CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Octavia Butler, Black female sci-fi icon, honored by Google

Today would have been Octavia Butler's 71st birthday. Butler is one of the rare non-white, non-male individuals to have a successful and influential career in science fiction. She is best known for her dystopian novels (many of which won her chosen genre's highest awards) such as Wild Seed, Parable of the Sower, fledgling and (of course) Kindred. She was the first sci-fi author to win the prestigious MacArthur (genius) grant.

Google honors butler with today's Google Doodle!

CELEBRITY FRIDAY: (Openly Lesbian) Megan Smith Named CTO of United States

This is very cool news! A former acquaintance of mine, Megan Smith, who is now known as one of the most prominent out people in Silicon Valley as a Vice President at Google with responsibility for its non-profit activities, has been named the Chief Technology Officer of the United States by President Barack Obama!

The official announcement was made by Dr. Joh Holdren, the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy today in a blog post where he quoted President Obama saying:

Megan has spent her career leading talented teams and taking cutting-edge technology and innovation initiatives from concept to design to deployment. I am confident that in her new role as America’s Chief Technology Officer, she will put her long record of leadership and exceptional skills to work on behalf of the American people. I am grateful for her commitment to serve, and I look forward to working with her and with our new Deputy U.S. CTO, Alexander Macgillivray, in the weeks and months ahead.

This is a very cool sign to women (and openly LGBT) that this President will appoint people to prominent and important positions that they are qualified for.

2014 US OPEN: Federer and Serena Favorites To Win

Sadly I spent an hour or two writing a post on the analysis of the men's and women's draw for the 2014 U.S. Open but Blogger ate it! I really don't have the time or energy to try to replicate that post, but the summary is that Roger Federer and Serena Williams are the favorites to both win their 18th major title.

As Sochi Olympics Start Google Doodle Supports LGBT Equality

The controversial Sochi Olympics have started and Google has taken a stand in support of LGBT equality in Russia with today's Doodle.

Hat/tip to TowleRoad

Happy MLK Day!

Today's Google's Doodle honors Martin Luther King, Jr.

New $3M Prizes For Mathematics Announced!

Interesting news! There is going to be a new $3 million-dollar prize for advances in Mathematics, similar to the high-profile Breakthrough prizes that have been announced in Life Sciences and the Fundamental Physics prize. The funds for these prizes are coming from technology billionaires who are trying to raise the social status of people who work in the area of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

The New York Times reports:

Starting next year, the Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics, as it will be called, will join the Fundamental Physics Prize, which Mr. Milner established in 2012, and the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, which he set up a year ago in partnership with Sergey Brin of Google, Mr. Zuckerberg and Jack Ma, a Chinese entrepreneur, and their families. Each winner or winning team gets $3 million, making the awards the richest in science (this year’s Nobel Prize winners, for example, are each winning or sharing $1.2 million). 

[...] 

All the prizewinners are eligible to win again, but in the meantime they will help judge future contests. For the new math award, Mr. Milner and Mr. Zuckerberg, in consultation with experts, will choose the first winners. Mr. Milner declined to say how many mathematicians would be chosen, but there could be quite a number of windfalls in store: for the physics price, there were nine inaugural winners.

This sounds like a good idea to me but not everyone agrees. Professor Peter Woit of Columbia University is one such critic:

Even if the Milner-Zuckerberg prize does end up focused on the best mathematics research, I still think the whole concept is problematic. The US today is increasingly dominated by a grotesque winner-take-all culture that values wealth and celebrity above all else. While mathematics research, like the rest of academia, has been affected as a star system has become increasingly part of the picture, this field has been somewhat immune to celebrity culture. While people typically think that what mathematicians do is perfectly respectable, they don’t understand much about it and aren’t especially interested. Milner and Zuckerberg want to change this by turning mathematicians into celebrities, but I don’t see any reason to believe this is going to lead to better mathematics.

Woit's main issue with the prize is that he thinks the money could have a better use if directed somewhere else. That may be true, but although I support and defend his right to express his beliefs, it really seems like another example of someone external to a process making an observation about someone's decision to approach a problem in a particular way and critiquing it because what is being done doesn't align with how the critic sees the world or their goals. 

To me, the critic should promote their vision, unless they can make a compelling case for the idea that the activity they are critiquiing will actually have a deleterious impact on some universal good.

I don't think Woit's criticism does that. What do you think, do you think the $3 million Breakthrough Prizes in Mathematics will do more harm than good?

NYT: Clear Geographic Correlation Between Tolerance And Open Homosexuality

There is an interesting report published in the New York Times on the correlation between how "tolerant" a state or geographic region and the fraction of men who are willing to be open (and honest) about same-sex sexual attraction. The study was conducted by Harvard Economics Ph.D. Seth Stephens-Davidowitz who previously made news by analyzing Google searches to demonstrate a negative correlation between racist  searches (or searches for "racially charged terms") and voting rates for Barack Obama for President in 2008.

Now, Dr. Stephens-Davidowitz is back and he is analyzing Google searches to demonstrate that even though approximately 5% of men have same-sex attraction (as evidenced by their searches for pornographic or sexual material on the web) in areas where marriage equality or LGBT rights are disfavored the percentage of people who reveal their homosexuality or bisexuality in social media substantially decreases.

In "How Many American Men Are Gay?" Stephens-Davidowitz says:

Using surveys, social networks, pornographic searches and dating sites, I recently studied evidence on the number of gay men. The data used in this analysis is available in highly aggregated form only and can be downloaded from publicly accessible sites. While none of these data sources are ideal, they combine to tell a consistent story. 

At least 5 percent of American men, I estimate, are predominantly attracted to men, and millions of gay men still live, to some degree, in the closet. Gay men are half as likely as straight men to acknowledge their sexuality on social networks. More than one quarter of gay men hide their sexuality from anonymous surveys. The evidence also suggests that a large number of gay men are married to women. 

There are three sources that can give us estimates of the openly gay population broken down by state: the census, which asks about same-sex households; Gallup, which has fairly large-sample surveys for every state; and Facebook, which asks members what gender they are interested in. While these data sources all measure different degrees of openness, one result is strikingly similar: All three suggest that the openly gay population is dramatically higher in more tolerant states, defined using an estimate by Nate Silver of support for same-sex marriage. On Facebook, for example, about 1 percent of men in Mississippi who list a gender preference say that they are interested in men; in California, more than 3 percent do.

Of course the question of what fraction of the population if LGB is a recurring one, for social science researchers and activists alike. As I have mentioned previously, many researchers seem to think the typical number is in the 3-5% range.

What is disturbing about the new analysis from Stephens-Davidowitz is that it also indicates that many of the closeted gay men in less tolerant areas are masking their sexuality by involving women. This is unsurprising since one would presume in areas that are oppressively religious with tendencies towards compulsory heterosexuality the norm, what options are there for the man with hidden same-sex sexual attractions?

It is also encouraging in some sense, because it demonstrates, as activists have been saying, "We are everywhere" and that, eventually, LGBT equality will be everywhere as well, since wherever there are LGBT people, they will need to have access to full civil rights as well. Yes, even in Mississippi.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God 

WATCH: Google Employees Support Marriage Fight

Yet another sign that the heterosexual supremacists are losing the kulturkampf (culture war) over marriage equality, when the coolest company on the planet (Google) has employees that are publicly and vocally supporting the forces of equality in the four states where marriage equality is on the ballot (Maryland, Maine, Minnesota and Washington) on November 6.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

Google Doodle Celebrates 46 Years of Star Trek

Today is the 46th anniversary of the first airing of the pilot of the original Star Trek series created by Gene Roddenberry and starring William Shatner as James T. Kirk, Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock and DeForest Kelly as Dr. Leonard McCoy. The cast also included the sultry Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Uhura and (now openly gay) George Takei as Hikaru Sulu.

Of course the series has gone on to spawn a whole host of spin-off television series and motion pictures.

But 46 years today, it all started on television. Live Long and Prosper!

Today is Alan Turing's 100th Birthday!

Alan Turing was born 100 years today, on June 23, 1912 and Google celebrated the anniversary by having an especially complicated Doodle to honor the father of computing.

Andrew Eland, the Engineering Director of Google UK published a blog post discussing why they decided to honor Turing:

Turing’s life was one of astounding highs and devastating lows. While his wartime codebreaking saved thousands of lives, his own life was destroyed when he was convicted for homosexuality. But the tragedy of his story should not overshadow his legacy. Turing’s insight laid the foundations of the computer age. It’s no exaggeration to say he’s a founding father of every computer and Internet company today.  

Turing’s breakthrough came in 1936 with the publication of his seminal paper “On Computable Numbers” (PDF).  This introduced two key concepts, “algorithms” and “computing machines”—commonplace terms today, but truly revolutionary in the 1930’s.

Turing is one of the openly gay icons of the last century and it is very cool that Google is calling more attention to him, especially during gay pride month.

What Browser Do You Use?

Matthew Yglesias over at Slate posted the above diagram showing the rise of Google's Chrome and the fall of Microsoft's Internet Explorer as popular browsers used to access the World Wide Web.

I use Chrome as my primary browser but at work "for da gubmint" most of the applications are written to be optimally run using Internet Explorer.

According to this blog;s stats, roughly 37% of you use Chrome, then 22% Firefox, 19% Internet Explorer and 9% Safari.

What browser do you prefer to use?

Celebrity Friday (extra): Keith Haring on google.com

Today's Google doodle recognizes openly gay artist Keith Haring who would be 54 today if he had not died of AIDS in 1990 at the age of 36.

WATCH: Blind Man "Drives" Google's Driverless Car

This is pretty cool. One of Google's long-term projects is the development and deployment of driver-less cars. watch this cool video of a blind man behind the wheel as the car drive itself. Is this the future? As Ken Jennings said, "I for one, welcome our new computer overlords!"

Google Change Spreads Santorum Across The Web

Google apparently made some changes to its search algorithm which dropped the Dan Savage website spreadingsantorum.com from the first page of search results but instead raised the Urban Dictionary's definition of "santorum" which is even more explicit:

The sometimes frothy, usually slimy, amalgam of lubricant, stray fecal matter, and ejaculate that leaks out of the receiving partner's anus after a session of anal intercourse. Named, by popular demand and usage, after legislator Rick Santorum because of his homophobic political statements.

Not exactly the first thing one wants people to see when they google your name. Forget about Santorum, I'm more interested in the definition of "romney" (to defecate in terror).

To Romney Means "To Defecate In Terror"

The word "romney" is getting the same Google bomb treatment by the group DogsAgainstRomney.com that LGBT activist Dan Savage was so effective at deploying to (re)define the word "santorum."

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

Happy Valentine's Day (from Google)

Today is Valentine's Day and Google has created an "epic doodle" for the occasion which includes same-sex couple in the definition of love. You can see the full animation here.

Hat/tip to LGBT Think Progress.

Internet Websites Go Dark To Protest SOPA

Today many websites are observing a "blackout" day to call attention to dangerous legislation before Congress which would fundamentally alter the Internet, called the Stop Online Privacy Act or SOPA. Participants include Google, Wikipedia and Boing Boing, among many others.

The White House announced its opposition to the legislation over the weekend.

LGBT blogs are in the mix as well, with Karen Ocamb's LGBT POV, TowleRoad and Bilerico Project participating in the online SOPA  protest.

White House Opposes SOPA and PIPA

The White House has finally come out against legislation which would have a dramatically negative impact on the free and unfettered nature of the Internet, the so-called Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its House companion bill, the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA).

The White House blog says:

Right now, Congress is debating a few pieces of legislation concerning the very real issue of online piracy, including the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), the PROTECT IP Act, and the Online Protection and Digital ENforcement Act (OPEN). We want to take this opportunity to tell you what the Administration will support—and what we will not support. Any effective legislation should reflect a wide range of stakeholders, including everyone from content creators to the engineers that build and maintain the infrastructure of the Internet.

While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.

Any effort to combat online piracy must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity and must not inhibit innovation by our dynamic businesses large and small. Across the globe, the openness of the Internet is increasingly central to innovation in business, government, and society and it must be protected. To minimize this risk, new legislation must be narrowly targeted only at sites beyond the reach of current U.S. law, cover activity clearly prohibited under existing U.S. laws, and be effectively tailored, with strong due process and focused on criminal activity. Any provision covering Internet intermediaries such as online advertising networks, payment processors, or search engines must be transparent and designed to prevent overly broad private rights of action that could encourage unjustified litigation that could discourage startup businesses and innovative firms from growing.

We must avoid creating new cybersecurity risks or disrupting the underlying architecture of the Internet. Proposed laws must not tamper with the technical architecture of the Internet through manipulation of the Domain Name System (DNS), a foundation of Internet security. Our analysis of the DNS filtering provisions in some proposed legislation suggests that they pose a real risk to cybersecurity and yet leave contraband goods and services accessible online. We must avoid legislation that drives users to dangerous, unreliable DNS servers and puts next-generation security policies, such as the deployment of DNSSEC, at risk.

Blogger Ate TWO of My Restaurant Reviews!!

Wednesday night I spent about 2-3 hours on a draft of a review of my visit to the Lazy Ox Canteen restaurant in downtown Los Angeles which Blogger's now-infamous service shut down has apparently chewed up and spit out. The review was posted on Thursday May 12 (Thursdays are Review days at MadProfessah.com) but has since disappeared and not been restored. On Wednesday, I also spent another hour or more on a review of my visit to Go Burger in Hollywood. That was in draft form and has completely reverted to a version which eliminates all my lovely insights and well-written prose. *sigh*

Google (Docs) Has A Draw Program!

I needed to produce a document for an elementary school math festival I am participating and organizing on Friday in Glassell Park. I don't really know how to use any Draw programs and I am not "artistic" at all but the above diagram I literally created in 15 minutes in Google Docs. I heard about the program from my husband but you can read more about it here. You simply "Insert Drawing" and you get a wonderful graphical interface which is very intuitive to use.

Thanks, Google!