Courage for our Friends

I wanted to make a blog about how amazing our world is, and how people can achieve amazing things when they are passionate and when they work together. It got a little sidetracked by fandom things, but fandoms often serve to unite people and they definitely make people passionate, so maybe that's okay. Anyway, here are some pictures, gifs, comics, and random other bits, occasionally punctuated by quotes about seeing this life through the best I can. "Courage, Merry. Courage for our friends." Jam.Medallion.insert({"username":"mccoybekki"});

[courageforourfriends]

Barrayar [about Gregor]: We have raised an emperor!

Cordelia: You fucked up a perfectly good child is what you did. Look at him, he's got anxiety.

[cleopatraselena]

#relatable

[darthstitch]

Shieldmaiden

John was a soldier huddled in the trenches facing No Man’s Land, feeling the most wretched he had ever been. He was cold and hungry, overwhelmed with the stench of unwashed bodies and infected wounds, the nearly endless rounds of gunfire and grenade explosions, the screams of the dying.

Sometimes he felt as if he would never again know the taste of bread and a proper cuppa tea, to breathe in air that was not foully tainted by the Enemy’s noxious poisons. Sometimes he felt that they were all under the pitiless gaze of some great Eye, naked in the Dark.

And then he heard an American voice say, “Don’t you understand? This is No Man’s Land. That means no man may cross it.”

And thus, John’s attention was captured by the hooded figure the American was speaking to. She dropped the cloak to reveal armor, that her hands carried a sword and a shield, and she ascended the ladder with steps swift and sure. John would always remember these words, though she herself had never said them aloud, but her actions spoke clear as day:

“I am no man.”

There she stood, a shining figure in the middle of No Man’s Land, facing the Enemy and drawing their fire, beautiful as the dawn, terrible as the sea, stronger than all the foundations of the Earth.

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien does not remember how he scrambled up the ladder to follow after her, only that he and his fellow soldiers followed in Her wake, to fight by her side and onwards to victory.

[ekjohnston]

canon accepted

[courageforourfriends]

*screaming*

[thcrin]

[courageforourfriends]

Miles Vorkosigan, showing off his acres of radioactive farmland: This is the field in which I grow my fucks. You will note, Simon, that it is not only barren but glows in the dark and will do so for many years to come.

[courageforourfriends]

Bel: Call me a cynical old bat, but is it entirely without the bounds of possibility that you have an ulterior motive?

Miles: Bel, I hope you know me better than that. At any given moment I never have fewer than seven ulterior motives in play.

[probablybadrpgideas]

The hordes of the dead are massing! Not the undead, the dead. It’s not quite as urgent as we made it out to be, sorry, the hospital morgue is just having delays.

[ccorneliast]

It was raining in L. A. and I was Princess Leia. I had never been Princess Leia before and now I would be her forever. I would never not be Princess Leia. I had no idea how profoundly true that was and how long forever was.

Carrie Fisher, The Princess Diarist (via fycarriefisher)

[thorvalkyrie-deactivated2018010]

Chris Hemsworth’s Vanity Fair Cover Shoot

[niniblack]

#the female gaze

[skylerbrindmour]

@haileyaa92

[untame]

the long fall boot. “i’m not gonna lie to you, it’s expensive as hell. but check this out: we told this test subject to just go ahead and try to land on her head. she can’t do it! good work, boots.”

[leia-organa]

me:

[captainlordauditor]

…..it occurs to me that cordelia’s honor could be summed up as

Cordelia: I’m gonna do the thing

The entirety of Beta: Cordelia no

The entirety of Barryar: Cordelia no

everybody in the galaxy probably: Cordelia no

Aral: Cordelia yes

[gorreality-deactivated20170927]

“I can’t be vegan, I love cheese”

Dairy industry is as evil as meat. No less harm for animals. Does it look natural that calf can’t drink milk so you can taste your piece of cheese? 

GO VEGAN. 

[smellyoldblanket]

WRONG

That calf is wearing a nose tag. Nose tags are put on calves so that they are able to stay with their mothers longer, but are unable to nurse. They don’t NEED to nurse as they get older, they just get greedier and pushier and will bash up the cow’s udder and bruise it with their noses.

This nose-tag is so that calves can stay with their mothers, their mothers can remain pain-free and healthy, and nobody is stressed.

Educate yourselves you ignorant fucking tarts.

[horseandarcher-deactivated20150]

…really? You don’t think it might have anything to do with the milk being stolen for human consumption? At all? Not even a tiny bit?

[the-gay-is-over9000]

Militant vegans can fuck right off

[periegesisvoid-deactivated]

Based on fur texture and face shape, that calf is at least six months old, probably older.  Calves can survive without actual cow milk even at three months, though older is better (calves weaned that early are usually fed a sort of formula for another couple months).

Also, nose tags like that one don’t go through the cow’s septum.  They basically work like those fake septum rings for humans.

In addition to weaning the calves, another use for nose tags is protecting non-lactating cows.  Sometimes weanlings or even adult cows will suck on themselves or other non-lactating cows; this can cause internal teat scarring bad enough to prevent that teat or teats from ever working.  I’ve seen this happen, and it’s ugly, probably at least somewhat painful, and, if bad enough, would lead to the cow being slaughtered at a very young age because she can’t produce milk, has chronic mastitis, and/or can’t be milked with automatic milking equipment.  So, nose tags actually prevent animal cruelty.

Also, calves will suck on anything remotely oblong (and attempt to eat literally anything), even if they are being adequately fed or overfed.  Often they will suck on other calves’ ears, and, since ears are longer than teats and cows have upper as well as lower teeth in the back of their mouths, many calves get bites on their ears, which often become severely infected.  I’m not sure if nose tags would work there, because physics—a non-toxic but bad-tasting ear paint would be better—but yeah, letting a calf put anything it wants in its mouth is not always a good idea.

[master-dog]

reblogging for educational purposes.

[kijikun-deactivated20150220]

reblogging for people being schooled

[gonnagoandrunwiththehorses-deac]

This was the funniest argument about false cruelty I have read.. Thank you. 

[namesnotfred]

I love this for 2 reasons: Most people don’t realize that in farming areas agriculture/horticulture/animal husbandry is part of public school education from as early on as 7th grade. (Though I remember dissecting cow eyes in 4th grade science sooo) I assure you fifteen year old farm kids know more about what constitutes animal cruelty in farms than thirty year old vegans with, or without an agenda. 

Also that if you really want good quality beef/pork/eggs/milk/etc you don’t abuse your animals. Ever. That’s not the point and if you want to make any kind of money off your career choice, you are going to treat those creatures better than you treat yourself. You’ll call a vet five times for an infection in your herd before you visit the hospital for a missing foot on your own leg. 

So. Yeah. Watch out, because we’re getting internet access these days. We’re on tumblr too. 

[somejane-deactivated20200807]

P.S. The immigrant workers farming your supermarket produce have no health care or legal protection, and the Bolivians farming your 365 Organic Quinoa can’t afford to eat it. But PLEASE won’t someone think of the poor baby cows who won’t get off the tit?!

[thehornedwitch-deactivated20211]

Also this is a LOT nicer than what mother cows do to calves that won’t be weaned. You know what mother cows do to calves that won’t wean? kick them in the head. Now I don’t know about vegans, but I’d rather have a nose tag that discouraged me from injuring my mother (because calves that don’t wean tend to chew on udders and make mother cows bleed) rather than being kicked in the head. Source: I grew up on a fucking cattle ranch. I have seen chickens skeletonize a mouse I KNOW SHIT.

[thesociaijusticecourier-deactiv]

“I have seen chickens skeletonize a mouse I KNOW SHIT.”

I’m sorry, what? What??? WHAT??? you can’t just leave it there please explain @thehornedwitch

[thehornedwitch-deactivated20211]

Happy to explain! See, chickens are omnivorous. They eat bugs, plants, and meatstuffs. Y'know how crows and ravens and things eat meat? Well, chickens too. Ours had a particular fondness for ham when someone accidentally put it into the bucket of good scraps we set aside for the chickens. A bucket we tried to keep as meat-free as possible, because few things are more terrifying than a chicken looking you in the eyes as it scarfs down ham. Anyway, back to the mouse. One day i was doing Chicken Chores, like gathering eggs, putting out grain, emptying the bucket of greens, etc, when a mouse runs across the pen. All at once, eight or so chickens stop dead, look at it, and SWARM. Now I’m six at this point in time and developing a healthy fear of chickens, and so do nothing. By the time the chickens are done, all that is left of the mouse is its bones. I left the chicken pen very, very quickly. Chickens crave meat. They were dinosaurs. They did not forget that they were dinosaurs. They will also cannibalize each other with reckless abandon. Sometimes we just had to remove one chicken to its own private pen away from the others because no matter what we did, that specific one always tried to eat the other chickens. We had one that really liked other chicken’s eyes. Bear in mind, our pens ensured each chicken had about five to six square feet all its own if you managed to space every chicken out evenly, we never locked them in teensy pen things, and fed them LOTS. These chickens just really, really wanted to maim. Chickens that are not Buff Orpingtons are the devil. Buff Orpingtons are sweethearts. If you must have chickens, have that kind. And never get Guineas. Guineas are SATAN INCARNATE. THEY SMELL FEAR.

[rossmallo]

Holy shit, I dont think I’ll ever use chicken as an insult again. 

[dustypumpkin]

Holy Shit, same here that is terrifying

[dotterelly]

After my uncle was forced to give up his dairy herd (he refused to overwork the cows and couldn’t get enough money for the milk to support the herd even after going organic), he got a deal to provide free range eggs to a supermarket chain. He has flocks of chickens (Columbian black tailed, if you’re interested) in large open fields with alpacas to help guard them from foxes. At one point there was an albino chicken, and because chickens are racist little shits this poor white one was at the bottom of the pecking order. Functionally this meant that the albino disappeared. They didn’t even find a body.

Also they had an issue getting the chickens to use the nesting boxes. For a while they had to go every morning and just push the chickens into the nesting boxes to train them. Eventually one chicken got the idea. It voluntarily hopped into a nesting box. Unfortunately all the other chickens saw this and thought it was a great idea, and all tried to get into the same box. The smart chicken was smothered to death and my uncle’s people had to then go every day to pull chickens out of nesting boxes to stop them smothering each other.

[pixilicious]

Reblogging for education and Satan piranha chickens

[flawful-ish]

#long post#holy crap#this started as a post about cows and nose tags#and then turned into why chickens are terrifying as fuck

[acecroft]

ATOMIC BLONDE (2017)

[van-dyne]

Guardians of the Galaxy Cast Play Snog, Marry, Avoid: MARVEL Edition same zoe, same 😍

[gaileyfrey]

#me

[courageforourfriends]

Pierre: Please say words of encouragement to me so I don’t murder Anatole right now.

Marya D: There is no alcohol in prison.

Pierre: *nods* Thank you.

[seananmcguire]

I'm roughly halfway thru Once Broken Faith (& LOVING it). Not only am I so happy to see my faerie friends again, I also can't help but imagine a fae CSPAN broadcasting the conclave proceedings to magic mirrors across the globe.

“Well, Diane, it looks like October–”

“This would be October Daye, first changeling to be knighted in the Kingdom in the Mists in over a hundred years, daughter of Amandine and an unidentified mortal man.”

“Exactly so.  October appears to be, ah, insulting another monarch.”

“You know, Charles, sometimes I think this girl wants to be a ficus tree.”

“Pretty sure you’re right, Diane.  Pretty sure you’re right.”