Aka, I read a lot of interesting stuff but am too lazy to devote whole blog posts to it, so why not start yet another blog link dump?
- Living in America Will Drive You Insane – Literally
“A June 2013 Gallup poll revealed that 70% of Americans hate their jobs or have “checked out” of them. Life may or may not suck any more than it did a generation ago, but our belief in “progress” has increased expectations that life should be more satisfying, resulting in mass disappointment. For many of us, society has become increasingly alienating, isolating and insane, and earning a buck means more degrees, compliance, ass-kissing, shit-eating, and inauthenticity. So, we want to rebel. However, many of us feel hopeless about the possibility of either our own escape from societal oppression or that political activism can create societal change. So, many of us, especially young Americans, rebel by what is commonly called mental illness.”
- Misogynist Trolls Have an Agenda, and It’s Not Lulz – Amanda Marcotte summarizes the latest twitter harassment deluge against the woman who campaigned to get Jane Austen on the ten pound note, and addresses why just ignoring the trolls doesn’t work.
- Police Threatened to Arrest Me For Taking Their Photo Last Night – Not cool, Seattle police.
- On Gaming’s Gay Agenda
“The phrase I most often hear with regards to gay content that currently exists, such as the optional same-sex romances in some of BioWare’s games, is “you’re throwing it in my face”. Or “you’re shoving it down my throat”. Ignoring the ironic phrasing, the implication appears to be that the existence of such content at all is an insult or an attack— like slapping the player in the face with a dildo, it’s beyond the pale.”
- Patent Life: How the Supreme Court Fell Short – Maggie Koerth-Baker tackles why the Supreme’s court decision to allow patenting of cDNA shows they don’t understand molecular biology. At least Scalia admitted it…
- Portraits of Grandmas and Their Cuisine From Around the World – This is both adorable and delicious.
- 75 Unforgettable Moments from Minnesota’s First Day of Marriage Equality – Someone’s cutting onions in here.
Glad you’re back posting some!
I seriously wish that the police had a lot more accountability, but the whole tough on crime angle by politicians doesn’t seem to be going away. Most of the interactions I’ve had with police have been non-events, but then again I am a white male who lives in a tiny little state.
Think I’d eat the caterpillars before I’d eat shark or iguana.
Iguana tastes like alligator, which tastes like gamey chicken, or maybe quail or pheasant, but tougher. There’s no such thing as tender iguana.
Shark is actually very mild and delicious — though overfishing is a big problem these days, so it’s off my menu pretty much indefinitely.
I’m struck by those photos in Minnesota of how old a lot of the couples were.
Happy for them. Hope it spreads. A friend of mine left my backwards state to get married to his longtime partner. I miss him.
Yaaaaaaay, you’re back! ^_^
My mental image of Seattle as an idyllic paradise has been shattered forever, though. :(
Well, five new posts now. I am glad you are back to blogging. It sucks like shit this was prompted by such unfortunate circumstances. And don’t fret about worrying over your own future when your mother is so bad off. I went through the same thing when my dad was diagnosed with a heritable lung condition. It’s normal and I worried and got over it.
I support you. There are atheist Youtube channels I loved that I unsubscribed to when they faved stupid shit against you and I have not missed them.
spitefulfox
Seattle PD has had some rather serious issues long before this. For a smattering, see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Police_Department#Significant_events
and the murder of John Williams is actually on YouTube somewhere.
Hi, Jen. I’m glad you’re posting more often again. You’re my favorite FTB blogger. Good luck with your therapy, & best wishes to your parents.
That article about the Seattle police is amazing! What assholes. Although, I used to work with police officers and I have to say that these guys are probably also victims of an institutional culture that demands too much of them. If they’re that high-strung and high on power, they’re not being managed properly.
If I was in a position to influence things, I’d suggest that police officers ought to have a mini video camera built into their uniform, which they would keep on while on duty. Maybe built into their helmets. It would be a disciplinary offence to switch it off while on duty, and at the end of a shift, all data would be saved, and all police departments would be obliged to release the data to anyone claiming to be a victim of police brutality.
It would provide a better record of any crimes the police happen to witness, and would make a powerful disincentive for the police to themselves misbehave. It would be a bit of a stretch to get used to perhaps, but a police officer with a video camera isn’t really going to be seeing much more than a police officer without a video camera – and would have a more accurate record of any incidents than their word alone.
Unfortunately, police harassment of photographers seems to be SOP in many places; check out Carol Miller’s Photography is Not a Crime Blog (http://photographyisnotacrime.com/).
David Hart, those mini video cameras would develop a tendency to “malfunction” at convenient moments.
Oops, that’s Carlos Miller, not Carol.
As part of the gang that worked tails to the bone to defeat the “one man, one woman” Minnesota state constitutional amendment back in November, I am proud to be have been a (small) part of the effort to ensure marriage equality in the Great Frozen North. Now if we can just tip a state or two more (Illinois, you listening?), the dominoes will all fall into place.
Good to see you blogging again, Jen. As the plaque on John Boehner’s desk says, “Illegitimi non carborundum”.