wewereledtoleadlovers:

norsegays:

astrolope:

People being angry about ~dem gays~ on Target’s Facebook.

I just want to give my two cents on this and tell you a story.

A couple weeks ago, I was hired at Target. I have a job at Target. Not a big deal right?

It is a big deal because i’m a transman. 

It doesn’t take a genius to conclude that it’s hard for me, my brothers, and sisters to get a job. There are legal restraints regarding the job and if you don’t pass, it’s hard to be taken seriously at a job interview.

Right on the application, it asks what your preferred name is. It also asks if there is anything that target should know. I put the fact that I am a transman, expecting not to get a call because usually when you put that down, people will throw out the application. I got TWO interviews.

At the interview, they asked me about it. I told them I am on hormones and they told me that they didn’t care. Not in the sense that they don’t emotionally care, but that it didn’t matter. I was male and that’s all that mattered. They also told me that they give sex same couples benefits in states that do not recognize them as a married couple.

At my job orientation, I was not misgendered once. Even my supervisors who weren’t sure of my gender avoided pronoun use, which I found only happens when you’ve had pronoun training. They gave me a name tag with my preferred name and didn’t ask questions. I felt safe and respected, which is huge for a trans* person.

TLDR: Target is amazing not just for the LGB, but also the T. Shop there for the rest of your life.

I love the smell of heterosexual tears in the morning.

buzzfeedsports:

Jason Collins, a 34-year-old center with 12 years experience in the NBA, just came out as gay in the latest issue of Sports Illustrated.

[via]

The fact that this is news is a strong indicator of present day society…

(via ikenbot)

whileyouweresleeping:

Meet Elizabeth Blackburn. Blackburn here is a professor at the University of California in San Francisco who won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering a fascinating little fact.

What fact, you ask? Well, she studied telomeres and figured out what they are made of. Telomeres are tiny little caps at the end of chromosomes and their job is to help keep genetic information safe. She also studied telomerase, which is an enzyme that helps rebuild telomeres. 

Here’s why you should care: the role of telomeres is basically to make sure chromosomes stay in good shape. If chromosomes aren’t in good shape, do you know what happens? They get old. That’s rarely good.

Here’s the crazy thing Blackburn is working on at the moment: she has a strong suspicion that the shorter your telomeres, the more likely you are to become sick. So she has spearheaded the creation of a test that measures the telomeres to see if certain illnesses could be caught that way. 

Many are saying it’s all too vague and needs more research, but Blackburn is adamant that this is the case. Personally I find that this test, in and of itself is really, really interesting.

But here’s what I think is super intriguing. She says that your emotional state—read this again: your EMOTIONAL STATE, which is to say your ability to handle your stress (which, by the way, can be learnt and controlled)—affects the length of your telomeres. As in, out-of-control stress shortens them.

Do you realise the implications? Blackburn’s research (which she has conducted in recent years with a psychologist, measuring the telomeres of mothers caring for chronically ill children) is basically hard scientific data that tells us we all need to chill the fuck out. And if we can’t do it alone, to seek help. 

Emotional stress management really is a matter of life or death. 

— From SF. 

(via scinerds)

Source:

climateadaptation:

Check out the gorgeous new weather website called Forecast. It also has a neat feature called “Time machine” on the top right that lets you see the weather on any given day going back about 80 years. 

(via scinerds)

Light and Dust in a Nearby Starburst Galaxy

Visible as a small, sparkling hook in the dark sky, this beautiful object is known as SDSS J082354.96+280621.6, or J082354.96 for short. It is a starburst galaxy, so named because of the incredibly (and unusually) high rate of star formation occurring within it.

One way in which astronomers probe the nature and structure of galaxies like this is by observing the behaviour of their dust and gas components; in particular, the Lyman-alpha emission. This occurs when electrons within a hydrogen atom fall from a higher energy level to a lower one, emitting light as they do so. This emission is interesting because this light leaves its host galaxy only after extensive scattering in the nearby gas — meaning that this light can be used as a pretty direct probe of what a galaxy is made up of.

(via scinerds)

jtotheizzoe:

Frozen Glass

I was pretty shocked to find out just how little liquid fresh water Earth contains, like we saw in this post. But I was equally shocked to find out that as much as one-fifth of Earth’s fresh water is locked up in the beauty above: Lake Baikal.

Siberia’s Lake Baikal, not only the world’s oldest lake at ~25 million years of age, is the largest single fresh water source on the planet. The water is so deep and so pure that when it freezes it becomes a sort of cold, turquoise glass, giving an observer a lens that can see over 100 feet straight down.

There’s more pictures not to miss at My Modern Met.

(via ikenbot)

guardian:

Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman in Doctor Who. The new season of the BBC’s Doctor Who, starting Saturday, doesn’t use a single female writer. The count is similarly poor for other British science-fiction and fantasy shows – so what’s the problem?

Thanks to notabuddhist for the image suggestion

Photograph: BBC/Adrian Rogers

afterelton:

Interview: Dan Feuerriegel Says “It’s All About Love” With Nagron

Agron has been known to be just an angry young boy, and this is him finally growing up. Because he’s so in love with this person, he believes the best thing for him is to go off and live his life even if that involves being with Castus. That’s how I saw it.

Waaaaaaaah

(via misslucyjane)

anarcho-queer:

Dominican NYPD Officer Says Superior Had ‘Hit List’ To ‘Crush’ Minority Officers

A NYPD officer plans to sue the city for $15 million, saying she has been the victim of a racially and sexually charged work environment since 2011.

Eunice Vilaseca claims her supervisor at the NYPD’s Housing Bureau in the Bronx, Lt. Dennis Azambuja, repeatedly discriminated against her and other minority employees while other supervisors ignored or condoned his actions, according to a notice of claim her lawyers filed March 14.

According to the notice of claim, Azambuja — who works at NYPD’s Public Service Area 8 at the Throggs Neck Houses — announced that he had a “Hit List” of African American and Hispanic workers he disliked for their ethnicity. He also made offensive comments about Vilaseca’s “Spanish hair,” and “openly referred to females as ‘Bitches’” in the workplace, according to the notice of claim filed by the Sanders Firm.

Vilaseca, who is Dominican, said she filed numerous complaints with the Office of Equal Employment and the Internal Affairs Bureau, but that there was no change in Azambuja’s workplace behavior, according to the notice of claim.

According to the Daily News, Vilaseca complained about Azambuja’s behavior, NYPD brass questioned her sanity and put her on modified assignment, Sanders claims.

“It was the same game they played with (Officer Adrian) Schoolcraft,” said Sanders, referring to the Brooklyn cop who was detained by the NYPD and locked in a insane asylum for 6 days against his will when the department realized he was going to public with incriminating evidence against them.

The scandal comes just days after Officer Adrain Schoolcraft and Officer Pedro Serrano testified in court, providing evidence that the NYPD illegally set quotas for stop and frisk, told by their officers to target “male blacks 14 to 21” and illegally ‘misrepresented’ crime reports to decrease the official crime rates in NYC. 

Related: NYPD Officer Blows Whistle On Stop & Frisk,  Superior’s Told Him To Target “Male Blacks 14 to 21”

(via ikenbot)

covenesque:

anarcho-queer:

NYPD Illegally Raids House of Man They Brutalized For Throwing Gay Pride Party, Days Before Court Date (Please Read & Reblog)

A gay Brooklyn man is being targeted and harassed by the NYPD after filing a lawsuit against the officers who raided his home without a warrant and beat him unconscious.

It was early Sunday morning and Jabbar Campbell was hosting a gay pride party when two officers appeared at his house responding to a noise complaint. The officers told the party goers, some who were dressed in drag, to keep it down and left soon after.

10 minutes later, another group of police officers appeared. This time they tried to gain access to the building and began banging on the door with their flashlights. 

One officer reached for the building’s surveillance camera (bottom gif.) and turned it towards the wall, blocking the view. 

“I noticed them turning the security camera and I got scared,” Cambell said, according to the New York Post.

Campbell opened the door after a few moments only to be ‘bum-rushed’ by the cop. Two officers put Campbell in a shoulder lock while “5 to 7” cops beat him with their fists, flashlights and batons yelling “fag”, “homo” and “asshole” at him until he lost consciousness. 

“They said, ‘Stop resisting arrest.’ I said, ‘I am not resisting.’”

But the cops beat him up anyway, he said.

“I blacked out. I was concerned for my life,” said Campbell.

The NYPD then arrested Jabbar and questioned the party goers who witnessed the beating, asking them if they were engaging in “gay orgies” and “screwing each other.” They told the officers they weren’t and they also denied that Campbell was resisting.

Police charged Jabbar with resisting arrest and possession of drugs, allegations that Campbell insists are lies, which must be so because the police later dropped the drug charges after the reported on the story. 

The NYPD transported Campbell to Kings County Hospital where he received 9 stitches and was diagnosed with a concussion.

Since then, Campbell filed suit against police, but said more men armed wearing police jackets broke into his home without a warrant and their badges hidden from view just days before his court date. They harassed the guests who were at Jabbar’s house and wouldn’t give their names.

The men in blue allegedly asked if his security cameras were operational.

“I don’t know what they’re looking for, or if they were going to plant something,” Campbell said.

Campbell’s attorney said what happened to his client was a violation of the Fourth Amendment – illegal search and seizure. The NYPD’s Internal Affairs is investigating.

Campbell said he plans to sue the police department and at least nine officers for severe personal injuries.

I was able to get an interview with Jabbar Campbell who admitted to me that he believes the raid was intended to scare and frame him :

Anarcho-Queer: Before your attack, the officers blocked the view of a surveillance camera in front of your building by turning it towards the wall. Taking this into regard, do you believe your attack was premeditated?

Jabbar Campbell: Absolutely, the cops turning the camera, which would have been the best witness if not tampered with, shows ill intent.

AQ: During the attack, the NYPD yelled homophobic slurs. In your opinion, was the raid was motivated by hate against queer people and/or people of color?

JC: I strongly believe they (Cops) were targeting homosexuals. They were trying to portray me as some sort of disorderly, arm-flailing, drug influenced crazy homosexual. I also believe that they (Cops) didn’t expect so much brains inside of a dark skinned man in that neighborhood.

AQ: How many officers were involved in your attack?

JC: About 5-7 cops were beating me, approximately 20+ officers reported to the scene.

AQ: What weapons did the officers use to brutalize you?

JC: Fists, billy clubs, flash lights and things of such nature.

AQ: What physical injuries were sustained?

JC: Multiple injuries to my head, face, neck and back just to name a few.

AQ: After you filed a lawsuit against the NYPD, three police officers raided your home without a warrant and illegally detained your guests. Was this to intimidate you? If so, what message do you think they trying to send?

JC: I definitely think this it was an intimidation tactic and also a plot to frame me just to cover up their crimes. I think the message was that they don’t want people standing up to them.

AQ: What happened during the second raid?

JC: They broke in my home, searched my home and search my friends and colleagues taking their IDs and writing their names down. They had their badges turned around and would [not] give their names.

AQ: Are the officers who brutalized you still on the job?

JC: Yes, however, they are being investigated by IAB (internal affairs bureau) and the ADA.

not safe even in our own homes. ACAB

(via ikenbot)