Odds & Ends

1. Today is Ada Lovelace Day. Remember, honor, and celebrate!

2. Declaring women's rights vital for world peace, the Nobel Committee awarded its annual Peace Prize on Friday to three indomitable campaigners against war and oppression -- a Yemeni and two Liberians, including that country's president. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first freely elected female head of state, shared the $1.5 million with compatriot Leymah Gbowee, who led a "sex strike" among her efforts against Liberia's civil war, and Arab activist Tawakul Karman, who hailed the award as a victory for democracy in Yemen. "We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society," Norwegian Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland told reporters. [Read more of Reuters' report here.]

3. Liz Henry is here in Seattle for the weekend, and somehow, this afternoon, as we talked and talked and talked, I found myself opening a Facebook account today. You can visit me there at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003011847651.

4.I find the story about how when a bus driver ordered a woman with a crying baby off her bus, every single passenger left the bus in solidarity with her in protest, fascinating:

It's the story of two dozen passengers, more or less, a baby in a bad mood, and a bus that motored through its own terrible little Twilight Zone on the 16 miles from Beaverton to Forest Grove in the Portland suburbs.

The trip ended only when the bus came to a halt, the mother, Magdalena Rabadan, and baby were ordered off, passengers protested in her defense, the driver suggested they could leave, too, if they didn't like it, and everybody did.

I was especially taken by the added complication of the baby's mother not knowing much English. It made me wish I'd invented such a story for my own fiction. I'm sure that few readers would've found it "plausible," unless I'd also invented two dozen individual explanations for all those people inconveniencing themselves.

Ada Lovelace Day, 2010

It's Ada Lovelace Day!

Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (10 December 1815, London – 27 November 1852, Marylebone, London), born Augusta Ada Byron, was the only legitimate child of George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron. She is widely known in modern times simply as Ada Lovelace.

She is mainly known for having written a description of Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the analytical engine. She is today appreciated as the "first programmer" since she was writing programs—that is, manipulating symbols according to rules—for a machine that Babbage had not yet built. She also foresaw the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating or number-crunching while others, including Babbage himself, focused only on these capabilities.

To honor her, Ada Lovelace Day has been designated

an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology. Women's contributions often go unacknowledged, their innovations seldom mentioned, their faces rarely recognized. We want you to tell the world about these unsung heroines. Whatever she does, whether she is a sysadmin or a tech entrepreneur, a programmer or a designer, developing software or hardware, a tech journalist or a tech consultant, we want to celebrate her achievements.

I realize the focus is technology rather than science, so forgive me, all, if I'm interpreting the call too broadly. But you see, I've always thought of Ada Lovelace as
among the crowd of women who devoted their creative intellects to science and mathematics at a time when disciplinary lines were not so sharply drawn. This year, I'd especially like to sing the praises of oceanographer and astrobioloist Jody Deming, whose public lecture at the University of Washington last fall not only stimulated my intellect, but invoked a thrilling sense of wonder. You can get some idea of her accomplishments here.

A follow-up to Ada Lovelace Day

Two Aqueductistas made posts on their blogs for Ada Lovelace Day:

Eileen Gunn posted an interview with Linda Stone, whom she characterizes as "a modern-day Ada – a geek-grrl with wide-ranging vision and a talent for articulating big ideas. Though, unlike Ada, she neither gambles to excess nor abuses laudanum."

And oursin posted about Dame Janet Vaughan (1899-1993).

Do check them out!

Ada Lovelace Day

It's Ada Lovelace Day!

Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (10 December 1815, London – 27 November 1852, Marylebone, London), born Augusta Ada Byron, was the only legitimate child of George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron. She is widely known in modern times simply as Ada Lovelace.

She is mainly known for having written a description of Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the analytical engine. She is today appreciated as the "first programmer" since she was writing programs—that is, manipulating symbols according to rules—for a machine that Babbage had not yet built. She also foresaw the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating or number-crunching while others, including Babbage himself, focused only on these capabilities.

To honor her, Ada Lovelace Day has been designated

an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology. Women's contributions often go unacknowledged, their innovations seldom mentioned, their faces rarely recognized. We want you to tell the world about these unsung heroines. Whatever she does, whether she is a sysadmin or a tech entrepreneur, a programmer or a designer, developing software or hardware, a tech journalist or a tech consultant, we want to celebrate her achievements.

Please, Aqueductistas, hit it! Sing now of these "unsung heroines..."