Sunday, June 22, 2014

Heavy Tabs (Except One About Star Trek)

Once again, the tabs are full and crashing the old browser. (There are a lot more where these came from, but at least this lightens the load a bit.)

First, some new research on why women don't negotiate their job offers. "...the answer has more to do with how women are treated when they negotiate than it has to do with their general confidence or skills at negotiation. Numerous studies have been conducted in which participants rate their impressions of employees who negotiate for pay and of employees who let the same opportunity to negotiate pass them by. The researchers then compared people’s willingness to work with that employee after evaluators saw him or her negotiate, or not. If evaluators were less inclined to work with the same employee after seeing him or negotiate, we deemed that the “social cost” of negotiation. In repeated studies, the social cost of negotiating for higher pay has been found to be greater for women than it is for men."

Narcissistic self-aggrandizers do better in job interviews. Who would have thought?

If you're tired of hearing from chickenhawks like Dick Cheney or Bill Kristol on why we should intervene in Iraq (once again), check out this interview with the Atlantic's James Fallows on what it was like to be against the war in 2002-2003.

An open letter to privileged people who play devil’s advocate. And 18 things white people should know/do before discussing racism. (I know 18 sounds like a lot, but they're short.)

How income inequality might lead students to drop out of high school. "While a little bit of inequality might motivate some students to study harder, a lot of it might kill their motivation entirely."

Capitalism vs. education: Why our free-market obsession is wrecking the future. An interview with David Blacker, philosophy and education professor, and author of the recent book, The Falling Rate of Learning and the Neoliberal Endgame.

An analysis of my favorite Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, Darmok (Shaka, when the walls fell!).

The wages of low pay, by David Cay Johnston. By refusing to raise minimum wage, we exact a terrible toll on low-income workers and their children.

Dr. William Foege, a former executive with the Carter Center and former head of the US Centers for Disease Control, spoke at the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize Forum in Minneapolis on the ways global health can reduce violence and create a more peaceful world. Very worth a listen.

We hear an increasing amount about mass incarceration and even the school-to-prison pipeline. But NPR's Joe Shapiro raised the profile of debtor's prison (!) in the U.S. through his series of reports a few weeks ago. It's all worth listening to, filled with one amazing fact I never knew after another. (Hey, did you, know that 25 percent of the space in county jails is filled with people who are there only because they couldn't pay a fine, not because of time sentenced?)

Am I the only one who thought who thought it was illegal to jail people for not being able to pay a debt? Or that a public defender is provided free of charge? Guess again.

And after all of that, this story on poverty makes a nice cap: Poverty, a frustrating mix of bad choices and bad luck.

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