Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 28th May 2012 19:25 UTC
This topic comes up quite a lot on technology websites, but I generally try to steer clear from it as much as possible, since I'm not the one to talk about it (you know, with me being a man and all that), however, I feel it might be a good idea to just get my opinion out there and be done with it. The topic of women in IT is a hot-button issue, so let me just go out guns blazing: assuming women need special treatment, help, protection, and affirmative action is just as insulting and degrading as outright claiming women have no place in IT - maybe even more so.
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Member since:2006-02-15
WereCatf, you need to count your blessings if you can stay home with your child or maybe have a relative that can while you cannot. Don't judge those of us who face this struggle every day, especially if you haven't been in our shoes.
I quite obviously was talking about the people who have a choice in these matters. If you have no choice then you obviously cannot do anything about it and so why would I bother complaining to you?
Member since:2007-06-22
while she was on leave I was paying $1450/month to continue our cobra health plan that her job stopped covering while she was on leave.
Wow, I say it with utmost sincerity that reading this sends shivers down my spine. It reminds me how thankful I should be for having general ("socialist") health care. I'm having a hard time imagining not being able to go to a physician or any other specialist whenever I'm not feeling well because I would have to worry how to pay for it.
She didn't want to go back to work
There are also enough mothers who don't want to be stuck with an infant for years all day long. As much as it runs contrary to the widely propagated image of mother and child living in happy bliss together, I've met (and read about) mothers who were on the verge of snapping after some time when your whole day consists of cleaning up shit, cooking, washing and otherwise having to entertain a living being which is on the intellectual level of an amoeba. Make no mistake, I love children but they are not very intellectually stimulating in the first stages of their live. Even worse, the only topic everybody else wants to talk about with you is your child, as if you didn't have other interests before giving birth. I remember a young mother which I knew a couple of years ago who was so immensely thankful to me because I regularly had some small talk with her about movies, books and other general topics.
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 23:22 UTC
"Ilja van Sprundel, a security researcher with IOActive, has discovered a large number of issues in the way various X client libraries handle the responses they receive from servers, and has worked with X.Org's security team to analyze, confirm, and fix these issues."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 22:04 UTC
"Google is facing a new antitrust probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission into whether the company is using its leadership in the online display-advertising market to illegally curb competition, people familiar with the matter said." Sucks to be Google today, apparently.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 22:01 UTC
"In the midst of the major press blitz surrounding its annual I/O Conference, Google dropped some unfortunate news about its instant messaging plans. In several places around the web, the company is replacing the existing 'Talk' platform with a new one called 'Hangouts' that sharply diminishes support for the open messaging protocol known as XMPP (or sometimes informally Jabber), and also removes the option to disable the archiving of all chat communications. These changes represent a switch from open protocols to proprietary ones, and a clear step backward for many users." That's why I always say: only suckers trust companies.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 17:52 UTC
"The wave of departures is a sign of internal struggle, but amidst all the bad news, there is a glimmer of hope. According to an anonymous HTC executive cited by WSJ, the crucial HTC One is selling 'pretty good so far'. The executive revealed that HTC sold about five million One units since launch, a performance that is deemed encouraging. However, sales have been limited by the persisting supply issues that still plague the production of the HTC One." Finally some good news for HTC. Five million units amidst supply constraints is very impressive.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/22/13 22:23 UTC
"Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. Weâll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that itâs usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms. On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques." AnandTech does its usual in-depth thing.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/22/13 13:38 UTC
"The Verge has learned that HTC's Chief Product Officer, Kouji Kodera, left the company last week. Kodera was responsible for HTC's overall product strategy, which makes the departure especially notable on the heels of the global launch of the make-or-break One. It's not just Kodera. In the past three-odd months, HTC has lost a number of employees in rapid succession." I really hope HTC pulls it together.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/22/13 13:30 UTC, submitted by JRepin
"It is with huge pleasure that the Debian GNU/Hurd team announces the release of Debian GNU/Hurd 2013. This is a snapshot of Debian 'sid' at the time of the Debian 'wheezy' release (May 2013), so it is mostly based on the same sources. It is not an official Debian release, but it is an official Debian GNU/Hurd port release." Important note: 75% of Debian packages are supported bu Debian GNU/Hurd. Impressive.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 22:06 UTC
"The first killer app was VisiCalc. This early spreadsheet turned the Apple II from a hobbyist toy to a business computer. VisiCalc came with room for improvement, though. In addition, a new architecture and operating system, the Intel-based IBM PC and MS-DOS, also needed a spreadsheet to be taken seriously. That spreadsheet, released in early 1983, would be Lotus 1-2-3, and it would change the world. It became the PC's killer app, and the world would never be the same. On May 14, IBM quietly announced the end of the road for 1-2-3, along with Lotus Organizer and the Lotus SmartSuite office suite. Lotus 1-2-3's day is done." Impressive 30 year run.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:45 UTC
"There's a disconnect between how Apple CEO Tim Cook sees his company's tax strategies and how some members of the US Senate view it. That became clearer than ever today after Cook and two other Apple executives testified before Congress, explaining why they're holding most of their international income in Irish subsidiaries like Apple Operations International, which declare no tax residency anywhere in the world. AOI hasn't filed a tax return anywhere in the world for the last five years, yet it earned $30 billion in income from 2009 to 2012, according to a Senate report released yesterday." Just because something is legal, doesn't mean it's just. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and many more - these companies might not be breaking any laws, but it's obvious to anyone that what they are doing is scummy.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 15:53 UTC
The new WebKit Opera for Android has been released. "Opera 14 for Android is built on top of Chromium 26, with a total overhaul of the UI in native code, making it fit well with the latest Android design guidelines. Go get the build from Google Play or point your browser to m.opera.com, and give it a spin!"More News »
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Member since:
2011-01-28
WereCatf,
"a woman is the one who has to breast-feed the child since most men cannot do that, and if the parent is responsible she won't put the child in daycare for atleast the first 3 years."
Wow, I don't even know how to respond to this. It's sad and painful to leave a child and go to work, but that's the modern reality for every single "responsible" parent I've ever known. Having a spouse stay home full time to take care of the kids is an ideology that few families can afford any more. My wife's job only permitted a year of unpaid leave for childcare before they would dismiss her. Get this, on top of everything else, while she was on leave I was paying $1450/month to continue our cobra health plan that her job stopped covering while she was on leave. She didn't want to go back to work but I don't make enough income to support our family - sometimes I'm so ashamed of this fact that it brings tears to my eyes.
"That area is one where more men could grow some balls and take charge of caring for the children at home, that I agree with. It just doesn't seem to be happening."
It's not an easy thing to do. I watch our child for two weekdays, and the other 3 weekdays she's at childcare. But it's very difficult to find a good job at all, much less one willing to work around childcare. I've been denied positions due to my request to have some time off with her. I'm tormented about taking a job in NYC that pays better but forces me to commute 3.5hrs/day, since I wouldn't see my daughter at all during the week. I know parents who do exactly that, and I find it so sad that society forces us to make family compromises like that.
WereCatf, you need to count your blessings if you can stay home with your child or maybe have a relative that can while you cannot. Don't judge those of us who face this struggle every day, especially if you haven't been in our shoes.
Edited 2012-05-30 02:28 UTC