If the mean people in our lives were crappy 100% of the time, it would be easy to leave them. We would shrink from becoming friends with them or jump aboard the nope rocket in the early stages of trouble, and we would feel only relief when they are gone from our lives.

The problem is that very few people are evil all the time. They don’t wear villain costumes purchased at ForeverEvil. They don’t laugh maniacally and stroke their evil goatees while monologuing about their evil plans. They appear in our lives as People-Who-Would-Be-Awesome-Except-For-That-One-Glaring-Problem. They have potential to be awesome, and sometimes they are awesome, and they make us feel awesome, so we relax and let out that breath we’ve been holding in, and then BAM! They show their mean side, and we do a ton of mental work trying to reconcile the mean stuff with the awesome stuff.

Breaking up brings relief, as you lose the constant mental labor of managing the relationship AND the stress of being constantly disappointed and hurt, but it also brings grief. Shitty people who forget your birthday and give little backhanded compliments and gossip about your secrets sometimes give really good hugs, or presents, or are your favorite people to get drunk and watch figure-skating with, or were the sole witness to an important time in your life. The good times were real.

Captain Awkward

I cannot express how much of a lightbulb moment it was when I realized people did not have to be unilaterally awful in order for you not to want to be in a relationship with them

(via geekybombshell)

NASA Is Developing 3D-Printed Chain Mail to Protect Ships and Astronauts

jhaernyl:

scotsdragon:

wewillnotbow:

muaddibbler:

ayellowbirds:

I need me some of that space future armor.

Here’s the JPL post with more info!

“We are just scratching the surface of what’s possible,”
Shapiro-Scharlotta said. “The use of organic and non-linear shapes at no
additional costs to fabrication will lead to more efficient mechanical
designs.”

My favorite thing about this is that it’s basically what Klingon armor looks like.

The future is now and it’s Klingons.

Qapla!

@the-last-hair-bender

NASA Is Developing 3D-Printed Chain Mail to Protect Ships and Astronauts

Can you please write like a fluff fic where Julian goes to Garak’s shop (like after Garak’s first episode) to buy a few skirts or sundresses or whatev bc he’s Genderqueer/NB. Garak is all nice because in the Trek world Trans is pretty common place. The whole thing is like “just another day making a customer look great!” thing. None of it is sexual/fetishized or the “~shy uwu precious soft trans boys!” like i get online, or humiliating/disphoric/transphobic, like I get at home. 1/2 – Val

writertobridge:

2/2 I don’t think you’d write anything fetishizing/transphobic, I just see a lot of it online. It’s either kinky-docile-submissive sissyb*ys, or it’s folks emasculating trans-masc bc Masc is Bad. Soft Shy Fem trans boys only!“ Both are transphobic and gross. The humiliating-dysphoric shame is at home. I talk to mom about Trans, it’s she’s hearing I killed her daughter, started wearing her skin, and expect her to keep going on like normal. In her head she’s still waiting for the prodigal daugther

-hugs so much-

Of course I can!

I hope you’re able to find people in your life that will fully accept you for who you are. ❤ And I hope this little story brings something positive to your life, even if it’s only for a moment.

I wasn’t sure what pronouns to use for Julian because you asked for Julian to be Genderqueer/NB, so I went with they/them pronouns and referring to Julian as “the doctor” where it made sense to. I had to edit out some unconscious he/him pronouns for Julian. If there are others that I missed, please let me know.

I went way out of order for this one, but I didn’t want to write something heavy today but I still wanted to get something out.

Another Order

The door opening broke Garak out of his work-induced trance. He glanced up from the black and greens of the Andorian fabric and caught the gaze of Doctor Bashir, who’s gentle smile brought a familiar warmth that carried like a modest Cardassian wind. In the doctor’s hand was a Federation PADD. Garak offered a smile of his own.

“I wasn’t aware we had arrangements today,” Garak said.

“We don’t. I want to place an order.” Julian stopped near the counter.

“Another one of your holosuite costumes?”

“Not this time. I’d actually like to get something casual I can wear around the station.”

“Did you have something in mind?”

Julian pushed the PADD towards Garak with it’s usual enthusiastic flare. Garak took it and looked upon the screen. There were a few pictures to cycle through. All of the pieces were dresses – knee length, sleeveless ones with just an edge of play curling against the seams. Reds and oranges were painted across all of them. The necklines were all the same too. They were angled, with points near the arms that offered a square appearance. Garak frowned.

“Charming pieces,” Garak said, “But may I ask you a question, Doctor?”

“Of course.”

“How attached are you to the choice of neckline?”

Garak glanced up. Julian’s smile turned into a small frown. The doctor’s brows creased together in a familiar press. A puzzlement. Garak placed the PADD aside and picked his own up off the work station. He flicked through several images.

“The square neckline that you’ve chosen gives the piece a more sophisticated feel. If you are aiming for a casual look, as you insisted, there are better options, especially with the colors you’ve chosen.” Garak stopped on a different neckline, voided the colors of the dress, and turned the PADD to Julian. He showed the doctor a rounded neckline closer to the neck with a sleeveless design. “A jewel neckline.”

“You don’t think it’s too conservative?” Julian asked. Garak turned the PADD around again and backed through a few options.

“If you wish to show more skin, there are options for that as well,” Garak answered. He chose a wider opening, one that would still cover the dear doctor’s collarbone but showed some shoulder, then turned it for Julian to see. “A bateau, perhaps. It is not quite as casual that the jewel neckline, but it does showcase your shoulders more.”

“What about an off-the-shoulder neckline?” Julian asked. Garak turned the PADD around, flicked to one such option, and turned it back to the good doctor.

“They are designed to be more sophisticated, but with the right print and accessories, I believe such a neckline could be made for a casual dress.” Garak saw the enthusiasm wash back over Julian’s face. He turned the PADD around once more. “One more neckline for you consideration, Doctor.”

Garak flicked through the options. He stopped on a neckline with a sheer piece. Under the collarbone, the fabric was changed to a solid, to cover what skin the good doctor would have over his chest, over his heart, and anything below it. He turned the PADD. “This is an illusion neckline. You will not have any sleeve fabric you have will be sheer, so you can showcase as much of your shoulders and collarbones as you wish. These are usually intended for formal events, but I believe I can make you a casual dress with such a neckline.”

“Could we use the same colors as the other dresses?”

“Yes, I believe so.” Garak placed the PADD on the counter and moved to the design portion. He input Julian’s sizing into a program, which he saved for such occasions, and picked a knee-length option. The cut itself looking quite suitable, though a little too formal. He spoke as he changed the pleating of the skirt, the waistline, the cut of the solid neckline. “Such necklines are better for dresses of a solid color. But a thin belt would break up the bold color nicely but still provide you with the casual appearance you’re looking for.”

Garak applied a rich red – one without patterns – a changed the top to a sheer red of the same shade.

“It’s pretty,” Julian said. Something hung on the doctor’s words. Garak looked over at them. Despite the compliment, a frown reemerged.

“You don’t sound convinced, Doctor.”

“No, I am, it’s pretty, it’s just… the color looks weird the model’s skin.”

“You are quite tan, my dear. May I suggest a pink, perhaps?” Garak switched the color palette to a gentle pink. Julian hummed. Garak continued to change the hues slowly, silently.

“Stop.” Garak paused at a light pink, a near while. “A little pinker.” Garak edged the scale. “There. That. I love that.”

“It’s not quite the look you came in here with, Doctor.”

“That’s okay. I like this more.”

“Excellent. Shall I make this order for you?”

“Please!” Julian’s enthusiasm made Garak smile. He saved the image and transposed the dress size information to his order list.

“I’ll begin your order a week from today. Would you like to order another piece as well, something more suiting to what you came in with, or would you rather wait for this order to be completed first before deciding on another?”

“I’ll wait. Who knows, maybe Chief O’Brien and I will have other holosuite costumes to order. Thanks, Garak. And see you for lunch tomorrow?”

“Yes, see you tomorrow.”

Julian grinned and nearly skipped out the door. Garak could feel the doctor’s positive energy resonate in his shop for hours after they left.

scarlettohairdye:

killerchickadee:

buttheadhatesthetcc:

lauralot89:

Jesus Christ was a brown Jew in the Middle East, conceived out of wedlock in an arguably interracial if not interspecies (deity and human) relationship, raised by his mother and stepfather in place of his absent father.  He may not have had a Y chromosome.  He spent his early youth as a refugee in Egypt, where his family no doubt survived initially on handouts from the wealthy (You think they kept that gold, frankincense, and myrrh from the wise men?  Hell no, they sold that stuff for food and lodging).  He later returned with his parents to their occupied homeland and lived in poverty.

The religion of Jesus’s people has no concept of a permanent hell and instructed its priests on how to induce miscarriages.  Jesus explicitly rejected the concept of disability as a divine punishment.  He spoke out against religious hypocrites.  He had enough respect for women to let his mother choose the time of his first miracle.  He blessed a same sex couple.  He told a rich man that he must give up his wealth to get to heaven, and also told a parable about a rich man suffering in agony in presumably Gehinnom (basically Purgatory) just to hammer the point home.  He told people to pay their taxes.  He declared “love your neighbor” to be one of the two commandments on which all laws hang.  He commanded his followers to help the poor.  He commanded them to help the sick and the needy.  He spent time with social outcasts.  He healed the servant of a high priest during his arrest rather than fighting back.  He was put to death by the occupying government because he was a political radical.

Trump and his administration are xenophobic, misogynistic, racist, fear-mongering, warmongering, tax-dodging, anti-Semitic, anti-choice, anti-welfare, anti-equal pay, anti-LGBTQIA+, anti-immigration, support tax cuts for the rich, support Citizen’s United, want to keep refugees out of this country, want to limit our ability to speak against the government, plan to abolish the Affordable Care Act, and they wrap all of that up behind a banner of “Christian family values.”  If you support them, you have no right to call yourself a follower of Christ.

it’s so rare, yet so fulfilling, to see the J-man on my dash

One of my friends is literally the most religious Christian I have ever met. What does that mean in regards to her lifestyle and outlook? She loves everyone. EVERYONE. Unconditionally. And she supports healthcare and education and birth control and everything that’s necessary to have a healthy, stable society.

Because that’s what her homeboy JC would want.

Canon Jesus is better than Fandom Jesus.

vaspider:

I always find it amazing how you have the choice to either live out loud – that is, to live as someone who is unapologetically disabled, and talks about it like it’s as normal as every part of your life – or to live without ever speaking about your disabilities publicly. And if you do one, then you’re ‘attention-seeking,’ as if activism works by sitting down quietly, and if you do the other…

… well, that’s what ableists love, isn’t it? When we sit quietly, never talking about how ableism affects us, and how it makes our lives difficult? That would be so simple, wouldn’t it? So easy. Then they don’t have to deal with it. 

I’ll take being an obnoxious bitch who lives loudly and proudly as a disabled punk over rolling over and showing belly to ableists who’d like me to fade in the corner and never bother them to change a thing about how society’s ingrained ableism fucks over the largest minority in the US. 

And if you’re wondering: the same shit goes for being queer, for being non-binary, for all of it. I’m tired of being told that existing as I am is ‘shoving it in people’s faces.’ If you have a problem being reminded to not be an ableist or not misgender a trans person, well, uh, that’s not something wrong with me, is it?

Sims3

*cackles* I just blew things up and what didn’t blow up got set on fire!

(And then my Sim went and put out all the flames before anything burnt to uselessness or the little heaps of scrap could be set on fire too.)

There is something very satisfying about getting a Sim up to level 6 of the inventing skill and setting up a circle of things to detonate. Even when it goes a little badly, and lights shit on fire. Just. BOOM!