Here are a few pictures from Puerto Rico

If you are in the area and are into the law of free software, then this conference is for you. It is free and open to all, but make sure to register by the 12th

Infants need mental health checks .

tenth of two to five-year-olds have a serious psychiatric illness, yet most cases are being missed, warn experts.

The problems go beyond tantrums and bad behaviour and impact negatively on all aspects of an infant’s life, the Institute of Psychiatry will hear.

And failure to spot and treat these conditions early is causing unnecessary distress and suffering.

Mental health services need to be geared towards very young children as a matter of urgency, they said.

The news comes as a survey of 1,000 young people aged 12-19 by The Priory Group finds as many as one in five teenagers has considered or actually harmed themselves purposefully because of feelings of failure and social inadequacy.

Annalee Newitz and Charlie Anders are editing an anthology of essays titled She’s Such a Geek; below is a copy of the call for subs (posted with permission). Spread the word!

Note that this anthology is open only to female writers.

She’s Such a Geek An Anthology by and for Women Obsessed with Computers, Science, Comic Books, Gaming, Spaceships, and Revolution

Slated for Fall 2006

Geeks are taking over the world. They make the most popular movies
and games, pioneer new ways to communicate using technology, and
create new ideas that will change the future. But the stereotype is
that only men can be geeks. So when are we going to hear from the
triumphant female nerds whose stories of outer space battles will
inspire generations, and whose inventions will change the future?
Right now.

Female geeks are busting out of the labs and into the spotlight. They
have the skills and knowledge that can inspire social progress,
scientific breakthroughs, and change the world for the better, and
they’re making their voices heard, some for the first time, in
Annalee Newitz and Charlie Anders’ book She’s Such a Geek. This
anthology will celebrate women who have flourished in the male-
dominated realms of technical and cultural arcana. We’re looking for
a wide range of personal essays about the meaning of female nerdhood
by women who are in love with genomics, obsessed with blogging,
learned about sex from Dungeons and Dragons, and aren’t afraid to
match wits with men or computers. The essays in She’s Such a Geek
will explain what it means to be passionately engaged with technical
or obscure topics-and how to deal with it when people tell you that
your interests are weird, especially for a girl. This book aims to
bust stereotypes of what it means to be a geek, as well as what it
means to be female.

More than anything, She’s Such a Geek is a celebration and call to
arms: it’s a hopeful book which looks forward to a day when women
will pilot spaceships, invent molecular motors, design the next ultra-
tiny supercomputer, write epics, and run the government.

We want introspective essays that explain what being a geek has meant
to you. Describe how you’ve fought stereotypes to be accepted among
nerds. Explore why you are obsessed with topics and ideas that are
supposed to be “for boys only.” Tell us how you felt the day you
realized that you would be devoting the rest of your life to
discovering algorithms or collecting comic books. We want strong,
personal writing that is also smart and critical. We don’t mind if
you use the word “fuck,” and we don’t mind if you use the word
“telomerase.” Be celebratory, polemical, wistful, angry, and just
plain dorky.

Possible topics include:

* what turned you into a geek
* your career in science, technology, or engineering
* growing up geeky
* being a geek in high school today
* battling geek stereotypes (i.e racial stereotypes and geekdom, cultural analysis of geek chic and the truth about nerds,

the idea that women have to choose between being sexually desirable
and smart, stereotypes about geek professions such as computer
programmers)
* sex and dating among geeks
* science fiction fandom
* role-playing game or comic-book subcultures
* the joys of math
* blogging or videogames
* female geek bonding
* geek role models for women
* feminist commentary on geek culture
* women’s involvement in DIY science and technology groups
* stories from women involved in geek pop and underground
cultures. These might include comic book writers, science fiction
writers, electronic music musicians, and women interested in the gaming world.
* women’s web networks and web zine grrrl culture
* issues of sexism in any or all of the above themes

Editors: Annalee Newitz and Charlie Anders are geeky women writers.
Annalee is a contributing editor at Wired magazine and writes the
syndicated column Techsploitation. Charlie is the author of Choir Boy
(Soft Skull Press) and publisher of other magazine.

Publisher: Seal Press, an imprint of Avalon Publishing Group,
publishes groundbreaking books by and for women in a variety of topics.

Deadline: January 15, 2006

Length: 3,000-6,000 words

Format: Essays must be typed, double-spaced, and paginated. Please
include your address, phone number, email address, and a short bio on
the last page. Essays will not be returned.

Submitting: Send essay electronically as a [MS Word?] Document or
Rich Text Format file to Annalee Newitz and Charlie Anders at
sheissuchageek AT gmail DOT com

Payment: $100 plus two books

Reply: Please allow until February 15 for a response. If you haven’t
received a response by then, please assume your essay has not been
selected. It is not possible to reply to every submission personally.

The only two nations that allow direct to consumer pharmaceutical advertising are the United States and New Zealand. Apparently the US is now innovating on the concept, taking it to a whole new level:

This is the first time I have seen an ad of this nature, which was published in the New Yorker this week.

Interprete on healthhacker will soon be down and moved to evil-wire and here is the new URL:
http://www.evil-wire.org/interprete/

Last weekend was chock full of geeky events, mostly because there were many out of towners visiting NYC, which made me migrate there for the weekend. The highlights were: hanging with Seth my ex-SF roommate at the Software Freedom Law Center inaugural party, seeing some eggplant folks from Vermont, hanging with debianites and seeing some live shows. Particularily good and unusual was the 8 bit music show at the tank. The best performance was given by Bit Shifter. Check out some of his electrifying music dominated sounds of video games here

The folks at the Paris IMC translated and published an IMC piece I wrote a while ago. They have added a nifty translation notes section where they tackle those words that are difficult to translate from one language to the next, among other things.

I finally got around to signing up on SSRN where I published my dissertation chapter on Debian in article form. It was remarkably easy to do, which is always a nice +++ when throwing stuff online.

Now that I am nearly settled down, I think I will have time this coming week to put the whole dissertation online..

CHAos is a biting parody of a recent, Leo Burnet PR campaign, CHAnge run for the Chicago Housing Authority. The CHAos folks have done a brilliant job at reworking, really unmasking, the message.