Conspiracy Theories

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A conspiracy theory is an attempt to force a story on a set of disparate, though often distantly related facts and observations. But the real world is not a narrative, not a clever mystery to be unraveled by amateur detectives. Every baroque edifice of conspiracy rests upon a foundational belief that there is a singular truth that diligent investigation will reveal, even if the shape of that truth branches and swirls in an infinite fractal. What this mindset cannot accept is that there may be many simple truths for many disturbing facts.

Jacob Bacharach writing in The Outline

Articles of Interest about Literature, Journalism, Writing & Languages – Jan 13

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***LITERATURE

Revisiting American Short Stories Selected by John Updike https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/books/review/revisiting-american-short-stories-selected-by-john-updike.html

South American Literature’s Master of Malaise https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/05/books/review/juan-carlos-onetti.html

My Accidental Journey to Mr. Darcy’s Estate https://www.thecut.com/2019/12/journey-pride-and-prejudice-colin-firth.html

The importance of postcolonial literature https://dailytimes.com.pk/534227/the-importance-of-postcolonial-literature-daily-times/

The Most Anticipated Books of 2020, According to GoodReads https://fortune.com/2020/01/06/most-anticipated-best-new-books-2020-goodreads/

Elizabeth Wurtzel, ‘Prozac Nation’ author who spurred a memoir boom, dies at 52 https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/elizabeth-wurtzel-prozac-nation-author-who-spurred-a-memoir-boom-dies-at-52/2020/01/07/fc1a040e-2fcf-11ea-91fd-82d4e04a3fac_story.html

How Jane Austen’s unfinished novel ‘Sanditon’ became a TV show  https://nypost.com/2020/01/10/how-jane-austens-unfinished-novel-sanditon-became-a-tv-show/

100 Best Books by Black Female Authors, 1850 - Present https://zora.medium.com/100-best-books-by-black-women-authors-zora-canon-46b3492bdded

***WRITING & READING

Racism Scandal In The Romance Writing Industry https://www.npr.org/2020/01/04/793572217/racism-scandal-in-the-romance-writing-industry

Romance Writers Of America Leadership Resign https://www.npr.org/2020/01/09/795002052/romance-writers-of-america-leadership-resigns

 

***GRAMMAR

In an age of shifting attitudes about gender identity, ‘they’ was the word of the decade  https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/1/9/21058633/nonbinary-gender-identity-my-pronouns-american-dialect-society-linguistics-they-conversation

The idiots’s guide to the apostrophe  http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/gene-weingarten-pickin-up-where-the-apostrophe-protection-society-left-off/2020/01/02/e7479cca-1b8a-11ea-87f7-f2e91143c60d_story.html

 

***JOURNALISM

Prescription for Journalists: Less Time Studying Twitter, More Time Studying Math https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/prescription-for-journalists/

Roundup of 2019 Tips for Reporting, Press regulator & Ombudsman news https://www.imediaethics.org/roundup-of-2019-tips-for-reporting-press-regulator-ombudsman-news/

We're entering a new golden age of China journalism  https://www.axios.com/journalism-china-media-5caac2b6-ad6b-45b8-9154-9f94c8369fb1.html

News coverage gets geo-fragmented https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/01/news-coverage-gets-geo-fragmented/

ProPublica Outlines Lessons from 3-Year Collaborative Journalism Project https://nonprofitquarterly.org/propublica-outlines-lessons-from-3-year-collaborative-journalism-project/

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman: My computer was hacked to 'download child pornography https://thehill.com/homenews/media/477482-paul-krugman-my-computer-was-hacked-to-download-child-pornography

7 Tips For Covering Horrific Events At Houses Of Worship — And Treating Victims Right https://religionunplugged.com/news/2020/1/10/weekend-plug-in-top-journalists-offer-advice-covering-horrific-events-at-houses-of-worship

Article or Ad: Teen Vogue removes glowing Facebook story without explanation. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/01/08/article-or-ad-teen-vogue-removes-glowing-facebook-story-without-explanation/

6 examples of newsroom-library collaborations https://ijnet.org/en/story/6-examples-newsroom-library-collaborations

 

***MEDIA & THE LAW 

10 Major Media Lawsuits from 2019  https://www.imediaethics.org/10-major-media-lawsuits-from-2019/

CNN confirms a settlement has been reached with Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/01/07/nick-sandmann-cnn-confirms-settlement-covington-catholic-student/2837478001/ 

Judge sides with press over University of Wyoming, orders release of records related to president's demotion https://trib.com/news/local/education/judge-sides-with-press-over-university-of-wyoming-orders-release/article_28ef76bd-a59a-5224-bf32-bc01c89ba761.html

Federal Judge Rules California ‘Gig Labor’ Law Applies To Freelance Journalists https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/01/06/ab5-freelance-journalist-exemption-denied/

 

***THE BUSINESS OF MEDIA

Plight of Newspapers Generates Uncommon Bipartisan Unity https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/12/technology/google-facebook-newspapers.html

Trump Fans Aim to Buy San Diego’s One America News Network https://timesofsandiego.com/business/2020/01/10/trump-fans-aim-to-buy-san-diegos-one-america-news-network-wsj-says/

CNN Settles a 16-Year-Long Labor Dispute With Broadcast Technicians for record-setting $76 Million https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cnn-agrees-record-76-million-settlement-national-labor-relations-board-1268678

What went wrong with virtual reality? https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50265414

 

***STUDENT MEDIA

Ruling in favor of UMass Student Newspaper https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2020/01/01/sjc-rules-favor-umass-student-newspaper-editor/KUmVRgblgA8RuLdRltajPP/story.html

Student Newspaper files complaint against Board of Governors over open meetings   https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2020/01/dth-lawsuit-0108

     

***FAKES & FRAUDS 

Facebook bans deepfakes in the runup to 2020 election, but ‘shallowfakes’ still allowed https://www.fastcompany.com/90449237/facebook-bans-deepfakes-in-the-runup-to-2020-election-but-shallowfakes-still-allowed

Disinformation For Hire: How A New Breed Of PR Firms Is Selling Lies Online https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/disinformation-for-hire-black-pr-firms

News literacy lessons: How a satirical story about Democrats and Qasem Soleimani was spread as fact. Plus a doctored video of Joe Biden.https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/01/07/news-literacy-lessons-how-satirical-story-about-democrats-qasem-soleimani-was-spread-fact-plus-doctored-video-joe-biden/

Fake text messages about a military draft are being sent to Americans https://www.businessinsider.com/fake-military-draft-text-message-warning-2020-1

“Rated false”: Here’s the most interesting new research on fake news and fact-checking https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/01/rated-false-heres-the-most-interesting-new-research-on-fake-news-and-fact-checking/

Texas school district falls for email scam, hands over $2.3 millionhttps://www.zdnet.com/article/texas-school-district-falls-for-scam-email-hands-over-2-3-million/

 

***SOCIAL MEDIA 

Snapchat quietly acquired AI Factory https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/03/snapchat-quietly-acquired-ai-factory-the-company-behind-its-new-cameos-feature-for-166m/

Twitter will put options to limit replies directly on the compose screen https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/8/21056856/twitter-replies-limit-option-compose-screen-beta-app-features-new-ces-2020

 

***TIKTOK

What does TikTok offer publishers? https://medium.com/@corinne_podger/what-does-tiktok-offer-publishers-e6ed0a2b0d63

TikTok is the best place on the internet. We should all delete it https://www.cnet.com/news/tiktok-is-the-best-place-on-the-internet-we-should-all-delete-it/

TikTok’s parent company has secretly built a deepfakes maker https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/03/tiktok-deepfakes-face-swap/

***LANGUAGE

Is this the most powerful word in the English language? www.bbc.com/culture/story/20200109-is-this-the-most-powerful-word-in-the-english-language

 Where Do Finger Names Come From? https://daily.jstor.org/where-do-finger-names-come-from/

Fame

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Leonardo da Vinci agreed with Young Thug about celebrity being life's game-changing apex, and he further believed that the rich and powerful, by pursuing land and money, miss the whole point of existence. “How many emperors and how many princes have lived and died and no record of them remains, and they only sought to gain dominions and riches that their fame might be everlasting?”   

The internet is a sprawling and anarchic record. In a few decades the internet has swallowed the record, and become coextensive with it. When no trace of something exists online, can it be said to be famous? Inconceivable. Can it be said to even exist? “Pics or it didn't happen” is a stock response to an improbable story told online. To become history, experience must first become pixels.  

Virginia Heffernan writing in Wired 

Articles of Interest about Religion - January 10

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***RELIGION  

Is there a 'cosmopolitan' vs. 'populist' evangelical divide? https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/is-there-a-cosmopolitan-vs-populist-evangelical-divide-75700293637

Can this preacher's progressive version of evangelical Christianity catch on with a new generation? https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2020/01/06/can-this-preachers-progressive-version-evangelical-christianity-catch-with-new-generation/ 

Decolonising Jesus Christ https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/decolonising-jesus-christ-200106160749770.html

Christian Influencer Dale Partridge Shares Inspirational Quotes—But They Weren’t All His  https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/january/dale-partridge-plagiarism-real-christianity-social-media-en.html

The curious case of the stolen gospel https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/jan/09/a-scandal-in-oxford-the-curious-case-of-the-stolen-gospel

Scam Lures Speakers to Fake UK Church Conferences https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/january/uk-church-conference-email-scam-big-things-speaker-invites.html

 

***RELIGION: LOOKING BACK

10 Christian ministry leaders, influencers who died in 2019 https://www.christianpost.com/news/10-christian-ministry-leaders-influencers-who-died-2019.html?page=1

Twelve major religious newsmakers — and stories — from the past decade http://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/12-major-religious-newsmakers--and-stories--from-the-past-decade/2020/01/03/0b58c308-2d8f-11ea-9b60-817cc18cf173_story.html

 

***RELIGION & VIOLENCE

Year-end violence highlights danger of worshipping https://www.chron.com/news/texas/article/Year-end-violence-highlights-danger-of-worshipping-14942994.php 

Experts Encourage Layered Approach To Church Security Protocols https://www.npr.org/2020/01/03/793257393/experts-encourage-layered-approach-to-church-security-protocols

Many conservative Christian leaders view actions in Iran as playing a special role during the end of days  https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2020/01/10/iran-tensions-could-fulfill-prophecies-about-end-world-some-religious-teachers-say/     

 

***RELIGION IN CHINA

‘Block the Impact of Religion’: China Sends Muslim Children to Boarding Schools https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/28/world/asia/china-xinjiang-children-boarding-schools.html

China Sentences Christian Leader To 9 Years In Prison https://www.npr.org/2019/12/30/792293186/china-sentences-christian-leader-to-9-years-prison

 

***RELIGION AND POLITICS

Christianity Today's split with Trump highlights deeper issue in white evangelical America https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-religion/christianity-todays-split-with-trump-highlights-deeper-issue-in-white-evangelical-america-idUSKBN1YX09N

 For evangelicals, climate change causes a split between young and old (sub req'd) https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2019/12/28/for-evangelicals-climate-change-causes-split-between-young-and-old-that-could-hurt-republicans/YiUEhdCIE8wlN60kiVR7GK/story.html

Poll: White evangelicals distinct on abortion, LGBT policy
https://apnews.com/8d3eb99934accc2ad795aca0183290a7

Pompeo says God may have sent Trump to save Israel from Iran https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47670717

Anti-Trump Republican Group Takes Aim at 'MAGA Church' in New Video https://www.newsweek.com/republicans-against-trump-maga-church-1481377

 

***RELIGION IN COURT

Mormon leaders reported a child molester’s confession. Now his wife is suing the church for $9.5 million. - The Washington Posthttps://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/01/09/wife-sues-mormon-church-after-revealing-husband-sexual-abuse/

Lawsuit says Arkansas Baptist Convention ignored accusations that pastor raped teen  https://katv.com/news/local/arkansas-baptist-convention-sued-pastor-accused-of-raping-teen

 

***RELIGION & THE ARTS  

A comedy group was firebombed for its portrayal of ‘gay Jesus.’ Netflix has now been ordered to remove the movie  https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/01/09/brazil-comedy-group-firebombed-gay-jesus-judge-rules-netflix-remove-movie/

Bible art project at University of Southern Maine draws attraction, controversy https://www.wmtw.com/article/bible-art-project-at-usm-draws-attraction-controversy/30394879#

 

***DENOMINATIONS

United Methodist Church proposes historic split over gay marriage and LGBT clergy https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/03/us/united-methodist-church-split-proposal/index.html

 

***CATHOLIC

Over 900 clergy accused of child sexual abuse absent from dioceses' lists  https://www.axios.com/clergy-child-sexual-assault-catholic-church-priests-31e60adc-aa0e-43e9-9c9e-5107c28cf361.html

Lawsuit: Famed Jesuit abused boy 1,000 times around world https://apnews.com/050df63743e58fe93cf6f1a6f51e8089

Catholic Church Shields $2 Billion in Assets to Limit Abuse Payouts

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-01-08/the-catholic-church-s-strategy-to-limit-payouts-to-abuse-victims?

 

***MEGACHURCHES

Dallas megachurch leader Lois Evans, wife of pastor Tony Evans, died in Dallas after cancer battle. https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-lois-evans-dies-20191230-ohhuib2mfjd5rg5gxwfwn3fu5e-story.html

 

***CONVERSION THERAPY 

Iowa Senate expected to take up bill to ban conversion therapy https://www.kcrg.com/content/news/Iowa-Senate-expected-to-take-up-bill-to-ban-conversion-therapy-566876631.html

Lawmakers introduce bill that would ban controversial conversion therapy in Kentucky https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/ky-legislature/2020/01/09/kentucky-legislature-bill-would-make-conversion-therapy-illegal/4420552002/

Arizona families caught in middle of debate over 'conversion therapy' ban https://www.azfamily.com/news/original_reporting/arizona-families-caught-in-middle-of-debate-over-conversion-therapy/article_c8c3573a-2df5-11ea-a697-77af1343455a.html

Learning to adopt

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Today’s students need universities and colleges that will help them navigate a world where constant changes are the norm and where learning how to adapt is the central problem of living and of citizenship. The idea that the college years should be primarily about potential is not idealistic or naive; it is prescient.

Caitlin Zaloom, Indebted: How Families Make College Work at Any Cost 

The Problem of Mindfulness

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It’s often pragmatically useful to step away from your own fraught ruminations and emotions. Seeing them as drifting leaves can help us gain a certain distance from the heat of our feelings, so as to discern patterns and identify triggers. But after a certain point, mindfulness doesn’t allow you to take responsibility for and analyse such feelings. It’s not much help in sifting through competing explanations for why you might be thinking or feeling a certain way. Nor can it clarify what these thoughts and feelings might reveal about your character. Mindfulness, grounded in anattā, can offer only the platitude: ‘I am not my feelings.’ Its conceptual toolbox doesn’t allow for more confronting statements, such as ‘I am feeling insecure,’ ‘These are my anxious feelings,’ or even ‘I might be a neurotic person.’ Without some ownership of one’s feelings and thoughts, it is difficult to take responsibility for them.

Sahanika Ratnayake writing in Aeon

Articles of Interest about Higher Ed - Jan 6

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***HIGHER ED

Recent school ransomware attacks highlight need for ongoing vigilance https://www.educationdive.com/news/recent-school-ransomware-attacks-highlight-need-for-ongoing-vigilance/569710/

College in the U.S. is at a crossroad. Will it increase social mobility or class stratification?
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/college-u-s-crossroads-will-it-increase-social-mobility-or-ncna1109071

These lawsuits could change the stakes for higher ed https://www.educationdive.com/news/higher-ed-lawsuits-tracker/561371/   

Community college in New York is betting on partnerships with other countries and local faith organizations to increase its sagging enrollment. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/01/03/community-college-looks-abroad-and-faith-groups-boost-enrollment

***MINORITIES ON CAMPUS

San Diego State uninvites speaker after anti-Semitism charges https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-12-24/san-diego-state-university-ava-muhammad-anti-semitism-controversy

I am Harvard Law's first deafblind graduate. Here's what college is like for students with disabilities https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/03/what-college-is-like-for-students-with-disabilities-according-to-a-harvard-grad.html

In a Homecoming Video Meant to Unite Campus, Almost Everyone Was White
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/01/us/university-of-wisconsin-race-video.html

***HIGHER ED & FREE SPEECH

American campuses can play a vital role in battling censorship of debates about China https://www.thefire.org/american-campuses-can-play-a-vital-role-in-battling-censorship-of-debates-about-china/

Lawsuit: Iowa State University accused of violating free speech rights ahead of Iowa caucuses https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2020/01/03/isu-iowa-state-accused-restricting-free-speech-through-newly-enacted-policies/2799598001/

***TEACHING

A University Professor Said 'Beef' 125 Times During A Macroeconomics Lecture. Here's A Supercut Of It https://digg.com/2019/a-university-professor-said-beef-125-times-during-a-macroeconomics-lecture-heres-a-supercut-of-it

I asked my students to turn in their cell phones and write about living without them https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614934/teenagers-without-cell-phones

Free Textbooks for Law Students https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/01/03/free-law-textbooks-raise-questions-about-oer

***ACADEMIC LIFE

Professor accused of attempted murder of another professor https://www.gazettenet.com/leverett-attempted-murder-31758189

The “I was prompted to kill my student and lover because someone was accusing me of plagiarism” defense  https://au.news.yahoo.com/professor-who-beheaded-young-lover-wants-to-write-a-book-about-it-022942333.html

***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS

Mizzou gives millions to conservative college to end lawsuit over donor’s instructions https://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/2019/12/hillsdale-college-settles-5-million-lawsuit-with-university-of-missouri.html

Don’t Assume Because A College Is Christian It’s A Safe Place For Your Kid (opinion)  https://thefederalist.com/2019/12/26/dont-assume-because-a-college-is-christian-its-a-safe-place-for-your-kid/

A lawsuit at Saint Anselm is centered on the question of powers held by members of the religious order versus those held by the Board of Trustees. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/01/02/governance-dispute-saint-anselm-college-pits-members-founding-religious-order

***LIBERTY UNIVERSITY

Trial delayed for adjunct Liberty Univ. professor accused of filming minors  https://www.wfxrtv.com/news/local-news/trial-delayed-for-adjunct-liberty-univ-professor-accused-of-filming-minors/

Texas man files copyright claim against Liberty University  https://www.wfxrtv.com/news/local-news/texas-man-files-copyright-claim-against-liberty-univ/

***RESEARCH

How to Be a Statistical Detective https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/pmrj.12305

American Psychological Assoc: takedown notices sent to researchers about their own papers published on their own sites https://eiko-fried.com/apa-chief-publishing-officer-ignore-paper-removal-request/

***STUDENT LIFE

The 12-year-old Pursuing Her Passion as a Tattoo Artist  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN2xKasrihU&feature=emb_title

Student Asks Professor To Bump His 89.99% To A 90% And She Was Having None Of It
https://www.buzzfeed.com/daniellaemanuel/berkeley-student-professor-grade

Advocates Say Texas Wants To Curb College Students' Political Power https://www.npr.org/2020/01/02/792976335/advocates-say-texas-wants-to-curb-college-students-political-power

Thousands of foreign students in U.S. on student visas may have 'worked' for fake companies https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/thousands-foreign-students-u-s-student-visas-may-have-worked-n1109286

A report reviewing a student sit-in at Johns Hopkins last spring https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/01/02/hopkins-faculty-investigates-spring-sit

When Applying For College Is Especially Difficult https://www.npr.org/2020/01/05/793722662/when-applying-for-college-is-especially-difficult

Report: Shrinking share of adults thinks college is 'important' https://www.educationdive.com/news/report-shrinking-share-of-adults-thinks-college-is-important/569701/

Beating the Social Media Addiction

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Since social media can be a quick or easy fix to avoid negative feelings, you can ask yourself the following questions to evaluate what you could be avoiding and may need to address in another way in your life. 

·     What are you potentially avoiding or using social media to escape from?

·     How is being on social media making you feel? Are you comparing yourself to others or using it to judge others? Does it make you feel inadequate?

·     Do you rely on social media for your self-esteem? If you only feel good about yourself when your posts gets a lot of likes, this could be you.

According to Dr. Logan Jones, psychologist and founder of NYC Therapy + Wellness, it can be helpful to evaluate this time and choose something more positive and intentional you'd rather fill your time with (like reading, workout out, or spending time with friends IRL). 

"The best way to reinforce behavior is to do more of it. So instead of saying, 'I'm not going to do social media', you can say 'I'm working on being more present.' So you want to be affirming healthy, positive things that you're doing," Jones said. 

Mercey Livingston writing in c/net

Stop riding with the brakes on

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We fear failure more than we love life, so we refuse the great adventure. We are careful to do only what we have always done and know how to do well, so we never break the dull repetition of the old routine for the new creation of God. Crawl out of these tombs and prisons - there is a world of light and freedom waiting!

Have faith in God and let life be free. Stop riding with the brakes on. The soul will never grow tied down in a bed with the shades drawn. The higher we build the barricades of caution to protect ourselves, the deeper grows the grave we call our life.

Articles of Interest about Literature, Journalism, Writing & Languages – Jan 3

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***WRITING & READING

The Best Books Of 2019, According To Everyone https://digg.com/2019/best-books-2019-trick-mirror-nickel-boys-say-nothing

The 2010s were supposed to bring the ebook revolution. It never quite came. https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/12/23/20991659/ebook-amazon-kindle-ereader-department-of-justice-publishing-lawsuit-apple-ipad

How to Use Zotero and Scrivener for Research-Driven Writing https://daily.jstor.org/how-to-use-zotero-and-scrivener-for-research-driven-writing  

We Learned to Write the Way We Talk (Opinion) https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/27/opinion/sunday/internet-writing-text-emotion.html

Science is science writing; science writing is science https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2019/12/29/science-is-science-writing-science-writing-is-science/

Bookstore suspends sales of Sociology textbook during plagiarism claims https://www.richmond-news.com/news/kpu-bookstore-suspends-textbook-sales-during-plagiarism-claims-1.24041139

 

***GRAMMAR

62 Grammar Memes And Jokes From 2019 https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emersonmalone/grammar-language-memes-punctuation-2019

Correct Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/sarahschweppecopy/quibbles-bits-newsletter-buzzfeed-copydesk-corrections

 

***JOURNALISM 

The Most Engaging Stories of 2019 https://blog.chartbeat.com/2019/12/18/most-engaging-stories-2019/

News deserts will proliferate — but so will new solutions https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/12/news-deserts-will-proliferate-but-so-will-new-solutions/

‘Stunning piece of propaganda’: Journalists blast One America News series https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/19/journalists-blast-one-america-news-series-giuliani-087893

 

***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM

More Than 1 in 5 U.S. Papers Has Closed. This Is the Result https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/21/reader-center/local-news-deserts.html

California Writers, Photogs Sue State Over New Law That Chokes Freelance Journalism http://sacobserver.com/2020/01/california-writers-photogs-sue-state-over-new-law-that-chokes-freelance-journalism/

 

***STUDENT MEDIA

The Future of the News Industry, According to Student Journalists  https://www.teenvogue.com/story/student-journalists-future-news

New Mexico  Journalism Department rebuked by professional organizations  https://www.dailylobo.com/article/2019/12/unm-journalism-department-criticized-by-spj-nahj

University of New Mexico clashing with student journalists over public records https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/unm-clashing-with-student-journalists-over-public-records/article_a2c8be9c-28c5-11ea-9d01-ab9b78430600.html

 

***FAKES & FRAUDS

Snopes, Facebook And Fake Accounts https://www.npr.org/2019/12/22/790553909/snopes-facebook-and-fake-accounts

Lithuanians are using software to fight back against fake news  https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2019/10/24/lithuanians-are-using-software-to-fight-back-against-fake-news

Social media hosted a lot of fake health news this year. Here's what went most viral.  https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/social-media-hosted-lot-fake-health-news-year-here-s-n1107466

Chief Justice Warns of Internet Disinformation, Urges Civics Educationhttps://ijr.com/chief-justice-warns-of-internet-disinformation-urges-civics-education/

Stop abbreviating 2020. Police say it leaves you open to fraud and could cost you big https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/01/02/do-not-abbreviate-year-2020-in-date/2795857001/

 

***SOCIAL MEDIA 

From Instagram to TikTok: How social media evolved this decade https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/19/tech/social-media-end-of-decade/index.html

Twitter And Facebook's Race To The Bottom https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/alexkantrowitz/twitter-and-facebooks-race-to-the-bottom

How to beat your social media addiction, according to a therapist https://www.cnet.com/how-to/the-right-way-to-beat-your-social-media-addiction-according-to-a-therapist/

This dad took his son to Mongolia just to get him off his phone https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50830944

 

***LANGUAGE

3 internet language trends from 2019, explained http://theconversation.com/3-internet-language-trends-from-2019-explained-128588

World's languages describe emotions in very different ways https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2019-12-19/emotions-universal-languages-differ

Teaching a computer Chinese made it excellent at English https://qz.com/1775729/baidus-chinese-language-algorithm-is-excellent-at-english/

Google Assistant Can Now Translate Speech Through Your Phone https://www.wired.com/story/google-assistant-can-now-translate-on-your-phone/

A translation crisis at the border  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/01/06/a-translation-crisis-at-the-border

Books examine how words influence American culture  https://www.roanoke.com/entertainment/arts/review-books-examine-how-words-influence-american-culture/article_6abedf12-2eae-5f57-b0d9-2f9cbe95948d.html

 

***LITERATURE

'Little Women': Book Vs. Movie https://www.npr.org/2019/12/21/790422188/little-women-book-vs-movie

Elizabeth Spencer, ‘Light In the Piazza’ author, dies at 98 https://apnews.com/013be99c46bd6558c30202c313cf8925

TS Eliot’s hidden love letters reveal intense, heartbreaking affair https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/02/ts-eliot-hidden-love-letters-reveal-intense-heartbreaking-affair-emily-hale

1924 Copyrighted Works To Become Part Of The Public Domain https://www.npr.org/2019/12/30/792302139/1924-copyrighted-works-to-become-part-of-the-public-domain

The Decade in Fiction https://thewalrus.ca/the-decade-in-fiction/

The Asian-American Literature Canon Breakers https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/01/06/the-asian-american-canon-breakers

Barbara Testa Dies at 91; Her Discovery Rocked the Literary World https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/30/books/barbara-testa-dead.html

 

***POETRY

Poet Louis Jenkins found beauty in the Midwestern mundane https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/12/21/poet-louis-jenkins-found-beauty-in-the-midwestern-mundane

Inspired by Emily Dickinson, Alice Tippit’s paintings play out as visual poetry  https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-01-03/emily-dickinson-alice-tippit-review

  

***PRIVACY & SECURITY 

They claim this new security system is uncrackable and will revolutionize privacy https://news.st-andrews.ac.uk/archive/new-security-system-to-revolutionise-privacy/

The hottest new smartphone chat app is secretly spying on you https://bgr.com/2019/12/23/totok-app-spying-on-android-and-iphone-users-nyt-report-says/

Schools are using facial recognition to try to stop shootings. Here’s why they should think twice. https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/12/20/21028124/schools-facial-recognition-mass-shootings

Firms don’t agree as to what California’s new data privacy law requires https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2019-12-26/california-internet-data-privacy-law

Ring and Amazon slammed with a federal lawsuit over failed camera securityhttps://www.digitaltrends.com/home/ring-amazon-federal-lawsuit-hacks/

 

***PRODUCING MEDIA 

YouTube burnout is real. Here's how creators are coping https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/18/tech/youtube-creator-burnout/index.html

Inbuilt gullibility

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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 

Fleeting Fame

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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