THIS IS MY SECOND POST
10/07/22
Oh hey peeps! It’s me again (it’s my blog, I live here).
This study week has been all about JavaScript (js) and emotional intelligence practices. It’s been cool.
Key Takeaways this Week:
- Being prepared is a great feeling. I did a codecademy javascript course because I had been told that js is the make-it-or-hate it decider for many people who learn coding. I’m pro bungy-jumping and mid-winter dipping but course-enrolling in a completely foreign arena is not the kind of risk taking I am in support of. So anyway, I did this js crash course and it made this week really manageable. I’m so glad I didn’t have to learn all the things for the first time because I would be crying right now. I did all* my crying during the crash course so that’s out of the way for now.
- I learned this really cool skill called ‘looping’ this week as part of the emotional intelligence curriculum. Looping is listening without interruption then repeating what the person has said to you back to them in your own words. It was quite profound for me to do this exercise. I realise how much I interrupt, and how my listening could be of a much higher calibre! Sorry about that. I’m going to be focussing on listening with less interruption because I really enjoyed the feeling of connection with my exercise partner. Do you wanna try this with me? I’d love to do this with people I know IRL too.
- Just two takeaways this week cas they’re pretty meaty.
Who in the WWW is she?
Hedy Lamarr
Austrian-born American-based inventor and actress, Hedy Lamarr was the multi-talented woman donned the “Mother of Wifi”.
Similarly to our last Woman in Tech, Ada Lovelace, Hedy Lamarr had parents on differing ends of the arts/science spectrum. Her mother was a concert pianist, her father a curious man interested in the inner workings of the mechanical world. Also like Lovelace, Lamarr was influenced by both of her parents.
She was snaffled up by Hollywood in the late 1930s for her talent and beauty and went on to have an illustrious career on the silver screen. Her innovative genius was encouraged by pilot Howard Hughes, and later she met George Antheil - another arts/science mover-shaker.
A patriot of her new country, Lamarr committed herself to the USA war effort and with Antheil, invented a war-time communication system that helped torpedos reach their targets. In short: “They found a way for the radio guidance transmitter and the torpedo’s receiver to jump simultaneously from frequency to frequency, making it impossible for the enemy to locate and block a message before it had moved to another frequency. This approach became known as “frequency-hopping”.” Quoted from here.
Though this technology was created with war in mind, frequency-hopping is used today in many wireless communication systems. Lamarr never earned much from her invention (her potential earnings now estimated to be in the billions), however what I find more disappointing is that she was never known to be an inventor or innovator during her lifetime, despite her public status as an actress. As with many women in tech, her legacy was only celebrated long after her death, and during her life her intellectual side was met with skepticism and disbelief.
I’ll leave you with this poignant quote from Lamarr: “any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid”.
Random Link!
You know what to do.
Geeky Code Snippet
I figured out that embedding codepen is so easy! Thanks codepen! So this week I thought I’d share a little snippet of what I’ve been learning this week in the DOM.
Read the comments (they are indicated by ‘//’) and see if you can adjust the page a bit.
fin.
Well, thanks for reading. I’d love to hear from you, so get in touch via LinkedIn, Github or send me a message if you have my contact info.
Kindest,
Bleu