Is it legal to pay women less than men for equal work?
No, but people break laws all the time.Equal Pay and Compensation Discrimination (The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)Equal Pay & the Wage Gap Archives - NWLC (The National Women’s Law Center)The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap (The American Association of University Women)Pay Equity & Discrimination | Institute for Women's Policy Research6 charts show how much more men make than women (Business Insider)https://www.dol.gov/wb/images/Eq... (The U.S. Department of Labor)The narrowing, but persistent, gender gap in pay (Pew Research Center)Equal Pay For Equal Work: The Gender Wage Gap By The Numbers (Forbes)Stats for Stories: Equal Pay Day (The U.S. Census Bureau)The Gender Wage Gap: 2017 Earnings Differences by Race and Ethnicity | Institute for Women's Policy Research
How do you regain momentum after a big setback?
Thanks, Michael.Setbacks are gifts, in my opinion. I look for the gift in everything. And let me tell you something, growth more often comes from setbacks than successes. So, in every setback, whether imposed from without or within, I feel whatever sorrow comes with a thwarted desire or plan, give it its due, however long it takes, and then go about the search for that marvelous gift. And it is always there.I once had an experience that you could call a setback, though it felt more like a pulverized heart. I sank into that warm pool of sorrow, until I thought I’d drown in it. For three months I let it hold me, savored the visiting emotions that swam through: confusion, despair, anger, revenge, all of it. I let them tell me what was in my psyche that needed my deep attention. I gave it. There was a gift in there, so great, it took that long to walk back far enough to see it.And like that, many other stories, of stumbles. Of gifts. If you are vigilant they never pass you by. If you’re not and you pass THEM by, you risk a life of excuses, regrets and reproach. Who needs that?:-)
Does freedom entail responsibility?
Yes. When you are not free, someone or something else controls you so you are not responsible. But when you are free to make your own decisions then you are accountable for whatever you do because it was your choice. As a child, your freedom is limited. You wish you could grow up & "do whatever you want." Then you grow up & realize that with adult freedom comes responsibility. So freedom isn't as free as you think! It comes at a price...In some ways you were more free as a child when you had someone else controlling your life because they were taking care of your needs. You didn't have to go out to work, pay bills, etc etc. You had no worries. Mind you I wouldn't want to be a kid again for anything! I'm glad to be in control of my own life. Even though it can be stressful at times...
What is the beauty of the first law of thermodynamics?
You ask “What is the beauty of the first law of thermodynamics?” That is a peculiar question, being about both a scientific law and a matter of capricious opinion. As they say “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Well, I think the first law is beautiful, so I suppose I am qualified to hold an opinion on this one. The mention of “beauty” allows me to express myself in terms of poetic and visual imaginations, rather than in defensible facts.The laws of conservation (of matter, of energy, of momentum, of money, etc.) are the reason that the chaos of the random fluctuations of the universe can be tamed, and some persistent complexity of form and function can emerge. I visualize reality as a roiling sea of endless chaotic fluctuations. Floating up on top of this chaos is a platform of conserved characteristics - a structure of interlocking conservation laws that force some conformity on the random fluctuations.The role of rising entropy is to constantly destroy whatever small and improbable complexities of form or function that might happen to appear during some rare random fluctuation. Rising entropy is an indication that the system is moving towards (or returning to) a more probable condition of formlessness and utter simplicity of function.In direct opposition to that, the role of natural selection is to preserve some of the many improbable complex forms and functions, selecting some few for persistence, and expanding the platform of persistent rules and forms. The universal fitness criterion for “natural selection” being, as Lotka claimed in 1922, the rate of consumption of free energy. For example, the conservation of modern money has emerged as a world-changing conservation law that has little basis in physics or chemistry. Nevertheless, it has added one more layer of reinforcement to the conserved platform that maintains and enhances our existence. While natural selection “selects” a few of those improbable forms and functions for persistence, many are discarded to feed the implacable need for rising overall entropy. And just so, a few improbably complex forms and functions increase their complexity in apparent defiance of the effects of rising entropy. Local patches of low entropy expand, reinforced by the platform of conservation laws, and expanding the platform of conservation laws.In this grand vision of reality, I see great beauty in the first law of thermodynamics.
Hard Work=Success? Yes or No?
Many people link hard work with success. People keep telling me that if I work hard in school, then I'll get better grades and accomplish more things. But I think that some individuals work hard, yet they're still not successful. A classic example would be immigrants. My parents are immigrants, and they work their asses off. Because of the recession, my mom was laid off, and the only time that she could find work was the night shift at another establishment. She works from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. She, staying up all night, is essentially noctural now. At one point, my dad, working over 100 every two weeks, had 3 jobs. They aren't millionaires. We're definitely in the lower middle class. Why do people automatically assume that hard work leads to success and wealth? This is a generalization. People who aren't successful and rich work just as hard or even more so, and they still struggle to pay their bills.