June 2013
“Because that’s the thing about Scooby-Doo: The bad guys in every episode aren’t monsters, they’re liars.
I can’t imagine how scandalized those critics who were relieved to have something that was mild enough to not excite their kids would’ve been if they’d stopped for a second and realized what was actually going on. The very first rule of Scooby-Doo, the single premise that sits at the heart of their adventures, is that the world is full of grown-ups who lie to kids, and that it’s up to those kids to figure out what those lies are and call them on it, even if there are other adults who believe those lies with every fiber of their being. And the way that you win isn’t through supernatural powers, or even through fighting. The way that you win is by doing the most dangerous thing that any person being lied to by someone in power can do: You think.” —Ask Chris #81: Scooby-Doo and Secular Humanism (via missshirley)
I can’t imagine how scandalized those critics who were relieved to have something that was mild enough to not excite their kids would’ve been if they’d stopped for a second and realized what was actually going on. The very first rule of Scooby-Doo, the single premise that sits at the heart of their adventures, is that the world is full of grown-ups who lie to kids, and that it’s up to those kids to figure out what those lies are and call them on it, even if there are other adults who believe those lies with every fiber of their being. And the way that you win isn’t through supernatural powers, or even through fighting. The way that you win is by doing the most dangerous thing that any person being lied to by someone in power can do: You think.” —Ask Chris #81: Scooby-Doo and Secular Humanism (via missshirley)
I just learned that Vin Diesel taught Judi Dench how to play Dungeons and Dragons and now she DMs for her grandchildren and I feel better about the world in general.
remember how punk culture was supposed to be anti-elitist and then it morphed into this cesspool of elitist shits trying to decide who/what is and isn’t punk
that’s some irony you can drizzle on a cake and eat that’s how rich it is
Study: Teacher Prep Programs Get Failing Marks : NPR →
npr.org
“Right now, much of higher ed believes that it’s not their job to have a teacher be ready for the classroom on Day 1,” says Kate Walsh, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality.
Her organization’s study of more than 1,100 colleges of education found that 7 out of 10 programs did not adequately teach candidates how to teach reading. Nine out of 10 did a poor job preparing them to teach basic subjects like English, math, science or history. Training in classroom management and the use of student data was lacking. The damage to K-12 education, says Walsh, is enormous, and she is on a mission to expose what she calls “widespread malpractice”in the field of teacher education.
“School districts are spending billions of dollars to make up for what teacher training programs are not doing,” Walsh says.
Auuughhhhhhhhhhhhh
India to send world's last telegram. Stop. →
csmonitor.com
At the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), India’s state-owned telecom company, a message emerges from a dot matrix printer addressing a soldier’s Army unit in Delhi. ”GRANDMOTHER SERIOUS. 15 DAYS LEAVE EXTENSION,” it reads. It’s one of about 5,000 such missives still being sent every day by telegram – a format favored for its “sense of urgency and authenticity,” explains a BSNL official.
But the days of such communication are numbered: The world’s last telegram message will be sent somewhere in India on July 14.
That missive will come 144 years after Samuel Morse sent the first telegram in Washington, and seven years after Western Union shuttered its services in the United States. In India, telegraph services were introduced by William O’Shaughnessy, a British doctor and inventor who used a different code for the first time in 1850 to send a message.
Rule #1 of Starfleet: The Prime Directive
Rule #1 of Star Trek: fuck the Prime Directive
“This is an invocation for anyone who hasn’t begun, who’s stuck in a terrible place between zero and one. Let me realize that my past failures at follow-through are no indication of my future performance, they’re just healthy little fire tat are gonna help warm up my ass. If my FILDI is strong let me keep him in a velvet box until I really, really need him. If my FILDI is weak let me feed him oranges and not let him gorge himself in ego and arrogance. Let me not hit up my Facebook like it’s a crack pipe. Keep that browser closed. If I catch myself wearing a tutu, too fat, too late, too old, let me shake it off like a donkey would shake off something it doesn’t like. And when I get that feeling, when all of a sudden you get a small burst of energy and it shoots down into your legs and up into your arms and tells you to get up and go get a cheese sandwich, that’s my cheese monster talking. And my cheese monster will never be satisfied by cheddar, only the cheese of accomplishment. Let me think about the people who I care about most. And how when they fail or disappoint me, I still love them. I still give them chances. And I still see the best in them. Let me extend that generosity to myself. Let me find and use metaphors to help me understand the world around me and give me the strength to get rid of them when it’s apparent they no longer work. Let me thank the parts of me that I don’t understand or are outside my rational control like my creativity and my courage. And let me remember that my courage is a wild dog. It won’t just come when I call it, I have to chase it down and hold it as tight as I can. Let me no be so vain as to think I am the sole author of my victories and a victim of my defeats. Let me remember that the unintended meaning that people project onto what I do is neither my fault or something I can take credit for. Perfectionism may look good in his shiny shoes but he’s a little bit of an arsehole and no-one invites him to their pool parties. Let me remember that the impact of criticism is often not the intent of the critic but when the intent is evil, that’s what the block button is for. And when I eat my critique, let me able to separate out the good advice from the bitter herbs. There are few people who won’t be disarmed by a genuine smile. let me not think of my work as only a stepping stone to something else, and if it is, let me become fascinated by the shape of the stone. let me take the idea that has gotten me this far and put it to bed. What I am about to do will not be that, but it will be something. There is no need to sharpen my pencils anymore, my pencils are sharp enough! Even the dull ones will make a mark! Warts and all! LET’S START THIS SHIT UP!
(And God let me enjoy this. Life isn’t just a sequence of waiting for things to be done).” — Ze Frank (An Invocation For Beginnings)
(And God let me enjoy this. Life isn’t just a sequence of waiting for things to be done).” — Ze Frank (An Invocation For Beginnings)
Gender stereotypes really bother me and when people try to push them on children it irks me so much. I’m a girl (the youngest of three) and growing up I loved playing with cars, tonka trucks, making mudpies, getting dirty, climbing trees and I’m pretty sure in every picture of me as a child where you can see my legs I am covered in scratches and bruises from playing hard. All of these things a stereotypically “boy” things to do. I’m lucky and my parents never tried to push me the other way toward more “girly” things like the games and toys my sisters enjoyed, but I see it all the time where parents tell their daughter they can’t have a toy truck because that’s a boy toy or tell their son they can’t play with a doll or easy bake oven because they’re not a girl. I’ve even seen and heard parents shame their son/daughter about wanting to play with something that isn’t a “boy/girl” toy.
It makes me sick, to be honest.
There’s nothing wrong with boys who like “boy” things like superheroes, trucks and playing in the mud, just like there’s nothing wrong with girls who like “girl” things like barbies, baby dolls, and tea parties. So why is it such a horrible thing when a boy/girl wants to try something new? Who cares if your daughter wants to dress up as spider(wo)man for Halloween? I would encourage my daughter to do what she likes, no matter the gender stereotype- and same with my son. If I have a son one day and he wants to have tea parties, I’ll be the happiest guest at that party.
To top it all off, it makes me even more upset when I hear a boy being teased because he likes doing something that’s “girly” or a girl being teased for being a “tomboy” by their peers. I wish someone would explain to every child that using “being a girl/boy” as an insult isn’t okay.
It’s okay to be a boy.
It’s okay to be a girl.
Liking certain toys or activities is nothing to be ashamed of. The toys I played with and activities I participated in when I was a child helped shape who I am today, and I’m proud of who I am, so it breaks my heart when I see kids being shamed into thinking that what they like isn’t right.
Who decides what’s “right” in the first place?
