Inspirational story by Maggie Shiels about Cisco CTO, Padmasree Warrior.

“I aim to change the myth around what is a geek and what isn’t.

“I think to me a geek is someone who is passionate about technology, who really cares about innovation and how to drive innovation and refine society,” she said. “That’s how I define myself as a geek.”

I really like to hear about people self-identifying as a geek in a positive way. Folks need to be more exposed to people like Padma Warrior to understand why they should consider diving into a technical career.

Chris colin writes about how Heather Champ and the flickr team figure out how to define inappropriate content and how to handle it (via Marc’s Voice).

“The essence of Champ’s job, she says, boils down to defending this imprecise but holy ‘spirit of Flickr.’ Indeed, imprecision is an art here. The list of community guidelines is an assortment of lawyer-vexing instructions like ‘Don’t be creepy. You know the guy. Don’t be that guy,’ and ‘Don’t forget the children.’ If you’ve spent any time online, you instantly recognize these to be meaningful and clear edicts. Champ is only half joking when she says her is responsibility is to keep things from ‘encroaching on Flickr’s serenity.'”

“People become disassociated from one another online. The computer somehow nullifies the social contract.” It’s great to see a someone reminding folks that the social contract is still relevant online.

This is a compelling, and frightening, documentary on a policy where rape victims were charged for the kits used to collect the forensic evidence. This took place in Wasilla, Alaska during the time that Sarah Palin was mayor.

Brian Dominick comments: “The answer as to why Palin and her chief would do this lies in the fact that included in all rape kits is the ‘morning after’ pill. Victims are routinely asked, would they like to take the pill just in case to ensure they will not come up pregnant if the attackers sperm has fertilized an egg. …Look carefully at her denials. She says clearly she does not condone paying for ‘evidence gathering.'”

I absolutely support Sarah Palin’s right to refuse a morning after pill and bear the child if she were raped, but she has no right to demand that anyone else do so.

Check out this and other short documentaries at the Wasilla Project blog for local stories from the folks who know well the practices and policies of Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin.