We are

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. -Will Durant (summing up a passage from Aristotle)

Inbuilt gullibility

Fake news may be exacerbating people’s inbuilt gullibility. A study published last year in Science, a journal, concluded that “falsehood diffused significantly farther, faster, deeper and more broadly than the truth” and that this effect was especially strong for fake political news. Fake news provides voters with a smorgasbord of facts and lies from which to pick and choose.

ln 2004 Drew Westen of Emory University in Atlanta put partisan Republicans and Democrats into a magnetic-resonance-imaging scanner and found that lying or hypocrisy by the other side lit up areas of the brain associated with rewards; lies by their own side lit up areas associated with dislike and negative emotions. At no point did the parts of the brain associated with reason show any response at all. If voters’ judgments are rooted in emotion and intuition, facts and evidence are likely to be secondary.

The Economist 

We do not believe in ourselves until

We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit.  –ee cummings

Fleeting Fame

The record, whether carved in stone or bits of data, is arbitrary in the extreme. To endow with fame and fortune women with big lips or people who hurl themselves over a bar on a bendy pole—while skipping over people who, say, can build houses or make meringues—suggests that fame and game don't rhyme only by accident. Fame comes to those whose accomplishments are recorded, and the “record” is as contingent on human whim as any algorithm.

And the famous are then figments of that record. They're no more real than Beowulf, the warrior longing for fame, who achieved nothing like the enduring fame of Beowulf, the poem. And is Kylie Jenner real? Forbes' billionaire list is renowned for its creative math—and Instagram, like faces touched by fillers, is known for artful distortions. It seems the longing for fame, then, shared by Beowulf and Jenner, doubles as the longing to sacrifice one's real life wholly to the record, to pass out of fact and into fiction.

Virginia Heffernan writing in Wired 

That’s when you find out

There are many moments that are filled with despair and agony, when you have to fire people and cancel things and deal with very difficult situations. That’s when you find out who you are and what your values are. -Steve Jobs

Articles of Interest about Religion - Dec 27

***RELIGION 

The Business of Evangelical Book Publishing Is Business Or is it faith? Or some complex combination of both? https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/december-web-only/evangelicals-incorporated-books-business-daniel-vaca.html

Died: Reinhard Bonnke, Record-Setting Evangelist to Africa https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2019/december/reinhard-bonnke-died-evangelist-christ-for-all-nations-afri.html

Christian Book Club Morphs Into Opioid Support Group  https://www.npr.org/2019/12/24/791030109/christian-book-club-morphs-into-opioid-support-group

Small Churches Struggle To Find Organists And Pianists https://www.npr.org/2019/12/24/791030186/small-churches-struggle-to-find-organists-and-pianists

Louisiana Church Filled A Plane With Holy Water And Blessed A Whole Community https://www.npr.org/2019/12/23/790973698/louisiana-church-filled-a-plane-with-holy-water-and-blessed-a-whole-community

10 religious influencers who died in the decade: 2010-2019 https://religionnews.com/2019/12/26/10-religious-influencers-who-died-in-the-decade-2010-2019/

***RELIGION AND POLITICS

Christian Post editor leaves over editorial 'that positions them on Team Trump' https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/475813-christian-post-editor-leaves-over-op-ed-that-positions-them-on

Study Shows White Evangelicals Want Christian Supremacy, Not “Religious Freedom” https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/12/23/white-evangelicals-fear-atheists-democrats-would-strip-away-their-rights-why/

G.O.P. Lawmaker Had Visions of a Christian Alternative Government  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/23/us/matt-shea-washington-extremism.html

Backlash to Pete Buttigieg’s Christmas tweet and the religious divide it exposes https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/12/26/backlash-pete-buttigiegs-christmas-tweet-religious-divide-it-exposes/

One surprisingly simple reason evangelicals love Trumphttps://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/12/27/21038031/white-evangelicals-trump-immigration-election-2020

How divided are evangelicals over Trump? http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/how-divided-are-evangelicals-over-trump-75737157711

***CHRISTIANITY TODAY MAGAZINE 

Christianity Today says Trump should be removed https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/december-web-only/trump-should-be-removed-from-office.html  

Christianity Today receives boost in new subscriptions after calling for Trump's removal, editor in chief says https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/22/christianity-today-receives-boost-in-subscriptions-after-call-for-trump-removal.html

Christianity Today again slams Trump, raises issue of Unconditional Loyalty https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-religion/christianity-today-again-slams-trump-raises-issue-of-unconditional-loyalty-idUSKBN1YS06F

The War Between Christian Papers Over Trump Is Escalating https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/m7qaev/the-war-between-christian-papers-over-trump-is-escalating

***RELIGION & THE LAW 

Supreme Court to Rule on Exception to Work Bias Laws for Religious Schools  https://www.nytimes.com/section/todayspaper

Lawsuit: Muslim employee fired after asking off for a religious holiday https://www.newsobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article238590968.html

***DENOMINATIONS

EFCA defends removing 'premillennial' from statement of faith: not an 'essential' doctrine https://www.christianpost.com/news/efca-defends-removing-premillennial-from-statement-of-faith-not-an-essential-doctrine.html

Texas megachurch votes to leave UMC over homosexuality debate https://www.christianpost.com/news/texas-megachurch-votes-to-leave-umc-over-homosexuality-debate.html

The SBC Has a Sex-Abuse Problem (sub. requ’ed)  https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-sbc-has-a-sex-abuse-problem-11577400072

Interfaith leader reaches settlement in United Methodist Church sexual harassment case https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/the-rev-bud-heckman-interfaith-leader-reaches-settlement-in-united-methodist-church-sexual-harassment-case/

***CATHOLIC

Many Catholics in Latin America support allowing priests to marry  https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/12/20/many-catholics-in-latin-america-including-a-majority-in-brazil-support-allowing-priests-to-marry/

Disgraced Former Cardinal Made Payments To Vatican Officials During Sex Abuse Case https://www.npr.org/2019/12/27/791918087/disgraced-former-cardinal-made-payments-to-vatican-officials-during-sex-abuse-ca

Don’t Passionately Settle

On golf courses, one may find some aging men and women whose chief remaining goal in life is to knock a few more strokes off their game. This dedicated effort to improve their skill serves to give them a sense of progress in life and there by assists them in ignoring the reality that they have actually stopped progressing, having given up the effort to improve themselves as human beings. If they loved themselves more they would not allow themselves to a passionately settle for such a shallow goal and narrow future. 

M Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled

Articles of Interest about Higher Ed - Dec 24

***HIGHER ED

Fewer Students Mean Big Trouble For Higher Education https://www.npr.org/2019/12/16/787909495/fewer-students-are-going-to-college-heres-why-that-matters   

The colleges and universities with the most online students http://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2019/12/17/colleges-and-universities-most-online-students-2018

Teenagers don’t use email — colleges do. That’s a problem during college admissions seasonhttps://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-teenagers-emails-college-applications-20191219-ya4pwnt7lfdktdmac4r3fq7p7q-story.html

Change to Chinese university's charter dropping 'freedom of thought' stirs debatehttps://news.yahoo.com/change-ch

Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines, tracking the locations of hundreds of thousands https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/12/24/colleges-are-turning-students-phones-into-surveillance-machines-tracking-locations-hundreds-thousands/

***THE COST OF COLLEGE

The states where college costs are rising the most https://money.yahoo.com/college-costs-state-185220332.html  

Fancy Dorms Aren’t The Main Reason Tuition Is Skyrocketing https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/fancy-dorms-arent-the-main-reason-tuition-is-skyrocketing

***TEACHING
How classroom technology is holding students back https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614893/classroom-technology-holding-students-back-edtech-kids-education/

Three tips that made me a better teacher https://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2019/12/three-tips-made-me-better-teacher

What’s on Your Bib? Annotated Bibliographies, Changing by Degrees https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teaching-strategies/annotated-bibliographies-changing-by-degrees/

***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS

A conservative Catholic college in Wyoming educates students in great books, horsemanship and other outdoors skills and bans cellphones on campus https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/12/16/conservative-wyoming-catholic-college-students-read-great-books-and-ride-horses

A new Jesuit Model for Community Colleges https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/12/18/new-jesuit-model-community-colleges   

U.S. Supreme Court takes up bid by Catholic schools to avoid worker lawsuits https://kfgo.com/news/articles/2019/dec/18/us-supreme-court-takes-up-bid-by-catholic-schools-to-avoid-worker-lawsuits/967651/

***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS & FINANCE 

Declining Enrollment prompts staff budget cuts at Christian University http://www.startribune.com/declining-enrollment-prompts-staff-budget-cuts-at-bethel-university/566126311/

Are Christian Colleges Worth the Debt Burden? (opinion) https://www.jamesgmartin.center/2019/12/are-christian-colleges-worth-the-debt-burden/

Financial problems land San Diego Christian College on probation https://inewsource.org/2019/12/19/san-diego-christian-college-probation/

***LIBERTY UNIVERSITY 

Ready, Set, Trump: Big-Money Faith, Football, and Forgiveness at Jerry Falwell Jr.’s Liberty University https://www.theringer.com/2019/12/20/21029292/ready-set-trump-big-money-faith-football-and-forgiveness-at-jerry-falwell-jr-s-liberty-university

***RESEARCH  

Why are Articles in Arts and Humanities Are Being Retracted? https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12109-019-09699-9

Robots, hominins and superconductors: 10 remarkable papers from 2019 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03834-4

There’s No Winter Break From ‘Publish or Perish’  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/18/science/scientists-holiday-work.html

Women are less likely than men to frame their own work in positive terms https://www.statnews.com/2019/12/16/spin-doctors-skew-male-female-researchers-are-less-likely-than-men-to-frame-their-work-with-positive-words/

Myth: peer review began with the advent of the first scientific journals in the 17th century https://utpjournals.press/doi/full/10.3138/jsp.51.1.04

Chinese scholars ‘show mixed responses’ to ‘cash for articles’ https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/chinese-scholars-show-mixed-responses-cash-articles

Raising research quality will require collective action https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03750-7

***RESEARCH AUTHORSHIP

Academe must properly credit the work in co-authored publications (opinion) https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2019/12/12/academe-must-properly-credit-work-co-authored-publications-opinion

Multi-authorship and research analytics https://clarivate.com/webofsciencegroup/campaigns/global-research-report-multi-authorship-and-research-analysis/

***RESEARCH HACKING 

We're All 'P-Hacking' Now https://www.wired.com/story/were-all-p-hacking-now/

Is N-Hacking Ever OK? A simulation-based study https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2019.12.12.868489v1

***RESEARCH & PSYCHOLOGY 

Psychology accused of ‘collective self-deception’ over results https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/psychology-accused-collective-self-deception-over-results

What’s next for psychology’s embattled field of social priming https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03755-2

***PLAGIARISM  

Here's What Happens When You Report Plagiarism To A Journal Editor http://www.poweredbyosteons.org/2019/12/heres-what-happens-when-you-report.html

Why is brazenly putting one's name on a text that someone else wrote repugnant? Should it be?  https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2019/12/06/essay-plagiarism

***STUDENT LIFE 

Study: kids who have helicopter parents experience burnout in school  https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/22/study-kids-who-have-helicopter-parents-experience-burnout-in-school.html 

Anti-Semitism or Free Speech? College Students Cheer and Fear Trump Order https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/15/us/trump-anti-semitism-order-college-students.html

Advice for College Students Studying Abroad, and Their Parents https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/16/well/family/advice-for-college-students-studying-abroad-and-their-parents.html 

"OK BOOMER" explained on Japanese TV https://www.youtube.com/watch

Gladwell Rebuts Advice: Don't Go to "the Best College You Can," Go Where You Can Have "Deeply Interesting Conversations" http://www.openculture.com/2019/12/malcolm-gladwell-rebuts-the-terrible-advice-given-to-students.html

Grades vs. SAT scores: Which is a better predictor of college success? https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-12-22/grades-vs-sat-scores-which-is-a-better-predictor-of-college-success

Why colleges should stop forcing students to leave campus during breaks https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/12/23/no-home-holidays-why-colleges-should-stop-forcing-students-leave-campus-during-breaks/

My Semester with Snowflakes https://medium.com/@james.hatch/my-semester-with-the-snowflakes-888285f0e662

***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT

Students demand more transparency about University of Texas at Austin practices and policies on sexual misconduct by professors https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/12/16/protesters-demand-removal-ut-austin-professors

God’s Christmas tree

God’s Christmas tree has no colored lights. No ornaments. No trinkets. 

It is not even pretty to look at.  But God has his Christmas tree. It is the cross of Christ.

what's important about Christmas

The most important part of Christmas is the first six letters.

For the Birds

The Christmas story absolutely escaped Tom. The whole “God born in a manger” thing was beyond him. Or maybe it was just too simple for him to grasp. At least, until that Christmas Eve when the snow began to fall. He had just settled into his fireside chair and begun to read when he heard thumping sounds on the window and at first he thought someone was throwing snowballs. He went to the door. Looking into the yard, he found a small flock of birds. Huddled there in the snow. They had been caught in the storm and had desperately tried to find shelter by flying through his large living room window.  He knew he couldn’t let those little creatures freeze. The barn! Where the children keep the pony. That would provide shelter if he could get the birds in there. 

He opened the barn doors and turned on a light. The birds didn’t move. Maybe some food would entice them. He sprinkled bread crumbs next to the stable door. Nothing. He tried catching them and shooing them.  The birds went everywhere, except into the barn. They were afraid of him. I want them to trust me he thought. How can I convince them I want to help?  Buy any move he made tended to frighten them. They would not follow or be lead or shooed. 

“If only I could be a bird myself he thought. If I could be a bird and mingle with them and speak their language and show them the way to the barn, then they could see and understand.”

It was at that moment the church bells began to ring. Listening to the good news, Tom understood and sank to his knees in the snow. 

some problems

Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well informed just to be undecided about them. 

Articles of Interest about Literature, Journalism, Writing & Languages – Dec 20

***WRITING & READING

Indie booksellers persevere despite Amazon, rising costs  https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/indie-booksellers-persevere-amazon-rising-costs-67656831

The 78 Best Book Covers of 2019 https://lithub.com/the-78-best-book-covers-of-2019

***GRAMMAR

The rightness of the singular ‘they’ (opinion)  https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2019-12-15/they-singular-grammar-transgender-history

The impeachment debate has sparked a linguistic war over the word “irregardless” https://qz.com/1771950/impeachment-debates-reignite-the-linguistic-fight-over-irregardless/

***JOURNALISM

Newsrooms begin tinkering with 5G to get ahead of the curve https://www.axios.com/5g-newsroom-experiments-new-york-times-e22a6aad-cdff-4d20-9247-cc3465f52ae9.html 

A tweet gave a journalist a seizure: His case brings new meaning to the idea of ‘online assault’ https://nationalpost.com/news/world/a-tweet-gave-a-journalist-a-seizure-his-case-brings-new-meaning-to-the-idea-of-online-assault

***JOURNALISM & THE LAW 

State legislators are subject to public-records law, Washington state Supreme Court rules https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/

Nevada's Top Court Says The State's Journalist Shield Law Also Applies To Bloggers https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20191211/10494243555/nevadas-top-court-says-states-journalist-shield-law-also-applies-to-bloggers.shtml

***JOURNALISM: BEST OF 

Best news bloopers 2019  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i7aObzNGuI

The best visual and data-driven stories of 2019 https://pudding.cool/process/pudding-cup-2019/

2019’s Best Investigative Stories from China https://gijn.org/2019/12/16/editors-pick-2019s-best-investigative-stories-from-china/

***JOURNALISM IN THE MOVIES

Hollywood’s 10 Worst Depictions of Female Music Journalists https://variety.com/feature/hollywood-10-worst-female-music-journalists-crazy-heart-richard-jewell-1203435207  

The Fictional Journalism of ‘Richard Jewell’ and ‘Bombshell’ https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/12/17/21025944/richard-jewell-bombshell-fox-news-megyn-kelly-kathy-scruggs

***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM 

As print and digital newsrooms struggle, local broadcast stations are making money ‘hand over fist’ https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2019/the-rich-get-richer-local-broadcast-readies-for-a-3-2-billion-political-ad-bonanza-in-2020/

***STUDENT MEDIA

College journalists in New Jersey describe years of “intimidation, harassment, threats” by administrators https://splc.org/2019/12/college-journalists-in-new-jersey-describe-years-of-intimidation-harassment-threats-by-administrators/

AB 5 hurts student journalists https://thedailyaztec.com/97798/opinion/ab-5-hurts-student-journalists/

***FAKE NEWS

How We See Disinformation https://disinfopoll.cjr.org/

30 Viral Fakes That Defined the 2010s https://gizmodo.com/30-viral-fakes-that-defined-the-2010s-1838215357

I created my own deepfake—it took two weeks and cost $552 https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/12/how-i-created-a-deepfake-of-mark-zuckerberg-and-star-treks-data/    

Facebook funding Reuters deepfakes course for newsrooms  https://www.axios.com/exclusive-facebook-funding-reuters-deepfakes-course-for-newsrooms-eccb3daa-4627-4a59-be64-44d9554f85da.html

Fighting misinformation requires journalism, not secret algorithms https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/12/fighting-misinformation-requires-journalism-not-secret-algorithms/

***LANGUAGE

The Language You Speak Influences What You Look At https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/language-and-mind/201912/the-language-you-speak-influences-what-you-look

How to build a language  http://news.mit.edu/2019/constructed-languages-linguistics-1218

Why North Carolina Is the Most Linguistically Diverse State https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/north-carolina-linguistics

***LITERATURE 

Peter Pan’s dark side emerges with release of original manuscript https://amp.theguardian.com/books/2019/dec/15/peter-pans-dark-side-emerges-with-release-of-original-manuscript

Extremely Shortened Versions of Classic Books For Lazy People  https://www.sadanduseless.com/abridged-classics-funny/#more-81157

Finding the Other: The radical vision of Toni Morrison https://www.thenation.com/article/toni-morrison-essays-fiction-humanism-book-review/

***POETRY

Marriage, Betrayal, and the Letters Behind “The Dolphin” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/12/16/marriage-betrayal-and-the-letters-behind-the-dolphin

A Book Of Poetry For Everyone https://www.npr.org/2019/12/17/789036879/a-book-of-poetry-for-everyone

What is Poetry? Part 2  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/19/magazine/poem-what-is-poetry-part-2.html

***PRIVACY & SECURITY 
Every victim’s nightmare: Ransomware attackers are now doxing people who don’t pay up
https://www.fastcompany.com/90444707/every-victims-nightmare-ransomware-attackers-are-now-doxing-people-who-dont-pay-up

***SOCIAL MEDIA 

The biggest corporate brands in all of social media https://media.thinknum.com/articles/the-biggest-corporate-brands-in-all-of-social-media/

Taylor Swift is still the most influential person on Twitter in 2019 https://www.cnet.com/news/taylor-swift-is-still-the-most-influential-person-on-twitter-in-2019/

smart

Smart is not something that you just are, smart is something that you can get. -Jeff Howard 

Articlesof Interest about Religion - Dec 18

***RELIGION 

Christianity Today’s 2020 Book Awards  https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2020/january-february/christianity-today-2020-book-awards.html

Army warns private company to stop putting Bible verses on replica dog tags https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/473492-army-warns-private-company-to-stop-putting-bible-verses-on 

Televangelist opens his Bible-themed attraction in San Diego — from wailing wall and catacombs to luxury lodging https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/tourism/story/2019-12-09/televangelist-opens-his-bible-themed-retreat-from-wailing-wall-and-catacombs-to-luxury-lodging

10 facts about atheists https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/12/06/10-facts-about-atheists/

A Woman Wore A "Hail Satan" T-Shirt On A Plane. American Airlines Forced Her To Change Or Get Off The Plane. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/juliareinstein/american-airlines-hail-satan-tshirt-satanic-temple-airplane

Why we studied American sermons and how we did it https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/12/16/why-we-studied-american-sermons-and-how-we-did-it/

How living arrangements vary by religious affiliation around the world https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/12/13/key-findings-how-living-arrangements-vary-by-religious-affiliation-around-the-world/

Boz Tchividjian Steps down from Ministry, Resigns from Liberty University to Represent Sex Abuse Victims in Court https://www.christianheadlines.com/contributors/lori-arnold/boz-tchividjian-steps-down-from-ministry-resigns-from-liberty-to-represent-sex-abuse-victims-in-court.html

Christian influencers raising $100K to ‘resurrect’ daughter draw suspicion https://www.dailydot.com/irl/christian-influencer-100k-resurrect-daughter/

***RELIGION & OFFENSIVE MATERIAL

‘Deeply offensive’ Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus Christmas cards spark anger among Christian community https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/christmas/christmas-cards-offensive-virgin-mary-joseph-baby-jesus-christian-criticism-a9238531.html

Netflix under fire for depicting Jesus as gay in new Christmas movie https://nypost.com/2019/12/16/netflix-under-fire-for-depicting-jesus-as-gay-in-new-christmas-movie

***RELIGION & THE YOUNG 

Millennials Are Leaving Religion And Not Coming Back https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/millennials-are-leaving-religion-and-not-coming-back/

Teens in the U.S. South more likely than others to express religion in school https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/12/10/teens-in-the-south-more-likely-than-other-u-s-teens-to-experience-religion-in-public-school/      

***RELIGION AND POLITICS 

GOP Rep. pitches LGBTQ rights bill with religious exemptions https://apnews.com/99ee40ec55b800e8cf229a681d901838

 Church nativity depicts Jesus, Mary and Joseph as family separated at border https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/church-nativity-depicts-jesus-mary-joseph-family-separated-border-n1097891

Will young white evangelicals turn their backs on Trump? https://religionnews.com/2019/12/16/will-young-white-evangelicals-turn-their-backs-on-trump/

San Diego City Council allows churches to build housing in parking lots  https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/city-council-allows-churches-to-build-housing-in-parking-lots

Waco judge sues state agency after receiving public warning for refusing to officiate same-sex marriages https://www.texastribune.org/2019/12/17/waco-judge-sues-after-public-warning-same-sex-marriages/

***RELIGION & THE LAW 

Balancing LGBTQ Rights And Religious Liberty  https://www.npr.org/2019/12/08/785804812/balancing-lgbtq-rights-and-religious-liberty

New Controversial Law In India Uses Religion As A Criteria For Citizenship https://www.npr.org/2019/12/11/787192549/new-controversial-law-in-india-uses-religion-as-a-criteria-for-citizenship

Trump's Executive Order On Anti-Semitism Sparks Debate https://www.npr.org/2019/12/11/787192556/trumps-executive-order-on-anti-semitism-sparks-debate

***RELIGION & CRIME

Maine man charged with turning church playroom into meth lab https://nypost.com/2019/12/08/maine-man-charged-with-turning-church-playroom-into-meth-lab/amp/

***RELIGION & FINANCE  

Whistleblower claims that LDS Church stockpiled $100 billion in charitable donations, dodged taxes https://www.sltrib.com/news/2019/12/17/whistleblower-claims-that/  

6 charts that illustrate the surprising financial strength of American houses of worship https://theconversation.com/6-charts-that-illustrate-the-surprising-financial-strength-of-american-houses-of-worship-127689

***CATHOLIC

Pastor Of North Carolina Catholic Megachurch On Leave Amid Abuse Allegation https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pastor-who-decried-sexually-abusive-clerics-accused-of-sexually-abusing-a-minor_n_5df104bbe4b0b75fb535f037

***MEGACHURCHES

South Carolina Megachurch staffer resigns after 'hostile' meeting on church's possible eviction 

https://www.wyff4.com/article/relentess-church-staff-resigns-after-meeting-about-churches-future/30187425#

Megachurch founder Joel Osteen blocks Sandy Hook mom on Twitter after she calls him a "charlatan." https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-joel-osteen-blocks-sandy-hook-mom-on-twitter-20191209-cotebsljqzh4vnwpxjv3r5fgo4-story.html

Virginia Megachurch pastor steps away from pulpit because he feels far from God, tired in soul https://www.christianpost.com/news/megachurch-pastor-steps-away-from-pulpit-because-he-feels-far-from-god-tired-in-soul.html

***RELIGION & LGBTQ ISSUES

Woman featured in Denver Post story about conversion therapy found dead in Boulder County https://www.denverpost.com/2019/12/10/alana-chen-conversion-therapy/ 

On eve of church’s LGBTQ clampdown, Dallas’ First United Methodist will celebrate all marriages in special service https://www.dallasnews.com/news/commentary/2019/12/18/on-eve-of-churchs-lgbtq-clampdown-dallas-first-united-methodist-will-celebrate-all-marriages-in-special-service/

The Happy Catastrophe

A fire broke out backstage in a theater on opening night of a new comedy production. A clown realized the danger and pushed through the curtains to alert the audience. 

They applauded.

The clown repeated his warning more urgently. By now he was center stage, flailing his arms, his eyes wide with panic. 

The crowd went wild. Whistles. Cheers. Raucous laughter. Never had they seen such a routine!

Is this how the world ends? The human race stands in thunderous ovation, calling for an encore, convinced it’s just another happy joke.

what he hides

Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides.  -André Malraux

A Look back at the Biggest Events of the 2010s

2010

The deadliest natural disaster of the decade happens in the first month of 2010: A 7.0 earthquake hits Haiti. 

Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider successfully trap anti-matter for the first time.

Another team of scientists became the first to successfully create "synthetic life.”

Apple debuts the iPad.

Instagram and Pinterest launch. 

2011

The death of Osama bin Laden.

The space shuttle fleet is retired.

The world’s first synthetic organ transplant.

Occupy Wall Street.

The Arab Spring rises.

The number of social media users around the world reaches 1 billion.

Google+ and Snapchat launch.

2012

Hurricane Sandy hits the US East Coast.

A mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado is followed months later by the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

The first license is issued in the United States for a self-driven car.

2013

The Black lives matter hashtag is first used.

A terror attack takes place at the Boston Marathon.

The Mayan calendar reaches the end of its cycle—leading to a bit of hysteria.

Personalized DNA sequencing is available for under $100.

The Oxford English Dictionary selects “selfie” as the word of the year.

2014

Google Glass is launched.

The deadliest outbreak of Ebola starts in West Africa.

The US begins restoring diplomatic relations with Cuba.

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge begins.

2015

The first Apple watch is officially released. 

The Supreme Court strikes down state bans on same-sex marriage. 

195 countries agree to the Paris Climate Agreement.

The number of PCs used around the world reaches 2 billion (it took 30 years to reach one billion but only 8 years to reach two billion).

The number of social media users (worldwide) also reaches 2 billion.

3D printing enters the consumer market.

The New Horizons probe arrives at Pluto while Voyager I enters the heliopause (the outer edge of our solar system).

2016

The US gets its first female presidential nominee of a major political party.

Britons vote in favor of Brexit—the UK withdrawal from the European Union.

The Chicago Cubs ends the longest drought in baseball by winning the World Series (the last time the Cubs won a World Series was in 1908, 108 years earlier).

2017

TicToc is released.

Hundreds of thousands of people descended on Washington, DC for the Women's March. Though an activist first coined the phrase #MeToo back in 2006, what’s typically known as the #MeToo movement exploded in late 2017 when a New York Times article revealed accusations against an influential Hollywood producer.

2018 

A school shooting takes place at a high school in Parkland, Florida. 

California becoming the sixth state to legalize the sale of recreational marijuana. 

In the wake of Hurricane Maria, much of Puerto Rico is left without electricity—for almost an entire year.

2019

Simone Biles raises her medal count to 25 world medals and 19 gold—the most of any gymnast, male or female, in history. 

Donald Trump becomes the 4th US president to face possible impeachment.

The world’s top supercomputers achieve exaflop speed—that’s a million trillion calculations per second (a thousandfold improvement over machines at the beginning of the decade).

creative disrupters

Surround yourself with like-minded creative disrupters.

Articles of Interest about Higher Ed - Dec 13

***HIGHER ED

The number of Americans training to become teachers has dropped by a third since 2010, and it's creating a critical educator shortage that will affect every state https://www.businessinsider.com/one-third-fewer-people-are-training-to-become-teachers

Following discoveries of racist vandalism at Salisbury University, the administration is creating a brand-new position https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/12/09/can-salisbury-prevent-racist-incidents-chief-diversity-officer

Author discusses his new book on problems with legal education. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/12/12/author-discusses-book-problems-law-schools-face

Distance learning enrollment inches upward, report finds https://www.educationdive.com/news/distance-learning-enrollment-inches-upward-report-finds/568912/

Wider Definition of Judaism Is Likely to Aid Crackdown on Colleges https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/11/us/politics/trump-anti-semitism-judaism-nationality.html

***HIGHER ED & FINANCE

U of Phoenix to pay $50M Over False Claims in Ads https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2019-12-10/u-of-phoenix-agrees-to-50m-settlement-over-false-ad-claims

Betsy DeVos Overruled Education Dept. Findings On Defrauded Student Borrowers https://www.npr.org/2019/12/11/786367598/betsy-devos-overruled-education-dept-findings-on-defrauded-student-borrowers

Moody's upgrades higher ed's outlook to stable https://www.educationdive.com/news/moodys-upgrades-higher-eds-outlook-to-stable/568923/

I taught at a 'for-profit' college. They're predatory disasters

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/09/i-taught-at-a-for-profit-college-theyre-predatory-disasters

***HIGHER ED IN COURT

Kennesaw State cheerleader settles for $145,000 over school’s attempt to stop her national anthem protest https://www.thefire.org/kennesaw-state-cheerleader-settles-for-145000-over-national-anthem-protest/

Rhode Island lawsuit: Students sue for the right to learn civics https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2019/1212/Rhode-Island-lawsuit-Students-sue-for-the-right-to-learn-civics

Ruling Narrows Title IX Obligations https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/12/13/federal-court-decision-favors-limited-application-title-ix

***TEACHING

Study attempts to debunk criticisms of student evaluations of teaching as reliable measures of teaching effectiveness, but critics remain https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/12/09/study-attempts-debunk-criticisms-student-evaluations-teaching

***ACADEMIC LIFE

Harvard Students Protest, Pen Open Letter In Response to Professor’s Tenure Denial https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2019/12/3/garcia-pena-tenure-denial-protest/

Conflicts cost University of California as professors fail to share outside income https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-12-06/conflicts-cost-university-of-california-as-professors-fail-to-share-outside-income

UMass removes accounting lecturer Catherine Lowry for showing ‘offensive’ student-produced videos https://www.masslive.com/business/2019/12/umass-removes-accounting-lecturer-catherine-lowry-for-showing-offensive-student-produced-videos.html

***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS

Professors Sue 2 Local Private Universities Over Inadequate Wages https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/professors-sue-2-private-san-diego-universities-for-not-paying-adequate-wages/2229331/

Canisius College receives $1.8 million grant from John Templeton Foundation https://www.wnypapers.com/news/article/current/2019/12/09/139417/canisius-college-receives-1.8-million-grant-from-john-templeton-foundation

Pat Robertson’s Regent University receives re-accreditation https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/pat-robertsons-regent-university-receives-re-accreditation/2019/12/11/07498b04-1c4f-11ea-977a-15a6710ed6da_story.html

President of a Bible college in Louisiana arrested, accused of sexually touching student on airplane https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/article_85efd9e6-155f-11ea-bfe2-ffd459c2b184.html

Professor Forced out at Baptist Seminary for Sharing Biblical Views on Sexuality and Sex Abuse (opinion) https://capstonereport.com/2019/12/03/professor-forced-out-at-baptist-seminary-for-sharing-biblical-views-on-sexuality-and-sex-abuse/33411/

***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS & DENOMINATIONS

SMU Sued as it Moves to Cut Ties with United Methodist Church https://www.christianheadlines.com/blog/smu-sued-as-it-moves-to-cut-ties-with-united-methodist-church.html

Monks at St. Anselm sue, worried about college's Catholic identity https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts/monks-at-st-anselm-sue-worried-about-college-s-catholic/article_3e54b642-07b4-5a0f-9353-ba663a10c548.html

***LIBERTY UNIVERSITY

Accreditor asks for info after Falwell reports https://www.register-herald.com/accreditor-asks-for-info-after-falwell-reports/article_9cb8434c-8dc4-5555-9043-b1244bf6bbdf.html

Jerry Falwell Jr.'s false gospel of memes (opinion) https://theweek.com/articles/881726/jerry-falwell-jrs-false-gospel-memes

The mystery of Rudy Giuliani's spokeswoman: a Liberty University online alum https://www.yahoo.com/news/mystery-rudy-giulianis-spokeswoman-100049936.html

***RESEARCH

When Journals are driven by profit, not evidence https://hospitalnews.com/when-journals-are-driven-by-profit-not-evidence/

***STUDENT LIFE

The Crisis in Youth Suicide https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/02/well/mind/the-crisis-in-youth-suicide.html

6 Million Students Used Tobacco And Nicotine Products In 2019 https://www.npr.org/2019/12/06/785445093/6-million-students-used-tobacco-and-nicotine-products-in-2019

‘Adulting’ is hard. UC Berkeley has a class for that https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-12-10/adulting-is-hard-uc-berkeley-has-a-class-for-that

How Professors Help Rip Off Students https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/11/opinion/textbook-prices-college.html

U.S. Students Show No Improvement in Math, Reading, Science on International Exam https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2019-12-03/us-students-show-no-improvement-in-math-reading-science-on-international-exam

Baby boomers are more sensitive than millennials, according to the largest-ever study on narcissism https://www.insider.com/baby-boomers-are-more-sensitive-than-millennials-large-study-finds-2019-12