A Califorina District Judge flexed an apparently extensive knowledge of the Star Trek franchise in a decision against what he called a “porn trolling collective” of attorneys who exploited copyright laws to pursue lawsuits against people they accused of illegally downloading adult…
“Star Trek’s” Wil Wheaton tells newborn girl why being a nerd “is awesome”
In a panel at the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo on April 27th, “Star Trek” and “Big Bang Theory” actor Wil Wheaton fielded a question from an audience member, who asked him to explain to her newborn daughter “why it’s awesome to be a nerd.” Wheaton launched into nearly 4-minute speech on growing up feeling like “there was something wrong” and then realizing, as an adult, that being a nerd is something to be valued. It’s “not about what you love — it’s about how you love it” and “finding other people who love it the way you do” is the defining characteristic of “why being a nerd is awesome,” said Wheaton.Continue Reading… … Read More
Fourth grader writes world’s most perfect argument in support of marriage equality
Cue: “The Greatest Love Of All,” because the children are, in fact, our future.A 4th grade school teacher asked students to write a persuasive essay for a recent assignment, and one of those students chose marriage equality as his topic. What happened next was so good that the teacher had to post it to Reddit so the rest of us could enjoy it.Behold (sic):Why gay people should be able to get married is you can’t stop two adult’s from getting married because there grown and it doesn’t matter if it creeps you out just get over it. And you should be happy for them because it’s a big momment in their life. When I went to my grandparents wedding it was the happies momment. As you can see gay people should have the right to get married and you shouldn’t judge other peoples lives because if you was gay you wouldn’t want people talking about you.Continue Reading… … Read More
Boy Scouts Propose Allowing Gay Scouts But Not Sure on Gay Leaders
The Boy Scouts of America has released proposed
changes in its policies toward homosexuals. The new sections in its
“memberships standards” include the following:
Youth membership in the Boy Scouts of America [BSA] is open
to all youth who meet the specific membership requirements to join
the Cub Scout, Boy Scout, Varsity Scout, Sea Scout, and Venturing
programs. Membership in any program of the Boy Scouts of America
requires the youth member to (a) subscribe to and abide by the
values expressed in the Scout Oath and Scout Law, (b) subscribe to
and abide by the precepts of the Declaration of Religious Principle
(duty to God), and (c) demonstrate behavior that exemplifies the
highest level of good conduct and respect for others and is
consistent at all times with the values expressed in the Scout Oath
and Scout Law. No youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts
of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference
alone.
When it comes to adult leaders and volunteers, there’s this:
While the BSA does not proactively inquire about sexual
orientation of employees, volunteers, or members, we do not grant
membership to individuals who are open or avowed homosexuals or who
engage in behavior that would become a distraction to the mission
of the BSA.
Read more here.
More power to the group in kicking out people who engage in
distracting behavior – an admonition that ranges far beyond sexual
matters, I’m sure. While I believe the Scouts have the absolute
right to create whatever membership rules the group prefers, I
think the general conflation of homosexuality and pedophilia is a
massive category error.
As the
Washington Post notes, the proposed changes, which would take
effect in 2014, still need to be approved by a majority of the
1,400 Scouting councils in a vote set for mid-May.
Earlier this year, I had a piece in the Wall Street Journal
reflecting on my experiences in the Boy Scouts and why I thought
the group should open its ranks up to gay members and leaders.
Read that here.
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How many pets can we save?
My wife is a veterinarian, and we have a household of eight pets, which is more than I would’ve thought a sane young couple could have. We’re newly married and don’t yet have children, and like a lot of people we treat our pets as our kids. Currently we have three dogs, two cats and three heritage-breed chickens. Some friends call this our menagerie, the less kind ones our circus. We prefer to call it our pack. It’s a life with a lot of noise and no small amount of dander.It began when I took my dog to the veterinary clinic where my wife works. At the time she was still in vet school and I was a first-time pet owner who’d chosen to spend most of my adult life responsible solely for my own fun and convenience. Archie, my dog, represented my first, hesitant step toward maturity. “He has a tick and I don’t know how to remove it,” I said to my future wife. Thankfully she pitied me, removed the tick, and thought I was cute enough to date. Three years later we got married with our dogs among the witnesses.Continue Reading… … Read More
Missouri state senator hurls insults at constituent via email
Though his mission was simple enough–to unsubscribe from Missouri state rep. Brian Nieves’ distribution list–Missouri resident Bart Cohn ended up trolling the senator. Hard. And succeeded.The Riverfront Times has published an email exchange between Cohn and Nieves–two adult men–that begins with Cohn rudely but simply asking to be removed from the distribution list: “Take me off your mailing list. Freak.”As with Internet comments, most people sending comments to a d-list don’t expect a direct response from the owner. But in Cohn’s case, that’s exactly what he got. The comment bugged Nieves enough to respond personally:Who are you? Is there something wrong with you? Are you incapable of communicating in a way that common, decent people do? Tell me this, how did you ever even get on MY Distribution list? Cohn responded, saying, “Remove me from your list. I despise you.” Nieves responded within two hours, calling Cohn a “troll.” The emails devolved from there, initiating an increasingly rapid back-and-forth between someone who has little to lose and someone who potentially has a lot to lose:Continue Reading… … Read More
Diabetes link to low sleep hormone levels: study
A decrease in levels of the sleep hormone melatonin has been linked to an increased risk of adult onset diabetes, according to a study published Tuesday. Research in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that 370 women with diabetes were compared with 370 women of the same race…
