Wealth & Inequality/Tech

Infographic by XKCD (creative commons license BY-NC)

Yes, it's true...

What’s going on?

Trending on Twitter today... #OATHKEEPERS ferguson

What???

Oath Keepers and the Age of Treason via Mother Jones

Oath Keepers: The heavily armed white vigilantes in Ferguson, explained via Vox

Statement: Fordham Against Torture Weighs in on Revocation of Bill Cosby’s Honorary Degree

To the Fordham Community

From: Fordham Faculty and Fordham Against Torture

President McShane and the board of Trustees have acted responsibly and conscientiously in deciding to rescind the honorary degree awarded to Bill Cosby, in the light of what we now know. The members of Fordham Faculty against Torture understand the difficulty involved in publicly acknowledging and moving to correct a mistake, for the sake of the victims and to preserve the good name of the university. The moral logic applied to the personal crimes of one man, though, applies equally well to a situation of profound international political significance. We must ask, therefore, how Fordham can be so attentive to the actions of Bill Cosby while ignoring the actions and words of John Brennan, especially in the light of what we now know of his support for torture in the aftermath of the Senate Report on Torture.

It is also dismaying to us that the Cosby decision, though certainly appropriate, appears to have been made behind closed doors and entirely without consulting the Fordham community in any way, just as was the decision to grant the degree in the first place. In contrast, the petition to revoke John Brennan’s honorary degree emerged from the Fordham community itself, was vigorously debated by proponents and opponents alike, and had the support of more than 700 faculty, students, staff, and alumni, only to be rejected on the flimsiest grounds. If the decision to revoke the Cosby degree can be said to represent the university, how much more compelling is the strong evidence of community support in the matter of John Brennan?

At this point in time, we want to thank all those hundreds of people who signed the petition, and all those students and faculty who gave passion, time, and energy to move the university to a morally responsible position. We are sorry that this passion and commitment could not convince the Board of Trustees and the President to act. At the same time, we are determined to continue to fight for human rights and justice, and to guarantee that the labors of so many will result in a permanent resource for the Fordham community.

Sincerely,

Orlando Rodriguez Jeanne Flavin Jeannine Hill Fletcher Glenn Hendler Brad Hinze James Kim David Myers Louie Dean Valencia

For more, see the recent article in The Fordham Ram

psychopath

Wikiconference North America

I’m going to be going on a trip!  Very excited about my upcoming trip to Ohio this week to the Wikipedia North America conference.  This is the first trip that I’ll be taking in quite a while, I’m a little nervous but also very much looking forward to it!

I just finished putting together my notes page that I’ll be using for the sessions. I’ll also be posting during the trip on my IG page and tweeting as well.  So stay tuned!

The Graphing Calculator Story

When His Project Was Canceled, an Unemployed Programmer Kept Sneaking Into Apple to Finish the Job   via Mental Floss

The Graphing Calculator Story by Ron Avitzur

Why did Greg and I do something so ludicrous as sneaking into an eight-billion-dollar corporation to do volunteer work? Apple was having financial troubles then, so we joked that we were volunteering for a nonprofit organization. In reality, our motivation was complex. Partly, the PowerPC was an awesome machine, and we wanted to show off what could be done with it; in the Spinal Tap idiom, we said, "OK, this one goes to eleven." Partly, we were thinking of the storytelling value. Partly, it was a macho computer guy thing - we had never shipped a million copies of software before. Mostly, Greg and I felt that creating quality educational software was a public service. We were doing it to help kids learn math. Public schools are too poor to buy software, so the most effective way to deliver it is to install it at the factory.

Flipboard Focus:

Productivity, Positivity, and Creativity

The latest flip into my magazine on Productivity, Positivity, and Creativity:

The Deadline Effect: How to Work Like It’s the Last Minute—Before the Last Minute link.

Christopher Cox is a graduate of Harvard and Cambridge. He was a 2020 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT and a visiting scholar at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. He was the former chief editor of Harper’s magazine and executive editor of GQ, where he edited—and set deadlines for—stories that won Pulitzer Prizes and National Magazine Awards.

In the article Christopher shares about these 5 key insights from his new book:

1. Stop feeling guilty about procrastinating. 2. The worst deadline you can set is “as soon as possible.” 3. Short deadlines are better than long ones. 4. Add enforcement mechanisms. 5. Embrace interim deadlines.

If you liked that article, check out the other articles in my Flipboard magazine:

Flipboard magazine link

Wikipedia for Educators Infographic

I <3 Jimmy

I'm a big fan of Jimmy Kimmel, the other day at lunch a friend and I shared some of these videos.  Had to make a post and share!

I'm F*@#cking Matt Damon

I'm F*@#cking Ben Affleck

Matt Damon Takes Over Jimmy Kimmel Live

Jimmy Kimmel Auditions for Every Matt Damon Role

Matt Damon: "I'm still F@ing Sarah Silverman"

Apologies to Matt Damon

Ben Affleck Stays Loyal to Jimmy Kimmel

Robin Williams Helps Matt Damon with His Monologue

Matt Damon Interviews Gary Oldman, Amy Adams and Nicole Kidman

Celebrities Congratulate Matt Damon on the Show