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i don't gotta dance, even though i do.
even if i get kicked off the internet.
you'll know how i'll do.
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Sometimes scientists change their minds. New developments cause a rethink. If this bothers you, consider how much damage is being done to the world by people for whom new developments do not cause a rethink.
Terry Pratchett - The Science Of Discworld (via terrypratchettparadise)
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One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted. Most people are rather confident of their ability to recognize bullshit and to avoid being taken in by it. So the phenomenon has not aroused much deliberate concern, or attracted much sustained inquiry. In consequence, we have no clear understanding of what bullshit is, why there is so much of it, or what functions it serves. And we lack a conscientiously developed appreciation of what it means to us.
Harry Frankfurt, “On Bullshit” (via intellectualpoaching)
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oh my lord.
This is quite possibly the greatest thing that has ever happened to me
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"i haven't been this happy since yesterday" LMFAO
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good read, not just for the queers either. this goes for a lot of oppressed people (non imperials).
age & queerness in fandom
I’ve seen a few threads recently arguing that adults don’t belong in digital fan spaces because tumblr and the like are for young people, and I’ve finally put my finger on why this perspective unsettles me so much: because it perfectly mirrors the argument that queer adults - or queer things in general, really - are a creepy, corrupting influence on kids. Given how queer so much fandom content is, especially online, this might seem counter-intuitive, but one of the biggest culturally conditioned fears we have is that there’s something inherently predatory about older queer folx interacting with younger queer folx, because obviously queerness is inherently sexual and therefore something something power dynamics, right?
But the thing is, we’re missing a huge chunk of what should be the visible adult queer community because of the AIDS epidemic, ostracism, suicide and other shit like DADT that keeps or kept people closeted. Which is a big part of why so many younger queer folx don’t know queer history, or have only a passing acquaintance with it: because so many of the people who ought to have handed that knowledge down are missing or dead, or were otherwise kept from speaking. Which is why, in turn, we keep seeing resurgent waves of queer discourse - again, on places like tumblr - where younger people are, without knowing what came before them, both reinventing the wheel and making sweeping, inaccurate statements about their (very truncated view of) community history.
Because that’s the thing: for any culture or a community to survive, you need someone to transmit the history. Adults, elders, historians, senior figures, whatever - you need to keep records, you need people who are invested for the long haul, and above all you need a sense that what you’re building is important or worthwhile enough that it deserves to perpetuate itself. The community itself might change over the years, along with its dominant philosophies and expressions, but these are shifts that happen, not because knowledge has been lost, but because it has increased.
And look. I could go on a whole separate rant about how Western society is increasingly age-segregated in a bunch of unhealthy ways, and why that’s warping our collective memories. The idea that Teen Stuff and Adult Stuff shouldn’t overlap hasn’t sprung up in a vacuum. But fandom is not, should not be and never has been equivalent to the ephemeral, viral shifts of kid culture, the hopscotch games and nursery rhymes and songs and slang that children transmit to each other and then immediately outgrow, so that all subsequent reminiscence of them is detached from participation or up-to-date knowledge, unless obtained secondhand.
Not all adults in fandom are queer, nor is all of fandom queer. But online, in contexts where we’re talking largely about fanfic/fanart rather than convention spaces, and where there’s demonstrable overlap with other areas of queer and feminist discourse, fandom is one of the few arenas in which queer adults routinely interact with queer teens. And particularly knowing there are people in fandom who express a love of queer ships but discomfort with IRL queerness otherwise, it does not sit well with me to see a “But Think Of The Children!” argument being used to suggest that the people who create and maintain fandom are acting inappropriately by doing so.
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How the food you eat affects your brain
If you sucked all of the moisture out of your brain and broke it down to its constituent nutritional content, what would it look like? Most of the weight of your dehydrated brain would come from fats, also known as lipids. In the remaining brain matter, you would find proteins and amino acids, traces of micronutrients, and glucose. The brain is, of course, more than just the sum of its nutritional parts, but each component does have a distinct impact on functioning, development, mood, and energy. So that post-lunch apathy, or late-night alertness you might be feeling, well, that could simply be the effects of food on your brain.
Here are four fascinating facts about your brain on food!
Your brain runs on fats! The good kinds, that is. As we mentioned before, your brain is made mostly of fats. Of the fats in your brain, the superstars are omegas 3 and 6. These essential fatty acids, which have been linked to preventing degenerative brain conditions, must come from our diets. So eating omega-rich foods, like nuts, seeds, and fatty fish, is crucial to the creation and maintenance of cell membranes.
Food can make you super sleepy! But, it can also keep you up. Proteins and amino acids, the building block nutrients of growth and development, manipulate how we feel and behave. Amino acids are one of the reasons we might feel calm after eating a large plate of pasta, or more alert after a protein-rich meal. While the human brain only makes up about 2% of our body weight, it uses up to 20% of our energy resources. Most of this energy comes from carbohydrates that our body digests into glucose, or blood sugar. The frontal lobes are so sensitive to drops in glucose, in fact, that a change in mental function is one of the primary signals of nutrient deficiency. Carbs come in three forms: starch, sugar, and fiber. While on most nutrition labels, they are all lumped into one total carb count, the ratio of the sugar and fiber subgroups to the whole amount affect how the body and brain respond. A high glycemic food, like white bread, causes a rapid release of glucose into the blood and then comes the dip. Blood sugar shoots down, and with it, our attention span and mood. On the other hand, oats, grains, and legumes have slower glucose release, enabling a steadier level of attentiveness. For sustained brain power, opting for a varied diet of nutrient-rich foods is critical.
Trans fats are not your friends. While omegas are good fats for your brain, long-term consumption of other fats, like trans and saturated fats, may compromise brain health. Some research shows that trans fats may impair your memory and may actually affect the size of your brain??!?
Food affects your mood. The complex combinations of compounds in food can stimulate brain cells to release mood-altering norepinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin. But getting to your brain cells is tricky, and amino acids have to compete for limited access. A diet with a range of foods helps maintain a balanced combination of brain messengers, and keeps your mood from getting skewed in one direction or the other.
How’s that for ‘food for thought’?
From the TED-Ed Lesson How the food you eat affects your brain - Mia Nacamulli
Animation by Private Island
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