“The modern Millennial, for the most part, views adulthood as a series of actions, as opposed to a state of being,” an article in Elite Daily explains. “Adulting therefore becomes a verb.” “To adult” is to complete your to-do list — but everything goes on the list, and the list never ends.

That’s one of the most ineffable and frustrating expressions of burnout: It takes things that should be enjoyable and flattens them into a list of tasks, intermingled with other obligations that should either be easily or dutifully completed. The end result is that everything, from wedding celebrations to registering to vote, becomes tinged with resentment and anxiety and avoidance.

To describe millennial burnout accurately is to acknowledge the multiplicity of our lived reality — that we’re not just high school graduates, or parents, or knowledge workers, but all of the above — while recognizing our status quo. We’re deeply in debt, working more hours and more jobs for less pay and less security, struggling to achieve the same standards of living as our parents, operating in psychological and physical precariousness, all while being told that if we just work harder, meritocracy will prevail, and we’ll begin thriving. The carrot dangling in front of us is the dream that the to-do list will end, or at least become far more manageable.

Anne Helen Petersen writing in BuzzFeed News

January 12, 2019

your brand

January 12, 2019/ Stephen Goforth

Your brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room. -Jeff Bezos (born January 12, 1964)

January 12, 2019

What we wish, we readily believe, and what we ourselves think, we imagine others think also. –Julius Caesar

January 12, 2019/ Stephen Goforth

January 10, 2019

We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are. –Anais Nin

January 10, 2019/ Stephen Goforth

January 09, 2019

Straight A’s won’t matter in real life

January 09, 2019/ Stephen Goforth

When I was in college, I obsessed over getting straight A’s, said Adam Grant. Now that I’m a professor, “I watch in dismay” when I see students joining the same “cult of perfectionism.” They think straight A’s will provide entrée to elite graduate schools and prestigious careers. The evidence, however, says otherwise. Research across industries shows that while there’s a modest correlation between grades and job performance the first year out of college, after a few years, the difference is “trivial.” Why? “Getting straight A’s requires conformity. Having an influential career demands originality.” While straight-A students are locked in their dorm rooms or library pursuing “meaningless perfection,” their peers are developing skills that aren’t captured by grades: “creativity, leadership, and teamwork skills and social, emotional, and political intelligence.” Real career success doesn’t come from “finding the right solution to a problem—it’s more about finding the right problem to solve.” In high school Steve Jobs pulled a 2.65 GPA, J.K. Rowling had a C average at Exeter, and Martin Luther King Jr. managed only one A in four years at Morehouse College. This tells us that “underachieving in school can prepare you to overachieve in life.”

Adam Grant writing in The New York Times (as quoted in The Week Magazine)

January 07, 2019

Articles of Interest - Jan 7

January 07, 2019/ Stephen Goforth

***TECHNOLOGY

An introduction to Quantum Computing IBM

Ranking the Top 100 Technological Advances Gizmodo

Physicists’ measurement is first of its kind and could provide a stepping stone to practical quantum computing MIT

***BIG DATA & AI

Artificial intelligence turns brain activity into speech Science Mag

A brief explanation of automated machine learning, why it’s needed and where it’s going KD Nuggets

This clever AI hid data from its creators to cheat at its appointed task Tech Crunch

The Most Amazing Artificial Intelligence Milestones So Far Forbes

Never mind killer robots—here are six real AI dangers to watch out for in 2019 MIT Tech Review

***SOCIAL MEDIA

What Facebook knows about you Axios

Detecting depression: Phone apps could monitor teen angst Associated Press

The Bird Box Effect: How Memes Drive Users to Netflix The Ringer

Link between social media and depression stronger in teen girls than boys, study says CNN

How to Delete Your Online Accounts but Keep Your Data Life Hacker

How Facebook is Fueling The French Populist Rage Monday Note

***JOURNALISM

7 tips on health care reporting from POLITICO’s Joanne Kenen Journalists Resource

A journalist exposes the systemic failures that led to his wife’s death Columbia Journalism Review

How Google-backed MediaWise is teaching teens media literacy Digiday

***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press receives $1 million grant from the Hollywood Foreign Press Assoc Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

Dallas Morning News lays off 20 newsroom employees Poynter

A fresh look at the rise of nonprofit journalism — and the issues that remain Poynter

***FAKE NEWS

How to recognize fake AI-generated images Medium

Inside Trump’s fake news recidivism Axios

2019: A year when fake news gets intimate and everyone disagrees on everything Harvard’s Nieman Lab

***PRIVACY & SECURITY

L.A. is suing IBM for illegally gathering and selling user data through its Weather Channel app Los Angeles Times

DNA Testing? You Might Want to Wait for More Legal Protection Bloomberg

***PRODUCING MEDIA

9 Types of Visual Storytelling on Mobile Global Investigative Journalism Network

***INTERNET

How Much of the Internet Is Fake? New York Magazine

Half the world will be online in 2019: But getting people connected is not an unalloyed blessing Economist

***PERSONAL GROWTH

The people inside the machine Becoming (my blog)

The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success The Week

Are you a Digital Hoarder? BBC

***WRITING & READING

The Rise of the Exclamation point Quartz

Ways schools and colleges could do a better job of teaching writing Inside Higher Ed

11,000 Digitized Books From 1923 Are Now Available Online at the Internet Archive Open Culture

Does It Pay to Be a Writer? A new study found that most authors’ incomes are below the poverty line New York Times

***LANGUAGE

The Most Searched Words Of 2018 Dictionary.com

Top words teens use to describe 2018: exhausting, chaotic, meh Survey Monkey

Children Are Using Emoji for Digital-Age Language Learning Wired

How a Word Enters the Dictionary: A Quick Primer Open Culture

***LITERATURE

Getting Students to Study Literature Inside Higher Ed

How Hollywood Gets the Publishing Industry Wrong New York Times

An Illustrated and Interactive Dante's Inferno: Explore a New Digital Companion to the Great 14th-Century Epic Poem Open Culture

***GENDER

Women are being honored for their excellent journalism Tampa Bay

7 Ways to Improve Coverage of Women’s Sports Harvard’s Nieman Reports

***RACE & ETHNICITY ISSUES

Landmark settlement requires harasser to denounce white supremacy and apologize to the first black female student body president at American University Inside Higher Ed

***LEGAL ISSUES

How copyright law is often used to squash free expression on the internet: The legal issues behind the AOC Dancing Video Wired

Content Just Entered The Public Domain Kotaku

Ed Sheeran Going To Trial Over 'Thinking Out Loud' Plagiarism Allegations Forbes

F-Bombs Coming to Supreme Court for Review of Government Ban on Scandalous Trademarks Hollywood Reporter

2018 Advertising Lawsuits Technology & Marketing Law Blog

2018 Trademark Lawsuits Technology & Marketing Law Blog

2018 Copyright Lawsuits Technology & Marketing Law Blog

***CRIME

5 facts about crime in the U.S. Pew Research Center

***RELIGION

Thomas Keating died on October 25th: The pioneer of modern contemplative prayer was 95 Economist

Evangelicals Seek Detente With Mideast Muslim Leaders As Critics Doubt Motives NPR

The 7 People Christians Trust More Than Their Pastors Christianity Today

Teen self-injects verses from the Bible and the Koran that have been transposed into DNA BongBong

***RELIGION AND POLITICS

Jerry Falwell Jr. can’t imagine Trump ‘doing anything that’s not good for the country’ Washington Post

The New Congress: Fewer Christians But Still Religious NPR

***GOOD NEWS

Granddaughter Records A Song Her Grandpa Wrote Decades Earlier (video)

Minnesota doctor makes a blanket for every baby he delivers Star Tribune

A Pop-Up Japanese Cafe With Robot Servers Remotely Controlled by People With Disabilities (video)

This choir features singers with dementia Washington Post

11-year-old boy pulls a drowning man from the bottom of a pool and saves his life CNN

The tattoo artist who erases racist and gang-related ink for free PS Mag

***ART & DESIGN

Best Data Visualization Projects of 2018 FlowingData

Design Ethics and the Limits of the Ethical Designer Viget

How Does Photography Affect You? We Tried to Find Out Wired

***MUSIC

Sacred choral music touches on deep religious, moral and political questions Economist

Mongolian Heavy Metal Band Gets Millions Of YouTube Views NPR

Star Spangled Banner sounds Russian when played in a minor key (video)

***BUSINESS & FINANCE

How to Document Your Personal Possessions in Case of Emergency LifeHacker

What a Student Loan 'Bubble' Bursting Might Look Like Vice

***ENVIRONMENT

Humanity Has Managed to Change Places We’ve Barely Even Visited Atlas Obscura

5 New Year's resolutions that can help the environment in 2019 Mashable

***HEALTH

The growth of yoga and meditation in the US since 2012 is remarkable Vox

The Dangerous Allure of Breech Birth at Home – and a Problematic New Paper PLOS

Is It A Nasty Cold Or The Flu? NPR

2019 Health Trends Axios

Artificial intelligence can detect Alzheimer’s in brain scans six years before a diagnosis Fast Company

***TRAVEL

Why It Makes Sense That Airlines Overbook (video) Cheddar

State Department warns Americans traveling in China to use 'increased caution' Politico

***FOOD

Cops grieve 'Krispy Kreme Doughnuts' lost in NYE truck fire: 'No words' Fox News

The Big Food Trends In 2019 Forbes

***PARENTING

The Relentlessness of Modern Parenting New York Times

The art and science of parenting The Economist

Cultivating empathy in my children, from a neuroscience perspective Washington Post

***ANIMALS

Gradually, nervously, courts are granting rights to animals Economist

How one boy has helped save over a thousand shelter dogs NBC News

Shelter volunteer's family secretly adopts her favorite dog Stillwater News Press

***SCIENCE

Scientists Have 'Hacked Photosynthesis' In Search Of More Productive Crops NPR

Space and time could be a quantum error-correcting code Wired

The Year in Physics: The field of fundamental physics is experiencing both a period of confusion and an openness to new ideas Quantam Magazine

***PSYCHOLOGY

Can Alexa and Facebook predict the end of your relationship? Vox

Your Ideal Therapist Might Not Be Human Outside Online

Psychologists reluctant to own up to research mistakes Times Higher Ed

Freud versus Jung: a bitter feud over the meaning of sex Big Think

***NEUROSCIENCE

What the subjects covered in high and medium impact factor journals in neuroscience tell us Biorxiv

Exploring How Neuroscience Can Affect a Marketing Strategy AdWeek

***PHILOSOPHY

The Problem of Free Will (video) Wireless Philosophy

Philosopher Bertrand Russell’s Indispensable Advice on ‘How (Not) to Grow Old’ My Modern Met

Wittgenstein and religion Aeon

***PRODUCTIVITY

Best Productivity Apps for Mac Software How

12 expert tips to make 2019 your most productive year yet Fast Company

***RESEARCH

The quest to topple science-stymying academic paywalls Wired

A worrisome source of Research Bias: Researchers seeking to fund and publish their work, and advance their academic careers New York Times

Scams using fake reviews to facilitate publications The Asian Journal of Andrology

Amateurism still flourishing in scientific journals BMJ

The Costs of Reproducibility Science Direct

The methodological flaws that have roiled psychology were also lurking in sports science FiveThirtyEight

What to do when you read a paper and it’s full of errors and the author won’t share the data or be open about the analysis? Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science

Questionable authorship practices are endemic to biomedical research Springer

The Double-bind Theory of Scholarly Publishing Scholarly Kitchen

***RESEARCH RETRACTIONS

No retraction for a Fifth of 200 publications with misconduct Sage

Citation of Retracted Articles in Engineering: A Study of the Web of Science Database Taylor & Francis Online

***HIGHER ED

Overhauling Rules for Higher Ed Inside Higher Ed

Bennett College Needs To Raise $5 Million Or It May Lose Accreditation NPR

Why does it feel good to see someone fail? The Conversation

Does It Matter Where You Go To College? The Answer: It Depends NPR

Some Calif. community colleges skip free college because of required participation in federal loan program Inside Higher Ed

That Video of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Dancing Actually Has a Lot to Do With Higher Ed Chronicle of Higher Ed

Christian College President Gets Impromptu Selfie with Newlyweds Justin and Hailey Bieber CBN

***HUMANITIES

Machine learning can offer new tools, fresh insights for the humanities ArsTechnica

What the Numbers Can Tell Us About Humanities Ph.D. Careers Chronicle of Higher Ed

***TEACHING

How One College Made Its Gen-Ed Program Feel More Relevant Chronicle of Higher Ed

It's time to teach kids how to read charts Quartz

***STUDENT LIFE

Students at Notre Dame have launched a campaign that has inspired others around the country to ask their institutions to block explicit content Inside Higher Ed

How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation BuzzFeed News

Teen vaping: Is it really a gateway to cigarette smoking? Journalist’s Resources

***ACADEMIC LIFE

Marquette Law School professor suspended over student relationship JS Online

How 'Rule Makers, Rule Breakers' Might Explain the Academic / IT Divide Inside Higher Ed

January 07, 2019

The people inside the machine

January 07, 2019/ Stephen Goforth

In 1770 a chess-playing robot, built by a Hungarian inventor, caused a sensation across Europe. The Mechanical Turk was capable of beating even the best players at chess.

It eventually transpired that there was a human chess player cleverly concealed in its innards. The apparently intelligent machine depended on a person hidden inside.

It turns out that something very similar is happening today. Just like the Turk, modern artificial-intelligence (AI) systems rely on help from unseen humans.

Pretty much everything you do online creates a trail of data that can be used for making systems smarter. As Google, Facebook and others operate their enormous smart machines, we are all helping to power them. A clockwork chess robot from the 1770s thus foreshadowed both the modern debate about artificial intelligence – and a key aspect of making the technology work. The internet is a giant Mechanical Turk: whether we know it or not, we have all become the people inside the machine

Tom Standage writing in 1843 Magazine

January 06, 2019

heroic imagination

January 06, 2019/ Stephen Goforth

The very same situations that inflame the hostile imagination in some people, making them villains, can also instill the heroic imagination in other people, prompting them to perform heroic deeds. -Philip Zimbardo

January 04, 2019

Why We All Take the Same Travel Photos

January 04, 2019/ Stephen Goforth

I knew it was silly to join the crowd of tourists clicking away at the Mona Lisa when I visited the Louvre a couple years ago—geotagging has made it all too clear how unoriginal those photos are. But I did it anyway, elbowing through a sea of smartphones and selfie sticks for a tourist-free shot at the front. The visit just didn’t feel complete without it. But why?

Photographing something is a way of possessing it—at least, that's what the critic Susan Sontag argued in her 1977 classic, On Photography. “To collect photographs is to collect the world," she wrote. It confirms your connection to places and objects once distant and remote, making the world slightly smaller and less alienating.

Ironically, though, "collecting the world" might mean also losing it. “A way of certifying experience, taking photographs is also a way of refusing it—by limiting experience to a search for the photogenic, by converting experience into an image, a souvenir,” Sontag wrote.

Laura Mallonee writing in Wired

January 03, 2019

through the shadows

January 03, 2019/ Stephen Goforth

You can only come to the morning through the shadows. -J.R.R. Tolkien (born Jan. 3, 1892)

January 02, 2019

A Compass

January 02, 2019/ Stephen Goforth

Use a compass instead of a clock. It’s more important what direction you are going than how quickly you get there.

January 01, 2019

Articles of Interest - Dec 31

January 01, 2019/ Stephen Goforth

***2019 PREDICTIONS

Predictions for Journalism in 2019 Harvard’s Nieman Lab

PR predictions for 2019: 11 industry pros weigh in MuckRack

The 9 big design trends of 2019 Fast Company

Search Batten Down the Hatches for 2019 – A Media Storm Is Coming The Wrap

Seven New Year’s resolutions for Big Tech in 2019 MIT Technology Review

Why 2019 might finally bring a national privacy law for the US Yahoo Finance

***TECHNOLOGY

6 of the most amazing things that were 3D-printed in 2018 MIT Technology Review

The Best Technology Guides of 2018 Life Hacker

The 10 most intriguing inventions of 2018 MIT Technology Review

The Smartest Tech Products of 2018 Tech News World

***BIG DATA & AI

A data scientist has figured out the main character in 'Friends' Comic Sands

Hacker news book suggestions Toward Data Science

What’s frustrating about machine learning is that the algorithms can’t tell us why they work—so we don’t know if they can be trusted New York Times

Why Python is the real programming language of data science, not R Tech Republic

There are no killer robots yet—but regulators must respond to AI in 2019—no need to invent a whole new set of AI rules. Better to simply adapt and reinforce existing ones Economist

Why Is AI-Generated Music Still so Bad? MotherBoard

The Year in Math and Computer Science Quanta Magazine

***SOCIAL MEDIA

The Government Has an Instagram Problem Social media connects us to our officials, but much of what they say will be lost to history Medium

Death by selfie 1843 Magazine

How to Fix Your Facebook News Feed Wired

Instagram got rid of the scrolling feed for some users and people freaked out Recode

10 New Year's resolutions that will make your online life a little better Mashable

***PRIVACY & SECURITY

Your data was probably stolen in cyberattack in 2018 – and you should care USA Today

Use the Holidays to Explain Online Privacy and Security Settings to Your Family Life Hacker

Data Privacy Scandals and Public Policy Picking Up Speed: 2018 in Review Electronic Frontier Foundation

***THE BUSINESS OF MEDIA

Merger of two glossy magazine printers adds to media upheaval New York Post

We Detox from Chartbeat Harvard’s Nieman Lab

***JOURNALISM

Confessions of a journalism contest judge (opinion) Journo Terrorist

The Gap Between Journalism and Research is too Wide Harvard’s Nieman Lab

My advice for aspiring explainer journalists Vox

Mobile Alerts Considered Standalone Platform In Newsrooms Media Post

***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM

18 lessons for the news business from 2018 Harvard’s Nieman Lab

Cyberattack Prevents Distribution Of Major U.S. Newspapers Deadline

Newsrooms Need to Build Trust with their Journalists not just with the Audience Harvard’s Nieman Lab

***FAKE NEWS

How Much of the Internet Is Fake? New York Magazine

These Are 50 Of The Biggest Fake News Hits On Facebook In 2018 BuzzFeed News

‘Fake news’ and school uniforms: Our most popular research roundups in 2018 Journalists Resource

I’ve reported on misinformation for more than a year: Here’s what I’ve learned Poynter

Fake news is everywhere: Even in places that were once legitimate BigThink

(Mis)informed podcast: Is fact-checking the best way to fight misinformation? Poynter

Is this photo real? AI gets better at faking images Wired

***PERSONAL GROWTH

What Makes People Susceptible to Fake News Becoming (my blog)

Just Admit It, You’re in a Bad Mood The Cut

People adopt made-up social rules to be part of a group Ars Technica

An Anthropologist Investigates How We Think About How We Think New Yorker

The Effect Of Sleep On Happiness Tracking Happiness

Five Easy Ways To Boost Your Mental Health In 2019 Forbes

***WRITING & READING

The best Facts I learned from Books in 2018 New Yorker

Unplugged: what I learned by logging off and reading 12 books in a week The Guardian

***LANGUAGE

It’s time to put Woke to Sleep (opinion) NPR

University wants to ‘banish’ Trump’s favorite word in 2019 Mashable

***POETRY

Poetry Twitter Erupts over a Plagiarist in Their Midst Vulture

10 Poets On Their Favorite Poetry Collections Of 2018 BuzzFeed News

***GENDER

What happens to religious professionals when they stop believing in God Vice

Nearly a quarter of Americans support gender equality at work or at home, but not both Chicago Tribune

***RACE & ETHNICITY ISSUES

A millionaire paid Jews to move to a small town in Alabama: Now, a couple struggle with their choice Washington Post

911 calls on black people were one of 2018’s biggest stories about race Vox

***LEGAL ISSUES

Real Estate Appraisals and Copyrighting Facts Technology & Marketing Law Blog

Athletes Don’t Own Their Tattoos and That’s a Problem for Video Game Developers New York Times

15 of Our Favorite Long(er)reads of 2018 The Fashion Law Blog

Best and Worst Internet Laws Technology & Marketing Law Blog

***OF INTEREST TO EVANGELICALS

Religion Considered Important to 72% of Americans Gallup

A Utah man gave his mother a portrait of Obi-Wan Kenobi for Christmas and she hung it on her wall thinking it was Jesus This is Insider

What happens to religious professionals when they stop believing in God Vice

The Varieties of American Evangelicalism Center for Religion and Civic Culture

Facebook temporarily banned evangelist Franklin Graham from site The Hill

***GOOD NEWS

Dad books 6 flights on Christmas Eve to spend time with flight attendant daughter USA Today

Child uses Boy Scout skills to save mom's life San Diego Reader

Mollie Tibbetts' mother listened as Trump used her slain daughter to rail against illegal immigration: Then she took a different path The Washington Post

Teachers operate school food pantries twice a week Fox 13

Social Worker Led Frugal Life To Leave Nearly $11 Million To Children's Charities NPR

***ART & DESIGN

22 artists transform unsightly grain silo into the world's largest outdoor mural (video) You Tube

Of the trillion photos taken in 2018, which were the most memorable? The Conversation

***MUSIC

A rocker’s guide to management A look at the friendship and business sides of big rock bands 1843 Magazine

Why Is Everyone Rapping Offbeat? (video) YouTube

***FILM

Best Movies 2018: 'A Star Is Born' to Fill the 'Star Wars' Void Wired

***CRIME

When the Calendar Requires the Release of Insanity Defendants in Oregon, Harm Often Follows ProPublica

Convicted of Murder in Texas, Declared Innocent Thanks to ‘Junk Science’ Review Texas Monthly

We mapped 150,000 shootings. Here’s what we found The Trace

New Calif. Law Requires Documents On Police Shootings Be Made Public NPR

***STUDENT LIFE

Millennials Are Keeping Family Holiday Cards Alive The Atlantic

He Drew His School Mascot — and ICE Labeled Him a Gang Member ProPublica

***JOBS

Morning show producer KFMB Radio, San Diego

Growth and Strategy Intern (Spring 2019), VICE Media, Beverly Hills

It's Time to Rethink How You Find a Mentor at Work Glamour

***INTERNSHIPS/PROGRAMS

Internship (Summer 2019) San Diego Padres

Summer Journalism Program Princeton

Business journalism diversity program Bloomberg-UNC-Berkeley

Podcast internship (Remote or Los Angeles) Neon Hum Media

***BORDER STORIES

Disturbing Video Shows Immigrant Children Being Slapped, Pushed, And Dragged In Arizona Detention Facility BuzzFeed News

A Woman Facing Deportation Says She Was Denied Justice Because She Speaks An Indigenous Language BuzzFeed News

***BUSINESS & FINANCE

If You’re Over 50, Chances Are the Decision to Leave your Job will Not be Your Own ProPublica

The Likelihood Of You Becoming A Millionaire Daily Infographic

***HEALTH

Elevated iron is at the center of a web of disease stretching from cancer to diabetes Nautil.us

Could Exercising In Frigid Temperatures Make Us Healthier? NPR

***PARENTING

Want to raise a child genius? A study running for 45 years has suggestions BigThink

Author Of 'The New Childhood' Advises Parents: Don't Panic About Screen Time NPR

The Way American Parents Think About Chores Is Bizarre The Atlantic

***SCIENCE

More science than you think is retracted. Even more should be (opinion) Washington Post

10 science stories in 2018 that made us go, “Whoa, that’s awesome” Vox

The Real Fake News: Top Scientific Retractions of 2018 Live Science

***NEUROSCIENCE

This Is Your Brain on Hate Researchers are studying how extreme ideology may rewire people Vice

The Must-Read Brain Books Of 2018 Forbes

***PRODUCTIVITY

How I got my attention back Wired

Why People Wait 10 Days to Do Something That Takes 10 Minutes: Chores are the worst The Atlantic

***RESEARCH

Taking a Closer Look at the Legal Aspects of Peer Review and Predatory Journals Drug & Device Law Blog

Dubious and Fraudulent Activities in Sports Nutrition Journal Human Kinetics

The Retraction Watch Database has launched: Here’s what you need to know Ahrecs

***HIGHER ED

Temple Will Pay $5.5M to Settle Suits Over False Rankings Data Inside Higher Ed

Ten education stories we’ll be reading in 2019 AEI

***TEACHING

Wolfram Alpha Is Making It Extremely Easy for Students to Cheat Wired

***ACADEMIC LIFE

Former student charged with threatening Mercer professor WRDW

December 31, 2018

What Makes People Susceptible to Fake News

December 31, 2018/ Stephen Goforth

Susceptibility to fake news is driven more by lazy thinking than by partisan bias. Which on one hand sounds—let's be honest—pretty bad. But it also implies that getting people to be more discerning isn't a lost cause. Changing people's ideologies, which are closely bound to their sense of identity and self, is notoriously difficult. Getting people to think more critically about what they're reading could be a lot easier, by comparison.

Then again, maybe not.

Anyone who has sat and stared vacantly at their phone while thumb-thumb-thumbing to refresh their Twitter feed, or closed out of Instagram only to re-open it reflexively, has experienced firsthand what it means to browse in such a brain-dead, ouroboric state. Default settings like push notifications, autoplaying videos, algorithmic news feeds—they all cater to humans' inclination to consume things passively instead of actively, to be swept up by momentum rather than resist it.

This isn't baseless philosophizing; most folks just tend not to use social media to engage critically with whatever news, video, or sound bite is flying past. As one recent study shows, most people browse Twitter and Facebook to unwind and defrag—hardly the mindset you want to adopt when engaging in cognitively demanding tasks.

David Rand—a behavioral scientist at MIT—says he has experiments in the works that investigate whether nudging people to think about the concept of accuracy can make them more discerning about what they believe and share. In the meantime, he suggests confronting fake news espoused by other people not necessarily by lambasting it as fake, but by casually bringing up the notion of truthfulness in a non-political context. You know: just planting the seed. It won't be enough to turn the tide of misinformation. But if our susceptibility to fake news really does boil down to intellectual laziness, it could make for a good start.

Robbie Gonzalez writing in Wired Magazine

December 28, 2018

Grappling for Knowledge

December 28, 2018/ Stephen Goforth

According to a 1995 study, a sample of Japanese eighth graders spent 44 percent of their class time inventing, thinking, and actively struggling with underlying concepts. The study’s sample of American students, on the other hand, spend less than one percent of their time in that state.

“The Japanese want their kids to struggle,” said Jim Stigler, the UCLA professor who oversaw the study and who co-wrote The Teaching Gapwith James Hiebert. “Sometimes the (Japanese) teacher will purposely give the wrong answer so the kids can grapple with the theory. American teachers, though, worked like waiters. Whenever there was a struggle, they wanted to move past it, make sure the class kept gliding along. But you don't learn by gliding.”

Daniel Coyle, The Talent Code

December 27, 2018

Until you make peace with who you are, you’ll never be content with what you have. -Doris Mortman

December 27, 2018/ Stephen Goforth

December 26, 2018

Unstirred waters lead to stagnation, and stagnation can't support life. -Ron Martoia

December 26, 2018/ Stephen Goforth

December 24, 2018

Articles of Interest - Dec 24

December 24, 2018/ Stephen Goforth

***TECHNOLOGY

Bose is set to Release Augmented Reality Audio Sunglasses with built-in speakers built-in and a microphone PC Magazine

It will soon be possible to send a satellite to repair another Or to destroy it Economist

***BIG DATA & QUANTUM TECH

The role of big data in science's reproducibility crisis: invalid statistical analyses that are from data-driven hypotheses PS Mag

$1.2 billon law to boost US quantum tech MIT Tech Review

Quantum computers pose a security threat that we’re still totally unprepared for MIT Tech Review

In what sense is quantum computing a science? Medium

***SOCIAL MEDIA

Rising Instagram Stars Are Posting Fake Sponsored Content The Atlantic

'Happier without Facebook': Users who deleted the social network say they're not looking back USA Today

***PRIVACY & SECURITY

DC slaps Facebook with latest suit targeting privacy lapses Associated Press

Anonymous Hacker Breaks Into A Personal Security System To Prove It's Possible NPR

Man sues feds after being detained for refusing to unlock his phone at airport Arstechnica

Facebook doesn’t need to sell your data. It has been giving it away free for years Recode

***PRODUCING MEDIA

Jungle Creations’ Jamie Bolding: Content is King, ‘Now More than Ever’ Story Hunter

5 Ways to Make Your Website Gen-Z Friendlier Tech News World

***THE BUSINESS OF MEDIA

The biggest brand in digital media has lost much of its lustre Economist

Media year in review: All the big changes from 2018 CNN

***JOURNALISM

Trust in the media is starting to make a comeback Axios

The most engaging stories of 2018 Chartbeat

The top 10 tools for journalism in 2018 Poynter

The U.S. Has Been Named as One of the Deadliest Places in the World for Journalists TIME

The funny, the weird and the serious: 33 media corrections from 2018 Poynter

‘Fake news’ and school uniforms: Our most popular research roundups in 2018 Journalists Resource

Der Spiegel to Press Charges Against Reporter Who Made Up Articles New York Times

Towards a rethinking of journalism on social media Harvard’s Nieman Lab

***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM

Telemundo Plans English-Language Newscast For YouTube Media Post

The numbers are in: Local news isn't dying if you look to TV Radio Television Digital News Association

***FAKE NEWS

How to recognize fake AI-generated images Medium

Who, what, why, where? Verification of online data Exposing the Invisible

What psychology experiments tell you about why people deny facts Economist

Reporter For German Magazine Falsified Articles, Including One About Trump Supporters NPR

Facebook’s anti-misinformation boss talks about the future of the company’s fact-checking program Poynter

Facebook's foot-dragging responses deepen its trust crisis Axios

***PERSONAL GROWTH

She Wrapped Him in Swaddling Clothes Becoming (my blog)

Nobel Prize-winning psychologist says most people don’t really want to be happy Quartz

***GRAMMAR

Check yourself for these five common grammatical mistakes Fast Company

***LANGUAGE

9 Books For People Who Love Language, Words, And Grammar BuzzFeed News

Here's how many people in each state speak a language other than English at home Business Insider

***LITERATURE

Alice Walker and David Icke: the New York Times By the Book feature controversy Slate

What Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice Teaches Readers The Atlantic

***GENDER

Twitter Abuse Toward Women Is Rampant, Amnesty Report Says Wired

'You freak me out': Assistant principal allegedly harassed trans student NBC News

***FREE SPEECH

Texas Makes Public Colleges Forbid Contractors to Boycott Israel: A Lawsuit Says That Violates the First Amendment Chronicle of Higher Ed

Big Wins for Privacy and Free Speech: 2018 in Review Electronic Frontier Foundation

***LEGAL ISSUES

BuzzFeed wins defamation suit over dossier publication CNN

For the First Time in More Than 20 Years, Copyrighted Works Will Enter the Public Domain Smithsonian Magazine

How software code could help you grapple with the legal code Wired

Candy Cane, Carlton, and The Floss: Are These Dances Protected by Copyright? 1709 Blog

***RELIGION

A Christmas Dragon Nativity Scene Riles the Neighbors CityLab

W.Va. mom says her daughter was bullied after they balked at Bible classes in public school NBC News

For Evangelicals, A Year Of Reckoning On Sexual Sin And Support For Donald Trump NPR

***RELIGION OUTSIDE THE U.S.

5 facts about Catholics in Europe Pew Research Center

Religious Rift Grows Between Ukraine And Russia NPR

A Nun In India Accuses A Bishop Of Rape, And Divides The Country's Christians NPR

18 international charities including World Vision Forced Out of Pakistan After 13 Years Christianity Today

***GOOD NEWS

Retiree has driven 64,000 miles helping low-income students get to college Telegram

Homeless Man Turns In $17,000 He Found in a Bag Outside Food Bank Inside Edition

Bowling partners not bothered by age gap of almost a century Australian Broadcasting Corporation

This toy factory is run by volunteers who give away all the toys for free The Washington Post

Man gives away frequent flyer miles to strangers for holidays USA Today

With school delayed due to a storm, driver buys breakfast for every kid on his bus The Week

***ART & DESIGN

22 artists transform grain silo into the world's largest outdoor mural The Week

Stendhal syndrome: can art really be so beautiful it makes you ill? The Guardian

Accessibility guidelines for UX Designers UX Collective

***FILM

Movies That Bombed So Hard They Bankrupted Studios (video) YouTube

Movies With Female Leads Consistently Outperform Movies With Male Leads, Study Finds CBS News

***POLITICS

Secret Experiment in Alabama Senate Race Imitated Russian Tactics New York Times

The Political Insiders’ Guide to 2019 Politico

***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT

I worked at CBS. I didn’t want to be sexually harassed: I was fired Boston Globe

More than 500 priests accused of sexual abuse not yet publicly identified by Catholic Church Chicago Tribune

***CRIME

The story of the mob’s man in Hollywood Economist

Using Statistics to Grapple With Crime Undark

***SOCIAL ISSUES

A visual journey through addiction New York Times

Two new movies reveal the strengths and weaknesses of the film industry's attempts to tackle America's addiction crisis New Republic

The 18 most striking trends from 2018 Pew Research Center

'Sesame Street' Addresses Issue of Homelessness With New Muppet, Lily NPR

***BUSINESS & FINANCE

The Best Budgeting Apps For Finally Getting Your Expenses in Check Popular Mechanics

The mysterious government organization that pops up at moments of financial crisis Quartz

***ENVIRONMENT

The White House rolls back a rule on polluting wetlands Economist

New houseplant can clean your home's air Science Daily

***HEALTH

How Hits To The Head Are Transferred To The Brain NPR

Can Parkour Teach Older People to Fall Better? CityLab

Gut bacteria may offer a treatment for autism: A common probiotic holds the key Economist

If You Feel Thankful, Write It Down. It's Good For Your Health NPR

***SCIENCE

The dean of UCLA Law explains the uncertain future of forensic science The Verge

The 10 Weirdest Science Stories of 2018 Live Science

***PSYCHOLOGY

Kanye West and the Dangers of Going off Psychiatric Meds The Atlantic

Illinois Regulators Are Investigating a Psychiatrist Whose Research With Children Was Marred by Misconduct Propublica

***NEUROSCIENCE

Altering Memories to Treat Addiction Undark

Your brain on art: neuroscientists define the aesthetic experience Missouri S&T

***PHILOSOPHY

6 essential books on existentialist philosophy Big Think

If universities sacrifice philosophy on the altar of profit, what’s next? The Guardian

***HISTORY

Mapping the making of America An imaginative history of the country shows what has and hasn’t changed Economist

Lessons from the fall of a great republic: Unworthy politicians, indulgent citizens and inequality did for Rome Economist

***RESEARCH

Inside the flawed world of medical publishing that allowed a lie in a paper to pollute the scientific record The Star

Journal removes poop drawing with Donald Trump's face — but offers no explanation Canadian Broadcast Company

Preying On The Predatory Journals: A Case Study Center for Inquiry

Is it time to start using the emoji in biomedical literature? BMJ

More Chinese Censorship of International Journals Inside Higher Ed

A recent study on ego depletion can’t confirm an old one. Who is right? Probably everyone Science News

What can be done about research misconduct, scandals and spins? AMJ Med

How (as an editor) I choose lists of reviewers Scientist Sees Squirrel

***RESEARCH AUTHORSHIP

More than half of over 1,000 social science journals “do not have an established authorship definition Springer

Assigning authorship for research papers can be tricky: These approaches can help Science Mag

Definition of authorship in social science journals Springer

***HIGHER ED

Tales Of Rural Students In College NPR

Blockchain Could Rewire Higher Ed. But Should It? Ed Surge

***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS

Tenured Theology professor dismissed by Southwest Baptist Bolivar Herald

The irony of a Southern Baptist seminary’s report on slavery and racism (opinion) Baptist News Global

***TEACHING

FBI Tactics Help Address Contract Cheating: Papers purchased from essay mills are technically original work and may not be flagged by plagiarism checkers BBC

***STUDENT MEDIA

Students at Missouri Strt Petition to Keep student media TV space Change.org

***STUDENT LIFE

The Rise of Anxiety Baking This year has been rough. Make some cookies The Atlantic

With most student news organizations in financial jeopardy, can paying staff be a priority? Student Press Law Center

A College Student Was Told To Remove A "Fuck Nazis" Sign Because It Wasn't "Inclusive" BuzzFeed News

Millennials Strike Again: This Time We Are Killing Cash And 'Merry Christmas' NPR

December 24, 2018

She Wrapped Him in Swaddling Clothes

December 24, 2018/ Stephen Goforth

And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them (Luke 2:7 NIV)

“She wrapped him in cloths.” Literally, he was wrapped in strips of cloth to kept him warm. The old King James translation uses the memorable phrase “swaddling clothes.” It’s still practiced in some countries today.

Did he cry? Do you think he cried? When you think of the manger and the child, do you imagine him crying?

Mary put diapers on God.

The mention of a manger is where we get the idea he was born in a stable. Often, stables were caves, with feeding troughs for animals.. mangers. It was probably dark and dirty. This is not the way the messiah was expected to appear. How often our expectations and God’s reality are not in sync. How often he appears in unexpected places.

Stephen Goforth

Becoming

ideas that challenge / comfort / inspire

What shall we do? Write bravely and live interesting lives.

Articles of Interest - Week of Jan 14

Adulting Burnout

your brand

What we wish, we readily believe, and what we ourselves think, we imagine others think also. –Julius Caesar

We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are. –Anais Nin

Straight A’s won’t matter in real life

Articles of Interest - Jan 7

The people inside the machine

heroic imagination

Why We All Take the Same Travel Photos

through the shadows

A Compass

Articles of Interest - Dec 31

What Makes People Susceptible to Fake News

Grappling for Knowledge

Until you make peace with who you are, you’ll never be content with what you have. -Doris Mortman

Unstirred waters lead to stagnation, and stagnation can't support life. -Ron Martoia

Articles of Interest - Dec 24

She Wrapped Him in Swaddling Clothes

Goforth Solutions, LLC