So there has been a bit of “what if humans were the weird ones?” going around tumblr at the moment and Earth Day got me thinking. Earth is a wonky place, the axis tilts, the orbit wobbles, and the ground spews molten rock for goodness sakes. What if what makes humans weird is just our capacity to survive? What if all the other life bearing planets are these mild, Mediterranean climates with no seasons, no tectonic plates, and no intense weather?
What if several species (including humans) land on a world and the humans are all “SCORE! Earth like world! Let’s get exploring before we get out competed!” And the planet starts offing the other aliens right and left, electric storms, hypothermia, tornadoes and the humans are just … there… counting seconds between flashes, having snowball fights, and just surviving.
To paraphrase one of my favorite bits of a ‘humans are awesome’ fiction megapost: “you don’t know you’re from a Death World until you leave it.” For a ton of reasons, I really like the idea of Earth being Space Australia.
Earth being Space Australia
Words cannot express how much I love these posts
Alien: “I’m sorry, what did you just say your comfortable temperature range is?”
Human: “Honestly we can tolerate anywhere from -40 to 50 Celcius, but we prefer the 0 to 30 range.”
Alien: “……. I’m sorry, did you just list temperatures below freezing?”
Human: “Yeah, but most of us prefer to throw on scarves or jackets at those temperatures it can be a bit nippy.”
Other human: “Nah mate, I knew this guy in college who refused to wear anything past his knees and elbows until it was -20 at least.”
Human: “Heh. Yeah everybody knows someone like that.”
Alien: “……. And did you also say 50 Celcius? As in, half way to boiling?”
Human: “Eugh. Yes. It sucks, we sweat everywhere, and god help you if you touch a seatbelt buckle, but yes.”
Alien: “……. We’ve got like 50 uninhabitable planets we think you might enjoy.”
If Earth is space Australia, then what is regular Australia?
My problem with a lot of dudes is the fact that their idea of conversation is automatically “let’s debate” when most of the time I just wanted to share ideas and get to know a person. I feel like they want to somehow “win” the conversation and I’m sitting there just like… I didn’t sign up for this debate class
women actually think that real life is their personal blog lmao.
yeah lol it’s totally ridiculous to expect to be spoken to like an equal instead of being steamrolled by someone lol i’m so fucking silly aren’t i
men actually think that real life is their high school debate class lmao
Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin has a great new interview with President Obama in Vanity Fair. In the wide-ranging interview, they discuss Abraham Lincoln, Obama’s biggest regrets from his time in office, and how a visit to the pyramids reminded Obama that cable news doesn’t really matter.
But perhaps the most intriguing bit was when, in a brief discussion of Obama’s plans for his post-presidency, Obama hinted that he planned to start speaking out more like an activist than a president.
There are “things,” he told Goodwin, “that in some ways I suspect I’m able to do better out of this office.” He elaborated that because of the “institutional constraints” of the presidency, “there are things I cannot say.”
He went on to essentially say he wanted to use his post-presidential bully pulpit more like an activist than a venerable elder statesman. “There are institutional obligations I have to carry out that are important for a president of the United States to carry out, but may not always align with what I think would move the ball down the field on the issues that I care most deeply about,” he said.
And while vague, this is an intriguing hint that Obama is thinking about being a very different ex-president than we’ve been used to.
please look out for your disabled friends please please please i’m barely seeing any posts about them but a trump presidency is so fucking harmful to those who don’t conform to society’s ideals of ‘able-bodied’ and for all those who rely upon healthcare and please please PLEASE, in all your posts about people who are going to suffer under this presidency (hint: everyone), just please be aware of them
Under a Trump presidency, millions of disabled Americans could lose their access to medical care, life saving medication, the benefits they use to afford food, and the programs that provide them with shelter. Please keep disabled Americans in your hearts and minds. Please don’t forget about us.
as a disabled person, i’m begging all of you to not forget about us because i have friends who can die and i personally need all of my medications and medical care or else i myself won’t make it. it’s absolutely terrifying and we need the able-bodied communities help to keep us alive and safe.
now that the presidential results are out– for the love of whatever, don’t berate people for coping with humor. what else should they do? people are devastated, people don’t feel safe anymore. let them do as they need to.
also, don’t yell at people who cope by not posting about it. don’t yell at the people who cope by continuing their usual routine centered around the things that make them happy to think/talk about. this is seriously fucking scary, and disconnecting in order to collect yourself is not the same thing as turning a blind eye. and it isn’t like anyone in (or even out of) the states can truly “ignore this” anyways. regardless, take care of yourself before anyone else.
boy: *takes girls phone* girl: haha stop (: boy: *chucks it at the wall* girl: come on tyler give me my phone back (: boy: *shatters screen* girl: aw tyler youre so cute (:
