FoxQuirk 🦊 @quirk@computerfairi.es

It's annoying that when I think of big, prominent tech figures I have to now mentally assess if they have gone full Palpatine or not. So much technical debt on these projects.

@jerry spouse got involved with the dei program at her work. the real keys she says were 1) just getting underrepresented scientists to apply, and 2) making sure you interview more than one underrepresented person. then 3) hire the best person for the job.

by following #1 and #2 you remove a ton of weird innate biases that people have that, even if they're conscious of it, they fall into. basically, if you follow #1 and #2, you even the odds that #3 results in someone besides a 'white dude' getting the job.

The stats were crazy: say you have 10 candidates. If you interview just 1 minority, they have ~1% chance of getting hired. If you interview 2 minorities, they have ~10% chance each (which is exactly what it should be out of a pool of 10!). This is even when 'smart' people are doing the interviews and they've been taught about implicit biases.

Anyway, following those rules her team ended up hiring a grad student recently who turned into a super duper rockstar. this grad student discovered something crazy about the way genes work. the hire now has a patent application for a cool discovery, and papers coming, and is part of this whole new research paradigm now.

and all because the grad student comes from a part of the world where they eat a different type of foodstuff than westerners. basically learning some fundamental new things about the way genes work in a plant that nobody else would have even thought to look at in her field, which can have huge impacts on western foodstuffs now that they understand the underlying chemistry.

anyway. it's not a 'diversity hire' story. that isn't what DEI is or should be. it's just a "get a diverse pool of applicants to apply, then choose the best one, and sometimes you end up really clicking with someone who brings something new to the table" story. which, in my mind, is exactly why diversity wins...

@jerry many years ago I had the privilege of being an exec sponsor for the NSAs LGBTQ ERG (wow loads of caps).. unlike what I've seen across private industry, the ERG was no social club. The group tackled real policy issues and drove increased understanding across the workforce. The ERG members were fearless and amazing. Management across the board supported all of our ERGs and other diversity groups. Super proud to have done nothing and got a trophy anyhow. Lol.

I was the 10th woman PhD mathematician hired by the NSA. Tons of dedication to increase more women and minorities in math at all levels of education was a priority in the community at the time..and it paid off.. making a difference both in government and across academia. Also super proud to have seen so many people get education and career opportunities from these efforts.

Now I have been on the 'outside' for several years, I'm hoping they stay strong and stay the course...

Can y’all share positive DEI stories because I’m getting tired of DEI stories in the news?

Mother, why do you mock us?

STRENGTH CRUSHES ENEMIES! HAVE YOU EATEN TODAY?

party mouse

Gonna re-repost my article from yesterday as a treat because it really condenses a dozen things i care about and said before

A gaming CEO recently went mask off chud, tarnishing the image of a game i like in the process

In this, i discuss what engaging with the complexity of gender in games where you can create your character should mean - and it doesn’t mean simply changing language.

https://aria.dog/demons/nexus/type-c/

this is how it feels to have anxiety

what a journey

imagine wanting to go from Shannon, Ireland to Toulouse, France but instead you are going to Belgium (a fate worse than death)

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=3964f2

watching a YouTube short about poaching large quantities of eggs, and the chef says that he steams them at 63 degrees [Celsius] for 45 minutes.

top comment:

For those wondering, 63° is 7π/20 radians.

interesting, Safari now outright refuses to load websites that use TLS 1.1, TLS 1.0, or RSA <= 1024

with no way to bypass

My daughter is collecting data on people's pineapple on pizza preferences, if you would be so kind as to answer, this will help to move us past this impasse, even if there is some bandwagoning involved

#pizza #pineappleonpizza