18 May 2014

Link round-up for 18 May 2014

H.R. Giger goes to Hell (found via Mendip).

Ahab of Republic of Gilead is taking a well-earned break.  He'll be missed.

A rescued whale celebrates exuberantly.

Benghazi-mania descends to the utterly tacky.

The Virginia DMV has no sense of humor (found via Mendip).

That story about a woman shooting a man to test his bulletproof vest was a lie.

Violent video games correlate with a decrease in violent crime (more here).

Here's another Christian whining that there's now a price to be paid for tormenting and harassing people who don't conform to Biblical taboos.

Many anti-gay activists have something in common.

Benghazi and September 11 are similar, yet different.

The Catholic Church is getting back into the exorcism business.

A ten-year-old injustice in my home state may soon be overturned.

Here's a group for ex-Muslims in North America.

RedState thinks simple acknowledgement of lesbian mothers is "bizarre filth".  And this nutcase doesn't grasp the First Amendment at all.

Maps of what's wrong with the US share a certain commonality.

Hospitals in states that reject the medicaid expansion are paying a high price.

A valuable observation: cynicism is a privilege.

Sandy Hook denialists exist and are utterly despicable.

Yes, right-wing pundits and politicians really are morons.

The Pope is a nut, at least where lesbians are concerned.

Whether or not to have children must always be an individual decision.

The Emily Letts abortion video highlights the delusional thinking of the anti-abortion crazies.

Censors ruined American comics in the 1950s (the reason Japanese manga are so lively is that over there, the publishers stood up to the bluenoses).

The anti-gay Christian Right is an international phenomenon (found via Republic of Gilead -- see my comment there).

Pregnancy and birth are getting safer worldwide, but the US is going the wrong way.

Don't let the beauty of religious art blind you to the evil behind it.

Here's a map of world-wide alcohol consumption -- the heaviest-drinking countries are no surprise to me.

Even conservative commentator Ambrose Evans-Pritchard anticipates the triumph of solar power.

Ukrainian steelworkers hit back at Putin's thugs in one eastern city, while others are training for prolonged guerrilla resistance in case Russia invades..  Ukrainians of all regions agree that they don't want to divide the country.

Iranian women go hijab-free in protest.  Iran is the least anti-Semitic country in the world's most anti-Semitic region.

The mine disaster in Turkey just gets worse for the Islamist government.

Pankaj Mishra at The Guardian has a detailed profile of India's new leader Narendra Modi and his party the BJP.  It's long, but well worth reading if you want to understand this dramatic shift in course in a country with one-sixth of the world's population.

Boko Haram has now attacked a Chinese encampment in Cameroon.

Boko Haram's leader Abubakar Shekau models himself on bin Laden, but his mental stability is in question.

If a day lasted one second -- it wouldn't last.

This still-unnamed 77-ton Argentinian dinosaur may have been the biggest land animal ever to exist.

Morality is inborn, not taught.

The level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is now far outside the range of natural variation.  Here's an overview of why the denialist claims are bunk.

The Pacific garbage patch hosts an ugly coral killer.

Ganymede may have a multi-layered ocean 25 times as massive as Earth's.

Pigeons show signs of intelligence and even a form of superstition.

5 Comments:

Blogger Ahab said...

Rest in peace, H.R. Giger. I hope you're not wailing and gnashing your teeth in some cheerful, pastel, rainbow-encrusted hellhole of an afterlife.

As for the anti-gay activists, I suspect that many lash out at LGBTQ people to cover up or deny their own attraction. Very sad.

If Abubakar Shekau is an unstable man, it could be his Achilles' heel. I wonder if his opponents or rivals will exploit this trait?

After reading "Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash", I was stunned to learn just how much plastic was contaminating the world's oceans. The commentary piece on the Pacific garbage patch was yet another reminder.

18 May, 2014 17:54  
Blogger Ranch Chimp said...

Thanx for the link up read Infidel, havent heard about the dino find in Argentina before either. One of your link's on "Global Solar Dominance" ... just came up blank to me with a header that said "Business Insider" only

19 May, 2014 04:50  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

Ahab: Shekau doubtless has rivals and people who resent him within Boko Haram itself. I hope we can exploit such divisions to bring him down.

Ranch: The link works for me. Sometimes BI throws up an ad that fills the whole screen (mostly blank space) before letting you continue to the actual article. You may have gotten that.

19 May, 2014 05:19  
Blogger Blurber said...

The Catholic Church is still doing exorcisms! Where is our new so enlightened Pope when we need him?

(Where all the previous Popes have been when they were needed — nowhere to be seen.)

19 May, 2014 10:54  
Blogger Blurber said...

The Ex-Muslims of North America have a nerve going public. After all, they're now subject to the death penalty for apostatism.

19 May, 2014 10:57  

Post a Comment

<< Home