Thank goodness it’s Friday. Real life is not terribly pleasant, right now, though work has been slightly less stressful this week. Maybe it only seemed that way since going to work was a distraction from thinking about the relatives who died last week.
There’s a lot of interesting things that happened in the world: the idiot Oregon militia people are all finally in custody; the Ali Forney Center raised more the $200,000 toward their attempt to buy the hate church at the foreclosure auction; the New Hampshire primaries happened and a few more of the hateful idiots running for the Republican nomination have dropped out; and we’ve finally detected gravitational waves. That last bit is incredibly cool, which is why there are several stories and two videos about it included below. It is yet another thing that Einstein’s General Relativity predicted that has turned out to be true (a lot of the headlines are written as if this is the first bit of evidence to prove it–no, it is simply another). It’s especially fun that the signal could so easily be turned into a sound we could actually hear. It’s kind of amazing to realize that we measure a vibration in the very fabric of the universe, it self, and at least some of the signal was in a frequency that, when transmitter as just air vibrations, was a sound in human audible range.
Anyway, here are links to some of the interesting things I read on the web this week.
Links of the Week
Gravitational waves detected — and that’s creating waves in science.
And other news:
Piers Morgan Lectures Me On British Comedy.
This Week in Love Conquers…
LGBT Activists Really Do Plan to Turn a Homophobic Church Gay.
This week in Bi-phobia
The One Thing That (Sadly) Most Women Agree Makes A Man Undateable.
This Week in Diversity
The Cult of Whiteness: On #OscarsSoWhite, Donald Trump, and The End of America.
Progressive. “We’re a progressive site,” the man across the table begins, “And our readership, as with most progressive sites, is mostly men. You’ve focused a lot on women’s issues. Would you be comfortable writing something that men would be able to read?”
ANCESTRY FOR NERDS: HOW I FOUND MY BLERD ROOTS HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT.
If Male Characters Were Introduced in Scripts Like Women.
News for queers and our allies:
How the Fight Over Transgender Kids Got a Leading Sex Researcher Fired.
Lady Gaga’s Fabulous, Super Gay Super Bowl National Anthem.
Focus on the Family’s LGBTQ Descendants: Executive’s Gay Daughter Speaks Out.
In challenging homophobia, gay men have become our own oppressors.
Why do straight-acting men have a problem with femme gays?
Gay men deserve three-dimensional role models, not TV’s stereotypes.
The Original Zoolander Might Seem Homophobic—but It Was Sneakily Ahead of Its Time.
This is an example of a link I include because I think it is interesting, not because I agree with it: Not Queer, Just Gay. No, Thanks.
Let’s Talk About People That Aren’t Young Cis White Gay Men.
femme shaming and fighting back against gay-on-gay prejudice.
Science!
Physicists Detect Gravitational Waves, Proving Einstein Right.
Everything you need to know about gravitational waves.
Gravitational Waves Detected 100 Years After Einstein’s Prediction.
Science Says It’s OK If Your Ten-Finger Touch Typing Is Total Garbage.
70 years ago, six Philly women became the world’s first digital computer programmers.
Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculation!
The Beyond anthology is an excellent showcase of queer sci-fi and fantasy.
Personal Essay: “We Were Always Here” by Mark Oshiro.
Deadpool: the pansexual superhero who has never had a non-heterosexual experience.
“Get your girly stuff out of my SF, for SF should be sciency, manly and hard”.
Climate change has transformed science fiction in one major way.
This week in Writing
WRITERS ON WRITING: JEANNE/FAN FICTION.
Rape Disguised as Romance: A Romance Reader’s Opinion.
Only 40 Self-Published Authors are a Success, says Amazon.
Culture war news:
God is not a prude: This is why religion remains so sex-obsessed, why we pretend Jesus was born of a virgin. “Adulterous televangelists. Contraception-denying pro-lifers. Here’s the science behind religion’s fear of sex.”
NFL BOMBSHELL: New Claims Of Racism, Homophobia, Cheating & Worse Exposed In Tell-All.
Why Didn’t They Talk To You Privately? On “Call Out Culture” and Power Differentials.
A National Attempt To Criminalize Transgender Lives.
Transgender student’s use of locker room causes stir at San Diego high school.
The Definition of Insanity: Gay Republicans.
This Week in the Clown Car
Latino A-listers from Carlos Santana to Zoe Saldana slam GOP racism — and not just Trump.
Marco Rubio: I Would Tell Rape Victim ‘It’s a Terrible Situation but Have the Rapist’s Baby Anyway’.
Among the Jedi Knights of Assholery.
John Kasich’s Spiritual Adviser Calls LGBT Activists ‘Thought Nazis’.
Ted Cruz and His Shady Campaign Donors Want to Know Every Single Thing About You.
This week in Other Politics:
The Shocking Truth About America’s Ethanol Law: It Doesn’t Matter (For Now).
What New Hampshire Actually Tells Us.
Ex T-man Geithner cashing in on Wall Street.
Guest Editorial: Young Women Don’t Owe Clinton. I’m a feminist of a certain age. I earned degrees in math and computer science before STEM was a term, and I have made my career in technology. During the years when feminism was a dirty word, I used it frequently…
THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS ‘VOTING WITH YOUR VAGINA’.
Here are 19 ways Bernie Sanders has stood up for civil and minority rights.
This Week in Police Problems
Arizona Police Kill 24-Year-Old Trans Man With Asperger’s.
Texas prosecutor officially disbarred for sending innocent man to death row.
This Week in Misogyny
The guys who won’t hear “no”: Movies, masculinity and the toxic myth of the romantic stalker.
Why I Just Dropped The Harassment Charges The Man Who Started GamerGate.
Things I wrote:
Weekend Update 2/6/2016 – Can love conquer hate?
Clickbait, clickbait everywhere, and not a byte to think.
He wants to believe – more of why I love sf/f.
Videos!
In Memoriam: Campaign 2016 (a tribute to those who have fallen in their quest for the White House – suspended, but not forgotten):
(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)
Icelandic Glacial is #HotAsIce (inspired by a Coca Cola commercial from the 70s, but better):
(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)
Marlon Roudette – New Age (Official Music Video):
(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)
LIGO: The First Observation of Gravitational Waves:
(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)
How LIGO Detected Gravitational Waves:
(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)
S7 Airlines OK Go, Upside down & Inside Out (This music video was shot in zero-gee, no wires or green screen):
(If embedding doesn’t work, click here.)
Font Folly 