#ShockHorror! Women Scientists Who Have Been Screwed by The #Phallocentric System [#geekgirl]

Rosalind Franklin

“In April, National Geographic News published a story about the letter in which scientist Francis Crick described DNA to his 12-year-old son. In 1962, Crick was awarded a Nobel Prize for discovering the structure of DNA, along with fellow scientists James Watson and Maurice Wilkins.

Several people posted comments about our story that noted one name was missing from the Nobel roster: Rosalind Franklin, a British biophysicist who also studied DNA. Her data were critical to Crick and Watson’s work, but as several commenters noted, Franklin was robbed of recognition. (See her section below for details.)

She was not the first woman to have endured indignities in the male-dominated world of science, but Franklin’s case is especially egregious, said Ruth Lewin Sime, a retired chemistry professor at Sacramento City College who has written on women in science.” – From 6 Women Scientists Who Were Snubbed Due to Sexism

Patti Smith Advises the #Young [#geekgirl]

Patti Smith: Advice to the young from Louisiana Channel on Vimeo.

“Build a good name”, rock poet Patti Smith advises the young. “Life is like a roller coaster, it is going to have beautiful moments but it is going to be real fucked up, too”, she says.

The American singer, poet and photographer Patti Smith (b. 1946) is a living punk rock legend. In this video she gives advice to the young:

“Build a good name. Keep your name clean. Don’t make compromises, don’t worry about making a bunch of money or being successful. Be concerned about doing good work. Protect your work and if you build a good name, eventually that name will be its own currency. Life is like a roller coaster ride, it is never going to be perfect. It is going to have perfect moments and rough spots, but it’s all worth it”, Patti Smith says.

Interview by Christian Lund, the Louisiana Literature festival August 24, 2012, at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.

Produced by Honey Biba Beckerlee and Kamilla Bruus.

Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.

Meet more artists at channel.louisiana.dk

Louisiana Channel is a non-profit video channel for the Internet launched by the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in November 2012. Each week Louisiana Channel will publish videos about and with artists in visual art, literature, architecture, design etc.

Read more: channel.louisiana.dk/about

Supported by Nordea-fonden.

Halla Tomasdottir: Embracing the #Beauty of Balance [#geekgirl]

Via TEDWomen, Halla Tomasdottir shares her thoughts regarding her approach to surviving Iceland’s financial crisis:

“…we felt a bit overwhelmed with testosterone. And I’m not here to say that men are to blame for the crisis and what happened in my country. But I can surely tell you that in my country – like on Wall St and the city of London and elsewhere – men were at the helm of the game of the financial sector, and that kind of lack of diversity and sameness leads to disastrous problems…Doing emotional due diligence is just as important as doing financial due diligence. It is actually people that make money and lose money, not Excel spreadsheets…I am fed up with this tyranny of either/or choices in life – either it’s men, or it’s women. We need to start embracing the beauty of balance. So let’s move away from thinking about business here and philanthropy there, and lets start thinking about doing good business. That’s how we change the world. That’s the only sustainable future.”

[Watch Halla's entire talk below or go here.]

Can you help with #tooFEW? [#geekgirl]

“We’re organizing another wikipedia edit session, called Feminists Engage Wikipedia, or #tooFEW. I’ve seen a few announcements about #tooFEW on here, but wanted to put out a call/plea for help tomorrow. The event has become WAY larger than any of us anticipated, with 5 in-person sessions and a big virtual component. Almost everyone is a first-time editor, with a few experienced people guiding the way.

We’ve developed a chatroom for asking questions, sharing resources or just meeting other folks. If you’ve participated in another edit-a-thon, or have some experience editing Wikipedia or negotiating disputes that arise, we’d love to have you in the chatroom as a resource! And if you want to take your first editing steps with us, jump in!”

Friday, March 15th
11am – 3pm EST

Collaborative wiki for resources, keeping tabs of blogs on #tooFEW, etc.:
http://hastac.org/wiki/toofew-collaborative-wiki-page

Official Wikipedia page – please register here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Feminists_Engage_Wikipedia

#femalepressure: An Urgent Call for #Female Representation [#geekgirl]

“Let’s be frank – enough is enough. femalepressure believes there is no justification for more male-dominated music events. We need – and paying audiences deserve – invigorating and entertaining diversity!

Festival curators, sponsors, label owners, journalists: Give more opportunities to women!
Female festival curators, sponsors, label owners, journalists: Don’t try to be the better men by only taking ‘risks’ on established, male artists! Give more women a chance!

We look forward to your response and positive developments in this cultural sector in the future. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions regarding this issue.

Here’s to a brighter future for the arts.”

#Donkey Kong: Pauline Edition [#geekgirl]

“My three year old daughter and I play a lot of old games together. Her favorite is Donkey Kong. Two days ago, she asked me if she could play as the girl and save Mario. She’s played as Princess Toadstool in Super Mario Bros. 2 and naturally just assumed she could do the same in Donkey Kong. I told her we couldn’t in that particular Mario game, she seemed really bummed out by that. So what else am I supposed to do? Now I’m up at midnight hacking the ROM, replacing Mario with Pauline. I’m using the 2010 NES Donkey Kong ROM. I’ve redrawn Mario’s frames and I swapped the palettes in the ROM. I replaced the M at the top with a P for Pauline…”

Happy International #Women’s Day! [#geekgirl]

“The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights.” – Gloria Steinem

From “About International Women’s Day”:

When:  Friday 8 March 2013
Where: Everywhere
What:   International Women’s Day (8 March) is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. In some places like China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria, International Women’s Day is a national holiday.
Why:   Suffragettes campaigned for women’s right to vote. The word ‘Suffragette’ is derived from the word “suffrage” meaning the right to vote. International Women’s Day honours the work of the Suffragettes, celebrates women’s success, and reminds of inequities still to be redressed.

For lots of Aus-based IWD 2013 Events, go here.

#geekgirl covers #memes 2013

Geekgirl_2013_Memes

Well it has been a #crazy start to the year already! Online I meet so many amazing and awesome people, who both shock and inspire me. Some I know I will be friends with forever (if forever even exists); and others never see or hear from again. Shrugs shoulders, takes a deep breath, and listens to some soppy Jason Bieler doing a slow jam of Wonderwall. Or discover (by chance) the cutest and saddest video ever by Angus and Julia Stone – I’m Not Yours. Crazy cats will dig this heaps!! ((warning: have tissues handy!))
As for geekgirl, (me rosiex) well peeps I am still rockn’ on harder than ever, and maybe this year I will get out again and flesh-it with you folks. I am running behind schedule with my posts and in a valiant attempt like the super heroine I am, will try and patch something together. Also, expect this year to have some guest editors run the show and put some icing on the ol’ metal cupcake. After more than 20 years doing this shit, indeed my meme has been pretty exceptional and popular! All you geekgirls rock, even the ones that I don’t like!! Its nice to make a meme try making your own! For me, well I gots to do me bread ‘n butter stuff, finish off my (fire breathing dragon) robot with help from my crew at Hackerspace, and awesome stuff from Freetronics, work collaboratively with people like Hellblazer (on our rock co*kbook), finish off more than a dozen script ideas, and also find time to listen more to my fave DJ of all time Danny Marshall, no one in this galaxy plays a range of trance, house & progressive like Arty! And the best news for me — I think I am finally a vegetarian, (hooray)@@ more at peace with myself sans ingesting all that unnecessary suffering and slaughter>:::and *processing* my personal politics, through reflection and music.
Quote for 2013, ”there’s no right and wrong – just fun and boring”.movie Hackers /expect them!@_* #geekgirl

RIP: Ariel 2012, Vali Myers Feb 12, 2003 ((I dream of both of you = smiles!))

In progress — Puff the Magic Dragon #robot #electronics #cchs #geekgirl

geekgirl-motor-drive-shield

Okay so I’ve just started to build Puff; and last night at #hackerspace soldered my first motor drive shield board. In fact my first board ever!@ awesome. Thanks to the crew at Connected Community Hackerspace Melbourne for helping me solder on!

Motor shield from: adafruit
Puff’s daddy: Gareth (Let’s Make Robots)

Rosie X interviews Craig Smith at Agile Australia 2012 #agileaus #agilecoach #geekgirl

Craig Smith

Craig Smith is an expert Agile Coach with Suncorp’s Business Services division. In this warts-and-all interview recorded at Agile Australia 2012, he discusses his personal evolution in Agile software development; -isms in Agile; and books, history, and sources.

Smith has been instrumental in getting Agile acknowledged as a new way of thinking and approaching projects. He is a passionate contributor to the Agile community, with a deep understanding of Agile’s progression over the past decade. He is a regular trainer for the Agile Academy, has presented at a number of international conferences and is also an Agile Editor for InfoQ.  He also produces The Agile Revolution  podcast with mates Tony and Renee.

Twitter: @smithcdau

Interview: http://soundcloud.com/rosiefuture/rosie-x-interviews-craig-smith