Luke.stirling

joshua-wright:

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I had such fun drawing all the carnage in my last comic I decided to do it all again, but this time with magic instead of a mattock.

Btw, I too have been searching for the Mirror of Mind-Freeing for many years. Currently I’m cursed with an insatiable love of art and illustration. I’m hoping the mirror can show me that I’m really a stock broker, or maybe a dentist. I hear both those pay pretty well. :) 

fannypaxfax:

catinahatgoin-rata-tat-tat:

nizzerd:

“I’m a black kid. Try to teach me about slavery without me feeling resentment towards white people.”

His face though…

This is fucking gold.

He’s mad because they were telling the kids the truth?

aphroditesapples:

edens-blog:

frolicingintheforest:

Sauron made friends with a Toad!
At first, I thought he was going to kill it. But he just started petting it. Not, swatting at it, and not trying to hurt it at all. They ended up just layin’ and chillin’ together for awhile. Then the toad went on his merry little way. Too cute haha! 

nah these are two witch’s familiars

i wish i had a familiar

Ukranian crafter Hanna Dovahan makes some pretty fantastic wool objects including animals, arthropods, and food which she sells in her Etsy shop. This avocado love piece is on a slightly higher plane of amazing.

moonblossom:

deluxetrashqueen:

Honestly, Rick Rolling is the best practical joke ever. Like, there’s nothing offensive or mean  spirited about it. It’s just like “Oops you thought there would be something else here but it’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’.” which isn’t even a bad song. It’s fairly enjoyable to listen to. There’s no jumpscares, no screaming, no ill will. Just Rick Astley telling you he’s never going to give you up. I think that’s great. “You fell into my trap! Here, listen to this completely benign song that will have no negative effect on you.” 

I wish this were true. There’s a really good article about the problems inherent with rickrolling here.

My brain hurts.

urbnindustrial:

Safari Lodge

Quinn Norton's "long form data journalism" piece on the American prison system paints a bleak picture of a nation that feasts on its poorest and most vulnerable with a boundless, venomous cruelty. Read the rest

There’s a common misconception that if you like to meticulously organize your things, keep your hands clean, or plan out your weekend to the last detail, you might be OCD. In fact, OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) is a serious psychiatric condition that is frequently misunderstood by society and mental health professionals alike. Natascha M. Santos debunks the myths surrounding OCD.

This infographic shows the percent of life each American, perhaps including you, has spent with their country at war or at peace.

Read the rest

There’s a game called “Rust” in which you play a character in a wilderness. When it first came out, everyone was assigned the same avatar: a white dude. As we all know, “white dude” is the default everywhere, so no one complained.

Then, in an upgrade, they added other avatar options: different faces, different skin color. As an interesting experiment, these options were not under player control: they were randomly assigned. White dudes logging in suddenly found that their avatar might be a black dude (still a dude, at least; female avatars aren’t yet available).

White dudes freaked out.

If the skin color is forced on you, you won’t like it…OK, where were you when everyone was forced to play a white dude?

Not trying to be racist, it just comes naturally to you, I guess.

You don’t want to “take the chance of playing a black character.” Why? What would happen to you in the game? This is an entirely cosmetic feature, you know.

But please, self-awareness! Turn it around. Racism must be a big deal if the devs are MAKING PEOPLE PLAY AS WHITE CHARACTERS.

Here’s a lovely summary of what’s going on in this situation.

Why is it that the supposed lack of choice with regards to the player’s avatar only became a concern after people of color were added to the game? The reactions reflect a failure on the part of some gamers to recognize that whiteness is a race at all. These players appear to think of whiteness as a neutral type of embodiment, the universal category of humanity against which all those who do “have” a race (anyone who is not white) are compared. The backlash also confirms a theory posited by new media scholar Lisa Nakamura that, on the Internet, there is a tendency to assume that, in the absence of direct statements to the contrary, the people that we meet are white. Indeed, as Nakamura writes in “Digitizing Race: Visual Cultures of the Internet”:

Until lately, the structure of the Internet has been such that it has greatly facilitated covering [or passing]; early utopians especially lauded and adored the Internet’s ability to hide or anonymize race as its best and most socially valuable feature. The Internet was just as much a machine for not-seeing as it was a machine of vision, at least in terms of race and gender identity.

In other words, by reintroducing the visualization of difference into the virtual world, Rust is making gamers question their racialized assumptions about the people they are interacting with online.

Making people question their assumptions…it’s like skepticism and critical thinking and all those good things science-minded people like to promote! I guess the problem is that white people must not be science-minded.

Oh, that’s not fair. We’re looking at a subset of white people in this example. Maybe it’s just gamers who are stupid.

Gimmie a U!

"U!"

Gimmie an S!

"S!"

Gimmie a... nother U?

Huh.

Looks like sticking this cookie cake to the ceiling has addled some brains.

After all, what red-blooded American could forget how to spell the good ol' USA?

I mean, besides these ones?

 

I feel like this one was getting close:

The underline on the S really sells it.

 

Well, however you (mis)spell it, here's to all those who've given their lives for this great country: the United States of...

Psst. Guys. You spelled "'MURICA" wrong.

 

Thanks to Carrie D., Dave G., Heather O., & Scott D. for the memories.

*****

Thank you for using our Amazon links to shop! USA, UK, Canada.

They should have given the franchise to Jan van den Hemel. [via The Verge]

A version of this article originally appeared on Skirt Collective

Much has been made of the call by Aaron Clarey in his piece “Why You Should Not Go See ‘Mad Max: Feminist Road.’” As many articles have discussed Clarey’s ridiculous, hyper-macho douchery, (for example, here, here and here), I will instead offer a counter call: Instead of “mancotting” the film as Clarey begs “real men and real women” to do, I urge you to GO SEE IT! Go now!

Here is part of Clarey’s original call for a boycott of the film:

[D]o yourself and all men across the world a favor. Not only REFUSE to see the movie, but spread the word to as many men as possible. Not all of them have the keen eye we do here at [Return of Kings]. And most will be taken in by fire, tornadoes and explosions. Because if they sheepishly attend and Fury Road is a blockbuster, then you, me, and all the other men (and real women) in the world will never be able to see a real action movie ever again that doesn’t contain some damn political lecture or moray about feminism, SJW-ing and socialism.

In response, here is my counter feminist call to action: Do yourself and others a favor—see Mad Max: Fury Road and tell as many humans as you know to see the film, to discuss it on social media, to decry the Men’s Rights Activists aiming to make the world a hyper-patriarchal dystopia where heterosexual macho types horde all the power with their weapons of choice, namely violence, oppression, rape, enslavement and hatred.

Not all people will recognize the importance of supporting this film, many may go for the special effects and the popcorn, but even if they don’t attend wearing “This Is What a Feminist Looks Like” t-shirts, they will still be treated to a great action movie which enacts feminism in both content and form. Those who see the film will help to pave the way for a future where real humans can enjoy movies that reflect the real world, which is made up of women AND men, boys AND girls, where gender is a continuum and NO, romance and baby-making are not the be-all and end-all of life.

See Mad Max: Fury Road. See it as soon as possible.

See it because Charlize Theron is amazing, Tom Hardy is a new and improved Max, and because the action is breathtaking and achieved with very little CGI.

See it because director George Miller happily proclaims: “I can’t help but be a feminist” and believes women are capable as actors and directors and are essential to telling imaginative, important stories—something that is all too rare a belief in Hollywood, where in the last several years, women directed less than 2 percent of top-grossing movies.

See it because it was edited by a woman, Margaret Sixel.

See it because Eve Ensler led workshops about violence against women with the cast and crew.

See it because, as MRA Clarey readily admits (perhaps his one correct point), Hollywood DOES condition us. As Carolyn Cox of The Mary Sue puts it,

By admitting they’re threatened by Charlize Theron … Clarey and his commenters are also agreeing that the media we consume and the stories we tell are hugely important.

See it because while Clarey worries women might be conditioned to want to be more like Imperator Furiosa than Sophia Loren (I know, WTF???), we can use that conditioning instead to feminist purpose. As Melissa Silverstein puts it,

A little girl can dream of being a hero just as much as a little boy can because she sees multiple examples of heroic women.

See it because, as Peter Howell documents, “Hollywood doesn’t often let females star in its big ‘tent-pole’ films” because “Male-dominated movie studios don’t believe female action movies make money.” See it because we need to remind Hollywood and MRAs this is false (as Hunger Games, Insurgent, Alien, Terminator and so many other films prove that point).

See it to disprove Neanderthal thinking on the part of Marvel Comics CEO Ike Perlmutter and Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton who in a leaked email correspondence “proved” female superhero films don’t make money by naming three such films while ignoring the many female-driven films that have made money and dismissing just how many male-led superhero films have tanked.

See it because Clarey’s assertions are laughable, and contrary to his claim that “feminism has infiltrated and co-opted Hollywood,” we still have a Hollywood machine driven by a privileged male elite who don’t seem to want to give up their own little version of the world, their very own MRA movement—“Men Rule Art.”

See it because there is a culture shift happening in media, a wave that includes GamerGate, calls to stop online harassment (#StoptheTrolls), an evergrowing feminist blogosphere, and a growing call to Hollywood to wake up and smell the feminism.

See it because while some see MRAs as a non-threatening fringe, they DO warrant attention because they consistently and vehemently offer sexism as the answer and their websites and organizations garner thousands of followers. (For some truly horrifying evidence about MRA beliefs, you need look no further than David Futrelle’s piece on We Hunted the Mammoth, which documents some truly horrifying comments running the gamut from espousing beating one’s wife to denouncing one’s daughters if they dare to have college aspirations.)

See it because, as noted by Nicole Sperling in her piece on the film for Entertainment Weekly, it is “one glorious, relentless assault” that may make us “never look at action movies quite the same way again.” As Sperling notes, the film “challenges our perceptions about women and freedom, heroism and extremism.” However, while Sperling claims the film focuses on the “slavery endured by all women,” I would extend this—the film actually details how everyone is enslaved by patriarchy. Yes, the women are the sex slaves whose bodies are raped as well as forced into producing breast milk to feed male troops, but the male minions are also enslaved to the dystopian war machine and turned into heartless warriors and slave-laborers.

See it because Furiosa is not a “degendered…eunech warrior” (as claimed in the Sperling review) but rather a gender-queer, disabled, bad-ass feminist hero who proves that heroism has no one gender, no one body type, no one sexuality

See it because it suggests it will take collective action rather than one lone (male) hero to save the future. In the film, it takes Furiosa, five female “breeders,” a group of badass gun-toting grannies, as well as Mad Max and other males tuned to the feminist cause to bring down the likes of Immorten Joe, the villain at the heart of this iteration whose names speaks to the fact patriarchy is not “immortal” nor is the concept of your average (macho) Joe a thing to espouse.

See it because we are all on this tiny spinning planet together and only together can we find the “Green Place” espoused in the movie where the water will be clean and people will not be oppressed.

See it because if you have ever doubted the acting chops of Charlize Theron, this movie will convince you of her incredible talent. She is absolutely fierce as Furiosa. In a movie with very little dialogue and limited characterization, Theron is able to exude an intensity of will and palpable strength of character that is on par (if not exceeding) other female heroines such as Ripley and Sarah Connor.

See it for the grannies with their mad survival skills, for the fierce “Breeders” who refuse to be sex slaves, see it for its championing of the one-armed sharp shooter Furiosa. See it because how often do we see women portrayed as better survivors, snipers and drivers than men?

See it because it is the best feminist road movie since Thelma and Louise. See it because Furiosa’s story is so much more powerful than Black Widow’s in The Avengers. See it because we need to prove Hollywood big wigs wrong and make Clarey and his MRA minions STFU.

See it to piss off MRAs and show them feminists will not be stopped by their testicle-clutching pleas of superiority. See it for their daughters, and sons, and partners, who can hopefully grow into a world free of their “Immorten Joe” mentality.

Finally, see it because, yes, movies matter, and if we want more feminist-friendly blockbusters, we have to prove there is an audience willing to support such movies.

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Natalie Wilson teaches women’s studies and literature at California State University, San Marcos. She is the author of Seduced by Twilight and blogs for Ms., Girl with Pen and Bitch Flicks.

During the 1970s, the Scarfolk Education Publishing company produced packs of cards which taught children about society and its expectations. In particular, the cards focused on eradicating any false notions that children may have picked up from prohibited books, unauthorised wise people and illegal time immigrants (a flood of which materialised in 1979 to stockpile cake following a devastating pudding famine in the future).

In addition to the 1979 'Unlearn Privacy' pack, examples from which can be seen below, other series included 'Unlearn Altrusim', 'Unlearn Democracy' and 'Unlearn Contentment'.

The aforementioned time immigrants claimed that, by the year 2017, surveillance and the invasion of privacy become so ubiquitous that citizens' brains are connected to a central network. No thought, conscious or otherwise, is permitted expression unless it has been approved by a state computer programme nicknamed 'Brain O'Brien'. However, a backlog quickly accumulates, and many people go without a thought of their own for months, if not years at a time.

Fortunately, the government predicted such an emergency and prepared in advance a series of standardised thoughts, ideas and opinions which it inputs directly into citizens' minds. No doubt it is this considerate civic gesture which leads to the overwhelming majority vote for the incumbent party in many subsequent elections.

Tonight's comic contains a very difficult Space Choice.

Hovertext: WHY DOES EVERYONE LIKE RABBITS?! GUYS!

New comic!
Today's News:

 I'll be taking questions on Twitter today!

They’re still doing the counting but everyone knows how it’s going to go: Ireland is going to have marriage equality, and be the first country to have it via popular vote. And to be clear, it looks like the vote isn’t going to be close; it’ll be on the order of 2:1 saying “yes.” That’s a lovely thing, it is.

Some of my forebears are Irish, so I feel it is all right for me to feel some pride in Ireland and its people making this call for equality. If I drank, I would raise a pint of Guinness to them. I may do that anyway, and then give the pint over to Krissy, who will take it from there.

In any event. Well done, Ireland. Well done indeed.

One of the clearest depictions you'll ever see of how small advantages can make huge differences. Read the rest

gashetka:

1972 | Burroughs-Wellcome Headquarters (Research Triangle Park, NC) | Design by Paul Rudolph | Source

At Caltech, Erik Sorto, a quadriplegic, controlled a robot arm with his mind to drink a beer, feed himself, and play video games. Read the rest

Courtney shared this story from Super Opinionated.

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typette:

I wish we could have pet dinosaurs, I bet they’d be smart and like birds or something. Big fluffy ones you could feed with snake mice and stuff. Jurassic Park could’ve been huge if they bred big cute fluffy dinosaurs. You could take them on walks! Teach them things! They’d probably sound like slowed-down birds! Adorable!!

Realistically they probably would hate you and rip you apart but… imagine

iguanamouth:

kept getting requests for gryphons so heres a bunch of them At Once

(photo via quail66)