What would harassers do if their mothers found out about their behavior? A Peruvian TV show found serial cat-callers on the streets of Lima, and then gave their mothers a make-over so they wouldn’t be obviously recognizable and had them walk past their sons. It’s quite nice to see the mothers rip into them.
The poor little boys look terrified.
Elon Musk is naming two of his drone ships using the Iain M. Banks ship naming conventions. They are the “Just Read the Instructions” and the “Of Course I Still Love You.”
The FtBCon discussion of the psychology of trolls was interesting, but one thing I think it could have used is some appreciation of effective trolling strategies. Look at what they’ve accomplished with wikipedia; they have driven some people off the internet, and the ongoing online harassment is at least a distraction to many of us. This is the real threat: that trolls are working to dominate the discussion, and sometimes they succeed.
Greg Laden is talking about one way trolls work: the Serengeti Strategy. He cites Michael Mann on this topic.
Wikipedia is preparing to throw the last bits of their credibility down the waste disposal. In a long running and contentious internal debate between feminists and a flurry of throw-away gamergate accounts, an arbitration panel made up almost entirely of men has decided to prohibit anything but the gamergate position. Mark Bernstein has an excellent summary.
I hate textbook churn. Gotta sell a new and slightly different edition every year.
The final session of FtBCon 3 will be taking place at 7pm Central, in about 45 minutes. Stop by to say goodbye at the final wrap.
Financial information has to be reduced to the simplest possible form for me to follow. Fortunately, a reader, Brian, has been extracting the data from Answers in Genesis’s Form 990 tax information, and this chart tells me what I need to know.
Hint for science journalists: if the hook to get readers to pay attention to your story is to warn them to sit down because a 19th century “law” of evolution has been shown to be wrong, you’re going to irritate scientists, who will then write rude blog posts sneering at your writing. That’s the case with this story titled The Wrists of Birds Reveal Evolution Undoing Itself
, which is also subtitled Contrary to earlier claims, a new study shows that evolution may be reversible
.
It’s describing a paper on the re-emergence of a wrist bone in birds, and it touts Dollo’s Law.
The 19th-century biologist Louis Dollo taught that evolution is irreversible; once a structure is lost, that pathway is closed forever. It’s a principle now known as Dollo’s law.
I never wanted a peek into the sex life of orthodox Jews — it’s just too sad. Religion really does wreck people.
Typical atheists…we have to sleep in on Sundays. FtBCon resumes at 10am Central today, with a couple of philosophically-focused talks, and then the usual diverse assortment. Stay tuned in until the final session at 7pm Central!
