What does it means for a human being to possess the truth

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Kierkegaard’s concern is really not with the adequacy of a philosophical theory of truth, but with the question of what it means for a human being to possess the truth. To grasp the significance of this, we must not think of truth in the way characteristic of contemporary philosophy, focusing on the properties of propositions, but in the way ancient thinkers conceived of truth. For Socrates and Plato, at least as Kierkegaard understood them, having the truth meant having the key to human life, possessing that which makes it possible to live life as it was intended to be lived.

C Stephen Evans, Introduction: Kierkegaard’s life and works

Was there nothing worth fighting for?

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You’ve probably heard the story of the guy who climbs up the steep steps to the Golden Gate to presents himself to St. Peter and St. Peter says, “So, show me your scars!” “Scars?” the guy says, “Uh, I...I don’t have any scars..” “No scars?!” St. Peter asks incredulously.” Was there nothing worth fighting for?”

What is worth fighting for? As the American rock singer, actor, author and poet, Henry Rollins says, “Scar tissue is stronger than regular tissue. Realize the strength and move on...”  

Gail Blanke

 

Tuesday Tech Tools: 26 Twitter Tools

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Botometer
Checks the activity of a Twitter account and gives it a score based on how likely the account is to be a bot. A high score suggests the account is probably automated. Accounts rated above 48% are flagged as potential bots—anything over 60% rates as a “likely” bot. It's a free product out of Indiana University. 

DeBot
Like the Botometer, this is a bot detection system for Twitter accounts. The information is archived so it can be searched. It's free tool from the University of New Mexico.

Folier.me
Insights into any public Twitter profile. Free.

FollowerWonk
Find people to follow on Twitter through search, shows you when your Twitter follower are online so you can plan accordingly. Analysis by region. Reports can take a while to build. Free but more metrics with a paid account.

Glisser
Glisser "makes presentations social"  by making slides sharableto audience phones and laptops. Live polling, Twitter feeds and other audience interaction. Free but a paid subscription offers more options.

Hashtagify
Search for trending hashtags that will be most relevant to your audience. Free trial. $9.99 a month.

Kurrently
Search engine for Facebook and Twitter.

Lapse It
A time lapse video capture apps. Up to 1080p on the Pro version. Free or $3.99 for the Pro version.

Make Adverbs Great Again
Helps Twitter users determine if an account is a bot. Offers a rating of 1-10 as to whether an account is likely to be an artificial troll. Free.

Mapbox
This Photoshop for maps—and just as difficult to learn. However, it has some of the most powerful style editing of any map maker. Not for beginners. Instead of using Google Maps, Mapbox uses Open Street Maps. An impressive example of how Vox has used it here. There is a free version with paid accounts starting at $50.

Ninja Outreach
Automated social media outreach to find influencers. 

Plume
App for Twitter users. Customizable options. Free for Android, $3 for iOS.

Proporti.oni
Can give you a gender breakdown of your followers and the people you are following, categorizing them as male, female, nonbinary or unknown.

SocialBro*
Helps businesses manage and monitor their Twitter accounts, discover key influencers, schedule Tweets at the best times, track engagement, and analyze competitors. Free Trial with pricing starting at $13.95. Video explanation.

Tweet Beep
Get email alerts whenever somebody tweets about something you're interested in--even keep track of who’s tweeting your website or blog, even if they use a shortened URL. Free account available or paid account at $20 a month for more options.  Video explanation here.

Tweet Chart
Allows you to generate a report of custom data for anything you can search Twitter for: hashtags, words, phrases, usernames or URLs. A reporter could determine which hastags were used most frequently in the past week, deciding to, for instance, report on a recent crime spree or a particular local event. Free.

Tweetbot
Mac app with customizable options. View threads showing co-worker tweets only, for example or retweet from multiple accounts. $3.

TweetDeck*
Look at multiple Twitter feeds on your desktop. Powerful filters help you focus on what interests you. Schedule Tweets, set up notification alerts for new tweets. Option to have it ask for confirmation before a tweet goes out--giving you another chance to avoid sending something inappropriate or not well-crafted. Bought by Twitter in 2011.

Tweepi
Cleans up your Tweeter feed--removing inactive followers in bulk and offers other Twitter management chores. From $7.49 a month.

Twellow
A directory of Twitter users. Lets you search for people based on their name and the information they put into their bios. Find people with similar interests to follow.

Twitonomy
Detailed and visual analytics on anyone's tweets, retweets, replies, mentions, hashtags. Easily backup and export tweets, retweets, etc. Monitor particular user tweets. Find out those you follow but don't follow you back. Download your followers and following lists to Excel. Free trial. Paid accounts start at $19 a month.

TwitterBioGenerator
A canned description of you is a mere click away!

Twitter Lists 
Tweet list manager (similar to TweetDeck)

Twitter moments
Bundled experiences of Twitter content.

Twitter Search
The search engine for Twitter. See what people are saying about your competitors by to:competitor replacing competitor with Twitter handle.

TwXplorer
Explore what’s trending on Twitter. Filter for the 500 most recent uses of a word (or phrase). The app will list of users tweeting about that phrase and hashtags being used in relation to that word or phrase. A product of Northwestern University’s Knight Lab. Free.

Is it Hard for You to Ask for Help?

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If you are inclined to avoid requesting help, it’s important to examine any thoughts or beliefs that might be getting in your way. These could include: 

·      Negative associations: you might think that someone is lazy if they can’t do something themselves.

·      Self-criticism: you could think that asking for help means you are incapable or weak.

·      Concerns about how you will be perceived: you might worry that someone will think less favourably of you if you ask for help.

·      Self-sacrificing beliefs: you might worry about burdening someone with your needs.

·      Overestimating the likelihood of rejection: ‘No one is going to want to help me out,’ you might assume – ‘why would they?’

Research suggests that we tend to underestimate the likelihood of someone saying yes to a request for help. Most people feel good when they do helpful things for others, and prefer to think of themselves as generous and willing to help when they can. If you fear that someone will like you less if you ask them for help, consider the opposite possibility: people might actually like you more if they’ve done you a favour. Expressing vulnerability and openness, by acknowledging that you could use help, can lead to deeper connection.

Debbie Sorensen writing in Psyche

22 Articles about Job Searches

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Is Learning a Struggle?

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Embrace the fact that significant learning is often, or even usually, somewhat difficult. You will experience setbacks. These are signs of effort, not of failure. Effortful learning changes your brain, making new connection, building mental models, increasing your capacity. The implication of this is powerful: your intellectual abilities lie to a large degree within your own control. Knowing that this is so makes the difficulties worth tackling. 

Peter C. Brown and Henry L. Roediger III, Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning

12 Upcoming Journalism Webinars: Media Law, Women's Voices, Bias, Climate, Disinformation, Suicide, Internships, Trauma, & more

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Mon, Sept 12 – Media Law Office Hours

What: Allows journalists with legal questions to help find answers.  

Who: Attorney Matthew Leish

When: 5 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free to members

Sponsor: Deadline Club of New York

RSVP

 

Tue, Sept 13 – Women’s voices in the news, then and now

What: A wide-ranging conversation about how women’s voices have been silenced and spotlighted in newsrooms and in the public square, and how we can ensure that journalism raises up a diversity of women’s perspectives in the future.

Who: Soraya Chemaly, award-winning author of “Rage Becomes Her,” co-founder of the Women’s Media Center Speech Project - Deborah Douglas, co-editor-in-chief of The Emancipator - Allison Gilbert, journalist and co-author of “Listen, World!” - Dana Rubin, author of “Speaking While Female” - Connie Schultz, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, novelist, professor; Moderator - Julie Moos

When: 11:30 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: National Press Club Journalism Institute

More info

 

Wed, Sept 14 – Reporters: You’ve Been Laid Off. Now What?

What: If you’re a journalist who was laid off (or is worried this might happen to you), what do you do? Several experts will explain how reporters can best prepare before and after layoffs occur. They will also provide tips for networking, freelancing and ways to practice self-care. Speakers:

Who: Rachel Cohen, senior policy reporter, Vox Media Theola DeBose, founder, JSKILLS Kathy Lu, diversity, inclusion and leadership trainer, Poynter Institute Naseem Miller, senior health editor, The Journalist’s Resource Kavitha Cardoza, public editor, EWA (moderator)

When: 2 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor:

More info

 

Thu, Sept 15 - Understanding Bias

What: Learn how to teach students to move beyond the unhelpful term “fake news” to more precisely identify the many types of misleading, inaccurate and false information that they encounter. Explore motivations behind different types of propagators of misinformation and learn fact-checking basics to help encourage student learning. By teaching a deeper understanding of misinformation, students can become less susceptible to it and more likely to prioritize reliable, verified sources of news and information.

Who: News Literacy Project's John Silva and Alexa Volland

When: 5 pm, Eastern   

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor:  News Literacy Project

More info

 

Thu, Sept 15 – Let’s Talk Journalism

What: This virtual workshop will teach aspiring journalists how to encourage vibrant conversation at their schools. The webinar will mostly consist of break out room activities.

Who: FIRE Program Associate Elizabeth Stanley

When: 4 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE)

More info and registration

 

Thu, Sept 15 - Covering Climate

What: Want to cover climate stories but don’t know where to begin? In this session, you’ll learn how to quickly access media-trained scientists and where to find (and even make) visuals to illustrate your work.

Who: Panelists include Google’s Mary Nahorniak, Google’s Mary Nahorniak, Picture Motion's Brian Walker, and SciLine’s Rick Weiss.

When: 11 am, Pacific

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor:

More info

 

Fri, Sept 16 - Combatiendo la Desinformación / Fighting Disinformation

What: The Latino community in the U.S. continues to be the target of misinformation campaigns on social media as well as through messaging apps and mass media. This is a conversation with experts in mis/disinformation campaigns that will put the problem in perspective for the Latino community and will share tools and strategies to protect us from fake news. This webinar will provide Spanish-to-English live interpretation.

When: 12 noon, Pacific

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: San Diego State University

Registration

 

Wed, Sept 21 – Writing the Suicide News Story

What: How do you report on suicide responsibly and in a manner that reduces harm? What should you include or not, and why? This webinar will be an engaging case study-based training experience to hone your reporting skills on the topic.

Who: Nerissa Young, journalist and associate professor of instruction in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University; John Ackerman, suicide prevention clinical manager for the Center for Suicide Prevention and Research at Nationwide Children’s Hospital

When: 12 noon, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: WOSU Public Media 

More info    

 

Wed, Sept 21 - Early Childhood Journalism Initiative Webinar Series

What: In this panel, we look at how losing a parent or caregiver can impact a child’s health and what are possible ways to protect them in the future. This is fundamental to learn how to report more thoroughly on tough personal stories and hold governments accountable as well as methods for ethically and sensitively including these children in our reporting.

Who: Charles H. Zeanah, Professor of Psychiatry & Pediatrics, Tulane University Lucero Ascarza, Peruvian journalist, Salud con Lupa Mythreyee Ramesh, Indian journalist, Irene Caselli, early childhood journalist

When: 10 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: The Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma

More info

 

Fri, Sept 23 – How to land a journalism internship in Washington, D.C.

What: You’ll learn about the reporting, visual journalism, production, and other opportunities that exist, as well as: What makes an internship applicant stand out. What recruiters wish applicants would do differently. How to frame your journalistic achievements and best stories. What types of work samples catch an editor’s eye. How to decide whether a paid or unpaid internship opportunity is right for you.

Who: A panel of recruiters for D.C.-based news internships

When: 2:00 PM, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: The National Press Club Journalism Institute

More info

 

Wed, Sept 28 - The Aftermath of Trauma for Journalists

What: After covering difficult topics, what are strategies to cope with the aftermath? Panelists will share resources that support journalist mental health.

Who: Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anne Saker, retired from the Cincinnati Enquirer, will share her experiences covering health care, suicide and trauma and how she survived a decades-long career on the front line of journalism; Bailey Fullwiler, MSSA, LSW, a licensed community social worker and independent grief consultant, for Mental Health America of Ohio; Moderator: Nerissa Young, journalist and associate professor of instruction in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University.

When: 6 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: WOSU Public Media 

More info    

 

Thu, Sept 29 - Disinformation, Midterms, and the Mind: How psychological science can help journalists combat election misinformation

What: Learn: How misinformation and disinformation is impacting journalists and newsrooms; the latest scientific research from the nation's leading psychologists about how to infuse proven methods of prebunking and inoculation in your reporting; what tactics make a piece of misinformation or disinformation go viral and how to inoculate the public against it; tips for overcoming cognitive traps, tripwires, and our own hidden biases as journalists

Who: Dolores Albarracín, Alexandra Heyman Nash University Professor; Director, Social Action Lab; Director, Science of Science Communication Division, Annenberg Public Policy Center Jay Van Bavel, Director, Social Identity & Morality Lab and Associate Professor of Psychology and Neural Science, New York University

When: 11:30 AM, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsors: The National Press Club Journalism Institute, Pen America, and the American Psychological Association

More info

Embracing Uncertainty

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Research by Saras Sarasvathy, an associate professor of business administration at the University of Virginia, suggests that learning to accommodate feelings of uncertainty is not just the key to a more balanced life but often leads to prosperity as well.

For one project, she interviewed 45 successful entrepreneurs, all of whom had taken at least one business public. Almost none embraced the idea of writing comprehensive business plans or conducting extensive market research.

They practiced instead what Prof. Sarasvathy calls "effectuation." Rather than choosing a goal and then making a plan to achieve it, they took stock of the means and materials at their disposal, then imagined the possible ends. Effectuation also includes what she calls the "affordable loss principle." Instead of focusing on the possibility of spectacular rewards from a venture, ask how great the loss would be if it failed. If the potential loss seems tolerable, take the next step.

Oliver Burkeman writing in the Wall Street Journal

Embracing Errors

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In the 1950s and 60s, the psychologist BF Skinner advocated the adoption of "errorless learning" methods in education in the belief that errors by learners are counterproductive in result from faulty instruction. The theory of errorless learning gave rise to instructional techniques in which the learners were spoonfed new material in small bites and immediately quizzed on them while they still remained on the tongue, so speak, fresh in short-term memory and easy to spit out onto the test form. There was virtually no chance of making an error. Since those days we've come to understand that retrieval from short-term memory is an ineffective learning strategy and that errors are an integral part of striving to increase one's mastery over new material. Yet in our Western culture, where achievement is seen as an indicator of ability, many learners view errors as failure and do what they can to avoid committing them. The aversion to failure may be reinforced by instructors who labor under the belief that when learners are allowed to make errors it's the errors that they will learn.

Peter C. Brown and Henry L. Roediger III, Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning

Tuesday Tech Tools: 12 Timeline Makers

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Aeon Timeline
A desktop timeline creation tool especially for creative writers. $50 per license.

BEEDOCS Timesline 3D
Build family trees, and other timelines. iOS only. Free with certain in-app purchases.

Dipity
Embeddable timeline generator w/photos and text. Sample.

Office Timeline
A free PowerPoint add-on that helps you create charts and timelines.

Preceden (formally Time Glider)
Create web-based timelines using images & videos. Easy-to-use.

Sutori
A tool for teachers and students to craft historical timelines combining graphics, video, audio, text, quizzes, and more. Drag and drop little boxes of content. Built for collaborative efforts. Basic accounts are free or paid account with more features $49 a year.

Tiki-Toki
Web-based data-focused timeline maker. Easy-to-use. Free to students while paid accounts run from $5-24 a month with more options.

Timeline Maker
Lots of options but a bit of a learning curve. Not cheap: Starts at $49 for a single-user edu license.

TimelineJS
Knight Lab’s free tools to build visually-rich interactive timelines. It can pull in media from different sources such as Twitter, Flickr, Google Maps, YouTube, Vimeo, SoundCloud, etc. The process for making one involves filling out a supplied spreadsheet template.

TimeMapper
Timelines and maps. Sample video here.

TimeToast
Nice visualization for historical timelines but no customization. Good for teachers and students. Free version or more templates starting at $5.99 a month.

Xtimeline
Creates timelines.

More Tech Tools

Literature as antidote

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Poetry was always more than poetry in Russia. Former Soviet prisoners are said to have attested that Russian classics saved their lives in the labor camps when they retold the novels of Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Dostoyevsky to other inmates. Russian literature could not prevent the Gulags, but it did help prisoners survive them.

Slaves give birth to a dictatorship and a dictatorship gives birth to slaves. There is only one way out of this vicious circle, and that is through culture. Literature is an antidote to the poison of the Russian imperialist way of thinking. The road to the Bucha massacre leads not through Russian literature, but through its suppression.

Mikhail Shishkin writing in The Atlantic

15 Resume Help Sites

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Some places to find resume templates.

Older but not Wiser

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There are reasons why older is not necessarily wiser. You’re never more open to new experience than when you’re twenty. After that, the need to make money, the fear of having no work, the demands of children, the sense that the world is moving in strange new directions, the appearance of unfamiliar forms of expression that inevitably seem less wonderful than the ones that changed your life when you were twenty cause the aperture to slowly narrow.

By fifty, the obvious fact of your own decline is easily mistaken for an intimation of the world’s. And, since there’s never a shortage of evidence that things are, indeed, worse than they used to be, it’s incredibly satisfying to indulge the idea, and easy to confuse it with a veteran’s seasoned judgment.

George Packer, writing in The New Yorker