human galaxy

ズリの: strugglingtobeheard: strugglingtobeheard: and like honestly, talking... »

strugglingtobeheard:

and like honestly, talking about that made me figure it out.

i don’t like being called manly or masculine because i am fat, because i am hairy, because i have a round belly or a certain kind of ass, because i have underarm hair or leg hair,…

6 hours ago / 59 notes

marfmellow:

The first thing you really need to understand is that the definition of racism that you probably have (which is the colloquial definition: “racism is prejudice against someone based on their skin color or ethnicity”) is NOT the definition that’s commonly used in anti-racist circles.The definition used in anti-racist circles is the accepted sociological definition (which is commonly used in academic research, and has been used for more than a decade now): “racism is prejudice plus power”. What this means, in easy language:A. Anyone can hold “racial prejudice” — that is, they can carry positive or negative stereotypes of others based on racial characteristics. For example, a white person thinking all Asians are smart, or all black people are criminals; or a Chinese person thinking Japanese people are untrustworthy; or what-have-you. ANYONE, of any race, can have racial prejudices.
B. People of any race can commit acts of violence, mistreatment, ostracizing, etc., based on their racial prejudices. A black kid can beat up a white kid because he doesn’t like white kids. An Indian person can refuse to associate with Asians. Whatever, you get the idea.C. However, to be racist (rather than simply prejudiced) requires havinginstitutional power. In North America, white people have the institutional power. In large part we head the corporations; we make up the largest proportion of lawmakers and judges; we have the money; we make the decisions. In short, we control the systems that matter. “White” is presented as normal, the default. Because we have institutional power, when we think differently about people based on their race or act on our racial prejudices, we are being racist. Only white people can be racist, because only white people have institutional power.
D. People of color can be prejudiced, but they cannot be racist, because they don’t have the institutional power. (However, some people refer to intra-PoC prejudice as “lateral racism”. You may also hear the term “colorism”, which refers to lighter-skinned PoC being prejudiced toward darker-skinned PoC.) However, that situation can be different in other countries; for example, a Japanese person in Japan can be racist against others, because the Japanese have the institutional power there. But in North America, Japanese peoplecan’t be racist because they don’t hold the institutional power.E. If you’re in an area of your city/state/province that is predominantly populated by PoC and, as a white person, you get harassed because of your skin color, it’s still not racism, even though you’re in a PoC-dominated area. The fact is, even though they’re the majority population in that area, they still lack the institutional power. They don’t have their own special PoC-dominated police force for that area. They don’t have their own special PoC-dominated courts in that area. The state/province and national media are still not dominated by PoC. Even though they have a large population in that particular area, they still lack the institutional power overall.F. So that’s the definition of racism that you’re likely to encounter. If you start talking about “reverse racism” you’re going to either get insulted or laughed at, because it isn’t possible under that definition; PoC don’t have the power in North America, so by definition, they can’t be racist. Crying “reverse racism!” is like waving a Clueless White Person Badge around.

6 hours ago / 4583 notes

photo set »

(Source: workyardplaysard, via builditupmylove)

11 hours ago / 81843 notes

chekov-chan:

nominee84:

yanagoya:

meandmylittlevoices:

alloutorg:

URGENT: today in Russia, a terrible bill passed in the Russian parliament’s lower house that censors all things considered “gay”. It’s our local partners’ worst nightmare and we need your help.
This vote comes off the back of two brutal anti-gay murders in Russia, and the trial of a major LGBT rights organisation today.
Tell world leaders to STOP the crackdown, add your name:www.allout.org/russia-attacks

REALLY IMPORTANT

This really is happening, and it’s scary as hell.

“Update June 12: the situation is worsening. Russia has just passed a new anti-gay law makes it illegal even to say the word “gay”. People in Russia standing up against the crackdown are urging All Out members to keep growing the petition to help draw the attention of world leaders and the media.”

spread this like the plague

11 hours ago / 71466 notes

11 hours ago / 310 notes

tashabilities:

jhameia:

did-you-kno:

[Mythbusters’ Jamie Hyneman ran away from home at age 14 and hitchhiked all over America. Since then, he has worked as a certified five master, wilderness survival expert, boat captain, linguist, pet shop owner, animal wrangler, machinist, concrete inspector, chef, and television show host]
Source

As a person who hasn’t really found a singular path in life and wonders about changing jobs and skillsets, I find this inspirational.

Ahhh, but he’s also a white male. THEEEEE one person on earth that could do all these things and be taken seriously, and NOT be called ‘indecisive’ and ‘noncommittal’. His path of self discovery is supported and viewed as a good thing.He gets to be seen as a polymath, and is respected.WOC do all that and more just to survive and people roll their eyes at us, and wonder why we just can’t seem to ‘keep’ a job or ‘figure out what we’re gonna do with our lives’.If Jamie Hyneman were a Black woman, I’d be impressed.

11 hours ago / 17129 notes

wilwheaton:

Put this inside a giant circle that says Don’t Be a Dick and you’ve got my fundamental rules for life.

11 hours ago / 6357 notes

“Women are supposed to be the ones on the balcony, not the ones down below professing their love. We don’t think the female romantic is romantic. We think she is a predator. We think she is desperate, unstable—Fatal Attraction, the cougar, the spinster, the troublemaker. But deep emotion in this age is a radical act.”

Masha Tupitsyn in this incredible Bitch interview on Love Dog (via marginalutilite)

Wow. I’ve never found a better explanation of why I can never ever ever make myself ask anyone out.

It’s not rejection that I’m afraid of; if only the worst that could happen was that they said no and never spoke to me again. The first time in my life that I asked someone out, this is exactly how everyone reacted, and although it’s been nearly 8 years since then, I feel like I’ll never forget.

(via brute-reason)

Fucking this this this.

I don’t even flirt too hard for fear of men treating me like shit.

(via tashabilities)

11 hours ago / 728 notes

photo set »

kateoplis:

Huxley vs. Orwell

(via vivianemae)

11 hours ago / 47867 notes

11 hours ago / 4830 notes

melodiebenford:

Thalassocalyce Photo by Larry Madin, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

12 hours ago / 12 notes

britticisms:

My new essay for the WBEZ tumblr, on how technology changes our face-to-face interactions with each other.
(via wbez)

(Photo by Moritz Petersen)
“Where Are You?”
by Britt Julious
It is the weight that kills me. The wait too. The cell phone, regardless of how technologically-advanced it becomes, remains a reminder of things not done: phone calls, messages. There is a missing awareness of space and need. Simple requests become tests of patience. The cell phone – with its rectangular shape, its heft – is a black mirror of time.
In his latest essay for the New York Times, Jonathan Safran Foer examined the ways in which technology has incubated intimacy while reinforcing aloneness. “I worry that the closer the world gets to our fingertips, the further it gets from our hearts,” he wrote. “It’s not an either/or — being “anti-technology” is perhaps the only thing more foolish than being unquestioningly “pro-technology” — but a question of balance that our lives hang upon.”
I crave aloneness more than most. A friend asked how I had the time to write while working all day (and seemingly playing all night). The reality is that I am more with just myself than anyone else. Aloneness breeds ideas and curiosity. It is also a time of decompression. The mind breaks down the confusions of the everyday when uncluttered with the presence of others.
But aloneness is not everything. It can not be. There is a reason why we find ways – even online – to connect in person. Eye contact is underrated.
I am thinking about my desire to see those I love and admire in person and how technology impedes that desire. There is something quietly devastating in waiting. We have not lost patience. We have lost our ability to speak directly, to address things concretely and with speed. Speaking makes us vulnerable. It requires us to be open and honest, more honest than the written word, a practice in control.
I would rather know if a friend is busy or tired or not interested in spending time together as soon as possible. Foer wrote, “The problem with accepting — with preferring — diminished substitutes is that over time, we, too, become diminished substitutes. People who become used to saying little become used to feeling little.”
Without the face-to-face or voice-to-voice, we can ignore human interactions that might be anything other than pleasant. The easiest way to avoid pain is to text. The easiest way to feel pain is by text. A text message is short and pointed. The words must mean more for one to say so little.
But I too have lost a sense of self in the fray. A text is easier than a call. It is quick. Feelings can be stifled. A tone of voice says, “This is how I feel.” Words are up for interpretation.
“How do you really feel … about this? About us?”
I cannot remember the last time when I was so blunt. “These inventions were not created to be improvements upon face-to-face communication, but a declension of acceptable, if diminished, substitutes for it.” But the longer one uses them, the easier it is to fall into new habits of disconnectedness from the world around us. I try to pull away from my inability to be human, but is that even possible anymore, for someone so ingrained in my little black box of information?
The reality of friendship in your twenties is that what you once knew is no longer as secure as it might have seemed. I knew these things would slip away, but in the moment it was a pain I never grasped.
My mother asked, “Why don’t you share how you feel?”
“I don’t know if I should,” I said. “I don’t know if I can.”

Follow Britt on WBEZ and twitter @britticisms.

12 hours ago / 63 notes

photo set »

raudur:

Simon Harsent - Melt: Portrait of an Iceberg

(via fiercebear)

12 hours ago / 42 notes

vivianemae:

adelenedawner:

thegoddamazon:

the-herbal-alchemist:

liberalbutnotpartisan:

thedigitalfortress:

bitethismeowmix:

ludenberg:

mrowp:

Please don’t buy this system.

cant you just turn the camera around or put a blanket over it.

still a mic though
and theres the chance that it might say something like “error kinect camera cannot function when obscured”

Videogame consoles are not supposed to spy on you.
Videogame consoles are not supposed to potentially rat you out to the government.
Videogame consoles are not supposed to arbitrarily decide who sees what’s on the screen and what’s not.
I have never told anyone not to buy a videogame console, but in this case, knowing what I know about the Xbox One, I am seriously imploring people not to buy this machine. The console will not be consumer-friendly, and between the above and an always-on internet connection, how do you know your hobby isn’t siphoning personal information to…well, who knows who?
Suffice it to say, the Xbox 360 will be my last Microsoft console. I don’t care how many more Halo games get churned out.

Adding this here from my videogame blog because it’s too important, and the potential for Microsoft to spy on us, then report findings to the government if asked…yeah, no.
Spread the word!

If you haven’t read George Orwell’s “1984”, do so.
Seriously.

So another reason for the Xbox One to never ever be used as anything more than a bookend?
Oh.

This doesn’t even mention the bullshittery of their policy that if you get banned from Xbox Live you also lose the licenses to all of your games, meaning you can’t even play them in single-player mode.
Or the bit where they’re making people sign away their rights to class-action suits to pre-order the thing, which is downright chilling.

Read Huxley’s Brave New World too.

12 hours ago / 70477 notes

photo set »

banjeebear:

f-l-e-u-r-d-e-l-y-s:

Artist Kris Kuksi is perhaps one of the most frequently submitted artists appearing in Colossal’s in box each month, so it’s with great honor that I finally share his work on this blog for the first time. Kuksi is famous for his Baroque-influenced assemblages that seem to splinter out like sculptural fractals, each component fused to another object or detail even smaller and intricate. Via his artist statement:

Kris Kuksi garners recognition and acclaim for the intricate sculptures that result from his unique and meticulous technique. A process that requires countless hours to assemble, collect, manipulate, cut, and re-shape thousands of individual parts, finally uniting them into an orchestral-like seamless cohesion that defines the historical rise and fall of civilization and envisions the possible future(s) of humanity.

(via peacocktuba)

12 hours ago / 1454 notes