Siri is probably not explicitly hiding abortion information

Next query: Siri, look harder.

So, Apple’s engineers recently found themselves with egg on their faces with regard to the iPhone 4S’ Siri application. Why? Privilege, as it happens.

My best guess about the “Siri doesn’t help find abortion clinics” maneno is that the engineers responsible for the application completely forgot to vet stuff relevant to women today, like abortion clinics, when testing their assistant’s ability to pull real phrases out of voice commands then finding relevant information from various sources. And they probably completely forgot to vet this stuff because the people testing it initially don’t particularly have that concern. They’re likely all men, or women who weren’t in positions to need reproductive services for whatever reason. Thus, those without that privilege get short shrift.
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Siri is probably not explicitly hiding abortion information
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RCimT: Space roundup

A few quick Space links to cap Friday night.

On Bad Astronomy: Atlantis’ final reentry was caught from the IIS in this amazing picture. Also, an amateur astronomer managed to catch the IIS and Atlantis in broad daylight, 1.5 hrs after sunrise. Awesome!

Har har har. Courtesy of everywhere on the damned intertubes.

Speaking of amateur astronomy, this iPhone telescope clip would be awesome. If only someone would actually manufacture it! I’d buy two.

The Hubble telescope discovered a fourth moon of Pluto. Solar system’s getting crowded. Oh, and having a moon still doesn’t make you a planet.

Hanny’s Voorwerp is no longer unique in the universe. Galaxy Zoo discovered 19 more voorwerpje! (Maybe I’ll get to co-write a comic about each of them too!)

NASA has some stunning high-res pics of Vesta, an asteroid in the belt on the outskirts of our solar system and second only to the dwarf planet Ceres in mass.

And last, but certainly not least, HOLY FUCKING SHIT RUNNING WATER ON MARS. Sure, it’s just a trickle, but it’s there. Incredible. I’ll have to go into the implications another time; for now, time to get my weekend on.

RCimT: Space roundup