Friday Links (baby elephant edition)

It's Friday! The fifth Friday in May. Despite a number of misadventures including some really odd car issues, we have made it to our hotel room at Everfree NW and are having a lot of pony-related fun. Depending on how healed my ankle is from this week's misadventure. I may do nothing more than hobble from our room to the bar.

Anyway, here is a collection of some of the things that I ran across over the course of the week which struck me as worthy of being shared. Sorted into categories with headings so you can skip more easily:

Link of the Week

It's time we have a holiday to honor those who try to stop wars, too.

Science!

Vesta has no moons – is it unlucky or did it eat them?

Double blow to skull is earliest evidence of murder, a 430,000-year-old whodunit.

Sudden onset of ice loss in Antarctica so large it affects Earth's gravity field.

Explaining a Cornerstone of Game Theory: John Nash’s Equilibrium.

Political/culture war news:

https://twitter.com/azgaard71/status/603341562706198529

The Perfect Explanation of Privilege – In One Powerful Punchline.

Segregationists never went away: We just call them “small-government conservatives” now.

MARRIED TENNESSEE PASTOR EMBEZZLED THOUSANDS FROM CHURCH, SPENT IT ON MANHUNT MEMBERSHIP.

Thanks To Pedophile Cop Pal, Sister-Touching Josh Duggar Will Never Be Prosecuted. Thanks Cop Pal!

Vatican Calls Ireland Same-Sex Marriage Vote a ‘Defeat for Humanity’. But decades of protecting, covering for, and enabling pedophile priests was a victory?

Rubio: If We Don’t Stop Gay Rights, Soon The Teachings Of The Catholic Church Will Be ‘Hate Speech’.

TED CRUZ PROMISES TO 'ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS' DEFEND CHRISTIANS' RIGHT TO DISCRIMINATE AGAINST GAYS: VIDEO.

Josh Duggar Friend Mike Huckabee to Run on Bold Pro-Child Molester Platform.

The Catholic Church’s American downfall: Why its demographic crisis is great news for the country.

7 Things People Who Say They're 'Fiscally Conservative But Socially Liberal' Don't Understand: Social and economic issues are deeply intertwined.

Josh Duggar didn’t make a “mistake” — he’s going to get away with sexual assault.

Twitter is under no obligation to host Chuck Johnson’s witch hunts.

What Clintons Do Is ‘Scandalous,’ What Republicans Do Is… Ignored.

Lawmakers overestimate how conservative their districts are—by a lot.

The Myth of the Hero Cop: Police officers earn more than you think for a job that’s less dangerous than you imagine.

News for queers and our allies:

WATCH: Ellen Meets Trans Hunk Aydian Dowling.

How Ireland's gay marriage vote exposes the catch-22 of modern Christianity.

VIRTUALLY EVERY DEMOGRAPHIC GROUP NOW SUPPORTS GAY MARRIAGE.

Why Thousands Of Catholics Voted For Marriage Equality In Ireland.

Hawaii Supreme Court dismisses challenge to marriage equality law.

Let’s Take Queer YA Out of the Closet.

Why Can't We Talk About Homophobia in the Black Community?

Lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans differ from general public in their religious affiliations.

WATCH: Alabama Jails, Fines Minister After Performing Lesbian Wedding. Who is defending religious liberty, again?

Equality and Representation of LGBTQ People in Fantasy.

“I am the mother of a gay son and I’ve taken enough from you good people."

Video game shop responds perfectly to vandals who scrawled ‘gay’ on their window.

The obligatory Sad Puppies/Hugo Awards update:

Science Fiction's White Male Problem. What I like most about this one is the Samuel R. Delaney anecdote. "A genre that includes the socialist H.G. Wells, the libertarian Heinlein, the Catholic conservative Gene Wolfe, the anarchist Le Guin, the feminist Margaret Atwood and the Marxist China Mieville can hardly be thought of as essentially nonpolitical entertainment."

The Way the Future Never Was.

And the follow-up: The Way the Future Never Was: A Visual Appendix.

if you haven’t seen this yet (we have always been at war with eurasia).

And other news:

Anne Meara, one half of 'Stiller & Meara' and mother of Ben Stiller, dies.

Tanith Lee, 1947-2015.

Happy News!

Five hundred new fairytales discovered in Germany.

Things I wrote:

Tom Puppy and the Visitor from Planet Clueless.

A Boy and His Telepathic Cat: more of why I love sf/f.

Videos!

Bohemian Rhapsody Played by 100+ year old fairground organ:



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Making History - GAZE celebrates marriage equality vote in Ireland:



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Betty Explains Religious Freedom:



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Pretty Boys - A Public Service Announcement:



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Baby elephant makes public debut in Syracuse:

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Matt Gold - "Low" Official Music Video:



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