Quickies: Corporate Christian America, Stories from Baltimore, and Blatant Sexism from a Scientific Journal

• Sexist peer review elicits furious Twitter response, PLOS apology – “A peer reviewer’s suggestion that two female researchers find ‘one or two male biologists’ to co-author and help them strengthen a manuscript they had written and submitted to a journal has unleashed an avalanche of disbelief and disgust on Twitter today — and prompted an apology from the journal’s publisher.” From Amy.
• Amy Schumer’s ‘Girl, You Don’t Need Makeup’ Is the Song of Summer – A boy band discovers the the “natural look” is much better when you have makeup on.
• The Invention Of Christian America – “?They say politics makes strange bedfellows, but if you were to hear that wealthy businesspeople have taken up with conservative Christians, you probably wouldn’t be too surprised — just think of Hobby Lobby. Has it always been thus? Not according to Kevin Kruse, Princeton historian and author of One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America. Per Kruse, the cozy relationship is more recent than many of us might think.”
• Female McMaster professors getting a pay boost – “The university will boost the base salaries of female faculty by $3,515 per year starting on July 1. The increase comes after a joint study between the university and the faculty association determined that female faculty make that much less than their male counterparts.” From Dan.
• How One West Baltimore Principal Helps Her Students Make Sense Of It All – “Code Switch reporter Shereen Marisol Meraji is spending Wednesday with a West Baltimore principal who’s charged with a huge task today: helping her middle and high school students, who are overwhelmingly poor and black, make sense of what’s happening in Baltimore right now.”
• Game of Fear – “What if a stalker had an army? Zoe Quinn’s ex-boyfriend was obsessed with destroying her reputation—and thousands of online strangers were eager to help.”
• This is Why Black Widow got Slut-Shamed – “Black Widow is strong, awesome, as good as or better than her male peers and deserves your respect. And yet, somehow, Jeremy Renner and Chris Evans, Johansson’s co-stars, didn’t get the memo.” (The article is on Playboy.com, so NSFW.) From Amy.
• Baltimore ‘looting’ tweets show importance of quick and easy image checks – “Anyone who has ever asked me for tips on content verification and debunking of fakes knows one of the first things I always mention is reverse image search. It’s one of the simplest and most powerful tools at your disposal. This week provided another good example of how overlooked it is.” It’s a good reminder for everyone to check your sources. Also, wow.
• This man is painting penises on potholes so the council has to take action – “On one of the photos on his Facebook page, the activist explained that one pothole had been there for eight months without being filled in but after he drew a penis on it, the pothole was fixed in less than 48 hours.” Haha, brilliant. Also, NSFW. From Daniela.
• Stacey Dash Owned By Meredith Vieira After Calling Wage Gap ‘An Excuse’ – “While appearing as a guest on an episode of The Meredith Vieira Show that airs today, Stacey Dash had plenty of uninformed things to say about the lack of equal pay between men and women.” Hey ladies, if you’re not making enough money, stop complaining and start working twice as hard as a man for the same salary! Easy, right?
• Taking Back Skepticism – “The main driver of climate science denial is political ideology. People averse to the solutions to climate change that involve regulation of polluting industries are more likely to deny there’s a problem that needs solving. Ideology decides the conclusion, and then any conflicting evidence is rejected.” In this article, John Cook links to a MOOC on “Making Sense of Climate Science Denial.” Check it out if you’re interested!

BONUS: If you’re looking for a new podcast to listen to, check out the Mad Art Cast!

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