Why Women Opt Out of Math/Science Careers

I wouldn't say that I was particularly alarmed, mostly because I see the evidence everyday, but I found a new article that cites why women are absent from math or science careers.

You can find the article here.

Basically they confirmed that the typical age of child-rearing coincides with the most intensive period of academic lifestyle (ie getting tenure, pursuing promotion, etc). I don't think that is particular to just math/science careers, but pretty much the evidence suggests that women have to make a choice between having children and pursuing a promoted career.

I believe though that it is becoming more and more common to see companies and universities offer a delayed tenure package, as the article suggests. Slow going, but things will change.

My New Iphone App: Cow Fart CO2

After a long and arduous journey, my Iphone application finally made it to the Apple Itunes store. Click here to open up ITunes: http://tinyurl.com/bdd2sv

The application is called Cow Fart CO2. It measures your carbon footprint in terms of cow farts. Nice.

If you are thinking about publishing an app, here are the steps you will have to take.

0. Own a Mac. Own an Iphone.
1. Get the Iphone SDK.
2. Plan out what you want to do
3. Read the forums, read the tutorials, and don't give up on Objective-C.
4. Make sure everything works on the Iphone Simulator
5. Think about whether you want your app to be sold within a company (LLC is best), or if you want to have your personal name attached.
6. Apply to the developer program.
6. Pay $99.00
7. Pay $300.00 if you file for an LLC
8. Wait for 1-2 months
9. Get an e-mail from Apple; fax legal documents.
10. Wait for 2 weeks
11. Obtain a developer license
12. Rip out your hair as you try to figure out how Apple's black box code-signing ritual works.
13. Remember not to throw your Iphone at the wall when your code-signing works after 5 hours of tweaking and fiddling and then realize that your binary won't compile for whatever reason.
14. Read the forums and thank those who help you figure it out.
15. Submit your application to the I-Tunes store.
16. Wait for 2 weeks.
17. Get rejected, resubmit again for making a stupid error.
18. Get the glorious e-mail from apple saying your app has now been listed!!!
19. Make bank...or not.

The Girl Effect

I'm not sure how long this has been around, but this makes an enormous amount of sense.

Here are some quick facts from the website:
1) When a girl in the developing world receives 7 or more years of education, she marries 4 years later and has 2 fewer children.
2) Educated girls grow to be educated women, who end up having healthier babies.
3) When girls earn an income, they reinvest 90% of it back into their families
4) 75% of HIV-infected youth in Africa are girls

Sustainable Home Insulation

I've been working diligently on a project for my Materials Design class. I just finished.

Below you can look at my presentation for the Design of a New Material for Home Insulation. Hope you learn something!

Cork-Concrete

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

Let's Try This Again

It has definitely been a long time since I have last posted. My bookmarks of possible articles to comment on has grown exponentially large...to the point that I may have to just dump the whole thing and concentrate on the new stuff that's coming in.

These past few months have been relatively intense. Most notably, I was studying close to 5 hours a day for the past 3 months in preparation for my (2nd) attempt at the qualifying exam.

I am finally relieved to say that I PASSED!

Now...let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Technically, I've got something like 4 years left at this institution. That's 4 more years of sweating constantly. God forbid, it might be 4 more years of inhaling dangerous chemicals, which seems to be par for the course with my new research project (long range explosive detection system). I know, its quite a distance from sustainability, but hopefully in the next 4 years I will find some way of bringing it all together.

Or I could just leave this December with a Masters. For once, I'd have the opportunity to make a bit more money than my paltry above poverty salary. I'd also have the opportunity to travel to some great place, which doesn't have cockroaches, billions of geckos, millions of mosquitoes, or rampant bad smells of alcohol and swamp.

I guess we'll see what happens. I might even put up a poll soon to let you help ME decide.

Environmental legislation is eroding away

There seems to be a lot of people excited about the environment these days. Heck, even Al Gore got a Nobel Peace Prize. But in actuality, where it counts most, the legislation is falling apart at its seams.

In addition to a lot of other depressing news, legislation supporting environmental causes is going backwards.

First, there was the news that Congress might not actually renew renewable energy tax credits when the previous bill expires in December. They might wait for the new president to take office. Luckily my main woman Barbara Boxer has about 4 bills in the pipeline, so if one gets defeated there are 3 others that could potentially pick up the slack. But if all 4 get defeated, you can kiss the wind, solar, geothermal, and other renewable energy industries goodbye...at least for a year or two.

Second, the EPA has been working to put out legislation that calls for a cap and trade system of certain pollutants. Coming from the Bush administration, it was a weak proposal to begin with, but it was easily voted against by the U.S Court of Appeals. Then right after the ruling, the administration said it would take no more steps to enforce emissions under the Clean Air Act. Wonderful.

Third, today President Bush called for a lift of the off-shore oil drilling ban which is also embraced by McCain. I guess it would be nice to go to the beach someday and see some oil rigs pumping away.

I've never wanted November to come so soon.

TED and Japanese Energy Hungry Toilet

First, let me mention in passing that I just discovered a REAALLY cool website which posts videos of famous people giving sometimes incredible presentations on just about anything interesting. Here is one that I liked about food:




Next up is this pretty weird article about Japanese toilets. Apparently there is a growing phenomenon of Japanese people buying toilets that have some crazy features. Here is an excerpt:

Japanese toilets can warm and wash one's bottom, whisk away odors with built-in fans and play water noises that drown out potty sounds. They play relaxation music, too. "Ave Maria" is a favorite.

High-end toilets can also sense when someone enters or leaves the bathroom, raising or lowering their lids accordingly. Many models have a "learning mode," which allows them to memorize the lavatory schedules of household members.

Thats pretty legit Washington Post reporting right there. All joking aside, there was a reason this article was in the "Green" section of the Post. Japan is notorious for energy conservation (hence origin of Kyoto agreement) so its a bit ironic that the growing fad is for something that consumes an enormous amount of energy just to make the bathroom experience more pleasant.

Oh the humanity.