Dreamer Easy

https://www.psypost.org/2020/10/trump-voters-were-significantly-less-likely-to-evacuate-before-hurricane-irma-devastated-florida-58144 (PsyPost, 3 October 2020) The psychology and sociology around this stuff is endlessly fascinating; it's like all the weirdnesses of the human mind writ large. Safety is belonging to a group, and showing that you belong, even when that puts you in danger -- especially when that puts you in danger, because how better to prove you belong?

If You're Happy President Trump Tested Positive for COVID-19, You're Just as Bad as He Is (The Root, 2 October 2020) Presented without comment.

Australian ministers increasingly bypassing parliament to create laws, study finds (Guardian, 28 September 2020).

Coronavirus Sweden: 200 doctors, scientists challenge Sweden’s official version of events (news.com.au, 17 September 2020)

New research shows how to make effective political arguments, Stanford sociologist says (2015 press release)

Carbon emissions of richest 1 percent more than double the emissions of the poorest half of humanity (Oxfam press release, 21 September 2020)

No, Animals Do Not Have Genders (Nautilus, 26 August 2020) A short but very clear piece on what and why gender is.

Not sure what can and can't be recycled? Here's how it works (SMH, 19 December 2019). At least as of that date, Sydney was actively recycling plastics rather than storing or burying them.

Study Warns Radicalized Right-Wingers Uniting Online—Many Inspired by Trump—Threaten Australian Democracy (Common Dreams, 9 October 2020)

Trump support is less important than ethnic antagonism in explaining anti-democratic views among Republicans (PsyPost, 10 October 2020) White supremacy is also at the root of Australia's crop of fascists.

Are Americans Just Stupid? (Psychology Today, 4 October 2020). Points out the difference between intelligence and critical thinking, and the importance of factors such as poor quality news media and intense financial stress. Interestingly also talks about "strong religious beliefs" which "reject well-established scientific facts that conflict with theological doctrine", which makes the unintentional point that religion and science need not be at loggerheads -- in fact, IMHO, that narrative was created by fundamentalists for political ends.

'We want our money. We deserve our money': Aboriginal elders sue for compensation for stolen wages (Guardian, 24 October 2020)

Why Hatred and 'Othering' of Political Foes Has Spiked to Extreme Levels (Scientific American, 29 October 2020). "The three key components: The first one is what we call “othering”—[labeling] these people as so different from us that they’re almost incomprehensible. The second part we call “aversion”—this idea that they’re not just different, but they’re dislikable. The third part is this “moralization,” where they’re morally bankrupt."

Fact check: Are Labor's policies socialist? (ABC, 20 September 2017). This overview of the meaning of "socialism" helped plug some of the countless holes in my knowledge of politics and history.

The four ways distrust of science has infected political agendas (ABC, 31 July 2017). Another good overview, this time of the intersection of scepticism of science and political leanings.

Which Hair Color Induces the Strongest Physical Attraction? (Psychology Today, 1 September 2017). Gingerism!

How Australia's discrimination laws and public health campaigns perpetuate fat stigma (ABC, 11 July 2017). Fat-shaming is meant to improve peoples' health, but it has the opposite effect.

Australia wants to avoid a Korean war at all costs – and with good reason (GA, 29 April 2017) "A conflict could involve North’s neighbours – South Korea, China and Japan – which along with the US are Australia’s top four trade partners." | Why would North Korea's little tyrant lob a missile on Darwin? (SMH, 6 July 2017) A partly tongue-in-cheek, partly serious look at Darwin as a potential target - its use as a US military base vs its importance as a Chinese-owned port.

Octopus And Squid Evolution Is Officially Weirder Than We Could Have Ever Imagined (Science Alert, 2017). The dang things routinely tweak their RNA - not their genes, but how they're expressed in the brain.

Ancient Samurai Scroll Describes Blinding Powders, Moonless Battles (Live Science, 27 June 2017)

Class is the new black: The dangers of an obsession with the 'Aboriginal middle class' (ABC, 28 June 2017)

What Is Sharia Law? (Snopes, 19 September 2017). "As with so many aspects of Islam, some non-Muslims criticize "Sharia law" without really knowing the first thing about it."

He Was a Crook (The Atlantic, July 1994). Hunter S. Thompson destroys a freshly deceased Richard Nixon. Gods I wish he was still with us (Thompson, not Nixon).

Two longer pieces:

Yearning for the end of the world (The Guardian, 25 August 2017). "'If it was conclusive that cellphones were killing honeybees, would you stop using them?' Most said no. 'I think the scientists will figure it out,' said one student, 'but really, who cares if there are honeybees? This world is coming to an end anyway. We’ll all be raptured.'... When you’re tied to other people, you’re tied to needs and frailties and messy long-term puzzles, like the fate of honeybees. But the Rapture is about unfastening, being 'citizens of heaven' and breaking with all that’s difficult and risky about life among humans. Is there a more attractive notion than to be spirited away and freed of responsibility? The fate of the Earth may be unknowable, or catastrophic – you don’t have to care." This analysis disturbed me because of my own partial withdrawal from the world due to ill health and social anxiety. OTOH as a Wiccan my religion connects me deeply to this living world of trees and people and honeybees.

How America Lost Its Mind (The Atlantic, September 2017). Adapted from Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire—A 500-Year History by Kurt Andersen. I read this right through at the library, which is pretty unusual for me. It traces the history of irrational belief in the US from the sixties and the Left to the eighties and the Right and through to today. I take some of it with a grain of salt, but it also pinged me personally, because of the complexities of profoundly valuing reason while holding non-rational beliefs.

'Angry white men' much more intolerant of cultural differences than women (SMH, 24 August 2016) | Australia broadly tolerant but pockets of intense prejudice remain, report shows (GA, 24 August 2016) | Migrants from Africa bear brunt of discrimination but remain positive, Australians Today survey finds (ABC, 24 August 2016). Naively, I'd thought that perhaps because of our different history, Australians might not be as racist towards Africans as, say, Americans or Britons. More fool me.

Half of all Australians want to ban Muslim immigration: poll (SMH, 21 September 2016)

This is not the Australia I know: first Muslim woman MP hits back at immigration poll (SMH, 22 September 2016)

New national snapshot finds 60 per cent of Australians would be concerned if a relative married a Muslim (SMH, 27 September 2016). Survey respondents showed plenty of other forms of Islamophobia - and anti-Semitism.

Turnbull and Shorten denounce 'racial intolerance in any form' in immigration policy (GA, 10 October 2016) "Leaders move parliamentary motion in response to One Nation rhetoric as prime minister says 'inclusive nation' the most effective weapon against terrorism." | Scott Morrison warns resentment to free trade and immigration threatens economy (GA, 30 September 2016). These guys have to walk a fine line between exploiting xenophobia and not actually screwing up the economy.

So what do Australians really think about selecting migrants based on religion? (GA, 13 October 2016) "Surveys do not simply identify a rock-solid public opinion; they explore, with the potential to distort through questions asked."

First Dog on the Moon's reverse-racist history of Australian racial intolerance (GA, 23 September 2016)

Australia's Secret History As A White Utopia, Complete With Slavery (Gizmodo, 17 November 2015). Because I didn't study history, it took me a long time to understand that Australia, too, has indulged in slavery - the Indigenous people's unpaid and sometimes forced labour, the kidnapping of Islanders to work our plantations.

ETA: Muslims face racial discrimination, but don't have protection under act, report finds (SMH, 5 November 2015) "... the Racial Discrimination Act has only a 'limited' ability to protect Muslim Australians, because 'religious identity' is not covered under the act... This is different from Jewish Australians, as the Federal Court has found they have a common 'ethnic origin' and are therefore owed protection under the act." Time for Muslim Australians to have the same protection.

Superboy Comics. "Clearly, no two days in Smallville are alike."

One day I want to go to Resolute.

Much of the classic September 2001 The Onion - Attack on America issue has been preserved at the Wayback Machine. "Hugging Up 76,000 Percent". (I do wish the images had also survived, though!)

Public toilet finder for the US.

National Public Toilet Map for Australia.

Reality matches Dreaming story: traditional Aboriginal knowledge leads scientists to meteorite crater. How cool is that?!

Boy's suicide blamed on school bullies

Four men face charges over teen's suicide

Asylum seekers forced to pitch tents on Christmas Island

English policy will create more petrol sniffers

Joy to the *)(%*)&^* world.

Philip Glenister interview. "I get a lot of letters inviting me to nip round and take down their particulars when their husbands are at work. That's very flattering, but I think it is Gene Hunt they find attractive, not me." (I left a comment disputing this, but alas, none have appeared at the site. :-) And a review speculating on Gene's appeal.

The 6 Cutest Animals That Can Still Destroy You. Where you wondering why, to the Ancient Egyptians, the hippo was a symbol of chaos and evil? Now you know.

OK, serious stuff now. Did you know? Australian's first Muslims were the thousands of cameleers who were crucial to the country's development. The famous train The Ghan is named for them.

Meanwhile in present-day Australia, the government will help fund security for schools vulnerable to racist attacks, such as Jewish and Muslim schools.

The apology to the Stolen Generations is a huge step forward, but only a first step in repairing the damage done to Indigenous Australians. The guvmint plans regular nurse visits for Indigenous children. However, so far they've only committed about an eighth of the funds needed to fully solve the Aboriginal health crisis; plus, no federal compensation scheme for the Stolen Generations, although Tasmania has not only done the right thing, but saved itself a fortune, by setting one up.