I’m back from Zeteticon 2014 — you’ll all have to go to Zeteticon 2015. It was a well-organized and entertaining conference. Although everyone’s talks were interesting, I just want to comment on David Silverman’s.
Here’s a horrifying statistic for you (Warning! Autoplay video at that link!).
Before they can reach the American Dream, many migrant women have to survive a Mexican nightmare. A staggering 80 percent of Central American girls and women crossing Mexico en route to the United States are raped along the way, according to directors of migrant shelters interviewed by Fusion.
That’s up from previous reports by non-profit organizations like Amnesty International that estimate the number at 60 percent.
So the conservative estimate is 60%? Yet the Republican perspective on these people is that they are lazy moochers who parasitize American society — when they’re actually strong, ambitious people who have survived a harrowing struggle to get here.
Now you know.
An Idaho State University assistant professor with a concealed-carry gun permit shot himself in the foot with a semiautomatic handgun that accidentally discharged from inside his pocket in a chemistry classroom full of students, police said on Wednesday.
This post exaggerates the role of women in warfare in the Middle Ages — it’s more about how graves are misidentified, that women were sometimes buried with weapons — but most interesting is that two historians weigh in in the comments, one whose specialty is studying weapons in grave goods, and another who is an expert in medieval Scandinavia. Some women may have fought, and they were definitely honored with weaponry at their funerals, but sad to say, Viking society was strongly patriarchal and discouraged women from fighting.
The man who murdered Renisha McBride, the 19 year old black woman who committed the terrible crime of knocking on his door, has been found guilty of second degree murder, and sentenced to 17 years in prison. That’s a light sentence for a shotgun blast to the face of a harmless person looking for help after a car crash, but at least it was a guilty verdict.
And here to celebrate unions and labor is…an incoherent union-hating Republican. Watch Sarah Palin strain to be cute and bubbly and enthusiastic about socialist ideas — you can just see her brain breaking as she tries to paint a happy conservative face on progressive ideals.
Man, I’ve been cruelly slamming you with painful videos this morning, haven’t I? I should stop. I think I’ll go work with my fish for a while.
Good idea in the comments: here’s an antidote.
Israel has been carrying out precision strikes on Gaza.
In case you ever wondered what “precision strikes” look like, here’s a view of the aftermath.
You can also take a tour of Gaza from the safety of your home. You sure wouldn’t want to do it for real.
That’s unusual. Usually it’s women who have their clothing scrutinized carefully, but this time it’s Obama. Peter King was upset that Obama wore a tan suit.
It’s the first week of classes. I’ve given the first lecture to my first year introductory biology course and my second year cell biology course, and the theme of both lectures was that science isn’t a body of facts, but a process for learning — and I’m emphasizing to them all that the conclusion is less important than how we come to that conclusion. And what do idiot politicians in Ohio do? They try to pass a law denying school kids knowledge of the process.
