tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71580174792653929032024-03-21T19:13:48.428-07:00Meandering streams of consciousnessI post about a variety of things: programming, urban homesteading, python, HCI, women in tech, conferences, Aspergers, neurodiversity, whatever catches my attention.
I also post raw emotional and psychological "processing", to provide a glimpse into the mind of a female Aspie geek.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.comBlogger114125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158017479265392903.post-54691642747178265782013-05-10T18:28:00.000-07:002013-05-10T18:51:23.100-07:00The Art of Persuasion Applied to TrainingI'm currently reading Robert Cialdini's <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Yes-Scientifically-Proven-Ways-Persuasive/dp/1416576142" target="_blank">Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive.</a> </i>I am really enjoying the refresher on many of these concepts, which I encountered in classes at Stanford. The book is particularly useful because it provides very concrete advice on applying the concepts. I've already started using some of the ideas in the Disaster Preparedness 101 class I'm collaborating on developing for the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety.<br />
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We'll be handing out an action checklist, so people will have an idea of what to do, and they will be able to check off two items before class ends. By presenting the list as already partially complete, participants are more likely to continue to work on the tasks and feel less overwhelmed.<br />
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Another technique will be to explain that "most people like you, who care about getting prepared for disasters, also care about helping getting their neighborhoods and community prepared. And we've got just the program for you!" We then present the follow-on course, and provide a sign-up that they can do. Using the phrase "people like you, who care about" (as long as it's true), is a combination of the "labeling technique", which is simply another way of saying that people live up or down to your expectations of them, and the "bandwagon technique" explaining that "most people like you do x". Emphasize the qualities and behaviors that you want to reinforce, (rather than the ones you don't want) and people are more likely to conform with those expectations.<br />
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Another technique that I've incorporated is the simple one of writing down and sharing a goal. For the closing activity, attendees will be asked to write down one action they will complete within a week, and then share it with the group. Both making the commitment in writing and sharing it out loud with others increases the likelihood of someone following through on it.<br />
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Simple techniques, yes! But effective.<br />
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I recommend the book for everyone - after all, we all need to persuade others at times.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158017479265392903.post-59224933941313266722013-04-30T16:07:00.000-07:002013-04-30T16:07:37.881-07:00Partnering with an AspieI spent a couple hours today chatting with an NT (neurotypical) friend who has an Aspie (Asperger) husband. It was a great conversation. Some things that came up:<br />
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Understand that geeks and Aspies have "incoming filters" rather than "outgoing filters" when it comes to being tactful. (See http://www.mit.edu/~jcb/tact.html for an awesome description of this.)<br />
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I suggested she could help him prepare for a job interview by roleplaying potential questions and helping him learn how to phrase things to avoid the "excessive honesty" that Aspies sometimes exhibit. For example, rather than answering "why did you leave your last job" by saying "my boss was scum", explain that "we had some differences of opinion on IP". Still honest, just less 'burn your bridges'. A great article I read recently on this was: http://www.mendix.com/think-tank/really-great-ways-to-ruin-a-job-interview/<br />
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I explained, as well, that many Aspies have difficulty grasping that a sentence can have multiple meanings - or guessing what those multiple meanings might be. Metaphors and analogies are often lost on Aspies. It helps to have some explain those things out loud and to learn to look for them.<br />
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Many Aspies are "unanchored in time" - many of us live in an eternal "now" and thus, everything subjectively "takes forever". There's no internal "sense of time". I can tell you what I need to do Tuesday at 12:30 - I just don't have any internal prompt that "today is Tuesday and it's 12:30 now". Believe me - I tried for years (nay, decades) to develop a sense of time and it just didn't work. It takes some of us a while to realize that we need to separate "remembering that" from "remembering to". I can "remember that" I need to do x, y and z at d:h:m. Will I "remember to" do those things when it's d:h:m? Probably not, not without an external prompt. But it took years for me to figure out why I wasn't getting things done. It wasn't until I gave up and recognized I have this "deficiency" and developed a workaround that I was able to get past the "I was gonna" and actually get to "I did". Too many NT's think that "if you really cared", you'd get it done. Well, yes - now that I have my workaround (my smartphone pinging me an alert) - I care enough to enter it into my calendar so I remember to do it.<br />
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On the same topic, it's really hard to guess how long something will take, when everything is "now". I remember that my ex used to get really ticked at me for not wiping up the crumbs when I made toast. What would happen is - I didn't want to wipe it up immediately because I wanted to eat my toast while it's hot. But if I didn't do it immediately, I'd often get distracted and forget to do it after eating. What finally worked was to do an experiment - I pulled out a stopwatch and timed how long it took to wipe up the crumbs. And found out that something that felt like it would take a long time, really only took like 3 seconds. And that my toast was still warm when I was done wiping up. After that, I used that trick for many maintenance-type things around the house - figuring out that I could do certain tasks in seconds or minutes and thus, work them into my routine. But, until I did that, it felt like everything would take "forever", so I couldn't figure out when and how to fit it in, and would get overwhelmed. Now - I know better. Even if I don't think I can get *all* of something done, I set a timer for 15 minutes (thank you Flylady) and just do it until the timer goes off. Often, I am done. Or I've made such significant progress on the task that it doesn't feel overwhelming anymore. (See www.flylady.net for more on this.)<br />
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As we talked, I reminded her that he isn't doing these things "deliberately" or "carelessly"; his brain works differently from hers. Yes, it can be frustrating (for her and for him), but it's not because he doesn't care enough. (That's like accusing someone with no legs for not caring enough because they don't go dancing with you.)<br />
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Another thing that we discussed was crowds. I asked her if she had ever travelled and how she feels when she's surrounded by natives speaking with each other in their own language. She answered that if they're talking too fast, eventually she kind of tunes out. I explained that, for Aspies, it may feel like that - like we're in a foreign culture and everyone is talking too fast in a language we only can catch a few words in here and there. She suddenly gasped and asked "so that's why he can only handle about 5 minutes when I have a bunch of friends over?" Yep!<br />
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I also explained how valuable it is, after a day of having to navigate the NT world, to be able to come home and *not* be "on stage". How relaxing it is to not have to guess what people mean and hint and expect, and how important that is to have from a partner.<br />
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I'm lucky - my husband isn't American - so he doesn't have the American cultural assumptions about how I should act or what I should know. And he knows that we have different backgrounds so he assumes there's things he won't understand, which makes for much better communication between us.<br />
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The final issue we discussed was her frustration that whenever she would clean something, he would mess it up immediately. I drilled down into this. Turns out, for example, she would clean the front walk, he would see it and immediately go climb up on the roof to hose off the solar panels and get dirt all over her clean walk. This would drive her crazy! He was deliberately messing up her work! I laughed and explained that she had just *cued* him (with her cleaning the walkway) to go clean the solar panels. That, far from trying to mess up her work, he was being *inspired* and *prompted* by her work to clean something too! She looked thunderstruck. It had never occurred to her to view it that way.<br />
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I suspect they're going to have some pretty intense conversations when she gets home. And may figure out some things that have been plaguing their relationship for some time now.<br />
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Note: if you've met one Aspie (or Autist), you've met one Aspie. Every Aspie and Autist has different strengths and weaknesses (just like every NT is unique). I've found that some of us share some of these traits that I've described, but you or your Aspie/Autist friend may not.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158017479265392903.post-71443393787406192592013-03-22T15:09:00.000-07:002013-03-22T15:09:17.104-07:00PyCon 2013 rocked!I had an awesome time at PyCon this year (as usual). Some highlights:<br />
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Loved getting a RaspberryPi for everyone at the Opening Ceremony, after the Keynote by Eben Upton, the founder of Raspberry Pi! And there was a <a href="http://makersbox.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/three-reasons-raspberry-pi-ruled-pycon.html" target="_blank">RaspberryPi hacker lab</a> right next door to the Green Room, where anyone could come in and have fun hacking on their new toy.<br />
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I spent most of my time, as usual, in the Green Room. I've worked "ops" for conferences before and really enjoy being "behind the scenes" as it were. It's fun to chat with folks, especially being able to help speakers overcome their nerves before their talk - after all, it's "just us" - we're all here to learn more and share experiences with each other.<br />
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I gave my talk on Friday - <a href="http://pyvideo.org/video/1728/you-can-be-a-speaker-at-pycon" target="_blank">You Can Be a Speaker at PyCon</a> - which addressed the typical conference cycle (last minute submission of proposals and last minute writing of slides) and suggested an "ideal" conference cycle (start thinking of topics NOW and talking about them at user groups, unconferences, blogs, etc so you're ready to submit a proposal as soon as the Call for Proposals is open in July, get feedback, revise your proposal, get (hopefully) accepted, write your talk early, and practice by presenting it at local usergroups etc). I look forward to seeing more proposals from everyone.<br />
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I missed the PyCon 5k this year - bummers. I was just too wiped out from having a new puppy and so I overslept. Oops. I heard it was great. (That's the problem with living here - we spent evenings at home and it's 20+ minutes from here to the hotel, so waking up at 7 meant I couldn't just run down to the 5k, like someone did last year...) I look forward to the 5k next year though!<br />
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Another thing I didn't make it to - the PyLadies Lunch. I was on the waiting list because there were just too many of us who wanted to attend! I peeked in - it was packed! Over 20% of PyCon attendees were women, this year. And a lot of the speakers were women (I don't have numbers sorry!) PyCon organizers, led by Jesse Noller, did a lot of outreach to work on that, but a lot of kudos goes to <a href="http://www.roguelynn.com/pyladies/" target="_blank">Lynn Root and PyLadies</a> who offered proposal-writing and brainstorming sessions, both in-person and online.<br />
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Yeah, there were a couple of Code of Conduct incidents that PyCon Staff handled well (one of which later blew up on the internet but that doesn't diminish that PyCon Staff did exactly what they were supposed to do). I love the Python community - it's one of the features of the language for me. As one speaker put it, Python doesn't just come with "batteries included", Python comes with "community included". And a fine community it is. We care about each other and work to be even more inclusive and welcoming to everyone. We work together to improve our community as well as our language. I'm proud to be a member of the Python community. As part of that, this year there was an education summit, where teachers from all levels of education could discuss how to bring Python into schools and colleges everywhere, as well as the usual language summit. There was also a young coders workshop, which brought kids (boys and girls) from all over to learn/hack Python and Raspberry Pi. There were even kids with posters in the poster session! One of my favorite tweets: <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Cblockquote%20class=%22twitter-tweet%22%3E%3Cp%3EVery%20encouraging:%20RT%20@%3Ca%20href=%22https://twitter.com/zaheermerali%22%3Ezaheermerali%3C/a%3E%20RT%20@%3Ca%20href=%22https://twitter.com/christianmlong%22%3Echristianmlong%3C/a%3E%20This%20photo%20says%20it%20all%20%3Ca%20href=%22https://twitter.com/search/%23pycon%22%3E#pycon</a> <a href="https://t.co/CktJWxY8rL" title="https://twitter.com/baybryj/status/313484540737900544/photo/1">twitter.com/baybryj/status…</a></p>— Emma Byrne (@SciWriBy) <a href="https://twitter.com/SciWriBy/status/313929789813686273">March 19, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>" target="_blank">Guido and Louis Gossling at the poster session</a> discussing Louis' <a href="https://github.com/602p/serpint" target="_blank">Serpint toolkit for Raspberry Pi</a><br />
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As usual, the "hallway track" is one of the best parts for me - I love meeting all my Pythonista friends and finding out what they've been up to in the past year. I swear, I get (and give) more hugs at PyCon than most of the rest of the year. I even ran into another woman who is from Minnesnowta! We got to compare notes for a while about our upbringing, and how the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_nice" target="_blank">Minnesota Nice</a> game works and affected us growing up.<br />
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Saturday night was the PyLadies Auction - a charity event that raised $10k for PyLadies. Items included certificates for everything from skydiving to walks with CEOs to original artwork from Disney (one of our sponsors). The highest winning bid, I believe, was for the artwork, which went for $2001. Bidding was made more fun by people using bids like $42, $404, $1028, etc. All in all, a great time was had by everyone, and I look forward to the auction continuing in the future!<br />
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One of my favorite talks this year was <a href="http://pyvideo.org/video/1688/whos-there-home-automation-with-arduinorasp" target="_blank">Rupa Dachere talking about Home Automation with RaspberryPi</a>. I love that she hadn't worked with hardware before and was still able to hack together a webcam, arduino and Raspberry Pi, to SMS her phone with a photo of anyone coming to her door! Gives me reassurance that I'll be able to do something with my new Raspberry Pi. Her talk was also a good example of how to do live demos right. (She gave the presentation about it first, and had a backup video in case the live demo didn't work.)<br />
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Sunday, my brilliant husband, Alex Martelli, gave his talk: <a href="http://pyvideo.org/video/1738/good-enough-is-good-enough" target="_blank">"Good Enough" is Good Enough!</a> which addressed getting over perfectionism and RELEASE!<br />
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And at <a href="http://pyvideo.org/video/1763/closing-address" target="_blank">Closing Ceremonies</a>, the incredibly awesome Jesse Noller, who has chaired PyCon for the past two (has it really only been two?) years turned over the reins to <a href="https://twitter.com/diana_clarke" target="_blank">Diana Clarke</a> who will run PyCon in Montreal the next two years. Jesse very deservedly got a standing ovation for all his work at PyCon. He's really done a fantastic job and put together a great team that will be continuing to make PyCon awesome. Diana is another one of those incredible get-it-done people (where *do* they get the energy?) and I look forward to seeing what she does with PyCon. </div>
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USAians - get your passports now! You'll need it to get back from PyCon next year - as much as we like to think of Canada as the 51st state; it really does take a passport these days to go and come back from Canada.</div>
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See you all at PyCon 2014.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158017479265392903.post-28216771827367592482012-09-21T10:47:00.001-07:002012-09-21T10:47:10.680-07:00Awesome!The freaking shuttle just flew directly over my house! I LOVE being on the Moffett Field flightpath!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158017479265392903.post-11140486729505407142012-08-23T11:51:00.001-07:002012-08-23T14:27:18.085-07:00PyCon proposals I'd like to seePyCon 2013 is current accepting proposals. I'm looking forward to helping review the proposals.<br />
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So, what proposals would *I* like to see?<br />
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Anything science related, especially bio and chemistry and neuroscience stuff<br />
Anything health related<br />
Anything homestead related - how do you use Python in your home, your garden, your office, your private hobby, knitting, weaving, ...<br />
How Python is being/or could be used in the office and support areas (HR, Marketing, Admin Assistants, Finance)<br />
Anything with robots<br />
Anything about Making stuff<br />
Anything about GAE<br />
Hacking your fitness with Python<br />
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Accessibility how-tos<br />
HCI<br />
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<a href="https://us.pycon.org/2013/speaking/cfp/" target="_blank">Here's where to submit your proposal</a><br />
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I'm planning on proposing a talk on "Hello GAE" - an overview for folks who haven't used it before. Also a "You can be a speaker at PyCon!" session for folks who are considering being a speaker in 2014 but don't know how to start.<br />
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I know there will be plenty of my favorite speakers at PyCon - we're starting to get proposals from some of you already. I'm especially interested in getting proposals from a wide variety of new folks. Entrepreneurs, web designers, interaction designers, chemists, rocket scientists, secretaries, WHO (you know who you are!), fitness geeks, women, people of color, neuroscientists, and anybody else I've never heard speak at PyCon before.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158017479265392903.post-10467171652060639642012-06-17T14:30:00.000-07:002012-06-17T14:31:16.626-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Alex and I did Keynotes at PyCon APAC. </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/PyConAPAC" style="text-align: -webkit-auto;" target="_blank">There are videos of many talks including our keynotes.</a><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"> The talks were wide-ranging and well-done. We got to meet really awesome people there. Liew Beng Keat was the perfect host and speaker liaison. </span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">I especially enjoyed meeting Sandra Boesch of SingPath, her </span><a href="http://www.singpath.com/alex/index.html" style="text-align: -webkit-auto;" target="_blank">game to learn programming.</a><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"> She and her husband, Chris, hosted a tournament at the conference which was sponsored by the ubiquitous LucasFilms Singapore group. Great way to keep folks engaged and having fun. We had to leave early for Alex's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/sggtug" target="_blank">GTUG talk</a>, but it looked like a great way to finish off the conference. If anyone is asking themselves "should I attend PyCon APAC?", the answer, imho, is YES! You'll get a lot out of it. Including a chance to visit one of the most intriguing, perplexing places on earth. </span></div>
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Singapore is hot, humid, crowded, noisy, but full of very friendly people. 90F with 90% humidity at 9am was normal. There's a reason there's so many airconditioned malls and underground tunnels connecting all the buildings downtown...<br />
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We got there and took a tourist pass that allowed us to hop on and off the tourist busses throughout town (including the Duck Tours - amphibious vehicles.) We got to hear on the busses about the multicultural heritage of which Singapore is very proud (Chinese 76.7%, Malay 14%, Indian 7.9%, other 1.4%) and about the cost-of-living (incredibly high for housing and cars!) and the distinctive districts of the city (Chinatown, Little India, Central Business District, Marina Bay...) The city is very clean (due to the high fines for littering). In fact, there's a joke about it being a "fine city" (referring to fines for jaywalking, littering, etc etc). It was a bit of a change to get used to all the skyscrapers after living in a place where you <a href="http://www.mv-voice.com/news/show_story.php?id=5729" target="_blank">can't build anything over 2 stories</a>. And the architecture is just weird. Every building is different. Alex joked that, if he were asked to design a skyscraper for the city, he'd go with the most straight rectangular boring block building as possible - because it would stand out so much among all the strangely shaped buildings!
Here's an example of one of the most distinctive:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGvHILQ2UziF_ibZfCWHXE9Qs34VDFKHYM8BdvI4ObWlqC7i5WH5B5DuxMar_pR3fj7QtP5m0mIksmV9ML0fmSCXsp9JPcJSF0AncDIehi9ALqPIhge1tyjRewygBzE4xWgE5skYKaZhkF/s1600/Marina-Bay-Sands-Hotel-Singapore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGvHILQ2UziF_ibZfCWHXE9Qs34VDFKHYM8BdvI4ObWlqC7i5WH5B5DuxMar_pR3fj7QtP5m0mIksmV9ML0fmSCXsp9JPcJSF0AncDIehi9ALqPIhge1tyjRewygBzE4xWgE5skYKaZhkF/s320/Marina-Bay-Sands-Hotel-Singapore.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
There's a swimming pool on top of the buildings! <a href="http://www.898.travel/page_en-70365.html">http://www.898.travel/page_en-70365.html</a><br />
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The food was great. We had the local specialty - Fish Head Curry. <br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yQ9smcS-dlU/T88ialplHmI/AAAAAAAAFcw/sjo4Dw3GbvI/s1600/fishhead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yQ9smcS-dlU/T88ialplHmI/AAAAAAAAFcw/sjo4Dw3GbvI/s320/fishhead.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
DH tried the, ahem, delicacy (the eyeball). I demurred. We also had a lot of great chinese, thai, vietnamese and indian food. Our last night, we had fried noodles (mee goreng) with egg on top. Yummy.<br />
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Everything in the city seems to revolve around shopping, food, and finance. But that could just be a tourist's view. Speaking of which, I got addicted to Singapore Slings there. Even got to taste it at the Long Bar in Raffles Hotel where it was invented.<br />
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It was nice to see a place that was so positive about its multicultural background. It's quite proud of its mix of people and its history as a British port. (It claims to be the busiest port in the world.) UK tourists (British and Aussie) were everywhere. It was also much more normal there to discuss money - how much things cost, how much someone paid for their home, stuff like that, than you hear in the US in general. Talking about money there is like talking about the weather here.<br />
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It's a very strange mix of extremely capitalist but very centrally controlled. (It's often referred to as Authoritarian Capitalism.) They're really focused on having everyone employed. The unemployment rate for Q1 2012 was 2.1%! Almost everyone (80+%) live in government housing, and housing is almost entirely apartment buildings. Note that "govt housing" means it was built and is run by the govt but you buy your apartment (over 95% of people do this). Only people who can't afford to buy even with govt aid rent their place. The tourbus even took time to distinguish between the types of housing ownership "leasehold" and "freehold" - "leasehold" is for 99 years and is way cheaper than "freehold" so almost everyone goes for that. Also - the govt won't sell to a single person typically. Most folks live with their parents until after they marry. (Most marriages are civil unions by the mayor, but you can also have a religious ceremony.) We met a guy who was working there, from Britain, whose company owned the flat he was living in. Oh - and you don't get to do any renovations to your home without permission. It's like the whole place is a big HOA except it's not an HOA - it's the government. And don't you dare vote the wrong way - districts where voters went too much for the opposition party got skipped over when the improvements to the elevators were being installed. So officially democratic but...<br />
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Singaporeans also like to claim there's no "social safety net" for folks. On the other hand, they have compulsory savings programs and government-run healthcare. All hospitals are government controlled. All health care is paid for by the person getting the healthcare (to reduce excessive and unnecessary use), but it's paid for out of the mandatory health-savings and the cost depends on the level of subsidies the person gets from the government based on income level. Many people have private health insurance to cover stuff not covered under the govt healthcare plan.<br />
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Only about 30% of S'poreans have cars. That's because, before you can buy a car, you have to buy a certificate (for the car) of around $80000 Singapore Dollars. There's also really high import taxes on the car itself. So it ends up costing over 3 times as much to buy a car in Singapore as in the US. And many places have tolls that increase in rush hour. So, driving is highly discouraged.<br />
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All in all, a very strange, interesting place. I definitely would *NOT* want to live there. Not just the weather is oppressive, to me. (I'm very sensitive to government controls and didn't even like living in a townhouse because of the HOA.) But, like I said, everyone was VERY friendly. So it's a fun place to visit. Just don't bring chewing gum. Or jaywalk.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158017479265392903.post-47750969546767041812012-05-13T20:44:00.001-07:002012-05-13T20:44:59.270-07:00Marlowe:
http://www.poetry-online.org/marlowe_the_passionate_shepherd_to_his_love.htm
Raleigh:
http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/nymphsreply.htm
William Carlos Williams:
http://producer.csi.edu/cdraney/2010/175/etexts/raleigh-was-right_williams.html
Who else would spend Sunday evening arguing about these poems?
I love my husband!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158017479265392903.post-34953562673863140712012-04-30T16:32:00.000-07:002012-04-30T16:32:43.577-07:00<a href="https://us.pycon.org/2012/">Pycon 2012</a> was full of win, including the <a href="https://us.pycon.org/2012/5k/">5k</a> on Satyrday morning! Lots of geeks out running. I loved it. Also, I nominate this 2012 for the BEST FOOD of any US Pycon. Others have already done reviews, but suffice it to say, it was an awesome conference and I highly recommend you attend next year. Better yet, send in a proposal and speak! Never spoke before? Start out at your <a href="http://wiki.python.org/moin/LocalUserGroups">local Python user group</a> - they're almost always looking for speakers. </p>
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It's going to be a busy summer. Besides my urban homesteading (chickens, gardening, canning, dehydrating, cooking, etc), we're going to be doing a lot of travel. Friday, we're off to Omaha for Woodstock for Capitalists aka the Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Meeting (yes, we own a couple shares of BRK-B stock). Next, it's off to Singapore for <a href="http://apac.pycon.org/2012/">Pycon APAC</a> where Alex and I will both be doing keynotes. Neither of us have been to Asia before so this will be an adventure! Two weeks later, we're in Italy for <a href="https://ep2012.europython.eu/">Europython</a>, followed closely by <a href="http://www.oscon.com/oscon2012">OSCON</a> in Portland, OR. Whew! In September, I'm heading to the <a href="http://www.theheirloomexpo.com/">Heirloom Expo</a> in Santa Rosa, then off to the <a href="http://toughmudder.com/events/norcal-2012/">Tough Mudder</a> in Northern California for a 12k Obstacle Course! Youch. Hope I survive that long!
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<p>
In the meantime, I've just picked up a review copy of a new book from O'Reilly called <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fitness-Geeks-Science-Nutrition-ebook/dp/B007UQN22A/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&qid=1335827361&sr=8-1">Fitness for Geeks</a></i> by Bruce Perry. I'll review it when I finish. You can also find me posting a fair bit on <a href="http://www.fitocracy.com/home/">Fitocracy</a> as <a href="http://www.fitocracy.com/profile/annaraven">annaraven</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158017479265392903.post-59143452343780354932011-03-04T13:36:00.000-08:002011-03-04T13:36:25.854-08:00We want you!to volunteer at PyCon!<br />
<br />
Come meet the speakers and chair a session, or be a runner! <br />
Sign up at http://us.pycon.org/2011/schedule/sessions/<br />
<br />
Other volunteer opportunities remain - Sign up at http://us.pycon.org/2011/volunteer/onsite/ to help out. <br />
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If you're attending PyCon, please volunteer. Remember, PyCon is a volunteer-run, community-based conference. That means you!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158017479265392903.post-89476783970028739522010-12-11T21:38:00.000-08:002010-12-11T22:31:17.385-08:00Consider the tuple...I remember learning Python and wondering what a tuple was for. Why wouldn't you just use a list? Or a dict?<br />
<br />
What I've come down to is a few thoughts such as:<br />
1) if I want sortable items, use a list. (list.sort in Python is way fast!)<br />
2) if I want to use an item as a key and find the related info (value), put the key/value pair into a dict. <br />
3) if I want to have possibly-heterogenous-but-related items in a specific unchangeable order, consider a tuple. <br />
<br />
<br />
Tuples can often be overlooked as a data structure in Python - but can be really useful for things like x,y coordinates or GPS coordinates or timestamps or addresses. It's important to have them in order - you don't want to mix up the x and the y, or the hour and the minutes. You can't do much *to* tuples, they have no methods and are immutable(unchangeable), although you can search in them with <b>in</b>. If you have a tuple that needs something changed, you'll just have to replace it with a new tuple. <br />
<br />
Of course, a kewl thing in Python is that you can mix and match. You can have a list of tuples. Or a dict of tuples. Tuples are really useful as keys in a dict, because they're immutable, unlike lists. So, for example, you could have a dict, with keys that are tuple of gps coordinates, and values of a place name at that location, or a house price at a particular address, or you can use "in" to find all the keys that have, say, Sunnyvale, as the name of the city, and find out some value related to Sunnyvale. <br />
<br />
Lists and dicts get all the press in Python, because they're really useful and fast. But tuples are pretty awesome in their own way...<br />
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EDIT to add examples:<br />
<br />
In a list mylist = [2,1], if you call mylist.sort() you get [1,2]. If 2,1 is a coordinate point, then sorting it to 1,2 is a REALLY BAD THING and could lead to really bad bugs.<br />
<br />
OTOH: mytuple = 1,2 and you call mytuple.sort(), you get an error because (1,2) is not sortable. This is a GOOD THING, leading it to be usable as a hash (key) in a dict, and for identifying specific things.<br />
<br />
A list has no business being coerced to a tuple in order to act as a key in a dict. I think that's an abuse of list. You'd be better off thinking of tuples as a record in a database. "213 1st Street" means nothing when sorted in a list ['1st', '213','Street'), but means everything when left as a tuple ('213', '1st', 'Street') as it should be. Tuples are great for data - when the position *means* something, not just an "ordering". People ask, "why don't you just have named field". A phone number doesn't really need named fields for the 800 to mean something and for it to be important that it not have its order rearranged. Take the following two tuples: (408,555,1212) and (555,408,1212). If you treat them just as lists, you could end up sorting them and they'd be "identical". But they're not identical - they're phone numbers for completely different parts of the country and the structure is meaningful. Which means, tuples would be appropriate here, and that structure is what makes them good as keys.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158017479265392903.post-55932344126620579422010-08-03T21:22:00.000-07:002010-08-03T21:22:29.001-07:00Recipes aren't for followingSaw <a href="http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/quick-recipes/2010/08/curried_red_lentil_kohlrabi_and_couscous_salad">this recipe</a> in my latest issue of _Bon Appetit_ for curried red lentil, kohlrabi and couscous salad. Looked interesting BUT...<br />
DH doesn't like curried lentils so much, and especialy not as a salad. He likes lentils, just not curried. Also, we need to have some extra protein due to diabetes II in the family. Finally, I felt like pulling out my crockpot today. <br />
<br />
So....I made two dishes today: Salt Pork with lentils and kohlrabi, and eggplant caponata. <br />
<br />
Chopped 3 onions (2 white 1 red) and sauteed them in olive oil until soft<br />
Tossed half into a crockpot with a chunk of salt pork from the freezer and some chicken broth to cover. Turned crockpot on high. Reserved the rest of the cooked onion for caponata.<br />
<br />
Chopped 3 bell peppers (2 orange, 1 red), 2 stalks of celery, 2 carrots, and 3 kohlrabi. <br />
<br />
I still say Kohlrabi looks like an alien. But it tastes somewehre between a potato and a radish. Interesting. So, I took the leaves and rinsed them, and chiffonaded them and added them to the crockpot. Then I chopped the kohlrabi bulbs. Even though they were small, they had some touch parts, so I will get bigger ones next time. I had tried doing the "boil 30 seconds then shock in ice water" trick to get the skins off but that didn't help. So I just took a paring knife to them. <br />
<br />
Dropped about half of the chopped veggies into the crockpot. Added the lentils (about a cup of red lentils) and poured in broth to cover. <br />
<br />
What to use for spices? <br />
<br />
I decided to go with mustard and paprika(to go with the salt pork); black peppercorns and garlic powder, of course; some cumin seed to add some highlight; and then saw the black coriander. So I added one of those, and ground the works up in the grinder. Added half (about a tsp) to start along with about a tsp of salt. <br />
<br />
A couple hours in, I added another tsp or so of spices, and some hot water cuz it was looking a bit dry. <br />
<br />
All in all, it cooked about 6 hours, about 2 on high, 3 on low, then another hour on high to finish it off and make sure everything was soft. When it was time to eat, I took out the pork and pulled it into chunks to add to the plates, (removing the fat and bone). <br />
<br />
I took a cup plus of the cooking liquid in a small saucepan, brought it to a boil, and added a cup of couscous. After setting 5 minutes, I fluffed it with a fork. <br />
<br />
For presentation, I put down a swipe of good dijon mustard on the plate, piled the pork and a half cup of couscous on one side, then filled the rest of the plate with mixed salad greens topped with a cup of the lentil, kohlrabi mix. <br />
<br />
Yummy and filling. We had it with a white French burgundy. It didn't need anything else. It was SOOOOO good. Yum! And all because I saw a recipe for curried lentils and couscous... ;-)<br />
<br />
Oh - and the caponata got prepped in the meantime so it's ready for tomorrow's dinner. But that's another post...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158017479265392903.post-31894904677593961742010-07-05T19:33:00.000-07:002010-07-05T19:33:32.213-07:00Living off the Land(line)So, I just finally hooked up a phone to the landline. Mind you, they installed that at the same time as our internet. I just hadn't actually plugged anything in yet. OTOH - I have used my cellphone extensively. Now, I've got to update my Google Voice number to ring the landline. <br />
<br />
It was odd, telling Alex that we needed to get a new phone. It wasn't clear that I didn't mean a cellphone. ;-) So when I walked into Best Buy tonight to grab a new phone, I was prepared to ask for a landline phone. The default is no longer landline - it's cellphone. <br />
<br />
Even odder is realizing as I type this that it isn't really a landline! It's a VOIP service with AT&T Uverse. So, I guess we're not on the phone lines anymore, for real. Okay, I realize that many folks have switched already; it's just briefly unsettling to think about the change. (I feel so behind!) Guess now we have finally and truly joined the digital age.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158017479265392903.post-78874486932507443282010-06-27T19:34:00.000-07:002010-06-28T19:50:06.455-07:00The importance of being ErnestWe have a new member of the family. He's a small black lab mix, come all the way from Taiwan to be adopted. When we adopted him yesterday, they told us he had been adopted first about a year ago by people who wanted a puppy. Two days ago, instead of returning him to the no-kill, doggie rescue people, the jerks dropped him off at a kill shelter! Luckily, he's chipped and the doggie rescue folks rescued him before he was euthanized. When we adopted him yesterday, they were calling him Turnip! (Shades of Black Adder...) <br />
<br />
So, we have determined that his name is going to be Ernest. And he's a Very Good Dog.<br />
<br />
EDIT:<br />
Apparently, he's also a Very Clever Dog. He knows how to open doors. The pocket doors are less than 2 seconds for him to open. And now he's figured out how to open the bedroom door. The one with the doorknob that turns. Yeah. He can somehow open a latched door with a doorknob. Oh boy.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158017479265392903.post-11921775062586945242009-11-22T19:59:00.001-08:002009-11-22T20:11:55.039-08:00Cooking and nostalgiaToday, I'm cooking wild boar ragu in the slow cooker, and polenta. And it reminds me of when we lived in Italia. <br />Wild boar is something we ate with my step-son's girlfriend - her family had local hunters give them wild boar. The flavor is rich and gamey in a good way. <br />But Polenta will always remind me of our honeymoon - up in the Italian Alps. The little hotel we stayed at invited all its guests to lunch at their Malga (a traditional farmhouse up slope from the village). To get there, we all walked along a path, through woods and flowers, along a creek, and then emerging to a pasture, high in the mountains, surrounded by grass, and rock, and flowers, with the sound of the creek audible below. Children played, running around with the dog that had accompanied us up, a happy little dog who was all energy and bounce. We sat and drank wine and chatted and explored while the hotel folk cooked over an open fire. The meat had been roasting since the morning, but the polenta - oh, the polenta pot was a thing to behold. A HUGE copper pot, over a wood fire built into the side of the farmhouse, at just the right height for us to take turns stirring with a wooden spoon that was at least 2 feet long. The polenta bubbled and boiled like the proverbial cauldron for hours, getting thicker, and creamier. Meanwhile, they plied us with coldcuts and bread and wine, but then came the grilled pork sausage and then the roasted venison and the polenta. All the picnic tables were set with bottles of red wine, as we sat at picnic tables under the summer sun, and ate until we couldn't eat any more. And as the evening began, we all walked together, down the long path, (very glad it was downhill), back to the hotel, before the next day's adventures.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158017479265392903.post-26026487754422578292009-11-15T13:58:00.000-08:002009-11-15T14:21:20.535-08:00PyCon AwesomenessI was just looking over the talks and tutorials for PyCon 2010, which is coming up in February in Atlanta. All I can say is, wow! This year's lineup is incredible. We've got 2 days packed of tutorials, 3 days packed of an incredibly variety of talks aimed at all levels of pythonista, PLUS open space, poster sessions(new this year), lightning talks, and more. I can't wait!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158017479265392903.post-90265564789926126572009-10-03T19:14:00.000-07:002009-10-04T10:14:20.249-07:00Why I'm riding the busEDIT: I'm talking about BICYCLES here except for one mention of motorcycles. Bike == BICYCLE, not motorcycle, in this post.<br /><br />About 20 years ago or so, I was waiting at a busstop, minding my own business. Some guy walks up to me and asks: "Do you know why I'm riding the bus today?" I wasn't sure what he was up to, but figured it didn't hurt to chat with him. "No, why?" "Because I'm alive." <br /><br />And he reaches into his backpack and pulls out the two halves of the bike(as in BICYCLE) helmet he was wearing the week before, the helmet he was wearing the day a car ran into him on his bike. <br /><br />I had always been pretty conscientious about wearing a helmet when on a motorcycle but hadn't been as much on a bicycle. I hadn't really been biking much lately, so didn't even own a bike or a helmet. <br /><br />But ever since then, whenever I get on a bike, the helmet goes on. Period. Or I don't get on. <br /><br />I'm really glad I met him. Especially last Wednesday, when someone in a car ran into me on my bike. I knew my bike helmet was on, and I think that allowed me to relax enough to just go with it and not tense up much. So nothing is broken. My back is sore, my shoulder where I landed is a bit bruised. But nothing is broken. Including my head - which I think connected with his windshield and I know hit the ground when I slid off his hood flat on my back on the ground. <br /><br />My thanks to the man with the two helmet halves - whoever he was - and I wish him a long and happy life. And thanks to my friend Jacquie who tightened my helmet straps a few days before the accident. <br /><br />There may be long-term effects to my back or things that haven't shown up yet. But my head ain't cracked open. And I'm alive to tell this story. <br /><br />Time to get a new bike helmet.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158017479265392903.post-19352547856466243352009-09-29T12:11:00.000-07:002009-09-29T12:30:26.612-07:00Why women don't talk enoughSo, the call for proposals for PyCon is out and has been out for some time. It's been circulated around. I've personally sent it to a number of women's lists I'm on. So, why don't I see any proposals from women yet? (Besides mine...)<br /><br />Some reasons I've heard when I've asked women friends over the years about why they haven't proposed a talk:<br /><br />a. I don't have time<br />None of us have enough time. I know we women have a lot of "extras" that we do every day and hobbies tend to fall by the wayside. I'm a full-time student at Stanford, with a husband, a house, 2 cats, and a teenager who doesn't want to do his homework. If I can submit a proposal, so can you. <br /><br />b. I don't know enough<br />No one knows everything. And if you're closer to the n00b level, you'll understand what a n00b needs to hear better than an expert. Which brings us to:<br /><br />c. There are experts/package creators there<br />Even if the creator is there, they may not be speaking, or they may be so deep into the package that they have no idea what real users of the package actually have trouble with and need to know. You do. So tell the rest of us about it. It's okay to have talks about the same package at two different levels!<br /><br />d. I only use Python for this limited weird niche: <br />There are a lot of people interested in how to use Python for niches, and the more niches that presenters explore, the more the rest of us learn about the rich breadth of our favorite language.<br /><br />e. I'm scared to speak in public:<br />PyCon is one of the friendliest, most tolerant conferences out there. We're all just a bunch of fellow enthusiasts: you're speaking to friends. So get out there and teach us all about something Pythonic that you love. Trust me, before I speak, not only do my knees shake, my *cheeks* shake! (It's hard to speak when your cheeks are shaking - try it sometime. ;-) But people at Pycon are ON YOUR SIDE - they *WANT* you to succeed. So, it's okay if you're a little shaky at the beginning. They'll be polite and listen anyways, because they want to hear about what you're presenting on. And once you've started, you'll be okay. Trust me on this. <br /><br />So women of Python - please submit your proposals. Don't let the guys have all the fun and glory. I want to see *you* on stage at PyCon!<br /><br />http://us.pycon.org/2010/conference/proposals/Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158017479265392903.post-69709877520562404672009-08-20T23:45:00.000-07:002009-08-20T23:52:46.828-07:00Status Expectations and GenderThis is a repost of something I wrote for a women-only mailing list so that I can point to it publicly. Many workplace and other community issues between genders may be related to Status Expectations on interactions. Here I try to summarize some current sociological theory on gender:<br /><br /><br />Subconscious beliefs about status affect our expectations when we interact:<br />*Lower status people are expected to be less competent than higher<br />status people, by default.<br />*Lower status people are viewed as having less "legitimate" claims to authority.<br />* Finally, the higher status person is expected to act authoritative<br />(decisive, proactive) and the lower status person is expected to act<br />"communally" (working to ease social relations, inclusive, considerate<br />of others, reactive, etc)<br /><br />When two people interact in a situation, these expectation color our<br />perceptions and interactions, so, for example, the higher status<br />person is given "the benefit of the doubt" and their skills,<br />behavior, outcomes are judged less harshly than the lower status<br />person. The lower status person's skills are judged more harshly<br />(mistakes are evidence of their lower competence, while successes are<br />downplayed - is this sounding familiar to anyone?), and any attempt by<br />the lower status person to act authoritative is viewed as an<br />illegitimate power play. The lower status person doesn't have "the<br />right" to act authoritative.<br /><br />Women are lower status than men (in contemporary US society, and in<br />many/most contemporary societies.) While education and experience can<br />increase our perceived status regarding competence, we are still<br />viewed as not having "legitimate" claim to authority. In other words,<br />women can be competent, but we still have to "be nice" otherwise,<br />we're violating what it means to be a woman (in contemporary US<br />society, "being a woman" includes "being nice".) Women are perceived<br />(rightly or wrongly) as having higher social skills than men, we are<br />held to higher standards on social skills than men (because we are<br />lower status).<br /><br />Unfortunately, (white) women were socialized with the same status<br />expectations as men, so we hold these same expectations when we walk<br />into a situation. (There is some evidence that African American women<br />have different status expectations when interacting within a group of<br />African Americans - but share the hegemonic beliefs when interacting<br />in mixed racial groups.) We assume the man is more competent by<br />default (unless we have some reason to believe otherwise, such as<br />higher education), and we assume the man will be in charge (again,<br />unless we walk in with a higher "rank".)<br /><br /><i>snip of a description on the mailing list of being seen as "difficult"</i><br /><br />This is the problem of how the lower status person is supposed to get<br />ahead - they're perceived as less authoritative, so they don't get<br />promoted to positions of authority, but if they act authoritative,<br />they are violating norms, and are not promoted because of their<br />"inappropriate behavior". (Yes - it is a double standard and a serious<br />catch22.) Women fall afoul of this regularly (the glass ceiling is<br />partly based on this effect.)<br /><br />Women who *do* get ahead, often are the ones who were able to smooth<br />ruffled feathers by "being helpful" and playing on their social skills<br />strengths, to get the men to accept them as peers. At that point, they<br />are sometimes able to act more authoritatively without it being viewed<br />as "illegitimate". It's hard to accept this, though, as not just<br />continuing the stereotypes and reinforcing them. Either way, it's an<br />ugly tangled knot. Do we act "nice" to get along and perpetuate the<br />stereotypes? or do we act "authoritative" to get ahead, and run the<br />risk of being stuck in a position where we're not allowed to advance<br />because we're viewed as "too bitchy"? Ugh.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158017479265392903.post-40925935127995369792009-08-19T21:13:00.000-07:002009-08-19T22:08:04.683-07:00On trust and diversityFirst read <a href="http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2009/08/terrible-bargain-we-have-regretfully.html">The Terrible Bargain</a> <br />Then read <a href="http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2009/08/just-below-my-skin-im-screaming.html">Just below my skin</a><br /><br />Everyone should read those - both of them. Because they give two different perspectives on what it's like to live in a world defined as heterosexual male, able-bodied, neurotypical, with most everything else a "diversity issue". What's funny for me is, I don't feel like I "fit" even in this sort of story. And I want to give my perspective because it falls somewhere in here - just different enough to, I hope, spur people to keep thinking.<br /><br />I have never experienced the sense of fear and distrust portrayed in the Terrible Bargain about males. Primarily, I think, because I'm NOT neurotypical, and my enculturation or socialization or whatever you call it, didn't really take. I do remember people (especially my mother) talking to me about my interactions with others, especially males, and I suspect, trying to convince me that I was doing things that might be dangerous somehow. But, honestly, I've rarely had trouble from men, as a woman. I have had occasions where there was overt sexism - the principal at my junior high who was convinced that "wargaming is for boys", the two men who tried to threaten me (one carrying a baseball bat) at night at a busstop, being accused of being a "bitch" on occasion (which I mostly found amusing) I'm not immune to harrassment. But I am, I guess, mostly oblivious. I have never really felt a sense of exclusion or being dismissed for being female when pursuing my interests - whether those were RPGs, firearms, electronics, or computers (among others). And I have never felt the sense of generalized mistrust of males that is described in The Terrible Bargain.<br /><br />I have , otoh, experienced that sense of mistrust - not about males -but more often about women, and mostly, female neurotypicals. (I was, for example, terrified before my first Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, but had no fears of walking into OSCON, or any "mixed" conference.) <br /><br />You see - I don't *get* cultural norms. I have a form of what's best described as "culture blindness" - I don't just pick up the "unspoken rules" of behavior. I don't think the same way that "everyone" seems to. I keep learning more about the ways I think differently, by reading and asking and learning. But the biggest problem I've had in life is with neurotypical assumptions (especially from women) of what I "should" just "know". When I do something that ticks someone off and they respond to my query of "what did I do wrong" with "if you have to ask... " then I just can't learn anything about how to fix it. Worse is when they simply decide that I'm deliberately intending to be rude or whatever, because of my phrasing, when I had no idea that it would be interpreted that way, and don't ever bother to *tell* me or *explain* to me that it's taken that way. I've fallen afoul of that sort of thing numerous times in my life. <br /><br />It's *NOT* that I don't care. It's that my perception of "norms" or of "courteous behavior" or "politeness" or whatever you want to call it is DIFFERENT because of my different brain. Unfortunately, since I grew up in the Midwest of the US, and am white and female, I'm *assumed* to be somehow empathetic and better at socializing and all sorts of things that - I just am not. So when I violate those norms, it's assumed I'm doing it *on purpose*. <br /><br />When I'm with women, I get this more than with men. Because with men, *generally* (not always but more often than with women) if I *ask* about why they're acting pissed, they'll tell me. Or if I upset them, they'll challenge me on my behavior - and I get to find out what I did wrong - at the time, so that I can avoid it in the future! If they never tell me, I don't know! <br /><br />I treasure the people in my life who have taken time to explain to me when I've done something that offended them. The African American woman who explained to me that the term "buckwheat" (which I'd been using for my son for a couple of years at that point) was racist, or the person who explained to me why "Indian giver" is a slur. Thank you to those of you who have taken the time to explain to me so that I can avoid unintentionally offending others. <br /><br />So - what's it like in my world?<br /><br />What if you had to move as an adult to an alien culture that just happens to speak your same language, but with different meanings for many of the words, with different ways of "being polite". What if, because you happened to speak the "same" language, you are assumed to just know the cultural norms - for example, the holidays, the rules of the road, the little rules of interaction, that are just different enough from your own culture so that you get tripped up regularly. And what if, instead of explaining patiently to you what you did and how to avoid it in the future, everyone assumed you were tripping up on purpose because "everyone knows that" and anyone who does it "wrong" is deliberately being a troll. How comfortable would you feel in that society? <br /><br />Welcome to what it feels like to live in neurotypical society. <br /><br />So yeah - I tend to be, I think, more tolerant of those who have sincere questions about things like "disability 101" and "feminism 101" because frankly, most folks don't grok "neurodiversity 101". While I understand being tired of explaining what it's like to be a woman in a man's society, I perhaps have less sympathy than I might if I were neurotypical - because I am different in an invisible way. Because the neurotypical has no idea how many assumptions they are making about everyone - and when they refuse to explain in response to an honest query - they're doing *no one* any good. <br /><br />No - you don't have to *personally* explain every single thing in great gory detail to every single person. But please provide pointers and a brief, clear explanation: "when you said x, I felt y, because z" and "you can get more info about this at url..." If that's too much to ask, then you have insufficient tolerance, imho, for the neurodiverse who actually *need* that explanation or for those who are simply new to your form of diversity and don't know your cultural assumptions. <br /><br />Maybe this makes me a bad "ally" for whatever 'ism' you're promoting. Could be. Or, it could be a plea for everyone to please assume the best of everyone's intentions, particularly when we're *asking* for help in understanding. Because there's too much out there for *any* of us to learn on our own. The more you explain (or point to explanations) that help us all understand better why you feel the way you do and react the way you do, the better off we *all* are, and the easier time we *all* have to avoid tripping over landmines that we were unaware of. <br /><br />So - thanks to the posters of The Terrible Bargain and Just Below My Skin. It *helps* to read these perspectives. Thank you for taking the time to help others understand. Including me.<br /><br />Now, where'd I leave that asbestos long-underwear...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158017479265392903.post-80597874023294314592009-08-05T13:31:00.000-07:002009-08-05T13:49:52.335-07:00On Python and diversityAfter <a href="http://infotrope.net/blog/2009/07/25/standing-out-in-the-crowd-my-oscon-keynote/">Kirrily's OSCON Keynote</a>, several of us had some great hall discussions and lunch discussions on the topic of women in opensource. As a result of the discussion, Aahz, a fellow pythonista, posted <a href="http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=264020">a call for diversity</a> and created a new list for Python users to discuss improving diversity in the Python community. <br /><br />So far, we've had a great discussion - lots of respectful participation from people of varying viewpoints. I'm so proud to belong to a community that cares about this topic (not just women in opensource, but all forms of diversity) and is taking steps to address it. I've always loved the Python community for its welcoming, friendly, accessible nature. I am also aware that, like most Open Source projects, (and indeed, the tech field in general) there is room for improvement in the diversity of our membership, committers, and officers.<br /><br />If you're interested in Python and want in on the discussion, the new list is at http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/diversity<br /><br />Join us in working to make the Python community even better than it already is!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158017479265392903.post-69146386680724150842009-06-19T08:32:00.001-07:002009-06-19T08:39:56.792-07:00Working with excel from PythonA new site for gathering up-to-date information about with Excel files in Python. <a href="http://www.python-excel.org">Working with Excel Files in Python </a><br /><br />It has links to tutorials and modules, and even a googlegroups mailing list. Looks useful for anyone who has to work with Excel from Python.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158017479265392903.post-63053667621805148532009-06-17T10:26:00.000-07:002009-06-17T10:46:59.418-07:00Trippin' thru the Twitterverse with #captaintrippsThe first posts from @larry_underwood on April 29 set the stage: <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Been having some weird, weird dark-ass dreams lately. Maybe I'll write a song about them. Something about @VegasWalkinDude<br /></br><br />Whoa. This thing is serious. RT @healthmap alert phase is 5 per WHO press conference http://bit.ly/ZaRr0 #swineflu #h1n1<br /></br><br />And some people are calling #swineflu and #h1n1, #captaintripps. Baby, I'm not digging this at all.<br /></span><br /><br />If these names (@larry_underwood, @vegaswalkindude, @motherabigail) bring to mind dreams of cornfields and crows, then you should follow @larry_underwood et al as they tweet their way thru #thestand, as it might play out nowadays with social networking and cellphones. <br /><br />An impressive performance so far. I'm following over 2 dozen related accounts -- I've set up in a folder in my rss feed. I can't keep up as well on the standard twitterclient - even seesmic. But I'm an oldphart. I expect younger folks will be able to keep up just fine. In any case, if you haven't read Steven King's <span style="font-style:italic;">The Stand</span>, now's the time. And if you have, follow these folks. <br /><br />M O O N, that spells Twitter. Even Tom knows that.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158017479265392903.post-47921361232737630722009-05-02T00:19:00.000-07:002009-05-02T01:13:43.677-07:00Dirty Pitchers and Conference Presentations<span style="font-style:italic;">Due to the nature of the discussions I've seen on this topic, I am disabling comments for this post. <br /></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.gaiser.org/EnamelPitcher.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 335px; height: 251px;" src="http://www.gaiser.org/EnamelPitcher.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>I like dirty pitchers.<br /><br />I like looking at sexy images of men and of women (I've made no secret that I'm bi). I enjoy watching pr0n movies on occasion, and consider a bit of whips&chains to be added spice. I've posed for some, ahem, risque photos (in my younger, more adventurous days).<br /><br />Yep - I appreciate pr0n.<br /><br />What I *don't* appreciate is the use of pr0n, or sexually suggestive (or so-called "glamour") images of scantilly-dressed women, in tech conference presentations.<br /><br />Now - I've already said I like pr0n. So what's the big deal?<br /><br />The problem is the effect the use of such images in presentations is likely to have on the (inevitably) few tech women in the audience - women who've already overcome stereotype threat, low self-efficacy, and other barriers to entry to the field and who still may suffer from imposter syndrome (don't know the terms? look 'em up!), who have made the decision to attend in spite of the low numbers of "people like me" (other tech women) - who are likely to feel uncomfortable and unwelcome, who may feel, once again, that they don't really belong here (here == '<span style="font-style:italic;">the tech field</span>'). <br /><br />And no - this isn't about being a "repressed American". I lived in Italia and have seen and enjoyed the myriad sexy images of women (and men) in magazines and billboards there. But be honest with yourself: those images on the magazines and billboards are there *because* they are sexy and because sex sells (blame a million years of hardwiring for that). That's an appropriate context for those images. But what does being sexy have to do with a professional tech conference? What is showing images of "sexy women" saying about the role of women in tech? To far too many women (and men) it says that women belong at conferences as decoration - welcome as boothbabes, tolerated as marketers and maybe recruiters (after all, sex sells) - but not recognized as colleagues, as professional programmers or sysadmins or hardware techs.<br /><br />The more images like this in conference presentations are viewed as appropriate by presenters or organizers at tech conferences, the less women will feel they "belong" in tech, or at least, at tech conferences. Is that the message you want to send? Is that a consequence you're willing to accept for the sake of a lame joke, or brief moment of tittilation?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158017479265392903.post-58264174265196357092009-02-15T13:37:00.000-08:002009-02-15T13:49:55.765-08:00VDayLast April, my friends Harry and Michael invited us to get tickets with them for Cal Performances. One of the performances was for Valentines day - Academy of St Martin in the Field. I bought a pair of tickets, conspiring with them over dinner and a nice hotel - they're far more familiar with Berkeley than I. <br /><br />So, last night we all four went to the concert. My beloved and I checked in to our lodging, and Michael and Harry picked us up and took us to dinner at a nice Thai place. The concert was great. <br /><br />We stayed overnight in Berkeley - at the most delightful little B&B. The Rose Garden Inn on Telegraph st in Berkeley. It was kitschy and quaint and lovely - several buildings placed around a central garden full of fountains and gazebos and murals and wrought iron bistro tables. The room was small, with a queen bed (but nicely firm mattress) and had a gas fireplace in the corner, and a little balcony where he could step out to smoke. <br /><br />I brought along a Cava and we shared a toast with Harry and Michael after the concert. This morning, the skylight awoke us with natural light (my second favorite way to be woken), and my beloved brought me a glass of Cava in bed! After a while, we wandered down to the complimentary breakfast - eggs, bacon, sausage, waffles, pastries, etc. And at lunchtime, we checked out and I drove him to his bridge tournament at an SFO hotel. I'll see him late tonight. <br /><br />All in all, a most pleasant valentines day and night.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7158017479265392903.post-88888087824267603232009-01-29T17:37:00.001-08:002009-01-29T17:37:43.329-08:00Testing new app<p style="clear: both">MacBreakWeekly recommended Blogo. So I'm trying it out. We'll see how well it works for me. Consider this a test. </p><br class='final-break' style='clear: both' />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14110591530526601977noreply@blogger.com0