What I’ve Been Reading: April 7

Rebecca Watson tweeted: Apparently this is what a religious holiday means at an abortion clinic.

Africa’s third female head of state ever. Awesome. Joyce Banda in Malawi.

Part of a letter from a person in Iowa City:

“Calling the Affordable Care Act “ObamaCare” was clearly coined as a derogatory reference to health care reform.”

Problem: Obamacare might possibly have been coined as derogatory, but these days it’s just an abbreviation. Just like every other bill spoken about by the general public seems to earn a nickname, Obamacare earned a nickname. The Affordable Care Act might only be three syllables more*, but it doesn’t roll off the tongue nearly as well, and writing it out is rather a pain. Nicknames aren’t necessarily derogatory. Focus on something else. (Is Romneycare considered derogatory? Because I figure that’s just an easy nickname as well.)

Nuclear Grrl’s “atheist me” is rather eloquent.

Oh, good, the author remembered to include Bella on her list of pathetic female film characters.

“Selling You On Facebook” The amount of data collected about us is creepy.

I’ve always thought this is how we should think about sex:

“Four of 10 males between 15 and 19 who had not had sex said the main reason was that they hadn’t met the right person or that they were in a relationship but waiting for the right time”

The author of this article is right,

“But maybe more American boys are now waiting because they have gained cultural leeway to choose a first time that feels emotionally right. If so, their liberation from rigid masculinity norms should be seen as a victory for the very feminist movement that Rush Limbaugh recently decried.”

I don’t think it needs to be regulated, and I’m not sure class-action is the right thing to do, but concession prices are ridiculous. I go to movie theaters rarely these days because the tickets themselves cost twice as much as they did 7 years ago, and because even if I want popcorn or an icee, I can’t usually bring myself to drop more money on them. I just don’t get why they charge so much.

Clean hydrogen? This is kind of cool. Of course it seems like we’ve heard it all before. I guess we’ll find out in coming years.

I can’t resist including more puppies.

*three, right? I can do math…