Houston, we have an image problem

I was at a novelty store a few months ago, and came across a board game called "The Mad Professor Science Kit". I noted that the mad science professor looks nothing like me at all.

I've written a lot about how journalists and artists and other media people need to get the memo about what professors and scientists look like, in order to help change images in the minds of the younger generation. 

Alas, we still have a ways to go. Here is my unscientific analysis.

Method: Clip Art Google Image search, Screenshot of page 1 of results.

Term 1: professor

Results: 8% owl, 92% male, 0% female. Only one person who may be of asian or latino descent. (Note: Page 2 has a whopping two female professors - wowie! And one person of color.) 

Term 2: scientist

Results: 80% male, 20% female. No owls. One person of color. Page two has owls, and a few more women.

Term 3: engineer

Results: Of 19 humans and gendered characters (Mickey Mouse), 90% male, 10% female. No people of color.

Term 4: "computer scientist"

Results: Of the three humans, 33% are women! And it's Grace Hopper, baby! No people of color, though we do have a link to "African Americans in Science and Technology", which is nice. An a Pi symbol, cat, Connect 4, and some cool geek pride T-shirts. 

"Software engineer" and "programmer" do not yield very positive results, but I am pleased to say "computer programmer" yields several women, including a woman of color and this awesome coloring book page: 

I know it seems like a silly thing, clipart, but a heck of a lot of people use it when preparing presentations.

Any artists out there want to start a revolution? Or maybe work on an NSF proposal? I think this would be a great STEM education thing. And easy as anything to do. 

Who're The very best Cyber-terrorist Which Jailbreak i-phones

The majority of us move through our very own cellular life styles, personalizing the phones, jailbreaking all of them as well as ultizing a variety of adjustments as well as software program, without any recognizing that you will discover individuals stating because of to create these items likely. These kinds of will be the people who truly invested time to create your own jailbreak gear obtainable and provide the actual electrical power that you should creative designers to produce each one of these adjustments, improvements, styles together with secrets and cheats. That they're the actual kinds which perception that the The actual the apple company plan had been the problematic as well as unjust one to the actual creator. These types of will be the males that produce the actual jailbreak resources every time a completely new firmware is actually launched in order to dam the present jailbreak. That they're additionally the identical types which aid to be able to cost-free secured phones to make sure women and men could use companies aside from people who their very own mobile phones are usually guaranteed every single child (carrier-related).

The actual jailbreak neighborhood is going to be very little with out this method here is any kind of lowdown related to that they're together with exactly what they've led in order to making the i-phones the very best when compared with they are able to currently end up being::

1. Saurik -- This can be a preliminary guy you actually picture when you listen to the actual expression -jailbreak-. Their real title is really The actual author Freeman which is the actual man running the actual improvement associated with Cydia, house of all the modifications, styles, shades, secrets and cheats, programs as well as what ever it is simple to think about with regards to establishing things for your apple iphone. Additionally they offers assisted within building the actual untethered jailbreaks for several iDevices upon varied firmware variations.

two. MuscleNerd -- 1 using the preliminary contractors from the jailbreak utilized inside Past due 2001 (six whole several years just before we telephone may be launched towards the market), this unique hacker nonetheless continues to be the unexplainable when it comes to that he or she might be. There is not accurate name every single child phone him or her simply by rather than a great picture (except the one that shows a brand new extremely built man utilizing a pineapple hiding their encounter). They is among the beginning people from the goliath which is called the actual we telephone DevTeam then one from the main contractors related to typical resources likeRedSn0w, PwnageTool and also the software uncover solution known as UltraSn0w.

3. Comex -- His / her real title is really Nicholas Allegra as well as he's already been offered inside Forbes Journal amongst many other info merchants. The specific objective is due to their JailbreakMe A few. Absolutely no as well as JailbreakMe 3 or even more. Absolutely no treatments that have been untethered for all those iDevices. She or he has additionally already been not long ago provided the actual internship from Apple company he recognized meanwhile. Truth be told there is not query that people find yourself becoming finding much more function out of your dog in the future.

four. P0sixNinja: Also called Joshua Slope, this is actually the individual running GreenPois0n along with the more contemporary Chronic-Dev Incident Information media reporter. These people is actually between the mind devs within the Chronic-Dev group along with created a variety of software packages as well as utilizes for the jailbreaking team. He or she offers carried out a remarkably essential placement within jailbreaking and contains assisted find numerous intrusions which are employed to lead to the various tools that folks make use of.

5. Pod2G -- This person grew to become well-known recently following 12 months. These people is often a France nuller who had been the very first someone to create the actual the most recent Several. two. A particular untethered jailbreak. Their carry out can be found within RedSn0w, PwnageTool along with the Corona 5. Absolutely no. 1 Untether. They're right now laser-focused about the jailbreak with regard to A5 products similar to the apple iphone 4S along with the ipad2 Untethered.

6. I0n1c * He's Stefan Esser, the Within german born safety research which created the particular the brand new ios four. 3. the Untethered Jailbreak make the most of. Every time they finished which, these people submitted which towards the we telephone Dev-Team concerning reduce of the assets. They is becoming very popular which is stated that she or he is actually mentioned to find the iOS Your own 5. Just one Untethered Take advantage of this most recent jailbreak resources requirement for the most recent firmware.

7. iH8Sn0w * The actual North america nuller, he is obtained already been accountable for some jailbreaking resources, particularly Sn0wBreeze. This unique is really a Home windows choice to PwnageTool. She or he may be the creator running iFaith that will assist within downgrading firmware as well as preserve SHSH blobs which can be essential within the specific iOS 5 firmware age bracket. These people does not produce jailbreak intrusions nonetheless creates the applying by which forces the equipment.

8. GeoHot -- The actual arguable nuller, he or she often known as Holly Hotz offers skilled an acceptable uncover associated with difficulties with another jailbreak developers. They remains responsible for several untethered jailbreaks the initial person that you should discover the very first apple iphone. These people are also sued through the brand new sony concerning jailbreaking the specific Ps3 trim. They're right now utilized by Myspace or even bebo and it is stated to possess a come back building the particular apple ipad pill Myspace or even bebo software program. At present there's been simply no press within exactly what he or she will right now there's been little desire to have their are nowadays because of their less than professional manoeuvres.

9. NotCom -- This sort of hacker is probably the the majority of minimal recognized just one nevertheless an incredibly essential person in your own jailbreak neighborhood. These people is usually a software professional this is the specific custom leading TinyUmbrella, a great SHSH blobs protecting device. This unique is actually very easily probably the most typically utilized SHSH blob protecting device nonetheless may be slower in the iFaith gadget recently launched concerning iOS5 age bracket firmware. NotCom did in order to revise TinyUmbrella concerning iOS5 and also the guy is certainly certainly not from your activity however.

Make sure you click the link to learn more apple iphone cyber-terrorist.

Kudos to Margo Seltzer

Margo Seltzer, fellow FCS, profesor at Harvard, and well known in the CS blogosphere, was featured in a great article in Txchnologist about women in CS. You can read the article here.

I love just about everything about the article, in particular Margo's comments on polo shirts:

Txch: The computer science community may not be able to control the way programmers are portrayed in the press, but it can at least control the image it projects. What are the big things they shouldn’t do if they want women to apply?

MS: Here’s my favorite. I was chatting with a group of university reps from a very large high-tech company. The reps were both men and women, and they were bemoaning the fact that they found it very difficult to attract women programmers. I looked at them and I said to one of the women, “Are the company shirts you’re wearing men’s polos or women’s polos?” She said, “Oh, it’s a men’s polo shirt.” I said, “Why? Why don’t you buy women’s polo shirts? They would fit better.” And she says, “Well, there aren’t very many of us and it would cost more.”

Now, this is a multi-billion-dollar corporation. I looked at them and I said, “I run a company of 25 people, and you know what? We buy men’s and women’s polo shirts. You’re sending a message that says men are the norm and women are second-class citizens, so we have to put up with what they give us.” I’m sure not many women look at the polo shirts and say, “This isn’t for me,” but I still think it sends a very strong subliminal message.

The other data point is—look at the big annual events that these companies hold for all their customers. How many of the featured speakers are women? The answer goes from zero to one, amidst twenty or thirty speakers. You see this over and over. I think it sends a message that says, “We’re a guys’ company.” There are little things that a company could do to send a message that says, “We’re gender agnostic. We actually hire both boys and girls.”

And her comments on how sexism is less of a big deal to companies than racism:

Txch: Does it behoove companies to narrow the gender gap?

MS: In the same way that we would not tolerate an environment that was blatantly racist. That would not be tolerated in any company in America. And yet we have these pockets in cultures of companies that really are very hostile towards women. People don’t seem to find that nearly as offensive.

I believe I've written about this topic before, where it's strangely acceptable to be sexist and ableist, but not racist. We really need to work on that if we have any hope of making progress.

In any case, kudos to Margo. Go read the article and check out her blog!