dragonsandfables

[dragonsandfables]

On this day in history, June 18, 1983, the launch of STS-7 brought the first American woman into space. Sally Ride, a skilled pilot and with a doctorate in physics would fly on STS-7 as a Mission Specialist and Flight Engineer. She would later go on to fly in the same role on STS-41-G, the first flight including two women. Ride was also the first known queer astronaut.

After her career as an astronaut, Ride would go on to serve as a professor, STEM educator, and as president of Space.com. She would also be a key member of the investigative boards following the Challenger and Columbia disasters.

[dragonsandfables]

[dragonsandfables]

anyway for me the way I square my political principles with being a vindictive little hater is by divorcing all sociopolitical theory from the concept of 'deserving'. deserving is a moral judgment, it's the province of religion and retribution. when we talk about politics I don’t give a rat’s ass about deserving, I care about building a better society for everyone in it.

some examples:

do trump voters deserve to be plunged into poverty by predatory laws? honestly yeah. I want them to suffer. I want them to feel the sting of what they have brought upon us. I think it would be poetic justice.  should they be plunged into poverty by predatory laws? no! no one should be plunged into poverty by predatory laws! I want to live in a society that doesn’t do that to anyone, no matter how much they suck as people.

do unrepentant violent rapists deserve to be tortured? yeah. I think so. I think they’ve earned it. should they be tortured? nope! no one should be tortured! I want to live in a society where no one is ever tortured. (I definitely want to live in a society where the state, responsible for enacting criminal justice, is not torturing anyone. like holy shit guys that one’s a biggie.)

do diabetics deserve free insulin? no, it’s not like anyone goes around earning insulin. the insulin wasn’t free to produce or distribute, someone needs to pay for that. no one deserves free stuff. should diabetics get free insulin? absolutely oh my god. everyone should have free and easy access to whatever they need to live a healthy life. insulin is expensive to produce and distribute, and I think the government should pay every red cent. I want to live in a society where all medical care is free for everyone who needs it!

you get the picture. politics is about building a better society, no matter what it costs in cosmic justice. when people are cruel, I want them to suffer for it, but I want more for all of us to live in a society that treats everyone kindly, including those bastards. I think the role of government should be to create that society, as much as humanly possible. deserving doesn’t come into it at all.

[dragonsandfables]

joan baez for rolling stone, 2025. photos by ulysses ortega

[dragonsandfables]

General Relativity

[dragonsandfables]

THE BLUES BROTHERS (1980)

[dragonsandfables]

[dragonsandfables]

STARTING TOMORROW

Scientists in weather and climate are live streaming for 100 hours to make their case to the American public.

They are live streaming, but engagement is necessary for it to work. SHARE THIS WITH PEOPLE, RECORD THE STREAM, POST CLIPS OF IT THAT ARE FUNNY, if you can tune in, PLEASE DO!

This is something that has to be heard by as many people as possible. Put it on in the background! See if you can get other people to watch it! Do whatever you can do support those who are trying to be supported! Anything and everything helps!

TUNE IN HERE

article I posted screenshots of here

[dragonsandfables]

Sigourney Weaver with the Xenomorph from the movie Alien 3.

Alien 3 is a 1992 science fiction horror film directed by David Fincher.

[dragonsandfables]

[dragonsandfables]

6 sessions around 31 hrs total. Back tattoo artwork by © Andre Hckl.

[dragonsandfables]

[dragonsandfables]

Hi Prideknights!

You're based in Europe, right? Could you help out signal-boosting this European citizens initiative to ban conversion therapy in the EU?

https://eci.ec.europa.eu/043/public/#/screen/home

I don't think I have to explain the horrors of conversion therapy to you, so let me explain how this initiative works.

For it to get taken seriously by the EU, we need two things:

7 countries need to reach the minimum threshold of signatures for their country. We're currently at 6 out of 7! Slovenia only needs 300 more signatures to become country number 7!

We need a total of 1 million signatures. This might look daunting, but there days ago we were still at 200.000. Yesterday we were at 450.00. We are at 535.000 right now. So we have a long way to go, but we are moving fast!

The deadline is in a few days, on May 17.

Anybody with a European citizenship can add their name to the pile! If we reach the right amount, the official citizen initiative will be put before the EU Commission.

With lgbtq+ rights getting rolled back across the world, including Europe, there is no time to lose to demand stronger protections.

MAY 14, 2025 (VERY RELEVANT) SPREAD. THIS. LIKE. WILDFIRE!!!

[dragonsandfables]

[dragonsandfables]

In Memory of Peter Morwood

My deepest condolences to his friends and family.

I did a small artwork about things that he brought to lives of many internet strangers, me included.