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	<title>Civic Studies &#187; Meaninglessness</title>
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	<link>http://civicstudies.org</link>
	<description>An intellectual community of researchers and practitioners dedicated to building the emerging field of civic studies</description>
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		<title>So Long and Thanks for All the Fish (Or, A Tribute to Cassini)</title>
		<link>http://sarahshugars.com/2017/09/so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-fish-or-a-tribute-to-cassini/</link>
		<comments>http://sarahshugars.com/2017/09/so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-fish-or-a-tribute-to-cassini/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 15 Sep 2017 15:08:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sarah Shugars]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Meaninglessness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Miscellaneous Musings]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://sarahshugars.com/?p=2252</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[At 7:55 EST this morning, the Cassini spacecraft sent its final message to Earth before plunging into Saturn&#8217;s atmosphere. Reaching speeds over&#160;77,200 miles (144,200 kilometers) per hour, Cassini experienced temperatures hotter than the surface of the sun, causing the spacecraft to char and break apart, its elemental components ultimately diluting in the atmosphere of the [&#8230;] <a href="http://sarahshugars.com/2017/09/so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-fish-or-a-tribute-to-cassini/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://civicstudies.org/2017/09/15/so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-fish-or-a-tribute-to-cassini/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Language and Communication</title>
		<link>http://sarahshugars.com/2017/07/language-and-communication/</link>
		<comments>http://sarahshugars.com/2017/07/language-and-communication/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 14 Jul 2017 19:43:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sarah Shugars]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Citizens & Civil Society]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Meaninglessness]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://sarahshugars.com/?p=2200</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Exactly what does it take for something to be communicated? This question gained specific prominence during the second world war when cryptographers, such as Claude Shannon, sought to maximally compress information for transmission. To successfully transmit a message, for example, you don&#8217;t have to transmit every letter of it. English &#8211; as well as other [&#8230;] <a href="http://sarahshugars.com/2017/07/language-and-communication/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Language and Communication</title>
		<link>http://sarahshugars.com/2017/07/language-and-communication/</link>
		<comments>http://sarahshugars.com/2017/07/language-and-communication/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 14 Jul 2017 19:43:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sarah Shugars]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Citizens & Civil Society]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Meaninglessness]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://sarahshugars.com/?p=2200</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Exactly what does it take for something to be communicated? This question gained specific prominence during the second world war when cryptographers, such as Claude Shannon, sought to maximally compress information for transmission. To successfully transmit a message, for example, you don&#8217;t have to transmit every letter of it. English &#8211; as well as other [&#8230;] <a href="http://sarahshugars.com/2017/07/language-and-communication/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://civicstudies.org/2017/07/14/language-and-communication/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>The Internet and Modernity</title>
		<link>http://sarahshugars.com/2017/03/the-internet-and-modernity/</link>
		<comments>http://sarahshugars.com/2017/03/the-internet-and-modernity/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 21 Mar 2017 16:28:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sarah Shugars]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Meaninglessness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Miscellaneous Musings]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://sarahshugars.com/?p=2118</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Reading Lee Rainie and Barry Wellman&#8217;s Networked&#160;I was struck by their rebuttal of the argument put forth by McPherson, Smith-Lovin, and Brashears; an argument which rings throughout the work of Putnam and other scholars: modern individuals are sad, hollow, isolated shells of humanity and modern technologies like the internet is what made this so. Perhaps [&#8230;] <a href="http://sarahshugars.com/2017/03/the-internet-and-modernity/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Optimism and Futility</title>
		<link>http://sarahshugars.com/2017/02/optimism-and-futility/</link>
		<comments>http://sarahshugars.com/2017/02/optimism-and-futility/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 27 Feb 2017 21:38:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sarah Shugars]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Meaninglessness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Unpopular Opinions]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://sarahshugars.com/?p=2098</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[People often tell me that they find my writing optimistic. Indeed,&#160;this is a primary reason people frequently give me for why they enjoy my writing. It&#8217;s just so optimistic. Well, not saccharine-sweet, over-the-top optimistic, but optimistic nonetheless. I find this hilarious. I wouldn&#8217;t self-identify as an optimist, and those who know me are likely to [&#8230;] <a href="http://sarahshugars.com/2017/02/optimism-and-futility/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Hope and Utopia</title>
		<link>http://sarahshugars.com/2016/07/hope-and-utopia/</link>
		<comments>http://sarahshugars.com/2016/07/hope-and-utopia/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Jul 2016 15:40:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sarah Shugars]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[civic studies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Meaninglessness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Unpopular Opinions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Utopia]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://sarahshugars.com/?p=1895</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There is a common sentiment that hope is required for&#160;social action. We must hold on to hope. We must not give in to despair. Perhaps it is simply the contrarian in me, but I cannot help but sigh when hearing these&#160;exhortations. We must hold on to hope? Why? On the surface, I suppose it seem [&#8230;] <a href="http://sarahshugars.com/2016/07/hope-and-utopia/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://civicstudies.org/2016/07/13/hope-and-utopia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Nothing-ing Something</title>
		<link>http://sarahshugars.com/2016/05/nothing-ing-something/</link>
		<comments>http://sarahshugars.com/2016/05/nothing-ing-something/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 24 May 2016 20:23:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sarah Shugars]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Meaninglessness]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://sarahshugars.com/?p=1816</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It seems reasonably accepted that a person can like something or dislike something, but is it possible in a most sincere, fundamental way, to nothing something? To explore this question, we first must understand what it would mean to nothing something &#8211; assuming such an action were possible. At it&#8217;s core, nothing-ing something is an [&#8230;] <a href="http://sarahshugars.com/2016/05/nothing-ing-something/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://civicstudies.org/2016/05/24/nothing-ing-something/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Reasoning and Absurdity</title>
		<link>http://sarahshugars.com/2016/05/reasoning-and-absurdity/</link>
		<comments>http://sarahshugars.com/2016/05/reasoning-and-absurdity/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 May 2016 22:42:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sarah Shugars]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Justice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Meaninglessness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Unpopular Opinions]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://sarahshugars.com/?p=1799</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In Plato&#8217;s Phaedrus, Socrates describes the human soul as consisting of three parts, which he describes through allegory: &#8220;two horses and a charioteer.&#8221; Furthermore, &#8220;one of the horses was good and the&#160;other bad.&#8221; More precisely, one horse &#8220;is a lover&#160;of honour and modesty and temperance, and the follower of true glory,&#8221; while the other, a [&#8230;] <a href="http://sarahshugars.com/2016/05/reasoning-and-absurdity/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://civicstudies.org/2016/05/10/reasoning-and-absurdity/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Bar Fight with Socrates</title>
		<link>http://sarahshugars.com/2015/07/bar-fight-with-socrates/</link>
		<comments>http://sarahshugars.com/2015/07/bar-fight-with-socrates/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 21 Jul 2015 20:53:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sarah Shugars]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Meaninglessness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Miscellaneous Musings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Unpopular Opinions]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://sarahshugars.com/?p=1386</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So, I have a running list of miscellaneous &#8220;post ideas.&#8221; Topics I&#8217;m thinking about but not ready to write on yet or things the come up over the weekend or a vacation. I consult the list periodically to see if I&#8217;m moved to tackle a subject I may have neglected. And when I checked the [&#8230;] <a href="http://sarahshugars.com/2015/07/bar-fight-with-socrates/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://civicstudies.org/2015/07/21/bar-fight-with-socrates/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>So Much Depends Upon</title>
		<link>http://sarahshugars.com/2015/06/so-much-depends-upon/</link>
		<comments>http://sarahshugars.com/2015/06/so-much-depends-upon/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Jun 2015 14:09:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sarah Shugars]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Meaninglessness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Miscellaneous Musings]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://sarahshugars.com/?p=1289</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In 1938 William Carlos Williams published the now-famous poem The Red Wheelbarrow: so much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens In high school classrooms across the country, students are analyzing the poem, wondering just what depends on that wheelbarrow, thinking about man&#8217;s reliance on nature or, perhaps, [&#8230;] <a href="http://sarahshugars.com/2015/06/so-much-depends-upon/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://civicstudies.org/2015/06/02/so-much-depends-upon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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