Bi & Trans Solidarity 💜

Good shit

baby yoda’s first christmas  🎄

Okay Percy Jackson might be getting an adaptation holy shit.

All I can say is I think it should start with HoO instead of PJO I don’t think making another attempt at Lightning Thief so soon is the best idea.

Firstly because it’s a lot more doable for Disney to get full time high school, college aged actors for a long running gig. (The way they filmed Mandalorian was in a single filming time period by season rather than weekly like a Disney channel show).

Not to mention that age group is the kids who would have READ THE BOOKS AS CHILDREN. I’m 18 and PJO is what I grew up reading. (I’m a freshman acting major, gods please let me audition for Thalia Grace)

I think HoO is also a more inclusive and interesting story. I love PJO but I think having the story follow the seven could allow for some much needed diversity on screen have the audience be to a slightly older age group. Dealing with some of the themes that HoO does, race and racism, homosexuality and identity, friendships and relationships, family problems, mental disorders I mean hell that could be to such a wide range audience.

LOOK at Mandalorian right now. It has been crafted so that 50 year old Star Wars nerds and young adults and young kids can ALL enjoy the show.

I think HoO could take a classic adventure story to the big screen and a wide audience

The Opportunity to Rove on Mars! 🔴

Today, we’re expressing gratitude for the opportunity to rove on Mars (#ThanksOppy) as we mark the completion of a successful mission that exceeded our expectations.  

Our Opportunity Rover’s last communication with Earth was received on June 10, 2018, as a planet-wide dust storm blanketed the solar-powered rover’s location on the western rim of Perseverance Valley, eventually blocking out so much sunlight that the rover could no longer charge its batteries. Although the skies over Perseverance cleared, the rover did not respond to a final communication attempt on Feb. 12, 2019.

As the rover’s mission comes to an end, here are a few things to know about its opportunity to explore the Red Planet.

90 days turned into 15 years!

Opportunity launched on July 7, 2003 and landed on Mars on Jan. 24, 2004 for a planned mission of 90 Martian days, which is equivalent to 92.4 Earth days. While we did not expect the golf-cart-sized rover to survive through a Martian winter, Opportunity defied all odds as a 90-day mission turned into 15 years!

The Opportunity caught its own silhouette in this late-afternoon image taken in March 2014 by the rover’s rear hazard avoidance camera. This camera is mounted low on the rover and has a wide-angle lens.

Opportunity Set  Out-Of-This-World Records

Opportunity’s achievements, including confirmation water once flowed on Mars. Opportunity was, by far, the longest-lasting lander on Mars. Besides endurance, the six-wheeled rover set a roaming record of 28 miles.

This chart illustrates comparisons among the distances driven by various wheeled vehicles on the surface of Earth’s moon and Mars. Opportunity holds the off-Earth roving distance record after accruing 28.06 miles (45.16 kilometers) of driving on Mars.

It’s Just Like Having a Geologist on Mars

Opportunity was created to be the mechanical equivalent of a geologist walking from place to place on the Red Planet. Its mast-mounted cameras are 5 feet high and provided 360-degree two-eyed, human-like views of the terrain. The robotic arm moved like a human arm with an elbow and wrist, and can place instruments directly up against rock and soil targets of interest. The mechanical “hand” of the arm holds a microscopic camera that served the same purpose as a geologist’s handheld magnifying lens.

There’s Lots to See on Mars

After an airbag-protected landing craft settled onto the Red Planet’s surface and opened, Opportunity rolled out to take panoramic images. These images gave scientists the information they need to select promising geological targets that tell part of the story of water in Mars’ past. Since landing in 2004, Opportunity has captured more than 200,000 images. Take a look in this photo gallery.

From its perch high on a ridge, the Opportunity rover recorded this image on March 31, 2016 of a Martian dust devil twisting through the valley below. The view looks back at the rover’s tracks leading up the north-facing slope of “Knudsen Ridge,” which forms part of the southern edge of “Marathon Valley

There Was Once Water on Mars?!

Among the mission’s scientific goals was to search for and characterize a wide range of rocks and soils for clues to past water activity on Mars. In its time on the Red Planet, Opportunity discovered small spheres of the mineral hematite, which typically forms in water. In addition to these spheres that a scientist nicknamed “blueberries,” the rover also found signs of liquid water flowing across the surface in the past: brightly colored veins of the mineral gypsum in rocks, for instance, which indicated water flowing through underground fractures.

The small spheres on the Martian surface in this close-up image are near Fram Crater, visited by the Opportunity rover in April 2004.

For more about Opportunity’s adventures and discoveries, see: https://go.nasa.gov/ThanksOppy.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

@jedi-enthusiast

Okay so I’d like to apologize’

In reading this post and re-reading the original one, I have realized that I completely misunderstood & misconstrued what you were saying. And that the very detail of ‘your argument’ that I had issue with, was not the point you were actually making.

Beyond that though, I also found that in re-reading my comment, I found it very poorly phrased. And I can understand how it could be misconstrued as to carrying the implications that this post addresses. I was not I intending to say or imply in any capacity that ‘people shouldn’t call out antisemitic rhetoric in fandom’ or that “you shouldn’t compare real world discrimination to fictional stuff.”

I absolutely encourage recognizing and drawing those comparisons. Especially since Star Wars is art that was literally designed to reflect & respond to very real history, events, cultures, and people. Beyond that, all art created by people is responsive to our culture (and it’s biases), and trying to strip art of its real world context in an attempt to isolate it in fiction is not only wrong, but also impossible to actually do.

Antisemitism, like all forms of bigotry and discrimination is unfortunately present (through both conscience & unconscious bias) in every area of society, including fandom. Calling attention to it is essential to recognizing & dismantling (or at the very least disengaging from) systems of oppression and discrimination.

As you pointed out so clearly in this post, “[your] point in that post wasn’t- “since this is based off of a real world culture/religion, you can’t criticize it.”

And that is definitely what I had read and what I was attempting to caution against.

I think because the post started & ended with in your opinion, that “there aren't really any criticisms that can be made about the Jedi” I misunderstood that the Whole Post was not working to make that point. And failed to realize that each of the sections was not a building argument, but three completely separate points.

A while I do disagree with you that, “there aren't really any criticisms that can be made about the Jedi” —likely bc I accept Filoni & other non-Lucas canon — I absolutely agree with your point about antisemitism and bigoted rhetoric. We should always be aware and checking for our conscious and subconscious biases and making sure we are not perpetuating harm or spewing hateful rhetoric when handling fiction or anything else. (especially fiction that is reflective of minority groups)

So yeah, I am so fcking sorry. I completely misunderstood and then failed to communicate my own point effectively and ultimately blundered this entire thing.

Thank you for taking the time to put out this thoughtful response and for not allowing my mistake to go unchallenged.

@confusledqueer apologizes for not responding sooner, it’s been a busy couple days and—honestly—I forgot for a bit.

Moving on-

—————

Me equating some of the things that anti-Jedi people say to antisemitism and, sometimes, outright Nazi-esque rhetoric is not “wild” or “a stretch,” as you’re implying.

Justification of their genocide, denial that it actually was a genocide, a belief that the genocided party “caused” their own genocide, and a belief that they genocided party were wrong or “led astray” while one person was sent to make things right- (via either making them change their ways or outright destroying them/their culture) -are all things I’ve seen people say about the Jedi…

…but they’re also things that people have actually said about Jews.

Take the example I put in the post of someone denying that the Jedi Purge was actually a genocide, and how—by changing “Jedi” to “Judaism” and “Force-religions” to “Abrahamic Faiths”—it sounds verbatim to Holocaust denial.

Or, as another example, people claiming that the Jedi “kidnapped kids to brainwash them”…don’t you see how that sounds like Blood Libel?

So me pointing out that a lot of stuff anti-Jedi people say sounds like antisemitic rhetoric isn’t a stretch, not when a lot of it sounds verbatim to what people are saying with the rise of antisemitism and stuff they have said in the past.

—————

Now, I’m not Jewish, but it’s not just me, your neighborhood White Girl™️, who’s pointing this stuff out.

Actual Jewish people have pointed out the alarming similarities between anti-Jedi rhetoric and straight up antisemitism. So, if you wanna argue about- “you shouldn’t compare real world discrimination to fictional stuff” -then you should probably take that into account.

Go ahead and try telling Jewish Star Wars fans to stop calling out antisemitic rhetoric in the fandom, I’m sure that’ll go down real well.

I also find it hilarious that you’re telling me to be careful about the rhetoric I use in a thread about how I shouldn’t point out that some of the rhetoric other people spout is basically antisemitism rebranded.

And my point in that post wasn’t- “since this is based off of a real world culture/religion, you can’t criticize it.”

My point was- “since this is based off of a real world culture/religion then you need to be careful about how you criticize it, otherwise you might unconsciously be spouting bigoted beliefs and antisemitic rhetoric because you don’t recognize that that’s what it is because you’re saying it about a fictional culture.”

By all means, I get that some people just don’t like the Jedi, that’s their prerogative and we all have our own tastes.

Criticize them, if you feel like it, but don’t go around spouting rebranded antisemitism to do it. I’m sure you can come up with plenty of things to complain about them for without doing so.

—————

Now, I can understand why you might be worried about the slippery slope from this to shit like actual censorship—which, I think we can all agree, is a bad thing. Or how you might think criticizing this could lead to the whole “fandom purity” debate.

My thing is, it all comes down to does it actually harm people?

Perpetuating harmful stereotypes via saying stuff like the Jewish based characters “steal children,” or “lost their way,” or “they caused/deserved their genocide”—that does cause actual harm.

Think about why the “angry black man” stereotype or the “cheating bisexual” stereotype are bad and people- (rightly) -push back against them. It’s the same thing here.

Shipping a problematic ship, calling a fictional serial killer “babygirl,” writing about dark topics*, headcanoning characters as gay or trans…none of that is actively harming people.

(*obviously when writing about dark topics you should tag appropriately so people can avoid triggers, but that’s another topic for another day)

That’s the difference.

And, for the record, I think letting people spout bigotry just because they’re saying it about something fictional is the more dangerous mindset than calling it out.

Effect vs. Affect

I just came up with a fun way to remember when to use effect or affect.

Think about: Affect-ion

You give affection and are thus effected positively.

Affect is the intrusion or the causation and effect is the solution.

The rain affects the garden by watering it. The garden is effected by the rain.

Affect refers to an action that will/is/has interrupted the previous norm. Effect refers to the act of being influenced by something else

Affect is given onto something

Effect is received from something

If you’re a Non-Muslim and you see a Muslim praying in public, could you please not pass in front of them?

Go behind them, but not in front. 👍

therapist: the semihemidemisemiquaver isn’t real, it can’t hurt you

the semihemidemisemiquaver:

u ever see someone with extremely fucked up views (or actions) and think wowww if a couple of things in my life went the tiniest bit differently that would have been me