Archie Army: Comics Used to Recruit Soldiers Are Laughable

The U.S. government-funded “America’s Army” is a digital comic being used as a recruitment tool and it, well, sucks; free online courses may be changing the face of college education as we know it; meanwhile, Rush Limbaugh has been fabricating callers and outsourcing Facebook fans. These discoveries and more below.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that have found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

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America’s Army Comic: Bad Recruiting Tool, Worse Story America’s newest comics publisher has a $200-billion-a-year budget, more than a million employees and just one title in its catalog.

Jesus, Meet Jeff Foxworthy Is America ready to get their Bible lessons from Jeff Foxworthy, king of the redneck joke?

Massive online learning and the unbundling of undergraduate education Is free online learning going to put traditional colleges out of business?

Survey Shows Growing Strength of E-Books E-books continued their surge in 2011, surpassing hardcover books and paperbacks to become the dominant format for adult fiction last year, according to a new survey of publishers released Wednesday.

Filthy Rich in 1955: How the Wealthiest Americans Lived 60 Years Ago The American executive in his office is a familiar figure; he is, typically, decisive, somewhat aloof, and generally regarded by his employees with a certain awe.

Viewers Turning to YouTube as News Source A new study has found that YouTube is emerging as a major platform for news, one to which viewers increasingly turn for eyewitness videos in times of major events and natural disasters.

Gossip has a deep, lasting value in our lives It is a truth rarely acknowledged that what we don’t know is just as important as what we do.

Spinning Ourselves Into a Deficit Panic You couldn’t make this stuff up: thanks to Harold Rogers, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and the power of “earmarks,” the Army has bought $6.5 million worth of “leakproof” drip pans “to catch transmission fluid on Black Hawk helicopters,” reports the New York Times.

More Universities Hop on MOOC Bandwagon A dozen more universities have signed partnerships with Coursera, a company that provides hosting services for massively open online courses (MOOCs), the company announced this week.

Limbaugh Outsources His Facebook ‘Likes’ If you’ve ever listened to a right-wing talk show and were impressed that a caller teed up a perfect swing for the talk show host, you may have been listening to a setup.