How Much Do I Love The Economist?

While I was an international relations student in the early 90s, the saying used to be that if you wanted to be a Foreign Service Officer, you had to read The Economist magazine or the New York Times every week for a year (every single printed word). If you did that, the conventional wisdom went, you were sure to have an FSO business card.

Since the New York Times has fallen on hard times, I suspect students today have dropped it from the list, but I am certain the belief in The Economist still persists.

Anyway, I never became an FSO (the Internet boom intervened), but I did start reading it every week and have never stopped. It is simply the best magazine published today. I could wax on and on about how great it is and why, but I will give one reason here:

The book review section is totally awesome. For example, the review of Alan Greenspan’s new book The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World in the most recent issue (here) is perfect.

Plus, how much do I want to read Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy by Eric D. Weitz? A lot. Not because the review (here) is glowing, but because it is a perfect review.

Alan Greenspan Is Super Cool

The sage of our former times has been on the circuit hawking his new book The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World.

He was on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart a couple nights ago (video clip here). His interview reminded me a little bit of what Albert Einstein said about understanding politics. Einstein said (paraphrasing) that math was much easier to understand than people.

Anyway, Greenspan said just about the same thing. He said (paraphrasing) that we rely on giant reams of data, because people make no sense.

Also, from what I understand, in Greenspan’s book he describes wooing his wife with an essay on the Sherman Antitrust Act. That is pretty funny.

Anyway, I’ve got to get the book!

She's Geeky

I have a couple posts lined up on The Reincarnationist by MJ Rose and The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in the New World by Alan Greenspan, but I wanted to take a break from books (for just a tiny second) to post the following ad for the “She’s Geeky” conference.

The information provided by the organizers:

She's Geeky ( http://www.shesgeeky.org)

A Women's Tech (un)conference
October 22-23 in Mountain View, CA.

This event is designed to bring together women from a range of technology-focused disciplines who self identify as geeky. Our goal is to support skill exchange and learning between women working in diverse fields and to create a space for networking and talking about issues faced by women in technology.

Feel free to also talk about:
* what it means to you to be a geek
* why you are excited about meeting with other women geeks
* the issues you hope we can talk about
* the skills you can offer others at the event

2) The She's Geeky BLOG BADGE. If you feel inspired, please post the blog badge on your page.

(img src="http://www.kaliyasblogs.net/images/shesgeeky.jpg)


3) SPREAD THE WORD. Please pass on information about the (un)conference to any other women who would enjoy attending, and contributing to, the event.

4) PLEASE REGISTER and Pay (if you have not done so already)
There is a two step registration process
Go to the registration page - http://shesgeeky.org/Signup
Follow the prompt after you activate your account to pay via paypal - http://shesgeeky.org/pay.

5) Ideas for Monday's pre-programmed content.* Click here to see the great content we have outlined so far. Remember all topics that you want to add to the agenda for Tuesday.

6) Sponsorship. We are still looking for sponsors and media sponsors. If you or your company would like to contribute, please contact us at shesgeeky@gmail.com or post on the wiki .

This week Google came on board as a sponsor along with the Nonprofit Technology Network , Atlassian, Purple Tornado, and Citizen Agency.

We have two great /media sponsors/ so far DevChix and LinuxChix . If you are a women's tech group and want to be one too let us know. We are going to make a momento for everyone with all the groups who spread the word.

If you want to help/contribute in some other way you think might be useful, please let us know.


7) Childcare. We are currently planning to offer childcare at the (un)conference if you notify us ahead of time. Please contact Deb Roby debra.roby@gmail.com with the following details: age of each child and the number of children. We can not guarantee we can accommodate all needs, but we will do our best.

8) Accommodation.* The Hotel Avante in Mountain View has provided us with the following rate: $179/night. Their sister hotel, the Palms, has a rate of $139/night, but it is further down the road. Call them (650-940-1000) and mention She's Geeky to get the rate. There are several more budget hotels on El Camino Real.

9) Room Shares and Ride Shares. We have a wiki page http://shesgeeky.org/Logistics for coordinating room and ride shares. Deb Roby is helping out with matching between people. If you would like to offer a home stay for women coming in from out of town, please Deb Roby debra.roby@gmail.com know.

10) (Un)Conference Topics. Please feel free to post the topics you want covered on the wiki http://shesgeeky.org/Proposed%20Topics.

If you have questions ask us :)

shesgeeky@gmail.com


This is going to be a GREAT event.

Kaliya, Mary, Susan, Laurie, Melanie, Heather, Deb, & Julia