Students in Quebec have been marching in increasingly violent demonstrations for months. They say higher tuition fees are unreasonable.

But are they expecting too much from a post-secondary degree? With the exception of professions like medicine, law and engineering, the knowledge that used to be the currency of post-secondary education is widely available. For free.

And anyway, according to my guest, the job creators in the 21st century aren't incubated in academia. Michael Ellsberg thinks that the vast majority of students are wasting their money and time. Ellsberg tells us why it's time to re-think the value of post-secondary education.

No Vaccine, No Healthcare

The anti-vaccine movement is not huge in Canada but has substantial momentum among some Americans. For pediatricians on both sides of the border, treating unvaccinated children can present issues.

How can a doctor provide optimum healthcare if a tot isn't inoculated for serious illnesses like rubella, diphtheria and mumps? In Ontario, some pediatricians say they can't and are reported to have fired their patients over the vaccine issue.

We talk to the President of the Pediatricians Alliance of Ontario about the options open to doctors when their tiny patients don't have the basic protections of vaccines.

Fascism, Totalitarianism and Lady Gaga

He's been called "The Elvis of Cultural Theory" but beneath the mask of the clown Slavoj Zizek says he's a dangerous man. Zizek sees a new totalitarian fascism lurking in the end of capitalism. Yes, sounds dark. But he's anything but.

The author of God In Pain: Inversions of Apocalypse and over 50 other books loves to riff on superheroes, pulp movies, poetry and pop culture. We have a wide-ranging conversation, which is likely the only type of conversation he ever has. Feel free to disagree with Zizek, but you can't stop listening.

Republic of IKEA

What if an entire town could be assembled with an Allen key? An area in East London is being groomed to house 6,000 people in homes, apartments, offices and stores designed and owned by IKEA.

The designers stress it won't be anything like living in an IKEA store and the scent of meatballs will not waft over the former industrial wasteland.

But Aidan Flax-Clark has other reservations about this kind of super engineered neighbourhood. And will IKEA be Swedish for "We're raising your rent"?

Asteroid Mining

This week a private company run by tech billionaire Peter Diamandis, creator of the X Prize, announced they're going to mine asteroids in space. Yes, it's ambitious and it sounds crazy but Planetary Resources clearly think there's money to be made. And they've got competition.

Another company, Moon Express, is working on building robots and tools to mine the moon. They expect to start flying unmanned lunar missions within 5 years. It's another space race, but not between governments. Private industry is now pushing the drive out of Earth's orbit. We'll talk to some of the visionaries involved about the industrialization of space.

Revenge Porn and Hunter Moore

When Hunter Moore defended his revenge porn website on Anderson Cooper last year he said, "It's 2011, everything's on the Internet." Everything including intimate pictures of women that were not intended for publication.

Intentions are key. Revenge porn is a kind of digital shaming enabled by bad judgement and digital nude pictures.  Moore's site IsAnyoneUp.com freely and gleefully posted nude shots taken privately, and the site became an Internet sensation for identifying, ridiculing and mocking the person whose intimacy was exposed.

Last week he took the site down. We wanted to know if he was sorry. So we asked him.

S**t Girls Say

The hugely viral meme S**t Girls Say nabbed a book deal and Kathleen Phillips was pretty surprised to find out it was with Harlequin.

Yes, the same! The publisher of romance novels with over-the-top cover illustrations of starry-eyed nurses and handsome male doctors will be hawking the potentially controversial S**t Girls Say moneymaker.

Much to think about here, as Kathleen contemplates how Harlequin isn't just for grandmothers anymore.

Hey we're getting lots of love for our Riffed From the Headlines contest. Did you win last week? Enter again, then all your groceries can come home in a Day 6 tote. Plus your books, booze, gardening stuff, hockey equipment, camping gear and the wads of cash you made from betting against the Bruins. Enter here.

And we'll see you in May.

Brent Bambury @CBCDay6

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