Some wingnut far-right Christians are suing for the right not to have to attend tolerance training and the like. “What if a person felt their religious view was that African Americans shouldn’t mingle with Caucasians, or that women shouldn’t work?” asked Jon Davidson, legal director of the gay rights group Lambda Legal. Christian activist Gregory S. Baylor responds to such criticism angrily. He says he supports policies that protect people from discrimination based on race and gender. But he draws a distinction that infuriates gay rights activists when he argues that sexual orientation is different — a lifestyle choice, not …
Category: ASIDES
Grups
New York Magazine has an interesting piece about Grups, which are sold as “The Ascendant Breed of Grown-Ups Who Are Redefining Adulthood”. It’s weirdly familiar to me, and though I’m not a trendoid hipster like some of these people described, I sure do have my doubts about the version of adulthood that was passed on to me by My Culture. EDIT: By the way, I think this was via Weird is Relative.
On the Origin of Life
Intelligent Design wingnuts never come up with things like this: Chemists at Oregon State University have pioneered a controversial theory about how supposedly-stable DNA bases can be pushed into a “dark state” in which they are highly vulnerable to damage from ultraviolet radiation – an idea that has challenged some of the most basic concepts of modern biochemistry. The theory, not long ago dismissed as impossible by much of the science community, has just in recent months begun to garner increasing interest, and is being confirmed by other studies. And though it began as scientific heresy, the findings could help …
the newest domestic disturbance
Just because I don’t often link doesn’t mean I don’t read it. Melissa’s domestic disturbance hit a nerve for me this month, with, you know, a funeral in recent memory.
World War II Advertisements
I was googling around the web looking for an advertisement for my Media English midterm exam, and I found something useless for that, but fascinating in many other ways: an archive of American advertisements from during World War II.
Geek Machinery
I would be more impressed if they had some purpose other than just making little bells go off, or displaying little signs I cannot read, but this Japanese Rube Goldberg device video still captured my attention till the end. Via Japundit.
Englishie Movie About Korean Royalty
Apparently a co-production between a US and a Korean film company is set to make a dramatic film about Julia Mullock, the woman who married the last crown prince of Korea. The film is supposedly going to be a “mainly English-language feature”.
DriveThruRPG.com
For those of you who are, like me, an ex-gamer who still gets a kick out of leafing through RPG books set in various worlds, or with new mechanics, the Free Stuff section at DriveThruRPG.com is worth a trawling-through. While a lot of the stuff there is supplementary to game systems, there’s still a lot for free, and there’s more every month or two, so it’s worth signing up for the announcements, as well.
Here Comes World War III
What, they haven’t messed up Iraq enough, they have to go and mess up Iran, too? And with NUKES? How stupid can an Administration be? Quite frankly, if this does go forward, the whole world’s gonna be a bloody mess. The tone of so much of the commentary is horrifying, really. “We’re the good guys,” and the repudiation of an “Islamic Republic” by, oh, yeah, high-ups in a pseudo-Evangelical Christian Republic. Good grief, you’d think they would see all the contiguousness and work together on oppressing the rest of us! Mark my words, eventually people will look back on America …
So, yes, God does speak to you. What he is saying is: ‘Take a hint.’
Lovely speech by Bill Maher recounted by that bald guy. You know, Moby. Who needs to get the caps lock fixed on his PC, it seems.