RationalWiki:What is going on in the blogosphere?/May 2011

May 2011
The Abortionplex is on Yelp. Free nachos and mojitos during the procedure? It doesn't get better than that. Six politicians who've failed epically on Twitter. Andy Bacevich on what it means to "support the troops." Less lead equals less crime? "So, how about some accountability for the false prophets, gross opportunists, and irresponsible rumor-mongers who threaten society with truth decay? Here’s a suggestion: Call them out publicly, post their names on some Wall of Shame, and then stop listening – it only encourages them." A new 3D map of the universe is unveiled. Electrons are spherical, it's official now. Wegman continues shooting himself in the foot. [http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/05/23/bipartisanship/index.html Political polarization? Not when it comes to trampling civil liberties.]

Lyndon LaRouche jets climate deniers to Sweden to protest a conference in Stockholm.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn really should have kept his dangler in his pants: not only has he fulfilled the iconography of power dynamics with parallels in Greek mythology, smut, and colonialism, but he went and groped a union maid. Dave Johnson: Political philosophies with a "producer-and-parasite" world-view are fundamentally at odds with the concepts of democracy. (But good luck telling that to the adherents of one particular "producer-and-parasite" world-view, who spend a lot of time saying exactly the opposite.)

With notably rare exceptions, a president has never called for Israel to change its borders. On Netanyahu's "hissy-fit." The CDC has released a blog post detailing its plans to deal with a Zombie Apocalypse.

Thirty five of the top evolutionary psychologists tell Satoshi Kanazawa to go fuck himself (well, in academic form at least). PZ Myers, however, is a bit more explicit.

<vote poll=blog1520 closed="yes">Catholics denounce Conservative Deceit. These heretics will be excommunicated by Andy Schlafly as soon as he hears about it.

<vote poll=blog1519 closed="yes">The internet gets its own currency. I was into it before it was popular. <vote poll=blog1518 closed="yes">The official retracted and totally denied position of the US Government is that Fox News "blathers" too much. <vote poll=blog1517 closed="yes">Skippy envisions the morning after Saturday's Rapture. <vote poll=blog1516 closed="yes">Johann Hari: Heaven: A fool's paradise <vote poll=blog1515 closed="yes">Wegman-gate update: [http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2011/05/wegman_scandal_the_first_retra.php I didn't plagiarize nothin'! It was all my student's fault!] <vote poll=blog1514 closed="yes">Beware the creeping Sharia...actually, not really. <vote poll=blog1513 closed="yes">The Wegman Report takes a further beating. <vote poll=blog1512 closed="yes">Australia is planning to ban 1,000s of plants that contain natural DMT... including their national flower. <vote poll=blog1511 closed="yes">How the recent commodities crash is making hyperinflation scare-mongerers look even dumber. <vote poll=blog1510 closed="yes">How the military trained "spy crows" to catch Osama. <vote poll=blog1509 closed="yes">Weird Homeopathy - Saturn. Appears to get you seriously stoned. <vote poll=blog1508 closed="yes">Anthony Watts continues to be the most useful global warming denier, yet again debunking his own claims. <vote poll=blog1507 closed="yes">Do you think your own brand of alternative medicine won't stand up to new Advertising Standards Authority regulations? Just play the race card. <vote poll=blog1506 closed="yes">Besides the facepalming stupidity of fart based smartphone applications, one of the few real lessons we learned from The Apprentice challenge to built an app was that people will try anything if it's free - though speaking of Lord Sugar and internet technology, anyone own any of the these? <vote poll=blog1505 closed="yes">Research in memory may lead to new treatments for PTSD, as well as ethical questions. <vote poll=blog1504 closed="yes">The neocon/liberal-interventionist alliance, or How I stopped worrying and learned to love the military–industrial complex. <vote poll=blog1503 closed="yes">Daniel Larison on the inconsistent approach to "humanitarian" war in Libya. <vote poll=blog1502 closed="yes">Krugman continues his work calling out the Very Serious People. <vote poll=blog1501 closed="yes">Top 10 scientific zingers <vote poll=blog1500 closed="yes">A new Duke University study finds further dangers of fracking. <vote poll=blog1499 closed="yes">Raising taxes and the debt ceiling is just like the Holocaust! Time for a corollary to Godwin's Law? <vote poll=blog1498 closed="yes">Mikey Weinstein: The Moonie-owned Washington Times has got no business criticizing "fringe ideas" in religion. <vote poll=blog1497 closed="yes">The reason we reason: not to get the right answer, but to convince that other chimp to give you the fruit. <vote poll=blog1496 closed="yes">The Inner Party was right: War is peace! Coming up: Why 2 + 2 = 5. <vote poll=blog1495 closed="yes">Most new WP editors are editing in Good Faith... I wonder what the chart looks like for CP? <vote poll=blog1494 closed="yes">This GOP pre-debate rally brought to you by the John Birch Society and the Oath Keepers <vote poll=blog1493 closed="yes">What do the anti-vaxers actually want? Their aims are political and legal - we need science, but it's not enough. <vote poll=blog1492 closed="yes">Universities electing their own MPs using AV, rotten boroughs with no actual constituents, and a system that wasn't really worked out until 1950. The voting system that Cameron is fighting for is a veritable novelty. <vote poll=blog1491 closed="yes">The 10 key myths about Osama bin Laden <vote poll=blog1490 closed="yes">Now would be a good time for the U.S. to tell the Saudis where to shove their human rights abuses, etc. <vote poll=blog1489 closed="yes">The winger reaction to Osama's death is as remarkably consistent as it was for Egypt: How can we attack Obama with this? [http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/05/bin-laden-dead-jihadi-right-wing-reaction He didn't get OBL fast enough! He took too much credit! Ad infinitum ad nauseam...] <vote poll=blog1488 closed="yes">SkepticalScience has been running a good series dismantling the arguments of "lukewarmer" climatologist Richard Lindzen: The Lindzen Illusion, Pt. 1, Pt. 2, Pt. 3. Update: Pt. 4 is out <vote poll=blog1487 closed="yes">Christopher Monckton is socking up. <vote poll=blog1486 closed="yes">Five bizarre GOP reactions to OBL's death. UPDATE:  And from a quickly forming group of conspiracy theorists led by Andrew Breitbart comes reaction number 6. To paraphrase Mark Twain, "the story of OBL's death may be greatly exaggerated." <vote poll=blog1485 closed="yes">Get ready for new bin Laden conspiracy theories <vote poll=blog1484 closed="yes">The guy who live-blogged the bin Laden raid... without realizing it. <vote poll=blog1483 closed="yes">Indians who wish to volunteer as translators for the Missionaries of Charity are often turned away, for two reasons: (1) they speak the language, so they might try to actually treat the patients; (2) they are more prone to be nosy and ask stupid questions such as, "What are you doing with all your money?"