Leahgates

mileyhighrus:

i’m doing the okcupid horse ebooks thing and I CAN’T STOP LAUGHING

shibaconfessions2:

Submitted by fiachrahackett

sweetteaforme:

So here’s my capstone. The culmination of two years of research and tons of work. 

BAM.

Pretty important, you should watch it.

ionlyweardresses:

{I haz a good sleep. A very good sleep}

When I posted this picture, I knew it was one of my favorites.  

It captures Nigel Bear beautifully - this bundle of wrinkles is what we see every day.  Except with a little foofing and snorfling.

I never thought in my wildest dreams that a photograph I took would get 51,000 notes.   

To this Nigel Bear says, “That’s absurd.  I always knew 50,000 ladies loved me.”  

To the fans of Nigel Bear and English bulldogs, stay bully my friends!

This week, it seemed like a miracle happened in Cleveland: three women who have been missing for a decade and were presumed dead were found alive, held captive in a residential home for the time they were missing.  They were freed when Amanda Berry, one of the missing women, managed to partially pry open the bolted front door, creating a gap barely big enough for her fingers, and yelled for help.  Neighbor Charles Ramsey heard and saw her and came to her assistance, helping her pry back the aluminum door so she could crawl out and seek safety in Ramsay’s home, where she called 911, so that the police were able to free the other women, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, as well as one child, from the home.

Much has been made in the media narrative of Charles Ramsey as a hero, swooping in to rescue three damsels in distress, quite literally imprisoned.  Make no mistake, Ramsey’s actions were heroic.  He acted as we hope all bystanders would, though we know in reality they do not.  Instead of walking on by or hoping someone else would deal with it or prioritizing not embarrassing themselves over possibly helping another human being in an unanticipated circumstance.  He should be celebrated for his willingness to help others.

But in our hurry to understand the trauma of Amanda Berry’s victimization, the details of which are not yet known, we are erasing her agency in her own escape.  Whatever means were used to hold three women against their wills for a decade, we could certainly have empathy for them if they had long ago given up trying to escape, either because they feared punishment if they failed or because they began to sympathize with their captors or for a myriad of other reasons.  Amanda Berry took risks in trying to force her way out of the house.  She showed mental and emotional resilience in maintaining her sense of self and her will to fight for her own freedom and safety, and that of the other captives in the house.  Her will to survive and escape are awe-inspiring and incredibly brave.  We would be dishonoring her strength and courage by erasing her humanity, and agency.  Let us be careful not to let the rescue narratives we learned from  Disney movies displace our ability to see Amanda Berry as the hero of her own rescue.

Hi, my name's Dozer. I'm a Catahoula / Bulldog hybrid. I love to sleep more than anything while I'm still growing, but I've recently been introduced to a tennis ball which I prefer to hunt pretending it's alive--must be the Catahoula in me! I'm a real lovable boy with plenty of wrinkles and excess skin to roll around in. You can find me snoring in my crate or hiccuping while gnawing on a bully stick!

Hello, my name is Archie (a.k.a. Archie B). I was a graduation gift for my mom--imagine me a gift! But I must say life is sweet. I enjoy chasing balls, digging, and chewing my leash. I also like to torment my brother from a different mother. He is a sheltie and acts like I do not exist. I am determined to make him notice me; maybe he will one day when I am bigger.

1958: Maj. Hank “Pollen Goggles” Bumblefuzz becomes the first bee to fly faster than the speed of sound.

Via milesmilob.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Crawlies

Ed. note: This is a guest post by Rebecca Trotzky-Sirr. It is part of the Strong Families Mama’s Day Our Way celebration. You can read more posts in the series on the Strong Families blog. Strong Families is a national initiative led by Forward Together. Our goal is to change the way people think, act and talk about families. Rebecca’s bio is after the jump.

“No one threw me a baby shower. No one said congratulations. My pregnancy was not celebrated. My child’s birth was seen as a failure,” Jayme, a strong teenage mother, shared with me during a checkup for her healthy young baby. I sympathized with her as a family doctor and as a young mother myself. What do you do when you don’t get any Mothers’ Day adoration? In spite of decades of work for girls’ and women’s health justice, a surprisingly narrow band of acceptance surrounds mothers. Jayme was too young, too single, and too poor to receive the embrace of her community.

That same day, a friend I studied with during my medical training, gladly gossiped with me about how welcomed she felt in the world of mothers at the park, in the farmers markets, and the prenatal yoga centers. I asked her if she realized her privilege, her skin color, the ring on her finger, the zip code on her driver’s license, and the brand-name maternity wear that opened doors for her during her pregnancy and mothering. She paused. I backtracked, awkwardly offering congratulations. “You and your baby deserve to be welcomed, celebrated, and supported,” I cheered. Without saying it, I thought, and so do Jayme and her baby.

In college, as one of the few student moms in the ivory tower, I was the confidant of pregnant and parenting women. Like Jayme, I had my kid too young. My pregnant belly didn’t fit in the narrow desks provided in our college lectures. I succeeded because I received support, not judgment, from family and friends. Structural supports like Pell grants and needs-based assistance for college students allowed me to step ahead. Still more, I succeeded when others dropped out, because of a lot of social advantages that had nothing to do with my merit. My citizenship, skin color, health, luck of geography, and class meant that I could attend school in districts where I could learn, someone believed in me, and I believed in myself. My kid’s dad worked and provided child support even though we weren’t together. Though I have a B.A. and an M.Eng from Stanford University, I earned a far more comprehensive education, including a deeper understanding of empathy, from welfare and government offices.

I ignored well-intentioned advice to drop out of college and enroll in a technical program where it was thought young mothers could more easily succeed. A counselor asked, “Have you considered beauty school?” I’ve had two professional haircuts in the past two decades and last wore make-up for Halloween face paint. Any social worker or career counselor, if they had the case load to allow them to open their eyes, would see that beauty school was the last place I should go. But, as a young single mom who received food stamps and Medicaid, I was the target of a lot of bad advice and judgment. 

Medicine and mothering intertwine in my life. My kid entered kindergarten the same week I started medical school. As a mom and a doctor, I am thrilled that I am able to work toward a world where all women and kids are supported and celebrated. Motherhood should be a fair choice, not a forced choice.

Today, I am a family physician who believes in providing comprehensive health care. All women deserve access to comprehensive sex education. We deserve to be in healthy, positive relationships and to decide when and with whom we want to have sex. We should have affordable contraception and quality health care. We should be able to choose to continue a pregnancy without judgment or shame, regardless of our backgrounds. Had I found myself pregnant under a different set of circumstances, I shouldn’t have had to choose differently. Regardless of whether my wallet carried a health insurance card, credit cards, or a driver’s license, women deserve to choose to be, or not to be, mothers.

I believe that my adolescent patients have the resiliency to build strong positive relationships. And yes, these relationships involve sex. So my job involves providing solid and accurate information about sex. As much as I wish this were the norm among my health provider colleagues, I know that’s not always the case. Too many of us believe the myth that teens can’t use highly effective forms of contraception, like IUDs. Too few of us provide options to women who find themselves pregnant when they don’t want to be. Too many of us don’t support teen parents. But when a pregnant teenager enters my office and declares she is ready to be a mother, I believe her. I support her. I know she has the inherent capacity to succeed, because I was once just like her.

That’s why on Sunday I celebrate all mothers. So Happy Mama’s Day from a mom who knows what it’s like not to hear congratulations while pregnant. And Happy Mama’s Day from a family doctor who believes that every woman and every pregnancy deserves to be celebrated.

Rebecca Trotzky-Sirr, MD, MSc, is a single mom to an amazing teenager who barely tolerates her sense of humor. She’s been a part of the reproductive justice movement since before becoming a family doctor. During medical school, Rebecca received a Fulbright grant to study human rights based medicine in Venezuela. Currently she practices family medicine in Los Angeles. She is a Physician for Reproductive Health Leadership Training Academy Fellow.

First, the chief of the Air Force sexual assault prevention unit was arrested for sexual assault. Then the Pentagon released a report showing that sexual assault had jumped from 19,000 cases in 2010 to 26,000 in 2012. Now, we have the Air Force’s top commander, Gen. Mark A. Welsh III, saying that sexual assault happens all the time outside of the military and that it’s because of a “hookup mentality.” 20% of women report they had been sexually assaulted,

“before they came into the military…. So they come in from a society where this occurs…. Some of it is the hookup mentality of junior high even and high school students now, which my children can tell you about from watching their friends and being frustrated by it.”

It’s nice to know that this general moonlights as a cultural anthropologist who studies his own children. Maybe his kids can  testify as expert witnesses and explain how sexual encounters between consenting adults is responsible for sexual assault and rape. I feel so much better knowing that military high ups have such a nuanced understanding of their institution’s rampant and systemic rape and sexual assault.

In all fairness, Welsh isn’t the only person making totally ignorant and disturbing comments about the military’s rape epidemic. Donald Trump, always a source of inspiration and wisdom tweeted “26,000 unreported sexual assults in the military-only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?” So we can attribute rape to the hookup mentality and to men and women working together. We might as well throw in a “she was asking for it and shouldn’t have worn that dress” for good measure.

The thing is, we all expect offensive and outrageous drivel from The Donald. But I guess, by now, we shouldn’t be surprised by anything the military does (or doesn’t do) or says, when it comes to sexual assault and rape.

RUMANGABO, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - In forested hills in eastern Congo, rebels are honing their ambush skills to prepare to face a new United Nations force which has a mandate to go on the offensive.

BOSTON U. (US) — A new class for medical students may increase their self-compassion and ability to manage thoughts and tasks more effectively, according to new research.

The study, published in Medical Education Online, also discusses how this innovative course may help medical students better manage stress and feel more empowered to use mind-body skills with their patients.

CARNEGIE MELLON (US) — New research provides the first evidence that self-affirmation can protect against the damaging effects of stress on problem-solving performance.

Understanding that self-affirmation—the process of identifying and focusing on one’s most important values—boosts stressed individuals’ problem-solving abilities. The findings, published in PLOS ONE, will help guide future research and the development of educational interventions.

“An emerging set of published Carnegie Mellon University studies suggest that a brief self-affirmation activity at the beginning of a school term can boost academic grade-point averages in underperforming kids at the end of the semester. This new work suggests a mechanism for these studies, showing self-affirmation effects on actual problem-solving performance under pressure,” says J. David Creswell, assistant professor of psychology.

DUKE (US) — Seven years ago, the first working invisibility cloak resulted from complex laboratory experiments. It’s now easier and cheaper to make a simple cloak.

“I would argue that essentially anyone who can spend a couple thousand dollars on a non-industry grade 3-D printer can literally make a plastic cloak overnight,” says Yaroslav Urzhumov, assistant research professor in electrical and computer engineering at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering.

Three-dimensional printing, technically known as stereolithographic fabrication, has become increasingly popular, not only among industry, but for personal use. It involves a moving nozzle guided by a computer program laying down successive thin layers of a material—usually a polymer plastic—until a three-dimensional object is produced.

@trotterpup

Big thanks to the lovely folks over at @flor, who let me cool off from the heat & showered me with adoration, while my mom abandoned me to grab a ladies lunch next door. Her loss, obvi.

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Flor

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schneebsmagoo:

Snoozy Magoo sneaking in some shut eye.

thefluffingtonpost:

PHOTO OP: Lil’ Pug

Via @bonnie_the_pug.

I wasn’t going to reblog this but then I saw the jammies

chompsky:

Feeling tuckered after the dog park.

ilikethewayyouwerkittt:

wtf is this why is this so funny this is wrong