thusspakezuska
Posts by this author
May 21, 2009
It can't be avoided. Once a year you make the trek to the gynecologist's office for the annual exam. For various reasons, the whole experience is extremely unpleasant for me, and yet I go, because I try to take care of my health. And hey, I have health insurance! And it pays for the annual exam…
May 20, 2009
Everybody needs to read the eight posts on Historiann's list of Lessons for Girls. I really mean that. Go NOW and read. If you don't have time for all eight, please at least read about anger.
If I wish I had learned one lesson earlier in life, it's this: it's okay to be angry, it's okay to…
May 18, 2009
It's May, and that means farmer's market season again - yay! The pain of having to get up early on Saturday - in order to get the good stuff before it's gone - is canceled out by the tasty joys of all the good meals you can make with that good stuff. And the farmer's market has encouraged me to…
May 16, 2009
Isis has a post about the secret life of scientists - an important topic, lest the young 'uns think that grown-up scientists have no lives and just sit around in their labcoats all day reading journal articles, plotting experiments, and analyzing data. Go forth, read, and be amazed by the musical…
May 15, 2009
Hat tip to reader James Ramsey...
What do women really need in computer? Because, what with our vaginas and all, our computing needs are so, so different from those of men. Thank the goddess Dell is looking out for us, with its helpful marketing strategy that emphasizes "color schemes, cases and…
May 15, 2009
Well, that's quite a vigorous discussion we've all been having these past few days over proto-feminist d00ds, no? I am grateful to you all for your participation and for the many good suggestions made to help proto-feminist d00ds along the path of growth. In case some of you missed it, Comrade…
May 12, 2009
The next edition of Scientiae, the carnival in support of women in STEM, will be hosted by Alice and Sciencewoman on their Sciencewomen blog during the first week of June. The theme for the carnival will be Moving Forward, and you can find details about the carnival, ideas for submissions, etc. by…
May 11, 2009
In the midst of a vigorous discussion on my last post, reader Deatkin expressed his frustrations as to how he might engage in a positive manner in a discussion of feminist issues. In this case, it was not the hairy-legged man-hating feminazi Zuska who was intimidating; it was Comrade Physioprof.…
May 8, 2009
The most excellent Dr. Isis has launched her most excellent Letters to Our Daughters project. Isis tells us
The inspiration for my Letters to Our Daughters Project comes from my hope that we can recreate our family tree here, creating a forum where the mothers and aunts in our fields (which I hope…
May 5, 2009
Every manly man of means these days has gotta have a man-cave, right? Every man gotta be a caveman, right?
Wrong. D00ds, step away from your caves! You must read The Caveman Mystique, and if you cannot, as a self-respecting caveman, be bothered to read a whole freakin' book, at least read this…
May 5, 2009
Over at Uncertain Principles, Chad frets about committing physics heresy via a reading of Goldilocks and the Three Bears to his young offspring.
The story may convey a useful moral message, but it's way off base on the physics.
After all, the Papa Bear, being the biggest, presumably has the largest…
April 30, 2009
What's a good citizen to do if he or she thinks that cough and sneeze is swine flu? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends:
Stay home if you get sick. CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.
This afternoon…
April 29, 2009
McDonald's is everywhere, of course. But it's not completely cookie cutter; only about 99.9% so. For example, the McDonald's at the Heidelberg train station I used to frequent when I felt unbearably homesick in Germany had beer on tap - something you don't see in the U.S! Most McDonald's I've…
April 29, 2009
A week ago Friday I spent the morning traipsing about the Morris Arboretum. The magnolias were in full bloom and Patrick Dougherty had just finished his newest sculputure, The Summer Palace. The twig and sapling sculpture will remain in place until it decays away. I can't describe to you the…
April 28, 2009
Fab reader Penny Richards has a Handmade Geekery site on Etsy with this stunning Rock Diva purse that can be YOURS! Do not click unless you are prepared to drool and desire said purse. Penny says that thanks to the Smithosonian's Flickr Commons project, there will be plenty more of these…
April 27, 2009
Sooooo....it appears some of you take your comics quite seriously. At least, should one be so foolish as to point out painfully obvious, boringly everyday occurrences of sexism.
Danimal asks of Comrade Physioprof: "So you are saying the comic reflects real life?"
What Physioprof said is this…
April 21, 2009
I love the comic pages in the newspaper. Some of them are just mildly amusing, but some are bitingly funny and offer real social satire (Pearls Before Swine comes to mind here, as does Non Sequitur). But I was definitely not amused this past weekend when I read the April 19 strip of Foxtrot.
In…
April 8, 2009
Sunday was absolutely gorgeous, sunny and warm, and the Morris Arboretum was teeming with people out to enjoy the spring blossoms. Still, Mr. Z and I had this cherry tree and the blue sky above all to ourselves for a little while.
I know it's not a native tree but it's simply stunning, isn't it…
April 8, 2009
Oh, linky blogosphere, how I love thee!
I was just starting to browse through Atoms Arranged Meaningwise by Rachel McKinney - which I found via Scientiae's blogroll - when her most recent post sent me shooting off to Threadbared. Rachel notes:
And I know we're supposed to be good little serious…
April 7, 2009
Darn it, another Scientiae missed by me. But you don't have to miss reading it! Head on over to Candid Engineer and check it out! Topic is We Rise Up: Overcoming Challenges. Jane's contribution is heartrending at the same time it is inspiring.
And if you want to volunteer to host May's…
April 7, 2009
Yesterday I was listening to Morning Edition on NPR and caught this very intriguing segment, Shakespeare Had Roses All Wrong. Would you describe a bridge as fragile, elegant, beautiful, peaceful, slender, pretty? Or as strong, dangerous, long, sturdy, big, towering? Lera Boroditsky, an assistant…
April 7, 2009
Say hello to newest Scibling Ethan Siegel at his blog Starts With A Bang, which I think is interesting and nifty, and not just because he has a post about tinfoil hats with a music clip of bluegrass artist Colby Maddox singing Shady Grove. Sadly, he does not list TSZ as one of his favorite…
April 3, 2009
Scads of stuff I don't have time to blog adequately...
Johns Hopkins Provost Kristina Johnson was nominated by President Obama to be under secretary of the Department of Energy in mid-March. From the email press release:
She is a distinguished researcher, best known for pioneering work -- with…
April 3, 2009
Well, that was fun, wasn't it? Many thanks to Isis for making it possible by lending me her shoes...also thanks for playing along!
Now we return you to our regularly scheduled shoe-pukin' blog....
April 1, 2009
I've been thinking a lot lately, and it seems to me that I spend way too much time puking on other peoples' shoes and not nearly enough time prancing about in my own fancy high heels. So this past weekend I did some shopping. Here's one result:
Let me tell you, Mr. Zuska is happy about this turn…
March 30, 2009
A few days ago I wrote about The Problem of the Problem of Motherhood in Science, a post inspired by Meg Urry's book review of Motherhood, the Elephant in the Laboratory by Emily Monosson. A vigorous discussion ensued in the comments - thank you all for participating! It turns out the author of…
March 26, 2009
It's here! The second edition of the Diversity in Science Carnival! But it wouldn't be here today without the help of Dr. Free-ride and Dr. Isis. With all the time I have had to devote to my mother and her issues the past two weeks, there is no way I could have gotten the carnival up today…
March 23, 2009
Yeah, I should be asleep, restoring strength for spending another day with mom. But I'm catching up on email and blogs and preparing for the upcoming Diversity in Science Carnival WHICH YOU SHOULD TOTALLY BE WRITING SOMETHING FOR - GET BUSY, NOW!
And in the course of all that I read this post by…
March 22, 2009
Text and title shamelessly stolen from Sciencewomen, I have no time to write, am at mom's again.
Dr. Isis has decided to donate the funds from her blog traffic to fund a scholarship for undergraduate research, and has gotten the American Physiological Society to match her donation up to $500. And…
March 21, 2009
Over at Fairer Science, at the end of an excellent rant about the uselessness of one-shot workshops, Pat Campbell writes:
One other thing, if I see one more article about why there aren't more women in science that concludes "it's the children" I am going to run amuck. This one says "Women don't…