This is pretty much the ultimate proof of what I’ve been saying for years: that “college has become the new high school.” At the risk* of sounding ridiculously elitist, if the doors of college education are open so wide that virtually anyone can get in, regardless of their intellectual acuity, doesn’t that at some point devalue the very notion of “higher” education?

*Okay, okay, it’s not so much a “risk” as a “certainty” — but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m wrong!

P.S. My dedicated-server-mate Texasyank blogged about this before I did.

Lots of people are blogging about it, actually.

Padres pitcher Chris Young has a no-hitter through seven innings against the Rockies.

UPDATE: …aaaand Rockies outfielder Brad Hawpe leads off the 8th with a double. The title of this post was right!

Two days after telling me to look west for a beautiful view of the razor-thin crescent Moon shortly after sunset, Dr. Tony Phillips of SpaceWeather.com sends along another hot tip:

Step outside right about now and look west toward the glow of the setting sun. Can you see the crescent Moon? That red “star” just to the left of the Moon is the planet Mars. So if you’ve been wondering where Mars is, now you know.

Here’s a sky map.

UPDATE: Dammit, this could have been such a cool picture if it was in focus, and with a longer exposure…

That’s Mars in the top left-hand corner, and a passing plane in the lower right.

UPDATE 2: This photo, on the other hand, is quite cool, even though it doesn’t show Mars:

That’s Phoenix’s funky-looking City Hall at center-right, and the edge of the Wells Fargo building at far right. Photo taken from the northwest corner of Patriots Square Park, at 1st and Washington, while waiting for Becky to come pick me up from work.

In a must-win game at Buffalo’s HSBC Arena, the Sabres, trailing the best-of-seven series 3-2, lead the Hurricanes 1-0 at the end of the second period of Game 6. They’ll start the third period on a power play.

If this keeps up, quite a few Buffalonians are going to have heart attacks this evening.

UPDATE: The Hurricanes tied it up with less than 4:00 to go, and they’re going to overtime. Dammit!

UPDATE 2: YESS!!! Buffalo survives!! Daniel Briere — the same guy whose double-overtime goal in Game 1 of the Flyers series got me on the Sabres bandwagon in the first place — scores another OT game-winner, and Buffalo lives to see another day!! GAME SEVEN, BABY!!!

He did it again!

Now, to break those Carolina fans’ hearts on their home ice in Game 7. Yes, even the guy who was wearing the Whalers jersey at the last game. Sorry, Whalers guy. GO SABRES!!!

P.S. The Hurricanes’ season will end… on the first day of hurricane season. It’s fate, I tell you, FATE! :)

P.P.S. Bfloblog has the game-winning goal.

Today the Supreme Court handed down a ruling in Garcetti v. Ceballos. In the 5-4 decision the court decided that the first amendment and whistle blower protections do not protect someone acting in their official capacity. More in the New York Times

The gist of it is Mr. Ceballos complained to his boss that ethically questionable practices were being used to obtain search warrants. Mr. Ceballos was subsequently passed over for promotion. The central issue, according to Mr. Justice Kennedy (via the NYT article):

The controlling factor in this case, Justice Kennedy wrote, was that Mr. Ceballos was acting purely in an official capacity when he complained internally about the search warrant. “Ceballos wrote his disposition memo because that is part of what he was employed to do,” Justice Kennedy wrote. “He did not act as a citizen by writing it.”

Anyway, interesting article and interesting issue. Among other questions this raises, does this mean the a government employe that complains about ethical issues to his boss has less protection than if he aired his grievances live on 60 Minutes? Which, any constitutional issues aside, is a poor management position to take. I would think one would want to encourage employees to come to them first before they light the whole bridge on fire so to speak. However, that does not mean that the Constitution mandates good management practices.

So, just out of curiosity, I was wondering what the peanut gallery thought of this ruling…

A Maryland jury convicts John Allen Muhammad of six more of the D.C.-area sniper killings, AP reports. Visit CNN for the latest.

Mount St. Helens, one of the most famous volcanos in the U.S. after its explosive erruption in May of 1980, is reminding us again today that she’s still alive and well. After a small quake (3.1 magnitude) yesterday morning, pilots in the area reported seeing a plume of steam and ash coming from the crater of the volcano. St. Helens has been active again since 2004; most recently, a large rock “fin” has developed in the volcano’s crater.

Hat tip: Brendan