It’s not always Trump tapping out a tweet, even when it sounds like his voice.
I wonder how complicated/in-depth the applied information theory is behind the Twitter bot described here?
Reads
Reading list of books, magazines, newspaper articles, other physical documents, or online posts
👓 Google Removes ‘Don’t Be Evil’ Clause From Its Code of Conduct | Gizmodo
Google’s unofficial motto has long been the simple phrase “don’t be evil.” But that’s over, according to the code of conduct that Google distributes to its employees. The phrase was removed sometime in late April or early May, archives hosted by the Wayback Machine show.
A subtle, but interesting change. Most importantly does this portend a broad change in corporate philosophy?
👓 Mountain bikers in fatal cougar attack did everything right, authorities say | The Guardian
Surviving cyclist in satisfactory condition in hospital as official says bikers tried to scare the mountain lion and then hit it
A good reminder of how to react to some wildlife encounters while mountain biking or hiking.
👓 The Coming Wave of Murders Solved by Genealogy | The Atlantic
The same DNA analysis used to find the alleged Golden State Killer has led to the arrest of a second alleged murderer. It’ll likely lead to more.
I can see this going to the Supreme Court sooner than later on privacy related underpinning. I can’t help but recall the words of Jed Bartlett in The West Wing when he was saying in season one that privacy would be one of the most pressing issues for the Supreme Court in the coming century.
👓 Is America on the Verge of a Constitutional Crisis? | The Atlantic
As the Trump presidency approaches a troubling tipping point, it’s time to find the right term for what’s happening to democracy.
Some great definitions and structure laid out for something that may be more necessary in the near future.
👓 Scandal after scandal focuses scrutiny on USC leadership, culture | LA Times
How USC handled the case of a campus gynecologist allowed to practice for years despite complaints of misconduct has sparked outrage and demands for change in the university’s leadership and management culture. To some, it is part of a troubling pattern.
If I were a journalist, I would just start tracking people leaving posts and then dig into what the scandal must surely be. USC is definitely stinking from the head and needs to begin digging itself out of an ever-deepening hole.
👓 Electric Scooter Charger Culture Is Out of Control | The Atlantic
“Bird hunting” has become a pastime and a side hustle for teens and young professionals, but for some it’s a cutthroat business.
👓 How heavy use of social media is linked to mental illness | The Economist
Youngsters report problems with anxiety, depression, sleep and “FoMO”
👓 A New Theory Linking Sleep and Creativity | The Atlantic
The two main phases of sleep might work together to boost creative problem-solving.
👓 Columbia Law professor who coined ‘net neutrality’ term mulling run for attorney general | NY Daily News
Tim Wu, a Columbia Law professor credited with coining the term "net neutrality," is considering a run for state attorney general.
👓 How to Join Our Podcast Club | New York Times
Samantha Henig (nytimes.com)It’s like a book club, but for on-demand audio.
This ironic quote from the piece sticks out to me:
Podcast listening can be harder to crack. There are so many shows! How do you find the ones you’ll like? And once you’ve found a show, where do you start: with the most recent episode? At the beginning? Some specific gem of an episode buried deep in the back catalog?
Perhaps the New York Times could simply start with making the RSS feeds for their podcasts easily discover-able?! Why are they hiding this simple piece of functionality? I just spent 20 minutes doing some reasonably serious web gymnastics to extract the RSS feed for Caliphate out of the iTunes feed using a JSON request tactic. Why can’t the podcast’s main page have or advertise the raw RSS feed?!
Corey Doctorow complained of this type of growing issue on the web recently in a short tweetstorm as well:
I really despair for people trying to figure out how to write the web today, given how obfuscated the referents to files on the web have become; for example, I’m about to fold a podcast that I appeared in to my own podcast feed
— Cory Doctorow (@doctorow) April 14, 2018
How hard is it to add the following simple line to the header of their generally beautiful and functional Caliphate page?
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Caliphate" href="https://rss.art19.com/caliphate” />
They’ve got so many advanced resources, yet somehow they’re missing some of the simplest and best supported web technology that goes back more than a decade.
By the way, that link https://rss.art19.com/caliphate is the correct one for the RSS feed of the show by the way, in case others are searching for it.
If anyone needs a one-click button to subscribe to the series in their favorite feed reader, I’ve set up a SubToMe button on the follow post I made for the podcast.
👓 What Communities Are We Building? A Discussion With Drs. Jessie Daniels and David Golumbia | Tressie McMillan Cottom
This semester our sociology honor society, Alpha Kappa Delta, had the great fortune to hear from Dr. Jessie Daniels. Jessie is a…
Sadly, like the prior article I read, there just isn’t much here in the way of content.
👓 Whose Speech? More From Our Chat With Jessie Daniels | Tressie McMillan Cottom
As previously mentioned, the Sociology students at VCU recently benefitted from a chance to hear from Jessie Daniels. Our informal…
This post was so sparse in information I’m not quite sure what Dr. Cottom was trying to communicate here. The post does have some well produced (and very short) snippets from the talk, but other than knowing that a talk occurred and vaguely what it was about, all the value stemming from it seems to be missing to me in this post.
👓 GOP lawmaker says rocks falling into ocean to blame for rising sea levels | TheHill
A Republican lawmaker on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee said Thursday that rocks from the White Cliffs of Dover and the California coastline, as well as silt from rivers tumbling into the ocean, are contributing to high sea levels globally. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) made the comment during a hearing on technology and the changing climate, which largely turned into a Q&A on the basics of climate research.
The headline was just so sadly painful to me that I couldn’t resist reading. Unfortunately, reading didn’t help things…
👓 What is “Critical Pedagogy”? | W. Ian O’Byrne
In an earlier post, I presented an overview of the literature on critical literacy and how it informs my perspectives on my work, research, and thinking. This was motivated by discussions in which colleagues and students indicate that they know/understand critical literacy, and then go on to equate it with critical evaluation. I think the two are linked, but to me critical literacy is much broader, and (IMHO) much more important.
The cynic in me sees the headline and wants to respond “All students’ reactions to their teachers.”
There is some interesting history and background to come back and read some references here.