You might remember when Astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper lost her toolkit while fixing the International Space Station. Well, the wayward tools are now in orbit, and visible through a telescope:
The space shuttle goes about 17,500 miles per hour in orbit, so that’s a good ballpark estimate for the current speed of the toolkit. To wit: that’s one speedy socket wrench. Via Giz.
As the old saying goes, Wednesday’s child is full of woe. But is it? Is it really? Let’s find out.
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This is too disgusting for words. Almost.
The Carleton University Students Association (CUSA) has cancelled Shinerama, an annual fundraiser for the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Why?
…the motion read that orientation week strives to be inclusive and volunteers should feel like their fundraising efforts are serving a diverse community.
However, the motion went on to say that “and whereas cystic fibrosis has been recently revealed to only affect white people and primarily men, be it resolved that: CUSA discontinue its support of this campaign.”
This is insanely idiotic for two reasons. First, it’s not true. Cystic Fibrosis (which is an incredibly horrible disease, by the way) affects just as many women as men. And, by virtue of genetics, affects caucasian populations. This includes people from South Asia, North Africa, the Persian Gulf and Israel.
Second, it is based upon a thoroughly revolting mental exercise. Namely, that if a given charitable exercise affects people who have a different skin colour than me, then it’s not worth doing. If this principle were applied generally, even the dimmest individual can imagine the horrendous consequences. An earthquake flattened a place where the people look different than me? Let ‘em die. A murderer is attacking someone with a different skin colour than mine? Let ‘em die. Because that’s what happens when you have CF. You die.
And I can’t help but think if this motion were directed at a charity that benefitted a non-white or non-male group, it would never have passed. I am well acquainted with the monstrous history of racism in the world, much of it perpetrated by white males. But I refuse to believe that the diseases that affect me, or my children, are somehow less important as a result. If you’re against racism, believe moral principles to be universal, and not a total moron, you have to find this sort of thing totally outrageous.
This is political correctness gone insane. Rather than promoting equality, this divides and encourages the worst kind of essentialism. I encourage everyone who reads this story to do something. Blog. Write a letter. Email. Just let the alleged leaders at CUSA know this kind of thing is not acceptable.
If any of you are looking for a last minute birthday gift for your favourite recalcitrant blogger, may I suggest the following:
Awesome. I could stay warm and fight crime. My two favourite things!
The shrieking death harpie of the far-right, aka Ann Coulter, broke her jaw recently. It is now wired shut, and she can’t talk.
Saints be praised! How I’ve prayed for this day.
I declare an international holiday. Her crazy views and obnoxious man-voice will trouble us no more. Or at least for the length of her recovery. The effects of a mute Coulter have been immediate. I woke up this morning, and already the world seemed less shrill. So go outside, have a political discussion, and marvel at the lack of invective, ad hominem attacks, and thinly-veiled racism.
We should do this every year. Not break her jaw, but contrive some reason why Coulter can’t speak for six weeks. Everyone needs a vacation from this:
It’s my birthday. How will the world celebrate?
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And they made an ad about it, complete with bad production values and embarassingly rigid acting:
Yes, thank you Sarah Palin. Thanks for speaking to the lowest common denominator and making dumb people feel better about themselves.
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