It’s Still Not Okay for Women to be Angry

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With all the progress we’ve made in advancing gender equality, one double standard remains strongly in place – the idea that an angry or upset woman is crazy, or at least unable to control herself. Angry men can be more easily seen as passionate about whatever spun them up, but women have long been expected to keep themselves calm and understanding, if not passive, in almost all public situations.

This strikes me as just another way to keep women “in their place”, by making them conform to a stringent and generally unreachable standard of the “ideal woman”. Women bear some responsibility for the healthy state of this standard, with many perpetuating the standard out of ignorance or because it benefits them personally, but of course the standard was created by men and needs to be discredited by men.

http://jezebel.com/5880065/its-still-not-okay-for-ladies-to-get-angry

Android Design Chief Talks App Design

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This is a helpful article about Google’s vision of the future for Android. It also details Google’s new Android Design web site, which developers should reference to optimize their apps usability on Android devices of all sizes.
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/01/android-design-matias-duarte-2/all/1

RFID Implantation and Its Security Implications

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I was on G+ discussing the potential implications of a new radio-frequency firearm detection device being tested by the New York City Police when a thoughtful commenter noted that he wouldn’t be surprised if the next generation of Americans had RFID chips implanted at birth. This got me thinking …

I would not be surprised if people voluntarily embed RFID chips in themselves and their children as a matter of convenience and security, not fully understanding the larger security implications of their actions. Americans love convenience and it would be fairly easy to achieve moderate penetration of human implanted RFID chips by voluntary means.

Once this moderate penetration is achieved, governments could, with good reason, start giving favorable treatment to those with implanted chips, since these people are easier to track and verify. Likewise, those who refuse to have chips implanted would become a target of suspicion or concern and would have to expend a lot more effort in common activities like making major purchases, going through airport security, voting, … It’s easy to see where this leads.

I’m a fan of transhumanism, though I don’t think the first person who can reasonably be called a transhuman or post-human will occur in my lifetime. But as we begin to augment ourselves with biological and biomechanical extensions, we will eventually reach a point where some of us are far enough along that track to no longer be considered as Homo Sapiens Sapiens. All along this path, the freedom versus security discussion must be held to ensure that we don’t go so far toward one as to make the other impractical.

Thanks to the Labor Movement!

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Whenever someone speaks out against unions and the labor movement, remember what they have done for us. No movement is perfect, but the labor movement has improved the lives of every single working class person in this country, making possible a decent life for those not born into wealth and perpetual leisure.

The United States has long been dominated by an overclass consisting of the very wealthy and the power they yield over every aspect of society. The underclass contains all who must work to live, all who are subject to the laws and (informal but binding) rules created by the overclass to ensure each remains in their place.

Remember as we enter into open conflict with the overclass that the labor movement helped make it possible for us to survive, to be well educated, and ultimately to rise up against our oppressors. Together with the structures and leaders of the labor movement, we will set this nation on a better path to the future.

Creativity Requires Solitude

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This is an interesting read, covering the current trend toward requiring everyone to work together in a team environment. The ability to work well with others is important, but research shows that highly creative people require solitude to work effectively.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/opinion/sunday/the-rise-of-the-new-groupthink.html?_r=1

A Critique of the GNU Hurd Microkernel

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This post is just for those whose interest extends to operating system research. It’s disappointing that in the year 2012, we are still stuck with long obsolete OS architectures that provide some extra performance but at the cost of reliability, simplicity, and extensibility. I expect this from Microsoft but others can do better. I’m looking at you Linux!
The micro-kernel architecture has long been considered superior to the monolithic kernels found in mainstream operating systems, but for some reason hasn’t made inroads beyond research systems.

Penn Jillette’s Guide to the 2012 Election

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This is the best video I’ve seen all year. Penn Jillette speaks profoundly about the religious stances of our Presidential candidates and of our nation generally. This is worth watching whether you are an atheist or a member of one of the many mainstream belief systems prevalent in today’s world.

http://bigthink.com/ideas/41032

A Simple Spider

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This article describes a spider who eats other spiders, not such a rarity until you learn that this spider has a brain with less than a million neurons, yet is able to perform remarkably complex hunting behaviors, in this case sneaking up on and defeating another spider-eating spider. It does this by systematically processing the image of its prey and the potential paths to it, determining the optimal path to it and the most promising approach to defeat the other spider and gain a meal, taking sometimes up to an hour to process the variables step by step using its very rudimentary processing engine. As the blogger points out, this is remarkably like a Turing Machine and raises questions about the insufficiency of our common view of most insects and arachnids as simple hardwired automatons.

http://www.rifters.com/real/2009/01/iterating-towards-bethlehem.html