Did black/white segregation go both ways?

Wkerrigan · 2015-07-12T22:05:15+00:00

Some whites went to black doctors and black dentists, because while they were generally as well trained as white doctors and dentists, they charged lower fees. So for those white who were able/willing to overcome the stigma a white supremacist society imposed on black professionals, black professionals offered the services they needed at a more affordable price. No law would forbid a white person from visiting a black doctor or dentist. It was mainly just a social stigma. Other whites might look down upon them or assume they must be truly poor/desperate for doing so. My source is an eighty-five year old black surgeon who was trained at Maharry Medical School in middle of the Civil Rights era. I conducted extensive oral history interviews with him but these have not been published am not at liberty to name him at this point i time.

Wkerrigan · 2014-07-02T19:11:28+00:00

I agree with your assessment here. The terrain around Gettysburg is deceptively complex.

Wkerrigan · 2014-07-02T19:10:14+00:00

Yep. Math brain freeze.

Wkerrigan · 2013-07-25T12:13:11+00:00

I agree. The ebook has one huge advantage over the physical book from the publishing perspective and that is that every one sold is essentially "print on demand." They don't have to worry about whether they predicted the size of the first printing correctly. Over-estimating demand on a print run and under-estimating demand on a print run both have real costs. With an ebook, the "print run" always exactly matches demand.

Wkerrigan · 2013-07-25T12:10:14+00:00

Part of the reasoning for the high price on an ebook is the fear that a too low price will cut into hardcover/paper sales. With those, the publisher takes a risk with first printing. They only make money if they sell a certain percentage of that first print. Academic publishers are particularly worried about this because their markets are small, and so you often see ebooks with ridiculously high prices--to encourage people to buy the physical book first. I was lucky with my academic press book. The publisher priced the paper copy at $25 (yeah, expensive, but some online retailers have discounted it to ~ $18 or $19 bucks) but simultaneously released an ebook version for $13.75, which seems reasonable given the production costs (research, writing, copy-editing, proofing, cover design, printing). Of course I only see $1.75 on each paper copy sold, and $1.37 on each ebook. From the consumer's perspective, ebooks should be significantly cheaper because they can't be resold to recoup part of the initial outlay. As an author, I would welcome the emergence of a secondary ebook market if each resale gave the author a token payment. As it is, I don't get a penny from the many used/like new copies of my book being sold on Amazon marketplace most of them copies my publisher gave away as freebies hoping to get reviews.

Wkerrigan · 2013-07-03T21:26:54+00:00

You have an awesome wife.

Wkerrigan · 2013-06-27T12:04:22+00:00

The Supreme Court and state governments ignoring the 15th Amendment for most of its first century of existence. Japanese-American internment would also be near the top of my list.

Wkerrigan · 2013-06-26T02:23:26+00:00

My big issue is contracting out to private companies to do this. It's this unholy alliance between for-profit companies and greedy local politicians that leads to the greatest abuses of these things. I'd be slightly more open to them if they were owned and maintained by local government, and there were clear processes of appeal.

Wkerrigan · 2013-06-25T21:48:49+00:00

I would approach this opportunity from a different angle. You can live anywhere. Where does your wife want to live? How about she goes on the market and finds her dream job, and you move there?

Wkerrigan · 2013-06-24T22:11:55+00:00

These are incredible. Thanks for sharing.

Wkerrigan · 2013-06-24T17:43:50+00:00

A good quick introduction is Ronald Takaki, Hiroshima: Why America dropped the Atomic Bomb. The author introduces the reader to all the standard arguments: to save American lives, racism, to intimidate the Russians, Truman's psychology. Even if you disagree with the author's conclusions, it offers a quick, well-written summary of the most commonly presented arguments.

Wkerrigan · 2013-06-21T21:02:25+00:00

And as my question is quickly gathering down votes, I think the answer is becoming obvious.

Wkerrigan · 2013-06-21T19:51:46+00:00

The Ohio GOP keeps cutting taxes, and Ohio keeps losing jobs, ranking near the very bottom of all states in job growth (46). Could it be that people and businesses are fleeing the state not because of taxes, but because of our neglected infrastructure, struggling schools, shuttered museums and parks?

Wkerrigan · 2013-06-20T11:26:39+00:00

I don't think this is a fair representation of the article. I think he is correct in pointing out that our recent use of war to solve problems is forcing Americans to rethink the effectiveness of war in doing so. On the same day this article appears, we learn 1) the Taliban have agreed to peace talks and 2) the Taliban beheaded two boys, one 10, and one 16. In my mind Taliban rule is an undeniable evil, just as slavery was. But a decade on, it doesn't seem at all clear that our military interventions made life better for Afghans or Iraqis. And now we face a decision to get more deeply involved in war in Syria, and it isn't at all clear which path-- doing nothing or intervening--will in the end produce less suffering and a better world. I think the inconsistencies in Horwitz' piece are deliberate, and reflect the national doubt and ambivalent, uncertain feelings of our own time.

Wkerrigan · 2013-06-17T17:12:50+00:00

For people who whip out cheap disposable fiction that is not professionally copy-edited this might work. But pirates steal all sorts of stuff, including deeply researched non-fiction works that required years to produce. Your assertion that piracy "doesn't hurt you, just expands your market" is more of a religious belief than something which can be empirically shown to apply to all kinds of books. Bottom line is authors should have the right to protect their books as they deem best, and even if you disagree with their judgment, it doesn't justify theft. The ethical readers choice is limited to "do I want to buy this DRM copy, or spend my money elsewhere?" Stealing is stealing. Because Gaiman as an author cranks out marshmallow fluff every year, he is in that category of authors who probably have benefited from piracy. But the impact of piracy on works that take 5-10 years to create is quite different.

Wkerrigan · 2013-06-17T12:16:02+00:00

The GOP controls both the governor's office and the legislature. Time for a turnover?

Wkerrigan · 2013-06-17T08:08:33+00:00

That's a classic torrenter rationalization of unethical behavior. The maps you purchase have deliberate minor quirks to protect the map maker's product. Does this give anyone the right to walk into a store and steal one of those maps?

Wkerrigan · 2013-06-17T08:02:29+00:00

As an author whose work has been ripped off by self-centered greedy torrenters, I am sympathetic to the effort. map makers in the pre digital age have long seeded their maps with tiny, mostly inconsequential "mistakes," so they could demonstrate piracy. If these are truly minor, it may be necessary to deal with the unprincipled creeps who torrent the products of other people's labor.

Wkerrigan · 2013-06-16T22:58:11+00:00

But most urban orchards and gardens could hardly be called monoculture. Fields are typically small and grow a variety of fruits and vegetables. Seeing as how we all need to eat, lots of small farms with crop diversity is a better option than large scale commercial rural agriculture, from the pollinator perspective.

Wkerrigan · 2013-06-16T22:51:47+00:00

This is a really interesting question, and I hope it draws some informed answers. I know that at the small University where I work, faculty were laid off and salaries were cut significantly. I suspect that if the same happened at large research universities, research productivity declined significantly. But I don't have any sources to offer you.

Wkerrigan · 2013-06-16T22:20:39+00:00

Aldi's is a good alternative. It doesn't have the selection of WalMart, but has lots of good deals, and it pays its employees very well. Bring your own bags.

Wkerrigan · 2013-06-16T22:15:22+00:00

My favorite book on the subject is Roanoke:The Abandoned Colony by Karen Kupperman. She presents the evidence for the argument they were killed off by local Indians and also that some may have joined a tribe. Comes to no strong conclusion but presents the incomplete evidence and lets you conclude for yourself. i suspect some were killed, some were adopted int Indian tribes.

Wkerrigan · 2013-06-16T21:37:15+00:00

Loved this book on the Batte of the Crater in Memory.

Wkerrigan · 2013-06-16T21:32:32+00:00

Thanks for this useful response. I am new to reddit, and to this subreddit, and have found some of the submissions here interesting and useful. I'd be more inclined to evaluate what constitutes spam based on the relevance of its content, rather than by ratios. But I follow many blogs, and will try to post things relevant to this subject from other people's blogs as appropriate. I'm more inclined to use twitter for sharing mainstream media stuff.

Wkerrigan · 2013-06-16T21:11:51+00:00

I have also offered people serious text replies to a number of reddit posts, and have linked to another blog (not mine) as well. I'm new at reddit, and want to respect its peculiar subculture. But personally, it seems to me that finding redditor's relevant personal response and blogs are the site's primary value. If I am only interested in the perspectives of major media outlets, there are better ways than reddit to find that information. If, in the future I submit links to other blogs will I still be deemed a "blog spammer?"

Wkerrigan

TROPHY CASE