Welcome to this week’s Via Waverly, where I expose diverse and unexpected finds that were served to me by Waverly.
A New Type of Puzzle
My puzzle wave continues to deliver, with Tapa, a delightful new type of cell-shading puzzle. The ingenuity of pencil & paper puzzle creators never ceases to amaze me.
Wave: ♟️ Puzzles
“Dear Trolls”: A form letter to tell trolls where to shove it
This article, written as a form letter, does a good job of highlighting the passion and hard work that goes into so-called traditional journalism. It’s also a non sarcastic approach to the problem of communicating with trolls.
Reporters are human beings. The best reporters have empathy and curiosity — and opinions. Often, they went through the process of developing those opinions as young people. We benefit from their opinions, and their passions. We value them.
When they join our organization, we make it very clear that they need to adhere to the highest professional standards in journalism. That doesn’t mean renouncing their opinions, or never having had any. It means not allowing their opinions to get in the way of fairly gathering, assessing and presenting facts.
Wave: ✍️ Stories about Leaders
Active Volcanoes on Mars?
I had missed that story, but my Geological Mysteries wave picked it up for me.
Strewn across Elysium Planitia near the equator of Mars, researchers recently found intriguing signs of far more recent volcanic activity. This broad plain, which lies just south of the volcanic province of Elysium, includes several major volcanoes.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS/The Murray Lab
Wave: 🕵️♂️ Geologic Mysteries
Experiments reveal 2:1 preference for women on STEM tenure track
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals the result of five hiring experiments for assistant professorships in biology, engineering, economics, and psychology.
Contrary to prevailing assumptions, men and women faculty members from all four fields preferred female applicants 2:1 over identically qualified males with matching lifestyles (single, married, divorced), with the exception of male economists, who showed no gender preference.
Wave: 👩🔬 Women of Science
Phil Beaudoin 