Getting Cured of the Jews, Plus AIDS’ Role in the Spanish Civil War
By Dan Friedman September 3, 2009
Technology is the answer to everything, right? But can you cure yourself of Jews with alcohol and salt?
Netbase’s healthbase is a search engine that looks through all the words on the web and finds symptoms, diagnoses and treatments for all the illnesses, syndromes, and sicknesses you might ever hear of. At least that’s what it says on the label. In the event — and someone in their human department must be getting a sharp talking to — there were a few glitches.
As Leena Rao asks on Tech Crunch, “is it a semantic engine or an anti-semitic search engine?” Because “when you type in a search for “AIDS,” one of the listed causes of the disease is ‘Jew.’” Ooops.
But it seems to be a more general snafu with the sort of equal opportunity foolishness at which inadequately attended computers excel — Leena Rao again: “If you look at the pros of AIDS (yes, it thinks here are pros to having AIDS), it comically lists the ‘Spanish Civil War.’”
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
— Alyssa Katz, editor-in-chief
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