Friday has finally arrived. It is the first Friday in July, which means that I’ve started my Camp NaNoWriMo project and looking forward to a nice holiday weekend with my hubby. I was a little shocked when I assembled this week’s links, because the number was so much higher than usual. In fact, it might be the most links I’ve ever put together for a Friday Links post! Maybe I’m trying to get a jump on the rest o the month, since I’ll be spending all of my lunches writing rather than half reading the news and half writing. I’m not sure.

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

Letter From the Editor: On Orlando and Its Aftermath. “You cannot decry the “lifestyle” of queer people and then wring your hands when someone takes you seriously and tries to end our lives.”

Who Blames the Victim?

Letter to the 10-year-old girl who applied to the Paris Summer Innovation Fellowship.

This week in privacy

How Facebook’s ‘People You May Know’ Section Just Got Creepier.

Microsoft’s pushy Windows 10 upgrade tactics have finally come back to haunt them. Travel agency owner Teri Goldstein swears that she didn’t want the upgrade and never asked for it, either….

Mister Rogers Said to Look for the Helpers

This heroic son of Muslim immigrants saved countless lives during Orlando shooting.

‘Microcosm of the city’: Garfield High principal navigates racial divide.

The heroes of Istanbul: Stories of incredible bravery from the Turkey airport terror attack.

These Orlando shooting heroes prove people are fundamentally good.

This week in We won’t give up:

Orlando tragedy spurs huge turnout at Seattle’s Gay Pride Parade.

#RestInPRIDE memorializes Orlando shooting victims with heartbreaking music video.

This Week in Community Radio

Community Group Inks Deal With Pacific Lutheran University To Buy KPLU.

This Week in Diversity

Why queer hockey webcomic Check, Please! is stealing the internet’s heart. I’ve recommended this comic, myself.

Midnighter & Apollo, Gay Superheroes of Comics, to Reunite This Fall.

This Week in Restoring Our Faith in Humanity

LONDON COMMUTERS STAND UP TO HOMOPHOBIA IN PUBLIC – WATCH.

This week in awful news

The Catholic Church is lobbying to prevent changes to statutes of limitations.

C.I.A. Arms for Syrian Rebels Supplied Black Market, Officials Say.

Car set on fire outside Perth mosque as hundreds pray inside.

41 killed in Instanbul attack blamed on ISIS.

Istanbul airport attack: Who were the victims?

Michael Katze, famous for his studies of Ebola and the flu, ran a lab at the University of Washington where intoxication and sexual harassment went unchecked, and where he misused public resources for personal gain, according to two investigations.

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

Supreme Court Just Ruled that Domestic Abusers Can’t Have Guns.

News for queers and our allies:

I’ve been thinking a lot about this category. As I mentioned to a friend, if a person is reading my blog, they either are a member of the queer community, or they are an ally, or they are an enemy who is following me to see what we’re up to. I thought about changing the headline for this section to someting like “News for people who aren’t haters” or something even snarkier. Does anyone have any ideas? Let me know.

Adam Silver Made History And Marched In The NYC Pride Parade And Kevin Durant Approve.

He Escaped ISIS to Lead NYC Pride: Subhi Nahas’s Fight for LGBT Refugees.

40 Powerful, Joyous Photos of People Celebrating at NYC Pride.

The simple reason so many US businesses openly support LGBT rights.

The Fetish Pups, Rainbow Babies, and Sequinned Drag Queens of London Pride.

Op-Ed: Why I’m Marching for the First Time.

¡Viva Orgullo! See how Mexico City celebrated Pride.

Seattle Police report a drop in Pride Weekend attacks.

Pentagon ends ban on transgender troops in military.

Estimate of U.S. Transgender Population Doubles to 1.4 Million Adults.

Angels in America: The Complete Oral History.

A Father Refused to Claim Body of Pulse Victim.

Science!

Mad Scientist Builds a 200-Watt Laser Bazooka That Can Shoot Through a Computer Case: VIDEO.

Scientists Unleash Full Einstein Equations To Model The Universe.

New evidence that sperm whales form clans with diverse cultures, languages.

Mouse study helps explain why running improves memory.

Augmented eternity: scientists aim to let us speak from beyond the grave.

Juno probe closes in on Jupiter after five-year journey from Earth.

Ken Ham’s Version of Noah’s Ark Is Horribly Designed.

Dwarf planet Makemake has a moon, astronomers find.

We have the wrong idea about males, females and sex.

Has Physics Gotten Something Really Important Really Wrong?

New model predicts once-mysterious chemical reactions.

The Latest Science Says Coffee Is Good for You.

Humans are driving the evolution of new species — and that could be just as bad as causing extinctions.

Scientists discovered a new shade of blue and it’s totally gorgeous.

WAITING FOR GÖDEL.

Unprecedented Recovery Documented in 10 Early-stage Alzheimer’s Patients.

7 science-backed reasons you should make art, even if you’re bad at it.

No, We’re Not Headed for a Mini–Ice Age.

The 1 Type of Complaining That Will Make You Feel Better, According to Science.

Marijuana compound removes toxic Alzheimer’s protein from the brain.

Giant spacecraft arrives at Jupiter on July 4.

Little Worlds Have Bigger Features: Why Everest And The Grand Canyon Are So Small.

World’s First Robot Lawyer Helps 160,000 People Void Their Parking Tickets.

It’s not easy being green – What colors tell us about galaxy evolution.

City Lights Trick Trees into an Earlier Spring.

31 scientific societies just told Congress to take their climate denial and shove it.

Scientists Find ‘Life-Saving’ Stash Of Precious Helium Gas.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

Star Trek: A Case Study In How to Dismantle a Fandom.

Neil Gaiman Delves Deep Into Norse Myths for New Book.

This week in Writing

How To Turn Your Rules for Failure Into Success.

A Year in the Publishing Game . . ..

Culture war news:

Judge Strikes Down Mississippi’s Anti-LGBT HB1523 Minutes Before It Was to Take Effect.

A Year After Marriage Equality, It’s Time For Media To Stop Giving Anti-LGBT Liars A Pass.

Tony Perkins believes that he has a First Amendment right to be on TEEvee.

Watch Hollywood star Jesse Eisenberg shame homophobic protesters: ‘You’re so f**ked’.

Love beats ISIS.

Cops: Trans Activist Beaten After Orlando Benefit.

New York Case Could Provide Key Test For Establishing Legal Protections For Gay People.

Here’s Why the Lavender Scare Still Matters.

NOM’s March for Marriage Is the Dying Gasp of Opposition.

Socialism or barbarism: Only the left can defeat the rise of the radical right.

NBA and Charlotte Hornets: ‘We Do Not Endorse’ the Amended Version of HB 2.

Bryan Fischer: The Obergefell Ruling Was When “Moral Jihadists” Committed 9/11 Against Christians.

White Americans Are Biggest Terror Threat in U.S.: Study.

‘I Do Not Construe Homosexual Rights As Human Rights’ Says GOP Human Rights Subcommittee Head.

Americans are split on “reverse racism.” That still doesn’t mean it exists.

Two More Supreme Court Decisions Support Abortion Access.

Trumpism is here to stay: America’s neo-fascist fever dream has only just begun.

Texas AG Doesn’t Understand It’s Illegal to Out Trans Students.

At Evangelical Schools, Why Are Atheists Typically Favored Over LGBT Students?

This week in Politics:

Mike Huckabee Owes Band $25,000 After Playing “Eye of the Tiger” at Kim Davis Rally.

Republicans Rocked By Report Detailing GOP Lies And Abuses During Benghazi Investigation.

Why the Sanders “Revolution” Must Take on the Permanent War State.

House Benghazi report faults military response, not Clinton, for deaths.

With Clinton exonerated, conspiracy theorists turn on Trey Gowdy.

Trump Institute Offered Get-Rich Schemes With Plagiarized Lessons.

People Are Figuring Out Ways to Blame Obama for Brexit, Because of Course They Are.

What a real ‘Brexit Britain’ would look like.

Bernie Sanders’ Take on Globalization Is Simple, Ideologically Comforting, and Factually Wrong.

The Laziest Lie Of Donald Trump’s Entire Campaign (So Far).

Fact checkers confirm Hillary Clinton is more honest than any of her 2016 opponents.

How Bernie Sanders Overplayed His Hand and Lost His Leverage Over Hillary and the Party.

Conservatives Have Groomed the Perfect Suckers for Trump’s Epic Scam.

The Supreme Court Just Affirmed That Domestic Violence Vacates Gun Rights — Here’s Why That’s So Important.

New Electoral College Projection Has Hillary Clinton Demolishing Donald Trump.

‘I’m Still Alive,’ Queen Elizabeth Quips During First Public Appearance Since Brexit Vote.

Emmy-winning journalist resigns to work against Trump: ‘I couldn’t bear to be a bystander anymore’.

This Week in Racism

Why the “Make America White Again” Candidate Makes No Sense: Liberal Redneck Edition.

Things I wrote:

Why the haters won’t win.

Someone who loves the same books as me….

Finding ways to make their hating of the sinner sound compassionate.

Hi ho! Hi ho! It’s off to Camp I go….

Antique Books and Incongruous Pages, more of why I love sf/f.

Videos!

100 Years of Fashion: Men’s Underwear ★ Mode.com:

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WONDERKID Trailer: Film following the inner turmoil of a gay footballer:

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Full Frontal tries to make sense of Brexit with some help from a Time Lord:

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Years & Years – Worship:

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Friday has finally arrived. I have been wrestling with this post for a bit. Since I’ve already written a few times about the big story of the week—and everyone else has been blogging, re-blogging, tweeting and otherwise talking about the big story—I started to break this into two posts. One would have had all the shooting related posts, the other none. But that was weird and there are a few links that are kind of a tough call on that. And, I’ve always had a lot of links related to queer rights issues and such, anyway. So I opted to just put all the links I’ve gathered in here, and let you decide whether to scroll past.

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

This week in History

Women guitar makers scratched from Gibson history.

This week in Restoring Your Faith in Humanity

ORLANDO: Hundreds Form Human Chain Links To Block Westboro Baptist From Funerals For Pulse Victims.

Jetblue passengers write letters to Orlando victim’s grandmother.

On rap, Hollywood, and sport—and black male affection, friendship, and love.

And other news:

Why I Quit Twitter — and Left Behind 35,000 Followers.

This week in I can’t even…

Orlando Nightclub Shooting: ‘Absolute Devastation’ Among LGBTQ Community.

Florida Catholic bishop: ‘It is religion, including our own,’ that targets LGBT people.

Easy weapon access, LGBT hate made Orlando massacre possible. “The Legislature has repeatedly failed to extend the protection of the state’s civil rights law to LGBT Michiganders. And now, as the state board of education is working to develop a set of voluntary guidelines for schools to provide a safe environment for LGBT kids, some state lawmakers are working diligently to demonize LGBT Michiganders. Make no mistake: The violent acts in Orlando are rooted in this rhetoric.”

CNN’s Anderson Cooper Fights Back Tears Reading Orlando Victim Names.

After Orlando, some grieve, others buy guns. “…it’s not until I’m holding a heavy-duty firearm that the disconnect between the power of this tool and the ease of its purchase hits home. Transferring the title of a car, filing taxes — these are much more challenging than getting this gun. Why, I wonder, would I need this in ten to fifteen minutes? I have made many bad decisions in the course of ten or fifteen minutes”

When I Told My Gay Son 49 People Died For Being Just Like Him.

RECIPE FOR A SHOOTING.

It’s not enough to #PrayForOrlando. People of faith must fight homophobia.

Here’s How Long It Will Take America To Forget About The Orlando Massacre.

This week in We won’t give up:

PRIDE AND TRAGEDY.

Gay Space Cannot Be Straight Women’s Safe Space Until It’s Safe For Those Who Are Gay.

The road to murder is paved with microaggressions.

At Los Angeles Pride, Music Trumped Fear.

Please Don’t Stop the Music: The Orlando shooter violated a sanctuary, but his desecration will not defeat us.

Some Thoughts and Facts, in No Particular Order.

UNFORGETTABLE: WE CAN’T LOSE SIGHT OF THE QUEER LATINX VICTIMS IN ORLANDO.

This Week in Diversity

The “Me Before You” Backlash Was Bigger Than Anyone Expected.

#SayNoToHYDRACap: What You Can Do.

IN YOUR FACE JAM: Marvel, DC and the Current State of LGBT Superheroes.

24 THINGS WOMEN OVER 30 SHOULD WEAR. This is not what you think – go read it!

This week in awful news

Jo Cox MP dead after shooting attack.

This week in war crimes

Detainees Describe C.I.A. Torture in Declassified Transcripts.

News for queers and our allies:

Straight guy worries he’s being homophobic to gay roommate, realizes he’s fallen in love with him.

Love in the time of terrorism: A new TV documentary looks at the flight of two young lovers from fearsome persecution in Iraq to Seattle.

I am Muslim, I am queer, and I exist.

Twitter Users Celebrate LGBTQIA Identities With #QueerSelfLove.

‘Nonbinary’ is now a legal gender, Oregon court rules.

Orlando’s Pulse Nightclub Was Founded by a Woman Whose Brother Died from AIDS: The name refers to his heartbeat.

What We Find in Gay Bars and Queer Clubs.

Scottish Episcopal Church votes for marriage equality.

Science!

Astronomers find building blocks of life near newborn star.

The most under-loved planet in our solar system.

Surprise! Newfound Asteroid Is ‘Quasi-Moon’ of Earth.

Pre and post testing show reversal of memory loss from Alzheimer’s disease in 10 patients.

Science Finally Figured Out How to Make Coffee Even Better.

Mineral from wet, hot volcano lava found on Mars, baffling scientists.

Gluttonous Star May Hold Clues to Planet Formation.

BIRD BRAINS ARE RICHER IN NEURONS THAN MAMMAL BRAINS.

Mystery object breaks Saturn’s weirdest ring.

Ancient Swedish space rock may be a whole new kind of meteorite.

To stop Earth’s sixth extinction, a biologist says we must give up half the planet.

This Scary Animation Shows How Glacier National Park Is Losing Its Glaciers.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

Dialogue You’d Sell Your Firstborn For: Terry Pratchett’s Lords and Ladies.

Mentoring in the Afterlife.

Culture war news:

The dramatic rise in state efforts to limit LGBT rights. There have been 254 anti-LGBT bills introduced across the nation since the ACLU began tracking legislation in 2013…

Reflecting on the Complicated and Painful History of Anti-LGBTQ Violence in the US. “On June 24, 1973, an arsonist set fire to the stairway leading to the popular men’s club that burned down under mysterious circumstances. The tragedy claimed the lives of 32 men, and until this week it was the largest mass murder of LGBTQ people in the United States…”

The Second Amendment Hoax: How the NRA and conservatives have perverted the meaning of the right to bear arms.

Anti-LGBT Lawmakers Race To Condemn Islam While Ignoring Their Own Roles In Anti-LGBT Violence.

4 Pro-Gun Arguments We’re Sick of Hearing.

Oh no – NOM: “The March For Marriage is On”.

THE HATRED OF TRANSGENDER PEOPLE THAT DARE NOT SPEAK ITS NAME.

The Campaign:

Donald Trump tells people to ‘ask the gays’ about how great he is. ‘The gays’ respond—and it is EPIC.

David Cay Johnston: New Evidence Donald Trump Didn’t Pay Taxes (With Update).

This week in Politics:

What Gun Control Advocates Can Learn From the Marriage Equality Movement.

Republican Senator Inadvertently Calls for President Obama’s Death in Speech to Christian Audience. I don’t think it was that inadvertent…

This Week in (other) Hate Crimes

LA Pride Suspect’s Ex-Boyfriend Says He Once Threatened To Shoot Up Workplace.

Stop Exploiting LGBT Issues to Demonize Islam and Justify Anti-Muslim Policies.

Farewells:

The Stories of the Victims of the Pulse Gay Nightclub Massacre in Orlando – The mother of 12 who beat cancer twice. The brother whose sister drove 12 hours to say goodbye. The couples who died together….

Margaret Heldt, creator of beehive hairdo, dies at age 98.

Jo Cox: The Labour MP who campaigned tirelessly for refugees.

Author Lois Duncan Has Passed Away.

This Couple Killed in the Orlando Shooting Hoped to Get Married. Now They Will Have a Joint Funeral.

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 6/11/2016: His idea of ethics is disobeying the law.

They used to insist that drunk driving couldn’t be reduced, either.

There is so much to be pedantic about amidst this horrible news.

#TwoMenKissing and why Orlando was a punch in my gut.

Dancing with my pride.

Videos!

Shura – What’s It Gonna Be?:

I Have A Tribe – Buddy Holly:

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Hozier – Better Love (From The Legend of Tarzan – Film Version):

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Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie | Official HD Trailer #1 | 2016:

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John Grant & Kylie Minogue at Royal Albert Hall 15/06/2016 singing Glacier:

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It’s Friday! The second Friday in June already. Happy Queer Pride Month!

I haven’t quite gotten my 2016 Pride playlist where I want it yet. One problem has been that I’ve worked a lot of long days this week, having been pulled into a project barely days before the deadline. Don’t you just love planning? I’ve also had my usual pair of headphones having sudden battery problems, seriously cutting into some of my prime listening time. But I’ll get it sorted!

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

The Brown, Queer, And Poor Are Not The Ones Holding The Left Back. “Yes, we worked together for women’s suffrage—only to find that the white women at the front of the movement would use the fear of the black vote to get it. Yes, we marched on Washington together—but when the marching was over, it became clear that many white liberals would turn on us the moment we asked for changes in their actions and in their communities.”

John Oliver buys up $15 million in medical debt, then pays off the debt for 9,000 people in hardship.

This week in tech

Your Shitty Password Hygiene Is Spreading Hacks Like a Contagion.

Stop the Bots From Killing Broadway.

This week in History

6 Ways You Didn’t Realize Ronald Reagan Ruined The Country.

This Week in Diversity

No, That Wasn’t A Lesbian Couple In The ‘Finding Dory’ Trailer.

A blog post I never thought I’d be writing on book release day….

This week in Difficult to Classify

ON #TRONC, JOURNALISM, AND ITS VALUE.

News for queers and our allies:

Air Force Cadets Describe Life After ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’.

Dear Media: Ronan Farrow Models How to Cover Trans People.

Lea DeLaria: Get rid of ‘LGBTQ’ in favor of ‘queer’. Gee, didn’t I just write something about a few days ago?

Fourth Circuit Court Lifts Stay On Order Granting Transgender Student Restroom Rights.

Gay Democrat Bob Poe Seeks To Become First Openly HIV+ Member Of Congress.

White House Issues Track Record On LGBT Rights: DOMA, DADT, Hate Crimes Law, HIV/AIDS, And More. “The “fact sheet” – which I’ve posted in its entirety below – serves both as a very well-earned bragging point and as a stark reminder of how tenuous many of these advances remain with the specter of a Republican administration looming before us.”

Science!

Say Hello To Your Four Newly Named Elements Of The Periodic Table.

The deepest image of a galaxy from Earth.

Tiny hobbit-like humans were victims of island dwarfing.

The Very Long War Between Snakes and Newts.

Why don’t birds get lost? They may have mastered quantum mechanics.

The Earth’s magnetic field is weakening ten times faster than expected.

Ice age bison fossils shed light on early human migrations in North America.

Everything We Know About Drug Addiction Is Wrong.

This serpent’s venom could one day save your life: Snake toxin, not snake oil, might be next miracle drug.

‘Compelling’ science reveals Indigenous people the first Australians.

Simple blood test could stop doctors using ‘trial and error’ to prescribe antidepressants, scientists claim.

Stephen Hawking’s finally published a solution to the black hole information paradox.

Five Awesome Science Courses You Can Take Online Completely Free.

Science Says Stop Doing This to Eliminate Self-Doubt.

Stroke survivors walk again after Stanford injects stem cells into brain.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

Defending fandom is exhausting. Let’s start celebrating it instead.

Announcement: The Lemonade Award.

2016 Mythopoeic Award Finalists.

Strange Opinion: Bob Gale Of ‘Back To The Future’ Is Not Happy About ‘Doctor Strange’. Not only did he write Back to the Future, but he’s been trying to get a Dr. Strange film made for years, and may be the characters’ biggest fan…

This week in Writing

Irish Bards Could Kill Rats With Their Magical Poetry Powers.

COMMA QUEEN: WHICHCRAFT—THAT VS. WHICH.

De-Gendering Stories: A Challenge. It’s a contest, by the way!

Culture war news:

“Supergirl” star fights to save his cousin from “pray away the gay” therapy that harms kids.

Jeremy Jordan’s Cousin Sarah Released From ‘Ex-Gay’ Boarding School.

Small bomb damages Target bathroom as company faces criticism for transgender policy.

Transgender activists don’t share Pentagon ‘pride’.

Why Equality Is Toxic to the Transgender Movement.

Co-founder of border-watch group Minuteman found guilty of molesting 5-year-old girl .

A Reminder: People Are Going to Have Different Worldviews. That Doesn’t Make Them Assholes. I would retitle it, “That ALONE Doesn’t Make Them Assholes.”

Mormon Church Finds a New Target for Its Homophobia.

This week in rape culture

NEARLY 3.4 MILLION VIOLENT CRIMES PER YEAR WENT UNREPORTED TO POLICE FROM 2006 TO 2010.

This Judge Sentenced Brock Turner To 6 Months In Jail. Now 200,000 People Want Him Recalled.

When Peak White Privilege And Peak Rape Culture Create The Perfect Fuckshit Soufflé.

The Stanford Rapist’s Father Offers An Impossibly Offensive Defense Of His Son.

Here Is The Powerful Letter The Stanford Victim Read Aloud To Her Attacker.

This week in Politics:

Here Is Every Bogus Claim in Donald Trump’s Defense of Trump University.

Trump’s fundraisers see no chance of hitting $1 billion.

USA TODAY exclusive: Hundreds allege Donald Trump doesn’t pay his bills. “The liens range from a $75,000 claim by a Plainview, N.Y., air conditioning and heating company to a $1 million claim from the president of a New York City real estate banking firm. On just one project, Trump’s Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, records released by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission in 1990 show that at least 253 subcontractors weren’t paid in full or on time, including workers who installed walls, chandeliers and plumbing.”

Donald Trump Doesn’t Employ Many Women on His Campaign Staff, and He Pays Them Less.

The Puzzling Vilification of Hillary, A Psychoanalyst’s Perspective.

Clinton and Sanders and the End of the Road.

“It’s the REAL HILLARY coming out”. Many cheers for Hillary taking on Trump head on.

The Sanders Campaign Is Dead, Long Live the Sanders Revolution.

Hillary’s amazing achievement: Understanding the magnitude of Clinton’s historic win.

Obama Has Waited Longer For Cabinet Confirmations Than Any Other Recent President.

Behind the Gold Curtain of Donald Trump’s Résumé. “Based on his read of Trump’s election filings, which showed only $165 million in liquid assets, Cuban harbors doubts about whether Trump is even a billionaire as he claims.”

Farewells:

Amadeus writer Sir Peter Shaffer dies aged 90.

Muhammad Ali, ‘The Greatest,’ dies at 74.

Muhammad Ali Dies at 74: Titan of Boxing and the 20th Century.

‘I Just Wanted to Be Free’: The Radical Reverberations of Muhammad Ali.

Father of Slain Journalist Daniel Pearl Recalls Muhammad Ali’s Kind Gesture.

Muhammad Ali’s bouts outside the ring: Embrace of Islam and refusal to fight in Vietnam.

The Best Stories Ever Written About Muhammad Ali.

When Muhammad Ali met Prince.

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 6/4/2016: “My conscience won’t let me…”.

Who’s offended? Why?

You need to pick your dragons….

Nostalgia for a Time that Never Was – more of why I love sf/f.

Videos!

Shura – What’s It Gonna Be?:

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STAR TREK : AWESOME KIRK MOMENTS ”I DONT LIKE TO LOSE!’:

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Britney and the Beast by Todrick Hall:

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It’s Friday! June is finally here. Happy Pride Month! Yes, it’s Queer Pride Month. You don’t have to be lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, aromantic, genderfluid, polyamorous, intersex, transsexual, questioning, two-spirit, genderqueer, same-gender-loving, or flexual to celebrate and join in on the fun.

I’m still not happy with my Pride Playlist for this year, but it’s getting closer!

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

How did public bathrooms get to be separated by sex in the first place?

Transgender kids can’t wait for adults who need to take their time to accept them.

HOLDING MANY TRUTHS: THE LOSS OF NUANCE TO VICIOUS POLARITY.

Happy News!

The Pirate’s Graveyard.

This week in tech

Supermarket sues banks over chip card shift, says it lost $10K in 4.5 months .

This week in History

The Barely Remembered Gay Victims of the Nazi Concentration Camps.

This week in Health

Unpaid, stressed, and confused: patients are the health care system’s free labor.

This Week in Diversity

Hollywood Can’t Seem To Find Hot Asian Actors, Allow Us To Help.

There’s nothing wrong with being politically correct.

Welcome to America — where even our math tests are racist.

News for queers and our allies:

Americans Are Having More Gay Sex: Study. “And it looks like the “B” in LGBTQ has played a major role in the change…”

This gay high school athlete wasn’t a distraction to his team that just won a state title.

Presidential Proclamation — LGBT Pride Month, 2016.

LGBT veterans and band march in Chicago’s Memorial Day observance.

‘I never wanted to be gay’: Christian musician comes out, in moving letter to fans.

Science!

Storm Chasers, Stay Home: Rural roads are getting crowded during tornado season, and the dangerous conditions are all your fault..

Scientists crack mystery of shrimp packing such a punch it can split your thumb.

Scientists Just Updated Their Warnings About Zika and Sex.

Predator or prey? Why pupils are shaped and oriented the way they are.

Alzheimer’s could be caused by past infections, researchers say.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

The Ghostbusters Are Girls Now — But No One Told the Toys.

Geek culture isn’t ‘broken,’ but it does have a harassment problem.

The ‘Sense8’ cast is in Brazil for Gay Pride and everyone is wondering what it means.

The Power of Cautionary Questions: Neil Gaiman on Ray Bradbury’s ‘Fahrenheit 451,’ Why We Read, and How Speculative Storytelling Enlarges Our Humanity.

This week in Writing

Notes to My 12-Year-Old Self: Don’t Wait Till You’re Older.

Culture war news:

Giving our transgender children a voice.

Why Utah’s LGBT Youth Need Our Help.

Probing the Straight Fear of Gay Gaze in Locker Rooms.

Man Booker Prize Winner Marlon James Was Tortured By ‘Ex-Gay’ Exorcism.

Author, ex-prosecutor slams critics of Child Victims Act, urges New York to stop protecting abusers. Note: the Catholic Church is leading the charge to keep the law child molester statute of limitations in place.

Trolls threaten to ‘gas’ PinkNews CEO for reading pro-gay children’s book to nieces.

How trans people could help free the nipple.

Massachusetts Gov. Baker Says He Would Sign House Version Of Transgender Bill.

Massachusetts House passes transgender bill after heated debate.

Mississippi governor: ‘Secular’ world angry over LGBT law.

Federal Court Upholds Ruling Affirming Trans Student’s Equal Access.

Ken Starr, After Demotion for Failure to Investigate Rape Allegations Against Football Players, Abandons Reins at Baylor U. in the Wake of Campus Rape Scandal.

Catholic Church spent $2M on major N.Y. lobbying firms to block child-sex law reform.

Awful News

Friends remember UCLA shooting victim as ‘gentle soul’.

UCLA shooting: Gunman’s wife found dead in Minnesota.

Pilot killed in Navy Blue Angels jet crash.

This week in Politics:

SC Gov. Nikki Haley Warns Divisive Rhetoric Like Donald Trump’s Led to Charleston Church Massacre.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman: Trump University Was A Fraud From Beginning To End.

Trump Didn’t Give Money to Vets Until the Press Reported that Funds Hadn’t Been Distributed.

A Message to the #BernieorBust Movement.

Libertarian candidate strips naked on live TV.

Trump’s Attack on a Federal Judge Is an Open Appeal to Racism.

Hillary Clinton Delivers Major Foreign Policy Speech, Slams Donald Trump Throughout.

Rachel Maddow Laments Trump’s Open Racism.

This Week in Misogyny

Teenage Girls Are Playing Video Games. You Just Might Not Hear Them.

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 5/28/2016: Haters show true colors.

A cup, a cup, a cup, a cup, a cup… boy!

Memorials, reposting.

Evil Captain America and other bad writing hacks.

I feel a Tingle, tingle, tingle….

Very Big Questions and Very Small Epiphanies – more of why I love sf/f.

Videos!

Incredible trailer brings gay superheroes to life:

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Man Sets Swimming Pool on Fire, Extinguishes It With Liquid Nitrogen:

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Lovestarrs – Get Your Sexy On:

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It’s Friday! The final Friday in May already. Yeesh! I’m not quite ready for the year to be half over. It’s also nearly June, and my annual project of creating the perfect Pride Playlist for my iPhone is not going quite as well as it ought, in part because of a weird issue that has popped up with a small number of tracks in my library which has resulted in me filing very complicated trouble tickets with Apple. But the real problem is that I can’t quite figure out what mood to go for this year. This might be one of the years where I make two lists with very different, uh, textures.

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

The Wonderful and Terrible Habit of Buying Too Many Books.

WINNING, LOSING, AND PARTICIPATING: SHUT UP ABOUT THE TROPHY.

And other news:

The Bible is #2 on This List of the Best Books Ever. Guess What’s #1?

Peter Thiel, Gawker, and Freedom of Speech. “I, for one, don’t dispute Peter Thiel’s right to back Hogan’s case. I simply think he’s an asshole for doing it, and a coward for having attempted to do it in secret.”

On Peter Thiel and Gawker. “The notion that Thiel or any one percenter could wage a war of attrition against a media outlet with the intent of destroying it for slights real or perceived should be horrifying to anyone who believes that freedom of the press is a necessary condition for an open society…”

No Road is Big Enough for a Beyoncé Concert.

Five Years Later, Harold Camping’s Followers Are Still Predicting the End of the World.

This Week in Tech

One Week without iTunes: the Results.

This week in Health

What You Need to Know About ‘Smiling Depression’.

Gluten-free ≠ healthier.

This Week in Diversity

ON STEVE ROGERS #1, ANTISEMITISM, AND PUBLICITY STUNTS. “I am not angry because omg how dare you ruin Steve Rogers forever. I am angry because how dare you use eleven million deaths as clickbait.”

Good People Often Stay Closeted. Good People Sometimes Stay Silent.

‘Normal America’ Is Not A Small Town Of White People. Demographics and other fun facts.

NSFW: Sexing the wheelchair (Part 2) – Disabled clients and the saviour complex.

This Week in Inappropriate Machismo

This Black Mom Perfectly Nails What’s Wrong With Dads Posing in Prom Pictures With Guns.

This week in awful news

Man in Mississippi jail 11 years without trial.

News for queers and our allies:

LGBTI kids are now protected from conversion therapy in Vermont.

Give Captain America a Boyfriend: The Campaigns to Make Disney’s Big Franchises More Gay-Friendly.

Picking Clothes Is Never Easy, Especially for Gender-Nonconformers.

Science!

Thousands of bees chased this car for 2 days looking for their queen.

Scientist who wants to ‘regenerate’ 20 brain-dead patients deluged with warnings of a zombie apocalpyse.

The Long History Behind the Reburial of ‘Kennewick Man’.

What will happen when Mount Rainier erupts?.

Scientists find cure for type 2 diabetes in rodents, don’t know how it works.

A survey of more than 216,000 adolescents from all 50 states indicates the number of teens with marijuana-related problems is declining. Similarly, the rates of marijuana use by young people are falling despite the fact more US states are legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana use and the number of adults using the drug has increased.

This bizarre sea monster shows how strange life gets after an apocalypse.

A controversial theory may explain the real reason humans have allergies.

Raccoon hands are nature’s most wonderful and terrifying appendages.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

Sad Puppies Review Books: Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.

Satirical erotica author Chuck Tingle’s massive troll of conservative sci-fi fans, explained. Right-wing sci-fi writers tried to delegitimize the Hugo Awards by nominating a writer no one took seriously. Here’s how he took them all by surprise.

How a Game of Thrones hashtag sparked a debate over ownership, linguistics, and cultural appropriation.

This week in Writing

AUTHOR ROSANNE PARRY ON THE BENEFITS OF READING LEVELS.

What’s Wrong With Inkitt’s “Publishing Contest” – A Partial List.

Ask the Agent: what are your thoughts on a white girl (for example) writing a “diverse” story from the POV of a character of color?

This Week in History

Ronald Reagan’s legacy of poverty and death.

This Week in Fighting Back in the Culture War:

How Do You Solve the Problem of Gendered Bathrooms? This Capitol Hill Brewery May Have an Answer.

Screaming Christian in Target Store is Confronted by Customer, Then Escorted Out By Security.

Culture war news:

Honest Error or Homophobic Humiliation? What Really Happened to the Gay Men’s Chorus at Petco Park?

Archdale (NC) Officials End Jersey Sponsorship Program After Businesses Put Bible Verses on Shirts.

The bathroom issue has turned 2016 into a very important election for LGBTQ rights.

LGBT divide grows as 11 states sue feds over transgender bathroom rule.

I’m trans and I want to stop talking about toilets.

Tennessee Activist’s Documentary Will Draw a Line Directly from Church Sermons to Anti-LGBT Laws.

Church Funding Anti-Trans Attack Tells Evangelicals “It Ain’t Over”.

Too gay for TV? Get used to it, honey.

2 Church Pastors Among 32 Arrested in Sting Operation Offering Sex With Teens.

This week in Politics:

I’m Voting For The Democrat In November Because I’m Not A Human Tire Fire.

EXPOSED: Trump Fans Divide Democrats By Posing As Sanders And Hillary Supporters Online.

One Of The Most Aggressive Gerrymanders In The Country Just Lost In The Supreme Court.

If You’re A Woman Or A Minority, America Was Never Great.

Calm Down: House Republicans Didn’t Just Challenge President Obama on Federal LGBT Discrimination.

Farewells:

Alan Young dies at 96; star of TV’s ‘Mister Ed’.

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 5/21/2016: Ringtone Rhapsody and Beyond.

Farewell to Camden County.

A cup, a cup, and a cup….

Out of Body Vacations – more of why I love sf/f.

Videos!

Frankmusik – Turnin’:

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Justs – Heartbeat (Latvia) 2016 Eurovision Song Contest:

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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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It’s Friday! And I’m on vacation! We’re running off to EverfreeNW where we will hang out with pony fans. I’m also running back to Seattle with friends midway through the weekend to see a teenager of our acquaintance perform in a production of the Mystery of Edwin Drood.

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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I am happy that it is Friday. I mean, really, really happy that it’s Friday. I almost didn’t do this post this week. I have been tired and stressed out all week. And I felt things had turned so negative the last half of last month, that I scrapped most of my blogging plans for this week, and found more uplifting things to post about. Instead of skipping this week’s links altogether, I decided to leave a couple of the usual topic areas out. Let’s see if you can guess which!

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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I am happy that it is Friday. I am even more happy that it is not last Friday. My father entered hospice care last Friday midday, but before he was transferred from the hospital there was some wholly unnecessary drama which kicked off a series of triangulation attempts the likes of which you wouldn’t believe. Seriously, if I wrote in a novel the altercation that resulted, it would be universally panned as wholly unbelievable. Anyway, that seems to be over, now. Though I was 1200 miles from the funeral, so if anything happened there I might not hear about it for a while.

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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