The name Pyewacket has endured in popular culture as a witch familiar or spooky spirit but why isn't there way more fame for their whole gang?? How can you neglect Vinegar Tom or Peck in the Crown, or Jarmara "the fat spaniel with no legs at all," they should all be beloved cultural icons

You know how the CDC has an informal metric using Waffle House? We have that but with drugstores in the wee hours.

like this iconic gown:

or this one from the 1870s in aniline purple and aniline black:

or a trendy yellow and black gown from c. 1865, perhaps?

At the time I made this post I couldn’t find any historical clothing in acid magenta. However, this dress (via the Philadelphia Museum of Art) is probably close, as it’s also an aniline magenta.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Victoria & Albert Museum

The FIDM Museum

Collection Galleira de la Mode de la Ville de Paris

Augusta Auctions

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Little round balls of animated entropy, like a shadow orb with big sharp teeth. They're usually very small, like marble sized, but even those can be dangerous.

What they actually are is not really clear. They're not Outsiders as far as we can tell, or demonic. There's a few theories. The one I like is that they're parasites on spacetime - like the bedbugs in the fabric of reality.

Firstly this is literally cheating on homework (and without context as to what the teacher wants, potentially worse for his grades than just doing the homework himself as there are multiple technically right answers).

Firstly this is literally cheating on homework (and without context as to what the teacher wants, potentially worse for his grades than just doing the homework himself as there are multiple technically right answers).

Apple’s iOS 11 lets you discreetly call for help in an emergency. If you are feeling threatened or are incapacitated, just quickly press the sleep/wake button on the side five times. Your phone will auto-call your local emergency services, and can also send a notification to a contact of your choosing. Source Source 2

Here’s How It Works: When you make a call with SOS, your iPhone automatically calls the local emergency number. In some countries and regions, you might need to choose the service that you need.

This could be very bad. Nosy coworkers and friends could use this to figure out you're taking meds for a mental illness. Women with abusive partners often secretly take birth control to avoid reproductive coorscion, and this would make it really easy for those partners to find out.

Basically there are some things you don't want everyone in any room you leave your phone locked but unattended in for a minute to know. And emergency services may not even think to check your phone, or your phone may be broken or not on you.

From ‘The Adventure of the Three Garridebs’, when Watson is shot: “For the first time, I had a glimpse of a great heart as well as a great brain.”

From ‘The Adventure of the Six Napoleons’, when Lestrade pays Holmes a sincere and heartfelt compliment : “And as he turned away, it seemed he was more nearly moved by the softer human emotions than I had ever seen him.”

From ‘The Problem of Thor Bridge’, when a rich client explains how he tried to seduce his children’s governess: “this young lady was in a sense under your protection…you have tried to ruin a defenseless girl who was under your roof. Some of you rich men have to be taught that all the world cannot be bribed into condoning your offenses.”

From ‘The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger’, after hearing the tragic story of a woman whose face was mauled by a lion; “Then Holmes stretched out his long arm and patted her hand with such a show of sympathy as I had seldom known him to exhibit, ‘Poor girl!’ he said, ‘Poor girl! The ways of fate are indeed hard to understand. If there is not some compensation hereafter, then the world is a cruel jest’ ”

From ‘The Adventure of the Speckled Band’, when speaking with a client whose father is physically abusive: “Five little livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed upon the white wrist. ‘You have been cruelly used,’ said Holmes.”

Also, in “The Adventure of Abbey Grange,” he helps a young man escape, who intervened to prevent an alcoholic aristocrat from beating his wife.

In “The Adventure of the Second Stain”, Holmes goes out of his way to shield Lady Hilda from her husband’s anger, even though the husband was Holmes’ client.

In “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” he lets a pathetic petty criminal go free because he doesn’t think making him a ‘jailbird’ will help.

There are many other instances of Holmes showing kindness, empathy and even breaking the law to help people gain justice.

Other phrases and words Watson uses to describe Holmes at various times:

“quiet, genial.”

“without a harshness, which was foreign to his nature.”

“he had a remarkable gentleness and courtesy in his dealings with women.”

Holmes may have displayed a certain impatience for social affectation, but he maintains a strong moral compass and asserts this fact several times, in various situations, towards various people.

This idea that Holmes is a “sociopathic” asshole is quite a contemporary reading and, might I add, a lazy one that’s as ignorant of mental illness as it is offensive to those of us who’re tired of white men getting to stomp all over people in the name of ‘genius’ and ‘anti-hero’ status. BBC Sherlock’s reading of Holmes is one that’s built on popular cultural tropes, and succeeds because of it. ‘Elementary’ reads Holmes with a fuller attention to the complexities of his character.

Anytime someone says ‘well Holmes is an asshole’ as a conclusive fact, I know that your canon knowledge is either limited or deliberately misinterpreted.

Do some re-reading.

And more importantly, they make him face the consequences of his assholery.

Sherlock in the original stories is actually yes, kind of strange in terms of how other people find it hard to follow his trains of thought. But the stories ALSO go out of their way to show you how he stands up for the victims. Not necessarily his clients – THE VICTIMS of crimes and shenanigans. Sherlock is on the side of the mistreated woman and the duped young employee. He is on the side of the man who is just trying to make a living for himself and for his wife. He is on the side of the people upon whom various injustices are perpetrated.

I hate this image of Sherlock being a genius AND an interminable terrifying fuckup of an asshole with an overbearing manner.

That’s not him.

Sherlock in the stories is polite and he actually knows how to interact with people like Watson as well as Mary. (I might as well address that.) Imagine a story where Sherlock suddenly turns up at Watson’s practice and ASKS – asks! Politely! – if Watson has time to work with him on a case. He tells Watson very explicitly that it is Watson who helps him to clarify some of his thoughts. He deeply appreciates his friends – and in the stories he does have friends.

Sherlock Holmes is not an unmitigated asshole, jeez.

Like, he is. He’s been adapted and re-adapted and re-re adapted in basically every decade.

So we have to ask questions about what purpose his original form served, who it served, who liked it, and why. And definitely it’s not perfect by today’s standards, and there are many points in it we’d see as less charming nowadays.

But we gotta ask what point is an adaptation in our modern world making? What interpretation of the character would serve the same purpose or needs as the original, in our new context and new environment? These stories were largely an adventure/’fantasy’ mystery series about a brilliant hero.

 You see this phrase thrown around a lot, especially in the abortion debate, but I think a lot of people don’t really understand what it means. 

Bodily Autonomy, sometimes called Bodily Integrity, is the idea that a person has an inviolable right to determine what happens to their physical body, and that a violation of a person’s consent in matters concerning their own body is unethical, immoral, and possibly criminal. 

This does not mean “you are allowed to do whatever you want.” It isn’t comparable to property rights or taxation or laws regarding public health that impact whole communities. 

What it does mean is that your body should always be under your control. You can chose or deny what things involving your physical body are at stake. Some examples:

You can choose to donate your organs but, No one can steal your organs 

You can choose to get a haircut, but no one should chop off your hair without permission. 

You can choose to get a tattoo, but no one should hold you down and forcibly tattoo anything onto you. 

You can choose to have sex with another consenting person, but no one should sexually violate you. 

Doctors should ask permission from you (or someone you have given permission to speak on your behalf) before administering drugs or treatments 

This previous point is important in many capacities, but one very relevant on to reproductive rights is that doctors should ask and respect choice made regarding birth- whether to have a c-section, whether to have an epidural, etc.  

Infants should not undergo circumcision, as they are unable to consent. (If adults want to undergo circumcision for whatever reason, they can do so.) 

You should not be forced to give blood for any reason (including donation to save another person, OR for drug testing. These actions may be volunteered, but should not be mandatory) 

Intersex infants should not be subjected to genital surgery unless there is a pressing health need (such as a blocked urinary tract or exposed internal organs) at which point, the parents need to be consulted. 

  And YES, a person should not be forced to carry a pregnancy to term if they do not want to, no matter how they became pregnant in the first place.