effex | Dec. 1st, 2010

* Today's the first day of Hanukkah! Happy holidays to everyone who's celebrating.

* Today is also World Aids Day.

* As well as the 55th anniversary of Rosa Parks refusing to move to the back of a bus.

* Speaking of WAD, via the BBC: Pope's condom views clarified by Vatican.

* Daily Pill Greatly Lowers AIDS Risk, Study Finds. Not perfect (and I'm weirded out by their test demographics), but there seems to be potential here.

* Meanwhile, things with North Korea continue to be tense. Does anyone know of a column or blog to watch for good analysis? Right now all I've got is the BBC and Al Jazeera.

* EDIT: From Ask a Korean (thanks,

troisroyaumes!): North Korea's Shelling of Yeonpyeong-do -- What You Need to Know

* I could swear I already linked to this but it's in my notes (and bears repeating), so: Governments Remove Sexual Orientation from UN Resolution Condemning Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions. In other words, the UN has a resolution that 'urges States to protect the right to life of all people, including by calling on states to investigate killings based on discriminatory grounds'. Sexual orientation was on the list of 'discriminatory grounds' for 10 years. They voted it off, 79 to 70.

* More on the TSA:

axelrod points out how bad current procedure is for trans people and links to resources.

dopegirlfresh talks about the complexities of the situation.

compilerbitch dissects the safety issues.

*

kalichan has an essay up on fandom, love, fail, and justice.

deepad has a tangential thought.

* Labrys, a LGBT organization in Kyrgyzstan, is accepting donations to help build a safe house.

* On politics.co.uk: The hypocrisy of the media attack on Wikileaks

* The Zombie Network: Beware 'Free Public WiFi'.

*

glockgal has a tutorial up: Drawing Characters of Colour.

*

angelgazing is hosting a pan-fandom cuddling meme!

* Reasoning with Vampires, for all your Twilight snark/educational writing guide needs.

* The