Category: General

amireal2u:

danshive:

chronoscat:

zillah975:

femmeforeverybody:

Nichelle Nichols (Uhura on the original series):”Whoopi Goldberg, she’s just marvellous. I had no way of knowing that she was a Star Trek fan. When I finally met her it was her first year on the Next Generation.

She loved the show so much and she told her agent she wants a role on Star Trek. Well agents go ‘Big screen, little screen, no, you can’t do that’. Well you can’t tell Whoopi ‘You can’t do that’.

And so they finally asked, and they had the same reaction at Star Trek office, specifically Gene. And she said, ‘I want to meet him and I want him to tell me to my face. If he tells me he doesn’t want me and why, I’ll be fine.’

Knowing Gene he had to take that challenge, and so he met with her. She said, ‘I just wanted you to tell me why you don’t want me in Star Trek.’

Gene said, ‘Well, I’ll just ask you one question and I’ll make my decision on that. You’re a big screen star, why do you want to be on a little screen, why do you want to be in Star Trek?’

And she looked at him and she said, ‘Well, it’s all Nichelle Nichols’ fault.’

That threw him, he said, ‘What do you mean?’

She said, ‘Well when I was nine years old Star Trek came on,’ and she said, ‘I looked at it and I went screaming through the house, “Come here, mum, everybody, come quick, come quick, there’s a black lady on television and she ain’t no maid!”’ And she said, ‘I knew right then and there I could be anything I wanted to be, and I want to be on Star Trek.’

And he said, ‘I’ll write you a role.’

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/st/interviews/nichols/page4.shtml

I know I’ve reblogged this before, and I will undoubtedly do it again.

It matters. And no amount of saying that we’re post-racial or that racism isn’t a thing or that “they just chose the best actor for the role” or otherwise trying to cover up for it will make it okay to keep relegating actors of color to secondary roles, villain roles, stereotyped roles, or no roles at all, and it sure as hell won’t make it okay to keep whitewashing CHARACTERS of color out of the story by casting white actors to play then.

Remember how Martin Luther King Jr. convinced Nichelle Nichols to stay on the show? 

I said “Dr. King, thank you so much. I really am going to miss my co-stars.” He said, dead serious, “What are you talking about?” I said, “I’m leaving Star Trek,” He said, “You cannot. You cannot!”

I was taken aback. He said, “Don’t you understand what this man has achieved? For the first time on television we will be seen as we should be seen every day – as intelligent, quality, beautiful people who can sing, dance, but who can also go into space, who can be lawyers, who can be teachers, who can be professors, and yet you don’t see it on television – until now….”

I could say nothing, I just stood there realizing every word that he was saying was the truth. He said, “Gene Roddenberry has opened a door for the world to see us. If you leave, that door can be closed because, you see, your role is not a Black role, and it’s not a female role, he can fill it with anything, including an alien.”

At that moment, the world tilted for me. I knew then that I was something else and that the world was not the same. That’s all I could think of, everything that Dr. King had said:  The world sees us for the first time as we should be seen.

It matters, man. It honestly does. It mattered then and it still matters.

Some great anecdotes which bear much repeating.

That moment when someone reblogs your reblog and you’re all like “I’M REBLOGGIN’ THIS AGAIN”

This is why I get mad when I’m told that it should be enough that the author explains it after the fact. No. A child should be able to look at the screen and see themselves. Without commentary, without explanation (other than the obvious b/c children need to learn), without ambiguity. Representation isn’t “oh yeah, they released that information in an interview 6 years later”. It’s this. Right here.

tinierpurplefishes:

solarbird:

vandroid-helsing:

themoskabot:

kittykat6088:

edwardspoonhands:

lizziekeiper:

abookblog:

mycupofbooks:

booksandpublishing:

“In the gallery beyond: more dead.” – The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt (hardback)

It’s literally “love is for the weak” ????

“It was, like most of the rooms in the Institute, an unused bedroom, meant for visiting Shadowhunters.” – Clockwork Prince 

LIKE LITERALLY ACTUALLY WTF

“All righty. I’ll leave you to it, then.” – To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han. 

This young man’s credentials were satisfactory, my father and my aunt (who had always looked after the children’s welfare) were satisfied, and I acquiesced. – Crooked House – Agatha Christie

“Alas! My own hand feels as light as a feather.” – The Return of the King

Oh, God.

“There was Eru, the One, who in Arda is called Ilúvatar; and he made first the Ainur, the Holy Ones, that were the offspring of his thought, and they were with him before aught else was made.”
-The Silmarillion

Okay so

The nearest book to me right now is The Fountainhead.

So I thought “oh boy, this’ll be PERFECT”

Instead, I got, “It was the year 1892.”

Ayn Rand always screws things up.

could be worse

mine’s blank XD

I don’t know yet, sir, I’ll keep you informed
– Heart of Valor

…oh dear:

‘Remember, questions on the NCLEX-RN exam are not designed to trick you.’

Hrm, perhaps it shouldn’t be a nursing text book. Let’s go with the next nearest…

‘But the mere existence of individual variability and some few well-marked varieties, though necessary as the foundation for the work, helps us but little in understanding how species arise in nature.’

Damn you Darwin.

washingtonpost:

washingtonpost:

This is the best explanation of gerrymandering you will ever see.

Reminder: this is how you steal an election.

…Oh look, it’s the UK in a map.

hurrricane-jane:

they are all named “Amanda”

ursulavernon:

averyangryfeminist:

allthecanadianpolitics:

positive-nerdfighter:

bisexualculture:

hello-missmayhem:

cptprocrastination:

doomhamster:

belcanta:

nikkidubs:

attentiondeficitaptitude:

belcanta:

Guaranteed basic income to every citizen, whether or not they are employed to ensure their survival and that they live in a dignified, humane way, preventing poverty, illness, homelessness, reducing crime, encouraging higher education and learning vocations as well as helping society become more prosperous as a whole. 

Wow. Forget raising the minimum wage. This is much much better idea.

The minimum wage could actually drop if we had basic income.

But Americans would never go for it. Miserably slogging through 12 hour days and having businesses open 24/7 is too engrained in our culture.

“BUT WHERE WILL THE GOVERNMENT GET THE MONEY?” screamed Joe Schmoe, slamming a meaty fist onto the table and getting mouth-froth all over the front of his greying tank top. “You libt*rds all think money grows on TREES!! HAHA!”

“But where will people get the incentive to work?!” Mindy Bindy cried, flapping her hands in front of her face. She’d had a fear of the unemployed lollygagging about ever since she was a child and her mother told her to be afraid of the unemployed lollygagging about. “You think people should get paid for nothing? I work hard for my money!”

“But who will serve me?” grumbled Marty McMoneybags. “Who will make me feel important? Who will do my laundry and cook my food and stand in front of me wearing a plastic smile while I take out all my stress—because I do have a lot of stress, you know, being this rich is stressful—on them?” He paused and straightened out the piles of hundred dollar bills on the desk in front of him, then raised his two watery, outraged eyes up to the Heavens. “Lord, if there are no poor people, how will I know that I’m rich??”

I laughed. This is perfect! Well said!

The thing is, while I’m sure you could scrape up a few people who’d be willing to just float by on a guaranteed minimum income? For most people the choice to work would be a no-brainer. “Hmmm. I can get by on 33k a year, or I can take that part time job and make 48k… enough to move to a better apartment, maybe take the family on vacation. Sold.” Hell, most people would want to work simply because it gives one a sense of dignity and something to do with one’s time. (Speaking as someone who’s been unemployed, on extended sick leave, etc. in her time, the boredom and sense of isolation that comes with not having a job is almost as bad as the humiliation of having to depend on other people for one’s survival.)

And with this system, part-time jobs and “non-skilled” jobs would be much more readily available because nobody would need to work two or three jobs just to stay afloat!

Which would ALSO mean that employers and customers couldn’t shamelessly exploit employees the way they can today, because if losing a job weren’t necessarily a financial disaster, more people would be willing to walk out on jobs where they weren’t being treated with dignity.

And if this also applies to students (and it should) then student loans would become much less of a problem, and fewer people would flunk out of school because of having to juggle studies and work.

Far fewer people would be forced to stay with abusive partners, parents or roommates because they couldn’t afford to move out.

And the thing is, all those people who suddenly had money? They’d be spending it. They’d be getting all the stuff they can’t afford now – new clothes, books, toys, locally-produced food, car repairs – and with each purchase money would flow BACK to the government, because VAT, also income tax.

The unemployed and/or disabled wouldn’t need special support any more – which would also mean the government could fire however many admins who are currently engaged in humiliating – *cough* making sure those people aren’t getting money they don’t deserve. Same for medical benefits and pensions. And I’m no legal scholar, but I somehow imagine less financial desperation would lead to less petty crime, and hence less need for police and security everywhere?

TL;DR Doomie thinks this is a good idea, laughs at those who protest.

reblogging for more top commentary

They tried something like this out in Canada as a sort of social experiment, called Mincome. What they found was that, on the whole, people continued to work about as much as they did before. Only new mothers and teenagers worked substantially less hours. 

But wait, there’s more. Because parents were spending just a little more time at home and involved with their families, test scores increased. Because teens didn’t have to work to support their families, drop-out rates decreased. Crime rates, hospital visits, psychiatric hospitalizations and domestic abuse rates all dropped, as well. More adults pursued higher education. Those who continued to work reported more job flexibility and more opportunity to choose employment they preferred.

Basically, now you can go prove to your asshole family members that society won’t collapse without poor people for you to feel better than.

Is there a link or something where I can read more about Mincome?

allthecanadianpolitics do you have any Info on this?

This is a good read on the Mincome experiment in Canada:

A Canadian City Once Eliminated Poverty And Nearly Everyone Forgot About It

Please signal boost this. Please.

Oh god, if only. There were times when this would have saved me from untold stress and grief–and I would still have been working once I was old enough to work, I just wouldn’t have been in such mortal terror about it. (For years I felt intense reflexive nausea whenever I checked my bank balance. I still fight panic about money stuff, even when I’m doing very well. It is a source of occasional stress in relationships.)

The argument that I would somehow have been lazier and less worthy if I hadn’t been terrified does not move me.