A Blog For All and No One
Zuska is the kick-ass alter-ego of Suzanne E Franks. When not dispensing Zuska's wisdom, Suzanne can often be found gardening, reading, or having one of her thrice-weekly migraines.
The place where I come from...is a small town. Coalfields of the Appalachian Mountains
You will be wanting to read my excellent essay, 'Suzy the Computer' vs. 'Dr. Sexy': What's a Geek Girl to Do When She Wants to Get Laid? in She's Such a Geek! Women Write About Science, Technology, and Other Nerdy Stuff.
If you have not yet figured out why you shoud not be using terms like "hard science" and "soft skills", then you absolutely need to read Telling Stories About Engineering: Group Dynamics and Resistance to Diversity in NWSA Journal v. 16 No. 1, 2004 (Re)Gendering Science Fields.
You should also read They Blinded Me With Science: Misuse and Misunderstanding of Biological Theory, an excellent critique of Thornhill and Palmer's nonsense about rape as an evolutionary strategy. You can find it in Burack and Josephson's must-read tome, Fundamental Differences: Feminists Talk Back to Social Conservatives.
Support the Mautner Project for Lesbians With Cancer! "The Mautner Project improves the health of lesbians, bisexual, and transgender women who partner with women, and their families, through advocacy, education, research, and direct service. [The Mautner Project envisions] a healthcare system that is guided by social justice and responsive to the needs of all people."
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October 29, 2007
Category: Donors Choose
Wow! I asked, and you responded. Thanks! My challenge is funded at 100%. That's $1500 (actually, a little more) impacting 345 schoolkids! You can still donate if you want to, even though my initial goal has been reached. There are...
Posted by Zuska at 9:50 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Daily Struggles
It's maddening that something as simple as how I wear my hair can be fraught with gender connotations.
Posted by Zuska at 6:39 PM • 43 Comments •
Category: Donors Choose
...the deadline for the end of the Donors Choose fund drive is rapidly approaching. I'm bummed that it looks like TSZ will not reach 100% of its funding goal. That means some potential matching funds will go unclaimed. I realize...
Posted by Zuska at 1:05 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: Announcements
Dave Munger at Cognitive Daily introduced today a new set of icons that will help readers identify blogging on peer-reviewed research. You can find the full announcement below the fold, including info on where to find the icons, how to...
Posted by Zuska at 12:38 PM • 0 Comments •
October 27, 2007
Category: Stereotypes We Know And Love
Some great posts on other blogs you may have missed reading: Language Log has a great critique of the new PBS show WordGirl, which I found via Fairer Science. If that's not enough to make you grind your teeth, then...
Posted by Zuska at 11:08 AM • 0 Comments •
Category: Race Matters
Since Jim Watson's recent self-destruction, there's been a lot of talk about pseudo-scientific racism versus actual "scientific" studies of race. Earlier this summer, Lennard J. Davis had an essay in the Chronicle of Higher Education titled A Grand Unified Theory...
Posted by Zuska at 10:01 AM • 0 Comments •
October 26, 2007
Category: Race Matters
By now everyone knows that Jim Watson has resigned his position at CSHL. But the damage he's done will live on long afterwards. Consider this comment from a reader (emphasis added): As a non-scientist, I'd like to point out an...
Posted by Zuska at 3:06 PM • 8 Comments •
October 25, 2007
Category: Resources
In case you are thinking of community colleges as your "safety" academic career, you might want to do some reading up on them to develop your understanding of their unique mission.
Posted by Zuska at 2:16 PM • 9 Comments •
October 24, 2007
Category: Geekalicious
Didn't you get something like this from your parents when you were younger? "You kids don't know how easy you have it. When I was young, I had to walk to school! In the snow! Uphill! Both ways!" Well, a...
Posted by Zuska at 9:19 PM • 5 Comments •
Category: Apologists for the Oppressors
PZ Myers is a really nice person and I love Pharyngula - I just spent a nice half hour reading it, and among other good stuff I encountered there was a link in this post to Robert Hooke's notebooks online....
Posted by Zuska at 9:04 PM • 11 Comments •
October 19, 2007
Category: Apologists for the Oppressors
Academic freedom doesn't exist to benefit people who twist or ignore science to serve lies.
Posted by Zuska at 6:53 PM • 37 Comments •
Category: Friday Bookshelf
This week's Friday Bookshelf is actually a repeat of a blog post from the old blog site. It begins with a question: Who was Annie Montague Alexander?...
Posted by Zuska at 2:27 PM • 2 Comments •
October 18, 2007
Category: Announcements
Go forth and photograph, and send us the fruit of your digital labors!
Posted by Zuska at 6:35 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Positive Actions
From the BBC News: The Science Museum has cancelled a talk by American DNA pioneer Dr James Watson after he claimed black people were less intelligent than white people...saying his views went "beyond the point of acceptable debate". Skills Minister...
Posted by Zuska at 1:48 PM • 9 Comments •
October 17, 2007
Category: Geekalicious
The best high-carb food in Slavic cooking is the potato pierogie.
Posted by Zuska at 7:55 PM • 7 Comments •
Category: Burns My Shorts
Fertility is not a disease, but it's a health issue.
Posted by Zuska at 5:45 PM • 7 Comments •
Category: Burns My Shorts
Jim Watson is a consummate ass. I don't care if he discovered the secret of life, the universe, and everything, he's still a misogynistic racist miserable S.O.B.
Posted by Zuska at 4:30 PM • 30 Comments •
October 16, 2007
Category: Geekalicious
By way of the Chronicle News Blog...researchers are using a brain-computer interface to allow physically-impaired people move an avatar around in Second Life. The system consists of a headpiece equipped with electrodes that monitor activity in three areas of the...
Posted by Zuska at 1:46 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Burns My Shorts
Not, of course, that how he sees it bears any relationship to reality.
Posted by Zuska at 1:17 PM • 19 Comments •
October 15, 2007
Category: Daily Struggles
So, it's Blog Action Day, and we're all supposed to post something related to the environment. Science Woman has a very hopeful post about how "having a daughter has brought the idea of intergenerational responsibility into much sharper focus" for...
Posted by Zuska at 8:34 PM • 1 Comments •
October 14, 2007
Category: Announcements
I just want to remind those of you who have donated and those of you who might be thinking of donating to Donors Choose, that if you want to receive your nifty Women in Math and Science magnet AND have...
Posted by Zuska at 9:44 AM • 0 Comments •
October 12, 2007
Category: Donors Choose
So eight of you, besides me, so far, think that Donors Choose is a worthy cause. The generous eight have had an impact on 305 students! (See the Leaderboard for details.) Anybody else? Also, remember the cool prizes available if...
Posted by Zuska at 3:09 PM • 3 Comments •
Category: Why Aren't You Reading This?
I love it. You must read this book review in the TimesOnline (found via Arts & Letters Daily) of Deborah Cameron's The Myth of Mars and Venus: Do Men and Women Really Speak Different Languages? Commenting on Cameron's take on...
Posted by Zuska at 2:12 PM • 1 Comments •
Category: Geekalicious
By now you've no doubt heard that Al Gore and the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. I must confess that this announcement gives me no small degree of schadenfreude when I think...
Posted by Zuska at 1:19 PM • 0 Comments •
October 11, 2007
Category: Announcements
Yami includes this very reasonable request to all you dude bloggers:
Posted by Zuska at 6:40 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Announcements
Apparently the shabby prizes I am offering are not enough to entice very many of you to donate to Donors Choose. But perhaps you will perk up and open your wallets when you see what Seed is giving away to...
Posted by Zuska at 5:04 PM • 0 Comments •
October 10, 2007
Category: Isn't It Ironic?
From the Chronicle of Higher Education, Home-Schooled Students Rise in Supply and Demand: "Home schooling often really allows students to develop a passion," says Sabena Moretz, associate director of admissions at Richmond. "With a traditional high school, most of the...
Posted by Zuska at 2:44 PM • 18 Comments •
October 9, 2007
Category: Announcements
I know I would. So how do you do that? Well, Seed Media Group will help you by matching your donation. The first $15,000 in donations made through the Scienceblogs Challenge will be matched by Seed Media Group through its...
Posted by Zuska at 2:01 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Announcements
MentorNet, the premier e-mentoring organization, has recently launched the MentorNet Blog. Mary Fernandez tells us in the inaugural entry: In this blog, I plan to explore the inspiring, unexpected, and exciting reasons to choose a STEM career, and I am...
Posted by Zuska at 1:40 PM • 0 Comments •
October 8, 2007
Category: Daily Struggles
How do you maintain a career in science when you can't work full-time?
Posted by Zuska at 11:32 PM • 13 Comments •
Category: Announcements
Thanks to those of you who have donated so far! You've helped get the TSZ challenge to 39% of fulfillment! The way Donors Choose works, more than one person can add a proposal to a challenge, and/or individuals could choose...
Posted by Zuska at 6:25 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Announcements
So it seems there's a $10,000 blogging scholarship, and ScienceBlog's own Shelley Batts has made the cut! (Second year in a row!) She's one of 20 finalists and, I believe, the only science blogger among the 20. And she could...
Posted by Zuska at 5:29 PM • 1 Comments •
October 5, 2007
Category: Friday Bookshelf
What does it take to be included in The Best Science Writing 2007? Well, it helps if you write for the New Yorker or the New York Times. Eleven of 20 contributions selected for this volume originally appeared in the...
Posted by Zuska at 5:19 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: Friday Fare
I spent a lot of time on airplanes in the last few weeks, and so I spent a lot of time reading in-flight magazines. Southwest's Spirit is not so bad. In the pages of the September edition I learned about...
Posted by Zuska at 3:33 PM • 7 Comments •
Category: Announcements
Dr. Free-Ride has provided a nice summary of how the Science Bloggers' Challenge for Donors Choose is going so far. And can you believe those readers over at Mike Dunford's blog? They've already maxed out his challenge! And you all...
Posted by Zuska at 2:36 PM • 0 Comments •
October 4, 2007
Category: Announcements
Skookumchick offers up a devastating dissection of a mentoring workshop she was required to attend...
Posted by Zuska at 2:23 PM • 0 Comments •
October 1, 2007
Category: Announcements
Probably you've already noticed that Sciencewoman has joined the gang here at ScienceBlogs! Her first post here was on Sept. 20th, which was while I was off traveling with my mom. Helping my mom navigate through her vacation absorbed nearly...
Posted by Zuska at 7:20 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: Donors Choose
So, I see that sly Dr. Free-Ride is bribing her readers with promises of poems and original artwork from the sprogs and writing blog entries on the topic of their choice if only they will contribute to Donors Choose. Very...
Posted by Zuska at 6:46 PM • 6 Comments •
Category: Donors Choose
I wasn't a part of ScienceBlogs yet last June for the first Donors Choose fund-raiser, but I sure am glad to be able to participate this year. If you haven't heard of Donors Choose, here's a quick description: DonorsChoose.org is...
Posted by Zuska at 1:34 PM • 0 Comments •
