Friday linkdump is maximally informed

This week's Not Broadcast Safe offerings have been all about the True/False Film Festival. Check out write-ups of my adventures on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

Meanwhile, other people did all kinds of interesting things elsewhere on the Internet:

- Over at The Atlantic, we learn that Reading the Privacy Policies You Encounter in a Year Would Take 76 Work Days. So. That's comforting.

- Shockingly Awesome Surreal Sculptures by an artist named artist Nancy Fouts. The photography is great, but I'd love to see some of these up close.

- Some of the best commentary I've seen on the current contraception coverage debate reminds us that, for those of us insured through an employer, health insurance isn't a courtesy, but part of a worker's wages. Women work. Women pay taxes. The whole "paying for women to have sex" thing is a red herring at best. Meanwhile, The Daily Show has also been bringing the awesome, both with Jon Stewart's take on the Rush Limbaugh "slut" thing, and by having Planned Parenthood's Cecille Richards on as a guest as well.

- A study has shown that the QWERTY keyboard may be affecting how we feel about words. Basically, people tend to preference words that use more letters that appear on the right-hand side of the keyboard (and are thus easier to type if one is right-hand dominant). I guess it's a good thing we've got three vowels over there...

- Jim C. Hines' The Wolves, the Pig, and the Retarded Bunny. I'm possibly preaching to the choir here, but it's well worth a read.

- And hey, while you're reading genre authors making social commentary, swing on over to Whatever and see John Scalzi say a lot of sensible things about Kirk Cameron's assertions about homosexuality on Piers Morgan, including how free speech actually works. (And seriously, Kirk Cameron? What on earth is he doing in the national consciousness again? Go away, Kirk Cameron!)

- Speaking of speech, some employers, agencies, and educational institutions are demanding Facebook passwords and/or that applicants log in and click through during interviews. Because, wow, that doesn't curtail speech or invade privacy or cause individuals to make disclosures about their private lives that should not be part of a job interview at all.

- Hey, you in the headdress! As someone who, as a child, did not understand these things because I was actively encouraged by my scouting organization appropriate native cultures, I'm glad this exists. Knowing is half the battle! [insert musical fanfare here.]

- Discovered this week that the Edgar Allan Poe house in Baltimore is under threat of closure after being defunded by the city. Want to help? Donate here.

- Why "Sex Change" Surgery is Medically Necessary, Revisited. Incidentally, if you get insurance through your employer, one way to be a good ally is to a) find out if your coverage includes hormone treatments and gender-affirming surgeries and, b) if not, demand it be included. With transfolk being all of maybe .2% of the population, we're a surprisingly inexpensive population to extend equal coverage to (and, like women, we're also workers and taxpayers who deserve to get the full benefit of our efforts). Plus I'm willing to bet most transfolk are better workers when we're less stressed, miserable, and tired from struggling with our physical and legal status...

- No, the Equinoxes are not magical days upon which brooms and eggs are magically more able to balance on their ends. Next!

This post has been mirrored from Christian A. Young's Dimlight Archive. To see it in its original format, visit dimlightarchive.com