Latest Posts by etoyra - Page 4

Huevember day 8: T’Pol uniform redesign 

Progress

Medicine should never have been privatized in the first place. The concept of profiting off of human desperation and the need for life-saving medicine is, philosophically, intrinsically, and morally wrong both as a fundamental concept and in practice. The fact that Martin Shkreli was ever able to buy an AIDS drug and increase its price 5000% is indicative of a problem even bigger than a truly evil, despicable, and selfish human being; it is indicative of the problem of the current system of for-profit pharmaceuticals with obviously inadequate price regulation.

#PrisonStrike

I’ve seen almost nothing on my dashboard about the prison strike so far, so I thought I’d make a post about it.

On August 21st, prisoners throughout 17 states began a prison strike, after a riot in Lee Correctional Institute in South Carolina. The strike is supposed to last until September 9th. The strikers issued ten demands:

Immediate improvements to the conditions of prisons and prison policies that recognize the humanity of imprisoned men and women.

An immediate end to prison slavery. All persons imprisoned in any place of detention under United States jurisdiction must be paid the prevailing wage in their state or territory for their labor.

The Prison Litigation Reform Act must be rescinded, allowing imprisoned humans a proper channel to address grievances and violations of their rights.

The Truth in Sentencing Act and the Sentencing Reform Act must be rescinded so that imprisoned humans have a possibility of rehabilitation and parole. No human shall be sentenced to Death by Incarceration or serve any sentence without the possibility of parole.

An immediate end to the racial overcharging, over-sentencing, and parole denials of Black and brown humans. Black humans shall no longer be denied parole because the victim of the crime was white, which is a particular problem in southern states.

An immediate end to racist gang enhancement laws targeting Black and brown humans.

No imprisoned human shall be denied access to rehabilitation programs at their place of detention because of their label as a violent offender.

State prisons must be funded specifically to offer more rehabilitation services.

Pell grants must be reinstated in all US states and territories.

The voting rights of all confined citizens serving prison sentences, pretrial detainees, and so-called “ex-felons” must be counted. Representation is demanded. All voices count.

Corporations like Whole Foods, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Walmart, Starbucks, and more have used prison slave labor, where prisoners are paid $1.00 a day to make millions for bosses. In a country where slavery is abolished in name only, where we imprison more people than any other country, and where the majority of inmates (despite a recent decline) remain people of color, it’s important for outsiders to assist any way we can.  

If you want information about the strike, as well as actions you can take, check out It’s Going Down. The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee is also posting updates on Twitter.

OK, I am nervous--

http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/chazi-wants-to-be-in-a-body-she-understands-and-loves/345076 but I have made my campaign.  I know people are poor, and I’m afraid this will go nowhere. I can’t share this on FB yet–if ever.  Please–even if you can’t donate, PLEASE reblog.  Please.

7 Facts That Will Make You Feel Very Small

Earth, our home planet, is the fifth largest planet in our solar system and the only planet we know of where life exists. Even though Earth seems extremely large to us, it is actually a tiny spec in the vast expanse of the universe. Here are 7 space facts that will make you feel very small.

1. Our sun is one of at least 100 BILLION stars, just in the Milky Way. Scientists calculate that there are at least 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe, each one brimming with stars. There are more stars than grains of sand on all of Earth’s beaches combined. 

In 1995, the first planet beyond our solar system was discovered. Now, thousands of planets orbiting sun-like stars have been discovered, also known as exoplanets.

2. The Milky Way is a huge city of stars, so big that even at the speed of light (which is fast!), it would take 100,000 years to travel across it.

3. Roughly 70% of the universe is made of dark energy. Dark matter makes up about 25%. The rest — everything on Earth, everything ever observed with all of our instruments, all normal matter adds up to less than 5% of the universe.

4. If the sun were as tall as a typical front door, Earth would be the size of a nickel.

5. The sun accounts for almost all of the mass in our solar system. Leaving .2% for all the planets and everything else.

6. Edwin Hubble discovered that the Universe is expanding and that at one point in time (14 billion years ago) the universe was all collected in just one point of space.

7. Four American spacecraft are headed out of our solar system to what scientists call interstellar space. Voyager 1 is the farthest out — more than 11 billion miles from our sun. It was the first manmade object to leave our solar system. Voyager 2, is speeding along at more than 39,000 mph, but will still take more than 296,000 years to pass Sirius, the brightest star in our night sky.

Feeling small yet? Here’s a tool that will show you just how tiny we are compared to everything else out there: http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/features/cosmic/earth.html

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

great white sharks are able to detect electromagnetic fields emitted by movement of animals, they are so sensitive that they can detect variations up to a billionth of a volt. At close range this allows them to hear heartbeats.

To start, I need to say that August was pretty much the best character the show’s created (well…second best…because Mulan exists and is perfect). They created this great multifaceted character, who had huge flaws. Flaws that were destroying him, flaws that ruined other people’s lives, but flaws that were totally relatable. Flaws that he owned up to before we even met him, flaws that he was completely focused on ridding himself of. He wanted to make amends, he wanted to fix his mistakes after a lifetime of embracing them. August may not have been an epic fairy tale hero, he didn’t wield swords or lead armies, but he was a real life hero. Obviously one of the things I love about August is the complete openness that he’s an addict. There’s a lot of metaphorical allusions to Regina/Rumple’s magic being like a drug and they’re both addicted but seriously it is so refreshing to see a lack of allegorical bullshit in fantasy sometimes. August was a drug addict and an alcoholic and had a fear of commitment and responsibility and was basically the least trustworthy person ever. So of course he ran away from his destiny. That’s part of who he is. He was a 7 year old under way too much pressure so he ran away from his destiny. Emma’s done the same thing at four times his age. It makes him human. You know what doesn’t make him human? What steals all his layers and turns him into a plot device? Having him be the one who told Neal to leave Emma. Like really think about it for a second. August left when he was 7 to live his own life. Then 17 years later, for reasons we don’t know, he comes back to face his destiny. He wants to help Emma. We don’t know what changed his mind all of a sudden, but he wants to help Emma. How did he find Emma? We also don’t know that. But he’s going to help…I guess. And of course by help, I mean get her thrown in prison. And to do this, he’s got like a real plan. He’s going to blackmail her boyfriend into framing her. How does he know her boyfriend is Bae? Another thing we just don’t know. But it was for the best. Emma was going to be okay (in prison), because August was ready to face his destiny. Except lol no he runs away again. Maybe getting the money was just too much pressure and triggered him into a relapse. That’s a legit possibility because he’s a freaking addict it happens. But here’s another question. Why did he never tell Emma this? Because he comes back remember. His decision to come back is fueled by selfishness because he doesn’t want to turn back into a puppet, but that’s a better explained reason for coming back than the first time he came back which was for…….??????? oh right we have no idea. But please remember that when he came back, he forged deep connections. He tried to rebuild something with his dad, he became a confidant of Henry, a friend to Emma. He helped Emma by telling her the truth. Not just that Henry was right all along about the curse, but the ugly truth that he abandoned her. He came clean about that because he was trying to better himself as a person and have their friendship be absolutely honest. He was confessing all the ways he’s done people wrong. And yet, he didn’t tell her he’s the reason she’s in jail. Why didn’t he do this? I mean abandoning her at birth is kinda the more traumatic thing he did wrong to her, why would he be more embarrassed about sending her to jail? She never would have gone in the first place if he had stayed by her, right? All these questions I’m bringing up have an obvious answer: retconning. August didn’t tell Emma he’s the reason she gave birth to Henry in a jail cell because the writers hadn’t decided that was true yet. He decided to come back because the writers didn’t want Neal to have abandoned Emma on his own, they wanted to blame someone else. They wanted people to sympathize with this new character who they had already kind of introduced as being a complete and utter jackass who Emma wishes were dead, so they made him follow the orders of a character they knew wouldn’t be around much longer. August finds Emma because the writers needed him to. August knows about Bae because the writers needed him to. August leaves Emma because the writers needed him to. After season 1 August ceased to be a character and became a scapegoat. This is the fucking textbook definition of character assassination. They stole everything that made August a person to force him into the role of a prop. He was a goddamn macguffin. What really makes this bad is that all of this character assassination is done over the span of ONE FLASHBACK EPISODE. HALF and episode really. I mean he’s gone for half a season with barely an acknowledgement that he ever existed in the first place and then they utterly destroy everything about him in half an episode? Then we don’t see or hear from him for another half a fucking season until his completely pointless death (destroying his memories and experiences and de-aging counts as death, okay, there’s a whole Doctor Who episode about it).

http://ouafeels.tumblr.com (via once-upon-a-plot-hole)