Los Links 6/17

Our streak is broken.  Better late and all that.  Especially since there's quite a bit of yummy stuff here for ye.

Our weekly dustup was finding out that a Gay Girl in Damascus was actually a middle-aged white male with delusions of importance.  I figure the following link is very much worth highlighting:

The Rumpus: A Note to My Fellow White Males.  A must-read for any white male wanting to become a lesbian minority on the intertoobz.

For any of my readers who may be wondering if Dana Hunter is also a middle-aged white male, the answer is no.  And should you fall prey to any doubts, you can come see me in really real life, and I'll give you all the necessary clues with which to track down my history, complete with family, friends, teachers, employers and so forth who can all attest that the only fiction I write is clearly marked as such.  I'd never do to you what this shite did to the online community.

Wot a fucktard.  Let us waste no more time upon him.

Science

KGW.com: OR computer simulation helps tsunami planning. This is one of the most sensible things done by town planners ever.

Grist: How to stay cool for next to nothing 1.   Summer salvation on the cheap! Especially nifty for those of us with no A/C.

Andrew Alden: Petit-Spot Volcanism.  I had no idea anything like this even existed.  That's why I love geology - always something new and interesting!

Highly Allochthonous: Flooding Around the World. A nice (and sobering) roundup of floods happening all over the place.

Looking for Detachment: Cathedral Gorge I.  A truly, truly gorgeous gorge.  I mean, seriously beautiful, and you should all go look at it right now.

Highly Allochthonous: Why does a compass point north? A mystery at the heart of the story of science (book review).  Since I've slacked off on Tomes 2011, let Chris add to your "must have this book!" list.

Balanced Instability: I gay wrote this post.  An excellent inside look at what it's like to be out in the sciences.

Speakeasy Science: Chemical Free Crazies.  Find out why the fashion section can make people hit themselves in the face with the newspaper.

Elsevier: Reviewer's quick guide to common statistical errors in scientific papers (pdf).   It's meant for reviewers, but this guide can serve everyone who ever encounters a graph.  Yes, that means you.

Retraction Watch: Geology retraction unearths a dead co-author and plagiarized image of “Himalayan” rock actually from Norway. Controversy in the geological community!  See how scientists keep the unscrupulous from screwing everything up.

Why Evolution is True: Liberal Christian rag: creationism and evolution are “competing myths”. Um, no.  Really not. Nice takedown by Jerry Coyne.

Geomagnetism.org: Why should the taxpayer fund palaeomagnetic research? The reasons may surprise you - and make you happy to pay the cost.

Observations of a Nerd: Alien Invasions: Do They Deserve Their Bad Rep?  I think it's safe to say yep.  They certainly do.

Glacial Till: A few pictures from my petrology trip to the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon.  I love geo posts that make me jealous.  This is one.

Magma Cum Laude:  Obsidian hunting in the Jemez Mountains.  So is this one. Gorgeous! And fun!

Scientific American: The Power of Theory in Science.  This is one of those posts you should send to everyone who's unclear on what "theory" means to science.

Dangerous Experiments: Psychology Tomorrow: The Mental Disorders of our Future.  Okay, this is awesome: DSM-V proposed disorders as suffered by comic book characters.

The Panda's Thumb: We get mail.  Stupid creationist mail, but what a great opportunity to share science!

Clastic Detritus: Linking Erosional and Depositional Landscapes.  I love seeing research blogging, and while sediments may sound boring, they're actually quite fascinating.

Scientific American: When Cells Discovered Architecture.  Multicellular, complex life is older than you realize.  And weird, and wonderful.

Outside the Interzone: Preventing A Cave Calamity. Caves are fragile, beautiful things - even your clothes could harm them.

Phylogenetic Tree Hugger:  Hyenas give birth through their clitoris and other facts. Um.  Ow. And wow.  I have a whole new respect for hyenas now.

Laelaps: The Spectacular Strobe Squid. They will blind you with their light!  “Amaze Your Friends and Startle Your Enemies With the Spectacular Strobe Squid! *(Tank and squid food sold separately.)”

Lapham's Quarterly: Death in the Pot.  Which is exciting, intriguing, and the best damned argument for food safety standards ever. You know those people who say the free market will protect our food supplies? Send them this article to show them just how the free market behaved.

Boston.com: Japan: three months after the quake.  Striking, incredible images that remind us just how enormous this disaster was.

Grist: Houses made of bacteria could save 800 million tons of CO2.  Bacterial brickmakers.  How awesome is that?

Mountain Beltway: Lawhorne Mill High Strain Zone.  Delicious rocks that have, shall we say, not been treated gently.

Quest: Geological Outings Around the Bay: The Cordelia and Green Valley Faults.  Forget the San Andreas for a while and go enjoy these!

Daily Kos: Effing Liars.  In which I am not the only one willing to use naughty language in relation to creationist liars leading geologists around.

Scientific American: From the Shadows to the Spotlight to the Dustbin--the Rise and Fall of GFAJ-1.  The penultimate post on the #arseniclife debacle.

ChemBark: Felisa Wolfe-Simon Does NOT Get It.  She's got a long way to go before she'll climb out of this hole and earn any scientific respect.  I'll add that the popular media that fell for her hype needs a loving whack from a clue-by-four, too.

Writing

Wonders & Marvels: I get by with a little help from my friends…  The power of writing groups, even itsy-bitsy ones, can be substantial.

Skulls in the Stars: H.G. Wells’ The World Set Free (1914).  In which I learn H.G. Wells was a lot more interesting than I'd imagined - and it is once again demonstrated that science fiction can change the world.

Patricia C. Wrede: Where one writes.  Bet you didn't think your office was detrimental to your writing, but could well be.

xoJane: It Happened to Me: 'The Babysitter's Club' Changed My Life. Twist: it changed HIS life.  Yes, guys can be "girly book" fans.

Pharyngula: Alan Moore at Cheltenham.  Because this helps me make sense of myself: "Moore is a writer, and his explanation was basically that the weirdness was to spark creativity; for instance, he talked about staring into a quartz crystal and seeing visions, but he was quite plain that it wasn't supernatural, it wasn't the crystal, it was his own mind generating and imposing ideas on what he saw. And that's all right with me — it fits very well with how I see science functioning."

Blood Writes: Cover Page Design for the Dirt Poor and Graphically Challenged. For those of you worried you'll have to acquire a second job to pay for book design, here's reason to relax.

Writer Beware Blogs: Book Marketing Methods That Don't Work. So avoid spending any $s on 'em.

A Brain Scientist's Take on Writing: Improving Creativity: The Envision Brainset.  I can attest that this works like a charm.  Though, of course, writers being writers, your mileage may vary.

The Business Rusch: Bookstore Observations.  Now I'm afraid to visit Barnes and Noble again...

The Coffee-Stained Writer: The nature of the freelancing beast.  Some excellent advice for anyone wanting to freelance.

Women's Issues

The Mary Sue: Comics Illustrator Raises Money For Texas Cheerleader Who Refused to Cheer Her Rapist.  This is a genius idea.

Tumblinfeminist: Fool Proof Sexual Assault Prevention Tips. These should be posted everywhere.  And society should be ashamed for not thinking of them before.

The Fourth Vine: The Women Men Won't See.  The next time you wonder why more women don't like comics, consider this as part of the explanation.  (Mind you, I've not experienced these problems in comic shops myself, so don't condemn with a broad brush.)

Streets Blog:  Saudi Arabia on the Hudson: NYPD Officer Stopped Cyclist For Wearing Skirt.  Seriously fucked up, seriously sexist, serious abuse of power, and I hope the NYPD seriously gets its ass kicked over shit like this.

Skepchick: Sunday AI: Kicking ass in high heels.  An artist puts dudes in women's costumes.  Hilarity ensues.

The White Coat Underground: NYT: Women are ruining medicine.  One of my favorite doctors with one of my favorite smackdowns.

On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess: The Noble Priesthood and Other Lies We Tell Ourselves.  Another favorite doctor completes the fatal beating.

Almost Diamonds: The Good Bad Girl.  Do not fuck with our Harley Quinn.  Or our Stephanie Szvan.  The latter's actually more important for you to remember.  Harley's a homicidal maniac, but Stephanie is a writer.  Also, Dreaming for Women.  The commencement speech that should have been.

The Guardian: Afghanistan worst place in the world for women, but India in top five.

The Hot Word: What is “Mrs.” short for? The answer may make you blush (or at least laugh).  After you get done sputtering in mirth and outrage, head over here and pick yourself a new honorific from the "title" dropdown.  I'm rather fond of "Vicondessa" at the moment, but "Rt Hon Baroness" also would do - or should I keep it simple and stick with "Lady"?

The Nation: A Conversation With Saudi Women's Rights Campaigner Wajeha al-Huwaider. Love this quote: "Secular society is a better bet for women—and men too."  The whole interview's well worth a read.

Religion and Atheism

Sydney Morning Herald: 'I can still hear the kids' screams'.  Do not tell me how wonderful Catholicism and the Catholic Church is.  Not ever.  Not when their abuses are so varied, pervasive, and horrific.

Alternet: 10 Scariest States to Be An Atheist.  Not a scientific survey, but a good one, and some of the idiocy will make your eyes pop.

Hibernia Times: Breaking Out from the Prison of Religion.  An amazing account from Paula Kirby on losing her faith and learning to question.

Pharyngula: Atheism ≠ fascism. Worth it for the takedown of the "atheism is fascism" argument, plus this: "Too often, the conversation between so-called 'progressives' and their opponents is one of gelatin-spined appeasers trying desperately to stave off the tyrants of the right by frantically retreating from the conflict."  Too fucking right!

Society and Culture

The Last Word on Nothing: Secrets of British gravitas revealed.  Okay, you know what?  I laughed so hard I nearly peed myself, and it was totally worth that risk.

The Guardian:  What price freedom of expression now?  Read this, because it tells you a good amount of what you need to know about the evils of religion and nationalism.  And it has a really fantastic artist in it.

Butterflies and Wheels: Well thinking. Ophelia Benson tells those who can't fathom assisted suicide to try harder.

Politics

Homeland Security Department curtails home-grown terror analysis. Because the right-wing hatemongers hate it when they get called out on their home-grown terrorism, and because so many of our officials are lily-livered cowards.

Mike the Mad Biologist: We Are Living Below Our Means, Not Above Them.  That is the first thing you need to remember while everybody screams about teh horrible debt.

Think Progress: Massachusetts Republican: Undocumented Immigrant Rape Victims ‘Should Be Afraid To Come Forward’.  Another one for the annals of Why I Consider Cons Such Complete Shits.

Skepchick: GOP Presidential Candidates: Don’t Vote For Us. Yep, that pretty much sums them up right there. Thanks, I won't!

Washington Monthly: We shouldn’t grow inured to madness. Even though the sheer quantity of it makes it easy to become numb.