I was up earlier than usual today, but for a very good reason. Follow me below the dingledoodlesquiggliedKosagnocchidividerthingie fold after a word from our sponsor...
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NOTE: Bowing to that newfangled DK4 stuff :-), you also may send nominations to the Top Comments group email. If you don't see a nomination you made to there in the diary, please pipe up - it means we're still trying to remember not to forget to check!
K1 was invite to participate in Project W.I.S.E., a day-long career program aimed at introducing middle school girls to careers in science and engineering. As the Project W.I.S.E. site states:
Women account for less than twenty per cent of the workforce in science, math and engineering fields. W.I.S.E. is a career day program that aims to address that imbalance by exciting and educating middle school girls with a personal and hands-on experience that could lead to a career in a math and/or science field. At the same time, the program encourages these girls to continue enrolling in math and science courses in high school.
Approximately 300 girls from 20 local middle schools were invited, and a dozen kids from K1's school attended. She asked me if I'd chaperone because of my background - underneath this swim/soccer mom exterior is a PhD biologist with experience in biotech lab management and environmental health and safety.
In addition to opening words and an ending keynote address by a local female television meteorologist, each girl was assigned three sessions out of 21 possibilities. The topics/presenters ranged from marine and molecular biologists to physicists, veterinarians to chemists to forensic scientists, and everything in between. As a chaperone I could attend whichever I wanted, but I chose to shadow K1 - careful not to sit nearby or to draw attention to the fact we were related to one another unless she mentioned it :).
The first session we attended was four women from the MA Division of Marine Fisheries. The girls heard a short talk, saw and learned about a wide variety of local species, then had a hands-on experience measuring shrimp size, assessing gender and checking for two common diseases. Fascinating, and watching each girl decide how to peek under the carapace to check the gills was fun :).
Second session was on Green Chemistry, led by a Beyond Benign Fellow. The girls were glad to hear not all "chemistry" careers consist of "mixing chemicals together and watching them blow up." I was relieved to hear about this important initiative to reduce chemical waste and make processes safer and more efficient.
The third and final session was on Epidemiology, led by a scientist with the Department of Public Health. She led the girls through an investigative exercise to determine how half the guests at a wedding reception came down with food poisoning (Bakery Worker, Norovirus, Strawberry-filled Golden Wedding Cake, for the record :-)). This session held everyone's attention, and given it was the one right before lunch, that speaks volumes.
K1 came away fascinated by the variety of options available. I was thrilled to see 300 smart young women not afraid to make clear they loved math, science, engineering, problem solving, and intended to pursue it further. Judging from their intensity, curiosity and enthusiasm, I'm sure more than a few will find themselves back in 15 or 20 years presenting to another generation of girls. Of course, perhaps by that time the stereotypes that math and science are 'boy things' will be gone and the gender disparity in some of the physical sciences will be a thing of the past. I can hope, right?
The keynote speaker shared an anecdote from her jobhunting days, when she asked advice from a professor when applying to TV stations and mentioned she was looking at Boston. She was told "that's a major market, and it's very, very hard for a woman to start there and succeed. I'd look elsewhere." She said she politely said thank you and immediately sent off her resume. She got the job, and told the girls never to take anyone's advice NOT to aim high.
Brillig's ObDisclaimer: The decision to publish each nomination lies with the evening's Diarist. My evenings at the helm, I try reeeeallllyy hard to publish everything
without regard to content. I really do, even when I disagree personally with any given nomination. "TopCommentness" lies in the eyes of the nominator and of you, the reader - I leave the decision to you. I do
not publish self-nominations (ie your own comments) and if I ruled the world, we'd all build community, supporting and uplifting instead of tearing our fellow Kossacks down.
From Steveningen:
Wildthumb reminds me why we should fight like hell in Meteor Blades' Open Thread for Night Owls.
From mrsgoo:
Get out the popcorn and enjoy this popcorn thread started by here4tehbeer, which popped up in a discussion about Al/MS turnout today.
From JaxDem:
This comment from belinda ridgewood in my New Diarists diary last night is full of wise and wonderful, but also contains the "top comment of the year" which I blockquoted in a reply to her comment.
From Melanie in IA:
Barely 9:30 and koosah already has a Top Comment, in Cheers & Jeers.
From blue aardvark:
About the inauthentic Willard M. Romney trying to pass as a good ol' boy, the extremely authentic Meteor Blades lets him have it.
Diarist's note: looks like this should have been in last nite's, but wasn't. So here it is tonite :)
From Thomasina:
Top Canadian Comment, by Pierretrudeau.
From ScottyUrb:
Gooserock sets it up, and JML9999 hits it out of the park.
From bronte17:
This comment from leftover is in response to a personal comment I had written in their heartbreaking diary, My brother is dead. Not only did the comment reach out with empathetic understanding, but it perfectly captured the underlying reality of our broken healthcare system:
When a train breaks down, people are late to work.
When our health care system breaks down, it kills the ones we love.
When our health care system breaks down... it kills the ones we love.
How difficult is that for Congress and these neanderthal Republicans to understand?
From eXtina:
Mittneytron can fire his campaign staff and hire Kossack sgt sarcasm to come up with his campaign slogans.
From Yours Truly, brillig:
What can I say... kos' diary title made me go hunting the snark. I was rewarded by Armando, Geekesque, and an entire thread begun by Crashing Vor.
Dr Erich Bloodaxe RN on Scotty Walker's complaint that in the private sector he could make some real money.
Top Mojo for yesterday, March 12th, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you
mik for the mojo magic!
1) OMG, darling, this is WONDERFUL news! by Diana in NoVa — 181
2) Thank you, Mr Drake. It is very troubling to me by JVolvo — 151
3) the "War on Women" frame is a winner for our side by TrueBlueMajority — 147
4) Oh, I SO can't go there... by Youffraita — 143
5) I am sorry for your loss by marlakay — 138
6) Your dubious distinction of being #1 Espionage Act by Jesselyn Radack — 119
7) He himself compared women to livestock! by glendaw271 — 108
8) Let the cancellation countdown clock begin... by Mets102 — 107
9) Does this guy know that it is impossible by illinifan17 — 100
10) Justice Dept. just shot down Texas ID law too!! by ericlewis0 — 96
11) Really, it's okay if women have sex by mijita — 97
12) Two quotes I've long enjoyed re: conservatives: by StrangeAnimals — 96
13) It is a travesty of justice by Kathleen McClellan — 96
14) Mishandling classification procedures... by Dallasdoc — 95
15) Conservativism is nothing more than a sad excuse by MinistryOfTruth — 95
16) It's my sincerest hope by msblucow — 93
17) Good on these legislators. by commonmass — 92
18) Read the comments to the story... by msblucow — 84
19) You know the gov't prosecuters were humiliated by FrY10cK — 82
20) When British Petroleum doesn't want its brand to by Calvino Partigiani — 82
21) Time to start reading Glenn Greenwald by Don midwest — 81
22) Thank you, I did my best. nt by leftover — 80
23) My deepest condolences to you and yours by MinistryOfTruth — 79
24) Our biggest mistake as lefties & progressives by PhilJD — 77
25) BAM! by kismet — 75
26) Warning Made Up Words in this piece by GreenMother — 75
27) I think it has more to do with by La Gitane — 74
28) YES! YES! YES! by NonnyO — 73
29) They don't want literacy tests; by cardinal — 71
30) Republicans are so fucking stupid by yet another liberal — 71
Top Pictures for yesterday, March 12th. Click any image to be taken to the full comment. Thank you
jotter for the image magic!