Female privilege in LinkedIn connection requests?

People who know such things tell me that it’s a good idea to be discerning about whose connection request you accept on LinkedIn. The quality of your connections goes into some spooky score whatchamacallit that influences algorithmic joo joo, which influences your visibility / networking index. Or whatever.

My interpretation is that I shouldn’t accept too many connection requests from sales people who just want to pitch me something.

Unless she’s cute.

No, that’s not a conscious choice, but I know enough about marketing to know that such things are rolling around in the back of my brain when I evaluate a connection request.

Surely someone studying “implicit bias” in college has tested this, right? You use the same text in the profile, but for one you put the picture of some average-looking Indian dude, then a white guy, then a black guy, then an attractive woman ….

If you doubt that there’s female privilege in that part of the game, you’re not paying attention.

We don’t even know what we’re saying

Have you ever experienced this?

You can have five people talking about some topic, and another person can listen — from a particular point of view — and point out a unifying thread that the people in the discussion aren’t even aware of.

For example, let’s say five managers are discussing operational issues, and the marketing guy listens in. He could pick up themes and ideas that the managers aren’t thinking about. They might not even be aware of them.

I think a lot of our lives are that way. We do and say things and we aren’t even sure why we do or say them, unless and until somebody points them out and explains them to us.

Self-driving cars. Good idea or not?

P&C drink and review a mango IPA, then discuss self-driving cars.

There’s a 1-5 level system for different levels of car automation. We’re at about level 3 now, but we’re getting closer to levels 4 and 5.

In order to give some context to the discussion, the boys replay some footage of their recent ride in a self-driving car, and all the ethical decisions that had to be made to program the vehicle before they got on the road.

Then they reflect on how self-driving cars would change life and society. 

The inner dialog

I was speaking with a friend recently who told me that she does not have a constant dialog going on in the back of her mind.

Apparently not everyone has an inner monologue. I had no idea.

It must be peaceful!

Does that apply to songs as well?

I’ll hear a single word or a short phrase and my stupid brain immediately consult the lyrics library. Then I’ll find “It never rains in California,” or (heaven forbid) “Knock three times” or … something … playing in the back of my head for days. A good day is when it’s just a melody with no lyrics.