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April 23rd, 2024

Diversions

The Continuing Crisis

News of the Weird by Chuck Shepherd

By News of the Weird by Chuck Shepherd

Published March 14, 2017

The Continuing Crisis

A note in The New York Times in October mentioned a website that comprehensively covers everything worth knowing and wondering -- about shoelaces. Ian's Shoelace Site shows and discusses (and rates) lacing methods, how to mix lace colors, how to tie (comparing methods, variations and, again, ratings), lengths of laces (how to calculate, which formulas to use, what to do with excess lengths), "granny knots," aglet repair and much more -- neatly laid out in dozens of foolproof drawings for the shoelace- challenged (because no one wants to be caught in a shoelace faux pas). [Ian's Shoelace Site, http://bit.ly/1mVIpDO]


Though the presidential election of 2016 was certainly more volatile than usual, one reaction to the outcome was the apparent ease with which some in America's next generation of college-trained leaders were sidelined by self-described emotional pain. The Wall Street Journal reported that special attention was given by administrators at Tufts University, the University of Kansas and Ivy League Cornell, among other places, where their young adults could "grieve" over the election and seek emotional support, such as use of "therapy dogs" in Kansas and, at the University of Michigan, the availability of Play-Doh and coloring books for distraction. [Wall Street Journal, 11-9-2016]

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