I’ve done very little writing and a lot of revising this week.

Anyway, 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

On Peace Between Christians and GBLT People.

This week in Seahawks

Building a New Beast Mode: It Will Take a Small Army to Replace Marshawn Lynch.

This week in Food

How Americans pretend to love ‘ethnic food’.

So what exactly could be wrong with having taco trucks on every corner?

Don’t Fuck with Librarians

Stage Play Spotlights Alabama Librarian’s 1959 Defense of Children’s Book.

This week in awful news

Syrian government ‘drops chlorine gas’ on rebel-held part of Aleppo.

Wells Fargo Fined for Fraudulently Opening Accounts for Customers.

National Guard put on alert as protesters await decision on North Dakota pipeline.

Dakota Access Pipeline Protests: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know.

The Latest: Large Crowds in 3 States Protest Pipeline.

Aleppo: Key battleground in Syria’s civil war.

Camerawoman Who Kicked Refugees in Hungary Is Charged With ‘Breach of Peace’.

Rights Group: Refugee Children Still in Greek Police Cells.

This week in the environment

Dakota Access Pipeline Company Attacks Native American Protesters with Dogs and Pepper Spray.

News for queers and our allies:

‘LGBT’ is Not a Synonym for ‘Gay’.

Sleepless in Seattle: The Chef, the Quarterback and Transgender Rights.

The first openly lesbian contestant will take part in this year’s Miss America pageant.

19 LGBT Hindu Gods that Defied the Gender Binary.

Letter From a Greek Activist Fighting the Binary.

I WAS TAUGHT TO HATE MY LESBIAN NEIGHBORS. THEY TOOK ME IN ANYWAY.

Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters. Alvin had been fighting the good fight!

Science!

Freddie Mercury has an asteroid named after him.

Bizarre ant colony discovered in an abandoned Polish nuclear weapons bunker.

Philae lander found on comet 67P as Rosetta mission draws to a close.

Why Canadians drink more coffee than most people in the world.

The giant panda is no longer an endangered species.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

A Bleary-Eyed (And Slightly Furious) Post World Con Recap.

N.K. Jemisin and the Politics of Prose.

March of the living dead lit mag submissions.

A related post by the same author: A personal rejection letter, sent to the literary journal which took 6 years to reject my story.

Here’s what I saw from the front row of the “State of Short Fiction” panel.

The Hugos, the Sad Puppies and 1970s science fiction paperback covers, which were ridiculous.

The 2016 Dragon Awards or Participation Trophies for Puppies.

World Fantasy tries again with programming.

Even More Hugo and Clarke Awards Reactions.

And other news:

New York’s Attorney General Just Announced a Major Investigation into Makers of EpiPen.

Pacific Northwest College of Art Cancels an MA Program Days Before Classes.

This week in Writing

WRITE BETTER SCI-FI STORIES WITH THIS SIMPLE IDEA.

This Week in History

Naming Demons: The Aramaic Incantation Bowls and Gittin.

This Week in Tech

Warner Brothers reports own site as illegal.

This Week in Covering the News

You Failed, Chumps.

Hillary Clinton Gets Gored.

This Week in Inclusion

If We Don’t Exist We Don’t Exist.

This Week in Police Problems

When Police Unions Impede Justice.

Culture war news:

The Women Who Challenged Sweet Cakes on the Cost of Their Battle. “We’re not political people, never wanted this attention, and only filed a claim with Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries after six months of relentless media attention and harassment. Meanwhile, the Kleins quickly became media darlings of the right wing. Conservative groups flew them out to appear at events, Ted Cruz featured them in a campaign video, and their fundraising page raised over $600,000. In contrast, we became the target of hateful, violent threats and a daily onslaught of negative calls and emails from around the world. Over the past three years, we have received several thousand Facebook messages calling us fat, evil, and dumb — some with threats so violent that we have sincerely feared for our lives, moved houses, and lived in hiding in hopes of protecting our family.”

Mere Months After Orlando, Evangelicals Declare New Commitment To Rejecting LGBT People.

New Jersey GOPer Tells Female Reporter He Hopes She Gets ‘Raped’.

What Phyllis Schlafly Might Have Been, if It Weren’t for Women Like Phyllis Schlafly.

Donald Trump’s Extremist Allies: Who’s Who At The Values Voter Summit 2016.

Gays Who Lived Through Anne-Imelda Radice’s Tenure as NEA “Decency Czar” Aren’t Celebrating Her Gay Wedding.

This Week in Hate Crimes

Double Murder a Likely Anti-LGBT Hate Crime in Missouri.

This Week Regarding the Lying Liar:

Donald Trump still hasn’t paid most of his top staffers, and some of them aren’t happy about it.

Trump policy staffers quit after not being paid.

Donald Trump upstaged when Mexican taco truck arrives in protest and proves more popular than him.

At Least 110 Republican Leaders Won’t Vote for Donald Trump. Here’s When They Reached Their Breaking Point.

Trump Time Capsule #92: ‘How the Media Undermine American Democracy’.

Fox News Turns On Trump And Busts Him For Lying About Black Poverty Statistics.

Donald Trump Is Playing the Religious Right for Rubes.

Donald Trump Does Detroit: after weeks of preaching his sinister sermon of black pathology to mostly white audiences as part of his utterly fake “black outreach” — which is in fact the effort of a bigot to disguise his bigotry — Donald Trump finally brought his message before a few mostly black audiences.

Did Trump Happen Because Liberals Are Too Mean?

This week in Politics:

Hillary conversed with Colin Powell two days after becoming Secretary of State, not “a year later,” as Powell has claimed. Second, Powell essentially told her that he had just gone ahead and broken the law by “not using systems that captured the data.” Hillary, by contrast, chose instead to retain everything as the law required.

The 7 Biggest Deadbeat States Who Mooch Off Taxpayers All Vote Republican.

Gallup: Life got better for pretty much everyone under Obama.

Democrats Troll Donald Trump With a Taco Truck in Colorado.

The New York Times Screws Up Its Clinton Coverage, Part Infinity.

Why Hillary Clinton’s perceived corruption seems to echo louder than Donald Trump’s actual corruption.

Save the Republican Party: Vote for Clinton.

5 worst right-wing moments this week: Michele Bachmann’s apocalypse now.

Farewells:

Savannah drag legend Lady Chablis dies at 59.

Jon Polito Dies: Coen Brothers Actor & ‘Homicide’ Original Was 65.

Dabney Montgomery dies; Tuskegee Airman was 93.

In Unmourned Departures:

Anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly’s philosophy perfectly captured in 15 disturbing quotes.

Conservative Phyllis Schlafly, Foe Of Equal Rights Amendment And Founder Of Eagle Forum, Dies At 92.

Phyllis Schlafly, One of History’s Worst Homophobes, Dies at 92.

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 9/2/2016: cute otters and delicious tacos.

The first draft is always… well, a draft.

Wrestling the bear: getting to the end of your novel.

No one likes change before and while it’s happening….

Videos!

An Emotional Surprise for an Orlando Survivor:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Australian | Aussie Shirtless Men Answer Boxers or Briefs in Los Angeles | 2016 Mens Fashion:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Saade – Wide Awake ft. Gustaf Norén (Official Music Video):

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Sia – The Greatest:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

I’ve done very little writing and a lot of revising this week.

Anyway, 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

HOW A SELF-PUBLISHED WRITER OF GAY EROTICA BEAT SCI-FI’S SAD PUPPIES AT THEIR OWN GAME AND WHAT IT TAUGHT ME ABOUT PUSHING THROUGH WRITER’S BLOCK. Seriously, if you read nothing else this YEAR, read this.

Happy News!

Hitting all the right notes. “I want to see children do better in school. I want to see children have better lives. But I don’t want to belittle that I’m also seeking the joy of music for everybody.”

Baby sea otter Rialto’s heart-melting story of survival.

This Week in Difficult to Classify

The University of Chicago, Trigger Warnings and Safe Spaces.

Alabama officials ordered Christian woman to remove headscarf for drivers’ license: ACLU lawsuit.

Marine Who Saved 70 Lives In Pulse Shooting To Be Honored By LGBT Military Group.

This week in awful news

People Are Being Warned About Scary Clowns Luring Kids Into The Woods. They insist this is true. I think the universe is trolling us.

News for queers and our allies:

Out Representative Brian Sims Is Our New Favorite Disney Princess.

‘Inside My Head I’m a Girl’: Three Ways of Growing Up Gay.

Stranger Things’ David Harbour on Seducing Jake Gyllenhaal, Fighting with Winona, and ‘Hopper Butt’.

Why Walmart Became LGBT-Friendly.

‘Best of the Best’ and ‘Absolute Worst’ Colleges for LGBTQ Students.

Welcome to the new America: Straight-ish, heteroflexible, and pansexual.

Trailer for the Upcoming Gay Rugby Documentary, Scrum.

On becoming a man: Transgender in the workplace.

Science!

The Multiverse Idea Is Rotting Culture.

Will This “Neural Lace” Brain Implant Help Us Compete with AI?

Microscopic Black Holes Might Be Shooting Through the Universe.

Why Do We Have Such a Hard Time Grasping Climate Change?

The Strange, Twisted Story Behind Seattle’s Blackberries.

Our new pterosaur fossil shows birds and small reptiles flew side by sid.

Miniature lion fossils lead to discovery of new species.

Fossils of oldest multicellular organisms found in South America.

A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE: IRON FOUND IN FOSSILS SUGGESTS SUPERNOVA ROLE IN MASS DYING.

Alzheimer’s: New drug that halts mental decline is ‘best news for dementia in 25 years’.

Five rare white killer whales spotted together in a sign of dangerous inbreeding.

The 3.7 billion-year-old fossils discovered in Greenland.

A group of citizen scientists have cracked a 300 year old mystery.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

Ageism in SFF.

We Are All Allies.

Communities: Weight of History.

This week in Writing

Nora Jemisin: “I would love to just write and not have everything turned into a political battle”.

This Week in History

Miss Cora M. Strayer’s Private Detective Agency. It started out when someone posted a vintage newspaper ad, sending the writer on a search that unearthed a truly kickass woman who ran a successful detective agency from 1902-1938, taking a break to form the First Volunteer Women’s Calvary Regiment to take up arms and join the fight in the Border War with Mexico in 1814…

Convincing a Suicidal Teen He Can Wish the Gay Away.

This Week in Tech

I Got Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup.

Google Just Agreed to Pay $5.5 Million to Settle Claims It Hacked Apple’s Browser.

Apple’s new rule will force Google, Amazon, and others to shorten their app names. The other changes, restricting the use of metadata in the app description and image tags, may go a long way toward fixing the horrible search results when trying to find an app…

This Week in Inclusion

Hello! You just used the “damned if you do/don’t” fallacy!

“An Ode To Being Blaxican” Shines A Light On An Erased Identity.

This Week in Police Problems

Dear Police: Once and For All, Saliva Does Not Transmit HIV.

This Week in Not Understanding Diversity

Matt Bomer’s Transface: Hollywood Business as Usual.

Culture war news:

‘Gay Zombies’ Face $104 Million Lawsuit for Crashing Pride Toronto.

MTV News’ Jamil Smith: Breitbart News Is Trying To “Mainstream” White Supremacy “Through Trump”.

Colin Kaepernick Is Righter Than You Know: The National Anthem Is a Celebration of Slavery.

Denial Lit Gets a Little Wilder: Toles and Mann’s Madhouse Effect.

#VeteransForKaepernick Stand Up For His Right To Sit Down.

‘Woman using law Mike Pence pushed as a defense against child abuse charge’ & other Thur. midday news briefs.

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s new ‘Hug a Homophobe’ stance is the least inspiring thing I’ve heard all week.

Human Rights Campaign Sets Sights on Johns Hopkins After Controversial Trans Report.

This Week in Hate Crimes

Explosions Rock LGBT Newspaper in Salem, Mass – Again.

Police: Man put hydrochloric acid in gay sex club’s lube dispenser.

Police probe gay bar threats from thug who wanted to go ‘bigger than Orlando’.

This Week Regarding the Lying Liar:

Donald Trump’s Tweet About The Murder Of Dwyane Wade’s Cousin Was Bad. The Associated Press’ Tweet Was Worse.

Pro-Trump Pastor Goes on Non-Apology Media Tour After Clinton Blackface Tweet.

Trump’s VP pick Mike Pence published articles urging people not to employ gays.

Several Hispanic Trump surrogates reconsider support.

And the award for most unbelievably savage Trump take goes to… Garrison Keillor?! When this is over, you will have nothing that you want.

This week in Politics:

The AP, And Why The Press Has Trouble Admitting Its Clinton Mistakes.

Anthony Weiner was the Ted Cruz of the left.

West Virginia attorney general spokeswoman booted after spotted repeating overtly racist phrases in ‘Stop White Genocide’ video.

The Drive to Become ‘Fox News Famous’ Hurts the Right. …there were actually two primaries: the race for the nomination and the auditions for FOX.

Remember That Time Dubya Lost 5 Million Emails And Nobody So Much As Flinched?

Maybe 2016 Will Be the Year Voters Elect an Openly Gay Republican to Congress. I know the author thinks this is good news, but racist self-loathing gays aren’t really an improvement over the run-of-the-mill anti-gay Republican. And being willing to vote for a token guy who shares all their other bigoted views doesn’t prove the Republican base is becoming more enlightened.

Boston Globe: Don’t close the Clinton Foundation.

This Week in Racism

How Nextdoor reduced racist posts by 75%.

Georgetown University Plans Steps to Atone for Slave Past. It’s better than nothing, I suppose…

How do you become “white” in America? “As the history of the Poles in America shows, whiteness has always been a malleable category, used for political exploitation.”

This Week in Misogyny

So, You Must Talk to the Woman Who Is Wearing Headphones.

This Vote Is Legally Binding: In response to all those articles about talking to women with headphones….

Farewells:

Gene Wilder, ‘Willy Wonka’ Star and Comedic Icon, Dies at 83.

Two of Gene Wilder’s most regarded films – “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and “Blazing Saddles” – are headed back to theaters this weekend following the actor’s death this week.

Gene Wilder’s Understated Nuttiness.

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 8/27/2016: Homophobic pastor is a child molester… surprise?

Diamonds, houses, bars of soap and what I almost mansplained.

Thank you, Mr. Wilder.

Videos!

Ash vs. Evil Dead – Season 2 | official FIRST LOOK (2016) Bruce Campbell:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Lyon Hart – Falling for You:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

I’ve done very little writing and a lot of revising this week.

Anyway, 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

After 525 years, it’s time to actually listen to Native Americans.

This anti-racism group will build a memorial to lynching victims — and it’s about time.

What Is The “Alt-Right”? A Guide To The White Nationalist Movement Now Leading Conservative Media.

Happy News!

#SQUADGOALS: HOW TEAMWORK STARTS WITH SELECTING THE RIGHT UNDERWEAR.

Hero Cop Catches Kids Jumping From Burning Home’s Second-Story Window.

This Week in Difficult to Classify

A Feel Bad Story in Disguise: Two Florida Hospitals Won’t Bill Orlando Pulse Shooting Victims. “The news out of Orlando this morning shouldn’t make us feel good. It should make us feel bad. It is an indictment of our society, an indictment of our health care system, an indictment of each and every one of us. Because we don’t care enough about shooting victims to do something about guns and we don’t care enough about shooting victims — or people with cancer, or children with broken bones, or our fellow citizens at the end of their lives — to create an equitable health care system that doesn’t bankrupt and destroy families by design for the crime of getting sick or the crime of getting shot in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and by the wrong maniac.”

Caught in a Bad Bromance? We Should Be Encouraging Man Hugs, Not Mocking Them.

Drug Maker’s Application For Crucial HIV Pill Was “Homophobic, Illogical, And Greedy”.

This week in stupid

Get ’em off! Armed police order Muslim woman to remove her burkini on packed Nice beach – as mother, 34, wearing Islamic headscarf is threatened with pepper spray and fined in Cannes .

PSA: YOUR TRANSPHOBIA AND BODY SHAMING ISN’T RADICAL. I wasn’t very impressed with the Trump statues, either…

Russian Hackers Accidentally Post Different Versions of Stolen Docs. Post-Steal Editing?

This week in awful news

Dee Dee Wanted Her Daughter To Be Sick, Gypsy Wanted Her Mom To Be Murdered. “Dee Dee Blancharde was a model parent: a tireless single mom taking care of her gravely ill child. But after Dee Dee was killed, it turned out things weren’t as they appeared — and her daughter Gypsy had never been sick at all.”

Italy earthquake: Death toll rises to at least 159.

Kabul siege: 12 killed in attack on American University.

Boys’ remains from troubled Dozier school to be buried in Tallahassee, memorial to be erected on school grounds.

“I Still See All The Red”: First Responser In Pulse Massacre May Lose His Job.

This week in evil people

Apple issues critical iOS update to thwart ‘Pegasus’ malware.

Trolls Hacked Leslie Jones’ Website And Put Her Naked Pics Out There.

Feds Are Investigating Hack Of Leslie Jones’ Site.

Where’s the money? Milo Yiannopoulos denies he spent cash for charity fund.

This week in the environment

Protesters anxiously await temporary injunction ruling to halt construction of Dakota Access Pipeline.

News for queers and our allies:

The Scariest Part About America’s LGBTQ Youth Suicide Epidemic Is What We Don’t Know About It.

MEET THE GAY LUCHADOR FIGHTING MACHISMO IN MEXICAN WRESTLING: Not so mucho macho in El Paso: Cassandro, lucha libre’s unlikely hero.

When My Son Met Another Out LGBTQ Kid On The First Day Of Middle School.

Having Sex With Poz Men Helped Kick My Fear of HIV.

The Most LGBT-Friendly Colleges Are Also the Most Financially Inaccessible.

Documentary: What You’ve Heard About Latino Dads of LGBT Kids Isn’t True.

Frank Ocean’s Poem About His Boyfriend.

Juneau Assembly Passes LGBTQ-Inclusive Non-Discrimination Ordinance.

New Study: Large Majority of Americans Support LGBT Nondiscrimination Laws, Oppose ‘Bathroom Bills’.

Science!

Prepare for This Study on the Misuse of Science on LGBT Issues to Be Misused.

The Science of Swearing: Your Filthy Mouth Helps You Make Friends.

Nasa to make all its research available free on the Internet.

Thousands of strange blue lakes are appearing in Antarctica, and it’s very bad news.

Twisted Light Could Dramatically Boost Data Rates.

16 fascinating science stories eclipsed by Donald Trump and the Olympics.

Column: Why it’s important to look at the stars – literally.

World’s biggest telescope meets world’s second fastest supercomputer.

This week in Cosplay

PHOTOS: The Sexiest Cosplay, Artists, And Geeks At FlameCon.

MERNICORN COSPLAY: SUPERB GENDER BENDING COSPLAYER & ROLEMODEL.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

My WisCon 40 Guest of Honour Speech. “You’d think the shared bond of loving books would diminish the hatred and suspicion of teenagers and the things they like. You’d be wrong.”

Analysis of Slate Voting for the 2016 Hugos.

My MidAmeriCon II badge was just suspended. That is awesome. This is why. It’s a pretty cool thing when someone admits they screwed up, however unintentionally, and doesn’t throw a fit that there were consequences.

Here are the winners of the 2016 Hugo Awards – Once again, slated works were largely outvoted.

Worldcon Expels Truesdale. And a follow-up: More Worldcon Thoughts.

An oldy, but a goodie: “Get your girly stuff out of my SF, for SF should be sciency, manly and hard”.

Another great one: WHEN AN OPINION IS NOT AN OPINION (OR AN OPINION ON OPINIONS).

Right-Wing Activists Fail to Ruin the Hugo Awards; Fiction Categories Swept by Women.

Must read post from Andy Duncan on how Dave Truesdale’s rant mischaracterized the meaning & legacy of David Hartwell.

Notes from Worldcon 74: Here are cool people saying cool things about spec fic.

2016 HUGO AWARDS: RESULTS AND (VERY) PERSONAL REFLECTIONS. What’s it like to, two years in a row, learn that you just missed being on the Hugo ballot because of the Puppies.

The past through tomorrow. ‘“You got the impression that for him, it was still 1937.” You could say much the same thing about the current crop of reactionaries, both in the positions that they take and the means that they use to express them.’

FROM A SNOWFLAKE OF SCIENCE FICTION.

Spinning Lovecraft Into a Feminist Dream Quest.

Michi Trota: 2016 Hugo Awards Acceptance Speech from MidAmeriCon II. “Nurturing a community isn’t just about throwing open the gates and expecting others to walk in merrily, especially when there’s been a long history of systemic barriers to entry. It’s essential to both create a space that welcomes and encourages others to come in, and to venture outside your comfort zones to find new people, invite them to share their voices and visions with you, and provide them with support and opportunities.”

Fake sci-fi boys cry salty tears over Puppies defeat at the Hugo Awards.

Do Better: Sexual Violence in SFF.

The Ultimate Guide to Every Science Fiction and Fantasy Show on TV This Fall.

An oldie, but a goodie: An Incomplete Guide to Not Creeping.

N.K. Jemisin: Scattered Post-Hugo Thoughts.

Awesomeness Out of WorldCon.

This Week in Love Conquers…

Sharon Van Etten’s Powerful Pulse Tribute Song Will Fight Gun Violence.

And other news:

Seattle Police on Drugging in Bars: “This Is Definitely a Problem”.

This week in Writing

Your Writing Group is Not a Godhead: Building Upon Some Fine Writing Advice from Ann Leckie.

Why I Talked to Word Sluts at WorldCon.

Networking: You’re Doing It Wrong.

This week in Words

Merriam-Webster: The History and Origin of ‘Headdesk’.

5 Writing Rules Destroyed by the Dictionary.

This Week in History

HUEY P. NEWTON’S 1970 SPEECH ON THE WOMEN’S & GAY LIBERATION MOVEMENTS.

The Macaroni in ‘Yankee Doodle’ is Not What You Think.

This Week in Tech

This Site Under Construction. Some people are trying to archive the old Geocities sites before the all vanish. This page contains hundreds of the old ‘This site under construction’ animated GIFs that were popular at the time…

‘Redshirts’ Author John Scalzi’s Suicidal Journey Through ‘No Man’s Sky’.

This Week in Covering the News

30K Muslims Just Slammed Terrorism And Media Is Silent.

NY Times’ Jim Rutenberg: Fox’s Hannity Acts Like A Trump “Adviser,” Ignores All Of “Journalism’s General Requirements”.

What Do The Simple Folk Do?.

Gawker Was Murdered by Gaslight.

This Week in Inclusiveness

All 162 Dead Lesbian and Bisexual Characters On TV, And How They Died. The first time I linked to this, in March, the title was “All 65…” there have been additions…

Queerbaiting Phenomenon Pisses Me Off & You Should Be Angry Too.

Writing Characters of Color: How to Avoid Being Racist.

Saying Goodbye to Larry Wilmore, a Voice of Advocacy in Late-Night TV.

HERE IS NO SECRET TO WRITING ABOUT PEOPLE WHO DO NOT LOOK LIKE YOU.

Culture war news:

Louisiana floods destroy home of Christian leader who says God sends natural disasters to punish gay people. This is not ironic. This is just desserts.

Ciara moved wedding to NFL’s Russel Wilson out of North Carolina over anti-LGBT law.

Welfare Reform Is 20 Years Old and It’s Worse Than You Can Imagine.

Michael Brown Has A Simple Solution To The Transgender Bathroom Controversy. What an idiot…

Anti-LGBT Preacher Flip Benham Tries to Disrupt Charlotte Pride (Photos, Videos).

Providing Transgender People Health Care Violates Religious Beliefs, New Lawsuit Claims.

Anti-Gay Family Research Council Leader (after his home is destroyed in Louisiana floods): I never said God causes disasters, but He can and does.

This Week in Hate Crimes

Man sentenced to 40 years for pouring boiling water on gay couple.

Washington man stabs kissing interracial couple, cites Donald Trump when arrested.

Yet Another Transgender Woman Suffers Brutal Attack in New York.

This week in rape culture

Judge sets aside rape charges for probation so ex-athlete can enjoy ‘a college experience’.

This Week Regarding the Lying Liars:

Gaps in Melania Trump’s immigration story raise questions. This is only relevant because Mr. Trump has made tough immigration enforcement a centerpiece of his campaign.

CNN’s Carol Costello: It “Seems Like The Conservative Media Is Running Trump’s Campaign”.

Dropping Out Is the Only Way for Trump to Save His Legacy, Argues John Oliver.

When Donald Trump says the election is ‘rigged’ what he means is that minorities get to vote.

This week in Politics:

19 Women Who Will Make History if Elected to Congress This Year.

U.S. Army fudged its accounts by trillions of dollars, auditor finds.

Clinton Spox: If You’re Troubled that Hillary Wants to Fight AIDS While President, Don’t Vote For Her.

Hillary Health Trutherism, Misogyny, And The Media.

Attention, Class! John Oliver Is Here to Explain Everything Wrong With Charter Schools.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe Restores Voting Rights to 13,000 Felons.

This Week in Racism

‘It’s not illegal to be black’: Cops complain online about white people getting ‘freaked out’ by their black neighbors and wasting police time with 911 calls .

‘Racialists’ are cheered by Trump’s latest strategy.

Trump’s New Ad Is The Worst General Election ‘Dog Whistle’ In Nearly 30 Years.

Americans May Not Be As Open To Mixed-Race Couples As They Think, UW Study Says.

The Alt-Right Is Neither Christian Nor Conservative.

This Week in Police Problems

MAPPING POLICE VIOLENCE: 2015 Police Violence Report.

Being white may have saved the Florida face-eating suspect from being shot by police. May have?

Cops Framed Schizophrenic Woman as Killer Lesbian, Sending Her to Prison for 35 Years.

Farewells:

Jack Riley, Voice Of Stu Pickles On Rugrats, Has Died. He’ll always be Mr. Carlin from the Bob Newhart Show to me…

Marvin Kaplan, Character Actor Known for ‘Alice’ and ‘Top Cat,’ Dies at 89.

Marvin Kaplan, R.I.P..

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 8/20/2016: Good night, and good news.

Highly illogical canines and the 2016 Hugo awards.

Characters (and stories) are more than the sum of their parts.

Zoinks! Trying to break some verbal habits.

Metallic Rodents and Secret Agencies: more of why I love sf/f.

Videos!

Frank Ocean – Nikes (Music Video):

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

The Get Down | “Telepathy” by Christina Aguilera [HD] | Netflix:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Barbra Streisand with Chris Pine – I’ll Be Seeing You / I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

Trailer – “Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders”:

(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)

It’s Friday! Already the second in August. Wow! Work has been more chaotic than usual. My usual metaphor is juggling chainsaws, and this week the yanked about six of the 12 chainsaws I was juggling away and tossed in a dozen to replace them. I remain more than completely book for the next many months.

I did more reading this week and not much writing, again. That needs to change.

Anyway, 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

Slightly More Than 100 Exceptional Works of Journalism. I think only two of these links have been in a previous Friday Links… these are all extremely interesting!

America Votes with Cards Against Humanity. “Why can’t I buy a pack for Gary Johnson or Jill Stein? Just skip the middleman and vote for Trump.

Happy News!

Accidental Censorship Of Olympic Divers Makes Them All Look Like Porn Stars.

This week in evil people

This Daily Beast Grindr Stunt Is Sleazy, Dangerous, and Wildly Unethical.

News for queers and our allies:

Young Americans overwhelmingly favor LGBT rights.

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

Eight People of Color Discuss the Challenges of Navigating Queer Spaces.

‘I’ll Go To My Grave With This’: Why Bi Men Still Fear Coming Out.

Science!

Albino Otter Proves to Be as Adorable as You’d Hope.

Stardust trapped deep within the ocean reveals a 2.6-million-year-old mystery.

The centre of our galaxy has an enormous void that surprisingly lacks young stars.

Breaking relativity: Celestial signals defy Einstein.

Mystery object in weird orbit beyond Neptune cannot be explained.

Cassini finds flooded canyons on Titan.

A cluster of hot stars shines blue in this new telescope photo.

Humans may have taken different path into Americas than thought.

The Seven Skeletons of Lydia Pyne: The local science historian debuts her new book about famous fossil hominids.

SeaWorld Returns Salty The Sea Turtle To The Ocean, Will They Do The Same Thing To Pregnant Orca’s Upcoming Calf?

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

Neil Gaiman on Why We Read and What Books Do for the Human Experience.

5 Massive Space Operas to Read Between Marathon Sessions of No Man’s Sky.

This week in Writing

Stop the Goodreads bullies … stopped? In case you need some context, here’s a link from an earlier Friday Links: Bullying & Goodreads.

What SFWA Authors Need to Know about Archiving Their Literary Papers.

EVENTUALLY, YOU’LL CARE LESS (AND THAT’S A GOOD THING!).

This Week in Tech

Help! I’m getting emails meant for someone who has the same name as me.

Haters Gonna Hate — but They Better Stop Doing It on Twitter, or They Will Kill It.

This Week in Design

Top 10 least-loved emojis.

Milton Glaser Rated Every Olympics Logo Ever. This Was His Favorite.

This week in Health

Stephen Fry on Coping with Depression: It’s Raining, But the Sun Will Come Out Again.

This Week in Diversity

THE FIRESIDE FICTION REPORT: A READER/CRITIC’S PERSPECTIVE.

FX CEO John Landgraf on the ‘Racially Biased’ System and Taking Major Steps to Change His Network’s Director Rosters.

Goodbye to ‘Honeys’ in Court, by Vote of American Bar Association: new ethics rule forbids comments or actions that single out someone on the basis of race, religion, sex, disability and other factors.

The Problem with Female Protagonists.

University of California Davis is suggesting students say ‘y’all’ to avoid offending people.

committing to diversity when you’re white: a primer.

This Week in Police Problems

DeRay Mckesson Sues Louisiana Police for “Unconstitutional” Arrest.

VINDICATION FOR BALTIMORE POLICE CRITICS — BUT NO ACTION. “To Baltimore’s black residents, the findings were hardly news.”

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

BlackRock Targeted by Gay Activists for Investing in Firearms.

Culture war news:

Judge Refuses to Lift Injunction on Law Protecting Clerks Who Decline to Issue ‘Gay Marriage’ Licenses.

Iran executes gay teenager in violation of international law.

Yo, Texas: Protecting Transgender Rights Is Not Dangerous, but Discrimination Is.

DEA Ignores Science, Refuses To Loosen Restrictions On Marijuana.

Gun Extremists Have Been Coming After Women for Years — & We Aren’t Scared.

This Daily Beast Grindr Stunt Is Sleazy, Dangerous, and Wildly Unethical.

Gay couple lose legal battle for equal pension rights.

LGBTQ Rights Groups Ask Big 12 Not To Include BYU Over Discriminatory Policies.

Victim’s Father Gets Life in Prison for Brutal Murder of Houston Lesbian Couple in 2014.

Daily Mail thinks Olympic divers should celebrate wins with a ‘manly pat on the back’.

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual high school students are significantly more likely to be the victims of physical and sexual violence and bullying than other adolescents.

President of Anti-Gay Organization To Supporters: You People Are Pathetic.

Donald Trump is Dragging Evangelical Christians Into His Gutter.

Surprise! Ark Encounter Isn’t Providing the Economic Boost Local Communities Were Expecting.

This week in rape culture

What Happens When the Democratic National Convention Doesn’t Have a Sexual Assault Policy.

This Week Regarding the Lying Liars:

Text analysis of Trump’s tweets confirms he writes only the (angrier) Android half.

Donald Trump hints at assassination of Hillary Clinton by gun rights supporters.

From Trump’s controversial words, a pattern: Outrage, headlines and then denial.

NRA circles the wagons around Trump.

Trump’s Wink Wink to ‘Second Amendment People’.

There’s a Name for Trump’s Violent Incitement Against Hillary: Stochastic Terrorism.

Trump’s long dalliance with violent rhetoric.

This week in Politics:

What do we know about the independence of think tank research that we didn’t a week ago?

Who will win South Carolina?

Majority Of North Carolinians Say Anti-LGBT Bill HB2 Is Harming The State.

ORLANDO: DNC Denounces Trump And Rubio For Headlining Today’s Anti-LGBT Hate Group Convention.

Why Progressives Are Celebrating Hillary Clinton’s Populist Economic Speech.

SCOTUS: Senate Democrats Will Try To Force A Vote.

This Week in Racism

Christian Website Wrongly Removes Article About How to Handle a Black Man Marrying Into the Family.

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 8/6/2016: Pulse shooting still a gut punch.

By request: Some citations.

Nostalgic Regret and Convenient Amnesia.

Nothing wrong with a flawed hero….

Lost Friends in the Dreamlands – more of why I love sf/f.

Videos!

Stephen Colbert Takes on Donald Trump’s Very, Very Bad Week:

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Unlimited Courage :

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Belle and Sebastian – Olympic Village, 6AM:

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Alabama Shakes – Don’t Wanna Fight (Live on SNL):

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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Trailer (Official):

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Anyway, 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

102-year-old’s Hillary Clinton speech will move you.

The Obamas And The White House’s Slave Legacy.

‘Don’t use our songs’: musicians join John Oliver for anti-politician singalong.

Happy News!

Marta the River Otter – the adorable fursuit mascot of King County, Washington.

Ice Bucket Challenge funds discovery of gene linked to ALS .

News for queers and our allies:

Boy Scouts faring well a year after easing ban on gay adults.

7 Bands Bringing Camp And Queerness Back To Punk.

Sarah McBride Becomes First Transgender Person To Speak At Major Political Convention .

Navy to Name Ship After Gay Rights Activist Harvey Milk.

Science!

Ray Kurzweil: The world isn’t getting worse — our information is getting better.

A New Explanation for One of the Strangest Occurrences in Nature: Ball Lightning.

Witnessing kindness inspires kindness, causing it to spread like a virus.

Scientists have found a perfect illustration of how the climate is spiraling ‘out of control’.

A Crazy New Species of Beaked Whale Has Been Discovered in the Pacific.

Fossils Reveal That Modern Humans Were Living In China 20,000 Years Before We Thought They Left Africa.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

Big Dumb Objects: science fiction’s most mysterious MacGuffins.

Exploration of the Genre: A Starship Ladies Recommendation Masterpost.

Comic-Con: Lucy Lawless Went to the Deathbed of a Fan Once, Which, Yep, That Seems Right.

How Creating Inclusive Sci-Fi/Fantasy Sparked a Culture War.

Aftermath’s Chuck Wendig on Killer Droids, Unkillable Characters, and Helping Create the Star Wars Universe. “Fiction is at its worst when it hangs on OH GOSH WHO LIVES AND WHO DIES”

‘Star Trek Beyond’ is the sci-fi action movie we needed right now.

Man Seeking Movies: The all-female “Ghostbusters” is a comedic delight.

This week in Writing

How Technology Has Changed the Way Authors Write.

This Week in History

History tells us what may happen next with Brexit & Trump.

This Week in Tech

Photographer Files $1 Billion Suit Against Getty for Licensing Her Public Domain Images.

This Week in Diversity

‘Sesame Street’ Lets Go Longtime Cast Members Bob, Gordon and Luis .

Why There Is No Such Thing As Too Much LGBTQ Representation On TV.

#BlackSpecFic: A Fireside Fiction Company special report.

Ones and Twos and Rarely Threes.

Culture war news:

Ken Ham Isn’t a Big Bad Ogre: Why I Feel Bad About Ark Encounter. But he is still a liar (who posted photos of another event claiming that it was opening day), and a con man (who convinced the state to give him tax money for a religious project, that’s after essentially embezzling from a religious group he used to work for in Australia), and a peddler of lies and pseudo science. But we’re suppose to believe he’s not an ogre. Fine, he’s not an ogre, he’s a parasite.

Energized white supremacists cheer Trump convention message.

Marriage Equality Plaintiff Jim Obergefell: GOP Doesn’t Consider Us Human.

12 States Will Support Obama’s Transgender Policies In Court, Bucking Texas And Others.

This Week Regarding the Lying Liar:

What Trump says about crime in America and what is really going on.

Trump is driven by one thing and one thing only: the search for glory.

“There is no redemption in being one of the good Nazis.”.

This week in Politics:

STEPHEN COLBERT’S JOYFUL RETURN TO POLITICAL COMEDY.

Watch a Woman Older Than Her Right to Vote Pledge Arizona’s Delegates to Hillary Clinton .

THE LIBERTARIANS’ SECRET WEAPON.

Inspired by Trump, Former KKK Leader Runs for Senate.

The DNC email leak doesn’t show wrongdoing – Bernie is barely a Democrat.

All Signs Point to Russia Being Behind the DNC Hack.

‘Crying Robin Hood’ is a Minnesota hero.

Jill Stein’s Ideas Are Terrible. She Is Not the Savior the Left Is Looking For.

Dr. Jill Stein Is Anti-Science, Bad for the Environment, and Deserves Her Anti-Vax Label.

It looks like Russia hired internet trolls to pose as pro-Trump Americans.

NC GOP wigs out after mistaking Tim Kaine’s Marine pin for Honduras flag — and hilarity ensues.

Hillary Clinton, Considered in Herself.

Farewells:

Marni Nixon, the Singing Voice Behind the Screen, Dies at 86.

A Cartoonist Remembers His Hero, Cul de Sac’s Richard Thompson.

Jerry Doyle Dead: ‘Babylon 5’ Actor Was 60.

Youree Dell Harris, the TV Psychic Miss Cleo, Dies at 53.

Things I wrote:

A Certain Shade of Green — stop asking me to shoot myself in the foot.

Hugo Ballot 2016: Why I’m not reviewing this year.

Videos!

Saade – Wide Awake ft. Gustaf Norén (Official Music Video):

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La La Land (2016 Movie) Official Teaser Trailer – ‘City Of Stars’:

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Dream On – Postmodern Jukebox ft. Morgan James (Aerosmith Cover):

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Anyway, 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

In Praise of Ambivalence — “Young” Feminism, Gender Identity and Free Speech.

Optical Illusion: Concentric circles, not a spiral.

And other news:

Minorities, punished most by war on drugs, underrepresented in legal pot.

Is nothing sacred? Mrs. White Will Be Gone From the Clue Board, Replaced With a ‘Dr. Orchid’.

This week in We won’t give up:

Gays Against Guns stood up by laying down.

This week in History

After 7 years, UK’s Iraq War inquiry releases 2.6M word report damning Tony Blair and the invasion.

From ‘Runt Of The Litter’ To ‘Liberal Icon,’ The Story Of Robert Kennedy.

To show that Gothic script could be fatiguing to read, medieval scribes invented this joke sentence.

This Week in Tech

Searching for a good reason to remove the headphone jack. “Is Apple removing the headphone jack from the iPhone? Nobody really knows… This is a tech unicorn, an unannounced feature on a nonexistent product, and it’s important to keep that in mind.”

This Week in Diversity

Fat People and Chairs – A Hate Story.

This Week in Police Problems

Democrats: The White Working Class Isn’t Voting for You, So Stop Pandering to Them.

A POLICE KILLING IN BATON ROUGE.

How police work rooted in racial profiling maintains hostilities that inevitably lead to violence.

2015: in 97% of murders by police, NO officers charged. The system is working as intended.

Alton Sterling: Top 10 Facts You Need to Know.

Pinned Down, Gunned Down: Protests Erupt After Police Fatally Shoot Black Man in Baton Rouge.

Police killing of Philando Castile a reminder Second Amendment and NRA campaigns don’t apply to Black people.

I’m a black ex-cop, and this is the real truth about race and policing.

This Week in Restoring Our Faith in Humanity

Washington transgender bathroom initiative fails to gather enough signatures.

This week in awful news

Bangladesh attack: Twenty hostages killed, army says .

Bangladesh attack: Dhaka’s Holey cafe attackers were known to police .

These are the victims of the Bangladesh attack .

More than 120 killed in Islamic State’s worst ever bomb attack in the Iraqi capital.

Medina explosion: Suicide bombing near Saudi holy site.

Iraq suicide bomb attack: Deaths in Baghdad rise to 165.

Why so-called Islamic State chooses to bomb during Ramadan.

Baghdad bombing death toll rises to 250.

Attack on holy city of Medina appalls Muslims amid Ramadan violence.

Dallas protest shooting: 11 police shot, four dead, as suspect in custody.

Update: another officer has died Dallas police shooting: Five officers killed, six hurt by snipers.

Dallas Police Department Was Posting Pictures of Peaceful Protesters Before Shooting Started.

Iraq violence: Dozens killed in Shia shrine suicide attack.

News for queers and our allies:

Judge: Indiana Must List Both Moms For Children Of Lesbians.

Artist Creates An Imaginary History Of Queerness From Found Photos.

‘My Pride includes Black Lives Matters,’ says an original organizer of the parade.

Science!

Butterflies in the Time of Dinosaurs, with Nary a Flower in Sight.

‘Welcome to Jupiter!’ NASA’s Juno space probe arrives at giant planet.

Science Says These Work Hours Are Terrible for Your Health.

Researchers develop genetic test that can predict your risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

‘One-two punch’: Researchers’ latest insight on what killed the dinosaurs.

GHOSTLY FISH SEEN ALIVE IN DEEP OCEAN FOR FIRST TIME.

Massachusetts is being swallowed by millions of hungry caterpillars.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

Top Ten Tuesday: underrated books.

How science fiction writers predicted virtual reality.

NEW ASH VS EVIL DEAD SEASON 2 TEASER BRINGS THE GUTS AND GORE.

Culture war news:

God vs. the Constitution.

Brazil Is Confronting an Epidemic of Anti-Gay Violence. This nugget is buried near the end of the article: “The anti-gay violence, [experts] contend, can be traced to Brazil’s culture of machismo and a brand of evangelical Christianity, exported from the United States, that is outspoken in its opposition to homosexuality. Evangelicals make up nearly a quarter of Brazil’s population, up from 5 percent in 1970, and religious leaders reach millions of people through the hundreds of television and radio stations they have purchased in recent years.”

Gee, where have we heard news like the Brazil story before: How Uganda was seduced by anti-gay conservative evangelicals.

WTF? Christians pose as gay pothead zombies to spread hate at Toronto Pride.

Trump Supporters Flooded Me With Anti-Semitic Taunts & Death Threats Yesterday.

THE LATEST: NO JUDGES SOUGHT RECUSAL FROM DOING GAY WEDDINGS.

The Mormon fallout of legalized same-sex marriage.

State’s Youth Suicide Rate Has Nearly Tripled Since 2007, But Health Officials Refuse to Acknowledge Impact of Anti-Gay Religious Teachings.

Gay Ex-Mormon Tyler Glenn Reports 5 More LGBT Youth Suicides; Church Responds.

The Benham Brothers can even make cooking homophobic.

Kim Davis Flouts The Law — Again — As Liberty Counsel Withholds Attorney-Client Records.

Millions of Americans Have Nothing to Celebrate on the Fourth of July.

The Cult Next Door: For decades, the people of Hinsdale gave little thought to the mysterious brick building in town. Then came a scandal. When I was a teen-ager, my church and others organized outings to this organizations week-long seminar/workshop things which filled a stadium.

Homophobia and mass shootings are afflictions that won’t be solved overnight — but the problematic and outdated restrictions against gay blood donors could be.

Pope Francis Can Begin By Apologizing For His Own Hateful Words Against Gays.

Same-sex couple denied a birthday cake by Ohio bakery.

Tory Candidate For Prime Minister Says Marriage Should Just Be For Christians.

This Week Regarding the Facist Clown:

Trump and Brexit are like lotto tickets: the more unrealistic, the better.

Donald Trump’s Star of David Hillary Clinton Meme Was Created by White Supremacists.

An Open Letter To Reince Preibus . I think it’s almost cute that the “GOP media guy” who wrote thinks that Trump’s voter base is in any significant way different that the voter base the Republican’s have been courting, encouraging, and creating for the last 36 years…

Leading white supremacist on Trump’s retweets: Trump is “giving us the old wink-wink.”

The Theology of Donald Trump.

Donald Trump’s Love Affair With White Supremacists.

A GOP Strategist Explains How Donald Trump Knows Anti-Semites And White Nationalists Are “The Center Of His Play”.

Trump Tells GOP Senator He’ll Lose Re-Election, Even Though He’s Not on Ballot.

Donald Trump Has No Clue How Many Articles Are in the Constitution: Pledges to Defend Nonexistent ‘Article 12’ in Meeting with House Republicans.

This week in Politics:

Jim Comey’s Statement on the Clinton Emails: A Quick and Dirty Analysis.

FBI Director Comey: Petraeus case worse than Clinton’s emails.

Cruz to speak at convention after Trump meeting. We knew the tapeworm would eventually cave…

House GOP indefinitely delays gun control votes.

GOP faces tough odds to revoke Clinton’s clearance.

This Week in Racism

“Racism Exists”: Minnesota Governor Says Philando Castile Would Be Alive If He Were White.

The disturbing data on Republicans and racism: Trump backers are the most bigoted within the GOP.

Am I Going to Write About Murdered Black People Forever?

Farewells:

Famed Holocaust Survivor and ‘Night’ Author Elie Wiesel Dies At Age of 87.

WATCH: Elie Wiesel’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.

‘Deer Hunter’ Director Michael Cimino Is Dead.

Legendary Women’s Basketball Coach Pat Summitt Has Died.

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 7/2/2016 – Neither free nor religious.

Got a dream we’ve come to share.

It’s my country, too.

Advanced Civilizations and Clever Monkeys – more of why I love sf/f.

Videos!

The Beginning:

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The Daily Show – The Fatal Shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile:

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Clean Bandit – Tears ft. Louisa Johnson [Official Video]:

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The Nightly Show – Alton Sterling’s Death & Black Lives Matter:

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Adam Lambert – Welcome to the Show feat. Laleh [Official Music Video]:

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