Author: Shelley Powers

Are you interested in knowing why I started weblogging? I tried the technology with both a Blogger and a Manila Site weblog, and wasn’t that interested at first. It wasn’t until a posting at Scripting News and resulting discussion and pulled content associated with Meg Hourihan that I noticed the power of the interactivity of weblogging.

I found this post at Meg’s weblog that talked about comments in Dave’s weblog. I hope Meg doesn’t mind, but I’m copying the pieces that caught my eye and pulled me in:

Dave’s spouting some sexist drivel on his site today, which I’d point you to but he’s removed most of it. There was nice crock of shit about men being better suited to programming than women and several other comments that riled my blood. All that remains is an important observation regarding the percentage of women in attendance at tech conferences, which is always so out of wack. And it’s something that really irritates me, not only the lack of women, but especially the lack of female speakers at most events.

Dave’s suggestion is to pair conferences (“A librarian conference at the same facility as a developer conference. They’d get better software and we’d get more users and kinder feedback?” [Kinder feedback? Is that because women are so sweet and nice?]) so there’d be more “female energy.”

This is in reference to a posting that Dave cleaned up considerably and then re-released as an essay — sans the suggestion about pairing the librarian and software developer conventions. And some of the more interesting bon mots about women in programming.

I wrote an email to Dave at that time taking exception to what he said. I wonder if he remembers my email? I also realized at that moment if I had a weblog, I could respond to Dave’s comments on my own, for everyone to see.

Today, Dave writes:

Women are organizers. Everywhere you go there are organizations of women doing things, planning stuff, making the world work. Men aren’t like that…

…Men just won’t work with others, men or women. We’re solitary beings. Yeah we like to get laid (or mothered), that’s why we have anything at all to do with women, in our natural unevolved state (evolved men, like women see the value in all points of view). Now women, while they organize, are not win-win beasts, they compete with each other viciously.

The person who writes this is a leading figure in technology. He’s the father of XML-RPC as well as one of the leading contributors to SOAP. Add to this his being a speaker at conferences, quoted by mainstream journals on a fairly regular basis, and his influence with Scripting News. And read these words and Dave’s essay again. Particulary the essay. Particularly the first few paragraphs.

There is sexism in every damn field that exists. There is sexism that works against women and sexism that works against men. Don’t believe me? Just have a chat with guys who are attending nursing school or staying at home to take care of the kids and house while the wife works.

Luckily, for the most part, sexism is not tolerated and managers and co-workers would be appalled at it’s application. But it’s there.

Fact of life: In today’s colleges there is most likely 10 men for every woman in any of the hard sciences. I’m not talking organic science, I’m talking about hard sciences such as physics, engineering, math, and computer science. If I’m wrong in this, prove it to me. Tell me about this class or that class in the hard sciences that has even a third attendance by women.

I could give examples of sexism — discrimatory and detrimental sexism — that I’ve encountered in my profession, but that’s not really the issue. The issue is whenever you have any field that has such hugely disparate representation by one sex or the other, as the computer sciences are, then the people who are in the minority will always be at a disadvantage to the people who are in the majority, no matter how tenuous that disadvantage is within any one environment or other.

And in a very, very tough market, any disadvantage, no matter how small, can make a difference between working…and not.

Damn it, Mike! After I did my last posting I thought I would do a little weblog trolling and there it is, another Mike Golby classic. Yet more excellent writing mixing humor and philosophy with nibbles and bites of life in South Africa. What are you? Some kind of bottomless good writing machine?

Unless you start slacking off, I’m going to come down there and kick your butt.

-earlier-

First of all, I did not elope with Tutor. I was too tall and he was too short and he had this thing for cherry lollipops that was a little too kinky for my blood, and so on and so forth. Besides, it was just a summer thing…

Well, damn. I wasn’t going to bore you all with details of the Trials and Tribulations of Burningbird, at least until some things get resolved. But, after seeing weblog after weblog filled with glowing cries of joy based on Userland’s adding RSS titles, links, OPML, and what not to Radio, I figured that my weblog will at the least be a change of pace.

(Come to think of it, there are all these Radio weblogs spending much of their time extolling Radio features. Might as well staple a Userland ad to your butts, people. At least then we’ll be spared some of the noise when you sit down.)

On to the Trials and Tribulation:

Connected up with a terrific person at General Hospital and she found me a physician. I see him as well as getting several tests performed on the 3rd of April. The nurse agreed with me in that I have the symptoms of a person with an umbilical hernia…at best. If it isn’t a hernia it could be a couple of other things that I would rather not contemplate. Regardless, I have to go into clinic and hospital for ultrasound and possible surgery.

(If it is hernia, how did I get it? Well, you see I have this huge mattress and it needs to be turned every few months and … well, you get the idea.)

I am in a world of hurt and that’s making me cranky — one reason I was going to take a break from weblogging. However, I’ve decided to use the crankiness to good effect and write Scathing Weblogs, instead. Warning: if you want sweetness and light within a weblog for the next couple of weeks, I suggest you go check out some other weblog that features a lot of cute kitten pictures or something. The best I can do is this.

I have been feverishly sending out job applications — permanent and contracting — all over the place and had one whole phone call, today. One whole phone call. That’s one. 1. And it was for a 4 week gig to port an Access database to Informix. The only problem is, I haven’t used Access or Informix for years.

I am broke. I need a job. I don’t give a rat’s ass if I haven’t worked with these particular database systems in a few years. Gimme the job!

No go.

I also finished my corporate tax filings for the US and for Massachusetts and California states today. What a pain in the friggen butt! Why don’t they just speak plain English on these forms:

How much did you make?

Send us all of it.

You know if webloggers blogged in a manner similar to how the tax forms work, our weblogs would look something like the following:

I have this great story. See AccordianGuy for the start, unless your weblog start day was before June, in which case you’ll want to go to Karl’s weblog. However, before going to this weblog, you need to check your eligibility at Eric’s, first.

At Eric’s: Please see Phil’s weblog — he has a cute kitten story. Then access Elaine’s header for directions in how to proceed. But you’ll need to go to Liane’s to find out how to access Elaine’s weblog. And use the Section Al78u8o Ref YYFN instructions (as defined under weblog law dated 1987) at Victor’s to find out what day it is. If it’s not Tuesday, disregard previous instruction.

Whatever you do, don’t go to this weblog or you’ll come away with a compulsion to staple an ad for Radio 8.0 on your butt.

Hi kids. Friends. Strangers who just happen to be wandering by and looked in.

Due to a set of circumstances that, for once, I’m not going to bore you all with, I’m taking a break from the weblog.

Love, hugs, and kisses to my virtual neighbors, The Plutonians. Note new members in the neighborhood — Captain Blowtorch aka Hunt for Happy Tutor, Transcendental Petroglyphs, Kipling’s If (your blog’s been exposed Alistair), Steven’s, and Gretchen Pirillo.

Stop by, say Hi, take them a casserole, drop a lascivious comment on the way out.

Back soon.

The Bird that Burns