sterw - Tumblr blog

[sterw]

"I hate how American media will just make up a European nation rather than do any research, so I'm going to get back at them by writing a story set in a fake American state" like, do you have the slightest idea how much American media is set in a geographically impossible fictional small town located in no particular state and characterised entirely by some guy from Los Angeles' collection of half-remembered stereotypes about the American Midwest? They've already got the "lazily inventing fictional parts of America" bit locked down.

No, if you want to play the Uno reverse card on American media, what you need to do isn't to make up a fake state: you specifically need to wilfully misrepresent southern California.

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BRO

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what is that? it’s the unknown!

🪞 🍫 🎭

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the flour massacre is ongoing. it is everyday. it was not an isolated event. it was not even the first time israel shot at and killed palestinians going for aid (they do it whenever they allow aid through). in fact, they did the exact same thing yesterday morning. just because smaller-scale murders go under the radar for lack of shock factor doesn’t mean they’re not happening continuously.

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"like a sledgehammer to a disco ball-crushing all my low low low lows" ⚒💫

mixed media piece inspired by 'so much (for) stardust' [[prints]]

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i would probably start with the harvard chemistry department but that’s just me

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Story time:

In middle school biology, we did an experiment. We were given yams, which we would sprout in cups of water. We then had to make hypotheses about how the yams would grow, based on descriptions of yam plants in our books, and make notes of our observations as they grew.

Here’s what was supposed to happen: we were supposed to see that the actual growth of the plant did not resemble our hypotheses. We were then supposed to figure out that these were, in fact, sweet potatoes.

What actually happened was that every single student in every single class lied in their notes so that their observations perfectly matched their hypotheses. See, everyone assumed the mismatch meant they had done something wrong in the process of growing the plant or that they had misunderstood the dichotomous key or the plant identification terminology. And, thanks to the wonders of a public school education, everyone assumed the wrong results would get us a failing grade. We were trying to pass. We didn’t want to get bitched out by the teacher. Curiosity, learning, science - that had nothing to do with why we were sitting in that classroom. So we all lied.

The teacher was furious. She tried to fail every student, but the administration stepped in and told her she wasn’t allowed to because a 100% fail rate is recognized as a failure of the teacher, not the class. It wasn’t even her fault, really, though her being a notorious hard-ass didn’t help. It was a failure of the entire educational system.

So whenever I see crap like Elizabeth Holmes’s blood test scam or pharmaceutical trials which are unable to be replicated or industry-funded research that reaches wildly unscientific conclusions, I just remember those fucking sweet potatoes. I remember that curiosity dies when people are just trying to give their superiors the “right” answers, so they can get the grade, get the job, get the paycheck. It’s not about truth when it’s about paying rent. There’s no scientific integrity if you can’t control for human desperation.

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Cats painting studies by Paul Rabaud

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i forgot how fucking hilarious "informational" mental health diagrams can be.

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2006-2007

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Keith Haring drawing in the New York City subway, 1983.

Photos by Makoto Murata

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airplane i made 4 my friend

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some of y'all have to get more normal about butches bottoming or subbing. they are gender neutral acts that don't make anyone less masculine or less butch. with the exception of the stone butch identity, topping or dominance is not a requirement to be butch. also, stone butches can be submissive. even if someone is a top, it doesn't mean they want to top you.