Vive la Difference: A Heresy

History is a vast early warning system.--Norman Cousins

Chris was a lot better yesterday.

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton referred to those killed on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka as "easter worshipers in church". "Christian" could not be spoken.

In a cashless society, the banks would get a piece of every commercial transaction.

Good news: Germany’s armed forces are currently studying the possibility of acquiring nuclear bombers capable of using the new American B61-12 atomic bombs.

It's always worth remembering the predictions of settled science. From 1970:
1. “Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make,” Paul Ehrlich confidently declared in the April 1970 issue of Mademoiselle. “The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years.”
2. Peter Gunter, a North Texas State University professor, wrote in 1970, “Demographers agree almost unanimously on the following grim timetable: by 1975 widespread famines will begin in India; these will spread by 1990 to include all of India, Pakistan, China and the Near East, Africa. By the year 2000, or conceivably sooner, South and Central America will exist under famine conditions….By the year 2000, thirty years from now, the entire world, with the exception of Western Europe, North America, and Australia, will be in famine.”
3. “It is already too late to avoid mass starvation,” declared Denis Hayes, the chief organizer for Earth Day, in the Spring 1970 issue of The Living Wilderness.

Our standard of living is high because we are able to focus on the tasks that we do best and trade for everything else. Imagine life without trade. A world of cottage industry.

Sri Lanka’s government has information indicating the plotters of Easter bombings that killed more than 300 people were reacting to the New Zealand shootings that left 50 Muslims dead in March, the country’s defense minister said.
Oh, so there was a reason.

A new report in Wired magazine details how Iran has been target of a "Shadow Brokers-style" hack campaign which seeks to expose methods, names, and activities behind an elite cyber-espionage team linked to Iran's Ministry of Intelligence. The Shadow Brokers leaks from 2016 famously targeted the National Security Agency, dumping tools used by the agency online, and later resulted some of the most devastating cyberattacks in history such as the NotPetya and Wannacry attacks, which devastated networks all over the world. Now it appears it's Iran's turn to be targeted by a powerful mystery group doxing Iran's foremost hacking team. 

Fragging was a slang term used to describe U.S. military personnel tossing of fragmentation hand grenades (hence the term “fragging”) usually into sleeping areas to murder fellow soldiers. It was usually directed primarily against unit leaders, officers, and non-commissioned officers. In 1970, 209 fragging incidents caused the deaths of 34 men; in 1969, 96 such incidents cost 34 men their lives.

According to Business Insider, Starbucks will install needle-disposal boxes in bathrooms in stores in at least 25 US markets in the coming months. 

At least 80% of felony defendants on the state level can't afford an attorney. Funding is so inadequate that defendants became class-action lawsuit plaintiffs in nine states. The suits claimed that states failed to appropriate enough money for their defense, and that the failure was a violation of the defendants' Sixth Amendment right to counsel. Plaintiffs won in three states — Michigan, Montana and New York.  Less that of local public defender offices have enough attorneys to meet caseload standards. That drops to less than a quarter on the state level. How can this be? So why should Exxon and Simpson get all the good lawyers? How can a country that professes equality before the law insist on publicly funded birth control and not equal representation before the law? The real question is, why is the legal profession not socialized?

According to tradition, the great English dramatist and poet William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 23, 1564. It is impossible to be certain the exact day on which he was born, but church records show that he was baptized on April 26, and three days was a customary amount of time to wait before baptizing a newborn. Shakespeare’s date of death is conclusively known, however: it was April 23, 1616.

                        Vive la Difference: A Heresy

 “It does appear that on many, many different human attributes — height, weight, propensity for criminality, overall IQ, mathematical ability, scientific ability – there is relatively clear evidence that whatever the difference in means – which can be debated – there is a difference in the standard deviation, and variability of a male and a female population. And that is true with respect to attributes that are and are not plausibly, culturally determined.”
This observation was made by Lawrence Summers when he was president of Harvard and the negative reaction was so great that it cost him his job. The argument did not seem to be with the observation but that it was taken seriously rather than accepted as a distortion, the result of bigotry, harassment, deprivation and misguided social convention.

That said, there is this, collected by Perry:

 Births and Deaths 

• For every 100 girl babies who die in the first 27 days of life 125 boy babies die.
• For every 100 girl babies who die after the first 27 days but in the first year of life 127 boy babies die.
• For every 100 girls ages 1 to 4 years who die 126 boys die.
• For every 100 girls ages 5 to 14 years who die 133 boys die.
• For every 100 girls and women ages 15 to 24 years who die 280 boys and men die.
• For every 100 women ages 25 to 34 who die 232 men die.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics

2. Special Education 

• For every 100 girls ages 3-17 years diagnosed with communication disorders (speech problems, language problems, voice problems) there are 168 boys. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• For every 100 girls ages 4-17 years diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) there are 237.5 boys. Source: National Center for Learning Disabilities
• For every 100 girls ages 6 to 21 years old enrolled in public schools and receiving special education services there are 189 boys. Source: National Center for Education Statistics
• For every 100 girls who receive services in public schools for autism there are 300 boys. Source: National Center for Education Statistics
• For every 100 girls in K-12 in public schools classified as having mental retardation there are 140 boys. Source: National Center for Education Statistics
• For every 100 girls K-12 in public schools classified as having emotional disturbance there are 355 boys. Source: National Center for Education Statistics
• For every 100 girls in K-12 in public schools who are classified as having a specific learning disability, there are 207 boys. Source: National Center for Education Statistics
• 3. K-12 Education 
• • For every 100 girls who repeat kindergarten 145 boys repeat kindergarten.
    Source: National Center for Education Statistics
  • For every 100 girls whose entry into kindergarten is delayed 139 boys are delayed.
    Source: National Center for Education Statistics
  • For every 100 girls suspended from public elementary and secondary schools 240 boys are suspended.
    Source: National Center for Education Statistics
  • For every 100 girls expelled from public elementary and secondary schools 291 boys are expelled.
    Source: National Center for Education Statistics 
  • For every 100 high school girls who take the SAT test, 89 boys take the test.
    Source: National Center for Education Statistics
  • For every 100 college-bound high school senior girls in the top 10% of her class, there are 79 boys.
    Source: College Board
  • For every 100 college-bound high school senior girls who take AP/Honors courses in math there are 82 boys.
    Source: College Board
  • For every 100 college-bound high school senior girls who take AP/Honors courses in Natural Sciences there are 79 boys.
    Source: College Board
  • For every 100 college-bound high school senior girls who take AP/Honors courses in Foreign/Classical Languages there are 64 boys.
    Source: College Board
  • For every 100 college-bound high school senior girls who take AP/Honors courses in Art/Music there are 54 boys.
    Source: College Board
  • For every 100 college-bound high school senior girls who take AP/Honors courses in English/Language Arts there are 64 boys.
    Source: College Board
  4. Higher Education 
  • For every 100 women enrolled in US colleges (degree-granting postsecondary institutions) at all levels there are 77 men enrolled.
    Source: National Center for Education Statistics
  • For every 100 women enrolled in US graduate schools there are 73 men.
    Source: Council for Graduate Schools
  • For every 100 women who earn an associate’s degree from US colleges there are 63 men.
    Source: National Center for Education Statistics
  • For every 100 women who earn a bachelor’s degree from US colleges and universities there are 74 men.
    Source: National Center for Education Statistics
  • For every 100 women who earn a master’s degree from US colleges and universities there are 74 men.
    Source: National Center for Education Statistics
  • For every 100 women who earn a doctor’s degree from US universities there are 90 men.
    Source: National Center for Education Statistics
  5. Educational Attainment of Young Adults 
  • For every 100 women ages 25 to 29 years who have at least some college but no degree there are 94 men.
  • For every 100 women ages 25 to 29 years who have at least an associate’s degree there are 80 men.
  • For every 100 women ages 25 to 29 years who have at least a bachelor’s degree there are 85 men.
  • For every 100 women ages 25 to 29 years who have at least a master’s degree there are 73 men.
  • For every 100 women ages 25 to 29 years who have a first professional or doctor’s degree there are 81 men.
  Source: National Center for Education Statistics
• 6. Other Indicators (16)
  • For every 100 women who are homeless there are 154 men.
    Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
  • For every 100 women who are homeless and unsheltered there are 242 men.
    Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
  • For every 100 women who die by opioid overdose, 212 men die.
    Source: Kaiser Family Foundation
  • For every 100 women who abuse illicit drugs and alcohol, 180 men do so.
    Source: Addiction Center
  • For every 100 women who have problems with alcoholism there are about 200 men.
    Source: ScienceDaily
  • For every 100 women do die on the job, there are 1,294 men who die working.
    Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
  • For every 100 females ages 15 to 19 who commit suicide there are 293 males.
    Source: Centers for Disease Control
  • For every 100 females ages 20 to 24 who commit suicide there are 463 males.
    Source: Centers for Disease Control
  • For every 100 females ages 25-29 who commit suicide there are 424 males.
    Source: Centers for Disease Control
  • For every 100 females ages 15-19 who dies of homicide, there are 642 males.
    Source: Centers for Disease Control
  • For every 100 females ages 20-24 who dies of homicide, there are 717 males.
    Source: Centers for Disease Control
  • For every 100 females ages 25-29 who dies of homicide, there are 579 males.
    Source: Centers for Disease Control
  • For every 100 females ages 30-34 who dies of homicide, there are 488 males.
    Source: Centers for Disease Control
  • For every 100 females who are in adult correctional facilities there are 1,000 males.
    Source: Census Bureau
  • For every 100 females under age 18 who are in a correctional facility, there are 770 males.
    Source: Census Bureau
  • For every 100 females in a federal prison, there are 1,333 male prisoners.
    Source: Federal Bureau of Prisons