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Truelife(tm) Adventures in Email: More on Gender Dynamics

This is a passage from “Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women” by Virginia Valian that addresses some issues from a longstanding conversation with Star

Gender Schemas at Work:
“Keeping in mind the obstacles to ensuring fairness, we can consider the story of a university department. During the past ten years fifteen men and three women were added to the faculty. When he is queried about the ratio, the chair of the department explains that his only interest is to hire the best, most able, people in order to build the strongest possible department. He makes it clear to search committees that quality is the only issue, and informs them of his views of the candidates. He is sincere in his belief that he is gender-blind and confident of his ability to judge others’ competence. And, since the people he chooses *are* able, he has no reason to dobut his judgement or leadership. Even if he were to track the careers of the women he failed to hire, he would probably not question his decisions. Those women are likely to have been undervalued by other prospective and actual department chairs and to have, as a result, careers that are on average less stellar than those of the men he hired.
For the chair to see that the facts call for more self-doubt, he needs an education in social cognition and gender. He needs, first, to learn that people are likely to misperceive men and women in professional settings to overrate the former and underrate the latter. Clear marks of prestige, ranging from having a degree from an elite institution to sitting at the head of a table, are interpreted differently, depending on whether the person is a man or a woman.

He needs in short, to see that his confidence is misplaced, that it is the product of ignorance. .. He is unlikely to be exempt from the processes that affect everyone else, unlikely to have equally high expectations of men and women, and unlikely to know how to change his perceptions and decisions to adjust for the advantages men have incorrectly received. He believes he is different, but that is what everyone thinks — just as we all think we are above average. Even those who are actively concerned about gender equality are affected by gender-schemas; the odds are that he is, too. As a good scholar, he should entertain the possibility that his judgements are skewed and consider what steps he can take to make them more accurate.”

also, from Schemas, Exceptions and Fairness:
“A second problem in the attempt to ensure fair evaluations is that people find creative ways to justify their perceptions. To take one example, to reassure themselves — and others — that they haverejected stereotypical attitudes or acn judge fairly in spite of them, people point to professional women they admire and respect. For another example, people point to women who are successful as evidence that hiring and promotion practices are based on merit. Finally, people use examples of icompetent women to explain women’s overall lack of success.
Such examples, however, are irrelevant if they are not representative of the general population. My claim is that they are not. They are atypical–exceptions to a general rule confirmed by the preponderance of the evidenc. Examples that represent exceptions do not refute general findings. For instance, on Wall Street in 1996 only 8 percent of the managing directors wer women (Truell 1996). Each of the women in tha 8 percent is an exception someone might cite as evidence that women can succeed in the investment business. Invalidtion of the general rule, however, requires proof that the rule typically does not hold; it is not good enough to show that it occasionally fails to apply. The existence of successful women shows that *some* women are evaluated positively *some* of the time. Fairness demands much more: the guarantee that there is no consistent advantage for members of one group relative to another.”

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Fun Fackts: Some Truly Horrifying Shit

More antibiotics are fed to livestock in North Carolina alone than are given to humans in the entire United States
….
A study by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that in the United States, 70 percent of antibiotics are used to feed healthy livestock, with 14 percent more used to treat sick livestock. Only about 16 percent are used to treat humans and their pets, the study found.

:: NKristoff in the NYTimes ::

If you insist on eating meat at least preference organic local stuff that doesn’t imperil everyone. That’s a good, if incredibly scary, article. Also, MRSA kills more people than AIDS in the US (thanks Lucy!!).

Policy Position: Factory farms as they currently exist need to be made illegal.

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Quick Thoughts: Music

Boy, I bet lobsters love Boards of Canada.

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Does This Look Like a Good Investment?

Prosper.com is one of many Peer-to-peer lending sites emerging that essentially cuts out the broker by allowing individuals to lend to other individuals.

“…there is a massive beauty premium–i.e., cheap loans for pretty women–enjoyed by Prosper borrowers, despite the fact that better-looking people are in fact more likely to default on their loans. Economists Devin Pope and Justin Sydnor find that racial discrimination also taints the online loan market–black borrowers are much less likely to obtain funding and more likely to pay higher interest rates relative to otherwise-similar whites looking for financing.”

also, another thought on the value of this system:

Why might the general public do a better job at evaluating the chances of default than the trained personnel of banking institutions? Most obviously, person-to-person loans aren’t burdened with an extra layer of potentially corrupting bureaucracy. We now know that loan officers were motivated to push loans out the door without sufficient concern for risk and default

:: via Slate ::

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Widely Known Trick: Sunglasses

“No, no, I’m not hungover. I’m just stylish.”

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From the “Things You Didn’t Know Were A Felony” File

MARCH 2–In a bold and bizarre attempt to destroy evidence seized during a federal raid, a New York City man grabbed a flash drive and swallowed the data storage device while in the custody of Secret Service agents, records show. ….. Necula and several codefendants had been transported to a Secret Service office in Brooklyn, where they were to be questioned and processed. While there, and in the view of investigators, Necula “grabbed Subject Flash Drive 2, which had been on his person at the time of his arrest, and swallowed,” Agent Joseph Borger noted in the below February 25 search warrant affidavit. When Necula was unable to pass the item after about four days, doctors–concerned that the drive was not compatible with the suspect’s GI tract–concluded he “would be injured if they allowed the flash drive to remain inside of him,” reported Borger. Necula eventually agreed to allow doctors at New York Downtown Hospital to remove the item, according to a source familiar with the incident. A Kingston executive said it was unclear if stomach acid could damage one of their drives. “As you might imagine, we have no actual experience with someone swallowing a USB,” Mike Sager wrote in an e-mail to TSG. In return for swallowing the storage device, Necula was charged with obstruction of justice, one of four felonies detailed in an indictment returned in late-January. Prosecutors allege that Necula and three other men placed card readers over ATM slots to “skim” magnetic strip information off cards inserted in those machines.

:: via The Smoking Gun via Fred’s Twitter @Mecredis (which is almost always delightful) ::

While I’m not an electronics expert or a biologist, I’m pretty sure that stomach acid (mostly hydrochloric acid) would fuck a thumb drive up pretty bad. According to my guesses, which are based mostly on wild conjecture, it would take about 20 minutes in the stomach to make the drive unreadable in a regular usb drive. However, I think it would take closer to two hours until the data itself was actually destroyed.

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Posted in Media Warfare, The Wonders of Science.


Notes on Fashion

Fashionable New Yorkers are sporting high tech ski wear this season. I think it’s particularly hilarious because the most fashionable among them appear to be wearing jackets with avalanche locators in them. THERE ARE NO AVALANCHES IN MANHATTAN

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TrueLife(tm) Adventures in Email [BoltBus Edition]

Even if the up/download speeds of BoltBus are plodding (if not determined) I will gladly ride it over the internetless Fung Wah bus. Here’s the first email that I checked on my ride:

from customerservice@boltbus.com
to wheatgr@$$@gmail.com
date Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 9:05 AM
subject Service Cancellation

We apologize for the late notice however it has become necessary to
your schedule today due to the inclement weather in our area. We will
automatically issue a refund to the credit card utilized in your original
purchase, there will be no need to call us to obtain this refund.

We apologize for any incvonvenience that this cancellation of service may
cause you.

On one hand, cool free bus ride. On the other hand, whoa! Maybe I shouldn’t be on this bus?

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Quick Thoughts: On the Inevitable Demise of Print Media

Yes, the weakest newspapers will perish feebly in the digital culling. Calm down tiger ::

Print media will die, journalism will not.

In fact, journalism will become stronger, better, faster and more nimble all without the problems it had before. The internet happened with music, movies and television too. It’s for the best, really.

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Posted in Quick Thoughts.


Quote of the Day: Phillip Pullman

“…all the history of human life has been a struggle between wisdom and stupidity…And for most of that time, wisdom has had to work in secret, whispering her words, moving like a spy through the humble places of the world while the courts and palaces are occupied by her enemies.”
-Philip Pullman,

Incidentally, this is a lithograph (I think) made by Martin Luthor depicting peasants farting on the pope.
The_Papal_Belvedere

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Here’s the Problem

When I meet someone who is clearly a maniac rambling wildly about incoherent conspiracy theories I think I can just ask them a simple series of basically logical questions that will elegantly highlight the flaws in their thinking. In my mind, I see them saying “You’re right, the weight of evidence *does* show that Mr. Obama was born in this country and thank you for helping me understand the complexities of politics and immigration law!”

For some reason, I continue to employ this broken ideology based on the ultimate triumphalism of clear headed rationality.

I really don’t know what the fuck is wrong with me. Seriously, I am walking away from more conversations.

++ From the Comments ++

Amy LeBlanc
your inability to learn and change behavior based on the series of failed attempts means perhaps that YOU are the maniacal one.

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I wouldn’t call the pain unbearable

but it probably isn’t a good idea to go to a party with an open absinthe bar. God, who’s idea was that anyway???

him: “it isn’t real absine you know, just pernod”
me: “at least these people are being subjected to a blunted variety of unmitigated madness”

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Eternal Vigilance

is the price we pay to not step in dog shit on Saturday, Feb 20th while walking to a wine tasting in the mission.

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[Events - San Francisco] Global Lives Project Opening

Voodoo Knickers has been a long time supporter of the Global Lives Project and if you’re in San Francisco this is a do not miss event.
GLP_postcard_webfront

I’m working beneath the grey skies of brooklyn and still learning to be an international man of mystery. I don’t have quite 100% control over my schedule yet but I’m hoping to be there if I can.

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Awareness

It just occurred to me that I have quite a few friends that have, at some point, organized all of their books by color.

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Life Update: C.R.E.A.M.

Yesterday, I moseyed my mohowke down to San Mateo for a venture capital conference called The Future of Funding. For those Dear Readers that aren’t tech nerds, Venture Capitalists give software startups some initial money to operate in exchange for a chunk of the company.

:: EXAMPLE ::
–> VC Firm X buys 20% of tech startup Y for 2 million dollars (high fives all around!). X then prays Y gets bought by Google for 500 million so they can transform that 2mil initial investment into 100 millon dollars.

So yeah, venture capital is just gambling for ballers. Mostly what happens is that company Y epic fails so the trick is for for venture capital firm X to invest in Y, Z, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, and eventually one of them will go big. Without turning this into a giant blog post, I will just say that there are some fucking crazy incentive structures involved in this whole process that make it sort of sketchy and ridiculous. There are also a lot of lawyers, hedge funds and banks involved. I went because A. I think it would be interesting and fun to work for a venture capital firm and b. I got in for free (go me).

The number one tedious thing VC’s love self-aggrandizing about is how “venture capital is broken.” Here’s an actual conversation from yesterday (paraphased)

VC: The problem is that venture capitalists fund within a hard to enter social network. Innovative and brilliant ideas don’t get money because entrepreneurs can’t infiltrate the cliques of high level investors.
[2 minutes later during the same conversation]
Dustin: So how do you decide which companies to fund?
VC: Well, I only give money to my friends because all my friends are smart and they wouldn’t want to personally let me down.
Dustin’s Friend J: Wait, didn’t you say two minutes ago that the problem was VC’s only funding their friends? VC: Well, if I was an entrepreneur I would move to silicon valley.

So I pretty much woke up at 5:30 am so I could hang out with a bunch of people who had become entirely divorced from reality. Those who know me would be surprised by just how few arguments I started. The upshot was that I learned some cool things and met a bunch of interesting people. I also got to chill in posh hotel all day and eat lots of good food. Thursday for the win!

The conference was put on by this guy Adeo Ressi who runs a website called TheFunded.com. It’s a way for successfully financed entrepreneurs rate the douchebaggery of VCs who funded them. The website goes a long way in keeping venture capitalists honest so it’s unsurprising that there have been some lawsuits. Adeo is super nice and hilarious but most importantly doesn’t put up with bullshit.

For those unwilling to endure an entire room of VC’s, here are some take aways from The Future of Funding:
* Venture capitalists aren’t quite the ballers they used to be. 2/3rd’s of their operating funds have dried up (that’s the money they have to dole out before they blow it on pointless tech adventures).

* The heady days of the early oughts are behind us and companies just aren’t getting bought for nonsensical sums anymore.

* The market is maturing and companies are being sold at a much slower pace.

* Venture capitalists aren’t intelligent enough to justify their arrogance, as such a lot of vc firms are flailing hard.

** In short, Venture capitalists that still exist have way less money, they’re making less with what they have and it’s taking longer.

* Yet, Venture capitalists still love bloviating about smart they are, even when they are clearly just lucky. Scientists are baffled that I have the patience to tolerate this phenomenon.

* Luckily, my friend, Famous Journalist Anthony Ha was there to save me during “networking” breaks. We made snarky comments during panels. http://venturebeat.com/author/anthony-ha/

* The general trend will be towards more angel investors (random individuals with a lot of money) that give smaller chunks to more companies.

* That sucks because angels can be even bigger tools than VCs and they usually don’t hook up as many of the favors that actually grease the wheels of business.

* More angel investors means a dramatic rise in the number of incubators (communal offices where small startups can meet other startups).

* VCs and angels will make most of their money on private secondary asset markets where they sell early shares and bundled derivatives of early stage companies. That couldn’t possibly go awry. The people who run those markets are making money hand over dick.

* I continue to get horribly annoyed when people thrust their business cards into my hand for no reason. I only snapped on one person. Most people have really boring business cards.

* There were a few burners in disguise at the conference. We’re going to start start a club and have dinner together.

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Quote of the Day: Rollo May

“Depression is the inability to construct a future” –Rollo May

286-fullsize

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Great Moments in Dating [pt. 1]

My friend broke up with her boyfriend in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico because he cheated on her and then lied about it.

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My Favorite Pictures of Some People I Know [pt. 9]

Tiffanie

Everyday that you do not talk to strangers is a day that your new best friend passes you silently on the street. Tiffanie was at a house party brandishing a packet of homemade screen printed greeting cards and I couldn’t resist talking to her. We were fast friends and she took me to her studio to teach me about zinc plate printing. Tiffanie’s wit is probably single handedly responsible for keeping me sane while I lived in Colorado for four months in 2009.

The song Neopolitan Dreams by Lisa Mitchell very much reminds me of her: clever, quirky, highly skilled and delightful beyond measure.
>> Neopolitan Dreams Download

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Quote of the Day: Jin

When I first stumbled on the web site for New England Personality Disorder Association (NEPDA), I thought “finally a diagnosis!” Then I realized it was for psychiatric services IN New England – not a condition called “New England Personality Disorder”. Back to work.

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