Knock, Knock
/Opportunity knocks! Quit complaining about the noise!
ideas that challenge / comfort / inspire
Tuesday Tools: Various Writing Helps
/We all could use a little help with writing and editing text. Here are some wonderful tools (apps and online) that will help in unexpected ways. You'll more writing tools at the tech tools site. If you have other suggestions, feel free to send them my way.
Associated Press Stylebook*
The most used reference guide to writing news stories, the AP stylebook is available both in print and online for a small fee. It can improve general writing as well, especially for its alphabetically organized guide to the use of common and proper nouns.
Diversity Style Guide
Resource to help media writers nagivate through a "multicultural world with accuracy, authority and sensitivity."
Cliche Finder
Just what the title suggests. Free.
Copyscape
Check for online plagiarism.
Corpus of Contemporary American English
This BYU site includes transcripts of spoken language from radio and television programs and comprises academic writing from a range of disciplines allowing comparison of styles--spoken language vs.written academic language.
Coschedule Headline Analyzer
Analyze your headlines for SEO and share value. Free.
Dragon Anywhere*
Voice to text app for iOS. Have to finish dictation before seeing the text. Free.
Flip Text
Flip text upside-down. Use it on Facebook or Twitter. Free.
Gender Guesser
Cut and paste some of your writing into the the Gender Guesser and it will tell you whether you are male or female based on the writing tendencies of each.
the Grading Game*
App for practicing your editing skills and win points. Avail at the App Store.
Grammar Girl
Writing Tips from a grammarian.
Hackpad
Edit, organize and share documents. Merged with Dropbox in 2014.
HubSpot's Blog Topic Generator
Just write three nouns related to the topic that you'd like to blog about and this site will offer ideas.
Lexicon Valley
Slate's grammar podcasts.
Limpert's About Editing and Writing Blog
A blog about how editors and writers do their work by Jack Limert was editor of the The Washingtonian for more than 40 years.
Medium
Created by Twitter co-founders to support good writing. Clean design and easy-to-use interface. For those who want to write but don’t want to maintain a blog or website. Intended to be a place where smart people plant their thoughts. Share a draft of a post with friends who can make comments as marginal notes (rather than at the end of a post). Free, but Twitter account is required. No custom domains or customization.
Online Etymology Dictionary
Gives you the history and derivation of any word. Free.
Overview
Developed at the Associated Press, Overview analyzes the complete text of every document, extracting keywords and sorting documents into categories and sub-categories.
Power Thesaurus
Crowdsourced thesaurus.
Rhymer
Free rhyming dictionary.
SEOmov
SEO writing tips.
Svbtle
Writing platform. Minimalist interface. Encourages reader response.
Sync.in
Collaborative writing tool.
TextExpander
Mac typing shortcut. Takes snippets of text and turns them into longer ones. Ideas for how to use it here. $44.95.
TextGrabber*
Extracts text from a variety of printed sources (PDF, books, etc.) by using the iPhone camera. Can translate text from many languages. $4.99.
Tone Analyzer
Linguistic analysis detects the emotional tone of your writing. Detect the levels of particular emotions it triggers and language style. Free.
Yoast SEO
A WordPress plugin to work SEO into your writing.
Articles of Interest - Sept 17
/***TECHNOLOGY
'Molar Mic' will let US military make radio calls from their teeth cnet
Shapeshifting canopy uses drones to keep guests in the shade New Atlas
How a wave of new tech products are making life easier for people with disabilities USA Today
***BIG DATA & AI
Unifying Big Data And Machine Learning, Cisco Style Next Platform
The increased complexity of the analytics that is being done is changing.. and dragging on big data Datanami
***PRODUCING MEDIA
Making useful three-dimensional maps Kottke
***INTERNET
Google Employees Are Quitting Over The Company’s Secretive China Search Project BuzzFeed News
The Rise and Demise of RSS TwoBit History
***THE BUSINESS OF MEDIA
How the Magazine Industry’s Identity Crisis Plays Out on Its Front Page The Ringer
***JOURNALISM
Reddit, Twitter, Facebook stand out as sites with the most news-focused users Pew Research Center
Americans expect to get their news from social media, but they don’t expect it to be accurate Harvard’s Nieman Lab
Tips every brand new reporter should know Poynter
Audiences often overestimate the influence of news stories on other people — while underestimating how much they influence their own views and beliefs Harvard’s Nieman Lab
What Is ‘Quality’ Journalism? European Journalism Observatory
***TEACHING JOURNALISM
A Trump effect at journalism schools? Colleges see a surge in admissions Washington Post
Observations on how we teach drone journalism Reynolds Journalism Institute
***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM
New fund gives $20 million to local journalism Poynter
As newsrooms do more with less, can reporters keep up? Columbia Journalism Review
Marc Benioff is the latest tech billionaire to buy a news outlet CNN
***FAKE NEWS
A mathematical model captures the political impact of fake news MIT Tech Review
CrowdTangle now lets users report potentially false news Poynter
***PERSONAL GROWTH
One is the loneliest Number Aeon
***GRAMMAR
How the Cold, Dead Hand of John Dryden Still Perpetuates Grammar Myths Chronicle of Higher Ed
Google Docs just became smart enough to fix your grammar errors Tech Radar
***WRITING & READING
The 2018 National Book Award Longlists NPR
Customer wins bookshop in raffle The Guardian
***LANGUAGE
Mischievous Pronunciations Chronicle of Higher Ed
***LITERATURE
Americans are reading fewer novels, but more poetry PS Mag
Mary Shelley’s Handwritten Manuscript of Frankenstein: This Is “Ground Zero of Science Fiction,” Says William Gibson Open Culture
***GENDER
Dartmouth College hired the first woman known to coach full-time in Division I football Dartmonuth
CBS And #MeToo NPR
Photojournalists Are Demanding A #MeToo Reckoning NPR
Many Ways to Be a Girl, but One Way to Be a Boy: The New Gender Rules New York Times
***RACE & ETHNICITY ISSUES
History lesson: Scholars take aim at racist views of Middle Ages CS Monitor
How Journalists of Color Are Redefining Newsroom Culture Harvard’s Nieman Report
***FREE SPEECH
Univ of Wisconsin defines unacceptable protest in updated guidelines-two violations means suspended, third expulsion Badger Herald
Freedom of Speech? A Lesson on Understanding the Protections and Limites of the First Amendment New York Times
***LEGAL ISSUES
***RELIGION
A Christian counseling organization leader faces plagiarism charges Christian Post
Inside Of A Cult Whose Leader Claims He Can Control The Weather Digg
Non-Disparagement Agreements And Truth-Telling In The Church: Willow Creek (opinion) Scot McKnight blog
Most Western Europeans favor at least some restrictions on Muslim women’s religious clothing Pew Research Center
Disgraced Baptist leader Paige Patterson body-shames a woman in his return to the pulpit Washington Post
John MacArthur's ‘Statement on Social Justice’ Is Aggravating Evangelicals Christianity Today
***GOOD NEWS
Community Center Displays Sign with Countless Funny Puns My Modern Met
Bystanders lift vehicle to free man pinned underneath car WTAE
This school janitor has quietly been giving homeless students clothes, soap and more Washington Post
Banker offers free 2-year tuition to every senior at a Wisconsin high school CNN
95-year-old World War II vet breaks scuba diving record Telegraph
Animals rescued from Florence floodwaters, after pets left behind or forgotten Fox News
California teen finds purse with $10,000 inside, turns it in to police CBS News
Armed Robbers Take Over A Store, Underestimate The 83-Year-Old Man In The Room (video) Digg
***ART & DESIGN
Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards - in pictures The Guardian
The secret to great design Asking good design questions will elucidate problems and opportunities O’Reilly
Can you guess which of these paintings was not made by a human? Quartz
***MUSIC
You Don't Own the Music, Movies or Ebooks You 'Buy' on Amazon or iTunes Life Hacker
The Unlikely Endurance of Christian Rock The New Yorker
***FILM
A Blockbuster Store Has Popped Up In London And It's Only Renting Out One Movie Digg
***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT
Chancellor’s Husband Is Banned From Campus After Sexual-Harassment Investigation Chronicle of Higher Ed
How Faith Changes Campus Sex Assaults Christianity Today
***SOCIAL ISSUES
Thousands of foster children may be getting psychiatric drugs without safeguards, watchdog agency says Associated Press
Key findings about U.S. immigrants Pew Research Center
Twitter is bringing back the reverse chronological feed of tweets BoingBoing
***BUSINESS & FINANCE
The Ultimate Guide to the Best Business Newsletters Fortune
The #1 Office Perk? Natural Light Harvard Business Review
***ENVIRONMENT
North Carolina didn't like science on sea levels … so passed a law against it The Guardian
***HEALTH
The States With The Best And Worst Life Expectancy, Mapped Digg
Risks From Daily Low-Dose Aspirin Outweigh Benefits For Healthy Seniors NPR
Can brain-stimulating implants treat some severe cases of autism? Spectrum News
Medical students definitely need to learn professionalism. But can it be taught? Stat News
***TRAVEL
Annual list of the Top 100 Destinations to visit right now Time Magazine
20 Silly Mistakes That Most Couples Make When They Travel The Travel
***FAMILY
Throw Your Children’s Art Away The Atlantic
Parents with child who are deaf or hard of hearing have new resource in California ABC 30
***SCIENCE
Single molecule control for a millionth of a billionth of a second Science Daily
Scientists May Have Found What Makes Batteries Charge holds a charge for three days when new yet only three hours after you've owned it a while Popular Mechanics
***PSYCHOLOGY
Your earliest childhood memory is probably fake Quartz
Are the foot soldiers behind psychology’s replication crisis saving science — or destroying it? Chronicle of Higher Ed
Scientists identify four personality types The Washington Post
***NEUROSCIENCE
For the first time, a neural link between altruism and empathy toward strangers Penn Today
What is your dog really thinking? MRI brain scans might soon provide the answer Aeon
***HISTORY
The Attack On Democracy In The 1930s And Today NPR
Are Museums Still Important in the Digital Age? New York Times
***RESEARCH
Inside the 'shadowy world' of China's fake science research black market ABC (Australia)
Who are the world’s top reviewers? Pulbons
How Would You Ensure Diversity In Peer Review? Scholarly Kitchen
Academic publishing is a mess and it makes culture wars dumber BongBong
Scientific publishing is a rip-off. We fund the research – it should be free (opinion) The Guardian
***HIGHER ED
The college-age population will drop 15% between 2025-2029 Hechinger Report
How Americans have come to see college as a requirement Washington Post
Ed Dept reopens a 2011 complaint by a Zionist group that claims Rutgers permitted a hostile environment for Jewish students New York Times
Auburn issues statement of disapproval and investigation over fraternity banners oanow
Why Is College in America So Expensive? The Atlantic
If 'Free College' Sounds Too Good To Be True, That's Because It Often Is NPR
Most Christian Students Believe College Is About Making Money: Study Christian Post
Two small Christian colleges take a stand against Nike over its Colin Kaepernick ad campaign Washington Post
***TEACHING
How to create a syllabus Chronicle of Higher Ed
How a Common Course Fosters Teaching Collaboration on One Campus Chronicle of Higher Ed
***STUDENT LIFE
Devices dominate teenagers' social lives Axios
Meet the Other Empty Nesters: They are Dogs and they are missing their Kids, too Boston Globe
U. of Nebraska Wondered Whether Conservative Students Were Being Silenced: Here’s What It Found Out Chronicle of Higher Ed
5 facts about Americans and video games Pew Research
***ACADEMIC LIFE
Why I Left a Tenured Job for a Career in Policy Chronicle of Higher Ed
Prominent health policy researcher resigns from Dartmouth over plagiarism dispute Stat News
The University of Southern California fired a professor for being a student at his own institution Daily Trojan
University of Oklahoma Law professor found connected to anti-Semitic publication OU Daily
Tuesday Tools: Writing Scripts
/Here are some tools (apps and online) that will help you get your TV or movie script in shape. There are more writing tools at the tech tools site. If you have other suggestions, feel free to send them my way.
Fade In
Script-writing software with similar features toFinal Draft without the price tag. Not as many of the extras that come withFinal Draft but only $50. Windows, Mac, Linux.
Final Draft*
Industry standard for writing screenplays on both Windows and Mac. Notes section for keeping track of characters, special scene view to get an overview, index card system for summaries, etc. $170.
Trelby
Free script-writing alternative to Final Draft and Fade In. Enough features to get you started.
TV Tropes
Fiction writing help through examination of storytelling devices in creative works.
Articles of Interest - Sept 10
/***GOOD NEWS
Following heart attack, Father-daughter duo spends summer visiting every MLB ballpark ABC-7
Young doctor reunited with nurse who helped save his life 28 years ago Mercury News
Adopted man reunites birth parents, officiates their wedding New York Times
Boy's Kindness To Another At Seahawks Game Patch
Falklands veteran Steve Sparkes is first blind person to row Pacific Exmouth Journal
Woman saves man after heart attack on first date (and relationship is still going strong!) NBC Today Show
***JOURNALISM
How Trump Is Making Journalism School Great Again The Daily Beast
BBC admits ‘we get climate change coverage wrong too often’ The Guardian
Mexico Is the Deadliest Country for Journalists, but That’s Not Stopping These Students Vice
'A large grain of salt': Why journalists should avoid reporting on most food studies (opinion) Canadian Broadcast Corp.
LGBTQ journalism group apologizes after host refers to attendees at event as 'things and its' The hill
BuzzFeed, Bourdieu, and Samantha Bee: Here’s a collection of new research on where journalism is headed Harvard’s Nieman Lab
***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM
The Outline has laid off all of its staff writers Fast Company
***FAKE NEWS
How to shake the fakes out of politics BBC
To Resist Manipulation, Ask One Question Tech News World
***TECHNOLOGY
Facial recognition tech is ready for its post-phone future Wired
***BIG DATA & AI
Training machines to facilitate curiosity-driven learning Economist
An infographic on the data science shortage Inside Big Data
Artificial intelligence can estimate an area’s obesity levels by analyzing its buildings Quarttz
Machines know when someone’s about to attempt suicide: How should we use that information? Quartz
From rust belt to robot belt: Turning AI into jobs in the US heartland MIT Technology Review
A chart showing growth in traffic to programming languages as a data science tool and a quiz to show how well do you know R Towards Data Science
10 Reasons Why You Can’t Live Without A Particle Accelerator Nautilus
***SOCIAL MEDIA
Millennials Deleting Facebook App From Phones Media Post
Trump, without evidence, accuses social media firms of election meddling: report Reuters
Sweden’s official Twitter account will no longer be run by random Swedes The Verge
Instagram is working on a standalone shopping app Quartz
Snap launches new styles of Spectacles that look more like traditional sunglasses The Verge
Many Facebook users don’t understand how the site’s news feed works Pew Research Center
How social-media platforms dispense justice Economist
***PRIVACY & SECURITY
A hack of British Airways’ system left hundreds of thousands of passengers’ financial information exposed, and a big fine could follow MIT Tech Review
A year later, Equifax lost your data but faced little fallout TechCrunch
Americans are changing their relationship with Facebook Pew Research Center
Dozens of popular iPhone apps caught sending user location data to monetization firms TechCrunch
***INTERNET
Google wants to kill the url Wired
How search engines respond when you look up "suicide" Fast Company
***SEARCH ENGINE BIAS
Trump Says Google Is Rigged, Despite Its Denials. What Do We Know About How It Works? New York Times
Are Google searches biased in favour of left-leaning news outlets? Economist
***PERSONAL GROWTH
I survived the Warsaw ghetto: Do not ever imagine that your world cannot collapse, as ours did.. Becoming (my blog)
The Best Thing My Psychic Mom Taught Me Is No One Wants To Hear The Truth BuzzFeed News
I survived the Warsaw ghetto. Here are the lessons I’d like to pass on The Guardian
Is happiness a consequence or cause of career success? The London School of Economics & Political Science
***GRAMMAR
A striking lapse in the preface to Merriam-Webster Chronicle of Higher Ed
23 Jokes All Grammar Nerds Will Absolute Love BuzzFeed
***LANGUAGE
25 of the new words Merriam-Webster is adding to the dictionary in 2018 Mental Floss
How Americans Speak: the latest issue of American Speech, a journal in its 93rd year Chronicle of Higher Ed
Why your Latin teacher was wrong Economist
***LITERATURE
These Are the 20 Books Travelers Are Always Leaving Behind at Their Hotels Travel & Leisure
Literary Theorists Admit They Still Have No Idea What Animal Farm About The Onion
***GENDER
Are Women Better Investors? Data suggests women may be better natural investors Stash Learn
The Women Code Breakers Who Unmasked Soviet Spies Smithsonian Magazine
***RACE & ETHNICITY ISSUES
Jury Settles Nazi-Punching Question: Fines Man $1 For Punching Charlottesville Rally Organizer NPR
A Black Restaurant Owner Says He Tried Assisting a White Patron in Distress: Police Arrested Him New York Times
Ohio Middle School apologizes for a classroom exercise that asked students to pick minorities to toss off a spaceship New York Times
After racist coach scandal, Brandeis demotes two administrators, severs ties with another Inside Higher Ed
***FREE SPEECH
Trump suggests protesting should be illegal The Washington Post
Misguided Appeal in Grindr Case Is Latest Threat to Online Free Speech EFF
***LEGAL ISSUES
California Bans Prosecution Fees In Most Cases Following Newspaper's Investigation NPR
Trump Sues U.S. Government For “Pain And Suffering” Due To Becoming President (satire) Extra News Feed
Lawsuits over journalist Twitter accounts may become more common Columbia Journalism Review
East Coast Scientists Win Patent Case Over Medical Research Technology NPR
Icy Refusal to Copyright Frigidaire’s Logo The 1709 Blog
***RELIGION
Valentines with Bible verses at heart of free speech lawsuit student filed against college JS Online
The Mormon Church Is Trying To Stop A Medical Marijuana Bill In Utah, Testing Its Influence In Its Home State BuzzFeed News
Nebraska Catholic diocese rocked by old abuse allegations Associated Press
U.S. adults are more religious than Western Europeans Pew Research
Someone broke into a Fresno church and burned a Christian flag. Is it a hate crime? Fresno Bee
What Is Rosh Hashanah: Meaning, Greeting, Food Metro
***ART & DESIGN
Photorealistic Paintings Put You at the Center of Cities Around the World My Modern Met
Instagram's Boundary-Pushing Documentary Photographers Vice
***SPORTS
High school football team in Texas finally snaps 77-game losing streak Star-Telegram
Mississippi homecoming queen boots game-winning extra point Boston.com
The Men Who Have Taken Wiffle Ball to a Crazy, Competitive Place New Yorker
He spent his whole life working toward one goal: The big leagues.. then, it rained Chicago Tribune
***MUSIC
Stephen Colbert Break Down Chance the Rapper’s ‘Favorite Song’ Rolling Stone
***FILM
The Best Movie From Every Country, Mapped Digg
To Make Great Films, You Must Read, Read, Read and Write, Write, Write, Say Akira Kurosawa and Werner Herzog Open Culture
***STUDENT LIFE
Today's College Students Aren't Who You Think They Are NPR
Study: 1 in 5 College Students Has Weighed Suicide Inside Higher Ed
Ohio school resource officer on leave after using Taser to wake up a student in class KGTV-TV
About 47 percent of Millennials have at least one Tattoo, compared with 13 percent of Baby Boomers Wisconsin Gazette
6 facts about U.S. students Pew Research Center
Students Are Sharing The Differences Between Teachers In High School And College And They Are Hilariously True BuzzFeed News
The Cities Where Millennials Have The Most Debt, Mapped Digg
***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT
Should We Still Cite the Scholarship of Serial Harassers and Sexists? Chronicle of Higher Ed
Research is adding up the cost of campus rape and sexual assaults Quartz
***BUSINESS & FINANCE
The US Government's Discretionary Spending Since 1963, Visualized Digg
Fundraising with cryptocurrencies is booming, but is that a good thing? Economist
Are you in the American middle class? Find out with our income calculator Pew Research Center
Cryptocurrencies look like a solution in search of a problem. Blockchains could be more interesting Economist
***ENVIRONMENT
BBC admits ‘we get climate change coverage wrong too often’ The Guardian
California Just Became the First State to Ban Beauty Products Tested on Animals Glamour
The sinking islands of the Southern US BBC
***HEALTH
Probiotics labelled 'quite useless' BBC
This hyper-real robot will cry and bleed on med students Wired
Researchers develop method to convert cells in open wounds into skin cells Salk Insitute
How To Tell Whether Your Seafood Is Cooked Properly Or Not YouTube
In story about 'latest generation' of weight loss drugs, NBC overlooks doctors' pharma ties HealthNewsReview.org
***EXERCISE
Why the 10,000 daily steps goal is built on bad science The Guardian
Over 1.4 billion people worldwide don't get enough exercise USA Today
***HEALTH SCARES
2,300 Americans hospitalized by pizza in 2017 Daily Mail
Risk of heart attacks is double for daily e-cigarette users Science Daily
New warning to pregnant women, nursing mothers: Stay off the marijuana The Inquirer
Food Safety Scares Are Up In 2018: Here's Why You Shouldn't Freak Out NPR
***TRAVEL
Top Museums in the World Trip Advisor
The cities that make living easy BBC
***IMMIGRATION
Trump admin rejected report showing refugees did not pose major security threat NBC News
ACLU Launches Search In Guatemala For Parents Who Were Deported Without Children NPR
***SCIENCE
Confessions of a Science Critic Two Psychologists, Four Beers
***PSYCHOLOGY
When Postpartum Depression Doesn't Go Away The Atlantic
Moral Reminders Have No Effect on Cheating Behavior, Replication Effort Concludes Psychological Science
Sigmund Freud Speaks: Hear the Only Known Recording of His Voice, 1938 Open Culture
***PHILOSOPHY
Does altruism exist? Science and philosophy weigh in BigThink
***PRODUCTIVITY
Why work is exhausting even when it involves no physical labor Vox
Evernote slashes price of Premium subscription as many executives depart The Verge
***ETHICS
When Is It OK to Tell a Well-Meaning Lie? Harvard Business Review
Who’s to blame when a machine botches your surgery? Quartz
***RESEARCH
A documentary on the tug of war over paywalls in scholarly publishing Nature
Academic Activists Send a Published Paper Down the Memory Hole Quillette
All 10 senior editors of a journal resign after alleged pressure to publish mediocre papers Science Mag
Peer review is no substitute for fact-checking: The likely mistaken history of the vibrator The Atlantic
Shutterstock Former University of Utah researcher wins damages in whistleblower case KSL
A transparent process to publish referees’ reports could benefit science, but not all researchers want their assessments made available (opinion) Nature
***RESEARCH & PLAGIARISM
Getting Inside the Mind of a Plagiarist Literary Hub
Idea Plagiarism and Ethics in Competitive Research The Wire
Plagiarism is innovation's cul-de-sac (opinion) Bangkok Pist
***HIGHER ED
Do Chief Diversity Officers Help Diversify a University’s Faculty? This Study Found No Evidence Chronicle of Higher Ed
The top 10 most highly-educated states in America Tech Republic
Corruption, the Lack of Academic Integrity and Other Ethical Issues in Higher Education Springer
Campuses prepare for the invasion of the electric scooter Slate
Perlego raises $4.8M for its ‘Spotify for textbooks’ Tech Crunch
***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS
Liberty University dismissed from civil case linked to 2009 international kidnapping News Advance
In wake of Colin Kaepernick ads, Liberty reexamining business relationship with Nike College Football Talk
Christian liberal-arts college, College of the Ozarks to Drop Nike from Uniforms After Colin Kaepernick Campaign Bleacher Report
Christian College Says Accrediting Agency's Proposed Guideline Change May Harm Religious Schools Christian Post
Baptist College dismisses man for being gay Citizens Voice
***TEACHING
How the accusations against Avital Ronell are playing out on the syllabus and in the classroom Chronicle of Higher Ed
***ACADEMIC LIFE
How I survive: American teachers and their second jobs – a photo essay The Guardian
A professor schemed to get a raise and win his department’s respect. Instead, he wrecked his career Chronicle of Higher Ed
Purdue University Global will no longer require its faculty members to sign a nondisclosure agreement Chronicle of Higher Ed
A University of Kansas professor has canceled his office hours, saying he doesn't feel safe because state law permits the concealed carry of firearms on campus The University Daily Kansan
The Way We Hire Now Chronicle of Higher Ed
Santa Barbara City College ex-philosophy instructor agree to $120,000 settlement The Channels
Faculty members push back on one university's expansion plans Education Dive
I survived the Warsaw ghetto
/Do not ever imagine that your world cannot collapse, as ours did. This may seem the most obvious lesson to be passed down, but only because it is the most important. One moment I was enjoying an idyllic adolescence in my home city of Lodz, and the next we were on the run. I would only return to my empty home five years later, no longer a carefree boy but a Holocaust survivor and Home Army veteran living in fear of Stalin’s secret police, the NKVD. I ended up moving to what was then the British mandate of Palestine, fighting in a war of independence for a Jewish homeland I didn’t even know I had.
Perhaps it is because I was only a child that I did not notice the storm clouds that were gathering, but I believe that many who were older and wiser than me at that time also shared my childlike state.
If disaster comes, you will find that all the myths you once cherished are of no use to you. You will see what it is like to live in a society where morality has collapsed, causing all your assumptions and prejudices to crumble before your eyes. And after it’s all over, you will watch as, slowly but surely, these harshest of lessons are forgotten as the witnesses pass on and new myths take their place.
Stanisław Aronson, 93 years old, writing in The Guardian
Kindness in Anger
/The hardest time to practice kindness is, of course, during a fight—but this is also the most important time to be kind. Letting contempt and aggression spiral out of control during a conflict can inflict irrevocable damage on a relationship.
“Kindness doesn’t mean that we don’t express our anger,” psychologist Julie Gottman explained, “but the kindness informs how we choose to express the anger. You can throw spears at your partner. Or you can explain why you’re hurt and angry, and that’s the kinder path.”
Emily Esfahani Smith writing in The Atlantic
Illusions
/Our illusions can ravage us as mercilessly as violence or disease. And the illusions of others, when
they take on lives of their own, are even more dangerous. -Nicholas Christopher
Articles of Interest – Week of Sept 3
/***TECHNOLOGY
Clinc is building a voice AI system to replace humans in drive-through restaurants TechCrunch
Time May Be Running Out for Millions of Clocks Voice of America
New facial recognition system catches first imposter at US airport The Verge
***BIG DATA & AI
Data and Linguistics: Deep Learning In the Digital Age Inside Big Data
From rust belt to robot belt: Turning AI into jobs in the US heartland MIT Tech Review
A chart showing growth in traffic to programming languages as a data science tool and a quiz to show how well do you know R Towards Data Sciencer
10 Reasons Why You Can’t Live Without A Particle Accelerator Nautilus
***SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter Public Policy Director On How Company Monitors Content NPR
Poll: Most conservatives think social media is censoring them Axios
U.S. accuses China of 'super aggressive' spy campaign on LinkedIn Reuters
Trump’s Ludicrous Attack on Big Tech The idea that Google and Twitter are rigging their platforms against him is patently false (opinion) New York Times
***SOCIAL MEDIA: FACEBOOK
Dozens at Facebook Unite to Challenge Its ‘Intolerant’ Liberal Culture New York Times
What Happens When Facebook Mistakenly Blocks Local News Stories Wired
Twitter’s new political ad policy exempts news media. Facebook’s still doesn’t Poynter
***PRIVACY & SECURITY
Government transparency site revealed Social Security numbers, other personal info CNN
Google and Mastercard Cut a Secret Ad Deal to Track Retail Sales Bloomberg
Yahoo Mail is still scanning your emails for data to sell to advertisers The Verge
Big Brother’s Blind Spot: Mining the failures of surveillance tech The Baffler
***JOURNALISM
‘My life is threatened.’ Listen to Sen. Daphne Campbell call 911 on a Herald reporter Miami Herald
Trump Has Changed How Teens View the News The Atlantic
USA Today triples its investigative unit Poynter
Body-cam vid shows Denver cops cuffed Indy editor as she photographed their badges Colorado Independent
How newsroom managers balance community engagement and reporter safety Columbia Journalism Review
Reuters Editor Responds To Prison Sentence For Journalists In Myanmar NPR
How to report Trump’s move against Texas Latinos who have U.S. birth certificates? Poynter
***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM
Local News is Dying The Week
It looks like Tronc is about to be chopped up and sold for parts Harvard’s Nieman Lab
Groundbreaking alternative paper Village Voice shuts down after 63 years Orlando Sentinel
Why do billionaires decide to buy newspapers (and why should we be happy when they do)? Harvard’s Nieman Lab
The state of fertility benefits across the journalism industry Poynter
***FAKE NEWS
German far-right mobilized by 'fake news' after stabbing: officials Reuters
How 'Fake News' Was Born at the 1968 DNC Politico
How a Twitter account convinced 4,000 companies to stop advertising on Breitbart Recode
Russian city commissions statue of wrong person in 'wikipedia' mix-up Newsweek
Trump asserts only he can be trusted over opponents and ‘fake news’ Washington Post
***PERSONAL GROWTH
How to Create Materialistic Children Becoming (my blog)
Why We Try So Hard to Escape Our Humanity Empathy is at the core of who we are: That can be painful New York Times
Happy older people live longer, say researchers Duke
How to Make Friends, According to Science The Atlantic
Considering the “valuable-ness” of the things we make Patreon
***WRITING & READING
Is NYTimes Correct That College Students Don't Read Books? Inside Higher Ed
While We Wait for Singular ‘They,’ How About ‘She or He’? Chronicle of Higher Ed
***LANGUAGE
How 'LOL' Went From Meaning Something Was Truly Funny To Meaning... Almost Nothing Digg
Braille for a New Digital Age New York Times
This Curious Man Can Perfectly Pronounce Every Word In The Dictionary Digg
Counting baseball cliches FlowingData
***GENDER
Brown removes article on rapid-onset gender dysphoria Brown
Gender Neutrality in All-Female (or All-Male) Contests is a Myth Gender Watch 2018
How women talk, and are talked about, and why men who exhibit the same speech characteristics don’t get as much criticism Chronicle of Higher Ed
'Female physicians do not work as hard,' Plano doctor tells Dallas Medical Journal Dallas News
Australian becomes first woman in almost 40 years to lift Scotland’s famous Dinnie Stones News.com.au
***RACE & ETHNICITY ISSUES
***LEGAL ISSUES
The Big Business of College Sports Stands Trial This Week Hollywood Reporter
Can a Work of Art Created by AI be Protected by Copyright? The 1709 Blog
LeBron James Testifies in Video Game Suit ongoing copyright lawsuit over tattoos Hollywood Reporter
***GOOD NEWS
Montana 109-year-old finds loophole, gets restaurant to pay her for eating there on her birthday ABC Fox Montana
South Florida mural produces bird calls and citrus scents for the visually-impaired Sun-Sentinel
Girl battling leukemia receives over 1,000 postcards for birthday, including one from Tom Hanks CBS News
Never too old to say 'I do' WSAW-TV
Restaurant puts together wedding meal in 90 minutes after original caterer doesn’t show Fox 17
Company offering ‘furternity’ leave for new pet owners WTVR
New research finds taking a vacation could help you live longer CNBC
***ART & DESIGN
Algorithmic art shows what the machine sees Flowing Data
***MUSIC
Charged Songs: "Losing My Religion" and "Try Not to Breathe" Open Culture
Why Are Some Songs Catchier Than Others? Digg
Classic Songs by Bob Dylan Re-Imagined as Pulp Fiction Book Covers Open Culture
***FILM
Movie review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes overhauls critics criteria, adds 200 more critics in effort to become more diverse and inclusive Hollywood Reporter
Romantic comedies are having a moment. Can it last? Vox
***STUDENT LIFE
Working students can’t always choose between a job and an education: Universities shouldn’t make them New York Times
The 2008 financial crisis completely changed what majors students choose Quartz
Feeling Suicidal, Students Turned to Their College. They Were Told to Go Home The New York Times
UC Irvine Student Accused of Pretending to Be a Doctor at Children’s Hospital of Orange County KTLA
College Students Consider Buying Course Materials a Top Source of Financial Stress Cengage
Southern Illinois U. Says It Won’t Tolerate Activism by Athletes in Uniform, Then Backs Off Chronicle of Higher Ed
***eSPORTS
Booming eSports market opens window into Chinese culture ECNS
Legalized gambling could have major implications for esports Venturebeat
***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT
A Guide to Trump’s New Campus Sexual-Assault Policy The Atlantic
Woman sues Butler and a former fraternity after saying she was raped on campus in 2016 Indy Star
Pastor Accused of Groping Ariana Grande Apologizes for Being 'Too Friendly' New York Times
***SOCIAL ISSUES
The School Shootings That Weren't: NPR finds many reported incidents never happened NPR
ICE Is Sending Detained Kids to Adult Jails the Second They Turn 18 Vice
***BUSINESS & FINANCE
Almost half of Americans can't pay for their basic needs CBS News
My Never-Ending Student Debt The Baffler
It's Easier Than Ever To Record Conversations And That's Reshaping The Workplace NPR
Microsoft will require suppliers to offer paid parental leave Axios
Fewer Workers Relocating HR Exchange Network
Age, race or need for instant gratification -- which best predicts how much you will earn? Science Daily
***ENVIRONMENT
Cigarette Butts Are The Biggest Ocean Contaminant: Study Fortune
Study: Air pollution responsible for ‘huge’ drop in intelligence The Next Web
The Ocean Cleanup Is Starting, Aims To Cut Garbage Patch By 90% By 2040 Forbes
How Much Hotter Is Your Hometown Than When You Were Born? New York Times
***HEALTH
Critics Trying To Stop A Big Study Of Sepsis Say The Research Puts Patients At Risk NPR
Sexually transmitted diseases surge for the 4th straight year, CDC reports USA Today
New pain drugs may lower the risk of overdose and addiction Science Mag
Without an independent source, BuzzFeed's story on a medical device for OCD doesn't offer much beyond the news release Health News Review
FluMist should be avoided in favor of shots, pediatrics group says Stat News
Children who lived with smokers are more likely to die of lung disease as adults, study says Washington Post
Goat Yoga Is 'Preposterous,' Says Goat Yoga Teacher. It's Also ... Terrific! NPR
98.6 Degrees is a normal body temperature, right? Not quite Wired
***HEALTH: MICRODOSING
'It lifted me out of depression': is microdosing good for your mind? The Guardian
Scientists Are Starting to Test Claims about "Microdosing" Scientific American
Here’s What Happens When a Few Dozen People Take Small Doses of Psychedelics The Atlantic
***FAMILY
Why Kids Want Things The Atlantic
The jaw-dropping story behind an NFL coach’s search for his family ESPN
This app lets seniors book “grandkids on demand” Fast Company
***SCIENCE
First-Ever Evidence of Higgs Boson Decay Opens New Doors for Particle Physics Live Science
Scientists must keep fighting fake news, not retreat to their ivory towers The Guardian
***PSYCHOLOGY
Online Bettors Know If Psychology Studies Will Replicate The Atlantic
Here's Why We Need To Rethink Everything We Know About The Stanford Prison Experiment BuzzFeed News
***NEUROSCIENCE
Mysterious new brain cell found in people AAAS Science Mag
Why Do We Hurt the Ones We Love? Insights From the Brain Psychology Today
***PRODUCTIVITY
25 incredibly useful things you didn’t know Google Docs could do Fast Company
How to get the most out of Gmail’s new features Wired
***RELIGIOUS TYPES
Pew report on religious types shows what Americans of different faiths have in common Washington Post
Pew Study Classifies Americans Using Spiritual Traits Courthouse News
How we created a religious typology: Q&A with Rich Morin Pew Research Center
***RELIGION
Paul McCartney 'saw God' after taking drugs during Beatles heyday The Guardian
Newsrooms puzzle overuse of ‘Mormon’ in coverage The Washington Post
***THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
BuzzFeed’s investigation into mistreatment of children by nuns in an orphanage BuzzFeed News
***PASTORS
Inland Hills Church members in Chino mourn loss of pastor to suicide ABC 7
The Assemblies of God Leadership Quickly Restored Megachurch Pastor After His Predatory Affair and Lawsuit The Wartburg Watch
***RELIGION AND POLITICS
Trump warns evangelicals of 'violence' if GOP loses in the midterms CNN
In closed-door meeting, Trump told Christian leaders he got rid of a law: He didn't NBC News
Many Churchgoers Want Sunday Morning Segregated … by Politics Christianity Today
Evangelicals And Kavanaugh: An interview with a Liberty University professor NPR
***HISTORY
Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky's Russia: Photos of Life Before the Revolution Getty Images
***RESEARCH
The Science Behind Social Science Gets Shaken Up—Again Wired
Using citation metrics as part of academic recruitment decisions leads to an increase in self-citations The London School of Economics & Political Science
Gender and international diversity improves equity in peer review bioRxiv
China's wake-up call on scientific misconduct and fake science ABC Radio National (Australia)
***HIGHER ED
Provost: fake college degrees are a growing problem (opinion) The Post & Courier
Beloit College drops Mindset List Rockford Register Star
Tweeting on the Front Lines Think managing a university social media account is easy? Think again Inside Higher Ed
Colleges Say They Prepare Students for a Career, Not Just a First Job. Is That True? Chronicle of Higher Ed
Outrage Over University's $999 Online Textbook Inside Higher Ed
Online Education Is a Disability Rights Issue Inside Higher Ed
***TEACHING
Hard Copy or Electronic Textbooks? Professors Are More Concerned About Keeping Them Affordable Chronicle of Higher Ed
How to Get the Most Out of a Brief Teaching Workshop Chronicle of Higher Ed
One Way to Show Students You Care Chronicle of Higher Ed
***ACADEMIC LIFE
How the Jobs Crisis Has Transformed Faculty Hiring Chronicle of Higher Ed
Colorado State University wins retaliation lawsuit brought by ex-prof Coloradoan
Do College Librarians Have Academic Freedom? Chronicle of Higher Ed
Is the N-word simply to be avoided, or is Emory wrong to suspend a law professor who used it? Inside Higher Ed
How the Jobs Crisis Has Transformed Faculty Hiring Chronicle of Higher Ed
Rutgers President Seeks Additional Review of Professor’s Controversial Facebook Post Chronicle of Higher Ed
How to create materialistic children
/Children who recall that their parents just bought them stuff when they wanted it, or who paid them money or bought them things when they got good grades, there’s a very consistent association that when these things happen in childhood, when that person is an adult, they’re more likely to be materialistic.
And I’m looking now at what parents do when their kid’s unhappy, or upset, or they have a big disappointment—how do parents deal with that? And my preliminary evidence suggests that it’s something that’s learned in childhood. The parents might say, “Oh, you didn’t make it on to the team—let’s go out and have something to eat,” or, “Let’s go out and get you a new video game—that’ll take your mind off it.” Well, if the parents do that with their kids, we find that as adults, people are more likely to deal with distress in the same way, by giving themselves a little gift.
I never thought it was a good idea to reward children tangibly for the things that they do, because I don’t think life works that way—there are a lot of things you have to do and you don’t get any reward for them.
Marsha Richin quoted in The Atlantic
Swimming Naked
/You only learn who has been swimming naked when the tide goes out. –Warren Buffett (born August 30, 1930)
Articles of Interest - August 27
/***TECHNOLOGY
Why Swedes are inserting microchips into their bodies The Economist
With embryo base editing, china gets another crispr first Wired
***BIG DATA & AI
The ever-increasing role of simulation and models in theoretical physics Quanta Magazine
The wired guide to quantum computing Wired
The race is on to dominate quantum computing..but the technology may face a winter before it enters its summer The Economist
***SOCIAL MEDIA
How Teens and Parents Navigate Screen Time and Device Distractions Pew Research Center
Posting Instagram Sponsored Content Is the New Summer Job As long as you’re a teen with a following The Atlantic
This Is Your Kids’ Brains on Internet Algorithms: A Chilling Case Study Shows What’s Wrong with the Internet Today Open Culture
***PRIVACY & SECURITY
Americans are less worried about online security Axios
***PRODUCING MEDIA
Good news for newsletter writers: Americans check email more than ever, even at dinner Poynter
***INTERNET
SEO Is Back New York Magazine
***JOURNALISM
Pruitt bars AP, CNN from EPA summit on contaminants, guards push reporter out of building NBC News
5 facts about the state of the news media Pew Research Center
What is drone journalism? Florida Today
Infographic: Does objectivity still matter to journalists? PR Week
Pittsburgh becomes largest US city without a daily print newspaper The Hill
Where Does Journalism End and Activism Begin? Harvard’s Nieman Lab
***WOMEN IN JOURNALISM
How one journalist built a free resource that has coached hundreds of women in journalism Poynter
The Lazy Trope of the Unethical Female Journalist The Atlantic
***FAKE NEWS
The propaganda war gets sophisticated Axios
Inside Wikipedia's volunteer-run battle against fake news Wired
This is what filter bubbles actually look like: Maps of Twitter activity show how political polarization manifests online MIT Technology Review
Can you spot fake news before hitting “share”? Kids are learning and so can you Fast Company
Newsguard wants to fight fake news with humans, not algorithms Wired
The fake news about journalism Financial Times
Why Russian trolls stoked US vaccine debates CNN
An online conspiracy is fueling attacks on private businesses NBC News
***FAKE NEWS ON FACEBOOK
Find out who's manipulating you through Facebook political ads with ProPublica's free tool BoingBoing
Facebook deletes alternative health pages as the war on fake news escalates Fast Company
***FAKE NEWS IN HISTORY
Fake news: an exhibition on the importance of accurate journalism The Guardian
Long Before Facebook, The KGB Spread Fake News About AIDS NPR
***GRAMMAR
It's Time to End the 'Data Is' vs 'Data Are' Debate Motherboard
How ‘Taser’ Became a Verb Chronicle of Higher Ed
The Perennial Difficulty of Defining What ‘Descriptive’ Means in Grammar Chronicle of Higher Ed
***WRITING & READING
Poetry Is Everywhere Far from “going extinct,” as it was once predicted, poems are viral, vital—and invincible The Atlantic
9 Writers To Follow On Twitter If You Want To Think More Deeply About The Books You're Reading Bustle
***LANGUAGE
Why Learning Chinese Makes So Much Sense Chronicle of Higher Ed
The quest to make German more gender-neutral The Economist
How Japan uses English (video)
Hunting for fossils in the quirks of language Metaphors and clichés are often a record of bygone cultures The Economist
The Mystery of People Who Speak Dozens of Languages New Yorker
***LITERATURE
9 Works Of Literature That Are Basically Fanfiction — From 'Lord Of The Flies' To 'Inferno' Bustle
***GENDER
More women running for Congress is a good thing, say most Americans Pew Research Center
The most sexist places in America Washington Post
***RACE & ETHNICITY ISSUES
Confederate statue taken down by student protesters at University of North Carolina Christian Science Monitor
Reporter says she was ‘suspended’ for sharing Guardian story on white privilege Kansas City Star
University accepted $458K from 'scientific' racism fund Chicago Sun-Times
America’s public school teachers are far less racially and ethnically diverse than their students Pew Research
***LEGAL ISSUES
Copyright and Embedding Images: The Waters get Murky The Comm Law Blog
The Kardashians' Instagram Fan Accounts Are Embroiled in a Copyright Mess The Fashion Law Blog
Podcast Legal Issues – Getting Releases From Interview Subjects Broadcast Law Blog
Can the Museum of Ice Cream Claim Rights in the Color Pink? The Fashion Law Blog
***RELIGION
A man threatened his co-worker over Christian music, cops say Miami Herald
World's most committed Christians live in Africa, Latin America, U.S. Pew Research Center
Marriott bringing Bible, Book of Mormon to its Starwood hotels Chicago Sun-Times
Reinventing religion — with romance novels Washington Post
Holy atheism, Batman! Why superheroes might not believe in God Washington Post
***RELIGION AND SEXUAL ABUSE
Saddleback Church Mentor Convicted of Molesting Two Boys NBC Los Angeles
Former pastor claims sex abuse against televangelist Houston Chronicle
***RELIGION AND POLITICS
Trump hosts evangelical leaders at the White House Associated Press
***GOOD NEWS
Principal installs one when students are bullied for dirty clothes CNN
This Man Planted a Tree Every Day for 35 Years and Created a Forest Larger Than Central Park Travel and Leisure
Middle School students leave positive notes around school WBIR
***ART & DESIGN
New York Times redesigns its homepage Columbia Journalism Review
A guide to combining fonts Better Webtype
***MUSIC
Eagles’ ‘Greatest Hits’ Overtakes Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ as Best-Selling Album Rolling Stone
***FILM
Rumors Of The Death Of The Rom-Com Are Greatly Exaggerated NPR
What two films reveal about China A low-budget movie about a sensitive social theme outshines a state-approved spectacular The Economist
***THE BUSINESS OF MEDIA
CoinDesk's quietly profitable media business Axios
What You Might Not Know About E-sports, a $620 Million Industry New York Times
The massive popularity of esports, in charts Washington Post
***JOBS & INTERNSHIPS
Apple, IBM, and Google don’t care anymore if you went to college Quartz
9 Email Mistakes That Could Cost You the Job Offer Grammarly
Social Media Marketing Intern Maple Media Technology
Online editor Daily Pilot, Fountain Valley
Web editor San Diego Magazine
Social Media Intern Inspire Create LLC, Chula Vista
Assistant News Producer/Penner Fellow Intern KPBS, San Diego
Public Relations Intern Baby Bird Communications, San Diego
Marketing Intern San Diego Seals, San Diego
Marketing Agency Internship Campaign Creators, San Diego
***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT
Stony Brook University professor sued by former student Newsday
***SOCIAL ISSUES
Aerial pictures show how the world’s richest and poorest live side by side Metro
11 Facebook page optimizations for small publishers Medium
***BUSINESS & FINANCE
The Most Profitable Industry In Each State, Mapped Digg
***ECONOMICS
Against the tyranny of the majority John Stuart Mill's warning still resonates today The Economist
Rescuing Adam Smith From Myth and Misrepresentation RealClearBooks
***ENVIRONMENT
Toxic Slime Is Ruining Florida’s Gulf Coast Bloomberg
Talkin' Birds: The Damage Of Plastics NPR
***HEALTH
How Heroin Came for Middle-Class Moms Marie Claire
You Go Blind Thousands of Times a Day Thanks to Saccadic Masking Curiosity
No amount of alcohol is good for your overall health, global study says CNN
Book review: a cinematic account of the greatest drug crisis in U.S. history The Week
What Happens When You're Insured But Still Owe $109,000 For Your Heart Attack Digg
***FAMILY
Happy Children Do Chores New York Times
Which Is Better for kids, Rewards or Punishments? Neither New York Times
The American Academy of Pediatrics is telling doctors to start prescribing play Quartz
Raising Kids In An 'Age Of Fear' Results In Impossible Choices For Parents NPR
***SCIENCE
How to show that the earth orbits the sun Wired
A monitor’s ultrasonic sounds can reveal what’s on the screen Wired
***PSYCHOLOGY
Not Everyone Wants a Hug Some people experience severe aversion to being touched Psychology Today
Sigmund Freud: The Untold Story New Yorker
In Psychology And Other Social Sciences, Many Studies Fail The Reproducibility Test NPR
***NEUROSCIENCE
In lofty quest to map human memories, a scientist journeys deep into the mind of a worm Stat News
Mysterious new type of cell could help reveal what makes human brain special Independent
***PHILOSOPHY
Some University Philosophy Departments Seeing Big Donations KJZZ
Why We Try So Hard to Escape Our Humanity: Empathy is at the core of who we are. That can be painful New York Times
***HISTORY
The History of Cartography, “the Most Ambitious Overview of Map Making Ever Undertaken,” Is Free Online Open Culture
***RESEARCH
Retraction Watch keeps its eye on the seamier side of academe University Affairs
How bad is the problem of plagiarism for most journals? The Wiley Network
The scandal isn’t what’s retracted, the scandal is what’s not retracted Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science
Peer-review is another place where unkind, unethical and even abusive behaviours can manifest Nature Plants
The competing narratives of scientific revolution Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science
Why a Federal Rule Change Has Some Scholars Worried They’ll Be Priced Out of Their Own Research Chronicle of Higher Ed
Make research-paper databases multilingual Nature
Public engagement around scientific papers on Twitter Journal of Informetrics
***HIGHER ED
Why universities need ‘public interest technology’ courses Wired
For-profit colleges have allies now, but complaints persist Associated Press
***HUMANITIES
The few humanities majors who dominate in the business world San Francisco Chronicle
***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS
Discrimination Claims Arise at Northwest Christian University Eugene Weekly
He made me transgender on purpose’: Breast-removal surgery could boot Mormon student from Brigham Young Washington Post
Quotes from Chapel service of The Master’s Seminary by founder John MacArthur (the school is on academic probation) The Warburg Watch
Bob Jones University Cuts 50 Jobs Including Faculty After $4M Shortfall Greenville News
MidAmerica Nazarene University Selected for Money Magazine’s 2018-19 Best Colleges List MidAmerica Nazarene
***TEACHING
Money and the murky boundary of teaching and sex Chronicle of Higher Ed
Those Who Can Do, Can’t Teach Advice for college students: The best experts sometimes make the worst educators New York Times
***STUDENT LIFE
Gen Z Is Set to Outnumber Millennials Within a Year Bloomberg
Safety Apps College Students Should Download Now Two Cents
Teens are worried they're spending too much time on their phones Axios
Surfing Is Now the Official Sport in California Bloomberg
Parking scam sold bogus parking spaces to college students WISC
KSU picks 1 of 5 cheerleaders who protested last year for new squad Atlanta Journal-Constitution
***STUDENT LIFE: NEW TO COLLEGE
How to Find Your College Friends on Most Major Gaming Services Life Hacker
Tips for Reaping the Benefits of College New York Times
How to Feed Yourself in a Crappy College Dorm Kitchen Skillet
The Best School Supplies For College Students Digital Trends
The life-changing benefits of living with a random roommate in college Quartz
Do Not Decorate Your Kid’s Freshman Dorm Slate
Moving into the dorms is a logistics challenge for college students Orange County Register
How to Adjust to College as a Transfer Student Life Hacker ***PERSONAL GROWTH
Don't Count on it Becoming (my blog)
What happens when you spend a year using science to improve your brain The Verge
The Spotlight Effect: Why No One Else Remembers What You Did Medium
A Nobel prize-winning physicist identified three simple steps to mastering any subject Quartz
***STUDENT MEDIA
Liberty University Cracks Down on Its Student Newspaper Patheos
Students, here are nine tips for balancing journalism with school (and the rest of your life) Poynter
***ACADEMIC LIFE
What Is Your Responsibility as a Bystander to a Academic Colleague Having Problems? Chronicle of Higher Ed
An early sign of a coming war over intellectual property: Who owns online classes Twitter
Dartmouth misconduct case highlights the mistreatment of junior scientists Stat News
Don’t count on it
/I didn't think I belonged in college. It was my first semester and I was failing my intro to algebra class. The professor was intimidating when he spoke and when he turned away he furiously wrote figures on the chalkboard. I figured if I couldn't do well in a low level class like his, I probably should quit. I dropped the class but stayed in college and discovered something: That professor wasn't doing it right. He disappeared from the schedule the next year. I heard rumors about something being wrong with him and it dawned on me that the reason I wasn’t doing well wasn't me but his poor teaching. Whew! What a relief.
But back when I was sitting in his classroom, I didn’t know what was ahead. I didn’t know I would eventually attend graduate school and one day teach students in their first semester—just like I was.
Some students will be sitting in college classrooms for the first time this week and by the end of the semester they will think that they don’t belong. They won’t know until another semester or two rolls by that the first semester was an adjustment to a new life. They won't know the context until later. They were just figuring out how to survive college and after that first set of classes they will slowly find their footing.
There are other students about to have the opposite experience. They will have an easy time during their first semester and assume the rest of college will be a breeze. But somewhere along the way they will hit their ceiling. They just haven't been challenged yet. When they begin to struggle, they’ll have to adjust as well.
Throughout our lives, we’ll be tempted to think that first experience is “the way it is.” Sometimes that’s true. Don’t count on it.
Stephen Goforth
Kindness glues couples together
/Research has shown that kindness (along with emotional stability) is the most important predictor of satisfaction and stability in a marriage. Kindness makes each partner feel cared for, understood, and validated—feel loved. “My bounty is as boundless as the sea,” says Shakespeare’s Juliet. “My love as deep; the more I give to thee, / The more I have, for both are infinite.” That’s how kindness works too: there’s a great deal of evidence showing the more someone receives or witnesses kindness, the more they will be kind themselves, which leads to upward spirals of love and generosity in a relationship.
There are two ways to think about kindness. You can think about it as a fixed trait: either you have it or you don’t. Or you could think of kindness as a muscle. In some people, that muscle is naturally stronger than in others, but it can grow stronger in everyone with exercise. Masters tend to think about kindness as a muscle. They know that they have to exercise it to keep it in shape. They know, in other words, that a good relationship requires sustained hard work.
Emily Esfahani Smith writing in The Atlantic
Tuesday Tools: Editing Text
/Looking for some tools (apps and online) that will help you with editing your writing (or the writing of others)? Here are some useful options. The tech tools site also has a list of links to writing helps for better organization, academic papers, and putting together scripts. If you have other suggestions, feel free to send them my way.
1Checker
Mac app that checks your grammar and spelling. Free.
After the Deadline*
Checks your story for grammar, spelling and style. Works as a plugin for WordPress blogs, an add-on for the Firefox browser, etc.
AutoCrit
Scans your writing and highlights flaws such as repetitive words, overuse of adverbs and use of passive voice. $30 a month.
Expresso*
An app that analyzes your writing, breaking down everything from which words you are using frequently to the number of times parts of speech come up in your writing. See what percentage of sentences are extra-long and which words are filler and which verbs are weak. Free.
Ginger
Writing tool that works as grammar checker, sentence rephraser, translator, dictionary and text reader. Free.
Grammarly
Automated proofreader and personal grammar coach.
Hemingway App*
The Hemingway app is designed to make you a better writer by highlighting problems in your writing. Goal is to make more direct and active--more Hemingway-ey, as the Washington Post proclaims. Just paste your text into the app and it will highlight hard to read sentences, adverbs, complex phrases, and passive voice. Color coordinated highlighting. Click on these words to see the suggested alternatives. Word count, readability grade, etc. $6.99.
Marked 2
Tools for writers including word counts, document stats, highlights repeated words. Mac only. $9.99.
oDesk
Hire an experienced proofreader based on an hourly rate (typically one hour for every 5000 words).
PaperRater
Grammar, plagiarism, and spell checker. Mostly free but $7.50 per month for all features.
Proofread Bot
Shows your mistakes and what areas of your writing that could be strengthened. The more words reviewed, the greater the cost starting at $5 for 20,000 words.
Readability Score
Cut and paste your text into a dialogue box to see the writing's grade level. Free, but for any contribution you get access to more advanced tools like readability alerts, PDF and Word doc processing and bulk uploads. TextEvaluator offers more feedback on the text.
Slickwrite
Writing app that checks grammar along with flow, structure, word frequency, and overused phrases.
TextEvaluator
Like Readability Score, it will tell you what grade level a piece of text is written on, the average length of sentences, etc. But TextEvaluator goes further, including grammatical complexity, insights on vocabulary, etc.
Word Counter*
Cut and paste your document (or just type) to see how many words, characters, and sentences you are using. It shows what words are overused, the average number of words in your sentences, and the reading level you are writing at. Free.
Word Frequency Counter
See how often you use (and overuse) words and phrases in your writing.
Writefull
Checks your text against a huge database of correct language. Use it to find language you might not have considered. A desktop app that works with emails, Word docs, etc. Free.
Articles of Interest - Aug 20
/***JOURNALISM
Senate adopts resolution declaring "the press is not the enemy of the people" CBS News
Antifa protesters couldn’t find any fascists at Unite the Right — and harassed the press instead Washington Post
How to Discuss the Far Right Without Empowering It: A lesson from Germany The Atlantic
Twitter thread of great interviewing tips Twitter
Even ethical journalism can have collateral damage Columbia Journalism Review
Trump called the press “the enemy of the people” — Now more than 300 papers are pushing back Vox
Survey says Americans want transparency, not censorship, in their news Gallup
U-T builds site to tell readers about its journalism Union Tribune
***FAKE NEWS
A philosopher explains America’s “post-truth” problem Vox
Fake America great again:Inside the race to catch the worryingly real fakes that can be made using artificial intelligence MIT Technology Review
What we learned about media literacy by teaching high school students fact-checking Poynter
How I Became Fake News The Ringer
Trump and the Enemies of the People (opinion) The New Yorker
The SurfSafe Browser Extension Will Save You From Fake Photos Wired
***THE BUSINESS OF MEDIA
Public radio networks PRI and PRX are merging in a bid to create a podcasting juggernaut Star Tribune
***TECHNOLOGY
Programming languages may finally be reaching a status quo Wired
35% Of Millennials and 42% Of Gen Z Share Their Streaming Service Passwords Tube Filter
***BIG DATA & AI
How China rules using data, AI, and internet surveillance MIT Technology Review
US government agencies at every level—local, state and federal—leans into machine learning GCN
A look at what Descartes Labs is doing with machine learning and space data Quartz
What Data Scientists Really Do (according to 35 Data Scientists) Harvard Biz Review explores
***MOBILE
Here’s how to use Gmail’s ‘confidential mode’ on your mobile device Daily Dot
Women are 79 percent more likely to spend money on mobile games The Verge
If you deposit checks through a mobile app, start adding this phrase USA Today
***PRIVACY & SECURITY
FBI warns of potential ATM bank heist that could steal millions globally The Verge
What Your Car Knows About You: Auto makers are figuring out how to monetize drivers’ data (sub. required) Wall Street Journal
***PRODUCING MEDIA
Ken Burns Teaches Documentary Filmmaking with His New Online Masterclass Open Culture
How to Take Better Photos on your iPhone Mashable
***INTERNET
Google releases political ad directory Axios
“I was devastated”: Tim Berners-Lee, the man who created the World Wide Web, has some regrets Vanity Fair
***GOOD NEWS
8-Year-Old Girl With 3D Printed Hand To Throw out First Pitch At Every MLB Stadium Carbonated.tv
Indonesian athlete couldn’t afford shoes, so he trained barefoot. He just won gold Global News
A teacher battling cancer ran out of sick days: School employees showered him with theirs CNN
UM college senior has own art exhibit at Fairchild Garden Miami Herald
Boy reveals he's going to be a big brother on the same day he's adopted ABC News
Boy shares foul ball with another young fan at Detroit Tigers game CBS News
***PERSONAL GROWTH
We’re hardwired to delude ourselves Becoming (my blog)
The Cognitive Biases Tricking Your Brain The Atlantic
***WRITING & READING
This Unconventional Way of Consuming Books Will Transform How You Read Inc.com
Yes, teens are texting and using social media instead of reading books, researchers say Washington Post
Why it matters that teens are reading less The Conversation
***LANGUAGE
This is how tiny changes in words you hear impacts your thinking Fast Company
Why Kentucky’s governor might have mocked the study of French as career preparation The Chronicle of Higher Ed
What Does It Mean to ‘Sound’ Black? The Atlantic
What If English Were Phonetically Consistent? (video) Aaron Alon
Learning Useless English Grammar in Japan The Chronicle of Higher Ed
Dropping the N Bomb Inside Higher Ed
What Is the Origin of ‘the Worm Has Turned’? The Chronicle of Higher Ed
***LITERATURE
Top 6 apps for literature enthusiasts iol
A Critic Who Worships Literature, and Defends His Faith Accordingly (book review) New York Times
Is it time to update literature’s classics? Financial Times
How Fiction Fueled Madeleine L’Engle’s Faith Christianity Today
***GENDER
Mind the gap: Uncovering pay disparity in the newsroom Asian American Journalists Association
The End of ‘Ladies First’ Restaurant Service Eater
Transgender students asked Betsy DeVos for help: Here's what happened Politico
***LEGAL ISSUES
Though trial judge ruled remastered versions enjoy independent copyrightability, appeals court casts doubts on there being enough originality Hollywood Reporter
Katy Perry, Dr. Luke Facing Copyright Trial Over "Dark Horse" - A Christian hip-hop artist survives the summary judgment round Hollywood Reporter
***RELIGION
A dive into the evangelical celebrities and pastors dominating Hollywood The Cut
Florida school receiving death threats after turning away 6-year-old with dreadlocks USA Today
LDS Church issues statement clarifying church's name, style Daily Herald
Nashville megachurch Criticized over use of exotic animals in sermon WSMV
Aretha Franklin told her pastor: 'I am going to be all right' Freep
Satanic temple brings Baphomet demonic goat statue to Arkansas capitol Newsweek
U.S. missionary thrust to the center of Turkey-U.S. crisis Reuters
***CHURCHES & SEXUAL ABUSE
Pa. Catholic Church sex abuse report names hundreds of priests, accuses leaders of cover-up: 'They hid it all' The Philadelphia Inquirer
Willow Creek Megachurch paid $3.25M to settle lawsuits over child sex abuse by church volunteer Chicago Tribune
It’s Really Hard to Be a Catholic’: The Pain of Reading the Sex Abuse Report New York Times
Evangelicals confront sex abuse problems in #MeToo era Associated Press
Clergy Sex Abuse Raises Questions About Financial And Reputational Costs To Churches NPR
‘‘Wasted our lives’: Catholic sex abuse scandals again prompt a crisis of faith Washington Post
***RELIGION AND POLITICS
White Evangelicals’ Continued Support of Trump Feels Surprising: It Shouldn’t Slate
Trump Admits Only 23 Christian Refugees From Mideast In 2018 (opinion) Forbes
Controversial law requires Florida public schools to display ‘In God We Trust’ Big Think
***ART & DESIGN
How air conditioning created the modern city The Guardian
Reflections on Text and Language Perception, and the Ramifications for Publishing Workflows Scholarly Kitchen
***MUSIC
MIT's music AI can identify instruments and isolate their sounds Engadet
A Songwriting Mystery Solved: Math Proves John Lennon Wrote 'In My Life' Open Culture
When a Music Legend Dies, How Does Today’s Mostly Automated Radio React? Variety
***FILM
Hollywood Doesn’t Make Movies Like The Fugitive Anymore The Atlantic
How Jean-Luc Godard Liberated Cinema (video) The Discarded Image
***STUDENT MEDIA
Falwell Jr. killed student newspaper articles critical of Trump: report The Hill
Student Journalism in the Age of Media Distrust The Atlantic
What I learned from student journalism changed everything Saint Louis Post-Dispatch
Students around the country join effort to defend free press with editorials Student Press Law Center
***JOBS & INTERNSHIPS
Beautiful and functional resume templates you can download GirlBoss
What it’s Like to Intern at The New York Times New York Times
***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT
Researchers, Posing as Students, Quizzed Campus Officials About Sexual Assault. How Did They Do? Chronicle of Higher Ed
Central Washington University fires State Rep over alleged inappropriate conduct Seattle Times
Student sues professor he says sexually harassed him Associated Press
Students Walked Out After A Comedian Allegedly Sexually Harassed A Student During A Show At Purdue University
***SOCIAL ISSUES
How America Convinced the World to Demonize Drugs Vice
How the incentives to create content are biased against low-income readers: Known but not discussed Harvard’s Nieman Lab
***BUSINESS & FINANCE
This chart shows how far behind America is in paid time off compared to the rest of the world CNBC
A Closer Look at How the Opioid Epidemic Affects Employment Harvard Business Review
***ENVIRONMENT
Here's How America Uses Its Land (graphic) Bloomberg
***HEALTH
US News & World Report ranks the best hospitals in the country US News & World Report
Your Chicken’s Salmonella Problem Is Worse Than You Think Mother Jones
We’re in a new age of obesity. How did it happen? You’d be surprised (opinion) The Guardian
Your Neckties May Be Reducing Blood Flow To Your Brain Medical Daily
Why a patient paid a $285 copay for a $40 drug PBS
KCRW’s new podcast series meant to demystify women’s health KCRW
Bleak New Estimates in Drug Epidemic: A Record 72,000 Overdose Deaths in 2017 New York Times
***NUTRITION
Low-carb diets could shorten life, study suggests BBC
Why is so much nutrition research kept confidential before publication? Tufts
Vitamin D, the Sunshine Supplement, Has Shadowy Money Behind It New York Times
***MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY
DeepMind’s AI can detect over 50 eye diseases as accurately as a doctor The Verge
***FOOD
A Deep Dive into the Burrito Quartz
America’s Best New Restaurants 2018 Bon Appetit
***TRAVEL
Southwest Airlines announces new rules for emotional support animals ABC Radio
***FAMILY
How to raise a happy kid in the digital age Washington Post
Opinion: Please Take Away My Kids' Cellphones At School NPR
Parents need best friends at work the most Quartz
***SCIENCE
8 movies that really got science wrong Stat News
A century on, China still lacks the drive for scientific truth, says outspoken editor South China Morning Post
What do we do with the science of abusive men? Slate
Wheat’s complex genome finally deciphered, offering hope for better harvests and nonallergenic varieties Science Mag
***PSYCHOLOGY
How Do Personality Traits Change from Sixteen to Sixty-Six? Psychology Today
What Can You Do With a Psychology Degree? US News & World Report
Psychology Researchers Explore How Vaccine Beliefs Are Formed Voice of America
***NEUROSCIENCE
Can You Rewire Your Brain? Maybe (It’s Tricky. Be Careful) Undark
These beautiful works of art illustrate the brain’s complexity Quartz
***HISTORY
The Rise and Fall of the Great Library of Alexandria: An Animated Introduction Open Culture
The story of a ship that changed the world The Endeavour was built to carry coal but became the flagship of the Enlightenment The Economist
***ETHICS
Americans are divided over the use of animals in scientific research Pew Research
What Does "Ethical" AI Mean for Open Source? Linux Journal
***RESEARCH
Why Does Publishing Higher-Ed Research Take So Long? The Chronicle of Higher Ed
Why We Need Whistleblowing for Research Integrity Part 2: A Q&A with Brandon Stell of Pubpeer Wiley
The Editor and the Author at Fault: A Lesson From Recent Retractions Archives of Iranian Medicine AIM Journal
Statistically Funny: Clinical Trials - More Blinding, Less Worry! Statistically Funny
“Predatory” vs trustworthy journals: What do they mean for the integrity of science? Elsevier
B.C. economist locked in grim battle against deceptive scholarship Vancouver Sun
***HIGHER ED
What’s in Store for Ed Tech? An Annual Report for Leaders Lays It Out The Chronicle of Higher Ed
Omarosa’s tell-all book offers views on education secretary and black colleges Inside Higher Ed
Sassy or Snide: When University Twitter Banter Gets Mean Inside Higher Ed
A Program at Kean U. Is Losing Its Accreditation: Many Faculty and Students Have No Idea Chronicle of Higher Ed
***HIGHER ED: CUTBACKS
The University of Akron will phase out 80 degree programs The Chronicle of Higher Ed
Goucher College says it's eliminating programs such as math, physics and religion Inside Higher Ed
Maryland’s Goucher College is eliminating several majors, including math Washington Post
Christian University Drops Ban on Same-Sex Student Relationships Inside Higher Ed
Under Trump and DeVos, Trans Students Face ‘Spiritual Violence’ at Religious Schools The Daily Beast
Liberty University's Online Cybersecurity Degree Gets Endorsement from NSA & Homeland Security Augusta Free Press
***TEACHING
Many Professors Have to Report Sexual Misconduct. How Should They Tell Their Students That? The Chronicle of Higher Ed
Study: Student Spending On Course Materials Slips Forbes
Why is macroeconomics so hard to teach? Lessons from a master of the craft Economist
Low Pay Has Teachers Flocking to the Sharing Economy The Atlantic
***STUDENT LIFE
Have fun at college, freshmen, but read this first Washington Post
Best Backpacks for College Wired
A mathematician’s tip for college students: How Ross of ‘Friends’ could have moved his couch upstairs in the famous ‘pivot’ scene Washington Post
Because every college student wants a mandatory listening device in their dorm room Engadget
Anti-student agenda at Education Department under DeVos is Trump's most radical move (opinion) USA Today
Welcome to college: Don’t forget to vote Washington Post
I’m a Doctor and Even I Can’t Afford My Student Loans New York Times
11 things people told you about college that aren't true Business Insider
***ACADEMIC LIFE
Professors Are Overworked and Poorly Paid by a Troubled System of Higher Education, Top Hat Survey Finds Elearning News
When Academics Defend Colleagues Accused of Harassment The Atlantic