"This was the voice of moderation until 13 Sept, 2025"
by Doctor Science Not that we had much of a January freeze, mind you. Sir Thomas More, by Hans Holbein. Because he has such great links. Hardiness Zone Changes — good tool to show how the USDA has re-calibrated the hardiness zones used by farmers and gardeners. My town has moved from 6b to 7a … Read more
by liberal japonicus
I'm not trying to get a rise out of anyone, but in the thread that turned into a copyright discussion, one person (and I'm not going to go back and check who it is, cause it's not really important) posited a situation where iirc a plumber breaks into your house and fixes your pipes. What should pop up but this article, with a story that about some horologists breaking into a place and fixing a clock. The story awaits below the fold
by Doctor Science … publish in Elsevier journals. Two years ago, Henry Farrell at Crooked Timber decided that he would no longer referee for, or publish in, journals published by Elsevier. Now Fields Medal-winning mathematician Tim Gowers has reached the end of his patience. He took the no-Elsevier pledge, and there is now a website … Read more
by liberal japonicus This Guardian piece and the accompanying video is well worth your attention. Garzón was the judge who issued an international arrest warrant for Augusto Pinochet for his role in torturing and executing Spanish citizenship, followed by obtaining pursuing two Argentinian generals for the crime of genocide during the Argentinian dictatorship. No slap … Read more
by Doctor Science N.J. Senate committee advances gay marriage bill. Sprog the Elder and I did *not* make it down to Trenton, as we had hoped, but despite the lack of testimony from me the bill advanced out of committee on an 8-4 party line vote. If I had gotten my head and act together, … Read more
–by Sebastian You may or may not have been aware that the US government was pushing the Supreme Court to allow warrantless placement of GPS tracking devices with unlimited monitoring. But it was. United States v. Antoine Jones The Supreme Court was about to hand down the decision so I was gearing up to write … Read more
by liberal japonicus
Haley Barbour, the outgoing governor of the state I used to call home, (who apparently had seriously entertained pursuing a presidential campaign but thought better of it) decided to distribute some of that compassionate conservatism that I keep hearing about, and pardoned 221 as he was out the door. Not precisely sure about how it breaks down, but some observe that certain crimes seem to draw more compassion than others. It was apparently a particularly ham handed move, hitting the 67% constituency (the percentage of Mississippians who voted to keep the Confederate battle flag as part of the state flag) rather hard and poorly executed, because a number of the prisoners did not post public notice of their pardon requests, a state requirement, leading a judge to halt some of the releases. Whoops. And surprise, surprise, the process seems to demonstrate some racial disparaties. Who'da thunk it?
So, when Count-me-in and Russell both mentioned Louis CK in the copyright thread, this (definitely not safe for work) riff of his came to mind.
by Doctor Science
The current issue of Christian Century has several articles about dating, sex, and relationships. One is about College chaplains on the hookup culture, with commentary by six chaplains from across the spectrum of American colleges: state schools, Ivy League, Christian, small, and large.
What really astounded me was how resolutely all the ministers ignore men. Some of them mentioned the attitudes or difficulties of male students, but only in passing. *All* of the anecdotes about particular students they have counseled involve women. They talk about the problems “hookup culture”, promiscuity, or objectification makes for *women*, but as far as men are concerned their ministry seems to be “boys will be boys”.
TRIGGER WARNING: discussion of rape and rape culture in post and comments.
by liberal japonicus This should have been your friday open thread, but the blog gods blinded me to it until just a little bit ago. Eagle-eyed watchers spotted a marijuana leaf on Yu Darvish's t-shirt as he landed in Dallas today for his official introduction with the Texas Rangers. The "explanation," at least in the … Read more
–by Sebastian
I was recently having a discussion with a friend, and she wondered why abortion remained such a big deal in politics in the United States while its political valence in Europe was nearly zero. It seemed to me that it was because European restrictions on abortion tend to be much more restrictive than those in the US, and thus much more in line with most people's intuitions about a fetus having a protectable interest as it became close to becoming a separate child. She thought that was crazy because she thought that abortion laws were much more permissive in Europe than in the United States.
It isn't true. A very large number of European states (and most of the large ones) have much more restrictive abortions laws than even the very most restrictive states in the US. I think most left leaning people in the US imagine that you can't have a progressive state with dramatically tighter abortion restrictions. Here is evidence to the contrary. (Largely though not entirely culled from here) Significant abortion restrictions in the States do not kick in until week 24 (if at all).
Sweden
Gestational limit: 18 weeks
Conditions: Between 12 and 18 weeks of gestation, the women must discuss the procedure with a social worker. After 18 weeks, permission must be obtained from the National Board of Health and Welfare.
France
Generally available only in the first 12 weeks. After that, two physicians must separately certify that the abortion will be done to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman; a risk to the life of the pregnant woman; or that the child will suffer from a particularly severe illness recognized as incurable. A multi-disciplinary diagnostic center is required to certify if relying on the birth defect exemption.[more beyond the fold]