Same-Gender Dancing and Homophobia
At a big urban contra dance in the US you could call a gents swing or gypsy and you wouldn't get any complaints. [1] Maybe someone would grumble, but the dancers would do it and few would mind. Many...
View ArticlePay other people to go vegetarian for you?
I notice that a large fraction of Effective Altruism people are vegetarian. This makes sense: in general Effective Altruists take moral issues seriously, even when that means changing your lifestyle....
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Taking Charity Seriously: Toby Ord talk
Toby Ord came in to Google to give a talk on charity effectiveness: (youtube) Transcript: I'm Toby Ord. I'm here today from Oxford University where I'm a Research Fellow in Philosophy, and also I'm...
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Better Mobile Support
I noticed my posts look bad on my phone: the main text is too small to read and other things are too big and prominent. I added some css based on media queries, and now it's legible: Comment via:...
View ArticleWhat Rate of Return Should You Expect?
If you invest money, perhaps because you want to give money in the future, you want a good estimate of the real rate of return so you can compare it to just giving now. Small differences in this...
View ArticlePassover-Kosher Corn Tortillas
During Passover you're not supposed to eat food where wheat has been wet for more than eighteen minutes. Such foods are chametz, but if you're Ashkenazi you're also not supposed to eat kitniyot, which...
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3G and HSPA+ on the Razr M with ATT or T-Mobile
The Verizon Razr M refuses to work on T-Mobile or ATT. You can flash its modem with the Australian radio image, but because that's not a perfect fit you're limited to Edge speeds. It would be nice to...
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Multi-Brand Lookup?
Many companies have a multi-brand strategy where they compete in the same market multiple times under different brands. Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury are all the same company. So are Coke and Sprite,...
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The Unintuitive Power Laws of Giving
Why give globally? Why give money? Why health charities? Why single-issue organizations? At first glance these all seem like arbitrary choices: what if I would rather volunteer, or donate to local...
View ArticleEffective Altruism terms
The phrases "doing good", "helping people", "making the world a better place", "reducing suffering", "making people's lives better", "helping the needy", and "improving the world" all capture similar...
View ArticleSubstituting 'the' for gendered prounouns
As a way of getting gendered pronouns out of the language I think pushing the boundaries of singular they is a good approach. But the final step of saying "Pat doesn't know their way home" is still...
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New Mandolin
It's a Collings MT, #2729. I'll be playing it tonight at CDNY! Comment via: google plus, facebook
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Does my new mandolin sound better?
I just bought a Collings MT to replace my Morgan Monroe MAM-200. I love playing it and I think it sounds much better, but I'm curious: how does it compare out in the hall when I play it for dances? I...
View ArticleLearning every part
Dancer, caller, musician, organizer, sound person. Within 'dancer', gent and lady. Within 'musician', rhythm and melody. I want to be able to take on any of these roles. I don't need to be excellent...
View ArticleJoining Giving What We Can
I just joined Giving What We Can, which means I've pledged to give at least 10% of my income to the most effective charities helping people in developing countries from now until I retire. While this...
View ArticleThe Efficiency of Meat
People often claimthatmeat is inherentlyinefficient because we feed animals grain and it would be better to eat the grain ourselves: Beef cattle, weighing in at around 900 pounds as an adult, require...
View ArticleSummaries of Earning to Give
There are roughly four ideas that make up the "earning to give" approach to effective altruism: donate to the most effective organizations earn more so you can give more spend less so you can give...
View ArticleWhat is leading in contra?
In a discussion about "leading"in contra dance, someone asked for clarification: What are you doing specifically to make you think that you are leading or following when you do contra dance? When I'm...
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Getting Myself to Eat Vegetables
I have a strategy for getting myself to eat vegetables. I've been using it for about six months now, and it works well: Put the food I want to eat on my plate. Put raw vegetables on top. Eat through...
View ArticleBad Airplane Queuing
When waiting to board a plane I would much rather wait in the terminal than on the jetway. It's nice to have a seat, laptop, internet, power, and a pleasant temperature. As ticket scanning has gotten...
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