[cyberaleck]

Am I really the only one who things that she is annoying and fake? I literally threw up when I tried to watch her playing Manic Pixie Dream Girl-role.

Ruby and Snow Leopard? Really? This book will be completely useless in 5 years when technologies change. She should have wrote about basic CS principles instead. But I guess most of the women just cannot think logically. And that's probably why there are so few women in tech...

[triplesec]

This is a sad grouch, not a coherent analysis. Most Tech books are obsolete in 5 years. Children do not learn from principles, they learn from example and mimesis and play and repetition. You have much to learn about human beings, and until you learn to lighten up and be constructive in the world, you will remain grouchy, unhappy and unfulfilled.

So, I suggest a more constructive response for you if you think she's wrong and don't like her style: have a look around: what can you do to make things better?

[diydsp]

People are going to pigpile on you b/c you are wrong about the longevity of the tech information and sarcastic remarks about women, etc.

I DO agree with the cringe-factor, though. I really didn't like watching her adjust her purple knit slippers, giggle and fluff her hair, etc.. It was like watching any other advertisement involving models which I don't like either and is one of the reasons I don't watch television.

I also didn't like her trying to increase the aura for her work by saying, "My country is also where Linux and IRC, etc." came from. There's probably a logical fallacy for that :)

Just like all bad art though, there is almost always information to be gained in the layer of meta-communication. Obviously, many people respond to this kind of stimulus. Perhaps it is because there isn't enough "cute" out there in the world already? It is my belief that cuteness and happy feelings should be more widely distributed, not just reserved for celebrities.

But even this morning on NPR (don't usually listen, was in a rush), I heard them announce the birthday of a celebrity.

We are in a celebrity culture that believes in foregoing our own happiness in exchange for concentrating wealth and happiness on certain other people. We are schizophrenic in that we pay money for impressions of the happiness that others experience. Is it made worse by the fact that we don't even care if celebrity's happiness is authentic or not, we still pay for the illusion.

[krick]

> Perhaps it is because there isn't enough "cute" out there in the world already?

Exactly the opposite. There's plenty of "cute" and that's also the reason why: people buy it.

[benched]

I have to disagree about the country part. I didn't hear her trying to halo at all (whether or not that's an effect) - I heard her saying that that's her culture, her influences, and her inspiration. Plus, you really cannot take anything away from the Nordic countries when it comes to innovative computer applications. I would add to her list the whole Demo Scene, which laid much of the technical foundation for the game industry boom of the late '90's and '00's. And of course, Minecraft, which is the biggest realistic, interactive, shared cellular automata world simulation that I'm aware of.

[bringking]

You are certainly entitled to your opinion on her being annoying and fake, but your last statements are just un-called for. Women cannot think logically? Obviously she though logically enough to create an idea that struck a chord with enough people to raise over 250K? Hacker News shouldn't be the place for such blatant misogyny.

[digitalboss]

Just move on - change the channel, not for you troll. And your remarks towards women not thinking logically is embarrassing to see in this forum.

A lot of what we learn today in technology specifics changes frequently - it's the thought process behind our execution and methodologies to build that is the most valuable.

[tomek_zemla]

You are the reason there are so few women in tech...

[krick]

Probably not the only one, but 100k in 24h say that you are in vast minority. There are many books about "CS principles" or programming or ruby or whatever. There're books for kids, there're good ones written by well known computer scientists. It's not some unique book that raises funds, it's marketing.

[GFK_of_xmaspast]

Looks like somebody doesn't like his boy's club getting disrupted.

[balls187]

How do you know she's fake? Perhaps it's her personality to be that way.