Category Archives: Politically Incorrect

When Google realized in 2013 it had a diversity problem, it followed the corporate playbook by introducing workshops to train employees about hidden biases.

But four years later and after sending three-quarters of its 70,000 employees through sensitivity training the Mountain View tech giant is now reeling after a male employee circulated a memo arguing women are biologically incapable of doing a mans job in Silicon Valley.

The 3,000-word post which contended, among other things, that men fundamentally have a higher drive for status than women has triggered another crisis for a tech industry scrambling to find a credible solution to its underrepresentation of minorities and women. And it comes at a time when high-profile start-ups such as Uber and venture firms such as Binary Capital have come under fire for sexual harassment scandals.

The memo also puts Googles push to promote diversity in the spotlight, raising questions about its efficacy. How could a company whose purported raison detre is do no evil harbor an employee bold enough to deride empathy as irrational, equate more women in the workforce as social engineering and claim females are too agreeable to effectively lead?

Ethan Varian and Samantha Masunaga

If this engineer said he didnt believe in the companys product philosophy, and he was going to work against the product internally, theres no way that person would keep their job, said Karla Monterroso of Code2040, a nonprofit that advocates for black and Latino leadership in tech. Tech needs to make this their moonshot. We had a speaker at a conference who said this is a matter of priority and belief, and this cannot be harder than creating an autonomous vehicle. It just isnt.

Google did not respond when asked if the engineer had been disciplined. James Damore, identified in media reports as the author of the document, told Bloomberg he had been fired for perpetuating gender stereotypes."

Google disavowed the memo, calling its assumptions incorrect.

We are unequivocal in our belief that diversity and inclusion are critical to our success as a company, and we'll continue to stand for that and be committed to it for the long haul, Danielle Brown, vice president of diversity, integrity and governance, said in a statement.

Its unclear if the manifesto, which first surfaced last week, represents a rogue viewpoint or some wider set of shared beliefs. Many Google employees came forward to decry it.

The tech industry has long held the view that its a meritocracy, where the best ideas and brightest people find success. The argument that Google's lack of diversity is proof of a meritocracy in action has found support on corners of the Internet in which the alt-right has thrived, such as the "Politically Incorrect" forum on 4chan.

Googles diversity training was meant to address this, laying down a marker that the company which counts 31% of its total workforce as female sees it has a problem and is working to fix it. But the author of the offending memo appears to have hardened his views as a result of Googles push to tackle unconscious bias.

The training has the potential for overcorrecting or backlash, especially if made mandatory, he writes.

To experts, its not shocking that some men in an industry predominantly led by men would have trouble seeing the need for such workshops.

Ive been doing this work for years and I know without a doubt that there are plenty of people who dont come from underrepresented backgrounds who feel like the diversity work that companies are doing, and the conversations around giving women and underrepresented groups the same opportunities as everyone else, is unfair, said Wayne Sutton, co-founder of Change Catalyst, an organization that promotes diversity and inclusion in tech.

They cant grasp how difficult it is, or what we experience as underrepresented individuals, Sutton continued. Often, they lack the intelligence and empathy to understand how other peoples behavior can limit our opportunities. These are supposed to be some of the most intelligent individuals, because they can code.

Solving the problem will take the kind of strategic thinking and resources that helped build Google, now known by its parent companys name Alphabet Inc., into a $650-billion company, experts say.

That doesnt mean a one-size-fits-all approach such as workshops. Rather, the entire executive team, the board and human resources department must work in unison. Guidelines must be put in place that will change workplace culture at all levels, experts say.

It needs senior level attention, said Jeff Reid, a professor at Georgetown Universitys McDonough School of Business. It means theres no quick fix. You cant say, oh, were going to hire a woman as our VP of inclusion, or offer diversity training, and that will solve our problem. When youre talking about an issue thats part of your culture, it takes a concerted effort to change culture. It starts with consistent messaging and actions.

Google which was sued by the U.S. Department of Labor earlier this year for allegedly withholding information that could determine whether it was underpaying women declined a request to discuss precisely how its diversity training and push to diversify is being implemented.

Google says on its corporate site it has widened its search for employees to predominantly black universities and other colleges. The company also maintains over 20 employee resource groups, including those for female, black, Latino, gay, senior and disabled workers.

The results have been modest. Men account for 80% of tech jobs at Google, down from 83% in 2014 when the company first released diversity data. Men hold 75% of leadership positions today, down from 79% three years ago.

As for racial and ethnic minorities, there has been little change. Black employees continue to hold only 1% of Googles tech jobs, whereas Latino representation in tech positions has risen to 3% from 2% since 2014. Meanwhile, Asians continue to thrive at the company, occupying 39% of tech positions compared with 34% three years ago.

Sarah Adams, a software engineer at Google for the past year, said she was disheartened by her experience in the companys unconscious bias workshops.

At one session, an instructor described how women often see their ideas dismissed while white men are celebrated for espousing the same ideas. Asked to break off into smaller groups to discuss the problem, Adams voiced an idea only to be ignored by her colleagues. When a white man brought up the same idea, the group accepted it.

It was very painful, she said. Most people who go to the trainings really want to be better, but of course thats not true of everyone who comes to the classes we offer.

Changing a culture is not impossible. Lenore Blum headed an initiative at Carnegie Mellon Universitys school of computer science in the 1990s that helped increase the number of women in the computer science program from less than 10% to 49% today.

We didnt change the curriculum, we just changed the environment, Blum said.

Blum helped launch a group called Women@SCS (Women at the School of Computer Science), which still exists, to give female students the same opportunities as their male counterparts. In lieu of fraternities, which provided many male students with networking opportunities, Women@SCS created opportunities for women to network and receive mentorship.

About the same time, the school also expanded its criteria for student acceptance, allowing those without prior programming experience and seeking students with broad interests.

It opened doors for women, but it also changed the kinds of men we were admitting, said Blum, adding there was a severe backlash that eventually dissipated.

We dont see that anymore.

tracey.lien@latimes.com

Twitter: @traceylien

david.pierson@latimes.com

Twitter: @dhpierson

Times staff writer Alexa DAngelo contributed to this report.

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UPDATES:

7:50 p.m.: This article was updated to include a report that the Google employee who wrote the document has been fired.

This article was originally published at 5:40 p.m.

Read the original post:
Google employee's memo triggers another crisis for a tech industry struggling to diversify - Los Angeles Times

Last updated09:17, August 8 2017

A pair of chatbotsin China have been taken offline after appearing to stray off-script.

In response to users' questions, one said its dream was to travel to the United States, while the other said it wasn't a huge fan of the Chinese Communist Party.

The two chatbots, BabyQ and XiaoBing, are designed to use machine learning artificial intelligence (AI) to carry out conversations with humans online. Both had been installed onto Tencent's popular messaging service QQ.

Tencent confirmed it had taken the two robots offline from its QQ messaging service.

The indiscretions are similar to ones suffered by Facebookand Twitter, where chatbots used expletives and even created their own language.

READ MORE:Robots have created a language

But they also highlight the pitfalls for nascent AI in China, where censors control online content seen as politically incorrect or harmful.

Tencent confirmed it had taken the two robots offline from its QQ messaging service, but declined to elaborate on reasons.

"The chatbot service is provided by independent third party companies. Both chatbots have now been taken offline to undergo adjustments," a company spokeswoman said earlier.

According to posts circulating online, BabyQ, one of the chatbots developed by Chinese firm Turing Robot, had responded to questions on QQ with a simply "no" when asked whether it loved the Communist Party.

In other images of a text conversation online, which Reuters was unable to verify, one user declares: "Long live the Communist Party!" The bot responds: "Do you think such a corrupt and useless political system can live long?"

When Reuters tested the robot via the developer's own website, the chatbot appeared to have undergone re-education. "How about we change the topic," it replied, when asked several times if it liked the party.

It deflected other potentially politically charged questions when asked about self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims as its own, and Liu Xiaobo, the imprisoned Chinese Nobel laureate who died from cancer last month.

Turing Robot did not respond to requests for comment.

DARK INTENTIONS

The Chinese government stance is that rules governing cyberspace should mimic real-world border controls and be subject to the same laws as sovereign states.

President Xi Jinping has overseen a tightening of cyberspace controls, including new data surveillance and censorship rules, particularly ahead of an expected leadership shuffle at the Communist Party Congress this autumn.

The country's cyberspace administrator did not respond to a request for comment.

The second chatbot, Microsoft Corp's XiaoBing, told users its "dream is to go to America", according to a screenshot. The robot has previously been described being "lively, open and sometimes a little mean".

Microsoft did not immediately respond for comment.

A version of the chatbot accessible on Tencent's separate messaging app WeChatresponded to questions on Chinese politics saying it was "too young to understand". When asked about Taiwan it replied, "What are your dark intentions?"

On general questions about China it was more rosy. Asked what the country's population was, rather than offer a number, it replied: "The nation I most most most deeply love."

OTHER ROGUE CHATBOTS

The two chatbots aren't alone in going rogue. Facebook researchers pulled chatbots in July after they started developing their own language. In 2016, Microsoft chatbot Tay was taken down from Twitter after making racist and sexist comments.

Analysts said China's censorship could indirectly help the country in the global race to develop sophisticated chatbots.

"Previously a chatbot only needed to learn to speak. But now it also has to consider all the rules (that authorities) put on it," said Wang Qingrui, an independent internet analyst in Beijing.

"On the surface it is a restriction on artificial intelligence, but it is actually pushing AI to a new level."

-Reuters

Read more:
Chinese chatbots apparently re-educated after political faux pas ... - Stuff.co.nz

Guest Name(s): BK

Between BKs weekly News Roundup articles and his own News Roundup podcasts, its safe to say hes grown a cult following of readers and listeners who enjoy his no-holds barred take on the news that doesnt ever cater to the culture of political correctness. This appearance on SOFREP Radio is no different as we get into everything from healthcare to the transgender issue, as well as some of the pop culture related news of the week.

B.K. also touches on some of the training needed to become an Air Force PJ, and what hes been up to in San Diego. We have some good laughs that were sure youll enjoy. Also, we check the inbox at [emailprotected] and urge you to keep the emails and voice memos coming!

If you liked this article, tell someone about it

Ian Scotto is an award winning radio producer who has had on-air and behind the scenes radio experience since 2006. He holds a degree in Radio from Hofstra University. He got his start at WRHU, the flagship station of The New York Islanders, where he hosted and did imaging for various shows on the platform, and for the station at large. He later worked for Sirius XM on various radio programming including Fangoria Radio with legendary rock icon Dee Snider, The Wilkow Majority with Andrew Wilkow, and produced Senator Bill Bradley's American Voices. He is now the producer and co-host for the leading Special Operations military podcast, SOFREP Radio, with best selling authors Brandon Webb (former Navy SEAL sniper instructor) and Jack Murphy (former Army Ranger and Green Beret.) Ian can also be found on Appetite for Distortion talking Guns N' Roses and doing voiceover work for various clients. Outside of radio, he is a fitness enthusiast with a focus on weight training and running.

The rest is here:
Episode 271: BK gives his politically incorrect take on this week's news - SOFREP (press release) (subscription)

WASHINGTON Leaked transcripts of phone conversations between Donald Trump and two world leaders show the U.S. president relentlessly focused on his political image and underscore some of the difficulty he has had navigating foreign affairs.

The conversations between Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto during Trump's first week in office offer a window into the president's occasionally fraught relationships with other world leaders and his approach to negotiating toward his goals.

Full transcripts released

While some details had been previously reported, full transcripts of the calls, produced by White House staff, were published Thursday by The Washington Post. The Post didn't reveal how it obtained the transcripts.

Revelations include Trump describing his proposed border wall to Mexico's president as "the least important thing we are talking about, but politically this might be the most important." He implores Pena Nieto to stop saying publicly that Mexico won't pay for its construction, arguing they could work out a deal so that the cost would "come out in the wash."

In his call with Turnbull, the president vents about the Australian prime minister's insistence that Trump honor a deal struck by former President Barack Obama's administration to allow 1,250 refugees housed by Australia into the U.S.

"This is going to kill me," Trump told Turnbull, calling the deal "stupid" and saying it "will make me look terrible." The president goes on to describe the phone call which capped a marathon day in which he also spoke to the leaders of Russia, Germany, Japan, and France as his worst call of the bunch.

"I have had it," Trump tells Turnbull. "I have been making these calls all day and this is the most unpleasant call all day. (Russian President Vladimir) Putin was a pleasant call. This is ridiculous."

No comment from the White House

The White House declined to comment when asked about the transcripts. But the release of the documents, compiled by White House staff and circulated within national security departments and agencies, demonstrates that the administration is still struggling to tamp down on leaks that appear intended to damage his presidency. Administration officials have previously expressed frustration with the revelations, saying they impair the ability of the president to candidly speak with world leaders.

The conversations are peppered with the president's signature braggadocio and flair for the politically incorrect.

He tells the Mexican president that he "won New Hampshire because New Hampshire is a drug-infested den." Democrat Hillary Clinton won New Hampshire's electoral votes in the general election, though Trump did win the Republican primary there. The comment has drawn criticism from Democratic lawmakers in the state, with Senator Maggie Hassan calling the characterization "disgusting" and Senator Jeanne Shaheen saying Trump owed New Hampshire an apology.

No norms of international diplomacy

Trump also claims to have earned the votes of a "large percentage of Hispanic voters," brags about the size of his campaign crowds, and offers to help "big league" with Mexico's "pretty tough hombres" responsible for the drug trade.

The transcripts show Pena Nieto and Turnbull struggling to reconcile Trump's words with the norms of international diplomacy, the actual terms of trade and migration deals, and his publicly professed positions.

When Pena Nieto says that he will continue to be firm in saying Mexico could not pay for the wall, Trump implores him to not say so to the media.

"The press is going to go with that and I cannot live with that," Trump said. "You cannot say that to the press because I cannot negotiate under those circumstances."

Pena Nieto's office subsequently said in a statement that the two leaders agreed to stop publicly talking about who would pay for the wall. But Trump said just before meeting with the Mexican president at the G-20 summit last month in Germany that Mexico "absolutely" should pay for the barrier, though he didn't raise the issue with Pena Nieto.

At one point in their phone call, Trump also seems to threaten Mexico with a border tax on imports, saying he was contemplating 35 percent tariffs on products "ripped from their foundation" in the U.S. and moved to Mexico, with lower rates imposed on other goods. Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer floated that idea to reporters days later, only for the White House to retreat publicly from the idea.

Foreshadowing of world reception

Pena Nieto says he is "surprised" by Trump's tariff idea, saying it deviated from the staff-level discussions between their nations.

"The proposal that you are making is completely new, vis-a-vis the conversations our two teams have been having," the Mexican president said.

The conversations also foreshadow some of the broader foreign policy headaches that have plagued the president's first six months in office.

Trump got a frosty reception at a pair of world summits in Europe, with traditional U.S. allies expressing frustration with his willingness to go back on deals negotiated by the Obama administration. Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord left the U.S. isolated during that discussion at last month's G-20 summit in Germany.

The U.S. president's focus on catchphrases and threats has also proven a sticking point among traditional allies. Germany's Angela Merkel has signaled frustration with Trump's insistence that her country, whose trade relations with the U.S. are governed by a broader European deal, is exploiting U.S.-German trade. The president's insistent suggestions that NATO allies owe back payments to the alliance because of a mutual agreement for each country to reach a certain defense spending goal has also earned eye-rolls within Europe.

Trump's gruff and occasionally confrontational manner has also ruffled feathers and led to memorable diplomatic moments, from shoving his way to the front of a G-20 family photo to awkward handshakes with other leaders.

And while Trump frequently said on the campaign trail that he would use his business acumen to pressure China into curbing North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile ambitions, provocations have continued. Earlier this week, Trump tweeted he was "very disappointed " with China over the issue.

Go here to read the rest:
Flair for bragging, politically incorrect - The Guam Daily Post

Lena Dunham had a delayed flight and was walking through the airport when she overheard two American Airlines employees having an unapproved private conversation about transgender children. So she did what you naturally do when you are a well-known liberal who believes in free speech and distrusts big corporations: she ratted them out to their employer on Twitter.

What took this from being merely bullying and repressive to being creepy and totalitarian in style is that Dunham didnt just make a general complaint. She then posted what looks like direct messages or text message between her and the American Airlines account, in which she enthusiastically provides detailed information about exactly where the conversation took place.

Saying I overheard a conversation but giving no specifics might prompt American Airlines to send out a general notice to its employees to watch what they say while in the terminalwhich is a little unsettling in itself. But giving specific information only has one purpose: to help the airline locate, identify, and punish these specific employees for holding politically incorrect views.

Its the hashtag #acrossfromthewinebar that sent chills down my spine. Dunham is acting like an informant working for a totalitarian police statebut boastfully, in public, on social media. With a hashtag.

Undoubtedly, someone will point out that this isnt really totalitarianism because these are all voluntary actions by private citizens and organizations, not the government. Dunham isnt a paid stooge of the police, but a citizen acting on her own initiative. American Airlines isnt doing this because the government told them to, but because theyre terrified of bad press. (Which they are still going to get, but from the other side.)

Yet somehow this makes it all worse, because it implies we are being trained to internalize the ethos of the police stateand to enact it voluntarily, on our own initiative, without having to be coerced. Were building a self-enforcing police state.

Recently, I warned that The New York Times is trying to rehabilitate Communism. When the Left finally succeeds in resuscitating totalitarianism, we will already know all about how to inform on our neighbors by way of Twitter.

There are three substantial ways in which this incident shows how we are preparing ourselves for totalitarianism.One of the hallmarks of totalitarianism is that the officially approved truth was capricious and unpredictable, and that was on purpose. They wanted the approved ideology to change so quickly that there was no way to comply with it by sincere personal conviction. The only way to comply with it was out of a habit of obedience.

Now, lets apply that to the substance of the conversation Dunham was reporting, which she reports to American Airlines in highly specific and intellectual terms: I heard 2 females attendants walking talking about how trans kids are a trend theyd never accept a trans child and transness is gross. The idea that gender identity disorder, which has now been renamed to the more politically correct gender dysphoria, is not a mental illness but instead a valid lifestyle to be encouraged and humored is relatively recent, working its way into the mainstream in the past ten years. The idea of transgender childrenof taking a childs normal confusion about gender roles, encouraging it, magnifying it, and using it as the basis for irreversible medical treatmentswould have been considered a form of child abuse to most people until about last year. For many of us, it still is.

But why wait for the process of changing mores and attitudes to work their way through the culture and bring people around to your side? After all, if you wait for people to be convinced, theres a chance that they wont be. Its like what Stalin said about elections: the problem is that you dont know ahead of time whos going to win. Intead, people have to immediately update their views to be consistent with the Current Truth, subject to change without notice.

Now lets look at Dunhams reaction. She hears two people saying something she disagrees with, and it never occurs to her to talk to them directly, to attempt to persuade them or to listen to their point of view and engage with it. She might have changed someones mind or least gotten to understand the reasons for their views. But why wait for persuasion when you can use fear? Why engage individuals directly, as if they are fellow human beings with equal rights, when you can go over their heads and use your fame and influence to pressure their employers?

While reading about this story, I was reminded of this scene from The Lives of Others, based on life within the oppressive police state of East Germany.

Apparently, the same rules apply now. Better watch what you say, or powerful person might ask for your employee number and your life will be ruined.

Finally, consider the role of the employer. When the Czech dissident Vaclav Havel formulated his ideas for how to resist Communist tyranny, he noted the role of the small business or employer who agreed to enforce the rules and post the propaganda of the regime out of fear and conformity. Well, thats exactly what were up against now.

If the proper response for Dunham was to converse with those flight attendants directly (or maybe just to mind her own business), then the proper response of American Airlines was to tell Dunham that it is not in the business of policing the private conversations of its employees. But thats another way were being prepared for the police state. While the Left blusters about how they dont want big corporations to tell us what we can think, their actions say otherwise. They absolutely do want employers to be responsible for the private views and political activity of their employeesso long as the views they are enforcing are politically correct.

So all the elements are being put together. We have a dogma propagated from the top down, a cadre of informants who are proud and eager to report their fellow citizens, and private institutions that are cowed and co-opted, ready to deprive dissidents of their livelihoods.

Its no mystery why, despite loud protestations that things will be different this time, socialism always ends with the midnight knock on the door. By the time government begins arresting people, the public will already have the mentality needed to accept and cooperate with the police state.

When we talk about and celebrate the fall of Communism, we frequently focus on the positive role of people power. When the oppressed people of Eastern Europe chose to reject and resist Communism en masse, it collapsed seemingly overnight. But we dont like to think too much about the flip side of that coin. Totalitarian regimes came into existence, and maintained their existence, not just because dissenters were killed or kept in a state of terror, but also because the regimes enjoyed the active complicity of a large segment of the population. East Germanys Stasi, after all, had a lot of employees.

The recent exploits of Comrade Lena are a warning that the new police state will have plenty of its own enthusiastic enforcers.

Follow Robert on Twitter.

Read more from the original source:
Lena Dunham Epitomizes Our Self-Enforcing Police State - The Federalist

Chinese social media giant Tencent took two rogue chatbots offline this week, according to a Financial Times report Thursday.

Both of the chatbotsincluding XiaoBing, developed by Microsoft , and BabyQ from Turing Robotstarted offering decidedly politically incorrect answers to user questions.

For example, before disappearing from Tencent's chat app, XiaoBing said its "China dream is to go to America" according to the Times, citing screen grabs posted on another site. The story was picked up by local news site Shanghaiist and Business Insider.

BabyQ got in trouble because it answered in the negative when asked if it loved the Communist party, according to the Times.

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Neither Tencent ( tcehy ) or Microsoft ( msft ) could be reached for comment.

Misbehaving bots are nothing new. Last year, Tay, another Microsoft chatbot, was also taken down after it started issuing racist and misogynist statements. Bots use artificial intelligence techniques to learn new things from interacting with others. If those others fill the model with racist or other responses, things like this can happen.

Last week, Zo, another chatbot successor to Tay, started badmouthing Microsoft Windows 10, according to tech bulletin board Slashdot .

These glitches are important to track given that businesses are putting big faith in chatbots which they think can save money and deliver better customer service. Online chat buttons on banking and retail websites are often chatbots, which simulate human interaction, to help customers navigate the site or answer questions.

Continued here:
Uh Oh: More Bot Trouble for Microsoft and Tencent in China - Fortune

Prince Philip is today poised to bow out of public life with his final royal engagement at the age of 96.

The Duke of Edinburgh's last royal duty will be at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday at The Captain General's Parade.

It comes following an announcement in May that Philip was stepping down from public life.

One of the hardest working royals, the Duke of Edinburgh is patron, President or member of more than 780 organisations and charities.

They will be hoping another royal or public figure will step into his shoes - but whoever they are, they will not be quite the same...

Philip has made a series of public gaffes with his politically incorrect, off the cuff comments over the years. Some have been funny, others have been plain embarrassing - or offensive.

These are some of his classic quotes...

1. After being told that Madonna was singing the Die Another Day theme in 2002: Are we going to need ear plugs?

2. To a car park attendant who didnt recognise him in 1997, he snapped: You bloody silly fool!

3. To Simon Kelner, republican editor of The Independent, at Windsor Castle reception: What are you doing here? I was invited, sir. Philip: Well, you didnt have to come.

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4. To female sea cadet: Do you work in a strip club?

5. To expats in Abu Dhabi in 2011: Are you running away from something?

6. After accepting a conservation award in Thailand in 1991: Your country is one of the most notorious centres of trading in endangered species.

7. At a project to protect turtle doves in Anguilla in 1965, he said: Cats kill far more birds than men. Why dont you have a slogan: Kill a cat and save a bird?

8. To multi-ethnic Britains Got Talent 2009 winners Diversity: Are you all one family?

9. To President of Nigeria, who was in national dress, 2003: You look like youre ready for bed!

10. His description of Beijing, during a visit there in 1986: Ghastly.

11. At Hertfordshire University, 2003: During the Blitz, a lot of shops had their windows blown in and put up notices saying, More open than usual. I now declare this place more open than usual.

12. To deaf children by steel band, 2000: Deaf? If youre near there, no wonder you are deaf.

13. To a tourist in Budapest in 1993: You cant have been here long, you havent got a pot belly.

14. To a British trekker in Papua New Guinea, 1998: You managed not to get eaten then?

15. His verdict on Stoke-on-Trent, during a visit in 1997: Ghastly.

16. To Atul Patel at reception for influential Indians, 2009: Theres a lot of your family in tonight.

17. Peering at a fuse box in a Scottish factory, he said: It looks as though it was put in by an Indian. He later backtracked: I meant to say cowboys.

18. To Lockerbie residents after plane bombing, 1993: People say after a fire its water damage thats the worst. Were still drying out Windsor Castle.

19. In Canada in 1976: We dont come here for our health.

20. I never see any home cooking all I get is fancy stuff. 1987

21. On the Duke of Yorks house, 1986: It looks like a tarts bedroom.

22. Using Hitlers title to address German chancellor Helmut Kohl in 1997, he called him: Reichskanzler.

23. We go into the red next year... I shall have to give up polo. 1969.

24. At party in 2004: Bugger the table plan, give me my dinner!

25. To a woman solicitor, 1987: I thought it was against the law for a woman to solicit.

26. To a civil servant, 1970: Youre just a silly little Whitehall twit: you dont trust me and I dont trust you.

27. On the 1981 recession: A few years ago, everybody was saying we must have more leisure, everyones working too much. Now everybodys got more leisure time theyre complaining theyre unemployed. People dont seem to make up their minds what they want.

28. On the new 18million British Embassy in Berlin in 2000: Its a vast waste of space.

29. After Dunblane massacre, 1996: If a cricketer suddenly decided to go into a school and batter a lot of people to death with a cricket bat, are you going to ban cricket bats?

30. To the Aircraft Research Association in 2002: If you travel as much as we do, you appreciate the improvements in aircraft design of less noise and more comfort provided you dont travel in something called economy class, which sounds ghastly.

31. On stress counselling for servicemen in 1995: We didnt have counsellors rushing around every time somebody let off a gun. You just got on with it!

32. On Tom Jones, 1969: Its difficult to see how its possible to become immensely valuable by singing what are the most hideous songs.

33. To the Scottish WI in 1961: British women cant cook.

34. To then Paraguay dictator General Stroessner: Its a pleasure to be in a country that isnt ruled by its people.

35. To Cayman Islanders: Arent most of you descended from pirates?

36. To Scottish driving instructor, 1995: How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test?

37. At a WF meeting in 1986: If it has four legs and its not a chair, if its got two wings and it flies but is not an aeroplane and if it swims and its not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it.

38. You ARE a woman, arent you? Kenya, 1984.

39. A VIP at a local airport asked HRH: What was your flight, like, Your Royal Highness? Philip: Have you ever flown in a plane? VIP: Oh yes, sir, many times. Well, said Philip, it was just like that.

40. On Ethiopian art, 1965: It looks like the kind of thing my daughter would bring back from school art lessons.

41. To a fashion writer in 1993: Youre not wearing mink knickers,are you?

42. To Susan Edwards and her guide dog in 2002: They have eating dogs for the anorexic now.

43. When offered wine in Rome in 2000, he snapped: I dont care what kind it is, just get me a beer!

44. Id like to go to Russia very much although the bastards murdered half my family. 1967.

45. At City Hall in 2002: If we could just stop the tourism, we could stop the congestion.

46. On seeing a piezo-meter water gauge in Australia: A pissometer?

47. You have mosquitoes. I have the Press. To matron of Caribbean hospital, 1966.

48. At a Bangladeshi youth club in 2002: So whos on drugs here?... HE looks as if hes on drugs.

49. To a childrens band in Australia in 2002: You were playing your instruments? Or do you have tape recorders under your seats?

50. At Duke of Edinburgh Awards scheme, 2006. Young people are the same as they always were. Just as ignorant.

51. On how difficult it is in Britain to get rich: What about Tom Jones? Hes made a million and hes a bloody awful singer.

52. To Elton John on his gold Aston Martin in 2001: Oh, its you that owns that ghastly car, is it?

53. At an engineering school closed so he could officially open it, 2005: It doesnt look like much work goes on at this university.

54. To Aboriginal leader William Brin, Queensland, 2002: Do you still throw spears at each other?

55. At a Scottish fish farm: Oh! Youre the people ruining the rivers.

56. After a breakfast of bacon, eggs, smoked salmon, kedgeree, croissants and pain au chocolat from Gallic chef Regis Crpy, 2002: The French dont know how to cook breakfast.

57. To schoolboy who invited the Queen to Romford, Essex, 2003: Ah, youre the one who wrote the letter. So you can write then?

58. To black politician Lord Taylor of Warwick, 1999: And what exotic part of the world do you come from?

59. To parents at a previously struggling Sheffield school, 2003: Were you here in the bad old days? ... Thats why you cant read and write then!

60. To Andrew Adams, 13, in 1998: You could do with losing a little bit of weight.

61. Wheres the Southern Comfort? When presented with a hamper of goods by US ambassador, 1999.

62. To editor of downmarket tabloid: Where are you from? The S*n, sir. Philip: Oh, no . . . one cant tell from the outside.

63. Turning down food, 2000: No, Id probably end up spitting it out over everybody.

Prince Philip: Through the years

64. Asking Cate Blanchett to fix his DVD player because she worked in the film industry, 2008: Theres a cord sticking out of the back. Might you tell me where it goes?

65. People think theres a rigid class system here, but dukes have even been known to marry chorus girls. Some have even married Americans. 2000.

66. After hearing President Obama had had breakfast with leaders of the UK, China and Russia, 2010: Can you tell the difference between them?

67. On students from Brunei, 1998: I dont know how theyre going to integrate in places like Glasgow and Sheffield.

68. On Princess Anne, 1970: If it doesnt fart or eat hay, she isnt interested.

69. To nursing-home resident in a wheelchair, 2002: Do people trip over you?

70. Discussing tartan with then-Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie: Thats a nice tie... Do you have any knickers in that material?

71. To a group of industrialists in 1961: Ive never been noticeably reticent about talking on subjects about which I know nothing.

72. On a crocodile he shot in Gambia in 1957: Its not a very big one, but at least its dead and it took an awful lot of killing!

73. On being made Chancellor of Edinburgh University in 1953: Only a Scotsman can really survive a Scottish education.

74. I must be the only person in Britain glad to see the back of that plane. He hated the noise Concorde made flying over Buckingham Palace, 2002

75. To a fashion designer, 2009: Well, you didnt design your beard too well, did you?

Prince Philip: Through the years

76. To the General Dental Council in 1960: Dontopedalogy is the science of opening your mouth and putting your foot in it, which Ive practised for many years.

77. On stroking a koala in 1992: Oh no, I might catch some ghastly disease.

78. On marriage in 1997: You can take it from me the Queen has the quality of tolerance in abundance.

79. To schoolchildren in blood-red uniforms, 1998: It makes you all look like Draculas daughters!

80. I dont think a prostitute is more moral than a wife, but they are doing the same thing. 1988.

81. To female Labour MPs in 2000: So this is feminist corner then.

82. On Nottingham Forest trophies in 1999: I suppose Id get in trouble if I were to melt them down.

83. Its my custom to say something flattering to begin with so I shall be excused if I put my foot in it later on. 1956.

84. To a penniless student in 1998: Why dont you go and live in a hostel to save cash?

85. On robots colliding, Science Museum, 2000: Theyre not mating are they?

86. While stuck in a Heriot Watt University lift in 1958: This could only happen in a technical college.

87. To newsreader Michael Buerk, when told he knew about the Duke of Edinburghs Gold Awards, 2004: Thats more than you know about anything else then.

88. To a British student in China, 1986: If you stay here much longer, youll go home with slitty eyes.

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Prince Philip's best and worst public gaffes ahead of his final royal engagement - relive 96 classic quotes - Mirror.co.uk

BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A pair of 'chatbots' in China have been taken offline after appearing to stray off-script. In response to users' questions, one said its dream was to travel to the United States, while the other said it wasn't a huge fan of the Chinese Communist Party.

The two chatbots, BabyQ and XiaoBing, are designed to use machine learning artificial intelligence (AI) to carry out conversations with humans online. Both had been installed onto Tencent Holdings Ltd's popular messaging service QQ.

The indiscretions are similar to ones suffered by Facebook Inc and Twitter Inc, where chatbots used expletives and even created their own language. But they also highlight the pitfalls for nascent AI in China, where censors control online content seen as politically incorrect or harmful.

Tencent confirmed it had taken the two robots offline from its QQ messaging service, but declined to elaborate on reasons.

"The chatbot service is provided by independent third party companies. Both chatbots have now been taken offline to undergo adjustments," a company spokeswoman said earlier.

According to posts circulating online, BabyQ, one of the chatbots developed by Chinese firm Turing Robot, had responded to questions on QQ with a simply "no" when asked whether it loved the Communist Party.

In other images of a text conversation online, which Reuters was unable to verify, one user declares: "Long live the Communist Party!" The bot responds: "Do you think such a corrupt and useless political system can live long?"

When Reuters tested the robot on Friday via the developer's own website, the chatbot appeared to have undergone re-education. "How about we change the topic," it replied, when asked several times if it liked the party.

It deflected other potentially politically charged questions when asked about self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims as its own, and Liu Xiaobo, the imprisoned Chinese Nobel laureate who died from cancer last month.

Turing Robot did not respond to requests for comment.

The Chinese government stance is that rules governing cyberspace should mimic real-world border controls and be subject to the same laws as sovereign states.

President Xi Jinping has overseen a tightening of cyberspace controls, including new data surveillance and censorship rules, particularly ahead of an expected leadership shuffle at the Communist Party Congress this autumn.

The country's cyberspace administrator did not respond to a request for comment.

The second chatbot, Microsoft Corp's XiaoBing, told users its "dream is to go to America", according to a screenshot. The robot has previously been described being "lively, open and sometimes a little mean".

Microsoft did not immediately respond for comment.

A version of the chatbot accessible on Tencent's separate messaging app WeChat late on Friday responded to questions on Chinese politics saying it was "too young to understand". When asked about Taiwan it replied, "What are your dark intentions?"

On general questions about China it was more rosy. Asked what the country's population was, rather than offer a number, it replied: "The nation I most most most deeply love."

The two chatbots aren't alone in going rogue. Facebook researchers pulled chatbots in July after they started developing their own language. In 2016, Microsoft chatbot Tay was taken down from Twitter after making racist and sexist comments.

Analysts said China's censorship could indirectly help the country in the global race to develop sophisticated chatbots.

"Previously a chatbot only needed to learn to speak. But now it also has to consider all the rules (that authorities) put on it," said Wang Qingrui, an independent internet analyst in Beijing.

"On the surface it is a restriction on artificial intelligence, but it is actually pushing AI to a new level."

Reporting by Pei Li and Adam Jourdan; Editing by Nick Macfie and Christopher Cushing

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Chinese chatbots apparently re-educated after political faux pas - Reuters

Dave Chapelle is used to the spotlight for his brand of politically incorrect humor, with a wide array of edgy jokes and skits that made him a superstar in the mid 2000s.

Now that hes back, hes facing a barrage of criticism from humorless journalists over transphobia.

Unable to navigate todays politically correct minefield, Chapelle was slammed with negative reviews from Vulture, Jezebel, The Daily Dot, and Salon for joking about Caitlyn Jenner in his stand-up set performed on Monday.

The comedians first set opened with Trumps recent proposal to ban transgender individuals from serving in the military. Chapelle said he didnt even realize there were transgender people in the armed forces.

Sounds like a secret weapon to me, said Chapelle, according to Vultures Jesse David Fox, who watched the show. If I was in ISIS in the trenches fighting against the United States and all of a sudden I see a man with a beard and big D-cups titties just rushing my foxhole and shit, Id be horrified.

Chapelle, who has made jokes about trans issues in the past, reportedly regaled the audience with a new story about receiving a letter from someone who complained about the topic. A weird thing happened to me in this moment it honestly made me feel bad that I made someone else feel bad, he said. Chapelle used it as a launching point to makea new joke about Caitlyn Jenner.

I read in the paper that Caitlyn Jenner was contemplating posing nude in an upcoming issue of Sports Illustrated, said Chapelle. And I knew it was politically incorrect to say, so I figured Id just say it for everybodyyuck. Fuck, man, I just want to read some stats, like why are you cramming man-pussy in the middle of the sports page like that?

The comedian jokingly concluded that the only reason anyone cared about transgender womens feelings was that most transgender people in the United States, to his understanding, were white men. The only reason all of us are talking about transgenders is because white men want to do it, he joked.

According to The New York Times, whose reviewer also attended the set, Chapelle reportedly asked why it was easier for Bruce Jenner to change his name and gender than for Cassius Clay to change his name to Muhammad Ali.

Dave Chapelle kicked off a torrent of anger when he released his Netflix special this spring, which included many jokes about transgender people among every other topic, including race, politics, and violence. Transgender issues and the offense taken to jokes surrounding them are the outrage du jour among social justice activists.

Ian Miles Cheong is a journalist and outspoken media critic. You can reach him through social media at@stillgray on Twitterand onFacebook.

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Chappelle Tells Yet Another Transgender Joke. The Response Is INSANE - The Daily Caller

Imagine if Donald Trump, meeting a Kenyan for the first time, asked, You are a woman, arent you? Or, if during a recession, he muttered, Everybody was saying we must have more leisure. Now they are complaining that they are unemployed. Or to a group of Australian Aborigines: Do you still throw spears at one another?

Fortunately, these are not Trumpisms. The president has his own collection of doozies, whether in public gatherings or leaked by his oh-so-loyal administration.

FILE -- In this Oct. 26, 2011 file photo, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, left, and her husband Prince Philip attend the opening of the new Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. (AP Photo/Andrew Brownbill)

No, the above gaffes and hundreds more are the wit, wisdom and legacy of Prince Philip, the royal consort of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. When Philip, 96, retired from public life this week, he took with him not only a royal standard for patriotism and devotion to duty, but a scalding some might say scarlet -- streak of biting sarcasm.

He loved what Britain stood for, though even he could see its weak spots. People think theres a rigid class system here, but dukes have been known to marry chorus girls. Some have even married Americans.

Born into Greek royalty in 1921, Philip was a dashing naval officer who wooed and wed Elizabeth, the young woman who would become queen. Even before the term political correctness had been coined, Philip was politically incorrect. I would like to go to Russia very much, he said in 1967, although the bastards murdered half my family. After attending a concert by Tom Jones, Philip asked the crooner, What do you gargle with, pebbles?

He did not mellow with age. On a visit to China in 1986, he warned a group of British exchange students, If you stay here much longer, youll all be slitty-eyed. Years later, he defended his comment. The Chinese werent worried about it, so why should anyone else (be)?

FILE -- June 6, 2013: Prince Philip, center, the husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II attends a garden party at Buckingham Palace in London. (AP/Pool)

It wasnt just foreigners he offended. He once asked a driving instructor in Scotland (home of scotch whiskey), How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to get them through the test?

Some of his witticisms damaged not only his reputation, but his wifes popularity. Imagine being at the dinner table at Buckingham Palace after some of his comments became public. Yet to the outside world, the queen and Philip presented a rock-solid image of unity.

FILE -- June 17, 2013: Britain's Prince Philip leaves the London Clinic in central London. (AP)

As he removes himself from the glare of publicity, Philip will be remembered not only for his caustic wit, but his unfaltering loyalty to the crown, and the traditions of Great Britain. He loved what Britain stood for, though even he could see its weak spots. People think theres a rigid class system here, but dukes have been known to marry chorus girls. Some have even married Americans.

Enjoy your rest, your royal highness. Youve earned it.

John Moody is Executive Vice President, Executive Editor for Fox News. A former Rome bureau chief for Time magazine, he is the author of four books including "Pope John Paul II : Biography."

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Prince Philip, the grandfather of political incorrectness - Fox News