Articles of Interest about Religion - Jan 29

***RELIGION

U.S. churchgoers are satisfied with the sermons they hear, though content varies by religious tradition https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/01/28/u-s-churchgoers-are-satisfied-with-the-sermons-they-hear-though-content-varies-by-religious-tradition/

US biologists ‘biased’ against evangelical students, says study | Times Higher Education https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/us-biologists-biased-against-evangelical-students-says-study

For some Latinos, grappling with their Christian identity can be complicated https://pres-outlook.org/2020/01/for-some-latinos-grappling-with-their-christian-identity-can-be-complicated/

The Largest Christian Adoption Agency Is Ending International Adoptions https://relevantmagazine.com/current16/the-largest-christian-adoption-agency-is-ending-international-adoptions/

***RELIGION AND POLITICS

Evangelical Megachurch pastor: Jesus would have 'beat the crap' out of John Bolton https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/480605-conservative-pastor-says-jesus-would-have-beat-the-crap-out-of

Pompeo Keeps NPR Reporter Feud Going With Pointed Bible Quote https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-25/pompeo-lashes-out-at-reporter-after-she-asked-ukraine-questions

***RELIGION & THE LAW 

Caught between gender equality and religious liberty (opinion) https://religionnews.com/2020/01/13/caught-between-gender-equality-and-religious-liberty/

Supreme Court allows DHS rule on immigrant welfare benefits heavily criticized by evangelical groups https://www.christianpost.com/news/supreme-court-allows-dhs-rule-on-immigrant-welfare-benefits-heavily-criticized-by-evangelical-groups.html

Leaders of a Kingdom of Jesus Christ church arrested in human trafficking and immigration fraud inquiry https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-01-30/leaders-of-a-los-angeles-church-arrested-in-human-trafficking-and-immigration-fraud-inquiry

***MEGACHURCHES 

Brother of Megachurch pastor accused of sexually assaulting young girl https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Former-Harris-County-constable-captain-accused-of-15016509.php 

Willow Creek Acknowledges New Allegations of ‘Inappropriate Behavior’ Against Co-Founder https://relevantmagazine.com/culture/willow-creek-acknowledges-new-allegations-of-inappropriate-behavior-against-co-founder/

***CATHOLIC

We Assembled the Only Nationwide Database of Priests Deemed Credibly Accused of Abuse: Here’s How  https://www.propublica.org/article/we-assembled-the-only-nationwide-database-of-priests-deemed-credibly-accused-of-abuse-heres-how

Dorothy Day was a radical: Now many want the Vatican to make her a saint https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2020/01/28/being-communist-socialist-anarchist-sympathizer-once-made-dorothy-day-radical-now-many-want-vatican-make-her-saint/

***RELIGION & LGBTQ ISSUES 

Christian liberal arts college didn't want her coaching because she's gay. Now she's in the Super Bowl  https://www.southbendtribune.com/news/local/goshen-college-didn-t-want-her-coaching-because-she-s/article_206178f2-42c6-11ea-a9ef-d7bebaa46a9c.html

Texas AG won't defend state agency in gay marriage suit, citing beliefs https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/texas-ag-won-t-defend-state-agency-gay-marriage-suit-n1126731

Few people can detect a liar

In daily life, without the particular pressures of politics, people find it hard to spot liars. Tim Levine of the University of Alabama, Birmingham, has spent decades running tests that allow participants (apparently unobserved) to cheat. He then asks them on camera if they have played fair. He asks others to look at the recordings and decide who is being forthright about cheating and who is covering it up. In 300 such tests people got it wrong about half of the time, no better than a random coin toss. Few people can detect a liar. Even those whose job is to conduct interviews to dig out hidden truths, such as police officers or intelligence agents, are no better than ordinary folk.

The Economist 

Your adversary

What interests of your adversary overlap with your own? Expand the pie before you divide it.

Articles of Interest about Literature, Journalism, Writing & Languages – Jan 29

***WRITING & READING

The Enemies of Writing: A writer who’s afraid to tell people what they don’t want to hear has chosen the wrong trade  https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/01/packer-hitchens/605365/

 JRR Tolkien's son Christopher dies aged 95 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/16/jrr-tolkiens-son-christopher-dies-aged-95

 Exploring various scholars' rationales for self-plagiarism https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/01/10/essay-rationales-self-plagiarism

***GRAMMAR 

Who do they think they are? The battle over the singular use of “they” has been waged for centuries https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2020/01/18/who-do-they-think-they-are   

English's pronoun problem is centuries old https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/english-s-pronoun-problem-is-centuries-old-120012301829_1.html

***JOURNALISM

7 things to consider before adopting AI in your news organisation: A training module for newsrooms https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2019/12/12/7-things-to-consider/

Journalism still has power: But not the way you’d hope  https://www.cjr.org/cjr_outbox/hegseth-trump-gallagher.php

The latest newspaper chain to face Alden Global Capital cost-cutting  https://www.axios.com/media-local-newspapers-private-equity-0add6bce-f44a-4938-82bb-6d4bb01068c8.html

Jim Lehrer's 16 Rules for Practicing Journalism with Integrity www.openculture.com/2020/01/jim-lehrers-16-rules-for-being-a-journalist-with-integrity.html

***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM

Flipboard expands into local news https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/28/flipboard-expands-into-local-news/

Facebook awards $700,000 in local news grants  https://www.axios.com/facebook-local-news-grants-advertising-f9f7048b-2bd2-4eb6-9bfc-6fe72fb5c359.html

The New York Times used to be afraid of BuzzFeed. Now it’s hired its biggest star. https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/1/28/21112608/ben-smith-new-york-times-buzzfeed-media-revenue-jonah-peretti

***FAKES & FRAUDS

Big Tech platforms struggle to police deepfakes ahead of the 2020 elections    https://www.axios.com/deepfakes-big-tech-policy-facebook-reddit-tiktok-ca7a99b8-e571-4b0b-933a-27e4b2c0b0f7.html   

2020 rules of the road for the Age of Misinformation https://www.axios.com/2020-rules-of-the-road-for-the-age-of-misinformation-87bc3f7e-b064-4b47-bc71-7639b9a82b8a.html

How Swedes Were Fooled By One Of The Biggest Scientific Bluffs Of Our Time https://medium.com/@Soccermatics/how-swedes-were-fooled-by-one-of-the-biggest-scientific-bluffs-of-our-time-de47c82601ad

A new text message scam is disguising itself as a FedEx notification https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/23/business/fedex-text-scam-trnd/ 

How To Spot 2020 Election Disinformation https://www.npr.org/2020/01/23/798809217/how-to-spot-2020-election-disinformation

Clearview AI Says Its Facial Recognition Software Identified A Terrorism Suspect: The Cops Say That's Not True https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/clearview-ai-nypd-facial-recognition

Half of Americans don’t know 6m Jews were killed in Holocaust, survey says    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/22/holocaust-survey-americans-pew-research-center

American Distrust Of The Voting Process Is Widespread, Poll Finds https://www.npr.org/2020/01/21/798088827/american-distrust-of-the-voting-process-is-widespread-npr-poll-finds

Is this video “missing context,” “transformed,” or “edited”? This effort wants to standardize how we categorize visual misinformation https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/01/is-this-video-missing-context-transformed-or-edited-this-effort-wants-to-standardize-how-we-categorize-visual-misinformation/

Misinformation about coronavirus tests Facebook, Google and China  https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-misinformation-facebook-twitter-google-china-246a0325-b4ea-4465-92ae-5f364a7e965c.html

The New York Times tested blockchain to help you identify faked photos on your timeline https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/01/heres-how-the-new-york-times-tested-blockchain-to-help-you-identify-faked-photos-on-your-timeline/

***SOCIAL MEDIA 

Twitter’s Jack Dorsey on edit button: ‘We’ll probably never do it’ https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/15/21066815/twitter-edit-button-jack-dorsey-says-no

Twitter apologises for letting ads target neo-Nazis and bigots https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51112238

Targeting TikTok’s privacy alone misses a larger issue: Chinese state control https://qz.com/1788836/targeting-tiktoks-privacy-alone-misses-a-much-larger-point/

***LANGUAGE 

 How we use language, with a look under the hood https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/columnists/mcintyre/bs-ed-mcintyre-20200111-tmf465vuubdebmtpu3p6ngsz2q-story.html

Things You Didn't Know Had Names  https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/63034/48-things-you-didnt-know-had-names 

Using a child’s identified pronouns might feel complicated, but it’s crucial. Here’s why (opinion) https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/01/16/using-childs-identified-pronouns-might-feel-complicated-its-crucial-heres-why/ 

The alphabets at risk of extinction https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200121-the-alphabets-at-risk-of-extinction

Author Interview: Dennis Baron On 'What's Your Pronoun?' https://www.npr.org/2020/01/26/799629318/author-interview-dennis-baron-on-what-s-your-pronoun

'Baby Shark,' Now In 19 Languages And Counting — Including A Navajo Tongue https://www.npr.org/2020/01/28/800557518/baby-shark-now-in-19-languages-and-counting-including-a-navajo-tongue

Discover the Disappearing Turkish Language That is Whistled, Not Spoken www.openculture.com/2020/01/discover-the-turkish-language-that-is-whistled-not-spoken.html

***LITERATURE

The Obscure Editions of Jane Austen Novels That Made Her Internationally Known  https://lithub.com/the-obscure-editions-of-jane-austen-novels-that-made-her-internationally-known/

UCLA receives $25 million from Uniqlo founder for Japanese literature and culture studies http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/25-million-uniqlo-founder-japanese-literature-and-culture

Edgar Allan Poe's Baltimore home was named a literary landmark https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/edgar-allan-poe-baltimore-literary-landmark-trnd/index.html

Virginia Woolf Books To Read If You Want To Explore 20th Century Literature https://www.republicworld.com/lifestyle/books/virginia-woolf-books-to-read-to-explore-20th-century-literature.html

Is Jane Austen the Antidote to Social Media Overload? https://daily.jstor.org/is-jane-austen-the-antidote-to-social-media-overload/

Jeanine Cummins' migrant book 'American Dirt' is problematic; author’s note makes it worse https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2020/01/21/american-dirt-jeanine-cummins-book-review-mexican-migrant/4497859002/

***POETRY

What happens when machines learn to write poetry: should artificial intelligence alter our appreciation of art? http://bit.ly/30CkvI3

Have You Abandoned Your New Year's Resolutions? Tell Us In A Poem https://www.npr.org/2020/01/16/795953834/have-you-abandoned-your-new-years-resolutions-tell-us-in-a-poem

'Ghost poetry': fight over Samuel Beckett's Nobel win revealed in archives https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/17/ghost-poetry-fight-over-samuel-beckett-nobel-win-revealed-in-archives

***THE BUSINESS OF MEDIA  

Augmented reality contacts are real, and could be here sooner than you think https://mashable.com/article/augmented-reality-contact-lenses-mojo-vision/

The Culling Has Begun’: Inside the iHeartMedia Layoffs  https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/iheartmedia-mass-layoffs-937513

Could iHeart layoffs be the beginning of local radio’s endgame? https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2020/01/could-iheart-layoffs-be-the-beginning-of-local-radios-endgame.htm

2020 won't be the year digital election ads surpass TV  https://www.axios.com/2020-digital-election-ads-tv-75cd82b1-b9a1-4637-b885-8aa654e63291.html

***PRIVACY & SECURITY

Clearview app lets strangers find your name, info with snap of a photo, report says  https://www.cnet.com/news/clearview-app-lets-strangers-find-your-name-info-with-snap-of-a-photo-report-says

Facial Recognition could replace the fingerprint https://story.californiasunday.com/facial-recognition

The Secret History of Facial Recognition https://www.wired.com/story/secret-history-facial-recognition/

Most Americans support right to have some personal info removed from online searches  https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/01/27/most-americans-support-right-to-have-some-personal-info-removed-from-online-searches/

Better Loves

We don’t become better because we acquire new information. We become better because we acquire better loves. We don’t become what we know. Education is a process of love formation. When you go to a school, it should offer you new things to love.

David Brooks, The Road to Character 

The attribute of the strong

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. -Mahatma Gandhi 

The terrifying truth

Monday, January 27 is International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Introducing a (60 Minutes) story about Nazi Adolf Eichmann, a principle architect of the Holocaust, (Mike) Wallace posed a central question at the program’s outset: “How is it possible…for a man to act as Eichmann acted?...Was he a monster? A madman? Or was he perhaps something even more terrifying: was he normal?”

Normal? The executioner of millions of Jews normal? Most self-respecting viewers would be outraged at the very thought.

The most startling answer to Wallace’s shocking question came in an interview with Yehiel Dinur, a concentration camp survivor who testified against Eichmann at the Nuremburg trials. A film clip from Eichmann’s 1961 trial showed Dinur walking into the courtroom, stopping short, seeing Eichmann for the first time since the Nazi had sent him to Auschwitz eighteen years earlier. Dinur began to sob uncontrollably, then fainted, collapsing in a heap in the floor a sthe presiding judicial officer pounded his gavel for order in the crowded courtroom.

Was Dinur overcome by hatred? Fear? Horrid memories?

No; it was none of these. Rather, as Dinur explained to Wallace, all at once he realized Eichmann was not the godlike army officer who had sent so many to their deaths. This Eichmann was an ordinary man. “I was afraid about myself,” said Dinur “… I saw that I am capable to do this. I am…exactly like he.”

Wallace’s subsequent summation of Dinur’s terrible discovery – “Eichmann is in all of us” – is a horrifying statement; but it indeed captures the central truth about man’s nature.

Charles Colson, Who Speaks for God?

100 percent

100% of the shots you don't take, don't go in. -Wayne Gretzky (born Jan. 26, 1961)

The Set Up

We set up harsh and unkind rules against ourselves. No one is born without faults. –Homer

Articles of Interest about Religion - January 24

***RELIGION 

AI will transform religion with robot priests like this one https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/9/9/20851753/ai-religion-robot-priest-mindar-buddhism-christianity

'Jeopardy!' Game show faces criticism after wading into Mideast conflict: Is the Church of the Nativity in Palestine or Israel? https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/game-show-jeopardy-faces-criticism-after-wading-israel-palestine-conflict-n111416

Sex Abuse Crisis in Amish Country https://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a30284631/amish-sexual-abuse-incest-me-too/

Died: Jack Van Impe, Televangelist Who Saw Signs of End Times  https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/january/jack-van-impe-died-end-times-televangelist.html

***RELIGION AND POLITICS

Why Pete Buttigieg Has Made Religion Central to His Campaign https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/10/us/politics/pete-buttigieg-religion-2020.html

Meet Mark Galli: The Wheaton evangelical who called out Trump https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20200111/meet-mark-galli-the-wheaton-evangelical-who-called-out-trump 

Donald Trump Is Promising ‘Big Action’ on School Prayer to Rally Evangelical Voters https://time.com/5765829/trump-school-prayer-evangelicals/

Many churchgoers in U.S. don't know the political leanings of their clergy https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/01/13/many-churchgoers-in-u-s-dont-know-the-political-leanings-of-their-clergy/

Trump to become first president to speak at annual anti-abortion March for Life event https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/24/politics/trump-march-for-life/index.html

***RELIGION & THE LAW 

Christian-Based Convicted Sex Offenders' Ministry Housing Too Close To Playground, City Says https://www.npr.org/2020/01/15/796021411/convicted-sex-offenders-ministry-housing-too-close-to-playground-city-says

***RELIGION IN THE SUPREME COURT

The Supreme Court takes up a deeply fraught case about state funding of religious schools https://www.vox.com/2020/1/15/21058338/supreme-court-espinoza-montana-religious-schools

Supreme Court will tackle dispute over birth control, religious liberty https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/01/17/birth-control-coverage-supreme-court-weigh-religious-objections/2679555001/

Supreme Court religious rights case has big implications for U.S. schools https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-religion-idUSKBN1ZJ19T

Supreme Court takes up church-state separation in Christian schools case https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-takes-church-state-separation-christian-schools-case-n1117006

***RELIGION & MONEY  

Major evangelical nonprofits are trying a new strategy with the IRS that allows them to hide their salaries https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/major-evangelical-nonprofits-are-trying-a-new-strategy-with-the-irs-that-allows-them-to-hide-their-salaries/ar-BBZ3nTt?li=BBnbfcN

***RELIGION & MUSIC

Kanye West Headlines At Evangelical Student Conference In The Bible Belt https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kanye-west-strength-to-stand-conference_n_5e25ff85c5b673621f7a4c97

TobyMac's son, Truett McKeehan, died of fentanyl, amphetamine overdose https://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/2020/01/22/tobymac-rep-son-truett-mckeehan-died-of-accidental-overdose-in-nashville/4539864002/

***RELIGION & LGBTQ ISSUES

Kentucky Christian school expels girl for 'gay' rainbow cake, mom says https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2020/01/14/kentucky-christian-school-expels-girl-gay-rainbow-cake-mom-says/4418756002/ 

Utah Becomes Latest State To Ban Discredited LGBTQ 'Conversion Therapy' https://www.npr.org/2020/01/22/798603313/utah-becomes-latest-state-to-ban-discredited-lgbtq-conversion-therapy

The Christian Ghetto

We (the church) have created a phenomenal subculture with our own media, entertainment, educational system, and political hierarchy so that we have the sense that we're doing a lot. But what we've really done is create a ghetto that is easily dismissed by the rest of society. -Bob Briner, Roaring Lambs

one side of the moon

We see but one aspect of our neighbor, as we see but one side of the moon. -Walter Bagehot 

Illusions of Patterns

The human understanding, once it has adopted an opinion, collects any instances that conform it, and though the contrary instances may be more numerous and more weighty, it either does not notice them or else rejects them, in order that this opinion will remain unshaken.  

Francis Bacon, born: Jan. 22, 1561

Shakespeare & the Incarnation

If Shakespeare and Hamlet could ever meet, it must be Shakespeare’s doing. Hamlet could initiate nothing.. Shakespeare could, in principle, make himself appear as Author within the play, and write a dialogue between Hamlet and himself. The “Shakespeare” within the play would of course be at once Shakespeare and one of Shakespeare’s creatures. It would bear some analogy to Incarnation. 

CS Lewis, Surprised by Joy

Being Ourselves

I began to see that I, and the people I know, are most winsome in all our intimate relations when we are unconsciously being ourselves with other people and accepting them just as they are without trying to manipulate or change them in any way.

Keith Miller, A Taste of New Wine

Articles of Interest about Higher Ed - January 18

***HIGHER ED

Liberal Arts Pay Off in the Long Run https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/01/14/long-term-look-return-investment-reveals-positive-indicators-liberal-arts

Hasty Departure for Head of Calif.'s New Online College https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/01/14/leader-californias-new-online-community-college-resigns-after-less-year

UC Berkeley ordered to repay millions to teaching assistants  https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-01-15/uc-berkeley-ordered-to-repay-millions-to-teaching-assistants

Colleges face increasing demand to produce more and better sports webcasts https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/aztecs/story/2020-01-16/college-sports-webcasts-san-diego-state-usd-ucsd-plnu-csusm

***HIGHER ED & FINANCE

For-Profit school turns students’ dreams into nightmares of debt https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-01-12/video-symphony-student-debt-nightmares

College Admissions Scandal: Dad Allegedly Deducted Bribe From His Taxes https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/salvadorhernandez/college-admissions-scandal-john-wilson-taxes

***TEACHING

Two States. Eight Textbooks. Two American Stories https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/01/12/us/texas-vs-california-history-textbooks.html

Author describes her book on first-generation students https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/01/15/author-discusses-her-new-book-first-generation-students

***ACADEMIC LIFE 

College fires professor for joking on Facebook that Iran should make a list of U.S. targets to bomb https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/01/09/professor-fired-iran-post-babson-college-asheen-phansey/4425515002/

This Prof Makes Students Follow Him on Twitter for Better Grades https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/y3mvpb/university-of-toronto-professor-mitchell-huynh-makes-students-follow-him-on-twitter-for-better-grades

University professor allegedly stole $185,000 in funds spent on adult entertainment venues, sports bars https://abcnews.go.com/US/university-professor-allegedly-stole-185000-funds-spent-adult/story

'Teacher of the Year' kneels during anthem at college football championship attended by Trump https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/teacher-year-kneels-anthem-college-football-championship-attended/story?id=68326303

Clemson English Lecturers Make $20K Less Than Peers https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/01/17/clemson-english-lecturers-make-20k-less-peers

Chinese scientist Li Ning gets 12 years in prison for embezzling US $4.3 million of government funds  https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3044556/chinese-scientist-li-ning-gets-12-years-prison-embezzling-us43

Ex-Stony Brook prof pleads guilty to swiping cancer research grants https://nypost.com/2020/01/14/ex-stony-brook-prof-pleads-guilty-to-swiping-200k-of-cancer-research-funds/

***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS 

Church board forgives $4 million Morris Brown College debt https://www.ajc.com/news/local-education/church-board-forgives-million-morris-brown-college-debt/OGJpJ03GMrhG4sdp5HFpqO/

Non-Traditional Seminary Students Are Changing the Church https://www.christianitytoday.com/partners/higher-education/non-traditional-seminary-students-are-changing-church.html

Methodist split could be good news for colleges struggling with church affiliation and anti-LGBT policies https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/01/09/proposed-split-united-methodist-church-over-lgbt-issues-welcomed-methodist-college 

Melania Trump named Woman of Distinction by Christian University https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/477350-melania-trump-named-woman-of-distinction-by-palm-beach-atlantic

Mid-America Christian University launching esports athletics program https://kfor.com/2020/01/08/mid-america-christian-university-launching-esports-athletics-program/

Evangel University President to retire https://news.ag.org/News/President-Taylor-Announces-Planned-Retirement-from-Evangel

Proposed rule focuses on faith-based colleges, religious liberty and free speech https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/01/17/proposed-rule-focuses-faith-based-colleges-religious-liberty-and-free-speech

***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS IN COURT

Second Expelled Student Sues Fuller for LGBT Discrimination https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/january/fuller-lawsuit-lgbt-brittsan-maxon-becket.html

Students kicked out of Evangelical seminary for being in gay ‘marriage’ sue for discrimination  https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/students-kicked-out-of-evangelical-seminary-for-being-in-gay-marriage-sue-for-discrimination

***LIBERTY UNIVERSITY

Liberty University 'unsafe' environment for graduation, some Lynchburg parents and students claim https://www.whsv.com/content/news/567017931.html

Liberty President Jerry Falwell Jr. 'pretty sure’ he’ll call for civil disobedience in response to Virginia Democrats’ gun control measures https://www.wsls.com/news/local/2020/01/15/liberty-president-jerry-falwell-jr-pretty-sure-hell-call-for-civil-disobedience-in-response-to-virginia-democrats-gun-control-measures/

Liberty’s Falkirk Center Has an Extremely Concerning Mission Statement https://relevantmagazine.com/current/libertys-falkirk-center-has-an-extremely-concerning-mission-statement/

***RESEARCH

Russian journals retract more than 800 papers after ‘bombshell’ investigation  https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/01/russian-journals-retract-more-800-papers-after-bombshell-investigation

The push for interdisciplinary teams can lead to fake collaborations https://www.natureindex.com/news-blog/push-interdisciplinary-teams-science-research-can-lead-fake-collaborations

How the increasing reliance on metrics to evaluate scholarly publications has produced new forms of academic fraud and misconduct. https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/gaming-metrics

Teaching research ethics better https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/teaching-research-ethics-better/article30526185.ece 

Estimating the prevalence of transparency and reproducibility-related research practices in psychology https://osf.io/preprints/metaarxiv/9sz2y/

Checklist for publication integrity before misconduct https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03959-6

The extent and drivers of gender imbalance in neuroscience reference lists https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.01.03.894378v1

***STUDENT LIFE 

The University of Maine's College Republicans chapter's "America First" politics and controversial social media posts have alienated some members and prompted its faculty adviser to quit https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/01/07/maine-college-republican-group-moves-right-alienating-some-members 

2 teenage snowboarders lost in B.C.'s backcountry burned homework to stay warm https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/snowboarders-rescue-whitewater-nelson-homework-1.5417097

Self-care workbook https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aiB0mDKDVl_qGqF6DJClGhBJz-8slJuz/view 

Esports Posts Its First $1 Billion Year https://www.npr.org/2020/01/08/794704377/esports-posts-its-first-1-billion-year

Millennials aren't buying fine china — and they don't want to inherit it, either https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-china-millennials-inherit-1.4539104

New businesses focused on the marketing rights to the name, image and likeness of college athletes are emerging https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/01/14/market-rights-college-athletes-name-image-likeness-emerging

***STUDENTS IN COURT

St. Paul College student who threatened violence on Facebook when he couldn’t find classroom sentenced to probation https://www.twincities.com/2020/01/09/st-paul-college-student-who-threatened-violence-on-facebook-when-he-couldnt-find-classroom-sentenced-to-probation

Iowa State sidewalk chalk policy is being challenged in federal court as a violation of students' free speech rights https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/01/09/iowa-state-university-policies-stifle-free-speech-lawsuit-says

***TEXTBOOKS

Textbooks are pricey. So students are getting creative. As they return for spring semester, they’re doing what they can to avoid paying big bucks for books https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/textbooks-keep-getting-pricier-so-students-are-getting-creative/2020/01/17/4e1306b8-30b9-11ea-91fd-82d4e04a3fac_story.html

New program at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo automatically charges students for textbooks unless they opt-out https://mustangnews.net/new-program-automatically-charges-students-for-textbooks-unless-they-opt-out/

Wrong Turns

With each step along the wrong road it becomes increasingly difficult for (travelers) to admit that they are on the wrong road, often only because they have to admit that they must go back to the first wrong turn, and must accept this fact that they have wasted energy and time.

Erich Fromm, The Heart of Man

I feel His pleasure

I believe God made me for a purpose.. and when I run I feel His pleasure. –Eric Liddell, Olympic Gold Medalist, born Jan. 16, 1902

Conspiracy Theories

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

looking and learning

We learn more from looking for the answer to the question than we do from learning the answer itself. -Lloyd Alexander