Where I work, we care about scholars and scholarships as these reflect quality and competitive character.  This is our sport or what we have contests about. 

To promote an enlightened, progressive, positive citizenry -- something different from the RedZone Flyover of Uhmerikka -- the US State Dept., has a scholarship program that our scholars took great advantage of this last year. 

Our students brought into the institution 94% more money ($56.5K) and received 90% more awards than last year.  Nationally, the average award amount declined 15% or $566. Our students held their place with a mere $66 average decline. 

We care so much about this stuff that we made a great reporting database tool.  It's great fun.  Check it out. http://tinyurl.com/cpro4le
That $500 difference is everything to a kid off in Russia or China learning the languages that will someday make a difference and save Uhmerrikkkah from itself.  And so, we say to those less fortunate than to study with UCEAP, well... let the title of Kathy Griffin's show suffice.

Economic Efficiency Around the Neck: Wrongsports Ties One On

I hope to someday be an old man.  Really.  It's a sign of survival. But I'm in no hurry to retire or wish my life away. 

The thing is: I'm probably always going to be the sort of person who pursues efficiency.  E.g., whenever I wear a tie it is a four-in-hand knot.  Good, Inexpensive, & Fast: the economic trinity.

So, even if I'm someday old enough and dapper enough to wear a bow tie, I don't think I could do it.   This instruction tool suggests it would require 16 steps to do if you can do it correctly.  That's just too much work for so little return on investment. 

Source: duitang.com via Sailor on Pinterest

Smaller and Cheaper Competitors

Flight of the RoboBee: Tiny hovering robot creates buzz - CSMonitor.com

RoboBees will be the bomb doggy bomb assassins and everyone will have one.   Mine will kill mosquitoes.

Importing Grades: Wrongsports Competing Claims

For work today I made available some considerations about, really, what schools are doing with study abroad (competing) and how a researcher might consider academic performance between students & universities an indicator of which schools recruit the better students.

http://uceapresearch.blogspot.com/