Published July 9, 2010

New research out of UC Riverside (go UC!) shows college students study less, way less, than they used to. And I can’t say I’m surprised.

Is this how the kids study nowadays? (Ian Ruotsala via Flickr)

As WBUR’s resident millennial, I wasn’t graduated from college all that long ago. It seemed like all of my college peers either had ADD and took Adderall for it — or didn’t have ADD and took Adderall to stay wired on exam nights.

Radio Boston intern Huw Roberts, who recently earned his degree from American University in Washington, says a friend ran an Adderall ring in freshman year.

I remember that studying was rare, often in groups, and disrupted almost constantly by instant messaging and stupid video-watching. A distracted generation, we were.

We mastered the art of the BS — a skill acquired in high school — and the art of repackaging old work into something new. (But not cheating. I didn’t cheat.)

Thing is, we all skated by. Often with good grades.

I talked about this with Hubbub intern Talia Ralph, an incoming senior at Emerson College:

I don’t study too much. The library at Emerson is definitely one of the campus’ most under-used facilities, at least until finals week — and even still, most people in there are clamoring for a computer, not a study cubicle.

But ask any Emerson student what we’re up to, and we’ll run off a list that makes a lot of people’s eyes get wide (I’ve seen this happen in person: I work at the admission office, and we scare parents and kids away all the time simply by answering their questions about our schedules). I have friends that run radio stations, direct and edit feature-length films, create full-scale marketing campaigns for major corporations – and go to school full-time.

It’s true. I was working full-time as a journalist while going to school. It made my head spin, but my career was too important — more important. And for many of my peers, that job financed their very education. (Thankfully, I attended a state university and have generous parents.)

Huw will be on the show today to talk about this phenomenon, along with the study’s lead author and the president emeritus at Harvard. It’s a perfect topic for this university town.

How much do/did you study? Tell us your habits — bad or good — in the comments.

Published July 9, 2010

The short answer: It’s not entirely clear. This ruling is more important in what it sets up than what it does.

Here’s what you need to know going forward:

Keegan O'Brien of Worcester leads chants as part of a protest of the Defense of Marriage Act in this June 2009 file photo. (Elise Amendola/AP)

First, gay marriage continues to be legal in a handful of states (including four of New England’s six states) and illegal in dozens of others.

U.S. Judge Joseph Tauro ruled that parts of DOMA — the 1996 law signed by President Clinton defining marriage as between one man and woman — are unconstitutional. He ruled that married couples in Massachusetts — gay and straight — are entitled to federal marriage benefits. While it’s a major opinion from a high-level judge, Tauro’s ruling carries weight only in Massachusetts.

“This is a decision from a trial judge in the federal court. Unless and until the First Circuit decides to weigh in — and/or the Supreme Court of the United States, it doesn’t have any binding precedent on other states,” said David Frank, a senior reporter for Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, on Morning Edition.

“Other courts will look at this opinion and whether it’s persuasive they will start including its reasoning in its own opinions,” said Kent Greenfield, a Boston College law professor. “But it only has the weight a court chooses to give for it.”

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, who filed one of the two suits decided yesterday, said the ruling would bring benefits to Massachusetts’ same-sex couples — and to the state’s coffers.

“In a monetary sense, it’s a boon for the commonwealth because our own state budget will get the kind of federal reimbursement for married couples that we should have been getting all along,” Coakley said.

“There’s a range of differential benefits, from Social Security to Medicare to other health benefits that you are entitled to if you are married, filing your income tax that the federal government has just not recognized, because it has the restrictive definition of marriage,” Coakley said. “This decision should change that.” But how immediate that change would come is not yet clear.

[pullquote]Coakley said the ruling will bring tangible benefits to same-sex couples — but only in Massachusetts. How quickly? Not clear.[/pullquote]

The U.S. Justice Department, which serves the president, will appeal in the First Circuit Court of Appeals, because the executive branch is bound to defend the laws passed by Congress (even though President Obama opposes the law).

Main Justice has 60 days to appeal Tauro’s ruling, but the case would not likely not proceed until late fall or early winter, Frank said. Pending that appeal, all the laws on the books are likely to remain unchanged.

Depending on the eventual outcome of that case, an appeal would be brought to the U.S. Supreme Court, which could decide to take the case or not.

If the SCOTUS does hear the case, gay-rights proponents — liberals, people who believe gay people should be allowed to marry — would be fighting for the right of the states to determine which marriage benefits go to whom. Meanwhile, opponents — conservatives, people who normally seek limited federal power — would be fighting for the federal government to make sweeping determinations about marriage law.

“This case exactly flips everybody’s intuition and everybody’s ideology,” said Greenfield, the BC professor.

The battle over gay marriage — and, for that matter, what effect this ruling will actually have on gay marriage — is hardly over.

Further reading:

• WBUR’s Sonari Glinton reports
• NPR’s Tovia Smith reports

Disclosure: I am not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Still have questions? Leave them in the comments.

Published July 8, 2010

Roast Beef, one of the newest baby penguins at the New England Aquarium, made a public appearance today in front of Faneuil Hall. It may be 80+ degrees, but Roast Beef was looking cool in his air-conditioned penguin-mobile.

His nickname is “The Ladies’ Man,” says Jeff Prasnal, of the New England Aquarium, with a thick Boston accent: “He is absolutely a bachelor. Loves the attention. He is who he is and he won’t change for nobody.”

Penguins mate for life, but Roast Beef is still playing the field. “There’s a lot of little ladies for him to keep occupied with, and he is one of our better-looking gentlemen penguins, so he does quite well for himself,” Prasnal says.

Video by Jeff Carpenter for WBUR.

[youtube url=”KQkELvEzvo8″]

Update: A spokeswoman for the Aquarium e-mails me with a gentle correction: “Roast Beef isn’t a baby. He’s an adult penguin and often makes trips to schools for educational events. What was new about today’s event was the cool, air-conditioned, penguin mobile he was in – that was our first time using it.”

Hubbub is embarrassed. But come on, he’s an awfully small adult.

Kudos to superchill intern Marielle Segarra for her reporting.

Published July 7, 2010

As if his commentary on the James Taylor/Carole King concert wasn’t entertaining enough, WBUR’s Bob Oakes provides us with a photograph from the era he so fondly remembers.

Here’s how the Wild Child appears in his 1975 international student ID (left) and today:

Published July 7, 2010

WBUR’s new iPhone app is live now in the App Store. It’s free. Go get it! (I’ll wait.)

The details are well-covered here and here and here, and Hubbub hosted a live chat to answer your questions about the app. Here are the Greatest Hits:

• Stream us live
• Read and share the latest NPR and WBUR news
• Listen to 20+ programs on demand
• Wake up to the WBUR alarm clock
• Submit breaking news tips
• View your member benefits on a map
• Generate a virtual membership card to instantly redeem benefits
• Search

Hope you love it. Please report bugs and request features in the comments. Be specific, and be constructive! Anything else will be ruthlessly deleted. We’re already working on iOS 4 support for the next update.

• iTunes Store: Download now

Published July 7, 2010

Gov. Deval Patrick’s new-media director, Brad Blake (@bradmblake), tweeted this unbelievable nugget today:

$50 on Craigslist

Just learned my boss @massgovernor doesn’t have AC at home. Not even window unit.

Good God, man! You can buy a window unit in great condition on Craigslist for $50. The seller is in Cambridge and offering free delivery!

The AP files this writethrough:

Patrick told listeners on WTKK-FM on Wednesday that he and wife Diane have thought about air conditioning, but always decide against it because they need it only two or three days a year. But, he says, “when those two, three days come, it’s tough.”

Maybe the winds of the Great Blue Hills cool down his colonial mansion…

Published July 7, 2010

This is what a casino resort at Suffolk Downs might look like.

No one seems to be talking about what I think is most interesting about a casino at Suffolk Downs, which was formally proposed yesterday.

The Globe reports it appears to be a done deal. Eastie is in House Speaker Robert DeLeo’s district, and DeLeo is a rabid proponent of casinos in Mass. But is anyone thinking about the implications of building a casino resort in the city? I’m not talking about environmental issues or crime. I’m talking about ease of access.

Right now, a trip to Foxwoods requires a car or a bus ticket and a free weekend. Even Milford, Palmer or New Bedford — the other proposed casino towns — are at least an hour out of town. They’re destination casinos. But you can take the T to Suffolk Downs. Maybe hit the slots during a lunch break.

When we had DeLeo on Radio Boston last week, commenter Alex G. tried to make the point this way:

Right now, folks who can’t even afford a car and want to play the slots must plan a trip ahead to take a Peter Pan bus to Foxwoods or a Greyhound to Mohegan Sun. If racinos pass, they can hop on the T, get off at the Suffolk Downs stop, and gamble away all their week’s paycheck. … Now that is scary.

Proximity would seem to amplify the worries about addiction and abuse, no?