sarah531:

Though it’s probably beyond the remit of the show(s) I really like the idea of International Rescue getting very involved in political/capitalist standoffs, always coming down on the side of the little guy, and always having remarkably plausible deniability

You‘re suffering a drought due to unethical business practices? WHOOPS WE ACCIDENTALLY DESTROYED THIS BOTTLING PLANT IN THE COURSE OF SAVING CITIZENS, GUESS WE’LL USE OUR UNLIMITED RICHES TO PROVIDE FREE WATER TO YOU TOWNSPEOPLE WHILE WE SORT THIS SORRY SITUATION OUT

Political protestors are in danger due to a zealous, militarized police force? OH NO WE DIDN’T RESCUE THEM PER SE, WE JUST INVITED THEM TO OUR RAD PARTY ISLAND IN OUR SUPERSONIC ROCKET

Government’s refusing to provide adequate clothing supplies for survivors of
IR’s most recent rescue mission? WELL SIRS IT’S A FUNNY STORY, BUT WE
ACCIDENTALLY REPLACED ALL THUNDERBIRD 2′S MISSILES WITH FLUFFY KNITTED SWEATERS

And so on.

Critics’ Reactions to the Sansa Rape Scene in Episode 5.6 of Game of Thrones

fatpinkcast:

image

The show has creators. They make the choices.They chose to use rape as a plot device. Again.Jill Pantozzi, The Mary Sue 

It is possible to write fantasy without falling back on the harmful cliché that an old-timey setting offers a free pass to show women getting raped all the time. –Everdeen Mason, Refinery29

The issue with the show returning to rape as a trope is not simply because there have been thinkpieces speaking out against it, and is not solely driven by the rational concerns lying at the heart of those thinkpieces. It’s also that the show has lost my faith as a viewer that the writers know how to articulate the aftermath of this rape effectively… –Myles McNutt, AV Club

We already knew that Ramsay Bolton was a sadist and an abuser of women, we already knew that Theon Greyjoy was his tormented puppet. Showing Sansa’s dress ripped, showing her face shoved down into the bed, hearing her screams did nothing to reveal character, or advance the plot, or critique anything about Westerosi society or about our own conceptions of medieval society that hasn’t already been critiqued. – Steven Attewell, Salon

In general, I’m not a big fan of people getting raped in entertainment as a manipulative way of heightening the stakes, but I’m even less of a fan of people getting raped in entertainment when it accomplishes absolutely nothing.  – Laura Hudson, Wired

What character development could be wrung from this tragedy that could not have been created without a violent rape? Why does Game of Thrones — and so much popular entertainment — revert to this horrific crime when they want their female characters to “grow”? – Michal Schick, Hypable

Was it really important to make that scene about Theon’s pain? If Game of Thrones was going to go there, shouldn’t they at least have had the courage to keep the camera on Turner’s face?…But the last thing we needed was to have a powerful young woman brought low in order for a male character to find redemption. No thank you.  – Joanna Robinson, Vanity Fair

To show Sansa being raped as the kicker to an episode — and then to cut to Theon, as if it’s his view, his reaction, his internalizing of the moment that matters — just felt like more of the same old same old we’ve been getting since Ros died, since Tansy was hunted, since Cersei was raped.Nina Shen Rastogi, Vulture

There are thousands of ways to make a character and a series compelling without having to humiliate and dehumanize her with sexual force. Come on, Game of Thrones, you should know better than that. – Rachel Semigran, Bustle

Now with Sansa and Ramsay, Game of Thrones is seemingly confirming that it has no idea how to use rape as a storytelling device — crass as it may sound, fictional sexual violence can be extremely powerful if managed carefully (see: The Americans) — and rape is just about the worst storytelling device to deploy clumsily. Jen Trolio, Vox

Welcome to cable drama, where a woman’s rape is an opportunity for a man’s character development….what really makes the wedding night rape of Sansa Stark notable is the fact that as brutal and honestly unnecessary as the moment is, the show doesn’t even have the courtesy of letting Sansa’s emotions about the event serve as the center of the moment….

This was a choice and the choice was to marry off a teenage girl, rape her, and not even have the dignity to care primarily about her feelings about her fate.

Libby Hill, Salon

The show pretty much added a new, and in my opinion, entirely unnecessary victimization to her story. More concerningly, after Jaime’s rape of Cersei last season, it’s yet another rape Benioff and Weiss decided to add to the show that was not in the text and at this point, we don’t need anymore. – Lauren Morgan, New York Daily News

There have been numerous plot points and characters from Martin’s novels that have been omitted from the series; I’d love to hear what the showrunners’ arguments are for not only keeping the brutal assault of a young woman, but changing the storyline so that it happened to a beloved character. I’ll be waiting for an explanation, but like Jaime Lannister’s guilt [over raping Cersei], I’m not expecting it to actually arrive. – Casey Cipriani, Indiewire

There were so many ways around this very horrible and very predictable outcome and D&D decided to use what would shock viewers the most.  Maybe I’m naive and hope too much for the good things, but I’m also a fan of good writing and creative characters who grow. Sansa’s “wedding” involved neither.- Jen Stayrock, Workprint

Bad enough that the assault upon the Stark princess by ghastly Ramsay Bolton was explicitly presented as an exercise in voyeurism, with Theon Greyjoy forced to watch as Sansa was violently assailed.  What made the scene worse, and perhaps unforgivable, was that the rape was in the context of Sansa displaying increased maturity and independence. – Ed Powers, Independent.ie

Personally, I’d really like Game of Thrones to be a good 30-40 per cent less weird about women (and having Warrior Princess fighting girls in Dorne isn’t quite what I’m after, chaps). – Chris Bennion, Independent.co.uk

—–

“Fans have a direct experience with the crime than with murder or other really serious violent acts.  

Often you can tell exactly what the story line was because it’s prompting calls about a certain issue or from a certain group of survivors.”  – Scott Berkowitz

president and founder of the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN)  The hotline which receives a noticeable increase in calls every time there’s a portrayal of rape on a popular show.  Support is available 24/7 through the National Sexual Assault Hotline: 800-656-HOPE

bethsunshine:

themightyif:

frankensteinsmomster:

rubyvroom:

fileundermiscellany:

garurumvn:

mutisija:

studiousmedic:

mcride:

slaygnstonhughes:

gabrielleamaris:

the-prophet18:

universaldelusion:

cutecurvycoffeebrat:

Lol savage

I no longer believe in the human race.

This is the laziest shit ever

How lazy can humans get?

Have you never met white ppl?

yh but if you look outside your own personal reasons for using this, laziness, it actually looks a really great and practical way to put on your socks if you have a disability that hinders you from otherwise being able so without someone there to help you 

you do realise that there are people out there who literally have to travel door to door helping elderly people, disabled people and people with chronic illnesses to put on their socks? people are paid to help put on pressure socks to help with oedema? don’t you realise that if these people could have one of these tools, these caregivers could be doing something else and that this therefore is an incredible tool designed to cater for some of the most healthcare dependent people in our society? do you guys even realise there are other people living other lives?

i really wish i had this when my spine was broken and i had to wear a medical metal corset which made bending down impossible. i had to ask my mom to help me with socks and it was kinda humiliating.

My dad spends an hour in the morning getting dressed because he has no one to help him to get his socks on because his ankle is fused. If he had this it would literally save him an hour.

“Oh but people are so lazy!”

fuck off you ableist pieces of shit

Honestly I don’t even get how you could look at this and think “lazy”. This looks like more work for an otherwise able-bodied person than just putting their sock on the regular way. It’s pretty obvious this is meant for people who have trouble bending over, like come on.

You know how people go straight to “lazy” on this? Because we’re trained to think of most accessibility modifications as lazy. The disabled = lazy message is deeply embedded in our culture.

Does anyone know what this is called/where I could get it?
My mom has incesingly bad arthritis and the process of bending to put her socks on is getting harder for her. My dad could totally put the socks on it for her at night and then in the morning she could just slip them on.

It appears to be the Pratiflex PR001. They claim that the Pratiflex PR002 is more versatile, though. They’re Brazilian products, and my Portuguese is not so hot (nor is Google Translate’s). However, the website is here and you can apparently order them online for the equivalent of approximately US$20 (not including shipping, etc.) for the PR001 or US$34 for the PR002. 

The site says that they’re widely used in the States and Europe, but that they’re finally making them available in Brazil, so presumably you could find similar products from different companies elsewhere. A search for “sock applicator” turned up this Amazon.com category with several similar products, for example. From that page, this appears to be a good product, available for shipping in the U.S., for about $30.

So this is a teeny bit off topic, but there’s a group called the Tetra Society of North America, and if someone needs an assistive device and it isn’t commercially available yet, they have volunteers that are retired engineers and other design/handy types that will work together on solving a challenge you may have. They help make all kinds of things from adapted Wii remotes to specialized coffee pot handles to medical product adaptations. They are SO cool. This is their website: http://www.tetrasociety.org/ 

More boss things in Age of Ultron

theredhistorian:

Dr. Helen Cho

Dr. Helen “looking at Tony Stark’s interface like have I gone back to the stone age?” Cho

Dr. Helen “only came to your lame party for science and a gander at the extraterrestrial demi-god booty” Cho

Dr. Helen “mind with infinite access to the net, information, and tech needs me alive because I am still the only one who can operate this machine” Cho

Dr. Helen “completed AoU’s Pinocchio allusion by having the ‘life’ granting powers of the Blue Fairy and rocking those sleek blue scrubs” Cho

Dr. Helen “responsible for the creation of Vision” Cho

Dr. Helen “clearly set up to bring back Quicksilver” Cho

Dr. Helen “honestly whoever picks up the storyline after Joss, if she stays dead Imma be so mad” Cho

It’s okay, she’s not dead! She was walking with Maria at the end.

living-with-lyme:

i hate hate hate hate telling people i have OCD!!!!!

i either get “oh i’m OCD too i always have to keep things organized :///”
or
“omg do you wash your hands a lot??”

or stuff along the lines of that or even people telling me that i don’t really have it because i don’t do certain stereotypical “things” people who have OCD do.

like OCD is so so so much more than being organized. if you like being organized and stuff along the lines of that, it’s called being a PERFECTIONIST.

OCD is having obsessions and compulsions. OCD is hell.
OCD is NOT fun, do not tell people you would “love to have OCD” because it would help you become more organized.

also HATE the whole using OCD as an adjective thing. you can’t say “i’m so obsessive compulsive disorder” ??? that’s like saying “i’m so anxiety”, “i’m so fibromyalgia”, it doesn’t work because THEY ARE DISORDERS!!!!!! NOT!!! ADJECTIVES!!!!!

Though it’s probably beyond the remit of the show(s) I really like the idea of International Rescue getting very involved in political/capitalist standoffs, always coming down on the side of the little guy, and always having remarkably plausible deniability

You‘re suffering a drought due to unethical business practices? WHOOPS WE ACCIDENTALLY DESTROYED THIS BOTTLING PLANT IN THE COURSE OF SAVING CITIZENS, GUESS WE’LL USE OUR UNLIMITED RICHES TO PROVIDE FREE WATER TO YOU TOWNSPEOPLE WHILE WE SORT THIS SORRY SITUATION OUT

Political protestors are in danger due to a zealous, militarized police force? OH NO WE DIDN’T RESCUE THEM PER SE, WE JUST INVITED THEM TO OUR RAD PARTY ISLAND IN OUR SUPERSONIC ROCKET

Government’s refusing to provide adequate clothing supplies for survivors of
IR’s most recent rescue mission? WELL SIRS IT’S A FUNNY STORY, BUT WE
ACCIDENTALLY REPLACED ALL THUNDERBIRD 2′S MISSILES WITH FLUFFY KNITTED SWEATERS

And so on.