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.

• Astrologers jump on Cox

– “In one episode of the show, he said, “…astrology is a load of rubbish.”

This is, of course, completely accurate. Astrology has no mechanism, no predictability, and no physical way of working. When tested even using its own standards it fails miserably.

Astrology doesn’t work, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling something.

Just as obviously, those people who are selling something have taken umbrage at Brian’s impolitic uttering of truth. “

• Space Station crosses the dark side of Moon!

– “NASA’s Image of the Day posted a fantastic shot: the International Space Station crossing the face of the Moon:”

• Breast Implants for Jesus vs. Breast Implants for Feminism

– “Now that conservatives have openly acknowledged that masculinity, femininity, and heterosexuality actually take a lot of work to maintain, they have to work doubly hard to attempt to normalize this performance. So, good people work hard to fulfill their gender roles, but better people don’t whine about having to perform that work. And the best people really, truly, actually love to perform their roles—or at least appear to love it. Hence Dr. Laura’s insistence that women not only perform sex for their husbands, but also internalize that performance in their own minds—a feat that is so unnatural that women may even need to buy Dr. Laura’s book, “The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands,” in order to do it right.”

• Anger as a Constructive Force

– “For whatever reason, mainstream Western culture has decided that people who have historically been put down, devalued and mistreated by those in the majority should fight for their rights, but they should “be nice” while they do so. The messages that historically devalued groups have to get across, even if said messages are quite radical, should apparently be palatable even to the people who have the most social currency in mainstream society. What’s radical about that?”

• What do Australians really think about violence towards women? A new survey

– “As a man, I know that not all men are violent. But many of us have observed incidents that degrade or disrespect women. We all need to speak up when this occurs, and to speak up against violence against women if we are to create an Australia where equal and respectful relationships between men and women are valued.

We can all play a role each day in communicating to other men, about our beliefs and values in relation to the women around us.

Very few men can put their ‘hand on heart’ and say they’ve never stood silent, perhaps even laughed awkwardly at jokes or comments made at women’s expense, or had a male friend make disparaging remarks or treated their partner in a way that made you feel uncomfortable.”

• Mississippi Safe Schools Coalition

– “The MSSC is organizing its Second Chance Prom, this year in Constance’s community, so that ALL students, gay and straight, at Itawamba will have the opportunity to be themselves at the prom. “

• Thankyou Dr Jensen, Mr Pell, Mr Fisher – Happy Easter!

– “This is a win for secularism. Thanks to the credibility of Dr Jensen, Mr Pell and Mr Fisher, the issue – sectarian privilege and contempt over and toward atheists – is now out there in the mainstream; open for discussion. It was never was a fringe concern, and now for the first time, it really doesn’t look like one.”

Categories: linkfest

Tags: australia, blogging, Read-ems