Another Post in List Format

I don't have to enough to say about any one subject today, so I'm presenting you with another random assembly of things I've been doing/thinking about.

1. Katy sent me this link a week or so ago, and it's interesting if you haven't seen it. The article, about women in science, isn't arguing that it's more difficult for women to advance in their careers than men per se, as that it's more difficult for women to advance in science and technology fields relative to other professions. The reason may be the "pervasive macho culture." I think I can safely say that I haven't been in very macho labs, but from the outside I can think of a few that would fit the description. Plus, I've been a grad student (and now a post-doc) but as the article points out, 46% of the Ph.D.s in the biological sciences go to women. The rate of attrition increases dramatically after that.
2. Mom and Aunt Diane are coming to visit me this week. I'm excited - I won't lie, but I'm a little worried about the size of my apartment. It's one room. Great for one person, possibly a little cramped for three. We'll see how it goes. On the plus side -
3. I went to IKEA last week and bought some stuff - bedding, a rug, and (most importantly) a fold-out chair/futon thing. Hopefully the sleeping will be okay.
   
4. I'm starting to teach NMR on Thursday, and I should be working on the class instead of typing this. My students were having a hard time understanding me, so I'm making an effort to slow way, way down. And to force myself to go very slowly through examples. It's tricky to know what they're thinking. On the plus side, I signed up as an instructor for the book I'm using (why it took so long to realize I could do that, I don't know) so now I have lots of examples with answers.
5. My cultures haven't bee growing well (the word dying comes to mind) so I ordered some new media and made it in natural seawater. Hopefully they'll come around.

Okay, I think that's it for right now. I'm going to do some real work now, but I'll leave you with the thought of "geek culture."

“Most people just don’t look at a woman and see an engineer,” Ms. Muller said.

The result, she said has been a work environment that dismisses women. Female employees come up against “the kind of culture that evolves when women are in the extreme minority,” she said. (Think “Lord of the Flies.”) The ideal worker in this realm is “the hacker who goes into his cubicle and doesn’t emerge for a week, having not showered or eaten anything but pizza. Those people exist and they are seen as heroes.”

I can understand that women would have a hard time in such an environment. It makes me shiver just thinking about it.