even unto this past summer when both aired their positions in interviews. Fitch recently died at ninety something and Moss, at eighty something continues his amazing career. Unfortunately, I read all of the above stuff on paper and don’t have a link to share.

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MichaelG said on February 24, 2013 at 12:47 am
God, now you’ve got me reminiscing. One of the secret reasons guys like to go to races is that there are scads of beautiful women to behold. After one race at Sears, a friend and I compared pictures that we had taken. I had all these pix of cars and all he had was pix of women. After years of surveying and many serious hours of deliberating I long ago came to the conclusion that the most beautiful women were at Indy Car events. My one shot at a F-1 race was inconclusive but, even in those days, F-1 races were restrictive and exclusionary.

I’m talking about the attendees as well as the groupies here. At one Indy Car race at Laguna Seca I turned to see a lovely woman clad only in a lacy white crop top and a pair of very small cut offs. That wasn’t the news. What attracted the eye was the slim chain that ran from under her tiny top to disappear into the cut offs below. After all these years I’m still wondering.

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Dexter said on February 24, 2013 at 1:38 am
The big wig sat at the mic and stated “We have safety protocol in place for tomorrow and we will race. There will be no changes.”
Well, I guess they don’t stop a war for a shrapnel wound or 33, so why modify seating at a big race? First it was 15 hurt, then 18, now it’s 33. Can’t they even count?
I watch two races per year, and today is one. You can guess the other. It ain’t NASCAR.
A process engineer at my old workplace was a big NASCAR fan. His real last name was Nasca.
Basset: Our high school coach (of all sports…small school) was in the US Marine Corps in between WWII and Korean War, or maybe he did serve during wartime in WWII. He was a super patriot and a fanatic flag-worshiper. A boy who was a year ahead of me made a critical error one morning during colds and flu season…the kid blew his nose on coach’s American flag which was on a base in coach’s history classroom. Coach just happened upon the horrific act, and he assaulted the kid, who was the strongest kid in the school. I heard about it second-hand…coach screamed and charged, spun the kid around and punched him very hard on an ear.
if a kid messed up and was assaulted by a teacher, parents said “You probably deserved it.”

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Sherri said on February 24, 2013 at 2:33 am
One thing ESPN could have done is not lead their SportsCenter coverage of the race with Danica Patrick’s not finishing rather than the fact that spectators had been injured in the wreck.

ESPN protects the partners, and they have a lot of partners these days.

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David C. said on February 24, 2013 at 6:30 am
And now for something completely different.

http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/travelkit/let-your-flatulence-fly-scientists-urge-passengers-1C8431651

“Let your flatulence fly, scientists urge passengers
Flying increases flatulence, according to an article published Friday in the peer-reviewed New Zealand Medical Journal, and passengers should release the gas — or risk painful medical consequences.

Lead author Dr. Jacob Rosenberg, professor of surgery at the University of Copenhagen, said he always wondered why he had more flatulence flying than when on the ground. Then, after a recent trip, he opened his bag and noticed a water bottle “almost smashed by the change in ambient pressure,” said Rosenberg. “And then I thought of the mechanisms of increased bowel air volume when flying.”

It’s simple. When altitude increases, pressure decreases. According to the thermodynamic principal known as the “ideal gas law,” as pressure drops, volume increases. While cabins are pressurized to compensate, the mechanisms can only do so much. When the plane is at a cruising altitude of 33,000 feet, inside it’s still the equivalent of 8,000 feet above sea level. That’s a lot of physics bearing down on your intestines.”

My cousin’s wife was a flight attendant at Virgin Airlines for 20 years and knew this phenomenon well. When the flight attendants let fly while they are walking down the aisle, it’s known as crop dusting.

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basset said on February 24, 2013 at 9:18 am
Dexter, this guy was a screamer and a bully and used to do that kind of thing regularly… I was told years later by another ex-student that I shouldn’t have taken that incident seriously “because he treated you just like one of his players.”

He didn’t even bother teaching the class, just told us to read on our own and take the chapter tests when we were ready. He’d sit up front, read the paper, scowl off into space, think about I have no idea what… but he won lots of ball games so nothing else mattered.

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Danny said on February 24, 2013 at 10:50 am
Interesting perspectives on education. My view is that people should not get too hung up on undergrad school choices. Once you get out in the workplace, cream usually rises to the top, regardless of the school name on the diploma.

Funny story, my little bro only took a few college courses and he became a VP at one of the top tech companies in the the world and is considered one of the best in his field. I always wondered how he handled meetings with clients and customers if the conversation ever turned to his educational background or lack thereof. He said that he would just mention where he attended and then launch into, “..and when I was done with school, I…” and start talking about his professional experience. Hilarious. He tried to go back to school for the heck of it, but the textbooks were five years behind the cutting edge where he existed in his tech field.

When he resigned a few years back, they gave him a year severance, whereas most of us would probably be given a cardboard box and a security escort… Ha! At the time, I recall asking him if he was going to do something crazy like hike Tibet or train for the Octagon, but he had something else in mind already and was trying to choose between another big firm who was offering a seven-figure salary or a start-up company.

Reminds me of the phrase in Kodachrome… “And though my lack of education hasn’t hurt me none … I can read the writing on the wall”

My own educational experience was unremarkable in that I made dean’s list and received a degree in Mechanical Engineering from a respectable state university, but it wasn’t like it was MIT or Cal Tech. I worked my way through college and starved and took out student loans and since then, I’ve been relatively happy with my career arc.

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Danny said on February 24, 2013 at 10:52 am
Slash italics after word “done” in phrase “done with school.”

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- nancy said on February 24, 2013 at 11:02 am
  Fixed. You’re lucky I was nearby…
  
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Danny said on February 24, 2013 at 11:22 am
…always!

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Scout said on February 24, 2013 at 11:31 am
My Dad picked my school (Kutztown State in PA) and since he was paying and they had the program I wanted, that was that.

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Charlotte said on February 24, 2013 at 11:32 am
My late brother was the operations manager at Sears Point for a couple of years as they did their big re-model. He came into it from events, not racing, and lived in terror of things like this happening (a guy had died in the motorcycle races just as he started. Patrick secretly went out and burned a sage stick over the spot — what can it hurt? he said). At least on his watch, the only deaths were one spectator who had a heart attack and one older gentleman who OD’d on heroin in his tent overnight. (Also, the deadspin comments report that my hold high school classmate Phil Rosenthal was harassing ESPN from Twitter — go Phil!).

And re: education — my stepmother (who is only 8 years older than I am) has an AA degree in design and while it hasn’t held her up any in her career — she does commercial interiors — did the Boeing building in Chicago for example — it has been a source of social discomfort over the years. My brother really struggled with school — dyslexia and ADD 30 years ago were a big problem — and he was sure, just sure that a “business” degree was going to mean something. 10 years later he looked at me and said “you know, no one ever cared what I did in college — just that I finished. I should have gotten that history degree. It would have been more interesting.” And my beloved has a history degree from Brown — he earned his way through doing odd jobs, and has built houses and done remodels his whole working life. He sometimes wonders whether it wouldn’t have been more efficient if his parents had used the tuition money to set him up in a business … So, we all look back and wonder …

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Danny said on February 24, 2013 at 1:10 pm
The Slashdot community’s take on NASCAR pulling the vid from YouTube (which decision YouTube rescinded).

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/02/24/1321259/nascar-tries-to-squelch-video-of-spectators-injured-by-crash

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Julie Robinson said on February 24, 2013 at 1:36 pm
Gosh, I was so lucky that my parents thought education so important*, and that my older sister had already established a precedent by going out of state. Dad said he wouldn’t pay for Northwestern and nothing else in Illinois tickled my fancy. I ended up at IU mostly because it has such a beautiful campus, and it was good that it was big because mid-way through my first semester I knew I needed to change majors.

High school counselors? No help if you were going out of state. They didn’t even tell me to take the SAT along with the ACT Illinois schools required. After I got to IU I learned I could test out of English classes with the SAT, which I then did.

*My parents scraped together attorney fees at a time they didn’t have much money to get us into a different school district. We were on the border between two towns, and they were very unhappy with the quality of the school we were in, after living in the other one while our house was being built. We only had one old car, and the new house had plywood floors waiting for carpet, but they found that money anyway. It’s pretty amazing when I think about it now.

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Suzanne said on February 24, 2013 at 3:08 pm
Julie, my experience was similar. I went to IU because it was a state school, pretty, and big enough that I figured they’d have about any major I wanted. I found out by happenstance that my SAT score (which I only took once because that was the norm)got me out of intro English and I somehow tested out of a year of foreign language but got credit for it. I don’t remember why, but I do remember I almost missed the deadline to take advantage because no one told me.

As I recall, back in the 70s, school college counseling was non-existent beyond someone telling me a few college prep classes that I might want to take if I thought that maybe I might want to go to college. Hardly anyone I knew went out of state. College orientation when I got to college consisted of about an hour or two of basic info and that was it. We were pretty much on our own from there.

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Prospero said on February 24, 2013 at 3:54 pm
Does Hamid Karzai understand that George Herbert Walker Bush invented his sorry ass from scratch?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQo1HIcSVtg

My dad went to Fordham. First person he saw at his reunion? D. Gordo Liddy. In the 90s. Liddy had set forth upon an education career. GOPers believe educcation is a great cash receptacle.Not my dad’s kinda poitics. But a pleasant kinda guy, according the my dad. He couldld get along with anybody. Me? I would have biffed Liddy in the fracking mouth. Scumbag.

And here’s another YouTube link nobody will ever click. You’ll regret it for the rest of your life, I have very good taste in music. This is so good it could make you cream your jeans. That boy might play stringed instruments better than Steve Stills or Richard Thompson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebj_e4VagcA

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Minnie said on February 24, 2013 at 4:21 pm
Certainly up there on Olympus with them, Prospero.

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Deborah said on February 24, 2013 at 5:48 pm
I had wanted to go to art school but as I said before my dad would only hear of a Missouri Synod Lutheran College, the one in Nebraska is where both my sister and I ended up because we had an aunt who lived in the same town. But as some of you said about your own experiences my dad did pay for the whole thing, except what we got in scholarships. Both my sister and I got student loans but he ended up paying for those as wedding presents for both of us. Back then I think you could get through a whole year on $3,000 and that might have included room and board too, I don’t exactly remember and I have no records of it.

My daughter Little Bird chose the Kansas City Art Institute which was where I had wanted to go. I’m sure that had a lot to do with her choice, but we lived in St. Louis at the time so not that far away and it has a lovely little campus.

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JWfromNJ said on February 24, 2013 at 6:16 pm
One of these days I’m going to party with Propero-Caliban, but I have to catch him in that window between lucid and level on the floor. If I’m lucky I can get a tour of his brother’s greenhouse with samples…

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beb said on February 24, 2013 at 7:41 pm
Was joking with the wife about the likelihood that Oscar Host Seth McFarlane would say something crass. She reminded me that the Oscars have been picking hosts that ought to appeal to the younger crowd. I thought in that case maybe they ought to have as host something who really appeals to the youth market, like one of the Transformers. But it might be a bit hard working with an 80′ robot so maybe they ought to go with someone close in size to real people, like a Predator. And his co-host could be an Alien. Making this “Aliens versus Predator: the Oscars Battle”

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brian stouder said on February 24, 2013 at 8:49 pm
MichaelG – my fine young son and I very much enjoyed watching the Rolex guys race at Indy last summer, and this summer he and I are going on a little trek to Watkins Glenn to see the Rolex guys on that storied road course.

In summers past, I’ve enjoyed wandering around the beautiful road courses at Road America in Wisconsin, and Mid Ohio (over near Mansfield); the extra bonus of going to the Glenn is that we can make the trip a bit of an adventure, and maybe see Niagra Falls and/or some other interesting side trips.

The informal, free-form nature of attendance at these road-race venues is just flat-out good stuff.

We did watch the Daytona race, and I was glad to see Danica do well – and it would have been great to see her win.

Plus – the newest iteration of the NASCAR car is (to me) strikingly prettier than they’ve been in years; they look more like the cars they pretend to be. Now if they’d put them onto more road-courses, and add windshield wipers, then they’d solve most of their crash/injury challenges…but then again, that’s why we have the Rolex guys, eh?

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brian stouder said on February 24, 2013 at 9:00 pm
Danny, I liked your link, and it lead me to this one, which was also interesting:

http://allthingsd.com/20130223/a-race-a-crash-and-the-nascar-approach-to-youtube-video-takedowns/

especially the comments at the end.

“Contracts of adhesion”.

Hmmmm

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Deborah said on February 25, 2013 at 12:13 am
Jennifer Lawrence? Seriously?

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MarkH said on February 25, 2013 at 12:49 am
Did you see the film, Deborah? She was as deserving as the other nominees.

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Dexter said on February 25, 2013 at 1:53 am
Tip-o’-the-cap to Pilot Joe for being the first NN.C er to post here what a great film Argo is. He posted that months ago. Good call, Joe.

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Basset said on February 25, 2013 at 8:09 am
Not interested in the Oscars myself, Mrs. B. watched though… I walked through the room three or four times and at no point did I recognize anyone except Keith Urban. Still couldn’t name you a one of his songs though.

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Basset said on February 25, 2013 at 8:11 am
Scratch that second “though.”. Too early to type.

And that second period is an autofill I can’t get rid of.

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Scout said on February 25, 2013 at 8:44 am
So glad Argo won, it deserved to. I saw most of the best pic nominees this year, and I saw Argo twice. It was just as good the second time, maybe better because I was able to observe so many more period details without feeling like I was going to snap from the tension.

Apparently for some, the big story of the night is the audacity of the FLOTUS for appearing to present an award. Methinks the same pearl clutches wouldn’t have the same horror if it had been Laura Bush.

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Scout said on February 25, 2013 at 8:46 am
Er, clutchers. Damn auto correct.

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LAMary said on February 27, 2013 at 1:10 pm
DavidC, I just got back from the three days of team building in Seattle and on the flight up I had a prime example of that flatulence thing happening in the seat in front of me.

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