December 2015

14 Degrees of Visibility

Brinton charts 14 degrees of visibility all the way from black type on a yellow background (the most legible) to blue type on red (the most offensive). This research is certainly nothing new today, but gets you thinking about how the theories have been exercised. Take, for example, the classic hazard symbols, or street signs—they …

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Parents Want to Know: Why Doesn’t iPad Have Multi-User Accounts Yet?

It absolutely baffles me that there is no “Parent Mode” on iPads for adding multiple logins. Amazon does it insanely well with its FreeTime offering (my kids love it) on both Kindle DX tablets as well as “regular” Kindles. Android does it well and allows for parents to easily set up multi-user accounts on one …

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Episode 20: Thinking Out Loud 94: There Are Sharks in This Water – Thinking.FM

Elisabeth and Merianna talk about when your writing is ready to reveal to someone else. They talk about the danger of releasing it too soon when you haven’t had enough time to mold it and shape it. They also discuss that if you put your writing out there too soon, then it’s going to impact …

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Episode 19: Thinking Religion 60: The When, Where, and Why of the Nativity – Thinking.FM

This week, Thomas Whitley and Sam Harrelson examine the When / Where / Why of the Nativity and discuss historical accuracies of the stories as we’ve interpreted them in our present culture. Show Notes: 6 Misconceptions about the Nativity | The Blaze Crossan on the Nativity | BeliefNet The Nativity Story | IMDB Life of Brian Wise …

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Lower Salary Potential

I’ll take my Religion major any day… USC considers charging different tuition for some majors | The State: “‘Look at what it costs to deliver an engineering degree than it does to deliver a philosophy degree,’ USC President Harris Pastides told trustees Tuesday. ‘Yet these two students pay the same amount of tuition.’ After the …

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Customer Service via Facebook Messenger

Interesting to see the first company utilize Facebook Messenger for customer service, but it’s not the first instance of companies using messaging platforms such as WeChat to do so… Rogers offering customer service via Facebook Messenger | Marketing Magazine: “Rogers claimed to be the first telecom company in the world to offer customer care via …

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Authenticity, Social Media, and Presidential Candidates’ Digital Strategy

Mod lineup includes Tablet @tigmobtablet, Mobile @tigmodmobile, and Laptop @tigmodlaptop shown here in cognac. Designed to house your daily gear – also a fantastic inflight companion. #tigmod A photo posted by THIS IS GROUND (@thisisground) on Dec 14, 2015 at 8:27am PST //platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js I think we have two different definitions of “authenticity,” especially as it …

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Episode 18: Thinking Out Loud 93: Working Out the Wrinkles as Writers – Thinking.FM

Elisabeth and Merianna are reunited and it feels so good! They discuss finding reason, meaning, and purpose in writing in decisions we make as writers. They also discuss creating purposeful pauses rather than head-scratching confusion. They also ask how can I revise to achieve the effect I want in the reader? My Reviews Are Disappearing …

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Episode 17: Thinking Religion 59: Trump and Symptoms of a Deeper Problem – Thinking.FM

Thomas Whitley and Sam Harrelson discuss domestic terrorists and the Carolinas, the myths of American Progressivism, creation stories, Trump’s views of citizenship, hate licenses, and the soft cultural underbelly of fear. Show Notes: Why Franklin Graham says Donald Trump is right about stopping Muslim immigration | The Washington Post Jerry Falwell Jr. is the worst …

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Roman Empire GDP Per Capita

Fascinating… Roman Empire GDP Per Capita Map Shows That Romans Were Poorer Than Any Country in 2015 – Brilliant Maps: “What a difference 2,000 years makes. The map above shows the GDP per capita in 14AD of the various provinces of the Roman Empire in 1990 PPP Dollars. On average, the GDP per capita across …

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Internet’s Action and Reaction Loop

I’m archiving this snippet and article to revisit in 2020… I wonder if we’ll look back on 2015 as a “tipping point” of the internet as we knew it? The Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace by John Perry Barlow in 1996 does seem like a long ago dream. Perhaps immediacy is not a democratizing state …

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A Second Life? Virtual Reality’s Coming Impact on Marketing

Emotion + Experience = Marketing I do wonder about the scale of virtual reality. With Google investing in Cardboard, and Facebook spearheading Occulus Rift development, there is certainly a case to be made for mainstream adoption. Of course, there was once such hype around Second Life as well. Interesting read from Mike Elgan… How Virtual …

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“Reading of many books is a distraction.”

Keep in mind… Focus Fracas – The Chronicle of Higher Education: “We talk a lot about distraction, but the way we tend to talk about it suffers from historical amnesia. Since the invention of writing, people have warned about its supposedly harmful effects. Socrates thought it would weaken readers’ memories. ‘Be careful,’ Seneca warned, ‘lest …

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Episode 16: Thinking Religion 58: Personal Branding and The Academy – Thinking.FM

Thomas Whitley and Sam Harrelson discuss the issues involved with marketing and personal branding in an academic environment, whether academics and graduate students should blog, the demise of peer reviewed journals and scholarship, and whether or not MOOCs were ever a good idea. Show Notes: My Female Students Don’t Seem As Impressed With Me As They …

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Gender Equality Reflected in Pantone’s 2016 Color of the Year

This might make Franklin Graham’s head explode, but I think it’s a good move to associate design with “politics” and assert the relevance of seemingly mundane things such as color choices to cultural conversations: Pantone Color of the Year 2016 – Rose Quartz and Serenity: “Joined together, Rose Quartz and Serenity demonstrate an inherent balance …

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Religion’s smart-people problem

Religion’s smart-people problem: The shaky intellectual foundations of absolute faith – Salon.com: “But we shouldn’t be deceived. Although there are many educated religious believers, including some philosophers and scientists, religious belief declines with educational attainment, particularly with scientific education. Studies also show that religious belief declines among those with higher IQs. Hawking, Dennett and Dawkins are not outliers, and neither is …

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Newborn Parenting Essential Gear Volume 1

Thinking of how great it would be to add a member to your family? Looking to have a baby soon? Pregnant? Buy one of these… Amazon Kindle Paperwhite or Voyage. Trust me. Your friend… Sam, the newborn dad at 3am on a Wednesday morning.

Your Email Privacy (Thanks, Government)

Scary, true, and worth your attention if you value your privacy… Mozilla will let go of Thunderbird | Boing Boing: “There are many good reasons to use standalone email clients, but for Americans one of the most compelling is the absurdly outdated Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, which treats any file left on a …

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