http://www.businessinsider.com/pocket-point-pays-to-not-use-phone-2016-4

While in class, everyone was looking at their phones, texting, and doing whatever, with "no one paying attention to the teachers" as Gardner recalls.

The more they talked about it, the more annoyed they were. If technology could cause that kind a phone addiction, then it could also solve it, too, they thought.

So they built an app called Pocket Points that rewards students for not using their phones while in class.

Using "geo-fencing," (a GPS "fence" around the campus), the app can sense when a student is on campus and automatically lock the phone down. Students earn points while they are on campus with the app on/phone locked. When the student leaves campus, the phone unlocks and texting and Snapchatting can commence.

Points can then be cashed in for rewards at local businesses, like pizza, food, coffee, yogurt.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/09/science/in-science-its-never-just-a-theory.html

Misconception: It’s just a theory.

Actually: Theories are neither hunches nor guesses. They are the crown jewels of science.

http://www.govexec.com/oversight/2016/04/congress-worse-track-record-following-waste-cutting-recs/127467/

Federal agencies are making progress on addressing the duplication and overlap identified by independent auditors, but more than half of the total recommendations made since 2011 have not been fully addressed.

Picard Tips (@PicardTips) tweeted at 2:40 PM on Sun, Apr 10, 2016:

Picard strategy tip: Don’t assume your opponent will behave rationally. Plan for their emotional response.

(https://twitter.com/PicardTips/status/719233490483437568?s=03)

http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2016/04/opm-seeking-social-media-tracking-background-checks/127380/

The Office of Personnel Management is preparing for a pilot program to automatically track public social media postings of people applying for security clearances.

Ah! The list we read in PADM 753!

http://www.openculture.com/2016/04/carl-sagan-presents-his-baloney-detection-kit-8-tools-for-skeptical-thinking.html

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2016/04/07/hubble_image_of_galaxies_in_sculptor_implies_100_billion_galaxies_in_the.html

Look back at the image taken by Hubble. Look at it closely. The Universe is so vast it may be impossible for us to grasp its size and scale; yet by studying it, by embracing it, we see that our being a part of it is special.

If there is one most amazing thing that astronomy, that science, has shown us, I believe it is that.

http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/04/07/libraries-and-learning/

Most Americans believe libraries do a decent job of serving the education and learning needs of their communities and their own families. A new survey by Pew Research Center shows that 76% of adults say libraries serve the learning and educational needs of their communities either “very well” (37%) or “pretty well” (39%). Further, 71% say libraries serve their own personal needs and the needs of their families “very well” or “pretty well.”

As a rule, libraries’ performance in learning arenas gets better marks from women, blacks, Hispanics, those in lower-income households, and those ages 30 and older.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0327-santos-polling-problems-20160327-story.html

We should consider the source before trusting a poll, much like we do stock market tips or sports picks. Polling organizations that are members of American Assn. for Public Opinion Research’s Transparency Initiative provide a standard level of technical disclosure about their methods for anyone who is interested in getting into the weeds. Regardless, while pollsters scramble to build a better mouse trap, we should be cognizant that election forecasts can and will continue to fall short. We should avoid using them to pick among candidates. And, of course, we should all get out and vote.

Amusing stuff!

http://chronicle.com/article/Inside-the-Elaborate-Web/235982