I’m a single guy who uses OkCupid to meet people, occasionally to hilarious effect . I also have a lot of women friends who date online and run in to guys who are pretty horrible. It also turns out that not everyone, male or female, is super skilled at spotting misogyny warning signs. That got me thinking ,which now got you this post.

A lot of these might seem really obvious, but in my experience these red flags are sometimes missed because when we’re looking for romance or sex online we’re often trying to see the best in people because we know that expressing yourself through a profile can be hard. It’s also true that many of these don’t necessarily mean the guy is a creep, but it’s a good idea to proceed with caution when things like this crop up.

I’m gonna let you guys in on a little secret today: science isn’t cheap. There’s a lot of fundraising that goes on to support the research which leads to the treatments that make life on planet earth longer and better. Unfortunately not everything gets the financial backing that it deserves.

What causes do and don’t get funded? Well, it isn’t always as impartial as you’d hope. Helping men past their prime get it up obviously isn’t a very pressing concern, but the prevalence of 80 year olds with limp dicks and disposable income prompted the creation of Viagra over treatments for say… for Sickle Cell Anemia, which is actually life threatening (unlike erectile dysfunction) but tends to effect minority populations disproportionately.

On Wednesday I wrote about a man who was influential in my evolution from stupid and entitled to less stupid and less entitled. Often when I am together with pro-equality, feminist, or social justice peeps we talk about how often we’re disappointed by the prominent men in our communities. Lets be positive for a change.

Who are your progressive male role models? Who has inspired you to be a better person? What particular lessons have you taken from them?

I’m writing this after having learned of the unfortunate and tragically young death of Adam Yauch, better known as MCA of the Beastie Boys. He died on Friday, May 4, 2012 — only 47 years old — from causes related to the cancer he was diagnosed with in 2009. Though only 11 years older than I am, he was one of the men who helped me become a feminist, a progressive, and less horrible over all.

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It is often that I doubt whether or not I truly wish to spend four years of my life here at West Point. The reasons are varied, but the one constant motivator that I have to stay is so that I can be part of the solution to all the issues that I see here. Sasha has been kind enough to give me an avenue to speak out.

Not too long ago I tweeted a link to this video, because I liked it.

Then someone replied that they’d like to see the video about things men actually say to men who say shit to women on the street. They had a real point. There’s a lot of silence from men and women both in response to street harassment. There’s a lot of silence about inappropriate behavior in public in general.

[This article was originally posted on March 16, 2012 ]

So, the Blunt Amendment (full text here ) was voted down two weeks ago. The Blunt Amendment, for those not in the know, would have altered the requirements placed on employers that provide health insurance to their employees so that they would not be required to have insurance coverage that provided services that the employer or the insurance company finds morally objectionable. As spelled out in the amendment itself:

###1) Make Skeptical Events Across the Country Less Alcohol Centric

Imagine you’re a 20 year old who is passionately invested in skepticism. You really want to meet others who feel the same way you do and have enlightening conversations with them! You go online and do a quick look-up of skeptical events held in your area. “Oh hey, Skeptics in the Pub!” you exclaim to yourself. Then it hits you: in the pub… You’re not 21.& “Well fuuuck.”

It’s often hard to keep promoting diversity in the world. The skeptic an atheist communities have a “big tent” that celebrates misogynists that deny the scientific facts of climate change and rewards misogynists that promote dangerous anti-vaccination nonsense but when we talk about how our movements can and should address and support issues unique to women, racial minorities, and the disabled, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans community we are told we’re reaching too far and are out of line. Unless of course foreign brown people are using their religions to hurt those groups.

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After I leave work this evening I’m headed to Berkeley for SkeptiCal 2012 . If you’re in northern California you should really consider joining us. You can watch me drink whiskey in person!

This has got me thinking about skeptic and atheist conferences. What are they for? I’m going to let you in on a secret: When I go to conferences and cons (even science fiction and gaming cons) I almost never go to any programming. I usually average about two hours of official content in a weekend. I go to these things for the community. I go to talk and drink and socialize with people who share my beliefs and values.