milestones & moments
/Life isn't a matter of milestones but of moments. - Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy (born July 22, 1890)
ideas that challenge / comfort / inspire
Life breaks everyone...
/Life breaks everyone, but some are strong in the broken places. -Ernest Hemingway (Born: July 21, 1899)
Articles of Interest about the virus & schools - July 20
/***THE VIRUS
Oxford coronavirus vaccine triggers immune response, trial shows
The Role of Cognitive Dissonance in the Pandemic
U.S. companies fear workplace coronavirus precautions do not address airborne risk
How Long Does COVID-19 Immunity Last?
The New Stability: From Yale–New Haven Hospital Neurology (New England Journal of Medicine)
***MASKS
Delta to Passengers Who Say They Can’t Wear a Mask: Prove It
Don’t shame people who don’t wear masks. It won't work
Face masks with filters add another layer of protection, experts say
***THE FALL SEMESTER
Colleges walk back their fall plans as coronavirus cases spike
Schools Contemplate Fall Semester As COVID-19 Cases Rise In Many States
This college president won’t open campus this fall, to avoid ‘inevitable spread’ of coronavirus ($)
Thousands of college students won't be going back to their dorms this fall
***FALL PLANS AT SPECIFIC SCHOOLS
UT Will Close Campus if a Student—But Not an Employee—Dies From COVID
Illinois colleges plan students’ return to campus
Tulane threatens expulsion for partygoers as schools struggle to keep students safe from coronavirus
***VIRUS TESTING ON CAMPUS
On some college campuses, a new fall rite: coronavirus testing ($)
***COLLEGE SPORTS
Five More College Conferences Cancel Some Or All Fall Sports
Universities should not sacrifice athletics due to tight budgets (opinion)
***K-12
What The U.S. Can Learn From Other Countries About Reopening Schools in a Coronavirus Pandemic
How to Reopen the Economy Without Killing Teachers and Parents
Study: Middle, high schoolers can spread coronavirus as well as adults
Many schools aren’t reopening in the fall. Now what?
Most Big School Districts Aren’t Ready to Reopen: Here’s Why
School in a coffee shop? A different approach to teaching and learning during the pandemic (Opinion)
***K-12 TEACHERS
America’s Teachers Face An Impossible Choice
Until teachers feel safe, widespread in-person K-12 schooling may prove impossible in US
Back To School: Teachers Are Ready To Quit Rather Than Put Their Lives At Risk
***K-12 IN SPECIFIC STATES
Healthcare pros and school board members warn Arizona governor returning to school isn't safe
Texas: Religious schools can ignore local health officials on the coronavirus
California announces strict rules that will keep most schools closed
***LAYOFFS & FURLOUGHS
Colleges Face a No-Win Dilemma: To Cut or Not to Cut Tuition? ($)
RISD and its faculty reach agreement, avoid layoffs
***HIGHER ED
Ransomware criminals are targeting US universities (opinion)
RISD and its faculty reach agreement, avoid layoffs
Pennsylvania state college system might combine six of its 14 universities
***COLLEGE FINANCE
Another Revenue Hit For Colleges: Cancelled Summer Camps
Will the Pandemic Blow Up College in America?
***HIGHER ED IN COURT
Harvard, Duke, Other Schools Turn to Big Law in Virus Suits
***FREE SPEECH ON CAMPUS
USC finally updates free expression policy it promised to fix: It’s even worse now
US Supreme Court to hear case involving Georgia Gwinnett College
***TEACHING
"Pass/No Credit" and Signaling | Confessions of a Community College Dean
Zoom announces Zoom for Home to enhance remote collaboration, learning, and more
*** CHEATING
Strategies to defuse cheating during remote instruction
California mom gets 5 weeks in prison for son’s online class cheating
***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS
Christian college in Michigan holds in-person graduation ceremony in defiance of state orders
Suspended LU professor found guilty for filming teens in a bathroom at his home
Why an evangelical college president quit after Trump got elected
Largest Evangelical Archaeology Program Finds New Home in Nashville
Grand Canyon University pushes back start date for in-person classes an entire month
Liberty University files $10M defamation suit against NY Times: 'Bigoted bunch of liars'
***RESEARCH
Genius or Fraud? Kid’s PhD-Level Science Project Raises Eyebrows
A comparison of how institutions in China and Europe handle cases of reserach misconduct.
***ACADEMIC LIFE
More Faculty Fears About the Fall
Professor Criticizes Book, 'White Fragility,' As Dehumanizing To Black People
***STUDENT LIFE
This May Be the Worst Season of Summer Melt in Memory. Here’s How Some Colleges Are Fighting It.
College Students Share Tips for Online Class
Most college students would return to campus if allowed, poll finds
USC will award $4,000 scholarships per semester to students who stay at home
For First-Generation Students, a Disappearing ‘College Experience’ Could Have Grave
Students say they'll sacrifice fun if they can return to campus
Two Unhealthy Ways of Relating to the World
/Most people who come to see a psychiatrist are suffering from what is called either neurosis or a character disorder. Put most simply, these two conditions are disorders of responsibility, and as such they are opposite styles of relating to the world and its problems. The neurotic assumes too much responsibility ; the person with character disorder not enough. When neurotics are in conflict with the world they automatically assume that they are at fault. When those with character disorders are in conflict with the world they automatically assume that the world is at fault.
Even the speech patterns of neurotics and those with character disorders are different. The speech of the neurotic is notable for such expressions as “I ought to,” “I should,” and “I shouldn’t” indicating the individual’s self0image as an inferior man or woman always falling short of the mark, always making the wrong choices. The speech of a person with a character disorder, however ,relies heavily on “I can’t,” “I couldn’t” “I have to,” and “I had to” demonstrating a self-image of a being who has no power of choice, whose behavior is completely directed by external forces total beyond his or her control.
As might be imagined, neurotics, compared with character disordered people, are easy to work with in psychotherapy because the assume responsibility for their difficulties and there fore see themselves as having problems. Whose with character disorders are much more difficult, if not impossible, to work with because they don’t see themselves as the source of their problems; they see the world rather than themselves as being in need of change and there fore fail to recognize the necessity for self-examination.
M Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled
Articles of Interest about the virus, journalism and frauds – July 19
/***THE VIRUS
A Detailed Map of Who Is Wearing Masks in the U.S.
Coronavirus Deaths Are Rising Right on Cue
Almost all Covid-19 patients with symptoms had at least one of these three, small CDC survey says
Coronavirus data has already disappeared after Trump administration shifted control from CDC
How to fix the Covid-19 dumpster fire in the U.S.
A Lot of Athletes Seem to Have the Coronavirus. Here Are Some Reasons ($)
***THE VIRUS: PROTECTING YOURSELF
How Do I Protect Myself If The Coronavirus Can Linger In The Air?
My Gym Is Reopening. Is It Safe To Work Out There?
***WRITING & READING
Dana Canedy Is First Black Person To Head A Publishing Giant
***JOURNALISM
Republicans and Democrats read a lot of the same news: What they do with it is a different question
Here’s Why BLM Protesters Have Asked Journalists Not To Show Their Faces
Neo-Nazi group leader pleads guilty to ‘swatting’ minorities, journalists
HIPAA is being weaponized to prevent access to patient information
How to report on internet culture and the teens who rule it
***LOCAL NEWS
The Constitution Doesn't Work Without Local News
***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM
Former Fox News anchor Shepard Smith joins CNBC as chief general news anchor with new evening show
***STUDENT MEDIA
Mapping U.S. colleges' fall 2020 plans - put together by the Univ of Penn student media!
A high school newspaper was cut during the pandemic. Is it a sign of things to come?
***FAKES & FRAUDS
It’s time to assign misinformation a diagnostic code
Head of NYPD union gives Fox News interview with QAnon mug in background
What It's Like to Escape the Mindset of a Conspiracy Theorist
Nurses Who Battled Virus in New York Confront Friends Back Home Who Say It's a Hoax
The QAnon Candidates Are Here. Trump Has Paved Their Way. ($)
Is there a hyperpartisan outlet masquerading as local news near you?
***SOCIAL MEDIA
With friends like these - Facebook has been bending to the will of Arab despots
The science behind why everyone is angry on Twitter on Mondays
***LANGUAGE
Is It Enough To Remove Words With Racist Connotations From Tech Language? Hint: No
Space travel could create language unintelligible to people on Earth
after all
/Love, after all, has far more to do with seeing someone clearly and accepting them fully for who they actually are than it does with feeling attracted to or liking them. -William Bridges
Sexual Repression
/The media has contributed to the confusion in our culture between repression and suppression. "Poster after poster, film after film, novel after novel, (CS) Lewis notes, “associate the idea of sexual indulgence with the ideas of health, normality, youth, frankness, and good humour.” He claims this association gives a false impression and is a lie. “Like all powerful lies,” Lewis explains, “it is based on a truth.. that sex in itself.. is ‘normal’ and ‘healthy’.. the lie consists in the suggestion that any sexual act to which you are tempted at the moment is also healthy and normal.” Lewis adds that human sexuality, like gravity or any other aspect of our universe, cannot in itself be moral or immoral. Sexuality, like the rest of the universe, is given by God and therefore good. How people express their sexuality, on the other hand, can be moral or immoral.
Armand Nicholi, The Question of God
A large group of professionals
/A lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.
The joy of third place
/Is third place better than coming in second? Third seems to be a better result if you are in the Olympics. Psychologists at Cornell University say their research shows bronze-medal winners are generally happier than silver medalists. Why? When you come in second place, you focus on what you might have done differently to win. When you come in third you are happy just to get a medal.
The phenomenon of "what if" reasoning (knows as Counterfactual thinking) leads us to imagine how things could have been different rather than on what actually has happened. The bronze winners generally think “what if” I hadn’t won anything and they realize how fortunate they are to be on the podium. But for the silver medalist, “what if” means pondering the little things that might have turned silver into gold.
It seems counterfactual thinking plays out, not just in games, but in everyday life. If a student misses making a grade of "A" by one point, having scored a "B" is no longer so satisfying.
"Would I be happier today if only I had married someone else?" “What if I had attended a different school or majored in another field?” “Suppose I had selected a different profession?”
Miss a flight by five minutes and you are frustrated. But if there’s no way you could make the flight you don't waste time on it. It's like the football team that loses in the final seconds of a game. If the team had gotten blown out, the players could more easily put it behind them and move on. But when victory was so very close, they can always think of little things they might have done differently to affect the outcome.
Do you puzzle over what you might have done until you what-if yourself into dissatisfaction? Do you get stuck thinking about what almost happened? Do you feel like you are the silver medalist in life?
It's worth noting that first place has its pitfalls as well. Research indicates that the first runner in a long-distance race puts in three times more effort to maintain that position than the runner-up. The researchers recommend when you are in the lead you should focus on the struggle with oneself rather than the pace of the other runners.
Stephen Goforth
Recent Data Science articles
/What is the difference between artificial neural networks and biological brains
Some things Uber learned from running machine learning at scale
Understanding the “average treatment effect” number
MIT removes huge dataset that teaches AI systems to use racist, misogynistic slurs
The Detroit Police Department's facial recognition software is wrong 96% of the time
Artificial neural networks are more similar to the brain than we thought
Unpacking Spark 3.0—adaptive query execution, GPU help, and more
We’re in perpetual beta.*
/*Beta is a period of testing and evaluation under normal, everyday conditions to evaluate conformance to system requirements, not to break or destroy the product
Articles of Interest about the virus & higher ed - July 14
/***THE VIRUS
More than 1,000 TSA employees have tested positive for coronavirus
If the coronavirus is really airborne, we might be fighting it the wrong way
The Psychology Behind Why Some People Refuse To Wear Face Masks
Coronavirus: New UK study shows antibodies fade after 3 weeks
***HIGHER ED & THE VIRUS
The pandemic may have changed the American college experience forever (opinion)
University of Texas staff member dies from COVID-19 complications, campus’ first fatality
Coronavirus Is Blowing Up America’s Higher Education System
More colleges, states mandate masks on campus
***THE FALL SEMESTER
Unreleased CDC Document on Campus Reopening
Coronavirus is spreading in fraternity houses, raising concerns for campuses opening this fall
Rice University is building nine big new classrooms all of them outdoors ($)
Coronavirus is spreading in fraternity houses, raising concerns for campuses opening this fall
Mapping U.S. colleges' fall 2020 plans
Universities roll back reopening plans amid new COVID-19 outbreaks
A rush back to campus is sowing distrust at universities (opinion)
UC Berkeley reopening in doubt after 47 coronavirus cases tied to fraternity parties
***K-12
Los Angeles, San Diego Schools Won’t Reopen Due to Rising Coronavirus Cases
America is not prepared for schools opening this fall. This will be bad (opinion)
Texas teachers writing their wills as state promises to open schools in fall
To reopen schools safely, close streets and create outdoor classrooms
***HIGHER ED
Stanford will drop 11 varsity sports, including wrestling, men's volleyball and women's field hockey
Insurance Costs on the Rise for Colleges
***HIGHER ED & RACIAL ISSUES
Mississippi students voted to move a Civil War statue. Now they fear a Confederate shrine
Washington and Lee faculty vote to change the university's name
15 Classroom Resources for Discussing Racism, Policing, and Protest
The University Of Texas Is Renaming Its Football Field
***HIGHER ED & POLITICS
Trump threatens to pull tax exemption for schools, colleges
***HIGHER ED IN COURT
SCOTUS will consider free speech damages in case of evangelizing college student
***TEACHING ONLINE
The Greatest Teaching Techniques Don't Compute Over Zoom
College Courses Online Are Disappointing. Here’s How to Fix Them
Yes, Your Zoom Teaching Can Be First-Rate
Number of academic dishonesty incidents during spring term remains within normal range at Dartmouth
***ACADEMIC LIFE
Study: faculty fit in hiring is vague and potentially detrimental to diversity efforts
University professors fear returning to campus as coronavirus cases surge nationwide
Many College Professors Don’t Want To Teach In Person. Will They Have A Choice?
'Scared for my life,' but needing a salary: Teachers weigh risks as COVID-19 looms
***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS
Racial slur, ‘The Idiot’s Guide to Kama Sutra’ led to chaplain’s firing, says Wheaton College
Loyola University Chicago Rolls Back Plans For In-Person Classes This Fall
'It's been an embarrassment to Liberty'; Falwell says he backs renaming Lynchburg
Evangel to require masks on campus
***RESEARCH
‘Each scientist must stand up, at all costs, for the truth’ ($)
The Pandemic Is Pushing Scientists To Rethink How They Read Research Papers
How to Read Covid-19 Research (and Actually Understand It)
***STUDENT LIFE
College students fume over having to pay full tuition for dubious online learning
African grey parrot outperforms children and college students
An Algorithm Set Students’ Grades—and Altered Their Futures
6 Ways To Slow The Spread Of COVID-19 When You Get Back To Campus
31 Questions college students should ask their schools about returning to campus & the virus
/Here are some questions that students, parents, and faculty might ask about a school's plan for handling the virus during the fall semester.
1-Will students be expected to quarantine when they first arrive?
2-Will be outdoor social distancing activities?
3-Will there be a list of dues and don’ts along with an indication of what’s the most important?
4-Will students with underlying conditions get special help?
5-Should students treat their professors differently than students since they are older?
6-Will classrooms be cleaned after every class meeting?
7-What messaging will be used to motivate students to be safe?
8-How will students be encouraged to wear masks at social events?
9-Will students coming from lax-mask wearing states be given extra help/encouragement to follow the mask-wearing rules?
10-What will be done to help to correct mistaken beliefs about safety measures on the part of students and staff?
11-What happens if someone refuses to wear a mask?
12-How will testing for the virus be handled?
13-How often will I be tested?
14-Where will testing take place?
15-What happens if someone refuses to be tested?
16-Is there an HR form to be filled out each week by employees about symptoms? Will HR notify the supervisor and work contacts if someone is a potential risk?
17-What if someone is turned away for testing because they don’t exhibit symptoms but may have been exposed?
18-Will there be an app used to track symptoms?
19-If there is a symptom tracking app used, will there be rewards for using it?
20-Can the tracking be personalized to their pre-existing conditions?
21-How will shame over contracting symptoms or contracting the disease itself be combated?
22-If someone is self-isolating on campus because of exposure to the virus, how will others be informed (so they don’t intrude)? How will meals be arranged?
23-How will the duties of staff/faculty be handled if the person is self-isolating?
24-Will it be made clear to students what will trigger automatic quarantine?
25-How will contract tracing be handled? (Even if county health authorities say they will conduct tracing, there are reports of this not happening in parts of the country.)
26-Will a “case manager” be assigned to each COVID-19 case (and who assigns them and is there a system in place to keep up with their findings)?
27-If the spread happens rapidly, what will happen if case managers are overwhelmed?
28-Will students who reveal they have been to bars (when they are underage) be punished for reporting these contacts?
29-How many cases will trigger parts of the campus to close or restrict services? How many cases will trigger a shut down of the school?
30-Will students clearly be informed about the threshold for campus shutdown?
31-If I feel unsafe, can I take my classes online?
If you have other questions to suggest, let me know! stephengoforth@gmail.com
We are actors in a play
/We play many roles during our lifetime. The hard part is knowing when to play which role. We are often unaware that the curtain is falling, and another act is about to begin. Don't become one of those sad actors, playing a role that has already ended. You know someone like this: They are no longer relevant, and they are reciting lines that belong in another act, in another time.
There is another danger: Playing our role on stage and then running off the stage and into the audience. We take a seat and heckle ourselves. It is God's play, not our own: allow him to determine the value of your performance. As actors, we do not know when the final curtain will fall. We do not know the outcome of the play or even how storylines resolve themselves. There are twists that only the author understands.
The thought that "we are all actors in a play" is an old idea that reminds us that we do not have enough information to make heads or tails of too much of what’s going on around us. We are forced to ad-lib, to improvise, to guess our way through life.
CS Lewis wrote, “We keep on assuming that we know the play. We do not even know whether we are in Act I or Act V. We do not know who are the major and who the minor characters. The Author knows.” And then there's Garrison Keillor's quip: "God writes a lot of comedy...the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny."
Stephen Goforth
Articles of Interest about the virus & religion - July 12
/***THE VIRUS
Warning of serious brain disorders in people with mild coronavirus symptoms
New Study Says 'Silent Spreaders' May Be Responsible For Half Of U.S. COVID-19 Cases
***WORKING FROM HOME
Lawsuit: Mom working at home fired because boss was upset about kids interfering with work
***THE VIRUS & RELIGION
A running list of situations where churches have met together and spread the virus
A Christian Summer Camp Shut Down After 82 Kids And Staff Got The Coronavirus
Churches, eager to reopen, have emerged as a major source of coronavirus cases
Evangelical minister from Mike Pence’s Indiana prayer group reveals he's voting for Joe Biden
***RELIGION
Montana man arrested after toppling religious monument
Israel orders US-based Christian TV channel off air
Kneeling in the Church of Social Justice
***RELIGION AND POLITICS
Author Interview: 'Unholy' Examines The Alliance Between White Evangelicals And Trump
A new dilemma for Trump’s team: Preventing super-spreader churches
When progressive evangelicals held the national stage
How an ardent defender of faith—and Donald Trump—came to think of the press as her enemy
The Faith Of The Black Lives Matter Movement
***RELIGION & THE LAW
Recent SCOTUS Decisions On Religion Open Up New Questions
Supreme Court lifts ban on state aid to religious schooling
Religious school teachers aren't covered by employment discrimination laws, Supreme Court rules
Why Supreme Court Liberals Joined Conservatives on Religion
Supreme Court Allows Exemptions For Birth Control Coverage
***RELIGION & RACIAL ISSUES
Evangelical leaders are speaking up about race — but will this new focus last?
How an iconic painting of Jesus as a white man was distributed around the world ($)
***TELEVANGELISTS
Televangelist Morris Cerullo dies at 88
Televangelists take a slice as churches accept billions in US coronavirus aid
***DENOMINATIONS
Church of God denomination facing significant COVID-19 outbreak; leaders won't say how many infected
Jehovah’s Witnesses schedule virtual convention due to coronavirus
Catholic Church Getting Over $1 Billion In Coronavirus Aid
***MEGACHURCHES
A Megachurch Let the Pastor’s Son Work With Kids Despite His “Attraction to Minors”
John Ortberg’s Church Says ‘No Evidence of Misconduct’ As More Details Emerge
John Ortberg’s megachurch announces new investigation
Dallas megachurch that hosted Pence approved for millions in coronavirus aid
A Dallas Megachurch Had A Coronavirus Cluster then It Hosted Mike Pence
***RELIGION & LGBTQ ISSUES
Instagram and Facebook ban all content promoting conversion therapy
Mexico City Lawmakers Vote To Ban ‘Gay Conversion’ Therapy
Humility
/Humility is the awareness that there’s a lot you don’t know and that a lot of what you think you know is distorted or wrong. -David Brookes
inspiring others
/If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader. -John Quincy Adams (born: July 11, 1767)
Let us not cease
/Let us not cease to do the utmost, that we may incessantly go forward in the way of the Lord; and let us not despair of the smallness of our accomplishments. -John Calvin (Born: July 10, 1509)
Difficult experiences early in life
/Having difficult experiences early in life is less important than whether we’ve found a way to make sense of how those experiences have affected us. -Daniel J. Siegel
How to Identify Adaptable People
/How can you determine whether a job candidate is willing to constantly revise their understanding and reconsider problems they thought they'd already solved?" Ask: “Tell me about a goal you didn't manage to achieve. What happened? What did you do as a result?"
Most candidates will take responsibility for failing. (People who don't are people you definitely don't want to hire.) Good candidates don't place the blame on other people or on outside factors. They recognize that few things go perfectly, and a key ingredient of success is having the ability to adjust.
Smart people take responsibility. And they also learn key lessons from the experience, especially about themselves. They see failure as training. That means they can describe, in detail what perspectives, skills, and expertise they gained from that training. And they can admit where they were wrong -- and how they were willing and even eager to change their minds.
Jeff Haden writing in Inc.