Wired Science runs a post linking to tonnes of fascinating photographs done through a microscope lens. Little things cropped and magnified look like matters from the other planets. And only the best of the best of the best are selected…
It’s been a few times already that I heard the argument that “black people made no contribution to computer science“. I’ve also heard a few alternative versions, which were less or more specific, varying from “African blacks” and “no innovations“, to “black women” and “no contribution to science“.
Depending on the overall direction of the discussion, variation of the argument, and sensibility of the opponent, it can be very easy or rather impossible to reason. For example, an argument like “there is not one black programmer in the world” is pretty trivial to destroy. There are at least a few respectable Perl Monks of the black race. Over the last few years, I personally have been in contact (IM, email, phone) with a few black programmers and system administrators. On the other hand, a request for a name or a biography of a black computer scientist might be much harder. I am not very good with names and biographies, and I don’t know many scientist by name at all. Picking representatives of a certain race using my own memory is close to impossible.
So, I asked The Mighty Google for a few names and biographies, and it replied. Here are a few links that I picked from the results:
I have to admit that I was a little bit surprised by the low number of results. Finding the above weren’t very easy. Also, many links were very outdated. Sometimes I’d come across a quote that slowed me down before I could “sink it in”. Here are a couple of such examples:
one quarter of one percent (.25%) of computer scientists are black
from the “Computer Scientists of the African Diaspora” page, which seems to be from the 1990s.
Throughout the United States, there are only 32 African-American computer science (CS) professors.
from the “A Model for Department Diversity” article, which was posted in 2004.
I think that the above references are enough to convince any sane person that both science and innovation have benefited from black people. Whether the benefits were to the same degree as those of the other races is a totally different question. I am not going to debate it now, but perhaps I will come back to it later.
(NOTE TO MYSELF for when and if I do: consider that most computer science innovation is happening in the USA [obviuos, but citation needed], and that black people make only about 12% of the USA population [Wikipedia]. )
Listening to Raven’n’Blues show from BFBS I learned about Pandora.
Pandora is a result of Music Genome Project. Basically, what they do is analyze a lot of music for rythms, instruments, vocals, and a whole lot of other criterias and then help you find the music that you like.
Excellent science project with perfect end user appliance. You get a single box to fill in – write the band or album that you like and you’ll get a whole bunch of music that matches your taste. I’ve been playing around it for half a day only and I have to say that it works out great. Maybe my taste is too simple though. But anyway, I’ve heard many songs that I’ve heard before as well as a lot of new stuff.
You don’t even have to register to try it out for an hour or so. If you’ll listen for longer, it will ask you to create an account, which is as simple as giving your email address, adding a password, and specifying your birth year (you can lie, ma). They also aks for a ZIP code, which is USA specific, but you can always use the Beverly Hills’ 90210.
Enjoy! Let it be my Christmas present to all of you.
Update: You can also save your favourites to a list, share your stations, and do a lot of other cool stuff. My favourites page is here.
Let’s start with a few Google-related links:
Continue reading Daily del.icio.us bookmarks
Andrei Sakharov (1921-1989) was a Soviet physicist who became, in the words of the Nobel Peace Committee, a spokesman for the conscience of mankind. He was fascinated by fundamental physics and cosmology, but he had to spent two decades designing nuclear weapons. The acknowledged father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb, he contributed perhaps more than anyone else to the military might of the USSR. But it was his top secret experience as a leading nuclear expert that was instrumental in making Sakharov one of the most courageous critics of the Soviet regime, a human rights activist and the first Russian to win the Nobel Peace Prize. He helped bring down one of history’s most powerful dictatorships.
The quote is from this site. If you are not familiar with this person, I suggest you browse through the link.