Looks like he got most of his list done. Good on him for that, and good on him for being organized and proactive. It seems he still needs to brainstorm a little for a #4. Maybe #4 should be deciding to cross out items or check them off when finished. He’s wavered on that one a little. Either way, this unemployed guy has gotten more finished off his list than I have. I must get back to work now.
Aram Bartholl, as part of an art project, has embedded multiple USB drives in walls and curbs throughout New York. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not going to plug my computer into some random public USB.
The idea is to create an anonymous, offline file-sharing network in public space. The drives are completely public and anyone can plug in to drop and download files.
Yes. You read that right. There are STILL places in the U.S. where land is free. And, yes, there is a catch. You have to agree to build a house (or plop a mobile home or, sometimes, a business) on the land. The concept of giving away free land isn’t new, as back in the day the government used it as a means to settle the far corners of the country. So what far corners are we talking about today? Here ya go:
1.Marquette, Kansas will give you a lot if you agree to erect a 1,000 s.f. house upon it. If you dream of having a house with a BIG garden, the city will throw in an adjacent lot if you ask nicely.
2.Atwood, Kansas and the surrounding environs of Herndon and McDonald are offering 4 – 110′ x 130′ lots for free.
3.Elwood, Nebraska have lots available for ‘a minimal fee’.
4.Marne, Iowa is offering up some lovely lots for, yes, free.
5.Muskegon, Michigan is giving way land to businesses who are willing to set up shop in their community. The size of the acreage depends upon how many employees the business foresees hiring.
6.Camden, Maine is offering up 3.5 acres for ‘the right business that can create good jobs’.
There are 18,000 parking lot attendants in the U.S. with college degrees. There are 5,000 janitors in the U.S. with PhDs. In all, some 17 million college-educated Americans have jobs that don’t require their level of education. Why?
The data comes from a the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and can be seen here in handy, depressing chart form:
At the Chronicle, where the below chart was posted, Richard Vedder argues that maybe we place too much importance on higher education, citing a new study by the National Bureau of Economic Research:
