Sorta like the Spice Girls if spices were SSRIs

modern social media should stop offering "sync with your phone contacts to follow them" options and start offering "block all your phone contacts so they never see your account" options

This is one of those works of art that sticks with you forever. My partner and I first saw this comic years ago and quote the “okay, but like…” in our dogs’ voice several times a week.

I do love that every dog owner who has ever seen this just immediately goes “using that forever”

@vocabulary-altering-posts ?

Y’all “critical thinking” does not equal “criticism”.

I am very tired of saying positive things about characters and getting told I need to do some critical thinking (so that I’ll see the characters are actually bad). No. That’s not how that works. I already did some critical thinking and came to the conclusions that these characters are wonderful. Criticism or straight up character bashing is not more enlightened and is not how critical thinking works. “Critical thinking” is not “thinking about all the bad or problematic aspects of something.” It’s looking objectively at evidence, looking at context, recognizing and examining personal biases and assumptions, considering what assumptions and biases are being used in a given argument by other people, etc. Sometimes this process brings up criticisms, yes, but sometimes it also leads to the conclusion that something is actually good despite it being made out to be bad. 

Also criticism is not synonymous with lambasting, haranguing, and being a shitstain to others. I'm sorry your parents made you internalize that but criticism and critique is actually a function of mutual dialogue and not you shouting insults at people for not interpreting something the exact same way as you.

This is kinda ominous ngl

Gotta compliment him on his reflexes. No hesitation. Just described exactly what he was seeing, regardless of what it was.

[VD: A weatherman is giving a report and pointing to a map, saying "feel like temperatures really take a tumble too, because after the storm-" before he is interrupted by the screen going black and then displaying a picture of some baby spinach. He says, "um," then immediately points to the screen and confidently announces, "this is baby spinach." /End VD]

“Uhura never had another name during the series. One of the fan writers wrote “Upenda” - which means “peace” in Swahili, I understand — not officially, but in some of their fan writings. And it sort of took hold. But when they were going to do the official history of Star Trek in a published book, the writer called Gene and asked him was “Uhura” her first name or her last name? Gene said, “Well, Nichelle and I never decided.” We always leaned towards it being her last name because it’s taken from the Swahili “uhuru” which means freedom. So it would sort of be like the same as “Freeman.” So he said, “You can make it her last name.” The writer said, “What about her first name? I’ve come up with one in Swahili. It’s Nyota.” Gene said, “I can’t give you that permission because Nichelle and I named her together, and she has rights to that, so you’ll have to call her and get her permission.” So he gave him my number, and he called me and I laughed and was delighted. He said, “I have a name and it’s Nyota.” I said, “That’s quite beautiful. What does it mean?” He said, “It means ‘star’.” I said, “You can have my permission!” So I have since said that her name is Nyota Upenda Uhura, which would mean a free-floating star: “star of freedom and peace”. I like that.”    — NICHELLE NICHOLS

Had a conversation earlier about whether Temeraire counts as Young Adult, and I feel fairly confident no, it's adult fiction. Not to say it's not perfectly approachable by teenagers-- in fact, I believe a great deal of adult fiction is, that's why we teach it in schools-- but just that I think that was Novik's intention, and its born out by its language, style, and primary themes. All that said-- if we can imagine an alternative version of the series entirely from Temeraire's POV, and that has the potential to be the purest YA that ever YAed. "Hi, my name is Temeraire. No last name, I don't need one. I'm named after one of the most magnificent sailing ships ever, because my captain won my egg in naval battle. Egg? Oh, I suppose I forgot to mention; I'm a dragon. In fact, I'm the only black dragon in all of Britain. My captain-- who's a gentleman, by the way-- and I went to a special dragon training school. The other dragons made fun of me at first because I look different, but I earned their friendship by showing off my keen intelligence, combat prowess, and my special sonic blast abilities that no other dragon has. Now I'm on a journey across the ocean, because it turns out I'm a secret Chinese prince. But despite by noble lineage, I refuse to stay only to enjoy those royal luxuries-- British dragons are being discriminated by a system that views us as little more than rabid animals, and I must lead my fellows to revolution!"

Sometimes you try to write one research paper and your subjects inform you that you will be writing an entirely different one.

Crucially important to include the classic article "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" (1956) in this collection. It's very short. Read it.

@kittybroker she has socks

The one and only singular sock kitty now hitting the market all on their own for only $18.96!