everyone [or at least every chick in science] knows about [or like amanda and steven johnson has commented on] larry summer's remarks by now. so yeah, at first i was a bit miffed. but after consideration, i agree that people should be free to propose any whacked out theories they like, and that the general backlash has proved more interesting than the remarks themselves. when people say things like "women aren't as biologically equipped for science as men" it pisses people off. but if you hear "women are much better at psychology" no one complains. it occurs to me that this might have to do something with our current metaphorical system. in metaphors we live by george lakoff and mark johnson highlight two interesting metaphors:
GOOD IS UP; BAD IS DOWNmaybe women don't balk at the notion of being assigned [even if rightfully so, but that is still up for grabs] talents which are metaphorically consistent with badness because being endowed with a talent is inherently good. however, when the awarding of one talent comes packaged with a denial of another that is, so to speak, ultimately aligned with "good", that "award" seems disparaging. so maybe it's not just the university system that needs restructuring.
RATIONAL IS UP; EMOTIONAL IS DOWN
some of my fellow uci'ers and i have decided to go see the body worlds 2 exhibit. as if living in the o.c. isn't scary enough. for those of you not in the know, body worlds is a science exhibition of "plastinated" humans. or ex-humans more accurately. somewhat of a scientific wonder, but i'm not sure if i can stomach it. we will see. in any case, i was reading the info about it and found this:
Why aren't there more women plastinates in the exhibits?Sensitive to perceived community concerns, Dr. von Hagens did not want to appear voyeuristic in revealing too many female bodies. He sees himself in the tradition of Renaissance anatomists, whose works traditionally included far more masculine than feminine bodies, since all but the reproductive systems are essentially the same. The musculature of male bodies is generally more pronounced and illustrates more aspects of the muscle system.
although technology has advanced, apparently our view of the female body hasn't. win some. lose some.
remember the roaring 20's? didn't you love them? well now you can relive them with the new nokia phones. if i could marry a phone, i think this would be the one.
i first heard about these during a discussion at ubicomp 2004. which was incidentally very memorable because at the time sara was screaming "do some usability testing!" at her sony ericsson. a sentiment i could not agree with more if i tried.
the machintosh was born before my little brother [sorry jon, it's true]. it was one of the first computers i ever used and now we can all finally relive it's debut. awesome.
fitting that it was preserved on a betamax tape isn't it?
anyone remember the colossal squid from the summer of 2002? or the ginormous octopus or whatever it was that actually just turned out to be whale blubber? in any case, they are coming for me, i'm sure of it now. 1,500 "jubmo" squids have shown up in newport beach.
"These things are invading, and we don't know what's going on," he said. "It may be they're following a warm California current. Oceanographers don't have a clue why a large population of squid like this is moving north or why they strand themselves."
obviously they are just trying to find themselves a nice safe neighborhood for their children to grow up in. can you blame them? the sea just isn't what it used to be.
let's get down to it. i hit orange county january 3rd. what have i been up to since then? wouldn't you like to know...
actually i've been insanely busy getting a place to live, a car drive, and a food to eat. just the one food. but now that the dust has cleared i'm here to give my ongoing report of life here in the o.c. because it has been requested: first a few photos of my surroundings:
so i found a place to live and finally parked my suitcases there on january 5th.
then i unpacked them into my closet [ooh. ahh.]
then i went to ikea and bought a mattress. in my infinite foresight i took my sleeping bag on the plane with me. this was possibly the wisest decision i made with regards to packing as my boxes of linens did not arrive until january 13th. we won't talk about that anymore.
i also packed mr. bunny & mr. bear. completely essential. once again, newt has his eye on you ;]
so as you already know i'm working at uc irvine doing a project for the brand new cal-it(2) building. unfortunately this building isn't precisely open yet so me and the other newbie [charlotte, post-doc/officemate/partner in petty crimes] are working in the CST2 aka the trailer. that's right baby, we are trailer trash :]
besides charlotte and i, the "basement floor" of the trailer also serves as the on-campus housing facility for several bunnies.
this bunny is pursuing a degree in law.
this bunny is supposedly pursuing a phd in chemisty, but honestly, i haven't seen him doing a whole lot of work.
finally i got a car. vrmmm vrmmm. my car waits in the parking lot while i am hard at work.
i promise the next post will be more rivetting ;]
the waters here :]
