The Dirty Bits

Female booties, late 19th century 

I’ve always found the romantising of a racist and pro-slavery (to him slavery was a “matter of necessity” - Lord Melbourne, 1779-1848 by LG Mitchell ),classist, manipulative, agenda driven, PEDOPHILIAC (look it up, it is true. sick fuck he was) using person a little wrong. Sorry Goodwin, but your Lord Melbourne is a thinly veiled joke. Take her inaccurate Melbourne with the numerous sprinkling of inaccuracies–from the age Victoria found out that she was to be queen and who woke her up that fateful morning, to who protected her from a violent mob (It was Albert, not Melbourne, who near took a bullet for Victoria.–and the light, unexciting, mediocre writing and you got this book.

After having seen the tv series first, all that I could conclude is that Goodwin is a sort of Julian Fellowes want to be, creating a watered down infusion of his brilliant “The Young Victoria” with a splash of “Downton”. As a novelist, Goodwin is less of a Hilary Mantel (“Wolf Hall”) and more a Philippa Gregory (only without the entertaining, albeit wild, storylines/writings).

Goodwin’s bizarre insistence that Lord Melbourne–a man who used Victoria to promote his own agenda, which went horribly awry when Victoria took his advice; who Victoria repeatedly calls a father figure up to and after her wedding, praising his very fatherly ways; and who was 60 and the teenage princess was crowned at 19–were in romantic love just very disrespectful. Also can someone tell me how Melbourne buying a teenage prostitute resembling his teenage protegee to have sex with is somehow romantic?

Then Goodwin has a strange vendetta against Prince Albert, whom Victoria did take a shine to during his first visit (instead, in Goodwin’s lore, she found Albert a bore and ugly). Victoria’s diary entry on the night of her wedding puts to complete rest any of the claims of Goodwin:

“I NEVER, NEVER spent such an evening!!! MY DEAREST DEAREST DEAR Albert … his excessive love & affection gave me feelings of heavenly love & happiness I never could have hoped to have felt before! He clasped me in his arms, & we kissed each other again & again! His beauty, his sweetness & gentleness – really how can I ever be thankful enough to have such a Husband! … to be called by names of tenderness, I have never yet heard used to me before – was bliss beyond belief! Oh! This was the happiest day of my life!” “Victoria is the treasure on which my whole existence rests. The relation in which we stand to one another leaves nothing to desire. It is a union of heart and soul, and therefore noble.” - Prince Albert And particular shade at Melbourne, “The next day she (Victoria) pulled down some of her old diaries, perhaps to recall Lezhen’s part of her life, and came to a passage in 1839 where she had written of her ‘happiness’ with Melbourne. Now, with both Melbourne and Lezhen gone she noted ‘1st October, 1842. Wrote & looked over & corrected my old journals, which do not now awake very pleasant feelings. The life I led then was so artificial & superficial, & yet I thought I was happy. Thank God! I now know what real happiness means.’" ( Uncrowned King: The Life of Prince Albert by Stanley Weintraub, page 136.)

An important Christian site has just been discovered in Cyprus with mosaics which bear clear inscriptions in Greek, according to an Athens Macedonia News Agency (AMNA) report.

The excavation, conducted on the Akrotirio peninsula by the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus, began in 2007. The twelfth round of excavations has now been completed, and its findings are being recognized for their great historical significance.

The recently-uncovered mosaic, which is in excellent condition, bears the Greek inscription, “Lord, help those who fear Thy Name”.

The archaeological site includes a complex of two temples, totaling about 100 meters (300 feet) in length, on either side of an atrium, with areas to the south and east remaining to be investigated.

Queen Victoria Meme (by @queensvictorias) | Photographs or portraits [2/7]

During the Festive Season all around Greece you will find Christmas boats (karavakia) decorated with lights and ornaments, which are very traditional and symbolic.

“We are having very exciting times here among the girls. Fanny is nearly dieing because Egbert has been paying quite a good deal [of] attention to Zella, who she has taken a great dislike to all of the sudden and we think mostly from jealousy. Egbert is a very popular young man just at present. I don’t blame the girls for liking him but it seems too bad to have a division among the girls. Fanny doesn’t like to have anything to do with Zella.”

That’s pride alright lmfao

“When I was growing up, my parents spoke to each other in Spanish, but they didn’t speak to us in Spanish because they were told not to. In school we weren’t allowed to speak it.”

and also???

“… But America is the only country that promotes monolingualism. Here it’s English, English, English. Every other country makes their children learn a second language very early on. So as my political and social activism grew, I was like, ‘I really need to learn Spanish.’ So I did.“ 

idk how many people i’ve known growing up in texas whose parents speak fluent spanish but they don’t speak a lick solely because their parents were afraid or told not to teach their children. it’s unspeakably common and doesn’t in any way shape or form diminish someone’s claim to or pride in their heritage. 

The Piehole Whiskey girls

As this week is Transgender Week of Awareness (12th - 19th November) I felt it was a good time to bring awareness to some of the more well-known transgender scientists that changed science. Trans people have always been apart of scientific discovery but like most minorities within STEM have struggled to gain recognition for their contributions.  

Alan Hart (1890–1962) |  Epidemiology 

A Yale-trained epidemiologist, radiologist and physician, Hart one of the first trans men in the US to undergo a hysterectomy and live openly as a man, taking testosterone treatments when they became available after World War II. Hart also become a prominent figure in the fight against tuberculosis, which at the time was the leading cause of death in Europe and the US. He graduated with a medical degree in 1912 and later in 1928 received a master’s degree in radiology. He eventually became an expert on tubercular radiology and published several articles on X-ray medicine and its use in the detection of tuberculosis and went on to gain another master’s degree in public health in 1948. 

Hart then served as the director of hospitalization and rehabilitation at the Connecticut State Tuberculosis Commission and continued to dedicate his professional life to tuberculosis research. 

Ben Barres (1954 - 2017) | Neuroscience 

Barres was the first openly transgender scientist in the National Academy of Sciences in 2013 and talked openly about his experience of sexism pre-transition and advocated for better gender equality within science. Barres research focused on the interaction between neurons and glial cells in the nervous system. Barres showed that the gila, which at the time were often dismissed by neurologists as simple the support structure for the brain, had important functions in helping neurons to mature and producing connections between memory and learning functions. This discovery revolutionised neruobiologists understanding of the brain. 

Barres also went on to mentor many young scientists and repeatedly spoke about the systemic barriers and biases that kept marginalised groups such as women, poc and LGBT people, from succeeding or furthering their careers and research within science. 

Sophie Wilson |  Computer Science

Sophie Wilson is a British computer scientist who is known for designing the Acorn Micro-Computer, the first computer sold by Acorn Computers. She also designed the instruction set of ARM processor which is used in 21st-century smartphones and is considered one of the most important woman in tech history.  

Lynn Ann Conway | Computer Science

A pioneer of a number of technological advancements and inventions, Conway is an American computer scientist, electrical engineer and inventor. She first worked at IMB in the 1960′s designing a super computer and is credited with the invention of generalised dynamic instruction handling, now used by modern computer processors in order to improve performance. She was fired after she revealed her intention to transition and was denied access to her children. 

After she transitioned she restarted her career and authored the Mead & Conway revolution in VLSI design, that was considered groundbreaking work that quickly become a standard textbook in chip design. 

Joan Roughgarden | Biology 

known for her critical studies on Charles Darwin’s theory of sexual selection and LGBT biology, Roughgarden is an American ecologist and evolutionary biologist, having published over 180 scientific articles and books. Roughgarden has carried out ecological studies on barnacles, Caribbean lizards but is most known for her published book critiquing Darwin’s sexual selection theory based on the fact it fails to answer and consider animals which do not follow traditional sex roles of intrasexual and intersexual selection. She was met with bitter and  vitrioli criticism from other scientists for publishing such views, to which she was not surprised. 

Roughgarden went on to publish a second book further pointing out over 26 phenomena which the current sexual-selection theory does not explain, and instead suggests the social-selection theory. She continues to make analytical studies that social selection is a more credible explanation.

Honorable mentions to these transgender scientists: 

Audrey Tang

Angela Clayton

Kate Craig-Wood

Mary Ann Horton

Christa Muth