the forest would be silent
/The forest would be quite silent if only the most beautiful birds sang.
ideas that challenge / comfort / inspire
forget
/Forget the times of your distress, but never forget what they taught you. -Gesser
articles of interest - Sept 18
/***THE BUSINESS OF MEDIA
61% of young adults in U.S. watch mainly streaming TV Pew Research Center
The magazine industry finds itself fighting on unfamiliar terrain, best suited to their rivals Talking New Media
***JOURNALISM
How to cover DACA as a student journalist: advice from professionals Student Press Law Center
Journalist from Mexico denied entry to U.S. for D.C. press event CBS News
Report for America aims to get 1,000 journalists in local newsrooms in next 5 years Poynter
How the Birmingham Mail Separated Print from Digital to Save the Newspaper PBS Media Shift
***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM
No Apology, No Explanation: Fox News And The Seth Rich Story NPR
BuzzFeed News embraces video, skips the ‘pivot’ Columbia Journalism Review
***FAKE NEWS
WSJ, Getty unpublish fake photographs from phony conflict reporter imediaethics
***TECHNOLOGY
Apple’s FaceID Could Be a Powerful Tool for Mass Spying (opinion) Wired
Apple's Facial Recognition Software Has Privacy Advocates Worried NPR
iPhone X price, features widen gap between haves and have-nots CNET
What It Might Take To Stop The Data Breaches NPR
A long-range, frugal new chip could be just what a smart city needs Economist
***TECHNOLOGY: FACIAL RECOGNITION
Ever better and cheaper, face-recognition technology is spreading Economist
Advances in AI are used to spot signs of sexuality Economist
Researchers produce images of people’s faces from their genomes Economist
***BIG DATA & STATISTICS
The Amazing Ways Coca Cola Uses Artificial Intelligence And Big Data To Drive Success Forbes
How technology is changing the culture of the intelligence community Federal News Radio
***SOCIAL MEDIA
Dude is pumped to discover Snapchat's ridiculous new feature Mashable
Confessions of an Instagram influencer: Brands just want big numbers Digiday
***PRODUCING MEDIA
Phones Are Changing How People Shoot and Watch Video Wired
Tell a Story with your Data with StorylineJS Chronicle of Higher Ed
***INTERNET
Equifax hired a music major as chief security officer Mediaite
***PERSONAL GROWTH
The “No one to blame but themselves” rule Becoming (my blog)
6 Reasons Good People Turn Into Monsters Cracked
***HUMANITIES /STEM
Science tries to make sense of humanities: This is your brain on art Washington Post
***GRAMMAR
The meaning of Entitlement Chronicle of Higher Ed
***WRITING & READING
How Reading Rewires Your Brain for More Intelligence and Empathy Big Think
***LANGUAGE
Research Shows Spanish Speakers Take Longer To Learn English. Why? NPR
Merriam-Webster adds 'alt-right' and 'sriracha' and 250 more words to its dictionary LA Times
***GENDER
Women dominate journalism schools, but newsrooms are still a different story Poynter
***RACE & ETHNICITY ISSUES
What ESPN Employees Are Saying About The Jemele Hill Situation On Their Private Message Board DeadSpin
How the U.S. Hispanic population is changing Pew Research
4 Books That Will Help You Understand Race in Modern America Study Breaks
***FREE SPEECH
Arguments over free speech on campus are not left v right Economist
What Lies Ahead in the Campus-Speech Wars? Experts discuss the challenges they see on the horizon — and what colleges can do about them Chronicle of Higher Ed
The Free Speech-Hate Speech Trade-Off (opinion) New York Times
What Lies Ahead in the Campus-Speech Wars? Experts discuss the challenges they see on the horizon — and what colleges can do about them Chronicle of Higher Ed
Some Americans don’t believe Muslims, atheists have First Amendment rights Religion News Service
Incidents at Harvard and Catholic Universities run counter to narrative about campus speaker controversies Inside Higher Ed
How First Amendment Battles Are Shaping Up in the Social Media Age Hollywood Reporter
***LEGAL ISSUES
Website Inaccessible to Visually Impaired Violated the Americans with Disabilities Act Lexology
Facebook Wins Appeal Over Allegedly Discriminatory Content Removal–Sikhs for Justice v. Facebook Technology and Marketing Law Blog
How Spotify's Argument in Copyright Lawsuit Could Upend the Music Industry's Newfound Recovery Billboard
If ESPN Wants to Discipline Jemele Hill, She Might Have Law on Her Side New York Times
Conan O'Brien to Probe Whether Copyright Office Was Duped by Tom Brady Joke Hollywood Reporter
Doubling (& Tripling) Down on Trademark Protection For Secret Menu Items–In-N-Out v. Smashburger Technology & Marketing Law Blog
***RELIGION
A Booming New Jersey Evangelical Church whose fiery founder who embraced the K.K.K. New York Times
Houston Church Blocks Jewish Lesbian From Volunteering to Help Hurricane Victims Newsweek
Died: Nabeel Qureshi, Author of ‘Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus’ Christianity Today
'Jesus People' – a movement born from the 'Summer of Love' LA Times
***ART & DESIGN
Banksy is back with artwork that expertly skewers how institutions treat street art Mashable
***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT
Liberalism and the Campus Rape Tribunals New York Times
***SOCIAL ISSUES
As U.S. marriage rate hovers at 50%, education gap in marital status widens Pew Research Center
***HEALTH
What Makes People Like (and Dislike) Their Doctors? Priceonomics
***HEALTH: CANCER
Science will win the technical battle against cancer. But that is only half the fight Economist
New types of therapy mean cancer is going to become ever more survivable Economist
Understanding cancer’s unruly origins helps early diagnosis Economist
Enrolling the immune system in the fight against cancer Economist
Today’s anti-cancer tools are ever better wielded Economist
The developing world needs better cancer strategies Economist
***BUSINESS
Why American Workers Pay Twice as Much in Taxes as Wealthy Investors Bloomberg
***PSYCHOLOGY
The Social Life of Opioids: New studies strengthen ties between loss, pain and drug use Scientific American
***PHILOSOPHY
Feminism and the Future of Philosophy New York Times
Philosophy, Descartes and the dance of life The Guardian
***PRODUCTIVITY
The Silicon Valley avant-garde have turned to LSD in a bid to increase their productivity 1843 Magazine
***RESEARCH
This search engine makes finding public records less painful Poynter
“Do You Expect Me to Just Give Away My Data?” Eos
Creating Incentives to Address the Replication Crisis in Science Undark
COPE Ethical Guidelinesfor Peer Reviewers Pub Ethics
Publishing in parallel: when two societies work together Royal Society
***HIGHER ED
How U.S. News college rankings promote economic inequality on campus Politico
The subtle ways colleges discriminate against poor students, explained with a cartoon Vox
Report Faults U. of Virginia on Response to White-Supremacist Rally Chronicle of Higher Ed
Christian Universities: Moving Ahead by Standing Still (opinion) Context
***TEACHING
Atmospheric scientist at Illinois is on leave after refusing to provide lecture slides to student with disabilities Inside Higher Ed
***STUDENT MEDIA
Five reasons you should join your college newspaper Medium
UT Austin journalist assaulted while covering protest Student Press Law Center
***STUDENT LIFE
Georgia Tech Student-Activist Shot Dead by Campus Police Fox 5 Atlanta
Student reporters kicked out of “open” student government meeting Student Press Law Center
Students lose roughly four in 10 of the credits they accumulate before transferring: The transfer route in California is a "complex and costly maze” Inside Higher Ed
How Successful Valedictorians Are After High School Money Magazine
As Millennials Get Older, Many Are Buying SUVs To Drive To Their Suburban Homes NPR
Why Millennials should be really worried about the Equifax breach Money Magazine
DACA student targeted by classmate says university has done nothing to help CBS News
Yale University will discontinue the terms “freshman” and “upperclassman” in its official documents Inside Higher Ed
How to choose a student credit card USA Today
How to Decide If Moving Off Campus Is Right for You Study Breaks
***ACADEMIC LIFE
Evergreen professor at center of protests resigns; college will pay $500,000 The Seattle Times
Republicans view professors more ‘coldly’ than Democrats do Pew Research Center
How a Group of Instructors Is Standing Up to the Right-Wing Outrage Machine Chronicle of Higher Ed
College puts adjunct on leave over tweet about teaching 'future dead cops' Inside Higher Ed
An Easy Fix
/For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
H. L. Mencken
The Backfire Effect
/The backfire effect happens when the myth ends up becoming more memorable than the fact. One of the most striking examples of this was seen in a study evaluating a “Myths and Facts” flyer about flu vaccines. Immediately after reading the flyer, participants accurately remembered the facts as facts and the myths as myths. But just 30 minutes later this had been completely turned on its head, with the myths being much more likely to be remembered as “facts”. The thinking is that merely mentioning the myths actually helps to reinforce them. And then as time passes you forget the context in which you heard the myth – in this case during a debunking – and are left with just the memory of the myth itself.
Mark Lorch writing in Business Inisder
the opportunity
/Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently. - Henry Ford
failure
/Failure is success if we learn from it. – Malcolm Forbes
Confirmation Bias
/You probably like to believe that your beliefs are the result of years of experience and objective analysis of the information you have available. The reality is that all of us are susceptible to a tricky problem known as a confirmation bias. While we like to imagine that our beliefs are rational, logical, and objective, the fact is that our ideas are often based on paying attention to the information that upholds our ideas and ignoring the information that challenges our existing beliefs.
A confirmation bias is a type of cognitive bias that involves favoring information that confirms previously existing beliefs or biases. For example, imagine that a person holds a belief that left-handed people are more creative than right-handed people. Whenever this person encounters a person that is both left-handed and creative, they place greater importance on this "evidence" supporting their already existing belief. This individual might even seek "proof" that further backs up this belief while discounting examples that do not support this idea.
Confirmation biases impact how people gather information, but they also influence how people interpret and recall information. For example, people who support or oppose a particular issue will not only seek information that supports their beliefs, they will also interpret news stories in a way that upholds their existing ideas and remember things in a way that also reinforces these attitudes.
A number of experiments conducted during the 1960s demonstrated that people have a tendency to seek information that confirms their existing beliefs. Unfortunately, this type of bias can prevent us from looking at situations objectively, can influence the decisions we make, and can lead to poor or faulty choices.
Kendra Cherry writing in VeryWell.com
expectation
/Expectation is the root of all heartache. (unknown)
Articles of Interest - Sept 11
/***TECHNOLOGY
New AI can work out whether you're gay or straight from a photograph The Guardian
What machines can tell from your face The Economist
Strong password strategy to protect against hackers The Washington Post
The NFL is putting data-collecting chips in all its footballs Fast Company
Identity Theft Feeds on Social Security Numbers Run Amok Bloomberg
The Password Game Survey Gizmo
Apple’s iOS 11 Will Make It Even Harder for Cops to Extract Your Data Wired
***SOCIAL MEDIA
News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2017 Journalism.org
***PRODUCING MEDIA
How Podcasting Became Hollywood's Latest Obsession VICE
***JOURNALISM
News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2017 Pew Research
What journalists can do better to cover the disability beat Columbia Journalism Review
Americans’ online news use is closing in on TV news use Pew Research
Washington Post’s Aggressive Video Journalism is Paying Off in Hurricane Coverage Editor and Publisher
***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM
The New York Daily News bought by publisher Tronc for $1 CBS News
Turnaround at San Francisco Chronicle Shows Way for Legacy Newspapers Editor and Publisher
***FAKE NEWS
5 studies about fact-checking you may have missed last month Poynter
Trump backers’ alarming reliance on hoax and conspiracy theory websites, in 1 chart Washington Post
Facebook undermines its own effort to fight fake news Politico
How We Can Filter Fake News and Make Media More Trustworthy Singular Hub
How Russian & Alt-Right Twitter Accounts Worked Together to Skew the Narrative About Berkeley Arch Digital
***PERSONAL GROWTH
Why a squeegee used on 9/11 is in the Smithsonian Becoming (my blog)
***GRAMMAR
Is it elitist to call out Donald Trump’s typos and errors? Chronicle of Higher Ed
Why Can’t I Start a Sentence With a Numeral? Mother Jones
A Philosopher-Grammarian Gets Something Right Chronicle of Higher Ed
***LANGUAGE
A campaign to stop calling car collisions accidental Chronicle of Higher Ed
***LITERATURE
Rough Translation: How 'Anna Karenina' Saved A Somali Inmate's Life NPR
Publisher pulls book by Hillary Clinton's pastor, citing plagiarism CNN
The Forgotten Value of a Literature Course Chronicle of Higher Ed
***GENDER
DeVos Pushes New Approach on Title IX Enforcement Inside Higher Ed
The New Science of Sex and Gender Scientific American
***RACE & ETHNICITY ISSUES
Younger men play video games, but so do a diverse group of other Americans Pew Research
Study finds that students who deliver microaggressions are also likely to harbor racist attitudes Inside Higher Ed
Virtual Reality Project Captures Experience Of Crossing The Border NPR
Key facts about Asian Americans, a diverse and growing population Pew Research
***FREE SPEECH
Judge to Rule on White Nationalist's Speech at University New York Times
Discipline against Creston students is 'significant free speech issue,' says Drake Law professor Des Moines Register
Three Textbooks on Campus Free Speech Inside Higher Ed
Public Library staffer arrested for defending mans free speech rights is acquitted The Kansas City Star
Study Looks At How People Think About Free Speech NPR
***LEGAL ISSUES
PETA, Photographer Reach Settlement In ‘Monkey Selfie’ Case San Francisco
Amazon's 1-Click Patent Is About To Expire. What's The Big Deal? NPR
'We Shall Overcome’ Verse Not Under Copyright, Judge Rules New York Times
Hulk Hogan’s lawyer sets sights on new target: Jezebel New York Post
Lawsuit Against Trump Starts The Battle To Define 'Emolument' NPR
What if the majority of a book was copy and pasted from discussions on LinkedIn? Is it legal? Agile Scientific
No “Contract By Tweet” for Plaintiff Who Pitches Movie Idea via Social Media Technology & Marketing Law Blog
***BUSINESS
Americans work harder than any other country’s citizens: study New York Post
The Surprising Upsides To Getting Angry At Work Fast Company
***RELIGION
White Christians no longer majority in United States, especially California Sacramento Bee
White Christians decline in U.S., but still dominate Republican Party USA Today
God and the Gridiron Game Christianity Today
Why religion is not going away and science will not destroy it (opinion) Aeon
The Private Faith of Hillary Clinton New Yorker
More Americans now say they’re spiritual but not religious Pew Research
***FILM
When Hollywood Went To Washington: The History Of Politics In Movies NPR
***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT
An explanation of Title IX and its Sexual Assault Protections
California, New York and other states have embraced Obama’s approach on campus sexual assault -- what happens if Trump reverses course? Inside Higher Ed
The Bad Science Behind Campus Response to Sexual Assault The Atlantic
Protecting Due Process in Sexual-Assault Cases on Campus Chronicle of Higher Ed
***HEALTH
How Science Is Unlocking the Secrets of Addiction National Geographic
So Your Kitchen Sponge Is A Bacteria Hotbed. Here's What To Do NPR
Oxford University scientists gave African babies trial TB vaccine 'that did not work on monkeys' Telegraph
***SCIENCE
Could disruptive technologies also reform academia? eef
***PSYCHOLOGY
To put it bluntly, academic psychology’s public reputation seems to be in free fall Psychological Science
***HISTORY
What to Do When Nazis Are Obsessed With Your Field PS magazine
***RESEARCH
Peer Review in a World of “Alternative Facts” Scholarly Kitchen
How does one detect scientific fraud – but avoid false accusations? Journal of Clinical Epidemiology
To improve reproducibility, listen to graduate students and postdocs Naturejobs Blog
These Scientists Got To See Their Competitors’ Research Through Public Records Requests BuzzFeed
***HIGHER ED
Revoked admissions offer at Rochester raises questions about homeschooling transcripts Inside Higher Ed
Marchers protest 'Nashville Statement' at Moody Bible Institute Windy City
***TEACHING
Virtual desktops to give students access to popular professional software tools for the entirety of their academic career Chronicle of Higher Ed
**STUDENT MEDIA
Snapchat wants to get deeper into news, so it’s adding college newspapers to Discover Recode
What Title IX reform could mean for student journalists Student Press Law Center
***STUDENT LIFE
For Students Imperiled by Trump’s DACA Rollback, a Scramble for Answers Chronicle of Higher Ed
Millennials mostly watch TV after it’s aired Recode
The hardest test of freshman year? Survival The Washington Post
Reed College course lectures canceled after student protesters interrupt class to protest Eurocentrism Inside Higher Ed
***ACADEMIC LIFE
Professors Arrested at DACA Protest The Crimson (Harvard Student newspaper) The Crimson
Breaking Through The Wall
/The squeegee of window washer Jan Demczur is in the Smithsonian. It got there because of his determination and willingness to use what was handy on the morning of September 11, 2001.
The Polish immigrant was riding in a north tower World Trade Center elevator when a hijacked plane hit the building. The elevator came to a stop on the 50th floor. That's when Demczur and other stranded workers preyed open the door, revealing a solid wall.
Rather than give up, Demczur used his brass squeegee handle to hack away at it. He eventually broke through the wall and lead the group to safety just moments before the tower fell.
Got a wall to break through in your life? There's probably a tool at your disposal that will deserve a place in the Smithsonian if you are willing to work with what you've got and refuse to give up.
Stephen Goforth
the tuition
/Failure is the tuition you pay for success. - Walter Brunell
Experience
/Experience teaches only the teachable. - Aldous Huxley
Using Peer Pressure to our advantage
/In a 1994 Harvard study that examined people who had radically changed their lives, for instance, researchers found that some people had remade their habits after a personal tragedy, such as a divorce or a life-threatening illness. Others changed after they saw a friend go through something awful... Just as frequently, however, there was no tragedy that preceded people's transformations. Rather, they changed because they were embedded in social groups that made change easier… When people join groups where change seems possible, the potential for that change to occur becomes more real.
Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
articles of interest - Sept. 4, 2017
/***JOURNALISM
The Guardian Sets Up a Nonprofit to Support Its Journalism New York Times
The Newseum Deserves to Die Politico
Quartz created a bot that can break news — and wants to help other news orgs develop their own Harvard’s Nieman Lab
After a CNN interviewee erupts in anger, disaster reporting standards come into focus Washington Post
Court rules that MSU can’t sue ESPN for requesting open records Student Press Law Center
How a 171-year-old news agency is the hidden mainstay of news on Facebook The Drum
***FAKE NEWS
Researchers teach AI neural network to write fake reviews, with implications for fake news Business Insider
When it comes to the academic study of fake news, “bullshit receptivity” is a thing Nieman Journalism Lab
Why fact-checking can’t stop Trump’s lies Vox
Fact-Check That Viral Image in Two Clicks Life Hacker
There’s a long list of old-fashioned parallels to today’s fake news. Here’s one that’s actually helpful Harvard’s Nieman Lab
Fake news is nothing new: This photo hoax went viral a century ago Salon
***TECHNOLOGY
Google-Funded Think Tank Fires Scholar Who Criticized Tech Giant NPR
'Smart' Campuses Invest in the Internet of Things Campus Technology
Doubts raised on key points of Nature paper on CRISPR gene editing of human embryos The Niche
Scientists Can Predict How You Look Using Only Your Anonymous DNA KPBS
***BIG DATA & STATISTICS
Using recurrent neural networks to create fake yelp reviews-and how to fight it Business Insider
The first quantum-cryptographic satellite network will be Chinese Economist
How Walmart is using Machine Learning, AI, IoT and Big Data to boost retail performance Forbes
Google researcher comes up with new technology to bring neural networks to mobile devices Infoq
***SOCIAL MEDIA
Facebook Prepares To Launch New Video Streaming Service NPR
How media companies are creating episodic series for Instagram Stories Marketing Land
***INTERNET
711 million email addresses ensnared in "largest" spambot ZDNet
How to Diagnose Pages that Rank in One Geography But Not Another Moz
***PERSONAL GROWTH
To Have Good Ideas, Remember to Get Bored Life Hacker
Proof that I was a worthless piece of Garbage (Jenni Berrett) Becoming (my blog)
How Your Brain Tricks You Into Thinking Magic Is Real Life Hacker
***CRITICAL THINKING
Believing widely doubted conspiracy theories satisfies some people’s need to feel special Research Digest
Adam Ruins Everything goes after itself College Humor
***LANGUAGE
This is How Canada Talks The 10 and 3
How to Lose an Accent, According to a Dialect Coach Life Hacker
***LITERATURE
Tolkien's Plant Passion Moves Botantist To Create Guide To Middle Earth NPR
***GENDER
Why Female Students Leave STEM Inside Higher Ed
***RACE & ETHNICITY ISSUES
Teaching White Students Showed Me The Difference Between Power and Privilege BuzzFeed News
Is Doxxing the Right Way to Fight the “Alt-Right?” Jstor
***FREE SPEECH
The Most Shortsighted Attack on Free Speech in Modern U.S. History The Atlantic
***LEGAL ISSUES
Dr. Phil Video Leads to Novel Copyright Decision Involving Woman Alleging False Imprisonment Hollywood Reporter
H3H3 Wins Summary Judgment on Fair Use YouTube Lawsuit Plagiarism Today
Charlotte School of Law bilked $285 million from taxpayers, former faculty member says Charlotte Observer
Google Researchers Create Algorithm to Remove Image Watermarks Plagiarism Today
Prediction: It's CNN Not the N.Y. Times Headed to Supreme Court in Defamation Battle Hollywood Reporter
***ART & DESIGN
DeviantArt and Copyright issues Plagiarism Today
A Short Documentary on Artist Jeff Koons Open Culture
***MUSIC
The secret rhythm in Radiohead’s “Videotape” Vox
***BUSINESS
Market power and competition explain every problem in the US economy, new research argues Quartz
Silicon Valley employees celebrate their own exploitation New York Times
***RADIO
Traditional Radio Faces a Grim Future, New Study Says Variety
Brown University radio station sold to K-LOVE for $5.63 million Providence Journal
***JOBS & INTERNSHIPS
What to Say When an Interviewer Wants You to Talk About Yourself Life Hacker
***HEALTH
Why Giving Birth Is Safer In Britain Than In The US Digg
Utah hospital nurse roughed up and arrested for doing her job Washington Post
***SCIENCE
Physicists Want to Rebuild Quantum Theory From Scratch Wired
***PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology offers a simple rule to consider before you tell someone your woes Quartz
Could a Videogame Strengthen Your Aging Brain? Wired
***PHILOSOPHY
Wittgenstein on Whether Speech Is Violence Jstor
***HIGHER ED
The Myth of American Universities as Inequality-Fighters The Atlantic
Most Colleges Will Change Overtime Policies Despite Judge’s Blocking of New Rule Chronicle of Higher Ed
Almost 40 percent of Texas's flagship state university's undergraduates are from counties declared disaster areas Washington Post
***HUMANITIES /STEM
Diverging Trends in Completions of Advanced Humanities Degrees American Academy of Arts and Sciences
***TEACHING
Are Students Doing Their Own Work in Online Classes? Chronicle of Higher Ed
As Coding Boot Camps Close, the Field Faces a Reality Check New York Times
***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT
A College Seminar Tells Students to Masturbate to Prevent Sexual Assault Cosmopolitan
***ACADEMIC LIFE
Under Fire, These Professors Were Criticized by Their Colleges Chronicle of Higher Ed
Professor Fired for Blaming Harvey on Texas Voting GOP NBC News
Fill Out This Bingo Card During Your First Faculty Meeting of the Year Chronicle of Higher Ed
Why I’m Leaving the Political Science Association (opinion) Minding the Campus
Faculty Members Organize to Fight ‘Fascist’ Interlopers on Campuses Chronicle of Higher Ed
***STUDENT MEDIA
Let’s Talk about cocks (opinion) Journo Terrorist
***STUDENT LIFE
The Biggest Misconception About Today’s College Students New York Times
Professors at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton say their advice to incoming freshmen can be 'distilled to 3 words' Business Insider
Why You Should Read That Whole Text Book Right Now Wired
College Students evacuated after being stranded by Hurricane Harvey Washington Post
A new Stanford study suggests first-year students can judge who will help them have fun and who can be a shoulder to cry on Inside Higher Ed
A Few Telling Freshman Trends New York Times
***RELIGION
Spicer gets his audience with the pope Politico
The Joel Osteen Fiasco Says A Lot About American Christianity (opinion) BuzzFeed News
The Cheap Prosperity Gospel of Trump and Osteen (opinion) associate professor of religious studies) New York Times
Evangelicals to Trump: Don’t Deport Our Next Generation of Church Leaders Christianity Today
***RELIGION: THE NASHVILLE STATEMENT
More than 150 evangelical religious leaders sign 'Christian manifesto' on human sexuality USA Today
Nashville's mayor is denouncing a statement against same-sex marriage that evangelical leaders named after the city Huron Daily Tribune
I signed the Nashville Statement. It’s an expression of love for same-sex attracted people (opinion) Washington Post
The ugly ingratitude of the 'Nashville Statement' (opinion) Patheos
Why even conservative evangelicals are unhappy with the anti-LGBT Nashville Statement Washington Post
Jenni Berrett: Proof that I was a worthless piece of Garbage
/I spend days at a time in bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking of all the things I could be doing but can’t because I know I would do them imperfectly. I lose countless hours to inner monologues filled with self-hatred and all-or-nothing thinking. I don’t read anything, instead preferring to slowly crush myself with the existential weight of knowing that I will never be able to Read All The Things.
For a very long time, I thought that I did this because I was lazy. I figured that if I just worked a little harder, tried a little more, then I would be able to accomplish the things I set out to do. Failing to do them was a failure of my character. It was because I was a bad person, or at least bad at being a person.
I told myself that I had to get my act together; I had to do all of these things so that I could prove I wasn’t the worthless piece of garbage I thought I was. When I inevitably cracked under that pressure, I took it as proof that I was a worthless piece of garbage.
If all of this sounds repetitive, that’s because it is. It’s a vicious, repetitive, monotonous cycle. It moves at breakneck speed, but also not at all. Experiencing it is the most damning case against perfectionism I have ever come across. Expecting perfection only leaves you with two options: do everything right on the very first try, or don’t even bother. Which is actually only one option, since 9 times out of 10, human beings don't do things right on the first try.
Jenni Berrett writing in Ravishly
What on earth is He up to?
/Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of — throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.
CS Lewis, Mere Christianity
Addicted to Love
/Breaking up is hard to do. Literally. A brain study out of Rutgers shows getting over romantic rejection is similar to kicking an addiction. One of the study authors says, "When you've been rejected in love, you have lost life's greatest prize, which is a mating partner." Researchers examined the brains of more than dozen volunteers who had each recently been dumped but still loved the person who had rejected them. It turned out reminders of the beloved activated brain regions in the lover associated with addiction to cocaine and cigarettes. These same areas affect emotional control, rewards, addiction cravings, a sense of attachment, pain and distress. This brain system becomes activated in an attempt to win the person's affections again, according to the researchers. Details are in the July 2010 issue of the Journal of Neurophysiology.
Perhaps the lesson here is that it's important to become addicted to someone who is good for you.
Stephen Goforth
Death bed request
/Old Joe was dying. Realizing that time was running out, he wanted to make everything right. But something bothered him. He was at odds with Bill, formally one of his best friends. Joe had often argued with him over the most trivial matters, and in recent years they hadn’t spoken at all. Wanting to resolve the problem, he sent for Bill, who graciously consented to visit him. When Bill arrived, Joe told him that he was afraid to go into eternity with bad feelings between them, and he wanted to make things right. When he reached out for Bill’s hand and said, “I forgive you; will you forgive me?” Everything seemed fine. Just as Bill was leaving, however, Joe shouted after him, “But remember, if I get better, this doesn’t count!”
articles of interest - August 28
/***SOCIAL MEDIA
Are Facebook friends legally your friends? Here’s what a Florida judge had to say Fast Company
Here's How To Find Out Who Left Your Facebook Requests Hanging BuzzFeed News
This app makes it physically impossible for you to ignore texts Mashable
Facebook, Twitter and Apple get into the television business Economist
The New FOMO Wired
Snapchat is still bigger than Instagram for younger U.S. millennials Recode
Make Your Facebook Feed More Attractive (If Not Less Irritating) Life Hacker
Snapchat's Snap Maps becomes major resource after Houston flooding Mashable
The Next Generation of Emoji Will Be Based on Your Facial Expressions MIT Tech Review
***PRODUCING MEDIA
How live video is evolving, in 4 charts Digiday
Immersive Media And The Art of Storytelling Forbes
LIFE VR’s Mia Tramz on the Eclipse, Henry Luce, and When to Make Your Own VR App Medium
Facebook, Apple, and Google Will Hasten the Next Era of TV Miami Herald
***THE BUSINESS OF MEDIA
Bloomberg expands into consulting in search for new media model Financial Times
How Mic.com exploited social justice for clicks, and then abandoned a staff that believed in it the Outline
***JOURNALISM
A Mexican reporter was in a program to protect journalists. He was still killed: The ninth journalist killed in Mexico so far this year LA Times
Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli buys domain names associated with journalists Business Insider
Boston authorities should not have blocked media from covering protest Columbia Journalism Review
As this Houston TV station grapples with flooding, everyone’s a reporter Poynter
TV station faces backlash after chat with Charlottesville rally attendee ‘White Mike’ Columbia Journalism Review
***FAKE NEWS
The Fake-News Fallacy The New Yorker
How I Became Fake News Politico
Fake Polls Are A Real Problem FiveThirtyEight
Into the Uncanny Valley of Fake News Medium
Facebook will block publishers from advertising if they share fake news Recode
How to Recognize Russian Propaganda on Social Media Life Hacker
Fake News And Scams Are Going Around About The Deadly Storm In Texas BuzzFeed News
No, the shark picture isn’t real: A running list of Harvey’s viral hoaxes Washington Post
***PERSONAL GROWTH
Dealing with the red marks on your paper Becoming (my blog)
***GRAMMAR
The New Yorker’s Comma Madness The Baffler
Trump has deployed more than 13,000 exclamation points since joining Twitter The Week
***WRITING & READING
Bogus Advice for Op-Ed Authors Chronicle of Higher Ed
5 Writing Opportunities You Can Find on Any College Campus Study Breaks
The US and China publish almost half the world’s books Quartz
***LANGUAGE
FBI Profiler Says Linguistic Work Was Pivotal In Capture Of Unabomber NPR
***LITERATURE
A Newly Discovered Mark Twain Story Is Coming And It's So Beautiful BuzzFeed
To E or Not to E - USC Didn't in Spelling Shakespeare's Name Associated Press
3 Fascinating Books for Word Nerds Study Breaks
***RACE & ETHNICITY ISSUES
Study of top public universities finds limited faculty diversity, yet signs of progress -- except for African-Americans in STEM Inside Higher Ed
1 in 10 say it's acceptable to hold neo-Nazi views ABC News
Civil Rights Activist Argues To Keep Confederate Monuments NPR
I am not your brown reporter (opinion) Philly.com
Federal Judge Finds Racism Behind Arizona Law Banning Ethnic Studies NPR
Essay by law professors Rails against modern Culture, Sparks Outrage Inside Higher Ed
Clergy March on Washington Calling for Racial Justice Sojourners
***FREE SPEECH
Justice Department Pulls Back on Search Warrant for Visitors to Trump-Protest Site NBC News
ACLU Leader On Defending Hate Group NPR
***LEGAL ISSUES
Could You Register The Swastika As A Trademark? Forbes
John Oliver's legal hell is the stuff of Hulk Hogan-fueled nightmares Mashable
TV Station Falls For Pranksters; Sues Them For Fraud Techdirt
‘Reaction’ Video Protected By Fair Use Technology and Marketing Law
Can an AI Own a Copyright? The Illusion of More
Homeowners Can’t Sue Over Low Zestimates Technology and Marketing Law Blog
***TECHNOLOGY
Space dust kills satellites like tiny atom bombs Economist
Augmented Reality: Where are we now, and what does it mean for marketers? Search Engine Land
You don’t own your own face: Profiting from Face Recognition Software NY Daily News
***BIG DATA & STATISTICS
NGA Mulls Swap Of Satellite Imagery For Big Data Algorithms Aviation Week
***BUSINESS
The “free” economy comes at a cost Economist
Watch Out for These Scams in the Wake of Hurricane Harvey Life Hacker
***RELIGION
More Than 350 Christian Ethicists Release Statement Condemning White Supremacy Sojourners
Evangelicals Are Bitterly Split Over Advising Trump The Atlantic
Justice Dept. fights suit over Trump religious liberty order Politico
President's spiritual adviser: When you oppose Trump, you are 'fighting against the hand of God' AOL news
Faith Council Members Take A Step Back From Advising Trump NPR
Christian ministry labeled as a hate group is suing SPLC to ‘right a terrible wrong’ KansasCity.com
Joel Osteen's megachurch claims it's too flooded for Harvey relief. Internet sleuths call BS. Mashable
U.S. Muslims are religiously observant, but open to multiple interpretations of Islam Pew Research
A New Book Explains How the Christian Right Has Gotten Selective Denial Down to a Science Religious Dispatches
***ART & DESIGN
Even the Dumbest Us Weekly Headlines Look Great In New Yorker Font Jezebel
Google releases millions of bad drawings for you (and your AI) to paw through TechCrunch
***MUSIC
In China, singing Handel’s “Messiah” is forbidden in public Economist
Blockchain Technology Is Set to Disrupt Every Industry--and Music Is Next Inc
***FILM
Lynyrd Skynyrd Movie Is Banned by Judge Hollywood Reporter
***JOBS & INTERNSHIPS
What to Say When You Don't Have a Good Answer in an Interview Life Hacker
5 Annoying Things That Happen During the Job Interview Process Pay Scale
No, millennials aren’t killing stable employment Washington Post
How to Survive Panel Job Interviews Life Hacker
***HEALTH
Trump Rule Could Make it Harder for Nursing Home Residents to Sue for Abuse NPR
F.D.A. Cracks Down on 'Unscrupulous' Stem Cell Clinics New York Times
***SCIENCE
Science is not self-correcting. Science is broken Slate
***PSYCHOLOGY
Four Bad Habits of Modern Psychologists MDPI
Estimating the evidential value of significant results in psychological science PLOS
***NEUROSCIENCE
Brain Mapping Guides Surgeons In Removal Of Musician's Tumor NPR
***RESEARCH
Scammers impersonate the National Institutes of Health offering Grants FTC
***HUMANITIES /STEM
As more humanities Ph.D.s are awarded, job openings are disappearing Inside Higher Ed
***HIGHER ED
Liability Worries May Impact Study Abroad after $41.5 million verdict Inside Higher Ed
The Blockchain Revolution and Higher Education Educause
Why Universities Are Unlikely to Heed Calls for Punishing Students at Rally Chronicle of Higher Ed
University Convocation Kickoff Address McSweeney’s
The Quirks of Christian Colleges StudyBreaks
Christian university suspends theology professor for saying some black activists ‘should be hung’ AZ Central
Baylor University hit with another Title IX lawsuit Fox7
***LIBERTY UNIVERSITY
Anthony Scaramucci to speak at Liberty University convocation in November Washington Examiner
My Liberty University Diploma and Me (opinion by faculty member at the Univ. of South Florida) Chronicle of Higher Ed
Liberty University snarks back at students angry over Jerry Falwell Jr.'s Donald Trump support Washington Examiner
Liberty University pushes back against allegations of not reporting home sale to Trey Falwell Inside Higher Ed
***TEACHING
They are the last class to be born in the 1900s, the last of the Millennials are here: Time for the Beloit Mind-Set List Inside Higher Ed
What First Years Might Not Know & What To Do About It Chronicle of Higher Ed
Learning to Learn: You, Too, Can Rewire Your Brain New York Times
Reeling Them in Early: Focus above all else on generating student engagement Chronicle of Higher Ed
What’s a Scientifically-Proven Way to Improve Your Ability to Learn? Get Out and Exercise Open Culture
***ACADEMIC LIFE
The Tenure Track Is Too Rigid to Help Diversity (opinion) Bloomberg
***STUDENT LIFE
Millennials more likely to prefer being fired over text CNBC
Computer-game tournaments go mainstream Economist
Renewed debate over whether graduate students should publish Inside Higher Ed
One Trick For Keeping Kids In College: Forgive Tiny Debts That Force Them To Leave Fast Company
The Road Ahead for Collegiate Esports (podcast) BlogTalkRadio
Why do so many millennials struggle to take their pills consistently? (sub. req’d.) Stat News
***STUDENT MEDIA
5 Reasons Why You Should Write for Your College Newspaper Study Breaks
University newspaper in New York crowdfunds to keep its independence Student Press Law Center