Thank goodness it’s Friday. Except I’m queuing this post up earlier than usual because once I left the office Wednesday night, I was on vacation. When this posts, I will be in the middle of my second day at NorWesCon 39. I had attended this convention faithfully for 26 years, until we decided to give it a pass a couple of years ago for various reasons. Then we skipped it again last year. It was kind of traumatic skipping the con, even though we had good reasons. I met my husband 20 years ago at a NorWesCon! Anyway, we’re going again this year, and I hope to spend a lot of quality time with some of my nerdiest friends!

Meanwhile, here are links to some of the interesting things I read on the web this week, sorted into various topic areas.

Links of the Week

33 And Never Been Kissed.

Ted Cruz and heavy metal rocker: Separated at birth?

This week in Privacy

Michael Wolff on Hulk Hogan’s $115M Verdict and Why Gawker Should Settle the Case.

Report: Apple developing at least 6 cloud infrastructure projects incl. servers to prevent snooping. “Apple has long suspected that servers it ordered from the traditional supply chain were intercepted during shipping, with additional chips and firmware added to them by unknown third parties in order to make them vulnerable to infiltration, according to a person familiar with the matter. At one point, Apple even assigned people to take photographs of motherboards and annotate the function of each chip, explaining why it was supposed to be there. Building its own servers with motherboards it designed would be the most surefire way for Apple to prevent unauthorized snooping via extra chips.”

FBI Vacates Today’s Apple Hearing.

Apple wasn’t ‘flouting’ iPhone order, judge says.

Apple’s Security Debate is Everyone’s Problem (Including Yours).

This Week in Diversity

All That Isn’t Said: Kaye M. talks Islamophobia in YA.

Reader Request Week 2016 #5: Pronouns.

This week in awful news

Everything is destroyed’: witnesses at Zaventen airport and Maelbeek metro on the bombings.

Militant Kurds claim Ankara bomb, German missions shut in Turkey.

Deadly fighting spreads in southeast Turkey after Ankara bomb.

Suicide bomber kills four, wounds 36 in Istanbul.

Brussels attacks: Two brothers behind Belgium bombings.

Since Paris, there have been hundreds of terrorist attacks — many that have gone unnoticed.

Mob trash university in hunt for ‘gay’ man.

This week in Difficult to Classify

When Did Porn Become Sex Ed?

What’s the largest number you can represent with 3 digits? Nope. It’s not 999.

This week in Evil People

An Anti-LGBT Hate Group Is Calling Themselves “Pediatricians” To Attack Transgender Youth.

News for queers and our allies:

The Pace of Queer Time.

LGBT NONDISCRIMINATION AND ANTI-LGBT BILLS ACROSS THE COUNTRY – Updated every Wednesday.

How Does It Feel? The Question I Wish You’d Ask Me as a Queer Man With Disabilities.

How a straight born-again Christian sports fan learned to love gay people.

This Tech Billionaire Is Going to War for Gay Rights.

The fascinating thing that happened when Apple CEO Tim Cook stood up for gay rights.

Science!

Lots of people like kinky sex psychologists call abnormal.

Cuba’s Had A Lung Cancer Vaccine For Years, And Now It’s Coming To The U.S..

Scientists have removed HIV from human immune cells using a new gene-editing technique.

Scientists just discovered a black hole that’s blasting the fastest ‘space wind’ in the known Universe.

The problem with a technology revolution designed primarily for men.

More ancient viruses lurk in our DNA than we thought.

Earth’s moon wandered off axis billions of years ago, study finds.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

Shameful Secrets of Comics Retailing: The Lingerie Connection.

This is Not a Wardrobe Door.

Regarding Tea and Jeopardy being included on a certain list.

Nineteen Puppy Four.

sad puppies 4: the… better behaving?

E Pluribus Hugo

Hugo Season 2016: The Return of the Puppies

This week in Writing

WHAT THE VICTORIANS DID TO ENGLISH GRAMMAR.

Culture war news:

Nixon Policy Advisor Admits He Invented War On Drugs to Suppress ‘Anti-War Left and Black People’.

“Ex-gay” or “conversion” therapy is harmful, and there is no scientific proof that it can change someone’s sexual orientation, says the World Psychiactric Association.

New Movie Incorporates Homophobic Stereotypes to Tell Anti-Gay Adoption Story.

POLITICS Supreme Court Rejects Attempt By Broke Red States To Kill Colorado’s Legal Pot, End Tax Windfall.

Arkansas City Councilor accused of asking restaurant server her gender identity and threatening to show her his genitals.

High school coach resigns amid ‘No Gay Thursday’ hazing.

North Carolina Enacts Law To Allow LGBT Discrimination.

NFL Wants to Sack Anti-Gay Bill in Georgia.

This guy thinks Safe Schools ‘turns kids gay’.

Ark Encounters is refusing to hire LGBT employees, and they’re asking taxpayers to foot the bill for discrimination..

Brownback signs bill allowing campus religious groups to restrict membership.

New Study Connects Suicide Rates of Transgender Teens to Bathroom Restrictions.

Mormon Lesbian Teen Was Forced to Carry Backpack of Stones to “Feel the Burden of Being Gay”.

This Week in the Clown Car

The Real Reason Republicans Won’t Rally Around Ted Cruz.

Ted Cruz Might Not Be The Zodiac Killer, But He Could Very Well Be The Lead Singer From 80s Christian Metal Band Stryper.

Let’s be honest – Donald Trump is a loser.

Ted Cruz: Police need to ‘patrol and secure’ Muslim neighborhoods.

Donald Trump Isn’t the Only One in His Campaign Interested in What White Supremacists on Twitter Have to Say.

Kasich Hits Back at Cruz Over Call to Police Muslims.

Trump threatens Cruz’s wife during Utah caucus, stirs feud.

Police officer: Trump protesters were ‘the most hateful, evil people I’ve ever seen’.

This week in Other Politics:

Melissa Gilbert won hearts as a child star. Can she win a seat in Congress?

Legalize It All: How to win the war on drugs.

Republican Elite’s Reign of Disdain.

Privilege is what allows Sanders supporters to say they’ll “never” vote for Clinton.

Farewells:

Guido Westerwelle: A man who loved freedom.

Things I wrote:

Keymasters and Gatekeepers?

Invisible or tragically dead… reflections on representation.

Confessions of a nerd.

Videos!

Time Travel Subway Car:

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GoGo Penguin – All Res (Official):

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Federico Albanese – Stellify {live from The Blue Hour}:

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