We first note that hand-wringing about the decline in US college enrollments has mistakenly linked such declines to the price of four-year colleges. But the decline is entirely driven by two-year community colleges (and by for-profit colleges). The four-year sector is the dog that didn't bark.

It’s holiday shopping season and the big categories are still gift cards and clothing. But with 1 in 4 planning to spend more on gifts this season, this would seem to indicate people will be stretching their budgets and perhaps buying more, cheaper things. www.ipsos.com/en-us/gift-c...

Also makes it next to impossible to see pedestrians and bikes with the massive light differential.

Baby Boomers won the age-period-cohort lottery.

US drops Biden plan to require passenger compensation for delayed flights reut.rs/4i0E0l2

The only thing I love more than this post is seeing it first from @greatdismal.bsky.social

Yes, @profgalloway.com just rocked a Chicago Public Media crop top... Here’s to public media — in Chicago and across the country! @wbez.org #PivotTour

In the century leading up to 1975, nearly 6000 freighters went down in the Great Lakes. The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last. The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes. Why? It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.

This was a remarkable achievement.

More Americans say that imposing tariffs on other countries hurts rather than helps the U.S. economy, inflation and their finances — Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll. More, via Opinion Today: opiniontoday.substack.com/p/251105-top...

You gave my j-school commencement address. The difference then was there were good jobs for graduates. That seems way less real now.

There are 5 days left in the Kickstarter campaign for the documentary Last Night at Lounge Ax. You can see the full trailer at the Kickstarter page. Please consider participating in the campaign if you can. They are so close to their goal. www.kickstarter.com/projects/lvn...

The CTA has a not in service run skipping my station. It’s run number 666. Nice.

🧐 https://www.reuters.com/world/us/cost-of-living-worries-haunt-americans-ahead-midterms-reutersipsos-poll-finds-2025-10-24/

During Covid Kick and I started a vegetable garden. We tore up half our front lawn and put raised beds in, grew tomatoes and carrots and eggplant and beans. Squash and corn the following year. Of all of that, ONLY the tomatoes and eggplant produced enough to last through the winter.

USPS PRO TIP: To make sure your mail-in ballot, tax return or legal document gets a postmark on time under the latest USPS changes, you may want to send it early or visit a post office and ask for a manual postmark at the counter in person

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤’𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 (a four-part thread): How the U.S. population has evolved. www.howtoreadthisch.art/r/e0489c52?m...

“The Purdue student newspaper owns its own presses” is the sound of engines revving

It’s like public works shouldn’t try to be for profit.

I just got a $55 bill for driving on a section of the Pennsylvania turnpike a month ago. $55! It turns out to cost $104.78 to drive the whole thing, east/west, clear across the state. For reasons I don't understand, the turnpike is something like $12 billion in debt, so they charge a fortune.

You can’t talk seriously about gun violence in Chicago without talking about where the guns come from. www.pbump.net/o/the-red-st...

I read this as “space moose.” IYKYK.

“We've reached this weird point where simultaneously anything can be generated, but no one believes anything anymore,” EFF’s @ktrendacosta.bsky.social told @TIME.com. We blame tech, but we fail to teach media literacy like analytical skills or how to evaluate sources. time.com/7321911/byt...

The number of Americans who think homeownership is part of the American Dream is high and getting higher. (@mattcarmichael.com, Ipsos) More, via Opinion Today: opiniontoday.substack.com/p/250928

Americans are stressed but also hopeful. Here’s why both are possible. (Ipsos) More, via Opinion Today: opiniontoday.substack.com/p/250928

Dismissed as a joke, UK's first rice crop ripe for picking after hot summer www.bbc.com/news/article...

1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it). But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that

I'd rather have one kid that I can give everything to than try to spread it thin between two children just for the sake of having two children.”

My kids don’t care about Taylor but they care about fandom and they loathe AI. Spot on.

Sorry to hear about my fellow Matt Carmichael, whose career I've followed thru my vanity google alert. Hope he lands on his feet! www.news.com.au/sport/channe...

Sometimes it's nice to remember that even Marcus Aurelius was like "you don't have to comment on everything bro"

I was going to say this myself, but didn’t want to be the first—

You've got six more hours to be the "presenting hero" or even just pre-order the book. The book will feature (checks notes) many of you! www.kickstarter.com/projects/roc...

The part about major news outlets learning nothing is on point. As is the entire rest of the piece. Talk out loud about what you’re talking about.

Wow, yes you did. I look forward to plotting your reward with you!

Thank you! I hope you enjoy the book!

Just backed - needs one more to reach the goal!

This rests at the center of the Venn of compliments. Circles for "respect the person it's coming from;" "it's unexpected;" and "it complements something you want to be complimented on." So many thanks, @zoekeating.com and it's now just $16 away from being funded. Also let's make dinner happen!

Over the last 18 months I wrote a newsletter about what I learned by surrounding myself with interesting people. One of those people is @zoekeating.com I was psyched to tell that story. Now, I'm also trying to turn that into a book. Please pre-order and help! www.kickstarter.com/projects/roc...

So @dansinker.com just wrote a thing about Chicago. Today's FB memory was about another awesome thing he wrote about Chicago. I tell my story related to that in Meeting My Heroes, a book about the lessons learned by surrounding myself with interesting people. www.kickstarter.com/projects/roc...

Breaking: The FTC has reversed its ban on non-compete the contracts. The announcement by Student Borrower Protection Center to compares Training Repayment Agreement Provisions (TRAPs) to “modern-day indentured servitude—forcing low-wage workers to pay their bosses just to quit.”

A lot of companies want the EPA in charge of setting national climate regulations because it helps shield them from lawsuits and creates a predictable environment in which to make investments.

Yeah not the time or place.

Try right clicking the flag image and open in new tab. It should be larger in the new tab and when you hover there will be a + sign to make it even bigger

I thought this sounded familiar and it turns out it literally just found an old George RR Martin quote and wrote a short story out of it:

If you follow the link you’ll get a larger version. I feel you.

The pursuit of healthy living influences every aspect of American life. What the Future Wellness explores the tensions at its heart and the implications for product innovators, marketers and corporate strategists across the healthcare, food, pharma and tech industries. www.ipsos.com/en-us/future

The danger wasn’t the weird turning pro. It was the weird becoming mainstream.

Well the markets move based on the BLS data. So anyone with any sort of investments is depending on him. Not just here but worldwide. No biggie.

BBC International Editor Jeremy Bowen has confirmed that the entire Al Jazeera team in Gaza City has been killed.