Turning up the volume
Michael Yon has done it again. He received an anonymous WMV of the Iraqi election that has to be seen. I was blown away by this. It’s too bad American elections can’t look like this (minus the election site searches, of course).
12/20/2005 2:38:15 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)      Comments [0]  world affairs

Today is (apparently) Gender Gap day

Today, both ComputerWorld’s Blogwatch and the Daily Grind (!) posted articles related to “women in computers”. Yawn. About the only thing related to this topic that doesn’t generate a yawn from me, is the seriousness attached to the topic by others.

To be fair, I should say that I’ve added the “I’m a geek. I’m Female…” blog to my RSS list.

This topic used to bug me. Why weren’t there more women in high tech? My early career was in both the education field, and then working in an office. Both of these areas are mostly female, so I’ve been used to having a lot of women around in the workplace. Once I made the switch to engineering, that changed dramatically. There had to be a reason.

Then, I read Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing by Jane Margolis and Allan Fisher (ISBN 0262632691). It was eye opening. According to this book, women don’t come into the field because 1) they don’t like the people (men) in the field, because they’re (the men are) too geeky (hard to argue with that point) and 2) women don’t deal positively with the kind of pressure created in the field (men tend to be optimistic toward the pressure, thinking they can conquer it. Women tend to be pessimistic toward the pressure, thinking their struggle is a direct reflection of their inability). I think its important to note that the authors are positive about getting women into computing. Their ultimate solution is to make the field more attractive/conducive to women. Sigh.

Look, it bugs me greatly that there are not more women in my field. For obvious reasons, this bugs me even more than the lack of hispanics and african-americans in the field (though there’s a shortage there too, I don’t know why). And there are indeed a lot of jerks in the field (hey, I’ve had to work with them too. I don’t much like it either). But there isn’t any discrimination going on (except, apparently, among women), so lets get on with our lives!

Whew! Okay, enough of this.

 

12/19/2005 12:03:35 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)      Comments [0]  general

Being American

Today, Morgan Freeman was quoted in a Yahoo News article as calling Black History Month “ridiculous”. Amen.

I’ve thought quite a bit about the issue over the past months. Like (almost) all Americans, I’m a descendant of immigrants. And, like the vast majority of immigrant descendants in the US, I’m NOT descended from the Pilgrims. They were a bunch of intolerant Protestants from England. My ancestors were a bunch of Portuguese from various Portuguese colonies in the Atlantic and Chinese from China. And yet, every November I, along with all those other descendants of non-Pilgrim immigrants, celebrate Thanksgiving. Why is this? Certainly, my heritage doesn’t include that first Thanksgiving the Pilgrims and their Indian (okay, Native American) friends celebrated. Or does it?

While my Portuguese and Chinese heritages don’t include that first Thanksgiving, my American heritage does. Yes, that’s right. For those of us who are citizens (and possibly some of us who aren’t), our heritage also includes America. Now, I happen to be very proud of my American heritage (also my Portuguese and Chinese heritages, but that’s another story). So, celebrations of holidays like Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Independence Day give me an opportunity to celebrate my American heritage.

So, what does this have to do with Black History Month?

Here’s the thing: I’m not descended from any African American slaves (or any other American slaves for that matter, there were others). This doesn’t mean that I don’t have anything in common with those slaves. Slavery was a fundamental part of the founding of America. We ended up fighting a war among ourselves over it (don’t be fooled by revisionist talk; if there had been no slavery, there wouldn’t have been a “wedge issue” to divide the states at the time of the civil war).

The way I see it, as all Americans are descended in spirit from that small group of Pilgrims celebrating thanks in Plymouth colony, all Americans are descended from those slaves that were imported to America from Africa, and did so much to make this country what it is today.

So, since there’s no Pilgrim History Month, there should be no Black History Month. As Morgan Freeman says, its all just American History, and we should be teaching it that way. They don’t teach the history of the Congo or Botswana in Black History Month, they teach the lives of great Americans, like Frederick Douglass and George Washington Carver (to name just a couple of great Americans). We shouldn’t be thinking of it as “those people’s history”, its all of our history too.

So, for those of you who may remember my question of “Why is Rosa Parks like Priscilla Alden?”, they were both great Americans. And I’m proud to be included with both of them (even if I have no idea what Priscilla Alden really did for us all).

12/15/2005 2:54:23 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)      Comments [0]  general

Amazing Race Finale

Frankly, I don’t know of any of you out there that might care about this, but since I do, here it is.

Last night was the Amazing Race finale, and it was quite an experience. The previous season wasn’t as exciting at the end (though I was a huge Rob & Amber fan). This one was very good. I was shocked that the Linz’s won. All I was hoping for was that the Weavers would not win, they were such mean spirited players. The Bransons definitely were the best players in the game and certainly deserved to be there at the end.

Anyway, congratulations, Linz’s! While I was surprised about the win, I was rooting for you guys all along.

12/14/2005 2:06:07 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)      Comments [0]  TV

Math problems

Something has to be wrong with my information or calculations.

I’ve been doing some investigation, and, in 2004, the national murder rate in the U.S. was 5.5 per 100,000 people.

According to the CIA, the US population is 295,734,134.

This means that in 2004, approximately 16,000 people were murdered. Is this right? What am I doing wrong? This can’t be right. That’s sixteen thousand people murdered last year.

I can’t believe that this is correct…

12/14/2005 12:02:46 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)      Comments [0]  general | politics | world affairs

Changing the way we watch TV

Jason Fry has an interesting article in the WSJ on the impact that TiVo has had on his son. I think that those of us who have been using DVRs for a while will be able to relate to this.

In the narrow sense, I’m repeatedly concerned that my brand, Replay TV, doesn’t get the media attention of TiVo. Frankly, I consider Replay TV superior, but it ran into early legal troubles with the networks over commercial skipping and has been relegated to a back seat in the DVR experience.

In the broad sense, this shows the generational nature of technology adoption. My older niece has no concept of not having a VCR/DVD in the house, and my younger niece has her own cell phone and Internet connected computer. My cousin’s kids take their computers (laptops) to school with them, which is mandatory there. When my dad grew up, not everyone had cars. I can’t remember a time when we didn’t have one. Times change, and “normal” technology changes with it.

12/12/2005 10:07:31 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)      Comments [0]  TV

Government Workers and Religious Holidays

Here’s an interesting mental exercise:

Should government agencies be prevented from taking Sunday off because its a religious holiday?

If you doubt that Sunday is a “holiday”, then check your “red-letter” calendar. While Saturdays are marked in black, traditionally all Sundays are marked in the red, “holiday” color.

Also, is a national holiday of Christmas a violation of church and state separation?

 

12/8/2005 9:41:17 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)      Comments [0]  general

Unintended Consequences
So, has anybody thought that global warming might be beneficial?
12/6/2005 9:57:50 PM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)      Comments [0]  

What does it mean to be "Tolerant"?

Michael Barone published an interesting entry on the limits of tolerance. I think that it raises an interesting question: Does tolerance require the tolerating intolerance?

For me, it brings to mind the “fact” (at least I think its a fact) that America’s religious freedom was born out of religious intolerance. Part of the “free expression of religion” that folks like the Pilgrims and Puritans came to America for was to limit free expression within their own group (or even locality).

There seems to be a fine line here.

12/6/2005 9:11:56 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)      Comments [0]  world affairs | politics | general