Well, it would be uniquely challenging for the director to do his duty or to blind himself, being that she's a woman. And, as mentioned in the article's subtitle and second sentence, the first woman to direct the Goddard Space Flight Center since its founding in 1959.

? What has gender to with anything in this regard? I grew up in a cult, the fiercest and deepest believers were all woman, often pushing some married hapeless guy around as a "dog on a leash" to bite and bark for them..

I think the point was that a woman cannot blind "him"-self but rather blinds "her"-self. It was a comment on language, not about which gender can be more or less fierce in their beliefs.

Yes, that was my intent. If we're going to celebrate this choice, then we should also give the Director her due respect. :)

Well, i dont percieve that whole thing that much and just project my own gender upon everything. I assume everyone is just like me and thats the default of the universe. No special treatment for anyone, not even myself.

Is the point of swearing to a document to signal your values? Isn’t it to make a promise to a higher power? If it’s not to make a promise to a higher power, and I’m not necessarily arguing this should be required, then there isn’t really a point.

I rather like the idea of what the Vikings sometimes did:

"The oath-swearing practice varied significantly, sometimes involving ritualised drinking or placing hands on a holy pig (referred to as a sónargöltr) that could later be sacrificed"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heitstrenging

i would argue that the (almost exclusive) point of swearing something publicly is to signal your values. otherwise why not just swear it to yourself?

That’s an interesting point. It certainly signals that you made a commitment. So in that sense it’s a social promise in addition to potentially being a promise to one’s higher power. It could also be used to signal religious values but that comes down to intent of the individual and seems secondary to the main purpose of making the oath to (ideally) increase integrity.

But I still don’t think making a promise to some set of values that is not believed to have the capacity to enforce them makes much sense. Christians aren’t swearing an oath to Christian values - they are swearing to God. Obviously not everyone is religious, but that’s exactly why it doesn’t make sense to sub in some non religious belief in its place.

Dale Myers did ok with one eye.