(no subject)

You must at once seek out and watch the Lost in Space episode The Promised Planet (3.19 - disc 5 of the box set). I rented it because I remember being puzzled and a little frightened by it as a small child - something to do with scary teenagers who wore pyjamas all the time and had teaching machines and no parents. It turns out to be the most gloriously drug-addled thing I think I have ever seen: a serious Star Trek sort of story about children who can't grow up which has somehow been pureed in a psychedelic blender. ( SPOILERS )

(no subject)

Australian comes fifth in a list of the most promiscuous developed nations.

Test all for Down, urge doctors. It's heartbreaking imagining trying to decide whether to continue with a pregnancy, knowing that your child will have Down syndrome, especially if you lack the resources to give that child the additional care s/he will need. But as always, the issue is not about whether it's right to abort, but who gets to choose while others have no choice: the reason doctors are calling for universal testing is not that they don't value Down babies, but because many Australian mothers can't afford the test or don't have access to it.

Via outsdr: Why I am an abortion doctor. Beware gruesome medical details.

Are We Not Men? An Atlantic article favourably comparing 60s-70s Playboy to current "lad" magazines, which makes the following useful observation: "...the lads have preferred to think that they represent a male backlash, a testosterone-soaked atavism, a rude if somewhat ironic return to the pre–James Taylor days. But their fear of women is nothing but a rueful extension of Mr. New Age’s obsequiousness, their pantomime of sexism nothing but utter compliance with the harshest feminist critique—nothing but a dancing-bear routine in the feminist tent show." Top Gear (the gender implications of which I find endlessly fascinating) is of course a more female-friendly version of the same phenomenon. Oo-er, we are such naughty boys. Bless.

(no subject)

Boost for border patrols as more boat people arrive. More "suspected asylum seekers", according to the SMH, bring this year's total would-be refugee influx to a massive one hundred and twenty. Do you realise that's 0.000006 asylum seekers for every man, woman, and child in this country?! (More seriously, it's about time we worked out some sensible refugee-processing arrangement with Indonesia, putting the people smugglers out of work, and saving us all this money on boats and things.)

Mandatory detention traumatises refugees: report. This only adds to what we've known for years, but here goes: "... levels of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among the group was ten times that of the normal population while the rate of clinical depression was seven times the normal level, which reduced their ability to participate in everyday activities... prolonged detention and harsh living conditions created by temporary protection visas contributed to poor mental health, which improved when refugees were granted permanent visas. Lead researcher Zachary Steel said those who were not detained or were detained only for short periods were much better able to begin building new lives in Australia and contribute to the community."

Link dump

http://xkcd.com/23/
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16211-delaying-puberty-could-help-genderconfused-teens-.html
http://www.theage.com.au/national/students-face-racism-exploitation-20081207-6t8x.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/14/AR2007121401328.html
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/violence-accused-get-gun-licences/2008/12/05/1228257317704.html
http://news.smh.com.au/national/one-in-10-teens-hallucinate-study-20081206-6slt.html
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/004641.html


(I'll clean these up as I go - I just need to get my bookmarks cleaned up or I'll go spare.)

(no subject)

zomg, xkcd did a comic of ME!



Heh. Although I've seen two different people make patently untrue claims about events in the new Who in the last two days, and I've gritted my teeth and ignored them both. All is ease and comfort. This is incredibly confronting. Who I am, if I'm not my anger?