Tuesday roundup

Boko Haram is still bringing hell to Nigeria.

Ireland is still treating pregnant women as subhuman vessels.

Yes, culture can discourage sexual assault.

Yes, yes, yes, this is what I've been saying all along: food security is not just about food production, and technology isn't going to affect distribution. I was disappointed to see DNLee retweet someone's uninformed sancti-scientist sentiment that it's dangerous to suggest we can feed 7-9 billion people with century-old technology, but it's not, because what I just said about technology, production, and distribution. See food waste. See Amartya Sen. See food security 101: it's not about food; it's about access to food.

Speaking of Twitter, it's both sad and comical when people don't realize that #notofeminism (ironic misandry is here and it's awesome) is a parody account (sad because there are enough earnest statements of equally ridiculous logic that nothing surprises anyone anymore; funny comical just because). But since I've followed it/retweeted it, I think some genuine anti-feminists have followed me. We'll see how that proceeds.

Oh and Doree Lewak's column is dumb beyond words and I'm not even going to link to it.

This article is sloppy and all over the place (surprise!), but transparency about food additives is an important issue. Why is it sloppy? It conflates additives and main ingredients (see: quorn); doesn't define its terms (what's processed? is pasta processed?); and doesn't distinguish between allergens (which are dangerous to some) and toxins (which are generally dangerous, but in a dosage-dependent way). In both cases, labeling is of the essence, but it would be good to be clearer.

Oh, Sainsbury, that's just stupid.

I know it's beneath me, but oh the schadenfreude that the McDonnells bring out in me! I keep thinking I'll get to the point where I'll just feel bad for them, but it hasn't happened yet.