The best index to a person's character
/The best index to a person's character is (a) how he treats people who can't do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can't fight back. –Abigail Van Buren (born July 4, 1918)
ideas that challenge / comfort / inspire
Boy Raises More Than $1 Million For Hospital That Saved His Life
/Tony Hudgell, a 5-year-old boy with prosthetic legs, walked six miles to raise money for a London hospital that saved his life. He lost his legs as an infant due to abuse. #GOODNEWS
The Right Man for the Job
/His writing talents were never in doubt. Certainly not after he authored a well-written pamphlet called A Summary View of the Rights of British America. However, the tall red-headed, Virginian was so quiet during debates that some questioned his strength. The real power of that critically important Congress of 1776 was John Adams of Massachusetts. His bull-necked honesty and enthusiastic zeal made him a power center in that legislative body. It was natural that Adams be a principal choice to prepare the key policy paper on the future of the 13 colonies. Three others joined him to form a committee: Ben Franklin, a Connecticut merchant and a New York lawyer. Another man was added to give place to the importance of Virginia. When the committee met to do its work, it was naturally expected that John Adams would be the primary architect of the writing. But Adam suggested instead that the quiet Virginian draw up the first draft for the committee’s consideration. “I’m too obnoxious,” he said. So, almost by accident, the new man had the job. “I turned to neither book nor pamphlet while writing,” he said. He first draft was received without change by the committee and approved later by the entire Congress. Written almost by chance by just the right man…Thomas Jefferson. And the document— the Declaration of Independence
living forwards
/Life must be lived forwards, however, it can only be understood backwards. –Soren Kierkegaard
You Have Your Truth, I have Mine
/Some people.. maintain that morality is not dependent on the society but rather the individual. “Morality is in the eye of the beholder.” They treat morality like taste or aesthetic judgments, person relative.
On the basis of (moral) subjectivism Adolf Hitler and serial murderer Ted Bundy could be considered as a moral as Gandhi, as long as each lived by his own standards, whatever those might be.
Although many students say they espouse subjectivism, there is evidence that it conflicts with other of their moral views. They typically condemn Hitler as an evil man for his genocidal policies. A contradiction seems to exist between subjectivism and the very concept of morality.
Louis Pojman, Ethical Theory
True Friendship
/True friendship is the least jealous of loves. Two friends delight to be joined by a third.. for in this love “to divide is not to take away”. -CS Lewis
Articles of Interest about the virus & higher ed - June 29
/***THE VIRUS
This simple model shows the importance of wearing masks and social distancing
This chart shows link between restaurant spending and new virus cases
Scientists just beginning to understand the many health problems caused by COVID-19
How Iceland Beat the Coronavirus
Covid-19: Scientists uncover the reason why people lose their sense of smell
Why Some Nursing Homes Are Devastated By COVID-19 While Others Remain Untouched
What To Look For In A Face Mask, According To Science
CDC expands list of who's most at risk for the coronavirus
Is It Safer to Fly or Drive This Summer? 5 Health Experts Weigh In.
***HIGHER ED & THE VIRUS
Colleges say campuses can reopen safely. Students and faculty aren’t convinced.
‘We Could Be Feeling This for the Next Decade’: Virus Hits College Towns
New coronavirus health concern as colleges reopen: Contaminated water sitting in pipes
At One Flagship, Coronavirus Cases Surge Even in the Midst of Summer
Wealthier colleges can offer more protection from COVID-19 than cash-strapped peers
***THE FALL SEMESTER
A Message from Your University’s Vice President for Magical Thinking
A tale of two liberal arts Colleges taking different paths in the fall
Univ of Chicago Professors Will Individually Choose Whether to Hold In-Person Classes Fall Quarter
This college is welcoming freshmen to campus this fall — but most older students will stay home
Park University offers discounted 'gap year' online
How COVID-19 has made some colleges question the academic calendar
As Colleges Make Plans For Fall, More Young People Are Getting COVID-19
Moody's Documents Likely Enrollment Effects by State if Students Stay Close to Home Come Fall
UC San Diego To Require Recurring COVID-19 Testing
***CUTS & CLOSURES
The University of Michigan, Flint, has laid off 41% of its nearly 300 lecturers
Boise's Concordia law school to close
Colleges cut academic programs in the face of budget shortfalls due to Covid-19
***HIGHER ED
California University Paid $1.14 Million After Ransomware Attack
College athletics reacts to proposed change of Miss. state flag
Some colleges provide detailed lists of indirect expenses, while others provide nothing.
The University Is Like a CD in the Streaming Age (opinion)
A Push for Equitable Assessment
Will More Unemployment Increase Fall College Enrollments?
***HIGHER ED RESIGNATIONS
University of Alaska System President Resigns
USC Dean Resigns After Acknowledging Student Relationship
***RACIAL ISSUES ON CAMPUS
When Free Speech and Racist Speech Collide
Two black scholars say UVA denied them tenure after belittling their work
***HIGHER ED IN COURT
Harvard Law student sues university over tuition prices as classes remain online
More than 60 colleges hit with lawsuits as students demand tuition refunds
We don't owe students refund for switching to online instruction, University of Michigan says
***TEACHING
Using Social Media to Retain and Connect with Students in the Shift to Online Education
Zoom losing to Teams in the video conference race to the top
With Pass-Fail, What’s the Point of Grades?
How did America’s remote-learning experiment really go?
UC Berkeley School of Law to be conducted entirely online in fall 2020
Study: Online College Classes Should Have No More Than 12 Students
What Does Good Classroom Design Look Like in the Age of Social Distancing?
***ACADEMIC LIFE
Who Gets to Teach Remotely? The Decisions Are Getting Personal
Elon professor who researches right-wing extremist groups assaulted in Alamance County
TCU Professor Asked To Teach Remotely Due To Daughter’s High-Risk Condition But Says He Was Denied
Teachers in Fairfax revolt against fall plans, refusing to teach in-person
Concerned for fall semester, UVM faculty union prepares to file labor complaint
***CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS
Social media accounts force new discussion about racism and discrimination at Trinity College
Concordia College furloughing 210 full-time employees
NCAA approves Division III membership for Bob Jones University
The Gift within the Quarantine (written by PLNU’s Dean Nelson for the U-T)
***LIBERTY UNIVERSITY
Former Liberty University official raises more than $18,000 to help Black employees leave the school
Two Liberty football players transfer, citing insensitivity, incompetence of school leadership
Evangelical Liberty University rattled by its own racial reckoning
***RESEARCH
Duke researchers say all brain activity studies are wrong
Warning over coronavirus and predatory journals
Peer-Reviewed Scientific Journals Don't Really Do Their Job
CU Boulder alleges misconduct for former INSTAAR scientist
Peer-Reviewed Scientific Journals Don't Really Do Their Job
Does tweeting about research attract more citations?
The Pandemic Claims New Victims: Prestigious Medical Journals ($)
***STUDENT LIFE
Northeastern Student Newspaper Calls Out School Administration
16-Year-Old Alexis Loveraz Teaches Math on TikTok to Students All Over the World
Hardin-Simmons University in Texas says student who made racist TikTok 'no longer enrolled'
College waivers and COVID-19 complications (opinion)
Is An MBA Worth It? After Covid-19, Absolutely Not.
Brown accused of fraud by student-athletes whose sports were cut
Universities should support their most vulnerable students to champion education equity (opinion)
College Is Worth It, but Campus Isn't (opinion) ($)
***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT
Institutions Pushing Back Against Removing PIs From Awards, Despite Harassment Findings
Disney Princess theology
/White Christianity suffers from a bad case of Disney Princess theology. As each individual reads Scripture, they see themselves as the princess in every story. They are Esther, never Xerxes or Haman. They are Peter, but never Judas. They are the woman anointing Jesus, never the Pharisees. They are the Jews escaping slavery, never Egypt. For the citizens of the most powerful country in the world, who enslaved both Native and Black people, to see itself as Israel and not Egypt when it is studying Scripture, is a perfect example of Disney princess theology. And it means that as people in power, they have no lens for locating themselves rightly in Scripture or society- and it has made them blind and utterly ill equipped to engage issues of power and injustice. It is some very weak Bible work.
Life is
/Life is in the climb. -Toby Mckeehan
Shadows from the Past
/Feelings in relationships as we now understand them run on a double track. We react and relate to another person not only on the basis of how we consciously experience that person, but also on the basis of our unconscious experience in reference to our past relationships with significant people in infancy and childhood - particularly parents and other family members. We tend to displace our feelings and attitudes from these past figures onto people in the present, especially if someone has features similar to a person in the past.
An individual may, therefore, evoke intense feelings in us - strong attraction or strong aversion - totally inappropriate to our knowledge of or experience with that person. This process may, to varying degrees, influence our choice of a friend, roommate, spouse, or employer.
We all have the experience of seeing someone we have never met who evokes in us strong feelings. According to the theory of transference, this occurs because something about that person - the gait, the tilt of the head, a laugh or some other feature - recalls a significant figure in our early childhood. Sometimes a spouse or a superior we work under will provoke in us a reaction far more intense than the circumstances warrant. A gesture or tone of voice may reactivate early negative feelings we experienced toward an important childhood figure.
Armand Nicholi, The Question of God
Love Consists
/Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction. -Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Articles of interest about religion and the virus - June 24
/***THE VIRUS
Is it safe to use a public bathroom during coronavirus?
What a Negative COVID-19 Test Really Means
When to Wear a Mask and When You Can Skip It
What happens when employees refuse to return to the office over concerns of the pandemic
Top Five Employment Law Liabilities Facing Employers Post-Pandemic
***RELIGION & THE VIRUS
Researchers creating national database of religious response to COVID-19
White Evangelicals’ Coronavirus Concerns Are Fading Faster
Ready to go back to church? 10 things to consider before heading to worship
***RELIGION & RACISM
Evangelical scholars sign statement condemning racism as 'contrary to Scripture'
Atlanta pastor who suggested slavery was a 'blessing' to white people apologize
Evangelicals perfected cancel culture. Now it’s coming for them
What the Bible Has to Say About the George Floyd Protests (opinion)
Mississippi Baptists: Removing Confederate Flag Emblem Is a ‘Moral Obligation’
***RELIGION AND POLITICS
Trump allies see a mounting threat: Biden’s rising evangelical support
How the Head of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Came Around to Trump
White evangelicals fled Trump during George Floyd protests, according to new analysis
‘Christian Nationalists’ and Their Critics
Millions of Americans Believe Donald Trump Is Fighting Literal Demons
Trump Rally Fills Megachurch With Young Conservatives
***RELIGION & THE LAW
Gay Rights Ruling Complicates Trump Effort to Keep Evangelicals
Conservative Christians See ‘Seismic Implications’ in Supreme Court Ruling
***SATANISM
U.S. Soldier Linked to Satanic Neo-Nazi Group Allegedly Plotted 'Murderous Ambush' on His Own Unit
Order of Nine Angles: What is this obscure Nazi Satanist group?
***MEGACHURCHES
Comment by Atlanta megachurch pastor on race shows how difficult such dialogues can be
***RELIGION & BOOKS
Book, 'Jesus And John Wayne,' Explores What It Means To Be A Christian Man
Starbucks to open its first sign language store in Japan
/#GOODNEWS
Starbucks Coffee is opening its first store in Japan with baristas who know sign language. The store will open on Saturday in Kunitachi, a city in the western part of Tokyo. Nearly the entire staff of 25 is deaf. This will be the fifth "signing store" for the company Others are located in Malaysia, the US and China. Read more here.(image from Starbucks)
Keep Asking Questions
/A few years ago, I got a call (on my communication device) from a Pittsburgh author named Chip Walter. He was co-writing a book with William Shatner (a.k.a Kirk) about how scientific breakthroughs first imagined on Star Trek foreshadowed today’s technological advances. Captain Kirk wanted to visit my virtual reality lab at Carnegie Mellon. Shatner stayed for three hours and asked tons of questions. A colleague later said to me: “He just kept asking and asking. He doesn’t seem to get it.” But I was hugely impressed. Kirk, I mean, Shatner was the ultimate example of a man who knew what he didn’t know, was perfectly willing to admit it, and didn’t want to leave until he understood. That’s heroic to me. I wish every grad student had that attitude.
Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture
Recent data science articles - June 23
/How much data is enough in predictive analytics?
The first universal language for quantum computers
A dozen Python tips and tricks for writing better code
Five steps for building and deploying a deep learning neural network
5 Tips for Novice Freelance Data Scientists
3D modeling based on a single input stream of images
Why some say simulated statistics is the new holy grail
Knowledge isn’t power...
/Knowledge isn’t power until it is applied. – Dale Carnegie
The Risk of Independence
/All life itself represents a risk, and the more lovingly we live our lives the more risks we take. Of the thousands, maybe even millions, of risks we can take in a lifetime the greatest is the risk of growing up. Growing up is the act of stepping from childhood into adulthood. Actually it is more of a fearful leap than a step, and it is a leap that many people never really take in their lifetimes. Though they may outwardly appear to be adults, even successful adults, perhaps the majority of “grown-ups” remain until their death psychological children who have never truly separated themselves from their parents and the power that their parents have over them.
M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled
Articles of Interest about Higher Ed - June 21
/***THE FALL SEMESTER
New Jersey Reveals Plan to Reopen Colleges, Universities Amid Coronavirus
Expecting Students to Play It Safe if Colleges Reopen Is a Fantasy
Here’s how Florida’s large universities are planning to reopen
Harvard Tells Faculty Most Teaching This Fall Will Likely Be Online
Virginia colleges and universities can reopen this fall – if they have a plan
Going online due to COVID-19 this fall could hurt colleges' future
***COLLEGE FINANCE
Universities brace for a permanent wave of closures as coronavirus pushes schools to brink
Facing financial peril, University of Alaska moves to cut academic programs and administrative costs
‘It Breaks My Heart’: San Francisco Art Institute Faculty Speak Out Amid Epic Upheaval
Universities gamble on tuition freezes, hope students will stay and finances won't dive
***HIGHER ED
College life will never be the same. This media company is documenting the change
More Colleges Making Standardized Test Scores Optional For Upcoming School Year
Harvard, other top colleges are ditching required admission tests over COVID-19
Congress Needs to Prevent a Flight From College (opinion)
***HIGHER ED & RACIAL ISSUES
Author discusses his new book on "why talk is not enough to fix racial inequality at universities"
University of Virginia changes athletics logo over links to slavery
College football coach’s $1.1 million buyout epitomizes ridiculous trend
***TEACHING ONLINE
For Online Learning, Business Has Never Been Better
What We’re Learning About Online Learning
Blended Learning is the ‘New Normal’ and Here’s Why
New study argues that the class-size debate needs a lot more nuance
The Difficulties of Teaching a "Hybrid" Class
***ONLINE CHEATING
CUNY professors uncover ‘scandalous’ level of cheating in final exams
University of Calgary accuses 14 students of sharing answers online
Why most plagiarism checkers can’t cope with shady academic writings
University cheating might be up — but don't just blame students
***ACADEMIC LIFE
Harvard professor indicted for allegedly making false statements about secret work in Wuhan
'One Tree Hill' Stars Ask Fans to Help Fire N.C. Professor
***CHRISTAN SCHOOLS
Fuller Celebrates Supreme Court Ruling on DACA
Northwest Nazarene, College of Idaho modify schedules for students this fall
University of San Diego Announces New Data Science Program
Seattle Pacific Univ welcomes new provost
Former Cedarville Student: I was told, “It was a stupid decision to go to the ER for being suicidal”
LGBTQ Rights v. Religious Liberties
***CHRISTAN SCHOOLS & RACIAL ISSUES
New Hope Christian College denies its cross has racist origins
University of Mobile dean under fire for racially insensitive social media post
Moody Apologizes Over Historical Blackface Photos
***WHEATON
Dr. Karen An-Hwei Lee Appointed Provost at Wheaton College
Wheaton College suspends test score requirement
Wheaton College's Christian gap year program
***LIBERTY UNIVERSITY
Top Liberty University basketball player set to transfer due to "racial insensitivities"
Black Liberty University alums rebuke Jerry Falwell after blackface tweet
Liberty University’s Director of Diversity Retention Resigns
Falwell apologizes for tweet that included racist photo
***RESEARCH
The clinical research industry is a mess that needs cleaning up
’It’s like the guy went crazy with Photoshop,’ said one expert in scientific image manipulation
Reform retractions to make them more transparent
Why Psychology Departments Should Abolish Involuntary Participant Pools
***RESEARCHING THE VIRUS
Rush to Publish Risks Undermining COVID-19 Research
Covid-19 studies based on flawed Surgisphere data force medical journals to review processes
Rush to publish coronavirus data creates academic ‘storm’ ($)
How fast can a vaccine be made? (Video)
***STUDENT LIFE
Professor on leave after demanding first-year student should 'anglicize' her name
LSU Profs Want To Drop Students For 'Hate Speech' - Washington Free Beacon
Colleges are canceling study abroad for the fall. What does this mean for students?
***STUDENTS IN COURT
Student files lawsuit against Baylor University due to COVID-19 closure
Lauren McCluskey's Parents File Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against The University Of Utah
***FREE SPEECH ON CAMPUS
How a 1935 Florida-Ole Miss game sparked a free speech debate
Alabama free speech law affecting public colleges and universities goes into effect July 1
Appellate court hears Arkansas State free-speech case
***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT
Community colleges burdened by new Title IX regulations
Landmark Supreme Court ruling could redefine Title IX
What happened at Lehigh University to trigger a Clery Act investigation?
Darkness
/Knowing your darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness of other people -Carl Jung