oupacademic: natgeofound: Victoria amazonica water lilies can reach 20 feet in circumference and support up to 300 pounds each. Perching children atop the massive leaves was all the rage in water gardens of the time. Salem, North Carolina, c. 1892. Photograph by Frank Hege, National Geographic Did you know the Victoria amazonica was originally named the Victoria regia in honor of Queen Victoria? The discovery and history of this amazing flower reveals a cultural history of the British Empire from the swamps of Guiana to the Crystal Palace. 
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oupacademic:

natgeofound:

Victoria amazonica water lilies can reach 20 feet in circumference and support up to 300 pounds each. Perching children atop the massive leaves was all the rage in water gardens of the time. Salem, North Carolina, c. 1892.
Photograph by Frank Hege, National Geographic

Did you know the Victoria amazonica was originally named the Victoria regia in honor of Queen Victoria? The discovery and history of this amazing flower reveals a cultural history of the British Empire from the swamps of Guiana to the Crystal Palace. 

Source: natgeofound

norsegays:

astrolope:

People being angry about ~dem gays~ on Target’s Facebook.

I just want to give my two cents on this and tell you a story.

A couple weeks ago, I was hired at Target. I have a job at Target. Not a big deal right?

It is a big deal because i’m a transman. 

It doesn’t take a genius to conclude that it’s hard for me, my brothers, and sisters to get a job. There are legal restraints regarding the job and if you don’t pass, it’s hard to be taken seriously at a job interview.

Right on the application, it asks what your preferred name is. It also asks if there is anything that target should know. I put the fact that I am a transman, expecting not to get a call because usually when you put that down, people will throw out the application. I got TWO interviews.

At the interview, they asked me about it. I told them I am on hormones and they told me that they didn’t care. Not in the sense that they don’t emotionally care, but that it didn’t matter. I was male and that’s all that mattered. They also told me that they give sex same couples benefits in states that do not recognize them as a married couple.

At my job orientation, I was not misgendered once. Even my supervisors who weren’t sure of my gender avoided pronoun use, which I found only happens when you’ve had pronoun training. They gave me a name tag with my preferred name and didn’t ask questions. I felt safe and respected, which is huge for a trans* person.

TLDR: Target is amazing not just for the LGB, but also the T. Shop there for the rest of your life.

(via stephaniehartwig)

Source: astrolope

I’m going to tell you what a demon once told me: It is okay to want your own happiness. It’s okay to care about yourself the most. It’s okay to do what’s healthy for you. When someone hits you, it’s okay to hit back and then ask them what the hell they expected. It’s okay. You are not obligated to sit there and smile and swallow every bit of shit everyone heaps on you. You are more than furniture, you’re more than window dressing, you’re not their shiny toy. You’re human, and you have the right to say “That was shitty of you”. You have a right to say “Let me feed that back to you; tell me, how does it taste?” You have a right to protest your own mistreatment and set boundaries for respectful interactions. The rest of the world doesn’t realize you have this right, and they will act offended and appalled when you exercise it, but it is yours.
SonneillonV (via sonneillonv)

(via stephaniehartwig)

Source: sonneillonv

I think the young adult books that spoke to you when you were 11 and pre-pubescent (awful word; we now call it tween, which is possibly more awful) form your adult tastes. For me it was Madeline L’ Engle’s A Wrinkle In Time with a side of Walter Farley’s The Black Stallion. It was a direct path from here into fantasy, sci-fi, adventure stories and animals.

Give me some Call It Courage about a cannibal island or Farley Mowat’s Never Cry Wolf. Also The Yearling. A Separate Peace. Charlotte’s Web. The Phantom Tollbooth. And now I’m re-reading these things.

Why do this, when there are so much great new books to discover? 1) I have kids and they are just getting into the American Y.A. canon, and 2) I believe T.S. Eliot when he said in Little Gidding (which I learned is a place, and not as I had thought, a little girl), “We shall not cease from exploration/ And the end of all our exploring/ Will be to arrive where we started/ And know the place for the first time.
Reading Young Adult Literature in Middle Age (via bookriot)

(via thecardiganlibrarian)

Source: bookriot.com

"She hated the namelessness of women in stories, as if they lived and died so that men could have metaphysical insights."

  • me: I think even a lot of good feminists write about women as the catalyst for Men's Big Feelings.
  • PJ: oh man, yeah. they're like plates you serve your epiphanies on.

hey need a hallmark card that goes ‘hey! you’re cute, and okay while i’m not sure about dating or relationships, i would just really like it if you would take off your pants and we can just see what happens from there? yes? yes!’

i will delete this in the morning when i’m sober but OMG why are cute guys so cute?

breakingnews: Bulldozer destroys Mayan pyramid in Belize AP: A construction company has essentially destroyed one of Belize’s largest Mayan pyramids with backhoes and bulldozers to extract crushed rock for a road-building project, authorities announced on Monday. The head of the Belize Institute of Archaeology, Jaime Awe, said the destruction at the Nohmul complex in northern Belize was detected late last week. The ceremonial center dates back at least 2,300 years and is the most important site in northern Belize, near the border with Mexico. Oh, fuck you.
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breakingnews:

Bulldozer destroys Mayan pyramid in Belize

AP:

A construction company has essentially destroyed one of Belize’s largest Mayan pyramids with backhoes and bulldozers to extract crushed rock for a road-building project, authorities announced on Monday.

The head of the Belize Institute of Archaeology, Jaime Awe, said the destruction at the Nohmul complex in northern Belize was detected late last week. The ceremonial center dates back at least 2,300 years and is the most important site in northern Belize, near the border with Mexico.

Oh, fuck you.

Star Trek Into Darkness Challenge

image Star Trek Into Darkness comes out this week, and it’ll have some challenges to overcome. First of all, Iron Man 3 is still going strong at the box office, with $72.5 million in its second weekend. If Iron Man 3 makes another $30 to $40 million this upcoming weekend, will that hurt Star Trek Into Darkness?

The first Star Trek made $75.2 million in its opening weekend, but that was without 3D and four years of ticket price increases. The first movie was also very popular, which always bodes well for the sequel. The real question is how much better will it perform?

If you think you know the answer, click here to place your bet and win a movie ticket of your own. Post your own estimates in the comments by 11:59pm CDT this Thursday (May 16)

(I believe this challenge is for domestic U.S. weekend opening figures only)