I need to start keeping a timeline or something (UPDATE, 19/12/2014: Slate did it for me! Thank you, Slate), because I figured at some point the cogs in the 24-hour outrage cycle would notice that some of us have cottoned on to their business model, and now Jessica Valenti has. Obviously the Grauniad, bastion of even-temperedness that it has ever ( Read more... )

If you are one of the people that Georgia Weidman refers to here:

Conference staff was originally very supportive. But then they went to hear his side of the story and they suddenly wouldn’t even look at me. I realize it’s a complicated situation, but what I hit myself in the eye? I asked an organizer point blank if he believed me, and he said he ( Read more... )

Skip this post if you're sick of hearing about Donglegate.

We'll start with a little history. You might have noticed, in the KYM synopsis, a reference to the PyCon Code of Conduct, a document largely derived from boilerplate language originally advanced, systematically, by the Ada Initiative in August 2012. The PyCon code asserts that "all ( Read more... )

Something that's been annoying me on Twitter lately is the cries of horror and outrage that 200,000 people have been evacuated from the area around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors and that iodine tablets have been distributed. This isn't something I can address effectively in 140-character splurts, so I'll talk about it here ( Read more... )

First, the OMGWTFBBQ. Via Pharyngula, the Hastings Center Bioethics Forum, and TIME Magazine: pediatric endocrinologists Maria New and Saroj Nimkarn are advocating prenatal treatment with the glucocorticoid dexamethasone to "reduce behavioral masculinization" of female children ( Read more... )

Dear advertisers who use 400px high Javascript banners that slide up from the bottom of the page I'm reading ( Read more... )

I recently learned that a disabled friend of mine, who has a connective tissue disorder and gets around with the help of various assistive devices and a service dog, has been getting hassled by neighbours who want everyone to park at one end of the street and walk home during the day when kids are playing (and have gotten a city street permit to ( Read more... )

By way of Pharyngula, apparently the creationists are starting to abuse information theory, not just physics, in their tortured attempts to justify their doctrine.

Of course, you understand, this means war.

ETA: /me reads the comments. Oh. Apparently creationists reject Claude Shannon's work on information theory. Infidels. They shall be first ( Read more... )

Dear everyone ( Read more... )

joedecker points out that Obama has asked SCOTUS not to hear a DADT case currently being considered for certiorariThis annoys me, but Joe, as usual, has accurately captured my annoyance, so go read his post if you want that. Here's my thing. This is only one of several times in the last few weeks that I've read an article about Obama asking SCOTUS not to ( Read more... )