MyBlog
Happy 40th Anniversary of Earth Day
Visit the Earth Day 2010 Action Center to get involved.
Read John Tierney’s seven new rules for living as the Earth Day turns middle aged (NYT).
Check out the EPA’s Earth Day page with tips, podcasts, and more.
And for a reality check, zip over to the U.S. Geological Survey for an update on the earthly happenings that humans can’t control.
(Photo courtesy of this Nordic (?) site.)
NYT on the Lack of Women in Tech Ventures
Seriously, this has to change and fast (from Sunday’s New York Times):
“CANDACE FLEMING’S résumé boasts a double major in industrial engineering and English from Stanford, an M.B.A. from Harvard, a management position at Hewlett-Packard and experience as president of a small software company.
“But when she was raising money for Crimson Hexagon, a start-up company she co-founded in 2007, she recalls one venture capitalist telling her that it didn’t matter that she didn’t have business cards, because all they would say was ‘Mom.'”
The full article illuminates the barriers that women technology entrepreneurs face in getting venture financing firms to listen to their ideas and capitalize their businesses, despite the fact that many tech products are aimed at women and that diversity ultimately benefits the bottom line. Encouragingly, there are many fantastic women and organizations out there supporting their tech sisters (find links toward the end of the piece), and working to break down the image of computer engineers as sheltered techno-geeks whose idea of fun is sitting in a dark room programming.
But as the article makes clear, there is a long way to go.
Here is the full linky: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/technology/18women.html?sq=women and technology&st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=print.
Update (4/22/2010): Allyson Kapin adds to the discussion.
Another Year, Another “No” to DC Voting Rights
All hail to those who continue to fight the good fight for D.C. voting rights after this depressing news (via DCist):
“House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) has announced that he will not allow the D.C. House Voting Rights Act to come to a vote this year after all.”
It’s particularly bad news on the day that D.C.’s most revered resident and legendary civil and women’s rights activist, Dorothy Height, died at 98. Here are some of the statements on her passing. Below is audio from an NPR interview with Alexis Herman, currently secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor, on Height’s legacy.
On the other hand, rights for marijuana users advance quicker than you can say “pass the bong” (admittedly, for pot users, that could be quite awhile):
“The D.C. Council voted unanimously this afternoon in favor of a bill that legalizes medical marijuana inside the District of Columbia.”
WaPO on Bill Treanor’s Youth Activist Legacy
A recent article in The Washington Post covers the legacy of Bill Treanor, the now-retired publisher of Youth Today (a dear client of mine).
For 40 years, Bill has been sort of the Zelig of Washington politics: a hippie when Dupont Circle was the epicenter of the counterculture, a Hill staffer, a D.C. school board member and the co-founder of Youth Today, a newspaper that every month since 1992 has been sticking a finger in the eyes of nonprofit groups that purport to help children but don’t have much to show for it.
This is only the latest article in a ton of recent press related to Youth Today; notably, YT editor Patrick Boyle has interviewed a ton lately on his Boy Scout reporting.
Here is the full article about Bill, who we wish well in his “About Schmidt”-like retirement (he knows what that means :).
TV Cord Cutters: You are Not Alone
Due mainly to confusion about gadgets generally and other personal developments, we ditched having a television set last June, around the time that broadcast went digital.
We haven’t missed it. We still catch our favorite shows (Breaking Bad! Dexter!) via iTunes or Hulu or Netflix. Baseball games are listened to on the radio; NPR is too or is streamed live online. I watched The Golden Globes, practically commercial-free, on Justin.tv. And I’m no longer subjected to drive-by hearings of the Sunday political chat shows-about-nothing being piped into my living room. Peace at last!
Turns out, there are now 800,000 of us, according to an article on Tech Crunch. Sure, some Twitterati have more followers, but the number of cord-cutters is projected to grow to 1.6 million households by the end of next year.
So, TV-less we’ll remain, at least for the time being.
NPR Satirist Rips Tiger’s “Redemtion” Ad
A bit of satire via NPR’s Brian Unger for your Sunday/Monday (hat tip/Lisa Fitz). Read at the link or listen below.
Justice Stevens Will Retire
Yes, you’ve probably heard that Justice John Paul Stevens will retire, but do you know the time line for confirming his successor? Scotusblog figures it out.