Links for 2012-03-19

What do YOU think are the top science questions the candidates for president should answer? We’ve posted the original 14 from 2008, preceded by their question numbers, and users have added others. Vote for those you feel are most important, add comments, or add your own! Check back often to vote on the new questions.

The Parent-Teacher Association’s decision to raise the price of a cupcake at its monthly bake sale — to $1, from 50 cents — was supposed to be a simple way to raise extra money in the face of city budget cuts. Instead, in a neighborhood whose median household income leaped to $60,184 in 2010 from $34,878 a decade before, the change generated unexpected ire, pitting cash-short parents against volunteer bakers, and dividing a flummoxed PTA executive board, where wealthier newcomers to the school serve alongside poorer immigrants who have called the area home for years.

Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away. (Malachi 2:15-16) When was the last time you looked at this verse? It’s used all the time, in the Message and in evangelical culture, to justify opposition to no-fault divorce and the rising trend of multiple marriages. “God hates divorce” is the mantra of many Christian conservatives. But have you ever thought about what this verse actually means? How did a verse that so obviously tells men to be kind to their wives and not to leave them destitute become a verse that tells women they have no right to leave an abusive marriage?

Whether you think of him as Commander Riker, Number One, or Beardo Numero Uno, there’s no denying the omnipresence of William Thomas Riker in the collective consciousness of science fiction fans. We’ve watched him grow a beard, lean on people’s consoles, put his leg up at in appropriate times, and sometimes murder helpless people in cold blood. And when you start to break it all down, Riker’s kind of a creepy weirdo. Here are 5 reasons why he’s a little scary, and why he probably wouldn’t have friends in real life.