effyeahnerdfighters:

wearetheamericanway:

Don’t forget Superman, John. He was an immigrant too. All Americans have a connection to immigration, share your story with us.

The U.S.’s current immigration system is byzantine, cruel, and benefits neither American citizens nor anyone else. We need comprehensive immigration reform to bring highly skilled workers into the United States to help our economy grow and to bring security and stability to the lives of immigrants living in the United States today. Nikola Tesla was an immigrant. So were Joseph Pulitzer and Albert Einstein and Igor Stravinsky. Rational, compassionate immigration reform is needed so that the next Teslas and Einsteins are not denied access to educational or entrepreneurial opportunities in the United States. The time has come. - John Green

The Harry Potter Alliance just started this really rad project called Superman is an Immigrant and this is John’s submission! The idea is to share your immigration story by writing it on a paper and taking a picture with it. Check out their tumblr to see more and submit your own!

badkidsjokes:

knock nock
whos there?
me stupid

streeter:

#1. This is the funniest shit ever. 

#2. I’ll repeat my stance that anti-immigration Americans are like former waiters who don’t tip.

Also, if you know even the slightest bit about history you’ll know that there really is no such thing as a native population. Even in America, the natives were constantly on the move and taking over each others territory. People shuffle around. That’s our thing. 

The loudest proponents of nativism (that is, white nativism) in America have been the descendants of early English settlers. They rallied to keep the Irish out in the 19th century and even formed a political party for that express purpose (the Know Nothing Party). And based on the above idiot’s last name, he’s probably among them (or he’s the descendant of a French orphan). Let’s assume he’s from the English line of Kings and explore what being a WASP actually means. 

The Anglo-Saxons that so many early Americans came from weren’t British at all. They were English. Aren’t those the same thing? No. At least not historically.

The Britons were a Celtic people who lived in Britain before the Romans showed up in 43 AD. The Romans squatted on the island for a few hundred years, mixing blood with the natives, before heading out in 430 AD. After the Romans left there was chaos and that chaos presented a perfect opportunity for waves of Germanic tribes to invade and settle on the Island. The legendary, probably imaginary, Briton King Arthur is said to have battled these Germanic invaders. And he must have won since the people living in England now are British, right?

Wrong.

He lost (if he ever existed) because two of those Germanic tribes who invaded and stayed were the Angles and the Saxons. The AS in WASP refers to these very un-British tribes. The Angles, Saxons and other Germanic tribes pushed the native Britons to the West and set up a bunch of Kingdoms that would one day form England (Angle-Land).

Then, a few hundred years after that some Danish invaders landed and created the Danelaw, a huge chunk of the country that was under the rule of the Danish invaders. That lasted until 1066 AD when William the Conquerer, a French Norman, invaded and took control. The Normans were the ones who built all those big stone castles we think of as English and pulled off the last successful invasion of England.

They did not continue to rule the island forever, though. The current Royal Family, the Windsors, are ethnically German and were knows as the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Family until World War I when they changed the name to Windsor because of anti-German sentiment. 

By the way, the Normans weren’t originally from Normandy in France. They were descended from Norwegian Vikings who raided French lands in the 10th century and were given Normandy as party of a peace treaty between the Viking leader Rollo and the French king Charles III. 

So WASPs, I hate to break it to you, but I don’t think you’re as ethnically pure as you assume. Chances are you’re some mix of Celtic Briton, Gaulish Roman, German, Danish, Norwegian and French. 

But hey, you’re pretty great, right? And since all of those cultures and people had to mix to produce something as marvelous as you, maybe you should be a little more open-minded about immigration.

And if you’re not sold on immigration yet, here is a list of notable Americans descended from immigrants. 

• Everyone

Via

jtotheizzoe:

Here’s something interesting that popped up in my inbox today. Ever notice that the number of angles less than 180˚ in each of our Arabic number symbols corresponds to the number the symbol represents? It’s an interesting take on the origin of the Arabic numeral system … except that it’s not true.

My first hint was that for zero, “angle” was magically turned into “angel”. And why, exactly, do seven and nine need all that extra embellishment? Before you sound the sad trombone, why don’t we use this time to explore the real question: Where DO our numeral symbols come from?

For starters, Arabic numerals do not originate with the Arabs. Our numerical symbols actually trace their roots back to India at least as long ago as the 3rd century BC. These Brahmi numerals show obvious similarities with our modern “Arabic” symbols, as seen below (via Wikipedia):

The lack of a zero should not go unnoticed. Multiples of ten were given their own symbols in Brahmi, and large numbers were written as combinations of symbols instead of neat little decimals like we’re used to.

The idea of zero as a number (and not just numerical punctuation) makes its earliest appearance in the fifth century AD, again in India. Over time, the Indian numerical system migrated west into Persia, where decimal notation and the round 0 were formalized. In 976 AD, the Persian version of Wikipedia known as Muhammad al-Khwarizmi is credited with the invention of the word “sifr” to represent the empty decimal place, which later evolved into the very word we use for it today: zero.

From Persia, the “Arabic” symbols quickly made their way into Europe, along with their misattributed name. Like letter forms of the time, they were not standardized, and people wrote the symbols in their own style (which, to this day, is why some 2’s curl, and some 7’s are crossed).

With the development of moveable type, symbols were quickly standardized into the forms we know (and love?) today. Thanks, Gutenberg!

If you’re interested in more numerical history, check this out, or this. Numbers have a history with many interesting angles, but the geometric ones have nothing to do with why numbers look the way they do.

patbaer:

notnadia:

th3skinny:

If you’re not a feminist, you either don’t know what feminism is, or you’re a bag of dicks. 

That is all. 

This is an excellent graphic.

Don’t be a bag of dicks.

whitehouse:

You’ve probably heard of The Great Gatsby. But what about The Great Gatsby Curve?

It’s a pretty wonky chart that illustrates how rising inequality is jeopardizing our tradition of economic mobility for future generations.

So what does this mean? Kids of wealthy parents already have more opportunities to succeed than children of poor families—and this is likely to get worse unless we take steps to ensure that all children have access to quality education, health care, and other opportunities that give them a fair shot at economic success.

Learn more.

we-are-star-stuff:

Why do cats purr?

Over the course of evolution, purring has probably offered some selective advantage to cats. Most felid species produce a “purr-like” vocalization. In domestic cats, purring is most noticeable when an animal is nursing her kittens or when humans provide social contact via petting, stroking or feeding.

Although we assume that a cat’s purr is an expression of pleasure or is a means of communication with its young, perhaps the reasons for purring can be deciphered from the more stressful moments in a cat’s life. Cats often purr while under duress, such as during a visit to the veterinarian or when recovering from injury. Thus, not all purring cats appear to be content or pleased with their current circumstances. This riddle has lead researchers to investigate how cats purr, which is also still under debate.

Scientists have demonstrated that cats produce the purr through intermittent signaling of the laryngeal and diaphragmatic muscles. Cats purr during both inhalation and exhalation with a consistent pattern and frequency between 25 and 150 Hertz. Various investigators have shown that sound frequencies in this range can improve bone density and promote healing.

This association between the frequencies of cats’ purrs and improved healing of bones and muscles may provide help for some humans. Bone density loss and muscle atrophy is a serious concern for astronauts during extended periods at zero gravity. Their musculo-skeletal systems do not experience the normal stresses of physical activity, including routine standing or sitting, which requires strength for posture control.

Because cats have adapted to conserve energy via long periods of rest and sleep, it is possible that purring is a low energy mechanism that stimulates muscles and bones without a lot of energy. The durability of the cat has facilitated the notion that cats have “nine lives” and a common veterinary legend holds that cats are able to reassemble their bones when placed in the same room with all their parts. Purring may provide a basis for this feline mythology. The domestication and breeding of fancy cats occurred relatively recently compared to other pets and domesticated species, thus cats do not display as many muscle and bone abnormalities as their more strongly selected carnivore relative, the domestic dog. Perhaps cats’ purring helps alleviate the dysplasia or osteoporotic conditions that are more common in their canid cousins. Although it is tempting to state that cats purr because they are happy, it is more plausible that cat purring is a means of communication and a potential source of self-healing.

ilovecharts:

Did anyone else ever notice that the song “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” is about a couple who have nothing in common except kinda liking the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s?

-nellexicon

Well, then, that’s the one thing they’ve got.

heythereuniverse:

How Animals See the World | Mezzmer

Stages of Deterioration in the Human Body

The Moment Of Death: 
1. The heart stops.
2. The skin gets tight and ashen in color.
3. All the muscles relax.
4. The bladder and bowels empty. 
5. The body temperature begins to drop 1 1/2 degrees Fahrenheit per hour.

After 30 minutes:
6. The skin gets purple and waxy.
7. The lips, fingernails, and toenails fade to a pale color.
8. Blood pools at the bottom of the body.
9. The hands and feet turn blue.
10. The eyes sink into the skull.

After 4 hours:
11. Rigor mortis has set in.
12. The purpling of the skin and the pooling of the blood continue.
13. Rigor continues to tighten muscles for another 24 hours or so.

After 12 hours:
14. The body is in full rigor mortis.

After 24 hours:
15. The body is now the temperature of the surrounding environment.
16. In males, the semen dies.
17. The head and neck are now a greenish-blue color.
18. The greenish-blue color spreads to the rest of the body.
19. There is a pervasive smell of rotting meat.

After 3 days:
20. The gas in the body tissues forms large blisters on the skin.
21. The whole body begins to bloat and swell grotesquely.
22. Fluids leak from the mouth, nose, vagina, and rectum.

After 3 weeks:
23. The skin, hair, and nails are so loose they can easily be pulled off the corpse.
24. The skin bursts open on many places on the body.
25. Decomposition will continue until the body is nothing but skelital remains, a process that can take a month or so in hot climates, and two months or more in cold climates.

Good to know. You know, for zombies and such.

fluffmugger:

“Blood is thicker than water”, when used in the context of family over friends, is in fact a wildly incorrect bastardisation.

The true, full quote is “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb,” and refers to relationships forged by choice holding deeper meaning than those of mere biology.

sebsational:

annetdonahue:

ilaughatcats:

callingoutbigotry:

angiewarhol:

WHAT THE FUCK

I just NOPEd the most forceful nope of my life

Wow.

And the next time someone asks you why you care about feminism or rape culture, you show them this. Because there is a shit-ton of work to do.

argh.