thusspakezuska
Posts by this author
July 30, 2007
The word of the month is "balance", or so they tell me for the upcoming scientiae-carnival. I have been thinking for days about what I could write on this topic. What does balance mean to those without careers?
I can talk about stuff from the past, how I made choices about balancing career and…
July 27, 2007
What is this thing called feminist science studies?
Have you ever been asked that question, or perhaps asked it of yourself? You wanted a nice, short, pithy answer to hand over to your interlocutor. And yet, it's like being asked, what is this thing called science? The subject area is huge,…
July 25, 2007
From the Chronicle of Higher Education today:
A California state senator grilled Charles B. Reed, chancellor of the California State University system, and John D. Welty, president of its Fresno campus, on their commitment to gender equity in athletics at a special hearing here on Tuesday.
The…
July 25, 2007
Tara at Aetiology has a review of Danica McKellar's new book Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math Without Losing Your Mind Or Breaking A Nail. She also snagged an interview with McKellar which you can find here. She asks McKellar about her motivations for writing the book and…
July 24, 2007
You may notice over the next few days some changes in the banner head. Two readers sent me their creations for a new TSZ banner and I am going to be trying them out to see how I like them and see how you like them. At some point I'll put up a post to ask for your feedback. Not this one. This…
July 24, 2007
That fabulous group of women, the X-Gals, is back with the last of their installments in the Chronicle of Higher Education and it is truly Must Read C (of Higher) E.
This last installment is titled On the Origin of Academic Species and it is a cataloging of the various types of folks who've…
July 23, 2007
Chris Smither did a show last night as part of the Upper Merion Concert Under the Stars series. If you aren't familiar with Chris Smither's music, you should be. He's great. The pictures I took of him on stage all came out crappy but I like this one I caught of him just before the show.…
July 20, 2007
This Friday Bookshelf veers slightly off my gender and scienc/engineering bookshelf for a detour over to the general women's studies bookshelf. I hope you'll see why I think it's appropriate to this blog.
The book I'm looking at this week is Engaging Feminism: Students Speak Up and Speak Out…
July 20, 2007
As seen in the Chronicle of Higher Education!
It all started innocently enough, with a protector acquired for a couple of bucks at the 2001 meeting of the American Chemical Society. After that he ordered some for his department. From there, the addiction -- er, collection -- grew.
And grew - to…
July 19, 2007
Sandra at Omni Brain has posted a collection of interesting websites with cool science games for kids, most of them related to brain science. There are also resources for K-12 educators.
I especially like the Brains Rule web site. You just gotta check it out, and pass on the info to a curious…
July 18, 2007
So I'm on the computer, trying to figure out how to go to the Caribbean in the winter cheaply, cursing the airline blackout dates and only half listening to the evening news when suddenly I hear something about the new Harry Potter book...hot dang! There it is! In the flesh! or would that be in…
July 18, 2007
Well, the White House finally got around to naming the winners of the 2006 National Medals of Science. Of the 11 winners named, two - count 'em, two! - are actually women! Rita Colwell and Nina Federoff made the cut. Here's how the Chronicle of Higher Education summarized their accomplishments…
July 18, 2007
From the WEPAN listserv:
What influenced you to pursue a career in information technology? What could we learn from you and other women working in IT that will increase the number of girls and women who are interested in the field?
The K-12 Informal Education Hub of the National Center for Women…
July 17, 2007
Here's something very cool: an award in physics that went to the groups, not to just the bigwigs who lead the group. It's call the Gruber Prize in Cosmology. Rob Knop writes about it:
What to me is coolest about this award is that it's going to the groups. Usually in science we honor and award…
July 17, 2007
From the Chronicle of Higher Education today:
Women who play sports in high school are more likely to earn a college degree than women who do not, according to a new study by Mikaela J. Dufur, an assistant professor of sociology at Brigham Young University, and Kelly P. Troutman, an adjunct…
July 17, 2007
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports
California legislators plan to look into whether there is widespread gender bias in the California State University system
following a lawsuit that resulted in a multi-million dollar award to Cal State-Fresno's former women's volleyball coach.
State Sen.…
July 13, 2007
Two years ago today I wrote my very first blog entry, which wasn't terribly interesting, but I did invite readers to
listen to me rant about gender equity in engineering and science; Intelligent Design, the Christian Right, and the inadequate response of the scientific community; what's lacking in…
July 11, 2007
I want to go to California and eat cheese. From the LA Times:
The benchmark for California cheese is higher than ever in a market that finally has caught up with a few pioneers who were way ahead of the curve. Both the flavors and types of cheeses are constantly evolving. From the highest end (an…
July 11, 2007
There's a great review over at Adventures in Ethics and Science on a book called The Ethical Chemist: Professionalism and Ethics in Science by Jeffrey Kovac. The book takes a case study approach to teaching ethics in science.
The case studies are concise but rich with possibilities, and range…
July 9, 2007
Ah, one last announcement for the day. We have a new blogger in Scienceblogs-land.
Moheb Costandi joined us July 1 and is blogging at Neurophilosophy. And apparently he has 5 different nifty rotating banners on his blog header.
Ah, if only I had one ounce of creativity, and/or knew how to use…
July 9, 2007
Remember that fascinating study that almost certainly applied to females? Jake at Pure Pedantry has a very interesting analysis to offer on it.
I do like the way he deconstructs the statistics and delineates the difference between statistically significant and practically significant. However,…
July 9, 2007
One of the perks of being a Scienceblogger is getting a free subscription to Seed Magazine. Last week, issue 11 August 2007 arrived, and I happily began sampling its good stuff. There's a new feature this month called "Incubator" that tries to "capture the multifacted nature of science itself -…
July 9, 2007
I think this is the last announcement for the day.
Do yinz know about Seed magazine? No? You're not reading it?
Well, if you subscribe right now you get a totally cool Scienceblogs mug for FREE!
If you're seeing a similar banner at the top of the page, it's clickable and you can go…
July 9, 2007
Perhaps you've noticed something new on the sidebar at right...
ScienceBlogs is conducting its first-ever reader survey. One lucky respondent will win an iPod nano. But the real winner will be, well, ScienceBlogs, since we're going to use what we learn to make the site better.
Or so I was told.…
July 9, 2007
Bora at A Blog Around the Clock managed to land an interview with presidential candidate Senator John Edwards! You can read it over at his pad here. Eight questions on the senator's views on science and science policy issues - nice work, Bora!
July 6, 2007
Some time back I saw an announcement in the Chronicle of Higher Education for a new book about Maria Sibylla Merian. The book is Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis by Kim Todd. If you've checked out the most recent Scientiae Carnival (and if not, why not?!?), you'…
July 5, 2007
The latest Scientiae Carnival is up at Amelie's Welt; the topic is responsibility. In a completely irresponsible move, I missed the deadline for contributions this time around, my first time. I can point to migraines and doctor appointments and MRI scans and whatnot last week but still, I should…
June 29, 2007
Mr. Zuska came home this evening, tired after a long week of work. We looked at each other and said "Pizza". Which turned out to be a good thing, because when the pizza delivery guy showed up and I went to pay him, I found a package on my front porch from the good folks at Seed (specifically,…
June 29, 2007
I've been doing some reading over at Twisty's place this afternoon, and, you know, it's the usual patriarchy-blaming that helps raise your blood pressure. I do admire Twisty's way with a phrase.
Then I came across this post. And it was more than the blood pressure; I wanted to scream in…
June 29, 2007
There's a debate going on among my Sciblings about atheism: is it or is it not a civil rights issue? Matthew at Framing Science is of the opinion that it is not, and apparently thinks people like Richard Dawkins are giving atheists a bad name. Jason at Evolutionblog writes the following:
Atheists…