XKCD Is Awesome

[damigella]

 There's nothing whatsoever I can add to this. Except that Emmy Noether is one of my personal heroes.

Comments

[cellista-in-c.livejournal.com]

XKCD is the most awesome thing ever, even if they do make fun of my chosen field. I can still laugh though, 'cause they might have a point! :)

[damigella-314.livejournal.com]

I think XKCD is actually written/drawn by a man. Which makes it so much more awesome when he gets women scientists so well - I might want to stick this on my office wall.

And it makes fun of me as well. [I get all the jokes in there.]

[chocolate-frapp.livejournal.com]

also, dishwashers, VCRs and answering machines were all invented by women.

[damigella-314.livejournal.com]

I didn't know about the VCR. Great!

There's also a lovely Noether's story: halfway through one of her lectures, the rubber band of her underpants snapped and they started drifting downwards (remember, she was wearing skirts and stocking). She opened the door of the lecture room, kicked the bothersome indument away, closed the door and finished the lecture.

Of course when I proposed naming our lecture room after Emmy Noether, my colleagues refused.

[coconut-ice22.livejournal.com]

Hehe, that's all kinds of awesome! I went into a rant at the office the other day. Out of the 114 authors I'm currently responsible for, I think only 5 are female, two chemists, one mathematician, one historian and one physicist. Not that there aren't women involved in the projects, usually the lead author's wife who they treat like a secretary and I really wanted to send a hate email to this one guy who said his wife was just better organised -- no, it is because you're a lazy person!

/ end rant!

I think I'll be done with "Mystery" say, Tuesday? I'm out most of the weekend as it's my birthday on Sunday, so I'm being treated on Saturday to tea at Harrods and *cough* to balance out that refinery the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. I hope this is okay! Sorry for being so slow.

[damigella-314.livejournal.com]

You aren't slow, you're patient. 114 authors, plus me. I don't envy you. And 5 out of 114 sounds like a decent proportion as compared to what you find in many maths departments (although the times, they are a' changing).

Enjoy your birthday celebrations! I'll be contributing by arriving in your lovely, sun-drenched country on your birthday.

This is awesome!

[lazzylizzard.livejournal.com]

As a woman with two hard sci degrees, I LOVE this. As a woman forced out of two male dominated labs (they still call for help 10years later, losers), I NEED this. This just got blown up and posted in my office for all my students to see!

Re: This is awesome!

[damigella-314.livejournal.com]

You have two hard science degrees and you know what to do in a lab? I'm so impressed. I am terrible at anything even vaguely experimental. [Looks down at hands, see sign of burns gotten from attempt to have oven-roasted chicken in January, shakes head.]

On the other hand, I'm so not surprised at you finding it sexist out there, no matter how many degrees you have or how skilled you are.

Re: This is awesome!

[lazzylizzard.livejournal.com]

Not only sexist, but elitist to boot. Oh well, I get to influence many more young girls and women this way and reeducate many young men. I tutor every age and most subjects from kindergarten to undergrad degree. This is far more rewarding and this comic is a wonderful addition to the walls in this office!

I have plenty of burn marks from pizza ovens obtained while working through school. At least with cooking I can enjoy the final product, most of my chem experiments were toxic or just putrid! LOL.

Re: This is awesome!

[damigella-314.livejournal.com]

I'm a total pervert because I really enjoy tutoring. I now get to do it very rarely, and usually only pro bono, but I enjoy it every time for the same reasons you mention. And I'm so glad for your students!

And at least what you produced in your lab may have been putrid, but it was visible. Half of the stuff I deal with not only isn't an actual, three-dimensional solid - it doesn't even have a positive number of dimensions!

[leakey-lover.livejournal.com]

Rosalind Franklin, anyone? <>

Soooo good, ty sooo much, I sooo needed this.

Doing it so hard is what can make me cry.

No, I know it's OK.

[damigella-314.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, Rosalind Franklin.
Jocelyn Bell, too.

I haven't been able to do it hard anymore for ages. My husband says our best years are over and we should get used to it. But I don't want to.

[leakey-lover.livejournal.com]

It goes on and on.

I did it as hard as I could as long as I could. Coulda been a contendah, though. That's all we get.

Except I'll be outta here soon, too. We live in a world where money is far far more important than people or maybe anything.

[damigella-314.livejournal.com]

"Except I'll be outta here soon, too."
Hope you'll get to do something you enjoy. The advantage of mathematics as compared to the other sciences is that you get tenured very early, so you can be burned out and still earn your keep. But I Don't Want To. Damn.

Good thing about this post is that it steamed the scientists out of the woodwork :-)

[leakey-lover.livejournal.com]

Good thing about this post is that it steamed the scientists out of the woodwork :-)

Nice to be temporarily numbered among youse!

Do you have a job?

No, I was only an artist and paid for it editing medical stuff. Only that ran out too.

[damigella-314.livejournal.com]

"Do you have a job?"
Of course! Universities have this awesome invention called "tenure". In the US it means they can't kick you out unless they close down the Department. In most of Europe it means they can't kick you out. In the UK it means nothing because they elected Thatcher :).

Anyway, I'm a professor of mathematics in an Italian university. The pay is low but the job security is comforting. And I get to teach about Emmy Noether's work every year, which is amazing.

I'm awed by artists, of any kind. Arts usually require the use of one's hands, and I'm the clumsiest person ever.