Courtesy of NASA.
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Courtesy of NASA.
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
“People must accept that we will impose Sharia whether they like it or not,” a spokesman said.… Read the rest
Two academics, Stephen F. Cohen a professor emeritus of politics and Russian studies at Princeton and NYU, and Peter Reddaway, a professor emeritus of political science at George Washington University, report on problems with the work of Orlando Figes. Remember him? The historian who posted sockpuppet bad reviews of rivals’ work and flattering review of his own at Amazon, and then denied it, and threatened libel, and then let his wife take the blame, and only when that ploy failed too finally admitted he’d done it? And yet is still at Birkbeck?
… Read the restMany Western observers believe that Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian regime has in effect banned a Russian edition of a widely acclaimed 2007 book by the British historian Orlando
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PZ has new rules.
Also, the porcupine joke is on its way out.
That’s good; I hate the porcupine joke.
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In one interview, Bentley claims that the “Holy Spirit” told him to kick an ill elderly woman in the face with his biker boot.… Read the rest
A reader alerted me to a famous Belgian cartoonist’s response to Sophie Peeters’s documentary on street harassment of women.
She translated for me. The title is “More women get verbally harassed on the streets.” The cop is asking the woman, “What did the harasser look like?” She is replying, “Blue eyes, red nose, shabby clothes and not a complete set of teeth.”
Apparently the point is that she’s dressed like a whore and she’s enormous, while the guy she’s reporting to the cop is small and beaten to a pulp.
In other words, bitchez be lyin.… Read the rest
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Mick Nugent has the latest post in Amy’s series, and it’s a Mars landing of a post. He gets it. (I know that’s an expression that some people dislike…but it does describe something, as does its obverse.) He gets what it’s like, and how it’s bad and harmful.
… Read the restWe should not tolerate, in any of our online or offline communities, any sexual harassment or abuse or threats of violence against women that we would not tolerate if they were directed against our family or close friends. On the Internet, many women face a pattern of online sexual harassment, including rape threats, in the technology, business, entertainment, atheist, skeptical, pop culture, gaming and many other online communities.
This can cause women
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The spacecraft that carried Curiosity succeeded in every step of the most complex landing ever attempted on Mars.… Read the rest
Approximately 44% of the world’s Muslim population live in 23 majority Muslim
countries that have declared Islam to be the state religion.… Read the rest
“Historians are obliged to be especially meticulous in using generally inaccessible archive materials, but Figes cannot be fully trusted even with open sources.”… Read the rest
We’re safe on Mars.
We’ve got thumbnails.
That’s a wheel!
Holy shit.
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Curiosity has landed safely. It’s sent back pictures. I’m watching a room full of laughing crying hugging partying engineers.… Read the rest
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“Pupils follow strict Christian principles, marry within their own community and do not practise sex outside marriage.”… Read the rest
John Protevi on body dimorphism in gymnastics.
…a glaring instance of gender inequality is with the sport that is usually said to get the best TV ratings, women’s gymnastics. The difference is in the disciplines. The men do 6 disciplines: floor, vault, pommel horse, high bar, parallel bars, and rings. The women do floor (but with music, which the men do not have), vault (but with the horse placed horizontal to the runway, whereas it is longways for the men), uneven parallel bars, and balance beam.
The resulting difference in demands produces a striking body dimorphism, with women gymnasts being very small and thin in the upper body compared to the men.
Indeed – also very young; also very small … Read the rest
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And there’s Colombia, where acid attacks on women are the hot new fad.
It’s heartbreaking.
… Read the restEvery glance at a mirror transports Consuelo Cordoba to the moment when her boyfriend doused her with a skin-searing acid that obliterated her face, leaving her with gruesome wounds that will never heal.
The chemical burned off an ear, melted an eye, ate through her lower face and ruined her teeth. She now wears a skin-tight elastic mask, breathes through a straw-like tube that protrudes from her nose and walks the streets looking “like a monster,” as she put it.
“I would like to go to sleep today and not wake up tomorrow,” she said. “The truth is life is too hard and I
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It was a love match, without the family’s permission, so bang, she’s dead.… Read the rest
“The violence here may be different, but it emanates from the same place. This
is a culture where machismo reigns, where men do what they want to do.”… Read the rest
On a pleasanter note – the Curiosity Rover is close to Mars and will be landing in about ten hours. This is seriously exciting.
The Nasa robot’s flight trajectory is so good engineers cancelled the latest course correction they had planned.
To be sure of touching down in the right place on the surface, the vehicle must hit a box at the top of the atmosphere that is just 3km by 12km.
“Our inbound trajectory is right down the pipe,” said Arthur Amador, Curiosity’s mission manager.
It’s been on the way for eight months. It’s got the best scientific equipment evarrr to drill into rocks and scoop up samples. It’s got energy to last for 14 years.
JPL Mars program… Read the rest
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There’s a guy in Pakistan who, according to some reports, has been holding drink and dance parties during Ramadan.
So the fuck what, you ask. So he and a woman were forced by police to walk naked to the police station.
Really. There’s this religious holiday, which requires participants to drink nothing (including water) and eat nothing from dawn to dusk. Some guy didn’t participate, therefore the cops humiliated him and some woman on the way to the police station. That’s some totalizing religion! No opting out. Don’t like it? Fine, take your clothes off, you’re busted.
… Read the restThe BBC’s Shahzeb Jillani says incidents of public dishonouring are not uncommon in Pakistan, but this incident is particularly shocking because it
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