I felt like I needed to clarify some things before we could continue any more conversations on this godforsaken website.
I’m very proud of the European Robin, I think I really captured it.
this is a very accurate birb agenda illustration
European robin is LOVE and I never really thought robins in other countries wouldn’t be like our robins, because they’re cute balls of fluff and rage and I just took a pic of one of them yesterday here, have,
also one with my coworker for scale (we were both taking pics bcs we’re cute bird lovers) (all animals, really) (actually I didn’t mean for her to be in the pic but well it happened) (our uniforms suck) (we were crouching) BABY BIRB U R NOT A BABY BUT U R MY BABY LET ME HUG YOU PLS
Wait, Robins aren’t the same everywhere?!
They should be, but they aren’t! Colonists in North America named the native birds “robins” after the ones they knew in Europe, but the birds aren’t related at all, they just both have red chests.
For further astonishment:
* the 1964 film Mary Poppins is supposedly set in London, but the fake bird that young Julie Andrews holds is actually an American robin (Turdus migratorious)
* the American robin lays spectacular turquoise blue eggs, thus the term “robin’s egg blue.” This is meaningless in Europe, where robin’s eggs are beige. A paler, greener version in the UK is called “duck egg blue”.
* the “rocking robin” and the “red red robin [who] comes bob bob bobbing along” are American robins.
* Robin from Batman was probably named after Robin Hood, although he does have a red shirt.
* the meaning of the name “Robin” is just short for “Robert.” The bird in England was historically called the Redbreast, but in England in Ye Old Days there was a trend for giving nicknames to animals. Thus, Jack Daw, Jenny Wren, and Robin Redbreast are now the names of birds in English. Now, we mostly call them “robins” and drop the “redbreast” most of the time.
* There may be a pleasing synergy with Robin Goodfellow, aka Puck and Hob Goblin, the Elvish mascot and primal spirit of England. But probably not intentional
* But basically Robin Hood, Robin Goodfellow, Robin from Batman, and American/European robins are all just named after that one guy. Robert. What a legend
Anyway so I’m calling Rep. Farenthold later to accept on Sen. Collin’s behalf and I’m choosing Fists. Can take place in Iowa because if two parties agree to mutual combat, under state law it is totally legal here.
And if he accepts yes I will stream that shit live don’t be silly.
And after I beat his ass once for Collins, I will duel him again on Murkowski’s behalf.
Square up, bitch.
OH MY GOD I LOVE YOU SO MUCH GOD CSPAN BOUT TO BE LIT
Submitted
SO I CALLED HIS DC OFFICE AND SAID BASICALLY THE SAME THING I SENT VIA EMAIL.
After about 20 seconds of dead silence, the staffer let out kinda a little laugh and said “Well ma’m, I’ll be happy to pass on your…”
“I’m not joking.”
“Ma’m?”
“You think I’m joking. I am dead serious. You want my address? Or I’ll meet him at the airport. I am absolutely serious about this. Oh, and as the challenged party, I get to pick weapons. I choose fists.”
Another 20 seconds of somehow even deeper silence.
“I…I’ll pass your challenge on to the congressman.”
“No. He issued the challenge. I’m accepting. Unless he’s backing out like the spineless coward he is.”
More silence. “I…I’ll let Congressman Farenthold know, ma’m.”
“You do that.”
ANYWAY SO HOW DID YOU ALL SPEND YOUR LUNCH BREAK TODAY.
Also if anyone wants to contact Farenthold via email or phone and ask when he’s going to man up and meet me on the field of honorable combat I would owe you one, particularly if you’re in Texas.
Okay so I called. Intern didn’t even hesitate anymore. Just asked me my method of dual (I chose fencing) and after taking my contact info (which I flubbed the numbers on) told me he’d pass it on.
Excellent.
Did you ever knooow that you’re my heeeerooooo *serenades*
I hereby nominate Joy to hold up the boombox (or, since this is 2017, the Iphone) and play the fight music from the Pon Farr episode of Star Trek while I apply a rear naked choke to Farenthold.
You can count on me, boss.
I somehow knew you’d have a link to this song within 25 seconds.
@gabriel-wolfe-wordsmith is going to sell popcorn and I think someone else offered to make commemorative t-shirts.
The Washington number to ask him when he’ll land in Iowa to meet me is 202-225-7742, BTW
This is a Tumblr post of a screenshot of a tweet that’s a screenshot of someone copying and pasting words from a tumblr post onto notepad we’ve come full circle
I think it’s common across many forms of bias for people to blame their discomfort on the object of the discomfort instead of taking responsibility for it
“Gay couples holding hands… are rubbing it in my face”
“She’s wearing that, so obviously she wants me to react to her body”
This is something I’ve been trying to articulate with regard to ~cringe~ culture.
Secondhand embarrassment is a normal human thing that we all feel sometimes. But it’s on you to deal with your emotions. It’s not the responsibility of the person you’re embarrassed for to alter their behavior to your liking.
[Picture: a tweet by Kayla Whaley (@punkinOnWheels) that says “PSA: if you ever in any context describe me as “overcoming my disability” I will overcome your face with my wheels. Thank you for your time.”]
I absolutely love this tweet. I too have experienced this kind of treatment in both my brief stint as a wheelchair basketball player and in my current career as a software engineer.
The thing that really amazed me the most about this tweet, however, were some of the responses. Most of them were positive but some people reacted to this tweet with a kind of defensiveness; shocked that their “compliment” could be taken as an insult. One person went so far as to encourage here to “overcome” her “bigotry”. What?
Here’s thing thing, able-bodied people: when you praise a disabled person for living a healthy, normal life (just like you!) “despite their disability” you are reminding us just how low your expectations of us are to begin with. I would be fucking furious if my boss or coworker’s positive feedback on my work was couched in terms of my disability:
“Wow, Urban. This new UI you put together is great. You really didn’t let your wheelchair get in the way of this. Great work”.
“Man, Urban not only made this algorithm 30% faster, he did so despite being in a wheelchair”.
Starting to see the picture now?
When you couch everything we do within the context of our disability, it obscures and diminishes the true nature and value of our accomplishments.
Urocyon's Jaunts 2.0 
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