{"id":20825,"date":"2016-01-14T11:58:14","date_gmt":"2016-01-14T19:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=20825"},"modified":"2016-01-14T12:58:03","modified_gmt":"2016-01-14T20:58:03","slug":"open-thread-and-link-farm-by-grabthars-hammer-by-the-suns-of-worvan-you-shall-be-avenged-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=20825","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread and Link Farm, by Grabthar’s hammer, by the suns of Worvan, you shall be remembered! Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Cartoon<\/a>

Cartoon by Ben Schwartz.<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

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  1. Alan Rickman\u2019s most memorable film roles and quotes – NY Daily News<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Oscars 2016: The nominees are blindingly white. Again. – Vox<\/a>
    \nOf the last 40 actors nominated for an Oscar, 40 have been white.<\/li>\n
  3. The Angoul\u00eame Grand Prix Controversy | Comicosity<\/a>
    \nThere was a big reaction this year when, of the 30 cartoonists nominated for the Angoul\u00eame Grand Prix award this year – a very prominent lifetime-achievement award – none were women.<\/li>\n
  4. Military Strategist Explains Why Trump Leads\u2014And Will Fail<\/a>
    \nBen L. linked to this in the last open thread, and I’m re-linking it here, because it’s really the most persuasive article about Trump (and the 2016 election) I’ve yet read.<\/li>\n
  5. But on the other hand… GOP Nomination Rules Tilt the Playing Field toward Donald Trump<\/a><\/li>\n
  6. Bernie Sanders Could Win Iowa And New Hampshire. Then Lose Everywhere Else. | FiveThirtyEight<\/a>
    \nSave you a click: White liberals are a much larger portion of the voters in Iowa and NH than almost all other states, and Bernie has (so far) only done well among white liberals. (His home state of Vermont is one of the whitest and liberalest.)<\/li>\n
  7. When Teamwork Doesn\u2019t Work for Women – The New York Times<\/a>
    \nA new study shows how female economists get less credit for their work than their male counterparts.<\/li>\n
  8. Republicans in Congress ended the decades-long funding ban on needle exchange programs – Vox<\/a>
    \nOnce in a while the GOP does something right. In this case, I can’t give full credit, because if Republicans had been reasonable the ban would have ended years ago – but at least it’s now effectively ended (at the Federal level anyway), and that’s good.<\/li>\n
  9. Trucks have hit this low bridge more than 100 times, and officials still haven’t fixed it – Vox<\/a>
    \nWhat makes this awesome is that someone who works nearby has set up cams and regularly posts oddly hypnotic films of trucks crashing into the bridge. (Or, more accurately, into the seemingly invincible bridge protection beam the railway set up about a yard in front of the bridge.)<\/li>\n
  10. The Best Facts I Learned from Books in 2015 – The New Yorker<\/a>
    \nDo you know that Aaron Burr’s fire-and-brimstone preacher grandpa was Johnathan Edwards? I didn’t.<\/li>\n
  11. Drive-By Fat Shaming | Dances With Fat<\/a>
    \nDances With Fat discusses that fat joke in the first episode of “Jessica Jones.” I really liked her comment on the “last acceptable” canard.<\/li>\n
  12. Poisoned Democracy: How an Unelected Official Contaminated Flint’s Water to Save Money | Democracy Now!<\/a>
    \nThe story of lead poisoning in Flint is horrifying on so many levels; in the mindless devotion to cost-cutting and ignoring science, and in the way that systematic racism leads to children being poisoned.<\/li>\n
  13. Lawsplainer: Was FAU Prof. James Tracy Fired in Violation of His First Amendment Rights? | Popehat<\/a>
    \nSpoiler: probably.<\/li>\n
  14. Sorry, grammar nerds. The singular \u2018they\u2019 has been declared Word of the Year. – The Washington Post<\/a><\/li>\n
  15. Conservatives have a version of political correctness, too – Quartz<\/a>
    \n“Bashing the left for political correctness has become a popular pastime for many liberals like Jonathan Chait and Katha Pollitt. By declaring your commitment to free speech, you can show your seriousness and relative political moderation. Much of the discussion of political correctness, then, is about inter-left positioning.”<\/li>\n
  16. Harry Potter vs. Huckleberry Finn: Why the British Tell Better Children\u2019s Stories Than Americans – The Atlantic<\/a>
    \nI need to think about this more before agreeing or disagreeing, but it’s interesting.<\/li>\n
  17. Obsidian Wings: How special effects eat characterization<\/a>
    \nIt all comes down to the budget.<\/li>\n
  18. How the Gender Wage Gap Differs by Occupation | Center for American Progress<\/a><\/li>\n
  19. To Live And Die Before A Mirror (For those of you who write military fics)<\/a>
    \nTips for fiction writers who are writing characters in the military. I’m not currently, but I still found this entertaining to read.<\/li>\n
  20. A Roundtable Interview With the Cast of Hamilton — Vulture<\/a>
    \nThis is one of the better Hamilton-related interviews I’ve read, with a lot of interesting thoughts from cast members about how they approach their work. I liked Daveed Digg’s explanation for why he never sees the audience until act 2, but I’ll be obnoxious and make you click through to read it.<\/li>\n
  21. I\u2019m fed up of having to perform my disability | Scope’s Blog<\/a><\/li>\n
  22. In angry, defensive memo, Manhattan DA\u2019s office withdraws bite mark evidence – The Washington Post<\/a>
    \nNotable for one of the most egregious examples I’ve ever seen of lying by quoting out of context – and the liar is a D.A.<\/li>\n
  23. I’m not sure how reliable it is, but this survey of Americans found that <\/a> 24.8% have less than $100 in their accounts; 23.8% have between $101 and $500; 7.7% have between $501 and $1,000; 16.4% have between $1,001 and $5,000; and 27.3% have more than $5,000 in their accounts.
    \nSo the majority of Americans have less than $1000 in savings. I wonder if people who don’t have bank accounts were excluded, or counted in the “less than $100” category.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n