Recent Posts - page 29

  • Dressmaking for the Obsessive

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    Ink sketch of Victorian lady's coat, Russian text.

    One for the dressmakers, costumiers and historians among us: an unexpected family treasure unearthed.

  • Part Two of ‘You can’t make this sh*t up…’

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    Man claims part of Africa as a Kingdom so his daughter can be a princess.

  • Today in ‘You can’t make this sh*t up’ because no one would believe you’

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    A nurse-midwife with anti-contraception religious views sues a Family Planning Clinic that declined to hire her.

  • TheAmazingAtheist purportedly wrote these words, looked at them, and chose to publish them

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    UPDATE: It has been shown that there is no evidence that TheAmazingAtheist actually wrote these words, and Kincaid has responded to these allegations. The tumblr from which this quote was sourced has been deleted. Please see below.

    Count yourself lucky if you’ve never heard of somewhat popular video-blogger TheAmazingAtheist aka TJ Kincaid. He’s one of the subset of atheists who want certain other atheists to “stop being divisive” via pointing out the injustices of the kyriarchal status quo ongoing within the atheist “movement”. He has ever so many rational and deeply intellectual opinions about life, the universe and everything.

  • Otterday! And Open Thread

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    Our Open Thread this weekend is hosted by an otter with a ball.

    Please feel free to use this thread to natter about anything your heart desires.

  • Cheesemaking: Haloumi

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    fresh wedges of folded minted haloumi cheese

    I received a cheesemaking kit for Xmas. Having made feta a couple of times, I decided to branch out and try haloumi. People were interested on twitter, so here it is: the process of making haloumi from scratch. Well, from… Read More ›

  • Science outreach and when glorifying heroes can alienate prospects

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    When science heroes have a documented history of treating some kinds of people badly, their glorification by science fans can be alienating for members of the groups those heroes treated badly.

    [I]t is dangerous to rest your scientific outreach efforts on scientific heroes. […] Science outreach doesn’t just deliver messages about what science knows or about the processes by which that knowledge is built. Science outreach also delivers messages about what kind of people scientists are (and about what kinds of people can be scientists).

  • Quicklink: Autism not just a boy thing

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    Virginia Hughes analyses The Sexual Politics of Autism in her National Geographic blog; a meaty overview with lots of juicy links.

  • Every Arnold Scream

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    Arnold Schwarzenegger and Grace Jones fooling around with sharp pointy things on the set of Conan The Destroyer

    … From Every Arnold Movie. I found this mashup weirdly cheering somehow.

  • Media Circus: Palmergeddon edition

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    Photo of Australian Parliament House (APH) in Canberra

    This morning the Murdoch Media is full of grotesque caricatures of Clive Palmer focussing on his fat (wow, whodathunkit?) while trumpeting FUD about “chaos” in parliament because one vote on one bill in the Senate has not gone the government’s way. That spinaround didn’t take long, did it?

    Palmer’s pursuit of populism has worked in the national interest for this brief moment.

    What news story/commentary/analysis has grabbed your attention lately?