As a general rule, I try to avoid linking to sci-fi author Orson Scott Card's essays. There's nothing quite so depressing as finding out that an author whose work you admired as a kid turned out to be a frothing homophobe. However, his most recent rant in the Mormon Times seems to be attracting quite a bit of horrified attention, mostly from folks who seem to know nothing about the man, other than that he wrote Ender's Game.

It's a shame that the values so highly praised in the Ender series have been completely ignored by its creator: tolerance, compassion and the embrace and acceptance of differences. kiji_kat points out that Marvel Comics is now being criticized for their association with him.

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quixotickitten notes that Facebook's new interface is available to members here.

Cool facts: Looney Tunes' Marvin the Martian's likeness was depicted in miniature on both the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, which NASA sent to Mars. Also, a Marvin the Martian movie is in the works. (gleaned from cleolinda's massive 'upcoming movies' linkspost.)

Talking Terminator Salvation with McG

Urban Baby

Gizmodo: An Illustrated Guide to Every Stupid Cable You Need

NSFW, but funny

The New York Public Library has posted a photo archive of over 25000 menus from 1850-1930, a collection created by Mrs. Frank E. Buttolph. Very cool stuff.

"The dumbing down of science" at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.

Transcendence. (It's a PC-based game, available for download)

"Fast Food Apartheid": A law barring fast-food restaurants from opening in South Los Angeles for at least a year sailed through the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday. The council approved the fast-food moratorium unanimously, despite complaints from representatives of McDonald's, Carl's Jr. and other companies, who said they were being unfairly targeted.

“C is for Cookie”

jinwicked creates the comic “Crap I Drew On My Lunch Break” Very cool. :)

kiji_kat points out “The Crying Game: Despite a celebrated history, Native American Transgenders struggle in the modern world.”

Time: Best of 2005: Television. (BSG made #1: “Most of you probably think this entry has got to be a joke. The rest of you have actually watched the show.”)

25 Most Interesting Webcams of 2005

PopSci: 15 New Tech Concepts for 2006

The Health Care Blog

Wordspy is devoted to lexpionage, the sleuthing of new words and phrases.

MSNBC: The Year in Pictures 2005

Space Imaging

Via blinkytreefrog: Ruined Endings. (movie spoilers) and YesButNoButYes: Outrageous Firsts in Television History

Librivox is a project to record public domain literature and make it available for free in podcast and sound files.

Veteran character actors Vincent Schiavelli and Martin Vale have died. John Diebold also died yesterday.

The Needies. (Didn’t we all date someone exactly like this? The appeal fades pretty rapidly.)

Music Licensing and television show dvd’s. (Why WKRP will never be released on dvd.)

Cooking Times for all types of meat


Politics
A post in conservatism on Snoopgate: “Some myths about the recent wiretapping scandal.”

Juan Cole has posted the Top Ten Myths About Iraq in 2005. Comments below the post are also worth reading.

The next NYC Transit Strike should be on or about January 15, 2009. (That’s when the new contract will expire.)