March 3, 2015

From Eden

March 2, 2015

The Jezebel Effect: Why the Slut Shaming of Famous Queens Still Matters

Book Description
Publication Date: February 26, 2015
Have you heard that Catherine the Great died having sex with her horse? Or perhaps you prefer the story that Anne Boleyn had six fingers and slept with her brother? Or that Katheryn Howard slept with so many members of the Tudor court that they couldn’t keep track of them all? As juicy and titillating as the tales might be, they are all, patently untrue.

Modern PR firms may claim that no publicity is bad publicity, but that, too, is untrue. The fact that Cleopatra is better known for her seductions than her statecraft, and that Jezebel is remembered as a painted trollop rather than a faithful wife and religiously devout queen, isn’t a way for historians to keep these interesting women in the public eye, rather it’s a subversion of their power, a re-writing of history to belittle and shame these powerful figures, preventing them from becoming icons of feminine strength and capability.

Slut shaming has its roots in our earliest history, but it continues to flourish in our supposedly post-feminist, equal-rights world. It is used to punish women for transgressions against gender norms, threatening the security of their place in society and warning that they’d better be “good girls” and not rock the patriarchal boat, or they, too could end up with people believing they’ve slept with everything from farm animals to relatives.

This is The Jezebel Effect.

more at link:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00U2NXG6K/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00U2NXG6K&linkCode=as2&tag=theancom-20&linkId=ZAWTF7EFW4B34HAV

March 1, 2015

Seems I have acquired a Porch Cat ... but, maybe it is just the weather ...

I live in a woodsy, rural area that borders a county/state/federal park and, I can't see my neighbors for the trees.

Lately (for the past few months, even) I have noticed a tuxedo cat hanging around my yard. Seems to get along with my two cats but, he (pretty sure he is a male) runs away whenever he sees me.

However, since we have had snow three times in the past week, this fellow has decided to make my porch his ... home ... ??

I have fixed up two boxes with flannel for when my cats decide to hang out all night (very rare but, they love a full moon) and evidently this fellow has decided that he really likes sleeping in one of them because for the past few mornings I have seen him coming out of one of the boxes (both are under windows) and he hangs on my front porch. The past three mornings when I open my front door he does not run, instead he meows at me in a very plaintive tone. My heart ... be still (he is gorgeous black tuxedo with a black nose that has a full circle white ring around it ... I have to get a picture and post it, very distinctive marking) anyway, he has tamed me and I must feed him.
Although, he honestly appears healthy and well fed and I really think he belongs to some nameless neighbor down the road a piece (surely, he has a home). Maybe, he is just seeking temporary respite until the weather breaks

I don't know.

But, he looks like he belongs here. Really. My female is solid black and my male is white with black markings (on the top of his head is a perfect black heart shaped spot ) So, this guy looks like he fits right in and, my two seem to be accepting of him.

Anyway, I have a visitor but, I don't know for how long.

Thanks for reading. Any comments or advice is welcomed.

pictures of my two Furbabies

Sissy Girl


Brother Man

February 28, 2015

Depressed Caged Tiger Cheers Up After Being Given Pet Mice

By Sean Kelly, Sat, February 28, 2015
A caged tiger at a zoo in Romania, who had become depressed after the loss of his partner of 13 years, cheered up when he made friends with two mice that were originaly given to him as a snack.

The tiger, named Sandokan, had been at the zoo with his partner for 13 years before her death. Workers at the zoo in the Eastern Romania town of Galati brought him a new female companion, Samira, but Sandokan ignored her. Unsure of what to do, the staff decided to release two mice into Sandokan's cage, hoping that a snack would cheer up the inconsolable tiger. To the staff's surprise, however, Sandokan didn't eat the mice – the three became fast friends. According to workers at the zoo, Sandokan let the mice run around his cage and even play with his fur.

"After his partner died last year we became very worried about Sandokan because he stopped eating and began gnawing at his own tail. It was very clear that he was mourning the loss. Other zoos tend to use medical treatments to cure animals of this sort of thing but that would have meant administering the drugs with a tranquilliser gun, which can be very traumatic for the animals," spokesman Madalin Serban said. "So we wanted to come up with a better solution and then we hit upon the idea of giving him a few live mice to play with, assuming that he would probably eat them. But instead he befriended them, making them into his new pals.

"Mice are great pets for humans as they are friendly and happily will interact but we didn't reckon a tiger would want them as a pet, but he did and now he is back to his old self. He happily lets the mice run around and play in his fur and the three live together just great."

February 28, 2015

Double Rainbow !!

Five mile wide double rainbow during a thunderstorm 8000ft above sea level in Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

February 24, 2015

^truth^ I was off yesterday but, I can't wait to see what the black women at work have to say about

all this.

btw, where I work Blacks are in the majority. I don't talk a lot at work. Listening has been a revelation in and of itself.

Very interesting dynamic going on.

One administrator has been fired for being racist and now the top two staff of one of the major departments have tendered their resignations. One goes in effect tomorrow. The other is moving up within the corporation and will be staying until she finds her replacement.

Interesting times.

February 16, 2015

A Letter to My Children About Fifty Shades of Grey

http://www.bonbonbreak.com/letter-children-fifty-shades-grey/

...snip...

I am writing this so that when that day comes, you’ll recognise Fifty Shades of Grey for what it is, rather than what it pretends to be.

Let me begin by telling you what Fifty Shades of Grey is not.

It is not a love story.

It does a pretty convincing job of masquerading as one, for sure, but please believe me when I say that love doesn’t even have a cameo role in this plot.

It is also not a romantic fairy tale with a harmless bit of naughtiness sprinkled on top.

Romance is glaringly absent, in fact. As for harmless S&M, please understand that this screenplay’s message is the polar opposite of harmless. In this ‘harmless’ piece of fluff movie, a rich, handsome, experienced man uses his power to seduce and manipulate a young, innocent student into doing a lot of things she is extremely uncomfortable doing.

They are not equals. They are not partners. There is, in fact, no ‘they’ to speak of at all.

Rather, it’s a movie about a narcissistic man’s controlling and violent sexual desires and his sense of entitlement to use and abuse a vulnerable young woman’s body and mind as tools for his own gratification. It’s all about his needs, coupled with the arrogant expectation that she should comply, regardless of her discomfort, to please him.

... snip ...

If someone wants to be with you, turning up at your part-time job unannounced when you haven’t ever even discussed that you have one and acting possessive when a co-worker talks to you is not romantic. It’s creepy.

If you say you’re a virgin and he responds by violently deflowering you, that’s not love. That’s assault.

If he tracks your whereabouts when you’re out clubbing and takes you to his hotel when you’re too drunk to make a rational decision, then undresses you and puts you in his bed for the night, that’s not protective. It’s stalking. In fact, stalking is the least of what it is.

If he turns up inside your apartment uninvited, it’s not romantic. It’s breaking and entering.

If you tell him you’re not interested and you ask him to leave and he responds by tying you to your bed and having violent sex with you after you repeatedly say “no,” all the while threatening to do worse if you make a noise, it’s not passion. It’s rape.

If he sells your car and buys you a new one without your permission “to surprise you,” it’s not romantic. It’s theft and manipulation.

If he monitors your phone calls and threatens you with physical harm because another man calls you, he’s not in love with you. He’s abusing and controlling you.

If beating you with a leather strap until you cry is what gives him pleasure and he asks you to do it despite your distress because it turns him on and then plays the victim to explain it all away, there is no soundtrack in the world that should quiet the voice in your head that yells out that love and romance were never in the picture and they never will be.

... snip ...

February 11, 2015

These twenty-five mind blowing photos will make you completely reevaluate your vision of the world.

Sometimes we need to just stop and think about who we are and be aware of what's around us.











“When I look up at the night sky, and I know that, yes, we are part of this Universe, we are in this Universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the Universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up — many people feel small, ’cause they’re small and the Universe is big, but I feel big, because my atoms came from those stars.” — Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist

Read More:
http://www.whydontyoutrythis.com/2015/02/25-pictures-that-will-make-you-reconsider-your-existence.html

February 5, 2015

Happy 81st birthday, Hammerin' Hank!

Henry Louis "Hank" Aaron , nicknamed "Hammer", or "Hammerin' Hank", is a retired American professional baseball right fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1954 through 1976. wikipedia.org

Born: February 5, 1934 (age 81), Mobile, Alabama, USA
Nationality: United States of America
Height: 6' 0" (1.83m)

Hank Aaron
Civil Rights Activist, Baseball Player

Considered one of the best baseball players of all time, Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's home-run record when he hit his 715th home run in 1974. He later set a new MLB record with 755 career home runs.