And what if ...

"Experts back Harvard president's gender remarks":

Harvard University president Lawrence Summers has suffered acrimonious condemnation, and may have jeopardized his job, for suggesting that the underrepresentation of women in engineering and some scientific fields may be due in part to inherent differences in the intellectual abilities of the sexes.

But Summers could be right.

Some scholars who are in the know about the differences between mens' and womens' brains believe his remarks have merit.

"Among people who do the research, it's not so controversial. There are lots and lots of studies that show that mens' and womens' brains are different," says Richard Haier, a professor of psychology in the pediatrics department of the University of California Los Angeles medical school.

Leftie Tolerance

Elite university faculty, brilliant academics with a leftist committment to diversity, would surely have both the aptitude and the desire to react with dispassionate open-mindedness to controversial ideas, right?

From NYT:

Bowing to pressure from his faculty, the president of Harvard University, Lawrence H. Summers, on Thursday released a month-old transcript of his contentious closed-door remarks about the shortage of women in the sciences and engineering. The transcript revealed several provocative statements by Dr. Summers about the "intrinsic aptitude" of women, the career pressures they face and discrimination within universities.

Dr. Summers's remarks, which have only been described by others until now, have fueled a widening crisis on campus, with several professors talking about taking a vote of no confidence on the president next week. That idea alone is unprecedented at Harvard in modern times.

According to another article:

Nancy Hopkins, a professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who once led an investigation of gender discrimination there that led to reforms in hiring and promotion, walked out midway through Summers' remarks.

``When he started talking about innate differences in aptitude between men and women, I just couldn't breathe because this kind of bias makes me physically ill,'' Hopkins said Monday.

Open-mindedness is only a virtue within the constraints of whatever orthodoxy prevails over a given institution. At Bob Jones University, biologists are not allowed to speculate about evolution; at Harvard, they aren't allowed to speculate about gender.

Librarian at New York Public gives advice on cataloging a home book collection. Felix, take note!

A blue day

Smith's B-3 to roar no more; organist dies at 79

Following in a proud tradition

Kinky Friedman For Governor! (Of Texas, that is.) As his campaign slogan puts it, "Why the hell not?" (More here, there, and everywhere.)

Mencken would love this

Alabama state representative Gerald Allen wants his state to lead the nation in something. Unfortunately, he's chosen to concentrate on promoting bigotry and ignorance, rather than something useful like, say, literacy, economic growth, good roads, or public health. From LibraryLaw:

Bill to keep gay books out of libraries officially read by Alabama legislature February 1, 2005

From the Birmingham News:

Allen said that if his bill passes, novels with gay protagonists and college textbooks that suggest homosexuality is natural would have to be removed from library shelves and destroyed.

"I guess we dig a big hole and dump them in and bury them," he said.

The bill states, among other things, that "No public funds or public facilities shall be used by any state agency, public school, public library, or public college or university for the purchase, production, or promotion of printed or electronic materials or activities that, directly or indirectly, sanction, recognize, foster, or promote a lifestyle or actions prohibited by the sodomy and sexual misconduct laws of the state of Alabama."

Given James Dobson's predeliction for "recognizing" homosexuality everywhere he looks, I presume this means that "Focus on the Family" publications will immediately be stricken from the book orders of Alabama libraries.

Addendum: The Guardian reports on Representative Allen, his bill, and Our Beloved Leader. "'It was election day,' he explains."

You're the problem, you inferior being, you.

If you don't have a tenure-track job in academia, it's because you're a lazy, arrogant whiner, says the Chronicle's "Miss Mentor."

From her self-described "ivory tower", I'm sure she finds it very easy and pleasurable to spit contemptuously on the slaves being whipped in the courtyard below.

And I thought booze was good for you!

Alcohol as harmful as smoking, study warns

Alcohol causes almost as many deaths and disabilities worldwide as smoking or high-blood pressure, a study warns.

Alcohol causes 4 per cent of diseases worldwide, compared to 4.1 per cent for tobacco, a study suggests.

In this week's issue of the British medical journal The Lancet, an international team of researchers points out that alcohol is linked to more than 60 different medical conditions.

"Overall, four per cent of the global burden of disease is attributable to alcohol, 4.1 per cent to tobacco and 4.4 per cent to high blood pressure," writes lead researcher Robin Room, of Stockholm University in Sweden.

"In most cases, alcohol has a detrimental effect on health."

Hooray for Vermilion, South Dakota

From Nat Hentoff via The Village Voice: A library defies Castro and the American Library Association on Freedom to Read

The Newbery Medal winner and runners-up were announced recently. The choices seem even more politically motivated than usual. What do these books have in common?

The 2005 Newbery Medal winner is Kira-Kira written by Cynthia Kadohata, Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster. Two sisters lie on their backs, watching the stars and repeating the Japanese word for "glittering" - "kira-kira." Like this quiet opening scene, Kadohata's tenderly nuanced novel glitters with plain and poignant words that describe the strong love within a Japanese American family from the point of view of younger sister Katie. Personal challenges and family tragedy are set against the oppressive social climate of the South during the 1950s and early 1960s.

The Voice that Challenged a Nation meticulously explores resonant themes with the masterful structure of a musical composition. Eloquent, economic prose sheds a personal light on one woman's sometimes reluctant role as a symbol in the struggle against racism and her calling to share an llustrious gift.

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt (Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin). Set in Maine in 1912 and propelled by a tragic historical event, Schmidt's powerfully haunting novel probes a forbidden friendship between a preacher's son and a dark-skinned girl from a nearby island.

How can anyone take ALA seriously?

On the market

Yes, the deserted town in British Columbia has been sold. But a slightly used biosphere is still available....