Kickoff For August 13, 2018
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Monday Kickoff, a collection of what I’ve found interesting, informative, and insightful on the web over the last seven days.
Recently, someone asked me if I expect people to read every link I post in this space each Monday. Of course not! In fact, I don’t expect you to be interested in every article I share each Monday. I do hope, though, that you enjoy some of these reads.
Let’s get this Monday started with these links:
Ideas
The danger of absolute thinking is absolutely clear, wherein we learn why the all-or-nothing mindset is an unhealthy thinking style that disrupts emotion-regulation and hinders people from achieving their goals.
How Blackboards Transformed American Education, wherein we learn about the research of Steven D. Krause, which should prompt us to rethink how we view technology and its adoption in the classroom.
Bach at the Burger King, wherein Theodore Giaoia argues that using loud classical music as a weapon against loiterers and the homeless, and using brief snips of it in everything from commercials to B-grade movies, devalues and destroys the beauty of the music.
Technology
It’s Time for the Personal Datasphere (Finally!), wherein Andy Updegrove posits that using blockchain and open source software can help us take control of our data, and create the personal datasphere of the article’s title.
The Internet of Bad Things, wherein we learn (or maybe re-learn) about the sorry state of security in the digital world. How sorry? As one research states, we should assume everything has been hacked, or could be.
The rise and fall of the gopher protocol, wherein, thanks to an article from 016, we get a picture of what made the gopher protocol the way to interact with the online world, and what led to its demise.
Arts and Literature
When, Exactly, Do Children Start Thinking They Hate Poetry?, wherein poet Chris Harris examines why kids go from loving to loathing poetry in a few short years. That change often revolves around how poetry is taught — making it more complex than it needs to be.
My Dad, the Pornographer, wherein we learn how noted SF writer Andrew Offutt lived a secret double (literary) life as the author of over 300 pornographic novels.
Seeing the Art in Medical Archives, wherein Roslyn Bernstein explores the sometimes wonderful, often eerie intersection of art and anatomical models.
And that’s it for this Monday. Come back in seven days for another set of links to start off your week.