It's not everyday that the American Cancer Society upsets me. Like almost all people, I am anti-cancer. It's not easy to find someone who likes cancer. It's kind of a given that I dislike cancer a whole lot. But from this article, it looks like the American Cancer Society values not being too publicly seen as taking money from atheists more than it ( Read more... )

I was thinking about these protests, and I was thinking about how it doesn't quite surprise me, because it seems so in-character for the younger generation. There are various reasons, certainly as this article alludes to, you're going to get a reaction if you screw over a whole lot of well-educated people. But this also seems like exactly the sort ( Read more... )

I suppose I should write about it, since it's a pretty significant thing going on in my country. I do have thoughts about it. First, I am pleased. I have mentioned in person that to me this movement feels like the metaphorical frog trying to jump out of the metaphorical pot. I haven't tested it, but people say that the idea that if you put a frog ( Read more... )

Every so often a post happens in a group I belong to that is for people who belong to one minority where the poster's remarks are really inappropriate toward a different minority. This is always a bit depressing, because it'd be nice if people would learn from being part of a minority that it's not okay to be bigoted against others or why these ( Read more... )

Random commenters on the internet are transphobic. This revelation should shock and surprise nobody. Some other random commenters on the internet were not. But anyhow, being annoyed by the bigotry, I did the futile thing of responding. In the process, I wanted to re-dig up a link I'd read before. It took some doing, so I thought I'd share it, and ( Read more... )

Here are a few things I've read recently and found to be interesting.

Have some anti-cynicism Violence Vanquished, an article about how there has been a historical trend toward less violence. This is well worth reading.

This I simply found interesting. ;A Look at PolitiFact's Grades for Candidates is an article by Nate Silver about the truth ( Read more... )

So, I have been playing a virtual zoo game. It's kind of neat in that it contributes a bit of money to help real animals, and as your virtual zoo is growing you end up finding out about all sorts of animals you probably haven't heard about before, since there are a lot of species in the game. Among the features, you can breed your endangered ( Read more... )

I've been mostly having migraines, and while I did that Don't Ask Don't Tell ended and there is this discovery about neutrinos. Clearly, I need to have more migraines ( Read more... )

Alas, no math, just shopping. So, I realized Halloween is coming up again. I'm trying to avoid chocolates, because a lot of cocoa is acquired through horrible cruelty, including child enslavement. Since the point of Halloween is that I give goodies to kids who drop by to make them happier, I find the idea of supporting the enslavement and torture ( Read more... )

I know conuly discusses this sometimes, but I happened to stumble upon this article about someone who is shocked and dismayed that schools do not necessarily still teach cursive. And it is full of how people who can't write in cursive are at a serious disadvantage. Which I find ... laughable. Really ridiculous ( Read more... )