World Stands With Pakistan to Mourn Slain School Children
Pakistan woke to a day of mourning on Wednesday after Taliban militants killed more than 140 students in a grisly attack which shocked the nation.
Source: NBC News

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World Stands With Pakistan to Mourn Slain School Children
Pakistan woke to a day of mourning on Wednesday after Taliban militants killed more than 140 students in a grisly attack which shocked the nation.
Source: NBC News
A teenager who was injured in Tuesday’s attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar owes his life to his teacher, who tried to shield her students from the Taliban gunmen that opened fire on them.
Irfanullah, 15, told Newsweek he would likely be dead if his teacher, 24-year-old Afsha Ahmed, hadn’t intervened.
“She seemed to understand what was going on before we did because she immediately stood up and prevented the terrorists from targeting us,” he added.
According to a tearful Irfanullah, Ahmed told the terrorists that she would not allow them to shoot her students. “She was so brave,” he said. “Her last words to the terrorists were: ‘You must kill me first because I will not see my students’ bodies lying in front of me,’” he added.
Irfanullah says the Taliban didn’t seem to care about anything she said and immediately threw something on her body. “The next thing we knew, she was on fire,” he said. “Even while burning, she shouted at us to run away and find refuge.”
The teenager says he still feels guilty for abandoning his teacher, despite knowing he could have done nothing. “I feel so selfish for running away instead of trying to find a way to save her,” he said. “She is my hero … she was like a superwoman,” said Irfanullah. “Who will teach us now?”
kili and tauriel, wesley and zahir, alex and rupert, mina and dwayne
Kili/Tauriel
who’s the cuddler: Kili. I get the feeling Tauriel isn’t a natural cuddler.
who makes thebed: Tauriel, she doesn’t approve of this dwarvish habit of messiness.
who wakes up first: Tauriel. She likes to wake up to watch the sunrise.
who has the weird taste in music: Kili. His favourite music a mix of traditional dwarven music, human tunes and elven music. The elven music is a recent development.
who is more protective: They’re both equally protective of each other.
who sings in the shower: Tauriel.
who cries during movies: Kili. He’s a massive softy.
who spends the most while out shopping: Tauriel, surprisingly. Kili’s good with money.
who kisses more roughly: Kili.
who is more dominant: Tauriel. Kili finds it highly kinky.
my rating of the ship from 1-10: 9
Wesley/Zahir
who’s the cuddler: Both equally into cuddling.
who makes the bed: Wesley. It’s an ingrained habit from boarding school.
who wakes up first: Zahir. He wakes up with the sun.
who has the weird taste in music: Zahir. He had sisters who made him listen to their boyband CDs, and he got into the brief magic rock craze that hit his generation of young witches and warlocks when he was a teenager.
who is more protective: Equally protective.
who sings in the shower: Wesley. Zahir likes to tease him about it.
who cries during movies: Zahir. Again, sisters.
who spends the most while out shopping: Neither. Zahir grew up in a relatively lower/middle class family and was taught how to save from a young age. Wesley is control of the family budget. He knows how much they don’t have to spend.
who kisses more roughly: Zahir.
who is more dominant: Zahir.
my rating of the ship from 1-10: 10
Alex/Rupert
who’s the cuddler: Rupert. He’s a big cuddler.
who makes the bed: Again, Rupert.
who wakes up first: Alex. He likes to go running before beginning his day.
who has the weird taste in music: Alex. Seriously, flick through his iPod, you’ll find so much weird stuff.
who is more protective: Rupert. He would do anything to protect Alex.
who sings in the shower: Alex. Loudly. And out of tune.
who cries during movies: Rupert. He’s a massive softy.
who spends the most while out shopping: Alex. Rupert inherited his father’s head for numbers.
who kisses more roughly: Rupert.
who is more dominant: Alex.
my rating of the ship from 1-10: 10
Mina/Dwayne
who’s the cuddler: Equally into cuddling, although Mina is usually the one who initiates cuddle sessions.
who makes the bed: Mina. It’s a habit her papa instilled in her.
who wakes up first: Mina, usually.
who has the weird taste in music: Both have equally strange tastes.
who is more protective: Dwayne, although Mina is a little bit more ruthless when dealing with people who hurt her man.
who sings in the shower: Mina. She’s surprisingly good.
who cries during movies: Mina.
who spends the most while out shopping: Both are good at sticking to their budget.
who kisses more roughly: Dwayne.
who is more dominant: Dwayne.
my rating of the ship from 1-10: 10
Send me a ship and I'll tell you...
who’s the cuddler:
who makes the bed:
who wakes up first:
who has the weird taste in music:
who is more protective:
who sings in the shower:
who cries during movies:
who spends the most while out shopping:
who kisses more roughly:
who is more dominant:
my rating of the ship from 1-10:
If you don’t think Dorota is the most important character in Gossip Girl you’re a fucking liar
Blessed be to the Snow Witch Queen! Evanna Lynch (a.k.a. the quirky but lovable Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter franchise) looks beautiful in these photographs from a Giuliano Bekor photo shoot.
Another day in Gondolin
THIS HAD BEEN DRIVING ME NUTS FOR FOREVER.
So there. Now I have figured it out.
People who I suspect have thought about this less than me:
Tolkien
Peter Jackson
real geneticists
God
anyone
Can we just stop and talk about this for a minute?
Thresh doesn’t make an alliance. Thresh doesn’t waste time liking her. Thresh knows that either he must kill her or she must kill him for one of them to win.
But this is the only way he can repay her for protecting Rue when he couldn’t. It’s the only way he can repay her for honoring Rue when he couldn’t. He honors her by sparing her friend, the girl who would have died for her.
The revolution really doesn’t start with Katniss.
It starts with Rue.
SOMEBODY FINALLY SAID IT
This is exactly the point I’ve been trying to make for years. Okay, so the revolution gets it’s kindling with Katniss. She volunteers, well that’s new, she rebels in the display of talents by shooting the apple. This triggers her perfect score, okay. These aren’t really “Revolutionary” though.
It’s not even revolutionary when Peeta professes his love, because, let’s face it, the rules of the game haven’t changed. They’re still just two kids who would have to KILL each other to win. Without a doubt, it would bring some interest to the games, so the Capitol makes propaganda about it. The “Star Crossed Lovers” in a game of life and death.
But what changes the game is Rue. Right away from her introduction in the books we know Rue is going to be somewhat of a big deal. She was compared to the most important character to Katniss, Prim, so that’s a huge indicator. She’s small, young, she’s what Prim would have been.
So Katniss instantly feels a subconscious pull toward her.
When they meet in the trees, Katniss could have killed Rue easily, and Rue probably could have pulled a sneak attack or alerted the Careers of Katniss’s presence. Instead, Rue points out the Tracker Jacker nest.
Then it escalates, Rue and Katniss become an odd team, they’re an alliance, which is never new in the Hunger Games, as forming teams and then betraying them at the end seems to be a common, but there’s is different. It’s close, it’s sisterly, protective.
And then Rue get’s impaled. Katniss kills her first tribute with ease after that. Comparing it to hunting game. Katniss holds Rue, she cries, and then she sings. She sings for Rue a song of promised safety and warmth, something completely absent in the arena.
And this is where the metaphorical canon fires. Katniss could have left Rue, the hovercraft would have been along to pick her up, but she can’t. She’s morally obligated to love this girl as much as possible. And this is where the revolution starts.
She honors the dead. She honors a dead tribute from a district she’d never seen, a person she’d known for only a short period of time. But she throws away Hunger Games norms. She rejects them completely.
In the Hunger Games you’re supposed to kill mercilessly and leave the victims for the plain box they’re shipped home in.
Katniss gives Rue a funeral in the Games, she decorates the body, she makes it look like Rue is sleeping. Like no harm had come. Katniss just ignited the coals that Rue had placed.
Rue’s District sends a parachute. Homemade bread.
Then Thresh kills Clove and distracts Cato by taking his bag.
The fire is going now, and the actions in Catching Fire are even more obvious.
The Speech for Rue. Peeta’s painting. Everything eludes back to this one little girl who became Katniss’s family.
So the revolution never started with Katniss, she was just the tinder for Rue’s ignition.
Rue was the real Mockingjay.
Also, who’s four note whistle is constantly attached to the trailers?
Rue’s whistle.
Rue is omnipresent in the books and movies, and I absolutely love it.
The rebellion was started because the innocence of a black girl was defiled.
That is a powerful statement that a lot of people gloss over for this book
Never thought about it like this, but all of this is so on point and I am kicking myself for not seeing this.
I like to think Katniss named her daughter Rue.
I think it’s worth asking why the hell there is a meerkat on Lee Pace.
Everything about #illridewithyou is beautiful. Let THIS be our response to what happened in Sydney. Not the ugly backlash, not the fear, not the racist undercurrent we don’t like to admit we have. Come on Australia. Show your good side.
Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson, who died because of this, have peace and know you’ll be remembered. Man Haron Monis, who created this, have more peace in death than you had in life, and for real, I hope your God calls you out for being an idiot.
Australian Muslims in general, or honestly ANYONE (thinking especially of Sikhs here, who often get mistaken for Muslims even though you’re not) who stands out because of their choice of religious expression…I’ll ride with you. If any of you moving around in the Melbourne CBD would feel safer with a companion, drop me a message. I’ll do it.
I don't use public transport much (Eastern Suburbs for the win?), but I am signal boosting the hell out of this for my girl alamutjones. She's good people and you couldn't ask for a better companion on public transport.
This whole hashtag is beautiful and amazing and I am so proud to be Australian because of this.
Ayotzinapa, Mexico
Ferguson, United States
Palestine
Sydney, Australia
Peshawar, Pakistan
Let's pray for those who die because of other people, without a reason. Let's pray because the world is rotten. If we forget them, terrorists win.
Hey peeps!
So I recently found myself with an extra copy of the book The World of Ice and Fire, an untold history of Westeros, including histories of the great houses and family trees for the Targaryens, Lannisters and Starks. There’s also information on the lands outside of Westeros....
CLOSED! The giveaway has ended! I shall be contacting the winner soon!
Elsa + magic
Madame Déficit and the Eve Phenomenon (08/12/14 )
Today I’ve been thinking a lot about Marie Antoinette who at the time of the French Revolution was turned from a privileged woman and a product (also victim) of the corrupt system of the time, into the face of all that was wrong with France and therefore murdered for this association. She was nicknamed Madame Déficit and became the human face of the disgustingly lavish greed of the French court while the common people starved.
As the French political and financial situation spiralled out of control, the woman that had been forced to marry into the royal family of France (because upper class women of her time were very rarely permitted to choose their own husbands and were expected to make a match beneficial to the advancement of the male members of their family) was twisted into a figure that could be hated and dehumanised in order to provide a convenient outlet for the rage of the masses instead of having them turn on the male figures of the time, most notably her husband the king who people were reluctant to despise entirely. She was painted as greedy, arrogant, pampered, the face of the decline of the people of France. She was presented as the cause of their suffering and Louis, her husband and the king, was presented as being too weak to refuse to give in to her expensive demands. He was under her spell, in the eyes of the people. Ready to do anything, to sacrifice their lives in order to fund her glamorous lifestyle.
As a woman she was cast in the role of superficial and frivolous. Vain and pampered. A very traditionally feminine stereotype that played into popular misogyny and further enraged the people.
The truth is that Marie Antoinette did enjoy the privileges of her position, but she also payed the price for being a woman of her time. Her only power was through that of her husband and brother. She was expected to have some sort of political influence, but the system gave her no real opportunity for this, as she was only the Queen of France. Aside from private conversations with her husband, she had no power over the country. She was expected to bear children for him, and she did. Marie threw herself into this role and was known as a devoted mother. A woman in her position could have done little differently. She was shackled by her gender. Even the wealth she had married into couldn’t free her from the restraints of being a woman.
Her most famous and iconic words (upon being told the people of France had no money for bread) were supposedly: ‘Let them eat cake’. But there is no proof these words ever even left Marie’s lips. It’s more likely they are another lie told to dehumanise her, to ensure she received no pity in what was to come.
Her last words, in contrast, as she stepped to the scaffold to be executed were: "Pardon me sir, I meant not to do it" to the executioner whose foot she had accidentally trodden on. This human side of Marie, the mother, the victim of a patriarchal system, is to this day pushed to one side in favour of the fictional construction of a woman who controlled her husband as Eve controlled Adam, whose excessive and unreasonable demands he was unable to deny, who cared only for riches and food and jewels.
It’s no coincidence that women always end up in this role of the corrupter, the seducer, the root of all sin, even sin that is carried out by their male relatives or spouses.
(Another example is of course Anne Boleyn, who was called a witch and accused of enchanting King Henry VIII, in order for the people of the time to maintain the sanctity of their male leader even as he mistreated his first wife Catherine of Aragon and disbanded the monasteries. Anne, like Marie, was turned into a hated figure and killed.)
When looking at this Eve phenomenon in a modern context, we can see that rape culture is another form of this. A man that rapes a woman will be excused by so many if the woman in question was showing ‘too much skin’, or was drunk, or is a sex worker. A woman that flirts with a man is often seen as instrumental in her own rape should that man choose to force himself upon her without her consent.
Women are seen as inherently sinful. A man will commit the crime, but the woman is the cause of his action.
The Eve Phenomenon, as I like to call it, preserves the humanity and innocence of men, almost infantilising them, at the expense of women, who must be cast as wicked, manipulative sinners in order for this continued view of men to thrive.
She should have intervened. She should have remained silent. She should have been sweeter. She shouldn’t have led him on. She shouldn’t have enraged him. She should have known her place. She ought to have said ‘yes’. She ought to have said ‘no’. She drove him to it.
We have yet to deconstruct this pattern of thinking, and until we manage to fully eradicate it, we won’t be living in a society that is safe for women to exist within.
It’s also part of the underhand, rarely discussed patriarchal tactic to scare women away from positions of power and authority. If she can be torn to bits for merely existing, then which woman in her right mind would aim to have all male eyes on her?
The notorious women of our history, and their often tragic stories, are the background radiation to our lives as young women. It is the unspoken but universally understood fact that a woman with power is a woman in danger, and a woman that gambles with her life.
Musings by Claudia Boleyn 08/12/14
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Firstly, bunniesandbeheadings has already covered many of my issues with this post (and did so fabulously), but I have a couple of points of my own. Although Louis XVI was initially quite popular as a monarch, he was very unpopular by the time he was executed. The masses were quite happy to turn on Louis XVI following his attempted flight to Varennes. Bare in mind, Louis was also executed before Marie. Louis XVI was executed in January of 1793, with his wife being executed ten months later in October of 1793.
Let's also not forget that part of the reason people disliked Marie Antoinette was due to the fact she was Austrian. Austria and France were enemies and many of the older nobles did not trust her.
A very interesting post, though! Have you seen She-Wolves: England's Early Queens, it's a very interesting documentary about four English queens who were criticised during their reigns for being too "masculine".
This line was gold.