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[kriswager]

Short film Thirstygirl at Sundance

A few years ago I went to a conference, QCon, in London, where among the speakers, there was one who told her personal story of how she wasn’t taken serious in the tech field, until she cut her hair. That was my first encounter with Alexandra Qin. Since hearing her talk, I’ve followed her work. She founded Emergent Works (as Code Cooperative) in 2016 and ran it until 2021. Emergent Works is a NYC…

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Denmark has a new king

The Danish monarch changed earlier today – Queen Margrethe II abdicated and King Frederik X became the king. Unlike the English traditions around crowning a new monarch, the Danish procedure is a fairly low-key affair, in which the Danish Prime Minister declares that the former monarch has abdicated (or died, as is the usual case), long live the new monarch.   View this post on Instagram   A…

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Queen Margrethe II of Denmark adbicates

In Denmark, the Monarch always gives a live TV address during New Years Eve. This year, it contained a bit of breaking news: The fact that she is abdicating on January 14th, and that her son, Crown prince Frederik, will become the Monarch instead. Probably unsurprisingly to all, I am not for monarchies, even as symbolic and defanged as in Denmark, and I had hoped that we could do away with it…

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Conversion therapy banned in Norway

This has flown under my radar, but the Norwegian parliament voted to ban conversion therapy on December 12, and the ban was approved 85-15. The ban makes it illegal to try to change someones sexual orientation or gender identity through medicine, alternative medicine, and religious methods among other things. The maximum penalty is 3 years of jail, 6 years in serious cases. Source: Forbud mot…

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One monster less

Henry Kissinger has died, 100 years old. He was a monster, who was held in high regards by the political elite in both US parties. He was undeservedly treated as a respectful elderly statesman, instead of the monster responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths all over the world. Anthony Bourdain, a man who sadly lived much fewer years than Kissinger, had a perfect description of Kissinger

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Happy Halloween

Just a nice little Halloween themed music video  

[kriswager]

I'm still around

This blog is somewhat quiet due to my work/life balance not being as healthy as it should be. I am working hard on fixing this, in part so I can blog some more. A lot of stuff is happening in the world right now – the indictments of Trump moving forward in several different courts, the war in Ukraine continuing, more and more right-wing grifters grifting for Putin etc., so there is plenty of…

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Harry Frankfurt (1929-2023)

I am sorry to see that Harry Frankfurt has died. He was a emeritus professor of philosophy at Princeton University, but most of us probably knows him from his impactful book On Bullshit. It was originally printed in Raritan, volume 06 number 2, Fall 1986 from the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences. On Bullshit is a slim volume, and brings a core message about the role of bullshit, as distinct…

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Hitler is obviously maligned

At least according to a tweet by David Josef Volodzko, a Seattle Time editorial writer. Text of tweet by Volodzko The text of the tweet states: In fact, while Hitler has become the great symbol of evil in history books, he too was less evil than Lenin because Hitler only targeted people he personally believed were harmful to society, whereas Lenin targeted even those he himself did not believe…

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What has happened with TYT?

It used to be that The Young Turks was a progressive voice, though a problematic one, given the sexism and Armenian genocide denial by Cenk Uygur in the past.  Lately, however, many are asking what has happened to them. Both Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur has made anti-trans remarks, and Ana has come strongly out against the homeless. This has led to 10 of the moderators of The Young Turks youtube…

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A very different Hitchens

I am listening to an episode of the podcast Decoding the Gurus, a podcast I have some issues with, especially their both-side bullshit. In this episode, they have Matt Johnson on. Matt Johnson is the author of How Hitchens Can Save the Left: Rediscovering Fearless Liberalism in an Age of Counter-Enlightenment. It is an interesting episode, because the Hitchens that Matt Johnson talks about is not…

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Support fellow skeptics

Karen Stollznow and Matt Baxter are two excellent skeptics, doing a great job of informing the public about subjects related to skepticism. Unfortunately they have fallen on hard times, and could use some support so if you have any money to spare, please consider helping them out.

[kriswager]

Computer models advancing science

Computer modeling has become a more and more important tool for science. We have seen it in Climatology for decades, as well as in a number of other fields. People who have a poor understanding of science, or who are trying to deny science, such as creationists and climate change deniers, will often claim that it isn’t really real science, but that is of course pure nonsense, as empirical…

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Apparently there are consequences after all

Boris Johnson has resigned as a MP due to the result of the investigations into the partygate scandal, which is the scandal that forced him to resign as a PM. The results of the investigations are not public, and Johnson has stepped down, rather than getting pushed out. Considering the number of lies and falsehoods he have presented over time, both as a journalist and as a politician, it is…

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Pat Roberson is dead

He can no longer spread his vile hatred. Good riddance. He got rich on spreading hatred and conning people, and the world is a better place without him.  

[kriswager]

This one hits hard

TW: Suicide I have been laid low with laryngitis, so I have spent some time surfing the internet, and I came across a new music video from Linkin Park. It is not a new song, rather it is 20 years old, but it has not been released before now, and it hits hard, because of what has happened in those twenty years. This is a song where you can feel the pain of Chester Bennington, who committed suicide…

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Rammstein cats

A little fun gem I came across on the internet today