conuly

Many Hands Make Fractals Tactile

http://nyti.ms/XWkCac

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How High Could the Tide Go?

http://nyti.ms/10zYreh

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Generation LGBTQIA

http://nyti.ms/RGv4TA

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For Space Station, a Pod That Folds Like a Shirt and Inflates Like a Balloon

http://nyti.ms/UusiiZ

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So, here we are, elsewhere on the internet, up for a rousing discussion on gay marriage. (Side note - check out this super sweet commercial on marriage equality! Aw!)

And by "rousing discussion" I mean "we're totally right, and trouncing the opposition, but they're too stupid to realize that", of course :P

So anyway, one of them pulls out ye olde etymological fallacy. I don't define marriage, the dictionary does, so take it up with Webster, he says.

And he even provides a link to Merriam-Webster's page for "marriage".

Important rule when talking to people: Just because they cite something doesn't mean they actually cited anything. It's easy to forget this and assume that nobody would be dishonest enough to claim a source says something it doesn't - but yes, Virginia, there are people like that.

I am all ready to go off on my pre-defined tangent about how dictionaries are at the service of speakers and NOT the other way around, and how our language choices are pre-eminent. I point out that the OED's definition of marriage, in its very FIRST sense, states that the word is "The term is now sometimes used with reference to long-term relationships between partners of the same sex." (Indeed, definition 1a from the OED doesn't preclude same-sex marriages at all. It says "the state of being a husband OR a wife" not "the state of being one of a mixed-sex pair of husband AND wife".)

And then after I'm done with the comment, it occurs to me that it's a little strange that Webster is so far behind the times. I mean, get with the 21st century already! So, I clicked the link. (I'd forgotten the rule. This rule is even more important than the rule about "don't read the comments", which I obviously was already breaking.)

1
a (1) : the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law (2) : the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage

Read it and weep. Or rejoice, rather.

And you know, the fallacy at first seemed just inane. But linking to the dictionary which goes ahead and says outright that you're wrong? That goes past "inane" and even "ignorant" straight into "willful ignorance", and that is a thing I cannot abide*. HONESTLY!

*That and hypocrisy, although I still find it funny when these guys get caught with gay hookers. It's the twofer of "gay" plus "hooker" that really makes me giggle. I shouldn't find it as amusing as I do.

I'm reading an article on same sex marriages in NYS. (We haven't fallen into the sea yet, and the only rain we've had today was a rain of rain, helped cool things down a bit.)

And then, because it's Yahoo news, I clicked on the comments so I could vote down the lot of 'em. It's strangely cathartic.

Here's a gem:

danielL, NO YOU DO NOT understand the Constitution !! Where in the Constitution of the USA does it state; equality for all, regardless of race, creed, religion, color, etc.???? THIS IS NOT A CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE NO MATTER HOW PERVERTED YOU TRY TO MAKE IT !!!!

Um, maybe in the 14th Amendment? I'm just guessing, it's been a while since that high school civics course, but....

I'd laugh, but that comment is too pathetic. Maybe it's parody? It's so hard to tell sometimes!

Now, let's see if the remaining bigots in the armed forces are really going to decide to act like petulant children instead of professionals.

Firstly, somebody just yesterday said they really like the articles I post. :) This is prompting me to make my own confession - I really like the articles I find here. In fact, I rarely crosspost any of them because then I'd have to crosspost all of them and then I might as well just link to the entry itself and too much of that is a little weird.

Here's an article on the criminalization of gay marriage. I don't understand what happened to the whole state's rights concept. Isn't one of the rights of the states to be able to deal with marriages?

Scary wage data - and it is scary!

Some judges chastise banks over foreclosures. All the bank people quoted in the article are going "boo-hoo-hoo, this is very bad, very bad indeed, it's not good for judges to do this!" but if the issue at hand is that they didn't bother to do paperwork or do it correctly - or even if they did it fraudulently, whom do they have to blame but themselves?

So, this is scary. Some Muslims heading to Mecca had their passports seized by Customs for... who knows? They missed their flight, because, you know, Muslims making their pilgrimage is something you totally can't predict will happen *every year* and it's *scary*. Or something.

I had no idea the citizenship laws were so... arcane.

On Jewish vampires
And just FYI, vampires don't eat Hindus :)

Automation Insurance: Robots Are Replacing Middle Class Jobs

How much can you make collecting cans and bottles?

And fully 1000% more awesome than the next guy... especially when the next guy is a hateful illiterate ass.

And the majority response was "yeah, whatever, I don't care".

I'm having "fun" downvoting comments (what IS it with yahoo news?) but I had to share this one:

It is not the right time to overturn DADT. It is irrelevant that our troops are ready to accept open gays in the ranks. They don't get a say anyway, just like they didn't with minority troops or women. It will, however, merely harden fundamentalist religious resistance and help them recruit more people to fight the Great Satan. Get out of Wahabistan, then do it.

1. Oh, it's never "the right time" to do the right thing, is it?

2. However - LOL! Al Qaeda et al. don't care about whether or not we allow gays in our military. How unbelievably self-centered can you get? They don't care about our freedoms or any of that nonsense. Nobody kills and dies because in some other country, there are a few gay folks.

Recalling Green Book, Guide for Black Travelers

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Proposed Muslim Center Draws Opposing Protests

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The Littlest Redshirts Sit Out Kindergarten

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Amid Furor on Islamic Center, Pleas for Orthodox Church Nearby

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Immigrants are less likely to change their names nowadays

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(BTW - if you go to read that article on their website, don't click to read the comments. Apparently, not changing your name is akin to destroying the very fabric of society, and heaven forbid you mispronounce REAL names!)

At West Point, Hidden Gay Cadets Put in Spotlight

This is another one where you want to be careful with those comments. One thing, though - a lot of people in the comments are saying she "tricked" her way in. Isn't the whole dubious point of Don't Ask, Don't Tell that being gay isn't against the rules, so long as nobody talks about it?

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When an Arab Enclave Thrived Downtown

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Pastor's Plan to Burn Koran Adds to Tensions

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In a Hoarder’s Home, Going All Out to Find the Floor

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