ProfHacker

Happy end of the month, ProfHackers! When you you are enjoying a bit of relaxation or riding the productivity wave, we hope that you've had a great July. Here are a few links to give you something to think about or talk about (or both) over the weekend. “From Gamergate to Cecil the Lion, Internet mob justice is out of control.” And here's Roxane Gay “Of Lions and Men: Mourning Samuel DuBose and Cecil the Lion” Food for thought: “The Dorito Effect: Healthy food is blander than ever and it's making us fat” Whether you are someone who worries about your weight [...]

Happy weekend, ProfHackers! We hope that you're staying cool in the heat (or warm in the cool if it's not hot where you happen to be). After another week of turmoil and debate, the Confederate flag was removed from the grounds of the South Carolina Capitol building this morning after a 50+ year term. As the NY Times reports, it's the end of an era. But NBCNews reports, the battle doesn't end with South Carolina. In less positive news, a seven day work week may soon be legal in the state of Wisconsin. Apparently Scott Walker and the WI legislature is not [...]

Happy holiday weekend to our readers in the United States and happy regular weekend to everyone else (and a belated happy Canada day to our neighbors in the north)! According to an article in Vanity Fair, technology isn't all it's cracked up to be: “How iPhones Ruined Summer Camp.” Also, for the iTunes users among us, or should I say the former iTunes users, Apple has been unrolling Apple Music over the last several days. If you use iTunes and haven't gotten the update, it's coming your way soon. Apple Music is a streaming service which gives users access to something like [...]

Happy weekend, ProfHackers! This week's subtitle is thanks to Justice Antonin Scalia's dissent against the Supreme Court's vote to uphold the Affordable Care Act. More on that decision and others below. *When I initially drafted today's Weekend Reading, I had a paragraph with links about the Confederate Flag and the ongoing discussions about it's place (or lack thereof) in American culture. In light of today's Supreme Court decision legalizing gay-marriage across the United States, I've decided to relocate that paragraph about hate and dissonance to the end of the post after the video. Those issues aren't, unfortunately, going away any time [...]

Happy Friday ProfHackers! It's been a difficult week to be in South Carolina between the unseasonably hot weather (it's the South; we are used to hot summers, but not this hot this soon) and the horrible events in Charleston. Many people have offered their thoughts on the shooting at Emanuel AME church. A few worth reading: Charles Pierce's piece in Esquire, “Charleston Shooting: Speaking the Unspeakable, Thinking the Unthinkable“; A NY Times editiorial “Lynching as Racial Terrorism”; and the Washington Post has published a transcript of Jon Stewart's monologue. June 19th is also know as Juneteenth, as many of you already [...]

Earlier this week, I shared my summer reading lists. Now it's your turn. What book(s) are you looking forward to reading this summer? Do you have recommendations for our readers, either books that you loved or that you are really excited about? Do you have plans to do any pleasure reading? Or do you have a slate of research and/or teaching titles on the docket? Does your family participate in Summer Reading programs either through your local library or through a school? Or would you prefer to give your eyes a break from the written word and do something else instead? Let us know in [...]

As summer looms, reading lists are starting to appear: 100 Books for your Summer Reading (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) 10 Essential Books for a Thought-Provoking Summer Reading (The Atlantic) The Ultimate Guide to Summer Reading (Refinery29) Best Summer Books 2015 (Publishers Weekly) Cool Books for Hot Summer Days (New York Times Note: this list has kicked up some controversy: to wit, Slate‘s ”The NYT‘s Summer Reading List is All Books From White Writers, and That's Not Its Only Problem,” which not only lists complaints but also offers an alternative list of its own). Here's a list of books that are on my own list or that I [...]

The Cloud is where it's at. This is probably not news to anyone who reads ProfHacker. We've talked about cloud storage for years: Dropbox, Spider Oak, Google Drive, and Copy. There are also other options like Apple's iCloud and Microsoft's OneDrive. Now Amazon is upping the ante. Amazon Prime membership ($99 or $49 for students) already includes unlimited photo storage and an additional 5GB for video and files. Now, for an additional $60 a year, Amazon Cloud Drive is offering “Unlimited Everything“: photos, video, documents, and other files. There's a three-month free trial if you are interested in checking it [...]

As March draws to a close, maybe you are back from your break. Maybe, you are still gearing up. Wherever you are in your academic term, we hope that the allergy gods smile, or that it finally stops snowing. Or both. From The Chronicle of Higher Ed, a story about Trinity College in Washington D. C.: ”How an Elite Women's College Lost Its Base and Found Its Mission.” And earlier this week, coverage of Sweet Briar continued with “Scenes from the Death of a College” and “Sweet Briar Alumnae Outline Legal Case Against College.” From The Atlantic, soon would-be physician assistants will [...]

It's Friday, ProfHackers–we've made it through another week. Do you have a bracket? Is it busted? Already? I came across a post this week titled “A Parents' Guide to All That Ed Tech in the Classroom: What to ask when your school says the iPads are coming.” Obviously intended for parents, this post is actually a helpful starting point for anyone who is considering incorporating more technology into an educational environment, whether parent, student, faculty member or administrator. From Salon: ”Ashley Judd is pressing charges against misogynist trolls who threatened her over sports.” And not only is she pressing charges, she has [...]