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The gender pay gap

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Dennis Kucinich is my hero

No one in Congress can hold a candle to Dennis’ integrity.  He doesn’t play political games, doesn’t cave to pressure from Repubs or Dems, sell out to special interests, or any of that other crap that everyone else seems to view as the unfortunate but unavoidable reality of political office.  He says and does what he believes is in the best interest of all Americans.  Thanks, Dennis.  You rock.

biteofpythias: winstonwolfe: markyb: peterwknox: Support for Same-Sex Marriage by Age and State » Sociological Images via All I learned from this is that there is no point trying to change old people. That & the fact that people over the age of 45 are seemingly much more likely to vote than the 18-29 crowd are. At least that’s what happened in states like California & Maine, the 7th and 8th states on the list. the rate of opposition to same-sex marriage is dropping at about 1% per year in tracking polls. this actually mirrors almost exactly the drop in opposition to the legalization of interracial marriage, which also dropped about a percent a year. Interestingly, it was 1967 when the supreme court set aside the last state laws against interracial marriage in the Love v. Va. case - but it wasn’t until 1991 when opposition to legalization dropped below 50%. That’s right. Until 1991 a majority of Americans in gallup’s tracking felt that interracial marriage should be illegal. Not are you okay with it, or is it okay for your son or daughter, but should it be legal. We need strong courts when it comes to rights issues b/c majority rule on minority rights is never a good thing. I would also argue that with only a 1% drop a year it is doubtful that there are many individual people out there actually changing their minds. Sure, some are - after having the issue touch someone close to them or a human face being put on it for them. But at 1% a year, most change is happening simply b/c one cohort is aging out of the polling frame and a new cohort of 18 yr olds is aging into the poll. Click for high-res photo

biteofpythias:

winstonwolfe:

markyb:

peterwknox:

Support for Same-Sex Marriage by Age and State » Sociological Images

via

All I learned from this is that there is no point trying to change old people.

That & the fact that people over the age of 45 are seemingly much more likely to vote than the 18-29 crowd are. At least that’s what happened in states like California & Maine, the 7th and 8th states on the list.

the rate of opposition to same-sex marriage is dropping at about 1% per year in tracking polls. this actually mirrors almost exactly the drop in opposition to the legalization of interracial marriage, which also dropped about a percent a year. Interestingly, it was 1967 when the supreme court set aside the last state laws against interracial marriage in the Love v. Va. case - but it wasn’t until 1991 when opposition to legalization dropped below 50%. That’s right. Until 1991 a majority of Americans in gallup’s tracking felt that interracial marriage should be illegal. Not are you okay with it, or is it okay for your son or daughter, but should it be legal. We need strong courts when it comes to rights issues b/c majority rule on minority rights is never a good thing. I would also argue that with only a 1% drop a year it is doubtful that there are many individual people out there actually changing their minds. Sure, some are - after having the issue touch someone close to them or a human face being put on it for them. But at 1% a year, most change is happening simply b/c one cohort is aging out of the polling frame and a new cohort of 18 yr olds is aging into the poll.

Dear House (of Representatives, not Dr. Greg House),

You passed a health care reform bill!  It’s not as grand as I would have liked, and you made some serious compromises, but it’s a whole lot better than I expected.  So kudos to you.  Senate, it’s your turn to step up.

defective underwear? sue their pants off.

Who among us has not bought a pair of underwear that didn’t quite work out?  1. We don’t sue the underwear manufacturer.  We disappointedly relegate the offending pair to the drawer for several years until we finally throw them away.  2. We don’t walk around in the offending underwear for a week before noticing a steadily worsening injury to our nether regions.  3. If we did allow the offending underwear to inflict a thousand tiny wounds to our nether regions, we would not publicly announce that, even for the chance at reaching deep into the pockets of an underwear giant like Hanes.  That sounds inappropriate and impossible.

Are digital diaries making us smarter or dumber?

Calculators have made many little tasks easier, but I think they’ve made my life harder in some ways.  I haven’t honed my mental math skills as much as I’d like, so I’m less capable when I’m not sitting in front of a computer.  I’m a fan of GTD because there are a lot of things I want to get done, and I don’t want to have to keep my many to-do lists in my head.  What do you think?  Is twittering, blogging and facebooking harming our brains by making it unnecessary to remember what happens in our lives, or do those activities clear out the clutter to let us think about the big picture?

Bystander effect

I was shocked to hear about how more than a dozen people stood around watching while a 15-year-old girl was gang raped and beaten outside of a high school dance.  How could people be so callous?  Why didn’t their consciences scream at them to do something—at least call 911?

A friend of mine who is a psychology grad student told me that this actually happens all the time, so much that the phenomenon has been studied and has a name: the bystander effect.  Apparently, as the number of people present increases, the likelihood of anyone helping decreases.  Many psychological factors seem to play a role in this.  I am continually amazed at what the human mind is capable of—for good and bad.  Given certain circumstances, people can do and believe things they would have thought impossible.  It’s really scary when you think about what regular people have done throughout history.

The good news is that when people are aware of the bystander effect, they are more likely to overcome it and take action to help a victim when they are in that situation.  I think this is true of all kinds of ethical pitfalls; the more we have consciously thought about what is right and the stronger our convictions, the less likely we are to fall in when circumstances push us.