September 2010 – Page 2 – elaine nelson, aka epersonae

9/24/2010

Twitter Digest for 2010-09-24

tired. a little crabby. watching 70s era sinbad movie. #
@olyhillary mmmm, rules lawyers. in reply to olyhillary #
THIS. RT @dylanw: I always forget one of the easiest ways out of feeling blue is to MAKE THINGS. #
huh. facebook's fine here, or at least the work page is. #
aka: Saturday! RT @AaronManaghan: (via others) USDA Forest Service fees are waived for NationalPublic Lands Day http://tinyurl.com/3amwpbj #
@kegill oy. I don't even know where to begin. in reply to kegill #
@Oakwright what, no love for the viola? 🙂 (played for ~10 yrs, never very well, but I love the sound.) in reply to Oakwright #
@Oakwright oh, and thank you for the @zoecello link. zomg beautiful. I <3 cello. in reply to Oakwright #
@Oakwright ah yes, I knew I'd forgotten something: backhoe broke the internets. :\ (plus a migrane+cartilage+cramps sick day.) in reply to Oakwright #
gah. really shd be cleaning my desk. 5-day weekend starts tonight. (where the hell did sept go? oh, right: rain, spider, cartilage.) #
me too! RT @emmettoconnell: Going to the Friends of the #Olympia library event tonight. http://ow.ly/2J3u1 #
@kitchenmage friendfeed still seems to be rolling along. or I guess we could all go post on our own blogs or something. 😉 in reply to kitchenmage #
@simonstl true story: 1 of our cats is named for Pikachu. we watched SOOOOO much Pokemon late 90s/early 00s. I would watch that, absolutely. #
@olyhillary unfortunately, I'm out of town that weekend! 🙁 in reply to olyhillary #
@science_goddess alas, I'll be in Vancouver BC. really wishing it weren't the same weekend as @drupalsummit 🙁 in reply to science_goddess #
RT @shelleypowers: #Drupal people, why are Lynx users (& curl) unable to see my content? getting 404 error for the content (not the page) #
yay! RT @wsdot: #ComingSoon Next update for our #Droid app will make it location aware. Will automatically display cameras, maps near you. #
@science_goddess ::looks at twitter site:: yep, me too. :\ in reply to science_goddess #
@fakebaldur cool, it came up in the book I just finished. http://bit.ly/aswPe0 #
@xtracycle IKEA bags are pretty nice inside the freeloaders. I'll note that the rainbag thing hasn't always gone well for me, esp at office. in reply to xtracycle #
I would appear to be highly distractable today. #
@fakebaldur which reminds me, apropos of not much: were you the one who linked to a study where a dead salmon showed emotion on fMRI? in reply to fakebaldur #
in the spirit of "there's a module for that" #drupal RT @heyrocker: KHAAAAAAAAAAN! http://bit.ly/ay5xH8 #
@fakebaldur yipes. I love tracking my books in GoodReads (and found a local community!) but that's weak. #
@ltackett admittedly, hasLayout is usually the answer if the question has anything to do with IE. in reply to ltackett #
@ltackett it's not that. it's some sort of caching thing in which IE (all v.) FORGETS THAT CSS EXISTS. (sorry for shouting. drives me nuts.) in reply to ltackett #
I would really like to fix whatever it is that makes IE spaz out on the CSS when I update menus or themes. #drupal #ie #wtf #
@cell911 AMAZING moon photos! thanks for sharing. #
@Oakwright BE CAREFUL! (my mom broke her arm tripping on a sidewalk at work. then her hip tripping on electrical cord.) in reply to Oakwright #
@kegill just took the survey, found some of the questions problematic, incomplete, or useless. in reply to kegill #
@morrischris re: network world article – #6 is red herring. reading newspaper does the same thing. not esp impressed by rest of list either. in reply to morrischris #
was just given cheeseburger-flavor dorito. ew. bad. wrong. make it stop. (tho apparently I'm the only one here who doesn't like it.) #
@revoltpuppy they look like those poofy hats? 🙂 in reply to revoltpuppy #

9/23/2010

Today’s Links 9/23/2010

Zoe Keating
cello!
New passive house doesn’t require conventional heat – Seattle News – MyNorthwest.com
C heard about this on the radio, and allegedly the outer shell thing is something can be retrofitted onto an existing house!
The Usable Library
neat stuff. (found via a metatalk thread about servers and such, of all things.)
Go House Go!
"how to build a tiny house on wheels"
A Blueprint For Socially Augmented Events: The Seven Stages Recap | Helping improve your annual meetings, conferences & education
crummy formatting, but potentially useful.
ThinkGeek :: Giant Foam Polyhedral Dice
what, no d6? how will I roll up my character?!
Yale Alumni Magazine: To an Aesthete Dying Young
"It is heartbreaking to give words to your pain only to find that pain unaffected by articulation."
Scientists find area responsible for emotion in dead fish Â« Mind Hacks
this is the article I mentioned in my review of Delusions of Gender, and yes, it was @fakebaldur who linked to it. quite a while ago, apparently.
Web Teacher â€º Guest Post: Dear Google, Stop Making Me Look Like a Fool
"As long as the client is willing to pay for polluting the Internet (and for your search results), it works." ouch.
Leaving .net
this, I think, is why I haven’t bothered getting into .Net, tho I’m sure it would make easier to find state jobs.

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9/23/2010

author: Cordelia Fine
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2010/09/23
date added: 2010/09/23
shelves: non-fiction, psychology, science, sociology, gender, favorites
review:
I happened to run across this book at the library having forgotten that it was in my "to-read" list. I’m SO glad I did, and given a certain pair of somewhat ranty posts a couple of months back, only wish I’d read it sooner! I literally could not put it down – as in: "no really, I need to go to bed/back to my desk from lunch/off the bus, I have to put the book away."

In short, social construction of gender: you’re soaking in it. (And especially, your brain is soaking in it.)

1) Priming & stereotype threat affect everything. Just checking gender on a form before taking a test changes womens’ performance, especially on math tests. More priming (being told that the test relates to gender, watching a gender-stereotyped commercial, etc) increases the effect.

2) Most of the "science" as it’s filtered through to the popular media is a disaster of half-baked assumptions, small and/or poorly-constructed experiments, and willful misunderstanding of the actual results. (She tears apart one popular writer; it’s kinda fun.)

3) Worse, those lame results create a feedback loop, combined with the impossibility of gender-neutral child-rearing, that increases the problem of stereotype threat, and makes genuine social change more difficult.

Le sigh. Not only is the feminist struggle not over, we may actually be hitting a really hard spot.

On the plus side, I’m fired up now. Not just that, but I’m thinking more about my own personal construction of gender identity, including my history with math and science.

There’s a post I wrote about my life with math a while back, and there I wrote about it as a choice between writing and math – now I’m seriously looking back and wondering about the effect of gender stereotypes, and whether I might have come to computing sooner given different circumstances. I think it’s worth noticing that choices exist in a constrained environment, constrained both by the external world, and by our own unexamined or incompletely-formed attitudes.

As for the writing style, it’s a delightful read. She’s got a sharp conversational tone that pulled me in; I even read the footnotes.

HIGHLY recommended, great in combination with Pink Brain Blue Brain.

9/23/2010

Delusions of Gender

author: Cordelia Fine
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2010/09/23
date added: 2010/09/23
shelves: gender, non-fiction, psychology, science, sociology
review:
I happened to run across this book at the library having forgotten that it was in my "to-read" list. I’m SO glad I did, and given a certain pair of somewhat ranty posts a couple of months back, only wish I’d read it sooner! I literally could not put it down – as in: "no really, I need to go to bed/back to my desk from lunch/off the bus, I have to put the book away."

In short, social construction of gender: you’re soaking in it. (And especially, your brain is soaking in it.)

Le sigh. Not only is the feminist struggle not over, we may actually be hitting a really hard spot.

On the plus side, I’m fired up now. Not just that, but I’m thinking more about my own personal construction of gender identity, including my history with math and science.

As for the writing style, it’s a delightful read. She’s got a sharp conversational tone that pulled me in; I even read the footnotes.

HIGHLY recommended, great in combination with Pink Brain Blue Brain.

9/23/2010

Twitter Digest for 2010-09-23

omg tired. bpac (bike/ped advisory cmte) mtg was good, but it made for a looooong day. oh, and now I'm on subcmte looking at comp plan. #
@kegill what day? in reply to kegill #
@heyrocker I hear @dylanw could use some random stuff for his birthday. 😉 in reply to heyrocker #
@kitchenmage never mind then. 🙂 I was all ZOMG COINCIDENCE…uh, not so much. in reply to kitchenmage #
@kitchenmage u might try @WAStateSurplus I see they're selling railroad timbers…. in reply to kitchenmage #
just confirmed: office tea w/powdered creamer: still bleh. also: my nw bookfest mug is 10 years old?! ::sigh:: #
RT @jbertrand: RT @seattletimes There's a rare 'super harvest moon' out tonight http://seati.ms/bwNOs4 (via @washingtonpost) #
@dylanw ideally one's professional work speaks for itself. #
@dylanw on a serious note, I think the emphasis on "great personal site" is discriminatory against people with full grown-up lives. in reply to dylanw #
@dylanw hmmmmmm…design challenge…. oh, what am I saying? like I have time. in reply to dylanw #
hey, wait, is that blue sky I see out the window? hmmmm, maybe a good time for an afternoon walk? #
@olyhillary thx, it's much better now. think I just slept wrong. in reply to olyhillary #
@dylanw don't go changing that personal site. the giant list is awesome. (like me not wearing makeup to interview: u see who I am up front.) #
@thereisnocat that certainly gives one hope. 🙂 #
@dylanw it has been ever thus. (see Hackers (book), Soul of a New Machine, etc.) cue cursing/gnashing of teeth. #cheapbastards in reply to dylanw #
@RobertAHunter alas, no…if you find any, plz share! in reply to RobertAHunter #
::sigh:: RT @FakeAPStylebook: Stories about women working in traditionally male fields should emphasize their hotness. #
just saw @ScrivenerApp news about Scrivener for Windows. wow. this puts the idea of a netbook srsly back into play. #
yep, that would be same bday as @dylanw. you'd think that wd help me remember both. you'd be wrong. #
yay! just found out that @olybuzz's dad's bday gift arrived on time! go team us! #
@TiredFairy ::ded of cute:: in reply to TiredFairy #
@dylanw truck to haul to the dump? btw, on 1 of the nice days a while ago we put a bunch of junk 2 sort in carport. it's all still there. 🙁 in reply to dylanw #
wait a sec. successful case study is a subsidiary of BP? wtf? #socialcrm cc @BPGlobalPR #
dude, srsly, if u say "leverage" one more time I'm hanging up the phone. #socialcrm #
@einmaleins oooh. that's going on our calendar! (I shd probly be packing for @drupalsummit that nite, but whatever.) in reply to einmaleins #
@shelleypowers hell with that, I would like an *actual* Gayroller, at least at Hot Wheels scale. in reply to shelleypowers #
@wsdot is it really? funny, I went back to the bus today after almost a week with the car, probly most car commuting I've ever done. in reply to wsdot #
on plus side, foot appears back to normal. on minus side, wtf is up with my leg? feels like somebody punched me in the back of the thigh. #
@dylanw happy birthday! (I thought I remembered it was coming up.) in reply to dylanw #
@goodwitch thanks for the tip on that. would be interested in good solitary/logical/verbal tips. 🙂 http://bit.ly/ckPKNQ in reply to goodwitch #
@simonstl re regex – this has long been my fav tutorial: http://bit.ly/ar1Igi (thankfully, haven't needed in a LONG time.) in reply to simonstl #
@cell911 interesting. my grandmother had it. was always sad that she couldn't enjoy our orchestra concerts. (all 3 girls played viola!) in reply to cell911 #

9/22/2010

Today’s Links 9/22/2010

Google LatLong: Finding Places on the Web: Rich Snippets for Local Search
just got this working! cool!
Mashable Meetup: Olympia, WA | Sep 30 – Meetup
going to try to be there.
Danteâ€™s Blueberry Bread: Itâ€™s a winner! | King Arthur Flour – King Arthur Flour â€“ Baking Banter
::drool:: also, wondering if blueberries are still available at the farmer’s market.
Man behind monuments on I-5 dies – South Sound – The Olympian – Olympia, Washington
crazy art tripper. still not sure I understand what the deal is, tho.
No heating necessary – Environment – The Olympian – Olympia, Washington
passive-heating house being build in NE neighborhood. fascinating.
copperbadge: THE .DOC FILE OF J ALFRED PRUFROCK
"I have heard the servers singing, each to each." honestly? I like this better than the original. 🙂
Obama can learn from ‘Godfather’ – POLITICO.com Print View
helps me get the metaphors that I finally saw (most of) The Godfather during my recent vacation.
I give you the ability to do this because I trust you | MetaTalk
linked purely for this: "no ordinary person can compete with the shrewd cruelty of a bunch of programmers convinced that they are right and their opponents are retarded apes" which sums up the problem with the hacker culture as described in the Hackers book.

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9/22/2010

Twitter Digest for 2010-09-22

just finished editing @eastsideolympia newsletter for Oct. now my eyeballs and brain hurt. is there chocolate in the house? #
@kitchenmage @Jeters I haven't, but I think a friend's wife did a couple of years ago. What do you want to know? I might be able to ask. in reply to kitchenmage #
"advertising network?!" RT @simonstl: Now I really need to get my blogs off of Movable Type. http://tcrn.ch/a1lNeU #
crazy, I just won a free shirt from MailChimp. http://bit.ly/bjhZsI (also, sending message abt thursday's friends of the library event.) #
@kitchenmage have u read schneier? http://bit.ly/9eoYxd is freaking awesome. alas, there's basic psychology to fight & media doesn't help. in reply to kitchenmage #
@kitchenmage indeed. when that first one was done, I was still in high school. (and my baby sis was 10.) in reply to kitchenmage #
@kitchenmage no (free) full text avail, nothing later than 1996! but '91 survey seems to be the most cited. biggest worry? car accidents. #
@kitchenmage argh. librarian in me is going nuts on mayo clinic survey. best I can find is http://bit.ly/cgTndC and http://bit.ly/9nYGEk #
@mooshymama doc's pretty sure insect of some sort, probly spider bite. not srs enuf to test. definitely NOT brown recluse, black widow, etc. in reply to mooshymama #
@kitchenmage I'm curious what options were listed in the survey. in reply to kitchenmage #
@SillyJilly they did that just based on surname?! (my aunt's last name is Fernandez; Puerto Rican husband. she, OTOH, is definitely NOT.) in reply to SillyJilly #
might actually make it thru whole day w/out having to put my foot up. huzzah! #
@dylanw killing it with fire? run screaming from the room? #
RT @kitchenmage: Goddess yes! RT @clr: @kitchenmage pet peeve – when msm says: "New Blog!" it's not a new blog you moron, it's a new POST #
reading robert's rules is making me even more snarky than usual about off-topic stuff in meeting. 🙂 #
@emmettoconnell I'm regretting opening my box of fall/winter clothes. :\ in reply to emmettoconnell #
huh. it's WAY warmer in the library mtg room than it was at my desk. #
@cherylwiens not necessarily. WordPress.org installs on yr own site; WordPress.com is hosted (like blogger). in reply to cherylwiens #
::ded from teh cute:: RT @morrischris: Sweets dropped by to check out the new digs. http://twitpic.com/2qnlzc #
@cherylwiens I'm partial to WordPress.com, partially because then it's easy to upgrade to a regular WordPress install. Also, easy to use. in reply to cherylwiens #
@lauras Srsly? Weak. (I <3 their 1-click WP, the 1-click Drupal, not so much; can't install yr own modules/themes IIRC.) WTF, @DreamHost? in reply to lauras #
QOTD "Please do not copy and paste from Word as Elaine has promised me it will unleash Gremlins that will consume our Blog." #
coincidence of the day: @mkelley & @rshevlin both complaining abt "Game Changer" #BizSpeakFTL in reply to mkelley #
but for reals, it's been quite illuminating. like Victorian-era D&D rules. (is making a motion a full-round action?) #
finally read Robert's Rules (in brief) – IM DOIN IT RONG. (or have been, anyway, in the area of taking minutes.) #
v happy w/signup module now. auto-reminder prompted people to say they aren't coming. so organizers can contact waitlist. yay #drupal #
@dylanw ok, being serious now. "Clear and insightful thinking from the trenches about the web and higher education." #
@dylanw "Some serious ranting, but in a good way." #
@dylanw "Funny, insightful, weird, whatever." #
@rshevlin in our house that word is only used to refer to the person who gets off the couch to put a new disc in the Wii. 😉 in reply to rshevlin #

9/21/2010

Today’s Links 9/21/2010

90 Minute, No-Soak Beans
The Poverty Nation Washington Built | The Nation
"Today’s poverty is the accumulated toll of two forces that have advanced in tandem for decades: The corporate fleecing of family wealth and the bipartisan destruction of a refuge to which those shorn families can turn."
Roberta Williams – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
from Hackers. Near as I can tell, there would not have *been* a Sierra On-Line if not for her interest in storytelling.
Jude Milhon – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
quote from Hackers: "She noted the lack of female hardware hackers, and was enraged at the male hacker obsession with technological play and power. She summed up her feelings with the epithet ‘the boys and their toys’"
Margaret Hamilton (scientist) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
from Hackers. noticed that she was born the same year as my dad. "Before her developmental contributions, the on board flight software needed to land on the moon did not exist."

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9/21/2010

Flickr Updates for 2010-09-21

blog-venn

9/21/2010

Pink Brain, Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow into Troublesome Gaps–and What We Can Do About It

author: Lise Eliot
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2010/04/14
date added: 2010/09/21
shelves: non-fiction, psychology, health, science, sociology, gender
review:
Great review of all the science on gender differences in children, and how our gendered society conflates tiny differences into separate childhood cultures. On a practical level, each chapter includes how to compensate for the weaknesses and use the strengths that do have a genetic component. (She has 3 kids, by the way, 2 boys and a girl, and uses them as anecdotes from time to time.)

If you have ever gnashed your teeth walking through a Toys R Us, this book is for you.