I be blogin... apparently

What Do You Call a Retired Pope? And Is He Still Infallible? - NYTimes.com

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 07:12:43 -0600

What Do You Call a Retired Pope? And Is He Still Infallible? - NYTimes.com:

An interesting and well thought out article for the most part

Sushi for me you shouldn’t have… but omm nom what...

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 08:01:48 -0700

Sushi for me you shouldn’t have… but *omm nom* what are you guys eating

8 striking parallels between the U.S. and the Roman Empire

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 15:18:39 -0700

8 striking parallels between the U.S. and the Roman Empire:

thefreelioness:

1 — Staggering Increase in the Cost of Elections, with Dubious Campaign Funding Sources: Our 2012 election reportedly cost $3 billion. All of it was raised from private sources – often creating the appearance, or the reality, that our leaders are beholden to special interest groups. During the late Roman Republic, elections became staggeringly expensive, with equally deplorable results. Caesar reportedly borrowed so heavily for one political campaign, he feared he would be ruined, if not elected.

2 — Politics as the Road to Personal Wealth: During the late Roman Republic period, one of the main roads to wealth was holding public office, and exploiting such positions to accumulate personal wealth. As Lessig notes: Congressman, Senators and their staffs leverage their government service to move to private sector positions – that pay three to ten times their government compensation. Given this financial arrangement, “Their focus is therefore not so much on the people who sent them to Washington. Their focus is instead on those who will make them rich.” (Republic Lost)

3 — Continuous War: A national state of security arises, distracting attention from domestic challenges with foreign wars. Similar to the late Roman Republic, the US – for the past 100 years — has either been fighting a war, recovering from a war, or preparing for a new war: WW I (1917-18), WW II (1941-1945), Cold War (1947-1991), Korean War (1950-1953), Vietnam (1953-1975), Gulf War (1990-1991), Afghanistan (2001-ongoing), and Iraq (2003-2011). And, this list is far from complete.

4 — Foreign Powers Lavish Money/Attention on the Republic’s Leaders: Foreign wars lead to growing influence, by foreign powers and interests, on the Republic’s political leaders — true for Rome and true for us. In the past century, foreign embassies, agents and lobbyists have proliferated in our nation’s capital. As one specific example: A foreign businessman donated $100 million to Bill Clinton‘s various activities. Clinton “opened doors” for him, and sometimes acted in ways contrary to stated American interests and foreign policy.

5 — Profits Made Overseas Shape the Republic’s Internal Policies: As the fortunes of Rome’s aristocracy increasingly derived from foreign lands, Roman policy was shaped to facilitate these fortunes. American billionaires and corporations increasingly influence our elections. In many cases, they are only nominally American – with interests not aligned with those of the American public. For example, Fox News is part of international media group News Corp., with over $30 billion in revenues worldwide. Is Fox News’ jingoism a product of News Corp.’s non-U.S. interests?

6 — Collapse of the Middle Class: In the period just before the Roman Republic’s fall, the Roman middle class was crushed — destroyed by cheap overseas slave labor. In our own day, we’ve witnessed rising income inequality, a stagnating middle class, and the loss of American jobs to overseas workers who are paid less and have fewer rights.

7 — Gerrymandering: Rome’s late Republic used various methods to reduce the power of common citizens. The GOP has so effectively gerrymandered Congressional districts that, even though House Republican candidates received only about 48 percent of the popular vote in the 2012 election — they ended up with the majority (53 percent) of the seats.

8 — Loss of the Spirit of Compromise: The Roman Republic, like ours, relied on a system of checks and balances. Compromise is needed for this type of system to function. In the end, the Roman Republic lost that spirit of compromise, with politics increasingly polarized between Optimates (the rich, entrenched elites) and Populares (the common people). Sound familiar? Compromise is in noticeably short supply in our own time also. For example, “There were more filibusters between 2009 and 2010 than there were in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s combined.”

torakamitank: Me as Death from Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman....

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 18:04:37 -0700

torakamitank:

Me as Death from Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. Probably one of my favorite characters to cosplay ever. Who else but Death could be so kind and self-assured?

You did an awesome job

love is so short - forgetting is so long: tranqualizer: writeswrongs: Hi, just your local Mayan here reminding...

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 15:35:35 -0700

love is so short - forgetting is so long: tranqualizer: writeswrongs: Hi, just your local Mayan here reminding...:

tranqualizer:

writeswrongs:

Hi, just your local Mayan here reminding you the world isn’t ending tomorrow.

Also, that Mayans still exist.

And finally, that we have a language that is still spoken, and written, and that our science and other studies have developed with time and…

Absolutely the case … ancient knowledge isn’t magically better, knowledge doesn’t suddenly stop evolving and some ideas are just bad period

divineirony: I guess rebel fantasies are more interesting than...

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 07:30:53 -0700

divineirony:

I guess rebel fantasies are more interesting than the democratic process. Ask David Koresh how effective small arms fire is against the most militarized police and the most bloated military the world has ever known.

You can tell what they actually want by their actions … and their actions don’t fallow

yah, cause calling someone out on their bullshit and blatantly...

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 09:54:32 -0700

yah, cause calling someone out on their bullshit and blatantly ignoring your own bullshit is equivalent.

One is brave, the other is a hypocrite.

baconbeernboobs: myjourneymythoughts: thinkspeakstress: dionth...

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 23:46:34 -0700

baconbeernboobs:

myjourneymythoughts:

thinkspeakstress:

dionthesocialist:

wishicouldtwerk2damoon:

chubbi-life:

national-lobotomy:

gbi-b:

sheakaluvsjungjihoon:

unphazedcat:

lafemmedominicana:

health beauty happiness

love, heath, success.

Please god please

love, success, health

love, beauty, experience

love, intelligence, freedom

Freedom, intelligence, and beauty. Noooooice.

Love, youth, and freedom yesh

What the hell is genci, ticfry, and prupus?

Experience, fun, and power. Well…Looks like it’s gonna be an interesting year, at least.

Happiness, Success, and Experience.

This would honestly be the best fucking thing.

Love, popular, intelligence tho I am a lil ashamed for giving this credence even tho internally it tickles me

afortunateson2: This is Victoria Soto, all of 27. She died...

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 23:35:23 -0700

afortunateson2:

This is Victoria Soto, all of 27.

She died today. She hid her first graders in the cabinets and closets after hearing the gunfire. When the shooter came to her classroom, she told him that her students were in the gym. He then gunned her down and moved on. She saved the lives of all of her students. Please pass this on if you see it. She didn’t seek Followers she just led.. she didn’t ask for it but deserves to be remembered for bravery to the last. Stood her ground, didn’t walk — the heart made sense, the mind didn’t talk.

Remember the victims not the shooter

"The day after Columbine, I was interviewed for the Tom Brokaw news program. The reporter had been..."

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 07:06:05 -0700

“The day after Columbine, I was interviewed for the Tom Brokaw news program. The reporter had been assigned a theory and was seeking sound bites to support it. “Wouldn’t you say,” she asked, “that killings like this are influenced by violent movies?” No, I said, I wouldn’t say that. “But what about Basketball Diaries?” she asked. “Doesn’t that have a scene of a boy walking into a school with a machine gun?” The obscure 1995 Leonardo Di Caprio movie did indeed have a brief fantasy scene of that nature, I said, but the movie failed at the box office (it grossed only $2.5 million), and it’s unlikely the Columbine killers saw it. The reporter looked disappointed, so I offered her my theory.

“Events like this,” I said, “if they are influenced by anything, are influenced by news programs like your own. When an unbalanced kid walks into a school and starts shooting, it becomes a major media event. Cable news drops ordinary programming and goes around the clock with it. The story is assigned a logo and a theme song; these two kids were packaged as the Trench Coat Mafia. The message is clear to other disturbed kids around the country: If I shoot up my school, I can be famous. The TV will talk about nothing else but me. Experts will try to figure out what I was thinking. The kids and teachers at school will see they shouldn’t have messed with me. I’ll go out in a blaze of glory.”

In short, I said, events like Columbine are influenced far less by violent movies than by CNN, the NBC Nightly News and all the other news media, who glorify the killers in the guise of “explaining” them. I commended the policy at the Sun-Times, where our editor said the paper would no longer feature school killings on Page 1. The reporter thanked me and turned off the camera. Of course the interview was never used. They found plenty of talking heads to condemn violent movies, and everybody was happy.”

- Roger Ebert (via ceedling)

it’s interesting how often people want to blame the movie industry for societal ills rather than blaming the individuals committing the acts

holy crap I’m well written

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 06:59:38 -0700

holy crap I’m well written

Damn is this funny

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 06:56:56 -0700

Damn is this funny

MotherJones analyzed 61 shooting sprees and found that not a single one was stopped or hindered by another civilian with a gun.

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 06:40:00 -0700

MotherJones analyzed 61 shooting sprees and found that not a single one was stopped or hindered by another civilian with a gun.

hey pro-lifers! good news!

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 22:46:39 -0700

darkjez:

fancycake:

i found you some christmas trees to decorate this year!

choose one i hope you like them :)

(also pls don’t call these seeds, that’s disrespectful. i’d prefer if you referred to them as potential trees.)

*cackles*

Hilarious I’m going to do a few pine cones up as pro life Christmas trees now

Couldn’t say it better

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 22:41:34 -0700

Couldn’t say it better

pixiepaperdollcartoon: jascollins: ambergrisbreeze: my-beloved...

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 22:37:39 -0700

pixiepaperdollcartoon:

jascollins:

ambergrisbreeze:

my-beloved-scars:

And I would never let them go..

Does it count if it’s me?

A few of the people I love have more than half of these.

Is anyone else a little confused by the placement of body mods in this list?

Body mods aren’t indicative of any desire to self-harm. They aren’t indicative of depression. Or substance abuse.

I just feel like they don’t belong in this list.

I dunno. Maybe someone can ‘splain it.

Just strikes me as a case of “one of these things is not like the other”

But I’m deliriously tired, so they could have put “has a purple monkey” in this list and I may or may not have noticed.

Okay. Good talk guys.

I agree with pixie tattoos don’t belong on this list

sageoflogic: no-this-is-patrick: dragonofeternal: residentfe...

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 08:09:10 -0700

sageoflogic:

no-this-is-patrick:

dragonofeternal:

residentfeline:

striderps:

freackthejolly:

oldmanyellsatcloud:

[Learn more here.]

Fuck fuck fuck fuck not okay not okay at all

SHRIEK

Fucking Goblin sharks man.

Mother of God. What the fuck just happened?

HOW THE FUCK DO THINGS LIKE THIS EVOLVE!?!?

LIKE WHERE IN THE CHAIN WAS IT LIKE “GUESS WE’LL MUTATE MY MOUTH POPPING OUT MORE AND MORE FOR UMPTEENHUNDRED GENERATIONS” FINALLY CULMINATING IN “LOL I HAVE A FAKE FACE!” ?!?!?!?!??

It’s an evolutionary answer to the problem of eating under water… cause if you move quickly towards your prey the wave from that movement would push the prey away… the sling jawed wassy (not certain I spelt that right ) is a more extreme example of this. There is video on YouTube I would link but I’m on my blasted phone

invisiblelad: friendliestfolk: Freaks and Geeks...

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 07:59:01 -0700

invisiblelad:

friendliestfolk:

Freaks and Geeks Reunion

tears

I didn’t even watch this show often and I’m getting all nostalgic…

I really wish they would do something as the series left off on such a cliff hanger

muckrakingiswomenswork: note-a-bear: dead-end-street: same,...

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 19:32:32 -0700

muckrakingiswomenswork:

note-a-bear:

dead-end-street:

same, mindy. same.

Don’t we all.

yes

I think he’s an awesome actor and really he would be much better than some of the bonds that have come before

How objectification silences women – the male glance as a psychological muzzle

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 11:54:59 -0700

How objectification silences women – the male glance as a psychological muzzle:

eeeegads:

sosungalittleclodofclay:

well now this is interesting. was it confirmed that all these people were heterosexual?

and what ‘objectification’ is going on? it seems to be a fixed action pattern to assume intent from a look in women, rather than an encultured response…

I’d argue we objectify both men and women (oops there went a few followers, I’m sure).

I agree humans objectify humans simply because it is easier to deal with an object than a person… to assume that only one gender does it is objectifying that entire gender

I be blogin... apparently

What Do You Call a Retired Pope? And Is He Still Infallible? - NYTimes.com

Sushi for me you shouldn’t have… but *omm nom* what...

8 striking parallels between the U.S. and the Roman Empire

torakamitank: Me as Death from Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman....

love is so short - forgetting is so long: tranqualizer: writeswrongs: Hi, just your local Mayan here reminding...

divineirony: I guess rebel fantasies are more interesting than...

yah, cause calling someone out on their bullshit and blatantly...

baconbeernboobs: myjourneymythoughts: thinkspeakstress: dionth...

afortunateson2: This is Victoria Soto, all of 27. She died...

"The day after Columbine, I was interviewed for the Tom Brokaw news program. The reporter had been..."

holy crap I’m well written

Damn is this funny

MotherJones analyzed 61 shooting sprees and found that not a single one was stopped or hindered by another civilian with a gun.

hey pro-lifers! good news!

Couldn’t say it better

pixiepaperdollcartoon: jascollins: ambergrisbreeze: my-beloved...

sageoflogic: no-this-is-patrick: dragonofeternal: residentfe...

invisiblelad: friendliestfolk: Freaks and Geeks...

muckrakingiswomenswork: note-a-bear: dead-end-street: same,...

How objectification silences women – the male glance as a psychological muzzle

Sushi for me you shouldn’t have… but omm nom what...