It’s a Friday. The weirdest Friday of the year. Between a shortened (and therefore busier than usual) work week because of the holiday, holiday travel, and the odd place our news cycle is, this week’s links are less diverse than usual.
I forgot to mention last week that that was the final Friday of the year that I would be working. Between office closure for holidays and my personal tradition of taking Fridays in December as vacation days to give me time to work on holiday stuff, I’ll have short weeks until the second week of the new year. Yay
In other good news, we got through out holiday without any big fights or incidents.
Anyway, here are links to stories I found interesting, sorted by category.
Links of the Week
A Mysterious Giant Foam Blob Is Taking Over A City.
Stop Calling It Identity Politics — Its Civil Rights.
This week in awful news
Standing Rock protest: hundreds clash with police over Dakota Access Pipeline.
Dakota Access pipeline protester may lose her arm after small explosion, activists say.
News for queers and our allies:
Big Gay Fiction Giveaway – November 20-27.
What Does It Take To Shock John Waters?
Freddie Mercury’s Life Is the Story of HIV, Bisexuality, and Queer Identity.
Science!
“Strange Stars” Could Be the Weirdest Objects in the Universe.
Ant species cultivates coffee for accommodation.
Did NASA Mars Rover Find a Signature of Past Life?
NASA’s New Horizons Unveils Its Masterpiece: Pluto’s Interior!
The Asteroid That Killed the Dinosaurs Blew Right Through Earth’s Crust.
Drone Footage Shows How Massive Earthquake Ripped New Zealand Apart.
Rare faint dwarf galaxy found lurking in the halo of the Milky Way.
Ginkgo ‘living fossil’ genome decoded.
This week in Writing
BS “medical” tropes to stop using TODAY, 1/?.
How to Write Character Arcs. This is actually an index post linking to a bunch of posts about different aspects of creating character arcs.
The 3 Types of Character Arc – Change, Growth and Fall. Different writer, slightly different advice.
This Week in Covering the News
How Facebook Spreads Fake News And Anti-Muslim Views In Myanmar.
Where Do We Go from Here?
So about that call for unity, then.
oh and yes, this is going to be a thing for a while.
Jill Stein Just Raised $2.5 Million To Start Recounts In 3 States.
No, Trump, We Can’t Just Get Along.
This Week in Inclusion
This Thanksgiving, A Reminder of the Contributions of Immigrants.
This week in Difficult to Classify
Rigged election: Hillary Clinton’s early-voting lead in Florida was mathematically insurmountable.
This week in the deplorables
Trump surrogate cites Japanese internment camps as precedent for Muslim registry.
Alt-Right Gathering Exults in Trump Election With Nazi-Era Salute.
Cashing in BIGLY in Argentina!
Eric Bolling Is Trying To Cover His Bigoted Tracks (And Failing).
Wall Street Journal Editors Warn Trump – Draining The Swamp Starts With YOU.
FEC wants Trump to explain $1.3 million worth of ‘mistakes’ in campaign report.
DONALD TRUMP’S FIRST, ALARMING WEEK AS PRESIDENT-ELE.
Trump’s toughest transition test: the Trump Organization.
Why we’re saying ‘white nationalism’ instead of ‘alt-right’.
‘Hail Trump!’: White Nationalists Salute the President Elect.
9 of Mike Pence’s Most Controversial Stances Regarding Gay Rights, Abortion and Smoking.
This week in Politics:
As Clinton’s lead in popular vote passes 2 million, calls for ‘audit’ in key swing states grow.
Obama’s approval rating highest in seven years.
Farewells:
Florence Henderson, ‘The Brady Bunch’ mom, dies at 82.
Things I wrote:
Fire Retardant Malfunction will be my queercore cover band name.
Red cups, manufactured outrage, and twisted meanings.
Videos!
Queer Thanksgiving:
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A HERSHEY’S KISSES Family: The Nobles — A Holiday Tradition:
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President Obama Pardons the National Thanksgiving (“A corny-copia of Dad jokes…”):
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John Lennon – Imagine HD:
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Font Folly 