Weekly Linkroll

Another Sunday. No ice yesterday or today, so I’m calling the weekend a win, just on that count. Yesterday, in fact, was wonderful with good friends and music! I’ll talk more about that in tomorrow’s post, though.

Today, as usual (for the most part), it’s time to share links with all y’all.

Girl Gamer Tells Guy to Shove His ‘Fake Geek Girl’ Crap In the Most Epic Way Imaginable
Well played, Ms. Johnston, well played. *applause* (from The Mary Sue)

Federal Appeals Court Explains Why Rubber Fetuses And High Schools Don’t Mix
Ian Millhiser at Think Progress on an anti-choice student group’s attempt to spread their message at their Roswell, NM high school. It doesn’t go well.

Why the mantis shrimp is my new favorite animal
The Oatmeal on the most amazing (and scary) shrimp you will have ever heard of. Blood-soaked rainbows!

What Major World Cities Look Like at Night, Minus the Light Pollution
The Smithsonian’s blog looks at French photographer Thierry Cohen‘s attempt to give cities back the night sky. Beautiful work.

How the ‘System of Beauty’ Hurts Female Politicians
Garance Franke-Ruta at The Atlantic discusses a new study that finds that media coverage of a woman can effect voters’ opinions of her negatively, even if the coverage is positive. Questions on the study itself, as well. Interesting.

Cruel and Unusual Punishment: The Shame of Three Strikes Laws
Matt Taibbi at The Rolling Stone takes on how horrible and stupid three strikes laws are. I remember when California’s law passed. I voted against it because I thought it was insane to take sentencing discretion out of the hands of judges. In prison for the rest of your life for a pair of socks, is that just?

The Best Bad Chart You Could Hope For
The folks at Skepchick have been doing Bad Chart Thursdays since January, bad charts being those graphs that people come up with to justify whatever bogus argument they’re trying to make. Up until this one, the Skepchicks have been creating their own mocking versions. This is a real one and it is awesome!

Weekly Linkroll

It’s been a contemplative weekend. I’ve been working on 2082, which I want to talk about, I think, at some point. There’s another Outsider post brewing. And I redid the blog design here. Enjoying the sunshine today, too (well, I was; it’s clouded over again since I started writing this). Three out of the last four days have been sunshiny. This is unusual in the winter in New England. Usually it’s GREY ALL THE TIME! So, yeah, that’s been nice.

WordPress suggested this illustration based on what I’ve written so far. It’s the burning of Columbia, South Carolina, February 17, 1865, by General Sherman’s troops. Your guess is as good as mine on that.

Anyway. It’s time to share my favorite links of the week. Hopefully, you find something you like, as well. And if you have some to share, please do in the comments.

So what do we have…

Truth really is stranger than fiction
From Women and Words: try to write a fictional story about any of these true ones. Now those are some prompts!

3 Steps For Creative Writers to Tell it Slant
The Artist’s Road’s suggestions for more showing and less telling. I always have to work on this.

Why I Don’t Give Writing Advice
Natania Barron’s thoughts on writing and success.

The Best Videos of 2012, From People Who Have the Best Taste in Videos
Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg at The Atlantic called on her favorite video-watchers to share their favorites with her. I’m still working my way through them. Impressive!

Intention vs. Reality: Why BMI Is Not Just a Tool
Heina at Skepchick takes on a CSI article by Ben Radford on the dreaded BMI where he states that it’s just a tool and is never misused to shame people. Yeah, right. Good information. And no, I’ve never been a fan of CSI (or CSICOP, as they used to be called), so this article doesn’t surprise me. They are debunkers, not true skeptics. There’s a difference.

27 Science Fictions That Became Science Facts In 2012
“We may never have our flying cars, but the future is here. From creating fully functioning artificial leaves to hacking the human brain, science made a lot of breakthroughs this year.” From Buzzfeed.