Monday, May 30, 2016



Female computer science professor blasts the sexist geeks she says show 'staggering' bias against women

If there is prejudice against women in computing, it is really POSTjudice -- as women are rarely good at it and it shows.  I am myself a computer programmer -- as is  my son -- and I have taught it at university level. In my observation only the top 2% in IQ can do the harder types of programming.  I still use FORTRAN and my son uses C#.  Many people find such languages hard but for us they are a doddle.

And because the IQ distribution among females is leptokurtic, there are many fewer women than men in that IQ range. I used to run Sydney MENSA for a number of years and it was notable how few female applicants passed the test.  I have met some very good female programmers.  It was a woman -- Gail Sonkkila -- who taught me FORTRAN.  But they are necessarily rare, given their IQ distribution

So Uschi below may be a good feminist but she is no social scientist

UPDATE: Just to prove I am not a Dodo, I should perhaps mention that my son is NOT a computer programmer. He is a "software engineer". But he is a good one. Recently his firm wanted to import some hardware from China. But it needed programming. So they sent their CIO over there to solve that -- accompanied by their hotshot "engineer" -- my son J. He succeeded. He can of course code with great facility but what he really has to offer is problem-solving ability -- aka IQ

A VERY TANGENTIAL UPDATE: At the time I learnt FORTRAN from Gail Sonkkila, I must have mentioned that to some mainstream female -- whose name I have now forgotten (Margaret Moses?). She said of Gail: "She's not exactly a ball of fashion, is she?" It was a good acknowlegement of a fact true to this day -- that computer people have little time for superficialities. Both I and my son dress very "informally" LOL



Sexist geeks who built a prototype of an 'enhanced human' which was entirely male have been lambasted by one of Britain's leading computer scientists.

Ursula Martin, a professor of computer science at Oxford University, said it was a symptom of the 'staggering sexism' in the industry.

She said there was still an anti-female bias and conjured up a picture of male academics like the characters of Sheldon Cooper and Rajesh Koothrappali in The Big Bang Theory, who struggled to engage with women or understand the female viewpoint.

The Times reported that Prof Martin told an audience at the Hay Festival she was shocked to discover some of the attitudes of male computer scientists when she visited the Microsoft research laboratory in Cambridge this week.

She said: 'I was absolutely staggered at the sexism on show.'

Prof Martin said there was a symposium on artificial intelligence and a presentation was given about the 'vision of what an enhanced human would be'.

Prof Martin pointed out the absence of female attributes in the new, advanced human to the person who made the presentation and he had simply responded: 'I suppose'.

A Microsoft spokesman told Mail Online: 'At the Artificial Intelligence Symposium held at Microsoft Research in Cambridge on May 26, there were many external speakers from across academia.

'Contrary to some media reports, the only Microsoft employees who presented at the symposium were women. 'Microsoft is committed through a range of programs such as Make What’s Next to increase the number of women in Computer Science.'

Prof Martin was at the Hay Festival to discuss the contribution to science of Ada Lovelace, a 19th century visionary who foresaw the existence of computers.

SOURCE






Black guy appears to shout racist abuse at an older white woman because she had 'crossed the road too slowly in front of his car'

This is the shocking moment a driver appears to hurl racist abuse at a white woman - for crossing in front of his car too slowly. 

The chaos unfolded at Arena Shopping Park in Rowley's Green, Coventry, on Sunday afternoon, and shows two people yelling at each other as horrified passers-by watch on.

The Mercedes driver can be seen wildly gesturing as his passenger and members of the public try to usher him back to his car outside of Tesco.

It is believed he started bombarding the older woman with abuse because she had crossed the road slowly in front of the his car, according to the Coventry Telegraph.

In the video, phrases such as 'white people' can be heard as his cursing is censored out.

He is eventually guided back to his car where he can be seen lifting his arms threateningly and shouts: 'What you going to do?'

After some more shouting, the woman responds with: 'Go and crash your car.'

SOURCE






Swedish self-hatred

Swedish police have blamed the rise of migrant sex attacks on 'Nordic alcohol culture' and the 'non-traditional gender roles' of European women.

A new report says refugees struggle to 'handle the alcohol' and ignore the consequences for girls when they simply feel 'horny'.

It warns that girls are called 'whores' and are left in fear of walking the streets because migrants see it as a way of 'demonstrating their power over girls'.

The report, entitled The Current Situation of Sexual Molestation and Proposals for Action, says: 'Control is exercised over women through violence, thus shaping her according to the man’s idealised vision of femininity.

'During the exercise of violence, men can feel they embody a typical "male". 'In other words, the violence makes possible what is considered masculine and can provide "benefits" for the perpetrator.'

It notes that Sweden has the worst rates of physical and sexual violence against women in the European Union, it was reported by Breitbart.

The report said: 'Sweden tops the new EU Statistics on physical and sexual violence against women, sexual harassment and stalking.

'The conclusion is that the results are a consequence of Nordic alcohol culture, but also of non-traditional gender roles.'

Sweden said it expected around 60,000 asylum seekers in 2016.

However, this is fewer than the 100,000 forecast in February as border controls across Europe make it harder for migrants to reach the Scandinavian country.

Last year, Sweden received 163,000 asylum applications, making it one of the EU states with the highest proportion of asylum seekers per capita.

The influx to Sweden has plummeted since January 4, when Stockholm introduced systematic photo identification checks on train, bus and ferry passengers entering via Denmark.

At a peak in October, Sweden received around 10,000 asylum requests a week, compared to around 500 now.

The agency noted that while the acute strain on Sweden's capacities – primarily overcrowded asylum housing centres – had subsided since last autumn, 'municipalities, authorities and the rest of society face immense challenges ahead' to cope with asylum seekers.

SOURCE





United Nations opposition to free spreech

After deferring a decision for four years, a key United Nations committee on Thursday voted to deny official status to a non-governmental organization (NGO) focused on press freedom, prompting strong criticism from the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power.

“It is increasingly clear that the NGO Committee acts more and more like an ‘anti-NGO Committee,’” Power told reporters in New York after the 19-country body voted to deny “special consultative status” to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Power said it was instructive to see which countries had voted against CPJ’s application for the status, which allows an NGO to take part in sessions of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, as well as several other U.N. organs. More than 4,000 NGOs are accredited.

“The vote is important because countries have to decide which side are they on,” she said. “Are they on the side of free expression and organizations try to advance that cause? Or are they hostile to Article 19 [of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which upholds freedom of expression]?”

“And I think if you look at the list of countries that voted ‘no,’ one learns a few things,” Power added.

In Thursday’s vote of the NGO Committee, six countries supported CPJ’s application, ten opposed it, and three abstained.

The “no” votes came from countries with mostly poor records on press freedom – Azerbaijan, Burundi, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, Sudan and Venezuela.   

Supporting CPJ’s application were Greece, Guinea, Israel, Mauritania, the United States and Uruguay. India, Iran and Turkey abstained.

Speaking ahead of the vote U.S. representative Sarah Mendelson urged support for CPJ’s application.

“Each and every day, brave journalists take extraordinary risks to bring us stories we otherwise would not hear: exposing corruption, asking tough questions, and bearing witness to the dignity of innocent men, women, and children suffering the horrors of war,” she said.

“In recognition of this bravery, the members of this committee should work hard to accredit NGOs that report on these issues, especially in light of the ever increasing global crackdown on civic space, the harassment and attacks against journalists, human rights defenders, as well as their friends, families, and supporters.”

The NGO Committee is a subsidiary of the U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and its decisions must be endorsed by the full, 54-member ECOSOC at a meeting scheduled for July.

Power said the U.S. would bring the CPJ matter to a vote at ECOSOC, “and we look forward to a lively debate between now and then.”

The CPJ first applied for NGO status in 2012, but its bid was deferred seven times, based on what the group calls “arcane U.N. procedure,” involving “persistent, lengthy, and repetitive questioning.”

Power summarized that procedure as follows: “Countries defer by asking questions. Even when those questions are answered, more questions – the exact same questions – are asked again. It’s just a device, a way of ensuring that those accreditations are not forthcoming.”

SOURCE

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Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the  incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of  other countries.  The only real difference, however, is how much power they have.  In America, their power is limited by democracy.  To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already  very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges.  They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did:  None.  So look to the colleges to see  what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way.  It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH,   EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and  DISSECTING LEFTISM.   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here

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