The Gender Pay Gap

Steve Chapman writes an intersting article about the gender gap in pay.

New Year's Day is called that because it begins a new year, and Thanksgiving has that name because it's an occasion for expressing gratitude. But Equal Pay Day, observed this year on April 24, is named for something that, we are told, doesn't exist -- equal pay for men and women.

The National Committee on Pay Equity used the occasion to announce that among full-time workers, women make only 77 cents for every dollar paid to men. The three leading Democratic presidential candidates have all endorsed legislation to fix the problem.

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In reality, that's not clear at all. What we know from an array of evidence, including this report, is that most if not all of the discrepancy can be traced to factors other than sexism. When it comes to pay equity, we really have come a long way.

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Link originally found on Fark.com.

Fight Piracy With Piracy

The Unintended Consequences of P2P Piracy

ARTICLE DATE: 03.19.07
By John C. Dvorak

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When you think about this, it's obvious. In fact, online piracy could be used as a strategy by record producers and movie folks to eliminate piracy altogether. But would anyone listen to the idea? And would there be anyone visionary enough to even dream up the concept?


Let me outline the architecture and strategy that the music industry could deploy today. It would cost less than the horrible current strategy of lawsuits and futile threats.

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Basically, if we stop fighting piracy, prices fall, and illegal piracy is no longer worth it. It's an interesting idea.

Come to think of it, this isn't that much different than the theories supporting the legalization of most drugs.

To Improve Pedestrian Safety, Seattle removes crosswalks.

After a spate of pedestrian deaths at crosswalks in recent years, the city of Seattle has decided it is safer to remove cross walks.

Bumper to Bumper
Disappearing crosswalk A growing "rush hour"
By Charles E. Brown
Seattle Times staff reporter

Marked crosswalks can create a false sense of safety for pedestrians, and removing those crosswalks indicates that those places are not preferred places to cross, says department spokesman Gregg Hirakawa. When a driver stops for someone crossing a busy four-lane street, a second driver could roll by in the next lane and hit the pedestrian.

By state law, however, every intersection is an "unmarked" crosswalk. So, it's still OK — and legal — to cross there, Hirakawa says.

Basically, marked crosswalks will become unmarked crosswalks because it's safer that way. Why is it safer? Because pedestrians will not think it's safe.

I'm not sure if this is incredibly brilliant or incredibly stupid. But I don't see drivers stopping for pedestrians at unmarked crosswalks any more than they did at marked ones.