It’s Friday! And despite being a shorter week than usual because I was on vacation Monday, I am really worn out and glad the weekend is almost here!

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

Link of the Week

This SuperHero Movie By A Nigerian Teen Was Shot Using A Blackberry Bold 5. And it’s awesome! Go look at his YouTube Channel!

This week in privacy

How many times have I said with enough metadata you can rule the world? Scientists show telephone metadata can reveal surprisingly sensitive personal information.

And other news:

Why Are Strippers More Heavily Vetted Than Uber Drivers

Meet the meticulously hand-crafted replica of Boston’s streetcar system—and the man who made it.

CAPITAL CRIMES, PART 1 : SHOUT, SHOUT, LET IT ALL OUT: GLENN FLEISHMAN ON THE TYPOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF USING ALL-CAPS TO DENOTE SHOUTING.

Transgender Mafia Don Murdered in Naples. But it’s not what you think!

The war on cops is a myth: FBI Confirms 2015 Was One Of The Safest Years Ever For Cops.

This Week in Diversity

Protect And Serve: The Detectives Of Blaxploitation.

“But They’re Ours”— John Jennings Talks about Black Superheroes.

Racism is the bogeyman.

This week in Evil People

This one worried me when it first came up. Now the idiot has admitted he was lying. On top of that, though he claims to be a pastor of a gay-friendly church, he doesn’t seem to actually be associated with any church at all: Gay Pastor Who Sued Whole Foods for Writing Slur on His Cake Finally Admits He Made It All Up.

News for queers and our allies:

Coming Out on Instagram.

I Went to a Eurovision Sex Party.

Jesus, Friend of Sinners…Except Not You.

A Remarkable Life: One 95-Year-Old Shares Her Hope For Fellow Trans People.

Mariah Carey Remixes LGBTQ Acronym To Accept GLAAD Award.

A Major Branch Of The U.S. Military Will Now Be Led By An Openly Gay Man.

Majority of Older Americans Now Support Gay Marriage, Poll Finds.

The Plot Thickens In The Gay Pride Dispute Between Alaska & Delta.

Science!

Rare harvest mice return to Hampshire village where they were first discovered.

Journey of shuttle fuel tank to California saves four people in Pacific.

Scientists may have figured out how the world’s tallest animal got its long neck.

Why psychedelics could be a new class of antidepressant.

Evidence of gargantuan asteroid strike unearthed in Australia.

SCIENTISTS HAVE DEVELOPED AN ALGORITHM THAT CAN DETECT SEIZURES UP TO 20 MINUTES IN ADVANCE.

Dog sex cancer’s global march mapped in DNA.

There Are Whales Alive Today Who Were Born Before Moby Dick Was Written.

Giant tsunamis washed over ancient Mars.

Killer Nile crocodiles in Florida? Experts say it’s possible.

Do women really go for ‘bad boys’? Here’s the science that settles the question.

What Science Says About the Bathroom Debate.

Hubble just captured one of the coolest photos of Mars ever taken.

Geology Is Breaking Apart Over When the Americas Came Together.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

Podcast: How to Win Games and Beat People

The 2015 Nebula Awards, the Bram Stoker Awards, the Eurovision Song Contest… and a bit about football.

The Many Faces Of “Rocky Horror’s” Dr. Frank-N-Furter, From Tim Curry To Laverne Cox.

Author Spotlight: Alyssa Wong.

Reviewer compares the DC movie with the gay porn parody, and you will probably not be surprised at the outcome: Batman v Superman vs Batman v Superman: A Gay Porn Parody.

This week in Writing

Keep your story promise: Establish theme early and stick with it..

PHOTOS: Lost Original “Rocky Horror” Polaroids Were Discovered In NYC Subway.

This Week in History

34 Vintage Ads That Prove The Good Old Days Weren’t So Good.

Culture war news:

A Conservative Christian Politician Left the Porn Tabs Open on Screenshots He Posted to Facebook.

WHAT IS THE “VITO RUSSO TEST” AND WHY DOES IT MATTER TO LGBT FILM?

PORN-AGAIN CHRISTIANS: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A BIBLICAL LITERALIST LAUNCHES A SEX SITE?

Atoning For Daughter’s Satanic T-Shirt, Arizona Dad Sacrifices the Family Dog To God.

After Azealia Banks’ antigay rant and Twitter ban, Bette Midler acts important question.

Christian High School Says It Has the Right to Expel You if You Have a Gay Sibling at Home.

House Passes Defense Bill Allowing Discrimination Against LGBT Workers.

Gay Mormons, reparative therapy, and the safe spaces of conservative religion.

This week in Other Politics:

Donald Trump Is Not Expanding the GOP.

Donald Trump Refuses to Reveal His Tax Rate: ‘It’s None of Your Business’.

How Donald Trump Is Already Surrounding Himself With Fervent Homophobes.

House Dems Outraged After GOPers Switch Votes To Defeat LGBT Measure.

Sanders Camp Flirts with Going Full “Burn It Down”.

Transgender Candidate Danni Askini Drops Out of State House Race. I was very sad last week to get the email from Danni saying she was dropping out of the race. But since she’s doing so to work on the fight against the anti-trans initiative headed for our ballot, I can’t fault her.

This Week in Misogyny

Until I was a man, I had no idea how good men had it at work.

Men Are Sabotaging The Online Reviews Of TV Shows Aimed At Women.

Farewells:

Comic book artist Darwyn Cooke dies at 53.

Morley Safer dies at 84: A reluctant voice on camera, he changed television news.

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 5/14/2016: Molester going to prison.

Anti-trans bigot demonstrates that bullies are cowards… (duh!).

Who is excluding who, now?

Robots Aren’t People, Are They? – more of why I love sf/f.

Videos!

San Cisco – Fred Astaire:

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This insane and hilarious flashback to the 80s popped up on more than one spot this week and I couldn’t resist posting: BOY TOWN GANG – Can’t Take My Eyes Off You:

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We The Brave – Kiss:

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

Link of the Week

This man was told his gay brother went missing by his Christian parents, decades later he found him. You might find yourself crying…

And other news:

Raccoon causes 38,000 Seattle customers to lose power. Our house was one of the places that lost power in the wee small hours. Also my husband’s workplace, where he said he spent more than half the next day getting systems back up and running. The report claims that one of the raccoons survived.

The day we discovered our parents were Russian spies.

I accidentally hired an Orthodox rabbi for my father’s funeral — and he was great.

Report: “Seattle’s School Libraries: a Stark Example of Rich and Poor”.

Who is the ‘Ivory Queen’?

This Week in Tech

No, Apple Music is not deleting tracks off your hard drive — unless you tell it to.

Podcast: Apple Music doesn’t just delete files willy-nilly, but it’s way too easy to delete them by mistake.

This week in Health

Dissociation is scary. Dissociation is safety.

News for queers and our allies:

Florida’s oldest high school just crowned its first same-sex couple as prom king and queen.

A 4-year-old boy with a doll inspired hundreds of parents to share their sons’ fabulous taste in toys.

Queer Subtext in The Little Mermaid, From Hans Christian Andersen’s Original to Disney’s Adaptation.

The line in Loretta Lynch’s defense of transgender rights that made everyone cry.

Science!

Correcting errors is now anti-religious bigotry?

Scientists reconstruct baffling 250-million-year-old aquatic reptile with a strange hammerhead mouth.

John Oliver Explains Why There Are So Many B.S. Scientific Studies.

This Might Be the Weirdest Thing That’s Ever Happened to Earth’s Atmosphere.

Gene therapy stops rare childhood brain disease.

First report of all the world’s plants finds 1 in 5 species facing extinction.

New plant species discovered in 2015 – in pictures.

Zombie crabs: Barnacle infects king crab populations.

It’s not about to blow, but magma is moving under Mount St. Helens.

Suffocating the Ocean: Oxygen-depleted oceans have preceded many mass extinctions in Earth’s past.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

DARKWING DUCK #1 REVIEW.

Reading Harry Potter books makes children MENTALLY ILL says headmaster who warns letting them become ‘addicted’ to fantasy novels is as bad as feeding them ‘heaps of sugar’. Of course, since he defines a vivid imagination as mental illness, you realize what a nutjob he is…

This week in Writing

Fanfiction and the “Damned Mob of Scribbling Women”.

This Week in History

Meet the costume-wearing Irish priest who saved thousands of Romans from the Nazis.

Culture war news:

Arkansas Judge Resigns After Thousands of Photos Found on His Computer Reveal He Paddled Nude Male Defendants in Exchance for Leniency.

I’ve been trying to avoid linking to Huffington Post because I think a multi-billion dollar company should pay its writers, but sometimes I can’t find the same post anywhere else: The Truth About Homophobia In The Black Community.

Alabama Chief Justice Faces Removal From Bench Over Same-Sex Marriage Stance.

Someone called Steve Austin a SJW… Then this happened. We need more social justice ass-kickers like Steve, obviously!

Methodist Ministers Come Out to Protest Church’s Stance on Queer Issues.

Poll: 6-in-10 oppose bills like the North Carolina transgender bathroom law.

Eurovision reverses flag policy after banning ‘political’ waving of rainbow flag.

Chris Wallace crushes NC gov.: ‘Let it go… there’s no case of transgender people molesting girls’.

North Carolina’s transgender bathroom bill is on flimsy legal ground. Scrap it now.

As U.S. Attitudes Change, Some Evangelicals Dig In; Others Adapt.

North Carolina’s ‘bathroom bill’ battle embarrasses residents on both sides.

This Week in the Clown Car

Think Pieces About MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE And How I Could Possibly Be Wrong About Trump.

This week in Other Politics:

The media myth of the working-class Reagan Democrats.

TRANSGENDER RIGHTS AND THE END OF THE NEW SOUTH.

Alabama drag queen is suspended chief justice’s worst nightmare.

This Week in Feminism

Break the period taboo: my name is Lindy West and I bleed.

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 05/07/2016: Religious callings, good and bad.

Reading in public.

A World Full of Sisters – more of why I love sf/f.

Videos!

2010 Election: Part Two | Full Frontal with Samantha Bee | TBS:

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Nathan Sykes – Give It Up ft. G-Eazy:

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Secret Weapons – Something New:

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Pet Shop Boys – ‘Twenty-something’ (Official Video):

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

Link of the Week

One Top Taxpayer Moved, and New Jersey Shuddered.

Happy News!

The stinging comedy of Samantha Bee’s “Full Frontal”.

This week in privacy

State Employees Upset About Freedom Foundation’s Requests For Their Birth Dates.

This Week in Diversity

GLAAD study shows LGBT representation in Hollywood is getting worse, not better.

See Which Major Studios Had No LGBT Characters in 2015 Movies.

On April 21, the writers room for the television show Saving Hope created and signed a pledge to the LGBTQ community in response to the ongoing criticism of writers’ propensity to kill off LGBTQ characters on television.

The Chances Of LGBT Characters In Future Marvel Movies, According To The Russo Brothers.

News for queers and our allies:

Colton Haynes gets honest about life after Arrow: The actor opens up about his career, his health, and why he didn’t come out of the closet sooner.

Danny DeVito’s Perfect Goodbye: On His Gay Love Story and North Carolina’s HB2.

Gay teens go to prom and melt the internet’s ice cold heart.

Top 10 landmarks in gay and lesbian literature.

Study: There really are a lot of gay people on Twitter and Instagram.

The Gender Ternary: Understanding Transmisogyny.

Science!

‘No differences’ between children of same-sex and opposite-sex parents.

Army Corps Decides Kennewick Man Should Be Turned Over To Tribes.

A Galaxy Hidden in Plain Sight.

After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight.

Scientists show how we start stereotyping the moment we see a face.

Scientists map brain’s ‘thesaurus’ to help decode inner thoughts.

This newly-found ‘Manx comet’ is missing its tail. Why?.

Dinosaurs May Have Slept Like We Do, Researchers Say.

NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBE GETS FEDERAL FUNDS TO FLEE RISING SEAS.

It’s Raining All Over The Universe.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

Feminism, astronauts, and riding sidesaddle: Talking to Dreamsnake’s Vonda McIntyre.

io9 Was Founded on the Idea That Science Fiction Belongs to Everyone.

Queers Take Over Fantastic Stories of the Imagination. Kickstarter for a cool publication.

A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF THE LOCUS RECOMMENDED READING LIST, 2011-2015.

The Makers of Game of Thrones Shouldn’t Apologize for Lying. They Should Lie Better.

All Good Things… SF Signal Announces It is Shutting Down.

Fandom issue of the week

Analysis of Slate Voting for the 2016 Hugos.

A Response to John C. Wright.

Oh No, the Puppies Are Back for the 2016 Hugo Awards—and As Angry As Ever.

Chuck Tingle counter-trolls the Gamergaters who nominated his erotica for a Hugo Award.

Hugo awards shortlist dominated by rightwing campaign.

This Week in Fighting Back in the Culture War:

The Return of Youth Pastor Watch.

3 Ways Marijuana Legalization Can Curb the Black Market.

California School Will Now Let This Lesbian Couple Be Prom Royalty – The principal reversed his previous decision (after ACLU threatens lawsuit) and everyone is thrilled.

Culture war news:

Priest On Fox News: It’s Hard To Trust Atheists Because They Don’t Fear Eternal Damnation. I almost wanted to make a new category, “Idiotic things Dominionists say” for this one. The sad thing is, that they don’t understand that if the only reason you don’t do stuff is fear of punishment, that means you’re the one without any morals.

Montana newspaper exposes hilarious ‘facts’ on display at creationist museum.

Why Have I Never Heard a Sermon on Domestic Violence?

Latinos and Democrats hide in safe houses as right-wing sheriff uses mob rule to take over Texas town.

New Jehovah’s Witness Cartoon Targets Young Children With Vile Anti-Gay Message.

Christian Group Admits To Sending Men Into Women’s Bathrooms To Scare You Into Hating Trans People.

This Video of Police Ejecting a Lesbian Without ID from a Women’s Bathroom Is Going Viral.

The imaginary predator in America’s transgender bathroom war.

Blogger fired after police chief sent cops to retaliate for exposing his gay-bashing daughter.

Watch a South Carolina School Board Meeting Erupt Into “Jesus Loves Me” After an Attendee Speaks Up for Transgender Rights.

Transgender Woman Killed in Wichita.

Cops Arrest High Schooler on 69 Counts of Indecent Exposure for Dumb Prank.

Conference Will Arrange Child Marriages For Christian Homeschoolers. “In short, according to the teachings, the girl is not expected to consent to the marriage, and really has no right to object.” Um, excuse me? In what way is this not human trafficking?

Church Tracks Down Former Member, Threatens “Action” If She Doesn’t Divorce Her Wife.

Feds Publish Records On Schools Allowed To Discriminate Against LGBT Students.

Judge Rules Gay Sex Stings Carried Out by Long Beach Police Are Discriminatory.

Things I wrote:

What’s wrong with some encouragement every now and then?

Not all illness is visible.

A rose, some memories, and a goofy grin.

Adventure awaits: more of why I love sf/f.

Videos!

Inside a 6ft Air Balloon – 4K – The Slow Mo Guys:

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Tyler Glenn – Trash:

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JOHN KASICH “GOP DROPOUT” – A Randy Rainbow Song Parody:

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Oh, wait, I promised someone I would phrase things this way: We weren’t really close. We hardly ever spoke for forty years.

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

Link of the Week

What I Gained from Having a Miscarriage: When It Comes to Pregnancy Loss, There’s So Much We Don’t Talk About or Understand.

This Week in Tech

Confessions of a Luddite professor: Hi, my name is Dan, and I have grown wary of using technology in the classroom.

This Week in Diversity

Merriam-Webster brilliantly smacks down complaints about new ’politically correct’ dictionary words.

Savage Love Letter of the Day: Bonus Reader Advice for Kids Who’ve Lost Parents to Fox News.

How to Explain Mansplaining.

This week in People Doing Good Things

A compassionate judge sentences a veteran to 24 hours in jail, then joins him behind bars.

This week in Topics Most People Can’t Be Rational About

Twenty Years Ago, Australia Found a Way to Stop Mass Shootings. It Worked.

News for queers and our allies:

Instead of trying to ‘fix’ me, my mom protected me from her homophobic boyfriend: The first time someone slurred me with the other f-word, she had my back.

Gay Men Tell Us Why They Wouldn’t Choose to Be Straight.

LGBT anti-discrimination employment bill advances in Louisiana Senate.

Senate Dems Introduce Bill To Ban Ex-Gay Torture.

NCAA adopts anti-discrimination process for sites bidding on championships.

Science!

The extinction crisis in a warming world – North America’s most endangered mammals: the Amargosa vole.

An Image Processing Trick Shows Mars in Unprecedented Detail.

300TB of Data From the Large Hadron Collider Are Now Available to Download. I’m going to need more hard drives…

Absolutely Massive Subglacial Lake Found Beneath Antarctica’s Ice.

THE SCIENTIFIC REASON WHY MEN GROW BEARDS.

Researchers have accidentally made batteries that could last 400 times longer.

Motherly love helps children’s brains grow bigger, scientists find .

An orbiting ‘Microscope’ is about to discover if Einstein was right.

Risks of harm from spanking confirmed by analysis of 5 decades of research.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

Hugo awards shortlist dominated by rightwing campaign.

The Hugo finalists: John Scalzi on why the sad puppies can’t take credit for Neil Gaiman’s success.

A discussion on twitter with a rabid puppy.

…most of the finalists on this year’s ballot have no business being on any awards list of any kind. Some of them really didn’t deserve to be published to begin with, and probably wouldn’t have been if it were not for a certain racist, sexist, homophobic dipshit with an ax to grind and a pile of money handed to him by his mother.

We Have Always Been Here & Always Will Be: On the Hugo Awards and Cultural Vandalism.

This week in Writing

More Omniscient.

This Week in History

The Forgotten Lessons of the American Eugenics Movement.

Culture war news:

Rated “R” for Research: Sexualizing Women’s Health and Censoring Student Research at UMBC.

All the Things You Can No Longer Buy if You’re Really Boycotting Trans-Friendly Businesses.

People in Stone Mountain Park, Georgia valiantly defend racist flag.

Theater Takes Legal Action Over Utah Deadpool Censorship.

When Doctors Refuse to Treat LGBT Patients.

Newsweek’s bold new cover: Women bleed. Get over it.

‘These Freaks Are Going To Get Us All Killed’: Rick Wiles Warns Target Restroom Policy Will Spark Nuclear War.

Oxford, Alabama to Jail Transgender People for Using ‘Wrong’ Bathroom.

This Week in the Clown Car

THE KILLER INSIDE ME – I CAN’T HATE TED CRUZ — WE HAVE TOO MUCH IN COMMON. “My empathy for Ted stems from recognizing not just a shared freakish compulsion to quantify human interaction, but sensing that it comes from the same source: We were both smart kids who changed schools a lot and had driven, professional parents… Ted’s and my paths diverged very shortly after we came up with our respective crusades of middle-school Machiavellianism. After I put together my “Mission: Popular” plan, I didn’t go through with it… Cruz, on the other hand, not only went through with his plan, but — to this day — believes it worked. He thinks it’s still working.”

Women play the #womancard on Twitter in response to Trump.

10 reasons Cruz’s Fiorina gambit will likely flop.

Nutbag Cruz Supporter Steve Deace Melts Down On CNN, Screams That Everybody Is Lying.

Trump refuses to rule out nuclear strike against ISIL.

This week in Other Politics:

What Hillary Clinton gets that Bernie Sanders doesn’t: Identity politics.

The Return of the Women Scorned: We’re still coming to grips with 1990s misogyny, which has complex implications for Hillary Clinton.

How imperialism and eugenics during America’s Progressive Era spawned international drug control.

Alleged Hastert victim files $1.8 million lawsuit.

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 4/23/2016 – Republican child molesters, redux.

Confessions of a bad son.

Confessions of an absent-minded misplacer.

Confessions of a fan fiction fan.

Videos!

Liberal Redneck – American Family Association Boycotts Target:

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Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band “Purple Rain” Prince Tribute:

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Tegan and Sara – Boyfriend [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO]:

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Today is not only Friday, but it is also April 1, which is a day that has become problematic. My own rules about April Fool’s jokes have always included at least this: if it causes someone distress it is not a joke, and you have missed the point. Anyway, I collected all of these links before today, and as far as I can tell none of them are meant to be jokes. Which in a couple cases is more distressing the the most in-poor-taste April Fool’s joke I’ve ever heard of.

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

You (and Almost Everyone You Know) Owe Your Life to This Man.

This week in security

Follow the money: Apple vs. the FBI. I think he’s only half right. Yes, the success of Apple pay depends on encryption, but a company can also believe in doing right by its customers.

Questions Hang Over FBI After Apple Showdown Fizzles. (hmmmm, when we lie to the FBI it’s a felony, but when the FBI lies to a judge and the entire American people, it’s only a fib?)

5 authentication methods putting passwords to shame.

And other news:

Facebook post on collecting human remains leads police to raid witch’s Mid-City home, find bones, teeth.

This week in Health

Wentworth Miller Shuts Down Body-Shamers With Powerful Message On Mental Health.

This Week in Diversity

Stop using “anyone can die” as an excuse.

DIVERSITY 102: 5 THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE PUTTING TOGETHER A DIVERSITY PANEL.

This week in awful news

Suicide bomber kills at least 9 in central Somalia.

7 police killed in latest Turkey bombing.

2 Russian Police Killed in Separate Bomb Attacks in Dagestan.

Taliban splinter group claims attack on Christians at Pakistan park; 60 dead.

This week in Evil People

Seattle tree cutters could face felony charges.

News for queers and our allies:

Turning moments into momentum for LGBT equality.

Global health group takes on gay conversion therapy.

AMERICA’S FIRST PUBLICLY OUT TRANSGENDER HIGH SCHOOL COACH IS OPENING MINDS IN THE CONSERVATIVE RURAL TOWN OF GLOCESTER, R.I..

Science!

Scientists may have discovered the fossilised skull of a ‘Siberian unicorn’.

Scientists solved the Spallanzani’s dilemma. Newts are the masters of regeneration.

Link between fossil fuels and Great Barrier Reef bleaching clear and incontrovertible.

The More We Empathize With Others, The More Generous We Are.

See how to spice guard your bird feed – and other nifty chemistry life hacks.

Ancient arachnid was almost a spider.

Scientists have identified a universal Nope face.

‘Tumbleweed Tornado’ caught on camera in Albuquerque.

2,500-Year-Old Monument Could Help Crack the Mysterious Etruscan Language.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

How ‘Sailor Moon’ Fandom Became a Refuge for 90s Queer Kids. Video starts automatically.

How Did Batman Go From Being Fun and Gay to Sad and Boring?

Introducing ConFinder.

Culture war news:

The Biggest Legal Attack On Unions In Decades Is Dead.

This new lawsuit explains exactly why North Carolina’s anti-transgender law is so vile.

North Carolina Sued Over Anti-LGBT Law.

As More States Legislate Transgender Americans’ Bathroom Use, Illinois Eyes Its Own Bill.

Judge awards Tennessee lawyers $2 million for marriage equality case.

Commentary: ‘Religious freedom’ laws are about the freedom to discriminate.

North Carolina’s anti-trans law is downright dangerous.

Why Georgia governor defied his base over religious liberty.

Infamous Colorado Pastor Targets Girl Scouts, Saying LGBTQ-Positive Scout Leaders Should Be Executed.

Montel Williams says of HB2: ‘Discrimination, pure and simple’.

Protesters Flood North Carolina Streets as Discrimination Law Backlash Grows.

State may be sued if religious freedom bill becomes law.

Mississippi Same-Sex Adoption Ban Unconstitutional, Federal Judge Rules.

Saudi government ‘wants to EXECUTE gay people who show their sexuality in public & online’.

This week in Other Politics:

Corporations Grow Nervous About Participating in Republican Convention.

Voter Suppression: The Elephant (and Donkey) in the Room.

Farewells:

Patty Duke, Child Star and Oscar Winner, Dies at 69.

A Garry Shandling Photograph That Closes the Book on a Late-Night Era.

The Last Email Garry Shandling Ever Sent Me.

Silence or Violence: Logan, Suicide, and the Culture of Masculine Silence.

Things I wrote:

It’s a nerd, nerd, nerd, nerd world!

Stark raving nerd.

Onion arguments and thorny questions.

Life, Death, and Unanswerable Questions.

Heading off to camp!

Videos!

Watch This Italian Gay Couple Dance for “Italy’s Got Talent,” and Try Not to Cry (no English subtitles, but once the dancing starts you won’t miss it):

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North Carolina and Georgia Anti-LGBTQ Laws: A Closer Look:

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A-ha – Take on Me – live @ the O2 Arena, London, 26/3/2016:

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Pet Shop Boys perform The Pop Kids on Graham Norton , March 25 2016 (New album released today! I preordered, so got the download last night):

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Pet Shop Boys interview on Graham Norton , March 25 2016:

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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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