I share a lot of links on Twitter and Facebook that I don’t blog about because I don’t have much to add. The reading list is a periodic feature where I share those links with my blog audience too. Of course, you’re still welcome to follow me on Twitter.
Around FtB
- Please, taunt me some more–“The incident actually happened, and those are my words. I have no problem with that. However, it’s not making a point in their favor.”
- The “Coming Out Atheist” Donation Recipient for July 2014: Black Skeptics of Los Angeles “First in the Family” Humanist Scholarship Fund–“So I’m donating 10% of my income from this book to atheist organizations, charities, and projects: a different one each month.”
- Ohai! Your resident queer, poly, ex-hijabi, ex-Muslim here!–“I came of age in Southern Lebanese guerilla warfare culture, with the predominant religious and political power governing my social spaces being Hezbollah–I write about growing up in Hezbollah culture here.”
- Supporting Black Skeptics LA’s “First in the Family” scholarship fund–“Remind me again how social justice warriors make atheists look bad?”
- I’m Only Doing It for the Attention–“After all, when it comes to promoting a community currently as small and as besieged as the ex-Muslim community, or viewpoints as oddly controversial as being in favor of social justice, every little bit of attention counts.”
- The virtual radio silence on Brian Dunning’s fraud–“I really wish the skeptical community had not repeatedly defended Dunning’s actions, as though some level of skeptical outreach excuses gross fraud.”
- Is This Thing On?–“You ain’t here for me to talk about myself, though. You’re here for the goods, right? Here’s a few things I’ve written over the past few years to get you started and give you a taste of what I’m about”
The Wider Web
- Abortions For “Funsies!”–“They are also, for the most part, imaginary. I mean, think about for more than a second.”
- Would you be horrified to find out that you have a stalker, or flattered?–“Incidentally: if you use ‘stalking’ to mean ‘following on social media’ or ‘following publicly available works,’ I will block you so fast your head will spin.“
- My Receipt Was Not Good Enough–“I asked him what the problem was and he ignored me. I asked to speak to a manager and he ignored me. He literally acted like I was not there.”
- Tucker Carlson: IRS rules preventing church electioneering is an ‘assault’ on Christians by atheists–“On Saturday, Tucker Carlson told Pajamas Media Legal Editor J. Christian Adams that this was another examples of ‘liberal politicians, liberal groups asking the IRS to crush organizations that they don’t agree with.'”
- The Ideology of Skepticism–“What I didn’t know—and what shocked me, like finding the Minotaur in a Disneyland hedge maze—is how much of the skeptical community isn’t really about skepticism.”
- First, brief #disabilitySF chat–“Can you recommend an SF novel/story that does good things with disability and technology?”
- New York man who filmed deadly chokehold is arrested on weapons charge–“Orta was in the hospital on Sunday, police said, but refused to disclose further information about why he was there or his condition, citing privacy laws. It was unclear whether he had a lawyer.”
- Spousal Support (Part 1)–“I asked him if he really thought so, and he said yes, and did he promise, and he said yes, and there was a hug and a kiss, and I believed.”
- DIY Science Zone Fundraiser–“The zone is a hands-on, weekend-long extravaganza that makes science accessible to everyone, whether or not they have their own lab goggles at home. It’s open to all ages, and all levels of experience–and all equipment is provided.”
- Comic Artist Randy Queen Now Claims Post About His Abuse Of Copyright To Stifle Criticism Is Defamatory–“So, we go from bogus attempts to stifle criticism via copyright law, to then trying to stifle discussion of that stifling by bogus defamation threats. Someone really doesn’t like being criticized apparently.” [See this update also.
- Concom decision on Jim Frenkel-“Jim Frenkel will not be allowed to return to any future WisCon conventions.”
- How Jerry Pournelle got kicked off the ARPANET–“I’m almost tempted to let him take his marbles and floppy disks and go home.”
- “Skeptoid” Brian Dunning Sentenced to 15 Months in Prison for Fraud–“This is great news for the skeptic community at large, since it may be a long enough sentence for Dunning to fade from memory and stop publicly representing the very people who are supposedly trying to stop people from defrauding others.”
- Violation–“And because I am a queer woman, this is a normal experience with added layers of entitlement from men to not only my body and my space, but to the moments I share with women that happen to take place in public and semi-public venues.”
- In praise of GUADEC–“Marina also discussed words to avoid when talking about people and technology, something I realized I fumbled when I gave my keynote.”
- You, Sir, Are No Robert Ingersoll–“‘The men who declare that woman is the intellectual inferior of man, do not, and cannot, by offering themselves in evidence, substantiate their declaration.'”
- Moving the Goalpost on Polyamorous Success–“For as long as people are uncomfortable with poly relationships they will demand that we prove our ‘stability’ and ‘success’ by having longer and longer relationships that fulfill an increasingly narrowly defined structure.”
- Toad Words Launch Day!–“And we are live, gang!”
- Your Well-Written Anti-Harassment Policy is Insufficient–“Unless you attend the con, are harassed, and then make a report, you have no idea whether the con staff will actually take the complaint seriously or try to sweep it under the rug.”
- On the “dispute” between radical feminism and trans people–“[I]t infuriates me that I’ve had to take a break from writing a piece on the Tories’ ‘liberation’ of the NHS to write 8,500 words to debunk a sexological concept that was shown to be untenable before the start of the First World War.”
- Comfort Without Lies for Small Children–“It isn’t easy, and sometimes even people who are themselves nonbelievers succumb to the temptation to comfort children with talk of heaven and guardian angels.”
- Twitter Won’t Stop Harassment on Its Platform, So Its Users Are Stepping In–“But without Twitter’s cooperation, these developers are still focusing on selected users instead of addressing the problem on a site-wide level.”