March 2011
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The Simple Best →
The new version of my more serious/professional blog, now based on Tumblr instead of hand-coded. Expect lots of links to discussions of technology, commercial space flight, gender and sexual identity, and politics, as well as software reviews and long posts on those subjects.
February 2011
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Avery Edison's Internet Diary: For my girl, on her... →
aedison:
We still argue over who kissed who first. I don’t know if it’s because you believe your story to be correct, or if you just don’t want the story of us to begin with you as aggressor. All I know is that my side is the right one, and your stubborn refusal to see that is both charming and irritating.
The world is a much better place for having Avery and Abby in it. If real-life...
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“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in...”
– Henry Thoreau, from Walden, Or Life in the Woods. (This is the real quotation. He never wrote that one that gets passed around all the time!) (via geopsych)
Relevant.
(Also, thanks to geopsych, I notice the incorrect quotations—people pull two from this section—everywhere. It drive me nuts.)
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“You have accessed a United States Government computer. Unauthorized use of this...”
– IPAC.gov
Dude, all I did was search for iPac because of this post. Chill out!
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“* Name: Maggie. Breed: Holstein. Sex: Heifer.”
– National Affairs: Res Publicae - TIME
Fifty internet points to the person who can tell me what this footnote on a 1928 Time Magazine article (discussing the political climate that would lead to Hoover’s victory over Al Smith) is actually referring to.
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Open-Minded Man Grimly Realizes How Much Life He's... →
According to Richman, he started thinking about how much time he’s flushed down the toilet being an approachable person after a work meeting in which he let a coworker, David Martin, ramble on and on with an idea everyone knew was “total shit” the moment the man opened his mouth. Richman said that a single glance at the clock made him realize he had just spent 14 minutes of his...
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Pro tip:
If there’s a post on your Tumblr in which a friend of yours calls people “gay” because you had a disagreement with them, and you haven’t corrected that person on the proper meaning of the term, it’s probably not worth your time to follow me.
Remember, kids: “$PERSON is gay” means “$PERSON is interested primarily in people of the same perceived...
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Alison Gross, performed by Steeleye Span
This has...
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"Tawny owls turn brown to survive in warmer... →
As winters become milder, the scientists say, grey feathered tawny owls are likely to disappear.
Evolution and climate change in one neat little Creationist-rage-inducing package.
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“I think God, if real, worries about worse things than the use of words...”
– My very wise mother.
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The Crimson '10-'11 (PDF link) →
jlittle1:
jwisser:
If you’re not a student at Grove City College, it may be difficult to really appreciate the atmosphere Jesy Littlejohn is dealing with in striving to make Rainbow Bridge a reality. Skimming through The Crimson, GCC’s student handbook, will give you a better idea.
So I just took the last hour or so to read through this and in no way am I (or the signs) violating policy.
...
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Obama Administration to Stop Defending DOMA →
After careful consideration, including review of a recommendation from me, the President of the United States has made the determination that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”), 1 U.S.C. § 7, i as applied to same-sex couples who are legally married under state law, violates the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment.
This isn’t the same as DOMA being declared...
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The Crimson '10-'11 (PDF link) →
If you’re not a student at Grove City College, it may be difficult to really appreciate the atmosphere Jesy Littlejohn is dealing with in striving to make Rainbow Bridge a reality. Skimming through The Crimson, GCC’s student handbook, will give you a better idea.
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circledonamap:
thehopewithinyou:
Rainbow Bridge-Bridging the Gap at Grove City College
jwisser:
Rainbow Bridge is a courageous group of students headed by Jesy Littlejohn who are working to create an LGBTQ support group, safe space, and discussion forum at Grove City College.
Unfortunately, Jesy and Rainbow Bridge are meeting with significant pushback from the socially conservative student...
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Futility Closet » Finders Keepers →
After leaving a Cambridge party, H.G. Wells realized he had picked up the wrong hat. The owner’s name was inside the brim, but the hat fit well, and Wells liked it. So he sent a note instead:
“I stole your hat; I like your hat; I shall keep your hat. Whenever I look inside it I shall think of you and your excellent sherry and of the town of Cambridge. I take off your hat to you.”
Perfect.
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I'm that kid who refuses to do the Pledge of...
feministjenn:
I still refuse.
Also, I’m not under any gods and I don’t believe in the indivisibility of the United States.
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“Delight itself, however, is a weak term to express the feelings of a naturalist...”
– Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle. 29 February 1832 Bahia Brazile (via booklover206)
So… field trip to a Brazilian forest. Who wants to go with me?
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Officials: Up to 70,000 More Afghan Forces Needed →
The Obama administration is considering proposals to increase the size of the Afghan security forces by between 45,000 and 70,000, amid worries about how much Afghanistan can absorb and what the U.S. can afford.
Here’s a radical idea for cutting American spending: let’s bring our troops home instead of sending more of them into harm’s way.
Yes, it will likely destabilise the...
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“You have a problem with authority, Mister Anderson. You believe that you are...”
– Mr. Rhineheart
ipomoeaandthestarstealers:
joligreenredqueen:
It’s Harder to Get Started Today
jhameia:
imissedtumblr:
I told him that, although I agreed with him that young people should save more, there is also a strong case that it is much more difficult today for a young person to establish themselves financially as he did when he was a young adult.
He looked at me strangely. “What do you mean?” he...
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Kansas High School Newspaper Says It's Moral to... →
America, this is not your best day ever.
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South Dakota Moves To Legalize Killing Abortion... →
The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Phil Jensen, a committed foe of abortion rights, alters the state’s legal definition of justifiable homicide by adding language stating that a homicide is permissible if committed by a person “while resisting an attempt to harm” that person’s unborn child or the unborn child of that person’s spouse, partner, parent, or child. If the...
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Arcade Fire's Grammy win is the greatest victory...
mykicks:
Now we wait for the courts to strike it down.
Oh my.
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“Religion is so much a part of the public square that a majority of Americans say...”
– Freethinkers by Susan Jacob
Four years after this was written, we elected Barack Obama President of the United States. His opponent in the Democratic primaries was one Hillary Clinton.
We have a long way to go, but we’re not standing still.