Blog

tea-and-liminality:

siavahdainthemoon:

nirv-asana:

lol you ever feel like your presence is so easily replaceable in everyone’s lives. like, my general existence don’t really matter in the long run and I’m just filler.

Okay, but this is fundamentally not true, and I’m going to explain why.

So as human beings we are each collectively made up of all the things we have ever experienced, even those things that we have consciously forgotten, like everything before the age of three/four/five/whatever. I think everyone knows how damaging a single throw-away line from someone can be, how a handful of words can haunt you for years and years and completely alter your behavior/mode of thought. The same is true of positive things, although for some weird reason we seem to be more strongly affected by the negative. Thought for another post.

Anyway, so it’s like this;

The tiniest things each of us do has a ripple effect. Things we don’t even notice, ripples we’ll never see, but are still there. Someone who overhears a snippet of your conversation with your friends is amused or horrified or inspired to consider an entirely new opinion or idea. A stranger sees your bright red shirt and smiles because that color has some meaning for them; that moment of happiness can alter an entire day. Someone sees you reading a book they like and gets that glittery feeling of knowing someone else in the world likes the same book (I get this one all the time). Look, you know this, these tiny happy moments shift the axis of your entire day sometimes, it’s not super rational but there you go, if I see someone reading my favourite book on the bus I’m going to be smiling and have an easier time dealing with school that day.

Or maybe you were the quiet kid at the back of the classroom, and the person who always felt guilty for never going to talk to you ends up making more of an effort at uni and changing somebody else’s life. Maybe an opinion you expressed in class triggered a revelation in someone else’s head, set them down the path of becoming someone entirely different. One day someone notices that you never seem to eat lunch and spots a friend’s eating disorder because now they’re thinking about the topic. 

But let’s go back to the ripple effects, let’s think about a trail of dominoes. You smile at the person who makes you your coffee, and it’s this moment of relief, of shared humanity. You don’t even remember three seconds later but that person has an easier time dealing with rude customers the rest of the day. That person is then more patient with someone who’s having a genuinely horrible day, and that person goes away able to breathe a little better, and so on and on and on

Just from a three second smile

You hold the door open for a stranger, and they don’t say thank you but they catch their train/bus/taxi and if they hadn’t, at best they’d have snapped at more people that day and at worst they could have been late or missed something important. 

The sight of you in a crowd makes someone think of their son or daughter, and they call them, maybe they haven’t talked in forever but today they call.

The book you buy, the money you spend, affects the lives of hundreds, maybe thousands of people.

That throw-away comment you said to your friend, that thing you don’t even remember, is still in their head all these years later, the compliment or the insult, the show you made them watch, the doodle on their notebook, it’s all in there. Everyone you talk to is someone different because of it – minutely different, almost unnoticeably different, but it’s there, and you know what, you have no idea the effect wearing your hair in a ponytail today had on the world, you can go the whole day without talking to someone and years later someone will remember your silence, will watch for it again, will catch it in someone else. Your brothers and sisters will treat their children differently because they grew up with you, and those children will become people they wouldn’t have been if you’d never existed, and they will make their own ripples, down and down and down forever. Are you kidding, we don’t even have to be born to alter someone’s life, think of the enormous ramifications a miscarriage can have on someone, on a couple, on their friends and family, and tell me that somehow you breathing and dreaming and living, even if you live the most boring closeted minimalist life humanly possible, can have less of an effect on the world than that of someone who really wasn’t born.

Just because you don’t notice the effect you have on the world – even if the world doesn’t notice the effect you have on it – does not mean that there is no effect. You are not filler. We’re not all going to find the cure to cancer but the universe would be an impossibly different place without even a single one of us.

You don’t know how much I needed to read this today. The past week (month, year) has been filled with an increasing sense of invisibility as IRL friends have moved on and no new people have materialized to fill the gaps they’ve left. I’m horribly isolated right now, and given that I’m not the kind of person that actively goes looking for new friends or opportunities to meet people, I don’t see that changing anytime soon. But I do try to engage with the people I bump into over the course of the day as pleasantly and positively as possible… so maybe that matters too. 

darkwizardjamesmason:

Whats a gender?

solarbird:

tereshkova2001:

slightlypsychic:

fanboy-news-network:

winneganfake:

naamahdarling:

coconuttygrey:

askkakuro:

naturevi:

askkakuro:

whenimreallyathundacat:

dangerouscommiesubversive:

bluebird-bluebeardswife:

iamtheswanqueer:

sourcedumal:

blairwitchhunty:

babyblueavenger:

antivillain:

claudiagray:

zouieau:

stubblylouis:

harryslawyer:

thewhitepearlreaper:

photoshop-and-chocolate:

doodlingfanboy:

tiredmusharna:

gamebooadvanced:

ness-paula:

locke-heart:

coolman229:

true-king-of-monsters:

wonderfulworldofmichaelford:

curiooftheheart:

ishkanah-grafwidow:

buckyayo50:

wombatking:

lennydotdotdot:

officialautismspeaks:

I know this one! Gender is when rich people move into poor neighborhoods and make it too expensive for the poor people to live there, so they have to move

No you’re thinking gentrification. Gender is a really tall spotted mammal with a really long neck and a gross tongue.

No, that’s a giraffe. A Gender is the type of subject matter you like in books or movies. Like, I’m really into the sci-fi gender, but my mom is a much bigger fan of the true crime gender.

You’re thinking of genre. Gender is a robot ninja from Overwatch

No your thinking Genji. Gender is a entity that comes out of a lamp.

You’re thinking of a genie. Gender is a male goose.

You’re thinking of a gander, pal. Gender is the father of Shinji on Neon Genesis Evangelion

You’re thinking of Gendo. Gender is a giant turtle monster from those movies where he’s a friend to all children and causes property damage. 

You’re thinking of Gamera. Gender is that decorative stuff that chefs put with food to make it look fancy.

No that’s garlic, Gender is the final evolution of Gastly. 

Nah, that’s Gengar. Gender is a race of people from a country in Europe that was involved in both World Wars

You mean German. Gender is a person who plays a lot of video games

You’re thinking of a gamer. Gender is the first book of the old testament

That’s genesis. Gender is an officer of high rank in the army.

No that’s a general! Gender is a place where you plant and tend to vegetables, herbs, and flowers.

No that’s a garden. Gender is a state of matter

Jeez, I’m afraid that’s gas my good friend I’m pretty sure my mom said gender is the thing that slices cheese

Nope, that’s grater. Gender is the leader of the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India.

No that’s Gandhi. Gender is the fictional European country in The Princess Diaries

No, that’s Genovia. Gender is the fictional island turned into a mutant kingdom ruled by Magneto in the “X-Men” comics universe.

That’s Genosha! Gender is definitely that character from lord of the rings that says “my precious” all the time.

You’re thinking of Gollum. Gender is the most popular search engine on the Internet, with subsidiaries like YouTube and Gmail.

You’re thinking of Google. Gender is a type of flower

You’re thinking geraniums. Gender is that city north east of Dallas, Texas

You’re thinking of Garland. Gender is a system of millions/billions of stars along with gas, dust, and sometimes planets held together by gravitational attraction, such as the Milky Way

No, no, no! That’s a galaxy. I read that gender is a machine that converts mechanical energy into electricity.

Oh no, no, you’ve mixed it up with a generator! Gender is a machine you put meat into to make sausage! (And also a hookup app?)

You’re thinking of Grinder and Grindr.

Gender is the highest ranked officer in the Army and Air Force.

No, that’s general, You’re thinking of that villain from the legend of Zelda series

I’m afraid you are thinking of Ghirahim,
Gender is two circular pieces of glass that humans place at their eyes to enhance their vision.

Unfortunately, you’re thinking of glasses, gender is the thing that you do when you laugh.

You mean giggling? Sorry dear, that’s not what gender is. Gender is what happens when you can’t get enough air!

No, you’re thinking of gasping. Gender is the quality of being soft or careful, it’s a really nice characteristic to have in a dog.

No, no, that’s gentle. Gender was one of the ronin that often traveled with and was friends to Usagi Yojimbo. 

Your thinking of Gunichi. Gender is a narrow band of fabric fastened around the leg that keeps stockings up,

No, silly, that’s a *garter.* A gender is a French soldier who is employed on police duties.

That’s a gendarme. Gender is a light fluffy sponge cake using whole eggs.

I’m pretty sure you’re thinking of genoise. Gender is an old term for an agriculturalist – someone who grows crops and certain small types of livestock, like chickens.

ablogoffeels:

ocalinson:

BERNIE SANDERS IS OFFICIALLY OUT OF THE RACE HE IS NO LONGER A CANDIDATE – HE DOES NOT WANT YOUR VOTE. HE WANTS US TO VOTE HILLARY TO DETRUMP THE TRUMP – GET YOUR BERNIE OR BUST RHETORIC AWAY. CLEAR IT FROM YOUR MINDS. VOTE HILLARY. GIVE HER ANY NUMBER BOOSTS YOU CAN. I DON’T CARE. USE YOUR FUCKING BRAINS. PLEASE.

Ok, but also, do people not realize how much bernie accomplished despite not getting the nomination???? In the end, Bernie did what he wanted to do all along. He shook up the DNC despite their plays against him. He got the Democratic party to adopt THE most progressive platform in HISTORY!!! He made people stop and think and adopt and protest and force the Democrats to notice; he changed the game. He’s already made a huge impact. I would’ve loved him to receive the nomination, but we have to face the reality. If you write him in, or don’t even fucking vote, Donald Trump, the farthest thing from what Sanders believes in, will win because you’ll split the democratic vote. So if you’re a die hard Bernie supporter like you say you are, don’t throw away the work he has done. Don’t throw away his success. Vote Clinton. 

prokopetz:

Some ways that statistics can lie to you without ever falsifying their data:

• Reframing a small absolute difference as a large relative difference. For example, it’s technically correct to describe an increase from 0.01% to 0.04% as a 300% increase – but is a +0.03% bump what you’d assume to be the case if you heard the phrase “300% increase”?
• Using one type of average while implying that you’re talking about a different type of average. For example, if a company has nine employees who make $10/hour and one manager who makes $60/hour, you can take the mean average and state with technical truthfulness that the average wage is $15/hour, even though no actual person makes that.
• Reporting accuracy in terms of the absence of false negatives without considering the presence of false positives. A test that returns a positive result 95% of the time when what it’s looking for is present may sound reasonably accurate – but what if I told you that it also returns a positive result 30% of the time when what it’s looking for isn’t present?