(post-)n feminism

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News from the United Kingdom
Don't get mad, get rich! "...there are now an estimated 360,000 women in Britain who are worth half a million pounds or more each...Over the past 30 years, the female employment rate has jumped from 42% to 70%, while almost a third of managers are now women [from] a mere 2%...In business you'll be successful regardless of gender if you have a good product and the right skills."
Personal assistants, hot chics, and Lolita. "They are still a rarity in the office, but, says Cath Janes, male PAs are here to stay and doing their bit to dispel the stereotypes..."
Now aint that sweet? "It is a similar story in the kitchen: cooking now takes modern mothers an average of 5.9 hours per week, compared with up to 13 hours in the 1950s. ...Men also appear to have changed over the last 50 years. More than a quarter of modern mothers said they would not be able to cope without their partner, and 76% said they felt "supported" by their other half." Even more on childcare trends here.
Finally, why he's a keeper. Warning: This last one is supposed to be funny.

"Irreconcilable differences" is so last year

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Yes, "working" at a relationship is tiring, and after so many years, boring. It's better to quit amicably and avoid a bitter divorce. Breaking up may be hard to do, but at least it's doing something; it's not passive. I hear all this.
But folks should hang in there for the sake of together forever romance, and of mature unconditional love. I don't want Angelina and Brad, I want Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt.

Para usted

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I made some guacamole tonight.
I got the recipe in mid May from a fellow grocery shopper at Ralphs, she said she wasn't a pro, she likes to add onions and tomatoes and the like to the finely chopped avocado, and oh, she said, it's very important to add lime, which prevents browning.
I make the limiest guacamole around. Fantastic avocadoes, slice very thinly and chop a bit, add a tomato (without the juice, mostly flesh) and squeeze in about half a lime per avocado.
Yum.

See Thibaut's pictures

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here. Thanks, TiBo.

The California Institute of Science

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I am despondent.
In the past years, I have observed - science, research, and the labours thereof. I have discovered no new science. I have built no new machine. I'm more than two-thirds of the way to my PhD.
However, I can now give an expert report on how scientists do what they do.
One difference between Caltech and that other institute of technology: MIT has OpenCourseWare, Caltech does not. Still, I believe that there's only one.caltech more than I believe in God.
I started re-reading Feynman's "The Meaning of it all" yesterday. A central theme of the little book is uncertainty, a core value in science. Science, then, precludes fundamentalism. (Science fundamentalists, for instance, should check their science.)
Some damaged people bombed London today. Their belief matters that much to them.

That special something

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I just caught the last 10 minutes of Oprah, featuring Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.
Cute people.
They have that special something that tells you that they haven't "met" each other, and that they're too busy hugging and kissing to address this...
when the perfume fades, the shit will start to stink, and their loveydovey thing will be quite over.
Similarly, most to-be-married people make me nervous.
I don't think I'm jealous.
I do think I should mind my own business.

Soon

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I'll sell my car
and rearrange my apartment...
then everything will be fine.

Of course I can't sleep

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I've been obsessed with Money Talk, my new baby.
Coming soon: effort to get people writing (on wikipedia, for instance) about African Literature.
Still thinking about: wikis, blogs, forums, etc as tools for collaborative research.

...the apple on the top of the tree is never too high to achieve
so take an example from Eve - Experiment!
From the Cole Porter song

Baby

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I've been somber and weepy since yesterday.
I don't know how long this will go on for.

Happy Birthday Blog!

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(Two days late.)

The Establishment and the Environment

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I just saw an ad for GE's newly launched Ecomagination intiative.
Last year, Steve Koonin, Caltech physicist, became Chief Scientist at BP.
...I'm rooting for responsible business.

Stairway to Paradise

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I had the most fantastic day yesterday. Full of friends (including some really old friends) and family. It nearly brought tears to my eyes. This whole technology-connectedness is good.

Eight hours later...
Next project: China 101
Also: prepare a fabulous talk for July, one that I would like to listen to, and that connects our work to the big picture of controls research
And (this should be higher on my priority list!): work on our paper and my research

Stairway to the stars

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I just read The Moon Is Down, an enlightening, engaging, short, and unsatisfying novel by John Steinbeck on the futility of war and the pain conquest brings to the conquerors.
Joseph Heller (1923-1999) is my birthday-mate. Maybe I'll re-read Catch-22 in his honour.

Elfriede Jelinek

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I'm looking forward to reading some of her novels, and perhaps watching the movie based on "The Piano teacher."
Four hours later...
I just bought Thomas Friedman's The Lexus and the Olive Tree. I'm not quite ready for his newer (hardcover) work, The World is Flat, to which Charles Vest referred today at his lectures.

My baby just cares for me

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I'm reading a paper about Hilbert's 17th problem, while daydreaming about glorious research breakthroughs, about future travels, the sounds of music, and all-that-jazz.
Yesterday, I watched a mellow Israeli movie titled Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi.
In about six hours, I'll be watching a dance show on campus.
So much is happening, and so much is to happen: friends' parties and dinners and such, SIAM talk, roommate moving, visiting San Diego, family coming over for my sister's graduation, taking brother to see stuff and to buy pastries, Nick's play, friends' graduation, another SIAM talk, movies, reading my stash of seven math books at home, research meetings with Xin and Maryam, candidacy, Christmas, language abroad trip, more reading and writing and research - exciting, eh?

Tango

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Just got back from lovely San Juan and now I'm studying, preparing for next week's talk.
I just paid over five bucks for the premiere issue of Tango, the magazine about relationships.
Man-on-the-plane on relationships: "you're going to look and look and not find anything, then all of a sudden..."
It's official: I'm looking.

Waiting to Exhale

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My friend, Princess, is in the chorus for a play in Hollywood on the life of Sojourner Truth. I just saw the show. Powerful performances; make me wanna go to church.
And I MET ANGELA BASSETT. Happy me! She was watching the show too. She is beautiful and was very very warm. I want to remember those special moments. aah.
I hung out afterwards with Winston, Princess, Holly, and Anna. Really cool time, I tell ya.

Crooning

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I finally visited my neighbors of six months today (4am - 5am). I was attracted to their fine music wafting through to my apartment. Greek and Ukrainian, they're cool chics who smoke a lot. They played some Italian stuff while I was up there; one was titled Happy Feet and the vocalist was probably Paolo Conte.
I've got a lot of second-hand smoke this week. I don't know how much is harmful...
I'm going back to sleep now.

My amazon.com wishlist

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Books, movies...see what this girl wants

Live to love

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