Rotundus.com

Pat Robertson warns of ‘scamsters in religious garb quoting the Bible’

"Right Wing Watch noted that the CBN ministry could be in 'deep trouble' if 'viewers actually followed Robertson’s advice.' During his Monday broadcast, the network had aired a segment about a couple who continued to donate money to CBN even after declaring bankruptcy and selling their house."

The Retro Wife

"Feminists who say they’re having it all—by choosing to stay home." More here.

Office Romances Frequently Lead to Marriage

One study shows "work / school" as the most likely place for people to meet their spouse - another study ranks "work" as the most likely place.

Traces of Anxiety Drug May Affect Behavior in Fish

"Traces of a common psychiatric medication that winds up in rivers and streams may affect fish behavior and feeding patterns, according to a study in the journal Science published Thursday." Do note that "even the lowest concentration of Oxazepam in the study was higher than that found in a Swedish waterway that researchers tested." Still, there's a lot of drugs making it into streams these days.

As Barriers Disappear, Some Gender Gaps Widen

"It looks as if personality differences between men and women are smaller in traditional cultures like India’s or Zimbabwe’s than in the Netherlands or the United States. A husband and a stay-at-home wife in a patriarchal Botswanan clan seem to be more alike than a working couple in Denmark or France. The more Venus and Mars have equal rights and similar jobs, the more their personalities seem to diverge."

Sleepless nights caused by crying babies ends one in three marriages, research claims

What the story actually claims is that "30 per cent of those who had split up blamed sleepless nights caused by children"

How Much Energy Does the World Need?

"In 2010 Bulgaria saw about 4,500 kWh of electricity consumption per capita per year, Germany 7,100 and the US 13,400. For comparison, the International Energy Agency defines “energy access” to be about 250 kWh per household per year, or about 2% of that used in the average American household. The global average in 2010 was just under 3,000 kWh per capita per year."

Pilot attempts first flight powered only by household plastic waste

"The fuel will come solely from so-called “end-of-life” plastic that cannot be recycled and would otherwise end up as landfill, including household waste such as packaging and wrapping."

I recently came across a case in which a woman managed to get at least one person fired for making some fairly stupid jokes at a tech conference - specifically she overheard some humor of the phallic variety in a conversation among a couple of friends. Would I have had any objection to her telling them to shut up? No. Do I tend to find that sort of humor annoying? Yes.

Her reaction seems a bit over the top though. The big inconsistency here is her twitter activity - right around the time she made her complaint was when ... she was making phallic jokes on her twitter feed about others at that very conference. Seems like a pretty clear case of hypocrisy to me.

Her twitter account has about 10,000 followers. Making such a statement there is a far more public activity than a couple of people talking amongst themselves that may have annoyed a few people sitting around them.

She argues that she took the action she did to make the tech world better for women. Instead I'd argue that she probably made the situation worse, just like I'd argue Lily Ledbetter did. To quote one commentator:

She's done the opposite of making men and women feel more comfortable working together; now men will be looking over their shoulder every time a woman is present in the workplace or a conference because hey, she might do what Adria did. This is not an environment anyone wants to work in. ... Adria instead should have turned around and told the men that it made her feel uncomfortable. They likely would have apologized and this would be a non-issue. And if they didn't make it right, she could escalate it in a more productive (but still assertive) way.

I wonder if either of the two involved here might have been readers of her twitter feed. Could they have assumed that since she'd just recently engaged in exactly the same sort of jokes it might be OK for them to do so as well?

Addendum: Adria Richards has stated that she didn't intend for this particular guy to get fired, though such was the result, and apparently now appears to be out of a job herself.

Addendum #2: This post seems worth reading for context.