Friday, February 27, 2015

Weekend Links: The Big, Strange, Wonderful Internet Edition

Wow, what a wild couple of days on the internet we've had. First the llamas, then the dress, and then the very sad news that Leonard Nimoy had died.

I'm going to assume you've read all you want to about the llamas and the dress, although I will point out that I found the perfect quote to put up on Tungsten Hippo today.

And here are a few really nice things about Leonard Nimoy.

He stood up for equal pay.

Spock was a role model for biracial kids, and he embraced that.

If only more of the geeks who say the idolized him really tried to be like him, eh?

Speaking of geeks behaving badly:

Cate Huston on leaving the tech industry.

"The problem is not with the pipeline, it’s with the industry that the pipeline is piping into. "
from a great post by Rachel Sklar.

A good article in Pando about the Ellen Pao trial going on now, and whether a verdict in her favor will actually change anything.

You know, I post a lot of things about sexism (and racism) in the tech industry, and in geek culture in general, but I think it is worth remembering that tech is not all that unique in this regard. It is perhaps behind other industries that have been forced via litigation to improve, but the idea that the tech industry is some odd island of misogyny and racism in an otherwise equitable work world is laughable. And to be honest, there are some aspects of it that are better than what I've seen in other industries. Perhaps this is why I haven't given up on it entirely. Or maybe it is just that I enjoy the actual work too much to give it up.

Also, while I think there are some true sexist snakes in both the tech and science world, I think there are far more basically good guys who have just never taken the time to think about fairness and merit in a world with so much bias built in. They have been praised for their rational intelligence for so long, and have done so well by it, that it just doesn't occur to them that there might be areas in which they are not, in fact, applying cold, rational intelligence to their decisions. I think we'll learn how to deal with the sexist snakes far before we figure out how to reach the basically good guys that just don't realize they're part of (and benefiting from) an unfair system. I find more and more men I know are somewhat aware of the problems and ask questions genuinely trying to learn. I'm glad we're having the conversations. Maybe my daughters won't have to have quite so many of them.

Anyway, on with the links.

This is a wonderful post from Annalee Flower Horne on the portrayal of survivors of abuse and assault in books.

This post from the mother of an autistic child who was late to talk is amazing. Just amazing. All parents can learn a lot from it, I think. I certainly did.

This is a very generous, but sobering post from Kate Davies on having her stroke misdiagnosed.

Hope Jahren wrote a good post about vaccination and the trust gap medical science needs to bridge.

This post about calorie expenditure is really interesting, albeit a little depressing for anyone who wants to lose weight. I find the idea that one potential benefit of exercise is that it helps the body keep its calories focused on useful things really intriguing. I certainly find that my repetitive strain injury and asthma are overall less bothersome when I'm exercising regularly.

Here's a cool science fair story.

And here's the funny thing to end with: new traffic signs in Hayward, CA.

4 comments:

  1. We had all the plumbing fixtures in our house replaced. The plumber who did that had also done all the plumbing fixtures in Leonard Nimoy's house and raved about what a nice guy LN was.

    I was sad, when I called the plumber and learned that he had passed away from a heart attack. LN's death brought up memories of our shared plumber.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for the link! That was an important piece for me and so nice to know another took away something from reading it. And what a nice way to discover a new new blog. I love how varied your content is! All the best!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kristin8:11 AM

    Unrelated, but I thought you or your readers might be interested that there are still spots in AdaCamp https://adainitiative.org/2015/03/theres-still-time-to-join-us-for-adacamp-montreal-apply-today/

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you, as always, for all the links, though I'm late here, as always! Especially that post about assault survivors from Annalee Flower Horne. Wow. (Also Hines' blog is another one of those few examples of good Internet comment sections. All the feels, reading them on this one.)

    ReplyDelete

Sorry for the CAPTCHA, folks. The spammers were stealing too much of my time.