Skimpy Sunday

(Via Gay Porn Blog [NSFW])

Competitive Wonder

Some images from the Royal Greenwich Observatory's annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest.

Skimpy Sunday

(Via Bill in Exile [NSFW]; Overnight to London [NSFW]; Bits of Memory [NSFW]; Roids and Rants [NSFW])

Pardon

Alan Turing will finally be pardoned for the "crime" of homosexuality. Not much comfort to Turing now, of course, but still an important thing for the living, and for historical memory. Of course, many other men suffered under the same laws, and do not have the recognition or public advocacy that Turing has had. Hopefully, someday, they can have their names cleared, too.

It Ain't All Jar-Jar Jokes and Medal Ceremonies

Some of the often-overlooked aspects of the Star Wars universe that illustrate just how terrible and cruel a galaxy it can be!  Cuddly teddy-bears my ass; those Ewoks are crazed killers! 

Skimpy Sunday

 

(Via Bill in Exile [NSFW]; Roids and Rants [NSFW]; Mr. S Leather [NSFW])

Gold Stars

Thar's gold in them thar stars! 

Viva La Raza!

Chihuahuas and others are actually natives, not immigrants.  Now, the Canine Congress is considering deporting all these "illegal" poodles and German shepherds! 

Skimpy Sunday

(Bill in Exile [NSFW]; Mr. S Leather [NSFW])

Who Is A Good Dog? Who Is A Good Dog? Thou Art A Good Dog! Verily, Thou Art!

Medieval pet names. 

The Snortmarillion

I'm generally staunchly anti-dressing-your-pets-up.  Just leave the poor things alone, I say.  But pugs dressed as Lord of the Rings characters?  That just hits too many of my buttons to resist. 

Skimpy Sunday

(Via Bill in Exile [NSFW]; Gay Porn Blog [NSFW]; Mr. S Leather [NSFW])

Mussolini's Gay Island

How terrible that exile and imprisonment could be an improvement for some.  And in far too many places, this still would be true.

I Have Three Words For You...

Red. Panda. Cubs!  SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

History

DOMA and Prop 8 are gone. Good. Let us celebrate today.  Let us celebrate that love can win over hate at every wedding where two people come together and say, "I wish to be with this person," from now on.

But let us not forget that there is so much more still to do, legally and socially. The fight goes on. And it is a fight not just for gay rights, but for trans rights, black rights, Hispanic rights, for the rights of any oppressed or discriminated minority group. Yet it isn't even a fight just for minorities, but a fight for the rights of all humanity. Today just reminds us that we can win. It reminds us that we can make the world better for all people, so that everyone, from the straightest, whitest, malest, richest person to the most destitute, most powerless minority, all around the world, can stand together in equality and peace and safety. 

That's the thing so many don't understand: these are victories for everyone! Gay rights isn't an attack on straight people! It doesn't diminish anyone's love or relationship. It only GROWS love! Combating racism isn't trying to take from white people, it's giving everyone the same chances, to let everyone be who they are and not just who they've been assigned to be by some quirk of pigmentation.  When everyone can be themselves, instead of a series of masks with prescribed parts to play, everyone can be truly free.  That, though, is a very scary thing to contemplate, to stand naked before the world, judged only by your own self.  That is why so many hide behind bigotry and prejudice: fear.  Fear of themselves, fear of judgment, fear of others.  The only way to fight fear is love, understanding, and the resolution that that kind of fear shall someday have no dominion over anyone.  

Update

My favorite part of President Obama's statement on overturning DOMA: 

The laws of our land are catching up to the fundamental truth that millions of Americans hold in our hearts:  when all Americans are treated as equal, no matter who they are or whom they love, we are all more free.

I change "Americans" to just "people," but that's just a nitpick.

Love, Life, and Bots

The life lessons of MST3K.  Numbers 3, 5, and 7 can't be emphasized enough.  It always strikes me most that I laughed just as much when I was ten as now when I'm 30, even though more than half of the references and jokes went straight over my head (and some still do).  It didn't matter, though!  There was so much, that just the stuff I got was enough to keep me giggling.  (And sometimes even the stuff I didn't get was still hilarious, because even though I didn't know exactly what they were talking about, I knew that if I did know it would be perfect.  If that makes any sense.)

MST3K taught me that I could love something and laugh at it, too.  It taught me how to critique.  It taught me to make connections between even the most disparate things and how to parse allusions and the fun of making fun of the terrible.  It taught me to really look at what I was watching.  It taught me to see things like sexism in entertainment.  It taught me a lot of things.  Not bad for a show about robots and bad movies.

Bark Wars

Dogs with lightsabers.

Skimpy Sunday

(Via Beefcakes of Wrestling; Bill in Exile [NSFW]; Roids and Rants [NSFW]; Gay Porn Blog [NSFW]; Overnight to London [NSFW])

Beautiful Learning

Here's something I certainly never expected to read: beautiful textbook covers of 1920s Japan. 

(Via Tor)