There are layers to this. Earlier in the episode, Xena discovers her secret while they're sharing a locker room. A woman she has got naked with turned out to be trans. It's the exact scenario terfs are always fear-mongering about, but Xena just shrugs it off.
Also, the kiss was a big deal not just because it was gay but because the trans actress was HIV positive. They wanted to show the world that you can't contract HIV just from kissing someone. Bear in mind, the AIDS crisis was still fresh on people's minds in the 90s.
If Tyler Perry was cast in Game of Thrones / House of the Dragon / an ASOIAF spin-off, where should their character hail from? Imagine you are the casting director for HBO.
The Wall & Beyond the Wall
The North
The Riverlands
The Vale
The Crownlands (Kingâs Landing) & The Westerlands
The Stormlands & Dragonstone
The Reach & Oldtown
Dorne
The Iron Islands
Essos: The Free Cities
Essos: Slaverâs Bay & the Outer East (Asshai, Yi Ti, Qarth, etc)
I have a unique answer to this
Voting ended onJul 26
If you need a guide for making a choice (read below):
1. The Wall & Beyond the Wall â A massive wall of ice stretches across the northern border of the continent. It is defended by the Nightâs Watch, a sworn brotherhood made up of volunteers and criminals who give up their former lives to serve for life. Their jobs include guarding the Wall, scouting in the wilderness, and maintaining the fortresses along it. Beyond the Wall lies frozen wilderness of forests, tundra, and mountains. There, the Free Folk (often called wildlings) live in clans without lords or kings, surviving through hunting, raiding, or trading. Giants and other strange creatures also live in the far north.
Key Characters: Jon Snow, Samwell Tarly, Mance Rayder, Tormund Giantsbane.
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2. The North â The largest and coldest region of Westeros, ruled from Winterfell, a great stone castle in the center of the North. This is the land of the Stark family, one of the most important noble houses. The North is full of forests, tundra, and long stretches of snowy wilderness. It is sparsely populated, with mountain clans, coastal fishing villages, and marsh-dwelling families. People here are known for being serious, loyal, and bound by old traditions.
3. The Riverlands â A fertile region of rivers, farmland, and castles located at the center of Westeros, ruled from Riverrun by House Tully. Because of its central location, invading armies almost always march through here, leaving the countryside exposed to destruction. The Riverlands are dotted with smaller castles, villages, and farms, as well as inns and mills that rely on the rivers.
Key Characters: Catelyn Stark (born Tully), Brynden âBlackfishâ Tully, Walder Frey, Edmure Tully.
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4. The Vale â A mountainous, wealthy land ruled from the Eyrie, a castle perched high in the mountains and considered almost impossible to capture. The Vale has fertile valleys, but its people are largely cut off from the rest of the continent by its steep mountain passes. Many of its nobles are proud of their ancient bloodlines. The Vale is also home to mountain clans, small groups of raiders who live outside noble control in the high passes.
Key Characters: Lysa Arryn, Robin Arryn, Petyr âLittlefingerâ Baelish.
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5. The Crownlands (Kingâs Landing) & The Westerlands â Kingâs Landing is the capital of Westeros, the largest city in the realm, and the seat of the Iron Throne, where the king rules. It is crowded with nobles, merchants, guards, commoners, and beggars. The city is known for its mix of wealth and poverty, political intrigue, and frequent unrest. To the west lie the Westerlands, ruled from the fortress of Casterly Rock by House Lannister, the richest family in the realm. Their wealth comes from gold mines, and they use it to fund armies and influence politics in Kingâs Landing.
6. The Stormlands & Dragonstone â The Stormlands are coastal lands constantly battered by violent storms, ruled from Stormâs End, a huge fortress famous for its strong walls. The people here are tough and battle-hardened. Just offshore lies Dragonstone, a volcanic island with a black-stone castle carved into the shapes of dragons. Dragonstone was once the seat of House Targaryen, the former royal family who conquered Westeros with dragons centuries ago.
7. The Reach and Oldtown â A rich and heavily populated region ruled from Highgarden by House Tyrell. It is known as the âbreadbasketâ of Westeros because its fertile lands and vineyards produce much of the realmâs food and wine. The Reach is also famous for its knights, who value pageantry and tournaments. Oldtown, one of the oldest and largest cities in Westeros, is a major port and home to the Citadel. The Citadel is a school and headquarters where maestersâeducated men who serve as healers, teachers, and advisors to noble familiesâare trained.
8. Dorne â The southernmost region of Westeros, ruled from Sunspear by House Martell. It is a hot, arid land of deserts, mountains, and coasts along the Summer Sea. Its culture and laws are different from the rest of the realm, partly due to its Rhoynish ancestry (a people who migrated from a distant river kingdom). In Dorne, women can inherit titles the same as men, and attitudes about sexuality and marriage are more relaxed compared to the rest of Westeros.
9. The Iron Islands â A group of rocky islands off the western coast, ruled from Pyke by House Greyjoy. Farming is poor here, so the islanders survive mostly through fishing and raiding the mainland. Their society is built around seafaring and a religion dedicated to the Drowned God, which teaches that âwhat is dead may never die.â This faith emphasizes drowning as a ritual and glorifies taking wealth by force rather than working the land.
Key Characters: Balon Greyjoy, Theon Greyjoy, Asha/Yara Greyjoy, Euron Greyjoy.
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10. Essos: The Free Cities â Across the Narrow Sea lies Essos, a vast continent of independent city-states. Each city has its own culture: Braavos is known for trade, banking, and a secret guild of assassins called the Faceless Men; Pentos is ruled by wealthy merchant princes; Volantis is an ancient port with large temples and a reliance on slavery. The Free Cities are filled with mercenaries, sailors, traders, and exiles from Westeros.
Key Characters: Arya Stark (in Braavos), Tyrion Lannister (in exile), Jorah Mormont, Illyrio Mopatis.
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11. Essos: Slaverâs Bay & the Outer East â Farther east along Essos lies Slaverâs Bay, home to the cities of Astapor, Yunkai, and Meereen. These cities are built on slavery, with ruling families owning large numbers of slaves. Astapor is also known for training the Unsullied, soldiers who are taken as boys and brutally trained into an elite army. Beyond Slaverâs Bay are the grassy plains of the Dothraki Sea, where the nomadic Dothraki horse-lords live in mobile camps, raiding and trading across the land. Even farther east lies Qarth, a wealthy trading city, and Asshai, a mysterious port associated with dark magic and shadowy practices.
[Image ID: The Destiel confession meme edited so that Dean answers 'JK Rowling posted upskirt photos of a woman on Twitter' to Cas 'I love you'. /End ID]
No one doing this should be allowed to call themselves a feminist.
The wealthy author escalated a social media spat that resulted in posting a photo from a 2023 event at the Institute of Economic Affairs in
Let's not beat around the bush: Children's author JK Rowling sexually harassed someone. In some jurisdictions, this would count as sexual abuse. JK Rowling has committed a sex crime against a woman and fell back on the old rape apologist standby of "she was asking for it".
Guess what, folks! It's summer! And it's gonna be a hot one, because they all are, recently :(
Did you know you can lose about a liter of water, a gram of sodium, and 300mg potassium in an hour of profuse sweating? If you're working outside in the heat, or even just existing in a very hot and humid environment, you're gonna want to replace the electrolytes you're losing, and you're gonna have to be purposeful about it.
But electrolyte drink mixes, while convenient, are surprisingly expensive for what they are. So I'm going to give you a top secret recipe that you can whip up for literal pennies that will replace what you're losing in sweat.
1 liter of water
1/2 tsp table salt (about 1g of sodium)
1/8 tsp potassium chloride salt substitute (about 350mg potassium. NuSalt is a popular brand, it's sold near the salt at the grocery store. If you don't have this, replace 6oz (180ml) of the water with orange juice or eat something high in potassium, like a banana, each hour you're sweating)
6-8 tsp of granulated sugar (you do actually need this and not a no calorie alternative- sugar helps speed up the absorption of electrolytes in the gut. You can omit if using orange juice for your potassium source, though!)
Lemon or lime juice for flavor, optional
Mix together and drink 1 liter for each hour you're profusely sweating. Adjust your intake so that your pee is light yellow.
If you want to make this mix ahead of time, put 1x the recipe of salt, sugar, and potassium, along with unsweetened Kool Aid powder or crystalized lemon or lime juice, in a small baggie. I do not recommend putting multiple servings worth in a baggie, as the ingredients settle differently and you might not get the right ratio.
NOTE: like any electrolyte drink, it works better if you sip it instead of chugging. If you chug it, you end up pooping out a lot of your electrolytes, even with the sugar.
Ok nerd fact lemon juice (citric acid) is a mild diuretic so if you want to squeeze lemon juice into your homemade oral rehydration solution you also wanna mix in a tiny tiny amount of baking soda to buffer that acid. Youâll get the lemon flavor with out the minor diuretic effect! Itâll be a bit less sour.
Saved my ass when I was zookeeping in 120 degree weather while 8 months pregnant đ
The long-lost remains of King Alfred the Great have been found buried under a car park, investigators claim.
Alfred died in 899, and his bones were repeatedly moved. He was buried in Winchester Cathedral until 1110, when his remains were moved to Winchester's Hyde Abbey, where they were interred before the high altar between the bodies of his wife and son.
The abbey was demolished after the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539, and the place was left in ruins.
In 1866, during construction of a workhouse on the site, the English antiquarian John Mellor excavated the area, found what he thought were Alfred's bones and had them reburied at nearby St. Bartholemewâs Church.
But in 2013, when archaeologists exhumed and carbon-dated the bones from St. Bartholomewâs churchyard, they proved to date from over 200 years after Alfredâs death - sparking Graham's interest and search.
He said: "Whoeverâs bones they were, they werenât Alfredâs. So, I decided to discover what happened to them.
"The quest has taken me 13 years.â
