Category: Social Justice

Supreme Court Justices agree with Harvard that Asians have no personality

by philg

The nation’s most enthusiastic racialists have had their sails trimmed. “Supreme Court Strikes Down Race-Based Admissions at Harvard and U.N.C.” (New York Times):

Race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina are unconstitutional… Former President Barack Obama, who broke the color barrier in the nation’s highest office with his election in 2008, denounced the Supreme Court’s decision on Thursday to eliminate race-based affirmative action in college admissions.

For those of us with Asian friends, however, there is a silver lining. Wikipedia:

Dissent: Sotomayor, joined by Kagan, Jackson[a]
Dissent Jackson[a], joined by Sotomayor, Kagan

We can now tell Asians that at least two of the nation’s top judges have officially confirmed Harvard’s diagnosis of Asians as having no personality. (“Harvard consistently rated Asian-American applicants lower than others on traits like “positive personality,” likability, courage, kindness and being “widely respected,” according to an analysis of more than 160,000 student records filed Friday by a group representing Asian-American students in a lawsuit against the university.” (NYT 2018))

MIT is already set up to keep its victimhood apparatus going. The Infinite Corridor earlier this week was devoid of victimhood-by-skin-color signs. The new religion is discrimination by “class”:

How will the victimhood administrators determine the class membership of an applicant for a job or a degree? Maybe by skin color?

From https://mitadmissions.org/blogs/tag/case-class-awareness-support-and-equality/:

Here’s some interesting text:

As far as admissions goes, I have heard people say things like “I didn’t get in because I wasn’t enough of a special snowflake” or “They probably gave my spot to a minority.” I have also heard people (@me) say “I probably only got in because I’m a girl.” This is a toxic mindset that was discussed in the forum. Sure, no college admissions process is perfect. However, you don’t get accepted or rejected for your identity. If you got in, rest assured that you are qualified, you are capable, and you have potential. If you didn’t get in, you may also be all of these things and simply not an ideal fit for the school– but you didn’t get turned away for something as trivial as the concentration of melanin in your skin.

The Supreme Court majority found exactly the opposite: students did get accepted or rejected for their identity.

A great NYT photo:

Full post, including comments

Where can state government workers relax at Black taxpayers’ expense?

by philg

Today is Juneteenth, when the Black working class can work and pay taxes so that the white laptop class (e.g., federal government workers) can enjoy a day off. But where does the Black working class have the opportunity to pay taxes to fund leisure for white laptop class members who are state government workers? Pew offers a map:

It isn’t surprising that Deplorable Florida fails to give state workers an extra paid holiday (the same article, however, shows that Florida was the very first state (1991) to recognize Juneteenth as “an observance”). Shockingly, however, Juneteenth is merely a “personal holiday” in California that workers can choose to take on June 19 (in which case a worker would lose the opportunity to take a holiday on Eid al-Fitr or Eid al-Adha, for example).

Separately, I hope that your Juneteenth celebration is at least “mostly peaceful” (see “1 dead, at least 22 hurt in a shooting at a Juneteenth celebration in Willowbrook, Illinois, police say” (CNN): “At least 22 people were injured and one person was killed by gunfire overnight in Illinois, in a peaceful Juneteenth celebration… The incident is now one of 310 mass shootings in the US this year…”).

Full post, including comments

What buildings and parks have been named after George Floyd?

by philg

On this Father’s Day, let’s look at a man who has been highlighted as a great father by the elite…

President Biden says “We will never stop taking action in his honor.” regarding George Floyd:

It has been three years. What, concretely, has been done to honor Mr. Floyd? Minneapolis has George Floyd Square, but has President Biden designated a park or a building in D.C. “in his honor”? If not, why not?

What about a George Floyd Memorial on the Mall? What stops President Biden from delivering on his promise by creating one?

Related:

Full post, including comments

What are you doing for World Environment Day?

by philg

Today is World Environment Day (which means we can ignore the environment for 364 days per year, cranking up the A/C in our pavement-melting SUVs?). What are you doing to mark this milestone?

Here’s Facebook back in May enforcing orthodoxy by augmenting one of my posts:

Every day is World Environment Day for the artificially intelligent robots at Facebook!

Full post, including comments

National Basketball Association celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

by philg

Our local public schools run fundraising events in which parents are urged to dine at particular restaurants on particular nights, with 10 percent of the revenue funneled back to the schools. At one of these events, a television was tuned to NBA TV.

The fine print at bottom: “Happy AAPI Heritage Month! The NBA family is dedicated to creating a diverse and inclusive environment both on and off the court. Each May, the NBA and its affiliate leagues celebrate the rich history, culture, and achievements of AAPI communities.”

Readers: What have you done this month to celebrate the achievements of Asians and Pacific Islanders on NBA teams?

(Separately, a friend says that he prefers to watch basketball games from South Korea. “The net isn’t high enough for modern American players,” he says, ” so they don’t have to be as creative as was required when the game was designed. The South Korean players aren’t as tall so they have to work harder and use more strategy.”)

Full post, including comments

Why can’t San Francisco turn vacant retail and office space into shelters for migrants and the unhoused?

by philg

Headlines are packed with stories about major retailers shutting down stores in San Francisco and distressed office towers. At the same time, we know that folks in the Bay Area are passionate about social justice and welcoming migrants (San Francisco has been a sanctuary city since 1989). See, for example, “Nordstrom is the latest retailer to leave San Francisco” (CNN) and “Office vacancies in San Francisco jump to a record 33%” (The Real Deal).

San Franciscans who say that they want to help the vulnerable and reduce inequality are still wealthy. Why won’t they vote to tax themselves so that the city can acquire the vacant retail and office buildings to turn into housing for migrants and those who are currently suffering from unhoused-ness? These buildings are already equipped with bathrooms and it wouldn’t cost a lot to add more showers. From the WSJ:

Full post, including comments

Intel or AMD if you’re committed to social justice?

by philg

Now that the GPU shortage is mostly over, friends have been putting together new desktop PCs. They’re not persuaded, apparently, by GPU performance improvements since 2015 (and why not just use motherboard graphics?). Similar to the great Gillette v. Dorco shaving-for-justice inquiry, one question that has arisen is whether a person passionate about social justice should prefer Intel or AMD.

(Apple is, of course, the historical nerd leader in social justice, marketing 2SLGBTQQIA+-themed products in every country where the Rainbow Flag religion is already celebrated (but somehow not in countries where 2SLGBTQQIA+ sexual acts are illegal). Example from 2022:

But suppose that we are Luddites who prefer Windows 11, want to put our filthy SARS-CoV-2-tainted paws on a touch screen, etc. We can’t buy from Apple.)

Intel was celebrating Pride Month 2022:

(Comment from a hater: “But wasn’t pride about non binary?”)

AMD said in 2022 that they want Pride Month to last all year:

The Corporate Equality Index, “the national benchmarking tool on corporate policies, practices and benefits pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer employees,” rated AMD a full 100 in 2022. Intel, however, also rates a full 100 and goes one step beyond by being a “National Corporate Partner, Platinum”.

AMD’s Diversity, Belonging & Inclusion page says that they discriminate against 73 of the 74 gender IDs recognized by Science. The company wants to advance only those people who identify as “women”:

The company sorts employees by skin color:

How about Intel’s comparable page? They too sort employees by race:

(Note the hateful implication that there are only two gender IDs in the United States.)

Intel also is interested in one out of the 74 gender IDs that Science recognizes:

The company has an “Intel® She Will Connect” web page in which they disclose their passion for discriminating against 73 gender IDs:

Intel adopted the Black Lives Matter religion in 2020 (source):

“Black lives matter. Period,” CEO Bob Swan wrote in a memo to employees Monday, embracing the rallying cry of contemporary civil rights activists. … In his memo, Swan pledged $1 million “in support of efforts to address social injustice and anti-racism across various nonprofits and community organizations.”

Why is it legal to give away shareholder money in this fashion? Mx. Swan earned $67 million in 2019. Why couldn’t he/she/ze/they give his/her/zir/their own $1 million to the Black Lives Matter movement that he/she/ze/they says that he/she/ze/they supports. (Intel’s donations later expanded to about $7 million.)

AMD supposedly promised to give away shareholder money to Black Lives Matter, but it is unclear how much (source).

Readers: What do you think? For folks who are passionate about advancing social justice, which company is better, Intel or AMD?

Also, why do motherboards still generally support only 128 GB of RAM? The MSI X99S SLI Plus motherboard that I got for $180 in 2015 supported 128 GB. Moore’s Law suggests that the correct maximum RAM for a $180 motherboard today is therefore 1 TB (3 doublings, one every two years). Are AMD and Intel so busy at their mostly peaceful BLM protests and Pride parades that they can’t get organized to support more RAM?

(Might there be a substantial market of consumers who want to buy computing hardware, but who don’t agree with the social justice causes that Intel and AMD advance? Drone technology leader DJI does not seem to invest any of the money that they receive in social justice. DJI has never tweeted about Pride Month. What if a Chinese company offered a BLM-, social justice-, and Pride-free personal computer that included an Arm CPU fabbed by TSMC (never tweeted about Pride Month or Black Lives Matter)? There would still be some money going to advance social justice through fees to Microsoft (Windows 11 will run on Arm), but that’s insignificant compared to when a consumer buys a $4,000-$10,000 Intel- or AMD-based PC from a U.S. company. Maybe it wouldn’t have commercial value because too many applications are distributed in X86 binary and would run slower via translation.)

Full post, including comments

Measuring income inequality in a centrally planned economy with income-based pricing

by philg

We are informed that income inequality is one of the biggest problems facing Americans, but I wonder if the activities of central planners is going to make it ever-tougher to get accurate measurements. Looking at gross cash income is relatively easy. Adjusting for federal, state, and local income taxes is also relatively easy. It gets tougher when we want to factor in the value of means-tested welfare programs such as housing subsidies from a housing ministry, Medicaid, SNAP/EBT, and Obamaphone, but some valiant attempts have been made in this area (see “Is rising income inequality just an illusion?” (The Hill, 2021) for a description of some of the efforts).

I’ve noted here that spending power for cultural activities is actually infinite in many states for those who are on welfare (see “Why you want to be on SNAP/EBT“) because the price of museum or garden admission, for example, is reduced to $0.

California’s central planners are adding an interesting wrinkle with income-based electricity pricing. “PG&E monthly bills could jump for many customers due to new state law” (Mercury News, April 12):

Customers for California’s three major power companies — including PG&E ratepayers — can expect to see some big changes in their monthly electricity bills in the coming years as compliance with a new state law begins to unfold.

PG&E, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, the three major California utilities whose services include electricity, have filed a joint proposal with the state Public Utilities Commission that sketches out proposed changes in monthly bills.

At present, those bills are primarily based on how much electricity and gas customers consume.

A new proposal would add a fixed monthly charge that would be based on the household income levels of the respective customers.

PG&E says many customers would ultimately pay less for electricity — although the distinct possibility remains that an unknown and potentially significant number of more affluent customers might wind up with even higher electric bills.

The new law creates a need for a new government ministry of income verification:

It also appears that a formal effort will be made by state officials to confirm the household income declarations of utility ratepayers.

“The proposal recommends a qualified, independent state agency or third party be responsible for verifying customers’ total household incomes,” PG&E said in an emailed statement.

California is usually the leader in new ideas for expanding government. As more states adopt programs like this, I wonder if it will become practically impossible for academics to estimate spending power inequality in the U.S. (the relevant measure; if you can spend $200,000 per year on housing, health care, food, etc., what does it matter if your earned income is $0?).

This reminds me to relive some happy California memories. From Queer Ecology at Muir Woods (November 2020; San Francisco schools were closed, but youngsters could go to the forest (reservations required) and learn):

San Diego trip report and Meet in San Diego tomorrow or this weekend? describe my June 2022 trip to the Golden State:

Related:

Full post, including comments

American Diversity concert tonight in Cambridge

by philg

I received a mailing from a music organization in Cambridge, Maskachusetts, “A unique program of music written by women and people of color”:

I’m very sorry that I can’t attend and see if The Mask is about an N95 mask and his/her/zir/their journey of protection (modern update to Gogol’s “The Nose”?). Maybe it will be explained in the program notes and pre-concert lecture.

Note that the concert is entirely free to those who limit their working hours so as to qualify for SNAP/EBT (“food stamps”):

We are proud to participate in the Mass Cultural Council’s ‘Card to Culture’ program. EBT card holders who present their EBT card in person at the Box Office receive 2 free Gold section tickets to a Spectrum Singers concert.

Related:

  • Thankful for archive.org (Government-supported Harvard University hosts a play in which only those who identify as Black can attend: “We have designated this performance to be an exclusive space for Black-identifying audience members”)
  • Why you want to be on SNAP/EBT
Full post, including comments

Apple celebrates Women’s History Month

by philg

How are readers celebrating Women’s History Month? We walked by the Apple Store in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida and found that they were celebrating “female creators”:

In other words, they’re celebrating the women who created the Apple II, the Macintosh, MacOS (and underlying Unix/Mach), the iPhone, iOS, Objective-C, the Swift language, etc.

How long before all of the above are attributed to nerds identifying as “female”? In Digital Apollo MIT Press, 2011), Margaret Hamilton is credited as a source, but is not described as having written any of the code. The credited engineers and programmers are Eldon Hall (chose to use integrated circuits), “Hal Laning, a mathematician and control engineer,” (the calculations, the operating system), David Hoag (gimbals/gyros and calculations upstream from them), David Hanley (Apollo Guidance Computer design with Ray Alonso, Hugh Blair-Smith (who also built the assembly language), and Albert Hopkins), Joe Shea (systems engineering), Dick Battin (lead software engineer), Jim Nevins (user interface), Tom Sheridan (user interface), Bill Tindall (system engineering, code review), Howard Sherman (user interface), Floyd Bennett (flight mechanics for the lunar landing), Allan Klumpp (lander software), Don Eyles (lander software), Donald Cheatham (lander software algorithms), Hubert Drake, Donald Bellman, and Gene Matranga (lunar lander simulator),

The book does credit women specifically for manufacturing core memory (invented by Jayla Forrester for the female-designed Whirlwind I):

Raytheon did the manufacturing in its plant in Waltham, Massachusetts. The town had a history of precision machining (the Waltham Watch Company was nearby), and drew on an industrial community familiar with weaving and textile manufacturing: ‘‘we have to build, essentially, a weaving machine,’’ Raytheon manager Ralph Ragan told the press.30 Raytheon assigned the work to older, female workers. Engineers nicknamed them ‘‘little old ladies,’’ and actually referred to them as ‘‘LOLs.’’ Core rope weaving was a specialized skill, and Raytheon paid the women to sit around and do nothing if the software ran late, so they would not be called to other projects that would degrade their currency.

Within four years of the book’s publication, history had been revised so that a late-to-the-project female-identifying individual had built all of the software. From “Photo celebrates unsung NASA software engineer Margaret Hamilton” (Caroline Seide, 2015):

The article goes on to point out “It’s not an exaggeration to say that Hamilton was directly responsible for some of NASA’s most impressive achievements.”

For those who are concerned that Florida does not keep pace with national progressive trends, a recent email from the local MIT Club:

They don’t explain their rationale for age discrimination. Why is the achievement of a “young female coder” to be celebrated while the achievement of an “old female coder” can be ignored? Nor do they explain their rationale for ignoring the achievements of young coders who identify with the other 72 non-male gender IDs that are recognized by physicians.

Full post, including comments