bluclearwaters

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anyone else get that “i never expected you to say swear words, you’re so innocent” shit from random people you’ve talked to maybe twice

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The amount of pleasure I get from making someone cry from happiness is just like the best feeling in the world.

Like I did that.

I made you so happy.

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Hey remember when US and Russia was all like “We’re the best!!! We’ve won the space race!!!!” But India sent a kick-ass space probe to Mars and the whole mission was fuel efficient, costed less and a roaring success in the first try and then they were like “…..wait no that can’t be true” and still have the audacity to call us “underdeveloped” or only view us as a ‘third world country’? :)

For anyone who needs more info, the probe was called Mangalyaan (which literally means space probe vehicle) or Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) and you can also get more information here and here

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you ever have a piece of bread that’s so good you understand the plot of les miserables?

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Prince Aladdin

i just rewatched aladdin with the roommates and it got me thinking

aladdin wishes to be made a prince, but all genie does is get him a lot of stuff and money. that’s not what a prince is. a prince is the son of the king, someone in line for the throne. someone with a lot of money is just - rich. so what i think is:

genie goes okay, that’s a big one - and i can do it! but not on my own, not if you want to do it right. not if you truly want a chance to marry your princess for real, as a prince. and aladdin is a foolish, moral, kind boy - and he agrees. he’s fallen in love with jasmine, an innocent all encompassing love, and he’ll do anything for this sweet, clever girl he only knew for a few hours. so genie takes him across the desert, far from agrabah, and plops right in the middle of a skirmish and is like okay, good luck! and aladdin is like ?????

but there’s assholes with swords attacking a young girl, and aladdin doesn’t even have to think about that, just like when he stood in front of the whip for those little kids. there are three men against him, but he’s fast and clever and has been against a dozen trained palace guards. so it’s not easy to get out of there alive, especially with the little girl to protect, but he manages it with only a thin slice on his upper arm, and he’s endured worse for less. so he picks up the little girl and says “i think we should get out of here, hmm?” and she’s in a pretty red silk getup with tiny jewels encrusted on her like stars against sunset. and she nods and throws her arms around his neck. she won’t talk, only points in the direction of home, but aladdin’s okay with that, he’s used to quiet, scared kids. so he keeps up a steady stream of stories of agrabah, which seems almost like this other desert land. but there are more men with swords and aladdin is like what the fuck is going on, but he hides the girl in a corner and fights them too. and that’s how it goes all the way home. there’s no one on the streets really, and they all scatter when the men attack, and they keep on attacking, he fights his way all the way through the city with the girl on his hip or hidden away.

and he should have known, of course, but he was tired and bruised and bleeding by the time he realized the little girl is silently guiding him to the palace and he’s like why can’t you princesses stay inside??? but he walks up and the guards get one look at the child in his arms and whisk him through and multiple people try to take the girl away but she won’t budge from him, a stubborn pout to her lips as her hands remained locked behind his neck. and he’s finally tossed into a throne room where a tall old man is sitting in agony and two young men pace in front of him, each at least a decade older than aladdin. “they’ve taken our sister!” one of the younger men hiss, “i don’t care about their power or their connections, they’ve taken esfir, and we must go get her!”

“uh,” he clears his throat, “hi?”

and all three men whirl on him and the old man stumble-runs to him. esfir finally lets go of aladdin to picked up and twirled around by her father. the two men are rahim and shapur and they look in wonder at this dirty boy of fifteen who’s returned the girl to them, and he speaks with an accent and clearly is not from here and they get the story from him - he’s traveled across the desert because those in his own country want him dead. “you know,” rahim says as the king clutches at esfir in desperate relief, “you could have held her for ransom. you almost died saving her, and we would have paid handsomely to have her returned safely.”

and aladdin gives him a flat disapproving look, appearing in this moment four times his age, and says “people are not objects or bargaining chips. especially not lost little girls.” and rahim and shapur share an impressed conspiring look and they each grab one of his arms and lead him away. “hey! what are you -”

“do be quiet little brother,” shapur says cheerfully, “we really have to get you out of your rags.”

Keep reading

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when you wanna talk about that thing you’re obsessed with but you already said a lot about it and don’t wanna be annoying 

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Exciting news out of Madison Wisconsin…

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Eradicate “Smart Kid” Norms

The goal of this post is to raise awareness to damaging behaviour towards a group otherwise ignored due to their academic prowess and supposedly problem-free lives, but not to hurt or offend other people. Fine if you agree that school isn’t important, but this is purely an education-based opinion.

PSA: SMART KIDS …

 - hate being compared to 

if you are the top of your class, every test is a problem. people will turn around when they get a result and try to see yours in order to evaluate themselves instead of take the grade they’ve been awarded. for example, instead of accepting you got a B, you see that the “smart kid” got a C and instantly feel better about yourself, or vice versa if they got more than you. this kind of behaviour is not only damaging to who you’re comparing to (since people often express their negative views on their grades towards you, commonly getting the “of course you would get an A” or “I can’t believe I got more than you!”) but also to yourself - of course in school you’re taught to compare yourself, but your biggest competitor is yourself and you should always be aiming to outdo your best attempt rather than what the “swot” gets.

- need to be supported regardless of their grades

a particularly sad experience I personally have is collecting my exam results last year. I went in with all my friends, they got their envelopes, jumped up and down in joy at what they got … it came to my turn, I saw what I got, I turned around to tell them - and they told me not to say a thing. they didn’t want to know! to an extent, I get this (see previous point about comparative self-worth) but when you achieve something, you wanted to be recognised and appreciated, especially by your friends. telling your smart friend not to share what they got on a paper is purely bad friendship - everyone’s successes, no matter how small or frequent, deserve to be celebrated.

- aren’t always bragging

this is a problem I’m facing even now. they rarely talk about their achievements or grades in fear of being disliked or viewed as competition. if somebody gets an A on a mock, they feel like they can barely say a thing because they don’t want to come off as lacking modesty or over-confident. how do you say things about how well you’re doing without offending, belitting or annoying other people?

- shouldn’t carry your group projects

all I’m going to say on this one is that if you let the “smart kid” do all the work in school, you’re wasting your own time. if you have to be in lesson for fifty minutes anyway, you might as well learn, rather than waste another fifty minutes elsewhere revising for your exam!

- don’t always revise

some people revise. others don’t. be nice to your local “smart kid” - don’t assume they revised all day and night for that A, that they put in 100% effort all the time to validate yourself, or get mad when you hear them say they didn’t revise or are screwed for a test. People frequently don’t revise for tests since they have more important exams coming up for but it’s not their fault if they still get a decent grade. some people are more suited towards a particular subject and that’s okay, because you are too!

- have just as many worries

smart kids have worries too. they still fear about university applications, tests, job interviews, boyfriends, all the jazz that everyone else does. competency in a subject doesn’t ensure you a place. the worrying fact that exists is that there will always be someone smarter, someone more experienced, someone generally better than you, regardless of whether you are smart or not, therefore you shouldn’t get frustrated at people who are worried when you think they shouldn’t be.

- aren’t always well-behaved

they don’t all wear glasses. they don’t not have social lives. they don’t all care about school. just like everyone else, intelligence means squat if you’re not having fun. whilst you should always respect the school system, don’t assume that being smart means not making jokes or goofing off, or that doing those things will impact your intellectual performance in any way.

- have bad days

yes, I know I knew the answer yesterday. yes, I know I can do better than that. yes, smart kids have bad days! if an overachiever gets a lower mark than usual, be nice. it may make you feel good to have done better than the “nerd” but imagine how they feel about it if they are academically-conscious. if they’re nice to you, be nice to them. that’s all there is to it.

- want to help you

of course “smart kids” aren’t out to get you, they will obviously give you assistance if you ask for it. nonetheless copying someone’s work or getting them to do the work for you is wrong. it’s unfair to ask the “smart kid” for last night’s homework if you didn’t do it, or coast off their work because they sit a desk too close to you. keep your integrity when doing work.

- aren’t only good at academic subjects

2018 should be the year we reject the concept that only STEM subjects count, that anyone who majors in English or Art or Drama isn’t as intelligent as someone who does physics. recognise a degree for a degree, talent for talent, ability for ability. anybody can be a “smart kid”, it doesn’t mean you have to score perfect As or have some quantifiable measure. redefine smart to mean knowledgeable and suddenly everyone you know, even you, is a smart kid.

- can only have an academic job

leading on from this, don’t think that someone’s ability defines their future career. someone could be a killer biologist but want to go into dancing. let them! it’s their choice and nobody should be defining it as wasted potential.

- don’t feel intellectually superior

chances are, they don’t care about intelligence. it’s nice to have but you know what’s nicer? talking about Netflix, or football, or other interests with their friends we’re not numbers and grades, we’re people with passions, and intellect is a small part of a huge thing called personality that everyone has. especially at school age, an A* student isn’t thinking they can’t be friends with a D student. they’re thinking about what they’re having for dinner tonight, and when they can next hang out with their best friend.

- should never be belitted by teacher

finally, this is a general point that has affected a million students regardless of ability. teachers deserve respect but they can also lose it if they begin to treat the class unlike equals. smart kids may stereotypically be seen as teacher’s pets but in reality, it is often the other way round. they can’t count the times a teacher has deliberately skipped them when searching for an answer, even if they’re the only one with a hand up, or the amount of times they’ve been asked not to contribute, on both hands. everyone is entitled to an education so fair enough if a teacher wants to push less talkative students, but if it gets to the point where a smart kid has been stopped from talking for lessons on end, put on the spot with a particularly mean question or been downright bullied by the person who is supposed to be fair, speak up. the effects of being dampened can be long-lasting and hurtful, resulting in smart kids who no longer participate or enjoy school.

Again, this post wasn’t meant to offend anyone, or put myself up on a pedestal as a “smart kid”. Of course, there are positives to doing well at school, like good job opportunities and academic success, but I see lots of awareness raised for students who don’t do so good and feel like there should be balanced representation out here. The general moral from all of this is that everyone in education should be treated with respect and allowed to develop surrounded by support from peers and teachers regardless of their ability. This includes underachievers, overachievers, the coasters, the tryhards - any name you have for a type of student - 2018 is the year we’re eradicating education-based shaming.

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Looking at something truly gross

People, usually: Eww, what the fuck is that *looks away*

Med students: Eww, what fuck is that *looks closer*

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The award for cutest protein goes to:

Kinesine. (anterograde microtubuli-associated transport protein)

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Me: “I’m going to be productive today”

Also me: