You talk about what you did yesterday, and what you're going to do today. The meeting shouldn't take more than 15 minutes. Assuming you're going 'by the book'.
I came from a scrum team that consistently pushed the limits of a scrum meeting by talking about way too much and taking way too long. Thats a people and process issue though.
Start small, decide what it is you really want to accomplish, and use a realistic timeline. Things I always forget when starting any (side) project.
I only allow myself an hour or so per day to write code on the side, or to play with a new technology or library. If I don't put boundaries around whatever I'm doing (and have an end-game in mind), I end up wasting a lot of time and don't get anything out of it.
The company I work for has been going through the metamorphosis of startup to medium sized over the last few years.
I firmly believe that there needs to be more structure (policies, procedures, documentation) as you get bigger and add employees. If those are lacking, you'll get a lot of uninformed employees making poor decisions and a product that looks and feels disjointed.
I'd like to think so. I go through phases, where NOT having my face in electronics feels new (and good) - doing things with my hands, like painting a room or putting in a sink faucet. (And I used to have extreme aversions to handy-man type work.)
I'd have to agree on the gender role issue. I'm a father of two daughters and want them to be whatever they want to be. I don't agree with the statement that everyone needs to learn how to code, or the fact that language and art are a waste of time. If everyone knew and did the same things, the world would kinda suck (and finding a good paying job would be impossible.)