Ordinarily this post would begin with a declaration of gratitude for the arrival of Friday. Ordinarily this post would also have a lot more links than you will find below. There has been a slow stream of unpleasant health news from my extended family for the last few weeks, only some of which have I mentioned online. Most of the news has involved extended family members. Last night I learned of a much closer member of the family moving into hospice care. Several of my immediate family members are naturally distraught, and I am trying to be supportive. I will eventually go into things in more detail, but I think this is all I’ll say for now.

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

Ingrid Lyne’s Murder Is Every Woman’s Worst Fear.

This week in Design

Episcopal Church Fonts.

This Week in Tech

Google just scored a major victory against US authors.

This Week in Diversity

Petition Against School Play Backfires in New Jersey.

This week in Evil People

Rush Limbaugh’s contract is up, his benefactors are broke, and his audience ‘toxic.’ Next?

AP: S. Korea covered up mass abuse, killings of ‘vagrants’.

News for queers and our allies:

A New LGBTQ Victory Is a Victory for All of Us: The Social Security Administration Does the Right Thing.

In the Early 20th Century, America Was Awash in Incredible Queer Nightlife.

In Landmark Decision, Court Rules That Federal Law Protects Trans Students’ Bathroom Access.

Companies with openly LGBT employees at senior level are more profitable.

Science!

Panicdotal Evidence: “Anal Tearing”.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded to a reporter’s seemingly sarcastic comment by launching into a genius explanation of quantum computing.

Dara got to visit the certified quietest spot on earth: anechoic thunderdome.

Modern human females and male Neandertals had trouble making babies. Here’s why.

Why Our Science Institutions Fail Us: The Case Of Boaty McBoatface.

How Magicians Trick Your Brain – They hijack its limited ability to deal with perceptual ambiguity.

Astronomers just discovered a huge galaxy orbiting our own.

NASA has detected strange signals coming from the gravitational wave source.

Human brawn may be an evolutionary fluke — courtesy of our big brains.

Let’s go ahead and make Earth invisible to aliens, just in case.

Paleontologists find first fossil monkey in North America – but how did it get here?

Study Finds Straight Parents and Gay Parents Have Equally Healthy Kids.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

‘He Wears the Mask Just to Cover the Raw Flesh’.

How Sleepy Hollow Single-Handedly Destroyed Their Own Show.

FISKING “AN OPEN LETTER TO REY FROM STAR WARS”.

Film’s lost Nessie monster prop found in Loch Ness.

Good Omens: Neil Gaiman to adapt Terry Pratchett collaboration for TV.

This week in Writing

It’s Not Just You.

Novelist Gabby Rivera On Creating A Young Adult Novel With A Queer, Teenage Latina Protagonist.

Culture war news:

Target Shows How Simple It Is To Be Welcoming Of Transgender People.

Religious children are meaner than their secular counterparts, study finds.

Uline supports homophobic, anti-choice politic.

Stop Using Women’s Safety To Justify Transphobia.

10 Things We’ve Learned From the North Carolina Debacle.

Calif. school district bans atheist scholarships — but allows them from Scientology.

Catholicism’s multi-billion dollar brand is struggling — despite Pope Francis.

Corporate opposition to LGBTQ discrimination laws shows the GOP alliance has shattered.

Belinda Carlisle Rips Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant: ‘You Are Making Life Hell on Earth’ for LGBT People.

The Writing’s on the (Bathroom) Wall: State Anti-Transgender Laws Are About to Get Flushed.

The South’s new divide: Blue cities and red states.

This Week in the Clown Car

Seth Meyers Decimates Donald Trump’s Claims About a ‘Rigged’ Delegate System.

John Kasich Doesn’t Understand Why Anyone Would Think He Was Blaming Victims For Sexual Assault.

John Kasich to LGBT People Facing Discrimination: ‘Can You Just Get Over It?’

Donald Trump Tells Supporters He’ll ‘Bring Back’ Penn State Coach Joe Paterno. He apparently doesn’t realize that the legendary coach has been dead nearly four years…

This Week in Racism

PLEASE WATCH THIS INCREDIBLY RACIST HISTORY LESSON FROM VANCOUVER PORT COMMISSIONER JERRY OLIVER.

Why Do So Many Americans Think They Have Cherokee Blood? The history of a myth.

This Week in Misogyny

vox day, eric raymond, and the lambda conference blacklist.

Why Does Hollywood Keep Disrespecting Melissa McCarthy?

Farewells:

Pop music superstar Prince is dead at 57.

Prince Rogers Nelson: ‘Every song was either a prayer or foreplay’.

Doris Roberts, Star of ‘Everybody Loves Raymond,’ Dies at 90.

Gareth Thomas, Blake’s 7 actor, dies aged 71.

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 4/16/16: Republicans shielding sex criminals (again and again and again).

Why I hate hay fever reason #6273.

I love walking.

Videos!

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN – Teaser Trailer (HD) {I had no idea that I wanted a remake of this classic, but then I watched the teaser trailer; Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt? Why, yes, I’ll take some!}:

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

Stephen Colbert: A Word About North Carolina:

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God is a Boob Man – SNL:

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Purple Rain Prince AVI:

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The Best Prince Videos Available on YouTube.

Thank goodness it’s Friday! It has been more than a week since the end of my third round of antibiotics, and there has not been a return of the sore throat or ear ache! I think, maybe, it finally worked. On the other hand, two different cousins had seriously bad medical issues pop up this week, both requiring emergency surgery for very different things. So while I may be getting better, not all of the news around me is good.

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 LARGEST EVER ANALYSIS OF FILM DIALOG BY GENDER: 2,000 SCRIPTS, 25,000 ACTORS, 4 MILLION LINES. It’s not just data, it has amazing interactive graphs.

I’m on the Kill List. This is what it feels like to be hunted by drones.

And other news:

Attawapiskat declares state of emergency over spate of suicide attempts – Chief Bruce Shisheesh desperate for mental health services after 11 attempts on Saturday night alone.

Gay Air France cabin crew object to Iran flights over death penalty fears.

This week in History

The ugly truth about Confederate memorials.

Make the Confederacy’s Defeat a National Holiday.

This Week in Tech

A farm in Kansas receives non-stop threats and harassment because of mapping glitch.

THE SECRET RULES OF THE INTERNET – The murky history of moderation.

The dark side of Guardian comments.

This Week in Diversity

Nobody Knew She Was There….

Writing Women Characters Into Epic Fantasy Without Quotas.

The Triumphant Return of Archie Comics’ Gay Character.

Adam Lambert: Music execs are still ‘scared’ of gay men singing about male lovers.

Why I Came Out As A Gay Children’s Book Author.

‘Anyone Can Die?’ TV’s Recent Death Toll Says Otherwise.

How African writers are taking LGBT issues mainstream.

Superheroes Get Progressive With LGBTQ Superteam THE PRIDE.

This Week in Not Understanding Diversity

Bridal Party Problems: How Bachelorettes Are Ruining Gay Nightlife.

This week in Difficult to Classify

I’m an American living in Sweden. Here’s why I came to embrace the higher taxes.

The dark side of Guardian comments.

News for queers and our allies:

MSNBC Posts Report On Harlem Hate Church’s Coming Bankruptcy Hearing & Ali Forney Center.

LGBTQ advocates need to get over their championship hangover.

Reimagining an Uncle’s Secret Transgender Life in the 1950s .

Transgender teenage ballplayer at Santa Monica prep school spreads message of hope and acceptance.

Trans Kids Can Be Happy Kids, With Support.

Appreciating and lamenting the influence of a porn king – How Chuck Holmes Engineered Gay Beauty.

How to debunk the religious right’s transgender scare tactics.

Reclaiming The Queer Dance Floor.

I Didn’t Know I Was Transgender.

Science!

US Homeland Security Returns Rare Dinosaur Fossils To Mongolia.

The Science of Why You Do Your Best Thinking While Walking.

Birds on Islands Are Losing the Ability to Fly.

Billionaire Yuri Milner And Stephen Hawking Team Up To Send Nanospaceships To Alpha Centauri.

Scientists Have Published a New Tree of Life.

This Optical Illusion Will Break Your Brain.

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILL STOP SCREAMING IN ALL CAPS.

New Hypervelocity Binary Star Challenges Dark Matter, Stellar Acceleration Models.

The Brazil Nut Effect Is More Complicated Than You Think.

Oil Industry’s Suppression of Climate Science Began in 1940s, Documents Reveal.

For the first time ever, a human with paralysis can move his hand again.

How a Sense of Purpose Adds Years to Your Life, According to Scientists.

The Surprising Science Behind Blue Balls (And Blue Vulvas).

A swarm of thousands of crabs headed in the same direction in the Pacific is baffling scientists.

Humans Can Still Do One Thing Better Than AI.

Robots, apps and chickens: The 2016 White House science fair.

What a young scientist found when he started researching a famous ‘boiling river’ in Peru.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

Stephanie Burgis on Finding the Fantasy in History.

Women in SF&F Month: Elizabeth Bonesteel.

Five SF/F Books With Asexual Protagonists.

Culture war news:

Federal Appeals Court Confirms Gay Marriage Is Legal in Puerto Rico Despite Judge’s Ruling.

Tennessee Legislature Resurrects Discriminatory Transgender Bathroom Bill.

A Bunch Of People Dressed As Angels To Protect Teens At An LGBT Dance.

Pope Francis Quashes “Who am I to judge?” Speculation in Amoris Laetitia.

Lesbian teen asked to prove gender, ejected from McDonald’s for using women’s toilet.

Pope Francis: It’s aggressive narcissism to teach kids about safe sex and protection.

Can LGBTQ people ever forgive Christian evangelicals for their sins?

Porn Site Bans North Carolina Users Due To State’s Anti-LGBT Laws.

Planned Parenthood shooter admired abortion foe who killed Fla. doctor.

Tenn. AG: Anti-Trans Bill Will ‘Almost Certainly’ Cost State Millions.

Cosponsor of Tenn. Transphobic Bill Accused of Sexual Harassment.

NC Guv Issues Executive Order That Doesn’t Change Anti-gay Law One Bit.

A Trojan horse of hate: North Carolina’s new bill is a “hostile takeover of human rights”.

Corporations Criticize N.C. LGBT Law — But Aren’t Dropping Donations To GOP Governors Group.

A researcher explains how racial resentment drives opposition to gun control.

Boycotts and responses to one particular front in the Culture War:

Cyndi Lauper To Donate All Profits From Raleigh Concert To Equality North Carolina.

Lawmakers drive backlash against LGBT rights across the historically conservative South.

Bipartisan group of U.S. Senators urge NBA to move ’17 All-Star Game.

It’s easy to dismiss everything below the Mason-Dixon Line. It’s harder and more necessary to actually help people in this troubled part of the world.

Why Should My Store Be Boycotted Over a Law I Despise?

Forget the boycott: This is how we teach North Carolina and Mississippi a lesson.

I sympathise, but I think this is spot on: Boycotts Are Supposed to Hurt.

This Week in the Clown Car

Ted Cruz’s 3 Biggest Donors Reveal Just How Creepy He Really Is.

The Time Ted Cruz Defended a Ban on Dildos.

Zombie nominee: These new Trump poll numbers are hideously, unbelievably awful.

John Kasich Supports ‘Moving On’ From Gay Marriage Debate.

Ted Cruz: Immigrant-Loving Socialist NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio Will Be Finished Once I’m President.

This week in Other Politics:

Hillary Clinton rakes in Verizon cash while Bernie Sanders supports company’s striking workers.

Bernie Sanders must accept that Pope Francis isn’t a friend to the left: The pontiff can’t be a true humanitarian with his anti-woman and anti-LGBT views.

Hillary Clinton’s superdelegates should stop whining: Why Sanders supporters have every right to challenge their super-votes.

The progressive movement is in the shadows: It’s time to rally, protest and get in politicians’ faces to become a force they can’t ignore.

Farewells:

The readings that helped make Open Books.

Things I wrote:

Another anti-gay politician caught molesting children.

Confessions of a technology addict.

A Day of Pink and the Stupidity of the Transgender Bathroom Argument.

Videos!

Bob Mould – Hold On (Official Music Video):

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

Marvel’s Doctor Strange Teaser Trailer:

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

Thank goodness it’s Friday! We didn’t quite get the record-breaking heat forecast yesterday, but we’ve have more than enough pollen in the air all week to make me miserable.

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

My Father’s House – After my brother died and my father was partially paralyzed, my family traveled 7,000 miles in search of an old home, a new house, and the things we’d lost on the road in between.

Runs in the Family – New findings about schizophrenia rekindle old questions about genes and identity..

9-year-old reporter breaks crime news, posts videos, fires back at critics.

Happy News!

Badass Mom Defends Son And His “Girly” Socks.

Cities for Everyone.

This Airport’s Guard Dog Is A Total Badass.

This week in security

The Panama Papers: what you need to know.

And other news:

Oregon standoff figure Jake Ryan found hiding in shed in Clark County.

This Week in Tech

The time that Tony Fadell sold me a container of hummus.

This Week in Diversity

Tabletop Gaming has a White Male Terrorism Problem.

“I JUST DON’T IDENTIFY WITH THE CHARACTER.”

Why LGBT Performers Never Won ‘American Idol’ – Series was built on being mean. But a special sort of meanness was reserved for auditioners that fell into the queer end of the spectrum.

Write Female Characters Better – Or: that time we came up with a novel about boob-spies.

News for queers and our allies:

Jessica Williams’ Brilliant Daily Show Segment on Anti-Trans Bathroom Bills.

Middle School Vs. My Gay Kid.

My Trans Identity Is Not a Fetish.

Why Everybody Wants Some!! Is Accidentally One of the Gayest Movies of the Year.

Documentary focuses on gay Hutterite leaving home.

What is it like to be the mother of a transgender child?

‘Formation’s Representation of the Black Queer Community Inspired This Amazing All-Male Dance Cover.

Science!

Deer on Scottish Islands May Have Come From Distant Lands.

How to Use the Feynman Technique to Identify Pseudoscience.

The ‘hobbit’ was a separate species of human, new dating reveals.

Ancient Fossils Show Some Of The Earliest Forms Of Multicellular Organisms.

12,400-year-old ancient puppy fossils open new avenues for scientists to study Siberia’s diversity of life.

The ‘darker link’ between ancient human sacrifice and our modern world.

Does a white doctor understand a black patient’s pain?

WHAT THE DIRECTION YOUR TOILET PAPER HANGS SAYS ABOUT YOU, ACCORDING TO SCIENC.

Water Ice on Ceres Boosts Hopes for Buried Ocean [Video].

This Swedish Scientist’s Transparent Wood Could Transform Architecture.

Scientists find evidence of ‘anti-memories’, and it could change our understanding of neuroscience.

It Turns Out a Brief Conversation Really Can Change Minds on LGBT Issues.

The most mysterious star in the universe.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

Introducing ConFinder.

The Critically-Acclaimed 1960s Series ‘The Outcasts’ Needs to be Released on DVD (or Blu-Ray).

Read This: Batman and Robin have been mistaken for gay since the beginning.

Supernatural miracle pregnancies and the hatred of pregnant women.

Closing the Gap: The Blurring of Fan and Professional.

20 superheroines who were saving the world before Wonder Woman.

This week in Writing

How Data Can Help You Write A Better Screenplay. The title is misleading. There’s lots of data about what kinds of screenplays go wrong, but there isn’t a how-to in there…

Culture war news:

Mississippi: We’re Even Worse Than North Carolina, Says Funny or Die.

TEXAS GOPER OPPOSES BILL PROMOTING FEMALE SCIENTISTS BECAUSE IT ‘DISCRIMINATES’ AGAINST MEN .

Wicked composer bans all productions in North Carolina.

Corporate America Just Became the LGBT Community’s Most Powerful Ally.

Mississippi law opens a new front in the battle over gay rights.

This will make you even madder about North Carolina’s anti-LGBT law: Right-wing backers have the gall to say they’re the victims.

Why North Carolina’s New Anti-LGBT Law is a Trojan Horse.

TV show and PayPal projects canceled in North Carolina in response to GOP’s anti-LGBT law.

Things Just Got Even Harder for LGBT Taxpayers in Mississippi.

Club Ordered To Pay $15K To Trans Man Beaten And Assaulted By Bouncers For Using Men’s Restroom.

Man who wore loincloth at gay pride parade wins appeal.

This Week in the Clown Car

“As a full-blown nut job, I freakin’ love him”: “SNL” skewers Donald Trump defender Scottie Nell Hughes.

Face it: Ted Cruz is as far from the Republican mainstream as Donald Trump is.

Kasich: Trump Would Spend His First 100 Days as President Looking for the White House Bathrooms.

Trump’s New Magic Number Is 40 Percent Of The Vote – His support isn’t rising as fast as the bar for winning.

Veterans’ Charities Await Funds Raised by Donald Trump.

This week in Other Politics:

The Republicans’ Gay Freakout. “OUR infrastructure is inexcusable, much of our public education is miserable and one of our leading presidential candidates is a know-nothing, say-anything egomaniac who yanks harder every day at the tattered fabric of civil discourse and fundamental decency in this country. But let’s by all means worry about the gays!”

The GOP’s (other) convention nightmare.

Denying Housing Over Criminal Record May Be Discrimination, Feds Say.

Swiss police raid UEFA as Panama Papers scandal spreads.

“Were your eyes stitched closed?”: Elizabeth Warren skewers Federal Reserve regulator who played “pivotal” role in 2008 financial crisis.

The Most Important Election Yesterday Wasn’t The One You Were Paying Attention To.

How ‘Religious Freedom’ Laws Hurt Businesses.

This Week in Racism

Judge rules against Urban Outfitters defense in Navajo case.

This Week in Hate Crimes

James Dixon Pleads Guilty to Manslaughter of Transgender Woman Islan Nettles.

Gay Man Brutally Beaten in Miami Burger King.

Transgender Teen ‘Intentionally Struck’ by Hit-and-Run Driver in L.A.

Farewells:

Merle Haggard Died this Week on His 79th Birthday.

Things I wrote:

Sunday Funnies, part 17.

And then I felt better about the world.

Which part of ‘love thy neighbor’ confuses you?

Videos!

Marble Mountain, a themed marble machine “…a large marble machine still under construction. It consists of 25 sections that mesh together to form one kinetic sculpture. Every element is themed (or will be upon completion) to an aspect of my life or to something that I find interesting. Some of the elements include a roller coaster, ski jump, Times Square, Lombard Street, and a skatepark. It took 3 years to get to this point of being able to turn it on and watch it go…”:

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Parson James – Temple:

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Nina Simone – Mississippi Goddam:

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Thank goodness it’s Friday. The crazy in life continues apace. There’s so much WTF-worthy stuff happening that I just can’t keep up with all the news.

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

The dirty secret of conservative journalism is that little of it constitutes journalism. Except it was a secret to no one who wasn’t a conservative “journalist” apparently.

Happy News!

Coffee Company Gives Ex-Cons a Lift Toward Law-Abiding Life.

This week in security

Why Are We Fighting the Crypto Wars Again? The iPhone Crisis reignited a conflict that should have been settled in the 90s. The loser is our national security.

Lockpickers 3-D Print TSA Master Luggage Keys From Leaked Photos.

The $8 key that can open New York City to terrorists.

This week in I can’t believe people are arguing about this

Study finds that 3 laws could reduce firearm deaths by 90%. Three simple, non-draconian measures: 1) background checks to purchase firearms, 2) background checks to purchase ammunition, 3) individual firearm identification.

And other news:

The Numbers Are Shocking: Over a Third of Killings by Police Are of Disabled People.

Restaurant Manager Shoots Down A Customer Complaint With This Brilliant Logic. Wow.

Let’s make Twitter a better place by ridding it of trolls.

Customer shoots, kills hatchet-wielding man in Burien convenience store.

This Week in Diversity

LUMOS BLACK GIRL MAGIC: MY LETTER TO HERMIONE GRANGER.

All 142 Dead Lesbian and Bisexual Characters On TV, And How They Died.

J. K. Rowling and #MagicInNorthAmerica.

DIVERSITY WITHIN DIVERSITY: MOVING BEYOND OPPRESSION.

LGBT Women in scripted television are almost always killed off in deaths that serve no purpose.

News for queers and our allies:

What’s It Like To Be Young, Gay And Disabled In The Age Of Grindr? (Hint: It Can Be Awesome!).

Grandpa’s gay: Explaining my dad’s new husband to my kids.

Gay former officer in Royal Canadian Navy claims he was forced out.

Justin Trudeau Sends Bullied Gay Employee Heartwarming Message of Support.

Gay Cardinals Minor League player quit baseball when teammates said gays should be killed.

Kris Anka And Kevin Wada Help LGBTQ+ Superheroes Show Some Pride On Kickstarter.

Science!

Negative outcomes evoke cyclic irrational decisions in Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Orson Welles Hosted a NASA Documentary About Aliens in the ’70s and It Is Amazing.

Dinosaur find resolves T. rex mystery.

Report: LGBT Climate in Physics.

400,000-year-old fossils from Spain provide earliest genetic evidence of Neandertals.

Researchers turn carbon dioxide into sustainable concrete.

Pregnant T. rex Found, May Contain DNA.

Physics of ribbon curling unravelled.

Doctor’s Orders: Understand the Science of Weight Loss.

What Is The Most Beautiful Equation Known To Mankind?

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

A Crash Course in the History of Black Science Fiction.

Unpicking a Pupspiracy: Part 1 [Updated].

Unpicking a Pupspiracy: Part 2.

How to make “Indiana Jones 5″ the best of the series: Kill off the racist, sexist tropes the series is steeped in.

Magic in North America Part 1: Ugh.

This week in Writing

Why We Shouldn’t Hunt The Trope To Extinction.

kindness is a virtue: why stories need happiness.

Amazon Takes Aim At Scammers But Hits Authors.

Indigenous People Aren’t A Fantasy Race: On #MagicInNorthAmerica and Writing Other Cultures in Fantasy Fiction.

Why Publishing Is So White.

Deploying the monomyth in Space Opera.

Planet Of The Titans: the Star Trek movie that never was.

Forbidden Planet is Still Essential and Subversive Sci-Fi.

GAY COMIC GEEK: FALLING IN LOVE WITH COMICS AND COSPLAY.

Culture war news:

California Barber Cites Religious Beliefs to Refuse Transgender Army Veteran a Haircut.

How Trump Happened – It’s not just anger over jobs and immigration. White voters hope Trump will restore the racial hierarchy upended by Barack Obama.

Let’s Squash the Myth That the Irish Were Ever American Slaves.

Gay Wyoming Young Man Takes His Life After Relentless Bullying.

While America is distracted by the Trump freakshow, Indiana just passed one of the most restrictive abortion bills in the nation.

‘You guys got to go’: Milwaukee man kills 3 after complaining neighbor doesn’t speak English.

Sent Home From Middle School After Reporting A Rape.

Breitbart’s meltdown wasn’t shocking at all: Why we shouldn’t be surprised by this dumpster fire of a scandal.

Police: Man pours boiling water on gay Atlanta couple in bed.

This Week in the Clown Car

Trump Chickens Out of Rally at U of Illinois

Reminder: John Kasich Is Also Evil.

Marco Rubio neglected the basics.

Ted Cruz: Donald Trump is ‘scared to debate’.

What Are Trump Fans Really ‘Afraid’ to Say?

Noam Chomsky: “I have never seen such lunatics in the political system”.

White Students Keep Using Anti-Latino ‘Trump’ Chants at High School Basketball Games.

Muslim student at Wichita State reports attack by man shouting ‘Trump, Trump, Trump’.

Northwestern University students charged with hate crime, vandalizing chapel chapel with racist, homophobic, and pro-trump messages.

This week in Other Politics:

Sorry, media: The GOP is not imploding.

Watch the Bernie Sanders Speech the Networks Won’t Show You.

Rallying To Ted Cruz To Lose The Election.

The First Time Party Bigwigs Tried to Stop a Front-Runner From Becoming President It Backfired—Big-time – What the GOP can learn from the story of Andrew Jackson in 1824.

It’s not just Trump. Authoritarian populism is rising across the West. Here’s why.

North Carolina’s Voter ID Law Could Block 218,000 Registered Voters From the Polls.

Blackout Tuesday: The Bernie Sanders Speech Corporate Media Chose Not To Air.

On The President’s Ultra-Qualified Supreme Court Nominee: Merrick Garland.

Farewells:

Illuminating the Legacy of the Late, Great Ernestine Anderson, Seattle Jazz Singer, Who Died Last Friday at 87.

Sylvia Anderson, Co-Creator of U.K. Kids Series ‘Thunderbirds,’ Dies at 88.

Things I wrote:

Blood stains on their hands.

Weekend Update 3/12/2016 – there’s always silence.

Sunday Funnies, part 16.

The Incredibly Slowly Shrinking Writer.

Names, labels, deadnames, signs, and portents.

Videos!

This rendition of “By Myself” was slated to be the final number of the last episode of Judy Garland’s variety TV show in 1964. Producers are rumored to have nixed the song because they felt it was too dark. Personally, I think it explodes with affirmation in the second half. Judy Garland – By Myself [deleted] (The Judy Garland Show):

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

Jean-Michel Jarre, Peaches – What You Want:

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Stephen Amell and John Barrowman sing/kiss at HVFF January 23 2016:

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Cruz 101 | Full Frontal with Samantha Bee | TBS:

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Marco Rubio: “GOP DROPOUT” – Song Parody by RANDY RAINBOW:

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X-Men: Apocalypse | Official Trailer [HD] | 20th Century FOX:

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Marvel’s Daredevil Season 2 – Final Trailer – Netflix [HD]:

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John Oliver Never Thought He’d Have To Care About Trump:

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Lucy Rose – Nebraska:

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I’ve written before about an acquaintance in college who was shocked that I’d never heard the pun about this day: March Forth! It’s a date and a command!

For the last few years I’ve been observing my own March Forth tradition. I urge you all on this March Forth, to go please donate to The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.

Meanwhile, thank goodness Friday. I’m seeing my doctor again today, because the last round of antibiotics didn’t knock out the infection.

Here are links to some of the interesting things I read on the web this week.

Links of the Week

Bad Ass Miss America, Yolande Betbeze Fox, Dies at 87. She was a singer, refused to model bathing suits after winning the 1951 Miss America pagent, and campaigned for civil rights from the late 1950s on. Yeah, I think bad ass is right.

This Week in Diversity

MEET THE WOMAN WHO FOUNDED “BHARAT BABIES,” A CHILDREN’S BOOK COMPANY CENTERED ON INDIAN CULTURE.

TOP TEN RESPONSES TO THE DIVERSITY BASELINE SURVEY.

Decolonise, not Diversify.

Dear White Writers,.

What It’s Really Like to Work in Hollywood – What It’s Really Like to Work in Hollywood – If you’re not a straight white man.

This week in Difficult to Classify

Ottawa man wakes to find contents of someone’s home on his driveway.

Kicked Out in America!

News for queers and our allies:

Sam Smith’s Oscar Gaffe Shows Why Teaching LGBTQ History Is So Important.

South Dakota Governor Vetoes Bad Transgender Bathroom Bill .

Gov. Nathan Deal makes a forceful, biblical case against Georgia’s ‘religious liberty’ bill.

Despite being inadvertently outed, one gay college athlete in Virginia is finding acceptance.

Science!

Fresh confusion over origins of enigmatic radio-wave blasts.

As of Tuesday, it’s the wettest winter in Seattle history.

Anchorage is so warm this year it has to import snow for the Iditarod.

Drumming Can Largely Improve Your Mental Health, Science Says.

Neandertal Chemistry: Archaic humans used manganese dioxide to start fires, not—as thought—just for body paint.

How killing wolves to protect livestock may backfire.

This device turns plastic waste into safe, edible mushrooms.

T. rex Was Likely an Invasive Species.

Why the heck does it hurt so bad to step on a Lego? Science explains.

515-Million-Year-Old Fossils Contain Exquisitely Preserved Nervous System.

A blind woman has regained sight following a controversial stem cell treatment.

New Alzheimer’s treatment fully restores memory function in mice.

Complaining Rewires Your Brain for Negativity, Science Says.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

It’s a Steampunk Universe … Unless You’re an Indigenous American.

How Long ’til Black Future Month?

Gods of Egypt is a Racist, Whitewashed Failure of a Movie.

NORWESCON: 39 YEARS OF FANDOM AND COUNTING. After missing the convention for a few years, I’m really looking forward to going again. This year will be my 27th NorWesCon!

7 ways Deadpool did right in getting Negasonic Teenage Warhead wrong.

WHAT MOVIE STUDIOS WILL ULTIMATELY GET WRONG ABOUT DEADPOOL’S SUCCESS.

Theodore Beale is the Donald Trump of Science Fiction.

The Strange Saga of a Sci-Fi Author Who Became a Prolific Pornographer.

How ‘The X-Files’ Was Accidentally Reborn as Right Wing Propaganda.

J.J. Abrams says Star Wars without gay characters is ‘insanely narrow-minded and counterintuitive’.

Fandom issue of the week

Disney made furry fandom, in a very real and direct way.

This week in Writing

Cory Doctorow: In Praise of Fanfic. An oldie, but a goodie!

Finish your Sh*t: Secrets of an Evolving Writing Process.

These Journalists Dedicated Their Lives to Telling Other People’s Stories. What Happens When No One Wants to Print Their Words Anymore?

Culture war news:

Kiddle: Child-friendly, Google-powered search site bans words including ‘bisexual’ and ‘transgender’.

80 Religious Leaders Stand Up To Say Anti-Choicers Don’t ‘Have A Monopoly On Faith’.

Booted Anti-Gay Michigan Teabagger Legislators To Face Felony Perjury Charges For Lying About Their Affair. It’s not really for lying about the affair, it’s for falsely reporting a blackmail, and then lying under oath about a bunch of things related to it.

Pat Robertson: Homosexuals Are Incapable Of Knowing Love, That Only Comes From White Jesus.

Author banned from discussing his book at speaking engagements after coming out as gay.

Who Still Opposes Gay Marriage, and Why.

Georgia “Religious Freedom” Bills and the Real Problem Nobody is Talking About.

Raising Awareness About the Dangers of “Conversion Therapy”.

Anti-Gay Georgia Senator Greg Kirk’s Elusive ‘Gay Friends’ Are Nowhere to be Found. Another anti-gay pol claims to have gay friends. Finally a reporter asks obvious followup Q: “Can I talk to them?”

This Week in the Clown Car

Why Republican criticism of Trump fails. “For half a century Republicans have been trying to recruit white nationalists without stating our intentions out loud. During election seasons we issue coded assurances to nervous racists that we support them. Concealed beneath rhetoric about constitutionalism, or religious freedom, “conservative values,” or government dependence is a promise to put the genie back in the bottle. Brown folk and women and foreigners will all be nudged back into their rightful place, properly subjugated and presumably happy. We will “take our country back.” We will “make America great again.” America will once again be a white Christian nation.”

Ben Carson, Who Felt God’s Fingers Pushing Him to Run for President, Hints at Suspending Campaign.

Trump is the GOP’s Frankenstein monster. Now he’s strong enough to destroy the party. The author of this piece is, by the way, a conservative republican. He’s right about several things, but wrong about two important bits: 1) President Obama’s foreign policy is actually a lot different than the liberals the author claims they are indistinguishable from–Obama’s foreign policies are almost exactly the same as George W. Bush’s were in his second term. 2) The majority of Republicans are bigots; most are the kind of bigot who say, “I’m not a bigot, but…” and then spout something racist, Islamophobic, homophobic, or misogynist.

Harry Reid Savages Republicans For Making Trump.

How America Made Donald Trump Unstoppable: He’s no ordinary con man. He’s way above average — and the American political system is his easiest mark ever.

To survive, Marco Rubio descends into the gutter with Donald Trump.

Ted Cruz Blames Left-Wing Policy For Detroit’s Destruction.

John Kasich Backtracks on LGBT Rights While Others Trade Insults.

This week in Other Politics:

Researchers have found strong evidence that racism helps the GOP win. “…79 percent of Republicans agree with negative statements about blacks…” A more accurate headline would be, “Study confirms majority of Republican part is racist.”

Federal Law Criminalizes Protesting Trump Now That He’s Guarded by the Secret Service.

Scalia Communicates Through Clarence Thomas from the Grave.

Torpy at Large: Are senator’s gay friends like Jan Brady’s boyfriend?

1905 Precedent Lets Obama Appoint SCOTUS Judge without Consent.

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 2/27/2016 – On a hero, and on silence.

We have always been here, part 2.

Confessions of a keyboard addict.

Videos!

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Whitewashing (HBO):

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The Daily Show – Ben Carson and the Black Experience:

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Finding Dory Official US Trailer:

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Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Donald Trump (HBO):

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Thank goodness it’s Friday. I’ve been on antibiotics for a week and feel much better, but most evenings this week I crashed as soon as I got home from work. Meanwhile at work, the merger/acquisition thing has finally closed and we’re in the official transition which means work is more stressful than usual. Joy.

Anyway, here are links to some of the interesting things I read on the web this week. I did a lot more news reading this week even than usual, somehow.

Links of the Week

My Boyfriend Doesn’t Know if He’s Gay: He watches gay porn and told me about the type of guy he’s attracted to, but he claims he doesn’t want to go out and experiment.

Harlem Hate-Pastor Fails to Explain How Starbucks Gets Enough Semen to Put in All the Drinks.

This week in Geek

Twitter’s missing manual.

This week in I can’t believe people are arguing about this

36 year-old DESTROYS 29-year-old millennial who “ripped” 25-year-old Yelp employee who got fired after complaining about her salary.

On San Francisco’s Quantified Self-Delusion.

This week in Privacy

I got hacked mid-air while writing an Apple-FBI story.

Solid support for Apple in iPhone encryption fight: poll.

Apple court papers: FBI is seeking ‘dangerous power’ that violates its constitutional rights.

While I shed no tears at Scalia’s passing, it is okay to admit he wasn’t always wrong: SCALIA IN 1987: ‘THE CONSTITUTION SOMETIMES INSULATES THE CRIMINALITY OF A FEW IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE PRIVACY OF US ALL’.

This week in History

That time the Paris Mosque helped Jews escape the Nazis by giving them Muslim IDs.

This Week in Diversity

Mashable issues a hell of a correction to the Streep “We’re all Africans” story. Meryl Streep’s “We’re all Africans, really” comment was a direct response to a question about Arab and African films, not a response to questions about the Berlinale Film Festival’s all white jury, as the article and headline originally suggested. A recording of the panel shows that Streep’s original comments were misrepresented in subsequent reports.

5 REASONS TO GET RID OF THE LGBTQ FICTION SECTION.

I disagree with the first sentence in this story, but… “Omar(s) comin’!”: 18 hyper-masculine gun-toting gay guys.

News for queers and our allies:

View from the left—the LGBT movement’s energy deficit.

Debunking the “bathroom bill” myth: GLAAD releases new resource for journalists.

Violence in Capitol Hill: is this the end of the line for Seattle’s gay neighborhood?

If You Thought the Fight for Same-Sex Marriage Was Over, Check Out These Awful New Bills.

A flamboyant discussion of cinema’s code words for homosexuality.

Transgender Oppression (Cissexism) and Conservative Religion.

As the Trouser Bar fiasco intensifies, you have to ask why people ashamed of Sir John Gielgud’s sexuality are in charge of his legacy?

Report: Criminal Justice System Failing LGBT People.

More Than Just Sex: A Conversation About an Alternative History of Gay Men in the ’70s.

“You could hear the screams” – Government apologises for ill treatment of protesters at Sydney’s first Mardi Gras in 1978.

Dear Gay People: God Does Not Want to Swap You Out.

Science!

What Room Teaches Us About the Psychology of Fandom.

Astronomers Solve One Mystery of Fast Radio Bursts and Find Half the Missing Matter in the Universe.

“GENETIC SCISSORS” CAN COMPLETELY ELIMINATE HIV FROM CELLS.

Largest Fireball Since Chelyabinsk Falls Over the Atlantic.

A waterfall in Yosemite has turned into a glowing ‘firefall’.

STUDY: What keeps passion alive in long-term relationships?

There’s a new approach to fighting cancer: keeping cancer cells alive.

Hidden viruses may threaten Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

When will the universe end? Not for at least 2.8 billion years.

Pulsar Web Could Detect Low-Frequency Gravitational Waves.

Fossils provide new evidence of oldest animal life.

A German city just became the first in the world to ban single-use coffee pods.

500 million-year-old fossils show how extinct organisms attacked their prey.

Baby Elephant Can’t Stop Following Her Rescuer After Being Saved From Death.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

All 176 issues of IF, classic 1952-1974 science fiction magazine, are now online for free.

How One Mashup Artist Got Legal Permission to Pair Calvin & Hobbes with Dune

Would a gay kiss in Star Wars: Episode VIII cause a disturbance in the Force?

Hey, Sci-Fi And Comics Fans: It’s Time To Embrace The Dark Side.

Fandom issue of the week

The first Mark Oshiro post about problems at last year’s ConQuesT.

Mark Oshiro speaks out….

Mark Oshiro posts an update.

In support of Mark Oshiro: my shit experience at CONQuesT 2013.

The Importance of Having and ENFORCING Harassment Policies at Cons.

Expect More From Your Regional ConCom.

Harassment: What do we do?

On Bad Cons & How You Kill An Event in Advance.

on privilege & responding to public harassment at cons.

This Week in Unenlightened Fans

Ladies, John C. Wright thinks you should not be allowed to vote. He also thinks it is very unfair for people to call him a sexist!

Geek Behaviors That Drive Women Away.

Dreaming About Other Worlds: Biased Opinion – Why Sad Puppy Complaints Aren’t Taken Seriously.

Culture war news:

It’s 2016 – yet we still don’t trust gay men with children.

Anti-Gay Republican Creates ‘Marriage Sovereignty’ Out Of Thin Air To Try To Ban Gays From Adopting.

Relieved that Scalia can no longer judge us.

Indiana House committee won’t give hearing to hate-crimes bill.

How a Leading Christian College Turned Against Its Gay Leader.

What the Story of Lot Tells Me About the Bible.

Ronda Rousey on Manny Pacquiao: There is no ‘thou shall not be gay’ in the Bible.

This Week in the Clown Car

As Ben Carson’s Campaign Tanked, Top Advisors Reaped Millions.

Jeb Bush drops out of 2016 presidential campaign.

The scariest thing about Trump’s primary dominance: The GOP still doesn’t understand the monster it created.

While Trump, Frontrunners Double Down on Religious-based Discrimination, Americans Don’t Agree.

Ted Cruz Campaign Finally Admits It Was a ‘Mistake’ To Attend ‘Kill the Gays’ Rally.

Donald Trump: ‘I Love the Poorly Educated. We’re the Smartest People’.

Rubio: ‘You Don’t Win The Nomination By How Many States You Win’.

Ted Cruz Is Holding Up The Senate’s Bipartisan Bill To Address Flint’s Water Crisis.

This week in Other Politics:

Hillary Clinton’s Struggles on Gay Issues Are About Her Honesty, Not Her Transformation.

Translating 8 Most Common Code Words Reveal US Media’s Imperial Mindset.

How Will Obama’s Plan to Close Guantánamo Work?

IN A TWIST, GOP-LED NEBRASKA MAY GIVE UP REDISTRICTING POWER.

A 90-Year-Old Iwo Jima Veteran Couldn’t Vote in Scott Walker’s Wisconsin.

Why we can now declare the end of ‘Christian America’.

This Week in Racism

Roosh V shocked to discover that white supremacist movement is full of white supremacists.

This Week in Police Problems

White men have killed 7 of 8 cops in U.S. this year.

This Week in Misogyny

The price of sympathy with the harasser.

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 2/20/2016 – Beloved books.

Convention problems and problematic conventioners.

Problematic conventioners, take two.

Performative badass—fannish or otherwise.

Dumb arguments against legal protections for transgender people, part 5.

Videos!

Fan made trailer for a prequel to Back to the Future, Doc’s quest for 1.21 Gigawatts:

Back to the Future Prequel Trailer: 1.21 Gigawatts from Tyler Hopkins on Vimeo.

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Troye Sivan – YOUTH:

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1988:

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Brandon Stansell: Dear John [Official Video]:

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Jeb Bush “GOP DROPOUT” – Song Parody by Randy Rainbow:

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Thank goodness it’s Friday. I’m sick. Again. And really tired of it. I’m hoping when I see the doctor today to get some idea for why I keep coming back down with similar stuff again and again. I was sick enough that I just slept all day Wednesday, rather than attempt to get some work done from home.

Anyway, here are links to some of the interesting things I read on the web this week. When I was awake and feeling up to reading. Which wasn’t as much as usual, so you’ll understand why the list is a bit shorter than usual this week.

Link of the Week

The Latter Days of a Better Nation.

This week in Geek

Where the hell did anyone ever get the idea that all socially shunned geeks are male?

The Geek’s Guide to Disability.

And other news:

The horrific crime that shows just how broken our nation’s mental-health system is.

NO, IT’S NOT YOUR OPINION. YOU’RE JUST WRONG.

This week in Privacy

Apple’s Tim Cook Forcefully Resists Federal Order to Hack Phone in Terror Case.

This week in History

The First Gay President: 18 Sexual Secrets Of U.S. Presidents. I’m always surprised when people don’t know about Buchanan…

This Week in Diversity

The Guardian: I set up a spoof website to joke about the frustrating way we deal with diversity. The response – applicants seriously trying to hire a minority to keep up corporate appearances – proves that we need more than a punchline.

DEAR NON-ASIAN WRITER.

Rainbow Rowell: Some thoughts on bi Simon Snow.

This week in that stupid militia

Oregon Occupier Countersues For $666 Billion, Citing ‘Works Of The Devil’.

This week in Evil People

Embattled copyright lawyer uses DMCA to remove article about himself.

News for queers and our allies:

Independent Investigation Debunks The Anti-LGBT “Bathroom Predator” Myth.

Time to fight back.

Father Accidentally Discovers Son Is Gay, Handles It Like A Real Man.

Antigay Group Blunders Protest, Raises Thousands For Queer Teen Gala Instead.

Science!

Astronaut ‘Graffiti’ Seen For The First Time In Decades.

Evidence mounts for interbreeding bonanza in ancient human species.

The NSA’s SKYNET program may be killing thousands of innocent people.

Elon Musk And Stephen Hawking Are Wrong About Artificial Intelligence.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!

Science Fiction smackdown: L. Ron Hubbard, the pith helmet-wearing ‘pipsqueak Prometheus’.

Iain Banks: A legacy to treasure.

Every Galaxy Needs More Than Three People of Color.

This week in Writing

Personal Essay: “You Don’t Have to Write Autobiography” by Ken Liu.

ROB HART: HOW TO PUT THE TOILET IN THE RIGHT PLACE.

Culture war news:

Christian Activists To Debate Executing Homosexuals.

SOUTH CAROLINA: 31% Of Trump Supporters Would Support Banning Homosexuals From Entering The USA. And 56% think Islam should be illegal, 32% think the internment of Japanese citizens during WWII was a great idea… et cetera

MANNY PACQUIAO FIRED BY NIKE ‘Gay Comments Are Abhorrent’.

Manning: I’ll Barricade Myself in Church to Stop Gay Takeover.

Defaced LGBT Sign Prompts Rally For Acceptance.

This Week in the Clown Car

I studied nearly every word the Texas senator uttered during the immigration showdown. He may be the most spectacular liar ever to run for president.

Fox News Pokes Holes In Marco Rubio’s Claim Obama Shouldn’t Get To Replace Scalia.

A flailing Jeb Bush brought out the big gun Tuesday to fire up his sinking presidential campaign — and it wasn’t his brother.

John Kasich: Obergefell Is Settled Law And That’s That.

The rise of the Trump Party: Why the Donald’s shocking debate performance could signal the death of the old order.

This week in Other Politics:

How Scalia’s Death Will Change the Supreme Court, America, and the Planet.

Madeleine Albright: My Undiplomatic Moment.

Shed no tears for Antonin Scalia: Let us not praise the man who gave us Citizens United and Bush v Gore.

My Unicorn Problem.

Knockout: Why Obama Wants a Supreme Court Fight and How Republicans Blew It Before It Starts.

This Week in Police Problems

SPD Officer Unwittingly Leaves Dashcam on All Day. We Watched the Whole Thing.

Farewells:

On The Death Of A Brilliant Public Servant. “Most people are wonderfully kind to those they love personally and can see and hug, people who affect their day-to-day lives and self-interest. They care because these people are flesh and blood and real. And they have to deal with them regularly. It’s really in their best interest to be sweethearts. Show me a man who gives a flying heck about people he’ll never meet — the poor, the downtrodden, the oppressed, the lonely — and I’ll feel bad he passed away in his sleep, peacefully, on some fancy hunting trip on a luxury resort.”

Antonin Scalia Was the Greatest Enemy to My Equal Rights.

In 1994 Hunter S. Thompson wrote this utterly brutal and true eulogy for Richard Nixon: He Was a Crook.

Things I wrote:

Weekend Update 2/12/2016 – Angry white men.

The day about hearts and stuff.

The official name of the holiday is Washington’s Birthday Observance.

Chariots of the Who? – part one.

Chariots of the Who? – part two.

Contagion from space – more of why I love sf/f.

Videos!

It’s cool, it’s refreshing, it’s Absolutely Fabulous!:

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Marvel’s Daredevil – Season 2 – Official Trailer – Part 1 – :

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Sandra Day O’Connor Says Obama Should Name SCOTUS Justice – ‘ Let’s Get On With It ’:

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Why I couldn’t let football keep me in the closet | Shane Wickes | TEDxUniversityofNevada:

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The Prettiots-Boys (I Dated In Highschool):

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Lenny Gerard “Feel Me Now”:

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Cyndi Lauper – Heartaches By The Number (LIVE):

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D^YDRE^MERS – Uncool:

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