Mmm. Links.

[bodlon]

- Community call for assistance: Author, spirit worker, alternative sex educator, and all-around creative and awesome guy Lee Harrington is suffering from some health issues that are presenting a major setback for him and his partner Aiden. He's posted with info on how to help.

- My favorite book on ogam (written by the inimitable Erynn Laurie) is now available in ebook format at Smashwords! It's a massively useful text if you're interested in an ogam system based in the extant historical material, as well as a great text that shows how to take that material and create a practice. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

- Resistance, an indie film about anti-gay discrimination in the military, is in post-production and needs your help! The filmmakers are sort of friends-of-friends, and both fantastic people and incredibly talented. This project definitely deserves support.

- Ladies and gentlemen, the sarcasm font.

- The whole Orson Scott Card and Hamlet's Father thing hasn't escaped my attention. I've not read it, and I'm not particularly eager to do so, even for science. I was actually trying to figure out how to talk about it when I saw Jim C. Hines' excellent post about the issue, and about Card's own statements. So, er, there you go. What he said.

- Growth of 'mystery' wishing trees in Portmeirion. Just how much premeditation goes into sticking a coin into a tree trunk, anyway? "Don't mind me. I'm just carrying this hammer around in case someone's got a nail that needs to be attended to..."

- Mother of transgender girl points to adults as main source of bullying. I think it's easy to forget the role of adults in bullying, that they can be even more active participants in it than their children, and even be the ones directing the effort. They can also be the ones laying a solid framework for it, as in the Anoka-Hennepin school district in Minnesota, where "neutrality" clauses really just mean gag orders that hurt kids.

- In better news, the NCAA is continuing to refine its policies for transgender athletes. Things don't always move as fast as we'd like, but it encourages me to see some of the changes happening in higher ed and athletics.

- I've joked around here and there about how the GOP and the Tea Party want to kill my mom. It's sobering to hear that in Ron Paul's case, that's actually not far from the truth. He -- and the people who cheered him on -- would most assuredly let her die rather than assure she has access to medical treatment. It also pretty much ensures I won't be voting for him and his ilk in the near future. Say what you will about the Obama administration, but at least they believe my sole surviving family member should continue breathing even if she's poor.

- NASA is working on a rocket that could take us to Mars in 20 years. I am so excited about this I can hardly breathe. Please, please let me live to see this work.

- At The Economist, one of the best articles I've seen yet about why the panic mongering and name calling about Social Security is flawed. Drama is fun and it gets more attention, but I'll trade it any day for a steady, government-guaranteed income when I'm retired, thanks.

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