To be manifestly loved
/To be manifestly loved, to be openly admired are human needs as basic as breathing. Why, then, wanting them so much ourselves, do we deny them so often to others? -Arthur Gordon
ideas that challenge / comfort / inspire
dead inside
/Think about what it will be like when you are old, when you approach death. When you have already died inside or will your mind be alive with new ideas that are unmistakably around?
Ken Bain
Writing your Own Eulogy
/A visualization technique that asks people to write their own eulogy. It’s a technique that Daniel Harkavy, CEO and executive coach at Building Champions and co-author of Living Forward, has been teaching executives for over 20 years.
Harkavy’s tip is to write your eulogy first as if your funeral was today and everything you’ve accomplished so far was all you ever would. “Picture your memorial service as if it were being held right now. Your casket is sitting center stage, and as you look down the center aisle you see the first three rows, usually reserved for those with whom we were closest. Who’s sitting there for you?” he asks. “Most likely your family and dearest friends. Now keep looking down the aisle, and now you’re looking at rows 10 through 20. Who’s sitting there? Probably acquaintances, clients, customers. What did you give to the people in these rows?”
Harkavy says when he walks clients through this exercise during his speaking engagements, they usually all say the same thing: “We gave them our best!” He then asks them what they gave to the people sitting in rows one through three–and their answers usually amount to “We gave them our leftovers.” In other words, their work-life balance is out of whack.
“When you go to write your eulogy, you need to be brutally honest. Don’t pull any punches. You want to really feel this,” Harkavy says. “What would those closest to you say about who you were, how you lived, and what you had to give them, and why would they say that?”
Michael Grothaus writing in Fast Company
Articles of Interest - Dec 10
/***JOURNALISM
The top 25 news photos of 2018 The Atlantic
Get rid of the content no one reads: Offer surprises and “candy” and other tricks for retaining subscribers Harvard’s Nieman Lab
'Killed for speaking the truth': nine journalists murdered in 2018 The Guardian
From a Myanmar jail, a children’s book about the power of journalism Columbia Journalism Review Columbia Journalism Review
A Capital Gazette photographer had a powerful rebuttal to “enemies of the people” Washington Post
Podcasts Are Getting Newsier. Here Are 8 New Ones Worth a Listen New York Times
Interviewing white-collar criminals: 6 tips from Harvard Business School’s Eugene Soltes Journalism Resources
A Future With Less News: The possibilities and limits of journalism in the digital era New Republic
***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM
Thomson Reuters will cut 3,200 jobs by 2020 CNN
How two traditional competitors are working together to grow audience Better News
How many of us pay for online news? Reuters
At NPR, an army of temps resents a workplace full of anxiety and insecurity Washington Post
***TEACHING JOURNALISM
China study abroad trip proceeds as planned despite journalist arrests Daily Nebraskan
My advice for aspiring explainer journalists Vox
***FAKE NEWS
How Does Misinformation Spread Online? Psychology Today
The War on Truth Spreads Democratically elected leaders borrow from the anti-press playbook of dictators and tyrants (opinion) New York Times
***TECHNOLOGY
Your smartphone's AI algorithms could tell if you are depressed MIT Technology Review
New Scam Apps Take Advantage of iPhone Touch ID Wired
***BIG DATA & AI
Plunging into AI? Not a good idea Zdnet
The latest AI-enhanced gadget you're using is probably not actually 'intelligent' Poynter
***SOCIAL MEDIA
LinkedIn Learning Opens Its Platform (Slightly) Ed Surge
The Psychological Toll of Becoming an Instagram Influencer Medium
Social media outpaces print newspapers in the U.S. as a news source Pew Research Center
Here’s How Facebook’s Local News Algorithm Change Led To The Worst Riots Paris Has Seen In 50 Years BuzzFeed News
Facebook Emails Show Its Real Mission: Making Money and Crushing Competition New York Times
Facebook must decide: Is it for the mob or for democracy? (opinion) Monday Note
***PRODUCING MEDIA
The Best Podcasts of 2018 New Yorker
The 11 best documentaries of 2018 Vox
***INTERNET
Google's Autocomplete Suggestions For Questions About Every State, Mapped Digg
Poll: Smartphones are winning the internet Axios
***PERSONAL GROWTH
Study: after 75 years the most fulfilling lives had one thing in common Becoming (my blog)
***WRITING & READING
The best-selling fiction novels of the last 100 years LitHub
Writing has ‘got to be weird before it gets good,’ says Casey Gerald PBS
Is Listening to a Book the Same Thing as Reading It? New York Times
7 Essential Tools to Improve Your Business Writing Skills The Frisky
***GRAMMAR
Scholars Talk Writing: Hyphens, Oxford Commas, and Pronoun Preferences (sub. req’d) The Chronicle of Higher Education
One in ten British adults don’t know when to use ‘their’, ‘there’ and ‘they’re’ The Sun
Twitter responds to the Smocking Gun incident TIME
***LANGUAGE
How We Ask Questions Matters The Chronicle of Higher Education
George H.W. Bush, Language Guy The Chronicle of Higher Education
***LITERATURE
Should Studying Literature Be Fun? Chronicle of Higher Education
The Bookshelf shares a video homage to literature Quill and Quire
Why the Hell Are We Still Reading Ernest Hemingway? The Daily Beast
***GENDER
The Woman Who Outruns the Men, 200 Miles at a Time New York Times
This journalist created a system to make sure more female experts got on air Poynter
***RACE & ETHNICITY ISSUES
Campuses are seeing a Surge of Anti-Semitic Incidents Inside Higher Ed
Students at Columbia University interrupted Comedian deeming his jokes too offensive Inside Higher Ed
Veterans Affairs’ diversity chief was told not to condemn white nationalists Washington Post
Nursing while black The Tennessean
***CRIME
Confidential informants are supposed to keep their work confidential. These two didn't USA Today
This map shows where in the US cyber crime costs people the most CNBC
Florida schools cover up crimes: Rapes, guns and more Sun Sentinel
***PRIVACY & SECURITY
Sorry, your data can still be identified even if it’s anonymized Fast Company
***RELIGION
Fundamental Baptist church pastors cover up sex abuse, rape Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Wiccans Outnumber Presbyterians in the US Christian Post
25 Questions about Hanukkah, Answered! Mental Floss
6 things a Texas pastor learned from traveling with a group of migrants CNN
Book charting decline of white Christian America wins Grawemeyer Award in Religion The Presbyterian Outlook
Under pressure, Museum of the Bible moves charismatic Christian conference off-site Religion News Service
Christian Activist who burned LBGTQ books from library charged with misdemeanor Sioux City Journal
Nuns improperly took as much as $500,000 from Torrance Catholic school Press Telegram
ATF: There have been 5 attacks on Jehovah's Witnesses in Washington state this year CNN
***RELIGION AND POLITICS
***GOOD NEWS
9-year-old gets Colorado town to end ban on snowball fights ABC 13
Homeless man turns in $17,000 cash he found outside local food bank The News Tribune
Luxembourg to become first country to make all public transport free The Guardian
UPS driver takes home shelter dog who hopped into his truck The DoDo
California nurse adopts baby left at his hospital The Week magazine
Nurse overhears conversation: Decides to donate a kidney to a woman she'd never met Chicago Tribune
FIU student defies odds, walks across stage for his diploma Local 10
***ART & DESIGN
Why we all take the same travel photos Wired
Walmart Acquires Art & Décor Retailer Art.com Tech Crunch
The Best Art of 2018 New York Times
***MUSIC
The Best Music Of 2018 (all female) NPR
Spotify’s Most Streamed Artists are all Male Mashable
The 12 Days of Christmas: the story behind the holiday’s most annoying carol Vox
How J.R.R. Tolkien Influenced Classic Rock & Metal (video)
The Strange History of Smooth Jazz: The Music We All Know and Love … to Hate (video)
***FILM
The American Film Institute releases annual list of its Top 10 movies Entertainment Weekly
NPR's Favorite Movies Of 2018 NPR
***THE BUSINESS OF MEDIA
Media pivots away from advertising Axios
***ARTICLES ABOUT JOBS
482 hiring managers looked at nearly 20,000 résumés and found the classic advice to limit your résumé to one page might be wrong after all Business Insider
Telemundo Stations Launch ‘University’ to Staff Newsrooms Broadcasting & Cable
How to advocate for yourself in the newsroom The Ground Truth Project
***BUSINESS & FINANCE
Ranking the most charitable states in the country Thrillist
Start-Ups Aren't Cool Anymore: It’s harder for Millennials to thrive as entrepreneurs now The Atlantic
How To Recognize The Signs Of A Toxic Work Environment (infographic) Daily Infographic
***ENVIRONMENT
Researchers find plastic particles in every sea turtle tested for study Axios
Carbon emissions rise again in 2018, new report finds Axios
***HEALTH
Giving Patients a Voice in Their Mental Health Care Before They’re Too Ill to Have a Say New York Times
41 Percent of Americans Do Not Intend to Get a Flu Shot this Season National Opinion Research Center
Cushioned shoes aren't good for your feet BigThink
***HEALTH & TECHNOLOGY
1st baby born using uterus transplanted from deceased donor KUTV
***FOOD
Dollar General tries to make healthy food more accessible CNN
***PARENTS
Stay-at-Home Mom says Judge left her feeling bullied: “I don’t care about your children” Sacramento Bee
How Incarcerated Parents Are Losing Their Children Forever The Marshall Project
Couple endures emotional crime in bizarre botched adoption Orange County Register
***CHILDREN
First data from massive NIH study shows effects of screen time on kids Axios
Teaching kids to code: I’m a developer and I think it doesn’t actually teach important skills Slate
***ANIMALS
Dog waited weeks for owners at home burned in Camp fire Press Democrat
Twitch and Izzy with unusual condition wobble their way into your heart Freep
Police officer rescues chicken from shed fire New York Daily News
Origins Of The Top Dog Names Of 2018: Pop Culture, Brunch, And Baby Names NPR
***PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology’s Replication Crisis Has Made The Field Better FiveThirtyEight
***NEUROSCIENCE
Neuroscientist: we are always hallucinating The Atlantic
How does chemo brain work? One cancer drug might interfere with brain signaling Science Magazine
***PHILOSOPHY
A Russian city is embroiled in protests over Immanuel Kant Quartz
***HISTORY
Plague linked to the mysterious decline of Europe’s first farmers Nature
The War Before the War: Fugitive Slaves and the Struggle for America’s Soul From the Revolution to the Civil War The Week magazine
***ETHICS
Why Are Scientists So Upset About the First Crispr Babies? New York Times
How to know if you’re an ethical leader Fast Company
***RESEARCH
A look at how four institutions responded to scientific misconduct Science and Public Policy
Tips from seven academics on how to do a good peer review (sub req’d) Times Higher Education
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Phil now has an entry on reproducibility Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
***HIGHER ED
In Unusual Letter, Democratic Senators Ask ‘U.S. News’ to Change Emphasis of College Rankings Chronicle of Higher Education
Brightwood College announces sudden closure amid accreditation, financial turmoil 10 News
Moody’s Gives Higher Ed a Negative Outlook, Again Chronicle of Higher Education
Actually, Academe Never Was All That Great (opinion) Chronicle of Higher Education
Small private colleges are shrinking and struggling The Texas Monitor
50 Colleges Hit With ADA Lawsuits Inside Higher Ed
***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS
Disgraced Ole Miss coach expected to be next Liberty U head coach College Football Talk
Northwestern College vice president chosen to lead Christian Canadian university Northwestern College
Ex-Wheaton College student pleads guilty to theft for stealing classmates' technology Daily Herald
Four fires under investigation at Wheaton College Boston Globe
Northwest Christian University athlete arrested on suspicion of rape Register-Guard
Azusa Pacific Trustees Resign, Citing Objections Inside Higher Ed
***LIBERAL ARTS
One Way to Set Up Liberal-Arts Majors for Success: Focus on Skills The Chronicle of Higher Education
What a Liberal Arts College Is and What You Should Know US News
Humanities and STEM as Overlapping Circles Inside Higher Ed
Lies About the Humanities — and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them (sub. req’d) Chronicle of Higher Education
***TEACHING
How College Faculty Can Beat the Cheat Ed Surge
How One University Uses ‘Sneaky Learning’ to Help Students Develop Good Study Habits Chronicle of Higher Education
A Teacher Was Fired For Refusing To Use A Transgender Student’s Preferred Pronoun BuzzFeed News
Another Study Debunks the idea of Learning Styles eLearning Inisde
***STUDENT MEDIA
The Student Press Law Center issues a Censorship Alert over an Arkansas Student Newspaper Student Press Law Center
Media adviser in Alabama being ousted after students post story upsetting provost Student Press Law Center
***STUDENT LIFE
Millennials experience work-disrupting anxiety at twice the US average rate Quartz
Millennials Didn’t Kill the Economy. The Economy Killed Millennials The Atlantic
***ACADEMIC LIFE
Writing and Teaching With a Terminal Illness Chronicle of Higher Education
The Expensive Superficiality of M.F.A Programs: They exist to train aspiring artists in how to sound sophisticated — not how to create art Chronicle of Higher Education
American higher education has always had some profoundly serious flaws, so let’s stop pining for an idealized past and work on a better future Chronicle of Higher Education
Are numbers of doctorates awarded finally starting to reflect the poor academic job market? Inside Higher Ed
Study: after 75 years the most fulfilling lives had one thing in common
/For over 75 years, Harvard’s Grant and Glueck study has tracked the physical and emotional well-being of two populations: 456 poor men growing up in Boston from 1939 to 2014 (the Grant Study), and 268 male graduates from Harvard’s classes of 1939-1944 (the Glueck study).
Due to the length of the research period, this has required multiple generations of researchers. Since before WWII, they’ve diligently analyzed blood samples, conducted brain scans (once they became available), and pored over self-reported surveys, as well as actual interactions with these men, to compile the findings.
The conclusion? According to Robert Waldinger, director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, one thing surpasses all the rest in terms of importance: “The clearest message that we get from this 75-year study is this: Good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period. ”Not how much is in your 401(k). Not how many conferences you spoke at–or keynoted. Not how many blog posts you wrote or how many followers you had or how many tech companies you worked for or how much power you wielded there or how much you vested at each.
No, the biggest predictor of your happiness and fulfillment overall in life is, basically, love.
“It’s not just the number of friends you have, and it’s not whether or not you’re in a committed relationship,” says Waldinger. “It’s the quality of your close relationships that matters.”
Melanie Curtin writing in Fast Company
fighting the good fight
/To be nobody but yourself in a world that's doing its best to make you somebody else, is to fight the hardest battle you are ever going to fight. Never stop fighting. – ee cummings
Articles of Interest - Dec. 3
/***JOURNALISM
Americans Still Prefer Watching to Reading the News – and Mostly Still Through Television Pew Research
The red couch experiments: Early lessons in pop-up fact-checking Nieman Journalism Lab
In Yemen, Lavish Meals for Few, Starvation for Many and a Dilemma for Reporters New York Times
Journalism and journalism students are experiencing a ‘Trump Bump’ (opinion) Tampa Bay Times
Canada’s Supreme Court Ruling likely to have a Chilling Effect on Journalism Vice
Pro tips from scholars for journalists (and vice versa) Journalists Resources
In defense of documentaries as journalism Columbia Journalism Review
Kentucky newspaper wins public records lawsuit, but what will actually be released is uncertain Muck Rock
More than two dozen journalists worldwide have been killed by members of organized crime since the start of 2017 New York Times
***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM
How recasting the “online producer” job helped the Miami Herald focus on audience and mission Better News
Freelancer Rate Database Contently
Where the death of local news hits hardest Axios
Why ‘news for millennials’ media plays never panned out Digiday
***FAKE NEWS
Misinformation bots, smarter than we thought Axios
The godfather of fake news BBC News
An Anti-Vaxxer’s New Crusade Propublica
Facebook Should Enlist Its Users to Clean Up Fake News (opinion) Bloomberg
***SOCIAL MEDIA
Instagram 'Close Friends': What It Is and How to Use It Wired
Twitter has banned misgendering or "deadnaming" transgender people the Verge
“What Are Those?” Meme Creator Young Busco Has Died, According To Reports BuzzFeed News
The Infinite Lifespan of Memes Wired
Tumblr Moves To Ban All 'Adult Content' — Here's Why That Matters Digg
Critics Say YouTube Hasn't Done Enough To Crack Down On Extremist Content NPR
Inside TikTok, the premier app for firefighters who enjoy lip-syncing to ‘Baby Shark’ Washington Post
***PRODUCING MEDIA
A guide to recording spatial audio for 360-degree video NPR
***THE INTERNET
New report suggests Latin America will lag in internet growth Axios
***TECHNOLOGY
Rogue Scientist Says Another Crispr Pregnancy Is Underway Wired
Google to shut down Hangouts in 2020 Axios
***BIG DATA & AI
A Bayesian linear regression in R for time series forecasting Towards Data Science
***THE BUSINESS OF MEDIA
Nexstar To Buy Tribune Media For $4.1 Billion, Creates Giant TV Station Group Media Post
Sunset magazine, a California icon, struggles amid declining ad sales and management missteps LA Times
***PERSONAL GROWTH
The rise of the professional “influencer” Becoming (my blog)
How vividly imagining your own death can help your next career move Fast Company
***WRITING & READING
Ben Yagoda Crunches the Contractions Chronicle of Higher Ed
***LANGUAGE
‘That Walk Was a Bear!’ Is ‘Bear’ Slang in That Sentence? Chronicle of Higher Education
The World’s Most Efficient Languages The Atlantic
***LITERATURE
The 10 Best Books of 2018 The editors of The Times Book Review choose the best fiction and nonfiction titles this year New York Times
NPR’s Guide to 2018 Great Books NPR
***GENDER
Smart dress shows how often women are groped at clubs Quartzy
Inside the All-Female Trek to the North Pole Wired
America’s sexist obsession with what women politicians wear, explained Vox
***RACE & ETHNICITY ISSUES
Teaching while black: white professor calls security on black adjunct The Commonwealth Times
Swastikas spray-painted on walls of Jewish professor at Columbia Washington Post
Analysis on the diversity of magazine covers from 2012-2018 Ceros
***LEGAL ISSUES
Everything You Wanted to Know About Emojis and the Law Technology & Marketing Law Blog
***CRIME
The police departments who destroy rape kits before testing them CNN
NJ.com's ground-breaking look at police force Poynter
***RELIGION
Killing Of American Missionary Ignites Debate Over How To Evangelize NPR
Do missionaries help or harm? BBC
This Pastor Is Melting Purity Rings Into A Golden Vagina Sculpture Huffington Post
Kenny Marks, CCM star of the '80s and '90s Dies Cross Rythms
Brawl forces Church to Briefly shutdown Christmas Display KJRH
***RELIGION AND POLITICS
Members of both parties find meaning in family but differ when it comes to faith Pew Research
***GOOD NEWS
Twitter users help reunite friends who met on vacation 12 years ago Teen Vogue
97-year-old New Jersey woman has served on every Election Day since 1939 NBC News
Vietnam War veteran meets stranger whose Christmas card lifted his spirits CBS News
San Diego man donates $1 million to California school devastated by fire NBC Los Angeles
Hundreds pack funeral for Vietnam veteran they did not know after viral obituary post MSNBC
He opened his motel to families hit by flooding: Now he's a full-service good Samaritan CBS
Anonymous 'Santa Claus' Surprises Customers by Paying Off All Layaway Items at Vermont Walmart People
Sinatra the blue-eyed Brooklyn husky's mysterious journey and miraculous reunion ABC News
***REALLY?!
Couple Forced to Prove that New Mexico is a state while applying for a marriage license Las Cruces Sun News
Grandfather banned from US holiday after accidentally ticking 'terrorist' box on visa form The Independent
Accused maple syrup bandits fly through Canadian Town during police chase Calgary Sun
Women Sue After Breaking Into Theme Park And Hurting Themselves WBTW
The 40 Most Insane Things That Happened In Florida In 2018 BuzzFeed News
Grandma mistakenly booked into all-male jail, staff thought she was transgender WWLP
American Airlines passenger left in wheelchair overnight at airport after flight was canceled Fox-17
***ART & DESIGN
Google is Building Digital Art Gallaries you can Step Into Tech Crunch
***IMAGES
National Geographic's 100 best images of the year National Geographic
Reuters' best pictures from 2018 Reuters
***MUSIC
Neuroscience says listening to this song reduces anxiety by up to 65% Fast Company
Can you teach AI to dance? YR.media
***FILM
Watch 99 Movies Free Online Courtesy of YouTube & MGM: Rocky, The Terminator, Four Weddings and a Funeral & More Open Culture
This is the most influential film of all time MarketWatch
***STUDENT MEDIA
A High School Newspaper Was Suspended For Publishing An Investigation Into Football Players’ Transfers BuzzFeed News
Liberty University students create independent news outlet News Advance
***STUDENT LIFE
More millennials now live in suburbs than in cities CNBC
Graduate School Is Terrible for People's Mental Health The Atlantic
Millennials are killing countless industries — but the Fed says it's mostly just because they're poor San Francisco Gate
Teens Say Social Media Isn’t As Bad For Them As You Might Think BuzzFeed News
Pot is edging out alcohol and cigarettes as the teenage drug of choice Pacific Standard
Is a smartphone a necessity for college students today? Inside Higher Ed
***ACADEMIC LIFE
Student made social media threat to kill FAU professor, cops say Sun-Sentinel
Judge: UM deprived professor of due process in disciplinary case Michigan Live
***SOCIAL ISSUES
Why US life expectancy is falling, in three charts Quartz
40 years ago, this journalist survived the Jonestown massacre: He warns it could happen again Washington Post
My mom’s suicide changed everything: Here’s how I found hope again USA Today
The American abortion rate is at an all-time low Vox
More than one-in-ten U.S. parents are also caring for an adult Pew Research
***BORDER ISSUES
What we know about illegal immigration from Mexico Pew Research
Families Are Still Being Separated at the Border, Months After “Zero Tolerance” Was Reversed Propublica
BuzzFeed gave six kids traveling in the migrant caravan cameras to document what life looks like for them BuzzFeed News
***BUSINESS & FINANCE
Pension Plans For Millions Of Americans Are On The Brink Of Collapse NPR
Competition Is Dying, and Taking Capitalism With It (opinion) Bloomberg
Americans Value Equality at Work More Than Equality at Home New York Times
***ENVIRONMENT
The new arctic frontier: As the ice melts, U.S. prepares for possible threats from Russia and China Washington Post
Climate change strike: thousands of school students protest across Australia The Guardian
The World's Largest Ocean Cleanup Has Officially Begun Forbes
Only vehicles producing zero emissions will be allowed to drive freely in downtown Madrid The Guardian
In California’s Fertile Valley, Industry and Agriculture Hang Heavy in the Air Undark
***HEALTH
Interactive map shows how many years breathing dirty air takes off your life Air Quality Life Index
The science is clear: dirty farm water is making us sick Wired
What’s in 5-hour energy shots? 17 ingredients: 16 of them are basically useless Mel Magazine
FDA’s ‘flawed’ device pathway persists with industry backing Associated Press
Investigation: Lives Lost Amid ER Violations Web-MD
Intermittent fasting is no better than conventional dieting for weight loss, new study finds The Conversation
***HEALTH & SLEEP
Why We Sleep, and Why We Often Can’t New Yorker
Why screen time can disrupt sleep Salk
Why Hospitals Should Let You Sleep New York Times
***HEALTH & KIDS
Docs Say Kids With Concussions Don't Have To Stay In The Dark For Days NPR
Number Of U.S. Kids Who Don't Have Health Insurance Is On The Rise NPR
***TRAVEL
Want to Escape Modern Life? Try a Weekend in a Prison Cell The Atlantic
Mic’s best places to travel interactive Mic
The Best Things to Do in 25 of America’s Most Fun Cities Thrillist
***FOOD & DRINK
The Hidden Struggle to Save the Coffee Industry From Disaster Medium
The Best Craft Brewery in Every State Thrillist
Sainsbury's to stock edible insects on shelves in a UK first The Guardian
52 of the World’s Most Out-There Myths About Food Atlas Obscura
***CHILDREN
These Are the Most Popular Baby Names of 2018 Fatherly
ADHD Diagnosis Is More Common For Youngest Students In Class NPR
The "homework gap": 12 million schoolchildren lack internet Axios
New Harvard Study Shows the Dangers of Early School Enrollment Foundation for Economic Education Fee.org
The best new perks for working parents Quartz
***CHILDREN & SCREEN TIME
New inequality trend: how parents approach screen time Axios
Should You Make Your Kids Wait Until High School for a Cell Phone? Life Hacker
***ANIMALS
The Insect Apocalypse Is Here New York Times
***SCIENCE
New Quantum Paradox Clarifies Where Our Views of Reality Go Wrong Quanta Magazine
Archaeologists Are Looking for Dead Sea Scrolls Inside 2 Newfound Qumran Caves Live Science
***PSYCHOLOGY
Lack of sleep intensifies anger, impairs adaptation to frustrating circumstances Iowa State University
Using imagination to unlearn fear The Naked Scientist
***NEUROSCIENCE
This Is Your Brain on Hate Researchers are studying how white supremacism may rewire people Vice
The Pathology of Prejudice What neuroscience tells us about the persistence of hatred New Republic
Experimental Brain Stimulation Relieved Depression Symptoms In Study NPR
***PHILOSOPHY
An exhaustive, interactive mapping of the history of philosophy Deniz C Önduygu blog
6 essential books on existentialist philosophy Big Think
***ETHICS
My Mother Taught Me to Kill Narratively
Harvard Medical School Dean Weighs In On Ethics Of Gene Editing NPR
The Ethical Pitfalls of the Viral “Best Burger in America” Essay The New Yorker
***RESEARCH
Controversial visiting researcher — heavily criticized as having racist work — sparks pushback Daily Northwestern
New COPE guidelines on publication process manipulation: why they matter Research Integrity and Peer Review
Canadian scholar says he's been 'persecuted' for his research on colleagues who published in predatory journals Inside Higher Ed
The double standard of retractions The Varsity
A look at retractions from Science from 1983 until 2017 Springer
Where are the ethics in academic publishing? Times Higher Education
***HIGHER ED
What the Rise of the Mega-University Might Mean for the Rest of Us Chronicle of Higher Ed
This "coding bootcamp" is now accredited as a bachelor's program Axios
Why Your HR Officer Is Leaving Chronicle of Higher Ed
UW-Stevens Point Faculty Want Regents To Oust Administrators Wisconsin Public Radio
Why One University Is Handing Out Hockey Pucks to Prepare for an Active Shooter Chronicle of Higher Ed
***HUMANITIES
Why Are Students Ditching the History Major? Chronicle of Higher Ed
In a High-Tech World, Humanities and Other Liberal Arts Are More Essential Than Ever The Daily Beast
***TEACHING
Students Evaluating Teachers Doesn’t Just Hurt Teachers. It Hurts Students Chronicle of Higher Ed
What Is the Purpose of Final Exams, Anyway? Chronicle of Higher Ed
Seniors Think What They’ve Learned Will Help Them Do Their Jobs. Do Employers Agree? Chronicle of Higher Ed
“Transformative” teaching is exhausting. Here are some suggestions on how to lighten the load Chronicle of Higher Ed
The Influencers
/The internet now means influence can come from anyone, anywhere; it can be visible or invisible, paid for by any power, approaching you any of myriad ways. Influence used to be understood as a top-down phenomenon, with governments, advertisers, donors or other powerful figures holding sway over the masses. These days we understand that the most powerful influences aren’t the distant ones but the most immediate and social — so the powerful tend to exert their influence by pretending to be ordinary people.
Marketers, for instance, work harder and harder to obscure the distinction between ads and real life. The last decade featured the rise of the professional “influencer” — someone paid to use their personal magnetism to promote specific agendas online. Instead of the top-down influence of a commercial or a billboard, these ads are embedded, shared by someone who seems, on some aspirational level, like a peer. The companies paying teenagers to hawk diet tea on Instagram are using the same tactics the Chinese government did when it recruited commenters to post hundreds of millions of pro-Communist Party messages online.
We like to think of our characters as fixed: We have our beliefs and our morals, religions and parties, states and countries, friends and enemies. We are inevitably ourselves — inescapably ourselves. We should be able to resist this kind of manipulation. But a steady stream of social-science studies suggests otherwise, demonstrating again and again how easily social pressures can affect the things we say, believe, do, think, eat. Our anxiety over influence goes back to the same fear Thomas Aquinas had, the same doubt families of alcoholics or cult members have. In the face of powerful influences, how can you locate and hold onto that original, irrefutable spark of self, your free will, your character, even your soul? That’s the fear that the idea of influence lays bare: that you can’t. Or that it might never have existed in the first place.
Annalisa Quinn writing in the New York Times
Self-Control can be Contagious
/Not only do you tend to hang out with people like yourself, your friends will influence you toward or away from self-control. Even the people you are forced by circumstances to hang out with (like co-workers) have an influence on your behavior.
That's the finding of researchers who asked participants to watch people either select carrot sticks or cookies to eat before taking tests related to self-control (not involving cookies and carrots). Participants who watched someone eat cookies before the tests did not do as well as those who had watched someone decide to eat carrots.
In another test, participants were told to think of a friend with good self-control. This group performed better on a handgrip test (used to measure self-control) than did the participants assigned to think about a friend with weak self-control. Other tests showed similar results.
The conclusion: If you surround yourself with people who make wise choices, you are more likely to do the same. You can boost your self-control simply by networking with other people who reinforce positive behavior (or vise versa). And when you show a lack of self-control, you are probably influencing someone else to do the same.
Details of the study were published by the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
Stephen Goforth
going through hell
/If you're going through hell, keep going. - Winston Churchill, born November 30, 1874
you can't go back
/You can't go back and change the beginning but you can start where you are and change the ending. –CS Lewis, born November 29, 1898
The First CRISPR baby
/Eventually, a CRISPR baby will be born.* The (new gene-editing) technology is too easy. There is no world government to stop its use; many argue no one should do so anyway. At the point that baby emerges, perhaps modified to evade a particular disease or perhaps even to look a particular way, theoretical debates will become real.
Jennifer Doudna knows the influence she and her fellow scientists have is diminishing every day. “I would hope this would be used to create cures, to help people,” she says. Even if the technology is not quite there yet, CRISPR could eventually do plenty else besides. Every week a new paper is published finding more genes that influence looks, intelligence, stamina, even sexuality.
“The dystopic view would be IVF clinics that offer parents a menu of options for kids,” she says. “Nobody has kids by sex anymore. You go to a clinic, pick from a menu, say, ‘I want my kid to be this tall, have this colour of eye, this level of IQ,’ and all those sorts of things. I think that would be terrible.”
Tom Whipple writing in 1843 magazine
*Chinese scientists are creating CRISPR babies MIT Technology Review
Articles of Interest - Nov 26
/***TECHNOLOGY
The promise and peril of gene drives Economist
A dystopian human scoring system in China is blocking people from booking flights BGR
These Precision Parts 3D-Printed From Fake Moon Dust Bring Us One Step Closer to Living on Mars Gizmodo
***MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY
How to edit a human 1843 magazine
Chinese scientists are creating CRISPR babies MIT Technology Review
***BIG DATA & AI
Using AI to screen proteins in a patient’s body to detect disease—before there are outward symptoms New York Times
How AI is being used to vet babysitters, screen applicants and watch employees Axios
The features to look for when picking big-data visualization tools Search Business Analytics
***SOCIAL MEDIA
The rise and rise of photo-editing 1843
Instagram’s new profile designs emphasize users instead of their follower count The Verge
Facebook and The Innovator’s Dilemma Columbia Journalism Review
Social Media, Online Accountability, and the Meaning of an Apology The Walrus
Russia's elite hackers may have new phishing tricks Wired
Amazon says technical error disclosed customer information Axios
Face Scans are Speeding up Airport Security Wired
***JOURNALISM
J-School Leaders Say It's Time to Speak Out Inside Higher Ed
When journalism meets Hollywood Global Editors Network Medium
How to do “man-on-the-street” interviews in a foreign country The Ground Truth Project
Why Trump wants to control follow-up questions Washington Post
The greatest threat to American journalism: the loss of neutral reporting The Hill
People Singing "Amazing Grace" Were Arrested For Blocking An ICE Van From Driving Away With An Undocumented Immigrant BuzzFeed News
How Implicit Bias Works in Journalism Harvard’s Nieman Reports
***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM
Digging Deep Into Local News, A Small Newspaper In Rural Oregon Is Thriving NPR
Canada introduces a $595 million package in support of journalism Harvard’s Nieman Lab
***FAKE NEWS
The Seven Commandments of Fake News The New York Times
‘Misinformation’ picked as word of the year by Dictionary.com The Hill
Just Six percent of Twitter Bots Account for 31 percent of Misinformation Ars Technica
Protecting the Value of Medical Science in the Age of Social Media and “Fake News” JAMA
One of the first two Muslim women in US Congress is already battling a fake news campaign Quartz
Study shows 60% of Britons believe in conspiracy theories The Guardian
Why QAnon believers think ‘the Storm’ has tripled in size Daily Dot
The BBC Is Fighting Against Russian Disinformation With A News Service In Serbia BuzzFeed News
***PERSONAL GROWTH
The Power of Mind-Wandering Becoming (my blog)
Everyone Wants to ‘Influence’ You New York Times
More Americans find meaning in money than in religion or friends Quartz
A Stanford psychologist on the art of avoiding assholes Vox
***WRITING & READING
Seattle high-school teacher shares ‘the wonder of books’ with students on a different kind of field trip Seattle Times
Using “very” Chronicle of Higher Ed
100 Notable Books of 2018 New York Times
***LANGUAGE
It’s hard to have an unusual name in China 1843 magazine
Brain responses to language in toddlers with Autism linked to altered gene expression Science Daily
***LITERATURE
A new exhibition at the British Library explores how cats have inspired—and frightened—writers across the centuries Smithsonian Mag
Tales of the unexpected: 10 literary classics you may not have read The Guardian
***RACE & ETHNICITY ISSUES
Pro-Publica, PBS Frontline Project: 'Documenting Hate: New American Nazis' NPR
Why are we only talking about Mom Books by white women? The Cut
No charges for FedEx driver who fatally punched man calling him racial slurs Oregon Live
Neo-Nazis Are Organizing Secretive Paramilitary Training Across America Vice
***POLITICS
How populist are you? The Guardian
***LEGAL ISSUES
Political Scientist Weighs In On Trump's Criticism Of 9th Circuit Court Of Appeals NPR
Free speech violation or a simple arrest? Supreme Court faces a familiar problem Washington Post
***RELIGION
What Should America Do With Its Empty Church Buildings? The Atlantic
Clerical sexual-abuse scandals strengthen the pope’s conservative critics Economist
When atheists lack the courage of their convictions: A review of Seven Types of Atheism Economist
Most Americans say religion will live on Axios
What Einstein meant by ‘God does not play dice’ Aeon
The U.S. class divide extends to searching for a religious congregation Pew Research
Where Americans Find Meaning in Life Pew Research
***RELIGION OUTSIDE THE U.S.
All Nations, ORU Grieve Reported Death of Missionary Charisma News
Charismatic Christianity in Ethiopia Economist
***RELIGION AND POLITICS
Franklin Graham: Trump "defends the faith" Axios
***GOOD NEWS
Baby saved from choking to death at NC restaurant on Thanksgiving Fox Carolina
Woman's 3850 mile rollerblade journey relying on the kindness of strangers AOL News
***ART & DESIGN
Download 569 Free Art Books from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Open Culture
The Mystery Font That Took Over New York New York Times
Winners of the 2018 ESPON Awards for panoramic photography My Modern Met
***MUSIC
Malcolm Gladwell and Rick Rubin Launch a New Music Podcast
The woman with a musical dress 1843 magazine
***FILM
How does the process of colourisation affect our understanding of history? History Today
The evolution of pace in popular movies Statistical Modeling, Causal Interence, and Social Science
***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT
Proposed Title IX changes would make campus hearings into "mini courtrooms," higher education lawyers say Inside Higher Ed
***BUSINESS & FINANCE
The Wired Guide to Online Shopping Wired
Selfish people earn less money than generous people Quartz
***HEALTH
Critically Ill Children Who Received Wishes Cut Their Health Care Costs NPR
What an unprecedented study found about 3D printing’s dangers Fast Company
Standing Desks are Overrated New York Times
100 million Americans have chronic pain. Very few use one of the best tools to treat it Vox
Bed Rest Is Still Often Prescribed During Pregnancy, Despite Proven Risks NPR
***TRAVEL
Leaning Tower of Pisa continues long path towards vertical Associated Press
***FOOD
Not Oatmeal Constellate Magazine
Iceland's president admits he went 'too far' with threat to ban pineapple pizza CBC
Romaine lettuce from California linked to E. coli outbreak The Verge
Americans are divided over whether eating organic foods makes for better health Pew Research
***ANIMALS
Nature film crew breaks "no interference" rule to rescue penguins CBS News
***SCIENCE
The ‘myth’ of scientific facts infected decades of criminal cases where bitemark dentists were presented as scientific experts” Science Direct
Can Science Create Superhumans? The Naked Scientists
***PSYCHOLOGY
What Amazon Reviews Reveal About Humanity BuzzFeed News
Why suicide is falling around the world, and how to bring it down more Economist
***NEUROSCIENCE
Study: To predict the future, the brain has two clocks Berkeley
What Happens to the Brain in Zero Gravity? Singularity Hub
***PHILOSOPHY
First women of philosophy Aeon
Obligation to Obey the Law Wireless Philosophy
***PRODUCTIVITY
Information overload is nothing new 1843 Magazine
Why you’re not prioritizing sleep even when it’s hurting your productivity Fast Company
***HISTORY
Hear the Sounds of World War I: A Gas Attack Recorded on the Front Line, and the Moment the Armistice Ended the War Open Culture
The worst year to be a human has been revealed by researchers CNN
The History Of Signatures And Their Present Relevance NPR
'Married man' Justin Bieber says wants to be more like Jesus Reuters
***RESEARCH
The Experiments Are Fascinating. But Nobody Can Repeat Them New York Times
To catch misconduct, journals are hiring research integrity czars STAT
Duke University to settle case alleging researchers used fraudulent data to win millions in grants Science Magazine
The Ethical Quandary of Human Infection Studies Undark
Journal retracts 29 articles but doesn’t explain which ones Inside Higher Ed
Legal threats, opacity, and deceptive research practices: A look at more than 100 retractions in business and management Retraction Watch
***HIGHER ED
A Film About Higher Ed That Should Bother You a Little Chronicle of Higher Ed
Enough With All the Innovation (opinion) Chronicle of Higher Ed
***TEACHING
Why Grades Still Matter Chronicle of Higher Ed
The Solar System Quilt Open Culture
“Best” Student excuses Dynamics of Writing
***STUDENT LIFE
Sleep Pod Companies Want to Disrupt Naps on Campus Ed Surge
UMKC professor used students as servants for decades The Kansas City Star
Students fear dorm mold problem led to adenovirus death New York Post
Millennials are no longer living with their parents Axios
College athlete disowned by her parents almost loses her eligibility Business Insider
***STUDENT MEDIA
For the First Time, a Black Woman Will Lead The Harvard Crimson New York Times
Hundreds of issues of the Maroon-News stolen, members of swim team found responsible Student Press Law Center
College Media Association censures Univ of N. Ala after newspaper adviser targeted AL.com
The Power of Mind-Wandering
/The seemingly trivial activity of mind-wandering is now believed to play a central role in the brain’s “deep learning,” the mind’s sifting through past experiences, imagining future prospects and assessing them with emotional judgments: that flash of shame or pride or anxiety that each scenario elicits.
A growing number of scholars, drawn from a wide swath of disciplines — neuroscience, philosophy, computer science — now argue that this aptitude for cognitive time travel, revealed by the discovery of the default network, may be the defining property of human intelligence. “What best distinguishes our species,” Martin Seligman wrote in a Times Op-Ed with John Tierney, “is an ability that scientists are just beginning to appreciate: We contemplate the future.” He went on: “A more apt name for our species would be Homo prospectus, because we thrive by considering our prospects. The power of prospection is what makes us wise.”
Today, it seems, mind-wandering is under attack from all sides. It’s a common complaint that our compulsive use of smartphones is destroying our ability to focus. But seen through the lens of Homo prospectus, ubiquitous computing poses a different kind of threat: Having a network-connected supercomputer in your pocket at all times gives you too much to focus on. It cuts into your mind-wandering time. The downtime between cognitively active tasks that once led to REST states can now be filled with Instagram, or Nasdaq updates, or podcasts. We have Twitter timelines instead of time travel.
At the same time, a society-wide vogue for “mindfulness” encourages us to be in the moment, to think of nothing at all instead of letting our thoughts wander. Search YouTube, and there are hundreds of meditation videos teaching you how to stop your mind from doing what it does naturally. The Homo prospectus theory suggests that, if anything, we need to carve out time in our schedule — and perhaps even in our schools — to let minds drift.
Steven Johnson writing in the New York Times
making friends
/You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.
Dale Carnegie (born Nov. 24, 1888)
Suicide's lack of Closure
/There’s an inherent lack of closure to suicide. Even when people write notes, they can reveal so little. Suicides often leave loved ones, acquaintances and co-workers to question themselves for the rest of their lives. And in their own grief, they, too, can entertain dangerous thoughts.
“With suicide you have that added trauma to it,” said Julie Cerel, the president of the American Association of Suicidology. “The ‘why’ question of trying to search for meaning when there’s no meaning available—If I only had a note. If I only talked to the last person that they talked to. The ‘onlys’ can be torturous.’” Last year, Cerel published a study examining the consequences of suicide and found that each one could affect as many as 135 other people.
The fundamental mystery of suicide has long made it an object of fear and contempt within the medical establishment. Since the 1950s, public health officials have tried hotlines, individual therapy, group therapy, shock therapy and forced hospitalizations. Doctors have taken away people’s shoelaces and belts and checked in on attempt survivors every 15 minutes to make sure they are still safe. They have coerced patients into signing contracts swearing that they would not kill themselves. They have piled on psychiatric medications with ever-more invasive side effects, only to watch the number of suicides continue to climb.
Jason Cherkis writing in the Huffington Post