Tuesday, August 14, 2018
$16K College Application Boot Camp!
An excerpt from the Boston Globe -
What’s the craziest thing about a $16,000 college application boot camp: that it has a wait list, or its secret location?
By Beth Teitell
Are you doing enough to get your kid into college? Are you sure? Have you hired a former CIA operative to scrub your kid’s social media presence? Are Hollywood screenwriters helping zip the college essay? Do you have a Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center interventional radiologist positioning your high schooler for the medical school track?
Did your child just finish the four-day, $16,000 Application Boot Camp at a Boston-area hotel — a program so hot that cofounder Michele Hernandez Bayliss wants the location kept secret? “We’ve literally had reporters and competitors trying to stalk” us, she e-mailed the Globe.
When it comes to college consultants, nothing is too extreme. With applications at elite colleges rising — and acceptance rates plummeting as a result — so many wealthy parents are so desperate for any edge it’s as if satirist Sacha Baron Cohen is at work, trying to see what people will buy.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/08/13/what-craziest-thing-about-college-application-boot-camp-that-has-wait-list-its-secret-location/qBA6dDuE49KFAtYNrJNZPL/story.html?et_rid=606374700&s_campaign=todaysheadlines:newsletter
What’s the craziest thing about a $16,000 college application boot camp: that it has a wait list, or its secret location?
By Beth Teitell
Are you doing enough to get your kid into college? Are you sure? Have you hired a former CIA operative to scrub your kid’s social media presence? Are Hollywood screenwriters helping zip the college essay? Do you have a Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center interventional radiologist positioning your high schooler for the medical school track?
Did your child just finish the four-day, $16,000 Application Boot Camp at a Boston-area hotel — a program so hot that cofounder Michele Hernandez Bayliss wants the location kept secret? “We’ve literally had reporters and competitors trying to stalk” us, she e-mailed the Globe.
When it comes to college consultants, nothing is too extreme. With applications at elite colleges rising — and acceptance rates plummeting as a result — so many wealthy parents are so desperate for any edge it’s as if satirist Sacha Baron Cohen is at work, trying to see what people will buy.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/08/13/what-craziest-thing-about-college-application-boot-camp-that-has-wait-list-its-secret-location/qBA6dDuE49KFAtYNrJNZPL/story.html?et_rid=606374700&s_campaign=todaysheadlines:newsletter
The Peacemaker
good boy doesn't let a fight break out 😀👌 pic.twitter.com/Vb0h0OKJ6H— Gaml .y (@m_yosry2012) August 10, 2018
Advice From President Vicente Fox
https://hlsrv.vidible.tv/prod/5b6c8582e880db4fb508bcbc/2018-08-09/hls/playlist_v1.m3u8?PR=E&S=6Ot38eo1ND0FkAe-5KN_JaqK0KkKUwKzgn9dyy011i10yKnwGGsV-R74bzDxcxBf
Monday, August 13, 2018
I Love This Kid!
Join me in following "Wake Up to Politics" by Gabe Fleisher, a high school student who writes a daily blog on the latest happenings in Washington and beyond. The link is below.
wakeuptopolitics.com/subscribe
wakeuptopolitics.com/subscribe
Sunday, August 12, 2018
Saturday, August 11, 2018
Stupid is as Stupid Does
Has your Presidency jumped the shark? Better call SPACE FORCE! To stupidity and beyond!!! https://t.co/NrLGWEFBsI pic.twitter.com/BZqxmJKjv9— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) August 10, 2018
Friday, August 10, 2018
Cause of Death
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
Death reports make the opioid crisis personal for doctors
By Carolyn Y. Johnson
The form letters from the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office were supportive but grim.
“This is a courtesy communication to inform you that your patient (Name, Date of Birth) died on (date). Prescription drug overdose was either the primary cause of death or contributed to the death,” said the letters, sent to hundreds of doctors who in the past 12 months had prescribed opioids to patients who later died. “… We hope that you will take this as an opportunity to join us in preventing future deaths from drug overdose.”
The notices were a simple but unusual experiment — part of a growing research effort aimed at finding solutions to the opioid epidemic that is estimated to have killed almost 50,000 people from overdoses last year. They also addressed an almost astonishing gap in the American health-care system — the gulf between the care doctors provide and their knowledge about the consequences for patients. Many doctors who prescribe painkillers may believe that addiction is a problem that happens to other doctors' patients, because they never learn about their own patients who died of an overdose.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/08/09/death-reports-make-the-opioid-crisis-personal-for-doctors/?utm_term=.31b4b34c34c8&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1
Death reports make the opioid crisis personal for doctors
By Carolyn Y. Johnson
The form letters from the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office were supportive but grim.
“This is a courtesy communication to inform you that your patient (Name, Date of Birth) died on (date). Prescription drug overdose was either the primary cause of death or contributed to the death,” said the letters, sent to hundreds of doctors who in the past 12 months had prescribed opioids to patients who later died. “… We hope that you will take this as an opportunity to join us in preventing future deaths from drug overdose.”
The notices were a simple but unusual experiment — part of a growing research effort aimed at finding solutions to the opioid epidemic that is estimated to have killed almost 50,000 people from overdoses last year. They also addressed an almost astonishing gap in the American health-care system — the gulf between the care doctors provide and their knowledge about the consequences for patients. Many doctors who prescribe painkillers may believe that addiction is a problem that happens to other doctors' patients, because they never learn about their own patients who died of an overdose.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/08/09/death-reports-make-the-opioid-crisis-personal-for-doctors/?utm_term=.31b4b34c34c8&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1
Priceless
Just like catcalling, I don’t owe a response to unsolicited requests from men with bad intentions.— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) August 10, 2018
And also like catcalling, for some reason they feel entitled to one. pic.twitter.com/rsD17Oq9qe
Thursday, August 9, 2018
He Buys Groceries for Strangers
An excerpt from Vulture -
The Only Good Story of 2018 Is This New York Times Investigation Into Ludacris Buying Groceries for Strangers
By Dee Lockett
Ludacris has been out here committing random acts of kindness in the form of buying groceries for strangers at Atlanta supermarkets for “years and years.” YEARS AND YEARS!
And how do we know this delightful information, pray tell? From the New York Times, which allotted valuable reporting resources to investigate over a hundred social-media claims that some kind soul named Chris — LudaCRIS — had been covering people’s grocery bills. In person. Just regularly showing up at Whole Foods, Sprouts Fresh Market, Publix, Costco, you name it, and carrying out God’s plan.
http://www.vulture.com/2018/08/breaking-news-ludacris-is-buying-groceries-for-strangers.html
The Only Good Story of 2018 Is This New York Times Investigation Into Ludacris Buying Groceries for Strangers
By Dee Lockett
Ludacris has been out here committing random acts of kindness in the form of buying groceries for strangers at Atlanta supermarkets for “years and years.” YEARS AND YEARS!
And how do we know this delightful information, pray tell? From the New York Times, which allotted valuable reporting resources to investigate over a hundred social-media claims that some kind soul named Chris — LudaCRIS — had been covering people’s grocery bills. In person. Just regularly showing up at Whole Foods, Sprouts Fresh Market, Publix, Costco, you name it, and carrying out God’s plan.
http://www.vulture.com/2018/08/breaking-news-ludacris-is-buying-groceries-for-strangers.html
Fans Petition for LeBron James to Replace Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Ed...
https://sports.yahoo.com/thousands-petition-lebron-james-secretary-education-174618029.html
Enough Already
An excerpt from the Root -
Enough With the Shit, Green Party. The Coming Midterms Are Too Important for Your Shenanigans
By Stephen A. Crockett Jr
In theory, the Green Party is vitally necessary for a two-party system with party platforms so rigid and legacy-laced that not all potential candidates can get with either of them. I get it.
But in practice, the Green Party has become a catch-all for wackos and faux-Democrats who wouldn’t have a shot in hell in winning the dominant parties’ bids to continue fucking up the country for the rest of us.
Ohio’s congressional special election on Tuesday between Republican Troy Balderson and Democrat Danny O’Connor is so close that less than 1 percent separates the winner from the eventual loser. While the race is essentially a practice run for November midterms, it was a prime opportunity to send a strong message to the Trump administration. A Democratic victory in Ohio, a state Trump won handily in the 2016 presidential election, would signal to Trump that America is tired of his bullshit.
https://www.theroot.com/enough-with-the-shit-green-party-the-coming-midterms-1828199109?utm_source=theroot_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-08-09
Enough With the Shit, Green Party. The Coming Midterms Are Too Important for Your Shenanigans
By Stephen A. Crockett Jr
In theory, the Green Party is vitally necessary for a two-party system with party platforms so rigid and legacy-laced that not all potential candidates can get with either of them. I get it.
But in practice, the Green Party has become a catch-all for wackos and faux-Democrats who wouldn’t have a shot in hell in winning the dominant parties’ bids to continue fucking up the country for the rest of us.
Ohio’s congressional special election on Tuesday between Republican Troy Balderson and Democrat Danny O’Connor is so close that less than 1 percent separates the winner from the eventual loser. While the race is essentially a practice run for November midterms, it was a prime opportunity to send a strong message to the Trump administration. A Democratic victory in Ohio, a state Trump won handily in the 2016 presidential election, would signal to Trump that America is tired of his bullshit.
https://www.theroot.com/enough-with-the-shit-green-party-the-coming-midterms-1828199109?utm_source=theroot_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-08-09
Wednesday, August 8, 2018
West Hollywood Wants Trump Gone
https://hlsrv.vidible.tv/prod/5b69c30b600c9a4e6f2eb3d2/2018-08-07/hls/playlist_v2.m3u8?PR=E&S=6FjWGTPfICo-dmN70MhqJksPYUWnd30AQt9D1iW8jgi2PuYhOQNhVutLPZ-ZP4gI
College Essay Tips
An excerpt from the New York Times -
How to Write a Good College Application Essay
By Janet Morrissey
Here are some tips compiled from experts for writing that all-important application essay, which can often mean the difference between getting accepted — or rejected — by the school of your choice.
The essay is your megaphone — your view of the world and your ambitions. It’s not just a resume or a regurgitation of everything you’ve done. It needs to tell a story with passion, using personal, entertaining anecdotes that showcase your character, your interests, your values, your life experiences, your views of the world, your ambitions and even your sense of humor.
Emphasize volunteer work or other ways you’ve helped people or made your community a better place. It helps if the activity is related to the subject you want to study. For example, Christopher Rim of Command Education Group, which coaches students, remembers that one student who wanted to become a dentist, set up a nonprofit and held fund-raisers to distribute toothbrushes, toothpaste and other dental products to homeless shelters. Admissions staff members want to know how your presence will make the college a better place.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/02/education/learning/writing-college-application-essay.html
How to Write a Good College Application Essay
By Janet Morrissey
Here are some tips compiled from experts for writing that all-important application essay, which can often mean the difference between getting accepted — or rejected — by the school of your choice.
The essay is your megaphone — your view of the world and your ambitions. It’s not just a resume or a regurgitation of everything you’ve done. It needs to tell a story with passion, using personal, entertaining anecdotes that showcase your character, your interests, your values, your life experiences, your views of the world, your ambitions and even your sense of humor.
Emphasize volunteer work or other ways you’ve helped people or made your community a better place. It helps if the activity is related to the subject you want to study. For example, Christopher Rim of Command Education Group, which coaches students, remembers that one student who wanted to become a dentist, set up a nonprofit and held fund-raisers to distribute toothbrushes, toothpaste and other dental products to homeless shelters. Admissions staff members want to know how your presence will make the college a better place.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/02/education/learning/writing-college-application-essay.html
Tuesday, August 7, 2018
Monday, August 6, 2018
Not Nice
From Buzzfeed -
19 Animals Who Are Kind Of Assholes
It's wild out there.
By Phil Jahner
https://www.buzzfeed.com/philippjahner/animals-are-assholes-sometimes?utm_term=.yy2ox7VJQ#.eaPnPQGwK
19 Animals Who Are Kind Of Assholes
It's wild out there.
By Phil Jahner
https://www.buzzfeed.com/philippjahner/animals-are-assholes-sometimes?utm_term=.yy2ox7VJQ#.eaPnPQGwK
Sunday, August 5, 2018
Saturday, August 4, 2018
Standing Up to Injustices
An excerpt from the New York Times OPINION -
N.F.L. Players to Trump: Here’s Whom You Should Pardon
By Doug Baldwin, Anquan Boldin, Malcolm Jenkins and Benjamin Watson
The writers are former and current professional football players.
As Americans, it is our constitutional right to question injustices when they occur, and we see them daily: police brutality, unnecessary incarceration, excessive criminal sentencing, residential segregation and educational inequality. The United States effectively uses prison to treat addiction, and you could argue it is also our largest mental-health provider. Law enforcement has a responsibility to serve its communities, yet this responsibility has too often not met basic standards of accountability.
These injustices are so widespread as to seem practically written into our nation’s DNA. We must challenge these norms, investigate the reasons for their pervasiveness and fight with all we have to change them. That is what we, as football players, are trying to do with our activism.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/opinion/trump-pardon-nfl-players.html
N.F.L. Players to Trump: Here’s Whom You Should Pardon
By Doug Baldwin, Anquan Boldin, Malcolm Jenkins and Benjamin Watson
The writers are former and current professional football players.
As Americans, it is our constitutional right to question injustices when they occur, and we see them daily: police brutality, unnecessary incarceration, excessive criminal sentencing, residential segregation and educational inequality. The United States effectively uses prison to treat addiction, and you could argue it is also our largest mental-health provider. Law enforcement has a responsibility to serve its communities, yet this responsibility has too often not met basic standards of accountability.
These injustices are so widespread as to seem practically written into our nation’s DNA. We must challenge these norms, investigate the reasons for their pervasiveness and fight with all we have to change them. That is what we, as football players, are trying to do with our activism.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/opinion/trump-pardon-nfl-players.html
A McScam
An excerpt from the Daily Beast -
How an Ex-Cop Rigged McDonald’s Monopoly Game and Stole Millions
Jerome Jacobson and his network of mobsters, psychics, strip-club owners, and drug traffickers won almost every prize for 12 years, until the FBI launched Operation ‘Final Answer.’
By JEFF MAYSH
Like winning the Powerball, the odds of Hoover’s win were 1 in 250 million. There were two ways to win the Monopoly grand prize: Find the “Instant Win” game piece like Hoover, or match Park Place with the elusive Boardwalk to choose between a heavily taxed lump sum or a $50,000 check every year for 20 years. Just like the Monopoly board game, which was invented as a warning about the destructive nature of greed, players traded game pieces to win, or outbid each other on eBay. Armed robbers even held up restaurants demanding Monopoly tickets. “Don’t go to jail! Go to McDonald’s and play Monopoly for real!” cried Rich Uncle Pennybags, the game’s mustachioed mascot, on TV commercials that sent customers flocking to buy more food. Monopoly quickly became the company’s most lucrative marketing device since the Happy Meal.
Inside Hoover’s home, Amy Murray, a loyal McDonald’s spokesperson, encouraged him to tell the camera about the luckiest moment of his life. Nervously clutching his massive check, Hoover said he’d fallen asleep on the beach. When he bent over to wash off the sand, his People magazine fell into the sea. He bought another copy from a grocery store, he said, and inside was an advertising insert with the “Instant Win” game piece. The camera crew listened patiently to his rambling story, silently recognizing the inconsequential details found in stories told by liars. They suspected that Hoover was not a lucky winner, but part of a major criminal conspiracy to defraud the fast-food chain of millions of dollars. The two men behind the camera were not from McDonald’s. They were undercover agents from the FBI.
This was a McSting.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-an-ex-cop-rigged-mcdonalds-monopoly-game-and-stole-millions
How an Ex-Cop Rigged McDonald’s Monopoly Game and Stole Millions
Jerome Jacobson and his network of mobsters, psychics, strip-club owners, and drug traffickers won almost every prize for 12 years, until the FBI launched Operation ‘Final Answer.’
By JEFF MAYSH
Like winning the Powerball, the odds of Hoover’s win were 1 in 250 million. There were two ways to win the Monopoly grand prize: Find the “Instant Win” game piece like Hoover, or match Park Place with the elusive Boardwalk to choose between a heavily taxed lump sum or a $50,000 check every year for 20 years. Just like the Monopoly board game, which was invented as a warning about the destructive nature of greed, players traded game pieces to win, or outbid each other on eBay. Armed robbers even held up restaurants demanding Monopoly tickets. “Don’t go to jail! Go to McDonald’s and play Monopoly for real!” cried Rich Uncle Pennybags, the game’s mustachioed mascot, on TV commercials that sent customers flocking to buy more food. Monopoly quickly became the company’s most lucrative marketing device since the Happy Meal.
Inside Hoover’s home, Amy Murray, a loyal McDonald’s spokesperson, encouraged him to tell the camera about the luckiest moment of his life. Nervously clutching his massive check, Hoover said he’d fallen asleep on the beach. When he bent over to wash off the sand, his People magazine fell into the sea. He bought another copy from a grocery store, he said, and inside was an advertising insert with the “Instant Win” game piece. The camera crew listened patiently to his rambling story, silently recognizing the inconsequential details found in stories told by liars. They suspected that Hoover was not a lucky winner, but part of a major criminal conspiracy to defraud the fast-food chain of millions of dollars. The two men behind the camera were not from McDonald’s. They were undercover agents from the FBI.
This was a McSting.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-an-ex-cop-rigged-mcdonalds-monopoly-game-and-stole-millions
Tips For Saving on Travel
From the New York Times -
Paris, Chicago and Beyond: How to Have a Luxury Trip for Much Less Than You Think
A high-end vacation doesn’t have to mean spending big dollars. Here are 10 cities where you can have upscale experiences without paying premium prices.
By Shivani Vora
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/30/travel/luxury-trips-for-less.html
Paris, Chicago and Beyond: How to Have a Luxury Trip for Much Less Than You Think
A high-end vacation doesn’t have to mean spending big dollars. Here are 10 cities where you can have upscale experiences without paying premium prices.
By Shivani Vora
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/30/travel/luxury-trips-for-less.html
Delete From Resume
An excerpt from the Huffington Post -
9 Seemingly Harmless Things You Should Never Have On Your Resume
We all know you have references available upon request.
By Casey Bond
When was the last time you reviewed your resume? According to a recent poll by career site Monster, 39 percent of respondents said they updated their resume the last time they applied for a job; 8 percent said they couldn’t even remember the last time they looked at it.
But according to Monster’s career expert Vicki Salemi, you should update your resume every six to 12 months. And you shouldn’t just add new positions and responsibilities. You should also get rid of anything that could cost you your next job.
So if you have any of these nine things on your resume, delete them right away.
1. Your photo
Unless you’re applying for an acting, modeling or other job that requires a headshot, your picture doesn’t belong on your resume.
“It makes some hiring managers uncomfortable, as it relates to the possibility of making biased decisions,” said Debra Boggs, a co-founder of D&S Professional Coaching.
Plus, if the photo doesn’t match a company’s culture, it could hurt you. Boggs gave an example from a friend who was hiring for an accounting role. “A qualified candidate sent a resume in with a candid shot of them in a flannel shirt,” she said. “They did not make the cut for an interview for this formal role.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/common-resume-mistakes_us_5b649fe2e4b0b15abaa2e83e
9 Seemingly Harmless Things You Should Never Have On Your Resume
We all know you have references available upon request.
By Casey Bond
When was the last time you reviewed your resume? According to a recent poll by career site Monster, 39 percent of respondents said they updated their resume the last time they applied for a job; 8 percent said they couldn’t even remember the last time they looked at it.
But according to Monster’s career expert Vicki Salemi, you should update your resume every six to 12 months. And you shouldn’t just add new positions and responsibilities. You should also get rid of anything that could cost you your next job.
So if you have any of these nine things on your resume, delete them right away.
1. Your photo
Unless you’re applying for an acting, modeling or other job that requires a headshot, your picture doesn’t belong on your resume.
“It makes some hiring managers uncomfortable, as it relates to the possibility of making biased decisions,” said Debra Boggs, a co-founder of D&S Professional Coaching.
Plus, if the photo doesn’t match a company’s culture, it could hurt you. Boggs gave an example from a friend who was hiring for an accounting role. “A qualified candidate sent a resume in with a candid shot of them in a flannel shirt,” she said. “They did not make the cut for an interview for this formal role.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/common-resume-mistakes_us_5b649fe2e4b0b15abaa2e83e
Registering Inmates to Vote
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/voting-behind-bars-inside-cook-county-jail-detainees-get-a-chance-to-cast-their-ballots_us_5b61ee50e4b01e373aac3b29
Friday, August 3, 2018
Squeeze Him!
Squeeze Mueller Squeeze! https://t.co/NrLGWEFBsI pic.twitter.com/0rKLVjSSF6— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) August 1, 2018
Awesome Bridge
From the Huffington Post -
The New ‘Golden Bridge’ In Vietnam Is Hands-Down The Coolest Bridge Ever
The unusual structure is located in Ba Na Hills.
By Chris McGonigal
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-new-golden-bridge-in-vietnam-is-hands-down-the-coolest-bridge-ever_us_5b63331be4b0fd5c73d75689
The New ‘Golden Bridge’ In Vietnam Is Hands-Down The Coolest Bridge Ever
The unusual structure is located in Ba Na Hills.
By Chris McGonigal
 | ||
| LINH PHAM VIA GETTY IMAGES | In this photograph taken on July 31, 2018, visitors walk along the 150-meter long Cau Vang “Golden Bridge” in the Ba Na Hills near Danang, Vietnam. |
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-new-golden-bridge-in-vietnam-is-hands-down-the-coolest-bridge-ever_us_5b63331be4b0fd5c73d75689
Wednesday, August 1, 2018
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