Early Wednesday morning (6-7AM), there was a total lunar eclipse, an event where the whole of the moon turns a kind of reddish-orange. I was awake to see it, but despite my best efforts, it eluded me. According to Scientific American, the next full lunar eclipse won’t occur until the summer of 2015.
In addition, the New York Times reports, “Supreme Court Delivers Tacit Win to Gay Marriage.” The decision to not-decide will clear the way for gay marriage in several states, all of which had potential cases up for review.
In international news, Nobel laureates have been announced in several fields this week. Did you know that you could bet on the winners? The New Yorker ran a piece this week detailing the phenomenon. Thursday, French author Patrick Modiano was announced as the 2014 Nobel Laureate in Literature. The Telegraph praised his “language of loss.” The Paris Review offers tips on “How to Win the Nobel Prize.” Writing for Melville House publishing, Zeljka Marosevic noted, “Before the Nobel Prize for Literature is announced, judge takes a moment to slam American authors.” On another front, the Nobel Peace Prize was announced today: The BBC reports that this award will be shared by Pakistani child education activist Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian child rights campaigner.
You’ve probably read or watched a debate between Bill Maher, Ben Afflect, and Nikolas Krisof. In response, Reza Aslan offered an opinion piece that explains, “Bill Maher Isn’t the Only One Who Misunderstands Religion.”
While there is plenty of violence and conflict out there in real world, as it turns out, hate and negativity can be just as prevalent in virtual spaces, something many women on social media have long known. The Atlantic reported earlier this week on social media and the dangers of being female.
Unless, as Time reports, you work for Microsoft, where according to CEO Satya Nadella, karma rules all: accordingly, gender discrimination must be a fiction, there is no such things as a wage gap, and simply trusting the system will insure that talent will be recognized and merit rewarded. ReadWrite followed up on this story and Nadella’s “bad advice,” which he has since tried to clarify on Twitter: “Was inarticulate re how women should ask for raise. Our industry must close gender pay gap so a raise is not needed because of a bias” (screenshot in the article).
The video for the week is an oldie but goodie: Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” (live and unplugged):
[Creative Commons licensed image by Flickr user Everett]
