521 Matching Annotations
  1. Aug 2017
    1. This is not about “free speech.” It never was. There is no “free speech” if anyone brandishes firearms to intimidate those they despise. You can’t argue with the armed. The Nazis told us their intentions clearly on Saturday. This, to them, is about “blood and soil.” They are serious. So are we.

      Right fucking on.

  2. Jul 2017
    1. While innovation — the social process of introducing new things — is important, most technologies around us are old, and for the smooth functioning of daily life, maintenance is more important.

      This seems so obvious, but it's so overlooked. The addiction to constant growth and newness seems so closely tied to our ideas of how markets operate. Consumption and waste trump conservation and repair.

  3. May 2017
    1. they do not constitute an obstruction of justice.

      Even taken in the larger context?! Later firing the man, Confessing on national TV that his intent in doing so was partially to stop the investigation into his campaign?!...

    2. Indeed, when President Obama endorsed Hillary Clinton for president in June 2016 — during the height of the F.B.I.’s investigation into Secretary Clinton’s private email server

      Not really a fair comparison, a direct, private 1:1 statement versus a public indircetly related one.

    3. As the Supreme Court stated in United States v. Sun-Diamond Growers of California, “for bribery there must be a quid pro quo — a specific intent to give or receive something of value in exchange for an official act.”

      Like someone's job, for example, and whether they keep it or lose it?

    1. Legislating is a very human experience in which trust and mutual respect play critical roles. But 1986 proved that when both are present, big things can get done.
    2. loopholes proliferated, and the tax code grew more complex

      correlated? causative?

      complexity in law, leads to more logic to parse and process - therefore more potential ambiguity in human-processing.

      does software engineering practices about code complexity (or lack thereof) have fruitful applications here?

  4. Apr 2017
    1. after it.

      Overall grade = C/ C+

      This is a passable attempt that unfortunately regurgitates political tropes from the late 1980s, moderately updated. In addition, more importantly, you have to provide more evidence in order to support your claims and steer clear of selective anecdotes. Stick with the actual sources.

    2. These days, the whole idea of Western civ is assumed to be reactionary and oppressive

      you haven't proven this. you've asserted this numerous times but your evidence primarily consists of a few anecdotes drawn from elite white men (in the previous paragraph).

    3. According to a study published in The Journal of Democracy, the share of young Americans who say it is absolutely important to live in a democratic country has dropped from 91 percent in the 1930s to 57 percent today.

      I notice you didn't link to this source. why? it's important to cite your sources so that readers can verify your claims.

    4. chilling intolerance

      have you been to a college campus? is not getting your $10,000+ honorarium the same as fearing for your life as a trans- student? is retreating to your $100,000+/ year job at a think tank or on cable tv the same as getting pulled over by police on a regular basis, or having your humanity questioned in print "weekly?" the former are the "fragile thugs" here, not the students.

    5. Finally, there has been the collapse of liberal values at home. On American campuses,

      this is a false equivalency. the collapse of the European Union is not the same as student-led protests on college campuses.

    6. premodern

      why "premodern?" nepotism in this vein seems to be a particularly modern phenomenon. think about all the petty dictatorships in Africa, Latin America, Asia, etc. are those perhaps more instructive models?

    7. rise of the illiberals

      the early 20th century had literal monarchies. the mid 20th century had literal fascists. is this period any different? you seem to be forcing the facts into a pre-existing narrative. stick with your sources and see what they say.

    8. f they encounter it,

      have you looked at many college curricula? most general education requirements, particularly at state universities, require some sort of "Western Civ" course. Most nowadays take it as an AP class in High School.

    9. about the importance of reasoned discourse, the importance of property rights, the need for a public square that was religiously informed but not theocratically dominated

      that's not true. it applied mostly to white, protestant men. women's suffrage wasn't granted until the early 20th century in the US.

    10. That series encapsulated the Western civilization narrative that people, at least in Europe and North America, used for most of the past few centuries to explain their place in the world and in time

      as they discuss (and as many others have subsequently) that progressive narrative was a construction of the 19th century - laden with the weight of colonialism, imperialism, and racist nationalism that accompanied that project. Notice, for instance, they're all white men you mention...

    1. Overall, department stores employ a third fewer people now than they did in 2001. That’s half a million traditional jobs gone — about eighteen times as many jobs as were lost in coal mining over the same period.

      And this decline is rarely talked about.

    1. Beyond signaling his growing radicalism, the Riverside speech reflected Dr. King’s increasing political courage — and shows why, half a century later, he remains a pivotal figure in American history.

      This looks like the thesis to me.

  5. Mar 2017
    1. the stereotype that the people working to end abortion hate women.

      I would not say that the stereotype is that pro-life people hate women, but that they fail to support women in whatever decision they make.

    2. This movement will thus be unable to unite American

      The language of this article is being exclusionary itself, ironically arguing against exclusion, by assuming that all women at the women march were American women. It also depends on what it means to be an American Woman is, who is considered in that.

    3. while the Women’s March claimed to stand for love, nonviolence and inclusion, its organizers staunchly refused to extend that “inclusion” to pro-life women.

      As a class we are reading Threshold Concepts, which tells us about the different waves of feminism, and how the 2nd wave was heavily based around the decision to legalize abortion. Feminist issues in America are still largely based on health care rights, especially now again that they are in crisis under President Trump.

      Class question: Can you be a feminist and be pro-life?

    4. The men I work with are creating a culture in which their own wives, daughters and sisters are empowered and supported.

      This sentence further perpetuates this false idea that men can only care about women in relation to them, wives and daughters, why not ever women as a whole or even women in a friend position.

      Class question: Are statements like these, about men caring about women only in relation to themselves, more helpful or harmful?

    5. The men I work alongside want to end abortion not because they want to control women, but because they agree that requiring the sacrifice of a woman’s children in exchange for her success is unimaginable.

      Technically, everything will be "unimaginable" to the men she works with because they will never experience women's issues, so bringing them up should have no effect on the reader.

    6. To us, “resistance” has to include opposition to the lie that freedom can be bought with the blood of our preborn children.

      Every woman has a different meaning of freedom and opportunity for it, especially when thinking about social status, class, race, etc. so the "us" statement is unclear who the writer is talking about. For example, 69% of women who have abortions, are economically disadvantaged.

      http://prospect.org/article/demographics-abortion-its-not-what-you-think

    7. How the New Feminist Resistance Leaves Out American Wome

      After reading the article, I was very confused at the end by the title. The articles main point is about the exclusion of pro-life women in the current feminist movement, such as the march, but what does that have to do with "American women"? Are they assuming maternal problems and abortion are only an American issue? That in itself is problematic.

  6. Feb 2017
    1. Their proposal would tax carbon emissions at $40 a ton to start and would be paid by oil refineries and other fossil fuel companies that would pass costs on to consumers with higher gas and electricity prices. The money raised would be returned to Americans through dividend checks; a family of four would get about $2,000 a year to start. This would help people adjust to higher energy prices and give them an incentive to reduce consumption or switch to renewable sources of energy.

      Interesting idea.

    1. The Russian dissident and chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov drew upon long familiarity with that process when he tweeted: “The point of modern propaganda isn’t only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.”

      Very well said.

    1. Annotate

      As another example of the trend in annotated news, there are many things to like about this example, and some notable drawbacks as well. Pros: More interactive than NYTimes' previous annotation efforts, nudges reader use of layered commentary, content of annotation layer encourages perspective-taking and reminds reader that political is personal (and vice versa). I also think it's interesting that interview processes and outcomes become the content of the annotation layer. Cons: Confusing how annotations (i.e. refugee contributions via interview) are related to specific anchor text, the "Notes" are static (no ability for reader response, no links out to related information), and annotation "Notes" don't have tags (limiting association with other documents and annotated content). That's my rough assessment of an important step forward.

    2. Produced

      The NYTimes' in-house annotation efforts are iterating rather quickly - this approach is more interactive than what was publishing a week ago, yet still isn't participatory or open. I'm eager to see how their efforts continue to grow, whether or not they'll jump to a third party platform, and if they'll discuss their process publicly.

    3. asked refugees in Jordan

      To learn about these refugees - who they are, where they have come from, etc. - the reader must click on highlighted anchor text and read the annotation. The UX makes interaction with the annotation layer an essential quality of the reader's experience.

    4. for their responses to the president’s decision

      I'm curious about the relationship between interviewing and annotating. Su "asked refugees... for their responses," with answers then anchored to specific parts of the EO. What's the process linking new content (refugee responses) to the anchor text?

  7. Jan 2017
    1. Our audience inhabits a complex, polluted information environment; our role is to help them navigate it — not to pretend it doesn’t exist. The need to show our work and earn trust has never been more important, since once reliable official sources are peddling “alternative facts” — as the White House press secretary did Saturday.

      The first half of this statement could be reworked as a pedagogical call for digital literacy.

    1. Or — worse — Mr. Trump’s vow to end “political correctness” and make this, at least rhetorically, the same white man’s America it was in Jackson’s time?

      I don't think that will happen, too many people, civilians, will stand in his way; standing up for what they believe in

    2. I don’t buy it. Hillary Clinton’s campaign wasn’t that bad, and Mr. Trump was exposed enough for any thinking adult to see exactly what he is.

      I agree, people tend to get stuck on useless little issues rather than working on change

    3. a man who says he has never asked God for forgiveness, who refers to the Eucharist with characteristic humility (“I drink my little wine, which is about the only wine I drink, and have my little cracker"), who mocks our military heroes, who lumbers about a stage proclaiming, “I alone can fix it!,” who dismissed a working man after the election with a tweet that read in part, “Spend more time working — less talking”

      definitely not in favor of donald trump - these are some new ones I haven't heard of

    4. It’s inescapable, considering what we are: the first republic of the modern age, a nation of immigrants, haven to so many peoples from around the world. We have, like no other country, for better and for ill, dominated the modern world through both our hard power and our soft, our weapons but also our ideas.

      This is a really a good sentence and idea/explanation

    1. On several dozen of campuses, remarkably, fewer students hail from the entire bottom half of the income distribution than from the top 1 percent.

      That's so so crazy oh my goodness

    1. Nicholas Reville, a board member of the Participatory Culture Foundation who has worked with the Sleeping Giants

      I like how he brings the Sleeping Giants back in, it ties the story together

    2. it’s about using corporations as shields to protect vulnerable people from bullying and hate crimes.

      I've read many articles about cyberbullying between individuals or a group. It's new to read about such large scale cyber hate.

    3. I expected that other companies would want to trumpet their own Breitbart departures. It seemed an easy win for corporate P.R. to distance itself from Klan-rally-like riffs like this one — “every tree, every rooftop, every picket fence, every telegraph pole in the South should be festooned with the Confederate battle flag.” (Telegraph poles!?)

      This article is interesting but difficult to follow.

    4. Programmatic ads can also follow individuals around the internet, based on their browsing history, as happened with Mr. Philips. A single targeted ad could cost just a fraction of a penny, but the pennies add up to a billion-dollar industry.

      It's very interesting to know how this all works.

    5. Within hours, they received their first response, and they realized that they had stumbled across a potentially powerful tactic.

      It's interesting to think how anyone can make a change in the world. Just by creating a twitter account these people have started something powerful.

    1. In the short and medium term, we must step up assistance to climate refugees and sufferers, both to provide relief and to assist with new livelihoods that adjust to new climate realities

      call to action

    2. She broke off cactus pads, scraped off the thorns and boiled them briefly, and the boys ate them — even though they provide little nutrition. “My heart is breaking because I have nothing to give them,” Fideline said. “I have no choice.”

      He doesn't mention himself much, although it was his own story of when he was there he focuses on what will apply to readers emotions.

    3. Those of us in the rich world who have emitted most of the carbon bear a special responsibility to help people like these Madagascar villagers who are simultaneously least responsible for climate change and most vulnerable to it.

      I like this statement. It's clear and to the point. Not too wordy

    4. Trump has repeatedly mocked climate change, once even calling it a hoax fabricated by China.

      This makes Trump look like the bad guy, making it seem like he's working against dying children

    5. overseas governments that don’t want to curb carbon emissions.

      He states "curb carbon emissions" like it's a very simple thing to solve. Is it? I'm not sure but usually a problem of such a large scale cannot be "curbed" with ease

    6. For the next half century or so, we will see students learning less in school and economies held back, because in 2017 we allowed more than a million kids to be malnourished just here in southern Africa, collateral damage from our carbon-intensive way of life.

      More new information

    7. Now they understand there is a far broader toll: When children in utero and in the first few years of life are malnourished, their brains don’t develop properly. As a result, they may suffer permanently impaired brain function

      He presents something new, we know children are starving in Africa. But this is different information readers haven't heard before

    8. Sonjona realizes that it is wrong to marry off a 10-year-old, but he also knows it is wrong to see his daughter starve.

      Such a sad struggle, a decision that a man should not have to make about his daughter.

    9. because no one can afford the bride price of about $32.

      Many people have $32 in their wallets at any given time. Again, we will never know what it's like to live in those conditions.

    10. Not one of the children in the village has ever had a bath.

      This shows the audience that even though they're reading about these impoverished people they will never know what it is actually like to experience these conditions.

    11. a related drought has devastated East Africa and the Horn of Africa and is expected to continue this year. The U.N. World Food Program has urgently appealed for assistance, but only half the money needed has been donated.

      Translation: It's not going away and Americans are selfish, will you be like the rest of them and let these kids die on your watch?

      Reminds me of the "Arms of the Angel" dog commercials. I can't watch them without crying

    12. “I feel so powerless as a mother, because I know how much I love my child,” she said. “But whatever I do just doesn’t work.”

      I am not a mother and this still hits me hard, it must hurt mothers very deeply

    1. Students need two skills to succeed as lawyers and as professionals: listening and communicating. We must listen with care, which requires patience, focus, eye contact and managing moments of ennui productively — perhaps by double-checking one’s notes instead of a friend’s latest Instagram. Multitasking and the mediation of screens kill empathy.