Penguin falls down resulting in best sound ever [x]

oh my god

NOOOOOOO

they all gasped like OHHH

IM CRYING IM PHYSICALLY CRYING HE FALLS AND THERE ALL LIKE WHAAAAWHOA U OK BRO AND HE GETS UP LIKE *SIGH* YEAH ITS FINE

(via mochanessa)

historical-nonfiction:

Many traditions for the holidays of Christmas, Easter, and Halloween/All Saints’ Day were created between the 300s and 600s CE, as the Christian faith spread through the Roman Empire and used its newfound legitimacy to compete and convert. For example, All Saints’ Day was created by missionaries in the 300s CE to directly compete with the pagan holiday of Samhain. Easter’s new traditions were designed to portray the rival pagan gods as devils, spirits, and witches. We have no record of Christmas being celebrated on December 25th before 336 CE. And December 25th was almost certainly not the birthdate of Jesus, anyways. That specific date was chosen for Christmas, scholars believe, because it was both the winter solstice on the Julian calendar of the time and the birthdates of Mithras, the Persian sun-god, and Sol Invictis, another sun-god. And to put the cherry on top of the pagan-holiday-stealing cake, December 25th was near the pagan feasts of Saturnalia and the New Year too!

Source: allfunandgames.ca

drst: “ mhalachai: “ rainnecassidy: “ This is such a good article though The argument Pinto makes is that the story and the doll normalize 24-hour surveillance in the mind of a child, which makes them susceptible to more passively accept police-state...
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drst:

mhalachai:

rainnecassidy:

This is such a good article though

The argument Pinto makes is that the story and the doll normalize 24-hour surveillance in the mind of a child, which makes them susceptible to more passively accept police-state surveillance as adults.

“I don’t think the elf is a conspiracy and I realize we’re talking about a toy,” Pinto told The Post. “It sounds humorous, but we argue that if a kid is okay with this bureaucratic elf spying on them in their home, it normalizes the idea of surveillance and in the future restrictions on our privacy might be more easily accepted.”

It’s based in a theory that was developed by Jeremy Bentham and popularized by Michel Foucault in which students, prisoners, factory workers and others were thought to function better (for whatever value of better) in a system called a panopticon, in which an individual is potentially under surveillance 24-hours a day, but never actually KNOWS whether or not he or she is being surveilled. 

Pinto said she’s not the first person to be troubled by Elf on the Shelf’s surveilling. She’s said parents routinely contact her to say they changed the rules of the game after it made their families uneasy. And many kids, she said, often intuitively feel like spying and being a tattletale is wrong.

“A mom e-mailed me and told me that the first day they read the elf book and put the elf out, her daughter woke up crying because she was being watched by the elf,” Pinto recounted. “They changed the game so it wouldn’t scare the child.”

In addition to the problem of normalizing surveillance in the mind of a child, this also forces the child into a situation where they never feel like they are free to simply be themselves; they are forced to be “on their best behavior” at all times, unable to relax and make mistakes and do the job of growing up and being a child, because they never know if the elf is spying on them, ready and waiting to report back to Santa Claus that they’ve been bad.

Here is a link to the paper that the article is talking about

My co-worker got Elf on the Shelf for her four-year-old daughter last year, and was so freaked out by her daughter’s sudden and complete change in behaviour (uncharacteristically worried and anxious, while trying to be on her ‘best’ behaviour that she never kept up for family or at school) that she stuffed Elf in the garbage after a week, telling the daughter that the Elf had to go back to the North Pole to help Santa with Christmas. 

Also read the paper linked above, it’s a good one.

I hate this entire concept so much.

(via homieomorphism-deactivated20180)

Source: defjamvendetta

historical-nonfiction: “ Meet Patria, Minerva, and María Teresa Mirabal – Dominican sisters who courageously opposed the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in the 1950s. The three sisters, along with their husbands, participated in constant underground...
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historical-nonfiction:

Meet Patria, Minerva, and María Teresa Mirabal – Dominican sisters who courageously opposed the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in the 1950s. The three sisters, along with their husbands, participated in constant underground political actions against Trujillo’s regime, and came to be regarded as symbols of resistance and feminist icons known as the “Butterflies.” Even multiple stints in prison weren’t enough to stop their activism. When Trujillo’s government assassinated the sisters in 1960, it sparked a massive public outrage, which was among the catalysts leading to Trujillo’s own assassination just six months later. Now the Mirabal sisters are commemorated every November 25th by the United Nations, which declared an International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women in their honor.

kellyann-graceful-warrior:

September 10th is National Suicide Prevention and Awareness Day, while the whole month is also used for this.

Facts/estimates:
- Suicide is preventable.
- It is said up to 90% of those who take their lives have a diagnosable and treatable mental disorder.
- Around 800,000 to a million people die by suicide every year, making it the 10th leading cause of death worldwide.
- About 40,000 people die by suicide in the US every year
- More people die by suicide than homicide
- Suicide is the second leading cause of death for people ages 15-24
- Some children 10 and under die by suicide
- Suicide can be prevented by public awareness and prevention
- 1 in 25 youth attempt suicide

Stop the stigma:
- People who take their lives are not weak or cowardly
- People who take their lives most likely have an untreated mental disorder
- People who take their lives want to end their excruciating pain and despair rather than die, and certainly don’t want to hurt anyone else over it
- Stigma and shame leads to more suicide attempts, makes the individual feel alone and ashamed, and is discrimination against a mental disorder
- Taking their lives is hardly ever a “choice” as much as it is severe symptoms and emotions from a disorder. Blame the disease, not the victim.

Kindness can save a life and cruelty can end one. You never know who’s been considering it lately. After losing a family member and a best friend to suicide, I can tell you it’s not something to ignore. It’s not something to be ashamed to bring up, and I highly encourage anyone to seek help or talk to someone. You’re not wrong or abnormal, as it is fairly common to have suicidal thoughts with no actions, but it is still to be taken seriously. I also highly encourage others to listen and realize the seriousness of any threat, gesture, etc, regardless. Invest your time. Show them. These people who take their lives are dealing with extreme despair and pain that they contemplate taking their own life over it.
There will always be someone that cares. Multiple people. Even if you don’t realize it. Suicide will not be a solution to the problem. You haven’t already lost the battle, there is still hope. You have a life left to lead. Spread this around for everyone.

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