NaNoWriMo is taking up a lot of my time, so I'm not doing as much online news readying as usual. 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
LOL: James Bond Rents a Car from Stephen Colbert.
This Week in Shaken, Not Stirred
Roger Moore explains How to make the perfect martini.
This Week in Diversity
The Cool Girl Trap: Or, Why Sexism in Tech Isn’t Going Away.
After Voting Rights Lawsuit Changes the System: Historic election: Two Latinos elected to Yakima City Council.
This week in Stupid People
This Is the Laser That Someone Allegedly Pointed at the Captain and Chief Mate of a State Ferry Last Week.
Grown men freaked out by ‘gay’ Twitter hearts - A change from the star icon to a love-heart predictably opened the homophobic floodgates.
This week in Difficult to Classify
TSA screeners can't detect weapons and they never could.
An Open Letter to Those Who Give Kids Banned Books.
This week in Evil People
U.S. Senate panel probing Valeant, Turing over drug costs.
Notre Dame academic coach fired amid claims she coerced athletes into having sex with her daughter. And not just to have sex, she coerced them into describing the details of the sex to her… and there’s a racial component, and another university employee allegedly helped her drug the athletes...
News for queers and our allies:
The next time someone you know is claiming that trans people are confused or similar, show them this comic.
When My Childhood Bully Hit Me Up On A Gay Dating App. (This is a recurring nightmare... and it has nearly happened...)
Homosexuality in Mainstream Comedy and the Confused, Fascinating Sexual Politics of ‘Partners’.
Gay Men Should Be Ashamed of Slut-Shaming.
Two More Gay Men Attacked At Gunpoint In Dallas, Marking 11 Violent Assaults In Two Months.
Science!
The first giant raptor (Theropoda: Dromaeosauridae) from the Hell Creek Formation. Large raptor fossil with robust, obvious, unmistakable quill knobs!
Salem Witch in Ray Bradbury’s Family Tree.
How a group of neighbors created their own Internet service: Powered by radios in trees, homegrown network serves 50 houses on Orcas Island.
In the 1970s, Scientists Discovered a 2 Billion-Year-Old Nuclear Reactor in West Africa. "...a naturally occurring deposit of uranium where the concentration of uranium-235 had been high enough to trigger a self-sustaining nuclear reaction."
Man died with 'tapeworm tumours'.
Britain's oldest tree appears to be undergoing a sex change after 3,000 years.
Edinburgh astronomers make sunless planet discoveries.
New photo shows the expansive dunes of Saturn's strange, hazy moon Titan.
The space artist who saw Pluto before Nasa.
Did Neanderthals and sabre-toothed wage battles? Fossil remains reveal the predators lived side-by-side with our ancestors.
Strong placebo response thwarts painkiller trials.
Scientists map source of Northwest’s next big quake.
Slimy mystery: Thousands of worms cover Auburn sidewalk after rainstorm.
Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!
Wired does an extended look at the Hugo issue. As everyone else that I've seen sharing this link says, Stay out of the comments! Sci-Fi’s Hugo Awards and the Battle for Pop Culture’s Soul.
Today’s passive aggressive fan mail: reader will not read more of my books because I don’t speak English English as my first language. The author speaks English as his native language, but... Oh! Just got read it, it's very short and funny!
No, the Kids Aren’t Reading the Classics and Why Would They.
Get Bent – Why Bother? (thanks to Foxraven for the link!)
Author re-reads all of Heinlein in a few months and comments on which things still hold up, which don't, and why.
The Feminist Horror Author You Need to Read Immediately.
Terry Gilliam Is Not, in Fact, Dead.
Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements edited by adrienne maree brown and Walidah Imarisha.
This week in Geek
Slightly fewer Americans are reading print books, new survey finds.
Here’s a Global Heatmap of People with Your Last Name.
People were linking to some cool author maps this week. They're generated via crowdsource. You can improve the author maps and get some recommendations by going here: the global network of discovery.
The 25 Distinct Reasons People “Favorite” Things on Twitter. They can't count... and their definition of distinct leaves something to be desired...
Culture war news:
Voters Repeal Anti-Discrimination Law in Houston After Hate Campaign Targeting Trans Women Using Public Toilets. "So the haters in Houston argued—successfully—that straight men are terrible. Right? They argued that trans women are actually straight dudes who are attracted to women. So the haters won yesterday by convincing a majority of voters in Houston that straight people suck."
Another example of how Republicans and the Islamic State have much in common: Isis shuts down women's clinics in Raqqa to prevent male gynaecologists treating female patients.
Sentenced for drug treatment, young man gets "gay cure" instead, then driven to suicide; Family can't sue because of Religious Arbitration Clause.
“You girls can’t do that here”: Lesbian couple says cop arrested them for kissing in public.
Mississippi Flag Supporter Allegedly Bombs Wal-Mart After Chain Stops Selling Flag. And once again, because he's a white american, they aren't treating it as terrorism, even thought that is exactly what it is!
How should conservative Christians handle a rapidly changing culture?
School Threatens 7-Year-Old With Expulsion for Talking About Her Gay Dad.
Rich Still Handily Winning the Class War.
Why Is The LGBT Movement Struggling To Uphold A Simple Law In Houston?. This was posted just before election day, but Dominic does a great job of outlining why equality lost in Houston.
LDS church to exclude children of same-sex couples from membership.
This Week in the Clown Car
“Douchebag says what?”: Stephen Colbert unloads on CNBC, GOP crybabies.
Dear Ben Carson: Actually, You Are a 'Homophobe' If You're Opposed to Marriage Equality Now. "...if you're opposed to something that is now a right of every American and has been proven in court -- in the federal trial over California's Proposition 8 -- to harm no one, including children, then you do have an irrational fear of homosexuality. And certainly if you're a medical doctor yourself and you're opposed to something that the American Medical Association, American Psychological Association and American Psychiatric Association deem normal, natural and healthy and not harmful at all to anyone, then you have an irrational fear of homosexuality. And that is the essence of homophobia - a fear of homosexuality."
Mike Huckabee Goes "Hunting".
Ben Carson: Egyptian pyramids were grain stores, not pharaohs' tombs.
Fox Boots Huckebee & Christie From Next Main Debate, Graham & Pataki Don’t Even Make The Kids Table.
What repulsive swastika retweet tells us about Trump.
Youngest DREAMers Need Not Apply: The Other Troubling Part of Marco Rubio’s DACA Comments.
Rand Paul’s New Book Sells Fewer Than 500 Copies In Two Weeks.
Put gay people to death? Ted Cruz, Bobby Jindal and Mike Huckabee to speak at Iowa “religious liberty” conference led by noxious right-wing radio host.
This week in Other Politics:
The Sad Truth of Our Politics: It's Basically Turned into a Competition Among Oligarchs to Own Everything.
Larry Lessig’s Campaign Was in Better Shape Than the GOP Undercard Field.
How Democrats Suppress The Vote - Off-year elections have much lower turnout, and Democrats prefer it that way.
Voters Reject LGBT Rights, Health Care for the Poor, and Legalized Marijuana. Well, the Ohio voters rejected a convoluted legalized marijuana monopoly, not legalized marijuana...
Michigan Tea Partiers Fail To Win Back Seats After Fake Gay Sex Scandal.
Bernie Sanders Wants to Ban All New Fossil Fuel Development on Federal Lands.
Fircrest voters decide to lift 90-year-old ban on alcohol sales.
The Push for Legal Marijuana Spreads.
This Week in Police Problems
Hundreds of officers lose licenses over sex misconduct. "sexual misconduct is among the most prevalent type of complaint against law officers"
Massachusetts: Millis police officer Bryan Johnson charged with filing false shooting report that sparked manhunt.
Arkansas: England cop charged in false shooting report.
Illinois: MSNBC's Chris Hayes Highlights Conservative Media's Irresponsible Coverage Of Fox Lake Police Officer's Death.
Illinois Cop Who Killed Himself Tried to Hire Hit Man to Kill Village Administrator.
Farewells:
Melissa Mathison, ‘E.T.’ Screenwriter and Ex-Wife of Harrison Ford, Dies at 65.
Follow up on a past farewell: Robin Williams’s Wife, Susan, Says ‘It Was Not Depression That Killed Robin’ - autopsy revealed that Robin Williams was suffering from Diffuse Lewy Body Dementia, a neurodegenerative disease.
Star Trek visual effects pioneer Howard A. Anderson. Jr. passes away.
Batmobile Creator George Barris Dies at 89. Also the designer of the Munster Koach and a lot of TV an movie cars.
Things I wrote:
It’s that time of year again: NaNoWriMo starts tonight!.
You don’t have to add diversity—just stop erasing it! (part 2).
Ancient Tomes and Living Fossils – how I love sf/f isn’t the only way.
Videos!
Viva La Vida - Postmodern Jukebox Coldplay Cover ft. Puddles Pity Party:
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Weird Things Gay Couples Do:
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Men in Jetpacks Fly Beside Massive Airbus A380 in Spectacular Video:
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Houston's Equal Rights Ordinance: A Closer Look - Late Night with Seth Meyers:
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Nathan Sykes - Over And Over Again (you might want to grab a tissue):
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