Friday Fun Video: Weird Al Parodies "Blurred Lines"

Well, it's been an absolutely horrible week. Passenger jet shot down over Ukraine, Gaza conflict just provoked an Israeli incursion, and more evidence that our government is completely hopeless both at home and abroad.  Did anything positive even happen this week?  Thank goodness for Weird Al's new video. We could all use a laugh:

Euro Notes: European Debt Could Engulf Us All

OMG. Blurb:

The RBS economists estimate that the total amount of debt issued by public and private sector institutions in Greece, Portugal and Spain that is held by financial institutions outside these three countries is roughly €2,000bn. This is a staggeringly large figure, equivalent to about 22 per cent of the eurozone’s gross domestic product. It is far higher than previous published estimates. It indicates that, if a Greek or Portuguese or Spanish debt default were allowed to take place, the global financial system could suffer terrible damage.

Didn't I just say this?

Nerd News: Stanley Fish on "What Should Colleges Teach?"

Love him or loathe him, Stanley Fish is (pardon the wordplay) a big fish in the pond of academia.

Check out what he has to say about what colleges should teach: Part 1 and Part 2. Thoughts? Comments?

I am happy, though, to see that Fish recognizes a problem that I see constantly. He observes:

A few years ago, when I was grading papers for a graduate literature course, I became alarmed at the inability of my students to write a clean English sentence. They could manage for about six words and then, almost invariably, the syntax (and everything else) fell apart. I became even more alarmed when I remembered that these same students were instructors in the college’s composition program.

Boy howdy, it's TRUE. Then just think about the writing often produced by undergraduates if Fish's grad students are so awful.

Nerd Notes: Misusing "Its" and "It's"

Professor Instapundit wants correct language usage, please. ME TOO.