SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:50 P.M. ET: 

WE FEEL THEIR PAIN – FROM THE WASHINGTON FREE BEACON:   Harvard University's selection of Lawrence Bacow as its new president has been met with disappointment and frustration from those who hoped to see a person of color in the post for the first time.  With the former MIT chancellor tapped to replace Drew Faust in summer 2018, it has been pointed out on social media that Harvard will now have had more presidents named "Larry" than it has had women or people of color combined.  Harvard's first "President Larry" was early 20th-century legal scholar Abbott Lawrence Lowell, followed up by Lawrence Summers from 2001 to 2006.  "I really can't stop laughing at the fact that this isn't even Harvard's first president who's a white male economist named Larry. lolsob." tweeted doctoral student Nadira Farah Foley.  Do you remember when the standard was to choose the best person for the job?  Those were the old days.

A SLIGHT COURSE CORRECTION – FROM THE L.A. TIMES:  When it comes to air quality, the products you use to smell nice or scrub your kitchen could be just as bad as the car you drive. A new study of the air around Los Angeles finds that consumer and industrial products now rival tailpipe emissions in creating atmospheric pollutants.  The findings, published Thursday in the journal Science, reveal a shift in the balance of polluting power in cities — one that may prompt researchers and regulators to focus even more on a wide range of common consumer and industrial goods like hairspray, paint and deodorant.  Air pollution exposure is a leading cause of health problems worldwide. Among risk factors to human health, it ranks fifth behind malnutrition, poor diet, high blood pressure and tobacco, according to a report last year in the journal Lancet.  I'm so relieved that cars now will not be blamed for every evil.  I knew it was really hairspray, but no one would listen.  The hairspray lobby is just too strong.

GREAT! – FROM THE COLLEGE FIX:   Over the last week, college students nationwide have hung posters on their respective campuses advancing a novel idea: dating.  At a time when “Sex Weeks” and the progressive feminist narrative that celebrates meaningless, attachment-free, non-emotional sex dominates campuses, some students are advancing a notion that encourages their peers to get to know one another before getting naked.  The posters push a “people are worth it” dating message.  “Deep down, everyone desires the intimacy that comes from knowing and being known, loving and being loved,” Shaun Evans, a student who hung the posters at Notre Dame, said in an email to The College Fix.  “That desire is misdirected and intimacy is effaced by the hook-up culture..."  Not a bad idea.  We are getting a number of indications that traditional values are starting to make a comeback on college campuses.  Maturity and adulthood may soon become almost acceptable, if suspect. 

February 15,  2018