An eye-catching title for an article from CIO Magazine: Why IT Hates Women (and the Women Who Stay Anyway). It all comes down to balancing work and life, a problem male CIOs can also face, if they choose to. Women are still hitting barriers of double standards, higher ups who hold women back, and not being appreciated if they are as outspoken as their male counterparts. To get ahead, women are taking the jobs the men don’t want, and making sacrifices at home. But they strive for balance and hope that the further along they get, the better it will be for those women coming up behind them. How many more years will we keep seeing articles like this?
Thank you reader Marc for sending along an interesting article on food related books. There are some enticing recommendations in there. My favorite line is in the section on M.F.K. Fisher: “Read a few pages, and you’ll see that everything that Martha Stewart aspires to be is a direct rip-off of M.F.K. Fisher.” You just know Mary Frances is cackling gleefully over that one.
Salon has published a Julliard student’s account of playing violin for the Fighting 69th at the Armory. “I’ve never understood so fully what it means to communicate music to other people.”
The NY Times has some extremely well done interactive graphics describing different aspects of the terrorist attacks. Lasers have been used to make an accurate map of the WTC. On that page is a link to their multimedia features, and, if you aren’t overwhelmed with information already, I recommend taking a look at all the graphics they have created. After looking at the laser images, use the drop-down menu at the top of the window to view others. Meanwhile, back in Connecticut, my parents report that the total number missing or dead from my hometown is 15. And, less tragic, but a constant reminder of the terrible events, my parents are only receiving a few television stations. They don’t have cable tv and the transmission point for many New York stations was on the top of 1 World Trade Center (the north tower). As my dad said, they’re not going to find an equally tall place to put another antenna, so this could continue for a long time.
Nick at Nite has started showing Family Ties so I did a little catching up with the less loved supporting actors. Tina Yothers is the lead singer for a band called Jaded. She looks a lot better done up as a brunette. But all I can picture is her singing “Mr. Sandman” from the episode where Alex turned her rock band into a girl group in pastel satin dresses. Marc Price, aka “Skippy!!!” is doing stand-up comedy. Scott Valentine (monosyllabic Nick) appears to still be acting frequently. I’m going to predict that they won’t do a reunion show. But perhaps Michael J. Fox would want to?
A study of identical and fraternal twins indicates that dining habits are governed by genes. Identical twins were more likely to have similar eating habits than fraternal twins. The factors included time of day, amount of food, and even number of dining companions. I wonder if anyone’s done a similar study on food preferences, which I think should be more on the nurture side.
The five stages of grief are denial, bargaining, anger, despair, acceptance. My own personal stages of dealing with the terrorist attacks have been: a form of denial where everything was too unbelievable to digest, a sadness where it had finally sunk in and I felt depressed and tearful, and now I’m going through an easily irritable mood that is probably an anger stage. I think after the anger comes some sort of grudging acceptance, but it’s not going to be a very calming acceptance.
Isaac Stern 1920-2001. NY Times obituary. He was one of the greats. I hope it’s not insensitive to say that I hope someone well deserving gets his Guarneri. I get strange looks when I talk about how my violin is older than I am, will outlive me, can’t heal as well (keeping the same tone) as my body can, and therefore should get priority in rescues. I don’t truly feel that way (it’s not that good), but it is amazing to consider the history attached to old instruments which can continue for centuries and be passed from one legendary player to another.
The recent report of a cable snag that has slowed Asia’s Internet access reminded me of an old Wired article written by Neal Stephenson. It included “material pertaining to the business and technology of Undersea Fiber-Optic Cables, as well as an account of the laying of the longest wire on Earth.” It was such a lengthy article that I think there’s still a bookmark in that issue that has now been filed away. With Stephenson it’s not “just the facts ma’am”, but the facts plus a myriad of other fascinating facts, relevant history, opinionated commentary, and hefty helpings of irony. Anyway, it’s probably a very informative article. I just can’t bring myself to attempt reading it again right now. My bookmark in Cryptonomicon hasn’t moved in months either.
The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund was founded in 1974 and has a very commendable fundraising ratio: only 13 cents of each dollar raised goes towards fundraising and administration. The industry standards is 35 cents. (via randomWalks)