A diploma mill (also known as a degree mill) is an organization that awards academic degrees and diplomas with substandard or no academic study and without recognition by official educational accrediting bodies. The purchaser can then claim to hold an academic degree, and the organization is motivated by making a profit. These degrees are often awarded based on vaguely construed life experience. Some such organizations claim accreditation by non-recognized/unapproved accrediting bodies set up for the purposes of providing a veneer of authenticity. While the terms "degree mill" and "diploma mill" are commonly used interchangeably, within the academic community a distinction is sometimes drawn: A "degree mill" issues "real" diplomas from unaccredited "universities," which may be legal in some states but are generally illegitimate universities. A "diploma mill" issues counterfeit diplomas which bear the names of legitimate universities. The United States does not have a federal law that would unambiguously prohibit diploma mills, and the term "university" is not legally protected on a national level. The United States Department of Education lacks direct plenary authority to regulate schools and, consequently, the quality of an institution's degree. However, the Federal Trade Commission works to prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices including those in the field of education and alerts United States' consumers about diploma mills by delineating some tell-tale signs in its official web page. Under the terms of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, the U.S. Secretary of Education is required by law to publish a list of nationally recognized accrediting agencies that the Secretary determines to be reliable authorities on the quality of education or training provided by the institutions of higher education that they accredit. Some degree mills have taken advantage of the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment by representing themselves as seminaries, since in many jurisdictions religious institutions can legally offer degrees in religious subjects without government regulation. Although the DipScam operation in the 1980s led to a decline in diploma mill activity across the United States, the lack of further action by law enforcement, uneven state laws, and the rise of the Internet have combined to reverse many of the gains made in previous years. In 2005, the US Department of Education launched its Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs website to combat the spread of fraudulent degrees. A number of states have passed bills restricting the ability of organizations to award degrees without accreditation. See more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diploma_mills

Puzzles for the brain to gnaw on http://www.rinkworks.com/brainfood/

"The first thing that an architect must do," Louis Kahn said in a 1961 lecture at Princeton University, "is to sense that every building you build is a world of its own, and that this world of its own serves an institution." An architect who finished remarkably few buildings, Mr. Kahn (1901-1974) made almost every one of them count. His legendary reputation among architectural professionals is a testament to his distinct approach to design, which reshaped American modernism by marshaling simple, powerful forms that recall the majesty and durability of such ancient structures as the Baths of Caracalla in Rome. Accordingly, Mr. Kahn's works have won five of the American Institute of Architects' Twenty-five Year Awards—an exceedingly short list of the most renowned works of modern American architecture. Among these is Mr. Kahn's library at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, N.H., which celebrates its 40th year in use this fall. At Exeter, he created an enduring and visionary model for what a library could be, a powerful space to serve as the anchor of a community built around learning. Their questions are usually put to rest once they've stepped inside and found that they have entered an other-worldly cathedral of books. After ascending a stately double staircase of polished travertine, they encounter the dramatic heart of Mr. Kahn's celebrated design: a soaring central atrium whose smooth concrete walls are perforated by enormous portholes revealing, behind them, four floors of stacks. The warmth of the upper floors' teak facing contrasts pleasingly with the harshness of the concrete. Above, two enormous X-shaped concrete crossbeams reflect and diffuse sunlight from thin clerestory windows, filling the atrium's ample space with a cool glow. The faculty committee that commissioned the library instructed Mr. Kahn that "the emphasis should not be on housing books, but on housing readers using books." He accomplished this charge through his focus on light, as he understood light to be the essential connection between books and readers. See more plus pictures at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303406104576444352682795230.html

Titus Lucretius Carus (ca. 99 BC – ca. 55 BC) was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is an epic philosophical poem laying out the beliefs of Epicureanism, De rerum natura, translated into English as On the Nature of Things or "On the Nature of the Universe". Very little is known about Lucretius's life; the only certain fact is that he was either a friend or a client of Gaius Memmius, to whom he dedicated De Rerum Natura. Another piece of information is found in a letter Cicero wrote to his brother Quintus in February 54 BC. Cicero writes: "The poems of Lucretius are as you write: they exhibit many flashes of genius, and yet show great mastership." Apparently, by February 54 BC both Cicero and his brother had read De Rerum Natura. However, internal evidence from the poem (such as various repetitions, and the sudden end in Book 6 in the middle of the description of the plague at Athens) suggests that it was published without a final revision, possibly due to its author's death. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucretius

Epicureanism is a system of philosophy based upon the teachings of Epicurus, founded around 307 BC. Epicurus was an atomic materialist, following in the steps of Democritus. His materialism led him to a general attack on superstition and divine intervention. Following Aristippus—about whom very little is known—Epicurus believed that pleasure is the greatest good. But the way to attain pleasure was to live modestly and to gain knowledge of the workings of the world and the limits of one's desires. This leads one to attain a state of tranquility (ataraxia) and freedom from fear, as well as absence of bodily pain (aponia). The combination of these two states is supposed to constitute happiness in its highest form. Although Epicureanism is a form of hedonism, insofar as it declares pleasure as the sole intrinsic good, its conception of absence of pain as the greatest pleasure and its advocacy of a simple life make it different from "hedonism" as it is commonly understood. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicureanism

On the Nature of Things by Lucretius, translated by William Ellery Leonard http://classics.mit.edu/Carus/nature_things.html

Third Thursday Art Walk in Toledo August 18, 2011 Each month, June through September, features an average of 20 galleries, hundreds of artists, and live entertainment. All in one block, find:
Art Supply Depo, 29 South St. Clair Street fine art and office supply store http://www.artsupplydepo.com/
Fine Things Bistro 38 South St. Clair Street "Edibles, Coffee, Collectibles" salads, soups, sandwiches, specials, homemade breads and desserts http://finethingsbistro.com/
Downtown Latte 44 South St. Clair Street "coffee and conversation" http://downtownlatte.com/

From the minute the artwork went up last spring at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, says museum director Malcolm A. Rogers, visitors have besieged him with one question. "They ask, 'Are we keeping it?' "It" is "Lime Green Icicle Tower," a 42-foot-tall, 9-foot-wide spiky column confected from 2,342 pieces of blown glass that together weigh some 10,000 pounds. The tower is so popular that the MFA recently launched a public campaign to buy it—only the third such appeal in its 135-year history. "Lime Green Icicle Tower," which was made for the MFA's soaring glass courtyard by artist Dale Chihuly, is part of an exhibition entitled "Chihuly: Through the Looking Glass." See picture at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903341404576482630261594942.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

An increase in the number of meteors at a particular time of year is called a meteor shower. Comets shed the debris that becomes most meteor showers. As comets orbit the Sun, they shed an icy, dusty debris stream along the comet's orbit. If Earth travels through this stream, we will see a meteor shower. Depending on where Earth and the stream meet, meteors appear to fall from a particular place in the sky, maybe within the neighborhood of a constellation. Meteor showers are named by the constellation from which meteors appear to fall, a spot in the sky astronomers call the radiant. For instance, the radiant for the Leonid meteor shower is located in the constellation Leo. The Perseid meteor shower is so named because meteors appear to fall from a point in the constellation Perseus. http://stardate.org/nightsky/meteors The Perseid meteor shower should be at its peak the night of August 12.