Ada Lovelace Day: Women in Technology

Okay, so, according to Scott Madin, today is Ada Lovelace Day, a day for blogging about women in technology.

Last year I met some members of Michigan Tech's "Presidential Council of Alumnae." Women who have made truly exceptional lives for themselves after graduating from here are offed the chance to come back every so often and play a role in the formation of their alma mater.

One of these women struck me. Her name is Diane Marsh. She studied computer science here. In 2000, she became a co-founder of the company SRT Solutions, based in Ann Arbor, MI.

SRT Solutions was founded by Bill Wagner and Dianne Marsh in 2000 to fill a void in the marketplace: Many businesses need help with business-critical software projects, but lack the in-house resources to get those projects done on time, and in the most strategic way possible.


SRT Solutions provides a unique blend of proficiency, professionalism and perspective to our clients. The well-rounded, broad-based skills of the SRT Solutions team have been recognized for expertise in the scientific, engineering and business markets by luminaries like Microsoft and Sun… and many appreciative clients.

Diane Marsh is an intelligent and innovative woman. She saw a need in the field of computer/software solutions for flexibility and creativity and she went about filling that need. She told me that after some years working in a number of computer-related jobs, she learned that what she really wanted to do was work somewhere that she could take on a large variety of different projects, and projects that interested her. Creating SRT Solutions provided that space for her, and for everyone who works with her.

I'll be frank and admit that a lot of what she does is far outside my area of expertise, but I could not pass up this opportunity to highlight her work. I look forward to hearing more about her.

Totally kickass!

FDA told to reconsider morning-after pill access

As in increasing said access!

*happy dance*

MEAT

Red meat shortens lifespan.

I thought we already knew this. Isn't this why supermanly! men are supposed to eat lots o' red meat? Because they are supposed to not care for their health and whatnot?

The article specifically mentions processed meat, too. I wonder how much of this is to do with meat preparation and shelf-life-extension processes in the US as opposed to the meat itself. (I mean, really. I do wonder. Someone should do a study about that...)

But the American Meat Institute objected to the conclusion, saying in a statement that the study relied on "notoriously unreliable self-reporting about what was eaten in the preceding five years. This imprecise approach is like relying on consumers' personal characterization of their driving habits in prior years in determining their likelihood of having an accident in the future."

My emphasis.

Color me not surprised.

Dr. Michael Thun, vice president emeritus of epidemiology and surveillance research at the American Cancer Society, however, said the study's findings "support previous studies and also support the American Cancer Society nutrition guidelines."

Those guidelines include choosing fish, poultry or beans instead of beef, pork and lamb; choosing leaner cuts of meat; and baking, broiling or poaching meat rather than frying or charbroiling it.

[snip]

Dr. Jay Brooks, chairman of hematology/oncology at Ochsner Health System in Baton Rouge, La., described the study's findings as "provocative."

"The question is how much of it is the meat and how much is the extra calories," Brooks said. "Calories per se are a strong determinant for death from cancer and heart disease. This should make us think about our calorie intake."

[snip]

SOURCES: Rashmi Sinha, Ph.D., senior investigator, nutrition epidemiological branch, division of cancer epidemiology and genetics, U.S. National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Md.; Michael Thun, M.D., vice president emeritus, epidemiology and surveillance research, American Cancer Society, Atlanta; Jay Brooks, M.D., chairman, hematology/oncology, Ochsner Health System, Baton Rouge, La.; March 23, 2009, statement, American Meat Institute, Washington, D.C.; March 23, 2009, Archives of Internal Medicine

Sigh. Wev.

Sick, Masochistic Lion Seeks Stupid Lamb*

*Title courtesy of a friend.

Over my spring break, I think I came down with a case of the silly, as I purchased these absurdities (click to embiggen):



Yes. Candy hearts promoting Twilight, the book series that is now a movie. Goaded on by my friend and an inside joke, the primary motivation for the purchase was that two of the four colors of hearts actually sparkle. It was too good an opportunity to pass up. As you can see, there are three "collectible" box covers, one showing many of the main characters, and the other two showing the leads (although, from what I'm told, Bella isn't so much a lead character as she is a part of the scenery, but that's another issue).

So, let us investigate further:



Why, yes, that does say, "The Forbidden Fruit Tastes the Sweetest," and, yes, that is painfully creepy. The box also says, "Secret Scent, Rub to Reveal..." but I am unable to figure out if the pictures of the hearts on the box are supposed to be scratch 'n' sniff because the entire box just REEKS of the smell of these things. The four flavors, by the way, are listed on the back of the box: Orange Obsession, Tempting Apple, Passion Fruit, and Secret Strawberry. Each is as gross as you might imagine (yet I can't stop eating them...).

Okay, so let's open the box:



If you haven't clicked the images so far, definitely open this one in another tab/window so you can examine it along with me. We have some classic phrases such as TRUE LOVE, I LOVE YOU, MY LOVE, and I WANT YOU. However, that's where the similarity to the classic BE MINE-style candy heart ends.

Does that heart say FORKS? Yes. Yes it does. We also have LAMB, U R MY LIFE, BAD GUY, BITE ME, LIVE 4 EVER, DAZZLE, SOUL MATE, and the very classy I <3 EC.

We've got two categories to deal with, here. The creepy and the mind-bogglingly hilarious. I'm going to start with the first.

Creepy:

LAMB: Okay, after some searching I discovered that this is a reference to a bit of dialogue between our starry-eyed lovers, Bella and Edward. It goes like this:

Edward: And so the lion fell in love with the lamb.
Bella: Stupid lamb.
Edward: Sick, masochistic lion.

If you were hoping that the context of the scene makes it less creepy and/or actually romantic...it doesn't (and sadly, the sparkly skin doesn't really show up in the clip. Darn!). However, if you really feel the need to identify yourself as a stupid lamb, Hot Topic has the pin for you. They also have shimmering body powder, jacket/bag patches, and clothes. Have at it, Twilight fans.

U R MY LIFE: This one pretty much condenses into one little candy heart one of the main basic awfulnesses of the series. The disturbing "undying (heh, literally!) devotion" of the "relationship," and especially Bella's all-consuming obsession with her vampire stalker.

BAD GUY: Despite appearing to be obvious as a description of the vampire trope, this is also actually a direct reference to a quote from the series. Bella has figured out that there's something supernatural about Edward, but hasn't yet put her finger on the vampire bit, so Edward asks her, "What if I'm not the hero? What if I'm...the bad guy?" There's actually a lot to be analyzed here regarding constructions of masculinity and temptation and such, but others have done it better so I'll not (especially since I haven't actually read the books and have gotten all my information and context clues from people who've done reviews of the series).

LIVE 4 EVER and SOUL MATE are also in the "creepy" category.

Now, for the hilarious:

FORKS: Hee! I was totally confused when I pulled this one out of the box. Googling "forks twilight" told me that it's the name of the town where the story takes place, PLUS it got me this link, which is for the website of the real life town, Forks, WA. And yes, they have a whole section of their site devoted to the Twilight phenomenon. Probably the best thing to ever happen to their tourism board, eh?

I <3 EC: This one just made me facepalm. EC stands for Edward Cullen, the vamp-boy.

DAZZLE: Vampires sparkle in sunshine. My candy hearts sparkle in my mouth! It's dazzling!

BITE ME: Made the boxes worth buying. ^_^

The best part of the whole deal came when I dumped out the boxes trying to find readable versions of the hearts I wanted to show. Behold, the most craptacular heart of them all:

Tattoo Update

So, the tattoo is still totally awesome and now completely healed. The funny part?

No one notices it unless I bring it up. ^_^

Quick Hit

First, sorry for silence.

Second, I was going to write an update for the previous post, investigating more thoroughly the language used by the BMI calculator, but I never finished and frankly, it's more or less what you'd expect. Full of fail.

Third, I hate life.