Wibbly-Wobbly Ramblings

When women age past 25 we’re allowed to still like fandom stuff. We’re not obligated to switch over to gardening, baking, the PTA or whatever the fuck is socially acceptable for us to do in our old age.

When women age past 25 we’re allowed to still like fandom stuff. We’re not obligated to switch over to gardening, baking, the PTA or whatever the fuck is socially acceptable for us to do in our old age.

Am I a bad person if I start referring to The Andalite Chronicles as How I Met Your Mother just to mess with people?

EG: “My favorite part of How I Met Your Mother is when the alien future war hero narator boards the Skrit Na vessel only to find out the plucky young woman love interest has already already got her captors under her thumb.”

Watching the new Project Runway and there’s a man-bun guy on here who is being a drama queen about having to design for a plus-sized model.

Truly one of the great trials of life: designing a dress with $300 of fabric for a non-skinny (but gorgeous) woman. Do these people even realize how cliched and predictable they’re being?

The Hork-Bajir Chronicles (Dak), pg. 171 (by K.A. Applegate)

Last night I finished the second book of a wonderful middle-grade fantasy series (DISENCHANTED by Megan Morrison) only to realize that the author is actually on of my favorite Harry Potter fic authors! And a co-founder of SugarQuill. The other founder of SugarQuill and Morrison’s fanfic co-author assisted in the rather wonderful series worldbuilding.

It’s nice to know that there are HP fandom people succeeding who are actually talented and nice. Instead of asshole plagiarists, COUGH.

The books (the TYME series) are re-imagined fairy tales, but way more original than that sounds. There’s a real emotional complexity to them that I don’t see in most middle grade.

Really: Who else would turn Cinderella into a tale of labor rights in early industrialization?

Last night I finished the second book of a wonderful middle-grade fantasy series (DISENCHANTED by Megan Morrison) only to realize that the author is actually on of my favorite Harry Potter fic authors! And a co-founder of SugarQuill. The other founder of SugarQuill and Morrison’s fanfic co-author assisted in the rather wonderful series worldbuilding.

It’s nice to know that there are HP fandom people succeeding who are actually talented and nice. Instead of asshole plagiarists, COUGH.

The books (the TYME series) are re-imagined fairy tales, but way more original than that sounds. There’s a real emotional complexity to them that I don’t see in most middle grade.

Really: Who else would turn Cinderella into a tale of labor rights in early industrialization?

In Animorphs, Ax thinks it’s so backwards that Humans invented books before computers.

What kind of fucked-up planet is Ax from, where they invent digital before analogue?

I have personally, for my own sanity, dismissed all of Ax’s comments about how much better books are than the Internet as Author On Deck, old-man-yells-at-cloud rants about The Kids These Days On The Internets. Indeed, in Reddit AMAs the authors have since backpedaled on all these statements they expressed via Ax.

That’s a relief. In fairness, the Internet was slow as fuck when the books were written–there are some great jokes in the books about this. (Personal fave: Marco says the Andalite homeworld “has an web browser that actually works.”) But the original was still fucking ridiculous. 

friendly reminder that medical school forced my pro-life Catholic brother to watch an abortion procedure in order to fulfill a rotation and graduate

Breaking News:  Abortion is a medical procedure that all doctors should be aware of, even if they don’t perform them. 

That is part of med school.  

Get through it and move on. 

to him it was literally watching someone be murdered saints do you people have any sense of relative sympathy

Does he have sympathy for the women who die from botched back alley abortions because of pro-life beliefs like yours?

Or just for blastocysts and fetuses so undeveloped as to be indistinguishable from chickens and cows and dolphins?

If your dainty delicate wee lamb of a brother can’t handle watching a medical procedure, he should stick to playing Operation instead of trying to perform one.

Why is he a doctor then?

Did he need a safe space?

@slytherinconservative your brother sounds like he’s too much of a special snowflake to have a career in medicine.

I mean, for real though, medicine is not the kind of thing to go into if you’re actually traumatized by watching a medical procedure that involves suction and blood, which is like, every fucking surgery there is. 

I also know that there are medical schools that either don’t require students to observe abortions, or allow them to opt out (which frankly, I don’t agree with) so either he’s somewhere that doesn’t give that option, in which case, that wasn’t the right school for him, or he didn’t bother to get out of it, in which case, it’s his own damn fault.

can we just talk about the time that Lupin was recovering from a full moon and Snape taught the DADA class and made all the students write essays on how to kill werewolves for Lupin to read when he got back I hate Snape so much it’s not funny

Lupin gets back and he feels like crap and suddenly his best friend’s son is writing an essay about how to kill him like that is so fucked up

Bear in mind that an ex-Death Eater does this to someone who was in the Order, risked his life fighting against said Death Eaters and lost his best friends to the Death Eater’s genocidal leader, for the sole purpose of screwing him over, and as far as we know he experiences no consequences whatsoever for doing so.

And if that wasn’t enough, he made them write those essays hoping some of them would realize Lupin’s a werewolf. And one did, but Hermione is a fucking DECENT HUMAN BEING and said nothing. Apparently the ‘insufferable know-it-all' can keep her mouth closed, when it’s for something important. Just like Snape didn’t do at the end of the book.

I’m getting mad, so here’s something I’ve realized while reading The Order of the Phoenix again. (Please keep in mind that my books are in Italian and some concepts might be hard to explain, I apologize for my English mistakes)

In chapter 14, when The Trio talked with Sirius, he said that two years before Dolores Umbridge had written a law against werewolves that made it almost impossible for Lupin to find a job.

Now ask yourself this question. Why two years?

What had happened two years before? During Harry’s third year? Oh, right. The Magical World had discovered that one of Hogwarts’ teachers (someone who was in constant conctat with their children) was a werewolf. Does that ring any bell?

But that’s not all! If we take a look at chapter 15, in the Daily Prophet article we can see a familiar name: Remus Lupin. In a newspaper. Where everyone can read it. “The werewolf Remus Lupin”. No wonder he couldn’t find a job! And it’s not the first time the Daily Prophet has written about him, as it’s stated in the article itself. There must have been a huge scandal when it had all come out.

So basically, when Snape decided he couldn’t bear not having what he wanted (for example, SIRIUS BLACK GETTING KISSED BY A DEMENTOR) and spilled the secret, he didn’t only tell the whole school. He didn’t only tell the kids’ parents. The told the whole Magical World.

He told the whole Magical World that a man who had kept his condition secret all his life was a werewolf.

And the Magical World responded with a law against werewolves.

So, basically, Snape didn’t only ruin Remus Lupin’s life. He ruined the life of every single werewolf in the UK.

But, you know. Bravest man I ever knew.

FUCKING HIT THAT REBLOG SO FAST THANK YOU

Gonna play Devil’s Advocate here, but let’s not forget that Snape was tormented relentlessly by James and Sirius and both Peter AND Lupin STOOD BY AND WATCHED. And the worst part is that people both in the story and in the fanbase just expect him to brush off being horribly bullied and humiliated almost every day of his student life. Yes, he did something horrible by telling, but chances are that he told the parents and one of the parents told the papers so he only indirectly caused this misery. And I think Lupin was actually sour at Snape about that in the book, so it’s not like they’re ignoring it. Snape had to deal with seeing James’ face every day on Harry, and I think his eyes were the only thing keeping him from being absolutely vicious. Then again, you could say Harry’s eyes are a constant reminder that Snape’s CHILDHOOD BULLY got the girl of his dreams. And yet, despite Sirius bullying him and Lupin enabling it, Snape managed to WORK with them, even though it probably tore him apart to do it. How many people can bear to work with their childhood bully, to see their face every day? And Sirius never changed, he was being a bully when he met Snape again when all Snape was doing was making sure the students were okay because of the WEREWOLF in their class, who could change at ANY FUCKING MOMENT, and the psychotic, albeit framed, convicted murderer. And let’s not forget that Snape made the Wolfsbane potion for Lupin. He may have wanted the students, at least Hermione, to realize what Lupin really was, but he’s not heartless. I doubt he would be helping him hide if he was planning to tell the press. No, I repeat my statement that it was more likely to be one of the parents, who was told by Snape or even their kid that figured it out. Snape only ever did what he did to protect the students. Imagine if Lupin had missed a dose, just once, and they found out because he changed when facing the Boggart and badly hurt every student in there?

Right, I’m going to go ahead and just take this apart piece by piece.

No, you’re not. If you were going to “play the Devil’s Advocate,” you wouldn’t type such a long, passionate response in Snape’s defense. Being the Devil’s Advocate means you don’t actually agree with what you’re saying. It’s a debate tactic used specifically to help someone find holes in their argument by lobbing counters at them. So for instance, if someone was preparing a speech on why it should be illegal to text while driving (because it’s dangerous, et cetera), someone else might help them prepare by playing the Devil’s Advocate and throwing counters at them so that the anti-texting person can strengthen their argument. That is the Devil’s Advocate approach. You, on the other hand? You clearly agree with what you’re saying. You’re not playing the Devil’s advocate at all. You’re being a Snape stan and I honestly have no time for that, yet here I am, replying anyway, because I can’t stand to see something like this in my notifications without smacking the nonsense down.

Cry me a fucking river. 

I’m so, so, so, so, so, so, SO beyond sick of the “poor wittle defenseless Snape was zomg BULLIED!1!1!1!!” defense that has been thrown around for the past, what, fourteen years now? Ever since Order of the Phoenix was published, at least. Snape was bullied by Sirius and James, yes. They picked fights with him, absolutely. But Snape gave as good as he got. He was far from defenseless. Not only did at least one of the spells that James used in the flashback come from Snape’s own mind (Levicorpus), but Snape also invented far more dangerous, dark magic curses that he fired right back at them (Sectumsempra). You may notice, if you re-read the flashback, that only one of the participants in that fight drew blood, and it wasn’t either James or Sirius. No, it was Snape, and the only reason why James wasn’t more badly wounded is because his aim wasn’t as good as it should have been. Snape was also the only one to use a slur in that scene, and he fired that slur at the supposed ~*~love of his life~*~, because he was embarrassed that she was standing up for him. What a class act.

Back to the point: Snape was already hanging out with future Death Eaters at the time (e.g. Mulciber, something Lily called him out on), and he was already buying into the Death Eater doctrine as well. After all, a slur is not something that you simply say by accident. Though he was angry, and probably wouldn’t have called Lily that had he not “lost his temper,” as Lily herself points out (and he can’t argue against), he had no problems calling others of her birth that. He only stopped after she died, and even then, we shouldn’t give him gold stars for not using slurs anymore. Being halfway decent is not something you’re rewarded for. Regardless, Snape was (and always has been) highly intelligent, and a gifted wizard. He wasn’t some poor, defenseless little boy that James and Sirius kicked around for funsies. We also know that he started some fights of his own, because even after James stopped bullying him, Snape kept going after James, as both Lupin and Sirius tell us. (“Snape never missed a chance to hex James, and you couldn’t expect James to take that lying down, could you?”) Yes, Snape was bullied, but it isn’t as if that ongoing feud was a one-way street. What James and Sirius did was wrong (and James grew out of it—more on Sirius in a minute), but Snape fired back and was under no circumstances the defenseless woobie that so many of his stans try to make him out to be.

Oh, but you know who was defenseless? Neville Longbottom, when Snape harassed and bullied him so badly that he was Neville’s worst fear, even more so than the Death Eaters who had tortured his parents into insanity. Harry Potter, when Snape singled him out on his very first day of class to ask him advanced questions that no eleven-year-old first year could have reasonably been expected to know (Hermione is the exception, not the rule). Hermione Granger, when she was hit by a stray curse and her teeth grew down to her chest, and Snape cruelly said he saw no difference. And so on and so forth, because Snape—a grown man—went out of his way to demean, belittle, and bully innocent children for “crimes” such as “Voldemort targeted the Potters instead of the Longbottoms and so I’m going to punish Neville because his parents are insane instead of dead” and “James fucked Lily and so clearly that’s Harry’s fault” and “Hermione is nice to both Neville and Harry so clearly she must suffer.” I don’t give a goddamn how much he was bullied as a child. That gives him no excuse for bullying children when he is their teacher, nor does it give him any excuse for joining the Death Eaters, nor does it give him any excuse for outing Lupin as a werewolf. He has no excuse, and I’m sick of “but zomg he was bullied” being used as one. Harry was bullied, too. So was Neville. You don’t see them joining up with the Death Eaters and bullying other defenseless children.

And so did pretty much everyone else who went to Hogwarts and was out on the grounds that day, with the exception of Lily, whom Snape then called a vile a slur for trying to help him. In case you haven’t noticed, Snape wasn’t very well-liked due to the fact that he a.) hung around future Death Eaters who used dark magic on innocent students (which he brushes off when Lily brings it up to tell him she takes issue with it), and b.) clearly lashed out at those who tried to help him. Does that mean everyone at Hogwarts is deserving of Snape ruining their lives? Does that mean that he should have free reign to do whatever he wants, because he was ~zomg bullied~? I think not.

And while it’s true that Lupin himself admits that he should have done more to rein in James and Sirius, it’s also still no excuse for Snape ruining his life all those years later, when they’re both adults. None. Peter is irredeemable for other reasons (like, say, betraying the Potters and framing Sirius for it), but Lupin falling prey to the bystander effect is no excuse for Snape ruining his life in a fit of childish temper because he’s mad that Sirius wasn’t given the Dementor’s Kiss. It really isn’t.

Bullshit. Let me tell you something, sis: I was bullied for pretty much every day of my student life. I got kicked out of daycare when I was five for punching a girl in the face because she wouldn’t stop pushing me, had to get into physical fights with boys twice my size to get them to leave me alone when I was in elementary school, was bullied so badly in junior high that I didn’t want to go to school at all except to get away from my abusive mother (fisticuffs didn’t help in junior high), and continued to be mocked and bullied throughout high school because I was an anime nerd. I know full well what bullying can do to a person, I know how hard it is, and I also know that it’s no goddamn excuse for bullying others, ruining people’s lives, or joining goddamn hate groups, which is what people call him out on.

Would it be understandable for Snape to still not trust nor like Lupin or Sirius? Yes. No one is expecting him to be ~zomg bffs~ with them. But Snape’s actions are still far beyond the realm of excusable. Joining the Death Eaters is inexcusable. Bullying innocent children is inexcusable. Ruining a man’s life when they are years out of school and it’s clear that the man wants to just coexist as coworkers and members of the Order is inexcusable. This isn’t about “being unable to brush off bullying;” this is expecting him to be a halfway decent human being and not go out of his way to make others suffer just because he can. Being an abuse or bullying victim can explain why Snape acts the way he does, but it does not excuse it. His tragic backstory is not at all a justification for why he does the things he does and so, again, I’m rather sick of “zomg but he was bullied” being brought up time and again in an effort to excuse the horrible things he did.

Again, Snape was a highly intelligent individual. He knew exactly what he was doing. Trying to brush it off as if he was only “indirectly” responsible is nonsense. That’s like soaking a house in gasoline, handing a toddler a lit match, and then saying, “Well, I’m not the one who dropped the match on the house, the toddler did, so I’m only indirectly responsible.” You knew what you were doing in that scenario. Snape knew what he was doing, too. And for the record? He didn’t tell the parents. He told everyone at Hogwarts:

He “accidentally let slip” that Lupin is a werewolf in front of a Great Hall full of students, knowing that the word would get out that way. He’s smart. He knew what he was doing. This was no accident and it is his fault.

First of all, if Lupin was upset with Snape about that in the book, he would be absolutely justified, since there is marked prejudice against werewolves in the wizarding world that makes it nigh impossible for him to get a job, and now he’s lost the one job he’s been able to find. Lupin is very poor because of his circumstances; it’s remarked upon in his first appearance that his robes are always shabby because he can’t afford new ones. So yes, if he was upset with Snape for telling everyone that he’s a werewolf and then condemning him to a future of even worse poverty than he’s already been living in, he would be rather justified.

However, you’re wrong, because he’s not. I have the book right here:

Keep reading

Winnie the Pooh is a fat icon tbh

reminder that Winnie the Pooh wore a crop top and ate his fave food and loved himself and u can too

old people shouldn’t be able to vote after a point when it’s no longer their future… if you don’t have to live with the choices you shouldn’t be allowed to make them

no lol elderly ppl are overwhelmingly affected by decisions on healthcare and social security because they’re the most likely to be disabled and the most dependent on those services… besides how many of those old people are women/people of color (especially women of color in particular…) who weren’t allowed to vote for a large portion of their lifetime on decisions that affected them and their family… does taking away their right to vote sound like a good idea. they have to live with younger ppl messing around with social security and just younger ppl not thinking about them period

A majority of elderly people at some point (would need scientific data to pinpoint when) cannot be considered mentally capable of making legal decisions anymore (due to deterioration of required cognitive skills) especially not for anyone else, at which point the right to vote (and to hold office, lead companies, etc.) should be taken from them, in the same way that we don’t allow children to vote or have businesses larger than a lemonade stand. That only makes rational sense, but most likely won’t ever happen because the irrational old people wouldn’t let it, thereby proving my point.

I get where you’re coming from, but by that definition we’d also have to take away mentally ill peoples’ right to vote as well. And finding out who is still able to make rational decisions and who isn’t would be extremely tedious and complicated.

You misunderstand, I think we should have a universal cut-off point at a specific age where scientific evidence shows that a person can reasonably be presumed to be cognitively too impaired to make certain decisions, especially ones that could affect others, in the same way we have a reasonable cut-off point at which age you’re allowed to start voting (usually 18). Yes, this would lead to some elderly people being unable to vote, hold office, etc. even though they could probably be trusted to, but then, there are also 16 year olds who in fact would be mature enough to vote, etc. as well, who are in de facto the same situation. That’s unfortunate, but every system is imperfect and overall, I’m almost certain that the benefit of such an age-conditioned upper limit to certain civil privileges would outweigh the cost.

P.S.: We do take away mentally ill people’s right to vote. (Don’t know the English term but it’s called “Entmündigung” in German).

Yes, and disability rights activists have fought tooth and nail against the disenfranchisement of people with disabilities. Because PWD are often MOST affected by politics, yet ableist eugenicists such as yourself would have us categorically lose political rights.

I can’t fucking believe this is a serious argument, but I’ll make a few points anyway. A 16-year old who is ready to vote will be able to vote in just two years. Yes, it sucks to have to wait–I was less than a year away from 18 during a major election in my country–but that 16-year old can look forward to a future of enfranchisement. Whereas a senior citizen who loses the right to vote will be PERMANENTLY disenfranchised and forced to live in a society that clearly doesn’t give a shit about them. 

Look up rates of elder poverty. Look up elder abuse. Then tell me that elderly people are just big old meanies trying to suppress young people.

You want to exert political power? Try voting yourself and getting involved in the political system. I assure you that a young, non-disabled person has many advantages in doing so when compared to elderly people with disabilities.

This again? K.  1. I never said anything about disabled people in general, only mentally disabled people, (I did say “mentally ill people” which was wrong. Apologies.) but neither are the topic here exactly. So let’s save that for another discussion we will probably never have. 2. I do not think the word eugenics means what you think it means. I recommend google. 3. Yes, well, seeing as how a 80 year-old person likely won’t live all that much longer “permanently disenfranchised” loses a bit of its punch, doesn’t it? At least when compared to all those other people who still have decades ahead of them. 4. Way to set up that strawman, mate. I have in no way suggested we treat our elderly like trash or strip them of all their basic human rights, as you seem to be implying I did. Just a select few rights that could significantly impact potentially millions of other people. 5. What makes you think I don’t vote? You know nothing about me, I could be a 60 year-old member of parliament, for all you know. Granted, I’m not, but still. And again, not really relevant.  5. I simply believe that we should apply consistent logic about whom to give which rights across the board. Our logic for not giving children and mentally disabled people the right to vote, hold office, etc. is that - to put it very simply - they aren’t smart enough i.e. their cognitive abilities are lacking. And I’m sorry, but when your age group’s average fluid intelligence level rivals that of the average 10-year old, (2002 study by Li, Lindenberger et al. I’ll dig up a link if you insist) I don’t see why you should have the privilege to make decisions that have any impact outside of your immediate surroundings. In other words: Signing a contract to hire a gardener for your tulips? Ok! Electing a new leader for an entire nation? Not so much.

You seem not to understand the reality of the situation for many elderly people as well as younger people with disabilities. They are commonly forced into institutions where they have little control over what they choose to snacks, let alone hiring a gardener for the tulips. And yet you seem to think that these people–who are oftentimes the least powerful members of society–should have no say in policies that affect them.

Right now my country is considering passing measures that would take services away from people with disabilities–including people with mental disabilities. If passed this WILL force more people into institutions where human rights abuses are common. You would have them completely unable to influence a system that denies them liberty.

Fuck no.

From the very beginning, OP, your premise is ableist and ageist. The idea that mentally disabled people should be kept from voting is ableist. I don’t care if you have laws about it in Germany or wherever you’re from; it’s ableist. 

To say that people at a certain age should be cut off from voting is both ableist and ageist. You claim that at a certain point, seniors start to lack the mental capabilities needed to vote. That’s discrimination, because you’re making broad generalizations regarding the capabilities of an age group. You’re claiming they’re mentally incapable (aka, disabled) at that age. While yes, disability rates do increase as you get old, it’s from a number of different factors and can take many different forms. 

Just because disability increases in an aging population doesn’t mean that necessarily equals a lack of mental capability. It doesn’t make sense to take away the rights of everyone else because of the percentage of those who do have dementia and Alzheimer’s. 

STOP!! NORMALIZING!!!! PUTTING!!!! KETCHUP!!!! IN!! THE!! FRIDGE!!

SOME? PLEOPLE? PUT? KETCHUP? IN? THE? FRIDGE? TO? COPE????

If you put ketchup in the fridge YOU ARE VALID!!!1!1!1

Just following directions, bro.

Do…do people NOT refrigerate their ketchup?

If you think putting cold ketchup on hot fries is ok, then you’re wrong. Simple as that.

Nah. It belongs in the fridge.

Let me ask you all this: when you go out to a restaurant to eat, do you have to ask for ketchup from the fridge? Or is it sitting on the table at room temperature? When you go to a fast food place, are the ketchup packets cold? EXACTLY.

Both of those items are consumed at such a rate that they don’t have a chance to go bad. There’s a reason the ketchup has to be refilled at a restaurant every night… people use it up quickly. Logic, I know. Painful. #exactly

omg i posted this as a joke and i literally started a fucking 32k note discourse about warm ketchup lmao i hate this post

my favorite thing i’ve learned in college is that way back in ancient china there was this poet/philosopher guy who wrote this whole pretentious poem about how enlightened he was that was like “the eight winds cannot move me” blahblahblah and he was really proud of it so he sent it to his friend who lived across the lake and then his friend sends it back and just writes “FART” (or the ancient Chinese equivalent) on it and he was SO MAD he travels across the lake to chew his friend out and when he gets there his friend says “wow. the eight winds cannot move you, but one fart sends you across the lake”

i googled this bc i desperately wanted this to be real, and guess what…it is.

the dude’s name was su dongpo (also known as su shi). his original poem went like this:

稽首天中天，

毫光照大千，

八風吹不動，

端坐紫金蓮

(Humbly bowed my head below all skies Minutest lights shine through my deepest bounds Immovable by strong winds from eight sides Upon purplish gold lotus I seated straightly by the low mound) (x)

on which his friend wrote “放屁” (fart, literally), and you know the rest.

(here’s a chinese source for the skeptics)

“Lordy, I hope there are tapes.” -James Comey