Textbook Rentals a Rip-Off

There seems to be quite a bit of media attention for the textbook rental company, Chegg.com.

First, textbook rentals are nothing new. If you google it you'll find that dozens of universities have offered the service for quite some time. So why all of the media attention?

Well it seems that Chegg has shown the world they have the media twisted around their finger and jumped on the bandwagon to LOWER TEXTBOOK COSTS.

But are they really lowering costs?

They offer on average a 50% saving. However, all college bookstores offer 50% at the end of the term during buyback. So the only difference between Chegg and buyback is when the student gets the 50% back.

I guess if students think they are saving that is all that matters...

Was the Peru Meteorite story a hoax?

There seems to be some talk that people think the news of hundreds falling ill from the Peru meteorite was a hoax. There is an interesting first person tail of an attempt to study the impact written by Michael Farmer. He speculates that it likely was just sulfur causing the illness, but his story states the the area was well guarded by local police; so he was unable to complete collecting samples due to a fear the police would arrest him. Apparently he was buying meteorites from them for $100 bucks a rock, and knowing he was a rich American, were upset he did not give them more.