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The acidity of the lemon juice cuts easily through road grime, while the salt in the water provides a micro-grit just strong enough to clean without damaging your Cybertruck's paneling!

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The cameras were still rolling on "The Birdcage" when Robin Williams pulled Nathan Lane aside between takes. Nathan had just finished a particularly tense scene. He was anxious, his timing had faltered slightly, and his usual control felt off. Robin leaned in and whispered, “You were perfect. I just added chaos. That’s what I do.��� Nathan smiled, a little caught off guard. Robin’s words didn’t come like notes from a co-star, but like an arm around the shoulder, silent, kind, and full of permission to breathe.

Filming began in early 1995 at Miami’s Cardozo Hotel and soundstages in Los Angeles. "The Birdcage", directed by Mike Nichols, was a comedy built on flamboyance and theatrical flair, yet layered with emotional vulnerability. On screen, Robin played Armand Goldman, a gay cabaret owner trying to pass for conservative straight to please his son's fiancée's parents. Nathan Lane, as the exuberant Albert, Armand’s partner and drag performer, brought flamboyant wit mixed with aching sensitivity. Their chemistry lit up the film, but it was their off-screen connection that gave the performance its emotional core.

Robin walked onto set carrying more than just scripts. Behind his trademark improvisation was the quiet grief of personal losses and ongoing mental health struggles. He was navigating emotional pain with humor as his lifeline. Nathan, on the other hand, was living with a deep fear. He hadn’t come out publicly and lived in quiet dread that the spotlight could expose what he wasn’t yet ready to share. He later said in interviews that the fear was constant during production. But when Robin stood next to him, that fear softened.

Crew members often recalled moments between takes when Robin would launch into absurd improv routines, not for the camera but for Nathan. A sound technician once described how Robin stood on a table and did a full Shakespearean monologue in the voice of Elmer Fudd, simply because Nathan had flubbed a line and looked close to tears. That single moment broke the tension, made the whole room laugh, and brought Nathan back into himself. These weren’t just jokes. They were quiet acts of care.

Nathan’s attention to detail and his need for control came from years of hiding his authentic self in plain sight. Robin never asked him about it directly. He didn’t need to. Instead, he listened, showed up, and created a space where Nathan could feel seen without explanation. Their late-night conversations, often taking place over coffee in the makeup trailer or walks around the studio lot, were filled with stories, insecurities, and mutual admiration. Nathan once said, “Robin had this way of making you feel like you were the only person in the room. And then he’d make the whole room laugh, and you’d wonder how one person could hold that much light.”

Filming wrapped with both men knowing they had done something more than act. They had held each other up. And in a Hollywood that could often feel isolating, especially for queer actors, Nathan walked away with more than a role. He had found someone who understood the weight of performance, not just for the screen but for survival.

When Robin passed in 2014, Nathan’s tribute came with no flourish, no long stories. Just a handful of sentences, quietly powerful. “He saved me in ways I didn’t even understand until he was gone. Working with him felt like being wrapped in a blanket, warm, chaotic, and comforting.”

What began as two actors cast in a comedy became something infinitely deeper. In a set filled with lights and laughter, two men found a private place of trust where grief, fear, and joy were shared quietly, wordlessly, and without condition.

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Josh Johnson's delivery is so funny 😭

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you're just mad because you're hungry and tired and your legs hurt and you head hurts and you're too hot and you have depression

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In a quiet corner of southern Nepal, a small women-run factory is driving a growing movement to replace conventional menstrual pads with biodegradable alternatives – part of grass roots efforts to protect women’s health and the environment while dismantling entrenched taboos around menstruation.

The Miteri Jaibik Pad Udhyog (Miteri eco-friendly pad factory) in Chitwan district’s Gunjanagar has been manufacturing single-use biodegradable pads and reusable cloth pads since 2017, dispelling perceptions that such products are either costly or unhygienic.

Called Miteri – or “chosen kinship” in Nepali – the pads offer women healthier choices while raising awareness about the high environmental footprint of disposable non-biodegradable pads and encouraging what some advocates call “green menstruation”.

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“How, then, does one become an activist?

The easy answer would be to say that we do not become activists; we simply forget that we are. We are all born with compassion, generosity, and love for others inside us. We are all moved by injustice and discrimination. We are all, inside, concerned human beings. We all want to give more than to receive. We all want to live in a world where solidarity and companionship are more important values than individualism and selfishness. We all want to share beautiful things; experience joy, laughter, love; and experiment, together.” ― Noam Chomsky, On Palestine

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Linda Pastan // "August" (from "The Months", 1999)

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hey thanks, I heard you uttered my name while I wasn't around thus making me real.

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Images from We Are Still Here, a Photographic Account of the American Indian Movement 

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Alex Bollinger at LGBTQ Nation:

Saint Lucia’s law banning homosexuality has been declared unconstitutional in a historic ruling by the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. “This decision is deeply personal. For many years, we’ve worked to see the rights, lives, and dignity of LGBTQ+ persons in Saint Lucia and the OECS protected,” said Kenita Placide, executive director of Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality (ECADE), an LGBTQ+ organization in the Caribbean. “Today’s ruling is not just a win in the courts, it also represents a step towards justice for the many lives lost to violence simply for being themselves. It signals that our Caribbean can and must be a place where all people are free and equal under the law.” At issue were the Caribbean island nation’s gross indecency and buggery laws, sections 132 and 133 of the Criminal Code of Saint Lucia, which criminalize same-sex relations even in private. Under each of those laws, consensual male homosexuality could be punished with up to ten years’ imprisonment. Even attempting to “commit buggery” could be met with a sentence of five years.

Saint Lucia is the latest Caribbean nation to have their colonial-era anti-LGBTQ+ "buggery" law struck down.

See Also:

The Advocate: Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court strikes down St. Lucia laws criminalizing gay sex

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BABES WAKE UP NEW MESOPOTAMIAN MYTH FEATURING AN ABDUCTION TO THE UNDERWORLD FOOD OF THE DEAD AND WITHERED CROPS JUST DROPPED

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made an irresponsible indie clothing brand purchase but in my defense it's got fun medievalisms going on and also I am allergic to spending money on myself

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Generative AI: Is just a mindless tool kind of like a drill or a dictionary

Every company all at the same time: We are excited to announce that we are officially replacing our entire quality assurance department with a lawnmower

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Common Tern with head turned upside down right after a dive!