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STARific Review: Joey Daniels - Take Me Off the Market
Click on the album cover to purchase YOUR copy of Joey's CD:
Make room for the newest Canadian import! Her name is Joey Daniels,
and she has released her first full-length album titled Take Me Off the Market. Already hopping the charts with her
debut single "Swinging Door," Joey (along with her brother Jason Pennock) contributed nine co-writes of the album's thirteen
songs. James Stroud and Mark Bright (Sara Evans, Rascal Flatts) share producing credits on this album that also includes songs
from some of Nashville's acclaimed writers: Brett James, Hillary Lindsey, among others.The album kicks into
party mode with CRAZIER THAN USUAL. Most everyone can relate to this one – after pulling 9-to-5s all week long, quittin'
time finally rolls around on Friday, and you're just ready to shake loose! The current single is SWINGING DOOR, where the
woman in the song issues a no nonsense ultimatum to a man who has worn out his stay: "Your train don't stop here anymore...You
can't just walk in, walk out...I ain't your swinging door." In the next track, we find a woman who's head over heels in love
that she needs to KISS-N-TELL! As if to affirm, the harmonica gets a hopping workout on this one with all those intricate
riffs! I'LL BE YOUR WHISKEY has a potent way of seeping into your blood stream, just like the forementioned libation. It won't
be long before you find yourself humming its easily identifyable melody! Dancing fiddles and the driving beat are rather deceving,
considering the meloncholy lyrics in THIS IS ME MISSING YOU. Then again, when you get lost in a song, something allows you
to forget about everything that's going wrong in your life – maybe that's the purpose of this upbeat charmer! MIRACLE
is the standout track, because it is so different from any other song on the album. Joey's impressive vocal range takes the
cake on this powerhouse ballad laid atop a most heavenly piano accompaniment! TAKE ME OFF THE MARKET is a direct – albeit
fun! – plea to quit two-stepping around wedding bells. Don't believe me? The tune closes with this spoken send off:
"You better hurry up and put that ring on my finger, darling!" The infectious melody and relateable lyrics of this radio-friendly
hit will instantly win fans over! HANDS ON YOU puts a confident spin to the popular adage, "What goes around comes around."
Once again putting her gloriously versatility to use, Joey convinces us that she would DO IT (all) AGAIN for the man she loves.
Don't let the illusory title of MAN OF MY DREAMS brainwash you into thinking that this song is one of those happily ever after
love story. Seems things are quite the opposite thanks to an unexpected blow to the heart, dealt by the said man. This is
a most ravishing, heartfelt ballad and one of my personal favorites! Ever wonder why three simple words (those being "I love
you") are so hard to say? After all, IF YOU LOVE ME, you would tell me, right?! As the song expresses, sometimes that
isn't always so. Of the many inconceivable occurances of this world, it is comforting to know that "All things are possible,
just BELIEVE"! The closing lament, WITHOUT YOU, comes complete with a crying fiddle. As you're listening, can't you just see
a woman straddling a barstool as she pours out her story to the bartender?Even if you're not yet familiar with the
name "Joey Daniels," I bet her welcoming voice will be the key that lets her into your heart. I urge you to pick up numerous
copies of Take Me Off the Market – you'll need one in your CD player at home, in your car, and a few to pass
out to your friends! Once you catch a drift of her fresh country spin, I KNOW you will be asking for more!
Joey DanielsTake Me Off the MarketBig
3 NashvilleReleased September 13, 2005
1. Crazier Than Usual2. Swinging Door3.
Kiss-n-Tell4. I'll Be Your Whiskey5. This Is Me Missing You6. Miracle7. Take Me Off the Market8. Hands
on You9. Do It Again10. Man Of My Dreams11. If You Love Me12. Believe13. Without You
Reviewed by: Estella Pan
All articles, reviews, and artist feature
pages on this site are Copyright © 2001-2009 by STAR Country! and CAN NOT be copied, screen printed, or otherwise duplicated
or reproduced without explicit written permission from STAR Country!If you are an artist and need direct
links to any article, review, or the like on this site, please E-MAIL ESTELLA.
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In 1953 Sandy and Alex meet and fall in love in Adelaide, South Australia. She comes from a wealthy Catholic family and he is the son of a shopkeeper and an Anglican. Her mother has marriage plans for her and takes Alex to Italy to keep them apart. He goes to Oxford University where he achieves great success in cricket and rugby football.
For the next seven years their love has to overcome many conflicts and is sorely tested by a tragic event and her Catholicism. In 1961 now working in San Francisco and believing Alex lost to him forever, Sandy falls in love and marries Kate but Alex, now finally free of her marriage, returns to him plunging his life into chaos.
Will he be able to bring an end to this never ending game?
Purchase links:

subset: commoncrawl


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Few hostages have been offered up so eagerly to fortune. In 1864, Victor Hugo wrote to the balloonist and pioneer aerial photographer Félix Nadar in praise of Nadar's experiments with heavier-than-air flight. The aeroplane, thought Hugo (who should have known better), would surely mean an "instantaneous, universal and perpetual abolition of frontiers. Armies would vanish … It would be an immense peaceful revolution." It was not.
Aerial bombardment, unthinkable to Hugo, was under way by 1911 and has never gone out of fashion. The German bombing of Guernica during the Spanish civil war set the pattern, prompting British poets to imagine a near future of death from above. "The grey bomber has set limits to the air," wrote HB Mallalieu, as if to answer Hugo's optimism. "Spain has changed the contours of the Earth, / Imposed new frontiers though geography has grown."
In 1943, Daniel Swift's grandfather was shot down and killed in one of those grey bombers, a British Lancaster attached to 83 Squadron, Bomber Command. Strictly speaking, "bomber county" is Lincolnshire, where dozens of makeshift airfields dotted the wartime landscape, but in Swift's imagination it extends as far south as Wyton in Cambridgeshire, where his grandfather's final flight began. In Bomber County, Swift sets out both to reconstruct the final moments of a life, and to counter the long-standing assumption that the second world war produced no great poetry.
The division of spoils is supposed to be neat and equable: the Somme was fought in verse, Dunkirk abandoned in prose. Owen, Sassoon and Rosenberg give way to Mailer and Heller and Waugh. Swift begins from the poet Robert Graves's prediction, in 1941, that "no war poetry can be expected from the Royal Air Force". The common feeling was that the mechanised war machine was ruinous to the writing of verse, and though Graves was wrong it would be a mistake to judge him too harshly. He was not the last old soldier to underestimate the RAF.
His mistake was to judge the second world war according to the standards of the first. As the South African poet and soldier RN Currey has pointed out, the best-known poets of the second world war were army men like Sidney Keyes, Alun Lewis and Keith Douglas, who fit the ideal of the front-line fighter established in a previous generation by Owen and Sassoon. The bomber, it was thought, mechanical and detached, could never approach their terrible knowledge.
To Swift, on the contrary, there is "a special kinship between poetry and bombing". The air crew's story is a version of the oldest epics of battle: the British bomber pilot is both the soldier of The Iliad, burning the topless towers, and Odysseus, struggling against the odds to make it back to his island home. The trouble with Bomber County is that its thesis isn't borne out by the poets Swift chooses to rescue from oblivion. For the most part, the sections of the book that deal with literary history concentrate on well-known writers, with sensitive readings of Dylan Thomas, Randall Jarrell, Eliot and Auden. By returning to those canonical figures Swift undermines his own contention that the poetry of the bomb remains "a hidden tradition". This is a pity, because his thesis is sound. The poetic response to air war was rich, and a vast body of neglected work by bombers and, especially, by the bombed, gives the lie to the idea that poetry was silent about the Blitz.
Swift, on the other hand, is silent about Guernica – arguably the first bombing campaign of the war. He is silent about bombed poets like David Gascoyne and Hubert Nicholson and Suzanne Knowles, and silent about E Denyer Cox, Herbert Corby and Edward Field – poets and pilots all. Instead, he chooses to honour "three lost airmen" whose verse can be found in the archives of the Imperial War Museum.
As a tribute to these three men – and to James Eric Swift – Bomber County is touching and admirable. Nonetheless, to say that the verse of Michael Scott, Frank Blackman and John Riley Byrne is deservedly forgotten is not to diminish their bravery or to denigrate the memory of a sacrifice. If we value poetry as something irreducibly human reclaimed from the ashes of an inhuman conflict, then we need above all to remember the poets whose writing records most fully and responsively the pressures under which they fought and wrote and died. In that respect, Bomber County is a missed opportunity.
It is not difficult to understand why Swift should want to reclaim the poems he has found in the rubble. The words can be brought back, and previously unheard voices can speak between the lines of the letters and the dry records that tell the story of his grandfather's life and death. But when Swift writes of Mervyn Peake's The Rhyme of the Flying Bomb that there is "a music to this damage: a balance to the loss of bombing", it is clear that he hasn't attended closely enough to the aesthetic legacy of the bombs, or to the ethical conflict between the physical destruction of cities and the transformation of that destruction into art.


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STARmeterSEE RANK
Down 386 this week
Richard Lewis (II)
Richard Philip Lewis was born on June 29, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York City and raised in Englewood, New Jersey. He went to Dwight Morrow High School (where John Travolta went a few years later). He graduated from Ohio State University in 1969 with a degree in marketing and communications. He wrote an ad copy in New Jersey while also writing jokes ... See full bio »
Born:in Brooklyn, New York, USA
More at IMDbPro » Contact Info: View agent, publicist, legal on IMDbPro


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Music Releases
Mizca announces new single, "Rafiora"
Singer�Mizca has announced that she will release a new single on June 15th, titled "Rafiora (Girl's Key Version)".
The single is a cover of Visual Kei band�Golden Bomber's charity song that was released in March on NicoNico. Golden Bomber's vocalist, Kiryuuin Shou, will help produce the song; it is his first time producing. The song title is short for "Life is alright", and it's a song that anyone in Japan can enjoy because it's a song of strength and encouragement.
The coupling song, "Delightfully", is a song that matches her "Mitsuoka Masami" era, as it's the perfect summer-positive song. She will also do a cover of "My Room Disco Night" by Easy Pop (consisting of Hatsune Miku, Megurine Luka, and GUMI from Vocaloid.)
The CD-EXTRA will come with the "Rafiora" music video, and Golden Bomber's bassist, Utahiroba Jun, will help choreograph the music video.
Track List:
1. Rafiora (Girl's Key Version)
2. Delightfully
3. My Room Disco Night
1. Rafiora (Girl's Key Version) Video Clip
Now the original version of the song will be released on Golden Bomber's upcoming single, "Boku Quest", on June 1st, and the song "My Room Disco Night" will be released on Easy Pop's first major album, "Heartful Sequence", on June 22nd.
Check out the original songs by Golden Bomber and Easy Pop below!
You can also hear a sample of Mizca's version on her official website.
Source: natalie, Official Website
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The NJCHS (National Joint Committee on Health and Safety) has volunteered their time over the last couple weeks serving meals at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen in downtown Detroit, as part of their department's community activities. The Capuchin Soup Kitchen has been serving Detroit for over 125 years providing food, clothingRead More
NJCHS volunteers at Capuchin Kitchen
2014 Summer Shutdown Safety Achievements
SUMMER SHUTDOWN SUCCESS LTR 2014 PDF The attached recognition letter was sent out to all U.S. Manufacturing Plant Chairpersons and Plant Managers. The NJCHS wants to personally thank you for your part in another outstanding shutdown safety performance. You should be very proud of the results of your efforts. FeelRead More
ERT members save an employee's life (Woodhaven)
ERT members Lee Wolf (left) and Brian Mullins (Right) arrived on scene and took over performing CPR, including use of the defibrillator. The ERT members worked tirelessly, until the employees heart started beating again at which time he was transported to the local Emergency room. It is without a doubtRead More
UAW-Ford Honors Workers' Memorial Day on April 26
The UAW and Ford Motor Company will honor Workers' Memorial Day on Friday, April 26, 2013. During the 2011 Negotiations, the UAW and Ford Motor Company agreed to an addition to Appendix S that asks plants to pause for a moment of silence on each operating shift in remembrance ofRead More
UAW-Ford Sponsors Michigan EMS Expo
On April 11-14, 2013, the UAW-Ford Health and Safety Program sponsored the Michigan EMS Expo at Cobo Hall in Detroit, MI. The Michigan EMS Expo is the largest training venue for emergency medical technicians in the state, offering a wide variety of continuing education credits for those who work inRead More
UAW-Ford Ergonomics Teams Win at 2013 Applied Ergonomics Conference
Members of UAW-Ford Local Ergonomic Committees (LEC) recently attended the 2013 Applied Ergonomics Conference in Dallas, Texas with a focus on improved competency and continuous learning. In addition to attending sessions addressing the latest issues in the world of ergonomics, the UAW-Ford National Joint Committee on Health & Safety alsoRead More


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in hopes of bringing this thread back, how many of us have been there
Lol. That's a classic. And the expressions on their faces while Buzz is gloating. Thinking he's done something great. I got a laugh out of that one!
"The Devil is in the detail"
true story
Gloss Wurkz Detailing
Regina, Sk
That Diesel one ... priceless
Subtle Perfection
So what's your definition of clean?
Hilo Hawaii
Last edited by srpurdy; 12-11-2015 at 03:32 AM.
Wish this thread be revived


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Michigan & Indiana Personal Umbrella Insurance Quotes
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What does Umbrella Insurance cover?
Most liability coverage that rests within your current insurance policies only covers bodily injury and property damage to others. Umbrella policies will extend those limits to not only provide additional coverage for bodily injury and property damage, but also to cover things that are not listed under regular liability allowances. Every policy is different, so what is considered a covered liability issue under one insurance line may not be covered on another insurance line. Umbrella Insurance kicks in when these situations present themselves and/or you exceed the amount of liability coverage for the events that are already allowed under your regular insurance policies.
Why should you purchase Umbrella Insurance?
You may not think you need an umbrella policy, but consider this: What happens to you and your family's assets should you be sued for something that occurred at your home and the legal costs of the lawsuit greatly exceed the liability coverage defined by your homeowner's policy? Who will pick up the tab if you are responsible for a multi-car accident and your liability costs exceed the limits on your car insurance by thousands of dollars? Although these kinds of things may be few and far between, you cannot be too careful. Umbrella Insurance is typically purchased at a low cost to you, but will provide enough coverage to where you shouldn't have to worry about liability costs in the future. Contact Dalessandro Agency today for more information on umbrella policies and get a free online quote!
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I have been a customer of DAI Insurance for several years. Everyone is always so helpful and polite.
Tim, Grand Rapids MI
Great service and wonderful people. It's nice to work with an agency that speaks Spanish!


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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79897879986134960612019-03-01T01:35:50.941-08:00Female Computer ScientistFemale Computer Scientisthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989787998613496061.post-1370054359919547822016-04-25T16:57:00.001-07:002016-04-25T16:57:54.007-07:00The child-led kids go to grad schoolFor the past few decades, there have been movements afoot in parenting that seek to "flip" the traditional parent-child hierarchy - child-led weaning, child-led toilet training, child-led education, unschooling, etc.

Children from these movements are now pursuing higher ed degrees. I have noticed several intriguing attempts by the students to flip the adviser-advisee relationship, and faculty trying to accommodate these changes.

First, some linguistic changes. Many faculty solely refer to their advisees as "collaborators". Students say, "I collaboate with so-and-so", or "this work was conducted in collaboration with so-and-so." Rarely, are the words adviser or advisee used in the discussion. This is not good or bad, but an interesting trend.

Second, I have noticed a rise in the number of students who routinely and vehemently push back against their advisors' suggestions. Sometimes this is a healthy debate, but sometimes it can sour the relationship. For example, when a student strongly believes they are ready for a black diamond, but have not yet demonstrated mastery of the bunny slope, tension can arise.

I think part of this second issue may tie into timelines that students have internalized about what should be happening when in the process. There's a belief that if you show up and do work, regardless of its quality, you will earn a degree after n years. Perhaps to some extent pressure from various administrative bodies have reinforced these beliefs by stating that degrees are expected to be completed within n years, or funding will be taken away.

To be fair, there are deep questions about what it means to have a degree, the process by which that assessment is made, and who is qualified to make that assessment. And perhaps one way forward to addressing these questions is to relax the hierarchy somewhat to better enable students (collaborators?) to be part of the conversation. But I do not think the answer is to view advisers and committees as merely rubber stamps toward obtaining a degree.Female Computer Scientisthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989787998613496061.post-5624327801348735582015-12-01T06:54:00.001-08:002015-12-01T06:54:54.641-08:00Digitally OverwhelemedI am a technologist who can no longer cope with technology.

I can read a news article or a book. I can watch a video. But anything else is overwhelming.

The sad thing is I am unable to do my job without email. But the volume is astounding. Even with extensive filtering systems in place, it is too much.

I am not really sure how I got to this place. I've been using email since... well, let's just say I can recite the connection tones from a 1200 baud modem. But back then, very few people used email. Mostly it was just your friends. Now it's everyone, always, all the time.

With modems, there was a physical barrier to reading email. You could only check in certain locations at certain times of day, sometimes you would get a busy signal and have to redial. You'd sit there, disconnected, reading, playing games, listening to the modem dial. Peaceful and ignorant. And everyone else was too - so when you did manage to log in, there were far less emails there.

Everyone else seems to be feeling overwhelmed too. Though aside from either inhuman self-discipline (don't eat the giant chocolate chip data plan) or ignoring email, it's not clear what the solution is.Female Computer Scientisthttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989787998613496061.post-20742259677492193402015-02-22T07:33:00.001-08:002015-02-22T07:33:23.780-08:00Playful Science JoyThe most important quality in a graduate student is playfulness. A light-hearted excitement about exploring something new.

My heart leaps when a student says, "I was thinking" or "I was wondering", and when those thoughts are far beyond the current topic of conversation. The click-clack of connections, new ones unconsidered before.

This is a student who goes to the library because they want to, not because they have to. They read books far outside their discipline. They create wild, innovative ideas as easily as they breathe.

The best part of my job is when I meet a student like this, and feel great hope about the future.Female Computer Scientisthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989787998613496061.post-81409287631261652842014-11-16T18:54:00.002-08:002014-11-16T18:54:42.158-08:00The Student Who Checked OutAs an educator, one of the things that comes up every semester is a student who has "checked out". They stop coming to class and turning in assignments, and you can see their downward trajectory.

What should simply be a small hurdle becomes a 15-foot high tsunami wave for these students. They don't have the psychological resources to go to office hours, work harder, put in the time. So they just let the missed work accumulate until it becomes impossible for them to recover.

When I was an undergraduate I had friends in this place, so it is gut-wrenching to blindly apply a syllabus policy and fail a student in the interest of "fairness". "Fairness" unfortunately means that students on the lower tail of the psychological resource distribution curve get left behind.

What's strange is that this "oh well, tough luck for the student, nothing we can do" sentiment doesn't seem to be quite as prevalent in elementary ed as it is in higher ed. Younger kids having academic trouble have more access to resources to help them - there is a concept of an intervention*. However, for some reason, our society has decided that by the time students are 18 if they struggle in their education it is fully up to them to fix it. Sink or swim.

When faced with a failing student, some people say, "Well, college isn't for everyone", or, worse, "Computer Science isn't for everyone". I disagree. I think everyone is able to do both -- it's just that some people are dealt better hands than others, and our system currently favors those with pocket aces.

_______
(*) In well-resourced and caring schools, that is.Female Computer Scientisthttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989787998613496061.post-48400143307241195842014-09-07T18:00:00.001-07:002014-09-07T18:00:38.358-07:00Teaching is like childrenA new course is like a new baby. You have to feed it, bathe it, calm it, put it to bed, keep it appropriately entertained and distracted. You worry about it a lot, especially when it gets sick, to the point of complete distraction from everything else in your life (your job, showering, etc).

The second time you teach a class, it is like having a toddler. It is slightly more capable, but you need to worry about it choking on errant objects, not looking both ways before crossing the street, and ensuring fried potatoes are not the only vegetable it eats.

The third time you teach a class, it is like having a kindergardener. You worry about it occasionally, like when fights or cdiff break out at school, but overall you are considerably more relaxed.

It is around year three or four that you start to get a little heartsad. You miss the excitement you felt when you found That Perfect Example, or The Hilarious Video, or even that time you discovered those amazing lecture notes from the University of Alburquerque on set theory with the two pigs. The course materials don't need you as much as they used to.

So you putter around, tweaking things here and there, while idly toying with the idea that next semester, by golly, you're going to prep a new class. Just as nature makes parents forget the trauma of pregnancy and the agony of not sleeping for 2-3 years, academia, too makes us forget the birth of a course.Female Computer Scientisthttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989787998613496061.post-16431735087692203392014-06-27T06:00:00.000-07:002014-06-27T06:02:20.301-07:00Fight for your right (to publish?)When you get a rejection, do you call the editor / program officer / etc. and "give them the business"?

I am curious. I never heard of doing this until a natural scientist friend told me this was common practice in her field for journals. ("That's what the boys do," she whispered conspiratorially).

Having been raised to be quiet and well-behaved (*ahem*), when I receive a rejection I usually take it to mean I need to buckle down and write a better paper / proposal. I assumed that was what everyone did. But apparently some people make phone calls.
Female Computer Scientisthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989787998613496061.post-62021861568125126392014-04-30T16:19:00.002-07:002014-04-30T16:19:32.618-07:00Programming Sucks, Implementing Unicorns, and Other Professional InsightsThis article by Peter Welch, "Programming Sucks", is probably the best description of our profession I have ever read. Those of you who are computer scientists will read it and say, YES, EXACTLY; those of you who are not computer scientists but think we are mystical beasts from mordor will realize we are not actually mystical beasts. (Though may indeed come from mordor).

Peter's article is so good, I am loathe to quote the clever, funny bits because they're so much better in context; but I have to at least post some some teasers:

Not a single living person knows how everything in your five-year-old MacBook actually works. Why do we tell you to turn it off and on again? Because we don't have the slightest clue what's wrong with it, and it's really easy to induce coma in computers and have their built-in team of automatic doctors try to figure it out for us. The only reason coders' computers work better than non-coders' computers is coders know computers are schizophrenic little children with auto-immune diseases and we don't beat them when they're bad.

...

Most people don't even know what sysadmins do, but trust me, if they all took a lunch break at the same time they wouldn't make it to the deli before you ran out of bullets protecting your canned goods from roving bands of mutants.

Enjoy!
Female Computer Scientisthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989787998613496061.post-62876175608774697372014-04-13T17:49:00.000-07:002014-04-30T16:35:27.148-07:00Google only acquired male parts of startup company; and more #siliconvalleyfailArticle in New York Magazine about a startup company with four men and one woman ("Amy") acquired by Google. Google elected to only hire the four people with their male bits flipped.

The four men were code monkeys engineers, and Amy was a UX and product designer, and co-founder who contributed tons of ideas. Apparently Google gave massive signing bonuses and salaries to the men, but did not hire her or compensate her during the company acquisition.

Put yourself in this position for just a second. You helped found a company, you contributed major ideas, you got it to the point where Google decides it's worth slurping up. But then:

Do you have any clue what that feels like? It's horrible. It's people saying: "I don't respect you because of how you were born."

It's impossible to imagine this rejection if you are a majority member. Well, I can tell you - it hurts. A lot. Probably one of the hardest pains out there.

The worst part about me reading this article is that this week alone I heard stories about TWO amazing, brilliant, talented, superstar women completely leave their rockstar jobs to adopt non-rockstar occupations.

Why did these brilliant, talented, incredible women leave their rockstar occupations? Because they couldn't handle the sexism any more. They had no fight left in them.

What can you do? Well, sponsor the heck out of / promote the professional women you know.

1) Talk about women to others: "Jane Smith is doing AMAZING work related to yours, you should check out her papers."

2) Invite women: "Let's invite Jane Smith as a keynote speaker, her research rocks" "Let's ask Jane Smith to lead this project, I think she'd do a fantastic job."

3) Suggest women when you're poaching people: "Let's see if we could recruit Jane Smith to our department."

and, if you're a journalist:

4) Interview women. Some publications do well at this, some are still in the stone ages. There are women scientists out there, and they have opinions and interesting things to say too!

And, if you're google, don't be evil. (Write that one down!).
Female Computer Scientisthttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989787998613496061.post-17350144984189147862014-03-25T08:04:00.000-07:002014-07-24T14:54:36.420-07:00Eight little words inculcate imposter syndromeThe great Maria Klawe, ACM Fellow, AAAS Fellow, president of Harvey Mudd, wrote a surprisingly humbling and honest article in Slate on imposter syndrome.

In some ways, this type of article is good for young women in the field, because they figure if superstars like her can feel it, they can feel it too. i.e., "It's normal to feel this way."

Except, it's not normal to feel this way.

The reason we feel like we don't belong / aren't good enough, is because we've been encultured to believe this since Day 1. The message from the media is passive pink, and rarely are young women cast in roles of lead scientist in film and television. The whiz computer genius in a show usually looks like this:

"That doesn't look like me. Also, he seems really unhappy. I don't belong in computer science."

Readers protest, "But it's just TV! It doesn't matter!"

But it does. This is how kids choose careers. As much as we'd like to think that our annual science outreach visit to our children's classrooms hugely influences students' future career learnings, we're talking marbles vs. Large Hadron Collider. Hollywood is it.

So for the lucky few who manage to beat the cultural odds and enter our field anyway, they have one more major hurdle.

It's not the intellectual requirements of the job.
It's not work-life balance.
And it's certainly not babies!

Nope. It is eight little words that skewer you with a knife. Eight little words that knock you down in one fell swoop.

Eight little words that men never hear.

"You only got here because you're a woman".

Have you ever said this to someone? Have you ever thought this and not said it?

This is an awful, awful thing to say. Why? Because underlying it is the assumption that only men can do computer science. Why on earth would you think that?

I first heard these words as an undergraduate, from someone I thought was a close friend. I felt sick to my stomach. I never felt imposter syndrome before that point. I loved technology, I was good at understanding how it worked, and how to make it do the things I wanted it to do. Up until that point, I assumed my strong technical abilities and grades was why I had been admitted into the program. Surely not my gender!

After I felt sick, I felt mad. Really mad! Who was this joker to tell me I didn't belong here? I'll show him.

Now, I'm fortunate, because I face adversity with stubbornness. It's just my nature. But most people are not like this. They get beaten down with a stick enough times, and they head for the hills. I can completely understand that, I've had my moments.

Here's the thing. Every time you say or even think these eight words, you're beating someone with a stick. You might think it's an innocuous statement, but really what you're saying is, "Go home dumb little girl."

Don't be a boorish bear.Female Computer Scientisthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989787998613496061.post-55847242848746845532014-02-09T15:44:00.000-08:002014-02-09T15:44:11.331-08:00profTime();When I lecture, I usually begin by saying something about time. This is lecture x, we're n weeks into the course, we'll cover q next week, etc. At some point, x and n start to get large, and I have this meta moment of surprise that n weeks has gone by, and I start thinking about time.

If you ever go to an academic career mentorship thingy, you will inevitably see a picture of a three-legged stool, and the legs will be labeled with: Research, Teaching, and Service. Then there is this whole conversation about balance, and how when you go up for tenure/promotion, the Service leg should be, say, 2 inches long, and the others vary depending on where you are, but likely both will be very long. (The stool analogy, of course, breaks here. Floating? Frictionless pullies? Eh.).

Rarely do these career talks discuss the day-to-day aspects of professorial life. Some people, maybe Boice or Gilbreth, actually use(d) stopwatches to track every moment of their time. While I don't have any colleagues quite like this, I certainly detect a degree of time optimization awareness that is directly proportional to seniority. (Up until the Emerati, in which case the trend reverses).

What I find a bit troubling is that in the middle of that line are faculty at the associate level -- where they have all the same challenges as before, but now they also have a doubled service load. So they pretty much never have time for a shoot-the-hay chat. Which, frankly, is just about the most fun aspect of our job -- chatting with smart people who share your nerdy interests*.

I suppose I never envisioned a life of the mind, but certainly did imagine less busybusybusyAlwaysbusy culture. I think this is endemic to academia; I don't believe one style of institution or discipline plays a big role.

The good news, for any readers who are faculty-n00bs, is that there is a lot of "on-the-job training" as it were. After you've taught a class a few times, your preparation time dwindles down to nothing. After you've read 50 grant proposals / journal papers / grad applications / etc, you become crazy efficient at skimming and separating the cream from the cruft. And, of course, talks and posters and all that becomes a cinch.

Some things always take a lot of time no matter how you dice it. Writing strong grant proposals, handling personnel issues, and, for me, writing bios***. Though usually you reach a point where most things are good enough. You trust your students and collaborators a bit more than you started, and no longer need to read every word.

-----
(*) That's not to say I don't enjoy chatting with students. But, sometimes you want to talk about nerdy stuff with people from your nerd-era. e.g., the oldest grad students in my department don't get my lame jokes like, "Wow, that seminar felt like handshaking over a 1200 baud modem", or "Wow, that faculty meeting felt like compiling COBOL code on a PDP-11**."

(**) I'm not that old, I'm just making stuff up here. Though just last week, I overheard an undergrad saying something like, "OMG, it took 30 SECONDS to compile my program! SO LONG." And I'm just laughing.

(***) It's my BANE. And not the Christian kind, sadly. Oh, wait, that's Bale. Well, anyway, he probably has his own biographer, the lucky duck.Female Computer Scientisthttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989787998613496061.post-63948805339633113512013-12-09T16:48:00.001-08:002013-12-09T16:48:22.948-08:00[#CSEdWeek] My favorite softwareHappy Computer Science Education Week. I did my part! I debugged a memory leak with a pre-literate child sitting next to me, wanting to punch the meta-key in emacs. I can't remember if he realized we needed an extra * or I did, but all I can say is that if pointers are so simple a five year old can explain 'em, no grumbling allowed, undergrads.

Anyhow, to kick off CS Ed Week, I'd like to talk about some of my favorite programs. These are small utilities most of you have probably never heard of, but they fill me with great joy.

1. DTerm (OS X)

This, is, hands down, the piece of software I have been waiting for my whole life. It's basically a "command line anywhere" sort of program. See, for some bizarre reason, OS X doesn't allow you to, say, create a text file in the Finder here , like Windows or even some versions of Linux does. I have no idea why, but this was a gross oversight.

DTerm saves me tons of effort. Old way: Launch terminal window, cd tab-tab-tab-tab-tab (or drag from finder), touch foo.txt. New way: Dtermshortcut: touch foo.txt. Done!

2. Quicksilver (OS X)

Along those lines, Quicksilver is also super useful and has accelerated my workflow. Instead of trying to find things (which I'm terrible at), I just type command-period, type the first two letters of the application name, email address, text file, whatever, and boom - there it is. I am so used to this now I have to install it on new machines, or else I can't use them. (Sad but true).

3. F.lux (OS X, Android, iOS, Windows, Linux)

This program is very clever - it dims your monitor/screen to help simulate getting ready for sleep. For someone who ends up foolishly doing work at 11pm or 5am, and who travels through way too many time zones than is healthy, it's nice to give the 'ol hypothalamus a break.

4. Instapaper (All OSes, web-based)

This is the best piece of software ever written. It lets you save a webpage, from anywhere, for all time. (Removing all ads and annoying stuff). It's shareware, but if you give the developer $3, you can also search through your clippings. It's beautiful, well designed, and wonderful for reading lots of news/journal articles on long airplane rides.

I think that's it for now. I've been trying to be like Beki and stop using my inbox as a TODO list, but I'm still experimenting with applications for that. It's my New Year's Resolution. I'll leave you with a CSEdVideo from Obama (h/t CCC blog). Enjoy!

Female Computer Scientisthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989787998613496061.post-12456404444516703322013-11-25T15:58:00.002-08:002013-11-25T15:59:20.908-08:00Little Data, Big ProblemAs a computer scientist, I think about data a lot.

And as someone who is a fairly private person, I'm particularly interested in personal data. Not only my own, but everyone's. I gape at fellow customers at the store who give their phone number and zip code to the cashier without a thought. I am appalled at friends who post private information publicly - photos, geolocation data, their polical affiliation, their religion, their "likes". Everything from restaurant checkins to where they delivered their baby.

I am shocked that people purchase devices that track their physiological data 24/7, data which is automatically uploaded and shared publicly. I am stunned that people voluntarily give samples of their DNA to 23andme.

The shocking thing is when I mention something about this to someone, I receive one of three responses:
1) "I don't care, I have nothing to hide".
2) "Bah. I'm honestly not that interesting."
Or:
3) "Well, I know X is evil, but it's just so darn convenient. And anyway, all my friends use X. I can't stop using it now."

Never does someone say, "Wow, FCS, you're right - this data deluge is terrifying! And that anyone with cash can buy all our data willy nilly! Yikes! We should lobby the government to regulate the personal information brokering industry."

Never. Yet one word of the NSA spying snafu and POOF - people freaking out. But I think they're freaking out about the wrong thing.

My security friends talk about threat models. "What's the threat model?". I don't think it's the government. The government is far too monolithic, tech-unsavvy, and sequestered to pull off what we see in the Borne movies. And there's no Machine, sitting in a warehouse in Iowa continually monitoring, processing, and understanding the content of every phone call and surveillance camera feed. That's NP hard.

The threat model is - we have no clue. Right now, any person with the means can purchase a large lot of your private data. If you use a credit card, cell phone, or ATM, ever, you're toast.

When people say, "I don't care, I have nothing to hide." I want to whack them with a #firstworldproblems foam bat. It's not the #FWP people I'm worried about. It's the most vulnerable of our society: those who are abused, those who are stalked. Those who are bullied. Those who simply are not technologically savvy enough to realize they have not only hung their dirty laundry out on their closeline, but their entire existence.

I know what Scott McNealy said. But it still pains me. I think about data a lot.Female Computer Scientisthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989787998613496061.post-25710499129207494412013-10-11T08:58:00.000-07:002013-10-11T09:16:07.228-07:00Pop Quiz: How we discuss woman in STEMAs scientists, engineers, and thinkers, I know several of you are interested in the phenomenon of the subtle ways in which women in STEM are diminished by sexist language and behavior. Sticks and stones, perhaps, but even this stuff is critical to addressing if we truly want to make progress and enable a cultural shift. (See also, death by a thousand paper cuts).

In fact, the more I think about it, the more I realize progress relies almost entirely on the shoulders of mass media. Yesterday NPR had a story about Hollywood Health and Society, which consults with writers about how to write correct and useful story lines on healthcare and climate change*. Turns out the majority of Americans learn about science and healthcare from fictional TV- surprise!

So, writers, you have an important job to do. You need to portray scientists as they actually are. No putdowns, no pedestals, and definitely no tropes.

*Ahem*.

Ok, ready for the pop quiz?

Part 1: Read these quotes, and list all the tropes.

1) "For Janet Yellen, Obama's Federal Reserve nominee, quiet patience paid off"

2) "Though he says she hasn't been a superstar economist like her husband, George Akerlof, who shared the 2001 Nobel prize, and her achievements have been overshadowed by Bernanke and former Fed chair Alan Greenspan, she is a great role model for women, because throughout she has proved her intelligence, technical expertise, creativity, and her ability to cooperate with others and work hard."

Part 2: Consider the following two Wikipedia summaries**. What's different? (Hint: check the things in red).

Pencils down!

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*We need this for Computer Science. Nearly every computer whiz portrayed in television is a socially inept caucasian man and/or psychopathic underachiever woman. And speaking of which, while I'm happy Elementary attempted to discuss P ?= NP last week, though there were some problems as Lance points out. More importantly, why was the woman a professor at some podunk university I'd never heard of, and the man was a professor at Columbia? And all she did is teach. And, PS, sexy librarian trope.

**This is my next project. It is positively absurd how women are described on wikipedia in comparison to men. Not just scientists - musicians, actors, artists, writers, athletes - pretty much every profession. Women quietly cooperate and have babies! Men invent things and lead.Female Computer Scientisthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989787998613496061.post-80289872074450717662013-08-18T17:45:00.000-07:002013-08-18T17:45:19.728-07:00How do you lecture?Computer Science Educators et al., I am curious how you lecture*:

Powerpoint?
Chalkboard?
Hacking on the fly?
Tap Dancing?

What seems to work best for you and your students?

And if you're willing to share, I'd be interested to learn the student makeup (e.g. freshman, grad students, professionals) and general topic of your course.

*By lecture, I am referring to the times in class when you employ direct instruction. I realize this is rarely The Best Way to Teach, but I think it can still serve a useful role. (...She says, right before she is replaced by a MOOC).Female Computer Scientisthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989787998613496061.post-74877323712739201442013-07-13T14:03:00.001-07:002013-07-13T14:03:45.908-07:00A boy called SueKim O'Grady writes, "I understood gender discrimination once I added "Mr." to my resume and landed a job".

The tl;dr version is: Kim was an experienced engineering/business person who was applying for jobs. Sent out dozens of resumes to top places, did not get a single interview. Sent out his resume to a bunch of lower tier places, still no interview. Finally, he realizes they are taking "Kim" to mean he is a woman. So he adds the prefix "Mr." to his resume, sends it out again, and immediately lands interviews.

My first name is Kim. Technically, it's gender neutral, but my experience showed that most people's default setting in the absence of any other clues is to assume Kim is a woman's name. And nothing else on my CV identified me as male. At first I thought I was being a little paranoid, but engineering, sales and management were all male-dominated industries. So I pictured all the managers I had over the years and, forming an amalgam of them in my mind, I read through the document as I imagined they would have. It was like being hit on the head with a big sheet of unbreakable glass ceiling.
This is so sad. It reminds me of neurobiologist Ben Barres' experience, where after giving a seminar as a Ben after his transition from Barbara someone in the audience remarked, "Ben Barres's work is much better than his sister's."

The one I hear a lot in my field is, "X is a superstar" or "X is gifted", and always "X" is a man. I've never heard a woman referred to as a superstar or being gifted in her field. I've also never heard of a young woman referred to as a child prodigy.Female Computer Scientisthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989787998613496061.post-40893469593361514822013-05-14T17:22:00.001-07:002013-05-14T17:22:42.141-07:00Be your own princess charmingI recently came across this lovely series of photographs from photographer Jaime Moore in Austin. She wanted to take photos of her 5-year-old daughter, Emma, on her birthday. While looking for inspiration on the net, all she could find was how to dress one's daughter like a Disney Princess. So she took matters into her own hands -

It started me thinking about all the REAL women for my daughter to know about and look up too, REAL women who without ever meeting Emma have changed her life for the better. My daughter wasn't born into royalty, but she was born into a country where she can now vote, become a doctor, a pilot, an astronaut, or even President if she wants and that's what REALLY matters. I wanted her to know the value of these amazing women who had gone against everything so she can now have everything. We chose 5 women (five amazing and strong women), as it was her 5th birthday but there are thousands of unbelievable women (and girls) who have beat the odds and fought (and still fight) for their equal rights all over the world……..so let's set aside the Barbie Dolls and the Disney Princesses for just a moment, and let's show our girls the REAL women they can be.

Here are a few of these remarkable photos:

The rest of the photos are here: http://www.jaimemoorephotography.com/2013/05/09/not-just-a-girl/

I would love to see the marketing industry, toy industry, and Hollywood follow Jaime Moore's lead. K-12 STEM outreach is great and all, but if we want to make a significant impact we need to get ImagesOfGreatness (beyond beauty) into the minds of young women on a daily basis.Female Computer Scientisthttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989787998613496061.post-44519105990818627162013-03-22T00:09:00.001-07:002013-03-22T00:09:48.285-07:00Terrifying, Escalating SexismA lot of people in the tech community have been abuzz about the recent story of Adria Richards, and I'd like to comment on it as a woman in technology, and as an observer of some pretty scary, sickening behavior.

Adria is a developer evangelist and a woman of color who attended PyCon, a large conference for Pyton developers. Up until today, she was employed by a company called SendGrid.

Here is a timeline of what has transpired as I understand it:

1. Last Sunday, Adria was at a keynote talk at PyCon. Two men behind her who work at PlayHaven, Alex Reid and "Mr. Hank", made inappropriate jokes about forking and dongles. It is worth noting that both Alex and Hank were clearly wearing company T-Shirts, and were attending this event as Gold Level company sponsor representatives.

2. Adria tweeted about how their joke was unprofessional and posted their photograph. She blogged about the incident, and how it was not inline with PyCon's rule of proper conduct for the conference. She also contacted the PyCon organizers. [1]

3. The chair of PyCon, Jesse Noller, addressed the parties privately, and amicably resolved the issue in order to continue a peaceful conference. [2]

4. Hank is fired from PlayHaven. He posted an oddly worded apology in Hacker News, mentioning they didn't mean anything at all sexual about their jokes, how it was just her interpretation, and, by the way, getting fired "sucks" because he is a father of three. [3]

5. Adria posts a kind note to Hank on the thread, apologizing for him losing his job, and encouraging his company to reconsider their actions. [4]. Several people attack her for this apology, actually, though Hank comments that he thought the gesture was kind. [5].

6. A petition is started online to save Hank's job, entitled, "Give the mistreated employee their job back". [6]. I've grouped the comments into common sexist tropes to help make it easier to skim.

Supporting the family man: "Dude, the guy has three kids and really enjoyed his job and is getting fired over the sensitive feelings of an already biased towards men female? Right on guys."

Bashing the feminists: "So it has come to a point where feminists have to make every joke between some friends a personal attack. This woman wasn't even involved in their conversation. She didn't even understand their jokes and yet the guys have to suffer for it? It's not fair."

Lighten up it's just a joke: "You should fire every developer who has ever made a harmless joke about about "forking", "fscking", or "Big O". Because god forbid people have fun while they work."

"If they were honestly fired for making a dongle joke to themselves and some over reacting bitch felt the need to get so pissed off I don't think I want to live on this planet anymore."

Godwin's Law (Comparisons to Nazism): "Shameful. Just shameful. I, and others in the very liberally-oriented music industry have done this same thing at conferences, meetings and corporate get-togethers for the last 35 years now. There is no harm associated with this kind or type of behaviour, other than offending the occasional feminist shill... When did we become Nazi Germany and begin to turn in our fellow citizens for crimes of "humour" or "sexism?" Give the damn guy his job back, willya - and stop being so politically correct..."

"People like Adria Richards are little more than fascists"

"Please don't support her oppression and viciousness."

One woman is all women: "This is absolutely disgusting! Adria Richard's actions have made it difficult for women to be properly accepted in the tech industry!"
I'm going to pause here, because I think if we review the facts thus far we can agree that perhaps this situation could have gone differently. As many people in these comment threads have stated, would it not have been better for Adria to have simply addressed the commenters directly, rather than calling them out publicly on Twitter? Perhaps. But at this point the cat is out of the bag, and I think here we can see in (5) that Adria expressed sincerely that she wishes Hank had not been fired.

7. Sometime around Wednesday, Jesse Noller starts receiving threatening phone calls, which scare him and his wife. [7]. Apparently the harassers do not like the fact that he helped pioneer (and enforce) a Code of Conduct for PyCon, in order to make it more welcoming place to women and other groups underrepresented in computing. [8].

8. Adria receives death threats, rape threats, racial slurs, sexist slurs, and calls that she kill herself. Here are several:

"Cunt of the Year" goes to early entry @adriarichards. [t1]

"I'm pretty sure that Adria Richards has set women in technology back 50 years. What a bitch." [t2]

"Did that desperate attention whore and "diversity hire" Adria Richards get the wrong guy fired?"[t3]
"@adriarichards Shut the fuck up stupid bitch and go to the kitchen" [t4]

"@adriarichards you need to kill youself tranny what you did was wrong"[t5]

"@adriarichards you are a stupid uneducated filthy nigger who deserves to die" [t6]

"@adriarichards You are a pure cunt for what you did. I hope you get Cancer and die a slow and painful death. I will celebrate your death" [t7]

"@adriarichards THIS COCK OF MINE IS BURNING RED ITS LOUD ROAR TELLS ME TO RAPE YOU" [t8]
9. On Wednesday, Adria receives a photo of a, "beheaded woman, bound and stripped, with the caption 'when Im done.' Next to it was [her] home address and phone number."[9].

10. Several petitions demanding Adria be fired are posted, on change.org and elsewhere. [10].

11. On Thursday, someone (Anonymous(?)) posts on pastebin that while they think these petitions are great, they doubt SendGrid will pay attention to them. So, instead, the threaten SendGrid: [11]

...You[r] client list has also been obtained by Anonymous. They have already begun harassing your customers. These include obnoxious phone calls, emails, denial of service attacks, online vandalism and defamation, and even real-life harassment...Anonymous has analyzed your business model, and based on your clientele and competitors, you are very vulnerable. They are very focused on this.

Your financial backers have also been targeted for the same harassment. Normally, when a venture capitalist puts money into your organization, a bond is forged through your idea or product gaining the confidence of your financial backer for future returns. This is a strong bond that is not easily broken through petty harassment. However, if any of your backers have something embarrassing or illegal to hide (sexual misconduct, tax fraud, etc), Anonymous WILL find it (they are good at doing this) and make it public.

Real life harassment is an escalation that comes into play based on how long this situation is allowed to play out. It is not affected by the effectiveness of the previous forms of harassment. Even if your customers and financial backers are dropping like flies (or the opposite, entirely unaffected), this will still happen if Anonymous still maintains an interest in this situation. Doxing is a term used to define the discovery and dissemination of all personal information, including but not limited to home address, phone numbers, credit card numbers, your medical records, what brand of toothpaste you buy, etc. If some of the more talented members of Anonymous take an interest into this, every employee of Sendgrid becomes a target, starting at the top. For your reference, this is already happening to Ms. Richards as per standard protocol.

...You do have a choice to make at this point: Do nothing, or Publicly announce that Ms. Richards will be fired. The opportunity to stop this growing mob in its tracks before it tries to tear Sendgrid apart is as simple as publicly announcing Ms. Richards' firing. Now, you also have the opportunity to be sneaky about it and just publicly announcing the firing but not actually do it. But if Anonymous ever finds out, they will bring the full fury on you and your company. To put it in perspective, not even secure government websites are safe. If you believe you can tough it out, by all means, do nothing.
12. Later on Thursday, SendGrid is victim to a Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attack. [12]. Adria's personal site was also attacked (though hers is protected by CloudFire). Kris Holt has a good break down of how these attacks were organized on 4chan. [13].

13. SendGrid announces on Twitter and Facebook that they have fired Adria Richards. Immediately their posts get a lot of "likes", and very vile comments against Adria are posted. [14].

And here we are.

Three things greatly trouble me about all of this:

1) Rape Culture. Death threats. Racial and Sexist name calling. None of this is ok, ever. I don't need to explain this further, do I?

2) 4chan-ers/Anon/whomever managed to easily cyberbully SendGrid into firing Adria. If I was a CEO of a small startup company with 130,000 customers and received a threat like that, I might acquiesce too. It's a credible threat. (Though, I probably would have first contacted the FBI before acting.).

3) Although he's not getting as much press, I'm also troubled by the fact that Jesse Noller is getting threats. Based on some comments I've read of his on github, it seems like his heart is in the right place with both the original Code of Conduct and its revisions.

In any case, there are a lot of factors at play in this story, and this is a complex situation, but I think it all warrants a larger discussion. I welcome your comments.

Female Computer Scientisthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989787998613496061.post-10978104230055911422013-02-06T17:12:00.000-08:002013-02-06T17:12:23.712-08:00Junior Faculty ConfidentialRecently I met someone who just started a faculty job fresh out of grad school, about 5 months ago. Sheepishly they said to me, "So, uh... how did you find your first year?"

Gleefully I replied, "It was terrible! But don't worry, it's terrible for everyone, then it gets really good."

The truth of the matter is this - until you have a solid group of trained PhD students, some grant money, and have taught a class more than once, the job feels incredibly stressful. All the constant demands on your time, and the constant rejection - grant rejections, paper rejections, low teaching evaluations, makes you wonder if you can possibly stand another day.

Honestly, in my first year, I wandered around muttering to myself the Peace Corps mantra, "The toughest job I'll ever love, the toughest job I'll ever love". At work I worked, and at home I watched an insane amount of mind-numbing television. I had family members ask me why I was doing this, and if it was worth all the work. Truthfully, I contemplated alternate careers. I remember saying once to my husband, "Wouldn't it be nice to be a barista? They don't need to worry about budgets, or teaching evaluations, or annual reviews. They just make coffee. I can totally do that! I practically earned a PhD in coffee during grad school!"

But then I received funding, and I was over the moon. My students blossomed into fine researchers, and began hitting home runs in their publications. I started teaching the same courses again, and my prep time became nothing.

I can't claim everything is easy, of course, but I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that anything is better than that first year, and it does indeed get better.Female Computer Scientisthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989787998613496061.post-69673365341710503612012-12-13T20:32:00.000-08:002012-12-13T20:32:48.153-08:00Acceptance Rates and Impact FactorsFor those of you who do publish at computer science conferences*:

1) On your CV/Biosketch/Website/etc. list-of-publications, do you include conference acceptance rates?

2) If you do, what is the threshold for you to mention it? (e.g., 50%, 30%, 10% ?)

For those of you who don't publish at computer science conferences:

0) Hey, why aren't you publishing at CS conferences? We're cool people, and we start counting at zero.

1) On your CV/Biosketch/Website/etc. list-of-publications, do you include journal impact factors?

2) If you do, what is the threshold for you to mention it? (e.g., do you list IFs for startup journals)?

And for anyone willing to share their field / subfield, I'd be interested to hear that as well. I'm planning to assemble this information into a longer post on the topic in a few weeks.

---
* This includes anything which has archival proceedings, like some workshops, symposia, summer/winter/fall/spring schools, etc. Female Computer Scientisthttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989787998613496061.post-76534098049398387832012-12-10T19:38:00.002-08:002012-12-10T19:39:36.120-08:00Happy Birthday, Ada! [CSEdWeek]Today is the great Ada Lovelace's birthday. In case you have't noticed my icon, she has always been my favorite computer scientist, so I was delighted to see today's Google's doodle:

Ada's birthday celebration also helps kick off Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek) which, as a computer science educator (and friend of NCWIT), I am honored to support. CSEdWeek is a worldwide effort to increase interest and participation in the awesomeness that is CS. Lots of great resources on the CSEdWeek website, go check it out.

Finally, in other exciting FCS news, it turns out yesterday was Grace Hopper's birthday! Two famous FCSes were born one day apart. I think that's really cool. Any of you share birthdays with Grace or Ada? This is actually a  fun math problem, and, indeed, forms the basis of a cryptological attack called the the birthday attack.

See! Not only is CS everywhere, but:

Female Computer Scientisthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989787998613496061.post-2853830733224402942012-11-16T18:20:00.000-08:002012-11-16T18:20:03.047-08:00Seeing sexism in academia - moving up the ranks opens the eyesA few years ago I remember reading an article about the fact that as women become more senior in their disciplines they start to encounter more sexism. For a long time I've been trying to figure out how that worked - was it that senior women encountered senior men more often, and were thus encountering old attitudes?

Recently, after a particularly upsetting incident, I realised what it is. It is that as we become more senior and have more experiences, we simply see sexism more. We are more aware. As junior women, when we encounter a microaggressive comment, it's just one papercut. Maybe it's one of those very subtle papercuts that you don't even notice until a few days later when you use rubbing alcohol.

But as you become more senior, you become more aware. You start counting these comments, and noticing them more and more.

"What's the big deal? Who cares what they say?" the well-intentioned male colleague says. The big deal is that at work I am Scientist first, Woman second. Men that treat my science as secondary (or even peripherally) to my gender insult my intelligence and insult my years of hard work to get to the place I am at.

Furthermore, the fact that these comments are unequally delivered is particularly infuriating. If, when my male colleagues had newborns, people said, "OMG! How will you survive as a professor??? How will you keep your research program afloat?! AUGH!!!", it would be ok. If, when my male colleagues wore colorful clothing, their senior colleagues stopped them in the hallway and said, "Please don't take this in the wrong way, but that shirt really brings out the color of your beautiful eyes.", it would be ok.

But it's not equal. Women-as-mother, women-as-sexulized-object - these take first place. Women-as-scholar, woman-as-professor is in the back seat.

So what do I do in these situations when they happen to me? First, my heart starts pounding. I think, "This is A Moment! I am supposed to Say Something!" Then, I stop. I realize this person is just clueless. They have no idea that they are saying all this dreadful stuff only to women and not men. They honestly have no earthly idea. Finally, I ask myself if this is a Teaching Moment or not. It usually is not, at least not right then.

These attitudes are so ingrained in our culture, they are just a part of how many people think. Publically humiliating the offender will not suddenly make them change their ways. But sometimes I desperately want to.

Female Computer Scientisthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989787998613496061.post-63856699150868080052012-09-18T19:18:00.000-07:002012-09-18T19:20:41.185-07:00Signal Boost: Help get GoldieBlox off the groundThis is absolutely, positively awesome.

It's called GoldieBlox, and is a new engineering toy marketed to 5-9 year old girls, developed by Debbie Sterling, a female engineer from Stanford. It's meant to inspire girls in the same way legos and erector sets inspire boys, and uses storytelling to do it. (Reminds me a little of Computational Fairy Tails, actually :-))

I think it's brilliant. I always hated the "pink aisle" at the toy store, and agree that we definitely need more toys geared toward girls that engage their spatial and problem solving abilities.

She has a KickStarter campaign to get her toy into production, and is 25% toward her goal. So go watch the video, then donate some money if you are able. Even $5 could go a long way.

And, Debbie - kudos for a great idea. I wish you lots of luck!Female Computer Scientisthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989787998613496061.post-19502393240140347002012-08-29T18:57:00.000-07:002012-08-29T18:57:08.810-07:00My how things changeBefore you are a professor:

"OMG, I cannot believe the professor's slides have typos in them. And a boring PPT template. And looks like it was written in 1983. Oh, and, like, OMG, don't they know we don't use gopher anymore??"
After you are a professor:

Hmm... will they notice the mustard stain?
Yeah. It's that bad, folks. I have typos! Spelling errors! Ugly slides that are from 1983! And despite my best efforts, large parts of my lectures are BORING!

My dear professors of yesteryear, I am sorry for judging. I get it now.Female Computer Scientisthttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989787998613496061.post-1641385930507420582012-07-31T20:33:00.000-07:002012-07-31T20:33:21.432-07:00Houston, we have an image problemI was at a novelty store a few months ago, and came across a board game called "The Mad Professor Science Kit". I noted that the mad science professor looks nothing like me at all.

I've written a lot about how journalists and artists and other media people need to get the memo about what professors and scientists look like, in order to help change images in the minds of the younger generation.

Alas, we still have a ways to go. Here is my unscientific analysis.

Method: Clip Art Google Image search, Screenshot of page 1 of results.

Term 1: professor

Results: 8% owl, 92% male, 0% female. Only one person who may be of asian or latino descent. (Note: Page 2 has a whopping two female professors - wowie! And one person of color.)

Term 2: scientist

Results: 80% male, 20% female. No owls. One person of color. Page two has owls, and a few more women.

Term 3: engineer

Results: Of 19 humans and gendered characters (Mickey Mouse), 90% male, 10% female. No people of color.

Term 4: "computer scientist"

Results: Of the three humans, 33% are women! And it's Grace Hopper, baby! No people of color, though we do have a link to "African Americans in Science and Technology", which is nice. An a Pi symbol, cat, Connect 4, and some cool geek pride T-shirts.

"Software engineer" and "programmer" do not yield very positive results, but I am pleased to say "computer programmer" yields several women, including a woman of color and this awesome coloring book page:

I know it seems like a silly thing, clipart, but a heck of a lot of people use it when preparing presentations.

Any artists out there want to start a revolution? Or maybe work on an NSF proposal? I think this would be a great STEM education thing. And easy as anything to do.
Female Computer Scientisthttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7989787998613496061.post-72161554490988425992012-07-09T11:17:00.001-07:002012-07-09T21:52:50.801-07:00Kudos to Margo SeltzerMargo Seltzer, fellow FCS, profesor at Harvard, and well known in the CS blogosphere, was featured in a great article in Txchnologist about women in CS. You can read the article here.

I love just about everything about the article, in particular Margo's comments on polo shirts:

Txch: The computer science community may not be able to control the way programmers are portrayed in the press, but it can at least control the image it projects. What are the big things they shouldn't do if they want women to apply?

MS: Here's my favorite. I was chatting with a group of university reps from a very large high-tech company. The reps were both men and women, and they were bemoaning the fact that they found it very difficult to attract women programmers. I looked at them and I said to one of the women, "Are the company shirts you're wearing men's polos or women's polos?" She said, "Oh, it's a men's polo shirt." I said, "Why? Why don't you buy women's polo shirts? They would fit better." And she says, "Well, there aren't very many of us and it would cost more."

Now, this is a multi-billion-dollar corporation. I looked at them and I said, "I run a company of 25 people, and you know what? We buy men's and women's polo shirts. You're sending a message that says men are the norm and women are second-class citizens, so we have to put up with what they give us." I'm sure not many women look at the polo shirts and say, "This isn't for me," but I still think it sends a very strong subliminal message.

The other data point is—look at the big annual events that these companies hold for all their customers. How many of the featured speakers are women? The answer goes from zero to one, amidst twenty or thirty speakers. You see this over and over. I think it sends a message that says, "We're a guys' company." There are little things that a company could do to send a message that says, "We're gender agnostic. We actually hire both boys and girls."
And her comments on how sexism is less of a big deal to companies than racism:

Txch: Does it behoove companies to narrow the gender gap?

MS: In the same way that we would not tolerate an environment that was blatantly racist. That would not be tolerated in any company in America. And yet we have these pockets in cultures of companies that really are very hostile towards women. People don't seem to find that nearly as offensive.
I believe I've written about this topic before, where it's strangely acceptable to be sexist and ableist, but not racist. We really need to work on that if we have any hope of making progress.

In any case, kudos to Margo. Go read the article and check out her blog!Female Computer Scientisthttp://firstname.lastname@example.com


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How financial services companies can accommodate flexible working
April 2016 | EXPERT BRIEFING | BANKING & FINANCE
Flexible working has grown enormously over the last two to three years. Working out of coffee shops or from home was once viewed as a slight oddity, but now it is very much the norm in modern society. In fact, modern day employment laws have changed traditional working practices forever, with businesses required to offer employees the right to request. The stigma once attached to flexible working is – in the majority of cases – gone, and the benefits are now widely respected across a large number of sectors, none more so than banking and financial services. By their very nature, these companies are very disciplined and hence are in an advantageous position to facilitate flexible working – more so than other sectors. It does, however, require careful and considered management in order for both staff and the business to benefit and flourish as a consequence of this new way of working.
Allowing flexible working in the regimented role of banking may seem like a huge step to take but it shouldn't. Look at it as another way of empowering and motivating staff which, if done correctly, will yield positive results. Establishing a good work/life balance is not something that the UK does particularly well and working flexibly helps this and allows staff to do more of what they enjoy, be it spending time with their family or doing a hobby, improving overall wellbeing and productivity. Naturally, many financial services professionals will want to work flexibly to cater for a busy lifestyle, but it's likely to be those with responsibilities outside of work who have the greatest need for it. Being flexible as an employer helps build and retain a talented team, so do what you can to accommodate these requests where possible, or negotiate so that all parties are happy.
In banking for instance, the process requires a certain degree of adaptation. Finance often requires considerably longer working hours with tight deadlines to meet, so these need to be taken into account. Most notably, mergers and acquisitions by their very nature can create irregular work patterns, especially in corporate finance, so communication is key to ensuring that employers and employees are on the same page. When dealing with M&A on a global scale, different time zones and demands from all over the world often result in bankers having to work throughout the night, and when it comes to audits, the procedural nature of the work required by their clients certainly does not always fit into the regular 9 to 5 routine.
But those working in finance can get their just rewards during quieter periods, which often come around in consistent – albeit short – bursts due to the recurrent financial calendar. This is where flexible working, including reduced hours after working overtime, can be implemented to great effect by employers who are keen to look after the wellbeing of their staff. Finance is a profession that is consistent in its inconsistent hours – the workload will not always fit into a regular 9 to 5 working day, which can actually work in an employer's favour when it comes to granting flexible hours for the many employees who are in and out of the office at different times.
To make it work, however, one word is always high on the agenda – trust. If this is not reciprocal, unfortunately the best processes and procedures will always struggle. Employees should always be trusted from the start and both parties should work back from there. All flexible workers should be given clear objectives and ultimately measured on their output, as opposed to whether or not they are physically in the office. It can be a big step for financial services companies to make what is a big leap by industry standards, so if you are slightly cautious then we would recommend setting up an end of the day review to check progress or schedule regular catch ups with staff to get their feedback. This can help the bedding in process and, once all parties find their feet with the new set up, employers will have peace of mind.
If there is ever a breakdown of trust, then there are ways to tighten controls – taking away the privilege should be very much a last resort. If your hands are tied as an employer and there seems to be no way of making the process work, then both parties have ultimately failed. It is up to managers to understand what makes people tick and the reasoning as to why somebody is possibly drifting as a result of their new-found flexible hours. We have found that when people work remotely they feel the need to achieve better results, as if to prove their worth, and that the process is really benefitting them.
Fresh talent coming into work expect a greater degree of freedom due to technological advancements, but they also demand instant access to this technology because being connected wherever they go is more crucial than ever. Tools such as iMeet can bring all communication together, no matter where you are, be it working from home, in a coffee shop or on the other side of the world, just like users would do in their social lives. Ultimately, communication software allows you to stay connected and save costs.
As businesses continue to grow, and with technology developing at such a rate, business leaders and firms now face the added pressures of needing to be responsive 24/7 and having access to more information, quicker – and there's no exception when working remotely. Social media and live chat support has meant that meeting the needs of customers and their demands for more immediate responses can be the factor between winning or losing business to competitors, so this has to be factored in when implementing flexible working. Across the finance sector, chief executive and chief financial officers can bridge the gap with smarter ways of working, by using tools such as screen sharing and online chat that complement each other so that small, remote teams can work productively, with access to guidance and approval where required.
In our experience, people are often more productive working at home as they can work the exact hours they want, be it around a young family or a hobby. There are also no distractions from others and it can breed more creative thinking being outside the confines of the office walls. We find staff are more motivated as they have a far better work/life balance. We all want to be successful in our careers but it should never come at the expense of our wellbeing. Employers will notice that this helps with staff retention, top talent recruitment and a happy workforce, which is always a more successful one. We encourage our staff that can, to work from home at least one day a week.
Across the financial services sector, flexible working ultimately just makes better business sense. The most compelling argument for employers granting requests for flexible hours (however it is managed), in our opinion, is to retain valuable skillsets across their workforce. The sector is not exempt from a high-end skills shortage of its own at the moment, so if these firms are serious about retaining talented and skilled people they need to accommodate their requests for a greater work-life balance. Flexibility takes many different forms, and if you can manage the employee workload and maintain an outstanding service for clients, it is a great option for banks and financial services companies, and they will likely reap the rewards in the long run.
Jason Downes is the managing director at Powwownow.
© Financier Worldwide
Jason Downes


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Soccer in Spain
Picture a poor, underprivileged Spanish city. Ruins of old buildings linger around as if they were being hoarded by the ground they were built on many years before. Picture all of the people living in poverty, with little food and little money. Picture the dirt ground that these children call their soccer field, playing in just their street clothes—no athletic gear, no cleats, and no shin guards. What do you see? Are these children happy?
If you were to ask the head coach of the Mount's men's soccer team, Rudy Argueta, he would smile and say, "Of course they're happy." This is something that Coach Rudy, along with assistant coach Tina Blakely and 14 Mount soccer players witnessed firsthand along their unique ten day journey to Spain this past August.
Coach Rudy explained, "...these children left everything around them alone, and they just enjoyed playing soccer. It was something that stuck in our heads. When they scored, they celebrated just like the professionals. The children stayed to watch us play their hometown team, the team that they've always rooted for, the team they've always watched. Anytime one of my players would touch the ball, the children would yell, 'Go America!' It was something unique."
Shane Hall, a senior defender for the Mount, also felt very touched by these children. "The children only spoke Spanish," Hall said. "They came up to us and we had no idea what they were saying, until our tour guide said, 'He wants to take a picture with you.'"
Bryson Lewis, a senior midfielder and captain of the Mount's team, simply stated, "The children respected us a lot."
"You don't really see that much of that over here because of so much worrying about your kids. Over there, they wanted their kids to be a part of that atmosphere, of our team unity. I thought that was amazing... My players really felt like professionals. Young children were looking up to them, to be players like them." Coach Argueta acknowledged.
This was not the only account of cultural differences that the team discovered during this trip. The people were more liberal and open there than they are here in the States. Everybody respected everybody and the team didn't notice a lot of judging, but rather noticed that everybody goes in their own way. They noticed 'siestas' were very much a part of their culture.
Coach Rudy described, "Every company, every store closed from 2pm to 5pm every day in order to take their 'siesta,' or nap."
They noticed how much pride that the people had for their culture. They noticed how much they loved their ancestors. They noticed how much they loved the old buildings that stood as ruins. They didn't just see the pride, but they could feel it, too.
Learning from the Experts
Coach Rudy and his team played and practiced in two cities: Madrid and Barcelona. They played against a total of four professional teams while they were there. Their first game was against Aracaca Club de Futbol. Their second game was against Atletico Pinto. Third, they played against Casar Club Deportivo. Their fourth and final game was against Palafruguell Futbol Club. Each day they continued to improve on their skill sets and team unity.
Lewis was very impressed by the style of play that the professional teams possessed. "They appreciate the game itself, as well as the art of it."
Hall added, "For soccer, the first touch is very important. Their style of playing was pretty much perfect." Hall noticed that most American teams' style of play is to just go straight up field and try to kick the ball into the goal. In Spain, it's completely different.
Hall explained, "One of the professional coaches put it this way: 'When we have the ball we are having fun. When we lose the ball we want to get it back as quickly as we can so we can have fun again.'"
"Our last game [against Palafruguell Futbol Club], we were playing the best soccer we have ever played, as far as possession." Coach Rudy was proud to say. The game was tied 0-0 at halftime, which is great for playing against a professional team. This game was the team's last learning experience while in Spain and it was very special to the Mount players. The Palafruguell Futbol Club had just celebrated their hundredth year as a club, so they decided to play Barcelona's first team, as celebration. Players like Lionel Messi and Xavi Creus, some of the best players in the world, played on the field just months before the Mount's team. Coach Rudy and the team were treated very professionally.
Coach Rudy explained, "Before the final game, we met the president of the team. After the game, he came back out and he took us out to dinner. They took us to the restaurant that they owned. They fed us. They brought their families with them. The coach wanted a picture with us. The coach's son wanted a picture with us. I think that was bigger than the soccer side of it. You played professional players, with a professional coach and usually you will think that you would be the one that would want to take pictures with them. But it was reversed. It was something unique, that you don't see. I think that was very professional. That was pure class on their side."
Building experiences, friendships and memories
Coach Rudy said that his best memory from this trip was "seeing their faces when they stepped on the field. Seeing those smiles when they played against those teams, seeing the effort, as a coach when you see your team playing professional teams, a lot of teams can put their heads down. A lot of kids can say, 'Why even bother?' But this group of guys gave it their all. They were fantastic. They represented our university in the greatest way possible. They were role models to any group, from anywhere... They were a true example to a lot of kids, to a lot of people in general. That was the biggest thing to me. Seeing them have the opportunity to see something bigger and better."
For most of the players that went on this trip, this was the first time that they've ever traveled overseas. Lewis stated, "It was unfortunate that our entire team couldn't make it. Our friendships have improved, and we learned a lot about each other."
Hall said, "It was the best team unity that I've seen since I've been here [at the Mount], in all four years. It was the best team unity I've ever seen, actually."
The team has very high goals for this upcoming season. "As a team, we want to be more successful. Anything I can do to succeed our team goals is my goal. We are a young team this year, so I want to teach the younger players by leading by example and playing hard." Lewis said with great confidence.
"As far as our team goals this year, we want to have our first winning season. The Mount's never had a winning season. I believe we have a good opportunity to do it this year." Hall said.
Coach Rudy saw this trip and this experience as a way to grow, "These men did not just grow as soccer players, but as people. They noticed and learned a different culture. They saw how hard people worked over there... As a group we grew a lot closer, and it shows now. All of the guys respect each other and everything they do."
Visit Dateline's Flickr page to see pictures of the soccer team's trip:


text:
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We are an award-winning specialist cruise operator, a market leader in providing luxury travel services, and have been established in this extraordinary part of the world since early 1990, in world-famous Halong Bay.
Acclaimed as the first luxury cruise company in Vietnam, we now bring our cruising expertise to Nha Trang Bay to ensure a once-in-a-life time cruising experience.
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Emperor Cruises has a fleet of vessels that combine classic beauty with modern comfort. Measuring 58m in length, 12m in wide, this newly built, custom-designed traditional imperial vessel features three decks that house an elegant restaurant, two bars, a small library, two sauna and massage rooms plus 8 luxurious sleeping en-suite cabins.'
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text:
I have a few things to share today but first I thought I would let you know how much I did in february. For the first time I kept a record of my stitching antics.
2 mini quilts to flimsy stage
doll quilt completed
2 hares
3 shopping bags
25 assorted blocks
30 blocks for a baby quilt not bad going I think.
here are some photos of bits and pieces
this is my square vortex mini which I have today quilted and bound. The quilting did not go too badly but it is only 24" square so not too much of a problem feeding it through, this has given me a bit of confidence to attempt the other minis I have in flimsy stage
Another splendid sampler block I have made this 12" though it should be 6" bit if a mess on one of the grey triangles
Finally the calendar girls block for march
patches and leaves, it should have some applique leaves on the background fabric but could not work out how to do needle turned applique.
I have also made a lone star quilt but will share that along with a baby quilt in a few days


text:
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text:
|If everything Lucas has done in 30 yrs was given life it would look like this
Equally its premise - What means most to you? - is basically repellent, giving a number of irritating no-notes the chance to outline a mixture of the bleeding obvious and the tiresomely self-centred.
Nonetheless, the fascination of the ad derives not so much from its spectacular lack of poise, but the bewildering philosophical and intellectual puzzles it poses. (Yes, I may have drunk two bottles of jagermeister as I write this.)
Here is the puzzle: what we see is a bunch of people talking about 'what matters most to them'. Now we are all aware that we are watching them in an advert on television. We are - after all - not living in the 19th century.
|'Moving pictures you say? Next you'll be saying every town will have its OWN telephone'
At one level this is an absurd question. Given that we know that this is a product of the mass media, we know that the ad is not real. It has been carefully edited to get its message across and so on. However, in an age when we expect so-called 'ordinary' people to appear in reality shows and such like, we have also come to expect a certain degree of verite in our ads. Why couldn't these people on screen be simply ordinary people talking about what really matters to them? In a post-modern age of complicity between producers (ad people, tv execs, etc) and punters (the human footballs like me who sit on the sofa, eating tacos and watching this bilge), things have got textually complex: actors or not-actors? That is the question.
However, I want to suggest that - in fact - the cunning people at ADT are playing with our simple minds at a whole new level. I want to suggest that this advert relies on a) us being invited to believe that the people yacking on about their businesses are real people but THEN b) our realization that they are actually minor actors pretending quite unconvincingly to be real people. In other words the advert want us to deliberately not suspend our disbelief...it wants us to recognise the actors as actors. And through doing so, it encourages us to trust the brand more than we might otherwise do.
Consider the woman who stands on the step of her house and, in a somewhat unconvincing British Indian accent, then tells us that what matters to her most is her independence and home security (and the occasional cameo in Holby City). There is something familiar about her face. Surely she was in a spate of shows in the 1970s & 1980s? I'm not sure we're supposed to be more specific than that. But she has a distinctive face. And given that alarms are targeted at homeowners and the security minded - that is to an older audience - we are supposed to recognise her, even if we are not supposed to be too sure where we recognize her from. The recognition is actually meant to be reassure us in a way that a real person would not.
|This is what happens when you give ordinary people the oxygen of publicity
|Trust me, I played '4th cadaver' in Waking the Dead
The bottom line is this: in order to trust this brand we want people who are like us, but not too like us or too different. We would be unhappy if the actors were too famous, because then the ad would be too unrealistic. Sean Connery or Bono talking about what matters to them would be too disconnected from our lives. But equally we don't want peope who are exactly like us - because that would be too realistic and annoying. Frankly, how we live our lives is too dull and frustrating and appalling to be shown on tv and it be appealing. So the semi-known actor is the perfect compromise. In a culture that is so readily mediated by screens and the visual we want people who are comfortable in that world, who are validated in that world and therefore are comfortable and real to us. But we don't want ourselves. That is why the ADT advert is simultaneously cheap, annoying and crap AND complete genius.


text:
I've had a chance to preview a copy of State Of Mind, the forthcoming album from Detroit's Citizen Zero. It's a straight-forward, honest rock 'n roll album that is destined to please many rock music fans. Their new single "Lure and Persuade" gives us a great glimpse of what to expect on the album and it's provided below to whet your appetite.
The rollicking rocker seems perfectly built for radio, and conjures up similar feelings I had the first time I heard Red Sun Rising's Polyester Zeal, which was one of the breakthrough albums from the past year.
To learn a bit more about this talented band, take a peek at our recent interview with frontman Josh LeMay HERE.
And, check out some other killer new music we've dug up for your enjoyment here: RARA's Fresh Crops
RARA's Farm is a rock music blog keenly focused on sharing killer new rock music to the Rock And Roll Animals who visit our site. Make sure you Like / Follow Us below to keep in the loop on new music worth a listen, or just to be nice to us.
Rock On!
|Follow @rarasfarm


text: Thanks to Steve from Wiltshire LA, for this "Nugget." A collection of interactivities, teacher's notes, web and IWB resources, based around historical images. A swift play myself, and I found some great starting points for talk and guided investigational work; using images as both primary and secondary sources. Our History theme this term is on the Victorians, and there is a host of material to support this. Using images as secondary sources, there are also materials on the Tudors, castles, the Romans and other common themes, and subthemes. A site to come back to and definitely one to share with colleagues.


text:
Turnbo Home | Table of Contents | Keyword Search| Bibliography | Biography
By S. C. Turnbo
In the early part of the Civil War Green McDaniel an old man whose sympathies were with the Union rode to Jim McAdams black smith shop one day to have some work done. This shop was in what is known as the Three Move Prairie in Polk County, Mo. It was not long before Rube Lunsford who was a Southern sympathizer came to the shop also. McDaniels had met a friend near the shop and chatted with him and had not yet got down off of his horse and when Rube. Lunsford come up both men got into a discussion over the war news. In a few minutes the dispute waxed into hot words and Lunsford jerked his revolver from the belt and shot McDaniels the third time when he fell from his horse and died. McDaniels and his son Billy who was a feeble minded young man lived in their house alone. They owned an old weight clock that had refused to run for a number of years and when the dead body of McDaniels was brought home Billy claimed that the old clock struck 3 strokes and quit. They informed him that his father was killed at 3 oclock in the afternoon which Billy said was a warning to him that his father was dead but he did not understand the meaning of it when the clock was striking. The people told Billy that he only imagined that the clock struck and he was mistaken as to it being a reality but Billy said that it was an actual truth and that he was greatly surprised when the old clock which had been dead so long would revive itself and go to work and be busy a few seconds and die again as sudden as it had got to work. Nobody with reasonable sense could put any confidence in what he said about the clock but lie declared that it struck the 3rd time as stated. The foregoing account was narrated to me by Mr. Sam Griffin at his home near Oneta Indian Territory one day in the month of August 1906.
Turnbo Home | Table of Contents | Keyword Search| Bibliography | Biography
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