Hi Shmoopy! WHY?

But what about Ripley? I know, there are examples here and there of female characters who take up...

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:21:50 -0400

But what about Ripley? I know, there are examples here and there of female characters who take up that ring or big damn gun or quest and run with it into their own proverbial sunset (or don’t). But they’re still far from the norm in fiction. And, more importantly, there are certain types of characters who are practically never written as women. Captain Jack Sparrow. Ford Prefect. Loki. Jonathan Strange. Gandalf. In fact, that’s a whole other dilemma, but one that still demands investigation.

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/05/break-the-ya-monopoly-give-us-female-heroes-for-adults

This got me thinking, especially after I read a response to this article that basically said, “Well, what about urban fantasy?” Great! It’s awesome to have strong female characters in two genres I don’t read much of.

But this quote in particular gave me ideas. Grand ideas. About the type of character that’s never written as a woman. Ooooo, the ideas I have now…

gettingcrazywiththecheezewhiz: The dad cat liked to hang out in...

Fri, 17 May 2013 10:36:46 -0400

gettingcrazywiththecheezewhiz:

The dad cat liked to hang out in the sink by himself

AND THEN THE KITTENS FOUND HIM

HE LOOKS SO ANNOYED

I DIDN’T SIGN ON FOR THIS SHIT.

In general I find that cats look more annoyed than anything else with their kittens. But most cats also look pretty annoyed most of the time.

athenaltena: from cleolinda’s recaps This is more or less...

Wed, 08 May 2013 15:57:14 -0400

athenaltena:

from cleolinda’s recaps

This is more or less what I say whenever we see Dr. Lecter making or serving anything, regardless of how tasty it looks.

Which makes me wonder why I’m not reading Cleolinda’s Hannibal recaps…

erikkwakkel: Medieval eye candy This manuscript is one of the...

Wed, 08 May 2013 08:34:29 -0400

1. Leiden UB BPL 76 A, fol. 17r (closeup)

2. Leiden UB BPL 76 A, side

3. Leiden UB BPL 76 A, fols. 16v-17r

4. Leiden UB BPL 76 A, fol. 16v-17r

5. Leiden UB BPL 76 A, fol. 16v (full)

6. Leiden UB BPL 76 A, fol. 17r

7. Leiden UB BPL 76 A, fol. 18v

8. Leiden UB BPL 76 A, fol. 19r

erikkwakkel:

Medieval eye candy

This manuscript is one of the treasures of Leiden University Library. It was made around 1200, likely in the north of England, and was used by the French king Louis IX (1214-70). Not when he was king, mind you, but as a child. As was common practice in medieval times, the Psalms were used for learning to read, and that is the reason why royal hands once held the object. These spectacular miniatures are found in front of the book. They are fit for a king to be: eye candy with a great historical past.

Pics: Leiden University Library, BPL 76 A (c. 1190). Photography: Julie Somers (pic 1-4), UB Leiden (pics 5-8).

I can’t even with these colors. Gorgeous!

jtotheizzoe: We never sit here under the weight of all this...

Tue, 07 May 2013 15:45:55 -0400

jtotheizzoe:

We never sit here under the weight of all this air, the 5 x 10^18 kg of atmosphere that sits above everyone on Earth, and say “Gosh, that sure is heavy!”

You don’t realize just how powerful that 1 bar (~100 kPa) of pressure is until a train car is filled with steam, allowed to cool, and then implodes ohmygod did that just happen?

For more implosion goodness, check out this awesome video from Veritasium.

‘MPLOSIONS!

(Which are the awkward opposite sibling to “‘splosions”.)

erikkwakkel: Brilliant Damage Parchment often contains some...

Wed, 01 May 2013 09:28:49 -0400

erikkwakkel:

Brilliant Damage

Parchment often contains some kind of imperfection. Holes, for example, are a common occurrence on the page of a medieval book. The parchment maker’s knife, scraping off hair and fleshy bits from the animal skin, was sometimes handled with too much pressure, producing holes such as the one seen in this brilliant image. That a drawing of a dragon should perfectly align with such a hole is a coincidence. What I like about it is the view it opens to the next leaf. I can just imagine how the heartbeat of the medieval reader sped up when he saw that a dragon was about to be introduced into the story. Parchment damage as a sneak preview: excitement coming to a chapter near you.

Pic: Bamberg, Universitätsbibliothek, Msc. Nat. 1 (9th century)

doomedchildrenofthetvgeneration: The best reoccurring Kids In...

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 23:00:07 -0400

doomedchildrenofthetvgeneration:

The best reoccurring Kids In The Hall skit. Period.

EVIL, EVIL! IMPOLITE AND EVIL!

Hehe. Love these guys. Them and the Two Clearly Insane People.

Public Shaming: The Definitive "People Who Thought Chechnya was the Czech Republic" Collection

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 22:49:27 -0400

Public Shaming: The Definitive "People Who Thought Chechnya was the Czech Republic" Collection:

publicshaming:

Two brothers from Chechnya. That was the official word early morning on Friday April 19th, 2013 as to who were behind the Boston marathon bombings. “Chechens.”

So, naturally, who do some brilliant citizens of the United States of America blame? The CZECH REPUBLIC, of course!

Here are those…

Camelot, but Cowboys

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 23:38:47 -0400

GOOD. GAWD. HOW friggin’ much of “The Dark Tower” series is based on Arthurian legend? Seriously, jut ran across a T.S. Eliot poem called “The Waste Land”. DT is based on a Browning poem, and the fourth book in the series basically wants to be “Camelot: But With *Cowboys*” (and succeeds in the horrible representation of women part).

Anyway, it’s Modernist poetry which mean’s I’m powerless and must read it, but not at 11:30 at night. So, Note To Self, read this shit: http://www.bartleby.com/201/1.html

And probably also this shit, because you are absolutely terrible with poetry and need some hand-holding to get through most things that aren’t written by Sylvia Plath: http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/eliot/

colchrishadfield: The Richat Structure. A giant gazing eye upon...

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 19:21:08 -0400

colchrishadfield:

The Richat Structure. A giant gazing eye upon the Earth.

thepeoplesrecord: I saw this on Facebook - hadn’t seen it on...

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 19:03:53 -0400

thepeoplesrecord:

I saw this on Facebook - hadn’t seen it on Tumblr yet so I wanted to share it.

Source.

almost before she knew the meaning: Another character that kind of has a fucked up premise

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 20:06:01 -0400

almost before she knew the meaning: Another character that kind of has a fucked up premise:

apihtawikosisan:

youngbadmanbrown:

is Wonder Woman.

Imagine you’re raised in this utopian, women only warrior society (this part isn’t fucked up) and you’re taught all about how outside of your society which is magically shielded by super-science/magic
there lies “man’s world.”

Man’s world is just horrible and fucked and violent place you hear stories about and the people who inhabit it and you reach a point growing up where you probably think “okay mom, it’s probably not that bad. Shit I bet men don’t even really exist you’re just fucking with me.”

And then a fucking man shows up on your island. He’s not at all like the ones that you’ve heard about. He’s not some violent monster who wants to ruin everything he touches. He’s a good dude. You decide you want to go see man’s world, you fight for the right to become your peoples champion and ambassador. It’s your job to share with man’s world the wonders of Amazonian society.

You get to man’s world and it’s fucking astounding. There are crazy tall buildings and cars and ice cream and all these different cultures and music and it’s just fucking mind blowing.

And there are lots of men. They’re walking down the street side by side with women. They aren’t murdering them, they aren’t reducing things to cinders. Obviously all the stories your mother told you were horse shit.

But then you start to pull back the curtain. You hear and see men disrespect women on the street. You go to the mall and wonder why all the mannequins are the same size if all the women clearly aren’t. You see all these magazines telling women what’s wrong with them, what they have to do to please men. That’s when you start wondering what’s up with this world.

You find out women are paid less then men, that no woman has ever been the leader of the United States, you see crime statistics, and you find out that this Steve Trevor, who you really thought was a good person, is an agent of a government that has declared the assaults on female soldiers “occupational hazards.”

Then you realize it’s not just the United States, it’s all over “man’s world.”

It hits you that this place is even worse than all the stories you heard.

And the worst part about it is: the gods that you’ve been raised to worship and fear, the gods that you know fucking exist, don’t want to do shit about it.

Imagine what that would do to you?

I wanna read about that Wonder Woman, the Year One Wonder Woman who’s like jesus in the temple flipping shit over. I wanna read about the Wonder Woman who’s so appalled by the conditions of man’s world she marches into the UN and tells everyone off. The Wonder Woman who meets a crying girl on a street corner, finds out that her boyfriend just laid hands on her and then goes and cuts off his hands.

Writers too often fall back on all that mythology shit as if Medusa and hydras and gorgons are the worst monsters that Diana can fight.

The monsters Wonder Woman should be fighting are the ones her mother told her about as a kid.

profanefame: estifi: thexyaffair: 2013 is going to be an...

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 19:24:16 -0400

profanefame:

estifi:

thexyaffair:

2013 is going to be an amazing year.

Here’s the schedule for this comet.

August and September 2013. The comet should become visible in August and September 2013 to observers at dark locations using small telescopes or possibly even binoculars.

October 2013. Comet ISON should become visible to the unaided eye, but only barely in the early part of the month. The comet will be sweeping in front of the constellation Leo then. It’ll pass first near Leo’s brightest star Regulus, then near the planet Mars. Maybe these brighter objects will help you find it that month. Meanwhile, the comet itself will be getting brighter during October.

November 2013. Comet ISON will continue to brighten throughout the month as it nears its late November perihelion (closest point to our sun). Plus ISON will pass very close to the bright star Spica and the planet Saturn, both in the constellation Virgo. Its perihelion (closest point to our sun) on November 28 will be an exciting time. The comet will come within 800,000 miles (1.2 million km) of our sun’s surface. If all goes well, and the comet doesn’t break up (as comets sometimes do), the terrific heating Comet ISON will undergo when it’s closest to our parent star might turn the comet into a brilliant object. Some are predicting that ISON will become as bright as a full moon! That would make Comet ISON a daylight object, briefly. Remember, though, at perihelion, Comet ISON will appear close to the sun on the sky’s dome (only 4.4° north of the sun on November 28). Although the comet will be bright, you’ll need to look carefully to see it in the sun’s glare. Some expert help around this time might be called for, and we’ll announce comet-viewing parties as we hear about them.

December 2013. This may be the best month to see Comet ISON, assuming it has survived its close pass near the sun intact. The comet will be visible both in the evening sky after sunset and in the morning sky before sunrise. As ISON’s distance from the sun increases, it’ll grow dimmer. But, for a time, it should be as bright as our sky’s brightest planet, Venus, and it should have a long comet tail. People all over Earth will be able to see it, but it’ll be best seen from the Northern Hemisphere as 2013 draws to a close.

January 2014. Will ISON still be visible to the eye? Hopefully. And on January 8, 2014, the comet will lie only 2° from Polaris — the North Star.

Yes yes yes yes

2013: IN THE YEAR OF THE COMET

durnesque-esque: fuckyeah-nerdery: sigfodr: A version for...

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 18:49:08 -0400

durnesque-esque:

fuckyeah-nerdery:

sigfodr:

A version for tumblr that can be read without opening a new tab, since plenty of people would scroll past this story otherwise.

The bravest woman on Earth.

Today is Women’s Day- a good day to celebrate this incredible young woman.

My most often used Simpsons reference! I’m very happy to...

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 18:33:17 -0400

My most often used Simpsons reference! I’m very happy to see it on Fuck Yeah Springfield. :)

dyeknittinkdye: knit-the-fez: gazillepantherlily: moodysoup: ...

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 18:32:05 -0400

dyeknittinkdye:

knit-the-fez:

gazillepantherlily:

moodysoup:

theoreticalknitting:

(via mildperil, doctorplease)

i want my handknit sock collection to be this intense.. i only have about six pairs right now.. must get knitting

Handknit sock pr0n.

Soon I shall be on the mend, and I’ll be able to knit regularly again.

And the first thing I’m going to do is tear through my Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock collection, and KNITTING ALL THE SOCKS.

nudityandnerdery: sinistersartorialist: instacal: The...

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 23:38:53 -0500

nudityandnerdery:

sinistersartorialist:

instacal:

The Eldridge Knot is pretty awesome, but you have to give the Trinity Knot its due.

How to tie a Trinity Knot.

So…. My goal is to practice with this so I can wear it to opening on Friday.

KnittinK Comic Book Inspired Yarn + Fibers: nudityandnerdery: Oh, Tumblr. I always so enjoy that vehemently vocal...

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 20:40:16 -0500

KnittinK Comic Book Inspired Yarn + Fibers: nudityandnerdery: Oh, Tumblr. I always so enjoy that vehemently vocal...:

dyeknittinkdye:

nudityandnerdery:

Oh, Tumblr. I always so enjoy that vehemently vocal corner of each fandom that loudly insists that any two male characters that speak to each other in a social, friendly manner must want to have sex, and also believes that having this attitude makes them progressive.

…

geminichris1972: librarian-in-waiting: awexcuppycake: stargaze...

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 20:26:00 -0500

geminichris1972:

librarian-in-waiting:

awexcuppycake:

stargazer909:

This is a gif that should be in every Trekkie’s blog

That right there is my idol! She went in for a double ass slap and did is flawlessly

This is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen, and it just keeps getting better the longer I watch it.

Omg I thought Bones goosed Kirk ;)

Well played, Nichols. Well played, indeed.

dyeknittinkdye: carriedfears: theknittyditty: physalia: Octop...

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 20:07:00 -0500

dyeknittinkdye:

carriedfears:

theknittyditty:

physalia:

Octopus sweater.
A project that became bigger than planned.

Holy mother of God. This is stunning.

Oh how beautiful!! Absolutely amazing!!

Oh dear gods, please please please publish this pattern!!!

Holy. Shitting. Elder Gods.