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Home Front: Culture Wars
Harvard Prex Sends Flowers to Fainting Prof
2005-01-19
ScrappleFace
(2005-01-18) -- Harvard University President Lawrence Summers today sent a dozen roses to MIT biology professor Nancy Hopkins after she nearly fainted last week during Mr. Summers' remarks about potential biological differences between the sexes which might explain why fewer women succeed in science and math careers.

Ms. Hopkins told The New York Times, "When he started talking about innate differences in aptitude between men and women, I just couldn't breathe."

If she hadn't walked out of the conference, she said she "would have either blacked out or thrown up."

Mr. Summers expressed regret today that the female scientist was "hurt by my brutal suggestion that further research was needed to find reasons for the observable phenomenon of male dominance in science and math. I hope the dear lady can forgive me for bringing up such coarse subjects in mixed company. In the future, I shall show more sensitivity in the presence of the fairer sex."

Meanwhile, a spokesman from the National Organization for Women (NOW) decried the institutionalized bias against women in academia.

"The laboratory is like a football locker room at most Ivy League schools," said the unnamed NOW source. "The guy scientists think nothing of mocking each other by saying 'You research like a girl' or 'Careful with that mass spectrometer, you might break a fingernail.'"
Posted by:Korora

#24  Jules # 17 you are correct in your response.
You can re-think /train ones mind to be creative
or analytical. It can be hard work for some, but it can be achieved. I had a female chemistry professor at the private highschool that I had attended- she was a WIZ...also have had female
math and computer science professor's- they all knew their material. Let knowledge and skill prevail NOT gender ***

Andrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea   2005-01-19 6:47:15 PM  

#23  This story was SO comical. A Professor was so stunned about the speech that she ran out crying like a little GIRL! Only because the speaker had the audacity to point out an obvious fact and tried to spark debate? So glad I do have her for an instructor, she sounds too emotional and I might make her cry.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge   2005-01-19 1:12:28 PM  

#22  Whoa. I wouldn't mess with that....chick. :)
Posted by: Jules 187   2005-01-19 12:52:46 PM  

#21  And Peggy sez, "You talkin' to me, Summers, you scrawney little punk?"
Posted by: .com   2005-01-19 12:48:28 PM  

#20  Andrea,

Trailing Daughter woke us up at six a.m. (ugh!!) one Saturday morning when she was three, to demonstrate the commutative principle of multiplication, which she had just figured out ("2x3=6 and 3x2=6. Give me two fingers, Daddy, and I'll show you!"). Both girls had memorized the multiplication table through 25 and squares/square roots ditto, by first grade. Its what we used to do in the car as we tootled around town. (Mostly because I had refused to memorize any of that when I was a child, believing at that age that rote memorization was pedagogically unsound (yes, I was wrong in that instance, but the principle still holds -- and remember I was still in single digits.)) Your little friend Jiang neatly demonstrated the ability of small children to memorize vast amounts of what is -- to them -- totally useless information. Now, if he should start proving mathematical theorems, then I'll be impressed.

As for the Chinese/math thing, that's because non-native speakers can more easily grasp non-language based subjects, so that's where they tend to concentrate their efforts, at least for those coming from learning-focussed cultures. They also tend toward practical, career-oriented studies. My immigrant mother, who'd always wanted to study chemistry, instead became an Physical Therapist because she would be self supporting with only a BS, instead of the PhD chemistry requires.

As for the physiological brain differences between the sexes, that is indeed a real tendency, but not an absolute. The many female engineers out there demonstrate that! Not to mention the growing number of young house-husbands whose wives more capably bring home the bacon, and the numerous male writers and poets.
Posted by: trailing wife   2005-01-19 12:36:26 PM  

#19  Jules, "Axis of Weasels" came from Scrappleface. It's probably the best of the satire sites.
Posted by: Dishman   2005-01-19 12:27:57 PM  

#18  Korora-I don't know ScrappleFace, but I am guessing from your comment that it's a tongue-in-cheek kinda website? That would make sense. As Rosanne RosannaDanna would say, "Never Mind".
:)
Posted by: Jules 187   2005-01-19 12:10:14 PM  

#17  Earlier this week I raised the point that there was a time women were thought incapable ("scientifically") or running marathons. That "science" was challenged and, through defiance in the face of public ridicule, with training and a can-do attitude, disproven. Prejudice can frontload failure.

Since I am an individualist, I say let a person's talent and interests take her as far as she can go-and let small minds and prejudice be damned. If the science is disproven, then that's great. But if it is proven, it should be accepted, however uncomfortable that may make us.

As far as the Chinese and Math-I have no scientific genetic data to add. I would say it seems not unimportant that the Chinese culture (as well as some other cultures) exhalts educational excellence.
Posted by: Jules 187   2005-01-19 12:00:00 PM  

#16  Jules 187 & trailing wife:
Many say that it is a right brain /left brain issue among the sexes. There are neuropsychology
studies that support's the topic. I was eating Chinese food last week and a young (age6) chinese boy was in the restaurant with his hard working parent's. I remember Jiang when he was three- I would bring him in a truck or lego's. I had a friend for life! I asked Jiang to sit in the booth with me as I ate that 6 year old
new the square root of 169 = 13 ;12 X 12 = 144
5X 5 = 25 he even knew what pie r square was ****

What do you have to say about the Chinese and Math?

Andrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea   2005-01-19 11:45:25 AM  

#15  Jules? It's ScrappleFace.
Posted by: Korora   2005-01-19 10:55:58 AM  

#14  Mr. Summers expressed regret today that the female scientist was "hurt by my brutal suggestion that further research was needed to find reasons for the observable phenomenon of male dominance in science and math. I hope the dear lady can forgive me for bringing up such coarse subjects in mixed company. In the future, I shall show more sensitivity in the presence of the fairer sex."

Some people just don't know when to shut up. His comments, ignorant of the effects of opinion and public discourse on the lives of women, are as indefensible as those of someone who ignores science completely so she won't have to face up to some uncomfortable facts.
Posted by: Jules 187   2005-01-19 10:16:53 AM  

#13  The fine lines between Dilbert, ScrappleFace, and reality are beginning to fade.
Posted by: Tom   2005-01-19 10:15:20 AM  

#12  .com - thanks! I missed this last night as I nearly fell asleep in my chair.

I'm going to do some exploring today. It would be nice if the myfi could do it since I already own it, but maybe I can just download to CDs for use with regular CD player. This is pretty cool..though I have to admit much is lost without the graphics and yellow journalism. But - I have to feed it, so I can catch much of that then.

I'll let you know what happens :-)

Posted by: 2b   2005-01-19 10:00:55 AM  

#11  Its scary: Ott has been moving asymptotically closer to reality lately. This is indeed what feminist PC nonsense leads to. As a post-feminist myself, I deeply resent what today's feminists are working to do to the ability of women to function in the heterogeneous work world.
Posted by: trailing wife   2005-01-19 6:38:37 AM  

#10  Ignoring the myfi for a moment, you can, indeed, burn music CD's - not necessarily with MP3 files. What you burn depends upon the player - what formats does it recognize. Most would not understand a directory of MP3's. Most burning software has the option to make a "music" CD and that would be a universal format for CD Players.

Okay, bringing the myfi back in - it sure doesn't play CDs! If anything, it hooks up by cable or InfraRed (IR) to your PC to manage what files you put on it - and one would hope it's a drag 'n drop to the device within Windows Explorer - but it might not be that straightforward. That's all I can offer without have your instructions to look at!
Posted by: .com   2005-01-19 1:26:47 AM  

#9  no..I think you can only download XM programming...i'll get the instructions out to be sure..but I'm flaming out right now. Looks like I'm gonna need an mp3 :-)

Thanks for your help!!
Posted by: 2b   2005-01-19 1:24:16 AM  

#8  Well, I had to google myfi - so it's a portable XM radio... does it have storage of some sort for your MP3's? I don't see that in any of the Delphi models. If yours does, you need to figure out how it hooks up to your PC - then you can download your MP3's onto it. Sorry, but you're gonna have to break down and read your instructions, lol!
Posted by: .com   2005-01-19 1:20:17 AM  

#7  this is totally cool!! Thanks .com

I'm free! Free at last, free at last... blogosphere to go.
Posted by: 2b   2005-01-19 1:19:17 AM  

#6  sorry..been doing a bit of reading - didn't mean to ask such a tedious question. :-)
Posted by: 2b   2005-01-19 1:14:27 AM  

#5  do you burn cd's for mp3's? I always thought they had special little recording cards ...like a camera.
Posted by: 2b   2005-01-19 1:10:28 AM  

#4  scuse my ignorance - but I'm mp3 illiterate. I don't see how I could down load to my myfi. So...(and I'm too tired to read the instructions right now) it looks like I'm going to need an mp3 player if I want to take this on the go. Any insight would be appreciated
Posted by: 2b   2005-01-19 1:07:47 AM  

#3  2b - MP3 player - on your 'puter? WinAmp - the free version. The add-on stuff is crap, heh. And if you have a firewall - don't let Winamp get out - doesn't need to.
Posted by: .com   2005-01-19 12:56:08 AM  

#2  .com ...love the software. It's kind of strange with the quips read in such a straight face manner. Looks like I'm going to need a mp3 player. Any recommendations?
Posted by: 2b   2005-01-19 12:44:38 AM  

#1  ROFLMAO!!! Oh shit!
Posted by: .com   2005-01-19 12:39:19 AM  

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