Reading

Created
Sat, 01/07/2023 - 19:33

Last month, Parliament held two debates in quick succession. The first was on Pride Month. For most MPs, it was a chance to celebrate the LGBT community, commemorate their struggle for equality, and expose the challenges that LGBT people continue to face. For the government, it was a chance to expose its shameless hypocrisy. ‘Now, […]

Created
Sat, 01/07/2023 - 16:48
This week, yet another Quran was burned outside a mosque in Stockholm, Sweden. It was, similar to previous burnings, a highly provocative act and one may of course ask why it received permission? Because freedom of expression carries more weight! Turkey’s Minister of Foreign Affairs quickly took to Twitter to condemn “the despicable act in […]
Created
Sat, 01/07/2023 - 11:26
“Well, he died. You can’t get any older than that.” – Alan Arkin as “Yossarian” in Catch-22 One by one, the acting heavyweights of my lifetime are diminishing and going into the West. This happens, of course, to every generation at some point; and I’ve been advised by some even more ancient than I that “you get used to it”. I’m not quite there yet, because this one hurts. Sure, Alan Arkin was 89, but he didn’t burn out …nor did he fade away (sorry to blow your theory, Neil). As recently as 2021, he was garnering accolades and acting nominations for his wonderful work alongside Michael Douglas in the fourth season of the Netflix dramedy The Kominsky Method (if you are unacquainted, do yourself a favor). I’d venture to say Arkin invented “dramedy”, with his penchant for delivering performances that could be intense, deeply affecting, wry, understated, and riotously funny all at once. As all great actors do, he effortlessly embodied the whole of human expression – and (as the song goes) all he had to do was act naturally.
Created
Sat, 01/07/2023 - 10:00
We’re overdue for some Red Panda cubs: North Carolina’s Greensboro Science Center is delighted to announce the birth of two adorable red panda cubs, one male and one female, adding to the growing red panda family. The cubs were born on May 26 to Tai and Usha. This is the second red panda litter born at the GSC. The cubs are currently staying in the GSC’s Shearer Animal Hospital surgery room, which has been converted into a nursery. They’ll make their debut on Thursday, June 15, 2023. The opening of the Shearer Animal Hospital to the public will be delayed until 9:15am on Thursday, 06.15.23. In addition to viewing the cubs through the surgery window, guests are invited to watch feedings. Although feeding times are subject to change with little to no notice, they are currently scheduled for 11:45am and 3:00pm. Via Zooborns Here’s some more Red Panda meditation material:
Created
Sat, 01/07/2023 - 07:00
Amanda Marcotte has written a fascinating deep dive report on online radicalization for Salon that I highly recommend. I’ll just excerpt this piece of it: The same rabbit-hole phenomenon that can draw social media users deeper into the world of eating disorders or suicidal ideation also appears to be a factor in online radicalization. Lisa Sugiura notes that many of the men she interviewed while researching the “incel” community were first drawn into that world through unrelated or apolitical online material, before the algorithm turned their heads toward darker stuff. One interviewee, she said, had done a “simple Google search” about male pattern baldness and eventually ended up on “incel forums, which were heavily dissecting and debating whether being bald is an incel trait.” That man became an incel “very much through the algorithm,” Sugiura said, and through online conversations with people who “showed him a different way to view the world.” “Pathologies like eating disorders and suicidality exist on a continuum with radicalization,” said Brian Hughes, the American University scholar.
Created
Sat, 01/07/2023 - 05:30
Or even Marge and Louis. Some lesser known House MAGA freaks to keep your eye on: Scott Perry: Perry is the leader of the pack and has served as HFC chair since January 2022. The Pennsylvania Republican was elected to succeed the term-limited but still very active Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) in late 2021. Despite leading the House’s most conservative caucus, Perry represents a purple district and is listed as a vulnerable Republican target by the DCCC. He’s also a U.S. Army combat veteran. Notably, Perry raised some eyebrows when he initially voted in support of the Democratic-led “Respect for Marriage Act,” which would require all states to recognize interracial and same-sex marriages lawfully performed in other states. Perry later reversed his vote from “yes” to “no,” citing that he had rushed to the floor to vote on the legislation and had made the “wrong choice.” Chip Roy: Roy is the HFC’s policy chair and is the fiscal hawk of the group. He often rails against the $31 trillion national debt and congressional spending.
Created
Sat, 01/07/2023 - 04:58
For a few days, China, like the rest of the world, was transfixed by the Wagner Group’s tactical advance on Moscow, threatening the stability of the Russian government and the rule of President Vladimir Putin before the challenge collapsed suddenly. The mercenary army plot was worthy of the composer Richard Wagner, for whom the Group Continue reading »