Daily Blend: 05/01/13

Kiera Wilmot

How the hell can it be this hot this early in the year? This can’t bode well.

Animal liberation activists in Milan, Italy, heroically sabotage years’ worth of mental health research by releasing scared and helpless lab animals that cannot survive on their own.
(via Pharyngula)

Who made the “bad choices” here: the model high-schooler ^[pictured] who created a tiny pop in a bottle by mixing chemicals in an experiment* (To be fair, not generally a good [or safe] idea unless you know what you’re doing, which it didn’t sound like she did), or the dumbass school and police officials who got her expelled, arrested and are dragging her to court for “possession/discharge of a weapon”?
(via @radleybalko)

• Better yet: The school then respond to criticism by declaring that “there are consequences to actions”. Indeed, and those consequences are that students will refrain from ever exhibiting any curiosity or scientific interest at Florida’s Bartow High School in order to avoid violating their ridiculous zero-tolerance policy.
  (via Pharyngula)

Wait, hydrogen peroxide doesn’t work? Dammit, Cracked, stop exploding my beliefs.

And finally, happy decaversary to MythBusting! Even though I only started watching in 2005 (“Steel Toe-Cap Amputation, Bottle Rocket Blast-Off”)
(via @MythBusters; RT: @JamieNoTweet)

Daily Blend: 04/12/13

Audrie Pott (15)

Understatement of the Day: “It turns out that the Obama administration has not been honest about who the CIA has been targeting with drones in Pakistan.”
(via @ggreenwald)

I just don’t have the patience (or stomach) today to write about the horrific Kermit Gosnell case, other than to affirm how it’s the perfect argument for why abortion should be fully legalized and easily accessible to ensure women never need to resort to such barbarity out of desperation.

Ditto with Vox Day’s predictably pathetic rant about how pro-choicers are all worse than Nazis and so on.

Another teenaged girl ^[pictured] commits suicide to escape persecution resulting from the publicization of her student gang-rape. Now to watch the rape-culture-soaked media fret over those poor arrested rapists. (Again.)
(via Pharyngula)

Appeals court denies Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli’s petition to bring back anti-sodomy law.
(via Joe. My. God.)

Uruguay becomes latest country to legalize same-sex marriage.

And finally, Cracked presents some popular online myths, revised for accuracy.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: 04/09/13

Rehtaeh Parsons

Another teenaged rape victim ^[pictured] falls victim to rape culture and takes her own life.

Today in pearl-clutching hilarity: Exposing the top “facilitators” of the US’s “porn pandemic”, including Google Play and the American Library Association! (Also: Bonus video featuring Morality in Media’s resident porn-awareness girl scout.)

Westboro Baptist Church to complete Roger Ebert’s awesome legacy.
(via Joe. My. God.)

And finally, I break my practice of ignoring such things by pointing out that the US Interior Department’s Instagram gallery is chock-full of fuckin’ awesomeness like this:
(via BuzzFeed)

[source | full size (607×600)]

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: 03/26/13

Gov. Jack Dalrymple (R-ND)

Applying for an internship/apprenticeship/something at a ranch tomorrow! Wish me luck. (Or a broken leg. However it goes these days.)

North Dakota Gov. Dalrymple (R) ^[pictured] signs law banning abortion at six weeks, presumably planning emergency fund for inevitable court loss. Wonder if he’ll also enact the even worse “personhood” law.
(via @BreakingNews)

Berlin-based company confirms their “atheist”-branded packages take significantly longer to reach their destinations, when they don’t go missing altogether. Looks like the US Postal Service has some explaining to do.

Oh, look, it’s another boilerplate, evidence-free diatribe about how “[m]ilitant atheism has become a religion”. (Hemant Mehta tears it apart, as does PZ Myers.)
(via @religionnews)

Vox Day: Egalitarians are “inferior beings” (because some of them sometimes make crude jokes on the Internet).

And finally, here’s the trippiest damn water spiral you’ll’ve ever did seen (more info here):

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: 03/13/2013

TJ Kincaid

Heads Up: Later today/tomorrow is when Disqus is slated to force its “upgraded” platform upon users (like me) who still cling to the old, customizable version. Might take a little while for changes to take effect. Stay tuned.

I’m also trying out a new title style for this Daily Blend (rather than the usual long-form date). We’ll see if it sticks. That is all.

Oh, look, it’s another bone-chilling climate study for pseudoscientists and ideologues to deny and lie about!

New Zealand votes to guarantee passage of same-sex marriage. Yay!
(via Joe. My. God.)

Some more gay (in both senses) news: Floundering “ex-gay” group National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) loses tax exempt status, forced to slice their Rentboy budget.
(via Joe. My. God.)

This just in: TJ Kincaid ^[pictured] is still an embarrassment to the atheist community and humanity in general. (Also: Go, Anita Sarkeesian!)
(via @SallyStrange; RT: @jennifurret)

Virginia steps a little further into the 21^st Century by overturning law against “consensual sodomy”. (Wingnut outrage in 3 … 2 …)
(via Joe. My. God.)

And finally, here’s an interactive infographic of global Internet porn habits. (East Europe is amazingly perverted.)
(via Joe. My. God.)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

I’m either too busy to blog or just mesmerized by this video

I’m busy with personal matters these days – who knew helping someone move in blizzardy mid-January Québec all day while clad in a stupidly thin excuse for a coat would be cause for a tough time? – so have this awesomely gorgeous video of the slowly rising Moon in real-time instead:

Full Moon Silhouettes from Mark Gee on Vimeo.

Meanwhile, Phil Plait just couldn’t resist spoiling (or heightening?) the mood with some complementary science.

Daily Blend: Tuesday, January 29, 2013

[full size (584×764)]

Good: Federal judge stops DEA’s attempt to seize a rural Massachusetts motel after a few guests there committed crimes without the motel owner’s knowledge. ^[pictured]
(via Uzza)

PZ Myers handily dismantles the tired anti-abortionist claim that science proves that personhood begins at conception.

Meanwhile, the anti-abortion fetal “heartbeat bill” makes it to Arkansas.

Creeping Creationism in Missouri.

Ray Comfort: Surgeons can’t reconstruct chimp attack victim’s face, ergo, Evolution is dummy-dumb-dumb.

I’m 96% humanist! Take that, 2009 Humanist of the Year PZ Myers and your paltry 90%!

And finally, here’s a bunch of Christians I could have a drink with (if I drank):
(via Joe. My. God.)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: Friday, December 28, 2012

Al Stefanelli

Ed Brayton eviscerates Al Stefanelli ^[pictured] for his ridiculous rant about Freethought Blogs being an “atheist cult” for radical feminists who hate White men and so on. And imagine, the guy considers himself an ally. Mind, meet boggle.

Relatedly, it seems that Ophelia Benson must really be doing good work discrediting these twits.

2012 was quite a year for the “fast-growing” men’s rights movement, wasn’t it? (Well, no.)

College student learns despairingly many people are turtle-hating assholes. Though, I wonder how many hit it accidentally after swerving to avoid it.

Behold: The Ted Nugent countdown clock. (A possible third option: Carted off to a nuthouse.)
(via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

And finally, here, have some astoundingly (if hauntingly) beautiful photos of what several prominent cities would look like with every single light bulb burned out:
(via @DiscoveryCanada)

“Darkened” San Francisco (by Thierry Cohen)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: Thursday, December 06, 2012

Anita Sarkeesian

My quest to reestablish a halfway-functional sleep schedule continues, so for now, enjoy these remedial links.

Awesome quote of the day: “The police department believes that, under state law, you may responsibly get baked, order some pizzas and enjoy a 'Lord of the Rings' marathon in the privacy of your own home, if you want to.”

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) walks back on his previous confusion about the Earth’s age, says “there is no scientific debate” that “it’s at least 4.5 billion years old”. He then blathers about reconciling science and theology, but then, that he’s said this much is already extraordinary.

Anita Sarkeesian ^[pictured] talks about overcoming the massive campaign of sexist hatred she received for wanting to talk about the portrayal of women in videogames. Good on her for making more asshatty heads explode.
(via Pharyngula)

And finally, here’s a trenchant representation of the archetypal sibling relationship as reenacted by puppies:
(via @EmergencyPuppy)

[full size (600×657)]

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: Thursday, November 29, 2012

Susan Johnson

Juvenile crime in California dropped by a record-breaking 20% between 2010 and 2011 thanks to marijuana decriminalization.
(via @BuzzFeedAndrew)

South Lyon, MI middle school performing arts teacher plays pro-LGBT music video in support of diversity. So naturally, the school suspends her without pay.
(via @BuzzFeedAndrew)

And finally, new from NASA: Mercury “almost certainly” has frozen water buried at its north pole.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Pat Robertson

Fundamentalist coot Pat Robertson ^[pictured] denounces gays Evolution … Young-Earth Creationism? (Don’t worry, his sanity was only temporary.)

For some reason, Irish Catholic bishops seem to think anyone else gives the slightest shit about their benighted views on morality in medicine after the death of Savita Halappanavar.
(via Pharyngula)

And finally, Morgan Freeman still has some unanswered questions:
(via Bad Astronomy)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: Wednesday, November 21, 2012

John Fairfax

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists declares that birth control should be available over the counter. Not that such a sensible and provably effective measure has any chance of becoming reality in the foreseeable future, of course.

Nevada City proposes ordinance to make it illegal for homeless people to sleep outside without a permit.
(via @radleybalko)

New report: Only three developed countries (Mexico, Chile and Turkey) have a higher child poverty rate than the United States, and other disillusioning statistics.
(via @BuzzFeedAndrew)

Best obituary ever: “At 9, he settled a dispute with a pistol. At 13, he lit out for the Amazon jungle. At 20, he attempted suicide-by-jaguar. Afterward he was apprenticed to a pirate. To please his mother, who did not take kindly to his being a pirate, he briefly managed a mink farm […]” ^[pictured]
(via The Agitator)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Ex-Rep. Allen West (R-FL)

Sober Transgender Day of Remembrance, everyone.

Alex Knapp at Forbes thoroughly decorticates Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) for claiming the age of the Earth (which he doesn’t know) isn’t related to our economic and general welfare.
(via @BadAstronomer)

Now-former-Rep. Allen West (R-FL) ^[pictured] finally concedes.

PZ Myers shines some contextual light on the current kerfuffle over Sam Harris’s 2006-era comments about how “[i]f [he] could wave a magic wand to get rid of either rape or religion, [he] would not hesitate to get rid of religion”.

And finally, more awesomeness about the promise of stem cell research: Dogs with paralyzing spinal injuries learn to walk again.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: Monday, November 19, 2012

Lisa Biron

Another Bible-loving Christianist “traditional values” advocate ^[pictured] busted for child porn & molestation.
(via Right Wing Watch)

Former Michigan assistant A.G. Andrew Shirvell demanding unemployment benefits after being fired for illegally using government computers to stalk and harass a gay university student.
(via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

100,000 Stars: Take a spectacular virtual tour of the Milky Way galaxy.

And finally, give a stingray an X-ray and you apparently get an alien:
(via Pharyngula)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Bill Donohue

Boy Scouts loses UPS grants due to anti-gay policies. More of this from other sponsors, please.
(via Joe. My. God.)

Clusterfuck of assholery: Dumbass parents accuse (straight) high school teacher of turning their 18-year-old daughter into a lesbian; in return, principal destroys teacher’s career.
(via Wonkette)

Is it just me, or does Bill Donohue ^[pictured] sound even more childishly petulant than usual?

The American Family Association is all verklempt that a Pennsylvania high school hockey league is no longer “promoting patriotism and love of country” by eliminating the National Anthem over budgeting issues.

What If: a 100-foot-wide diamond meteor hit the Earth at the speed of light? (Prognosis: Even worse than I guessed.)

Be sure to watch Pixar’s beautiful, Oscar-nominated short film La Luna right here. I knew astronomers had it wrong, somehow …
(via @BadAstronomer)

And finally, here’s a lilliputian Leporidae enjoying some Daucus carota:
(via @BadAstronomer)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Headline of the day: Better than an anti-science legislator

From former Rep. Paul Broun’s (R-GA) district:

(Gawker)

Others include “ANY IDIOT IS BETTER”, “CTHULHU”, “THE GREAT PUMPKIN”, as well as those two incorrigibles, “ALBUS DUMBLEDORE” and “VOLDEMORT”. Add in the 4,000 who wrote in for “Charles Darwin” and my opinion of the voting masses is suddenly just a bit higher.

(via @radleybalko)

Daily Blend: Thursday, November 08, 2012

Bill O’Reilly

While President Obama has retained his job, it’s important to continue pressuring him to do much, much better on civil liberties and other Constitutional issues.

U.S. Bank sends militarized cops to evict Colorado woman who couldn’t pay her mortgage and Occupy activists protesting the move.
(via Uzza)

Claudia at Friendly Atheist provides some solid answers to some anti-abortionist questions for pro-choicers.

It’s so sad (and infuriating) how a man ^[pictured] who earned 99% of a perfect score on his SATs could wind up as the elite-hatin’ bullshit-daddy of Fox News. A living cautionary tale that playing to your audience costs your soul.

And finally, because she’s awesome, here’s Rachel Maddow’s fascinating breakdown of the election night results:
(via Joe. My. God.)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: Wednesday, November 07, 2012 – The Re-linkening

Consider this a continuation of my previous “wrap-up” post as the dust continues to settle. There’s plenty of good and a smidgeon of bad, so hold onto your butts:

The good —

LGBT: Last night was a major win for equality with same-sex marriage passing by popular vote in three states (and a constitutional ban failing in a fourth), the election of the first-ever openly lesbian senator, and the fall of anti-gay candidates everywhere like flies.

Meanwhile, in the schadenfreude department, Sen. Scott “racist” Brown (R-MA) and Rep. Joe “deadbeat dad” Walsh (R-IL) are both kicked out.

Oh, and Troy, Michigan’s notoriously homophobic mayor, Janice Daniels, is also out on her bigoted ass.
(via Joe. My. God.)

New Hampshire: I wonder how many men feel discomfited now that both state senators, both representatives, and the governor are all women?

Florida: The Sunshine State did particularly well, with voters turning down abortion restrictions, killing a ban on Obamacare’s health insurance mandate, and preventing taxpayer money from going to churches and religious schools. Upholding abortion rights, healthcare reform and secularism all in one – not to shabby for a state renowned for its zaniness.

More good Floridian news: Rep. Allen West (R) will soon be Rep. no longer, possibly as a result of all that crazy shit he’s always spewing.

Atheism: While the only openly atheist Congressperson, Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA), lost his seat after decades of serving the progressive community, candidate Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), rumored to be both an atheist and bisexual, is winning, though her opponent isn’t conceding yet.

Drug Laws: Massachusetts approves medicinal marijuana, though a similar initiative fails in Arkansas.

So, all in all, I guess this means those polls weren’t skewed against Republicans after all.
(via Joe. My. God.)

And finally, we can safely say that yes, FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver is (probably) a witch. (Or just very good with statistical analysis. Either way.)

Daily Blend: Saturday, November 03, 2012

Walter White

Must-read: A U.S. historian explains in cogent and fascinating detail why he won’t be voting Republican for the foreseeable future.
(via Political Irony)

MythBusters go Breaking Bad ^[pictured] next spring. I think I just died from crystal-pure glee.

And finally, the “Greatest Generation” has a message about the election ^{[NSFW language]}:

Transcript: (click the [+/-] to open/close →)

[−]

Enter the Rosebud Nursing Home.

TITLE: A MESSAGE FROM THE GREATEST GENERATION

MARIE (97): I was born in 1915 during World War I. My first vote was in 1940 for Franklin D. Roosevelt, and I have not missed an election since. And I want the Republican Party to know: If your voter suppression throughout this beautiful country enables Romney to oust Barack Obama, we will burn this motherfucker down.

ELDERLY HISPANIC MAN: Sí se puede. (“Yes we can.”)

DOROTHI (75): I have four generations of family on this Earth and my life has been very blessed. And if the Republicans steal this election, I’m gonna track down Mitt Romney and give him the world’s biggest cock-punch! … What’s the matter, sonny? You never heard that phrase, “cock-punch”? Haha … Right in the nut-sack.

JOHN (85): I served during World War II. I’m the last of my buddies still here. And I’ve got a message for kids, Democrats, for anyone who cares about honest elections: If you let the Republicans do this to you again, after we die, we’re gonna look down on you from Heaven and we’re gonna make a point of watching you have sex every time.

Dorothi raises her binoculars with a vindictive grin.

JOHN (CONT’D): No matter how kinky!

MARIE: Especially if we’re related.

JOHN: The best way to stop the GOP from stealing the election is to make sure it isn’t even close. Go to votersrising.org.

ALL: Sign up and [?] the vote!

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: Friday, November 02, 2012

Eric Bodenweiser

Meet today’s “family values” Republican hypocrite ^[pictured] caught diddling other women male prostitutes children.
(via Joe. My. God.)

I’m quite happy with Microsoft’s decision to banhammer anyone caught being a sexist shitheel in Halo 4 on Xbox Live. Those who can’t play well with others shouldn’t play with them at all.
(via @BadAstronomer)

Glenn Beck in 2011: Political summer camps for kids are similar to “Hitler Youth”. Glenn Beck today: Sponsors new “Patriot Camps” to brainwash kids with wingnut-approved version of U.S. history.
(via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

And finally, Sweden continues to provide an optimistic glimpse of the future.
(via The Agitator)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.