Don’t miss the new ad for Surly-Ramics! It’s

 

way

 

down

 

there

 

on the left.

 

It’s a piece of art itself, and a very B&W-friendly one.

 

Click on it to get to Surly-Ramics land, and use the magic word to get a discount.… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Chris Moos has a good article at the Huffington Post about gender segregation at UK universities.

Mind you, I disagree with him on one thing.

While there should be agreement on the fact that it is the right of students to voluntarily self-segregate, it is also clear there is no right of any campus group to force students to segregate, either by creating social pressure on students by advertising the events as “strictly segregated”, signposting “male” and “female” entrances and seating areas, or by verbally and physically enforcing segregation on the audience, as it occurred at UCL in March, as reported by the Guardian. Worryingly, this widely publicised case where students were refused entry through the “female entrance”,

… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

All right, a nice story for a change.

Two former Birmingham students have defied death threats to make legal history by becoming the first Muslim lesbian couple to get married in a civil ceremony in the UK.

Rehana Kausar, 34, and Sobia Kamar, 29, from Pakistan, tied the knot at a registration office in front of their solicitors and two Pakistani friends earlier this month.

Great. Two people who want to be together are together. A happy thing. I like happy things.

According to Pakistani law, same-sex sexual acts are illegal and go against Islamic teachings.

Those who flout the law are often targeted and in the most extreme cases homosexuals have been murdered.

The country does not have

… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

The ANU student newspaper has a response.

As many of you will be aware, the “Advice from Religion” infographic on the back page of Woroni, Edition 5 2013, caused a flurry of activity.  However, what you might not know is that over the course of a week, the Woroni board was twice summoned to the Chancelry, individually threatened with disciplinary action along with the authors of the piece, and informed that Woroni’s funding allocation could be compromised.

Threatened with disciplinary action…for what? It would help if we knew more about the cartoon, but so far I don’t.

As editors of a student publication, we have grown accustomed to receiving heated feedback from students and staff. However, in this instance

… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Another week, another cartoon about Islam yanked from a student newspaper.

A cartoon satirising Islam has been pulled from the internet by editors of  the Australian National University student newspaper, amid concerns of offence  and potential for violent backlash.

The Woroni student newspaper originally published the cartoon on  April 18 as part of its “Advice from Religion” infographic, the fifth in a  series previously featuring Catholicism, Scientology, Mormonism and Judaism.

ANU vice-chancellor Ian Young said editors retracted the cartoon two days after  it was posted online following a formal complaint to university management.

So…cartoons about Catholicism, Scientology, Mormonism and Judaism, okay. Cartoon about Islam, not okay.

Speaking on ABC Radio on Monday, Mr Young said there was also concern

… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Desmond Clarke, an emeritus professor of philosophy at University College Cork, explains why religious moral certainty is out of place in discussions of abortion law. In particular, he says that

those who are absolutely certain about their ethical views – which are evidently not shared by many others – should reflect on the source and certainty of their convictions.

Those who do so reflect and do so independently of religion tend to bump up against some version of the harm principle. First do no harm. That’s the core of the little list I drew up the other day – don’t do genocide, don’t push children into traffic, that kind of thing. There are complications, but my point was that you … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Jason added the tool that makes tweets big and readable, so I’m going to try it out. I’ll do a vanity tweet, because I’m so vain.

#bbpBox_339072323627933696 a { text-decoration:none; color:#2FC2EF; }#bbpBox_339072323627933696 a:hover { text-decoration:underline; }"Backlash happens when you're making progress, not when you're nowhere." @OpheliaBenson at #wiscfiMay 27, 2013 10:35 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite@aroomofherownA Room Of Her Own… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Send Justin Vacula to Empowering Women Through Secularism conference in Dublin

Justin Vacula — Skeptic Ink Network writer, speaker, atheist and church/state activist, and host of Brave Hero Radio – seeks to attend conference in Dublin.

He’s raised more than enough already.

So this is how it’s to be. I can’t go anywhere now without being followed by a dedicated harasser.

 

 … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Sarah Ditum startles and shocks by making a distinction between female genitalia and electronic equipment.

2. A laptop is a portable electronic device, a vagina is a body part
Does it whir? Does it make small clicking sounds? Can it be placed in a briefcase and carried around separately to its owner? That is a laptop. Is it a fibromuscular tubular tract located between a woman’s thighs? Vagina. Taking the former from a car would be an act of theft. Penetrating the latter without the woman’s consent would be a physical assault – and that’s true even if the woman has behaved in a way that makes it obvious that she has a vagina and sometimes uses it for fun

… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Good news: Colin Powell isn’t at all worried about the massive rate of sexual assault in the US military. He says everything’s fine and the system is working well. That will be a huge relief to all the women who were raped in that military, especially the ones who got punished while their rapists got promoted.

Despite the high rate of sexual assault and instances of convictions being overturned by commanders, Powell said the military justice system was working.

“There will always be a case where somebody disagrees with a judgment made by somebody in the appellate procedure,” he explained. “Well, lets examine that, but lets not toss out a system that I think has worked very, very well

… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

This week’s xkcd is so very apt…

… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

I keep saying.

Where have all the women gone in movies?

Despite the success of recent female-driven movies such as “Bridesmaids” and the “Hunger Games” and “Twilight” series, female representation in popular movies is at its lowest level in five years, according to a study being released Monday by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

I keep talking about this. You’d think women didn’t exist, looking at most movie trailers. Even the animated ones – all the toys or all the animals – they’re male.

Among the 100 highest-grossing movies at the U.S. box office in 2012, the study reported, 28.4% of speaking characters were female. That’s a drop from 32.8% three years ago, and a number

… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Wow. Talk about not even “I don’t care who started it, both of you go to your rooms!” or “both sides are equally wrong, and I know this without knowing any of the  particulars,” but just plain “you were harassed, don’t ever come back here again.”

Christine Walkinshaw is a comic. She did a gig at a casino. Ten drunk guys at one table shouted “show us your tits!” and then “show us your bush!” She finished her act in spite of them and without engaging them.

When I get backstage, the headliner, Darren Frost is livid. During my set, he ran around the club trying to get manager and staff to tell the table to shut up, but they

… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

A Fresh Air interview with Mel Brooks the other day played the sound from the “Puttin on the Ritz” segment in Young Frankenstein. I thought I’d better share that segment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co6-tYS9k1U

… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Oh honestly. Teresa MacBain was supposed to be on CNN this morning to talk about how atheists deal with tragedy – but CNN went and canceled on her, because they wanted to talk about the London events and religious extremism instead. Phooey.

It would have been good. Here’s what she said about it on Facebook, before they pulled the plug.

I just received a call from CNN. They want me to be on the Sunday Morning show to discuss how atheists deal with tragedy. I’m very glad that I have this opportunity. My goal is to continue the process of normalizing atheism and share how so many of us have stepped up to help those who are suffering.

That would … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Huge demonstration in Paris to say omigodno about same-sex marriage.

French police says that 150,000 protesters are taking part in the march in central Paris, but the organisers say the number is closer to one million.

One demonstrator dressed in black, holding a scythe and wearing a mask of Mr Hollande, stood behind a coffin in which lay a mannequin dressed as Marianne – the emblem of France.

I don’t get it. I never do. It’s other people, being allowed to do something that a lot of people think is a good thing to do. It seems so bizarre to get that worked up about it. It’s not legal permission to marry you, against your will – it’s just … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Tarek Fatah says it.

While ordinary Britons and non-Muslims around the world are bewildered by these never-ending acts of terrorism, the response of the leaders of the Islamic community is the tired old cliche — Islam is a religion of peace, and jihad is simply an “inner struggle.”

The fact these terrorists are motivated by one powerful belief — the doctrine of armed jihad against the “kuffar” (non-Muslims) — is disingenuously denied by Islamic clerics and leaders.

Yesterday, instead of calling on Muslims to shelve the doctrine of armed jihad, predictably, the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) issued a quick press release claiming the “barbaric” attack has “no basis in Islam.”

Not true, MCB. As a Muslim, I can say

… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Omar Bakri, founder of the banned UK Islamist group Al Muhajiroun, is excited about the “courage” of the guy who hacked Lee Rigby to death on a street in Woolwich.

What surprised me (is) the quiet man, the man who is very shy, decided to carry out an attack against a British soldier in the middle of the day in the middle of a street in the UK. In east London. It’s incredible.

“When I saw that, honestly I was very surprised – standing firm, courageous, brave. Not running away. Rather, he said why he carried (it out) and he wanted the whole world to hear it.”

No. That’s not courageous or brave. Nobody was going to hack him to … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Just a small side thing, about reading and disagreeing with an opponent fairly.

A reader pointed out to me a post by Damion Reinhardt at Skeptic Ink about a post of mine. Here’s how he paraphrases my post:

Her argument seems to be something like this:

1. Skeptics assent unquestioningly to moral propositions of the form “You must not [commit atrocities against humans]” without stopping to ask for further evidence.
2. Checkmate, skeptics!

I may have missed out a step there, but that seems to pretty much cover it. My answer to this is twofold.

Here’s what I actually wrote:

One of the things that proud or “movement” skeptics like to say is “you have to be skeptical of everything.”

… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

Sorry, I had to make that earlier post private, because I was told it wasn’t a good idea. Sorry for any confusion.… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)