Another half-formed link list - 5-12 July 02012

Greets. It appears that we are in the All-But-Dissertation phase of proving the existence of the Higgs boson - now that we're confident it exists, it's Experimentation Time! rho, who makes the maths and sciences accessible, offers a quick primer on why it's important - the Higgs boson may make it possible to bridge general relativity and quantum mechanics.

Also, despite, say, the wall-to-wall media coverage of the SCOTUS decision on the Affordable Care Act, nearly half of people surveyed did not know the correct ruling on it. Ever wonder why politicians can lie through their teeth and get away with it? Here's your sign. And in case you want to vote to change those sorts of things, most of your states' Republicans are trying or have already succeeded in making it harder for you to vote, thanks to new laws requiring identification or different idetnification than before.

This is more than just a "human-interest" story - it's a look at how it's almost a certainty that if you pursue your passions, you will have to deal with the fact that there's almost no money in passion. Meet the best-qualified woman weightlifter in the country, who will be lifting for the United States in the Olympics...and who also relies almost entirely on donations from others to be able to make ends meet.

Then, there's the necessity of remembering that identifying yourself as an Other is still a mightily courageous act, deserving of empathy and compassion, and that even if you are personally okay with that type of Other existing, there are a lot of people who aren't. Making a safe, supportive space helps to make it possible for others to be who they are. (And, y'know, being not-Other is almost always a default, and often a public act, just that it's seen as "normal". It's usually worthwhile to take a look at how many things you do that are "normal" to you that are actually one facet of a spectrum.) Additionally, if someone in your not-Other group is being phobic about an other...it's part of your responsibility to educate them about the truth.

If things go badly-yet-awesome, you end up in ephemere's situation - tossed from the house and family support because of homophobia (badly), but also help_for_ephemere - a community full of people auctioning (or donating directly) material to help pay for expenses due to the abrupt lack of support from family. We're thankful that this has an awesome ending, because many of them don't.

If the process of coming out doesn't phase you, or you've got the awesome support network, a thread for coming out, for all the things that you want to claim and come out for.

Last for tonight, the Dead Pool Actor's Studio hires Ernest Borgnine as a professor emeritus at 95 years of age.

Out in the world today, radicals destroy tombs, shrines, history, and culture in Timbuktu, beleiving it the divine word of their deity to do so.

Thanks to Slacktiverse, a handy index of several important political documents, and not just in the United States, but Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United Nations.

The possibility that editorial cartooning may be dying out, thanks to the consolidation of media companies and the general unwillingness of media properties to poke fun at the entities that fund them.

Inside the United States, a choice action - Governor Rick Snyder vetoes bills that make it harder to vote in Michigan (good), but justifies it by saying that voting rights are precious and need to be protected. That's Governor "Emergency Financial Dictator" Rick Snyder. We wonder if he'll be able to connect the dots.

Something that needs a lot less dot-connecting - Oakland police raided an Occupy encampment set up on an elementary school grounds, and indicated the would be willing to use chemical agents (like pepper spray) on the children at the site. The police were also issuing citations to observers using their cameras to take legal pictures and did their best to stop observers from being on the site while they worked.

Because, of course, public education and public schools does not actually mean the public can use those schools for education. Instead, if certain people get their way, it's a place where abstinence is taught as the only way to approach sexuality and where teachers should be given the authority to enact corporal punishment...oh, and these people oppose the idea of teaching critical thinking skills.

Remember that both the Democratic and Republican candidates for this year's Presidential election are millionaires. Some with more millions than others, but both very rich men. That said, if you delve into Mitt Romney's financial accounts, you see a lot of offshore trickery, tax loopholes, and other things that you worry about getting slime on you if you touch them.

A federal judge with jurisdiction over Mississippi blocked the implementation of a TRAP law that would have shut down the last abortion clinic in the state, citing the large amount of on-the-record statements by proponents and legislators saying that the law was designed specifically to stop abortion in Mississippi. The law would have forced any abortion clinic operating in the state to have a doctor on staff with admitting privileges at a hospital less than thirty miles away from the clinic, a remarkably hard thing to achieve. The restraining order against the law is effective until the July 11 hearing deciding on whether or not the law will be allowed to go into effect.

Concisely put, the double standard regarding male birth control and female birth control. Taken from A Tumblr posting of mostly the same wording and idea.

An app distributed by the New Jersey ACLU will allow for secure, surreptitious recording of police actions, and supposedly stores the video even if the police seize the SIM card and remove it from the phone.

Finally, Willard "Mitt" Romney addressed the NAACP, and was roundly booed for his lack of a plan on health care combined with a dogged determination to repeal the Affordable Care Act, even as the House of Representatives planed to vote on yet anoter symbolic repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Mitt Romney also claimed he would be a better president for the plight of African-Americans than the current President.

In technology, a federal judge has expressed skepticism about whether the current patent system hould be used to cover things like software and methods.

The United Nations Human Rights Council said that Internet access and the accompanying freedoms of expression are basic human rights.

When it comes to adult entertainment groups suing IP addresses, it seems to be much more transparently about getting the accused to pay settlement money or risk their name being dragged through the mud as a porn downloader.

In opinions, Mr. Scheer laments that even in the presence of evidence that banks have been involved in widespread financial manipulation, they're not likely to be seriously punished.

Ms. Moon, for whatever faults she may have elsewhere, nails it on the head when it comes to just how wrong it is for someone who hasn't served in the military to be complaining that their opponent talks about their military service on the campaign trail.

xenologer rightly takes it to the wizards of the Harry Potter world for not using their magic to improve the lot of everyone, wizards and Muggles alike.

I fel like I keep falling behind, and I want to get these out more often, but ARGH, my life. So here, have yet another half-formed item. Hopefully it's useful.