I was listening to my usual Amazon Prime music station in lab the other day and a song that I'd never heard before came on. I played it several times in a row and liked it even more each time.
The singer, Lia Ices, is a singer songwriter. To me, her voice sounds like a young Sinead O'Connor sang a Cocteau Twins song, but there are also similarities to Kate Bush, Tori Amos, and Florence and the Machine.
After listening to a bunch or her songs, I looked her up. Dear readers, if she didn't sounds like an angel I would be seriously snarky because she seriously does not fit my image of someone who sounds like Sinead O'Connor meets Cocteau Twins. I don't hate people because they're beautiful but I could almost come close here because her life is so over that top that I'd like to trade places with her for a few days. She's got that tall pretty bohemian look and is married to a heir to the Mariani dried fruit empire who owns an organic vineyard in Northern California. There were multiple articles about her in Vogue, including her snark-worthywedding, her makeup routine, etc etc. She's been recording music since 2008, but since I'm an out of touch old biddy who doesn't read Vogue I was totally clueless.
Here's the song that got me hooked despite being a cranky old biddy who'd be shocked that her favorite new artist is a rich girl Vogue Instagrammer type.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfrwEyyRsIY
Friday, January 24, 2020
Monday, January 6, 2020
the magic of perimenopause, part 2/n
And, just like that, my ovaries turned back on and my internal furnace shifted back to normal levels. All of a sudden I have a normal heat tolerance again. Probably not coincidentally, I am finally able to sleep deeply and not wake up from being too warm.
I am celebrating this momentous occasion by drinking a lot of caffeine and attempting to catch up on a year's worth of sleep. However, I am hedging my bets by not putting the flannel sheets or comforter back on the bed just yet.
I am celebrating this momentous occasion by drinking a lot of caffeine and attempting to catch up on a year's worth of sleep. However, I am hedging my bets by not putting the flannel sheets or comforter back on the bed just yet.
FU - media, part 1/n
Bringing back the short format without links since I have a lot to say and a short attention span...
Can we please stop throwing our female presidential candidates under the bus? Please just focus on articles on the latest Trump fuckups and let the voters decide who they want in the Democratic primary. It's really obvious now that there are multiple female and minority candidates for president. Hollee fuck this is getting annoying. Do the math. Raising 3% less money than Joe Biden in three months is not a sign that doom is imminent, nor is one generic tweet that says essentially the same thing as all the other candidates regarding Trump's attack on Iran. The media glorifies all the white guys, ignores the qualified male minority candidates and giddily throws the female candidates under the bus one at a time to maximize their views.
On a related note, can we please stop acting like Pete Buttiegieg is a super genius because he went to Harvard and got a Rhodes Scholarship without also mentioning that Cory Booker did pretty much the same, albeit he went to Stanford. Likewise, Julian Castro also went to Stanford. The only reason I know these things because I'm also an alum from the same era. Sheesh.
Can we please stop throwing our female presidential candidates under the bus? Please just focus on articles on the latest Trump fuckups and let the voters decide who they want in the Democratic primary. It's really obvious now that there are multiple female and minority candidates for president. Hollee fuck this is getting annoying. Do the math. Raising 3% less money than Joe Biden in three months is not a sign that doom is imminent, nor is one generic tweet that says essentially the same thing as all the other candidates regarding Trump's attack on Iran. The media glorifies all the white guys, ignores the qualified male minority candidates and giddily throws the female candidates under the bus one at a time to maximize their views.
On a related note, can we please stop acting like Pete Buttiegieg is a super genius because he went to Harvard and got a Rhodes Scholarship without also mentioning that Cory Booker did pretty much the same, albeit he went to Stanford. Likewise, Julian Castro also went to Stanford. The only reason I know these things because I'm also an alum from the same era. Sheesh.
Monday, November 11, 2019
Perimenopause musings
I'm smack dab in the middle of perimenopause. My main symptoms are insomnia and a complete resetting of my internal thermostat. It's not so much hot flashes (although I do get short mild ones) as just a state of permawarm. I'm flying back to Ithaca today and am seriously looking forward to the snow and ice that await me there.
I look like Heatmiser and feel like Snowmiser. In my imaginary feminist remake of The Year Without a Santa Claus, I want to have Snowmiser be fat and menopausal and Heatmiser to be a climate change denying politician.
I look like Heatmiser and feel like Snowmiser. In my imaginary feminist remake of The Year Without a Santa Claus, I want to have Snowmiser be fat and menopausal and Heatmiser to be a climate change denying politician.
WTF, Silicon Valley business wanker edition
This is a very old post that I forgot to publish at the time
Nov. 11, 2019: I'm at the San Jose airport waiting for my flight, which was delayed for 2 hours. I wandered around until a found a quiet work area with tables and lots of outlets. Life was good until a business wanker sat down and proceeded to yap loudly on his cell phone about a promotion decision. From what I could tell they were considering two candidates, a man and a woman. It was a textbook example of unconscious and blatant sexism. Dude candidate was described as being well prepared, and female candidate was described as not having much experience, not in the job long enough, etc. Obviously, I don't know the backstory, so it may be exactly as described, or not, but one thing really stood out. The business wanker was talking about how the reason that the female candidate gave for wanting the promotion were weird, and she didn't mention needing more money. First of all, I am continually surprised how the default state for women is assumed to be NOT wanting more money or a promotion. Let's just assume everyone wants a higher salary and many people want a promotion. This is not rocket science. Second of all, I can pretty much guarantee that if a woman went in and said they were interested in a promotion because they wanted more money, it would not exactly go over well so of course female candidate gave non-monetary reasons. D'uhh.
I dealt with this all the time in industry. Ask for a raise and you get stonewalled. Painstakingly quantify all your achievements in your self-evaluation with the goal of getting a title bump and your boss will act all surprise and say "It sounds like you are looking for a promotion" like this is something shocking. Dudes, it's not difficult. Assume that your female employees want the same raises and promotions that your male employees want and act accordingly.
Fortunately, I have a fancy new pair of noise cancelling headphones and was able to tune out the business wanker for the rest of his conversation.
Nov. 11, 2019: I'm at the San Jose airport waiting for my flight, which was delayed for 2 hours. I wandered around until a found a quiet work area with tables and lots of outlets. Life was good until a business wanker sat down and proceeded to yap loudly on his cell phone about a promotion decision. From what I could tell they were considering two candidates, a man and a woman. It was a textbook example of unconscious and blatant sexism. Dude candidate was described as being well prepared, and female candidate was described as not having much experience, not in the job long enough, etc. Obviously, I don't know the backstory, so it may be exactly as described, or not, but one thing really stood out. The business wanker was talking about how the reason that the female candidate gave for wanting the promotion were weird, and she didn't mention needing more money. First of all, I am continually surprised how the default state for women is assumed to be NOT wanting more money or a promotion. Let's just assume everyone wants a higher salary and many people want a promotion. This is not rocket science. Second of all, I can pretty much guarantee that if a woman went in and said they were interested in a promotion because they wanted more money, it would not exactly go over well so of course female candidate gave non-monetary reasons. D'uhh.
I dealt with this all the time in industry. Ask for a raise and you get stonewalled. Painstakingly quantify all your achievements in your self-evaluation with the goal of getting a title bump and your boss will act all surprise and say "It sounds like you are looking for a promotion" like this is something shocking. Dudes, it's not difficult. Assume that your female employees want the same raises and promotions that your male employees want and act accordingly.
Fortunately, I have a fancy new pair of noise cancelling headphones and was able to tune out the business wanker for the rest of his conversation.
Tuesday, October 8, 2019
On writing out womens' contributions to science and technology
About 5 years ago, I blogged about NPR's coverage of a couple, Brian and Elizabeth, who developed an app for detecting a type of eye cancer. They were both chemists, and Elizabeth had noticed white-eye in pictures of their baby and remembered that she'd read it could be a sign of cancer. Brian initially downplayed her concerns, but the baby was diagnosed with eye cancer on his next visit to the pediatrician. A few years after the baby was diagnosed with cancer, Brian went back to look at the pictures and see when the white eye started to show up. Anyway, in the interview they made it clear that it was a team effort, but the interviewer really pushed the 'genius science guy discovers something' narrative.
NPR had another story on the app today. I clicked on it to see if they'd gotten more inclusive this time. Nope. This time around, there was no mention of Elizabeth's role at all, either by the interviewer or by Brian. They made it sound like the baby was diagnosed and then Brian went back and analyzed the baby pics for white eye. No mention of Elizabeth making the original fucking discovery. Gah!!! I can't just blame NPR this time around, since Brian seems to be an asshole too but for fuck's sake, everyone, this is how women's contributions to science get minimized and forgotten.
I'm not surprised, of course. When my colleagues and I won an award for our paper in Science, the Cornell news service wrote a story about how my boss won an award rather than how the team had won an award. They even got my title wrong, and sadly they deflated it rather than inflated it. What I don't get, however, is why they think that is a better or more interesting narrative. In the case of the chemists who developed the app, the actual story is more interesting than the whitewashed one. In the case of my colleagues and I, the actual story is not less interesting.
I'm extra salty today because the physics Nobel Prize was announced today, and one of the winners was a pioneer in the field of dark matter. Vera Rubin, who passed away a few years ago, was also a pioneer in dark matter. But of course the Nobel committee didn't think to award the prize for that until after she had passed away.
The chemistry Nobel Prize is announced tomorrow. Assuming that it gets awarded for chemistry and not biology, I may be even saltier. Sigh.
NPR had another story on the app today. I clicked on it to see if they'd gotten more inclusive this time. Nope. This time around, there was no mention of Elizabeth's role at all, either by the interviewer or by Brian. They made it sound like the baby was diagnosed and then Brian went back and analyzed the baby pics for white eye. No mention of Elizabeth making the original fucking discovery. Gah!!! I can't just blame NPR this time around, since Brian seems to be an asshole too but for fuck's sake, everyone, this is how women's contributions to science get minimized and forgotten.
I'm not surprised, of course. When my colleagues and I won an award for our paper in Science, the Cornell news service wrote a story about how my boss won an award rather than how the team had won an award. They even got my title wrong, and sadly they deflated it rather than inflated it. What I don't get, however, is why they think that is a better or more interesting narrative. In the case of the chemists who developed the app, the actual story is more interesting than the whitewashed one. In the case of my colleagues and I, the actual story is not less interesting.
I'm extra salty today because the physics Nobel Prize was announced today, and one of the winners was a pioneer in the field of dark matter. Vera Rubin, who passed away a few years ago, was also a pioneer in dark matter. But of course the Nobel committee didn't think to award the prize for that until after she had passed away.
The chemistry Nobel Prize is announced tomorrow. Assuming that it gets awarded for chemistry and not biology, I may be even saltier. Sigh.
Thursday, July 25, 2019
Quinoa Kale Salad with Grapes
Quinoa Kale Salad with Grapes
1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1 large bunch kale, stems and ribs removed
2 cups red grapes, cut in half (strawberries might be good too)
1/2 cup slivered almonds
Dressing
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp honey or maple syrup
1/4 cup olive or avocado oil
1/2 tsp salt
Rinse quinoa well and cook it. Allow it to cool.
Mix dressing ingredients.
Remove ribs and stems from kale and chop it into salad sized pieces. Wash well, drain, then add a bit of salt and a tbsp of olive oil and "knead" it for a minute or two. This will soften it up.
Combine kale, grapes, and quinoa and add dressing and mix. Sprinkle almonds on top.
Color commentary: I've made this twice in the last week and am a bit obsessed. Joe's not really a kale afficionado, but he really enjoyed it too. I was inspired to do this after having some really good salads at, of all places, the San Francisco airport. Seriously. If you're ever getting food there, check out the Dogpatch Cafe and skip the sandwiches. Even the flight attendants commented on how good my salad looked. I had a quinoa-kale salad, a butternut squash salad with pepitas and grapes, and some sriracha tofu. They all mixed together in the container, so when I decided to recreate the quinoa-kale salad I also added grapes.
I found a recipe that looked to have the right flavor profile*and modified it. It came out pretty close to what I had at the airport. The grapes add a bit of sweetness without taking over like dried cranberries would've done.
* I really ought to link to the recipe I used but they made me scroll through so much commentary, pictures, ads etc that I refuse to give them the web traffic.
1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1 large bunch kale, stems and ribs removed
2 cups red grapes, cut in half (strawberries might be good too)
1/2 cup slivered almonds
Dressing
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp honey or maple syrup
1/4 cup olive or avocado oil
1/2 tsp salt
Rinse quinoa well and cook it. Allow it to cool.
Mix dressing ingredients.
Remove ribs and stems from kale and chop it into salad sized pieces. Wash well, drain, then add a bit of salt and a tbsp of olive oil and "knead" it for a minute or two. This will soften it up.
Combine kale, grapes, and quinoa and add dressing and mix. Sprinkle almonds on top.
Color commentary: I've made this twice in the last week and am a bit obsessed. Joe's not really a kale afficionado, but he really enjoyed it too. I was inspired to do this after having some really good salads at, of all places, the San Francisco airport. Seriously. If you're ever getting food there, check out the Dogpatch Cafe and skip the sandwiches. Even the flight attendants commented on how good my salad looked. I had a quinoa-kale salad, a butternut squash salad with pepitas and grapes, and some sriracha tofu. They all mixed together in the container, so when I decided to recreate the quinoa-kale salad I also added grapes.
I found a recipe that looked to have the right flavor profile*and modified it. It came out pretty close to what I had at the airport. The grapes add a bit of sweetness without taking over like dried cranberries would've done.
* I really ought to link to the recipe I used but they made me scroll through so much commentary, pictures, ads etc that I refuse to give them the web traffic.
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