no. 127

no. 126

"Biting is excellent; it's like kissing, only there's a winner"

Suranne Jones as "Idris" in the Doctor Who episode "The Doctor's Wife"

no. 125

"The worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time".

Winston Churchill's description of democracy.

no. 124

"We need to just accept that there is no social movement so intelligent and articulate that there won’t be at least one asshole in a Guy Fawkes mask there."

Josh Macedo

no. 123

"You know... If the only Black people I knew were Clarence Thomas, Michael Steele, Tom Sowell and Herman Cain? (IOW - If I were a Republican?) If THAT was the extent of my sample population?

I'd probably be racist too."

"Niceguy" Eddie

no. 122

"It's plain that a deep river of nostalgia flows through most fantasy novels and films, especially those that dwell lovingly on feudal tropes and images. Chosen Ones. Prophecies. Kingly lineages that deserve to inherit rulership, by right of blood alone.

Ponder that, a moment. Millions of contemporary citizens of a free and scientific civilization - heirs of Enlightenment revolutionaries - now yearn for elvish mystics and secretive mages who never publish or share knowledge, nor open schools, nor turn palantirs into internets, nor offer the flea-ridden peasants flush toilets, nor even teach the germ theory of disease. Hierarchy and overall changelessness are somehow portrayed as romantically attractive. And always, there's that notion of better/wiser times, somewhere in the past."

David Brin

As should perhaps be obvious, Brin does not approve.

no. 121

"Everything and anything can be sex positive. Sex positivity is about a state of mind, not what you do in bed — a fundamental acceptance of what other people do, even if it isn’t for you, without an extra scoop of judgment on top."

Sinclair Sexsmith

no. 120

no. 119

What is forgiveness you ask?

Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past.

It’s the realization that the past cannot be changed, and that only a release of it shall create a better future and present. It’s a realization that holding on to what could have been is costraining you from what is and what can be.

That’s why when you forgive someone you suddenly feel lighter. For the past is heavy, and when you let go of it you’re weightless.

Mary Jean “Lily” Tomlin

no. 118

"Sometimes the majority only means that all the fools are on the same side"

unknown

no. 117

"So if guns kill people, I suppose pencils misspell words, cars drive drunk, and spoons make people fat."

(via)

no. 116

"‘Cause the thing is, you and the guys you hang out with may not really mean anything by it when you talk about crazy bitches and dumb sluts and heh-heh-I’d-hit-that and you just can’t reason with them and you can’t live with ‘em can’t shoot ‘em and she’s obviously only dressed like that because she wants to get laid and if they can’t stand the heat they should get out of the kitchen and if they can’t play by the rules they don’t belong here and if they can’t take a little teasing they should quit and heh heh they’re only good for fucking and cleaning and they’re not fit to be leaders and they’re too emotional to run a business and they just want to get their hands on our money and if they’d just stop overreacting and telling themselves they’re victims they’d realize they actually have all the power in this society and white men aren’t even allowed to do anything anymore and and and…

I get that you don’t really mean that shit. I get that you’re just talking out your ass.

But please listen, and please trust me on this one: you have probably, at some point in your life, engaged in that kind of talk with a man who really, truly hates women–to the extent of having beaten and/or raped at least one. And you probably didn’t know which one he was.

And that guy? Thought you were on his side."

Kate Harding, (via)

no. 115

Shauna: I miss being little and loud, Lottie.
Lottie: If we can't be little any more, we'll make up for it by being louder.

Scary Go Round

no.114

no. 113

"If an alien was looking down on us and inspecting our language, they would see that the worst thing we do on this planet is we torture, we kill, we abuse, we harm people… we’re cruel. And those are the things for which we should be ashamed. Amongst the best things we do is we breed children and we raise them, we make love to each other, we adore each other, we’re affectionate and fond of each other. Those are the good things we do. And they would say ‘How odd, that the language for the awful things is used casually all the time.’ ‘Oh the traffic was agony. It was hell, it was cruel. Oh, it was torture waiting in line!’ They’d say ‘You use words like torture! That’s the worst word!’ And yet if we use the f-word, which is the word for generating our species, for showing physical affection one to another, then we’re taken off air and accused of being wicked and irresponsible and a bad influence to children. Now, we’re part of this culture so we often don’t question it, but if you think of someone from outside it, it is very strange."

Stephen Fry

(via)

no.112

"Conservatives often say that America is a "Christian nation". Liberals find this exclusionary, and I agree that when it's used it's often to set Christians above those of other faiths. As offensive as this suggestion is, the primary sentiment I feel when I phrase "Christian nation" isn't anger, but sadness. Wouldn't it be wonderful if our laws and policies reflected Christ's compassion and concern for the poorest and most vulnerable among us? Wouldn't it be wonderful if our citizens showed some of the same love for one another that Christ held in His heart for all humankind? This may seem utopian. What troubles me isn't so much that we fall short. It's that most including most who call themselves Christian, do not even seem to want to try."

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend in "Failing America's Faithful". (p169)

no. 111

Fashion is one of the very few forms of expression in which women have more freedom than men. And I don’t think it’s an accident that it’s typically seen as shallow, trivial, and vain. It is the height of irony that women are valued for our looks, encouraged to make ourselves beautiful and ornamental… and are then derided as shallow and vain for doing so. And it’s a subtle but definite form of sexism to take one of the few forms of expression where women have more freedom, and treat it as a form of expression that’s inherently superficial and trivial. Like it or not, fashion and style are primarily a women’s art form. And I think it gets treated as trivial because women get treated as trivial.

Fashion is a Feminist Issue: Greta Christina

(via)

no. 110

no. 109

"Then, one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life…you give them a piece of you. They don’t ask for it. They do something dumb one day like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn’t your own anymore."

Neil Gaiman

no. 108

The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.

The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference.

The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference.

And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.

Elie Wiesel