#popular misconceptions

[bobby-luv]

[aynrandbussycrusher]

I’m tired of everyone misgendering the AR-15. People keep posting pictures of themselves or others with AR-16s and calling them AR-15s. An AR-15 is what the military uses. AR-16s are for domestic use and what you see in 99% of pictures. 

[zhenya-grey]

Fun fact:

The word "y'all" isn't only used by southern USAmericans! ☝️

It is a contraction of "you" and "all" and is popularly used in other countries.

Try not to get caught being accidentally US-CENTRIC 🤪 by assuming someone is USAmerican because they use "y'all"

[future-post-magazine-blog]

New Post has been published on http://www.futurepostmagazine.com/popular-misconceptions-face-care/

Popular Misconceptions about Face Care

Future Post Magazine :Almost everyone wants to be beautiful. Most of us practice lot many things to enhance or maintain our much desired beautiful look. However, there are various misconceptions and mistaken ideas about beauty care. Let’s find out those vis-à-vis digging out prescriptions.

Being beautiful is the most desired thing in our world. Most of us have our own kind of fancies related to this omnipresent word ‘beauty’. Most people take pain of performing various activities to enhance their own version of beauty and grace. There are a lot many misconceptions in the ongoing popular practices of beautifying oneself. Most widespread misconception is that normal skin doesn’t need care. A gross misconception. All types skin need care though of differently. It is mandatory to wash out the dirt and pollutants settled down on one’s face along with maintaining the health and beauty of the face. A lot many people wash their faces as many time as they can. This is another misconception. One should wash their face not more than twice a day. However, cleansing your face in the night before going to sleep is very much imperative. There are a lot of mistaken ideas about what to use to cleanse face. Many people use soap for this purpose but let me make it clear that this is a very harmful practice. Face must be cleansed in order to remove make up, dirt and pollutants. The soaps are not able to perform this act with a greater degree of efficiency. On the contrary being an alkaline it creates imbalance of acid-alkaline on one’s skin. Most importantly it pulls out moisture of the skin and creates dead dry skin cells. Many apply cream on their faces after they wash their face before going to sleep to help reducing or preventing wrinkles. This again is a faulty practice. Actually the pores need to be free from anything while one goes to sleep. However, those having very dry skin can apply moisturizer after cleansing face. There is a wrong practice of putting cream around eyes. It is another misdeed. Area around eyes is so delicate and thinner than most other parts of the body. Cream should never be left on all night around the eyes. A special, under-the-eye cream should be applied and removed after ten minutes. Sunscreams are meant not only for summer. In winter it needs to be used as one goes out in winter to spend more time outside to bask in the sunrays, sunscreams provide protection from the harmful UV rays. Going to saloons for massage is very common practice. Massage is good but one needs to take their skin type into consideration. One having oily skin must avoid massage with creams. They should opt cleansing, exfoliation, toning, mask and protection. Massage with creams on a oily skin would stimulate oil glands further leaving the face even more oily. Youngsters seem very much worried about the acnes. They should not worry so much about this however negligence can lead towards extensive scarring. It can be prevented and controlled through careful measures. Foundation is very popular and is believed very good for oily skin. Not only has this there is a widespread believed that foundation is must during the hot and humid season, especially for oily skin. Again a misconception. Foundation should be avoided especially during the day. Compact powder may be used as it reduces the oily look and provides a smooth skin texture. But use the powder in a fair way. After having applied it on your face, use cotton to dust off the excess of it. Excess powder can make the face streaky or blotchy, due to perspiration. Hair is also the integral part of one’s beauty and so it must also be taken care of. Washing hair is very much required but what is to be underlined here is the product one chooses to wash their hair. It can even be washed every day, provided one uses a mild shampoo and use very little of it. More the shampoo cleaner the hair is a wrong perception. It’s all about how well you rinse the hair afterwards with water which helps to remove all residues. Hair massage is believed as one way to fight against hair fall. This is not so. Excessive rubbing may cause more hair fall. Instead one should move the skin of the scalp with fingertips in small circular movements. u

[angelholme]

Popular misconceptions about Twilight #1

This is the second in a series of posts discussing the misconceptions that appear to abound about "The Twilight Saga" by Stephenie Meyer.

They are based on the books, rather than the movies (although there mere be the odd reference to the movies, as a source for a possible explanation as to how the misconceptions may have occurred and grown up), because I consider the books to be a better source, and they are - of course - my interpretations of the books.

In addition, they contain a lot of spoilers. So if you are new to "The Twilight Saga" and are currently joining Bella at the start of her adventure in Forks, I would possibly advise not reading the rest of the post, because the word "spoilers" is entirely understating the level of spoilerness that these posts will have.

So - are you sitting comfortably? Or standing comfortably (if you are on the Tube)?

Then I'll begin.

#1 - Bella is portrayed as a weak-willed female who does everything she is told without question or comment.

When you want to attack the Twilight books as being bad, there are three usual avenues.

Sparkly vampires.

Domestically Abusive Edward.

Bella being an appalling female character that young girls will view as a role model.

This misconception deals with the third of these - the idea that Bella is not a suitable role model for girls and young women, because she is just so pathetic, weak, submissive and docile that she never stands up for herself.

Personally, I think it is an extension of the "Domestically Abusive Edward" misconception - on the principle that if Edward can dominate and control her so easily, Bella can't be much of a girl because she lets him.

But there will be a slew of other posts in regard to Edward and the megaton of misunderstandings about him - this is all about Isabella Marie Swan.

We first encounter her leaving Phoenix to go live in Forks because her mother has remarried. Bella isn't moving because her mother is kicking her out. She is moving because she wants to free her mother from the burden of looking after her, so that Renee can go on the road with Phil (her new husband and minor-league baseball player).

In order to do this, Bella is moving to a town she hates. She spent a few holidays there as a child, then pitched a fit and - since then - her father (Charlie) has come to Phoenix for holidays, because Bella dislikes Forks so much.

Yet now she is willingly moving to her childhood home so that her mother can enjoy her life and spend time with her husband. And it is purely her idea. She is sacrificing (at least some of) her happiness to let her mother be happy.

She arrives in Forks, gets treated like a shiny new toy for a little while. Because Forks is a small town and everyone knows everyone, a new person arriving to live with the town Sheriff is news and everyone knows who she is. She puts up with the attention for a while, which includes a number of the boys at school asking her for dates, to the prom and to other dances. She accepts none of this invites, because she has no desire to go with them.

Then she sees, then meets, Edward Cullen. Whether it is because he is mysterious, or because he is not bouncing around her like a rapacious puppy (unlike the rest of the boys at school), he piques her interest and she tries to find out more about him.

Despite his attempts to push her away, she doesn't give up. And after he saves her life (in somewhat mysterious and unbelievable circumstances) she only becomes more interested in him and tries to learn more about him. She doesn't listen when he says "go away", when he says "it's better not to be friends" and when he says "Seriously - don't". She ignores him, eventually learns his secret and convinces him that they should be a couple and that they belong together.

This, to me, does not scream weak-willed, submissive or docile. To me it suggests she is strong minded, tenacious and willing to go after what she wants.

Even when she is fully exposed to the danger of the world she is now in  - when they encounter James' coven - she still insists on doing things her way. She accepts she must leave, but she forces Edward and his family to take her home first so that she can protect her father. Just to repeat - SHE forces EDWARD to do her bidding.

And from there, she willingly gives herself up to James to save her mother (albeit somewhat pointlessly since her mother wasn't in danger. But I am arguing that she is strong willed, independent and makes her own way in the world, not that she is all that good at strategy and planning)

Then, at the end of Book 1, after she has been bitten, tortured and nearly killed by a psychotic vampire, she defies her mother and she defies Edward by insisting she return to Forks and continue her life with Edward. SHE makes the choice - the choice is not made for her.

Here, I have to admit, Book 2 is not her finest hour. But even in the somewhat dubious events of "New Moon" there is still more than enough evidence to show that not only is she her own woman and that she is no one's puppet, the one time she gives in and does something against her better nature, it turns out badly.

Alice holds a birthday party for her. Bella doesn't want this party - she objects to it strongly an emphatically - but she eventually gives in. And for this, she nearly gets eaten. She gets a paper cut, Jasper loses it, Edward - in attempting to protect her - pushes her onto a glass bowl (not the brightest thing he had ever done, but to be fair he was confronted by a vampire who wanted to eat his girlfriend so there is a chance he panicked a little) and then the entire family leaves town, leaving Bella all alone.

And this is where her less than perfect side emerges - the three blank pages where she does nothing but act as a zombie when Edward leaves are somewhat bad. However even that can be mitigated by the fact the love of her life has left and is never coming back, and she truly, honestly believes that he doesn't love her and she is alone in the world. Under those circumstances, I think giving her a little leeway is not something beyond reason. Plus if she were the perfect character, how boring would be be?

After the blank pages, she gets some of her spirit back (after being threatened by her father with deportation to Florida) and insists on staying where she is (once again - not giving in to demands) and starts to behave more like her old self. She starts to take "risks" (approaching a group of strangers on the street, learning to ride a motorbike, jumping off a cliff) to hear Edward's voice (again - slightly dubious behaviour) but then - when she learns that Edward is going to die - she once again becomes the girl she has always been.

Edward left her, told her he didn't love her and pretty much kicked her out of his life. (And yes - this makes Edward sound bad, but I will deal with this in another post). Yet the moment she realises he is in danger, she defies her father, she defies Jacob, she defies everyone and sets about going to his rescue.

Now this would be impressive if she was going to go to Alaska and defy the Denali coven. But Bella - a mortal human with no special skills - goes, of her own free will, to the heart of Vampiredom on Earth. She walks, without any hesitation, into Volterra - the home of the vampire government (The Volturi). Vampires who can - quite literally - eat her alive without anyone stopping them.

She saves Edward and - in a somewhat impressive display of nerves - stands up to Aro, Caius and Jane, despite being a mere mortal. She gets Aro stop Jane torturing Edward and takes the torture on herself, despite not knowing whether or not her "screwy mind" would stop her (Bella) suffering as Edward does.

They return home, and then rather than sit and listen and give in to Edward's instructions that she remain human (because becoming a vampire would cost her her soul) she goes to his family and forces them to accept her.

By this point we are halfway through the saga, and it is almost undeniable that the idea that Bella is a submissive little girl who does nothing but what she is told had been blown out of the water. She has, repeatedly, struck out on her own - making people bow to her will, making her own decisions and shaping the world to her own design.

But, just in case you think that once she gets her beloved Edward back she turns into a snivelling little girl who couldn't use her brain to cross the road (or think up a decent metaphor!), I will deal with the latter half of The Saga.

Edward and Bella are reunited, and - for some legitimate reasons - Edward doesn't want her going to La Push (the reservation where Jacob and the rest of The Pack live). Bella is not happy about this, and tries to sneak out (which is thwarted due to Alice) and then succeeds. She decides she wants to go to La Push, so she goes. Then - when it becomes apparent that Victoria has returned to kill her - she convinces Edward that she would, in fact, be safer in La Push than anywhere else. Once again, she bends the world to her will, and gets her way.

She and Edward have one major disagreement - he wants to marry her, and she really doesn't want to get married. Not just to him, but to anyone. Especially at the age of eighteen, because she is pretty sure everyone will think she is pregnant and HAS to get married, which is not the image she wants to project to her family, her friends and especially her father who owns a shotgun and is the local Chief of Police and already hates Edward.

The disagreement continues for most of the book, and it has to be said eventually Bella gives in, but only after extracting some concessions from Edward. So while she does agree to his demand, she makes him give in to her demands as well. She also gets him to agree to sit out the coming fight, and to go with her to the camp-site they have set up for her safety (because while she is a strong-willed young woman, she is not a stupid young woman and she grasps the concept that an army of newborn vampires is not something she should be anywhere near).

Her final (major) act in Eclipse is to cut her arm open. Which sounds dumb, but Edward (the immortal, powerful vampire) is getting his ass kicked and Seth (the mortal but powerful werewolf) is apparently down and out. Bella uses her blood as a distraction to save the lives of her friends, because she is the only one who can. It is a fairly stunning act of bravery, given the two attackers want her head more than anything else, yet it takes very little time for her to decide to do it. She puts herself at risk to save her friends - not for the first time.

But even that action pales in comparison to the glory that she is in Breaking Dawn.

To fully outline the strength of character she displays would take as much text as I have written already, so I will summarise instead :-

She demands sex on their honeymoon, despite the fact Edward is somewhat unwilling. She convinces him that she is happy, that she loves him and that she wants him, even though he believes (with a tiny bit of justification) that he might hurt her.

She keeps her child. EVERYONE she knows (with only one exception) wants her to abort the child (in some way) and yet she stands up to every single one of them and refuses to give in.

She survives the pregnancy (relatively speaking) and lives long enough to see her daughter born.

She doesn't attack and kill Charlie (her father) despite being less than a few weeks old.

She doesn’t attack and kill her daughter, despite being less than a few hours old when they first meet.

And then, in what has to be her shining moment, she stands up to The Volturi, almost single handedly. Yes, the wolves and the Cullen witnesses cause the Volturi to stop, but it is Bella, and Bella alone, who eventually wins the battle. This girl - who a large part of the "anti-fandom" (for want of a better phrase - the people who either haven't read the books and are just listening to hear-say, or have read them and dislike them) write off as a weak-willed, pathetic excuse for a young woman - faces down the most powerful, most dangerous army of darkness ever assembled (in the context of the stories) on her own.

To me - that doesn't scream shrinking-violet, weak-willed or pathetic. To me, that screams heroine.

x--x--x

Bella Swan is the kind of girl I would like my fictional daughter to grow up to be. Strong, independent, ready to fight her own corner, ready to be a woman in a man's world (and a human in a vampire world) and ready to stand up for what is right, even in the face of bloody, horrible and scary death.

How anyone can't like her is utterly beyond me.

x--x--x

Coming next - Edward is clearly abusing Bella as he orders her around, never lets her get her own way and controls her every move and every thought.

[angelholme]

Popular misconceptions about Twilight

(I am going to expand on these in future posts - one post for each misconception)

These are all points of view I have seen made on at least three different occasions and three different sites. Which I realise is a small definition of popular, but it’s my post so deal with it :)

1 - Bella is portrayed as a weak-willed female who does everything she is told without question or comment.

2 - Edward is clearly abusing Bella as he orders her around, never lets her get her own way and controls her every move and every thought.

3 - Edward is clearly abusing Bella as the wedding night and honeymoon sex scenes are tantamount to marital rape.

4 - Bella is the anti-thesis of a modern feminist.

5 - Edward spends the entire series hurting Bella, both physically and emotionally.

6 - Breaking Dawn is propaganda for the pro-choice movement. Everyone wants Bella to have an abortion and no “pro-life” arguments are ever shown.

7 - The vampires are all weak and kitteny because they sparkle.

8 - Stephenie Meyer appears to think women should serve men, and put up with any amount of crap from them as long as the man says “I love you” every so often.

[ilivewithengineers]

100 words for snow

[Warf] famously note that Eskimos have more words for types of snow than English speakers do, and he deduced that therefore Eskimos must perceive of snow differently. Now, this is an example that has come to take on apocryphal proportions in anthropology. Sometimes you'll read in introductory textbooks that there are 100 different Eskimo words for snow, this thing that we only have a single word for in English. We can trace this back, however, to the work of Franz Boas.

In 1911, he published the Handbook of North American Indians, and he noted that Eskimos have 4 different words for snow, where English just had 1. The Eskimo have "aput", meaning "snow on the ground"; "qana" - "falling snow"; "piqsirpoq" - "drifting snow"; "qimuqsuq" - "snow drift." Now, in English, we can make these distinctions, but we need to use a phrase, where Eskimo just have the word.

...As it turns out, Eskimos have a lot of prefixes and suffixes that make it seem like there are a lot more words, when they are really just variants on the same core words. One anthropologist... estimates that there are 12 to 15 core words for snow in the Inuit language.

Prof. Edward Fischer, Peoples and Cultures of the World

L7: "Language and Thought"

[bmohowyougetsopregnant]

Also this.