Feminist Pub 14: The Bluestocking, a place for feminist chat and feminists to chat

[YonicScrewdriver]

Welcome!

This is the 14th incarnation of the Pub and is meant as a place to drop by with random thoughts and meandering chats, on feminist or other related themes. Anything you want to mull over but not necessarily start a thread about. Alternatively, flop onto the chaise lounges with some

We have a pub goat, a feminist cannon for firing at crazy sexists and a variety of drinks and snacks. And stools/bar counters at female friendly heights. And a crèche in the back somewhere

Will link the last pub in the next post!

I know this is miles behind now, but I teach business English and this crap is all over the textbooks. Most of the time I just pretend to know what it means.

Weird interview today. The interviewer seemed to be more keen on convincing me what an awesome job it was than actually asking questions. And when she did ask a question, I got maybe half an answer before she'd cut in and be off about the job again. I cut back in to try to finish my answers a couple of times but couldn't keep doing that without feeling rude!

Buffy In most of the physics, maths and computer science world we use a document processing software called LaTeX, invented by the great Knuth. It's the best thing ever invented - certainly one of the best software ever invented. It lets you think about writing your document rather than make you sort out all the details like referencing and fonts and margins and stuff like that. And it's effortlessly professional-looking. Even when you write utter tosh. Most learned journals in our field ask for things in LaTeX.

Sorry for long paragraph. But I can spend all day singing the praises of LaTeX and its friends like Beamer which lets you do presentations without powerpoint.

Annie Sounds like a strange interview! But probably good that they are enthusiastic about the job? When will you know?

I do love LaTeX although I haven't used it for...almost 20 years

Copper is right - LaTex is the best thing since sliced bread!

And Beamer too! Does slides like nothing else. >

On whether it's worth using LaTeX if you only use words - I write my complaint letters in LaTeX too. But another chief attraction, apart from the best ever typesetting, is that it lets you label and reference almost anything with pretty much minimal effort.

I will stop now.

It's free and works on Macs and even Windows. I use it on Linux (and windows when I have no choice).

How to install on Macs.

How odd Annie. I wonder if they are new to conducting interviews?

I have never used LaTeX for my own work but used to receiving files in that format

Mmm LaTeX....

Annie, I have had interviews like that and they've mostly turned out positively!

It's not often that a piece of software inspires happy memories.

It's pronounced "lay-tec" for non aficionados.

At least it used to be...

Yeah, just LaTeX and the Martello Tower game

Yes, I've had a few at my LaTeX handbook. From those not in the know, of course. Those in the know just nod. It's like a secret handshake thing.

Ooohhhh, LaTex will be something to research on the weekend. I love pottering 'round on the 'net, I do, learning about techy stuff. (notes correct use of apostrophes .)

My lovely manager who hired me into this position has resigned and left the company , so I am without any 'backup', so to speak. It has been interesting to watch the political landscape shift on his leaving - for the first day, everything was OK, but I was probably too busy to notice. On the second day I was 'persona non grata', as people's political leanings shifted. On day 3, people started talking to me again, albeit not as much as before. Within my own team, the political leanings have shifted to the person with the most perceived power, ie not me . It will be interesting to see what the happens in the coming weeks.

The good news is that my new (interim) manager seems keen to work with me rather than against me, so we will see what the future holds. However, I am a bit pissed off about being pulled from pillar to post by the senior managers in this company . I would like to say to them that:

a. I am human
b. I work at full tilt all day, but that day is 8-9 hours
c. There are only so many work hours in the day. If you load up my 'to do' list with too many things, expect that I won't deliver on time

Sigh, the corporate life...

Oh God, LaTeX.. that brings back memories of Uni and X-Windows....

My world has been put a little back to rights - I took DS1 to the sweet shop after school because we had a couple of hours just him and me before we went to get DS2 from the childminder. He is obsessed with surprise eggs, and had a browse of the shelves, and picked himself a pink disney one.

Some of his little classmates came in, and with a confused/horrified look on her face, and clearly thinking she was being helpful, one of the girls told him that that one was for girls, and tried to point out a Spiderman one to him. He was non-plussed, told her that he wanted the princess egg, told her enthusiastically that it would have sweets and a sparkly princess inside and we went and paid.

After all the rubbish that I see being pushed at them about what they should like, I hope he maintains this innocence and confidence as long as possible, and keeps on buying whichever damn egg he wants at the time, whether it's hello kitty, the incredible hulk, or whatever else they decide can be shoved in a plastic egg and (over-) charged a quid for.