Woman fired for denouncing misbehavior at tech conference

Adria Richards, a technology “evangelist” for email marketing firm SendGrid, was attending a developer conference when two men seated behind her began reportedly began making crude sexual jokes. Eventually having enough of this, Richards saw fit to snap their picture and call them out on Twitter:

After someone made a comment about forking a software repository, the two allegedly began making jokes about forking in a sexual manner and “big dongles.” After listening for some time, Richards got fed up, took a picture of the two, and posted it to Twitter:

Not cool.Jokes about forking repo's in a sexual way and "big" dongles.Right behind me #pycon twitter.com/adriarichards/…

— Adria Richards (@adriarichards) March 17, 2013

The result: Playhaven “conducted a thorough investigation”, which led to one of the men being fired.

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.

Daily Blend: Thursday, July 28, 2012

Mecha. RL. Srsly.

Sweet: Blogger (in Draft) now allows custom post permalinks (URLs), which the perspicacious observer may note I’ve already put to use for recent posts.

Shocker: U.S.’s search warrants in its witch hunt against MegaUpload ruled illegal by a New Zealand court.

Didn’t see that coming: Notorious “ex-gay” Christianist group Exodus International denounces gay deconversion therapy.
(via Right Wing Watch)

Chuck Norris apparently has a thing for plagiarism (and ghost-writing).
(via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

Is Japan building a real-life giant Gundam-style mecha ^[pictured] for civil defense? (Why, yes.)

I Side With: Which U.S. presidential candidate best matches your policies? (I’m apparently tied at 87% with Obama and Green Party’s Jill Stein.)
(via Joe. My. God.)

Oldie but goodie: “While chronic leukemia was reportedly worried about how its association with the Republican Party would affect its public image […]”
(via Joe. My. God.)

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

Tags: Blogger • High Court of New Zealand • Helen Winkelmann • MegaUpload • FBI • Kim Dotcom • Exodus International • Alan Chambers • ex-gay • gay deconversion therapy • gay reparative therapy • Chuck Norris • Wonkette • plagiarism • ghost-writing • Todd DuBord • Gundam • robots • mechas • Japan • Barack Obama • Jill Stein • I Side With • The Onion • leukemia • Republicans • Republican Party • healthcare reform • ObamaCare • Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act • PPACA

Daily Blend: Thursday, February 16, 2012

Rep. Kim Pearson (R-IA)

Dear mobile readers: I have re-enabled Mobile View and added a note in the comments terms of use that messages posted in Mobile View will be transferred to the main Disqus platform.

Iowa Rep. Kim Pearson ^[pictured] (R) introduces most extreme anti-abortion bill yet, outlawing all abortions and sentencing doctors to life in prison.

Chicken-farming, Matrix-style. Or, how to turn meat-lovers into vegetarians.
(via The Daily Grail)

“[The Girl Scouts] were encouraging girls to embrace whoever they were; it didn't matter what choices they made, as long as they were true to themselves. That was a concern.”
(via Joe. My. God.)

Whoa. 80% of Tasmanian devils have been wiped out by cancer; scientists doing what they can to save the rest.

Anthropomorphic tumor Ted Nugent’s top 10 greatest hits. How telling it is that conservative groups are eager to host him. (Or The Simpsons.)

And another one: Anti-gay conservative radio host Michael Berry investigated for hit & run after leaving a drag show at a gay bar.
(via Joe. My. God.)

6 Terrifying User Agreements You've Probably Accepted.

Americans love Canada. (Sitting in a tree?)

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

Tags: Kim Pearson • Iowa • felonies • Tea Party • Republicans • chickens • poultry • farming • The Matrix • Girl Scouts • American Heritage Girls • Shanna Stewart • Tasmanian devil • cancer • Tasmania • Devil Facial Tumor Disease • DFTD • Ted Nugent • National Rifle Association • NRA • right-wing media • conservatives • The Simpsons • Michael Berry • drag shows • gay bears • hit & run • EULA • Canada • United States • USA • Gallup

Daily Blend: Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Laurie Higgins

Housekeeping: I added a new myth (A18: “Atheists/Evolutionists believe in social Darwinism”) and also cleaned up the hundreds of excess post labels that I never use anymore. (Some older posts may be oddly or even non-tagged as a result.)

Disgustingly predictable: Illinois Family Institute’s head bigot Laurie Higgins ^[pictured] manages to twist the heartbreaking Rolling Stone exposé on gay teen suicides into an attack on those poor, maligned homophobic conservatives.

Excellent: Animal rights extremist Camille Marino finally faces some sort of comeuppance.

CONT’D: Part 2 of Radley Balko’s series on the war over prescription painkillers. (Part 1)
(via The Agitator)

Media Matters debunks Right-wing lies about electric cars.

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

Tags: atheists • evolutionists • social Darwinism • Laurie Higgins • Illinois Family Institute • Sabrina Rubin Erdely • Rolling Stone • Anoka, MN • Camille Marino • Negotiation Is Over! • Donal O'Leary • painkillers • opioids • CDC • DEA • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention • Drug Enforcement Administration • electric cars • right-wing media • conservatives • Media Matters • Media Matters for America • MMfA

Daily Blend: Sunday, February 05, 2012

Saeed Malekpour

1) Canadian-born man develops photo uploading software. 2) Porn site uses said software without man’s knowledge. 3) Iran accuses man of making porn sites and sentences him to death. 4) Iran court quashes execution after human rights outrage. 5) Iranian supreme court reinstates death sentence.
(via The Agitator)

War on Terror arrives in Canada: Québec Muslim accused of terrorism after encouraging work colleagues to “blow away” the competition.
(via @radleybalko)

I somehow neglected to link to this lengthy, detailed and utterly heartbreaking exposé on the war waged by Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) district of Anoka, MN against gay teens, who are killing themselves in droves amidst endless fundagelical-fueled homophobia.

Money-charging French mapmaker has court fine Google for “anti-competitive” Google Maps (ie. because it’s free).
(via The Agitator)

Awesomely awesome interactive map of the entire known universe. (Includes Minecraft for extra geek cred.)
(via @jooon)

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

Tags: Saeed Malekpour • Iran • War on Terror • Muslims • Canada • Quebec, CA • gay teens • gays • homophobia • teen suicides • Anoka, MN • Anoka-Hennepin school district • Michele Bachmann • Christians • Evangelical Christians • Evangelicals • France • Bottin Cartographes • Google • Google Maps • universe • Minecraft

Those dang technological regressives

We’ve just escaped the age of telephone receiver, and now, unseen forces of malice – and the Japanese – are working to drag us back there again:

Say no to archaic telephony gimmickry!

(via @radleybalko)

Tags: Moshi Moshi • telephones • cellphones • mobile phones

Daily Blend: Saturday, January 21, 2012

Gov. Steve Beshear (D-KY)

• Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear ^[pictured] (D) releases yearly budget with huge cuts to K-12 education – and huge tax breaks for Ken Ham’s Creationist amusement park.

• Sad: Bill Maher defends SOPA without having read it. “[J]ust because you’re sitting at your computer in your pajama bottoms doesn’t mean you’re not stealing.”
  (via @radleybalko)

• “Newt Gingrich is to polyamory as rape is to “making love”.”
  (via Blag Hag)

• Sad but true. Though, I wonder what possible legal basis they could conjure up for banning it.

• Vox Day: British atheists should avoid conflict with intolerant Muslims by supporting Christian domination. Or something.

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

Tags: Kentucky • Steve Beshear • Ark Encounter • Ken Ham • education • Bill Maher • Stop Online Piracy Act • SOPA • filesharing • Newt Gingrich • polyamory • open marriages • adultery • Can I Park Here? • apps • parking • New York City • NYC • Michael Fasano • Muslims • Islam • atheists • Vox Day • Jesus and Mo • Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society • University College London • Christianity

Misplaced Snark of the Day: Siri’s women’s healthcare problem

From libertarian journalist Adam Thierer:

are Onion writers penning @ACLU petitions these days? I can't figure out if I'm supposed to take this seriously: bit.ly/v3YSW

The ACLU petition-in-question is to ask that Apple fix an apparent glitch that renders Siri, the voice-activated “personal assistant” program for the iPhone 4S, utterly unable to locate various types of women’s healthcare services, such as abortion clinics and even access to birth control.

But apparently, that’s only a problem worth taking seriously to us liberal types – after all, failing to refer needy women to appropriate healthcare services, even when they’re readily available in the area, is really just silly.

(via @radleybalko)

Tags: Adam Thierer • Siri • ACLU • Apple • iPhone 4S • abortion clinics • women's healthcare

Daily Blend: Monday, November 28, 2011

Kevin Lorenzo Brooks

• U.S. Government hijacks yet another bunch of websites accused of online piracy.
  (via @normative)

• Florida cop shoots at unarmed & non-violent man ^[pictured] – who’s then charged with “aggravated assault with a deadly weapon”.
  (via @JoeKa1)

• Five-year-old with ADHD arrested and charged with battery on a police officer. Let’s be thankful he didn’t spit, too!
  (via @radleybalko)

• Streisand Effect, cont’d: Burzynski Clinic flack threatens another skeptical blogger, 17-year-old Rhys Morgan, with legal action.
  (via @jennifurret)

• MORE: Phil Plait, PZ Myers and Jen McCreight all weigh in on the Burzynski Clinic quackery/legal thuggery affair.

• FOLLOW-UP: Kansas Gov. Brownback (R) apologizes that his office “over-reacted” to high-schooler’s insulting tweet.
  (via @PersonalFailure)

• Ever suspect that crosswalk controls and office thermostats don’t work, or that even hospital weight scales are off? Eight everyday gadgets that lie to you.

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

Tags: filesharing • counterfeit • Homeland Security • copyright infringement • civil forfeiture • Orlando, FL • Kevin Brooks • false charges • Michael Davis • Stockton, CA • Rio Calaveras Elementary • Frank Gordo • Burzynski Clinic • Rhys Morgan • Stanislaw Burzynski • Marc Stephens • anti-neoplastons • Phil Plait • PZ Myers • Jennifer McCreight • Emma Sullivan • Sam Brownback • Twitter • Shawnee Mission East High School • fuel gauges • crosswalks • elevators • weight scales • hospitals • thermostats • HVAC • GPS • speedometers • blood pressure • cellphones

Daily Blend: Thursday, October 20, 2011 – New format!

Fmr Pres. Festus Mogae

Starting today, I’m turning the Daily Blend into an evening feature. I’ll accumulate links throughout the day and then post them at or after 8 PM as a sort of nightcap. Should make for smoother mornings on my end.

• Former Botswana president calls for legalization of homosexuality, saying arresting gays doesn’t help battle HIV rates.
  (via Joe. My. God.)

• Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) pushes bill to prohibit women and doctors from discussing abortion over the Internet.

• Richard Dawkins explains why he won’t debate pseudo-philosopher William Lane Craig. Cue accusations of cowardice from cretins like Vox Day in 3 … 2 … 1 …
  (via RichardDawkins.Net)

• … Aaand right on cue. You can set your watch by him. Even includes bonus irrelevant appeal to his own popularity, as if that had anything to do with why others refuse to debate him. (I’ll also note his remarkably foolish claim to having a larger readership (daily average: 7,330 visitors^*) than PZ Myers’s (daily average for SB blog: 22,553 visitors^*). And that’s with PZ’s old, virtually deprecated site.)

• I so wish this were real.
  (via The Agitator)

• Shit That Siri Says. Hilarious. And makes me want one.
  (via The Agitator)

• Beware of angry inter-door bees.

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

* As of today in afternoon (I forget the time, exactly).

Tags: Botswana • Festus Mogae • homosexuality • gays • HIV • Jim DeMint • Richard Dawkins • William Lane Craig • Vox Day • PZ Myers • Vox Popoli • Pharyngula • Outkube • The Onion • Siri • iPhone 4S • Shit That Siri Says • STSS • bees

Daily Blend: Friday, October 07, 2011

Pictured: Nigerian prince(ess)

I don’t have much to say about Steve Jobs’s passing, not being an Apple user, though I would note that the fact that millions learned of his passing on a device he invented attests to his momentous legacy.

• Federal judge refuses to punish CIA for destroying interrogation tapes because the CIA says it won’t do it again. Wait, why are you laughing?
  (via @ggreenwald)

• Man’s desperate last-ditch attempt to overturn 145-year prison sentence for sex crime that “victim” now says never happened.
  (via The Agitator)

• Topeka, Kansas considers decriminalizing domestic violence to save money.

• Sarah Palin finally drops the pretense and preemptively quits the U.S. presidency. Ed Brayton summarizes my sentiments perfectly. This leaves us with only 15 more clowns on the Republican roster.
  (via @BreakingNews)

• Speaking of which, The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart reveals how Palin took fundraising into “Nigerian prince territory” with some help from Bristol.
  (via @todayspolitics)

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

Tags: Steve Jobs • Apple • CIA • Alvin Hellerstein • Charles Farrar • Sacha Farrar • Topeka, KS • domestic violence • domestic abuse • austerity measures • Sarah Palin • Ed Brayton • SarahPAC • Bristol Palin • scams • fraud • Jon Stewart • The Daily Show

Real-life ‘Minecraft’ block

Random coolness:

My transcript: (click the [+/-] to expand/collapse →)

[−]

Man knocks on a Minecraft-grass-block-textured cube, which shows Minecraft-like damage until it “breaks” into particles. He then switches the displayed texture to a wood block (ie. tree trunk) and repeats the breakage. (Read description below this transcript for technical details.)

From the video page:

There’s a piezo element taped to the box and hooked up to an arduino. The arduino senses the physical impact with the piezo element and sends serial data to my PC. Processing picks up the serial signal and takes care of the projection and interaction (particles, etc).

I have no idea what most of that means. But it’s still cool.

(via @Toumal)

Tags: Ben Purdy • Minecraft

Daily Blend: Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Ryan Rhodes

• Tea Partier ^[pictured]: “Stop calling us terrorists!” Obama: “Stop acting like terrorists.” Tea Partier: “Make us!”
  (via Right Wing Watch)

• FBI uses bullshit statistics to scare you into buying new anti-child-abduction app.
  (via The Agitator)

• Fear Without Function: A short but excellent debunking of the myth that sex offender registries accomplish anything (good) at all.
  (via The Agitator)

• Today in local news hysteria: Creepy man spotted taking pictures of little children playing at playground! (Maybe it’s grampa again.)
  (via The Agitator)

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

Tags: Barack Obama • Ryan Rhodes • Tea Party • terrorists • FBI • kidnapping • child abductions • Child ID App • sex offender registries • photographers • playgrounds • WPLG Miami

Fail Quote: Comfort accuses robotician of divine copyright infringement

Festo SmartBird

From Ray Comfort ^{[link added]}:

In mid-2011, Markus Fischer and his creative team at Festo built "SmartBird"--a large, lightweight robot, modeled on a seagull. This amazing flying robot was unique in that it flapped its wings like a real bird. When Fischer spoke about his creation, the large audience sat quietly and listened to his every word. However, after they saw it fly around the room in which they sat, they gave him a standing ovation. They praised him for his brilliance.

Plagiarism is the copying of someone else's ideas, and representing it as your own original work. Fischer copied his bird directly from God's design, and humbly took praise for it as if it was his own creation.

Pssst – Ray. Copyright law only applies to humans. And not even consistently, depending on where you are. Unless you mean to tell us that God also inserted his own version of intellectual property rights somewhere in that holy book of yours?

Also, claiming that all the research, development, experimentation and overall long and hard work that Fischer & co. put into their creation is somehow nullified simply because they were copying an original design (and I say those last few works with a huge metaphorical asterisk) is lazy and dishonest. The only way anyone ever learns to do anything on their own, at least at first, is through mimicry. It’s how we learn to walk and talk, to paint or compose music, to cook and to erect skyscrapers. You copy someone or something else until you get the hang of it and are then able to go out on your own. Yet, I don’t see you claiming such methods to be copyright infringement. Where’s the limit?

Oh, and God didn’t design the seagull (or any bird), evolution did, and only in the sense that natural processes led to the animal’s modern shape and function, rather than it being “intelligently designed”, and I’ve completely lost you already, haven’t I?

Tags: Ray Comfort • Markus Fischer • Festo • SmartBird • robots • God • copyright infringement • plagiarism

Daily Blend: Saturday, July 23, 2011

Lareko Williams

My deepest sympathies to all those directly and indirectly affected by the ongoing nightmare in Oslo, Norway.

• Charlotte, NC police suspends all use of tasers pending a safety review after second death [pictured]. Wish more departments did this.
  (via The Agitator)

• Victory! Notoriously anti-science Texas State Board of Education unanimously votes (8-0) in favor of scientifically accurate textbooks over Creationist-backed bullshit. Sounds almost too good to be true.
  (via Right Wing Watch)

• MIT researchers teach computer to play (and win at) Civilization by reading manual, prove most humans really are stupider than a machine.
  (via The Daily Grail)

• Russia launches biggest radio telescope ever: 30× bigger than the Earth, image resolution 10,000× higher than Hubble’s.
  (via The Daily Grail)

• Template for nearly every atheist/theist debate in history.
  (via Friendly Atheist)

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

Tags: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department • Charlotte, NC • Tasers • Lareko Williams • Darryl Turner • Texas • Texas State Board of Education • MIT • Civilization • Spektr-R observatory • RadioAstron • Blonde Nonbeliever • atheists • theists

Daily Blend: Thursday, July 21, 2011

More childish than children

• Attempted doggycide: Cop finds a dog injured by a car and takes it to the vet bludgeons it and then buries it alive. (Dog survives. Cop fired.)
  (via The Agitator)

• Stephen Colbert does It Gets Better.
  (via Joe. My. God.)

• The Journal of Cosmology: Bad at science journalism, even worse at petty vindictive trolling [pictured]. Some people really can’t take criticism.

• Top 15 auto-correct fuck-ups of all time. (Well, since October 2010, anyway.)
  (via @radleybalko)

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

Tags: Randy Taylor • dogs • Stephen Colbert • It Gets Better Project • The Journal of Psychology • Cosmology.com • PZ Myers • trolling • Damn You Auto Correct! • funny

Daily Blend: Monday, June 20, 2011

Apple iCloud logo

Corporations are people. Psychopathic lying assholes with less human empathy than Jeffrey Dahmer and a bloodier legacy than al-Qaeda could ever dream of … but still, people.

• Radley Balko: Myths of the Criminal Justice System: Part 1/3. Features Double Jeopardy, conviction-less punishment and “ignorance” defense.

• Caveat emptor: Apple’s iCloud service [pictured] apparently doesn’t receive Fourth Amendment protections.
  (via @normative)

• Missing the critical difference between remarking that women who knowingly, deliberately and willingly dress sexily (as part of their job) do, in fact, look sexually appealing, and actual objectification. And griping over the presence of the teenaged daughter is little more than pearl-clutching.

• AlterNet article “5 Myths Atheists Believe about Religion” contains some notable truths, but also a gross mischaracterization of Greta Christina’s claim that “all religions are equally crazy”. (My comment, here.)
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) blames massive Arizona wildfires on illegal immigrants. Of course.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• BeautifulPeople.com suffers “ugly invasion” due to “Shrek virus”. No comment.

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

Tags: Radley Balko • iCloud • Fourth Amendment • Jennifer McCreight • Hooters Girls • Robert Sherman • sexual objectification • Greta Christina • Be Scofield • atheists • John McCain • illegal immigrants • Arizona • wildfires • BeautifulPeople.com • beauty • vanity • Shrek virus • dating websites

How we did stuff: 15 years ago vs. today

Kinda creepy, when you think about it:

Dear God. We’ve become drones.

… Eh, whatevs. Back to typing.

(via Joe. My. God.)

This robot hand is better than your fleshy one

Next stop: the future, ladies and gentlemen.

Insanely cool … and equally freaky. (Does that mean our inevitable robotic overlords will be giant sentient claws …?)

Geekologie has more.

(via The Daily Grail)

Tags: robots