Items of interest found recently in my RSS feed. What did I miss? Please share what you've been reading (and writing!) in the comments.
- Taser abuse: how many have to die before something is done about it?
- Census Worker Hanged; The Word “Fed” Written on His Chest
- On “Real” Christians and Christian Privilege
- Rape Apologism and the Response to Mackenzie Phillips
- Rational Moms »» Guest Dad Post – HAVIN’ MY BABAY
- BBC NEWS | Health | Autism rates back MMR jab safety
- Science, Non-Science, and Pseudoscience
- Frogs love Skeptics
- Water on the Moon…? Yup. It’s real.
- Your Truth Is Merely Truthiness, Friend
- An appropriate apology?
- Once again, sexists choose punishing a woman over their own self interest
- About my brothers again
- Studies show that women evolved to linkspam (23rd September 2009)
- Caveat Lector » Blog Archive » The sickening grunch
– “some sobering stats — the number of deaths due to the misuse or abuse of the Taser. We’re up to 36 deaths this year, with 39% of the pre-trial, extra-judicial electrocutions and executions were perpetrated against black men, who represent only 6% of the population in the U.S.”
– It is possible that this guy’s murder was unrelated to his Census work. But the possibility that it was, after all the lying fear-mongering from right-wing demagogues, is extremely chilling.
– “In March 2007, a reader left the comment: “Would you folks please stop putting the word ‘Christian’ in front of the name ‘Ann Coulter’ as an adjective? Those of us who actually do practice our religion would appreciate it.”brbrMy answer was no, I wouldn’t stop. And my answer about distinguishing between “real” and “unreal” Christians, beyond noting that there are Christians who try to impose their beliefs on others and those who don’t, is also no.brbrContrary to what some might believe, it’s not because I’m trying to be a belligerent shit. It’s because I don’t want the responsibility of deciding who’s Christian and who isn’t—and I can’t imagine why any Christian would want to give that responsibility to an atheist in the first place.”
– “John Phillips was a very talented singer and songwriter. He’s a little bit of a 60s icon. And he was also apparently a rapist. Most people are currently unable to hold these things simultaneously in their minds. This is evidenced by all that is up above. And rape apologism and denialism aren’t going to stop until, among other things, they (and we) learn how to.brbrBut unfortunately right now we’re also spending a whole lot more time talking about Mackenzie Phillips than talking about John Phillips. And those of us who know better are being forced to spend more time defending her than talking about how what he did was so incredibly wrong.
We need to learn to talk about abuse and abusers. We’re also apparently, sadly and tellingly going to spend a lot of time beating up already victimized women over and over and over again as we very slowly get there. “
– very interesting post about misinformation/superstition during pregnancy, but unfortunately stereotypes all homebirthers as hippies full of woo (childbirth.org is allegedly “anti-science”) and cites a doctor’s verbal answer to a question as authoritative data. Still, the comments thread is worth reading.
– “The NHS Information Centre found one in every hundred adults living in England has autism, which is identical to the rate in children.
If the vaccine was to blame, autism rates among children should be higher because the MMR has only been available since the early 1990s, the centre says. “
– “So, what are some of the properties of “pseudoscience”? We are not here engaged in defining “science” or finding a demarcation criterion that allows us to point at something and say “That’s science” or “That’s not science”, but rather are attempting to define pseudoscience in a way that allows us to reliably identify instances.”
– I can’t believe that even Glenn Beck could do this.
– Phil Plait on yesterday’s big discovery.
– “I was learning how to get into Heaven. I wasn’t learning how to be a good person.”
– A genuinely contrite apology, and an intent to do better in future – but does it only build a new pink ghetto?
– “The consensus seems to be that women who engage in gang bangs forfeit their right to be treated like human beings deserving of respect the second they do that. I suspect many of the angry men would still deny it’s rape if the video showed her panicking and changing her mind halfway through, only to be forced, because degrading treatment and even assault are assumed in our culture still to be things that you have coming to you for being a slut. “
– “Today my brother posted a video on facebook about some loser guy walking around being rude to and flipping off women he finds hot. My brother wrote “Don’t we all feel this way sometimes?” I guess by saying “we all” he forgets that he’s also talking to women. I guess only men count. Fuck our feelings, right guys? We don’t really have any anyway! We’re not human!”
– geekfeminism links
– Great post written 7 years ago (via geekfeminism comment thread)
Categories: linkfest
The 109th Down Under Feminists Carnival is up! 
The 105th Down Under Feminists Carnival is up! 
Hoyden About Town 
Oh Maude, the comments on that birth story article are terrible. Quoting OB Amy Whatserface, ranting about no-epidural birth being “lunacy”, and so on. Bleagh.