In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Murder; domestic violence; video may autoplay at link] In a follow-up on one of yesterday's items, the man who posted pictures of a murdered woman to 4¢han has turned himself into police and has been with "second-degree murder involving domestic violence." My condolences to the friends and family of Amber Lynn Coplin. Goddammit.

[CN: Abuse; stalking; domestic violence; homophobia; misogyny] This is a video of Bill Nye the (Evo Psych) Science Guy essentially urging nightmare paparazzi outlet TMZ to go stalk two women he doesn't like. It's difficult to sum up briefly, but it appears that the actor Robert Picardo filed for divorce from his then-wife in 2012. In July of this year, they were involved in a domestic violence incident which resulted in her getting a restraining order against him. In August, Picardo went to court to try to get her to "stop spreading gossip" about him and Nye having an affair. Now, three months later, when asked a totally unrelated question about being afraid of spiders, Nye tells reporters they should instead be going after Picardo's ex and his own ex (with whom he has a troubled history as well, which may involve her being physical against him and/or him being emotionally abusive to her). I have never heard a peep about Nye's troubling history with women, but, as soon as I shared this story with friends, a female scientist noted he's a guy about whom she's heard whispered warnings from colleagues. In the middle of the Jian Ghomeshi story, it feels important to mention this.

[CN: Clergy abuse] Today, the Chicago Archdiocese is expected "to release internal files of more than 30 priests who church officials found had sexually abused children" and detailing "how the archdiocese dealt with abuse allegations during the past six decades." Or didn't.

[CN: Violence] Fucking hell: "Drummer Phil Rudd of Australian rock band AC/DC whose hits include 'Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap' was accused Thursday of trying to arrange two killings as well as possession of drugs. He appeared briefly at the Tauranga District Court in his adopted home of New Zealand and was charged with attempting to procure murder, which carries a maximum prison term of 10 years. Rudd, 60, was released on bail. One of the conditions is that he must not have any contact with anyone involved in the alleged plot." Sure. He seems trustworthy.

[CN: Class warfare; food insecurity] Just like Jesus would do: "Last month, Ft. Lauderdale city officials passed a new measure to crack down on people feeding the homeless. On Sunday, two days after the new law went into effect, Arnold Abbott, 90, a longtime advocate for the homeless and regular volunteer at a local soup kitchen, was arrested for the crime of giving food to the needy. He now faces up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine. ...In an interview with Local 10, he recounted the experience. 'One of the police officers said, 'Drop that plate right now,' as if I were carrying a weapon,' said Abbott."

Neat! "A 248-million-year-old fossil of an ancient reptile found in China is the oldest known member of a well-known group of marine reptiles, and may have lived both on land and in the sea. The specimen is a primitive type of ichthyopterygian, a group related to ichthyosaurs, which are large marine reptiles that dominated the world's oceans after the Permian-Triassic extinction. In that event, which occurred 252 million years ago, up to 96 percent of marine animals and 70 percent of land animals went extinct. The recently discovered fossil provides new evidence that ichthyosaurs evolved from creatures that lived on land, researchers say."

This is probably the cutest thing you will see all day: A baby makes her first attempt at crawling, while the family dog watches. Stay tuned for the ending!

This baby sea otter learning to swim is definitely making a strong play for cutest thing of the day, though!

And so is this snuggly, hugging cat! I DECLARE IT A TIE! YOU'RE ALL WINNERS!!!