I read an interesting article, Why Feminism Is Also Dude-ism. I found this woefully true:
Every woman he knows has been talked down to by a man who wasn’t as smart or capable as she was. Almost all of them have been treated poorly or made uncomfortable by some dude at some point who saw getting into her pants as a prize to be won.
I imagine that most people, perhaps especially guys, would read that and think that a guy would really have to be a major jerkasaurus to act like that. But, sadly, I find those two things to be among my most common experiences. Sometimes it’s even from guys who would describe themselves as supportive of gender equality; I know one male friend who even does a lecture about female characters in storytelling who always made me feel like there was nothing I could say that could be convincing or credible when it came to ‘the big stuff’. Sure, if I’m going to ramble about She-ra (which, btw, I’m awesome at) that’s fine…that’s something I “should” know—-but I couldn’t possibly be taken seriously if I’m talking about cosmology, the laws of physics, the brain, the scientific method… Nope.
It also has never become easier to realize that someone you were hoping would be a friend and would be interested in you and your work was actually pretty much just interested in making out with you. If that’s not an option for him then you’ll probably stop hearing from him.
And to my fellow skeptics; You think it’s hard trying to communicate to someone evidence that they are wrong in a manner which they might be likely to consider it? Try attempting that when you’re a tiny brunette with giant brown eyes of whom nobody ever has a problem likening to a pixie. People stare down at you like they’re looking at a box full of kittens.
Cute. But nobody takes a box full of kittens seriously.
Homg, what?! You’re trying to tell me dowsing is due to something called the ideomotor effect? Whatev, I’m a super smart scholarly man who couldn’t possibly be wrong about anything (especially when it’s pointed out by a pixie!).
To be fair, women have dismissed me as well. But they’re usually wiccans and reiki masters who hate me because my words threaten their magic mother Earth goddess powers.
Nobody likes hearing they’re wrong, but apparently it’s especially annoying to hear it from me—-and much easier to dismiss me as well. Just admit it, people, if I was an old man with elbow patches on my sweater, you’d take my arguments more seriously. You wouldn’t be so compelled to lecture me as if I need to be taught a lesson because you wouldn’t automatically assume you know far more than me.
So, I guess I’m saying that I don’t necessarily mind if you look at me like I’m a box full of kittens as long as you listen to me like I’m old elbow-patch sweater man. Wait, no! Stop! Now you’re picturing a box full of kittens wearing elbow-patch sweaters! THAT’S EVEN MORE ADORABLE!

I’m back in northern Ontario in my little hometown, Kirkland Lake. I was in Montreal over the weekend as a guest at an anime convention called Otakuthon. I was a guest at the first Otakuthon, five years ago, when it was much smaller. This year’s event was fantastic and took place at the lovely Palais des Congress de Montreal. My first panel took place Friday evening which was my presentation “Skepticism Through Manga”. The talk went well, despite some technical difficulties; unfortunately I made the mistake of trusting my little HP notebook running Vista (why would I do that?!) as if it runs like my very trustworthy Alienware Area 51.
My original plans were to head back to LA after the convention and then fly into Atlanta for Dragon*Con a couple weeks later. Unfortunately, after my last visit in the US, I was denied entry across the border; I’ve spent a lot of time visiting the US over the past year and that combined with my status as a freelancer made it possible for the border officer to deny me entry as an alleged intending immigrant.


So this little blog of mine will serve as a place to write about my trip to Long Beach and my adventures at TED 2009 this week. As I believe I mentioned before, I was selected as one of the Fellowship members invited to attend TED this year. Lucky~!
We registered and got our TED badges around 4pm and then got ready for the TED Fellows welcome party by the pool.



