The Blood is The Life 20-01-2013

[miss_s_b]

• Very pithy and succinct report of a diversity discussion being derailed
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• why booth babes are a counterproductive marketing choice
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• Jim hines makes the Bbc news
  article contains the interesting nugget that less sexualised book covers actually do sell better. Who'd have thought?
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• Billionaires' fortunes hinder fight against poverty, says Oxfam
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• A living wage, or a much higher minimum wage, is worth paying - Telegraph
  an unlikely advocate for higher wages for the poor, but then so was Henry Ford
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• assertTrue( ): The Serif Readability Myth
  interesting article on font readability
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• A Study in Steampunk by David A. McIntee, 19th January, 2013
  A possibly interesting new addition to the Holmes oeuvre by an author who's done some reasonably good Who stuff in the past.
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• Review of Doctor Who ‘The Ribos Operation’ (Series 16)
  Neela Debnath reaches season 16 in her Whoniversary review countdown.
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• Eastercon now has a code of conduct.
  if tha wants a proper code o conduct for thi convention, lad, tha'd best come to Yorkshire
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• Why are Local Parties Important? « Jazz Hands, Serious Business
  This article identifies the problem well enough, but doesn't propose a solution. I wish I had a solution.
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• Flip All The Pronouns
  if games don't provide gender balance, take matters into your own hands.
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Comments

[drunkwriter]

The Study in Steampunk thing is going to be awesome. I teetered on the brink of pitching for it, but don't quite have the time, skills or experience. Everyone involved knows their onions. And indeed their shallots.

[drunkwriter]

On booth babes, it's also worth considering that the financial services industry, that bastion of diversity and forward thinking, has absolutely none of this sort of nonsense at events and exhibitions where 95% of the people they're hoping to attract are middle-class, middle-age, white males. Something is very rotten in the state of geek when a bunch of bankers can genuinely point at an event and say, "My, how vulgar and demeaning."

[ginasketch]

Weeeell....I'd argue some of this stuff probably does still happen when they're not at an actual conference.

Sexist stuff happens in all walks of life, but geekdom should not congratulate itself on being different, because sadly, it isn't.

[drunkwriter]

I'd argue that too, and things do get very creepy towards the end of any event where booze is a factor. I also have a friend over on LJ who has the most incredible job writing up minutes for meetings. All she ever seems to cover is sexual harrassment cases at banks. But then, away from conventions, creepy geeks behave even more horrendously towards women, as we know from threads on insert-any-given-forum-here...

But yes, because geekdom comprises some diverse voices, and also quite a lot of people who will say anything to impress girls, we fall into the trap of self-congratulation a little too easily.

[bagfish]

Don't know if you've seen the multi-author cover remake on Jim Hines LJ? It's v amusing, and makes the point well too.

http://jimhines.livejournal.com/667303.html



Also - Patrick Rothfuss on a lilo!!

[ginasketch]

lol win