That is lovely for your cousin. Truly, it lifted my heart.

Actually, I'm not saying that reporting on it is making it an issue. The "us vs them" comes from both sides, and both sides should be held responsible for how they respond to one another. I'm not mad that Christian (thanks for the quotation marks, by the way) parents want their kids to be a part of a religious…

I'm not saying everyone's worldview is right or good, but parents are allowed to choose how to raise their kids. What's important is what happens when those kids grow up and are able to think for themselves. And the tragedy comes when that isn't allowed to happen. It's not perfect, but it's what we have to work…

My little cousin joined the American Heritage Girls. She tried to join the Girl Scouts but she has prater willi syndrome. She's 9, she's a little behind developmentally and a little hard to understand but otherwise pretty much normal. They met with her and then told her mom that she "wasn't a good fit" and they…

The old "every religious person is a molester rapist" trope. That didn't take long.

I grew up in Christian Girl Scout alternatives, this is absolutely nothing new. I was a Pioneer Girl and later (after an out-of-state move) a GA (an abbreviation I can't remember the full meaning of). I realize there are many problematic things in evangelical Christianity today (seeing as how I am still involved in…

How is this new and why are you surprised by this? The Baptists have had Awanas since 1941. Assemblies of God started Missionettes in 1955 and Royal Rangers in 1962. Seventh-day Adventists have Pathfinders, founded in 1928. All of them have badges, sashes, guide books, rules, camps, and pledges. (all equally…

Floating nuclear power plants were seriously considered off the coast of New Jersey in the 1970s: http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/the-american-p…

It's no Hadfield photo, but that's still amazing. I wonder if it's possible to take an unimpressive photo from the ISS.

Might not immediately come to mind as an architectural (or engineering if you prefer) disaster, but I would definitely count the Aberfan disaster of 1966 in which a colliery spoil tip (in effect a giant artificial hill made from mining waste) collapsed as a result of it having been built on top of an area of natural…

Man, that Lotus Riverside complex one is terrifying. I remember seeing the photos back when it happened.

I suppose being in a building that collapses downward is probably more terrifying in the sense that you're likely to be trapped and/or crushed by rubble, and combine that with a massive dust-cloud that will ensure…

Wow, that Shanghai collapse is astounding, never seen anything like that before, wouldn't have even thought it was even possible for a building to face plant like that without breaking appart.

So a clown was in a barrel being pulled by geese down a river. Must have been an episode of Jackass from the 19th century.

I thought about adding a couple, though the primary cause of the disasters were weather-related too, but also related to some architectural issues: first is the 1940 partial collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington State. High winds set up a runaway swaying motion that brought down the center section of…

Plywood Palace actually looks nice from a distance. Im sure close up it looked horrible.

I can only imagine what will happen in china. So much construction, and soo many kickbacks and corruption.

The Lotus Riverside collapse is particularly interesting because it looks like the guys who did the structural steel and masonry did great work since the whole building apparently held together while toppling over.