Author Archives

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

• Deleting blog comments: exercise of Property Rights vs Free Speech

  By tigtog on 2012-07-17 • ( 14 )

  

  This accusation of suppressing speech online keeps on coming up (it’s a fundamental plank in the ongoing FTBullies smear campaign): the allegedly terrible awful no-good horrible “crime” of deleting comments on a blog. To which I say bah humbug pish tosh harrumph and quote a 2010 comment here: you have a right to access the Internet, not to access my audience via my resources.

• Gratuitous Awesome: The Detective vs The Doctor

  By tigtog on 2012-07-16 • ( 6 )

  

  Matt Smith and Benedict Cumberbatch doing the duet/duel number I Can Do Anything Better Than You

• Arsehat alert: misuse of the word “victimisation”

  By tigtog on 2012-07-11 • ( 12 )

  

  Here’s an example of the word salad involved:

• Creeping secularisation

  By tigtog on 2012-07-06 • ( 21 )

  

  All over the news in Australia today: the Girl Guides of Australia have removed references to God and the Queen from their pledge.

  Somewhat in the news in the USA last week: a new activist network for Secular Women was announced.

• What the hell, Sweden?

  By tigtog on 2012-07-06 • ( 6 )

  

  Transphobic court tosses out rape charge because defendant’s intent ‘was to rape a woman’

• I missed this back in 1995: quick facts about that McDonalds Coffee lawsuit

  By tigtog on 2012-07-05 • ( 7 )

  

  It would be nice to think that there weren’t still ignorant twerps repeating the idea that the lawsuit was unfounded/frivolous/a grave miscarriage against a poor defenceless megacorporation/harrumph/wharrgarbl, but sadly there still are.

• Dear media, about scientists not knowing what the Higgs-Boson discovery will lead to next

  By tigtog on 2012-07-05 • ( 4 )

  

  This is a not a bug, this is a feature.

• July 4th

  By tigtog on 2012-07-05 • ( 3 )

  

  Happy day off to our USA friends, hope that it wasn’t too hot where you are, and that you did something fun.

• On not buying into the LULZer playbook at FtB (or anywhere) #WeLoveFTB

  By tigtog on 2012-07-03 • ( 14 )

  

  In a truly rational world, it might be possible to substantively and productively explore the pros and cons of competing positions in good faith and reach a nuanced understanding and a mutually satisfying path forward. Unfortunately the “don’t give disproportionate emphasis to sexism” side has basically been hijacked by a bunch of bad faith contrarians…

• Media Circus: asylum seeker impasse

  By tigtog on 2012-06-29 • ( 8 )

  

  Everything about the way that our pundits are demonising boat-arriving asylum seekers while pumping out crocodile tears over drowned families is disingenuous,the way that most of our politicians are pandering to them is despicable, and the debate this week is framed around not even asking the right questions. Please share your bouquets and brickbats for particular items in the mass media, or highlight cogent analysis elsewhere, on any current sociopolitical issue.