Today's Mighty Oak


Alright, let’s see what have today. First up, in cool space news, we have a new atlas of the Solar System!

NASA has also released a stunning photo of Saturn in its summer.

In other exploration news, NOAA is sending divers down a blue hole off the shore of Florida!

A video showing the evolution of the world’s tallest buildings:

Has your mail been slower lately? It’s not your imagination, the new Postmaster General admitted he’s slowing it down. It’s all an effort to discredit voting by mail, BTW.

Don’t come at me with any ‘both-side-ism’ because they are far from each other. The North Dakota GOP had to disavow it’s own platform because they admit that no, gay people don’t ‘infect society.’ Monsters.

In other state political news, Washington State is suing the federal government because they are trying to take away queer rights in regards to healthcare. So yes, things are in fact much worse now.

Back to federal again, Biden vows to allow the military to display pride flags again. With their new ban on Confederate flags (you know, the traitors that killed members of our military), it also banned pride flags (you know, currently serving members of our military).

And in what should cause you endless rage, the administration initially decided they didn’t need to do anything about the global pandemic because it was only affecting ‘blue’ states. Not only are they dumb as fucking bricks, they are monsters willing to literally sacrifice American lives for their own gain.

And some local bad news, protesters at a Pro Police Rally decided to chant about killing queer people. Because no where is actually really safe, sadly.

Okay, some good news. AOC delivered an amazing rebuttal to the lawmaker who insulted her and gave a fake apology. Worth a watch!

And surprise, surprise, the antifa movement has caused zero murders in 25 years.

Okay, pallet cleanser: check out this music video from The Mandalorian:

XKCD examines the habitable campfire zone.

Johnny Walker is coming out with a sustainable, paper based bottle! How cool is that!

A reminder, when we talk about toxic masculinity, not only is it bad for everyone around us, but it’s also bad for men. When we talk about defeating toxic masculinity, it’s also good for the men as well! A new study shows that those more disposed towards those toxic traits are more likely to be depressed themselves.

Okay, and finally, The Muppets take on Hamilton Act One and Act Two!

That’s it for now, have a great one!



Alright, catching up on a bit of a backlog in addition to some current items, but let’s see what we have today. First up, a favorite web comic/series, Surviving the World is returning with classic reposts! Here’s where he ended it. Class Dismissed.

Science news you can use: don’t drink your whiskey ‘neat’:

The United Methodist Church is splitting over gay issues. As someone who has come out of that on the other side, hey welcome, it’s a bumpy ride. Sorry you have to do this, it’s painful.

This fight (is still going on all across the country) happened in September in Arizona. Their GOP governor said they don’t need to extend non-discrimination protections to gay people, and their supreme court said businesses can deny service to gay people. The fight continues, and is seemingly never ending.

In other disturbing news, the Interior Department cut sexual orientation from their internal discrimination policies as well.

I wrote earlier about my displeasure at Marvel (and Star Wars) for LGBT erasure. The upcoming film, The Eternals, will, for the first time, feature a gay superhero (and kiss). Yes, it’s progress. Should it have taken 11 years? No.

In other movie news, the trailer for the new Wes Anderson film looks amazing:

If you haven’t, check out Eastsiders on Netflix. It was an amazing series, and here’s an interview with the creator.

Stranger Things 4 gives us a present from Russia (with love).

In good news, a New York state park will be named for Marsha P. Johnson!

The Church of England said sex is only for straight, married people. Then they apologized for offending people, not actually changing their minds.

Firefighters who got angry comments when they showed their support for the queer community hit back in an awesome video.

NASA is adding a luxury hotel to the ISS. Spoiler, if you’re reading this, you will not be able to afford visiting.

An awesome video from a favorite creator that I’ve been mulling over: death and minimialism:

The Utah Governor pulled the campaign that put AMAZING art on condoms to prevent STIs. They’re all great, and it’s a shame he pulled them.

Speaking of, the UK has seen a massive decline in HIV infections due to PrEP. No surprise there.

The Catholic bishops in Texas have blasted their governor (who is Catholic)over his rule to not accept refugees. I’m highly, highly critical of the Catholic Church, so I have to give them points when it’s appropriate. Good for them.

Disney is announcing more details of their immersive Star Wars hotel for their resorts, and it looks amazing and I can’t wait to go!

Google pretty much hit it out of the park with their Superbowl ad:

And another great ad, this time from Microsoft:



Alright, been a bit, but let’s see what we have today.  First up, would you like the sheet music for the THX deep note?  Here it is.

In the news that has me so excited, Idris Elba is going to start in, produce and direct Netflix’s new, live-action Hunchback of Notre Dame!  Hunchback is my favorite animated Disney movie and in my top five stage musicals so I cannot wait for this!

Overwatch has partnered with You Can Play, marking that non-profits first foray into eSports!

Alone in the Game explores what it’s like to be gay or trans in sports.

Because his is where we all said we were headed: GOP congressmen want to make it legal for people to not sell houses to queer people.  Because fuck this world.

And a reminder, they’re far from perfect, but the Democrats every now and then pull out a great win when it’s needed.  In South Carolina, a clutch filibuster helped prevent an abortion ban from being passed.

A favorite web comic of mine, Surviving The World just wrapped up, but here is his last Pride comic:

The new Smash Bros. looks amazing (although I actually don’t like the art direction on the character models):

And of course, the CDC will roll back the collection of data from queer communities, which will lead to decrease in funding and more deaths from diseases that affect us more than other communities.

I’ll be talking about the Supreme Court decision in Masterpiece Cake in a later post, but this executive order from May is also really, really dangerous.  We’re quickly moving into a world where the few rights I have are being superseded by the ability for people to use their bigoted “religious views” to discriminate against me.  And yes, even if you’re using religion, it’s still bigoted.

Alright, that’s it for now, sorry for all the depressing things, but sometimes, that’s just what the world deals you.  I’ll be back with more soon!

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