RationalWiki:What is going on in the blogosphere?/May 2013

May 2013
[http://www.upworthy.com/a-brave-fan-asks-patrick-stewart-a-question-he-doesnt-usually-get-and-is-given-a-beautiful-answer?c=gt1 It's Patrick Stewart, you love Patrick Stewart. If not, why not? I mean, seriously, watch it. You love Patrick Stewart.] Religion can't stop boot-knocking. Immunization rates among children are falling, but not just from anti-vaccination movements. The White House's We The People petition to support an international treaty that would expand media accessibility to blind people is itself not accessible to blind people. "And at my age you’re glad of the company, so immigration doesn’t bother me. The more the merrier as long as they’re not French." Shedding some light on the "Hitler Loved Gun Control" Argument. Tea heil! The Hitler kettle is in hot water. UPDATE: Aw, they pulled it from their site! Tom “Female Penguins are Whores ” Martin, banned from A Voice for Men for excessive feminism? A one-question quiz to determine whether or not your Christian denomination should support same-sex marriage. The Onion calls it quits, can't keep up with the other side of Poe's Law (Yes, it is a joke....) The Atlantic Wire tempts Betteridge's Law on the Rob Ford crack scandal. A new one for the books: argumentum ad monsantium The Family Research Council cries "persecution!" and clearly does not know what a minority is, and the Southern Poverty Law Center has to spell out exactly why we think fundies are assholes. Fox News last week: The Department of Justice must prosecute journalists who leak classified information! Fox News this week: "We will not allow a climate of press intimidation, unseen since the McCarthy era, to frighten any of us away from the truth." Oh. How this helps hipsters or the religious is unknown.

Politicus USA takes a look at how quickly Congressman Tom Cole (R-OK) decided Obama was his best friend in the wake of the tornado. <vote poll=blog3040 closed="yes">"The danger for the Republicans is that pressing the Watergate analogy could simply transform (the Obama scandals) into a farce... If they project a hungry look of vengeance, they may be the victims, not the beneficiaries, of all these problems." <vote poll=blog3039 closed="yes">Sorry Blitz. <vote poll=blog3038 closed="yes">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8_7yPocGPg "My bike, it's messed up...I fuck your mother!" "Oh really? That's so good for her, she hadn't had much of a sex life. First I thought you were angry with me and now you come with this wonderful message."] <vote poll=blog3037 closed="yes">A speculative essay of 'Murca ten years from now: "How America Became a Third World Country: The impact of sequester down the line." <vote poll=blog3036 closed="yes">The Pirate Party of Georgia draws a line in the sand. <vote poll=blog3035 closed="yes">The cult of "before" stories - I was a satanist, a drug dealer, a porn addict and a rapist before I came to God and became a liar.

<vote poll=blog3034 closed="yes">Now you know where those bigots come from. <vote poll=blog3032 closed="yes">Here's one for mothers of newborns. Maybe formula isn't as bad as the pseudoscience types say. The war against natural mothering starts in 3…2…1. <vote poll=blog3031 closed="yes">Vaccine deniers are supported by Big Pharma to improve their profits. And here's some fucking proof of the conspiracy. It only makes sense. <vote poll=blog3030 closed="yes">"Ignoring the cost of climate change is bad business." - wait, that's not the traditional right-wing mantra, right? <vote poll=blog3029 closed="yes">4 Things We Should Remember When Arguing About Politics <vote poll=blog3028 closed="yes">Technology is not a barrier to sustainable energy, but we need to change our thinking. <vote poll=blog3027 closed="yes">Conspiracy theorists are flummoxed by an actual scandal. <vote poll=blog3026 closed="yes">Is overt racism and sexism really a good advertising strategy? "Mountain Dew Releases Arguably the Most Racist Commercial in History." If you're curious, this video commentary by the Young Turks includes the full ad within the first 70 seconds. (The ad revolves around a trash-talking goat, so it must be RW material.) <vote poll=blog3025 closed="yes">Will the conservative old codgers of the House of Lords block same-sex marriage in the UK? Unlikely, actually. (Clogorific bonus material in the comments)

<vote poll=blog3023 closed="yes">Cracked: The 5 Most Insulting Defences of Nerd Racism <vote poll=blog3022 closed="yes">Google releases remarkable Landsat footage of human expansion in the past 25 years. (Some commentary by Hank Green) <vote poll=blog3020 closed="yes">Oh, my! George Takei takes the usual anti-gay / reparative therapy PSA and turns it on its head. <vote poll=poll3021 closed="yes">The EU would like to slow down automated stock trading so that a purchased stock must be held for 500 milliseconds (1/2 second) before being resold. To illustrate the current virtually unregulated situation, a company specializing in stock-trading software has produced a video showing 500 milliseconds of the trading of a single stock, slowed down by a factor of 720.

<vote poll=blog3019 closed="yes">Stavvers: [https://stavvers.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/has-it-been-scientifically-proven-racists-and-homophobes-are-stupid-er-no/ Has it been scientifically proven racists and homophobes are stupid? Er, no.] <vote poll=blog3018 closed="yes">"Why didn't she just run away?" Ten years after being rescued from her kidnappers, Elizabeth Smart tells a Johns Hopkins University audience that rape victims raised in conservative households and communities often feel worthless, like a "chewed-up piece of gum. Nobody re-chews a piece of gum.  You throw it away." <vote poll=blog3017 closed="yes">Nate Silver summarizes argumentum ad verecundiam. <vote poll=blog3016 closed="yes">No, the DSM is not being thrown out. <vote poll=blog3015 closed="yes">Humans: only 70% similar to chimps? <vote poll=blog3014 closed="yes">Ken Ham commits autoparody. <vote poll=blog3013 closed="yes">What I would say to creationists if I were was more of a dick.

<vote poll=blog3012 closed="yes">In addition to abstaining from JAQing off, you should also stop FAPing.

<vote poll=blog3010 closed="yes">From this day forward, Donald Trump will be given the title of Fuckface von Clownstick. <vote poll=blog3009 closed="yes"> According to this blogger's unnamed sources, almost every player in the NFL has a closet to go with their locker room. <vote poll=blog3008 closed="yes">Do you know what happens when people start to learn? <vote poll=blog3007 closed="yes">We have to start questioning if wingnuts' attention to Nancy Pelosi is simply because she's just a liberal boogeywoman. <vote poll=blog3006 closed="yes">Food buzzwords demystified, a video focusing on food labels as protected terms, most notably "organic". sadly the informative video is followed by a petition link that borders on crankery