what is justice?

Me: the little rainbow flag Captain Holt keeps on his desk

A little sketch comic about how bisexuality is totally cool and good and not bad.

The format is cliché!  I know.  But it makes it easy to talk about things I want to talk about.  Thanks for reading!

My wife is trying to start up a bakery which would specialize in alcohol-infused pastries (up to 5% alcohol by volume) in a smaller college town. Of course she’ll also offer more traditional cakes, pastries and pies too, but she thinks alcoholic products will make her really stand out.

She’s had a hard time getting start-up funding from banks and decided to try crowdfunding. https://www.gofundme.com/green-fairy-pastries

Rewards include: recipes, 1-on-1 cooking classes (in person or over webcam), and even food shipped to your door. 

I’ll go first

Like, you know how many times I’ve been talking to a guy and I’ve already decided that when we hang out I’d down to mess around, only for the guy to start talking super graphically or send me a picture of his dick–and then literally all desire I had for him went out the windows.

Media blackout: The DAPL protests are still going strong because the pipeline is still being illegally built

Water protectors celebrated Christmas as the fight against the pipeline continues into 2017.

Despite Christmas day bringing harsh winter conditions, Dakota Access pipeline water protectors have continued their fight and brought in the holidays together.

Almost all of North and South Dakota were under blizzard, ice storm or winter storm warnings on Sunday as meteorologists forecast wintry weather for central U.S.

The National Weather service warned that the freezing weather would make ground travel near impossible and could hamper the holiday travel plans for millions across the United States. But this has not deterred the estimated hundreds of water protectors at camps braving the weather.

December has been a particularly brutal month for protectors at the camp. Many decided to leave after an earlier blizzard left more than half a foot of snow and strong winds whipped the protest site.

Water Protectors opposing the US$3.8 billion project, celebrated Christmas by creating pathways of lanterns across the camp and tried to stay warm with campfires and propane heaters.

Earlier in the month, the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference raised close to US$5,000 worth of donations including essential items for the cold as well as toys for children that were delivered to the Standing Rock camp.

“We all should be spending time with our families. Our children share the same breath and the same future. Their great-grandchildren will look at these days with smiles. We all live peacefully for their good lives,” said Lee Sprague, who is currently living in the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ camp, told Native News Online.

Standing Rock Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II, thanked the water protectors who “came to the camps and put their hearts, minds, and bodies on the line,” and “the millions around the world who expressed support from afar,” in a statement via Facebook on Sunday morning.

“As we pivot our focus towards pressuring the new administration, we take this time to acknowledge that we would not have gotten here without your incredible show of support. We will do our very best to honor you, and fight onwards in solidarity,” Archambault continued.

I’m going to point out some weird things about @projecttrinity‘s upcoming visual novel “Women of Xal” in relation to this site.

1) It’s an upcoming Kickstarter bound otome game that very obviously is PoC / People of Color & WoC/ Women of Color centric. We’ve got a bi female lead with several romancable women. And it’s in a harsh matriarchal society ready to give some brutal parallels to our own. Being helmed by a very capable and snarky Black writer. The two programmers are women. The artists are women. The singers are women. One of the animators is a woman. AND THERE’S TANGIBLE QUALITY TO IT! I thought we’ve been asking for more projects like this for years now. But Tumblr has been the most quiet of the four sites it’s updating on??? (Youtube, Facebook, LemmSoftForums, Tumblr) 

2) How are hateful anons finding this project before everyone else? Why are we letting Black creatives feel like the anon has a point about Tumblr not caring? Isn’t this site notorious for propping up content like this? Where are my feminists at?!

Like, I truly get it: Most of you will have only just heard of this. And Tumblr didn’t make it easy in the first place. Tags and timing are madly important. But so are reblogs and follows! You’re reading this now - there’s nothing truly stopping you from showing that anon the middle finger. For every time WE DON’T JUST ‘HEART’ A CREATIVE’S POST and reblog/follow their content, we prove hateful anons like this wrong. And every time we prove them wrong, we send an encouraging message to other minorities who want to share their passions with the world, but face that uphill battle.

And hey, the writer clearly has faith in this site still:

You can find out more about the project here.

Or, better yet, follow, and support the team here!

the greatest authors that were and ever will be are white men

every great philosopher came out of europe

mathematics and science were at their highest point when used by white men

the most beautiful city in the world is paris

colonialism was a golden age

Dearest creature in creation, Study English pronunciation. I will teach you in my verse Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse. I will keep you, Suzy, busy, Make your head with heat grow dizzy. Tear in eye, your dress will tear. So shall I! Oh hear my prayer. Just compare heart, beard, and heard, Dies and diet, lord and word, Sword and sward, retain and Britain. (Mind the latter, how it’s written.) Now I surely will not plague you With such words as plaque and ague. But be careful how you speak: Say break and steak, but bleak and streak; Cloven, oven, how and low, Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe. Hear me say, devoid of trickery, Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore, Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles, Exiles, similes, and reviles; Scholar, vicar, and cigar, Solar, mica, war and far; One, anemone, Balmoral, Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel; Gertrude, German, wind and mind, Scene, Melpomene, mankind. Billet does not rhyme with ballet, Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet. Blood and flood are not like food, Nor is mould like should and would. Viscous, viscount, load and broad, Toward, to forward, to reward. And your pronunciation’s OK When you correctly say croquet, Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve, Friend and fiend, alive and live. Ivy, privy, famous; clamour And enamour rhyme with hammer. River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb, Doll and roll and some and home. Stranger does not rhyme with anger, Neither does devour with clangour. Souls but foul, haunt but aunt, Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant, Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger, And then singer, ginger, linger, Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge, Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age. Query does not rhyme with very, Nor does fury sound like bury. Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth. Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath. Though the differences seem little, We say actual but victual. Refer does not rhyme with deafer. Fe0ffer does, and zephyr, heifer. Mint, pint, senate and sedate; Dull, bull, and George ate late. Scenic, Arabic, Pacific, Science, conscience, scientific. Liberty, library, heave and heaven, Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven. We say hallowed, but allowed, People, leopard, towed, but vowed. Mark the differences, moreover, Between mover, cover, clover; Leeches, breeches, wise, precise, Chalice, but police and lice; Camel, constable, unstable, Principle, disciple, label. Petal, panel, and canal, Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal. Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair, Senator, spectator, mayor. Tour, but our and succour, four. Gas, alas, and Arkansas. Sea, idea, Korea, area, Psalm, Maria, but malaria. Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean. Doctrine, turpentine, marine. Compare alien with Italian, Dandelion and battalion. Sally with ally, yea, ye, Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key. Say aver, but ever, fever, Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver. Heron, granary, canary. Crevice and device and aerie. Face, but preface, not efface. Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass. Large, but target, gin, give, verging, Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging. Ear, but earn and wear and tear Do not rhyme with here but ere. Seven is right, but so is even, Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen, Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk, Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work. Pronunciation (think of Psyche!) Is a paling stout and spikey? Won’t it make you lose your wits, Writing groats and saying grits? It’s a dark abyss or tunnel: Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale, Islington and Isle of Wight, Housewife, verdict and indict. Finally, which rhymes with enough, Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough? Hiccough has the sound of cup. My advice is to give up!!!

Source [x]

An interesting point is that you can make a “mistake” in the rhyme and still be correct in your intent - for example,

Face, but preface, not efface. Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.

The poem-correct version of bass (”base”) refers to voice-pitch or musical instrument (the bass guitar, bass drum or indeed double bass. Here’s an idle thought, what’s a single bass, another name for a cello?) but then there’s bass (”bahss”) the beer, species of fish or wood.

Then you start getting into regional or social changes, for instance mauve - the poem-correct pronunciation is “mawv”, to match gauze (”gawz”), but I’ve also heard it as “mohv” (considered to be more nobby, but regarded as more snobby).

Not in the poem but heard on TV tonight: a talking-head on a documentary saying that eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes was “secretive” - meaning inclined to keep secrets. I’d pronounce that as “seecretive”, as in “seecret”, yet the TH pronounced it “secreetive” which seems derived from secrete (”secreet” = what glands do).

However compare discreet (careful, diplomatic, understated) and discrete (distinct, individual, separate) - which ARE pronounced the same.

English is confusing, and never more so than when pinching from foreign languages: you’ll hear and see “Viola!” (a sort of cello, also a Shakespeare character’s name) when what’s meant is “Voilà!” (Look here! or Behold!).

As for the sofa-thing sultry heroines lounge on, it’s a chaise longue (literally, a long chair - shays longguh, more or less) but I’ve heard and read jays and chase long, lounge, and even lawn - which is amusing, but hardly ever because the writer meant it that way.

Then there’s the odd US adoption of the French word “jus”. It means “juice” - orange juice is “jus d’orange” - and “boeuf au jus” means beef-with-juice, garnished only with its own pan and carving juices, or a light gravy based on them. An “au jus gravy” (with–meat-juices gravy”) is a clumsy construction, yet “gravy au jus” (”gravy with-meat-juices”) isn’t. And the French Dip beef sandwich served “with au jus” means “with with juice”.

So when I had a beef sandwich from the last of the Christmas roast and dressed it with the remnant of the rather good pan-juices, cream and Jameson’s whiskey sauce, I was having an Irish Dip with O’Juice…

you almost say seven but the answer floats in your lungs like rising mud. you shift your shoulders. some part of you is already forming an excuse. that it’s not that bad sometimes. one, two, three on a day that the clouds are out. you’re just complaining about stuff. yesterday you laughed past a brick of a four, does that make the brick come down to a two-point-five.  the solid seven panic attack of last tuesday feels somehow like a little thorn, just a regular day full of a gentle three-point-nine earthquake rocking after yesterday’s close-to-an-eight. see but if tomorrow you have a real bad day, it will make today look simple.

and what if. what if tomorrow it’s a big old red eight-point-nine. like one of those days where sirens are going off in every part of you but you’re stuck behind a glass window watching it all burn down. like one of those days that your skin against the air feels foreign. like too much of everything. like sitting-in-the-shower, like can’t-eat, like the tide isn’t just coming in, it came while you were sleeping and now you’ve gotta learn how to swim. like bounce me against a bullet hole kind of day.

you keep numbers like nine and ten way out of reach. those are for the people who really are suffering. you’ve got no excuse. nine and ten are funeral numbers, for real problems, not yours, no. and sometimes you’re fine. and you’re kind of used to it. and it’s not sad, it’s just numb like a television caught on static. numb like i can’t remember if i care about this. numb like nothing works but i can’t be bothered to fix it. that’s not sad that’s every day stuff. everybody feels like this, right? feels like they’ve been shut off. right.  

maybe five. right in the middle. like not gonna shoot myself but i’m not wasting your time. a nonanswer. like could be worse could be better. like i need help but i don’t want you to worry even though i need someone to worry about me because i can’t worry about myself. maybe five. but what if five is too small. what if five is too big. what if -

In the wake of Carrie Fisher’s death four days after she suffered a massive heart attack, one thing that was reported by some news outlets was that she had been in “significant distress” on the flight. We don’t know the exact details of this, but in my experience as an EMT, it often means “hysterical woman having a panic attack and thinking she’s dying…*woman dies* …oops, guess she really was dying.” 

It is SO IMPORTANT to remember that many women present in what medicine considers an ‘atypical’ manner for heart attack, but it actually IS typical…for women. Women are more than twice as likely to die from cardiac emergencies, not because our physiology is that much different than men and thus gives us a worse chance at survival (it’s actually better if treated promptly and adequately), but because our symptoms are more likely to go unrecognized or to be dismissed entirely.

Thus, please take a moment to review and pass on this list of cardiac distress symptoms as seen in women: 

Shortness of breath - This is the most common one. If a woman, especially one without prior history of respiratory issues or shortness of breath, seems to be having trouble catching her breath and/or complains of such, pay very close attention. If she continues to feel winded after sitting or laying down, it’s probably time to call for help.

Feeling of impending doom - This can range from a sense of general unease to a full-blown panic attack. This one is extremely important, and is the symptom most commonly disregarded by doctors and hospital staff. If a woman tells you that she feels ‘not quite right,’ or like something terrible is about to happen, or that she’s about to die, LISTEN TO HER FFS. 

Nausea and “indigestion” - Also common. Heart attacks frequently present as a feeling of vague nausea or indigestion, but unlike typical heartburn, antacids and other OTC treatments will not alleviate the symptoms.

Hiccups - Unexplained hiccups, especially if seen with any of the other symptoms listed above, can be indicative of heart muscle that is being acutely or chronically starved of oxygen.  The exact mechanism isn’t known, but it’s thought that the enzymes released by the dying muscle irritate the pericardium and adjacent diaphragm, causing spasms in the healthy muscle. 

Fatigue - This is another commonly seen symptom, and is often overlooked or ignored as just transient tiredness. Many women having a heart attack will complain of feeling “flu-like” symptoms of nausea, sweating, fatigue, and shortness of breath, and they’ll lie down for a nap and never wake up. 

Lightheadedness - A feeling of being lightheaded or about to faint isn’t terribly uncommon in many benign conditions, and many women experience it on a monthly basis. However - be aware when it appears unexpectedly or unexplainedly, and/or with one or more of the other symptoms on this list. 

Sweating (diaphoresis) - Heart attack does funny things to the sympathetic nervous system, which is behind reflexes such as sweating and hiccups. If a lady is experiencing unexplained or excessive sweating, pay attention to anything else that might be going on with her. 

Tingling or numb extremities - A feeling of numbness or “pins and needles” tingling in the extremities can be an important sign that cardiac function is being impaired and those body parts aren’t receiving enough oxygen. 

Peripheral and/or central cyanosis - Often accompanies tingling or numbness, and is considered a later-stage symptom of cardiac distress and heart failure. Finger and toe tips will turn pale or blue first, and lips and gums after that. Important to remember that darker-skinned women may present cyanosis as ashen, grey, or darker purple rather than pale or blue. 

Back pain - Pain between the shoulder blades, in the cervical spine, or even further down in the torso or lumbar region can be a symptom of heart attack. Alone, it isn’t that suspicious, but if it’s unrelenting and presents with any of the other symptoms above, keep a watchful eye on things. 

Classic “crushing” or “tight” chest pain or pressure - Women DO experience this classic pain, too, just not as frequently as men do. This may be due to our higher pain threshold, or differences in blood volume, or maybe we’re just not sure because nobody’s bothered to really study it. Whatever the reason, some women do still experience the crushing or tightening pain, and others may experience less painful pressure or tightness that doesn’t seem to be relieved by anything.

All too frequently, cardiac events in women are misdiagnosed for the reasons listed above, but also because we live in a culture where women’s complaints are simply not taken seriously. Unfortunately, the medical community is no exception.

NEW VIDEO: Helen Magnus & Nikola Tesla | oh take me back to the start… ♥