The Inimitable Tiff

Mar 08

Gendercide: Killed, aborted or neglected, at least 100m girls have disappeared—and the number is rising on Economist.com. In China and northern India more than 120 boys are being born for every 100 girls. Nature dictates that slightly more males are born than females to offset boys’ greater susceptibility to infant disease. But nothing on this scale. Via givemesomethingtoread.

Gendercide: Killed, aborted or neglected, at least 100m girls have disappeared—and the number is rising on Economist.com.

In China and northern India more than 120 boys are being born for every 100 girls. Nature dictates that slightly more males are born than females to offset boys’ greater susceptibility to infant disease. But nothing on this scale.

Via givemesomethingtoread.

Women & Technology 1999 – 2009 – GirlyGeekdom -

When you start looking through the time line you can see there is a more general positive trend towards women in the technology industry, however despite role models being identified in national and international news papers as well as lots of groups and organizations trying to make a difference there are still comments about the declining numbers entering the profession in 2008. There are many yearly awards given out to those in top senior management slots who are women in the technology industry, however this too doesn’t lead to additional people. Many are arguing that these sort of awards are hindering rather than helping the industry.

Meanwhile there are efforts by large corporates to invest money in their own centres for women in technology which to date haven’t seen any hard and fast results. In the meantime groups like Girl Geek Dinners, Women in Technology and Girls in Tech have been built up by the technology community for the community as a result of members of the community feeling a need for it.

Mar 07

Gender, Interaction and Leadership [pdf on jstor] -

by Walker, Henry A., Ilardi, Barbara C., McMahon, Anne M. and Fennel, Mary L., “Social Psychology Quarterly”, Vol. 59, No. 3 (Sep., 1996), pp. 255-272

I like any interesting blog post and comments that send me off into academic journal reading.

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Mar 05

Ascending Coherence: Brooke, WTF? -

OK, when I was watching Community last night, and a commercial for the upcoming show Who Do You Think You Are? came on, I almost fell off the couch. No, it wasn’t because learning more about other people’s genealogy is one of the most boring things in the world so WHY would you make a show of it…

Seattle's Mighty-O Donuts makes nation's best donuts list - Seattle- msnbc.com -

For ascendingcoherence. Will send a care-package soon.

Types of Bitches 1-14 (via chinese_fashion) and via lisasho. I think 11. is supposed to be hootchy? I prefer a fake spanish pronunciation.

Types of Bitches 1-14 (via chinese_fashion) and via lisasho. I think 11. is supposed to be hootchy? I prefer a fake spanish pronunciation.

PALAEOBLOG: Asteroid Impact Did Kill Dinos However, the reviewers find that what appears to be a series of layers neatly laid down over 300,000 years near the impact site were actually violently churned and then dumped in a thick pile in a very short time. Models suggest the impact at Chicxulub was a million times more energetic than the largest nuclear bomb ever tested. An impact of this size would eject material at high velocity around the world, cause earthquakes of magnitude >10, continental shelf collapse, landslides, gravity flows, mass wasting and tsunamis and produce a relatively thick and complex sequence of deposits close to Chicxulub. Incidentally, the rest of the post has probably the most amazing bullet-point talking point “Quick Facts” ever.PALAEOBLOG: Asteroid Impact Did Kill Dinos

However, the reviewers find that what appears to be a series of layers neatly laid down over 300,000 years near the impact site were actually violently churned and then dumped in a thick pile in a very short time. Models suggest the impact at Chicxulub was a million times more energetic than the largest nuclear bomb ever tested. An impact of this size would eject material at high velocity around the world, cause earthquakes of magnitude >10, continental shelf collapse, landslides, gravity flows, mass wasting and tsunamis and produce a relatively thick and complex sequence of deposits close to Chicxulub.

Incidentally, the rest of the post has probably the most amazing bullet-point talking point “Quick Facts” ever.

Mar 04

“It’s huge! Bigger than anybody’s!”

I suffered the type of paralysis usually associated with spinal cord injuries or ayahuasca ingestion.” — Rob Wilder :: Daddy Needs a Drink

Via ascendingcoherence on Reader. (Awkwardly) excerpted here so as to not ruin the fun. Give it a read when you’re not in danger of snorting out your beverage.

justinhook: There are 56 one-star reviews of The Great Gatsby on Amazon, and they are all hilarious. And once you get tired of that, there are 43 two-star reviews, and 69 three-star reviews.

justinhook:

There are 56 one-star reviews of The Great Gatsby on Amazon, and they are all hilarious.

And once you get tired of that, there are 43 two-star reviews, and 69 three-star reviews.

Now Mummified Crocs Getting Tomographed I could think of worse jobs than scanning weird mummified things.

Now Mummified Crocs Getting Tomographed I could think of worse jobs than scanning weird mummified things.

Mar 03

How Women Saved Social Security By Casey B. Mulligan for Economix: Although there are still some Americans who work, pay taxes, and then die before collecting Social Security benefits, this life cycle is much less common than it used to be. Thus you would think that Social Security would have had a huge deficit years ago. Social Security’s architects did not anticipate another major advance in the 20th century: women’s progress in market work, and how that progress would fill Social Security’s coffers. How Women Saved Social Security By Casey B. Mulligan for Economix:

Although there are still some Americans who work, pay taxes, and then die before collecting Social Security benefits, this life cycle is much less common than it used to be. Thus you would think that Social Security would have had a huge deficit years ago.

Social Security’s architects did not anticipate another major advance in the 20th century: women’s progress in market work, and how that progress would fill Social Security’s coffers.

This new animal suggests that at least three times in the evolution of dinosaurs and their closest relatives, meat-eating animals evolved into animals with diets that included plants. These shifts all occurred in less than 10 million years, a relatively short time by geological standards. (via PALAEOBLOG: Dinosaurs Older Than Previously Thought?)

This new animal suggests that at least three times in the evolution of dinosaurs and their closest relatives, meat-eating animals evolved into animals with diets that included plants. These shifts all occurred in less than 10 million years, a relatively short time by geological standards. (via PALAEOBLOG: Dinosaurs Older Than Previously Thought?)

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