In 1991, households earning near the inflation-adjusted median income of around $50,000 were 48 percent of those benefiting from the MID see nearby chart. That share has fallen to 30 percent in 2009, while at the same time the portion of households claiming the MID with six-figure salaries or higher has tripled from 13.5 percent to 41.5 percent.
via The Myth of the Middle Class Mortgage Deduction – Reason Magazine.
Brandon does not like having his picture taken.
But what Vaccaro said in 2001 was true then, and it’s true now: corporations offer money so they can profit from the glory of college athletes, and the universities grab it. In 2010, despite the faltering economy, a single college athletic league, the football-crazed Southeastern Conference (SEC), became the first to crack the billion-dollar barrier in athletic receipts. The Big Ten pursued closely at $905 million. That money comes from a combination of ticket sales, concession sales, merchandise, licensing fees, and other sources—but the great bulk of it comes from television contracts.
via The Shame of College Sports – Magazine – The Atlantic.
Great and very long article, so long I thought I’d add another excerpt that I found most interesting and well put…
Ultimately, Byers prevailed and effectively neutered the AAU. In November 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed the bipartisan Amateur Sports Act. Amateurism in the Olympics soon dissolved—and the world did not end. Athletes, granted a 20 percent voting stake on every Olympic sport’s governing body, tipped balances in the United States and then inexorably around the world. First in marathon races, then in tennis tournaments, players soon were allowed to accept prize money and keep their Olympic eligibility. Athletes profited from sponsorships and endorsements. The International Olympic Committee expunged the word amateur from its charter in 1986. Olympic officials, who had once disdained the NCAA for offering scholarships in exchange for athletic performance, came to welcome millionaire athletes from every quarter, while the NCAA still refused to let the pro Olympian Michael Phelps swim for his college team at Michigan.
Wandering past vacant pews and pulpits among guidebook-toting spectators, I become briefly nostalgic for the cathedrals’ sacred past, until, opening my guidebook, I study that past and find nothing sacred. The glittering walls and shrines are decorated with ill-gotten gold, stolen relics, and war booty. The soaring domes and spires were raised to heaven not from piety but ambition, to outdo nearby cathedrals and show that Florence was better than Pisa,
via The Empty Cathedrals of Europe – Aphorisms and Paradoxes.
For some reason Brandon can’t stand being in the lake. After forcing him to go into the deep waters, I let him go and caught this shot with my Canon G1. Not bad for a 10 year old digital camera that once was top of the line. It still takes great shots.
