It’s Friday! A glorious Friday that did not arrive a moment too soon. I should have more witty things to say, but I’m just soooo tired.
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
‘Nosferatu’ Director F.W. Murnau’s Head Reportedly Stolen From Grave.
This week in Difficult to Classify
The Biggest Threat to Americans? Other Americans With Guns.
Kate Knibbs: Some Slimy Clickbait Dickhead Stole My Identity to Blog for Elite Daily.
John Oliver Throws a Red Flag on Taxpayer Funded Sports Stadiums: VIDEO.
Falsehoods programmers believe about time.
An ‘unsettling observation’ during plane crash survivor’s media circus.
Science!
I would link to the New Yorker article that has scared everyone about a big earthquake wiping out the northwest, but I’ve run out of free reads at the New Yorker, so: What are the odds a giant earthquake will devastate Seattle? Experts weigh in.
The Story of Cascadia’s “Really Big One” Has a Lot to Do with Colonial Hubris.
Thanks To The Magnus Effect, This Basketball Does Something Pretty Weird When Dropped.
Rosetta: preparing for perihelion.
Postage for Pluto: A 29-cent stamp pissed off scientists so much they tacked it to New Horizons.
Pluto and Its Collision-Course Place in Our Solar System.
Autogynephilia is the phlogiston of sexology.
A jet engine powered by lasers and nuclear explosions?
Another one: Homophobes likely to be closet gays, study finds.
Neuroscientists decipher brain’s noisy code.
The Farthest Object in the Universe.
Velociraptor’s Cousin Flaunted Fabulous Feathers, Tiny Arms.
Scientists in Oregon develop bacon-flavored seaweed.
Thousands of critically endangered turtles rescued in the Philippines. Thanks to Miertam for the link.
Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!
Why Gaming’s ‘Breakout’ Gay Character Matters.
Online life for authors. The good, the bad and the ugly.
Culture war news:
An oldie, but a goodie: The Distress of the Privileged.
Conservative PACs raise millions, spend little on politics. This should be news to no one…
Gay Man Sues Bible Publisher For $70M For Causing Him Distress, Turns Out He’s Not Crazy. Note: the man filed the suit seven years ago and it was promptly thrown out of court.
Oregon bakers forced to pay $135,000 after sharing lesbian couple’s home address
Did Your US Senator Just Vote To Allow LGBT Students To Be Bullied? Here’s The List.
Tennessee County Where Entire Clerks’ Office Resigned Over Marriage Equality Has A New Clerk.
9 horrible things the Christian right does because “God” said it was OK.
American Family Association Spokesman Bryan Fischer Tweets Link to White Supremacist Site. Even after deleting the tweet, he continues to quote the white supremacist’s flawed statistics.
Celibate Gay Christian Beloved of Religious Right Suddenly Less Beloved.
Senate votes down federal protections for K-12 LGBT students.
Few School Districts Have Anti-Bullying Policies Protecting LGBT Students.
Missouri County Cancels ‘Mourning’ For Gay Marriage After Citizens Protest.
Anti-Gay Preacher: Supreme Court Justices Blackmailed By Secret Gay Lovers.
Your Bigotry Threatens Children, Not My Homosexuality.
Satanists are masters at trolling conservatives — just ask Megyn Kelly.
For the sake of the gospel, drop the persecution complex .
This Week in the Clown Car
Jeb Bush is terrible. But… here is the conversation that is being set up for this election.
Santorum Calls For A Constitutional Amendment To Ban Same-Sex Marriage. Note that the other wingnut pesidential hopefuls decided it was slightly more reasonable to call for a constitutional amendment giving states the right to define marriage. Which is slightly less bigoted-sounding.
Jeb Bush says never make nuclear deals with dictators. His brother and father both did.
Scott Walker makes a clown of himself: Foreign policy-challenged candidate disastrously flubs Iran.
Donald Trump is That Awkward Moment When the GOP Hears What it Sounds Like.
This week in Other Politics:
The Republican Party’s secret motto: “Don’t tread on my right to tread on you.”
Grieving Joe Biden Focuses on the Job He Has Now, Not the Next One.
Watch: Bernie Sanders Obliterates John Boehner’s Absurd Smea.
Katrina Vanden Heuvel Attacks Corporate Media For Marginalizing Sanders.
Hillary To Jeb Bush: The Problem Is CEOs, Not Their Workers.
Federal court to hear challenge to North Carolina election laws.
TSA’s response to criticism: Longer airport lines. Whenever the TSA screws up, it’s passengers who get punished.
Republicans Are Acting Like Democrats. Democrats Are Acting Like Republicans. Voters, from one statistical measure of candidate preferences.
This Week in Racism
Why The Media Refuse To Connect Those Church Fires With Race.
Attorneys: Mississippi Cop Kevin Herrington Said ‘I’m Gonna Get That N****r’ Before Fatal Chokehold.
Native Americans Get Shot By Cops at an Astonishing Rate.
This Week in Love vs Racism
MATTERS OF FAITH: THE ROLE WHITE CHURCHES MUST PLAY IN ENDING RACISM.
This Week in Sexism
Whose Stories Get Told? and Who Gets to Tell the Stories?.
News for queers and our allies:
The Heartbreaking Reason Why This Mom Had To Tell Her Kids ‘Not All Mommies Love Their Babies The Way I Love You’. I needed a kleenex.
A DRAG QUEEN’S FINAL TRIBUTE TO THE GRANDMOTHER WHO LOVED AND ACCEPTED HIM. I cried after reading this one, too.
The Subtle Language Of Sounding Gay.
The Gay Wage: Why We Earn Less than Straight Men.
Mayor Of Conservative Texas Town Delivers Powerful Response To Gay Marriage Opponents.
Salem, Mo. Native Counters Anti-Gay Flag Vote with LGBT Scholarship.
Federal judge orders Utah to put same-sex couple on their child’s birth certificate.
Gay marriage ruling leaves U.S. firms unclear on spousal benefits.
Sexual Orientation Discrimination Is Barred By Existing Law, Federal Commission Rules.
Farewells:
Roger Rees, Tony Winner and Robin Colcord on ‘Cheers,’ Dies.
Things I wrote:
Been there, oh how I’ve been there and done that….
Timebomb from the stars – more of why I love sf/f.
Videos!
100 Years of Men’s Fashion in 3 Minutes ★ Mode.com:
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The Young Professionals – S.O.S (Abba Cover):
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Veruca Salt – Laughing In The Sugar Bowl:
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Belly Rubs for Endangered Clouded Leopard Cub (thanks to Sharpclaw for the link):
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Font Folly 
Looking at the politics articles…
This is probably overly optimistic of me, but I’m really hoping the Republican party tears itself apart with the 2016 election. And I don’t say that out of a “let’s wipe out everyone in that party” kind of way. I **want** there to be two (or, ideally, more) viable political parties. Just, in my lifetime, the Republican party has not stood for the values it claims to: of more individual freedoms, less government control, and fiscal conservatism. Instead, it has represented a lock-step, united-at-all-costs-even-in-face-of-hypocrisy hate-machine that defines itself more by what it stands **against** rather than what it stands **for**.
Hate motivates for a while, but eventually a platform of nothing but **will** break. I’m hoping that we’re seeing that starting to happen, and that the party divides itself into at least two parties: the Tea Party mouth-foamers who have been defining the party lately, and those who actually want the supposed ideals of the party.
I can wish, anyway.
I hope to finish a post about this next week… ^_^