Thank you for your comment! If Google thinks I'm interested in Grammarly, it is sadly mistaken. And those ads show up when I'm home (I don't watch videos from work (!)), so the only way it'd figure out I'm affiliated with a university would be because I sometimes have my email or the course management software (both sites ending in .edu) open in the same web browser. All that talk about artificial intelligence, and Google can't even tell it's been showing me the same ad I don't care about dozens and dozens of times. You're right that Grammarly may not be aware that its marketing budget is being used to show the same one ad to the same customers again and again. It must still represent a sizable amount of money and I'm impressed they found the cash given that they operate on a freemium business model. It's hard not to get the impression they are throwing money at advertising to generate a critical mass of users, and it's even worse if their money is being wasted on the same viewers, and viewers like me who don't even want Grammarly.

Also see: https://hub.jhu.edu/2014/03/05/wsj-oped-daniels-rothman/

And I also think Amazon should have a feature to rate deliveries, especially now that it has its own delivery services in some cities, so that there would be a way for it to know if a delivery man keeps delivering packages to wrong addresses, etc. But of course Amazon doesn't care, because it thinks the last mile is to deliver to the parcel locker. It's time to find for me to buy from Barnes & Noble again.

Thanks for the comment! It's very true that poverty and underfunding of education are closely connected in the American model of relying on property taxes to fund schools. I also like your point about the lack of role models a lot. When I studied in the French system, we laughed at the American passion for multi-choice quizzes in trying to measure everything. In France we were tested nationally twice: at the end of middle school and at the end of high school. And that was it. Also, our tests involved complex questions, which had to be graded by real people instead of machines. Those graders had to get paid. To have a good measurement system, you have to be willing to pay for it. My case was a bit unusual since I was in a Lycee Francais abroad, so I spent my whole elementary and secondary education there, but all French high schools are measured by their results at the baccalaureat at the end of high school. Students at the end of middle schools give their preference for the high school they want to attend but they are assigned to a specific local high school. The stakes are particularly high in Paris, where high schools can be of very high quality in one place and of poor quality close-by. Back in the days, I think the best students in Paris asked to learn Russian as first foreign language to be put in the good high schools that offered such classes. (I learned Russian because I was interested in it; again, I didn't have the same problem of risking to be put in a bad high school, since there was only one to choose from, but I remember having friends in Paris who had studied Russian for that reason.) I wonder how money for schools is allocated between each arrondissement in Paris. I'll have to research it!

Thanks for the recommendation! I'll definitely check out those movies. I was truly impressed by Kristen Stewart's performance in Cafe Society. She's one of the great.

It further shows that B&N is moving toward being a games, toys and children's bookstore, not a "regular" bookstore! I think it's a strategic mistake on their part. They don't do a good job of running the "regular" bookstore so they wrongly conclude it can't make money. Can't wait for Amazon.com to disrupt the playing field.

Hi Imre, It's silly of them not to bring more people into the stores by letting them ship online to a local store (and pay the discounted online price.) I agree that B&N is in a downward spiral and not because of Amazon.com but because of its own incompetence. I wouldn't be surprised if it went into bankruptcy in the not too distant future - and then Amazon.com could snap some of the physical bookstores, and would surely find a way to revolutionize one more stage in the book business. There's nothing to be excited about at B&N anymore, although it had some good ideas at some point like the "Discover New Authors" program. Profit of $80m against revenue of $1.4bn, operating cash flow of -$31m (ttm or trailing twelve months) and profit margin of -0.22%. Whoever is running the show has some changes to make. https://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=bks https://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=BKS+Key+Statistics

Proof! I just got an email about making an appointment later today about the project in my course, from someone who had said she could not meet 11am-noon because she had class. See, when students are on their laptop during class, it could be that they are trying to work out some matter for another class. They're not necessarily on social media.

Hi Paul, I think it would work using students' responses alone. It would be difficult to coordinate wrong answers among students and students know it is in their interest to be truthful if they want to avoid a "little boy who cried wolf" kind of situation. The survey would also need to be restricted to students who log in using their university credentials and they wouldn't be allowed to take it more than once a week. -Aurelie

Good point, Paul! I was thinking about US leaders. Also, what shocked me with Richard III is his willingness to have his own kin murdered, including little children. People he knew. But you're totally right that the 20th century has had its share of evil. I'll have to modify my wording. Thanks for point it out!