One of the reasons I look with suspicion at anyone with a rigid ideology is that ideological rigidity tends to exclude some pragmatic solutions which may help to achieve the things you actually value.
Decide what you want to achieve, and then use any ethical means to achieve that, regardless of its source.
Originally shared by David Brin
Interesting article on how food banks, with their somewhat socialist mind-set, incorporated “market” forces to help them allocate food donations not only where they were needed but where they are wanted-most. Apparently, so long as equity and generosity are factors in the general outline, market forces and even competition help to get resources to the right place, efficiently.
Just posted this on FB. We shall see what results.
My dear fellow straight white male Christians who are empathising with women by imagining them as your daughters, wives, sisters or mothers:
Congratulations on making a start.
Can I make a suggestion, though? How about empathising with them simply as fellow human beings?
I assume you don’t have to picture another man as your son, brother, or father in order to empathise with him.
“But I don’t have to do that because other men are like me!”
Yes, exactly.
And once you’ve managed this with women – I have faith in you, you can do it – you could even try doing the same exercise with people of other races or religions or social classes. Fellow human beings.
“But how would I even start?”
Well, you could find a well-written fictional or nonfictional story – book, movie, TV show, whatever medium you prefer – from the point of view of a person you think of as different from you, and look for the common humanity: the desire to be loved, the longing for connection, the fear of rejection, the loyalty to family or people who are like family (which is where we started, after all), the courage and perseverance in the face of life’s struggles. Maybe post on your timeline and ask for recommendations.
You’ll see why this is in my Diversity and Representation collection in a minute.
It’s puzzled me why, of all the many reprehensible things Trump has said, this latest one has finally led a lot of his “insider” supporters to distance themselves and even call for him to step down. The only thing I could figure out is that all of the other things are either things they could imagine saying themselves (if more subtly), or things they wish they could say, but know better than to say where anyone can hear.
This opinion piece takes a slightly different, but compatible angle: that this latest revelation is disrespect of members of a less-empowered group that a) were still, on the whole, planning to vote for Trump, and b) that are still considered bad form to attack even among Republicans: (straight) white women.
It’s kind of the reverse of the famous “first they came for the Communists” litany. Trump has systematically disrespected group after group, but has finally been revealed to have blatantly disrespected a group that his putative colleagues actually care about, both as people and as voters. And to have disrespected them as a group, not just individually (as he did with Megyn Kelly early in his primary campaign).
I was astonished to read elsewhere that he’s even apologised and said he was wrong, though he couldn’t restrain himself from adding riders that reduced the impact of the apology. Normally, he doesn’t ever admit he was wrong (sometimes denying that he said things he clearly said). However, if the linguistics article that was being shared around recently is right, this is just another example of saying whatever will achieve his goals, rather than an authentic apology and an actual realisation of wrongdoing. And a month is a very short period of time in which to prove that theory mistaken by his actions.
The linked article speculates that many of his supporters still won’t care. Indeed, my wife’s aunt, an inarticulately rabid Trump supporter, is still cheering him on, and I’m sure plenty of other white women (and evangelicals) still will – but a good many might also find this the final straw.
Originally shared by The Mary Sue
Why did #TrumpTapes go viral, as opposed to … anything else horrifying that’s happened with Donald J. Trump’s campaign so far? Let us explain.
I’ve used the Fussy Librarian and not made my money back, though I did get some sales. Haven’t tried most of the others. I’m thinking of giving Ereader News Today another go – they turned me down once before.
Originally shared by Bublish
Are free book promotions worth it? Find out here: http://ow.ly/Cfju304WpOd #IARTG #bookmarketing #IAN1
If you have a novella in the epic/high fantasy/sword & sorcery/quest genre that is NOT eurocentric, and would like the opportunity to wait for months for Tor to most likely reject it, here’s your chance.
(Cynicism aside, this could be a good opportunity if you have the right piece.)
This book is part of the Noblebright Fantasy boxed set that C. J. Brightley has organised, and that I’m participating in. I just finished reading it the other day. It’s a good story, well told, with a young protagonist who learns to trust and who has to show courage and perseverance to help her new-found friends.
So that makes 5 books (including mine) that I can recommend from this bundle. There are 12 books in all, plus some short fiction, and until Saturday it’s only 99c – after that, we need to put the price up for technical reasons to do with the size of the file.
And here is the lowest layer of an entirely new technology stack, waiting for its compilers and its high-level languages.
Originally shared by Larry Panozzo
Tiny molecular machines. Their work marked the advent of nanobiotechnology.
James M. Tour, a professor of chemistry at Rice University in Houston, said the Nobel would bestow legitimacy on the field and help convince people that nanomachines are not just fantastical science fiction of the far future.
“No one is making money on these right now, but it will come,” he said. “These men have established and built up the field in a remarkable way.”
Dr. Tour predicted that the first profitable use of the technology might be machines that open up cell membranes in the body to deliver drugs. “It’s really going to be quite extraordinary,” he said.