📺 Introduction to the New Testament History and Literature RLST 152 – Lecture 1 – Introduction: Why Study the New Testament? | Open Yale Courses

Watched Lecture 1 Introduction: Why Study the New Testament? by Dale B. Martin from RLST 152: Introduction to the New Testament History and Literature

This course approaches the New Testament not as scripture, or a piece of authoritative holy writing, but as a collection of historical documents. Therefore, students are urged to leave behind their pre-conceived notions of the New Testament and read it as if they had never heard of it before. This involves understanding the historical context of the New Testament and imagining how it might appear to an ancient person.

Some interesting questions about what is in and what isn’t in the Bible here. I love that he does the exercise of what early Christianity meetings would have looked like to a person of that time period.

📺 The Biggest ‘Baby Shark’ Ever w/ Sophie Turner & Josh Groban | The Late Late Show with James Corden on YouTube

Watched The Biggest 'Baby Shark' Ever w/ Sophie Turner & Josh Groban from The Late Late Show with James Corden on YouTube

Let's face it: Baby Shark is an undeniable force. James invites his guests, Sophie Turner, playing the role of Mommy Shark, and Josh Groban, taking on the role of Daddy Shark, for the definitive performance of this global phenomenon.

This is just too awesome.

Hat tip: Aaron Davis

📺 Jeremy Keith on Taking Back The Web (Opening Keynote) at Voxxed Thessaloniki 2018

Watched Taking Back The Web - Opening Keynote by Jeremy KeithJeremy Keith from Voxxed Thessaloniki 2018 | YouTube
In these times of centralised services like Facebook, Twitter, and Medium, having your own website is downright disruptive. If you care about the longevity of your online presence, independent publishing is the way to go. But how can you get all the benefits of those third-party services while still owning your own data? By using the building blocks of the Indie Web, that’s how!
Great overview of the building blocks of the IndieWeb from Voxxed Thessaloniki 2018.

Hat tip: Jeremy Keith​​​​​​​​​

📺 Baby Shark | YouTube

Watched Baby Shark from YouTube
I almost can’t believe this silly video has over 147 million hits. And it’s just one of many versions of this song. I actually saw a couple in their late 30’s a few weeks back talking about the song in public. They had no idea what it was about or why it was popular.

📺 Elsku Stelpur (Dear Girls) | YouTube

Watched Elsku Stelpur (Dear Girls) from YouTube
"Elsku Stelpur" or "Dear Girls" was the winning performance by Hagaskóli in Skrekkur 2015, an annual Icelandic talent show between high schools in Reykjavík. The performance consists of contemporary dancing and feminist slam poetry in Icelandic, which I've subtitled in English so that more people can understand its powerful message, please enjoy.
A powerful piece. Possibly even more powerful watching it in a language that isn’t English.

📺 POKÉMON Detective Pikachu – Official Trailer #1 | YouTube

Watched POKÉMON Detective Pikachu - Official Trailer #1 from YouTube

POKÉMON Detective Pikachu - In Theaters May 10, 2019

The first-ever live-action Pokémon movie, “POKÉMON Detective Pikachu” stars Ryan Reynolds as the titular character in the first-ever live-action movie based on the iconic face of the global Pokémon brand—one of the world’s most popular, multi-generation entertainment properties and most successful media franchises of all time.

Ryan as the voice is just inspired casting.

📺 Ricky Jay – Late Night with Conan O’Brien (September 25, 2002) | YouTube

Watched Ricky Jay - Late Night with Conan O'Brien (September 25, 2002) from YouTube

Master close-up magician and historian Ricky Jay makes an extremely rare television appearance on Conan O'Brien's show in 2002 and performs several effects.

📺 Workplace Happiness is Your Best Business Strategy | Valerie Alexander | Innovate Pasadena | YouTube

Bookmarked Workplace Happiness is Your Best Business Strategy by Valerie AlexanderValerie Alexander (YouTube)

According to Gallup, American employers lose $450-550 billion a year by failing to create positive corporate cultures that foster accomplishment, autonomy, and appreciation in the workplace.

Employee Unhappiness leads to:
• Higher turnover
• Excessive absenteeism
• Poor customer service
• Theft
• Workplace bullying and violence
• Increased workers compensation claims
• More on-the-job injuries

…and a myriad of outcomes that have no line item in the budget, but still reduce productivity throughout the workplace. Engagement, job satisfaction and worker happiness matter to the bottom line.

This talk will give employees and managers the skills to create a positive work environment through simple adjustments and practices anyone can do, no matter the workplace. Whether in an office, a hospital, a restaurant, classroom or construction site, these techniques work!

In the U.S., the average loss due to unhappiness and disengagement is $3,500 per employee per year. When it comes to happiness, is your workplace above or below average? Can you afford to let it stay that way? Make happiness a priority in your workplace today, and reap the rewards tomorrow.

I remember quite enjoying this talk at Innovate Pasadena by Valerie Alexander about two months ago. They’ve kindly taped it and released it on YouTube for everyone who missed it. If you’re an executive or leader within your company, it’s highly worth your time to absorb these ideas and implement them into your company culture. I’d also submit that it’s worth your personal time as well.

Perhaps not surprisingly, happiness is worth it’s weight in gold in the workplace.

📺 Online Verification Skills — Video 4: Look for Trusted Work | NewsWise | YouTube

Watched Online Verification Skills — Video 4: Look for Trusted Work by Mike CaulfieldMike Caulfield from NewsWise | YouTube
“It’s the internet! You can go out and find a better story and invest your time in that.” –Mike Caulfield

📺 Online Verification Skills — Video 2: Investigate the Source | NewsWise | YouTube

Watched Online Verification Skills — Video 2: Investigate the Source by Mike CaulfieldMike Caulfield from NewsWise | YouTube

NewsWise is a news literacy program to provide school-aged Canadians an understanding of the role of journalism in a healthy democracy and the tools to find and filter information online.

For those who like browser bookmarklets and shortcuts, I’ve dug up some code that will take a URL and automatically remove the additional path (as demonstrated manually in the video) to leave you with the base URL. It can be found here on my site: https://boffosocko.com/2017/03/27/to-amp-or-not-to-amp-that-is-the-question/. Perhaps it will help people verify sites even quicker?

📺 Online Verification Skills — Video 1: Introductory Video | NewsWise | YouTube

Watched Online Verification Skills — Video 1: Introductory Video by Mike CaulfieldMike Caulfield from NewsWise | YouTube

The Stanford research report, Lateral Reading: Reading Less and Learning More When Evaluating Digital Information, can be found here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3048994

NewsWise is a news literacy program to provide school-aged Canadians an understanding of the role of journalism in a healthy democracy and the tools to find and filter information online. Visit http://newswise.ca/ for more information and resources. NewsWise is the product of a partnership between CIVIX and the Canadian Journalism Foundation, with the support of the Google.org Charitable Giving Fund of Tides Foundation.

📺 School Segregation: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) | YouTube

Watched School Segregation: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) from YouTube

Public schools are increasingly divided by race and class. John Oliver discusses the troubling trend towards school resegregation.

📺 Saudi Arabia: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) | YouTube

Watched Saudi Arabia: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) from YouTube

Following the alarming disappearance of a Saudi journalist and political dissident, John Oliver examines America's uncomfortably comfortable relationship with Saudi Arabia.