Links - 28th November 2019 (1)

Seeing how computers 'think' helps humans stump machines and reveals AI weaknesses - "Researchers from the University of Maryland have figured out how to reliably create such questions through a human-computer collaboration, developing a dataset of more than 1,200 questions that, while easy for people to answer, stump the best computer answering systems today. The system that learns to master these questions will have a better understanding of language than any system currently in existence. The work is described in an article published in the 2019 issue of the journal Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics... For example, if the author writes "What composer's Variations on a Theme by Haydn was inspired by Karl Ferdinand Pohl?" and the system correctly answers "Johannes Brahms," the interface highlights the words "Ferdinand Pohl" to show that this phrase led it to the answer. Using that information, the author can edit the question to make it more difficult for the computer without altering the question's meaning. In this example, the author replaced the name of the man who inspired Brahms, "Karl Ferdinand Pohl," with a description of his job, "the archivist of the Vienna Musikverein," and the computer was unable to answer correctly. However, expert human quiz game players could still easily answer the edited question correctly.By working together, humans and computers reliably developed 1,213 computer-stumping questions that the researchers tested during a competition pitting experienced human players -- from junior varsity high school trivia teams to "Jeopardy!" champions -- against computers. Even the weakest human team defeated the strongest computer system."

Opinion | Why I Quit the Writers’ Room - The New York Times - "“Mr. Mosley, it has been reported that you used the N-word in the writers’ room.”I replied, “I am the N-word in the writers’ room.” He said, very nicely, that I could not use that word except in a script. I could write it but I could not say it. Me. A man whose people in America have been, among other things, slandered by many words. But I could no longer use that particular word to describe the environs of my experience... I had indeed said the word in the room. I hadn’t called anyone it. I just told a story about a cop who explained to me, on the streets of Los Angeles, that he stopped all niggers in paddy neighborhoods and all paddies in nigger neighborhoods, because they were usually up to no good. I was telling a true story as I remembered it. Someone in the room, I have no idea who, called H.R. and said that my use of the word made them uncomfortable, and the H.R. representative called to inform me that such language was unacceptable to my employers. I couldn’t use that word in common parlance, even to express an experience I lived through. There I was, a black man in America who shares with millions of others the history of racism. And more often than not, treated as subhuman. If addressed at all that history had to be rendered in words my employers regarded as acceptable.There I was being chastised for criticizing the word that oppressed me and mine for centuries. As far as I know, the word is in the dictionary. As far as I know, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence assure me of both the freedom of speech and the pursuit of happiness. How can I exercise these freedoms when my place of employment tells me that my job is on the line if I say a word that makes somebody, an unknown person, uncomfortable? There’s all kinds of language that makes me uncomfortable. Half the utterances of my president, for instance. Some people’s sexual habits and desires. But I have no right whatsoever to tell anyone what they should and should not cherish or express.A few years ago when a group of my peers said that they supported outlawing the Confederate flag, I demurred. Don’t get me wrong. I have no warm and fuzzy feelings about that flag, but I do know that all Americans have the right of self-expression. (Also, if someone has that flag in their mind, I’d prefer to see it on their front porch too.) I do not believe that it should be the object of our political culture to silence those things said that make some people uncomfortable... If I’ve said or done something bad enough to cause people to fear me, they should call the police.My answer to H.R. was to resign and move on. I was in a writers’ room trying to be creative while at the same time being surveilled by unknown critics who would snitch on me to a disembodied voice over the phone. My every word would be scrutinized. Sooner or later I’d be fired or worse — silenced. I’m a fortunate guy. Not everyone can quit their job. But beyond that, we cannot be expected to thrive in a culture where our every word is monitored. If my words physically threaten or bully someone, something must be done about it. But if you tell me that you feel uncomfortable at some word I utter, let me say this:There was a time in America when so-called white people were uncomfortable to have a black person sitting next to them. There was a time when people felt uncomfortable when women demanded the right to vote. There was a time when sexual orientation had only one meaning and everything else was a crime. The worst thing you can do to citizens of a democratic nation is to silence them. And the easiest way to silence a woman or a man is to threaten his or her livelihood. Let’s not accept the McCarthyism of secret condemnation"
Strangely I didn't see anyone in the first pages of each category of the comments going on about how the First Amendment/Censorship only covers the government

Islamic Persia: Indo Persian Illustration of a Sex Doll - "This work shows a Mughal Indian man making love to a sex doll as well as using two dildos. Traditionally, The dame de voyage (French) or dama de viaje (Spanish) was a direct predecessor to today's sex dolls that originated in the seventeenth century. Dames de voyage were makeshift masturbatory dolls made of sewn cloth or old clothes, used by French and Spanish sailors while isolated at sea during long voyages. One of the earliest recorded appearances of manufactured sex dolls dates to 1908, in Iwan Bloch's The Sexual Life of Our Time.Dildos in one form or another have been present in society throughout history. Artifacts from the Upper Paleolithic which have previously been described as batons were most likely used for sexual purposes. The first dildos were made of stone, tar, wood and other materials that could be shaped as penises and that were firm enough to be used as penetrative sex toys. Chinese women in the 15th century used dildos made of lacquered wood with textured surfaces"

NHS pensions: waiting lists soaring as consultants refuse to work overtime - "Waiting lists have soared by 50 per cent in three months in some parts of the country because doctors are refusing to work, in order to protect their pensions... Changes in Treasury rules means that high earners can end up paying tax rates of up to 90 per cent on earnings over £110,000 a year - which includes any rise in the value of their pensions... rising numbers of senior staff were now considering early retirement and refusing promotions as well as cutting overtime.

Why we don’t trust the news anymore - "Far from TV journalists being ‘too polite’, interviews are often set up in such a way that means politicians will just be barked at. Too many TV journalists see it as their role to outsmart, catch out or humiliate politicians. This political pantomime can sometimes produce good entertainment, but it tends to generate more heat than light. The aggressive interviewer gets an ego boost and the politician is deflated, but the public is often left none the wiser as to what any of it means for the state of the country... Bizarrely, Byrne’s plea for journalists to use the word ‘liar’ – and her ludicrous comparison of Johnson to Russia’s autocratic ruler – was couched in a call for more objectivity and truth in news. ‘Liar’ is a loaded term – it is a judgement not only on the content of what a politician has said but also on the content of his or her character. Journalists should be free to make and express such judgements, but to do so – especially, in the heat of the moment, on live television – is unlikely to be objective... the media see the political shocks of the past few years – Brexit, Trump, European populism – as products of an ill-informed and bigoted populace. Channel 4, which has the nation’s poshest newsroom, with just nine per cent of its journalists coming from a working-class background, is incredibly vulnerable to this prejudice. Many journalists today believe it is their job to ‘correct’ the views of the voters with ‘facts’ and ‘truth’. ‘Forget the idea that the public can judge what is true’, said Dorothy Byrne in her lecture. This role as the gatekeepers of the truth informs their skewed coverage of events like Brexit because what they often mean by truth and facts, are simply middle-class, establishment opinion. And it puts them on a collision course with broader public sentiment. Thankfully, instead of simply absorbing what the news tells us is right, the public is shouting back at the TV – or is turning off in droves. In recent years, Channel 4 News has been, to all intents and purposes, the broadcast wing of the Remain campaign. Its presenters are visibly horrified by the expression of pro-Brexit opinions and of the sight of the pro-Brexit masses. It has devoted hours of investigations to unsuccessfully ‘exposing’ apparent illegality and fraud in the Leave vote. Unsurprisingly, in a country that voted Leave, its audience figures have taken a big hit over the past few years. Naturally, its execs have blamed Brexit."

Trump attacks California homeless crisis, picking new fight with state - "Trump administration officials confirmed Tuesday they are on the ground in California looking at ways to intervene in the state’s mounting homelessness issue, which President Donald Trump has criticized as “disgusting” and a “disgrace to our country.”But many elected officials and homelessness experts in the Golden State said any White House assistance would be disingenuous given federal housing cuts have helped exacerbate the problem. Some also accused Trump of using the homelessness issue to win over conservative supporters ahead of the 2020 election... Trump officials have not specified what kinds of actions or solutions they would implement in California... Bob Erlenbusch, executive director of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness, fretted that president was looking to round homeless people up."My first reaction is that it felt like internment camps for people experiencing homelessness"... the Trump administration has expanded grant programs for local agencies working to help individuals experiencing homelessness. The 2020 budget proposed increasing funding for services for people experiencing homelessness by 9% to $2.6 billion."
If Trump wants to end homelessness, that means homelessness is good and anyone who wants to end it is a Nazi

California Passes Statewide Rent Control Despite a Massive Housing Shortage - "California lawmakers approved AB 1482, which caps rent increases at 5 percent per year plus inflation, and prevents landlords from evicting tenants without citing a government-approved reason.Wednesday's vote makes California the latest state to pass a rent control bill. Oregon passed a statewide cap on rents in February. In June, the New York legislature passed a bill strengthening existing rent controls in New York City while giving other cities in the state the ability to pass their own rent regulations.Economists and other policy experts have long criticized rent control for reducing the supply and quality of rental housing in the long-run... A study of rent control in San Francisco published in the journal American Economic Review this month found that "while rent control prevents displacement of incumbent renters in the short run, the lost rental housing supply likely drove up market rents in the long run, ultimately undermining the goals of the law.""
Damn tRump, worsening California's housing problems

Domestic Violence Awareness Australia - Posts - "Suicide: Approx 6 males & 2 females suicide every day. Funding allocated to both Men & Women.
Domestic Violence: Approx 43 females & 32 males die from D.V. every year. Funding allocated to women only."

How Oberlin’s Bias and Bloat Fueled a $33 Million Blunder - "The allegations of racism were shown to be, quite simply, made up. During the six-week civil trial, African Americans who knew the Gibson family well, including customers, friends, and one longtime employee, all publicly defended them. The jury in the case found that Oberlin officials deliberately smeared the Gibsons as racists, doing them great emotional harm and damaging their business.Raimondo wasn’t the only administrator leading the charge. Socher documents how several members of the faculty publicly defended the Gibson family, only to be shushed and ignored by Raimundo and other administrators who worked in concert to vilify the bakery owners and inflame the mob. The ringleaders included an assistant dean, the vice president of communications for the college, the director of the college’s multicultural resource center, a special assistant for community relations, and also the president of the college... Teaching faculty across the U.S. are known to have a leftward tilt relative to the general population. Abrams reported that liberal professors outnumber conservative ones by a 6-1 margin. But among administrative staff that ratio skyrockets to 12-1. In New England, Abrams found it to be as high as 25-1. Students themselves, by way of contrast, identify as liberal rather than conservative by a more modest 2-1 ratio. As Abrams put it, “It appears that a fairly liberal student body is being taught by a very liberal professoriate—and socialized by an incredibly liberal group of administrators.” It might seem that professors, who are actually doing the teaching, would have the most influence over students’ intellectual development. But Abrams explains that, at his university, more and more of the formation of students’ lives and viewpoints is taking place outside the classroom at events organized by student life coordinators, diversity deans, and student affairs officers. He cites events with such names as “Stay Healthy, Stay Woke,” “Microaggressions” and “Understanding White Privilege.” The problem, Abrams says, is not that these events advance a liberal-progressive point of view, but that that they seldom, if ever, give voice to any alternative views. What students receive is strict left-wing, identity politics indoctrination... One might read the $33 million disaster at Oberlin as an object lesson in what can go wrong when a group of politically motivated professional administrators runs around a college campus unchecked, with no alternative voice or perspective among them to second guess the decisions the group is making... one wonders if a little more viewpoint diversity among the senior administrative ranks of Oberlin college might have saved the college $33 million."