AI: Internet Reading Material
By I’ve been in a bit of a rut lately with regard to intake of new content – I’ve been busy with both school and various creative projects and not left a lot of time to keep up with things. But I have a pile of things – mostly articles, some comics and the like – bookmarked, that I go back and read when I need a pick-me-up or motivation boost or something else of the sort, and that I find myself often linking to other people because they come up as relevant to conversations I have over and over again.
Since I’m about to ask you all what some of your perennial favorite pieces of Internet are, here are a few of mine (an essay, a comic, and a poem, respectively):
Pretending to be Wise (what I bring up every time someone talks about being ‘neutral’ in a social justice conflict like it’s a virtue)
Marie Curie (actually, this is printed out and pinned to my bulletin board in my office, but close enough)
Prolate Spheroids (…also printed and pinned…)
What are some bookmarks you go back to (and send other people to) again and again? Why are they particularly special/meaningful/otherwise awesome to you?
The Afternoon Inqueery (or AI) is a question posed to you, the Queereka community. Look for it every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday at 3pm ET.
Featured image is from xkcd.
It’s not so much reading material as a documentary, but I like pointing people to http://video.pbs.org/video/1621910826/ when talking about either how humans are special snowflakes or about animal cognition. Also, crows are awesome. (Speaking of http://sci-ence.org/clever-corvus/ )
Also, while pitching sci-ence.org, anyway, I like http://sci-ence.org/vapid-arguments/ and http://sci-ence.org/red-flags2/ and also http://sci-ence.org/frickin-lasers/
When I feel like doing some mild trolling http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MFmC6BD1B4 and http://miserlyoldman.wordpress.com/2013/04/20/second-kings/
When talking trans rights and support, I like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AelO2L4HneE because the family support in the video is awesome.
Greta Christina has a ton of stuff like http://freethoughtblogs.com/greta/2008/03/02/the-not-so-lo-1/ and http://freethoughtblogs.com/greta/2008/09/15/the-ten-main-reasons-i-dont-believe-in-god/
I link to the Skepchick network and FTB a fair bit in general.
When combating arguments from ignorance, I say, “Just because we don’t know how something works yet (why is the sun’s corona hotter than it’s surface?) doesn’t mean we can’t find out (MAGNETISM!),” and then I point to http://www.slate.com/blogs/trending/2013/01/25/solar_temperature_mystery_nasa_solves_mystery_with_five_minute_space_telescope.html
And, naturally, I point to my own blog a bit http://miserlyoldman.wordpress.com/2013/02/05/horraytheist-reasoning/ (atheistic support for morality, vegetarianism, LGBT support, and feminism) http://miserlyoldman.wordpress.com/2012/09/30/pff/ (Arguments against a sexist runner) http://miserlyoldman.wordpress.com/2012/06/26/hatred-a-treatise-on-kara-walker/ (an unfavorable critique of Kara Walker’s work as it relates to race relations with a nod to Guillermo Gómez-Peña’s work for the same at the end))