I am a feminist. I have marched at the barricades, subscribed to Ms. magazine, and knocked on many a door in support of progressive candidates committed to women’s rights. Until a month ago, I would have expressed unqualified support for Title IX and for the Violence Against Women Act.
But that was before my son, a senior at a small liberal-arts college in New England, was charged—by an ex-girlfriend—with alleged acts of “nonconsensual sex” that supposedly occurred during the course of their relationship a few years earlier.
What followed was a nightmare—a fall through Alice’s looking-glass into a world that I could not possibly have believed existed, least of all behind the ivy-covered walls thought to protect an ostensible dedication to enlightenment and intellectual betterment.
It began with a text of desperation. “CALL ME. URGENT. NOW.”
That was how my son informed me that not only had charges been brought against him but that he was ordered to appear to answer these allegations in a matter of days. There was no preliminary inquiry on the part of anyone at the school into these accusations about behavior alleged to have taken place a few years earlier, no consideration of the possibility that jealousy or revenge might be motivating a spurned young ex-lover to lash out. Worst of all, my son would not be afforded a presumption of ...
A Scottish politician has been charged with a hate crime for criticizing Muslims in a series of "Islamaphobic" text messages sent after the terror attacks in Paris.
Scottish National Party Councillor Craig Melville allegedly messaged an "unnamed female Muslim activist" within his party and told her, "It's not personal I just f*cking hate your religion and I'll do all in I'm life do defeat your filth."
Another read: "And in your favour we live in an uneducated left lift loopy left wing society who is more interested in claiming benefits and being ignorant to the threat of your horrible disease which is a make believe c*nt in the sky."
"Horrible murdering Islamic c*nts."
Metal foams are light and surprisingly tough. Actually, make that very tough: In this video, a composite metal foam turns an armor-piercing bullet to dust on impact, as if it were a piece of chalk.
The experiment was performed by researchers from NC State, led by Afsaneh Rabiei. It saw a M2 armor-piercing projectile—0.3 inches in diameter—being fired at a lump of metal foam. Rabiei explained to PhysOrg what happened:
“We could stop the bullet at a total thickness of less than an inch, while the indentation on the back was less than 8 millimeters. To put that in context, the National Institute of Justice standard allows up to 44 millimeters indentation in the back of an armor.”
Which, wow.
These metal foams can be made in many different ways. Some are manufactured by bubbling gas through molten metal, while others cast metallic alloy around hollow metal spheres to provide voids.
Either way, metal foams—which have existed in one form or other for decades now–seem to finally be coming of age.
I am a feminist. I have marched at the barricades, subscribed to Ms. magazine, and knocked on many a door in support of progressive candidates committed to women’s rights. Until a month ago, I would have expressed unqualified support for Title IX and for the Violence Against Women Act.
