Fontfolly: 2016

Friday, December 30, 2016

Friday Links (good riddance to a bad year edition)

It's Friday! The last Friday in a truly awful year.

I had the whole week off, and though I have not been as miserable as some of my friends who came down with a cold for the holidays, I've been run down, achey, stuffed up, and completely unproductive all week long. Which seems extremely appropriate given how this year has gone. And I just want to say to the idiots on line who have been saying that those of us who think this was a bad year have no perspective? We elected a guy who has literally named white supremacists, anti-gay crusaders, anti-science activists, and worse as his choices to head of government agencies. We have put people in power who literally want to take the vote away from citizens based on the color of their skin and their gender. This is not just that we elected a narcissistic idiot, we've handing the nuclear codes to a man who can't stop himself from angry tweeting for hours when a woman happens get quoted criticizing him. We have put in power people who have vowed to pass laws that will literally kill citizens by taking away health care insurance, and that will take away my civil rights.

I'm allowed to say this is a bad year. And I am not the one who doesn't have any perspective.

Anyway, here are links to stories I found interesting, sorted by category. Because I've been run down and out of it all week, this may be the shortest list of Friday Links I've ever posted.

Link of the Week

In 2016, We Lived in Bubbles, and We Watched TV in Them, Too.

This week in awful people

Anti-Gay Right Wing Columnist Dies After Handgun Goes Off While Showing It To Teenage Boy. One of this man;s previous crowning moments was campaigning against a bill requiring gun owners to take a firearm safety course. Something this teen-ager clearly never took...

Videos!

George Michael in James Corden's first Carpool Karaoke for Comic Relief - before Carpool Karaoke was famous, James Corden thought it would be funny to do a skit for the Comic Relief special where he was giving George Michael a ride home from jail; they decided to drop the explicit reference to Michael's legal trouble and do this instead:

(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)

Carrie Fisher Roasts George Lucas at AFI Life Achievement Award:

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John Oliver Blows Up 2016 In Final Blistering Episode:

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Kacey Musgraves - What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?:

(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)

Friday, December 23, 2016

Friday Links (favorite ho-ho-ho edition)

It's Friday! It's the day before the day before the night before Christmas! Or the fourth Friday in December if you don't observe Christmas. I want to point out that I'm taoist, my husband is pagan, and our Christmas tree theme this year is Up In The Air, featuring all of our Star Trek and Star Wars ornaments, plus many different Santas and flying reindeer, pegasi from My Little Pony, birds of many kinds, Marvin the Martian in various space craft, and a big steampunk-ish zeppelin. So when I say Christmas I mean shiny lights, silly ornaments, presents, and time spend with friends.

Thursday was my last working day of the year. And as sometimes happens during these times, my department was up against a ridiculous deadline, so I worked very late. But I'm free for at least a while!

Anyway, here are links to stories I found interesting, sorted by category.

Links of the Week

Tell a different story about Santa this holiday season.

Black Santa And Me – The Rest Is History

10 SOCIAL JUSTICE ORGANIZATIONS THAT ROCKED 2016 — AND NEED YOU IN 2017.

This Week in Holidays

Neil Gaiman: Hanukkah with bells on.

How Christmas Songs Help Us Fake It Through the Despair Times.

Fuck The Nutcracker: Why You Should Go See Every Ballet But This One. (Written by the daughter of a Russian Jewish ballet instructor...)

Christmas Ghost Stories: The Ghost of Christmas Past Goes Further Back Than You Might Realize.

News for queers and our allies:

Holiday Self-Care Package By LGBTQ For LGBTQ Encourages Self-Love For The Season.

A Conservative Defense of Transgender Rights.

Drawn to Comics: Queer and Trans Women and Nonbinary Creators To Support This Holigay Season.

Homeless Charities Warn Of ‘Dramatic Rise’ In Number Of LGBT Youth Being Thrown Out Of Home.

Transgender woman shares graphic videos of her facial feminisation surgery.

What Does Lesbian Mean in 2016?

Welcome to The New Queer.

Science!

5 Scientific Myths You Probably Believe About The Universe.

The 10 Weirdest Animal Stories of 2016.

An accelerating river of molten iron has been discovered under Alaska and Siberia.

Physicists have observed the light spectrum of antimatter for first time.

Why don’t we teach Einstein’s theories in school?

‘Blue-eyed Humans’ do not ‘Have A Single, Common Ancestor.

Dwarf planet Ceres is a really icy place, NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows.

Thundersnow with 'continuous' lightning hit Hawaii on Sunday.

Spinning black hole swallows star - And, in the process, surpasses every supernova ever seen in terms of brightness.

How Science Is Helping Us Understand Gender.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

Tabletop Gaming has a White Male Terrorism Problem.

Sci-Fi Tried to Warn Us About Leaders Who Want to ‘Make America Great Again’.

Give Us Back Our Fucking Gods.

‘Rogue One’ had a huge box office opening, which must be really awkward for the alt-right.

A quick rewrite which totally fixes the film Passengers.

Star Wars, In One Chart.

This week in Writing

Q & A with Peter Stampfel, Submissions Editor of DAW Books. "…As a rule, the unsolicited manuscripts tend to be of a higher quality, by-and-large, than the ones coming from agents."

Five Archetypes That Can Steal the Hero’s Spotlight.

How to Not Waste Your Words: The Secret to Writing a Crappy but Usable First Draft.

First Idea, Best Idea?

You keep using "Write what you know".

This week in Words

The Dictionary Folk at Merriam-Webster Sum Up 2016: Surreal.

This Week in History

The History You Know Is Wrong - our collective understanding of what happened during the so-called "July Crisis" of 1914 that started WWI is basically wrong.

This Week in Tech

Barnes & Noble’s New $50 Nook Tablet Ships with Bonus Malware. Not just any malware: "the most complete rootkit/malware/spyware packages on the planet"

We're Getting Rid of Comments on VICE.com.

Culture War and Hate Crimes

Black Santa Claus Is A Hit At Mall Of America, But Faces An Online Backlash

Jewish family leaves Lancaster County in fear after being blamed for cancellation of Hempfield elementary Christmas play.

Sex Shop Owner Receives Threats After Putting “Dildo Nativity Scene” in Window.

Did Southern Baptist and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminaries Replicate a Hotel California at Heritage? Bible Chapel in Princeton, MA?

After One Woman’s Parents Voted for Donald Trump, She’s Holding Their Pastor Accountable.

Anti-LGBT activists are boycotting 58 different retailers for being gay-inclusive.

Texas Just Topped Itself With Pure Misogynistic, Transphobic Insanity.

This week in Difficult to Classify

LESBIAN TEENS 'ARRESTED FOR KISSING' ACQUITTED IN MOROCCAN COURT.

The movie that doesn’t exist and the Redditors who think it does.

This Week in Fighting Back in the Culture War:

The Most Useful Guide to Resisting Donald Trump: It’s the Tea Party playbook, minus the nooses.

This week in Politics:

Obama adds to historic number of federal prisoners granted clemency.

It's official: Clinton swamps Trump in popular vote.

The Stolen Election: Hillary Clinton should be president; why isn't she?

First Amendment Defense Act Would Be 'Devastating' for LGBTQ Americans.

This Week in Racists, White Nationalists, and the deplorables

Can American Fascism Be Stopped?

Trolling in the name of “free speech”: How Milo Yiannopoulos built an empire off violent harassment.

O'Reilly: Left wants 'power taken away from the white establishment'. You can't claim it isn't racist while literally saying you are defending the white establishment.

GOP lawmaker’s Obamacare alternative: Make kids sleep on broken arms to avoid costly ER visits.

Trump’s Pick For OMB Director Has Vowed To 'End Medicare As We Know It'.

Six Times Bill O’Reilly Defended The "White Establishment" Against “The Left”.

Trump denies Gingrich claim that he's dropping 'drain the swamp'.

Trump Insists He'll 'Drain the Swamp' as Gingrich Walks Back 'Boo Boo'.

This Week in Delusion

Catholic Exorcist: Here’s How I Know the Difference Between Mental Illness and Demon Possession.

Farewells:

Zsa Zsa Gabor dead at 99 after reportedly suffering heart attack.

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update: gunman stopped without a gun and other news.

Everyone’s heard of Rudolph, everyone knows his story….

Yuletide, gay and otherwise.

It’s the most wonderful production number.

’Zat you, Santa Claus?

Videos!

Hand Jive Jingle, Christmas 2016, Gay Men's Chorus San Diego:

(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)

Eartha Kitt - Santa Baby (1954):

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The Little Drummer Boy - Pink Martini (a friend who used to detest this song told me that this won him over; and it's a very different and fun version):

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Kay Thompson's Jingle Bells - The Williams Brothers (a jazzy alternative):

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Sleigh Ride - Christmas Charity Single - Out of the Blue:

(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)

Friday, December 16, 2016

Friday Links (it's black and white edition)

It's the third Friday in December. And tomorrow is the third Saturday, which means that we'll be hosting the annual Holiday Party and Ghost Story Challenge. Yay!

I, along with several co-workers, came down sick this week. I've seen on various social media a number of friends and acquaintances have as well. I guess it is that time of year.

Anyway, here are links to stories I found interesting, sorted by category.

Links of the Week

Farewell, America: No matter how the rest of the world looked at us on Nov. 7, they will now look at us differently.

Illuminating reindeer hat for this German Sheperd.

Some Garbage I Used To Believe About Equality.

This Week in Restoring Our Faith in Humanity

MAN ACCUSED OF PUNCHING TRUMP PROTESTER APOLOGIZES IN FAYETTEVILLE COURT.

This week in white privilege

HOW DO I EXPLAIN THE ELECTION RESULTS TO MY SON WHEN HE’S SO PRIVILEGED THAT THEY WON’T HAVE EVEN THE SLIGHTEST IMPACT ON HIS LIFE?

This Week in Difficult to Classify

Europeans greatly overestimate Muslim population, poll shows. It's not just Europeans...

One Seattle Murder, Two Devastated Families, and a Question: What Constitutes Justice?

Read This Letter from the Murdered Man's Brother to the Court. No, really. You won't regret it.

This week in awful news

Vancouver men who started wildfire ordered to pay state $2.3 million. "Court documents say the fire started July 19, 2015 after Taylor, his brother Adrian Taylor and Michael Estrada Cardenas used propane tanks and soda cans for target practice near Woodland..."

After Meeting With Trump, Bill Gates Proves That He Can’t Be Trusted to Fight Climate Change.

This week in awful people

Alabama Prosecutor Sets the Penalties and Fills the Coffer.

News for queers and our allies:

Orlando shooting victims remembered on six-month anniversary.

Non-gendered pronouns are progress for trans and non-trans people alike.

Pittsburgh Mayor To Sign Conversion Therapy Ban For Minors.

Science!

DNA evidence helps free a service dog from death row.

Did ‘dark stars’ help form the Universe?

Arctic heating up at twice as fast as rest of globe.

Why don't humans have a penis bone? Scientists may now know.

It’s Not an Impossible Fish Tank, It’s Just Physics.

Viruses have evolved to be more deadly for men than women, study suggests.

NASA's Curiosity Rover Finds Boron Under Ancient Martian Lakebed.

Cosmic Bling: Jupiter Sports Stormy 'Pearl' in New Juno Photo.

Mount St. Helens shakes 120 times within a week as volcano recharges, scientists say.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

‘Sense8: A Christmas Special’ Is Coming to Netflix.

“When I read a story, I skip the explanations”. I have some quibbles. I should probably write a blog post.

GUEST POST: THREE SHORT STORIES BY FRENCH WOMEN SF WRITERS PRE-1969: “THE DEVIL’S GODDAUGHTER” (1960), SUZANNE MALAVAL, “MOON-FISHERS” (1959), NATHALIE HENNEBERG, “THE CHAIN OF LOVE” (1955), CATHERINE CLIFF.

GUEST POST: TWO SPECULATIVE FICTIONS FROM THE 1890S: “THE YELLOW WALLPAPER” (1892), CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN, “THE LITTLE ROOM”(1895), MADELINE YALE WYNNE.

Let Us Now Praise “Famous” Authors.

Corie Weaver: Mad scientist should be an equal opportunity career.

Complaint About Term “Neo-Nazi” Results in Foz Meadows Post Moving from Black Gate to Amazing Stories.

Jim C. Hines: Fundraiser for Transgender Michigan. An auction a day of very interesting sf/f stuff!

SF History: Harlan Ellison stands up to a bullying Frank Sinatra.

This week in Writing

Navigating the In-Between: Demisexuality in YA Lit.

18 MIDDLE GRADE AUTHORS ON WRITING GIRL CHARACTERS AFTER ELECTION.

This week in Words

'The Feud' recalls a classic literary dust-up: Nabokov's huge literary feud with Edmund Wilson.

This Week in Tech

Evernote's new not-so-privacy policy will let employees read your notes.

How to deactivate and reactivate your Evernote account.

14 eyebrow-raising personal details Google knows about you.

Yahoo's billion account breach: 5 things you should do to stay safe. All of these suggestions are things you should do even if you were never a Yahoo user.

The Perfect Weapon: How Russian Cyberpower Invaded the U.S..

This Week in Covering the News

Racism With No Racists: The President Trump Conundrum.

Welcome back, Andrew Sullivan! Let the criticism commence! I wish he'd actually left... and stayed gone...

Where Do We Go from Here?

Christmas Is Bigger Than Trump. "They can have my yuletide joy when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers."

The practical guide to resisting Trump, by former Congressional staffers.

Not Safe For Work: Slouching Toward 2017.

This Week in Inclusion

Colored streaks on Asian Women: The damaging trope.

This Week in Police Problems

Killings by US police logged at twice the previous rate under new federal program.

Culture war news:

Todd Starnes Lies About Texas School “Censoring” Poster That Illegally Promoted Christianity.

Merry Christmas! Anti-gay preacher tells kids Santa isn’t real.

“Atheists Want to Abort Baby Jesus,” Says Christian Who Doesn’t Understand the Law (or Abortions).

If we took ‘Gamergate’ harassment seriously, ‘Pizzagate’ might never have happened.

Christians React to the Death of Atheist Activist Rob Sherman: “Great News!” “Wonderful!”.

Louisiana Governor's LGBT Rights Order Thrown out by Judge.

This Week in Fighting Back in the Culture War:

To fight hate crimes, philanthropist George Soros's organization begins by tracking them.

News of Orange Julius Ceasar

Trump biographer: Stop overestimating him — he’s a cross between a junkie and a hungry chicken.

Donald Trump still does not understand the unemployment rate. Though to be fair, lots of people, not all of them as ignorant as Trump, don't understand it...

Reports: Trump Campaign Is Threatening Electors To Vote For Him Or Else.

Former CIA Officer On Trump's Battle With Intelligence Community.

Trump’s Inaugural Committee offered ‘diplomatic posts’ to bookers able to land A-list talent.

Donald Trump’s Denial About Russia.

Poll: Public disapproval, doubt about Trump.

This week in Politics:

Donald Trump has lost popular vote by greater margin than any US President.

Stop It! There Are No Big Lessons From the 2016 Election.

Self-Described "White Trash Hillbilly" Nails Exactly What's Wrong with America.

NC Gov. Roy Cooper slams General Assembly proposals to limit governor's power.

This Week in Racists, White Nationalists, and the deplorables

White Nationalist Terrorist Dylann Roof Found Guilty in Charleston Church Massacre.

(In case you forgot: DYLANN ROOF CONFESSES: SAYS HE WANTED TO START ‘RACE WAR’.)

Dylann Roof Trial: Evidence Shows Extent of His Violent Hatred.

Men’s-Rights Activists Are Finding a New Home With the Alt-Right. No, they aren't. I've been dealing with MRA assholes for years and every single one of them already was deep in the racist tank. They've always been there.

How the alt-right’s sexism lures men into white supremacy. This is a less naive take on the topic...

Hate’s Insidious Face: UW-Milwaukee and the “Alt-Right”.

The neo-Nazi murder trial revealing Germany's darkest secrets.

This Week in Hate Crimes

Loretta Lynch’s Speech Against Hate Crimes Is a Brilliant, Stinging Rebuke to Trumpism.

Farewells:

Alan Thicke Dies at 69.

Bernard Fox, Who Played Dr. Bombay on ‘Bewitched,’ Dies at 89.

Things I wrote:

Anniversary flowers and other silliness.

Six months out, Pulse shooting still hurts.

Totally not-Gay Aaron Schock in the news again.

Confessions of a sentence-wrangler.

Videos!

Carol of the Bells: Petra Haden:

(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)

Carol of the Bells - Peter Hollens & Friends:

(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, read by Neil Gaiman:

(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)

The advert for Danish electronics retailer Elgiganten Denmark, titled ‘Let the Gifts Talk’, features a young transgender woman at home with her parents for Christmas:

(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)

Good Grief, It's A Stephen Colbert Christmas Special:

(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)

Friday, December 9, 2016

Friday Links (God speed, John Glenn edition)

It's the second Friday in December. And while 2016 is almost over, it is clearly not through with us, yet.

Since I was the kind of nerd who had toy rockets as a kid and watched the news whenever NASA had a mission on the air back in the 60s, I'm more than a bit saddened that John Glenn has left us.

Last weekend we got the outdoor Christmas lights up, set up and decorated the tree, and assembled and hung the wreaths on the door. I also got out lights to put in the windows and had planned all week long to put those up, but I haven't. I'll try to get that done this weekend.

Anyway, here are links to stories I found interesting, sorted by category.

Links of the Week

A Tumblr called Trumpgrets - schadenfreude therapy.

Dr. Seuss was not even in the general vicinity of fucking around. His pre-WWII political cartoons will surprise you!

How to be a silent movie heroine. It's not what you think!

This Week in Restoring Our Faith in Humanity

Introducing ‘I Have a Name/Yo Tengo Nombre’ - ‘I Have a Name’ is an online visual database to help identify migrants who died crossing the Texas-Mexico border.

This Week in the Longest of Long Shots

Electoral College: Make Hillary Clinton President.

This week in awful news

Police: Gun-brandishing man sought to investigate conspiracy theory. This headline really needs some work...

33 dead at warehouse party fire in Oakland – community mourns, fears backlash.

Fatalities In The War On Cars Are Never In Cars.

This week in awful people

Former execs charged with bribing doctors to prescribe potent painkiller.

News for queers and our allies:

Your Holiday Mom - Offering Our LGBTQ Youth A Virtual Home For The Holidays.

Incoming North Carolina governor says repealing anti-LGBT law is a priority.

A Watershed Moment for Equality - The defeat of North Carolina's Pat McCrory proves that progress has not completely ground to a halt.

Science!

How Reading A Novel Changes Your Brain.

Bees of the sea: Tiny crustaceans pollinate underwater plants.

Mysterious Ocean Blob Found for First Time in a Century.

First Dinosaur Tail Found Preserved in Amber.

Growing underground: the Lowline urban garden buried in New York's catacombs.

Saturn’s Moons May Be Younger than Previously Thought.

Inside the big dish that brought us TV from the Moon.

Ancient Space Dust Washes Up in Rooftop Gutters.

Does This Neutron Star Confirm an 80-Year-Old Quantum Prediction?

A stunning fireball just lit up the sky in Siberia.

Why You Should Give a Damn About the Potentially Endangered Island Marble Butterfly.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

THE BEASTS WHO FOUGHT FOR FAIRYLAND UNTIL THE VERY END AND FURTHER STILL. A fantasy story.

WOMEN DISAPPEARED IN GAME INDUSTRY, DESIGNER SAYS.

The Annual Epic Best Books of 2016 List You Can’t Miss!

This week in Writing

The Hero’s Journey in Trans YA.

This week in Words

Why Do We 'Bury the Lede?' We buried 'lead' so far down that we forgot how to spell it.

Book Review: LET THERE BE LAUGHTER.

'Chef': the Word We Borrowed Twice.

Where Do We Go from Here?

Read the powerfully defiant message that San Francisco’s government sent to Donald Trump.

Surrender Donald! A Queer Call to Action Since 1989.

Sherman Alexie Talks About Writing in the Era of Trump. "Trump won because of two specific groups of white people. The moderate working-class whites and the leftist Jill Stein voters. One side rooting for an America that never existed and one side rooting for an America that is never going to exist. It was the romantic dreams of both sides that gave us Trump. And it's a small population in the swing states: It comes down to 250,000 people. If 250,000 of them over seven states changed their mind, this would have been a Clinton blowout. So it's not just a certain kind of conservative voter we need to be appealing to. We also need to straighten out those leftist assholes. I'm a far leftist who thinks no one like me should be in charge of shit."

Culture war news:

There Is No "War On Christmas," Unless You Count The Battle For Christian Supremacy.

Ohio's "Heartbeat Bill" Would Ban Abortion Even Before Some Women Know They're Pregnant.

Now That Trump Is President, We Can’t Feed People Who Say “Merry Christmas” To The Lions Anymore.

Minnesota Business Owners Sue For Right To Discriminate Against Gay Couples.

New Texas bill endangers LGBT youth: Behind the legislation that could lead to a surge in anti-gay conversion therapy.

Arkansas Supreme Court: It’s A “Basic Biological Truth” That Gay Spouses Can’t Be Listed On Birth Certificates.

This week in the deplorables

Of course Mike Pence supported ex-gay therapy.

Trump’s Transition Team Is All Tied Up With Anti-Gay Pseudoscience.

The Daily 202: The art of punching down.

WATCH: Colbert on #PizzaGate Conspiracy Theorists, Alex Jones, Wikileaks, Reddit Trolls: 'Grow the F*ck Up'.

This week in Politics:

Sen. Collins Signals GOP Wall On Obamacare and Medicare Is Cracking.

McCrory concedes gubernatorial race to Cooper. The one race in the nation that was all about an anti-trans and pro-other-kind-of-discrimination bill, and it went the right way.

Recount Update: Jill Stein's Quixotic Battle For Democracy Continues Apace .

Federal judge's ruling halts Michigan presidential election recount.

Holocaust attorney sues FBI over election interference that could ‘lead to impeachment’ of Trump.

The press is ignoring it, but Democrats told the GOP to get bent, and Republicans did as instructed.

This Week in Racism

Jury Can’t Decide If Shooting A Fleeing, Unarmed Black Man Five Times In The Back Is A Crime.

I’m Not Your Racial Confessor.

This Week in Sexism

On Pandering.

This is why we Still Need Feminism.

Farewells:

Sammy Lee, diver who became first Asian American to win Olympic medal, dies at 96.

John Glenn, first American to orbit Earth, dies at age 95.

John Glenn: The Last American Hero?

John Glenn, Hero and Political Cautionary Tale.

John Glenn was a total badass, these facts prove it.

Things I wrote:

It’s all about the glitches.

The President Hasn’t Actually Been Elected, Yet.

Which Christmas Ghost should I write?

Emotional swings and misses.

Freaks — caffeinated or not.

Videos!

Ingrid Michaelson - Girls Chase Boys (An Homage to Robert Palmer's "Simply Irresistible") - OFFICIAL:

(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Teaser Trailer:

(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)

Quick D: Cup Levitation & Train Track Rescue:

(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)

FIRST OFFICIAL Trailer for Spider-Man: Homecoming:

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Kacey Musgraves - What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?:

(If embedding doesn't work, click here.):

[OFFICIAL VIDEO] God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Pentatonix:

(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)

Friday, November 25, 2016

Friday Links (global biomedical duel edition)

It's a Friday. The weirdest Friday of the year. Between a shortened (and therefore busier than usual) work week because of the holiday, holiday travel, and the odd place our news cycle is, this week's links are less diverse than usual.

I forgot to mention last week that that was the final Friday of the year that I would be working. Between office closure for holidays and my personal tradition of taking Fridays in December as vacation days to give me time to work on holiday stuff, I'll have short weeks until the second week of the new year. Yay

In other good news, we got through out holiday without any big fights or incidents.

Anyway, here are links to stories I found interesting, sorted by category.

Links of the Week

A Mysterious Giant Foam Blob Is Taking Over A City.

Stop Calling It Identity Politics — Its Civil Rights.

This week in awful news

Standing Rock protest: hundreds clash with police over Dakota Access Pipeline.

Dakota Access pipeline protester may lose her arm after small explosion, activists say.

News for queers and our allies:

Big Gay Fiction Giveaway – November 20-27.

What Does It Take To Shock John Waters?

Freddie Mercury's Life Is the Story of HIV, Bisexuality, and Queer Identity.

Science!

CRISPR gene-editing tested in a person for the first time: The move by Chinese scientists could spark a biomedical duel between China and the United States.

The Supermoon and Global Warming: A Taste of Things to Come - North Miami, Florida was flooded due to the effects of the magnified high tide of last week's unusually close full Moon.

"Strange Stars" Could Be the Weirdest Objects in the Universe.

Ant species cultivates coffee for accommodation.

Astronomers just discovered one of the most massive objects in the universe hiding behind the Milky Way.

Did NASA Mars Rover Find a Signature of Past Life?

NASA's New Horizons Unveils Its Masterpiece: Pluto's Interior!

The Asteroid That Killed the Dinosaurs Blew Right Through Earth's Crust.

Drone Footage Shows How Massive Earthquake Ripped New Zealand Apart.

Rare faint dwarf galaxy found lurking in the halo of the Milky Way.

Ginkgo 'living fossil' genome decoded.

This week in Writing

BS “medical” tropes to stop using TODAY, 1/?.

How to Write Character Arcs. This is actually an index post linking to a bunch of posts about different aspects of creating character arcs.

The 3 Types of Character Arc – Change, Growth and Fall. Different writer, slightly different advice.

This Week in Covering the News

How Facebook Spreads Fake News And Anti-Muslim Views In Myanmar.

Where Do We Go from Here?

So about that call for unity, then.

oh and yes, this is going to be a thing for a while.

More than 250 Jewish professors across the United States are calling for Americans to denounce and "mobilize in solidarity" against President-elect Trump's "racial, ethnic, gender-based, and religious hatred."

Jill Stein Just Raised $2.5 Million To Start Recounts In 3 States.

No, Trump, We Can’t Just Get Along.

This Week in Inclusion

This Thanksgiving, A Reminder of the Contributions of Immigrants.

This week in Difficult to Classify

Rigged election: Hillary Clinton’s early-voting lead in Florida was mathematically insurmountable.

This week in the deplorables

Trump surrogate cites Japanese internment camps as precedent for Muslim registry.

Alt-Right Gathering Exults in Trump Election With Nazi-Era Salute.

Cashing in BIGLY in Argentina!

Eric Bolling Is Trying To Cover His Bigoted Tracks (And Failing).

Wall Street Journal Editors Warn Trump – Draining The Swamp Starts With YOU.

FEC wants Trump to explain $1.3 million worth of 'mistakes' in campaign report.

Kakistocracy.

DONALD TRUMP’S FIRST, ALARMING WEEK AS PRESIDENT-ELE.

Trump’s toughest transition test: the Trump Organization.

Why we're saying 'white nationalism' instead of 'alt-right'.

'Hail Trump!': White Nationalists Salute the President Elect.

9 of Mike Pence’s Most Controversial Stances Regarding Gay Rights, Abortion and Smoking.

This week in Politics:

As Clinton’s lead in popular vote passes 2 million, calls for 'audit' in key swing states grow.

Obama's approval rating highest in seven years.

New York county reveals 'gay cure' ban bill named Prevention of Emotional Neglect and Childhood Endangerment (PENCE).

Farewells:

Florence Henderson, 'The Brady Bunch' mom, dies at 82.

Things I wrote:

Fire Retardant Malfunction will be my queercore cover band name.

Red cups, manufactured outrage, and twisted meanings.

Real family….

Queer Thanksgiving.

At least we’ll have pie….

Videos!

Queer Thanksgiving:

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A HERSHEY’S KISSES Family: The Nobles — A Holiday Tradition:

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President Obama Pardons the National Thanksgiving ("A corny-copia of Dad jokes..."):

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John Lennon - Imagine HD:

(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)

Friday, November 18, 2016

Friday Links (snails in love edition)

It's a Friday. I'm getting over the shock and depression. This means that my mood is shifting to righteous outrage, which is probably going to drive some people crazy. I hope mostly it's just the deserving.

Last week I re-organized the Links post to put all the non-election (and mostly happy) links first so readers could avoid all that news if they just stopped at the warning. This week I'm going back to something close to my usual layout. Still trying to get most of the fun and happy news (such as there is) first.

Links of the Week

Can't Hurry Love: Rare Snail Finds Romance After Global Search.

The ACLU's Donation Website Couldn’t Keep Up With Everyone Trying To Donate After Trump Won.

Dear Trump Supporter who says they love me.

News for queers and our allies:

Ian Thorpe On Coming Out: “I Always Thought Of It As A Negative”.

New Kids On The Block Singer Jonathan Knight Proposes To Boyfriend In Africa.

You have to see how people reacted when a trans woman's car was graffitied with hate slurs.

Here’s How LGBTQ People Can Protect Themselves Before Trump Takes Office.

Baptist church in Dallas votes to accept LGBT members.

Science!

The Supermoon and Global Warming: A Taste of Things to Come.

Hubble Just Spotted an Enormous Bubble in Space. This actually happened back in April, but the article I linked to then didn't have the pretty pictures.

Man dissolves after trying to soak in Yellowstone hot pool.

Scientists have measured the smallest fragment of time ever.

Seriously beautiful science cocktails will have you rethinking your alcohol choices.

Oil and Gas Industry Ensnarled in Spate of Oklahoma Earthquakes.

Thank Neanderthal and Denisovan genes for health and skin colour.

Physicists just discovered a second state of liquid water.

CERN boffins see strange ... oh, wait, that's just New Zealand moving 2m north.

How Teamwork Brings Home the Tuna in Lego Land.

Some Dinosaurs Were Iridescent.

Antarctic quest to find 'oldest ice'.

WHY THE DISCOVERY OF 'GLOBULAR CLUSTERS' COULD HELP US UNDERSTAND HOW GALAXIES ARE CREATED.

Geologists discover how a tectonic plate sank.

Thousands of dead fish clogged a New York canal. Why?

Humans are still evolving - but in ways that might surprise you.

Huddled mice could change the way we think about evolution.

Watch How Slime Mold Smartly Crawls By Itself All Over Everything.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

'MARVEL'S THE INHUMANS' COMING TO IMAX & ABC IN 2017.

All the science fiction and fantasy novels you need to make it through winter.

Arrival shows there’s still room for literary science fiction films in Hollywood.

12 YA Books With Characters of Color and LGBTQ Characters.

This Week in Tech

How to encrypt your entire life in less than an hour.

Facebook's Fight Against Fake News Was Undercut by Fear of Conservative Backlash.

Culture war news:

LGBTQ People Are Scared About What Trump’s Victory Means for Them. Here’s Why.

God Magicked Donald Trump Into the White House, Says Pastor Who Doesn’t Get the Electoral College.

Which LGBT rights are on the chopping block?

Baptist Churches in Dallas, Austin Expelled Over LGBT-Affirming Stance.

A Survivor Of Gay Conversion Therapy Shares His Chilling Story.

On Day 1 President Donald Trump will take away Rights of The LGBTQ Community!

This Week in Fighting Back in the Culture War:

The Resistance: How to Defeat Donald Trump's Plot Against America.

The Democrats must change – here’s how they can do it.

DONALD TRUMP WILL BE PRESIDENT. THIS IS WHAT WE DO NEXT.

Progressives must lead the Democratic Party and develop its economic populism.

This Week in Difficult to Classify

HOLY FUCK THE ELECTION. This isn't an article, it's not quite a game... but go answer a few questions and get some answers...

This week in why the Electoral College must go

CLEARING UP THE CONFUSION SURROUNDING VALLEY HIGH’S HOMECOMING KING SELECTION PROCESS.

This week in Comments, Trolls, and Wankers

Twitter Just Banned a Bunch of Alt-Right Mouthpieces.

Facebook fake-news writer: ‘I think Donald Trump is in the White House because of me’.

This week in the deplorables

Gay man attacked by Trump fan who warned ‘my new president says we can kill all you f*ggots now’.

Trump is already consorting with a hate group.

If Your Election Postmortem Ignores Racism and Misogyny, It's Probably Wrong.

THINKING BIG IN A SMALL WORLD.

‘An ape in heels’: WV officials slur Michelle Obama — and say Melania Trump will be ‘refreshing’.

Here's Why It's Fair—and Necessary—to Call Trump's Chief Strategist a White Nationalist Champion.

Trump draws sharp rebuke, concerns over newly appointed chief White House strategist Stephen Bannon.

This Is Not Normal.

Bernie Sanders: Trump already breaking campaign promise to ‘drain the swamp’.

Trump Supporter Uses Japanese Internment Camps To Defend A Muslim Registry.

This week in Politics:

The Majority of American Voters Did Not Choose Trump for President.

Hillary Clinton Didn’t Shatter the Glass Ceiling.

THE MYTHS DEMOCRATS SWALLOWED THAT COST THEM THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.

Congressional GOP Pursues Codified Discrimination Against Range of Identities.

Terrorism deaths fall despite widening impact of attacks, global study reveals.

What the Hell Just Happened?

This Week in Hate Crimes

Hundreds of hate attacks recorded in US since election.

This map tracks where people are being harassed by Trump supporters.

Anti-Semitic propaganda was mailed to me at my home. This is not normal.

Farewells:

Robert Vaughn, ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’ Star, Dies at 83.

Robert Vaughn may be best known for 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,' but he had a range of colors to display.

Gwen Ifill, Host Of 'Washington Week' And 'PBS NewsHour,' Dies.

Gwen Ifill, legendary PBS reporter, is dead at 61.

Farewell to the Irreplaceable Gwen Ifill.

Things I wrote:

Facing an existential threat yet again….

Stop saying ‘We’ll get through this’ because not everyone will.

Imagining hope.

Getting indicted, still faking it (badly), & other weekend updates.

Five months later, Pulse shooting still a gut punch.

Not forgotten.

I am a writer, have pity on my husband.

Just keep writing, just keep writing, cry when you need to, just keep writing.

Videos!

Robbie Williams | Love My Life - Official Video:

(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)

SAINT MOTEL - "Move" (Official Video):

(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)

Alicia Keys - Blended Family (What You Do For Love) ft. A$AP Rocky:

(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)

Passenger | When We Were Young (Official Video):

(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)

Friday, November 11, 2016

Friday Links (stand up edition)

It's a Friday. I'm usually happy and excited that the work week is almost over. Happy is not an emotion I'm feeling right now.

However, I also know what a grind it is to confront nothing but more stories about the big thing that happened this week. So I'm changing the format of this post from the usual. We're going to start with a couple of music videos, followed by Science links and so forth that have nothing to do with the election or its fallout. Then I'll have a warning that the rest of the links are on the other topic, so you can stop scrolling down and go read some other part of the web instead if you want.