A man with no enemies
/A man with no enemies is a man with no character. -Paul Newman
ideas that challenge / comfort / inspire
Ability and Achievement
/Ability does not guarantee achievement, nor is achievement proportional to ability. So it is important to always keep in mind the other term in the equation – the role of chance. -Leonard Mlodinow
Articles of interest about higher ed & the virus - August 10
/***THE VIRUS
How widespread is COVID-19 in children? A look at the latest data as schools reopen
Front-Line Federal Workers Sue For Hazard Pay
Americans are moving around too much and taking coronavirus with them, expert says
***MASKS
Scientists tested 14 types of masks — here are the ones that worked and didn’t
‘Mask mouth’ is a seriously stinky side effect of wearing masks
***HIGHER ED & THE VIRUS
Covid-19 will be painful for universities, but also bring change
Private colleges eye COVID-19 liability, testing concerns
***THE FALL SEMESTER
No parties, no trips: Colleges set COVID-19 rules for fall
California colleges to reopen with limited classes, dorm life
California colleges scramble to open lacking state rules
***COLLEGE SPORTS
MAC becomes the first FBS conference to cancel its football season
***FALL PLANS AT SPECIFIC SCHOOLS
20% Of Harvard’s First-Year Class Has Deferred
Howard joins Johns Hopkins, other schools in online semester
As Bay Area universities change plans for a coronavirus-affected fall, students scramble
Alabama revises campus reentry form after concerns it waived legal rights
What one Colorado college learned trying to run safe in-person classes this summer
University of Kentucky testing entire student body ahead of return to campus
***K-12
“Not what I signed up for”: COVID-19 has Colorado teachers considering quitting
***HIGHER ED
FBI Encourages Campus Police to Participate in the National Use-of-Force Data Collection Program
The Corporations Devouring American Colleges
***COLLEGE FINANCE
Colleges spent recklessly, and the bill has come due
Colleges Face Financial Crisis As They Struggle To Operate In A Pandemic
Colleges weigh fiscal impact of virus as fall nears
More States Are Looking at Consolidating Their Public Colleges. Does It Work? ($)
Some UA faculty alarmed by plan to buy for-profit school; Harm to university's reputation feared
***TEACHING ONLINE
It’s OK to let students keep their video off while you teach online. I promise
Another problem with shifting education online: A rise in cheating
Software that monitors students during tests perpetuates inequality and violates their privacy
***ACADEMIC LIFE
Lecturer Who Tweeted About Police Won't Teach
Lehigh University to pay $200,000 to settle allegations related to ex-professor’s NASA fraud
First They Came for Adjuncts, Now They’ll Come for Tenure ($)
***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS
BYU students start petition to bring university back to ‘Christ-centered education’
How Jerry Falwell Jr. Lost His Liberty Flock ($)
Falwell Placed on Leave From Liberty
***RESEARCH
Authorship and justice: Credit and responsibility
***SCIENCE
The Science Sleuth Holding Fraudulent Research Accountable
Five better ways to assess science
How to be an ethical scientist
***STUDENT LIFE
College students launch free online tutoring service to help stressed parents during pandemic
Student sues BYU, saying move to online classes offered ‘subpar’ education
Why these students fought back against their university’s COVID-19 program
Stanford graduate students question university's coronavirus policies as campus move-ins begin
***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT
Cape Elizabeth student dedicates court victory to friend, mentor
University releases 15 sexual assault records following four-year lawsuit
Morehouse College seeks dismissal of sexual harassment lawsuit
Dartmouth student ends hunger strike over school's handling of sexual misconduct claims
University releases 15 sexual assault records following four-year lawsuit
wiser today
/A man should never be ashamed to own that he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than yesterday. -Jonathan Swift
Articles of interest about the virus, journalism, fakes and more - August 8
/***THE VIRUS
We'll Be Out of This Pandemic By End of 2021, Says Bill Gates ($)
Google and Harvard release COVID-19 prediction models
Covid-19 will be painful for universities, but also bring change
***GRAMMAR
The mysterious origins of punctuation
What helped Ed Yong write the sentence of the year?
***JOURNALISM
NAHJ Launches Cultural Competence Handbook
Ideas for covering the coronavirus’ impact on people of color and the poor
The News Junkies of the Eighteenth Century
Survey of American beliefs about the news media
How the DHS Can Still Arrest Journalists in Portland
The modern dilemma of TikTok journalism
City Attorney opens, quickly closes criminal investigation into records leak to San Diego Journalist
***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM
Journalists’ Twitter use shows them talking within smaller bubbles
***FAKES & FRAUDS
Trump, QAnon and The Return of Magic (video)
***SOCIAL MEDIA
Facebook hate-speech boycott had little effect on revenue
Twitter is letting all users limit replies to their tweets on iOS
***LANGUAGE
Tracing the etymology of “abstract”: Abstract Art vs. a Scientific Abstract
Scientists discover brain hack that improves language abilities by 13%
***POETRY
Five high schoolers named National Student Poets
Here's why you shouldn't give up on poetry
***PRIVACY & SECURITY
The hidden trackers in your phone, explained
Phishing campaigns, from first to last victim, take 21h on average
***PRODUCING MEDIA
How to take a screenshot on a Google Chrome browser in 4 different ways, using a simple trick
Silence
/A man is known by the silence he keeps. - Oliver Herford
Baby Steps
/Many of us.. have great dreams and ambitions. Caught up in the emotions of our dreams and the vastness of our desires, we find it very difficult to focus on the small, tedious steps usually necessary to attain them. We tend to think in terms of giant leaps toward our goals. But in the social world as in nature, anything of size and stability grows slowly. The piecemeal strategy is the perfect antidote to our natural impatience: it forces us to think in terms of a process, a sequence of connected steps and actions, no matter how small, which has immeasurable psychological benefits as well. Too often the magnitude of our desires overwhelms us; taking that small firs step makes them seem realizable. There is nothing more therapeutic than action.
In plotting this strategy, be attentive to sudden opportunities and to your enemies momentary crises and weaknesses Do not be tempted however, to try to take anything large; bite off more than you can chew and you will be consumed with problems and disproportionately discouraged if you fail to cope with them.
Robert Greene
The 33 Strategies of War
A man is his own easiest dupe
/A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true. - Demosthenes
Articles of interest about higher ed - August 4
/***THE VIRUS
We Still Don't Know All the Long-Term Consequences of 'Mild' COVID
Do some people have protection against the coronavirus?
Here’s what early COVID-19 symptoms may tell you about how sick you’re going to get
Does coronavirus linger in the body?
Can My Boss Make Me Promise I Don’t Have Covid-19 Symptoms?
***HIGHER ED & THE VIRUS
More Than 6,600 Coronavirus Cases Have Been Linked to U.S. Colleges
Virginia Tech mandates COVID-19 tests for on-campus students, stays mum on athletes
Coronavirus outbreak at USC’s fraternity row leaves at least 40 people infected
Colleges Are Forgetting the People Who Make Them Run
***THE FALL SEMESTER
Covid Tests and Quarantines: Colleges Brace for an Uncertain Fall ($)
Students asked to sign liability waivers to return to campus
Students can safely return to college if tested for coronavirus every two days, study says ($)
Colleges reverse decisions to open in person
***FALL PLANS AT SPECIFIC SCHOOLS
Unity College Permanently Eliminates Two-Semester Campus Model in Favor of Hybrid Approach
Before Returning To Campus, St. Xavier Faculty Must ‘Sign Here’ And Accept COVID-19 Risks
Georgetown University: First-year students not allowed on campus, online classes only this fall
What a return to class could look like at the University of North Georgia
University of San Diego drops plans to offer classes on campus this fall
***COLLEGE SPORTS
CNN's Bob Costas: 'Unconscionable' for unpaid college football players to play during pandemic
***HIGHER ED
Who Is Ruining Our Universities? Administrators!!
University of Arizona acquires Ashford University
***COLLEGE FINANCE
As the pandemic upends higher education, is residential college worth the cost?
***HIGHER ED IN COURT
Utah State University sued over expulsion of student with Down syndrome
With petitions and lawsuits, some students demand lower tuition for online instruction
Judge: Lawsuit against U-M for switching to online classes can continue
Family of Teen Who Died at WSU Fraternity Files Lawsuit
***TEACHING ONLINE
Coronavirus: Remote learning turns kids into zombies because we're doing it all wrong
***ONLINE CHEATING
Using Online Cheating as a Teachable Moment for Students and Educators
***ACADEMIC LIFE
UNC Chapel Hill faculty to students: stay home
Auburn lecturer’s anti-cop tweets ‘inexcusable’ as university ‘continues to assess’ his future
Political science professor disciplined for refusing diversity training
***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS
Point Loma Nazarene University drops plans for in-person classes, will stay online
***RESEARCH
It Takes Great Discipline to Read a Scientific Paper – and Even More to Write One
Will COVID-19 mark the end of scientific publishing as we know it?
Why Professors Are Writing Crap That Nobody Reads (opinion)
Paper called “unscholarly, overtly racist” earns an editor’s note
***STUDENT LIFE
How to Go to College During a Pandemic
Colleges Lease Hotel Rooms for Students
How College Students Are Using Social Media to Expose Racism
Members Of The Class Of 2020 Face A Brutal Job Market
Arizona parents asked to sign COVID-19 waivers before sending kids back to school
***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT
University of Minnesota changes how it handles campus sexual misconduct complaints
University of Michigan's provost was “serial harasser”
***RACIAL ISSUES ON CAMPUS
UB removes Millard Fillmore, other names from campus
The Fabric is Torn in Oxford’: Ole Miss Officials Decried Racism Publicly, Coddled it Privately
Former Palomar College president alleged race, gender discrimination in complaint
Humility
/Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people CALL ‘humble’ nowadays: he will not be a greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a bit envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.
CS Lewis, Mere Christianity
Your job
/Make good more attractive than evil.
Delighting in Life
/You can't outwit death anyway by "progress" or accumulating wealth; so why not accept your fate, choose values which are authentic, and let yourself delight and believe in the being you are and the Being you are part of?
Rollo May, Love & Will
Articles of interest about the virus & religion - August 2
/***THE VIRUS
How Plagues Have Changed the Course of World History
They defied health rules for a storybook San Francisco wedding. The virus didn’t spare them
Where in California Are People Getting Coronavirus?
This Type Of Mask Is Now Banned From Delta Flights
Children May Carry Coronavirus at High Levels, Study Finds
***RELIGION & THE VIRUS
California churches evade coronavirus lockdown orders
Outdoor religious gatherings in California draw warnings and rebukes from health officials
COVID-19 outbreak linked to Colorado Bible conference that refused to shutdown event
Hundreds Of Muslims Attend Drive-Through Hajj In Maryland
Supreme Court rules against Nevada church over COVID-19 restrictions
***RELIGION
Charity Gospel for Asia files for creditor protection after $170M lawsuit
White Supremacy Shaped American Christianity, Researcher Says
***RELIGION AND POLITICS
Rep. Ted Yoho resigns from Christian Charity after verbally attacking Ocasio-Cortez Yahoo
Jonathan Isaac cites gospel as explanation for not kneeling, wearing Black Lives Matter shirt Friday
***RELIGION & RACIAL ISSUES
Racism among white Christians is higher than among the nonreligious. That's no coincidence
Eric Metaxas, Doing Twitter Theology, Claims ‘Jesus Was White’ (opinion)
***MEGACHURCHES
Saving millions of pounds of unsold produce from being destroyed
/#GOODNEWS
When George Ahearn heard that farmers were destroying unsold produce, he arranged for trucks to deliver 3 million pounds of it to food banks across the state of Washington. Read more here.
Simple & hard things
/Make simple things easy, and hard things possible.
How Birth Order affects you
/Everyone takes it personally when it comes to birth order.
Children and parents alike are profoundly affected by the constellations of siblings.. But that doesn’t mean the effects of birth order are as clear or straightforward as we sometimes make them sound. Indeed, birth order can be used to explain every trait and its precise opposite. I’m competitive, driven — typical oldest child! My brother, two years younger, is even more competitive, more driven — typical second child, always trying to catch up!
“Too many parents are haunted by experiences both good and bad that they identify with their birth order,” said Dr. Peter A. Gorski, a professor of pediatrics, public health and psychiatry at the University of South Florida. And that might lead them to classify their own children according to birth order, he went on, which in turn can lead to a sense of identification or even rejection and to “self-fulfilling prophecies.”
“Birth order doesn’t cause anything,” (says) Frank J. Sulloway, a visiting scholar at the University of California Berkeley Dr. Sulloway said. “It’s simply a proxy for the actual mechanisms that go on in family dynamics that shape character and personality.”
Now, of course birth order played into my patients’ patterns, but so did gender and birth spacing and, above all, temperament.
"I wouldn’t discount the impact of birth order,” Dr. Gorski told me. “It sets up the structure of one’s place in relation to others from the beginning, as we learn how to react to people of different ages and different relationships.”
Perri Klass writing in the New York Times
Articles of Interest about writing, journalism, fakes & more – July 30
/***WRITING & READING
How to Sell Books in 2020: Put Them Near the Toilet Paper
Four-year-old lands book deal for his 'astonishing' poetry
8 Writers on Finding a Literary Agent
Writing Historical Fiction As History Repeats Itself
The Physical Traits that Define Men and Women in Literature
***GRAMMAR
Man faked death to avoid jail but typo gave him away
Did Rutgers University Declare Grammar ‘Racist’?
***JOURNALISM
Publishers and Journalists on TikTok
Choi criticizes journalists for tweets about Jefferson statue issue
Prosecutor: No time for evidence against arrested reporter
A Judge Said Federal Officers Can’t Arrest Or Use Force Against Journalists In Portland
Press freedom incidents have surged during police protests
***FAKES & FRAUDS
This clever Netflix scam attempts to steal your credit card information
How dubious psychology techniques have been misused in criminal investigations
Fake Signs Warning Campers Of Satanic Cult Activity, Animal Sacrifice Pop Up Around Big Bear Lake
Twitter bans 7,000 QAnon accounts, limits 150,000 others as part of broad crackdown
Why Conspiracy Theorists Think FEMA Is Building Camps to Imprison Americans
17 Fascinating Facts About Conspiracy Theories
***CORONAVIRUS CONSPIRACY THEORIES
25% in US see at least some truth in conspiracy theory that COVID-19 was planned
Snopes and coronavirus rumors: Debunking website can’t keep up with the misinformation
Coronavirus: 'Deadly masks' claims debunked
'COVID parties’ are a pandemic urban legend that won’t go away
Coronavirus: Conspiracy Theories (John Oliver video)
An FBI hostage negotiator explains how to persuade people to wear masks
***SOCIAL MEDIA
Facebook can see your web activity. Here's how to stop it
The US is 'looking at' banning TikTok
***LANGUAGE
People are sharing common phrases that no longer reflect the action and it's eye-opening
***PRIVACY & SECURITY
Rite Aid deployed facial recognition systems in hundreds of U.S. stores
Face masks are screwing up facial recognition software
***PRODUCING MEDIA
Some of the winners of this year's iPhone photography awards
AP to equip all visual journalists globally with Sony Imaging products
the hardest teacher
/Experience is the hardest teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward. -Vernon Law