There are Science Cafes all over the world that have scientists give talks to laypersons: sciencecafes.org
Nerd Nite does the same thing, but with beer: nerdnite.com
Be a guest speaker at high schools in your area. Mike Merzenich graciously came to speak to my Neuroscience students, and they found it informative and inspiring.
Above all, practice talking math to non-mathies. Use lots and lots of analogies, and don't forget to tap into the enthusiasm that brought you to the field in the first place.
AskMetafilter solves this problem by asking all users to pay $5 to make an account to vote or post. This low, easy bar is still high enough to dramatically reduce low-quality comments and questions.
But I wonder if the argumentative and negative postings on this site are coming from relative beginners on the site, or people who are more established?
Well you can, as evidenced by the attitude of the person I was responding to. That doesn't mean you should, which is I think what you really mean.
But yes, having such an imbalance in our community leads to this being a salient part of social interaction when there are much more important characteristics that should rise to the top.
"Personally, it doesn't even cross my mind that some people are different than me."
People who aren't rich, white, straight, and male don't have the privilege of forgetting about their own identity the way you do. In the context of tech for women, this means always wondering if you were hired, fired, or asked to coffee because you are a woman or because you are interesting and competent. It's knowing that if you mess up, you are reinforcing stereotypes about all women. When you walk into a room at a conference and you can count the other women on one hand, men may not notice but women definitely do. We don't have the privilege of forgetting our gender in that context. It's not that men are evil, it's just the way privilege works: when you benefit from it, it's hard to see the experience of those who don't.
If you want to hear more about this idea even more eloquently, check out the classic article about white privilege that puts it better than I ever could:
http://www.nymbp.org/reference/WhitePrivilege.pdf
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.
A skill that's damn hard to learn and takes years of dedication, introspection, and humility, but learnable nonetheless.