Elsewhere for April 7, 2018

You should read this for 4/7/2018:

Art and Film

Amazing Macro-Photography Of Individual Snowflakes [10 Pictures]

Books, Writing, and Language

22 Ambassadors Recommend the One Book to Read Before Visiting Their Country

If male authors described men in literature the way they describe women

Department Of Homeland Security Compiling Database Of Journalists And ‘Media Influencers’

In today’s installment of “I’m Not Terrified, You Are,” Bloomberg Law reports on a FedBizOpps.gov posting by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with the relatively benign-sounding subject “Media Monitoring Services.”

The details of the attached Request for Information, however, outline a plan to gather and monitor the public activities of media professionals and influencers and are enough to cause nightmares of constitutional proportions, particularly as the freedom of the press is under attack worldwide.

The administraiton’s desire to build a black list of journalists and high-profile media engagement citizens is in absolute goose-stepping alignment with 💩🔥💰’s hostility towards the media, and his deliberate attack on truth, including labeling any reporting, no matter how accurate it is, as “fake news” if it doesn’t effuse over him and his actions.

Education

What Apple’s education announcements mean for accessibility

Pay It Forward and Make It Better

James Patterson donating $2 million to classroom libraries

The Truth About Kill Pens – Are You REALLY Saving a Life?

Society

John Oliver Goes Off on Sinclair, Calls News Anchors ‘Members of a Brainwashed Cult’

“Yeah. Nothing says ‘We value independent media’ like dozens of reporters forced to repeat the same message over and over again like members of a brainwashed cult,” said Oliver. “I guess what I’m saying here, Sinclair, is that as a news organization, I believe you make no sense.”

Here’s NYMag.com on the same story: News Anchors Reciting Sinclair Propaganda Is Even More Terrifying in Unison
Seattle’s KOMO used to be a good station, before Sinclair.
And then there’s this from Newsweek: Media Giant Sinclair Hired Reporter From Russian Propaganda Outlet Rt Who Produced ‘Must-Run’ ‘Deep State’ Segment

Sinclair national correspondent Kristine Frazao produced the segment. Before joining Sinclair in 2013, she was an anchor/correspondent at RT, formerly Russia Today, for more than three years, according to her LinkedIn page. RT is an international television network funded by the Russian government. The Columbia Journalism Review called it “the Kremlin’s propaganda outlet.”

Technology

Twitter postpones platform change that would cut off third-party apps Basically, Twitter proposed cutting third-party apps that run outside of a Web browser and depend on “streaming services” from Twitter for their data. These apps are crucial for disabled users, since several of them run on hardware (like macOS) that Twitter’s own apps do not.

Even in a best-case scenario, it would only potentially restore the push notification side of things; it sounds like third-party Twitter clients just won’t have any practical way of offering a live-updating timeline anymore. “You will see delays in real-time updates during sporting events and breaking news,” the developers say.

Women’s Work

Jill McCabe: The president attacked my reputation. It’s time to set the record straight

‘He saw our children as possessions’: my husband killed our sonsClare Throssell is working to change UK laws so the family courts procedures are changed. “A forthcoming domestic abuse bill is likely to prevent abusers being allowed to cross-examine their victims.”

💩🔥💰 Trumpery 💩🔥💰

Fact check: Trump administration departs from reality on wall, census, Amazon