Monday, May 21, 2012

Psychiatrist’s Apology Stands Out From Typical Scientific Regrets; Chronicle of Higher Education, 5/18/12

Josh Fischman, Chronicle of Higher Education; Psychiatrist’s Apology Stands Out From Typical Scientific Regrets:

"Dr. Spitzer, on the other hand, has a keen awareness of the larger effects of his work. His study was taken up by anti-homosexual activists and therapists who said they could “cure” patients of their sexual orientation. (Mr. Arana, the American Prospect journalist and a gay man, spent years in such therapy.) Dr. Spitzer also apologized to those patients. He said he did not start the study to show that homosexuality could be done away with. He did it, rather, to debunk the claim that “reparative therapy” was completely ineffective in changing sexual orientation.

But he did so with bad science. He interviewed 200 people who said they used to be gay, and asked them if therapy helped them make the switch. There was, he now says, no way to determine if they were telling the truth, and no comparison group of people who didn’t undergo therapy. And there was no replication of the study. It didn’t validate anti-gay therapy for most scientists, but it did give ammunition to anti-gay groups. So he asked Mr. Arana to print his retraction. Dr. Spitzer wants not only to set the research record straight, but correct a mistaken cultural idea.

Bad science then, but few could say a bad scientist now."

Ex-Rutgers student webcam spy sentenced to 30 days in jail; ArsTechnica.com, 5/21/12

Cyrus Farivar, ArsTechnica.com; Ex-Rutgers student webcam spy sentenced to 30 days in jail:

"Dharun Ravi, the former Rutgers student who was convicted in March of spying on and intimidating his gay roommate, has been sentenced to 30 days in jail by a New Jersey judge."

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Wikipedia Kills Page Linking Obama Slogan to Socialist Movement; New York Times, 5/8/12

Noam Cohen, New York Times; Wikipedia Kills Page Linking Obama Slogan to Socialist Movement:

"After a debate among readers who also cast votes on the issue, the Wikipedia administrator essentially killed the page by having it redirect to the general article on the Obama-Biden presidential campaign; all that is left of the original article is the simple statement: “On April 30, 2012, the campaign announced that its slogan would be ‘Forward.’”"

Saturday, May 19, 2012

In the Undoing of a C.E.O., a Puzzle; New York Times, 5/18/12

James B. Stewart, New York Times; In the Undoing of a C.E.O., a Puzzle:

"Mr. Thompson now joins a lengthy and puzzling list of prominent people who have embroidered or falsified their résumés and were felled for doing so, including a former Notre Dame football coach, chief executives of RadioShack and Bausch & Lomb, a director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and an MIT admissions director.

While the Yahoo matter remains under investigation, how and why Mr. Thompson’s résumé came to reflect the false claim that he had a degree in computer science remains a mystery. If it wants to solve it, Yahoo may need to add a psychologist to its investigative team."

Yahoo’s Chief Said to Tell Executives He Did Not Submit a Résumé; New York Times, 5/10/12

Michael J. De La Merced, New York Times; Yahoo’s Chief Said to Tell Executives He Did Not Submit a Résumé:

"Yahoo‘s embattled chief executive, Scott Thompson, told the company’s senior management on Thursday that he never submitted a résumé or falsified his academic credentials, a person briefed on the matter said.

Mr. Thompson’s comments are the latest in an effort to quell the firestorm of controversy surrounding his credentials."

Third Point Demands Records From Yahoo’s C.E.O. Search; New York Times, 5/7/12

Michael J. De La Merced, New York Times; Third Point Demands Records From Yahoo’s C.E.O. Search:

"Third Point sent Yahoo a request for records relating to its selection of Scott Thompson, a former eBay executive, as its chief executive, after the besieged technology company admitted that it had misstated its leader’s academic credentials.

The request follows Yahoo’s admission, after prodding by the activist hedge fund, that while Mr. Thompson’s official biography said that he had earned degrees in accounting and computer science from Stonehill College, in reality he held only the former.

Yahoo also conceded that the director in charge of finding and hiring Mr. Thompson, Patti Hart, also had factual errors in the description of her academic record."

Loeb Accuses Yahoo Officials of Résumé Padding; New York Times, 5/3/12

Kevin Roose, New York Times; Loeb Accuses Yahoo Officials of Résumé Padding:

"In a letter sent to Yahoo’s board on Thursday, Mr. Loeb, the founder of the hedge fund Third Point, said that Yahoo’s chief executive, Scott Thompson, had falsified his résumé to include a degree in computer science that Mr. Thompson never earned.

Mr. Thompson, who was appointed to head Yahoo in January, has a “bachelor’s in accounting and computer science from Stonehill College,” according to his official biography on Yahoo’s Web site.

But according to Mr. Loeb’s letter, Mr. Thompson’s credentials don’t mesh with information listed on other online sites – a discrepancy that led Mr. Loeb to do some digging. A representative of Stonehill College, Mr. Loeb wrote, told Third Point that Mr. Thompson had graduated with a degree in accounting only, and that the school did not even award degrees in computer science until 1983 – “four years after Mr. Thompson graduated.”"