Owls and Orange

sci-fact: The lab notes, papers, books, and furniture of...

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 14:59:57 -0500

The lab notes, papers, books, and furniture of Pierre and Marie Curie from the late 1800s are so irradiated that they are today considered too dangerous to handle. They are currently stored in lead-lined boxes at the National Library of France, where those who wish to view them can do so only after they sign a waver of liability and don protective clothing. These precautions will be necessary for several thousand years to come.

fuckyeahcreepyvictorian: explore-blog: Impressive, thoroughly...

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 14:53:31 -0500

1981

1972

1900

1880

1887

1900s

fuckyeahcreepyvictorian:

explore-blog:

Impressive, thoroughly researched visual history of 150 years of photographic portrayal of lesbians and queer women. Also see Venus with Biceps, a visual history of muscular women.

THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING

fuckyeahabandonedplaces: Abandoned by Big Grey Mare ~ on...

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 14:47:18 -0500

fuckyeahabandonedplaces:

Abandoned by Big Grey Mare ~ on vacation for 2 weeks on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
This wonderful old Victorian house sits abandoned on the outskirts of Kosse, Texas. I wish I knew it’s story, but all I can tell you is that it looks very unhappy in it’s present state.

olosta: group of women having a smoke, gelatin silver print, c....

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 14:24:36 -0500

olosta:

group of women having a smoke, gelatin silver print, c. 1896.

I’d chat up the one in the back any day!

omgthatdress: Corset 1891 The Metropolitan Museum of...

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 14:12:44 -0500

omgthatdress:

Corset

1891

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Starting in the 1880s, lingerie went from being boring necessities to fun, frivolous commodities. In the 1880s, the bold shades that corsets and bustles sometimes came in were seen by those with more conservative tastes as being vulgar displays of excess. By the 1890s, however, the trend of opulent underthings had caught on, so there was more creativity in making underwear ultra-feminine.

just shut up.

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 09:07:14 -0500

gyzym:

First, a story.

So, my first semester of my freshman year of college, I took this Intro to Women’s Studies class. The class met for five hours a week, one two hour session and one three hour session, and the breakdown of students was what I eventually discovered to be the typical sampling in any Women’s Studies class with no pre-recs at my mid-sized, southern Ohio state school. There were a number of girls who would become, or were already part of, the feminist advocacy groups on campus; there were a number of girls who would prove themselves to be opposed to feminism in both concept and practice, one of whom I distinctly recall giving a presentation on the merits of the “Mrs. Degree,” while my professor’s eye twitched in muted horror; there were a handful of girls and at least one guy I’d come to know later through assorted campus queer groups; and there were, of course, the three to six dudebros, self-admittedly there to “meet chicks,” all but one or two of whom would drop the class after the first midterm. At eighteen, I was myself a feminist in name but not in practice—I believed in the idea behind feminism (which is, for the record, that people should be on equal footing regardless of gender, not that we should CRUSH ALL MEN BENEATH THE VICIOUS HEELS OF OUR DOC MARTENS GLORY HALLELUJAH), but I didn’t actually know anything about it. I could not identify the waves of feminism. Intersectionality and how the movement is crap at it were not things of which I was aware. Never had I ever encountered the writings of bell hooks. In a lucky break, you do not need to know about the waves of feminism, or know what intersectionality is, or have read bell hooks to read this essay! (But you should read bell hooks. Everyone should read bell hooks. bell hooks is FUCKING AWESOME.)

The first couple of weeks of this class were about what you’d expect. The professor was fun and engaging, but she was not exactly pulling out the eye-opening stops on our wide-eyed freshman asses. There were handouts. There were selections of the textbook for reading. There was a very depressing class about domestic violence, abuse, and rape that was the typical rattling off of terms and horrific statistics that everyone winced at, but that nobody really internalized. The dudebros snickered in the back corner, grouped together like they would be infested by cooties if they spread out, occasionally chiming in with helpful comments like, “Dude, the lady on the back of this book is smoking,” and getting turned down by each girl in the class, on whom they were hitting in what I can only assume was a pre-determined descending order of hotness. The queer kids, myself included, huddled in the other corner making pithy comments. The up-and-coming active feminists glared at the bros, who leered back, and the Mrs. Degree-friendly crowd mostly texted under their desks and made it very clear that they were only there for humanities credit. Again, it was a fairly typical southern Ohio state school class full of fairly typical southern Ohio state school freshmen. Nobody was super engaged, is what I am saying here. Nobody, myself included, was really eating it up with a spoon.

And then one day, my professor opened the class with, “So, who here has seen Beauty and the Beast?”

Read More

Awesome Sauce!

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 09:53:01 -0500

Awesome Sauce!

huffpostscience: Art made from matches and fire. (via Reddit)

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 09:32:27 -0500

huffpostscience:

Art made from matches and fire.

(via Reddit)

"Many adults are put off when youngsters pose scientific questions. Children ask why the sun is..."

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 09:22:19 -0500

“

Many adults are put off when youngsters pose scientific questions. Children ask why the sun is yellow, or what a dream is, or how deep you can dig a hole, or when is the world’s birthday, or why we have toes. Too many teachers and parents answer with irritation or ridicule, or quickly move on to something else. Why adults should pretend to omniscience before a five-year-old, I can’t for the life of me understand. What’s wrong with admitting that you don’t know? Children soon recognize that somehow this kind of question annoys many adults. A few more experiences like this, and another child has been lost to science.

There are many better responses. If we have an idea of the answer, we could try to explain. If we don’t, we could go to the encyclopedia or the library. Or we might say to the child: “I don’t know the answer. Maybe no one knows. Maybe when you grow up, you’ll be the first to find out.”

”

- Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as the Candle in The Dark

Not being afraid of not knowing is the first step on the road to true discovery.

(via skaterboytae)

"MA'AM" - MEN AGAINST ASSHOLES & MISOGYNY: Greg Proops is a "MA'AM"

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 14:04:28 -0500

"MA'AM" - MEN AGAINST ASSHOLES & MISOGYNY: Greg Proops is a "MA'AM":

menagainstassholesandmisogyny:

I detest misogyny. I see it all day, every day in the clubs I work in, on the news, on TV , in the paper and on the internet. Women are fat, or poorly dressed, they are hot, they are drunks or sluts or anything but people. Objectifying Women is to deny Women their Personhood. You are just…

"MA'AM" - MEN AGAINST ASSHOLES & MISOGYNY: Michael Ian Black is a "MA'AM"

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 23:37:51 -0500

"MA'AM" - MEN AGAINST ASSHOLES & MISOGYNY: Michael Ian Black is a "MA'AM":

menagainstassholesandmisogyny:

Penises Are Funny

Penises are funny. Of the two types of human genitalia, penises are, by far, the
funnier. Anything that dangles, by its nature, is funny. Elephant trunks are also
funny for the same reason. Harold Lloyd dangling off a clock face ten stories above
the ground: funny….

"MA'AM" - MEN AGAINST ASSHOLES & MISOGYNY: Darren Martins is a "MA'AM"

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 08:51:42 -0500

"MA'AM" - MEN AGAINST ASSHOLES & MISOGYNY: Darren Martins is a "MA'AM":

menagainstassholesandmisogyny:

Ok, so, this has actually been really bothering me for a while, and I’m so happy that you’ve created a place for male feminists to speak out.

I think a lot of the reason that the whole anti-feminism/misogyny crowd in particular is so disgusting to me is my complete and utter immersion…

This blog made me SO happy this morning!!

Farmers Told To Buy Insurance If They Don’t Want To Get Sued By Corporations

Thu, 22 Nov 2012 13:50:43 -0500

Farmers Told To Buy Insurance If They Don’t Want To Get Sued By Corporations:

ARGH. Just in case you thought corporations weren’t completely evil. Monsanto is the very definition of evil.

whitepeoplemourningromney: WHITE PEOPLE SHELL SHOCKED I just...

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:12:08 -0500

whitepeoplemourningromney:

WHITE PEOPLE SHELL SHOCKED

I just want to say to these people: “All of your core values are WRONG. That’s why you’re losing elections.”

"I say to the grown-ups, if you want to deny evolution and live in your world that’s completely..."

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:38:41 -0500

“I say to the grown-ups, if you want to deny evolution and live in your world that’s completely inconsistent with everything we observe in the universe, that’s fine, but don’t make your kids do it, because we need them.”

- Bill Nye, Mama, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Deny Evolution (via Big Think)

I HEART BILL NYE SO MUCH!!! BILL NYE and NEIL DeGRASSE TYSON are my Gods. Bitches.

The Warped Tribal Police Culpture | Dispatches from the Culture Wars

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:08:06 -0500

The Warped Tribal Police Culpture | Dispatches from the Culture Wars

Obama administration reports record number of deportations - Los Angeles Times

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:02:20 -0500

Obama administration reports record number of deportations - Los Angeles Times

ADORABLE! And Comments have been disabled so you don’t...

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:26:31 -0500

ADORABLE! And Comments have been disabled so you don’t have to worry about homophobic arseholes.

djevojka: Xiao Huang

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:37:14 -0500

djevojka:

Xiao Huang

Manitowoc Should Be Ashamed of This Planking Prosecution - Lowering the Bar

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:35:17 -0500

Manitowoc Should Be Ashamed of This Planking Prosecution - Lowering the Bar