• ACM Names Barbara Liskov Recipient of the 2008 ACM A.M. Turing Award You had to know I’d be excited about this one! Barbara Liskov is the second female recipient of the award (Fran Allen was the first, in 2006). Dr. Liskov was the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in Computer Science in the United States, and she is given the award “for contributions to practical and theoretical foundations of programming language and system design, especially related to data abstraction, fault tolerance, and distributed computing.” Congratulations, Barbara!
• Computer Science Majors Increase at Most Significant Rate Since Dot Com Boom Good news for the field of computing, however, if you look at the data, the percentage of women has remained the same.
• Psychology of nerding and the joy of reckless tech The topic of taking stuff apart without regard for whether or not it will work when put back together has come up in my life a lot, recently. For example, Mat Schaffer and I gave career day talks to young women last week, and we spoke about doing just this, to see if they have a knack for technology. My recommendation: spend $5 on an old VCR at Goodwill and pull the thing to pieces.
• Code cracker remade Bletchley Park scientists and makers have rebuilt The Bombe — the code cracking machines used to break the Enigma cipher in WWII! Plus, Bletchley Park is in need of saving, so please contribute, if you can.
• Students tie £56 camera to balloon and send it to edge of space to capture stunning images of Earth Now these are the types of projects that high schoolers ought to be doing! (The full set of photos are here.)
• Is Genius Born or Can It Be Learned No answers, but some interesting facts are mentioned.

I didn’t follow the election all that closely — though I probably paid more attention than the average American. My French isn’t all that great anymore, but from what I was reading about Mme. Royal’s position and what I thought I understood, I thought she had some great ideas in her 100-point plan.

I wonder what will happen to France as a country with Nicolas Sarkozy at its helm. His plans for changing France have been called “American” and “racist” by some — and for France, that really scares me. I don’t mind him fighting for things like over 35-hour work weeks (because I never could quite understand how anything ever got done in France when there were so few work hours), but it seems to me that he does come across in much the same way that Dubya does — hard-headed and unwilling to change his views in the face of opposition. He’s known for his bad temper. I think he’s kinda scary.

I also can’t help but wonder how this may affect Hillary Clinton as she contends for the Democratic presidential nomination. I’m not yet sure who I’m for in that run-off, but I certainly have a keen eye watching what goes on with her, just to see how she’s treated by the media and how she handles herself. I heard that, in the last French presidential debate, Royal was on the offensive — which Sarkozy called out as being un-presidential. A thinly veiled sexist attack that we’re to see more of in the U.S.? We’ll see soon enough…

You probably need no reminder, if you’ve heard the news, but she is the first woman to hold this office (as well as “the best candidate”, according to the senior fellow of the Harvard Corporation). As Drew herself said, “I’m not the woman president of Harvard. I’m the president of Harvard.”

CNN has the AP story, and the Harvard newspaper, The Crimson, live-blogged the announcement.

Also, don’t miss Bryn Mawr’s write-up and Drew’s 2001 Commencement speech.

Our government has been burying its head in the sand, pretending that sex does not happen. This agenda sets women back decades, threatening their right to achieve equally in society by robbing them of options for planning their childbearing.

South Dakota lawmakers, and others that support this type of legislation, clearly see it as their right to enslave women of reproductive age, making us into nothing more than breeders. In the case of the SD law, they’d force women who have suffered through rape or incest to carry and birth a child. This puts SD on par with countries like Afghanistan and Iran, where women’s rights are often restricted in other ways. What’s next, South Dakota, what’s next?

And tell me, South Dakota lawmakers, is access to birth control going to be improved? Would sex education be improved?

And what legislation are you proposing to punish men who commit rape and incest? Forced vasectomies? Castrations? What requirements do these men then have in assisting financially in raising the child that they helped create? Or in assisting the mother with medical bills, lost wages, etc.?

If you have no answers to these questions, South Dakota lawmakers, you’ve been foolish in your policy making, and you are clearly unfit to fill your jobs. I hope that the people — women and men of your state — will vote you out in upcoming elections.

If you feel as I do about South Dakota’s abortion law, I encourage you to join Planned Parenthood’s National Day of Solidarity with South Dakota. Or post signs, write letters, post to your blogs!

South Dakota can’t repeal a woman’s right to free speech!

I started celebrating early, and had a Franklin-themed Christmas. A statue of Ben, given to me by Kevin, sat by the piano and watched over our holiday cards and decorations. While out holiday shopping, Kevin bought me Benjamin Franklin : In Search of a Better World. And on Christmas, I received four books on the man — plus one additional book compiled from his writings:

• Benjamin Franklin by Edmund S. Morgan
• Atlantic Cousins: Benjamin Franklin and His Visionary Friends by Jack Fruchtman Jr.
• Franklin: The Essential Founding Father by James Srodes
• Stealing God’s Thunder : Benjamin Franklin’s Lightning Rod and the Invention of America by Philip Dray
• Poor Richards Almanack

As if that weren’t enough, I’ll be returning home to Philadelphia for New Years… and once all of the mummery is over, I’ll visit the many Franklin-themed exhibits and attend some Franklin-themed lectures, such as:

• Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World (Exhibit)
• Franklin, Freemason (Lecture)
• Ben’s Birthday Salon on First Friday
• Franklin Biographers: A Reunion (Panel discussion)

Of course, I’ll also be visiting the Franklin Institute and Independence National Historic Park. Unfortunately I’m only in town through January 8th… what will I do on Ben’s birthday (January 17)? What will you be doing to celebrate this great man?