All entries by this author

Au pied du chameau

Aug 12th, 2012 10:13 am | By

I know a new thing now, a thing I didn’t know before. I know that there’s something – something bad – called “camel toe.” I know what it is. I know it via the tweets of Another Angry Woman @stavvers and this post that she linked to, The Miracle Bajingo Shoehorn.

A staggering 55% of women, irrespective of age, size or weight,  experience camel toe at some point.

Many women have even gone to extreme lengths to rectify the camel toe  problem, resorting to expensive and risky surgery.

Now thanks to the Smooth Groove camel toe remedy, all women can get on with  their lives without having to worry about how they look.

After all, being a

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



The Gore Vidal interview that Variety didn’t publish *

Aug 12th, 2012 | Filed by

“I’m very belligerent and I’ve not had it. I’m ready to lead a crusade against the Party of God.”… Read the rest



And who shall ‘scape whipping?

Aug 11th, 2012 4:50 pm | By

A great post by Alyson Miers (whom I met at WiS in May) on bullying and imperfect victims.

There’s this meme -

 See Alyson’s response to that.… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Next year in Austin

Aug 11th, 2012 4:17 pm | By

This is good. American Atheists announces that Anthony Grayling is the keynote speaker for their 2013 national convention.

Yay! I’m going to be there too, and Anthony’s a friend.

 … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



What you think it means

Aug 11th, 2012 3:49 pm | By

Ok this is a good one. From a comment on Jen’s post on blunderfoot.

“Freethought” means you use reason and logic to come to a conclusion, and not believing everything anyone says — even a close friend — at face value.

Hahahahahahahahaha yes right that’s what freethought means. A close friend tells you she has a headache and you interrogate her for an hour trying to get her to demonstrate that fact beyond a reasonable doubt.… Read the rest

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The BBC explains

Aug 11th, 2012 12:42 pm | By

Wow. Have some BBC pseudohistory and pseudogenetics about Y blak guize can runn fast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAw_UeILgeY

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David Rakoff

Aug 11th, 2012 12:25 pm | By

I’m kind of crushed that David Rakoff went and died. Fresh Air played a couple of interviews with him yesterday. They’re good.

On whether or not he had a happy childhood.

I had a beautiful childhood and a lovely childhood. I just didn’t like being a child. I didn’t like the rank injustice of not being listened to. I didn’t like the lack of autonomy. I didn’t like my chubby little hands that couldn’t manipulate the world of objects in the way that I wanted them to. Being a child, for me, was an exercise in impotent powerlessness.

Oh yes. That’s why youth is wasted on the young, as Shaw pointed out. (Was it Shaw? I think so.) I hatedRead the rest

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David Rakoff interviews on Fresh Air *

Aug 11th, 2012 | Filed by

“I had a beautiful childhood and a lovely childhood. I just didn’t like being a child. I didn’t like the rank injustice of not being listened to.”… Read the rest



Jon Wiener on David Rakoff *

Aug 11th, 2012 | Filed by

He was funny and smart about many things, including politics in America.… Read the rest



Author Heidi Holland found dead at S. Africa home *

Aug 11th, 2012 | Filed by

She chronicled the rise of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe from freedom fighter to power-obsessed leader.… Read the rest



Russian Orthodox church says it’s totally right *

Aug 11th, 2012 | Filed by

Church attendance is declining, therefore it’s ok to punish Pussy Riot.… Read the rest



Bullies, is it?

Aug 10th, 2012 5:38 pm | By

What about this then? From “Coffee Loving Skeptic” on Facebook.

Via Alex Gabriel.… Read the rest

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Collateral damage

Aug 10th, 2012 5:10 pm | By

Lots of crazed reactions to Thunderf00t’s misuse of the FTB mailing list, although they’re a minority. There are frank falsehoods saying we tried to get Michael Payton fired, and there is shock-horror that we reacted to his tweets dismissing all of FTB.

That’s just nuts. To repeat – there are about 40 people blogging at FTB. Not all of them are polemicists or controversialists, not all of them are irritable, not all of them agree about everything – in fact none of them agree about everything.

It’s not fair to shit on the innocent just because one dislikes a few of the Freethought bloggers. It’s not even fair to shit on the innocent just because one hates a few … Read the rest

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It’s OK, we’re on the 10th floor

Aug 10th, 2012 3:25 pm | By

Alom Shaha notices an excess of timidity about discussing Islam.

“We can’t publish this, we’ll get firebombed.” Apparently this was the response from one of the staff at Biteback Publishing, the UK publishers of my book, The Young Atheist’s Handbook, when it was first presented to them. Thankfully, Iain Dale, the managing director, laughed at the idea, saying, “it’s OK, we’re on the 10th floor” and went on to publish the book anyway.

It’s not just staff at Biteback who may have been concerned about publishing my book — according to a senior editor at one of the largest international publishers, who claimed to be personally keen to give me a deal, she was unable to convince her colleagues

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Putting the knife in

Aug 10th, 2012 12:19 pm | By

We all know that Twitter is a gift to people who enjoy saying horrible things to people they dislike or disagree with. Think Jessica Ahlquist; think #mencallmethings. Even Olympic athletes get the treatment.

A 17-year-old boy arrested as part of an investigation into Twitter messages sent to the diver Tom Daley after he and team-mate Pete Waterfield missed out on a medal on Monday has been issued with a harassment warning….

The teenager was held at a guesthouse in Weymouth, Dorset, hours after Daley retweeted messages he had been sent soon after finishing fourth in the 10m men’s synchronised platform diving event. Daley, 18, retweeted a message that said: “You let your dad down i hope you know

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Take one for the team

Aug 10th, 2012 12:05 pm | By

A runner broke his leg during an Olympic relay race and went on running to the end.

“As soon as I took the first step past the 200m mark, I felt it break.” Manteo told the USA Track and Field website.

“I didn’t want to let the three guys or the team down, so I just ran on it.”

Mitchell still managed to finish the opening lap in 46.1 seconds as the US team, also featuring Joshua Mance, Tony McQuay and Bryshon Nellum, went on to set a qualifying time of two minutes, 58.87 seconds.

“It hurt so bad,” the 25-year-old added. “I’m pretty amazed that I still split [close to] 45 seconds on a broken leg.”

USA Track

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Sleaze

Aug 10th, 2012 9:56 am | By

Gee, I was thinking about other things this morning – the column I have to finish for TPM, the column I have to proofread for the Freeth, stuff I have to do in the physical world, those cherries that need sorting, that book I was reading – but then I glanced at the stats and noticed an influx via Thunderfoot, so I looked at the title – and then it all came back to me. Oh right; that.

Ed explains it all. PZ does. Jason adds technical details.

The bare bones: ten minutes after he was removed from the mailing list he put himself back on it, and he passed on some of the messages he read. … Read the rest

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How not to creep

Aug 9th, 2012 6:19 pm | By

John Scalzi has a good post on how not to be creepy, especially (I take it) if you’re a geek.

There are ten rules.

4. Acknowledge that other people do not exist just for your amusement/interest/desire/use. Yes, I know. You know that. But oddly enough, there’s a difference between knowing it, and actually believing it — or understanding what it means in a larger social context. People go to conventions and social gatherings to meet other people, but not necessarily (or even remotely likely) for the purpose of meeting you.

It’s funny, in a way, reading the rules, because I think I must be the inside out of the kind of person who needs to be told all … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Two

Aug 9th, 2012 4:09 pm | By

I’m not ignoring you. It’s just that I have two deadlines tomorrow – and they’re both in the UK so really that means they’re today. One for The Freethinker, the other for TPM.

The first is done. The second isn’t.… Read the rest

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Abstract of Nature article on fossils from Koobi Fora *

Aug 9th, 2012 | Filed by

The new fossils confirm the presence of two contemporary species of early Homo, in addition to Homo erectus, in the early Pleistocene of eastern Africa.… Read the rest