Archive for Society

Why are women less happy?

May 25, 2009 Reluctant Rant, Society

A recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that women are less happy now than in the 1970′s, when a similar study was conducted. Not only did the subjective happiness of women decrease absolutely but also relative to men.

female-depressedThere are several theories as to why. Some guess that the women’s movement was unsuccessful. Others posit that men have gained more than women from women saturating the workforce, but that doesn’t really explain the absolute decrease in female happiness.

Many are overlooking a few fundamental reasons:

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"Evil" areas of the United States

May 23, 2009 Reluctant LDS Life, Personal, Society

Have you ever wondered where the “worst” areas of the country are? So did the Kansas State University Geography Department. So they mapped it out. They looked at each of the “seven deadly sins” and plotted the highest and lowest concentrations of each.  The breakdown of their methodologies of calculations:

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21 Suggestions for Success

March 7, 2009 Reluctant Family, Inspirational, Personal, Rant, Society

Key to successA friend of mine tipped me off to these suggestions, but they are both profound and simple:

1. Marry the right person. This one decision will determine 90% of your happiness or misery.
2. Work at something you enjoy and that’s worthy of your time and talent.
3. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
4. Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.
5. Be forgiving of yourself and others.
6. Be generous.
7. Have a grateful heart.
8. Persistence, persistence, persistence.
9. Discipline yourself to save money on even the most modest salary.
10. Treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated.
11. Commit yourself to constant improvement.
12. Commit yourself to quality.
13. Understand that happiness is not based on possessions, power or prestige, but on relationships with people you love and respect.
14. Be loyal.
15. Be honest.
16. Be a self-starter.
17. Be decisive even if it means you’ll sometimes be wrong.
18. Stop blaming others. Take responsibility for every area of your life.
19. Be bold and courageous. When you look back on your life, you’ll regret the things you didn’t do more than the ones you did.
20. Take good care of those you love.
21. Don’t do anything that wouldn’t make your Mom proud.

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Vote

November 2, 2008 Reluctant Politics, Society

Although the below video is geared toward Catholics (from CatholicVote.com), I think it is very relevant to all of us.  It’s only 3 1/2 minutes long so watch it.

Remember if you can’t see the video, view the full post here.

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Presidential Economics

October 26, 2008 Reluctant Politics, Society

In recent months, as the economy has taken first stage, I’ve started following a few economist’s blogs (never thought I would ever say that).  Greg Mankiw is a Harvard Economics professor and surely leans right as he has been an economic adviser to President Bush and John McCain.  The other, who leans only slightly left, is Casey Mulligan, a Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago.

Interestingly enough, these two economists follow each other’s blogs and often comment on the other’s analysis.  Following both, I feel I get a fairly well rounded view of things.

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If only all politics could be like this

October 19, 2008 Reluctant Politics, Rant, Science, Society

Wouldn’t it be great if all politics could be this light-hearted.

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

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Empathy Deficit Disorder and shifting the blame

July 4, 2008 Reluctant Rant, Science, Society

Some that know me well (especially my wife) can attest to the fact that I don’t have a great deal of patience in showing empathy or sympathy (yes, there is a difference).

EmpathySo when I saw this article from CNN about EDD (Empathy Deficit Disorder), I finally realized that I can’t help it either.

I’m afflicted with a disorder.  A disease that I can’t control.  EDD is rampant among Americans, so that makes me more comfortable knowing that I’m in a large group of people who “just can’t” show empathy.  It’s not our fault, we have a disease.

The psychologist who “identified” this disorder credits it with creating most conflict in this world.  From war to divorce, it’s all because of EDD.  It destroys lives and causes political strife.

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True Patriotism

July 3, 2008 Reluctant Politics, Rant, Society

Obama's non-pinned patriotismThe Centrist recently sent me an article from Time Magazine titled “The State of Patriotism” by Peter Beinart.  The article details the differences between the conservative style of patriotism and the liberal philosophy.

Beinart did a good job of keeping to the issue and not leaning to one side or the other.  As he indicates, there is a place for both types of patriotism, but he needed to go one step further.  The true patriot is one who embodies both styles of patriotism, not one or the other.  For some reason, each side feels their style is exclusively correct and cannot include portions (or the whole) of the other.

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Book Review: Pastwatch by OSC

June 15, 2008 Reluctant Books, Orson Scott Card, Religion, Society

Some books are great because of the characters. Others are great because of the cool adventure or through fun mystery. And still others which amaze the mind through great concepts.

There are few authors who successfully combine all these elements into a single novel as well as Orson Scott Card. He pulls it off again in Pastwatch: The Redemption of Chistopher Columbus.

In a distant future, an organization called Pastwatch has developed technology to examine the past in detail.  Through a device called the TruSite II, they can follow time lines and individuals through their lives to learn about the past (and of course learn from the past).

While watching an incident during the Spanish conquest of Mesoamerica, one of the more passionate and brilliant Pastwatch researches, Tagiri, learns that people from the past can sometimes “see” the watchers as they are watching the past.  This of course prompts the researches to believe that they might be able to change the past.  If they can communicate with the people of the past, they can change history.

In an effort to prevent slavery in America, Tagiri sets out to prevent Christopher Columbus from making his voyage west.  Eventually, it is learned that Columbus’ discovery of American was set in motion by a different historical time line in which a similar Pastwatch organization sent a holographic projection into the past to convince Columbus that God wants him to sail west.  This confirms that they can send objects (and perhaps people) into the past.  After learning that human existence is very much threatened because of all the past conflict, Pastwatch begins an effort to send individuals into the past to try to “fix” history and prevent or alter the events that lead to their catastrophic situation.

In a combination of science fiction and historical drama, Card explores the atrocities brought upon the Native American people and provides an alternate possibility of how things perhaps should have happened.  He shows how simple changes could have completely changed the political and social landscape throughout history. By turning Columbus from a gold-seeking pirate into a true Christian with dreams of world peace and unity, history is changed from being dominated by conflict and war into a peaceful and unifying dream.

An incredible story with intrigue, mystery, great characters, fantastic concepts, love, action (you even get some swashbuckling) and interesting social aspects.

Definitely and A+!

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The Refiner's Fire

June 11, 2008 Reluctant Ethics, Family, LDS Life, Politics, Religion, Society

There are tragedies in this world that nobody ever expects will happen to them.  It’s always someone else that experiences tragedy.  Yesterday, tragedy hit far too close to home.  My sister-in-law, Liz, and her husband, Zac, just experienced one of the most difficult tragedies.  They lost their little baby before they even got to experience the joy of holding it.

Rather than explain things myself, I’ll let you read their own accounts of how their unborn child died.  There accounts show the beauty of the Gospel and the peace that the knowledge of the Atonement brings to our lives.  The Lord has a plan for each of us.

It’s so hard to see the good in such a tragedy, but yet these two brave souls are looking for just that.  They know the Gospel and they know that the Lord watches over them.  And for whatever reason, the Lord determined that it wasn’t time for this little one to come into the world.  And they realize that!  Only through faith in Jesus Christ can this kind of peace surface in such a tragedy.  What a powerful testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel this event has brought to those involved.

And of course as a side note (with a little controversy tossed in), my wife and I both (although separately) thought of the greater (although less personal for us) tragedy that is far too accepted in our society.  We see so much pain for this couple, yet there have been between 1 to 1.7 million (yes, that’s million) abortions performed in the United States each year since 1975.

How did we get to this point, where hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of couples each year expirience the pain of loosing an unborn child while 1.7 million abortions are performed in the same time frame.  I just don’t understand.

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