Sunday, 30 November 2014
The news in brief 30th November 2014
Saturday, 29 November 2014
The news in brief 29th November 2014:
Friday, 28 November 2014
The news in brief 28th November 2014
Wednesday, 26 November 2014
The news in brief 26th November 2014
A blog post from the archives:
Man am I sick of this one. Just to be clear:
"A controversy emerged over changing the language of 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' in Britain from 1986, because, it was alleged in the popular press, it was seen as racially dubious. This was based only on a rewriting of the rhyme in one private nursery as an exercise for the children there and not on any local government policy. A similar controversy emerged in 1999 when reservations about the rhyme were submitted to Birmingham City Council by a working group on racism in children's resources, which were never approved or implemented. Two private nurseries in Oxfordshire in 2006 altered the song to "Baa Baa Rainbow Sheep", with black being replaced with a variety of other adjectives, like "happy, sad, hopping" and "pink". Commentators have asserted that these controversies have been exaggerated or distorted by some elements of the press as part of a more general campaign against political correctness."
And before anyone points out its from Wikipedia, here's the source material. Check it for yourselves.
Curran, J.; Petley, J.; Gaber, I. (2005). Culture wars: the media and the British left. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 85–107. ISBN 0748619178.
Cashmore, E. (2004). Encyclopedia of Race and Ethnic Studies. London: Taylor & Francis. p. 321. ISBN 0415286743.
"Nursery opts for 'rainbow sheep'". BBC News Education. 2006-03-07. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
Seriously. I'd appreciate greatly if petty hatemongers on the Internet got their facts straight before they made arguments that made them sound like dangerous fucktards.
Tuesday, 25 November 2014
The news in brief 25th November 2014
Monday, 24 November 2014
The news in brief 24th November 2014
Sunday, 23 November 2014
The news in brief 23rd November 2014
Thursday, 20 November 2014
The news in brief 20th November 2014
Wednesday, 19 November 2014
The news in brief 19th November 2014
The news in brief:
So, the dude packs up his shit and ships out to Sierra Leone to help battle the ebola outbreak.
But then he contracts ebola and gets flown home for experimental treatment and spends the flight terrified, but grateful at least that if this is it for him, he will be made comfortable by our health care system.
So the drugs work and he's all better and what does he do? He packs up his shit and gets back out there into the action. What. A. Guy.
And the most metal thing of all is this awesome quote:
'… I'm a nurse and this is where they need nurses.'
Badass motherfucker
Reading the news so you don't have to...
Tuesday, 18 November 2014
The news in brief 18th November 2014
Monday, 17 November 2014
The news in brief 17th November 2014
Sunday, 16 November 2014
The news in brief 16th November 2014
Friday, 14 November 2014
The news in brief 14th November 2014
Thursday, 13 November 2014
The news in brief 12th and 13th November 2014
Tuesday, 11 November 2014
Monday, 10 November 2014
The news in brief 10th November 2014
Sunday, 9 November 2014
The news in brief 9th November 2014
Saturday, 8 November 2014
The news in brief 8th November 2014
Friday, 7 November 2014
Thursday, 6 November 2014
The news in brief 6th November 2014
The news in brief:
Look, we don't want to wade in on the whole Gays versus Bakery debate. People should be able to buy a cake without prejudice. But at the same time, I can see why we shouldn't vilify an artist who turns down a commission that makes them uncomfortable.
Still, something about this story does bother us:
Bert and Ernie are not gay.
Or if they are, they certainly aren't gay with each other. Mostly because it's a show for pre-schoolers and nobody is actually boning anybody.
Sesame Street is probably the most progressive children's show ever made. It's tackled being mixed race (remember the monster that was half Honker and half Dinger?), death, divorce and in one of its foreign iterations, having HIV. It doesn't talk down and it doesn't hold back.
If Bert and Ernie were gay, they'd have had a wedding episode by now. (And not a gay wedding either, just a wedding, because Sesame Street doesn't create division where none needs to exist). Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch would gave been groomsmen and Count von Count would have performed the ceremony:
'One! One ring!'
'Two! Two rings!'
'Mwa ha ha ha!'
*flash of lightning*
Admit it. You just did the voice in your head.
It would have been amazing and a solid two-fingers up at the small-minded fucknuts of this world who still think that two people who love each other shouldn't get married because there's one less vagina (or one too many) than their own standards of morality can handle.
But they're not: They're two dudes who share a house, share a bedroom, (but not beds, despite what Internet tries to tell you,) and are best friends. It's a bromance.
I'm not so hot at baking but I can whip up a pretty neat Dumbledore cake, or a Willow and Tara if you like, or Chromedome and Rewind...
Reading the news so you don't have to...