And now, FREE SPEECH IN ACTION in the US

**A_DeAngelo** · 07-20-2007, 07:08 AM

Picking on Alan Turing now... what next?

Poor thing, she looks so helpless...

I don't know nothin' 'bout "homo devil things"

my family is a family of angels... "of the Angel" you know...

mgillis · 07-20-2007, 10:36 AM

The good thing about pictures of crazy people making crazy statements is that it really does cast a shadow on the entire movement.

It's like the nutty guy on the box on the street corner screaming about the world ending and god's vengeance. Nothing could convince me more that this will never actually happen.

**Lee** · 07-20-2007, 10:37 AM

You do realize that pic has been photochopped right?

Regards,

Lee

mgillis · 07-20-2007, 10:55 AM

Oh, really!

Darn - well, it's still funny!

**Kushiel** · 07-20-2007, 11:06 AM

Originally Posted by Lee

You do realize that pic has been photochopped right?

Regards,

Lee

Errr... It's a sarcastic board regardless.. Note that she has a rainbow flag in her hand... I doubt she's going to be screaming about homo-devil-computers and waving that about at the same time.
Also.. if you read the text - It mentions how the invention won the world war...
Total sarcasm, I would think.

**A_DeAngelo** · 07-20-2007, 11:56 AM

Originally Posted by Kushiel

Errr... It's a sarcastic board regardless.. Note that she has a rainbow flag in her hand... I doubt she's going to be screaming about homo-devil-computers and waving that about at the same time.
Also.. if you read the text - It mentions how the invention won the world war...
Total sarcasm, I would think.

I believe everything I see - that's why I like THE STAR and THE INQUIRER so much - they always have the very best photos - I don't know how they get them?!?!

actually, Turing cracked the code and won the war prior to the "invention" of the computer but, facts aside...

I like her yellow "living gloves" - shows that she's a "clean freak" perhaps trying to rid the world of filthy homosexuals (punctuated by the flag she is getting ready to burn...)

looks to me like she's hanging out in front of an embassy somewhere...

anyone care to bet on where she is?

**Kushiel** · 07-20-2007, 11:59 AM

Originally Posted by A_DeAngelo

actually, he cracked the code and won the war prior to the "invention" of the computer but, facts aside...

Ack! /edit

Invention = Inventor.

**A_DeAngelo** · 07-20-2007, 12:08 PM

Originally Posted by Kushiel

Ack! /edit

Invention = Inventor.

correction entered - return

**DonMike** · 07-20-2007, 03:16 PM

Actually, I think the sign is supposed to be satirical. But taken out of context it loses the joke. Sadly, I don't remember what the context was.

**Kushiel** · 07-20-2007, 03:45 PM

Originally Posted by DonMike

Actually, I think the sign is supposed to be satirical. But taken out of context it loses the joke. Sadly, I don't remember what the context was.

http://www.audioactivism.org/category/diversity/
Pride in Alan Turing
Monday, February 27th, 2006

Apple Logo-A symbol of Gay Pride and remembrance of Alan Turing’s death? Last night I was reading the book Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software by Steven Johnson. (Thanks for lending it to me Justin!) I’m only a few chapters in but I learned something really important about the history of computers. Alan Turing, the father of modern computer science, was gay. I mention this not in shock or surprise but in pride. I think it’s wonderful. I’m just really concerned that I’m just now learning this. Maybe it’s because I never researched it. Maybe it’s because people don’t talk or write about it. Well, I’m going to write about it.

I feel that the public history of computer science is incomplete. When we teach the history of computer science or even just talk about it online we need to mention the details of people’s lives. Why? Details inform their work. They give us a fuller image of the men and women we respect and admire. They give us something to connect with. I know that you can be great at what you do no matter your sexual preference, gender, or race - but these things do make a difference. We need to celebrate our uniqueness. Especially freedom loving computer geeks.

The fact is the majority of geeks online are men - white, heterosexual, men. Not all geeks are men, but a majority are. (Once I have the data to prove this I’ll link to it. But a safe theory I believe.) I happen to be a heterosexual male and am ashamed of this majority I belong to.

The age of hetero male geeks ranges from early teens to senior adults. Sadly many guy geeks where once nerdy teenagers that were uncomfortable with their own sexuality. Young geeks can be pretty immature about sexuality online. Could this contribute to the lack of mainstream discussion of gayness among computer geeks?

While researching the Alan Turing some more I discovered that right before his death he was convicted by Britian’s discriminatory anti-gay law known as,

gross indecency under Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885. Turing was unrepentant and was convicted. [Why the hell should he repent?] Although he could have been sent to prison, he was placed on probation, conditional on him undergoing hormonal treatment designed to reduce libido. He accepted the oestrogen hormone injections, which lasted for a year, with side effects including the development of breasts. His conviction led to a removal of his security clearance and prevented him from continuing consultancy for GCHQ on cryptographic matters.

Via Wikipedia

This is so incredibly sad. Imagine how many MORE wonderful accomplishments for humanity Turing could have given if he wasn’t harassed, tortured, and possibly murdered. How disrespectful it is to have treated him this way. No man or woman should be treated this way - no matter the time or place. But for such a person who has given our planet so much to be treated this way is difficult to comprehend. We need to make sure that all history books discuss sexuality - and other things - relating to historic people while teaching their accomplishments. To hell with don’t ask don’t tell!

More interesting information from Wikipedia about Turing:

In 1954, he died of cyanide poisoning, apparently from a cyanide-laced apple he left half-eaten. The apple itself was never tested for contamination with cyanide, and cyanide poisoning as a cause of death was established by a post-mortem. Most believe that his death was intentional, and the death was ruled a suicide. It is rumored that this method of self-poisoning was in tribute to Turing’s beloved film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. His mother, however, strenuously argued that the ingestion was accidental due to his careless storage of laboratory chemicals. Friends of his have said that Turing may have killed himself in this ambiguous way quite deliberately, to give his mother some plausible deniability. The possibility of assassination has also been suggested, owing to Turing’s involvement in the secret service and the perception of Turing as a security risk due to his homosexuality.

In the book, Zeroes and Ones, author Sadie Plant speculates that the rainbow Apple logo with a bite taken out of it was an homage to Turing. This seems to be an urban legend as the Apple logo was designed in 1976, two years before Gilbert Baker’s rainbow pride flag.

From now on I’ll always think about Turing and his accomplishments when I see the rainbow Apple logo. It’s design may have not been intentionally symbolic but in my mind it is forever repurposed. Here’s to Alan Turing’s accomplishments! Cheers!

This may or may not be relevant to the purpose of the protester... but I thought it might interest you.

**Kushiel** · 07-20-2007, 03:52 PM

Nevermind -
Google is so awesome for finding things -
Maybe it wasn't photoshopped after all.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Employing irony in the marriage debate

Outside the State House, there are many more gay rights protesters than anti-gay marriage demonstrators. One of the anti-gay marriage proponents, Susie Hicks from Woburn, said this was because everyone thinks gay marriage is a "done deal." She was at the State House with her friend Angela Mitchell, also from Woburn. Mitchell held a sign that read WE WANT THE BAY STATE NOT THE GAY STATE, THAT WOULD MEAN A SAD STATE.

Her sign was in sharp contrast to some of those held by gay marriage supporters that focus on gays who've made history such as Leonardo da Vinci, Alan Turing, who invented the computer, and Katherine Lee Bates, who wrote "America the Beautiful." The sign focusing on Turning, for example, reads: DESTROY THE COMPUTER! IT'S A HOMOSEXUAL INVENTION BY ALAN TURING. WHO CARES IF HE CRACKED THE GERMAN ENIGMA CODE AND WON WORLD WAR II. IT'S A HOMO'S DEVIL MACHINE.

Tom Lang of Manchester by the Sea held one of the signs -- which have taken some viewers a few moments to figure out. "We're trying to show how important gay people are to the American culture," Lang explained. "We're not mental. We're not immoral. But we're important to society and interwoven into the tapestry of America."

— reported by Deirdre Fulton
-----------------------------------------------------------------
http://bostonphoenix.com/pages/03709277.asp

**DonMike** · 07-20-2007, 04:20 PM

Thank you, Kushiel. I knew it wasn't actually against Turning but I couldn't remember where it was from. Quite a brilliant piece of protest if you ask me.

**Kushiel** · 07-20-2007, 04:22 PM

Originally Posted by DonMike

Thank you, Kushiel. I knew it wasn't actually against Turning but I couldn't remember where it was from. Quite a brilliant piece of protest if you ask me.

Absolutely! It's always wonderful to me when someone's angle is come show something that makes you think twice. It's like secondary reinforcement

**TropixxxStudios** · 07-20-2007, 05:44 PM

Originally Posted by Kushiel

From now on I’ll always think about Turing and his accomplishments when I see the rainbow Apple logo. It’s design may have not been intentionally symbolic but in my mind it is forever repurposed. Here’s to Alan Turing’s accomplishments! Cheers!
.

A half eaten rainbow colored apple? Sounds to me like it's design WAS intentionally symbolic. One more reason (as if you needed one) to go Apple.

**A_DeAngelo** · 07-20-2007, 08:43 PM

oh no! lets not take this to the logic and reasoning behind the apple rainbow logo - does everyone here forget that I was part of that?!?!?

and you don't want tired old me to droan on and on and on about shit that nobody gives a rat's ass about....

'cause... that will launch me into my hatred of the basterdized AT&T logo that we worked months and months on (during the same period of time) and the significant changes in design philosophy between then and now

oh god, there I go - see?

United, Exxon..... etc... etc... what gets tweaked, what gets tossed and, what remains the same...