‘Black Guy’ booth livens up Corvallis Saturday market

Semi-interesting tidbit.  It does convey the sense that it is a rather white town. 

Civil rights coalition: Delta needs to boost diversity

An example of the scrutiny that high-visibility companies are under and the public pressure that can be generated.

NY Times interview with Scott E. Page – The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools and Societies

From the article:  “In the long-running debate on affirmative action, Scott E. Page, a professor of complex systems, political science and economics at the University of Michigan, is a fresh voice. Scott Page says varied backgrounds give an organization strength. His recently published book, “The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools and Societies” (Princeton University Press), uses mathematical modeling and case studies to show how variety in staffing produces organizational strength.”

I guess I’ll probably have to read the book to understand what’s fresh about his approach. The argument that diversity of thought within a group leads to higher quality outcomes is not new, at least in the organizational psychology field.  Perhaps the freshness refers to the explicit application of mathematically driven models to the socio-political discussion that is unusual.