Electrons over Chicago. // Cardboard speakers. // Conan the Barbarian: the Musical. // A brief guide to boogers. // The hipster fashion cycle. // Ankle pony boots. // Eyeborg. // Bear rug. // Mandelbox. // Glenn Beck on lost American history. (h/t, dicentra) // “It wasn’t peace activists who liberated Auschwitz.” // Puffer fish. // Ventricle vase. // A collection of miniature heads. // Surfers and swimmers, seen from below. (h/t, Coudal) // Serendipity. // Going down, going up. // For people with partial hands. // At last, waffle lollies. // Shatner does War of the Worlds. 

Readers will recall Amanda Marcotte, a popular leftwing feminist whose wisdom has entertained us more than once. Not least with her famous publishing blunder and subsequent, rather competitive, displays of  racial consciousness. Nor should we forget Amanda’s belief that the inclination to reproduce is a dastardly social construct “preserved” by unnamed villains solely to ensure that women without children aren’t recognised as “complete individuals.” Some may treasure memories of Amanda’s evidence-free claim that critics of academic feminism, among them Daphne Patai and Christina Hoff Sommers, are “trying to oppress women.”

Ms Marcotte’s recent ruminations involve sympathy cards for men and women affected by abortion. Of particular interest to Amanda is the sympathy card for men whose partners have chosen to abort their child-to-be:

The card is question is produced by the Fatherhood Forever Foundation, a religious organisation opposed to current abortion law. Now one might disagree with the motives of the organisation and one might find the cards grimly cheesy and a dubious commercial prospect, but that isn’t what caught my eye. What’s interesting are the reactions of Ms Marcotte and her readers in a post titled Thwarted Sperm Finally Have An Advocate. It goes without saying the Sisterhood isn’t thrilled:

Apparently abortion must be – can only be – an issue of “uterine property” and patriarchal control. After all, what other considerations could possibly be in play?

And,

Because if a woman chooses abortion and her male partner isn’t entirely happy at this outcome, even if he agreed with it and would defend it in principal, he must be a douchebag, a deadbeat or a dick. Such things are simply known by the ladies at Team Pandagon, where righteousness prevails, prejudice is unheard of, and telepathy is commonplace.

With big sticks.

Michael Moynihan on doctrinaire feminists versus The Non-Leftist Other™. 

Strip it of its lame humour and we are left with gender studies Stalinism; feminism is the radical idea that women are people – with political views identical to my own. If you like to “kill stuff” – and I assume, with the Palin hunting reference, that also means animals – one cannot claim the feminist mantle. Do real feminists offer indulgences for those in remote parts of the world, where access to Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s is limited and killing stuff is normal? What about impoverished and oppressed women in, say, Afghanistan who haven’t the time for weekly meetings on anti-racism and criticism/self-criticism sessions on how to be a Bay Area humanitarian?

Charlotte Gore on stupid expectations. 

I invested a lot of time and effort in becoming a bit of a JavaScript Ninja. I could (and still can) make extremely advanced and graphically awesome User Interface widgets for websites. What I discovered is that however worthy this skill might be, there’s no bloody market for it… It turns out what is in demand are people with WordPress expertise, who can write plugins and customise themes to a professional standard. So, hey, I moved into that instead… Should I be entitled to claim unemployment benefit simply because no-one wants a JavaScript Ninja?

And, via Samizdata, Squander Two on asymmetrical warfare.  

Of course fighting out of uniform gives you a huge advantage; of course hiding amongst non-combatants gives you a huge advantage. Such tactics would give anyone — the British, the Israelis, the Americans — the same advantages, yet they don’t use them. There’s a reason why civilised people disallow such behaviour, and that is that every single time you step into battle disguised as just another member of the public, you make Bloody Sunday more likely.

Feel free to add your own.