I am more concerned by the lack of communication than by the missed meetings. Have you actually talked to him about this? Maybe he is sadly waiting for you at a different coffee shop, or under the impression that the meetings are only when needed.
Does he have any idea how much this is destroying your trust in him? Tell him your expectations, give him a chance to shape up, and if he doesn't, you know what to do.
I see a lot of threads go by on HN along the lines of "why aren't there more women in technology?" and then lots of replies along the lines of "I guess they are just allergic to keyboards. Too bad!"
This article, particularly the section about attitude towards noobs, is all tied up in why some women never go deep into programming. There are lots of other reasons too, but this one is especially well articulated by the OP.
If you are in the keyboard-allergist camp, ponder this one long and hard.
Right, I second that. Also, I used to "take breaks" by playing games or putzing around on the internet, until I realized that it doesn't actually help me feel relaxed and energized. But stretching, walking around, getting a cup of tea, and most other things in meatspace get me ready to go back to work.
If you're interested in reading more about pushing the limits of remapping the human brain, check out The Brain That Changes Itself by Doidge. Fascinating.
You would be correct. The shaping of the pinna (and resulting sound reflections) help us determine the height of sound sources, even if they're right on our midline.
Not sure that is the word choice you intended:
It might not be a "bad" one it terms of your chances of being right, but it's "bad" in the sense that it's insulting, frustrating, and marginalizing for the underestimated woman.
What's eye contact for, anyway? I can read body language reasonably well, but I always feel like people are expecting me to do something with my eyes and I can never tell what, exactly, I'm supposed to do with them.
Basically you're supposed to look at their eyes for 5-7 seconds at a go. Then look away but not at their chest (regardless of sex). Flick to something behind and above them, glance at a window or clock or other feature in the area.
If you don't like their eyes, focus on the bridge of their nose, they won't be able to tell the difference.
For neurotypicals, it creates sensations of companionship and trust, until it goes on too long and then it becomes creepy and uncomfortable for them.
Some of us have significant hearing loss. Eye contact (better stated face contact) provides a lot of non-verbal cues as to what the %!*^&%! you're saying. It's not quite lip-reading, but I think it's getting additional information about where the syllable breaks are.
I'm also curious. I suspect once the iPad2 and a slew of Android tablets with front-facing cameras are in the wild, we'll see lots of interesting software...
