Robert Putnam comments on the latest census data:

“The large master trend here is that over the last hundred years, technology has privatized our leisure time,” said Robert D. Putnam, a public policy professor at Harvard and author of “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community.”

“The distinctive effect of technology has been to enable us to get entertainment and information while remaining entirely alone,” Mr. Putnam said. “That is from many points of view very efficient. I also think it’s fundamentally bad because the lack of social contact, the social isolation means that we don’t share information and values and outlook that we should.”

Putnam’s pessimism is a nice splash of cold water that you’ll need after reading about Time’s Person of The Year (via Dan):

But look at 2006 through a different lens and you’ll see another story, one that isn’t about conflict or great men. It’s a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. It’s about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel people’s network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace. It’s about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes.

A good article the use of experimental drugs for dying patients. A nice link for a public policy class.

Kristoff tells the same sad tale over and over. But I’m glad he’s doing it.

Great post by Elizabeth on the boringness of hip parents.

Must read Jane Galt’s jaw-dropping description of working for PIRG.