Almost 40 years ago, U.S. News & World Report asked more than 1,300 college presidents to rate their peer institutions and published the results in its inaugural “Best Colleges” rankings.

The publication’s easy-to-digest hierarchy of undergraduate institutions — based solely on reputation — was an effort to best competitors Time and Newsweek.

It proved massively popular.

“Best Colleges” soon became a yearly feature and spawned a college rankings industry.

The influence of the U.S. News rankings is undeniable.

Universities tout their rank in press releases and campus brochures, and declare that they want to improve their positions in their strategic plans.

Current students and alumni check the rankings to see how their school fared, and high school students consult them to determine what colleges they should strive to get into.

“There is kind of a culture around rankings that is unhealthy,” said Brennan Barnard, director of college counseling at Khan Lab School.

Still, the rankings endure in popularity. (CNN)

(CNN)

Descending up to 40 meters beneath the Baltic Sea, the world’s longest immersed tunnel will link Denmark and Germany, slashing journey times between the two countries when it opens in 2029.

After more than a decade of planning, construction started on the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel in 2020 and in the months since a temporary harbor has been completed on the Danish side. It will host the factory that will soon build the 89 massive concrete sections that will make up the tunnel.

“The expectation is that the first production line will be ready around the end of the year, or beginning of next year,” said Henrik Vincentsen, CEO of Femern A/S, the state-owned Danish company in charge of the project. “By the beginning of 2024 we have to be ready to immerse the first tunnel.

Leave it to the Europeans to design a tunnel that will carry people under the Baltic Sea just to cut travel time between Denmark and Germany.

New York (CNN Business)

McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski has big concerns about surging crime in Chicago, where the fast food giant is based, saying it is impacting the company’s restaurants and making it harder to recruit corporate talent.

Crime is “seeping into every corner of our city,” Kempczinski said during an event at the Economic Club of Chicago Wednesday.

“Everywhere I go, I’m confronted by the same question these days — what’s going on in Chicago?

While it may wound our civic pride to hear it, there is a general sense out there that our city is in crisis.”

Kempczinski said that McDonald’s (MCD) restaurants in the city are suffering, noting that there are about 400 of the chain’s locations across Chicago.

With 400 restaurants across Chicago, he can accurately feel the pulse of the city.

This is another example of a breakdown in society.

Edgartown, Massachusetts (CNN)

After sharing hugs and teary goodbyes with roughly 50 migrants who had arrived unexpectedly by plane on this affluent vacation island, the volunteers who sheltered them at an Episcopal church carried out tables and chairs, packed food onto trucks and folded portable cots.

A familiar quiet had descended by Friday afternoon on the tree-lined downtown block on Martha’s Vineyard, where Jackie Stallings, 56, could not stop thinking about a young Venezuelan.

She was 23 but looked 15 — who sat with her in the St. Andrew’s Parish House the night before.

The asylum seeker showed Stallings cell phone video taken during the journey across a remote Central American jungle, pointing out migrants who had died along the way.

People are still dying to get a taste of freedom, something we take for granted!

Do you thank God you live in America?

If not now, when?

This flood is one of those times.

You and I know the rich children will survive and the poor children (shown above) will perish!!!

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN)

“Super floods” in Pakistan have left 3.4 million children in need of “immediate, lifesaving support,” according to UNICEF.

The floods — caused by record monsoon rains and dubbed by one minister as “the worst humanitarian disaster in a decade.”

“It has impacted 16 million children in total.” UNICEF’s Pakistan Representative Abdullah Fadil said following his visit this week to the country’s southern Sindh Province.

That estimate came as the country’s National Disaster Management Authority updated the death toll from the floods since mid-June to 1,545 people, 552 of them children.

Meanwhile, officials in the country warn that toll is likely to rise as deaths are being under reported. 

Twitter’s whistleblower testifies before Senate committee

So, it’s not surprising that serious security breaches are happening within the company. The former head of security of the social media company testified that he “saw with high confidence” a foreign agent placed by the Indian government within the company to monitor Twitter’s negotiations with the government.

In his disclosure, he also stated that the FBI told Twitter that it suspected an employee was a foreign asset for the Chinese government. (In August, a former manager at Twitter was convicted of spying for Saudi Arabia.)

But Zatko said the company doesn’t make serious efforts to root out spies and that when he discussed a possible foreign agent with one company executive, the person responded, “Well, since we already have one, what is the problem if we have more?” (CNN)

Twitter has an enormous ability to spy on its members and usurp their privacy.

Patriotism is obviously lacking at Twitter because money is more important than country.

One day, these misdeeds could cumulatively cause us harm.

If not today, when?

“You don’t succeed, try, try, again!”

OR, “When you fall, dust yourself off and start all over again!”

This blog is all about dealing with failure, great or small.

You know how we say, “Life has its ups and downs?”

Well, success is the UP and failure is the DOWN!

When you throw a basketball in an attempt to score, if you miss, the ball bounces off the backboard and right back to you, giving you a second chance.

So, that’s how you must be throughout your life, ready to bounce back from disappointment.

Both UPS and DOWNS are an integral part of the game of life.

Disappointment, in its various forms, touches all our lives regardless of our status in society.

So, the question is not will you face disappointment.

The question is WILL YOU BOUNCE BACK?

If not today, when?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited newly liberated Izium in the northeastern region of Kharkiv on Wednesday, five days after the country’s forces recaptured the city.

“Earlier, when we looked up, we always looked for the blue sky. Today, when we look up, we are looking for only one thing – the flag of Ukraine,” Zelensky said.

“Our blue-yellow flag is already flying in the de-occupied Izium. And it will be so in every Ukrainian city and village.”

“I want to thank you for saving our people, our hearts, children and future,” Zelensky said.

“It has been extremely difficult for you in recent months. Therefore, I ask you to take care of yourselves, because you are the most valuable asset we have,” he said. (CNN)

We all face challenges. Our response to those challenges defines who we are!

President Zelensky of Ukraine has stood up to his challenge.

Will you stand up to yours?

If not today, when?

When Queen Elizabeth met God upon her passing, was it a meeting of old friends or was HE a stranger to her?

And how about you and me?

Stranger or old friend?

You always know a person best by what they do?

And what has GOD done for us?

HE gave us the earth that possesses all the resources we will ever need to sustain the human race if we manage those resources responsibly.

HE gave us the ability to reproduce ourselves.

HE gave each of us a free will.

So, having received all these gifts, how do we show our gratitude?

Most prayers are a petition for help when we’re in trouble.

How often are your prayers pure and simple gratitude?

For each of us, our day will come.

Will we meet a stranger or an old friend?