Day: May 30, 2015

Here’s the rest of the week’s assorted news chum:

• Diversity, Take 1. When it comes to women and self-image, it is important to see oneself in the models. This is why large size models are important. However, whereas there is diversity of color in the skinny models, there’s a distinct lack of diversity in the plus size arena.
• Diversity, Take 2. Another area of diversity of getting women on panels. Gene Spafford has written about this in the Computer Security arena, and Dr. Lipstadt has been highlighting articles about the problem in the Jewish community. Here’s another call for men to give up their seats for women on panels.
• Short Term Rentals. Short term rentals — translation, airBNB — has been in the news of late. Here’s an interesting article about the problem of short term rentals in Berkely, and how it is hurting the housing market.
• Cooks Stuff. Good news: Surfas in Culver City will be moving, but won’t be closing.
• UFOs are Real. I know. They make jerky in Baker, CA. Next thing you know, they’ll want to build a hotel.
• Why You Should Serve. Here’s a great article about why you should volunteer at your synagogue.

For a change, a chunk of this week’s news chum formed a theme: they all relate to things that are going away, or coming back:

• Coming Back: The Cassette. In my youth, I spent hours and hours engineering cassettes of my vinyl collection. Now I just put all my albums on my iPod, and cassettes have all but disappeared. But have they? It appears the lowly cassette, just like vinyl, is seeing a comeback.
• Going Away: The CD. As analog forms come back, physical digital forms are disappearing. Here’s an exploration of how the decline of the CD occurred. Short and sweet summary: The record companies were more worried about recordable CDs than they were about the growth of the MP3 market, to their detriment.
• Coming Back: Old Technical Devices. Want to keep that old technical device running (I know I do)? Here’s an article from the NY Times on how to do so.
• Going Away: Movieland Wax Museum. Actually, more precisely is “went away”, but the sign is still there. However, even that might be going away soon.
• Coming Back: Skymall. Yes, that source of everything odd is returning.
• Going Away: Jewish Delis. The closing of Solly’s in Van Nuys prompts that age old question: Is the traditional Jewish Deli disappearing from the landscape, due to both price and the move away from unhealthy meats like Pastrami and Corned Beef?
• Coming Back: Shuttle Fuel Tanks. The last remaining shuttle fuel tank will be coming to the California Science Center to complete the shuttle display.