doubleadrivel:

radialarch:

incidentally, this is still the single most hilarious anecdote re: apollo astronauts i have come across

Apollo 13 was halfway to the moon before Swigert realized he had not flied his income taxes and that he would be quite unable to do so before the April 15 deadline. The subject came up as scientist-astronaut Joe Kerwin was reading the Sunday morning news: “Today’s favorite pastime across the nation—Uh oh, have you guys completed your income tax?”

Swigert radioed, “How do I apply for an extension?” Mission control exploded with laughter. “It ain’t too funny, things happened real fast down there and I do need an extension. I’m really serious…”

“You’re breaking up the room down here,” Kerwin said. A few minutes later he assured Swigert that there wouldn’t be any problem: an automatic extension is granted to anyone who is out of the country at tax time.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

(via johanirae)

silversarcasm:

I hate people who are like ‘appreciate disabled people because they have a lot to teach us!’

like I am not your damn life lesson, I don’t exist for you and your support should not be on the condition that you get something from us

(via academicfeminist)

amireal2u:
“ berniesanderscanwin:
“ So I keep seeing those awful misogynistic Bernie supporters on Facebook and Reddit harping about Hillary Clinton’s $600 haircut, and I honestly couldn’t believe it. I mentioned that, you know, the $600 also covered...

amireal2u:

berniesanderscanwin:

So I keep seeing those awful misogynistic Bernie supporters on Facebook and Reddit harping about Hillary Clinton’s $600 haircut, and I honestly couldn’t believe it. I mentioned that, you know, the $600 also covered hair color, with foils, probably a straightening or smoothing treatment, and an incredibly complex layered haircut. And STFU about Hillary’s hair anyway, there are plenty of legitimate things to criticize her for. But then, it hit me. 

Men honestly don’t know about any of that. Men actually believe Hillary’s hair grows out of her head looking like in the above photo. They think someone cuts it for her and she pays $600 for that because she’s an idiot, and then she goes home and washes it with shampoo, goes to sleep, runs a comb through it in the morning, and then that’s how it looks! They honestly don’t know the things women, any women, do to make their hair look the way it looks. Presumably many of these men have wives or live-in girlfriends, yet somehow they’ve never noticed. Like, they think blondes are all actually blond. They think our hair is naturally shiny and curly in the right places. Seriously, go find a cishet guy, show him your flat iron, and ask him what it is! He won’t be able to tell you. 

It’s just like all those memes guys post on Facebook of the girls with and without make-up. Like, the joke is they take her swimming on the first date because otherwise they would think she actually looked like that. Like they see contouring and metallic eyeshadow and pink lips and they think that’s what our skin does naturally. They are shocked and disgusted to see what women really look like! Good lord, no wonder Hillary Clinton and every other women in the public eye spends a lot of money on her hair. You’ve got to keep up that illusion because otherwise the hetero boys get very confused and pissed off. 

This has been an incredibly eye-opening revelation for me. 

Let’s talk about exactly what Hilary (or any other woman running for office) is probably paying attention to that men would never think of.

1. Her skin. Let me tell you, if she gets that smooth base and general decent thickness for her age naturally without help I’d be shocked.  ASIDE from that, she wears makeup regularly which means she has to have some sort of skin care because otherwise her face would be a fucking nightmare. Assuming she doesn’t get a professional run down more than once a year, and assuming (because of her age, financial standing and public appearances) a preference for mid to high range products, there’s easily $450 worth of product that touches her face over the course of 2 days. And that is assuming an average of $35 - $55 per product. And yes, some of those things are completely worth it.

2. Her eyebrows. Those are likely professionally done at least a hadnful of times a year. By her age she probably has a good idea what does and doesn’t work and maintenance on her own with just tweezers is pretty easy. It’s how I work. BUT that’s still 2- 3 appts a year at a place that has the least likelihood of fucking her face up for a few days at a time (you can easily have a reaction to the wax and look like a clown). PLUS tweezers and a few other tools. The cheap ones of those never work anyway. So assume $50 per couple of years just for those plus the appointments. I’m not denying that men often get a bit of the same treatment but no one is going to react nearly the same way than to a female public figure daring to let it all grow out.

3. Her makeup. At her age, it can be difficult to achieve a natural looking face. Fine lines and wrinkles can really screw with even your favorite formula. Good mascara and lipstick is also worth a bit of a splurge. For formal affairs she probably has a pro come in now and then, but she’s also been a professional public figure for long enough that she can do her own makeup. Even assuming only one or two high end products that’s easily a $250 shell out over 2 years. Which is the max you tend to want to keep a product anyway. Male politicians get madeup for camera and maybe to hide a pimple and usually it’s not their personal makeup stash but something that belongs to or is hired by their office or campaign.

4. Her hair. That ain’t no wake up and roll out of the door cut. So she needs a pro cut every 6 - 12 weeks. A pro color touchup slightly less often. That picture has her with a coloring that can really stretch without looking poorly maintained. Add onto that a good shampoo/conditioner. Styling products and styling tools. Prepping hair even 4 times a week for heat and style can be hugely damaging without doing it properly.

5. Her jewelry. Unlike her male counterparts, who can get away with a handful of tie clips and cuff links, Hilary has to match her outfits, not seem too thrifty nor too expensive. She has earrings and necklaces and bracelets and probably more than one watch.

6. Her nails. Odds are she maintains them herself, but I’d wager she needs them professionally done more often than you’d guess.

7. Her clothes: While men on the campaign trail can get away with 5 suits, 10 shirts and 4 specially picked out ties, I’m very sure Hilary can never win. She’ll be too “masculine” too “feminine” to “sexy” too “Serious” too everything and never enough of anything. If she shows up in the same pants suit twice in a week, there absolutely some asshole willing to equate that with someone being unfit to lead.

(via starklyjd)

lupinatic:

theywereinseparable:

I really hate this post bc i really disagree with it and I think it makes a bigger impact that a Hufflepuff was the Hogwarts Champion than if a Slytherin was bc Hufflepuff is the house that is treated the worst in canon (and in fanon too). Malfoy says he would rather leave Hogwarts than be in Hufflepuff and Hagrid says that Hufflepuff is full of duffers (or something like that). So I really think it was a big deal that Cedric (a Hufflepuff) was the Hogwarts Champion bc really Hufflepuffs deserve way more recognize than they get by everyone.

Yes! The whole point was that in-universe, Hufflepuff got so little recognition or respect that even a House defined by its adherence to fairness seemed to feel is was kosher to mock Harry because they believed he was hogging the spotlight. In terms of the narrative, Slytherin might have gotten the short straw, but in-universe, Hufflepuff was the house of the despised, the disrespected, the ‘also-rans’. Cedric being the champion had been the ray of hope for them.

(Source: autistichansolo)

wonderfulworldofmichaelford:

thesylverlining:

twofistin:

menderash:

37q:

did anyone ever actually read animorphs or did we all just glance at the covers and assume it needed no explanation on the way to the goosebumps section in our elementary school library

animorphs is a scifi series about the grey morality of war and child soldiers experiencing trauma, depression, PTSD, being frequently and brutally dismembered, disemboweled, literally tortured to the brink of death, forced to murder their own family members with their bare hands, and on page 22 of the very first book they watch the alien prince who gave them their ~wacky animal morphing powers~ scream while be eaten alive in vivid and gory detail

One dude permanently turned into a bird for a while, forgot how to make facial expressions when he was a human and ate roadkill. And that was one of the tamer things.

You know the starfish cover everyone likes to mock especially? The girl beat someone to death with her own severed arm in that one :) 

What the fuck did I miss out on

(via bronzedragon)

It’s actually a little scary sometimes to hear cis straight people talk about how ~hard~ or ~impossible~ LGBTQ+ characters would be to write into their stories.

fandomsandfeminism:

xsexycrazymofosx:

fandomsandfeminism:

xsexycrazymofosx:

fandomsandfeminism:

xsexycrazymofosx:

nationalistjack:

fandomsandfeminism:

Like, the topic of LGBTQ+ representation comes up and you get responses like this:


“How could I ever write this character without them coming off as incredibly phony? I spent all the research and effort I could just to write for lesbians and I already had to make conceits for them not working the same way in my particular book-world; as a cis white guy, if I have to go further than that then I’m just pulling it out of thin air! Nobody’s going to respect it, least of all me.” 

And “You ask a cis, heterosexual white female to write something she probably had no clue about” … “you have to try understand that not everyone knows how to write trans and gay people.” 

(And yes, these are real, actual, word for word quotes)

and I’m just like…

We aren’t aliens? We’re people? Like normal, regular people?

Like, why is acknowledging the fact that we exist some difficult, herculean chore for cis straight people? Where does this bizarre lack of empathy and inability to see us as human come from? 

Like, I’m bi. But amazingly, I’m able to write CIS STRAIGHT characters just fine. It’s not a problem for me? I don’t find cis straight people to be some unreadable otherworldly enigma whose inner machinations are unknowable. 

So why? Why is it so unrealistic for us to expect cis straight people to be capable and willing to portray US in fiction and to portray us WELL? 

Why is that scary? Its someone literally saying that they have difficulty accurately portraying LGTBQ characters in their stories.

If that scares you then you need to grow up

Listen, I’m straight and i don’t write about LGBT characters because im not a lesbian or bi so i cannot write about LGBT people because im not one of them. You think its easy but when you have no idea what they think or experience its hard. And if you are complaining about how other people write THEIR stories, you need to get off the internet or go write your own version of it with gay or bisexual characters.

Ok, but I’m a bi woman, and I’m able to write stories that have straight men in them.

How is that possible? How is it POSSIBLE that I know how straight men think or experience the world when I’m not one of them?

Because I HAVE written a book, and it’s not filled with white, cis, bisexual women from central texas who are oldest children and literally nothing else. I am capable of creating characters who are both similar and different than I am.

It is a skill that human beings are capable of. 

yes but you are BISEXUAL so you are attracted to both sexes, plus you know how many writers get ripped on for adding gay characters in their story because they are either stereotypical or the author is not gay/bi themselves? You can write the mind of a straight man because you are attracted to girls AND boys and if you wrote a straight character you can still relate to them! Write your own fucking story and quit crying about representation when that SHOULD NOT BE THE POINT OF THE BOOK! If you write about bi or gay characters good for you! Don’t be telling other writers what to do with their talent! I’m a straight woman, i do not see anything attractive about other women so i DO NOT know what a lesbian or boy thinks about a girl in a sexual way, go write your stories but stay the fuck away from others if you can’t handle people not writing it for YOU! You can write all you want about them, but im not going to write about gay or bisexual characters and act like i know what they think and experience.

Are you seriously telling me that you are incapable of writing a straight male character? Because you don’t know what is attractive about women.

Because this is a hell of a ride.

actually im saying that you can’t know what a gay or bi person thinks or goes through everyday if you aren’t one. And yes its possible to write ABOUT them, but its difficult when you aren’t one yourself. I put them in my stories for representation, but i do not write ABOUT them because im not one of them. Some writers can do that, i cant its a weakness and if people think thats a tragedy, get over it every writer has a weakness and ive tried to overcome it but can’t. I will also quote the person whos response was the best because she is a writer as well and knows how difficult it is to write about someone who is different from you ‘ When a female writer write a male perspective, you have to get into the male mindset. If you are white and you want to write a non-white character you have to get into a different mindset. If you want to write a character that was abused but you yourself were not abused, its a different mindset. Writing a character that you don’t identify with is a challenge and almost all writers have done it at least once. So I would think other writers would be more understanding of that. ‘ So there. I never said don’t put them in your story, i just said its difficult to write about someone that is different from you. Once again, if you don’t agree, find another story to read or write one yourself.

So wait.

You’re saying that YOU, as a straight person, CAN’T know how a bi person thinks or goes through everyday, because your mindset is fundamentally different. 

But I, as a bi person, “can still relate” to straight men because I am attracted to women like they are?

Do you not see the disconnect there?

And, as I TOLD YOU, I have written stories. I’m working on my second book.

alder-knight:

cosetties:

i really like the advice “write marginalized characters but don’t write about marginalization unless you experience it” 

absolutely i think cis people should expand their horizons and write trans characters, but they shouldn’t write stories about being trans. likewise i think allistic / NT authors should write about autistic characters! but not stories about being autistic. 

represent us. absolutely. but don’t tell our stories. let us do that.

YOOOOOOO. This is an excellent distinction!

(Source: lalaleliana, via lupinatic)

wordsandshadows:

treksmix:

Okay but I’ve been thinking about the massive backlash over Channing Tatum being cast as Gambit, and just about the Tatum-hate in general, and I’m just gonna say it: I think it’s sexist. 

Remember when Channing Tatum first came onto the scene and he was in that Nicholas Sparks movie and then he was in Magic Mike and women were all about the Channing Tatum life? Then you got men saying, “Blegghh Channing Tatum sucks, he’s not a good actor, he’s a dumb jock-type, what about real actors” 

I think the main driving force behind that original wave of men saying, “Channing Tatum is stupid, only girls like him because he’s hot, he’s not even a good actor, blah blah blah” was backlash against him because women liked him. It’s the same reason Dirty Dancing is sneered at by film critics and labeled a dumb chick flick, but Saturday Night Fever is classic Serious Cinema. 

Channing Tatum isn’t a bad actor, he gave critically acclaimed performances in Foxcatcher and Magic Mike both. He’s not stupid: (That all-female Ghostbusters you’re so psyched about? He’s one of the main producers and backers. He also produced Earth Made of Glass with his wife, which is a major, award-winning documentary about the Rwandan genocide, 21 Jump Street and the sequel, which had massive box office grosses, and Magic Mike was literally based on his life. It was his idea, his story, and he co-wrote). He’s not an idiot by any means at all, and the fact that he has ADD and severe dyslexia make the whole “stupid buff guy” stereotype people associate with him kinda sketchy. 

Anyway, after men started lashing out against him because he was popular with women (and Lord forbid something women like be considered quality), then you got women saying, “Well, I just don’t think Channing Tatum is attractive.” or “I don’t like Channing Tatum, I like ~real actors~” and it was all permeated with an underlayer of “…not like those dumb, bimbo other girls.” It’s the same shit as, “I just don’t get along with women, I get along with boys better.” It’s a subtle, maybe even unconscious way of saying, “I think like you, boys, please accept me. I’m better than those girls, please don’t treat me the way you treat them.”

TL;DR: Channing Tatum is a recovering alcoholic and former sex worker with ADD and severe dyslexia who is frequently unfairly lambasted just because he has the audacity to be popular with women. 

here’s a gif of him feeding a puppy soup. please examine your life choices.

a) channing tatum seems like a sweetheart and yeah, actually he is a good actor so anyone being bitchy can shove it

b) Just gonna leave this here http://the-toast.net/2015/02/04/channing-tatum-boyfriend/

(via yea-lets-do-this-shit)

abstractcontraption:

onlyfoolsandvikings:

onlyfoolsandvikings:

this happens to me every single time i am sick to death of seeing the same thing

why are you reblogging this oh god please don’t

Because you’re right

(via amusewithaview)