There was apparently a comic in the daily that showed Pope Benedict being against gay marriage (and distribution of condoms and some other things). Then, someone write an article saying that it was offensive (http://www.stanforddaily.com/2013/02/15/op-ed-the-irony-is-delicious).
I had, for a long time, believed that driving was one of the leading causes of preventable death, but a Quora post made me realize that driving kills about 30,000 people per year in the US, which is much smaller than I had thought.
I did some math (below) and found that there is about a 1 in 200 chance of the average driver dying due to driving their car.
I spent a lot of time stressing out over this past election. I donated to Obama (and to some of the senate races) a few times. I hadn't given much thought to the ballot propositions across the nation, though.
A counterfactual question is one that asks what would be happen if something that was false were true. What if the moon were made of cheese? What if Hitler never dropped out of art school? What if you had to give up either chocolate or cheese?
In the context of socially responsible investing, a social screen is a set of criteria that an investor evaluates companies against. If a company doesn't meet those criteria, they don't get investment.
I haven't found a fund that meets my ethical criteria, so I'll probably make my own investments. Thus, I need to figure out what my social screen is.
It's hard to live an ethical life when living in a society that is globalized and not transparent. It's also hard to live an ethical life as an imperfect person.
It’s very hard to be a part of every movement. To stand up for everything that we believe in, we would need to change a lot.
We would need to actively support compassion. In addition to being compassionate, this means boycotting intolerant organizations and being politically engaged in favor of tolerance. There are many issues of race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, class, culture, religion, imprisonment, nationality, language, citizenship, and statehood that need to be addressed.
This term was very busy. And that's by my standards. This term was the first time that I really felt like I worked hard. And it felt good. Each time, when given the opportunity, I try to push my limits because there is so much to do and so little time. And this term I found out that I have very few limits, and when I am at my limits I am satisfied.
Aside from that, spending 3 months at my limits taught me a lot. It taught me how much I can do. It taught me about how I work. It taught me more about what I value and what I don't.
