Do we have an abortion thread?

When exactly did Christian fundamentalism take control in these states?

Regan era.

Alabama Public Television chose not to air PBS’s Arthur episode that included a same-sex marriage.

In the episode, which aired nationwide May 13, Arthur and his friends attend their beloved teacher Mr. Ratburn’s nuptials to his partner.

APT preempted the episode by showing a re-run of Arthur.

Mike Mckenzie, director of programming at APT, said APT was notified by WGBH and PBS in mid-April about the episode titled “Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone” and decided to show a re-run. Mckenzie said APT has no plans to air the episode at a later date.

“Parents have trusted Alabama Public Television for more than 50 years to provide children’s programs that entertain, educate and inspire,” Mckenzie said in an email. “More importantly – although we strongly encourage parents to watch television with their children and talk about what they have learned afterwards – parents trust that their children can watch APT without their supervision. We also know that children who are younger than the ‘target’ audience for Arthur also watch the program.”

APT previously pulled an episode of Arthur in 2005, when Buster, a bunny character in Arthur visited a girl who had two mothers.

“'Our feeling is that we basically have a trust with parents about our programming. This program doesn't fit into that,'' Alabama Public Television's executive then-director Allan Pizzato told AL.com in 2005.

Sodexo: One million meals for Notre Dame reconstruction

I know this is old news, but WTF really?! I mean how about giving those million meals to, I don't know, maybe to homeless people or the unemployed?



https://www.sodexo.com/home/media/press ... -dame.html

I know this is old news, but WTF really?! I mean how about giving those million meals to, I don't know, maybe to homeless people or the unemployed?



https://www.sodexo.com/home/media/press ... -dame.html

Hey Siri, stop perpetuating sexist stereotypes
By CNN
May 22, 2019 9:02 am

Hundreds of millions of people use personal assistants, and the four main offerings — Apple's Siri, Amazon Alexa, Microsoft's Cortana and Google Assistant — are all voiced by women as a default setting. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
By Rob Picheta, CNN


(CNN) — Siri, Alexa and other female-voiced AI assistants are perpetuating gender stereotypes and encouraging sexist and abusive language from users, a UN report has said.

The report by UNESCO warns of the negative consequences of the personal assistants, claiming they perpetuate the idea that “women are obliging, docile and eager-to-please helpers, available at the touch of a button or with a blunt voice command.”

It also highlighted the passive and polite responses the assistants give when users make sexually abusive remarks, warning that their algorithms are reinforcing sexist tropes.

“The assistant holds no power of agency beyond what the commander asks of it,” the report states. “It honours commands and responds to queries regardless of their tone or hostility. In many communities, this reinforces commonly held gender biases that women are subservient and tolerant of poor treatment.”

“What emerges is an illusion that Siri — an unfeeling, unknowing, and non-human string of computer code — is a heterosexual female, tolerant and occasionally inviting of male sexual advances and even harassment. It projects a digitally encrypted ‘boys will be boys’ attitude.”

Hundreds of millions of people use personal assistants, and the four main offerings — Apple’s Siri, Amazon Alexa, Microsoft’s Cortana and Google Assistant — are all voiced by women as a default setting.

The report was named “I’d Blush If I Could,” which is the response Siri once gave when users said “You’re a slut.”

The UNESCO report outlined a number of similarly polite and accepting responses made when people use sexist language. To the same insult, Alexa responded, “Well, thanks for the feedback,” it said.

“Siri responded provocatively to requests for sexual favours by men (‘Oooh!’; ‘Now, now’; ‘I’d blush if I could’; or ‘Your language!’), but less provocatively to sexual requests from women (‘That’s not nice’ or ‘I’m not THAT kind of personal assistant’),” it found.

“Their passivity, especially in the face of explicit abuse, reinforces sexist tropes,” it said.

Saniye Gülser Corat, UNESCO’s Director for Gender Equality, said much greater attention should be paid “to how, when and whether AI technologies are gendered and, crucially, who is gendering them.”

Earlier in May, Melinda Gates warned of a lack of diversity in the AI sector, saying that the number of women is “so small its unbelievable”. This had a serious impact on an increasingly influential industry, she said, explaining: “We are baking bias into the system by not having women have a seat at the table and not having people of color at the table.”

The study made the first official UN recommendations regarding AI personal assistants, urging companies and governments to end the practice of making digital assistants female by default.

It also suggested that bodies explore the possibility of making the voices “neither male nor female,” program assistants to discourage abusive or sexist language, and require them to “announce the technology as non-human at the outset of interactions with human users.”