Linkstorm: Gays and Science

Gay Stuff
God bless South Korea. If you have a hard time remembering which Korea is the "good Korea," South Korea has the bars where you can platonically rent attractive young men.

It's no surprise that in its waning days, the regime of Husni Mubarak used sexual harassment and rape in an attempt to silence female protestors. What's exceptionally shameful is the way that Egyptian citizens have continued this practice after his removal. Say some of the offenders, "It's the way girls dress that makes guys come on to them. The girls came wanting it - even women in niqab" before continuing to explain that a tight niqab indicates a woman wants their attention.
Lest you think it only happens in other countries, the...cocked-up legal status of Native American lands means that they rely on the federal government to pass legislation to protect them. Legislation that isn't coming.

Thankfully, the Veep is talking seriously about how college campuses need to change their attitudes on how they treat sexual misconduct. Because it is a problem.

After fighting it tooth and nail, The Boy Scouts release list of child abusers. Still don't let gays in.

As strange as it is, I like bringing up violent domestic altercations between gays because it means we're just like straight people in so many respects. Yeah, you can say it.

Science
A guy who's heard everything happening in his body for the past forty-four years, can finally rest, walk, and even blink in peace. All because of a tiny hole in his ear. Humans are amazing and fragile things.

According to the Congressional Research Service, a lighter tax burden for the wealthy doesn't improve the health of the economy or employment. It does make rich people richer and keep not-rich folks from becoming rich. So, if that's something you want, lower taxes are better.

In Europe, they're testing aggregate drug use by examining sewers. It's a really clever idea and I'm glad someone though of it. I would love to see something like this happening in the US. I mean, given time we'll use it for prosecuting drug offenses, but I'd much rather be seeing science.

Kickstarter is being sued because the project they provided fundraising services for infringed on the patents of someone else. I can see how they could be held responsible for not vetting every project that's put on their site. However, there should be a case made that sites that act as public forums for users to share information, like Ebay, Kickstarter, and YouTube, should be given some consideration. If you play copyrighted music in a park, I don't think it's right to sue the park. If you trust someone with a public area and they use it break the law, holding you accountable either creates the necessity for you to constantly monitor their behavior while using it. That system would demonstrate zero trust between you and your users and necessitate an amount of observational mechanism that would make use by the general public difficult--if not impossible. By demanding Kickstarter vet each of its projects, the potential exists to make a gated community out of what was once a way for good ideas to get public support outside of entrenched industry an experiment in democratic capitalism.