The way forward
/It is no good getting furious if you get stuck. What I do is keep thinking about the problem but work on something else. Sometimes it is years before I see the way forward. -Stephen Hawking
ideas that challenge / comfort / inspire
Articles of interest - Week of March 12
/***SOCIAL MEDIA
China’s WeChat Isn’t Just An App—It’s A Cross-Cultural Education Fast Company
Snap Plans Biggest Round of Layoffs Yet Cheddar
New study shows a third of millennials are quitting social media USA Today
Instagram Influencers Are All Starting To Look The Same. Here's Why HuffPost
YouTube, the Great Radicalizer The New York Times
***MOBILE
The Subtle Nudges That Could Unhook Us From Our Phones Wired
How to stop annoying robocalls on your iPhone or Android phone The Verge
***PRODUCING MEDIA
How to shoot the best video on your smartphone Medium
Nearly one-in-five Americans now listen to audiobooks Pew Research
***INTERNET
Reddit and the Struggle to Detoxify the Internet New Yorker
Washington state has passed laws protecting net neutrality The Verge
30% of all sites now run on WordPress The Next Web
The web can be weaponised – and we can't count on big tech to stop it (Tim Berners-Lee) The Guardian
***TECHNOLOGY
Passenger drones are a better kind of flying car Economist
A Startup is Pitching a Mind-Uploading Service that is 100% Fatal MIT Technology Review
***BIG DATA & AI
Google’s free machine learning crash course Open Culture
Top 5 tech buzzwords of 2018 BBN Times
Leaked NSA tool territorial dispute shows agency's list of enemy hackers Wired
Things to know about machine learning: a quick guide Tech Republic
Why one Hadoop user switched from open source to go with a company that provides a higher-service version of the software Information Week
Curious about chaos engineering? Here's a cheat sheet Tech Republic
***CODING
Apple's Swift Programming Language Is Now Top Tier Wired
Tools I wish I had known about when I started coding Medium
***THE BUSINESS OF MEDIA
What happens to billboards and radio when cars drive themselves Axios
WLUP-FM ‘The Loop’ sold to Christian broadcasting company Chicago Sun-Times
The Disconnect, a magazine you can only read if you’re offline The Disconnect
China moves Media Under Cabinet-Level Control Variety
'Make TV more like digital TV': Networks are removing clutter to improve TV viewing Digiday
Live sports audiences are getting older Axios
***JOURNALISM
Reuters is taking a big gamble on AI-supported journalism Wired
How to read less news but be more informed, according to a futurist Quartz
Where have all the big, wow-inducing digital stories gone? Poynter
Death of investigative journalist sparks mass protests in Slovakia The Guardian
A bad precedent: Removing news stories from online Union-Tribune
Press freedom is waning in Myanmar Economist
Bob Woodward defends objectivity in journalism: “My job is not to take sides” Vox
***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM
New Media Buys the ‘Austin American-Statesman’ Texas Monthly
Sinclair's new media-bashing promos rankle local anchors CNN
Facebook aiming to launch News for Watch this summer Axios
***FAKE NEWS
The Grim Conclusions of the Largest-Ever Study of Fake News The Atlantic
We need to get better at covering studies about fake news Poynter
The Grim Conclusions of the Largest-Ever Study of Fake News The Atlantic
When wire services make mistakes, misinformation spreads quickly Poynter
Why It’s Okay to Call It ‘Fake News’ The Atlantic
***PERSONAL GROWTH
The People who can help you see yourself for who you are Becoming (my blog)
Your coworkers are better at rating some parts of your personality than you are The Atlantic
***GRAMMAR
Trying to Like ‘Unlike’ Chronicle of Higher Ed
Why Do we Love to Complain about Language The Guardian
14 Grammar Myths You Should Stop Believing Business Insider
***WRITING & READING
Wrestling With Auto-Correct The New York Times
Does Alcohol Recovery Kill Great Writing? The New York Times
***LANGUAGE
Enrollment in Most Foreign-Language Programs Continues to Fall Chronicle of Higher Ed
Congratulations, everybody: ‘Dumpster fire’ is now a dictionary entry, and here’s why The Washington Post
The ‘Haves’ and ‘Haven’ts’ of the Past Chronicle of Higher Ed
***LITERATURE
Rebels and Rebellion in Classic Chinese Literature Global Voices
Publishers rejected her, Christians attacked her: The deep faith of 'A Wrinkle in Time' author Madeleine L'Engle Washington Post
Is literature next in line for virtual-reality treatment? Economist
***GENDER
Being Promoted May Double Women's Odds of Getting Divorced Fortune
Kansas GOP votes to ‘oppose all efforts to validate transgender identity’ Kansas.com
Idaho Must Allow Gender Changes on Birth Certificates, Judge Rules TIME
The status of women of color in the U.S. news media 2018: full report Women’s Media Center
Harvard University faculty members voted on Tuesday to include penalties for members of single-gender social groups in the student handbook The Harvard Crimson
Survey Finds Many Transgender Teachers Face Discrimination On The Job NPR
Five Women This American Life
Sweden tries to increase gender equality on the web: Together with Wikimedia Economist
Recognizing and Avoiding Bias Scholarly Kitchen
Women in majority-male workplaces report higher rates of gender discrimination Pew Research
***RACE & ETHNICITY ISSUES
20 Black Women You Need To Know Refinery
National Geographic acknowledges past racist coverage Associated Press
***FREE SPEECH
More U.S. College Students Say Campus Climate Deters Speech Gallup
College students support free speech — unless it offends them Washington Post
People in less democratic countries are more likely to say China and Russia respect personal freedoms Pew Research
***LEGAL ISSUES
Creator of Pepe the Frog is suing Infowars LA Times
The Big Push To Reform Music Copyright For The Digital Age Forbes
***RELIGION
Conspiracy Theorists Arrested After Harassing Sutherland Springs Pastor Snopes
Billy Graham and the emergence of Christian media NOQ Report
Requirement to tell foster kids the Easter Bunny is real violated Christian couple’s charter rights, judge rules Toronto Star
Madeleine L’Engle’s Christianity was vital to A Wrinkle in Time Vox
The article removed from Forbes, “Why White Evangelicalism Is So Cruel” Political Orphans
Why Generation Z is less Christian than ever -- and why that's good news (opinion) Fox News
I’m a scholar of the “prosperity gospel.” It took cancer to show me I was in its grip Vox
Church Of Scientology Launching OTT TV Network Media Post
***RELIGION AND POLITICS
The Atlantic: How Evangelicals 'lost their way' (video) Morning Joe
Evangelical Leaders Launch Prayer Campaign for Dreamers; Urge Congress to Act as DACA Expires Christian Post
***MUSIC
Is Leonard Cohen the New Secular Saint of Montreal? The New York Times
Mozart’s Diary Where He Composed His Final Masterpieces Is Now Digitized and Available Online Open Culture
***STUDENT MEDIA
Yale University's chief investment officer, criticizing student journalists Yale Daily News
College newspapers forge a future for journalism Daily Tar Heel
What Research Says About Video Games And Violence In Children NPR
***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT
Harvard professor retires amid allegations of sexual misconduct CNN
Sexual assault in marriage needs to be part of the #MeToo conversation Vox
The Problem With ‘Inappropriate’ Chronicle of Higher Ed
***BUSINESS
The Nope Button will call your phone when a coworker is hanging out by your desk too long
Fewer employers testing for drugs as marijuana legalization spreads AL.com
***HEALTH
Major Medical Associations Feud over Diabetes Guidelines NPR
For all their risks, opioids had no pain-relieving advantage in a yearlong clinical trial LA Times
You can't 'overload' a child's immune system with vaccines NY Daily News
Fast genome tests are diagnosing some of the sickest babies in time to save them Technology Review
For diabetics, a high-fiber diet feeds gut microbes, lowering blood sugar Stat News
Many Women Come Close To Death In Childbirth NPR
***HEATH CARE COSTS
Health Care So Expensive? Some of the Reasons You’ve Heard Turn Out to Be Myths New York Times
Probe Into Generic Drug Price Fixing Set To Widen NPR
The real reason the U.S. spends twice as much on health care as other wealthy countries Washington Post
Over 500 Canadian doctors protest raises, say they're being paid too much (yes, too much) MSNBC
***RELATIONSHIPS
How can I help? 23 ways to support someone going through a tough time Medium
A lack of empathy is shaped by genetics, according to new research Quartz
***SOCIAL ISSUES
Americans unify against foreign threats. Can we unify without one? Vox
***PSYCHOLOGY
Synesthesia’s mysterious ‘mingling of the senses’ may result from hyperconnected neurons Science
How to Prime Your Brain to Be Happy GQ
Life as a Nonviolent Psychopath The Atlantic
After a stroke, her decades of severe depression vanished Washington Post
Psychopaths pay less attention to what other people are thinking New Scientist
New Brain Research Suggests Stress Is Contagious Medical Daily Times
***ETHICS
Bioethics article retracted for…ethics violation Retraction Watch
Bioethics: Key Concepts and Research Daily Jstor
***STUDENT LIFE
Gen Z is quitting social media in droves because it makes them unhappy, study says PR Weekly
Texas college students, fearing opioid deaths, teach each other to reverse overdoses Houston Chronicle
It’s time to cut the cord — with your college student WTOP
Student-body Prez Election on hold: Candidates posted offensive tweets Columbia Missourian
***RESEARCH
The Augmented Researcher: What Does 2018 Hold for AI in Publishing? RD Mag
Is plagiarism a problem in economics? Survey of editors says … yes Retraction Watch
False investigators and coercive citation are widespread in academic research The London School of Economics Political Science
I refuse all review requests with deadlines < 3 weeks. Here’s why, and how Scientist Sees Squirrel
The potential harm to patients when clinicians don’t receive consistent notifications about retracted data Retraction Watch
***HIGHER ED
Purdue’s controversial deal to buy for-profit Kaplan University gets final OK Journal & Courier
Teaching Newsletter: How One University Seeks to Shore Up the Sophomore Year Chronicle of Higher Ed
Fight at Sac State library may have broken out after a student sneezed, witness says Sacramento Bee
The University of Arizona Tracked Students’ ID Card Swipes to Predict Who Would Drop Out Gizmodo
An Economist Argues That Our Education System Is Largely Useless Chronicle of Higher Ed
Why Enrollment Is Rising at Large Christian Colleges: Many Christian-based schools charge lower tuition compared with other private colleges, experts say US News & World Report
***TEACHING
Race and Gender Bias in Online Courses: Study finds instructors are much more likely to respond to comments from white male students than from others Inside Higher Ed
Authors of premier medical textbook didn’t disclose $11 million in industry payments Stat News
Professors are banning laptops in class: I’d Be an ‘A’ Student if I Could Just Read My Notes Wall Street Journal
Why Are so Many High School Graduates Bad Writers When they Arrive at College? Inside Higher Ed
***ACADEMIC LIFE
Spam invitations to junk journals and concocted conferences are not just annoying; they do actual harm Chronicle of Higher Ed
Leaving my Ph.D. program turned out to be a smarter decision than applying Chronicle of Higher Ed
Prominent Columbia University neuroscientist fired for ‘serious behavioral violations’: the university is closing his lab Science Magazine
The people who can help you see yourself for who you are
/Romantic partners and close friends might be more informed, because they’ve observed you more—but they can also have blurrier vision, because they chose you and often share that pesky desire to see you positively. You need people who are motivated to see you accurately. And I’ve come to believe that more often than not, those people are your colleagues. The people you work with closely have a vested interest in making you better (or at least less difficult). The challenge is they’re often reluctant to tell you the stuff you don’t want to hear, but need to hear.
Adam Grant writing in The Atlantic
inevitable surprises
/We are too often motivated by a craving to put an end to the inevitable surprises in our lives. -Oliver Burkeman
virtue
/Virtue is never a waste of time. If it was a waste then it never was a virtue.
Articles of Interest - March 5
/***TECHNOLOGY
Edible Graphene Is Here, And Electronics In Your Food Are Coming Fast Company
New Orleans is testing predictive policing technology The Verge
Determining The Average Apple Device Lifespan Asymco
The Design Tricks That Make Smartphones Addictive—And How to Fight Them Mental Floss
Has dopamine got us hooked on tech? The Guardian
Self-driving cars offer huge benefits—but have a dark side The Economist
Driverless vehicles will change the world, just as cars did before them Economist
CRISPR ‘gone wild’ has made stocks swoon, but studies show how to limit off-target editing Stat News
***FAKE NEWS
Here Come the Fake Videos, Too New York Times
Digital-age tools and technology give rise to fake videos ASU
Twitter to explain on Capitol Hill how hoax against Miami Herald was perpetrated McClatchy Washington Bureau
Facebook to End News Feed Experiment in 6 Countries That Magnified Fake News The New York Times
Facebook Doesn't Know How Many People Followed Russians on Instagram Wired
Reddit says Russian propaganda was shared by ‘thousands’ ahead of the 2016 election Recode
The language that the Russians used were Clues Wired
How To Empower Users To Fight Fake News Fast Company
Facebook working on approach to classifying satirical news pieces Washington Post
***PRIVACY & SECURITY
Equifax finds its big data breach hit an additional 2.4 million people LA Times
Covert 'Replay Sessions' Have Been Harvesting Passwords by Mistake Wired
A 1.3Tbs DDoS Hit GitHub, the Largest Yet Recorded Wired
EFF launches redesigned Surveillance Self-Defense site Electronic Frontier Foundation
***BIG DATA & AI
Machine learning self defense: how to not shoot yourself in the foot Naked Security
Why Artificial Intelligence Needs To Learn How To Follow Its Gut Wired
Problematic black boxes: what to do about AIs acting without humans grasping why Economist
Can you do data science in a graphical user interface? Hadley Wickham says no Meetup
**THE BUSINESS OF MEDIA
P&G demands more out of its digital advertising Reuters
***JOURNALISM
Face recognition: what use is it to newsrooms? BBC News Labs
Music journalism: 'It's not dying. Actually, it's changing...' Musically
A journalism educator wonders: How can I teach students how to maintain their credibility? Poynter
‘They can’t kill us all’: Slovakian journalists defiant after murder The Guardian
How Broadcasters Are Making Two-Way Experiences with Interactive Content PBS Media Shift
***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM
Why recent subscribers chose to pay for news American Press Institute
How Hearst Newspapers changes its paywall to drive reader loyalty Digiday
***SOCIAL MEDIA
The Biggest YouTube Videos of 2018 (So Far) Thrillist
What You Need To Know About Vero, The Latest Hot Social Network Refinery29
Evan Spiegel Is Doubling Down on Snapchat’s Biggest Failure Vanity Fair
Social Media Use 2018: Demographics and Statistics Pew Research Center
YouTube Doesn't Know Where Its Own Line Is Wired
More than a third of all US adults use Instagram now The Verge
Yes the ‘cheerleader effect’ is real – and you can make it work in your favour The Conversation
Twitter rolls out private bookmark feature for tweets CNN
Escaping Twitter’s Self-Consciousness Machine The New Yorker
Twitter is sick. The prognosis is grim Washington Post
Twitter Seeks Health Metrics To Help It Improve Its Platform Wired
Publishers Are Switching Domain Names To Try And Stay Ahead Of Facebook’s Algorithm Changes BuzzFeed News
Facebook goes after LinkedIn with job postings expansion CNN
How to Turn Off Facebook's Face Recognition Features Wired
How to Ditch the News Feed Algorithm and Take Back Facebook Motherboard
Facebook Under Fire for Bizarre Child Predator Survey Question TechNewsWorld
Should satire be flagged on Facebook? Poynter
***PRODUCING MEDIA
Adobe is Developing Photoshop for Your Voice Medium
***INTERNET
Rural Communities Take Broadband Into Their Own Hands NPR
11% of Americans don’t use the internet. Who are they? Pew Research Center
Google: Only 8% of Chrome users use Flash plugin on a daily basis Tech Republic
***PERSONAL GROWTH
Your Gift to the World Becoming (my blog)
***GRAMMAR
The Fictional Possessives-With-Gerunds Rule Chronicle of Higher Ed
In the court of common usage, an old pronoun is losing its case Economist
***WRITING & READING
The Tough-Love Approach to Writing Chronicle of Higher Ed
***LANGUAGE
Can the World’s Biggest Dictionary Survive the Internet? The Guardian
The Language In “Black Panther” Is Totally Real. Here’s How To Speak It Fast Company
***GENDER
The distressingly unsurprising story of what happens when prominent (usually male) dissertation advisers fail to do their job Chronicle of Higher Ed
The 5 most popular programming languages among female developers Tech Republic
***RACE & ETHNICITY ISSUES
Why Race Should Be Included In The Conversation About Arming Teachers NPR
Antisemitic incidents in US soar to highest level in two decades The Guardian
The First Time My White Husband Witnessed Someone Discriminate Against Me for the Color of My Skin Glamour
***FREE SPEECH
Supreme Court Considers Free Speech Vs. Retaliatory Arrests Associated Press
Georgia Supreme Court Voids Murder Trial Gag Order RTNDA
***LEGAL ISSUES
New Front In Data Privacy At The Supreme Court: Can U.S. Seize Emails Stored Abroad NPR
Playboy Drops Misguided Copyright Case Against Boing Boing Electronic Frontier Foundation
The ACLU is suing the US over separation of mother, child seeking asylum Associated Press
Video News Aggregator Loses Fair Use Defense Technology & Marketing Law Blog
***RELIGION
Pennsylvania Church Holds 'Blessing' Ceremony Featuring AR-15 Rifles NBC San Diego
5 facts about U.S. evangelical Protestants Pew Research Center
People Like Billy Graham Are Why I Quit Christianity Vice
Demand for exorcisms is up threefold in Italy, so Vatican is holding conference USA Today
The Devil in My Dad: The 'Satanic Panic' of the 1980’s Elle
Some churches drop ‘Baptist’ from names to gain new members Columbus Dispatch
Battle over religion in public schools waged in one of America's fastest-growing cities Religious News Service
How Trump And Race Are Splitting Evangelicals FiveThirtyEight
Endeavor Content Invests in Newly Launched Faith-Based Production Company Hollywood Reporter
***SOCIAL ISSUES
How Different Income Groups Spend Money Flowing Data
Photojournalist James Nachtwey captures America's opioid epidemic at the personal level TIME
Born in the Late 70s or Early 80s? Now There’s Finally a Name for Your Generation My Modern Met
***GOOD NEWS
Chuck Feeney: the billionaire who gave it all away Irish Times
***ART & DESIGN
Photography Competition 2018: The Winners National Geographic Traveller
Drone photography is just normal photography now Quartz
***MUSIC
The Hamilton Soundtrack Gets the “Weird Al” Yankovic Treatment With a New Polka Medley Slate
Mozart’s Diary Where He Composed His Final Masterpieces Is Now Digitized and Available Online Open Culture
***STUDENT MEDIA
Professor grabs student journalist and deletes photos after classroom was photographed The Vermont Cynic
Sunshine laws, The Sunflower and the student government at WSU’s attempt to smack the student newspaper around Dynamics of Writing
Wichita State student newspaper faces funding cut The Wichita Eagle
Critical administrators. Closed meetings. Proposed funding cuts. What the heck is going on at Wichita State University? Student Press Law Center
***STUDENT LIFE
Millennials projected to overtake Baby Boomers as America’s largest generation Pew Research Center
The Generation Gap in American Politics: Wide and growing divides in views of racial discrimination People
Defining generations: Where Millennials end and post-Millennials begin Pew Research Center
Student newspaper publishes hardcore porn and sexual violence photo spread The College Fix
Pro-Trump College Group Won’t Tell the Feds What the Hell It’s Doing The Daily Beast
Go Ahead, Millennials, Destroy Us New York Times
College Sues Former Student Who Won’t Leave Her Dorm Room Snopes
Exclusive: Congress requires many unpaid interns to sign nondisclosure agreements Vox
Millennials lost money to scams more often than their grandparents USA Today
Helicopter parents don’t stay at home when the kids go to college — they keep hovering Washington Post
***JOBS
Do Resume Typos Matter? Here’s What Hundreds Of LinkedIn Users Say Fast Company
Edit tests are out of control, say journalists in search of jobs Columbia Journalism Review
Stop Confusing Your Job Skills With Your Credentials Fast Company
***BUSINESS
Most Companies Have No Idea Where They Are Going TechNewsWorld
Most employees waste 32 days of productivity per year on bad enterprise apps Tech Republic
***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT
Consent in the Digital Age: Can Apps Solve a Very Human Problem? New York Times
#UsToo movement targets sexual harassment in science Chemistry World
***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT ON CAMPUS
Here’s how a national database could help colleges fight sexual assault The Hill
Arizona professor with dropped charges not allowed on campus Arizona Daily Sun
The student who was harassed online when she created a petition not to rehire the coach 406 MT Sports
Lawsuit: Prominent faculty member accused of rape, repeated assaults, and an attempt to involve her boyfriend in murdering the faculty member’s ex-wife Democrat & Chronicle
More Women Come Forward to Report Sexual Harassment by Harvard Professor Chronicle of Higher Ed
***ACADEMIC LIFE
Ex-MSU professor, 'renowned' robotics expert accused of $400K fraud MLive
***HEALTH
Still Thirsty? It's Up To Your Brain, Not Your Body NPR
Here's How Often You Should Clean Everything In Your House Mental Floss
20 years ago, research fraud catalyzed the anti-vaccination movement. Let’s not repeat history Vox
New Study Finds Childhood Obesity Remains On the Rise in America Fatherly
People are dying because we misunderstand how addicts think Vox
Like It Or Not, Personal Health Technology Is Getting Smarter NPR
***SCIENCE
Remarkable Photo of a Single Atom Wins Science Photography Contest My Modern Met
How your sense of smell may affect your politics: An ancient trait creates political leanings Economist
***PSYCHOLOGY
We need new kinds of antidepressants, in addition to pills Vox
The most neurotic places in the US, according to 1.5 billion tweets Quartz
The surprisingly weak scientific case for emotional support animals Vox
***PRODUCTIVITY
The Productivity Paradox—Why Doing More Doesn't Get More Done Hello Sign
***ENVIRONMENT
North Pole surges above freezing in the dead of winter, stunning scientists Washington Post
***RESEARCH
Is it time to nationalise academic publishers? Times Higher Education
How to write a first-class paper Nature
***HIGHER ED
Amid Fear of Foreign Influence, Colleges’ Confucius Institutes Face Renewed Skepticism Chronicle of Higher Ed
There Is No Case for the Humanities Chronicle of Higher Ed
A Conservative Underground Surfaces at a Christian University as an anonymous newsletter spreads all over campus Inside Higher Ed
Students who are openly gay and Christian challenge Ozark Christian College, other religious colleges Joplin Globe
***TEACHING
The forgetting curve explains why humans struggle to memorize Quartz
Tech Devices in the classroom (a student editorial) Georgia State Signal
The Case for Inclusive Teaching Chronicle of Higher Ed
Your Gift to the World
/If you were meant to cure cancer or write a symphony or crack cold fusion and you don’t do it, you not only hurt yourself, even destroy yourself. You hurt your children. You hurt me. You hurt the planet.
You shame the angels who watch over you and you spite the Almighty, who created you and only you with your unique gifts, for the sole purpose of nudging the human race one millimeter farther along its path back to God.
Creative work is not a selfish act of a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.
Steven Pressfield, The Art of War
your grandfather and your baby brother
/Treat everyone with the same level of respect you would give to your grandfather and the same level of patience you would have with your baby brother. -Renee Jones
bad weather
/Too often man handles life as he does the bad weather. He whiles away the time as he waits for it to stop. -Alfred Polgar
The real way to build a social network
/Picture the consummate networker: a high-energy fast talker who collects as many business cards as he can and attends mixers sporting slicked-back hair. Or the overambitious college kid who frantically e-mails alumni, schmoozes with the board of trustees, and adds anyone he's ever met as an online friend. Such people are drunk on networking Kool-Aid—and are looking at a potentially nasty hangover.
Luckily, building your network doesn't have to be like that. Old-school networkers are transactional. They pursue relationships thinking solely about what other people can do for them. Relationship builders, on the other hand, try to help others first. They don't keep score. And they prioritize high-quality relationships over a large number of connections.
Reid Hoffman, The Start-Up of You
Too many people
/Too many people die with their music still in them. Oliver Wendell Holmes
Don't Be a Hack
/A hack, Robert McKee says, is a writer who second-guesses his audience. When the hack sits down to work, he doesn’t ask himself what’s in his own heart. He asks what the market is looking for. The hack condescends to his audience. He thinks he’s superior to them.
The truth is, he’s scared to death of them or, more accurately, scared of being authentic in front of them, scared of writing what he really feels or believes, what he himself thinks is interesting. He’s afraid it won’t sell. So he tries to anticipate what the market (a telling word) wants, then gives it to them.
In other words, the hack writes hierarchically. He writes what he imagines will play well in the eyes of others. He does not ask himself, What do I myself want to write? What do I think is important? Instead he asks, What’s hot, what can I make a deal for?
The hack is like the politician who consults the polls before he takes a position. He’s a demagogue. He panders.
It can pay off, being a hack. Given the depraved state of American culture, a slick dude can make millions being a hack. But even if you succeed, you lose, because you’ve sold out your Muse, and your Muse is you, the best part of yourself, where your finest and only true work comes from.
Steven Pressfield, The War of Art
throw your heart
/Throw your heart over the bar and your body will follow.
Articles of Interest - Feb 26
/***TECHNOLOGY
Social networks are broken—This man wants to fix them MIT Technology Review
Robot vs Human Testing Wired
Driverless cars can operate in California as early as April Recode
Scientists create optical lens that acts as 'artificial eye' based on the anatomy of human eyeball Harvard
Children struggle to hold pencils due to too much tech, doctors say The Guardian
***JOURNALISM
Local Reporting Is Dying. This Training Corps Wants to Bring It Back. Pacific Standard PS Mag
With in-article chat bots, BBC is experimenting with new ways to introduce readers to complex topics Nieman Lab
Journalism has a catch-22 problem with visuals Poynter
Journalism is a risky business Washington Post
***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM
After years of testing, The Wall Street Journal has built a paywall that bends to the individual reader Nieman Journalism Lab
***FAKE NEWS
How to Inoculate the Public Against Fake News Defense One
A viral fake about Sylvester Stallone highlights a major flaw in Facebook’s fact-checking tool Poynter
Why Can Everyone Spot Fake News But The Tech Companies? BuzzFeed
Strategies on checking for fake news Union-Tribune
Can we keep media literacy from becoming a partisan concept like fact checking? Harvard’s Nieman Lab
***BIG DATA & AI
The best books for learning modern statistics (and they’re free) Quartz
***SOCIAL MEDIA
On Social Media, Lax Enforcement Lets Impostor Accounts Thrive New York Times
There is no easy fix for Facebook’s reliability problem Monday Note
***MOBILE
What is Google Reply (and How It Works) Tom’s Guide
Apple Plans Giant High-End iPhone, Lower-Priced Model Bloomberg
***PRODUCING MEDIA
Sitting in on Remote Meetings? Working at a Standing Desk? Follow These Tips Wired
The Pros & Cons of Scripted vs Unscripted Video Video Strategist
***INTERNET
The Father Of The Internet Sees His Invention Reflected Back Through A 'Black Mirror' NPR
***PERSONAL GROWTH
Defeating Procrastination Becoming (my blog)
***GRAMMAR
The serious implications of poking fun at the grammar of people who speak and write English as a second language The Chronicle of Higher Education
‘What Is Your Position on Citation?’ The Chronicle of Higher Education
Syntax change: one of the mistakes made by doom-mongers who believe English itself is under threat The Chronicle of Higher Education
***LANGUAGE
Did humans speak through cave art? New paper links ancient drawings and language’s origins MIT
In the world of voice-recognition, not all accents are equal Economist
A Written Language Without an Alphabet Scholarly Kitchen
***LITERATURE
Petition calls for separating LGBT materials in Iowa library Washington Post
Aliens Would Probably Like It If You Gave them Flowers: A Geek’s Guide to Steven Pinker WIRED
How Do You Launch a New Generation of Native American Writers? BuzzFeed News
***GENDER
Judge gives grandparents custody of Ohio transgender teen CNN
Signs defending white privilege appear around Burlington campuses Burlington Free Press
'You Have Dark Skin And You Are Beautiful': The Long Fight Against Skin Bleaching NPR
How Girls and Women "Camouflage" Their Autism The Atlantic
Gender Gap at the Olympics Wall Street Journal
***RACE & ETHNICITY ISSUES
U.S. hate groups proliferate in Trump's first year, watchdog says Reuters
***FREE SPEECH
It's the (Democracy-Poisoning) Golden Age of Free Speech Wired
California's IMDb Age Censorship Law Declared Unconstitutional Hollywood Reporter
***LEGAL ISSUES
John Oliver, HBO Beat Coal Executive's Defamation Lawsuit Hollywood Reporter
4 of the Most Influential Supreme Court Cases Being Decided in 2018 Study Breaks
Appeals Court Rules The Civil Rights Act Protects Gay Workers NPR
Lesbian Law Prof Sues Over Rejection as Foster Parent Law.com
***LEGAL ISSUES: COPYRIGHT
Judge rejects copyright claim over CG Characters in Blockbuster Movies, but claims for inducing patent infringement and violating trademarks will move forward Hollywood Reporter
The Big Push To Reform Music Copyright For The Digital Age Forbes
Disney Misused 'Star Wars,' 'Frozen' Copyrights, Says Judge Hollywood Reporter
***RELIGION
Why Are These Christian Non-Profits Telling the IRS They’re Churches? (opinion) Patheos
The Gospel according to Bob Dylan Boston Globe
Our Parent Who Art in Heaven The Chronicle of Higher Education
Pope suggests it's better to be an atheist than a bad Christian CNN
***BILLY GRAHAM
Remembering Billy Graham, "America's Pastor" & Adviser to Presidents Biography
The media savvy of Billy Graham Washington Post
Billy Graham's Record on Race Was Both Ahead and Of His Time Bloomberg
Today’s evangelicals could learn a lot from Billy Graham (opinion) Washington Post
Why Billy Graham Was Determined to Globalize Evangelicalism The Atlantic
Billy Graham was consumed by grace Washington Post
Billy Graham may have been the last bipartisan evangelical leader Washington Post
The Making of Billy Graham: Evangelicalism and Anthropology in the 20th-Century United States Academia.edu
Billy Graham Built a Movement. Now His Son Is Dismantling It Politico
***RELIGION AND POLITICS
In Donald Trump, Evangelicals Have Found Their President (opinion) New York Times
Evangelical Explains: We Evangelicals Are The Biggest Suckers in the US Splinter
***ART & DESIGN
Instagram is killing the way we experience art in museums Quartzy
A sumptuous TV tour of the history of art Economist
The Art of Chinese Propaganda Posters Atlas Obscura
How do the United States state flags look when data decides their designs? True Colors
***MUSIC
Is Music a Universal Language? YouTube
Public broadcaster music library closing, CD’s to be digitised, destroyed Radio Canada International
***FILM
'Darkest Hour' Loves Churchill, But Let's Hope It Tanks His Legacy Digg
***STUDENT MEDIA
Student journalist interviewed classmates as shooter walked Parkland school halls CNN
How accessible is Penn State’s campus for students with disabilities? The Daily Collegian
FIRE alerts students to due process threats using campus newspapers The FIRE
***JOBS
How to Make Your LinkedIn Page Less Boring LifeHacker
***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT
'New York Magazine': Do You Believe Anita Hill Now? NPR
How common is sexual misconduct in Hollywood? USA Today
Tackling Sexual Harassment On Campus Means Putting Students First (opinion) University Times
Sexual harassment pervades science: This scientist is talking to Congress about how to change that Stat News
***SOCIOLOGY
The Professor of Horrible Deeds: Fred Berlin has done decades of pioneering research on pedophilia — and outraged a lot of people along the way The Chronicle of Higher Education
***HEALTH
Good science keeps debunking the war on pasta and bread Vox
Making anaesthesia safer by tracking brain activity Economist
Single fathers are twice more likely to die early than single mothers or partnered fathers Quartz
Back Pain May Be The Result Of Bending Over At The Waist Instead Of The Hips NPR
What does the world die from? (data visualization) Our World in Data
***HEALTH & TECH
Google’s new AI algorithm predicts heart disease by looking at your eyes The Verge
DeepMind’s new project aims to prevent hospital deaths MIT Tech Review
***RELATIONSHIPS
Yep, people are using avocados to propose on Instagram NBC Today
***NEUROSCIENCE
Hidden Brain: A Study Of Airline Delays NPR
New neurons in the adult brain are involved in sensory learning ScienceDaily
***CRITICAL THINKING
Steven Pinker’s case for optimism“Enlightenment Now” explains why the doom-mongers are wrong Economist
***PHILOSOPHY
Four philosophers who realized they were completely wrong about things Big Think
***RESEARCH
Researchers have finally created a tool to spot duplicated images across thousands of papers Nature
Publisher retracts “conceptual penis” hoax article Retraction Watch
Tool which clinical drug trials have missed deadlines for reporting their results BBC
A guidebook to measuring research Nature
***HIGHER ED
A list of colleges that “are committed to defend the #NeverAgain Movement (website created by undergraduate at the University of California at San Diego) Never Again Colleges
The Great Online School Scam LongReads
Who's Missing From America's Colleges? Rural High School Graduates NPR
After 2016 Election, Campus Hate Crimes Seemed to Jump: Here’s What the Data Tell Us The Chronicle of Higher Education
How to help students avoid the remedial ed trap Hechinger Report
University of Akron pays more than $620,000 a year to two former presidents to teach Cleveland.com
College signs contract with Florida sheriff’s office to have instructors and staff members carry guns Click Orlando
In Times of Scandal, Conflicts With College Lawyers Multiply The Chronicle of Higher Ed
The Misguided Drive to Measure ‘Learning Outcomes’ New York Times
Why Is the Manhattan DA Looking at Newsweek’s Ties to a Christian University? Newsweek
No, a church isn't trying to sex traffic women on college campuses NewJersey.com
Jimmy Carter to give commencement speech at Liberty University The Hill
Louisiana College refused to hire coach because of his 'Jewish blood': Lawsuit Associated Press
What in the World Is Going On Between Olivet U. and Newsweek? The Chronicle of Higher Education
Wheaton College Wins 5-Year Religious Freedom Battle Against Birth Control Mandate Christian Post
***TEACHING
Inclusive Citation: How Diverse Are Your References? The Chronicle of Higher Ed
***STUDENT LIFE
Millennials Media Consumption Daily Infographic
Prestigious U.S. colleges won't reject students who protest guns Reuters
Judge dismisses New York Columbia University student's claims over rape reports Reuters
Student-run Christian group sues Georgia school saying its campus speech-zone rules are unconstitutional Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Screen All Teens For Depression, Pediatricians Urge NPR
***ACADEMIC LIFE
She Wrote a Farewell Letter to Colleagues. Then 80,000 People Read It. The Chronicle of Higher Education
resistance to change
/There is no sin punished more implacably by nature than the sin of resistance to change. Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Learn by Doing
/Learn by doing. Not sure if you can break into the pharmaceutical industry? Spend six months interning at Pfizer making connections and see what happens. Curious whether marketing or product development is a better fit than what you currently do? If you work in a company where those functions exist, offer to help out for free. Whatever the situation, actions, not plan, generate lessons that help you test your hypotheses against reality. Actions help you discover where you want to go and how to get there.
Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha, The Startup of You
little steps
/There is no giant step that does it. It’s a lot of little steps. -Peter A. Cohen
your future self
/Procrastination stems from a failure to “identify sufficiently with your future self” -Robert Hanks
Articles of Interest - Feb 19
/***TECHNOLOGY
Drones that dodge obstacles without guidance can pursue you like paparazzi MIT Technology Review
In the future we won’t edit genomes—we’ll just print out new ones MIT Tech Review
***BIG DATA & AI
Buzzwords Just Create Confusion about Data Science Dark Reading
The misuse, abuse and traps of “statistical significance” Christensen Institute
***SOCIAL MEDIA
Want the Perfect Instagram Photo? This Park Hires a Photographer for You Bloomberg
Facebook’s two-factor authentication system auto-posts replies on your profile The Verge
Snapchat founder says user complaints 'validate' redesign CNN
Why Facebook’s earliest efforts to kill off Snapchat completely backfired Recode
Carry Around Your Google Account's Backup Two-Step Verification Codes in Case Your Phone is Stolen Life Hacker
Tired of texting? Google tests robot to chat with friends for you The Guardian
Google is replacing Facebook’s traffic to publishers Recode
The ‘Stories’ format is coming to Google search next The Verge
What Is Google Really Up To With Chrome Ad Blocking? Popular Mechanics
***PERSONAL GROWTH
The Cult of Convenience Becoming (my blog)
The Tyranny of Convenience (opinion) New York Times
The ABCs of Fake Empathy: what it is, what it isn’t and how to cultivate it The Polymath Project
***JOURNALISM
Why ‘Dialogue Journalism’ Is Having a Moment PBS Media Shift
When it comes to press freedom, America is no longer a ‘beacon’ for the world Columbia Journalism Review
The Heartbreak and Frustration of Covering One Mass Shooting After Another New Yorker
How the non-disclosure agreement became a tool for powerful people to stymie journalists from informing the public Columbia Journalism Review
John Oliver: Is He a Journalist, Despite His Protests? Variety
Best practices for reporting through social media during a mass shooting Poynter
***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM
Guide to Audience Revenue and Engagement of News Audiences Columbia Journalism Review
New York Times CEO: Print journalism has maybe another 10 years CNBC
How much U.S. newspapers charge for digital subscriptions American Press Institute
***FAKE NEWS
The most common hashtags tweeted by Russian trolls Quartz
Fake news is an existential crisis for social media Tech Crunch
***LITERATURE
In 'Freshwater,' A College Student Learns To Live With Separate Selves NPR
***GENDER
Education Department says it is no longer investigating transgender bathroom complaints BuzzFeed
Judge gives grandparents custody of Ohio transgender teen CNN
Male and female brain rhythms show differences Science Daily
***RACE & ETHNICITY ISSUES
‘Resist White Supremacy’: A sign. A farm. And the fury that followed Washington Post
NBC Insists On Saying 'Pyeongchang' Incorrectly Because 'It's Cleaner' Huffington Post
How Diverse Casting in Branded Videos Expands Your Audience Video Strategist
***FREE SPEECH
The 10 worst colleges for free speech: 2018 The FIRE
***LEGAL ISSUES
Law School Accreditor Proposes Easing Limits on Online Education Inside Higher Ed
Supreme Court Tackles Fourth Amendment Case Involving Cellphone Privacy Law.com
Beyoncé Songs Come to the Olympics. But Who Pays for the Rights? New York Times
Judge Rules News Publishers Violated Copyright by Embedding Tweets of Tom Brady Photo Hollywood Reporter
In-Line Linking May Be Copyright Infringement–Goldman v. Breitbart News Technology & Marketing Law Blog
***RELIGION
Author of “The Faith of Donald J. Trump” is challenged on Morning Joe MSNBC
Charlotte Mother Jailed For Baptism: Mother Reports To Jail WSOC-TV
***ART & DESIGN
A landmark 5Pointz case shows the legal reasons why graffiti is art Quartz
How restaurateur Mr Chow became the unlikely hero of the art world Dazed
What the 5Pointz ruling means for street artists The Conversation
***MUSIC
Classical Music Couples Throughout History NPR
A Town In Mexico Sees Guitar Sales Soar Thanks To The Movie 'Coco' NPR
***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT
Bill Would Hold College Presidents Accountable for Sexual Abuse by Employees Chronicle of Higher Ed
The Moral Responsibility of Restaurant Critics in the Age of #MeToo The New Yorker
Bill Would Hold College Presidents Accountable for Sexual Abuse by Employees Chronicle of Higher Ed
The Call-In: Knowing Sexual Harassers NPR
Breaking the Silence: the #MeToo Moment in Scholarly Communication Scholarly Kitchen
***HEALTH
New malleable 'electronic skin' self-healable, recyclable University of Colorado Boulder
Google AI can scan your eyes to predict heart disease Engadget
***RELATIONSHIPS
No, opposites do not attract The Conversation
8 facts about love and marriage in America Pew Research Center
***GOOD NEWS
A single dad walked 11 miles to work every day—until his co-workers found out CNN
How Two Police Drones Saved a Woman's Life The Atlantic
50 Years Later, Mister Rogers Remains Our Favorite Neighbor NPR
***PSYCHOLOGY
What Color Is a Tennis Ball? The Atlantic
The Psychology Behind Successful Apps (opinion) Media Post
***PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy Relies on Those Double Majors The Splintered Mind
A Celebrity Philosopher Explains the Populist Insurgency New Yorker
***ETHICS
Tech’s Ethical ‘Dark Side’: Harvard, Stanford and Others Want to Address It New York Times
***RESEARCH
Meet the ‘data thugs’ out to expose shoddy and questionable research Science Mag
***HIGHER ED
How Russian Bots Spread Fear at University in the U.S. Inside Higher Ed
In a fast-changing world, nearly everything is unsettled in higher education Inside Higher Ed
What students know that experts don't: School is all about signaling, not skill-building LA Times
Getting from ‘Hello’ to ‘I Do’ on a Christian College Campus Christianity Today
Female students at Christian colleges more likely to experience gender discrimination Christianity Today
***TEACHING
Harnessing the Power of the Developing Brain Chronicle of Higher Ed
Hybrid learning techniques in both online and traditional classes can be better used (opinion) Hechinger Report
Online Courses Are Harming the Students Who Need the Most help New York Times
Future economy demands workers who can learn online The Hill
The lack of meaningful pedagogical training during graduate school Chronicle of Higher Ed
Since the mid-1970s, college students have become increasingly less likely to major in education Market Watch
***STUDENT MEDIA
College PR offices fight against student media to manipulate narrative Student Press Law Center
Student reporter interviews classmates during shooting Fort Worth Star-Telegram
***STUDENT LIFE
The 7 Things Students Think About When Choosing a College Chronicle of Higher Ed
Millennials Are Obsessed With Pets Media Post
College roommates underestimate each other's distress, new psychology research shows Science Daily
***ACADEMIC LIFE
Why I Collapsed on the Job: Academics are silent workaholics—so free to work whenever we want that many of us end up working all the time Chronicle of Higher Ed
Michigan State University Faculty Senate passes no confidence vote in Board of Trustees Michigan Radio
History in the Face of Catastrophe: After my son died, how could I know anything for certain? Chronicle of Higher Ed
The Cult of Convenience
/Everyone, or nearly everyone, is on Facebook: It is the most convenient way to keep track of your friends and family, who in theory should represent what is unique about you and your life. Yet Facebook seems to make us all the same. Its format and conventions strip us of all but the most superficial expressions of individuality, such as which particular photo of a beach or mountain range we select as our background image.
I do not want to deny that making things easier can serve us in important ways, giving us many choices (of restaurants, taxi services, open-source encyclopedias) where we used to have only a few or none. But being a person is only partly about having and exercising choices. It is also about how we face up to situations that are thrust upon us, about overcoming worthy challenges and finishing difficult tasks — the struggles that help make us who we are. What happens to human experience when so many obstacles and impediments and requirements and preparations have been removed?
Today’s cult of convenience fails to acknowledge that difficulty is a constitutive feature of human experience. Convenience is all destination and no journey. But climbing a mountain is different from taking the tram to the top, even if you end up at the same place. We are becoming people who care mainly or only about outcomes. We are at risk of making most of our life experiences a series of trolley rides.
Tim Wu writing in The New York Times