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writer, singer, webwrangler, blogger, comedy tragic | about.me/vivsmythe

  • Why so offended? It’s not like I said any bad words!

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    When people on the right complain about political correctness, I’m reminded how happy I am about the trade we’ve made over the last few decades – it’s more acceptable to use naughty sexual expressions, and less acceptable to use bigoted terms for women and minorities. Which is great, because it’s more fun and better for society to talk about sex (and to cuss) than it is to say bigoted things about women and minorities.

  • Trouser tyranny

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    is what the men who love MUGs say they are fighting against. MUGs are Male Unbifurcated Garments such as kilts, and the movement against Trouser Tyranny calls its adherents Bravehearts after Mel Gibson’s smash hit movie back before he went… Read More ›

  • Your friends make you fat

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    (Subtext: so if any of your mates are a wee bit plump you better drop them quick smart or you’ll be rooned, rooned! Yay, let’s make fat people even more socially isolated and scorned!) So say all the headlines and… Read More ›

  • Spoiler alert: Book Review HP7 whaddayareckon?

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    Plot spoilers will appear in this discussion for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

    Don’t read any further unless you already know plot twists or if you don’t care whether you learn plot twists. If you are subscribed to comments here using RSS, you should probably treat that feed most warily until you finish the book.

  • Wednesday Wow

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    There’s just something irresistible about a majestic march of mountains…

  • Political outreach online

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    There’s been a lot of discussion lately about just what online strategies could be most effective for political parties in getting their message across to the voters. I’ve run across a lot of interesting views, and thought on them (in… Read More ›

  • Two sides of the same coin

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    Great comment in a thread over at Feministe about yet another book calling for more sexual modesty (from women, of course): This seems like a great time to focus on re-directing the debate away from regarding “raunch culture’ and “modesty’… Read More ›

  • “God didn’t make any junk”

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    So said Tammy Faye Messner (once Tammy Faye Bakker) once when asked her opinion on homosexuals and whether they could be part of the Christian family. She died yesterday of cancer aged 65. I’m not a fan of televangelists as… Read More ›

  • Cymru!

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    Three Welsh inventors are touting their Greenbox system that would replace car exhaust systems with an emissions capture system. It uses algae to absorb the emitted gases and hold them inertly so that the boxes can be easily transported for… Read More ›

  • Proof positive that most Americans have hardly noticed our Prime Minister’s world-class presidential arselicking displays

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    He’s not mentioned on the Boston Phoenix‘s annual list of the 100 Unsexiest Men. It is a very US-centric list: there’s a mere sprinkling of foreigners, the only “Australian” who is mentioned is Mel Gibson, and I hadn’t heard of… Read More ›