Automated polls poor measure of U.S. opinion

I was stunned by the recent report of a poll indicating that Clark had pulled so far ahead of Dean in Arizona ... until I saw who did the poll.

Survey USA is the leading vendor of cheap automated dialer polls to local news outfits. Automated dialer polling is a notoriously inaccurate methodology. I'm very disappointed in the unqualified and uncritical use of such polling by Arizona newspapers. [Read article]

Alumni Plaza disrupts grassy center of campus for benefit of few

In Spring 2001, Lynne Tronsdal, assistant vice president for student retention (at the time she was dean of the university college), gave a convincing argument while guiding me on a tour of the not-yet-completed Integrated Learning Center, about why students shouldn't be upset about the grassy Mall making way for construction projects. [Read article]

"This year, I'm going to eat more waffles."

"No more goofing off with bachelor's degrees; I'm going to live by my wits, hidden in Yellowstone National Park!"

"Tomorrow, I'm going to finally start that novel about the waitress who wins the lottery, only to discover she's a long-lost but not forgotten Romanian princess being hunted by her obsessed but endearingly eccentric great uncle."

I'm sure we've all made similar or identical promises to ourselves on New Year's Eve. In fact, to enforce just how serious we really are, we call them "resolutions." But early February finds us as we always were, surrounded by unfinished projects, neglected promises and hearts full of shame. Yet, we continue to fool ourselves this way, conjuring big dreams and mustering meager follow-throughs. [Read article]