No, it wasn't. That was only a joke by Shapely [1]:
> Pickering’s successor as director, Harlow Shapley, jokingly quantified the work in terms of the number of ‘kilo-girl hours’ it would take
Pickering himself was teased for having a "harem".
What is true is that there were a lot of human computers, and most of them were girls. I think Feynman, as you would expect from him, played a role in organizing some computer girls for the Manhattan project [2]:
> So we set up this room with girls in it. Each one had a Marchant. But she was the multiplier, and she was the adder, and this one cubed, and we had index cards, and all she did was cube this number and send it to the next one.
> We went through our cycle this way until we got all the bugs out. Well, it turned out that the speed at which we were able to do it was a hell of a lot faster than the other way, where every single person did all the steps. We got speed with this system that was the predicted speed for the IBM machine. The only difference is that the IBM machines didn't get tired and could work three shifts. But the girls got tired after a while.
> massive personal choice, with tremendous cost and a huge emotional and mental ordeal to undertake
It is indeed a personal choice, and that's part of the argument against it being taxpayer-funded.
For example, do you think cosmetic surgeries should be taxpayer-funded? They are also often very important for the person who wants to go through them, are costly, and sometimes have long recovery periods.
> The oddest part is that one would expect the right should support the
You are, of course, making a grotesque caricature of your political opponents. Here, the issue is simply that they don't want to pay for a surgery they see as immoral, barbaric, and unnecessary.
The surgery is one thing, but biocompatible estradiol is inexpensive. The surgery, an uncommon thing, is routinely held up for public mockery as part of the right's obsession with transgender people.
And the right make those caricatures entirely on their own. They are indeed immoral and barbaric. Have you been amongst conservatives discussing prison sentences for pedophiles lately? They bay for blood, call for extreme, vicious violence and death against such criminals. If such talk is to be believed, then they do not believe in the justice system, but in vigilante justice. I feel no commonality with such unprincipled people, even if our views on other issues are not so different.
The world's population of over 8 billion people cannot adopt the same diet as Americans do. If everyone did, we would require more than 5 Earths to sustain such consumption, which unfortunately, we do not possess.
Vegans don't require plant-based meats. We're happy eating fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. These products are being developed for carnivores to facilitate an easier transition for them.
It's not an abomination; it's plant-based protein. Currently, we already consume 63% of our protein from plant sources, and 82% of our calories come from plants.
You can easily prepare plant-based meat at home by mixing plant-based protein (essentially flour), water, salt, spices, and a spoonful of oil. Cook the mixture using steam or in vegetable stock. It's that simple.
The TRUE abomination is the lack of respect that we have for this planet, including the lack of respect for food by calling certain foods abominations.
> Pickering’s successor as director, Harlow Shapley, jokingly quantified the work in terms of the number of ‘kilo-girl hours’ it would take
Pickering himself was teased for having a "harem".
What is true is that there were a lot of human computers, and most of them were girls. I think Feynman, as you would expect from him, played a role in organizing some computer girls for the Manhattan project [2]:
> So we set up this room with girls in it. Each one had a Marchant. But she was the multiplier, and she was the adder, and this one cubed, and we had index cards, and all she did was cube this number and send it to the next one.
> We went through our cycle this way until we got all the bugs out. Well, it turned out that the speed at which we were able to do it was a hell of a lot faster than the other way, where every single person did all the steps. We got speed with this system that was the predicted speed for the IBM machine. The only difference is that the IBM machines didn't get tired and could work three shifts. But the girls got tired after a while.
[1]: https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/an-astronomical-feat/
[2]: https://www.f.waseda.jp/sidoli/Feynman_2003.pdf#page=15