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Hello, everyone. The economic crash hurt us all, we're told, but women and girls have been hurt more, because they started in a worse position. Even with the gains of the last few years. Makes yo uwish that you could just say to a girl, "Whosoever holds this hammer, if [they] be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor", and let it be so. Might help a lot when a Catholic hospital is suddenly certain fetuses aren't people when the fetuses are involved in a lawsuit against the hospital for malpractice and when Catholic hospitals reportedly refuse a victim of sexual assault so that they don't have to tell them anything about pregnancy options. (Oh, and the porposed New Mexico bill that would require a rape victim carry their pregnancy to term, lest they be charged with "tampering with evidence" and supposedly pro-life leaflets that are incredibly bizarre and most likely Blatant Lies.)
A challenge for you - can you describe a difficult concept using the most common ten hundred words in the language? Or perhaps you would prefer to develop new identities for yourself, that will lead to new habits as you become those identities?
Also, there's a love meme going - nominate yourself or others!
Out in the world today, having failed in competing in the cable market, a cable channel is asking the Canadian government to require it be carried on basic cable.
The United Kingdom is asking for DNA samples from men who were convicted for being gay when it was illegal to be gay (law since repealed) because the government wants to make sure that all their potential threats to society or violent people have their DNA catalogued. You can guess what kind of massive FAIL this is.
Domestically, having built an organization that is highly motivated to elect a President, the Obama campaign is reforming as an issues PAC and hoping to use all of that power to persuade the Congress to do liberal things.
Speaking of the President, there was an inauguration, and this time, the President apparently wanted to take a moment and appreciate the phenomenon of the ceremony of the swearing-in of a President. There was also an inaguration speech that talked about the ongoing struggle to live up to the demands of the Constitution, including mentioning the Stonewall Riots for the first time.
The FBI, when compelled to release information about how they were tracking citizens without warrants, released [REDACTED]. No, that's not a joke. That is exactly what they released. Elsewhere, shall we compare the relative punishments of a person who was doing scholarly work versus those who wrecked the economy?
The Republican Party decided to delay their debt ceiling fight for four months.
In less federal matters, a jailer readily admitted that he offered female inmates privileges and prohibited items if they would strip or expose their breasts for him. Because, y'know, men in charge of women in a prison environment isn't a perfect place for abuse.
In several states where Republicans control the state legislatures and governors, plans are underway to rig elections for Republicans using gerrymandered districts to award electoral college votes. Virginia opened fire while a tie-deciding vote was in Washington to watch the inauguration, and Michigan suddenly seems very interested in it after playing by the rules meant their man lost.
Many millions tuned in to hear Lance Armstrong, cyclist extraordinaire, talk about performance-enhancing drug usage and his own alleged doping.
In technology and sciences, an explanation of why effective merging is so damn difficult, or, why everyone will try to run the shortest route possible, thereby making it the longest route possible.
an insight into how the leprosy bacteria is able to spread itself in the body - hijacking cells and reverting them to an earlier stage of development.
Jumping gene material...that hops across entire genomes!
And then...using a genome sequencer to track an outbreak of a drug-resistant superbug, and then to prevent the outbreak from spreading.
Elsewhere, Nokia was decrypting secure traffic on their proxies to compress it for data plans...but didn't tell anyone that's what they were doing. Suffice it to say, when discovered, there was quite a bit of outcry.
For some good things, looking to fireflies to improve LEDs. And what might very well be the weirdest keynote at CES to date. That said, the gadgetry on display was quite impressive...if out of the price range for the average consumer.
Last out, boosting productivity through images of adorable baby animals.
Welcome to opinions, where Ayn Rand is disproved through visiting the actual developing world.
The Dissent of a Woman lets us know why "creepy" is a necessary designation for men, whether being actively predatory or cluelessly creepy.
The Internet contains lots of people to meet - and being able to meet them safely is something we should be teaching our children.
A priest made a 911 call after he had become stuck in kinky gear - and then was sex-shamed all over the Internet for having done so. This is not cool. For as much as there's a time and place for making fun of hypocrisy, when it comes to doing so because someone did a responsible thing, that's not okay.
Additionally, a deliberately transphobic article received a smart response...with one transphobic comment that could have been easily apologized and fixed for... which didn't happen. And that was harmful to feminism. And demonstrated there's still a gap between the LGB and the T. (Those of us on QUILTBAG have quite a few more gaps to close.)
Out of this section, all the things that video games reflect on our society...and a few things that could be done to curb how much kids are exposed to that part of society.
Last for tonight, a Batmobile from the 1960s Adam West series sold at auction for $4.2 million USD, how people of warm climes deal with cold snaps, and the decisions one must make when it comes to seeing movies.
A challenge for you - can you describe a difficult concept using the most common ten hundred words in the language? Or perhaps you would prefer to develop new identities for yourself, that will lead to new habits as you become those identities?
Also, there's a love meme going - nominate yourself or others!
Out in the world today, having failed in competing in the cable market, a cable channel is asking the Canadian government to require it be carried on basic cable.
The United Kingdom is asking for DNA samples from men who were convicted for being gay when it was illegal to be gay (law since repealed) because the government wants to make sure that all their potential threats to society or violent people have their DNA catalogued. You can guess what kind of massive FAIL this is.
Domestically, having built an organization that is highly motivated to elect a President, the Obama campaign is reforming as an issues PAC and hoping to use all of that power to persuade the Congress to do liberal things.
Speaking of the President, there was an inauguration, and this time, the President apparently wanted to take a moment and appreciate the phenomenon of the ceremony of the swearing-in of a President. There was also an inaguration speech that talked about the ongoing struggle to live up to the demands of the Constitution, including mentioning the Stonewall Riots for the first time.
The FBI, when compelled to release information about how they were tracking citizens without warrants, released [REDACTED]. No, that's not a joke. That is exactly what they released. Elsewhere, shall we compare the relative punishments of a person who was doing scholarly work versus those who wrecked the economy?
The Republican Party decided to delay their debt ceiling fight for four months.
In less federal matters, a jailer readily admitted that he offered female inmates privileges and prohibited items if they would strip or expose their breasts for him. Because, y'know, men in charge of women in a prison environment isn't a perfect place for abuse.
In several states where Republicans control the state legislatures and governors, plans are underway to rig elections for Republicans using gerrymandered districts to award electoral college votes. Virginia opened fire while a tie-deciding vote was in Washington to watch the inauguration, and Michigan suddenly seems very interested in it after playing by the rules meant their man lost.
Many millions tuned in to hear Lance Armstrong, cyclist extraordinaire, talk about performance-enhancing drug usage and his own alleged doping.
In technology and sciences, an explanation of why effective merging is so damn difficult, or, why everyone will try to run the shortest route possible, thereby making it the longest route possible.
an insight into how the leprosy bacteria is able to spread itself in the body - hijacking cells and reverting them to an earlier stage of development.
Jumping gene material...that hops across entire genomes!
And then...using a genome sequencer to track an outbreak of a drug-resistant superbug, and then to prevent the outbreak from spreading.
Elsewhere, Nokia was decrypting secure traffic on their proxies to compress it for data plans...but didn't tell anyone that's what they were doing. Suffice it to say, when discovered, there was quite a bit of outcry.
For some good things, looking to fireflies to improve LEDs. And what might very well be the weirdest keynote at CES to date. That said, the gadgetry on display was quite impressive...if out of the price range for the average consumer.
Last out, boosting productivity through images of adorable baby animals.
Welcome to opinions, where Ayn Rand is disproved through visiting the actual developing world.
The Dissent of a Woman lets us know why "creepy" is a necessary designation for men, whether being actively predatory or cluelessly creepy.
The Internet contains lots of people to meet - and being able to meet them safely is something we should be teaching our children.
A priest made a 911 call after he had become stuck in kinky gear - and then was sex-shamed all over the Internet for having done so. This is not cool. For as much as there's a time and place for making fun of hypocrisy, when it comes to doing so because someone did a responsible thing, that's not okay.
Additionally, a deliberately transphobic article received a smart response...with one transphobic comment that could have been easily apologized and fixed for... which didn't happen. And that was harmful to feminism. And demonstrated there's still a gap between the LGB and the T. (Those of us on QUILTBAG have quite a few more gaps to close.)
Out of this section, all the things that video games reflect on our society...and a few things that could be done to curb how much kids are exposed to that part of society.
Last for tonight, a Batmobile from the 1960s Adam West series sold at auction for $4.2 million USD, how people of warm climes deal with cold snaps, and the decisions one must make when it comes to seeing movies.
