Questions of science and progress Boredom A Lively History by Peter Toohey review Sappho Ian Raeside obituary Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Wordless Wednesday I Sell the Shadow About Sojourner Truth Sexual discrimination against women scientists may be institutional Recommended Reading on Mitch McConnell

By Thoreau In our continuing efforts to redo the past 10 years, I wish to issue a proclamation to my fellow scientists: Yes, there are interesting and compelling reasons to detect biomolecules at small concentrations.  Yes, indeed, there are useful applications and interesting basic questions to be answered.  However…. There is no reason that every single person out [...] An enthusiastically eccentric study of ennui James Joyce boasted of never once having met a boring person; I guess we must have gone to different parties. I seem to have spent the greater part of my adult life being bored not only by others but by myself too, and by politics, and places, and things, and ideas, and, above all, by books. Which is why one reads other books, isn't it? In order to overcome not only one's own sense of ennui, and lassitude, and to confront one's pathetic self-absorption and ignorance, but also to get over one's disappointment with whatever was the previous passing literary thrill and contrivance. Let's imagine you read a novel – perhaps Gogol's _Dead Souls_. And then you read another novel, let's say, something by James Patterson. And suddenly you find yourself deeply disillusioned with novels. So then you read a memoir. But other people's pimple-scratching makes you world-sick and weary, so you read a travel book, and then some history, and pretty soon you're thinking: is there nothing good to read out there? Where did all the good books go? What is this vast landscape of waste and desolation ... Sappho of Lesbos, ancient Greek poet, is known for her emotional and personal poems even though little of her writing survives. Read more about Sappho, whose name and image have been celebrated for the many centuries since she lived and wrote: * Sappho - A Profile of Sappho of Lesbos with Bibliography * Sappho of Lesbos Pictures - Images of the Poet Sappho in Art and History * Ancient Women Writers _Image adapted from a public domain image. Modifications © 2006 Jone Johnson Lewis._ Sappho originally appeared on About.com Women's History on Monday, April 4th, 2011 at 05:30:40. Permalink | Comment | Email this My father, Ian Raeside, who has died aged 84, was the last person to teach the Marathi language as an academic subject in Great Britain and made an important contribution to knowledge of Marathi texts worldwide. He joined the School of Oriental and African Studies (Soas) in London in 1954 as an assistant lecturer in linguistics, afterwards becoming lecturer and senior lecturer in Gujarati and Marathi. He was acting head of department for the four years before his retirement in 1991 and also served as senior tutor and dean of undergraduate studies. The bulk of his published work focused on the close analysis and translation of texts in Marathi. In the case of supposed histories, his aim was often to discover their degree of historical reliability. This scholarly approach was one he first developed as a postgraduate student, his PhD thesis establishing that a purported medieval history of Italy was largely invented. His own aptitude for the languages he taught led to his winning a prize for his translation of a short story from Marathi after having studied the language for only three years (it was published in the 1966 collection The Rough and the Smooth). ... The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire on March 25, 1911, was a key event in labor history and women's history. The factory was a typical shop where immigrant women and girls could find work in New York, and when so many died, the city -- and nation -- were willing to establish more safety and fire standards to protect others working in similar conditions. * Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Overview * Triangle Shirtwaist Factory - Background About the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory and events involving the factory before the 1911 fire. * Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire - What Happened? The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire from start to finish. * Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire - After the Fire Identifying the victims, memorials, funeral, investigation, trials. * Frances Perkins and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire * Triangle Factory Fire Trivia A few interesting and lesser-known facts about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. * Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Bibliography Books, articles, films, and other sources about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire originally appeared on About.com Women's History on Friday, March 25th, 2011 at 00:16:45. Permalink | Comment | Email ... This week's image is of one of the most famous women in America's black history. The picture is one that she sold to support herself during her lifetime. _Image Courtesy Library of Congress_ Related articles: * About This Picture * Sojourner Truth Images * About Sojourner Truth * Sojourner Truth Quotes * Ain't I a Woman? Sojourner Truth, 1851 * Sojourner Truth Books More related articles: * Pictures of Harriet Tubman * Harriet Tubman Facts * Harriet Tubman Biography * Harriet Tubman Quotes * Harriet Tubman Bibliography * Women Abolitionists More Wordless Wednesday: * Wordless Wednesday - Women's History in Pictures * Wordless Wednesday around About.com * See more Wordless Wednesday images on the Net Wordless Wednesday - "I Sell the Shadow" originally appeared on About.com Women's History on Wednesday, February 16th, 2011 at 06:33:08. Permalink | Comment | Email this Sojourner Truth, a slave turned preacher and lecturer, worked for both the antislavery cause and for women's rights. Sojourner Truth Courtesy Library of Congress Her famous "Ain't I a Woman" speech -- while likely not exactly as it was later remembered -- created quite a stir and called attention to the relationship between racial justice and women's rights. * Sojourner Truth - biography * Sojourner Truth Picture Gallery - index * Ain't I a Woman?- 1881 account of Sojourner Truth's 1851 speech * Sojourner Truth Quotes * Sojourner Truth Books (Bibliography) * _Narrative of Sojourner Truth_ - from Jessica McElrath, About.com Guide to African American History About Sojourner Truth originally appeared on About.com Women's History on Thursday, February 10th, 2011 at 05:01:15. Permalink | Comment | Email this Women in science face a career structure and culture that is weighted against them, rather than straightforward individual sexual discrimination When it comes to worrying about the underrepresentation of women in science, especially at higher levels, are we stuck in the past? A paper published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that we are. Researchers Stephen Ceci and Wendy Williams from Cornell University in the US reviewed 20 years of data on gender discrimination and the status of women in the sciences. They argue that too much attention has been focused on apparent sexual discrimination when women apply for new jobs, funding or to be published in journals. Instead, Ceci and Williams believe that women are more likely than men to make personal choices – many of which may well be constrained – that prevent them from progressing to more senior levels (eg time off to raise children, following a spouse, caring for parents). They argue that focusing on discrimination at application stages may represent a costly red herring and that resources should be redirected towards education and policy changes that reflect the challenges faced by women interested in building ... The book that everyone looking to learn about the Republican Minority Leader should pick up
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References:
http://highclearing.com/index.php/archives/2011/05/05/12897
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/apr/23/boredom-peter-toohey-review
http://womenshistory.about.com/b/2011/04/04/sappho.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2011/apr/03/ian-raeside-obituary
http://womenshistory.about.com/b/2011/03/25/triangle-shirtwaist-factory-fire-2.htm
http://womenshistory.about.com/b/2011/02/16/wordless-wednesday-i-sell-the-shadow.htm
http://womenshistory.about.com/b/2011/02/10/about-sojourner-truth.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2011/feb/08/sexual-discrimination-women-scientists-institutional
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticPoliticsChannel/~3/PjXaXCqUFyU/click.phdo
http://pixelhat.net/