La la la la la la ROCKS!

nothing to see here...

[jurassicsunsets]

#WeSeeUIC

This isn’t the kind of thing that I typically post about about, but it is an issue that’s especially important to me. 

Graduate students do the majority of work, both in teaching and research, at American universities. Despite this, graduate teaching assistants and workers at the University of Illinois-Chicago are paid less than living wages, as well as having to pay over 10% of their income in fees each year. In addition, grad workers have no power or insight into appointments and re-appointments of grad workers. 

Negotiations have been attempted and denied; as of today (19 March 2019) over 1500 graduate workers are beginning a strike to improve working and living conditions. They need our help for the strike to be a success.

How can we help?

First and foremost, strikes are not easy. Students are putting their livelihoods on the line - not working means not getting money, and for the strike to continue, strikers need to be able to support themselves. In order to make this possible, the union has set up a strike fund to pay for the students’ time. If we all come together to support them, they can stick it out long enough to make real change.

Secondly, share this story! Share the strike fund. Share this news article about the situation so others know what’s going on. Share the students’ outreach document so others are aware of the students’ situation and demands. Share this post. And use the hashtags #WeNeedGEO, #WeSeeUIC, #FairContractNow, and #uicUnionPower. Make enough noise that the university can’t ignore this.

Send a message to UIC that students and the greater community of workers are willing to stand together to improve working and living conditions. Stand in solidarity with UIC grad students to show that we are stronger together!

Donate to the strike fund here!

[jurassicsunsets]

This is still going on as of 9 April 2019. Support workers!

[everydaylouie]

a computer dreams of being a cowboy

[joewasafish]

Me after hearing the old town road remix

🤠🕶️❤️🙏🏇🕺

[tinsnip]

Don’t assume malice. Assume ignorance. Life is easier, the world is kinder, and you can educate. Actual malice is pretty rare, I find. 

[froborr]

Always remember Hanlon’s Razor–”Never assume malice when incompetence will suffice as an explanation.”

That’s said, never forget Fred Clark’s Law, either: “Sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.” There’s a certain point at which ignorance becomes malice–at which there is simply no way to become that ignorant except deliberately and maliciously.

[rejectedprincesses]

This is incredible. Female animators rally the animation guild to ostracize a known sexual harasser. Not being in animation anymore, I’d only heard the broad strokes of this story from afar – hearing the details, just… oh my word.

[thatsbelievable]

[tranarchist]

‘The windscreen phenomenon’ - why your car is no longer covered in dead insects

Wildlife experts have been warning about the alarming decline in insects for decades.

An amateur German group called the Krefeld Entomological Society has been monitoring insect numbers at 100 nature reserves in Western Europe since the 1980s. Although there were the annual fluctuations they discovered that by 2013 numbers began to plummet by nearly 80 per cent.

Experts mostly blame intensive agriculture and the use of pesticides over the past 50 years.

Since 2006, beekeepers in Britain have lost about a third of their managed bee colonies each year largely due to the loss of flower-rich grassland which has declined by 97 per cent from the 1930s, and the increased use of insecticides on crops.

“This is part of the wholesale loss of small animals in recent decades.  The public know about bees and butterflies, but these are just the tips of the iceberg.  Moths, hoverflies, wasps, beetles and many other groups are now sparse where once they were abundant.”

[archaeologicalnews]

Aboriginal settlement in Australia was planned migration

Aboriginal settlement in Australia was no accident but the result of large-scale migration by skilled maritime explorers, research shows.

Experts have made the finding using wind and ocean current modelling, similar to that deployed in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

The process was designed to simulate likely routes between the islands of Timor and Roti and more than 100 now-submerged islands off the Kimberley coast.

“There’s always been a lot of speculation about how Aboriginal people made it to Australia and a lot of people have argued that people might have made it here by accident,” study co-author and James Cook University archaeology Professor Sean Ulm said.

“What this study has shown … is that it’s so absolutely improbable that you can explain any of those lines of evidence with accidental voyaging. Read more.

[quetikal-deactivated20181219]

Why is it so hard for scientists to believe that prehistoric humans could be every bit as intuitive, observant, industrious, and adventurous as modern humans?

[fakescience]

Science Is Not

[dimetrodone]

I wish A Christmas Carol had an even stronger influence on Christmas tradition and ghosts became a symbol of the holiday 

[efoxgirl]

Even better if terrorising the rich into acts of kindness also became a part of Christmas

[thecringeandwincefactory-deacti]

The Native Americans Who Saved the Pilgrims Could Lose Their Land, Again

A court battle in Massachusetts could have consequences for tribes all over the country.

Nice timing, motherfuckers.

[bob-belcher]

Happy International Women’s Day!

[colchrishadfield]

View this post on Instagram

This is the moment of today’s Soyuz rocket failure. It happened as the 4 side boosters were being jettisoned. Very glad the crew is safely back on the ground. (at Baikonur Cosmodrome) https://www.instagram.com/p/BozMRz0Hm2Y/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=168pfhpjc77cm

[medievalpoc]

I just came across these  (via Twitter) and they’re pretty interesting and simple guides to each topic (and include citations/bibliographies)

Temptation by the Devil: https://issuu.com/mxcoman/docs/pocket-miscellanies-no3-temptation-by-devil

Sodom: https://issuu.com/mxcoman/docs/pocket_miscellanies__no5_sodom

Transgender: https://issuu.com/mxcoman/docs/pocket_miscellanies__no6_transgende

People of Colour: https://issuu.com/mxcoman/docs/pocket_miscellanies__no7_people_of_

Racism: https://issuu.com/mxcoman/docs/pocket_miscellanies__no8_racism

Disability: https://issuu.com/mxcoman/docs/pocket_miscellanies__no9_disability

Mobility Aid: https://issuu.com/mxcoman/docs/pocket_miscellanies__no10__mobility

[joewasafish]

Spoiler alert! Medieval Europe wasn't just white, straight, cis, and able-bodied! I'm looking at you, all movies set in this period.

[joewasafish]

This #naan was so nice I'm going to make it twice! Also because I made a buttload of #tzatziki on accident. That's ok though because it is delicious slathered all over anything! . I realize this is not a traditional combo but they are amazing together and who needs pita anyway? (at Portland, Oregon)

[metaphysicalangst]

Lich, please. #lich #lichplease #penandink #thingsyoumightfindinadungeon #dnd

[camewiththeframe]

What a magical time to be alive.

[meltedgarment]