I feel obligated:

This is Spinal Tap - Stonehenge

Huh. I seem to have stumbled upon Ricochet's mysterious time machine. That, or my computer is prescient.

I have to wonder, though, if today's "botched traditional" buildings will be viewed by future generations as works of art, much as we (I) view vernacular, technically incorrect Greek Revival structures of the mid-19th century as art. The builder of the house I linked to the photo of was hampered by his lack of formal training, but he made up for it in imagination. Today's problem, I think, is that nearly every designer is formally trained, and still can't produce a decent-looking product.

You're probably talking about grandiose commercial and governmental architecture, so the relevance of my comment is questionable...

Too often true.  Last spring, I attended one of my school's weekly Junior State of America meetings.  Among the more notable topics of discussion was a proposal to use unintelligent people as a form of renewable energy (!).  If I remember correctly, the suggester was only half-joking.

I'm not especially appreciative of the sentiment here, considering that I am one of those likely to suffer from the "clipping."  Are we talking about destroying only elite colleges (i.e. Harvard and Yale), or our current system of post-secondary education in general?

Please, let this be satirical.

Hallelujah.

The choice isn't between work and marriage. If anything, the choice is between work and children.

Gosh. Did you attend my high school?

I find myself in this predicament currently. In my case, though, it isn't that I'm immature or unmotivated; rather, I choose to devote my extra time and energy to matters not sanctioned by the school.

I'm curious to know how many schools actually require kids to play dodgeball nowadays.  In my years of schooling, I never once participated in it, and my knowledge of its existence comes solely from mentions by adults.  Perhaps, I'm just sheltered.

Interesting. I'd have expected a graph of the situation to look more like the ever-applicable bell curve.

Inspired by "A Salute to Maps?"

A few rural counties are needlessly omitted from "What Work Pays in Rural America."  Brown County and Madison County, to provide two Ohio examples, aren't metropolitan by any stretch of the imagination.

I'd use this opportunity to plug some of my own maps, but the comment formatting box is giving me errors.

Most people, I've found, are at least somewhat involved in sports.  I'm not at all surprised that those interested are less likely to be lonely than those who aren't.  The New York Times article is definitely targeted toward a certain minority demographic.

Personally, I couldn't care less about sports, and I despise any activity that involves mass vocal participation.  At least I know I'm in the minority.

It's quite unfortunate, isn't it? Most of my peers are dreadfully ignorant about anything geography-related. I've even met people (native Ohioans) who believe that Franklin County extends all the way to the Ohio River. The saddest part isn't an absence of technical knowledge, but the general lack of appreciation some have for the world around them.

Thirty.

A significant portion were lucky guesses.

Is minoring in a subject of interest worthwhile? Or, does simply taking classes dealing with those subjects fulfill the same goal?

I've done reading. In fact, the book Roadside Geology of Ohio sits on a shelf a few feet from my desk. :) Geology and chemistry go hand-in-hand, I think.

The one caveat is that geology is largely tied to extractive industries, which don't have a huge presence in Ohio. I'm not sure how stable the field will be in the future, with government regulation and whatnot.

Thanks for the wonderful advice, everyone.

I should add, much too late, that math is simply not my strongest subject. Rather, my skills lie in the liberal arts sphere and, oddly enough, science. Any field based entirely on math, as great as it is in terms of job prospects, is not something I can imagine myself doing.

I never plan to "party" in a conventional sense, being an introvert and all, but I am aware of the social benefits of college. I certainly hope it's an improvement over high school.