This dude is cool.
"There's one [a supernova] that happened in 2008: we detected this really weak gamma-ray burst, but what was crazy about it was that it was visible with the naked eye, even though it came from the other side of the universe, 4 or 5 billion light years away. There are no other galaxies, even ones immediately adjacent to us, that are bright enough to see with the naked eye--except for Andromeda, which is pretty faint. And this thing was lit up, shining so bright you could see it across the universe. We worked out at one point it was outshining a good 10 or 15% of the rest of the universe combined, for some definition of words in that sentence. If that thing happened anywhere in our galaxy, it could have sterilized the Earth's surface." Rolling Stone
>>><<<
"Part of the reason why the family built the Labia Theatre, the Mail & Guardian recorded a few years ago, was out of gratitude to the South African government at not detaining them during World War II." Daily Maverick
>>><<<
A smart guy saying a smart thing.
"Sweden’s international influence is not well-deserved, since the law has been demonstrably detrimental in terms of exacerbating the harms that can be associated with sex work, detrimentally impacting service provision and harm reduction, increasing stigma and social exclusion, and I also emphasise that the law has failed to reduce levels of sex work, which was the principal aim of the legislation. So, the law has failed to achieve its goal, and it’s been hugely damaging." Ruth Jacobs
>>><<<
[TW: suicide]
"Suicidal tendencies are transitory," said Dr Shekhar Saxena, director of the department of mental health and substance abuse at the WHO and an author of the report. "People who have an intense desire to commit suicide grab the nearest possible means. If you can restrict their access even for a few hours, you can save a lot of lives. People think about it and talk to people and decide not to do it." Guardian
>>><<<
"What they refer to as “the council” are trying to change a policy that has been around since the horse-and-cart days. At the moment, the crew can go home whenever they finish their work. This means that they can work as hard as they want, and often get to travel home around two o’clock. For some who travel far, like Redewaan James, whose home is in Mitchell’s Plain and who wakes up at four-thirty each morning, this is precious time." Daily Maverick
>>><<<
[TW: sex while unconscious]
This is how strong the hold of heteropatriarchal monogamy is in our society: This dude's wife hates having sex with him so much she'd rather be unconscious when it happens. And this advice columnist thinks that this is a *totally legit solution*. smh Slate
>>><<<
"This case highlights the same well-known and extensively documented problems that can lead to false arrests and convictions: Police who are incentivized to find any suspect quickly, rather than the right one carefully; false confessions elicited after improper questioning; exculpatory evidence never turned over; the prosecution of vulnerable, mentally ill, or very young suspects in ways that take advantage of their innocence rather than protecting it; prosecutorial zeal that has far more to do with the pursuit of victories than the pursuit of truth; and a death penalty appeals system that treats this entire screwed-up process of investigation and conviction as both conclusive and unreviewable." Slate
>>><<<
A bit more context to the Ferguson situation:
"Some of the towns in St. Louis County can derive 40 percent or more of their annual revenue from the petty fines and fees collected by their municipal courts. A majority of these fines are for traffic offenses, but they can also include fines for fare-hopping on MetroLink (St. Louis’s light rail system), loud music and other noise ordinance violations, zoning violations for uncut grass or unkempt property, violations of occupancy permit restrictions, trespassing, wearing “saggy pants,” business license violations and vague infractions such as “disturbing the peace” or “affray” that give police officers a great deal of discretion to look for other violations.... There’s also a widely held sentiment that the police spend far more time looking for petty offenses that produce fines than they do keeping these communities safe." Washington Post
>>><<<
A good summary of the most research research on behavioural factors relating to HIV transmission. Bottom line: the contribution of "sugar daddy" relationships, multiple concurrent relationships and "reckless" behaviour in people who know their positive status to overall transmission are considerably oversold. O'Neil Institute
"There's one [a supernova] that happened in 2008: we detected this really weak gamma-ray burst, but what was crazy about it was that it was visible with the naked eye, even though it came from the other side of the universe, 4 or 5 billion light years away. There are no other galaxies, even ones immediately adjacent to us, that are bright enough to see with the naked eye--except for Andromeda, which is pretty faint. And this thing was lit up, shining so bright you could see it across the universe. We worked out at one point it was outshining a good 10 or 15% of the rest of the universe combined, for some definition of words in that sentence. If that thing happened anywhere in our galaxy, it could have sterilized the Earth's surface." Rolling Stone
>>><<<
"Part of the reason why the family built the Labia Theatre, the Mail & Guardian recorded a few years ago, was out of gratitude to the South African government at not detaining them during World War II." Daily Maverick
>>><<<
A smart guy saying a smart thing.
"Sweden’s international influence is not well-deserved, since the law has been demonstrably detrimental in terms of exacerbating the harms that can be associated with sex work, detrimentally impacting service provision and harm reduction, increasing stigma and social exclusion, and I also emphasise that the law has failed to reduce levels of sex work, which was the principal aim of the legislation. So, the law has failed to achieve its goal, and it’s been hugely damaging." Ruth Jacobs
>>><<<
[TW: suicide]
"Suicidal tendencies are transitory," said Dr Shekhar Saxena, director of the department of mental health and substance abuse at the WHO and an author of the report. "People who have an intense desire to commit suicide grab the nearest possible means. If you can restrict their access even for a few hours, you can save a lot of lives. People think about it and talk to people and decide not to do it." Guardian
>>><<<
"What they refer to as “the council” are trying to change a policy that has been around since the horse-and-cart days. At the moment, the crew can go home whenever they finish their work. This means that they can work as hard as they want, and often get to travel home around two o’clock. For some who travel far, like Redewaan James, whose home is in Mitchell’s Plain and who wakes up at four-thirty each morning, this is precious time." Daily Maverick
>>><<<
[TW: sex while unconscious]
This is how strong the hold of heteropatriarchal monogamy is in our society: This dude's wife hates having sex with him so much she'd rather be unconscious when it happens. And this advice columnist thinks that this is a *totally legit solution*. smh Slate
>>><<<
"This case highlights the same well-known and extensively documented problems that can lead to false arrests and convictions: Police who are incentivized to find any suspect quickly, rather than the right one carefully; false confessions elicited after improper questioning; exculpatory evidence never turned over; the prosecution of vulnerable, mentally ill, or very young suspects in ways that take advantage of their innocence rather than protecting it; prosecutorial zeal that has far more to do with the pursuit of victories than the pursuit of truth; and a death penalty appeals system that treats this entire screwed-up process of investigation and conviction as both conclusive and unreviewable." Slate
>>><<<
A bit more context to the Ferguson situation:
"Some of the towns in St. Louis County can derive 40 percent or more of their annual revenue from the petty fines and fees collected by their municipal courts. A majority of these fines are for traffic offenses, but they can also include fines for fare-hopping on MetroLink (St. Louis’s light rail system), loud music and other noise ordinance violations, zoning violations for uncut grass or unkempt property, violations of occupancy permit restrictions, trespassing, wearing “saggy pants,” business license violations and vague infractions such as “disturbing the peace” or “affray” that give police officers a great deal of discretion to look for other violations.... There’s also a widely held sentiment that the police spend far more time looking for petty offenses that produce fines than they do keeping these communities safe." Washington Post
>>><<<
A good summary of the most research research on behavioural factors relating to HIV transmission. Bottom line: the contribution of "sugar daddy" relationships, multiple concurrent relationships and "reckless" behaviour in people who know their positive status to overall transmission are considerably oversold. O'Neil Institute
No comments:
Post a Comment