Awesome Thoughts from our Blog
Interdisciplinary Strawberry-Rhubarb Cheesecake Pie for Pi Day
A guest post by Katie Lutz
Today I am a farmer, baker, and small business owner, making it hard to believe my career started with a degree in civil engineering, and what might be even harder to believe is that I wouldn’t be any of the things I am today if I hadn’t studied in university. My journey to farm ownership started with a mental health crisis during my PhD studies in Civil Engineering and is a story for another time because in honour of Pi Day I want to share how my journey to becoming a professional pie baker started during my engineering undergraduate studies.
Free Princess Awesome & Boy Wonder Printable Valentines!
Just for you, here are some awesome Princess Awesome & Boy Wonder geeky, math-y, science-y, unicorn-y, truck-y valentines. Eva and her kids make them every year:
Caution: Tape May Trigger Poor Conclusions
No, we were not commenting that caution tape should literally reflect who is working, although having spoken to female construction workers, they do care - it’s just one more thing they have to deal with in a line of work that is already fraught with sexism. No, we aren’t so worried about caution tape that we are going to mount a protest over it (yes, we immediately moved on after noting the tape). Yes, we will continue to be a company founded on feminist principles. No, the caution tape is not really that important because nearly everyone knows that “caution: men at work” just means “look out, work is happening here.”
NEARLY everyone. And now we need the explanation for why we do care enough about the stupid caution tape to post about it on Facebook and write this follow-up explanation.
Turning Dreamers into Builders
I love to watch and help my children create things, because it teaches them how to think logically. That’s why creative maker kits are such a great gift for kids. And I admit I feel a some schadenfreude every time my kids rip open a box thinking they’re about to get a fabulous new toy, only to discover 82 disparate pieces that they then have to figure out how to put together. It’s not just a gift for their amusement. It’s a gift for their mind. The picture on the box shows the completed project. They have the parts. And that’s where all the fun begins - they must use logic to figure out how those parts become the whole.
$500 Thinkers & Builders Giveaway from Princess Awesome + GoldieBlox
At Princess Awesome and GoldieBlox, we are constantly thinking of how to encourage girls to learn to be builders, thinkers, and makers. We know that if we do our part to help them learn logical thinking skills, they will grow up to be creative individuals who have the skills necessary to change their world through what they build too.
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Be the Catalyst for Awesome YOU Want to See in the World
Since the day she was born, my daughter Laina has been a catalyst for awesome in my life. Like many parents, she’s brought out the best in me personally; however, she has also energized my professional work, as well.
She is the inspiration behind the children’s science book series I launched this summer known as Science With Scarlett, which invites readers to follow Scarlett—a precocious young scientist—and her charming teddy bear assistant, Mr. Bear, who do experiments with the reader. Science With Scarlett is written in clever rhymes and rollicking verse, teaching actual science, and striving to get young thinkers wondering and young wonderers thinking.
Join the Ladies Who Lab Campaign!
If you and your labmates would like to be featured in our Ladies Who Lab campaign, please submit a response! It’s easy and should only take a few minutes. Please see the entry form below!
We will share submissions on our blog and/or social channels throughout November.
Boy Wonder Launch $250 Giveaway: Our Little Brother Is Almost Here!
One lucky winner will get a $250 Gift Card to the Boy Wonder store.
The winner will be selected at random on October 14th and will be announced the same day. Please see Terms and Conditions below. No giveaway-only accounts.
The Boy Wonder site is mostly down until we launch but you can visit boy-wonder.com to learn a little more about us in the meantime.
Good luck!
Ok Google - why are your product category codes sexist?
Google Shopping ads rely on the product category code to decide what the product is - and therefore who should see the product and how much the merchant is going to pay Google to place an ad for it in front of that person.
If the code for the product we are selling is not available, there is no way for us to explain what the product is and who should be seeing the ad. This wastes our money by putting ads in front of people who don't need to see them. And it keeps us from getting seen by the people who do want to find us.
So, as I was assigning product category codes to our Princess Awesome products, I found out right away that we were going to have trouble running ads. I could not tell Google specifically what we were selling because the correct categories for our products do not exist within their schema.
Fit, Fashion, and Ms. Frizzle
Now, Rebecca and I have been saying for years that the problem with making adult sizes is that even if we did make them, no one would actually want to wear them because they would put them on and realize immediately that they look just like Mrs. Frizzle. And who wants to be Mrs. Frizzle?!
Well, it turns out that I do.
I Hate My Purse. Give Me Pockets!
More than 25 years later, I have lived the gamut of consequences that accompany a life trained to rely on a purse instead of a pocket, the sum total of which has shown me that carrying a purse has made me more vulnerable and incompetent than I otherwise would have been if I’d been equipped with pockets instead.