“Kierkegaard cries out for us to live passionately, and worry more about the problem of living life than trying to fit the social order. His philosophy is all about living this way, even to the point where an outside viewer will be unable to understand your motivation,” writes Scotty Hendricks at BigThink.

1. Be passionate,

2. Focus on living not fitting into some predetermined social role,

3. You will know you are on the right track when people have trouble grasping what motivates you.

Three worthy goals for 2018.

Stephen Goforth

December 31, 2017

the unlived life within

December 31, 2017/ Stephen Goforth

Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us.

Steven Pressfield

December 30, 2017

one's labors

December 30, 2017/ Stephen Goforth

One loves that for which one labors, and one labors for that which one loves.

Erich Fromm

December 30, 2017

Glory in the Flower

December 30, 2017/ Stephen Goforth

That though the radiance which was once so bright

be now forever taken from my sight.

Though nothing can bring back

the hour of splendor in the grass,

glory in the flower.

We will grieve not,

rather find strength in what remains behind.

William Wordsworth

December 28, 2017

nothing is easier

December 28, 2017/ Stephen Goforth

Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer; nothing is more difficult than to understand him. -Fyodor Dostoevsky

December 27, 2017

Figuring out What’s Wrong with our Prospective Mate

December 27, 2017/ Stephen Goforth

Other people are stuck at the same low level of self-knowledge as we are. However well-meaning they might be, they too are in no position to grasp, let alone inform us, of what is wrong with them.

Naturally, we make a stab at trying to know them. We go and visit their families, perhaps the place they first went to school. We look at photos, we meet their friends. All this contributes to a sense we’ve done our homework. But it’s like a novice pilot assuming they can fly after sending a paper plane successfully around the room.

We need to know the intimate functioning of the psyche of the person we’re planning to marry. We need to know their attitudes to, or stance on, authority, humiliation, introspection, sexual intimacy, projection, money, children, aging, fidelity and a hundred things besides. This knowledge won’t be available via a standard chat.

In the absence of all this, we are led – in large part – by what they look like. There seems to be so much information to be gleaned from their eyes, nose, shape of forehead, distribution of freckles, smiles… But this is about as wise as thinking that a photograph of the outside of a power station can tell us everything we need to know about nuclear fission.

The Philosophers’ Mail

December 26, 2017

after a lapse of time

December 26, 2017/ Stephen Goforth

No story is the same to us after a lapse of time; or rather we who read it are no longer the same interpreters. -George Elliot

December 25, 2017

Articles of Interest - Dec. 25

December 25, 2017/ Stephen Goforth

***JOURNALISM 2017

From ISIS to taxes: The AP's top 10 stories of 2017 Morning Joe MSNBC

2017 Top Stories Chartbeat

The Best Journalism of 2017 Sports Illustrated

Predictions for Journalism 2018 Nieman Journalism Lab

Charting the news of 2017: The year's events that most grabbed the world's attention Economist

The media today: What’s coming for journalism in 2018? Columbia Journalism Review

***THE JOURNALISM FILM “THE POST”

'The Post': Pentagon Papers Put The Press Under Pressure NPR

Steven Spielberg's The Post Is the Journalism Movie We Need Today TIME

Fact checking ‘The Post’: The incredible Pentagon Papers drama Spielberg left out Washington Post

Steven Spielberg’s The Post makes an entertaining, timely case for the First Amendment Vox

***FAKE NEWS

Facebook admits its original attempt to end fake news failed Daily Dot

How blockchain technology could prevent fake news from spreading Tech Republic

***TECHNOLOGY

Ready Player One and the Troubled Future of VR Technews World

Meet the robot that passed a college class on philosophy and love CNBC

***THE BUSINESS OF MEDIA

How talk radio stays relevant in the digital age Tech Republic

Tempers flare at FCC over record Sinclair fine CNN

Is Radio Headed For a Digital Cliff? Musicomics

A U.S. Station Switched From Bluegrass to Radio Sputnik—and Got Threats From the Feds Bloomberg

The Return of Vinyl Records Daily Infographic

***JOURNALISM

'Journalism is evolving and so is my thinking on it' Poynter

Mexican journalist shot dead at primary school holiday party Associated Press

The rich tried to save alt-weeklies: They haven't helped Mashable

Russian hackers hunted journalists in years-long campaign Associated Press

Journalism branding: Impact on reporters’ personal identities Journalism Resources

***BIG DATA & AI

Some expect AR to deliver flashy, exciting cultural creations.. but it may be more mundane—and thus more powerful Wired

AI Predictions have a patchy record. So what to make of these? Truck drivers will be obsolete within a decade or so, retail workers have about 15 years left, and machines will be writing best-selling books within three decades The World In

Six areas where artificial neural networks prove they can surpass human intelligence Venture Beat

Will Artificial Intelligence Become Conscious? Live Science

A look at what happened at machine learning’s big event Economist

8 game-changing data trends that will impact businesses in 2018 Tech Republic

***SOCIAL MEDIA

Instagram now lets you share live videos through direct messages Tech Crunch

The Best of Reddit in 2017The top posts, communities, AMAs, and other highlights from the past year Reddit

CNN is killing its Snapchat news show only four months after its debut Tech Crunch

***SOCIAL MEDIA: FACEBOOK

Facebook uses age-targeted job advertisements, but is that discriminatory? Daily Dot

Facebook drops 'disputed' tags for news stories The Hill

Facebook ‘Messenger Kids’ lets under-13s chat with whom parents approve Tech Crunch

Who’s Watching Facebook TV? Bloomberg

***PRODUCING MEDIA

The World's Best Film School Is Free on YouTube Wired

There will be an explosion of streaming-video services in 2018. A shakeout is inevitable The World In

The 50 Best Podcasts of 2017 The Atlantic

***INTERNET

You Give Up a Lot of Privacy Just Opening Emails. Here's How to Stop It Wired

Google's Year in Search Google Trends

***PERSONAL GROWTH

Missing the Miracle in the Mundane Becoming (my blog)

***LANGUAGE

Whatever! Marist Poll reveals list of most annoying words Poughkeepsie Journal

Tongue tried: Can the internet breathe new life into a dying language? Jonathan Beckman learns a smattering of Ainu 1843

The importance of pauses in conversation Economist

Vulnerable Words and the CDC Chronicle of Higher Ed

The strange reinvention of Icelandic: A language both ancient and modern Economist

Merriam-Webster's Word Of The Year Is Feminism NPR

***LITERATURE

The Best Books Atlantic Staffers Read in 2017 The Atlantic

Longreads Best of 2017: Essays Long Reads

Why Juan Rulfo’s fiction of fear is still revered in Latin America: The arbitrary violence of his short stories rings true in modern Mexico Economist

Derivative Sport: The Journalistic Legacy of David Foster Wallace Long Reads

Books of the Year 2017 Economist

J.R.R. Tolkien Is Our Favorite Father Christmas: For 23 years he role-played in holiday letters to his children Atlas Obscura

Apparently, people who steal books from indie bookstores have pretentious taste: And the rest of the week’s best writing on books and related subjects Vox

***GENDER

Gender Gap in Academic Seminar Questions: Men are far more likely to ask, study finds Inside Higher Ed

The battle to make French a “gender-neutral language” is emphasizing the country’s inherent sexism Quartz

Women Are Invited to Give Fewer Talks Than Men at Top U.S. Universities The Atlantic

Jezebel's Annual, Unscientific List of Best Women, According to Us Jezebel

Women and economics: The profession’s problem with women could be a problem with economics itself Economist

Sinclair Broadcast Group Sued for Sexual Harassment and Retaliation Hollywood Reporter

***FREE SPEECH

Report: Campus speech codes decline for 10th straight year The Fire

College Students Clash Repeatedly Over Free Speech Issues NPR

***RELIGION

Santa Claus Converts To Calvinism, Moves Everybody To Naughty List Babyonbee

Will the Museum of the Bible become a star DC attraction for tour groups? Washington Post

Cardinal Bernard Law, symbol of church sex abuse scandal, dead at 86 CNN

Texas Rangers pitcher and wife donate mansion and 100 acres of land to a Christian charity that provides camps for children with special needs and chronic illnesses ESPN

John Legend cast as Jesus Christ in upcoming NBC live musical CNN

Christianity Today’s 2018 Book Awards Christianity Today

Calif. Megachurch Accused of Practicing Occult in Use of 'Destiny Cards' Christian Post

***RELIGION AND POLITICS

Can Evangelicalism Survive Donald Trump and Roy Moore? (opinion) The New Yorker

Sam Bee: Trump’s devout evangelical following is “an Aryan death cult” (opinion) Salon

***ART & DESIGN

A Strict Olympic Crackdown on Russian Logos and Typography New York Times

California artist weaves faith into acclaimed works, show Religion News Service

***IMAGES

The Most 2017 Photos Ever The Atlantic

Ye Olde Photoshoppe: The manipulation of photographs goes back a surprisingly long way 1843

***MUSIC & AUDIO

Feel the noise: Tech companies are working out how to re-create the immediacy of live performance in your own home 1843

Bob Dylan's Gospel Period Sidemen Share Memories of His Most Divisive Era Billboard

How bands display their history on the stage Economist

***FILM

The Next Bechdel Test: We pitted 50 movies against 12 new ways of measuring Hollywood’s gender imbalance FiveThirtyEight

Cult Hit 'The Room' Set for Wide Theatrical Release (Exclusive) Hollywood Reporter

Film remakes that should stay on the storyboard Economist

Every Steven Spielberg Movie, Ranked Vulture

Not even “The Last Jedi” will reverse Americans’ retreat from cinemas Economist

***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT

This year has seen an explosion of rage about sexual harassment: Will it lead to lasting change? Economist

At Vice, Cutting-Edge Media and Allegations of Old-School Sexual Harassment The New York Times

***RELATIONSHIPS

The Weaponization of Awkwardness Don't make a scene. Look the other way. Social discomfort has long been used to maintain the status quo The Atlantic

The rise of long-distance marriage: Financial necessity is encouraging more couples to live apart Economist

***HEALTH

U.S. life expectancy declines for a second straight year and it’s fueled by the drug crisis Washington Post

Silencing is golden: A new era of medicine will come into view The World In

***SCIENCE

The High School Student's Simple Explanation Of Relativity Will Boggle Your Mind Digg

An age of discovery is in prospect for biology, predicts neuroscience professor at MIT and co-inventor of CRISPR Economist

Why Is M-Theory the Leading Candidate for Theory of Everything? Quantam Magazine

***PSYCHOLOGY

Tasks for My Psychological Task Rabbit McSweeneys

Can you really be addicted to sex? 1843

The holiday-suicide myth and the intractability of popular falsehoods The Conversation

***PHILOSOPHY

10 Schools of Philosophy and Why You Should Know Them Big Think

Slippery Slope (video)

***RESEARCH

Politics Moves Fast. Peer Review Moves Slow. What’s A Political Scientist To Do? FiveThirtyEight

Want to Win a Nobel Prize? Retract a Paper: This advice is both hyperbolic and not nearly as crazy as it sounds Slate

Online tools enable unprecedented access to science research Physics Today

How Badly Can Cherry-Picking and Question Trolling Produce Bias in Published Results? Springer

***RESEARCH & GENDER

Women are held to a higher standard in peer review VOX

Female grant applicants are equally successful when peer reviewers assess the science, but not when they assess the scientist Biorxiv

***HIGHER ED

Legal Pot? Doesn’t Matter, Colleges Say Inside Higher Ed

Higher Ed New Media Consortium Suddenly Ceases Operations Campus Technology

How much did hacker who taunted Rutgers cost the school? NewJersey.com

What Colleges Need to Know About the Tax Overhaul Poised to Become Law Chronicle of Higher Ed

A Nonprofit Funneling thousands of dollars to student-government campaigns across the country The New Yorker

***TEACHING

Don’t cede the online-education terrain to people whose courses are nowhere nearly as good as your own Chronicle of Higher Ed

Authors of statistics textbook proudly declared, in a footnote, that no one reads footnotes. Photos of the footnote keep going viral Inside Higher Ed

Use of Free Textbooks Is Rising, but Barriers Remain Chronicle of Higher Ed

Controversial question spotted on UCCS final exam KOAA

A Brief History of Students Secretly Recording Their Professors Chronicle of Higher Ed

***STUDENT LIFE

E-sports come of age: Why the e-sports industry will boom The World In

Dreamers’ Make Desperate Plea on Capitol Hill Chronicle of Higher Ed

***JOBS & INTERNSHIPS

Want to freelance? Join SPJ's freelancer directory Society of Professional Journalists

Now Accepting Student Applications for intensive 10-day program designed for college students interested in covering government and politics Politico

Internship Photo Department Patagonia, Ventura, California

2018 Summer Producer Intern National Football League Culver City, California

***ACADEMIC LIFE

On Faculty and Mental Illness Chronicle of Higher Ed

December 22, 2017

Answers to Christmas Quiz

December 22, 2017/ Stephen Goforth

1. What did the angels sing to the shepherds?

Nothing. Luke 2:13,14 tells us, "Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel praising God and SAYING, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace to men on whom his favor rests." No where in the Bible does it say that angels sing. Of course, Scripture never says they don't either.

2. In what direction did the Wise Men look to see the star in the sky?

The West. Matthew 2:1,2 reads, "After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, 'Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." The Wise Men were in the East and they saw the star in the Western sky. Had they been traveling toward a star in the East, they would have started from somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea.

3. Where did the wise men go to see the baby?

The house--not the stable. Matthew 2:9-11 says, "After (the Wise Men) had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the HOUSE, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him…" By the time the Wise Men would have arrived, Mary and Joseph would have left the stable. It would have taken a while for the Wise Men to arrive. Perhaps a couple of years, since Herod killed children in Bethlehem under the age of two.

4. How many wise men were there?

We don't know. Three is the traditional number, but Scripture only tells us of three gifts.

5. In which season of the year was Jesus born?

Probably Spring. Luke 2:8 tells us, "And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night." It is unlikely they would have been living in the fields during Winter. Spring is the most likely time.

6. What did Mary ride on to Bethlehem?

We don't know. Christmas cards may favor a donkey, but Scripture doesn't tell us.

7. What did the wise men ride on?

We don't know. Christmas cards may favor a camels, but Scripture doesn't tell us.

8. In what country did the Christmas tree originate?

Germany

9. In what century did Christmas celebrations begin?

The 4th century. Christmas carols began in the 14th and 15th centuries. Christmas cards were first sent in the early 19th century.

10. Was there ever an original, real Santa Claus?

Yes. In the 4th Century AD, Nicholas showed acts of kindness and charity early in his life. He served as bishop of Myra (now in Turkey) and was considered a saint since the 6th century.

11. What Christmas tradition commemorating the birth of Jesus did St. Francis of Assisi begin?

The nativity scene.

12. What is frankincense?

a. a precious metal

b. a precious fabric

c. a precious perfume

d. an Eastern monster story

Answer: c. a precious perfume

13. What is Myrrh?

a. an easily shaped metal

b. a spice used for burying people

c. a drink

d. aftershave lotion

Answer: b. a spice used for burying people

14. Did Jesus tell us to remember his birth?

No.

15. What did Jesus tell us to remember?

He told us to remember his death. "…Do this in remembrance of me" Luke 22:19.

Note: All verses from the New International Version

December 18, 2017

Articles of Interest - Dec 18

December 18, 2017/ Stephen Goforth

***TECHNOLOGY

Robots that Look like Animals (video)

Google Glass, Oculus, HoloLens: The Race for Augmented Reality Glasses Starts Now Wired

CRISPR gene editing moved into humans in 2017Debates about when and how to use the tool in humans take on new urgency Science News

In China, a Three-Digit Score Could Dictate Your Place in Society Wired

AIM, aka AOL Instant Messenger, dead at 20 NY Daily News

Video games could fall foul of anti-gambling laws Economist

***BIG DATA & AI

A quantum communications satellite: The Chinese really beat us on this one Science News

Google leads in the race to dominate artificial intelligence: Tech giants are investing billions in a transformative technology Economist

Five programming languages with hidden flaws vulnerable to hackers Tech Republic

AI hedge funds embrace machine learning Economist

What if AI doesn’t need big data to learn but the machines teach themselves using synthetic data or in virtual environments? Forbes

What if AI doesn’t need big data to learn but the machines teach themselves using synthetic data or in virtual environments? Economist

AI fairness: some mental frameworks to think about how to address a growing number of unintended consequences and controversies system developers could never have predicted Medium

As storytellers increasingly realize the value of AI, and as these tools become more readily available, we could see a major change in the way video stories are created Mckinsey

What technologies will shape the coming 12 months. Spoiler: executives say they all are connected by artificial intelligence CMS Wire

***SOCIAL MEDIA

The top 10 memes of 2017, according to Google Daily Dot

Worker rushes back to burning factory in China for phone Daily Mail

Former Facebook exec won't let own kids use social media, says it's 'destroying how society works' Fox News

Hard Questions: Is Spending Time on Social Media Bad for Us? Facebook Newsroom

Facebook's Partnership With Fact-Checkers Gets Off To A Rocky Start NPR

How much news makes it into people’s Facebook feeds? Our experiment suggests not much Harvard’s Nieman Lab

Facebook news feed changes could affect your business's post engagement Tech Republic

***MOBILE

Voice assistants used by 46% of Americans, mostly on smartphones Pew Research Center

Are digital distractions harming labour productivity? The evidence is mixed; it seems clear, however, that they are making us unhappier Economist

***PRODUCING MEDIA

Descript gets $5M to make sound editing like a Word document Tech Crunch

Don’t Compromise Your Ethics When Telling Stories in VR Medium

***INTERNET

Five Times the Internet Was Actually Fun in 2017 New York Times

How a dorm room Minecraft scam brought down the internet Wired

How many people in your neighborhood have access to high-speed internet? This map shows big differences depending on where you live Recode

Gmail Quietly Offers New Unsubscribe Feature Media Post

***JOURNALISM

Public colleges limiting journalist access Columbia Journalism Review

New York Times D.C. bureau adds fact-checker Politico

Goodbye to Storify Chronicle of Higher

Longform video leads the way Harvard’s Nieman Lab

How do you use an Anonymous Source? Washington Post

Show a little vulnerability Harvard’s Nieman Lab

The 10 Best Journalism Movies Washington Post

Not fake news, just plain wrong: Top media corrections of 2017 Poynter

Record number of journalists jailed Committee to Protect Journalism

Jealousy List 2017 Bloomberg

***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM

An insider’s account of the booming business where ads want to be journalism, sort of Traffic

WikiLeaks recognised as a 'media organisation' by UK tribunal The Guardian

Pope Begs Journalists To Avoid 'Sins Of Communication' : The Two-Way NPR

Newspaper Advertising Costs & How to Succeed on a Budget Fit Small Business

New owner to retire iconic Time Inc. name New York Post

***FAKE NEWS

The Numbers Behind Fake News Daily Infographic

‘False News’ Is Safer Than ‘Fake’ Chronicle of Higher

Yes, the Truth Still Matters New York Times

Pope Francis: fake and sensationalised news 'a very serious sin' The Guardian

Google News To Delist Publications That Intentionally Mislead Readers, Mask Country Of Origin Media Post

***THE BUSINESS OF MEDIA

'The Atlantic' Rebuilds Paywall For 2018 Media Post

***PERSONAL GROWTH

The Importance of Making Mistakes Becoming (my blog)

The Batman Effect: Dressing up as a superhero might actually give your kid grit Quartz

Why It Feels So Good to Cancel Plans Last Minute, and How to Stop Life Hacker

For Veterans, a Path to Healing 'Moral Injury' New York Times

Why We Pull Away From Those We Love The Most Digg

***GRAMMAR

This Is The Daily Stormer's Playbook: A leaked style guide reveals they’re Nazis about grammar Huffington Post

The Fine Line Between Errors and Dialect Differences Chronicle of Higher

***WRITING & READING

Poetry's Not Dead, And Here Are Books To Help Appreciate It NPR

The Weaponization of Plagiarism Plagiarism Today

For baby’s brain to benefit, read the right books at the right time The Conversation

20 Words and Phrases for Better Essays Daily Infographic

***LANGUAGE

Oxford's word of the year is a less obvious, more obscure choice Mashable

Beyond “I can’t even” Chronicle of Higher

***LITERATURE

Researchers had an AI bot write a new Harry Potter chapter and it was terrifying The Guardian

You can thank Facebook, Hulu, and Instagram for some of the year’s bestselling books Quartz

Three Books That Capture America In Poetry NPR

***GENDER

The Growing Partisan Divide Over Feminism The Atlantic

42% of US working women have faced gender discrimination on the job Pew Research Center

At ESPN, the problem for women runs deep Boston Globe

***RACE & ETHNICITY ISSUES

Court Decision Could Force Changes To ATF's Undercover Operations NPR

***LEGAL ISSUES

Slovenian magazine apologizes to US first lady Melania Trump Associated Press

Scandalous Trademarks No Longer Taboo, Court Rules Hollywood Reporter

***RELIGION

R.C. Sproul, theologian and religious broadcaster, dies at 78 USA Today

5 facts about Christmas in America Pew Research

Suit: Ernest Angely's Megachurch Swindled Mentally Ill Woman out of more than 300K CBS Chicago

How A Priest Convinced Robert Mugabe To Step Down NPR

Christian Club Sues University After Being Booted off Campus Iowa City Press-Citizen

Ernest Angley's church and TV station being sued for defaulting on $3.6 million loan Akron Beacon Journal

In the early ‘90s, Scientology tried to dictate to the FBI what information could be released about them through FOIA MuckRock

***RELIGION AND POLITICS

This Evangelical Leader Denounced Trump. Then the Death Threats Started Politico

Religious Bias Is Distorting American Foreign Policy (opinion) The Atlantic

An Evangelical Evaluation Of Trump's First Year NPR

After Trump and Moore, some evangelicals are finding their own label too toxic to use Washington Post

***ART & DESIGN

Guerrilla Public Service Redux 99 Percent

Better design helps differentiate opinion and news Harvard’s Nieman Lab

***MUSIC

Nielsen 360 Study Finds Consumers Love Streaming Music, But Radio Still Strong Billboard

Algorithm is a dancer: Is YouTube starting to determine vinyl reissues? The Vinyl Factory

U2 on 2017's 'Swing to Extremism' and Why Unity Is As Important As Resistance Billboard

Sirius XM Holdings Inc. will pay almost 41% more for the music it plays on its satellite-radio service starting next year Fox Business News

Thelonious Monk’s 25 Tips for Musicians (1960) Open Culture

In a new podcast, our host explores the craft of writing about music Poynter

***FILM

How The Post Became the Hottest Screenplay in Hollywood Vanity Fair

James Earl Jones Didn't Believe Darth Vader Was Luke's Father Hollywood Reporter

Movies You Missed: 'The Muppet Christmas Carol' NPR

***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT

Resources for combating sexual harassment in the newsroom Society of Professional Journalists

There Is No Moral Relativity in Sexual Harassment (opinion) Chronicle of Higher

Women and Power in the Workplace New York Times

Poll: Americans Overwhelmingly Support 'Zero Tolerance' On Sexual Harassment NPR

Catholic Church Singled Out In Australian Sex Abuse Report: The Two-Way NPR

How you can use public records to cover campus sexual assault Student Press Law Center

When harassment drives women out of journalism Vox

Gender discrimination comes in many forms for today’s working women Pew Research

We Got Government Data On 20 Years Of Workplace Sexual Harassment Claims: These Charts Break It Down BuzzFeed

***FAMILIES

Down Syndrome Families Divided Over Abortion Ban NPR

Parents giving children alcohol too young, researchers say BBC

***HEALTH

How healthy is your state? The disparities are stark Stat News

3-D printed microfibers could provide structure for artificially grown body part Penn State

The Future of Genomic medicine The Naked Scientist

'Why am I so tired?' The 10 most-Googled health questions in 2017 CNN

Why New Blood Pressure Guidelines Could Lead to Harm New York Times

CDC director tells staff ‘there are no banned words,’ while not refuting report Stat News

You (and most of the millions of holiday travelers you encounter) are washing your hands wrong The Conversation

***ENVIRONMENT

The world is drowning in ever-growing mounds of garbage Washington Post

Each U.S. Family Trashes 400 iPhones’ Worth of E-Waste a Year National Geographic

***SCIENCE

CDC gets list of forbidden words: fetus, transgender, diversity Washington Post

***PSYCHOLOGY

Older Adults' Forgetfulness Tied To Faulty Brain Rhythms In Sleep : Shots - Health News NPR

***NEUROSCIENCE

Offbeat brain rhythms during sleep make older adults forget UC Berkeley

Even Small Amounts of Alcohol Impair Memory: Drinking moderately might still be affecting your brain, even if you never black out The Atlantic

***PHILOSOPHY

Pickle: A Philosophy and Ethics Podcast for Kids WNYC

God's Answer to Nietzsche, the Philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard BigThink

***HISTORY

Read the “Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down” Letter That Albert Einstein Sent to Marie Curie During a Time of Personal Crisis (1911) Open Culture

***RESEARCH

How many papers really end up without a single citation Nature

Strong evidence of bias against research from low income countries BMJ blog

Predatory publishing can no longer be called … a fly in the chardonnay of scholars Scholarly Kitchen

Humans Run Experiments, a Robot Writes the Paper: The future of automated scientific writing is upon us Slate

***HIGHER ED

The Political Divide Over Higher Education in America Gallup Poll

Baking Common Sense into the FERPA Cake: How to Meaningfully Protect Student Rights and the Public Interest Notre Dame Journal of Legislation

With an Employee Facing Deportation, Wesleyan’s President Speaks Out Chronicle of Higher Ed

Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump contraception rule Washington Post

Arkansas Baptist president fired over 'lack of transparency' to board, college says Arkansas Online

Great-grandson of Rhema Bible Church founder (the late Kenneth Hagin) receives 8-year sentence in drive-by shooting Tulsa World

Students combat human trafficking Northwest Nazarene

***TEACHING

Automatic Course Syllabus Maker Chronicle of Higher

Peer instruction and polling changes teaching Chronicle of Higher

When Students Aren’t as Prepared as They Look on Paper Chronicle of Higher

***ACADEMIC LIFE

Ph.D.s Are Still Writing Poorly, Part 2 Chronicle of Higher

***STUDENT LIFE

The College Student Who Decoded the Data Hidden in Inca Knots Atlas Obscura

December 16, 2017

doing evil

December 16, 2017/ Stephen Goforth

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction. – Blaise Pascal

December 14, 2017

how to know yourself

December 14, 2017/ Stephen Goforth

Make things = know thyself.

December 13, 2017

Feeling Like Getting Married

December 13, 2017/ Stephen Goforth

Part of the reason we feel like getting married is to interrupt the all-consuming grip that love has over our psyches. We are exhausted by the melodramas and thrills that go nowhere. We are restless for other challenges. We hope that marriage can conclusively end love’s painful rule over our lives.

It can’t and won’t: there is as much doubt, hope, fear, rejection and betrayal in a marriage as there is in single life. It’s only from the outside that a marriage looks peaceful, uneventful and nicely boring.

The Philosophers’ Mail

December 12, 2017

Lying to ourselves

December 12, 2017/ Stephen Goforth

Lying to ourselves is more deeply ingrained than lying to others. -Fyodor Dostoevsky

December 12, 2017

living in opposition

December 12, 2017/ Stephen Goforth

Living purely in opposition to something, rather than for something, hollows you out inside. To be a whole human being, you have to spend your life building something good. -David Wong