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Category archive: Improving Society

Group discussion can result in extreme views

In 2000, the Yale Law Journal published a fascinating article by Cass R. Sunstein titled “Deliberative Trouble? Why Groups Go... (More...)

How to help fix the "American novelists" problem on Wikipedia

The “American novelists” category on Wikipedia is apparently theoretically supposed to be just a list of subcategories, but it currently... (More...)

Some harassment and rape links

I've been meaning for a long time to write something coherent about some of the stuff I've been reading about... (More...)

The transparent society: arriving soon?

I read only an excerpt from David Brin's 1998 nonfiction book The Transparent Society, but the gist of its argument... (More...)

Mary Anne on graceful exits

Good stuff from Mary Anne about how to leave room for a polite no when flirting or otherwise expressing interest... (More...)

Half-amusing juxtaposition

I get spam now and then from the IGN Games website. I think I tried to unsubscribe at some point... (More...)

Frye on oppression

Back in 2009, Liz H pointed to an essay that I liked: “Oppression,” by Marilyn Frye, from Frye's 1983 book... (More...)

Darkness into light

Sometimes around this time of year, we need a little hope to carry us through to brighter days. Here are... (More...)

Talking Union

In the version of “Talking Union” that's on Pete Seeger's Greatest Hits, Seeger explains the origin of the song. I... (More...)

Donations 2010

Here are the organizations I'm donating to in 2010. (I had this all set to post a week or two... (More...)

Catastrophic flooding in Pakistan

I've seen surprisingly little in the news about the floods in Pakistan. Granted, I've been mostly not reading the news... (More...)

Rebuilding in Haiti

Back in January, my finances were not in good enough shape to donate to the Haiti earthquake relief efforts. There... (More...)

Telefund: threat or menace?

A few weeks ago, I got a bunch of calls on my land line whose caller ID identified them as... (More...)

Everything is amazing (and nobody's happy)

I forget who linked to this recently: a clip of Conan O'Brien talking to Louis C.K., in which LCK points... (More...)

Privilege and allies

I've been thinking for a long time about some stuff I want to write about trying to be a good... (More...)

Potentially urgent info for small nonprofits

An AP article suggests that many small US nonprofits that make under $25,000 a year could (at least temporarily) lose... (More...)

More about awesome women

I read through all of the awesome women proclaiming their awesomeness thread yesterday (having previously only looked at a couple... (More...)

Awesome women

Karen H posted a great entry recently in which she invited women to post about their awesomeness. She writes: Too... (More...)

Adaptation

Just heard Bernice Johnson Reagon on NPR, talking about, among other things, her experience (as part of the Civil Rights... (More...)

Assorted Haiti items

Things in Haiti continue to sound hellish. I'd heard about the really big aftershock on Wednesday (magnitude 5.9), but it... (More...)

People helping people

Two items that give me some hope for humanity: Portland dry cleaner Plaza Cleaners offers free dry cleaning for unemployed... (More...)

Yet another whitewashed book cover

Ari at Reading in Color blogs about the latest YA fantasy novel with a whitewashed cover. Yep, it's yet another... (More...)

Donations 2009

Did most of my end-of-year donations in mid-December, but finished the last few in a mad scramble at the end... (More...)

How to help out Haiti

Google has posted a page with info on some ways to support disaster relief in Haiti, including a couple of... (More...)

Designing for a physically diverse audience

A few things that seem kind of related to me: HP's face-tracking webcam apparently doesn't detect black faces as faces.... (More...)

Waterboarding, torture, and Reagan

Two worthwhile pieces about torture: Former FBI agent Ali Soufan speaks up about the ineffectiveness of waterboarding and other related... (More...)

Belief and bias confirmation

I've observed for a while now (or perhaps I should say "believed") that people generally tend to notice evidence that... (More...)

Donations 2008

I just finished (most of) my end-of-year donations; here are the organizations I'm donating to. Almost all of this is... (More...)

O beautiful, for spacious skies

For anyone who missed it, Mary Anne posted a very nice piece the other day about nationalism, homelands, and becoming... (More...)

Nice week

Here's what I would like as a birthday present, from as many of you as are willing to participate: Be... (More...)

Donations 2007

I just finished my end-of-year donations; here are the organizations I'm donating to. Much of this is repeated from two... (More...)

Clean drinking water for children

I really am on my way to bed, but wanted to post this before I forget: I heard today about... (More...)

Jane Addams and Hull-House

At the end of Kriti, there was a music concert next door; I walked over with Mary Anne, but when... (More...)

Items: Technology and society

These and the Bussard stuff in the previous entry seem to sort of fit into a general theme, something to... (More...)

Donations

I just finished my end-of-year donations; not quite as last-minute as usual. In case anyone's interested, here are some of... (More...)

Freedom of speech

I think most Americans are unaware of the existing limitations on freedom of speech. I used to think that freedom... (More...)

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