Wednesday, July 31, 2013

no. 254

"The darkest lie we tell ourselves: that we and our writing are not worth a bag of microwaved diapers. Listen, I don’t know how talented or skilled or capable you are. Hell, maybe you’re not that great. But nobody got better by feeling bad about it. You have one of two choices: you can be destructive to yourself or constructive. You can tear yourself down or find a way to build yourself up — and I don’t mean build yourself up with compliments but build yourself up with skills and abilities and the practice that gets you there. You suck? That thought sucks. Get better. Improve. Aim big. Give yourself the chance to fail — and then give yourself a chance to build steps from the corpses of your failure so you may climb higher every time. You don’t become a writer by feeling sad about your self-worth. The only sucking you need to do is to suck it up and do the work. Everything else is a consumptive distraction."

Chuck Wendig (via whatamidoingeven)

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

no. 253

You want to say Hi to the cute girl on the subway. How will she react? Fortunately, I can tell you with some certainty, because she’s already sending messages to you. Looking out the window, reading a book, working on a computer, arms folded across chest, body away from you = do not disturb. So, y’know, don’t disturb her. Really. Even to say that you like her hair, shoes, or book. A compliment is not always a reason for women to smile and say thank you. You are a threat, remember? You are Schrödinger’s Rapist. Don’t assume that whatever you have to say will win her over with charm or flattery. Believe what she’s signaling, and back off.

If you speak, and she responds in a monosyllabic way without looking at you, she’s saying, “I don’t want to be rude, but please leave me alone.” You don’t know why. It could be “Please leave me alone because I am trying to memorize Beowulf.” It could be “Please leave me alone because you are a scary, scary man with breath like a water buffalo.” It could be “Please leave me alone because I am planning my assassination of a major geopolitical figure and I will have to kill you if you are able to recognize me and blow my cover.”

On the other hand, if she is turned towards you, making eye contact, and she responds in a friendly and talkative manner when you speak to her, you are getting a green light. You can continue the conversation until you start getting signals to back off.

The fourth point: If you fail to respect what women say, you label yourself a problem.

There’s a man with whom I went out on a single date—afternoon coffee, for one hour by the clock—on July 25th. In the two days after the date, he sent me about fifteen e-mails, scolding me for non-responsiveness. I e-mailed him back, saying, “Look, this is a disproportionate response to a single date. You are making me uncomfortable. Do not contact me again.” It is now October 7th. Does he still e-mail?

Yeah. He does. About every two weeks.

This man scores higher on the threat level scale than Man with the Cockroach Tattoos. (Who, after all, is guilty of nothing more than terrifying bad taste.) You see, Mr. E-mail has made it clear that he ignores what I say when he wants something from me. Now, I don’t know if he is an actual rapist, and I sincerely hope he’s not. But he is certainly Schrödinger’s Rapist, and this particular Schrödinger’s Rapist has a probability ratio greater than one in sixty. Because a man who ignores a woman’s NO in a non-sexual setting is more likely to ignore NO in a sexual setting, as well.

So if you speak to a woman who is otherwise occupied, you’re sending a subtle message. It is that your desire to interact trumps her right to be left alone. If you pursue a conversation when she’s tried to cut it off, you send a message. It is that your desire to speak trumps her right to be left alone. And each of those messages indicates that you believe your desires are a legitimate reason to override her rights.

For women, who are watching you very closely to determine how much of a threat you are, this is an important piece of data.“
an excerpt from Phaedra Starling’s “Schrödinger’s Rapist: or a guy’s guide to approaching strange women without being maced” (via lostgrrrls)

I have daughters, and this is now my go-to standard for judging the behavior of men towards them.

via

Monday, July 29, 2013

no. 252

"I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually."

James A. Baldwin

Sunday, July 28, 2013

no. 251

"The Cowboys became to football what the Kardashians are to television".

Frank Deford, speaking on NPR

Saturday, July 27, 2013

no. 250

"Most people are other people, their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."

Oscar Wilde

via

Friday, July 26, 2013

no. 249

"Be of service. You are taking your degree into a society dominated by concentrated poverty and a vulnerable middle class, a society where it is harder to pay for education, harder to find a job, harder to buy a house and harder to hold onto those things even if you manage to get them. You are entering adulthood during a period of mass incarceration and near constant war. There is a lot for you to do. Service is the rent you pay for the space you take up on the earth, and as a relatively privileged American you take up a lot of space. We are the most consuming, polluting, wasteful nation on earth. So your rent is steep. Pay it with service."

Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry’s advice to Class of 2013

via

Thursday, July 25, 2013

no. 248

"We wanted a president who listens to all Americans - now we have one."

Jay Leno, riffing on the NSA surveillance story.

Of course, Obama is merely continuing a policy begun under George W. Bush, which doesnt in any way make it right.

no. 278

"Don’t kiss anyone’s ass. Don’t do it. For the rest of your life, everyone will always tell you, ‘Pick your battles. Kiss a little bit of ass. Then you get to stop kissing ass later.’ It’s a lie. They all just want their ass kissed. They think that if they tell you that they’re gonna get to kiss less ass too. It’s all garbage. It’s all bullshit. You have to just do everything yourself."

Dan Harmon’s Dad’s advice to young people

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

no. 247


from John Allison's Bad Machinery

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

no. 246

"A baby’s laughter is one of the most beautiful sounds you will ever hear. Unless it’s 3am. And you’re home alone. And you don’t have a baby."

utmostidiocy

via

Monday, July 22, 2013

no. 245

Abortion seems to be the only medical procedure that people want to deny you based on how you got in that situation.
Drove drunk, got in an accident and need an organ transplant? No problem.
Messing around with a gun, accidentally shoot yourself in the leg and need surgery? Of course.
Smoke tobacco for most of your life and need treatment for lung cancer? Yep.
Climb a tree, fall out and break your leg? We’ll fix that right up.
Have sex and get pregnant when you don’t want to be? YOU GOT YOURSELF INTO THIS SITUATION AND YOU DESERVE NO MEDICAL HELP OR COMPASSION! THIS IS YOUR FAULT AND YOU WILL DEAL WITH THE CONSEQUENCES!
Antiprolife at Worry About Your Own Uterus

via

Sunday, July 21, 2013

no. 244

"Reporters sometimes don’t understand their own legitimacy, and bow to power instead of speaking to power."

Helen Thomas

Saturday, July 20, 2013

no. 243

1. Recognize the System: That’s right, there’s a system, and it’s a vicious one. The first step to feeling better about yourself is to recognize that there are people who are trying to make you feel down even when you don’t even notice it. It’s shitty to realize, but it’s harder to fight an invisible opponent than one you see. This system is a core of advertising and media messages that exist to create a vision of the ‘perfect girl/guy’, and when you don’t fit it (and I’m saying when because chances are you don’t and that’s totally okay) they trick you into buying a bunch of bullshit you don’t need so you can ‘strive towards perfection’ or whatever. That’s bullshit. It’s all bullshit. Call them on their bullshit and never stop calling them on their bullshit.

Izzy (maybe), one of 10 points from Body Positivity Things to Remember

Friday, July 19, 2013

no. 242

Fandoms are special. We squeal, freak out, and cry together. One day in the future, you might just be working in your 9-to-5 office, lazing away the day. Something will spark in your memory, and you’ll type in that familiar URL. The blogs you never unfollowed will be untouched and pristine on your dash. Many of your friends have grown up as well, but you still can’t help but look at all the people you used to talk to all those years ago. Things will come flooding back, and you’ll remember those years spent on your computer, laughing and yelling and agreeing as people just went crazy. You’ll remember those nights you spent up all night with your friend, talking about the traits of a certain character, or how great it would be if this or that happened. You’ll recall those awesome blogs you always admired. You’ll feel a brief moment of nostalgia. You’ll click back to your dash- it’s empty now. Without a moment’s hesitation, you’ll go and type out, “Hey, is anyone out there?”, and just like all those years ago, you’ll eagerly await a response.
Izzy at ironinkpen

which prompted these pieces of artwork:


via

Thursday, July 18, 2013

no. 241

“Yeah, but the truth is we never really grow up. We just masquerade as adults because that’s what we’re expected to do.”

Georgie's old English Teacher, as reported at headfirstintowonderland.

via

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

no. 240

"And isn't that all government is? It's we all get together and decide as a majority who the assholes are."

Jon Stewart

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

no. 239

"Television is the last landslide of the oasis called community into the desert of individual isolation."

Blake, in Chris Baldwin's Little Dee.

Monday, July 15, 2013

no. 238

"It is one thing for rich people to believe intellectually that everyone depends on them. In reality, it is they who are the moochers and looters, who depend on an entire system of low-wage workers for their luxurious lifestyles."

Mano Singham, Threatening to Go Galt, Again.

via

Sunday, July 14, 2013

no. 237

"Only in America can a dead black boy be put on trial for his own murder."

attributed to Syreeta McFadden

Saturday, July 13, 2013

no. 236


That's Stephen Fry, if you dont know. And the reason to swear is because it is fun.

via

Friday, July 12, 2013

no. 235

"When students cheat on exams it's because our School System values grades more than Students value learning."

Neil deGrasse Tyson

via

Thursday, July 11, 2013

no. 234


via

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

no. 233



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Tuesday, July 9, 2013

no. 232


via

Monday, July 8, 2013

no. 231

I look at Dubya and just see...a grotesquely under-qualified-for-practically-anything daddy’s boy who’s had to be greased into every squalid position he’s ever held in his miserable existence who might finally be starting to wake up to the idea that if the most powerful nation on Earth — like, ever, dude — can put somebody like him in power, all may not be well with the world.
Iain Banks, taken from Raw Spirit: In Search of the Perfect Dram (2003).

read more about Iain Banks here.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

no. 230

“Sometimes you think you want to get married, and then you realize you just want a sandwich.”

Emma Jane Unsworth

via

Saturday, July 6, 2013

no. 229

"The purpose of education is not to validate ignorance, but to overcome it."

Lawrence Krauss

Friday, July 5, 2013

no. 228



via

and on a related note...


via

Thursday, July 4, 2013

no. 227 - 4th of July issue

"Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better."

Albert Camus

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

no. 226

"I've never been insulted by hateful satanists for not believing in their devil.
Only by loving Christians for not believing in their God."


Ricky Gervais

via

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

no. 225


"He showed the words ‘chocolate cake’ to a group of Americans and recorded their word associations. “Guilt” was the top response. If that strikes you as unexceptional, consider the response of French eaters to the same prompt: ‘celebration.’"

Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto

via

Monday, July 1, 2013

no. 224

fuck it
if a group of people have treated you like shit you have every right to hate them
if a single person has treated you like shit you have every right to hate them
anyone who disagrees needs to shut the fuck up
who fucking cares if hates a strong word
love used to be a strong word too but its still tossed around like some fucking ragdoll
so piss off

ninphiia