squasher

It's not a magic touch, it's a learnable skill.

A skill that's damn hard to learn and takes years of dedication, introspection, and humility, but learnable nonetheless.

If you liked/needed this post, you'll LOVE The Now Habit: http://www.amazon.com/Now-Habit-Overcoming-Procrastination-G...

Does this mean you're not going to fix the newest update, which broke the iPhone app?

I am working through this tutorial right now and it is phenomenally useful. Explains exactly the right amount for me: http://ruby.railstutorial.org/

Yes, you could do that. The department chair is probably your best bet. You could also network if you know any teachers. Are you in SF?

It's nice if you can build a relationship between your institution and a school so you can have a sort of standing gig every few years.

(Also note that some schools will totally love this and others might be unresponsive, so don't give up if the first one doesn't happen)

There are Science Cafes all over the world that have scientists give talks to laypersons: sciencecafes.org

Nerd Nite does the same thing, but with beer: nerdnite.com

Be a guest speaker at high schools in your area. Mike Merzenich graciously came to speak to my Neuroscience students, and they found it informative and inspiring.

Vi Hart does some really really neat math videos: http://vihart.com/

Above all, practice talking math to non-mathies. Use lots and lots of analogies, and don't forget to tap into the enthusiasm that brought you to the field in the first place.

Teachers <i>always</i> know. They just sometimes choose not to fight that battle.

AskMetafilter solves this problem by asking all users to pay $5 to make an account to vote or post. This low, easy bar is still high enough to dramatically reduce low-quality comments and questions.

But I wonder if the argumentative and negative postings on this site are coming from relative beginners on the site, or people who are more established?

Anonymous posting never goes well. See the comments on any story in the SF Chronicle for a myriad of examples.

Straight guy.

Well you can, as evidenced by the attitude of the person I was responding to. That doesn't mean you should, which is I think what you really mean.

But yes, having such an imbalance in our community leads to this being a salient part of social interaction when there are much more important characteristics that should rise to the top.

"Personally, it doesn't even cross my mind that some people are different than me."

People who aren't rich, white, straight, and male don't have the privilege of forgetting about their own identity the way you do. In the context of tech for women, this means always wondering if you were hired, fired, or asked to coffee because you are a woman or because you are interesting and competent. It's knowing that if you mess up, you are reinforcing stereotypes about all women. When you walk into a room at a conference and you can count the other women on one hand, men may not notice but women definitely do. We don't have the privilege of forgetting our gender in that context. It's not that men are evil, it's just the way privilege works: when you benefit from it, it's hard to see the experience of those who don't.

If you want to hear more about this idea even more eloquently, check out the classic article about white privilege that puts it better than I ever could: http://www.nymbp.org/reference/WhitePrivilege.pdf

How is this poll going to work if we can't see the upvote tallies?

I am more concerned by the lack of communication than by the missed meetings. Have you actually talked to him about this? Maybe he is sadly waiting for you at a different coffee shop, or under the impression that the meetings are only when needed.

Does he have any idea how much this is destroying your trust in him? Tell him your expectations, give him a chance to shape up, and if he doesn't, you know what to do.

I see a lot of threads go by on HN along the lines of "why aren't there more women in technology?" and then lots of replies along the lines of "I guess they are just allergic to keyboards. Too bad!"

This article, particularly the section about attitude towards noobs, is all tied up in why some women never go deep into programming. There are lots of other reasons too, but this one is especially well articulated by the OP.

If you are in the keyboard-allergist camp, ponder this one long and hard.

Right, I second that. Also, I used to "take breaks" by playing games or putzing around on the internet, until I realized that it doesn't actually help me feel relaxed and energized. But stretching, walking around, getting a cup of tea, and most other things in meatspace get me ready to go back to work.

If you're interested in reading more about pushing the limits of remapping the human brain, check out The Brain That Changes Itself by Doidge. Fascinating.

You would be correct. The shaping of the pinna (and resulting sound reflections) help us determine the height of sound sources, even if they're right on our midline.

Not sure that is the word choice you intended: It might not be a "bad" one it terms of your chances of being right, but it's "bad" in the sense that it's insulting, frustrating, and marginalizing for the underestimated woman.

Yes! I can't tell you how many people have tried to steer me away from development because I speak human AND code, and can actually make eye contact.

Where you can meet your (first) mate.

Has anyone tried using video instead of photos and blurbs?

>> Go get em people will like it because both parties are jumping with both feet and instead of trading countless emails only to discover the other party is just not that interested.

How on earth does this system help you determine whether the pair is interested in each other? It is only having one party bid on the other's proposed activity, which may or may not have anything to do with their actual personality.

There's also something a little slimy about having people 'bid' to win my attention. Income (and willingness to spend it impressing strangers) is not my primary criterion. It's not even in the top ten.

Interesting that this resonates so strongly with so many, especially considering the comment by his ex at the bottom of the page.

Seems similar to Freedom: http://macfreedom.com/