In 2007 I played Angua in a stage play version of the Discworld novel Jingo. During that production I met a rather enigmatic man who was playing Vetinari. He had the most beautiful voice I’d ever heard. A month and a half into rehearsals we went on a date. 2 years later we were married. This year will mark our 16th wedding anniversary. My children turn 11 and 6 this year.

Thank you sir for bringing me my family. And for all your astounding words. You’re my biggest influence in writing. And I thank the stars every day for the day that I picked up The Colour of Magic.

Nissan Harlecube, 2009. A special edition of the third edition Cube

FUCK. YES. this is what im fucking TALKING about

- James Baldwin, The Village Voice (1984)

You can only reblog this today.

I missed my chance last year. Not gonna let it happen again

official linguistics post

“VIOLENCE FOR VIOLENCE IS THE RULE OF BEASTS” SAYS THE MAN WHO SPENT THEIR DAYS INFLICTING VIOLENCE UPON THE INNOCENT AND NOW FEARS THEIR RIGHTFUL RETRIBUTION

“AN EYE FOR AN EYE LEAVES THE WHOLE WORLD BLIND” SAYS THE MAN WITH BOTH EYES INTACT

HOW QUICKLY THE HAWK BECOMES A DOVE WHEN FACED WITH THE BARREL OF A GUN

Republicans deliberately use coded language to trick people to vote for them and radicalize their group. Many don't even realize they're radicalized or what they're saying is even racist. This is why they think the Left is "over reacting" because the either know they're using coded language and don't care, or they don't know anything at all.

The other purpose of this is a very weak and transparent baiting tactic. They'll paint a whole group as pedophiles for instance just so they can accuse anybody getting angry at that of defending pedophilia, even though you know and they know that they're just tossing it around as a wild accusation based on a stereotype they deliberately invented.

the concept and idea of “you can always start trying to be a better person” is extremely important to me both in media and irl and i continue to be deeply deeply disturbed by the trend on this site pushing that these ideas in media are bad writing or even morally reprehensible

because theyd rather someone stay terrible or just straight up die than become a better person 

from a compassionate point of view it’s deeply distressing and from a pragmatic point of view it’s outright frustrating

it’s fucked up. 

What is the most important step a man can take?

The next.

I think part of the pushback about this is the idea that, to “redeem” bad people, their victims must first forgive them for unforgivable acts.

This is false. No one is obligated to forgive you. You can learn from your mistakes and become the best, kindest person on earth, and the people you’ve hurt still won’t forgive you, and you’ll have to accept that. And that doesn’t mean you aren’t allowed to grow. Because we aren’t just “pure” or “sinful”, we’re complex.

It’s also important that a character doesn’t have to forgive someone to decide to continue to have a relationship with them. I’m thinking of a fandom where people are furious that a character is shown having a positive experience with his abusive father. But you can choose to do that without forgiving them or absolving them for what they did. What they did can be unforgivable, and simultaneously it can be ok to interact with who they are now.

It’s very Catholic when you think about it. Something is a sin until you admit it’s a sin, get a punishment, and are forgiven, and then it’s not a sin anymore. Or in The Good Place, where you get points for good things that balance out the bad things. That’s not how it works. (And as always, it’s super weird how fandom purity culture unquestioningly accepts religious philosophy. And not even the thoughtful religious philosophy where people have actually spent thousands of years talking about the dangers of treating these ideas overly simplistically.) Having a positive experience with someone doesn’t mean you forgive them, or that what they did was forgivable. It just means that today is different from yesterday.

so much rage for anyone who tells the story of the radium girls like “ohoho weren’t people in the 20s fucking stupid” and not like “corporate greed has always cost people’s lives and health”

History Lesson:

The Radium Girls were factory workers who painted glowing markers on watches. They pointed their paint brushes with their lips after being told do so and that it was safe for them to do so by their managers. The paint had radium in it to promote the glow.

Dentists became the first people aware of the medical complications happening amongst all the women working in this factory. Complaints of loose bones, teeth, ulcers, etc. began to circulate amongst the staff.

Eventually, the girls started to die. The first one’s jaw literally came off her skull before her death as a result of radiation poisoning.

Perhaps all of that you could say was “stupidity” on behalf of the workers and corporation.

But what came next wasn’t. The corporation, the U.S. Radium Corporation, originally called the Radium Luminous Material Corporation, lied to the public and said that their workers were dying from alternate causes such as syphilis. They continued to instruct their staff to work business as usual, perpetuating more deaths and illness amongst their staff so their product could continue to be made.

The Radium Corp offered to change the method of painting dials, but the alternative brushes slowed down work and they were paid by the dial. To continue earning the wages they needed, the girls were forced to continue to use the brushes that they had to wet with their mouths.

The girls eventually took the matter to court. They took it to court eight times because Radium Corp continued to appeal until 1939.

As a result of their win, which provided a settlement to each girl a lump sum, a yearly stipend, and medical expensed paid by the company, LABOR LAW changed to ensure that companies could be held accountable for not properly protecting their employees from disease. New health regulations and standards were put in place to keep workers safe and they stopped using the brushes after that point.

(I don’t have the data to say if there was a corresponding wage increase to factor for lost wages due to a slowing down after new regulations were made).

The point, though, is that this company willfully knew that its staff was geting sick and dying from the procedures they put in place, and lied to their staff and started a public smear campaign saying these women had sexually transmitted diseases instead.

That’s not on the “stupid” women, that’s corporate greed.

I’d also like to add that they were intentionally delaying the court case so there would be less girls left alive to be there. Even after they’re caught, they are still heartless shits. Don’t ever forget these poor women and the company that thought cycling through workers and leaving a trail of bodies was worth making more money at the top.

When they say regulations are written in blood, this is what they mean. Remember that when the government tries to cut back regulations, saying they cost companies too much money.

Adding a plug for Kate Moore’s book which tells this story with detail, data, and narrative power:

You can get it from Bookshop here or at your local library.

INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE dir. Steven Spielberg

Birth of Suburbia

Seinfeld – 6.23: The Face Painter

Anytime you're interacting with your child, but especially when angry, say to yourself "how would I feel if their future partner treated them the way I am currently treating them?"

You are creating their 'normal'

People need to read the UN Conventions On The Rights Of The Child before becoming parents and regularly while parenting and I am so serious about this.

Everyone SHOULD read it, and it is often a distressing experience to do so. Back in 1929 it was internationally recognized that children in particular needed to have a codified set of rights, it has been improved on since - in many ways it is still not perfect but it needs to be understood that the rights contained within are the BARE MINIMUM.

If any of these are breached - whether on the home scale or on the cultural one, particularly for signatory countries - that is a fundamental issue.

I promise that learning what the established bare minimums are in universal human rights frameworks will enable you to cut through so much propaganda immediately.

Children and teens are full human beings and by becoming parents an immense responsibility is applied to treat them as such. They need open and clear communication, not to be talked down too, and to have their questions answered. They have the right to autonomy and life.

The United States is still the only country ever to be part of the UN that has not ratified a children's bill of rights. Children remain basically objects and the property of their parents in the eyes of the U.S. constitution.

—

House votes to censure Rep. Al Green for disrupting Trump’s speech to Congress

Sickening. Fuck these Quisling fucks. Trump is a tyrant, and Al Green is the only one of all of them who literally stood up to him.

Primary every single one of these cowards.

A company making wooden wind turbine blades has successfully tested a 50-meter-long prototype that’s set to debut soon in the Indian and European markets.

Last year, the German firm Voodin successfully demonstrated that their laminated-veneer timber blades could be fabricated, adapted, and installed at a lower cost than existing blades, while maintaining performance.

Now, Voodin has announced a partnership with the Indian wind company Senvion to supply its 4.2-megawatt turbines with these wooden blades for another trial run.

Wind power has accumulated more than a few demerit points for several shortfalls in the overall industry of this fossil-fuel alternative.

Some of these, such as the impact on bird life, are justified, but none more so than the fact that the turbine blades are impossible or nearly impossible to recycle, and that they need to be changed every 25 years.

Wind turbine blades are made from a mixture of glass and carbon fiber heated together with sticky epoxy resin, and these materials can’t be separated once combined, which means they go into landfills or are incinerated when they become too battered to safely operate.

GNN has reported that folks will occasionally find second-life value in these giant panels, for example in Denmark where they are turned into bike shelters. In another instance, they’re being used as pedestrian bridges.

But there are way more wind turbine blades being made every year than pedestrian bridges and bike shelters, making the overall environmental impact of wind power not all green.

“At the end of their lifecycle, most blades are buried in the ground or incinerated. This means that—at this pace—we will end up with 50 million tonnes of blade material waste by 2050,” Voodin Blade Technology’s CEO. Mr. Siekmann said recently. “With our solution, we want to help green energy truly become as green as possible.”

The last 15 years have seen rapid growth in another industry called mass timber. This state-of-the-art manufacturing technique sees panels of lumber heat-pressed, cross-laminated, and glued into a finished product that’s being used to make skyscrapers, airports, and more.

At the end of the day though, mass timber products are still wood, and can be recycled in a variety of ways.

“The blades are not only an innovative technological advancement but a significant leap toward sustainable wind production,” said Siekmann, adding that this isn’t a case of pay more to waste less; the blades cost around 20% less than carbon fiber.

Additionally, the added flexibility of wooden blades should allow for taller towers and longer blades, potentially boosting the output of turbine by accessing higher wind speeds.

Now partnered with Voodin, Senvion will begin feasibility analysis in the next few months, before official testing begins around 2027.

we're so back