How Many Studies Must Gay Parents Win Before They’re Free to Adopt?
If you weren’t already aware that gay people make f*cking awesome parents, it turns out that a recent spate of studies (like this one that says gay parents are just as good as straight ones, and/or maybe even better?) are bringing lesbian executive parenting realness all over America. For most of us, this wasn’t really news. But the article today in the New York Times offers up an entirely new possibility – could scientific evidence that gays are good parents actually mean that gay people are, you know, allowed to be parents? (@nytimes)
This is the kind of thing like affordable health insurance or over-the-counter Xanax where you kind of joke about it with your friends, talk about it wistfully as the sort of pipe dream that you’ve come to accept will never actually come true in the time/place/country/universe we live in. But now, in actual real life, there is an article in the August issue of Applied Developmental Science that asks whether scientific evidence on this issue shouldn’t inform – basically, whether since there’s no measurable basis for saying that gay people make worse parents, it shouldn’t be possible to ban them from adopting. Maybe it’s stupid, but this is such an obvious and yet revolutionary concept that we had to sit down and do some deep breathing upon first reading about it.
There have been a lot of false starts and disappointments in the gay community’s relationship with science – horrible medical experiments, traumatic Freudian therapy, the “gay gene” unicorn hunt, etc. But every once in a while, something like this comes up and we fantasize just for a moment about a world where the endless back-and-forth arguments about our morality, our mental health, and our fitness as human beings could be ended simply and definitively with a pie chart.
Of course, that won’t happen: in a world where significant groups of people persist in believing that our President is a secret Muslim Kenyan citizen from Mars who wants to take away their guns and turn them into weed to share with communists, there’s only so far that any amount of cold hard fact is going to go. But sometimes miracles do occur, and we can at least hope that this time a few people will be forced to see reason – specifically, the people who responsible for things like the recent Lofton case in Florida, which is depriving hundreds of children from loving families. Let’s all pick up a copy of Applied Developmental Science when it comes out next month and cross our fingers, okay? Okay.
Google Tweaks (Out), Sweet Indie Gaming Deal, Horror Architecture
GOOGLE REDESIGN:
Google made a few teensy tweaks to its design, and naturally we all flipped our shit. Most noticeably, the logo lost its shading.
In the new design (featured above on the right), well, hardly anything’s different. There are tiny icons representing categories of search (blogs, news, etc) and things are cleaned up ever-so slightly.
Did the redesign make you weep? New can be scary.
PAY WHAT YOU CAN GAMES:
Hey, remember when Radiohead released In Rainbows and you could pay whatever you wanted for it so naturally you paid zero dollars and then felt fucking terrible about it to this day?
Well, Radiohead certainly has enough to get by, but the same can’t be said for probably any indie game developer ever.
Check out this pack of indie games, called the “Humble Bundle.” It’s got the same pay what you can/will/feel like thing going on, you can score a bunch of games you might not have tried otherwise, including the critically acclaimed “World of Goo.” And in true indie spirit, you can choose what percentage of whatever you want to pay goes to the devs or to charity. Aw.
You’ve got three days to get in on the deal, and the Humble Indie Bundle is both PC & Mac friendly.
HORRORTECTURE:
Maybe I’m just a total weirdo, but I love weird mind-bending stuff that kicks my imagination into overdrive. The “Ladybower Belmouth” is definitely one such thing. I’m not all too sure about what a belmouth is, but basically the Ladybower one is an architectural oddity, a drain-like construction in a lake (that presumably serves a practical purpose) that’s extremely mysterious by design. My curiosity is ever so piqued. (more…)
Three Perspectives on Avatar (One for Each Dimension!)
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You can walk into the theatre to see Avatar in two ways: You’ll either go in wanting to like it or wanting to hate it. Either way, you’ll probably get what you want.
James Cameron’s Avatar is such a visually beautiful film that if you want to like it, you’ll be able to ignore the badly written script and the overly predictable plot. You’ll also have to ignore science, because Avatar pushes the laws of physics, evolution and just about everything else out of mind. But you really can ignore all of Avatar‘s faults-the movie just that pretty.
In a way, the weak script is kind of a benefit. Not having to think during the film gives you more time to appreciate the beautiful visual detail of Pandora’s environment. Not to mention its occupants the Na’vi, a race of super tall, super skinny, super strong cat-people. The Na’vi are able to interact directly with their surroundings: the plants glow with bioluminescence in their presence, lighting their way at night and creating fiberoptic light shows. The world is full of pulsing lights, beautiful greens and blues (the Na’vi color palette) and a menagerie of fantastical animals, all of which are intimately connected. (more…)
Emily’s Team Pick: A Bunch of Mice go to a Party
A bunch of mice go to a party and do lots of drugs. You get to be the scientist and see what happens to your brain when you use different kinds of drugs. It’s sciencey and interactive and fun and you might feel like you know something after. I like it ’cause you get to pick up the mice.
Geeky Surroundings Weird Women Out & Make Them Dislike Science?
Researchers made about 40 college students, both male and female hang out in a “neutral” room or a room decked out in geekery. The female students stuck in the nerd room endorsed less interest in Computer Science on a questionnaire afterward, while male students didn’t show any diff (that’s a null effect, bitches!).
I haven’t had a chance to read the actual publication yet, but i’m excited to see how they decided on what geek cues to use. That sounds like a fun methods section…like, which comic books? Why Star Trek?
Also, I’m fairly sure that Computer Science wasn’t the only geeky interest that they investigated, so I wonder what else was on that questionnaire? And what’s so unattractive about CompSci (is this an abbreviation? it sounds like CompUSA) after hanging out in the geek room? And what goes down in the geek room!?
Stop oppressing me, dudes!
Maybe eventually we will understand the geek gender gap! Maybe it all hinges on interior decoration? Maybe the implications are confusing and only time (or a thorough reading of the publication itself) will tell! Probably the latter. I will def be reporting back with a far more enlightened perspective!
Until then, is this about women being turned off by dudely geek stereotypes? What do Star Trek and comics have to do with Computer Science? Am I stifling my potential by living in a room full of geek nonsense?What does it all mean?! Oh Social Psychology!
Alex’s Team Pick: Space Collective’s Interesting/Inspirational Gallery
There’s a lovely five-column mishmash of images, quotes, random comments and even articles (?) over at the Space Collective. I like this complex and unpredictable section, but the entire site itself is also an interesting read!
Earth-ish Planet Discovered, Carl Sagan Rocks Out on YouTube
This isn't a "super-earth." It's just sweet looking.
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IT’S FRIDAY! EXPAND YOUR MIND!
With some astronomy and astrophysicists! Not drugs, jerk…
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OH NICE, A “SUPER-EARTH” GOT DISCOVERED, but don’t book your intergalactic vacation just yet. (more…)
Houston Largest City to Elect Openly Gay Mayor, Don’t Mess With Texas Srsly
LESBIAN MAYOR: With Annise Parker winning nearly 53 percent of the vote late Saturday, Houston became the largest city to elect an openly gay mayor. Last night, with wife Kathy Hubbard by her side, she told supporters: “I know what this means to many of us who thought we couldn’t achieve higher office. But let us at this moment join as one community. We are united in making Houston the city it should be, could be, can be and will be.”
The Christian Science Monitor says her election in a state which outlawed same-sex marriage is telling of the national mood:
“As gays and lesbians become broadly accepted in society and politics, that acceptance is marked by a firm boundary beyond which voters do not yet appear willing to cross: same-sex marriage.”
FAMILY TIES: What is happening with the world when stories that open with “According to the National Enquirer” are accepted as fact? So we’re just gonna tell you that Meredith Baxter, according to a sketchy unreliable source, is going to marry her girlfriend. Or not.
GAY SCIENCE: According to this author, gay people are like female orgasms or male nipples: we don’t know why they exist evolutionarily, but it is kind of cool that they do! There are many, many traits of humans and other living things that are incidental by-products of evolution. They’re not the traits that were selected for. They’re incidental by-products of the traits that were selected for. Let me give an example. Let’s ask the question, “Why did bones evolve to be white? What is the selective advantage of bones being white?” (@blowfish)
BRING IT ON: Five Life Lessons Learned From the Ladies of ’00 Films: “So everything that doesn’t fit into some stupid idea of what you think God wants you just try to hide or fix or get rid of? It’s just all too much to live up to. No one fits in one hundred percent of the time. Not even you.” (@jezebel)
BULLYING: Were you bullied in middle or high school? Judith Warner was, and is still thinking about it. These days, I come back a lot to memories of 7th and 8th grade (and the unreliable narrators of those memories), because my elder daughter, Julia, is now in 7th grade, which means, of late, that she lives in a world filled with endless girl dramas of the most unfortunate and, alas, ordinary kind. Her article stirred up a lot of feelings over at Jezebel: “We editors reminisced about our own 13-year-old accomplishments and the wondrous potential of that age. In fact, it’s a time I try to avoid thinking about, since it’s when the cozy cocoon of childhood broke and I found myself the target of casual mockery on a daily basis.” Also, if you want to read more about how the world shortchanges women from the age of 13 on, we recommend Schoolgirls: Young Women, Self Esteem, and the Confidence Gap, by Peggy Orenstein, one of the best books ever to exist. And then just listen to Tina Fey, she will help you — (@nytimes, @jezebel)
CIVIL UNIONS: The Austrian Parliament has approved legislation that will give same-sex partners the right to enter into civil unions with “most of” the same rights as hetero marriage. Once you’re done celebrating that, try to wrap your head around the fact that the author of this article then spends five paragraphs discussing “So how much did Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Bruno” character and movie have to do with this move by Austria’s government?” He must have known it was Sunday Funday. (@examiner)
SPERM DONOR: A gay Irish sperm donor has won visitation rights to the child that was created from his sperm and that a lesbian couple is now raising. This is sad, because it means that lesbian partners and their children are not recognized as a legitimate family unit by the Irish government, but also awesome because it means that WILL AND GRACE IS COMING TRUE. Seriously does anyone else remember that arc where Jack and Rosie had a kid? (@irishcentral)
ACTUAL GAGA: Bitch must have read our Christmahanakwanzakah wish lists, because they have a whole article about Lady Gaga’s sexuality! Does she feed into negative stereotypes about bisexuality, or can she be our shining star? “The only thing I’m worried about is that it could appear to some, who don’t know much better, that bisexuals are those that are interested only in men for relationships, but will enjoy sexual relationships with women purely for fun. I hope it doesn’t further that awful stereotype, and that Lady Gaga isn’t put in the position of being the poster child for women who like women only while drunk and horny.”Also, in other news, Intern Rachel had no idea until right now that Gaga makes out with a lady cop in the Love Game video! Merry Christmas! (@bitch)
Google Tweets with Real Time Search, Retro Mario Back With the Wii
GOOGLE GETS ITS REAL TIME SEARCH ON: To keep up with the Joneses, Google is adding a real time search feature. Currently there is a little bit of lag time while search results from social networking sites are filtered through the search engine, but soon no more. Keyword-relevant nonsense from Twitter, MySpace and Facebook will now be accessible through a normal Google search in real time. (more…)
Fake Female Gamers, Celeb Brain Webcams & D&D Players Get Some
ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS BRAINS EVER UNDER THE KNIFE: If you took Psych 101 and didn’t sleep through all of it, you’ll have heard of patient HM. Or if you saw Memento, he was kind of like that dude. Patient HM had a debilitating seizure disorder, so some wacky mad scientists in 1953 removed both of his hippocampi (yes, that is the plural of hippopotamus). He couldn’t create new long term memories after the surgery (whoops!), so basically if you were his nurse or researcher or whatever you’d go nuts having to constantly reintroduce yourself.
Continuing in the grand tradition of HM being psychology’s perhaps most high profile lab rat, Scientists at UCSD dissected his brain and STREAMED IT LIVE! I’m so happy that we are in the era of the overshare, because I really wanted to see his brain. Unfortunately, while watching the dissection seemed (way) exciting, it turned out to be just like watching the deli slice your cold cuts behind the meat counter. Weird.
Wait, he died on December 2, 2008? Ew. That’s kind of a stale brain.
Emily’s Team Pick: Polar Bear Attack
I think you need to see these pictures of a vicious polar bear attack. You will thank me after.
Revolutionary Study Promises to Prove Gay Gene, Use It For Gay Dating Website
SHE BLINDED ME WITH SCIENCE: The last major study on the genetic origin of homosexuality was conducted 18 years ago by Harvard neuroscientist, Simon LeVay and now “www.Clicck.com has signed an exclusive agreement with GenePartner, one of the world’s leading genetic testing companies, and is currently engaged in collecting and identifying the genetic patterns found in the DNA of LGBT men and women.” That’s right, who needs Harvard when you’ve got COMMERCE!
The press release continues: “The two companies are quite confident that collaboration will result in a unique algorithm that proves once and for all that gay and lesbian individuals match along the same lines that straight individuals do and will be available to the LGBT community as an enhanced service on Clicck’s website next year.”
Yup, they’re gonna prove the gay gene, and then they’re gonna use your DNA to find you a boyfriend. Basically they want to do for you what your parents never could, ‘I know that you’re gay, and it’s not your choice. Coincidentally, I have found your lesbian soulmate, wanna go have pizza and play checkers?’
If that doesn’t work, you can try KC Danger’s Tips for Picking Up Chicks.
MARRIAGE: How bitter am I that I can’t enjoy this lively nerve debate about marriage between our Goddess of Depression Elizabeth Surly Wurtzel and some dude without thinking GOD you’re so LUCKY to even be able to CONSIDER it, assfucks … Oh Lizzy you go on and on … “I’m with you on the whole toasting thing too. For once, it would be nice to hear the good things people have to say about me rather than find out what I’ve done wrong on Gawker … Marriage seems to be the death of heat. It’s the beginning of domesticity, which is a nice thing, for sure, but it’s the end of hotness. I think there’s something about getting all the paperwork done — making it legal — that just kills the fire.”
THE MALE BIAS: US trade magazine Publishers Weekly has come under fire for failing to include a single woman in its list of the top 10 titles of 2009 …. Hello Margaret Atwood and Lorrie Moore and Mary Gaitskill all had new books this year. DAMN THE MAN!
GREEN: Good Magazine reports on the Transition Towns debate. Transition Towns, if you haven’t heard, are communities that are preparing themselves for peak oil and climate change by reducing their energy use and carbon emissions, eating locally, and sometimes even setting up their own currencies. There are 243 official Transition Towns at the moment (the list is here). And someone is really pissed about it: “all over the world, groups of people with graduate degrees, affluence, decades of work experience, varieties of advanced training and technological capacities beyond the imagining of our great-grandparents are coming together, looking into the face of apocalypse… and deciding to start a seed exchange or a kids clothing swap.”