Weekend Links 3-30-18

A shorter than normal collection of links for your weekend reading. Just means I had less time to hunt stuff down this week.

Facebook has been in the news a lot because of a data breach. But the problem goes much, much deeper as Gracy Olmstead points out.  I've long since stopped sharing personal stuff on Facebook and these days don't spend a lot of time there.

There's a lot of truth in this article: Remote Workers Outperform Office Workers. I have worked remotely for the past fifteen years and always find I am far more productive working remotely than in an office.

Wise words from Andy Crouch: It's Time to Reckon with Celebrity Power.

It amazes me that decades after the end of World War II there are still news stories connected to the war. The latest is the discovery of the wreckage of the USS Juneau which sank in 1942. The wreck is notable because among the victims were the five Sullivan brothers from Iowa who insisted on serving in the Navy together.

Via The Curious Reader, a wonderful analysis of master and servant, Jeeves and Wooster.

The benefits of practicing attention management.



And finally, baseball is back!

Ready for some baseball!

A post shared by Snoopy And The Peanuts Gang (@snoopygrams) on Mar 29, 2018 at 9:40am PDT

Daily Links 11-7-13

How the Internet affects your brain, an update in the war on boys, calling vs. career, and more in this morning's roundup of links.

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How the internet is rewiring your brain. This is both fascinating and scary at the same time. (Hat tip: Stephen Mansfield)

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The latest story in the continuing war on boys via Christina Hoff Somners:

Being a boy can be a serious liability in today’s classroom. As a group, boys are noisy, rowdy and hard to manage. Many are messy, disorganized and won’t sit still. Young male rambunctiousness, according to a recent study, leads teachers to underestimate their intellectual and academic abilities. “Girl behavior is the gold standard in schools says psychologist Michael Thompson. “Boys are treated like defective girls.”

These “defective girls” are not faring well academically. Compared with girls, boys earn lower grades, win fewer honors and are less likely to go to college. One education expert has quipped that if current trends continue, the last male will graduate from college in 2068. In today’s knowledge-based economy, success in the classroom has never been more crucial to a young person’s life prospects. Women are adapting; men are not.

Hat tip: Nancy Pearcey

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John Ortberg on calling versus career:

American society does not talk much about calling anymore. It is more likely to think in terms of career. Yet, for many people a career becomes the altar on which they sacrifice their lives. Benjamin Honeycutt, a historian who specializes in the history of work at the University of Iowa, notes that work has become our new religion, where we worship and give our time. As people’s commitment to family, community and faith are shrinking, they begin to look to their careers to provide them with meaning, connectedness, identity and self-esteem.

A calling, which is something I do for God, is replaced by a career, which threatens to become my god. A career is something I choose for myself; a calling is something I receive. A career is something I do for myself; a calling is something I do for God. A career promises status, money or power; a calling generally promises difficulty and even some suffering – and the opportunity to be used by God. A career is about upward mobility; a calling generally leads to downward mobility.

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A cool collection of Scrabble themed gifts.

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A fascinating list of 10 celebrities who also were spies.

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It's not our job to "police" other Christians:

In my experience as a Christian and Preacher, you would think that any disagreements, arguments, or debates I'd have would be with the non-Christian, the atheist, or those from other religions, but not true. It seems anytime I've had a disagreement with someone over Christianity it is always a fundamental or legalistic Christian who feels it's their mission and life's work to be God's police to the world. 

These types of people make it their personal mission in life to prove others wrong, be right, argue, debate, belittle, name-call, and look down on those who do not line up with them whether doctrinally, theologically, denominationally, or other church or faith issues.  It's a mind-set of either you are for me or against me.  You either agree with me or you are a liberal, heretic, sodomite, watered-down, ignorant, stupid, (add you own description here), I've been called a lot.  The sad thing is I don't like to argue(really!), but some folks can't seem to understand that, their whole faith system is made up of proving others wrong, being right, and making a point to "police" Christians.

Daily Links 10-25-13

In today's roundup of links: origins of Star Trek, pitfalls of our celebrity culture, why restarting your computer is the easiest way to fix problems, and more.

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Willie Nelson once sang "Mama, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys." Now it might be more appropriate to say, "Don't let your babies grow up to be celebrities."

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Star Trek only ran for three years on television but became an instant legend. The irony is that it wouldn't have made it on air at all if it hadn't been for a rather unlikely producer: Lucille Ball.

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Most people know that performing a complete restart on your computer or other electronic device is often the easiest way to fix a problem. Why is that?

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Why we overestimate the power of technology and underestimate the power of words:

Many experts assume that Amazon’s social recommender system is its killer feature. But what exactly about this feature makes it a killer? 

What — in fact — is the magic sauce of Amazon? 

Sure, there is some predictive value in keeping track of many different variables. There always is. It’s probably Amazon’s best kept secret. But I am guessing it’s not only a secret for people outside of Amazon.

If you would ask me what the most persuasive ingredient is of the sauce, I would say it’s copy.
The smartest algorithms make sure you get to see products that you love (to buy). A recommendation engine knows what you really want, what you really really want. Computing thousands of variables is the key to predicting consumer behavior. Right? 

Nah, I don’t buy it. The black box probably does have an impact, but I know for sure that the copy does.

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Play with your food! Some amazing food art:

More here.

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