Icon by @ThatSpookyAgent. Call me Tir or Julian. 37. He/They. Queer. Twitter: @tirlaeyn. ao3: tirlaeyn. 18+ Only. Star Trek. The X-Files. Sandman. IwtV. OMFD. Definitionless in this Strict Atmosphere.
Pugs are not cute. Pugs are malformed, inbred, sick animals that should never have existed.
(Above: pug and wolf skulls. Note the shallow eye sockets, crowded, protruding teeth, and short snout in the pug.)
Dogs pant to cool themselves. As pugs have practically no snouts, they have trouble cooling their bodies and they can suffer from organ failure as a result.
Pugs are often unable to breathe properly due to their short snouts and compact breathing passages. This inhibits their ability to do things that dogs like best - running, chasing things, playing.
Pugs suffer from a mangled jaw from which their teeth grow in all directions.
Because of the distorted shape of their skulls, their eyes commonly pop out of their heads. 60% of prolapsed eyes become blind. Eyes put back in the skull are prone to infection and the dog may need treatment for the rest of their life.
Their eyes are also prone to swelling painfully, becoming scratched, and being irritated by their eyelashes.
When excited, pugs are prone to getting fluid stuck in their throats, making them choke or gasp for breath. This is given the cutesy nick name “reverse sneezing”. [video]
As it can be difficult for pugs to exercise, they are prone to obesity.
Some pugs are born with their nostrils pinched almost shut, making it impossible for them to live without an operation.
The wrinkles on their faces will become infected without constant, careful cleaning by their caretaker.
About 64% of pugs suffer from hip dysplasia (malformed hip sockets) which causes crippling lameness and painful arthritis.
Pugs have a genetic weakness to demodectic mange (a pretty nasty skin condition caused by mites).
Their curled tail makes them susceptible to hemivertibrae - misshapen backbones which cause spine bending and instability, neurological disorders, back leg paralysis, incontinence, and pain.
Pugs are so inbred that a study of ten thousand pugs in the UK had the genetic makeup of only 50 individuals. Inbreeding means that defective genes are more likely to be expressed and passed on to offspring.
Necrotizing meningoencephalitis (brain swelling) is common among pugs. Dogs with this condition usually die within a few weeks.
I am so sick of seeing pugs being celebrated. Their small, squashed skulls, facial wrinkles, curled tails, and protruding eyes are actually valued when these characteristics are a cruelty in themselves.
Pugs are charming, sweet, funny little souls and they don’t deserve the bodies humanity has designed for them.
Stop celebrating pugs. Stop buying pugs.
let’s celebrate retro pugs instead
responsible breeders decided they liked the temperament but the health issues were a nightmare, so they fixed them, they bred them out
it’s retro as in before the muzzle was bred out
and look at them
the one on the left is a retromop and the one on the right is a (elderly) pug
they’re healthier, live longer and have all the pug benefits with none of the usual health issues because of the deformed skull
they have longer legs
making exercise easier, and yet maintained most of the pug looks, and yes, they have the pug grin
want a pug - get a retropug or retromop, a healther, happier, and possibly cheaper option
even though I love pugs, it’s important that people know this
Retromops are where it’s at friend. Keep 100% of the pug charm with 0%of the terrible unhealthy inbred deformity.
i didn’t know this about pugs !!!!! poor lil guys. poor lil woof boys
@SaraSoueidan: Dear men, This is how you greet a veiled Muslim woman (a Hijabi). Hand on your chest, not offering to shake hers. 🙋
so prominent BLM activist deray mckesson just retweeted this which i think is super cool for various reasons :)))
I did not know this. Is it OK for a non Muslim woman to shake hands with a Hijabi? Or do we do the hand on chest thing too?@popcanpoli
hey so i don’t wear a hijab and i’m not muslim so i definitely don’t have the authority to answer this question (or any other questions i’ve been getting abt this) (i’m just a lil canadian politics blog i didn’t expect this to blow up lol)
BUT here are some tweets by the original tweeter (who wears a hijab) that clarify some things
one:
two:
three:
This is also good if you’re meeting an Orthodox Jewish person who’s not the same gender as you! Not all Orthodox Jews hold by this restriction, and many consider it a permissible exception to shake hands in a formal greeting context; I’d guess this is parallel to Ms. Soueidan’s last-quoted tweet above. And as that says, the sensible thing is to wait for initiation.
Conversely, please don’t consider it rude if I, as an Orthodox woman, do not extend my hand to shake yours on first meeting you. I will shake hands if someone (male or female) extends theirs; we hold very strictly on not embarrassing the other person, which can be extended to “don’t snub an offered hand when the handshake is considered part of the social contract of the exchange,” such as in a business context. But (even though I am not personally shomeret negiah) it is not my habit to extend my hand. So please don’t take it personally if I don’t initiate handshakes.
I feel terrible whenever I hear my parents talking to each other about our household’s income. We only own a South Asian store, where we sell like spices, henna, frozen Desi foods, hair products, skin products, daal, etc (typical Desi store stuff). That’s our only source of income. It used to be okay-ish back in elementary and middle school, but ever since these American stores started to sell some of these things (at prices higher than their worth), less people have been shopping at our store, hence our income declining.
Please, I’m begging y'all, support your local South Asian stores, and shop there if you need any of those “South Asian” items (if there is a South Asian store near you). At least 60% of the owners are likely going through the same as my parents. Also, I can almost guarantee you’ll save money shopping at the local Desi stores as opposed to stores like Safeway, Vons, Krogers, etc.
for those that may be unfamiliar, here are some neat products you can usually find super cheap at SA stores:
- coconut oil in massive bottles. get that stuff in bulk, it’s exactly the same as the overpriced shit from whole foods or w/e
- cool unique drinks like mango and lychee juice and coconut water with jelly. also limca and thums up, which are soooooo good. trust me.
- super cheap pretty jewelry. maybe not real gold and silver, but you’ll find the same types of bangles and chains that UO constantly rips off for muuuuch cheaper
- sometimes super cheap designer knockoff bags, if that’s your thing lol
- henna! I know there’s a lot of debate over whether this product can be used by non-brown people, but if for whatever reason you’re going to use it (please avoid traditional designs if ur not from a culture that uses it), do yourself a favor and buy yourself tubes of the paste from south asian markets. they’re usually really precise and easy to use, and unless you have an allergy to the plant, better for your skin than those sketchy artificial stick-on stencil messes they sell at hobby lobby or w/e
- henna hair dye too! and other nice hair products like neem oil
- maybe this is just our old local store, but ive seen many pirated (and non-pirated) copies of Bollywood movies on their shelves
- incense!! they usually have nice varieties and also cute holders and candles too
- obviously, there is also lots of great food and produce typically available. Asian desserts and snacks are really unique and fun to try, so check those out too
support local businesses owned by POC and immigrants!!
WARNING - PLEASE READ IF YOU HAVE A PEANUT ALLERGY AND LIKE TO SHMEAR MAKEUP ON YOUR SKIN TO MAKE YOU LOOK AS FLAWLESS AS YOUR PERSONALITY
I am one such an individual, and last night I was super pumped to try this concealer. Out of curiosity I read the ingredients and saw something called arachidyl behenate.
Anything with the root “arachi” such as “arachis oil” is probably peanut related. And, sure enough, I did some research and arachidyl behenate is peanut-derived. Which is the story of how I nearly smushed a deadly food allergen into my skin.
There’s a report here from last year that seems to indicate that some food allergens are neutralized when processed for cosmetics, but I’m not sure that applies for peanuts. And at any rate, they did indicate there was still a risk of a reaction if such proteins weren’t processed properly.
Now, I’m gonna say it outright - I’m not one hundred percent sure that a heavily processed peanut-derived chemical such as arachidyl behenate will cause a reaction. I’ve worn a lot of makeup over the years without checking the ingredients, so I could have easily used a product containing it without knowing. Still, better safe than sorry.
Alternate names for peanut products (anything with the prefix “arachi-” should be considered suspect):
I thought this was really good, so I wanted to share. Some of the images were missing, so I did my best to substitute based on the description.
Since the ancient Maya have been added to the Key Stage 2 national curriculum for History (non-European Study), there’s been a ‘mushrooming’ of online resources covering the topic. Most of which are downright awful!
After the recent flawed news story about a teenager finding a Maya site, I thought it an apt moment to let both teachers who are teaching the Maya as well as the general public know what they need to be looking out for to confirm a resource’s unreliability
Beware!
Here are 10 tell-tale signs that expose unknowledgeable sources
1. The term ‘Mayan’ is used instead of ‘Maya’
The term ‘Mayan’ is ubiquitously used by ill-informed sources: ‘Mayan people’, ‘Mayan pyramids’, ‘Mayan civilisation’…
All Maya specialists -and, for that matter, all non-specialists who’ve read a book or two on the ancient Maya- know that the right word is Maya.
Their calendar is called the ‘Maya calendar’, their civilisation is called the ‘Maya civilisation’, their art is called ‘Maya art’…
The only time you should use the adjective ‘Mayan’ is when you are talking about their languages, the ‘Mayan languages’.
So, if you see ‘Mayan people’, ‘Mayan pyramids, ‘Mayan art’, ‘Mayan civilisation’, etc, on a publication (website or magazine), you can be sure the person who wrote the article doesn’t know a thing about the ancient Maya.
2. The image of the Aztec calendar stone is presented as the Maya calendar
Unscrupulous sources will use the ‘Sun Stone’ to illustrate texts about the Maya calendar.
Using the ‘Sun Stone’ to talk about Maya calendar system is like using photos of theElizabeth Tower at Westminster (AKA ‘Big Ben’), which was completed in 1859, to illustrate time keeping in ancient Rome!
And yes I have even seen this image adorning the front cover of books on the Maya! Beware! Which leads nicely onto point 3-
3. The Maya are identified as the Aztecs
This confusion is very common but the truth is the Aztecs were very different to the Maya. They spoke a different language and had a different writing system.
Also the Maya civilisation began at least 1500 before the Aztecs.
Stating the Maya were the same as the Aztecs, is basically saying that all Europeans are the same, having the same language, culture and beliefs…
Would you like to see an image of Stonehenge on the front cover of a book on the French? I think not!
Then we get the Egyptians….
4. Maya pyramids are said to be similar to Egyptian pyramids
I am afraid not!
Firstly, the ancient Maya and ancient Egyptians lived during different time periods. The time of pyramid building in Egypt was around 2000 years earlier than the earliest Maya pyramid.
Secondly, Egyptian pyramids have a different shape and use to those of the Maya.
Maya pyramids are not actually pyramidal! They have a polygonal base, but their four faces do not meet at a common point like Egyptian pyramids. Maya pyramids were flat and often had a small room built on top.
Pyramids in Egypt were used as tombs for the dead rulers, for the Maya, though the pyramids were mainly used for ceremonies carried out on top and watched from below.
5. It is claimed that the Maya mysteriously disappeared in the 10th century AD
Uninformed sources talk about the ‘mysterious’ disappearance of the ancient Maya around the 10th century AD., which mislead people to think that the Maya disappeared forever….
Firstly, the Maya did not disappear. Around 8 million Maya are still living today in various countries of Central America (Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras); in fact half of the population of Guatemala is Maya.
Although they do not build pyramids like the ancient Maya did, modern Maya still wear similar dress, follow similar rituals and some use the ancient Maya calendar. I am sure they would all like to assure you that they have definitely not disappeared!
We know now that what is called ‘Classic Maya Collapse’ was actually a slow breakdown, followed by a reconstruction, of a number of political, economical and cultural structures in the Maya society.
Archaeologists see cities being abandoned over the course of the 9th, 10th and 11th centuries, and people travelling north into the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico) building new great cities such as Mayapan, which was occupied up until the 15th century.
Secondly, there was nothing mysterious about it! A number of associated factors were at play.
There was a severe drought in the rainforest area that lasted decades, so people moved north where water sources were more easily available. The competition between waring factions and cities for natural resources led to increased warfare. Which, in turn, led to the breakdown of trade networks.
All this was likely exacerbated by political and economical changes in Central Mexico.
So, very much like the French did not disappear after the French Revolution -although they stopped building castles and some big political, economical and cultural changes occurred in the French society- the Maya did not mysteriously disappear around the 10th century.
6. The Maya are portrayed as blood-thirsty sacrifice-loving psychos
The Maya are often portrayed in the media and popular culture as blood-thirsty (see for example Mel Gibson’s 2006 Apocalypto), so the commonly accepted -and oft-repeated- idea is that the Maya carried out lots of sacrifices.
Actually, there is barely any trace of sacrifice in the archaeological record of the Maya area. The rare evidence comes from pictorial representations on ceramics and sculpture.
Warfare amongst the Maya was actually much less bloody than ours and no, they did not use a real skull as a ball in their ballgame! And no the loser was not put to death!
In warfare, they did capture and kill opponents, but it was on a small-scale. Rulers boasted of being “He of five captives” or “He of the three captives”.
The heart sacrifices that were recorded by the Spanish chroniclers were those of the Aztecs.
It is also important to keep in mind that the Spanish Conquistadors had lots of incentives to describe the indigenous people of the Americas as blood-thirsty savages.
It made conquest and enslavement easier to justify (see the Valladolid Debate) so lots of stories were exaggerated.
And who are we to judge when we used to have public spectacles of people being hanged or having their heads chopped off and placed on spikes on London Bridge!
7. The ancient Maya predicted that the world would end on 21 December 2012
The 2012 phenomenon was a range of beliefs that cataclysmic events would trigger then end of our world on December 21st.
This date was regarded as the end-date of a 5,126-year-long cycle in the Maya Long Count calendar and it was said that the ancient Maya had prophesied the event.
This is not true and all Maya people today and Maya specialists know this!
Very much like a century and a millennium ended in the Christian calendar on December 31st 1999, a great cycle of the Maya Long Count -the 13th b’ak’tun– was to end on 21 December 2012.
In Maya time-keeping, a b’ak’tun is a period of roughly 5,125 years.
Only two Maya monuments –Tortuguero Monument 6 and La Corona Hieroglyphic Stairway 12– mention the end of the 13th b’ak’tun. None of them contains any speculation or prophecy as to what would happen at that time.
While the end of the 13th b’ak’tun would perhaps be a cause for celebration, the next day the Maya believed that a new cycle -the 14th b’ak’tun- would begin; much like our New Year’s Eve.
In fact, in the temple of Inscriptions at Palenque, where we find the tomb of King Pakal, it was written that in AD 4772 the people would be celebrating the anniversary of the coronation of their new King Pakal!
8. The Maya are described as primitive people
The Maya created an incredible civilization in the rainforest where it is extremely humid, with lots of bugs and dangerous animals and little water.
There they built spectacular temples, pyramids and palaces without the use of metal tools, the wheel, or any pack animals, such as the donkey, ox or elephant.
The Maya were the only civilization in the whole of the Americas to develop a complete writing system like ours.
They were only one of two cultures in the world to develop the zero in their number system and so were able to make advanced calculations and became great astronomers.
The Maya were extremely advanced in painting and making sculptures, they played the earliest team sport in the world and most importantly, for me anyway, is that we have the ancient Maya to thank for chocolate!
So no, they were definitely not primitive!
The problem with this view of the ancient Maya is that their achievements are then explained by the help of Extra-terrestrial beings or other civilisations.
9. The great achievements of the Maya are in thanks to the Olmecs
This myth of the Olmecs being a ‘mother culture’ to the Maya and other cultures in Mesoamerica had been questioned over 20 years ago and has been long put to rest.
Excavations have shown that they were many other cultures, other than the Olmec living in Mesoamerica before the Maya and that rather than a ‘mother culture’ we should be looking at ‘sister cultures’ all influencing each other.
Furthermore, Maya achievements in hieroglyphic writing and calendrics which no other culture in Mesoamerica had seen or used, indicate that they were much more innovators than adopters.
So, if the resource mentions the above, then it is obvious that they are not specialists and are using redundant information written over 20 years ago.
10. Chichen Itza is used as the quintessential Maya site
Chichen Itza was inhabited quite late during the Maya time period, about 1400 years after the first Maya city and is not purely Maya.
The city was quite cosmopolitan and was greatly influenced by Central Mexico, particularly the Toltecs, who may have lived there.
Therefore, its architecture and art -such as the ‘chacmools‘ or the ‘tzompantli‘ (AKA ‘skull-racks’) actually are Central Mexican, and not Maya, features.
A much better example of a typical Maya city would be Tikal, which was occupied for more than 1500 years.
So, if all you see on a website is about Chichen Itza, chances are this is not a reliable source of information about the ancient Maya and your ‘charlatan alarm-bells’ should go off!
while “latinx” as a word does come from “latin”, as a label to identify latin-americans and those of latin-american ancestry living outside of the continent, it was coined by diasporic latinxs living in the united states in opposition to the label “hispanic”. so, while etymologically it does come from europe, historically it’s a word that represents a resistance movement and actively rejects colonialist and imperialist influence, strongly tied to the latinoamericanista and chicanx movements.
european countries are not latinx. spain/italy/portugal were referred to as “latin” in medieval times, but that term is obsolete. they are romantic countries/countries who speak romantic languages.
latinx as an ethnic label was specifically created by diasporic latinxs in the united states to oppose the “hispanic” label. europeans without latin-american ancestry have no right to the label “latinx”, and saying that a language has latin roots is not the same that saying that a person is latinx.
also: there are plenty of people who don’t use latinx for a myriad of reasons.
certain indigenous movements and indigenous people reject “latinx”. labels like chicanx, tainx and indigenous/aboriginal/native are only for people of those respective groups.
caribbean people (haitians, jamaicans, dominicans) are latinx, but some might not self-identify as such or prioritize “caribbean” as an identity.
some latinxs (specially those living in the US) do self-identify as hispanic and they have a right to do so individually, but they still shouldn’t apply that label to others.
latinxs living in latin-america often identify first with their nationality and/or race, and keep the “latinx” label for political discussions or for international contexts.
as a rule, latinx and latin-american should be the go-to words when speaking about groups/in general, but in personal conversation you should ask what each person prefers.
This summer’s gonna be a SCORCHER. Grab an ice cube tray, some aloe vera and get to freezing with this tip from truTV’s HACK MY LIFE!
((OK, I keep seeing this, and I can’t stay quiet.
THIS IS A HORRIBLE IDEA. NEVER, EVER, EVER PUT ICE DIRECTLY ON A BURN. And yes, sunburns count as burns.
You see, when your skin is damaged by a burn, the big idea is to prevent further damage. Now, when you burn yourself on a heat source, such as a stove, you’re told to put cool water on it, to remove the latent heat and stop further heat damage to the tissue. BUT NOT ICE. You see, ice is TOO cold. It actually causes FURTHER damage to the skin! This same principle applies even to sunburns, which are technically radiation burns - so there is no need to remove latent heat. (Yes, UV light is radiation.)
You actually even want to be careful about cooling the burn too much - cold causes vasoconstriction, tightening of the blood vessels, when prevents needed blood flow to the injured area. So, aloe ice cubes could be healing through a washcloth - which negates the purpose of making them aloe - or possibly as a topical agent, which means they shouldn’t be ice. BUT ALOE ICE CUBES ARE JUST A BAD IDEA.
This soapbox brought to you by first aid classes and biology.))
Thank you! What poster above me said!! This is bad and dangerous!
quick reminder to all of you who take prescribed antidepressants, antianxolants, etc. Please, please, stay cool this summer. It is incredibly important that you remain hydrated and in the shade as much as possible to avoid overheating. Your meds can increase your body temperature. If you feel faint, get inside, lie down, and drink a glass of ice water. Your body is a lovely muffin that’s at that perfect stage of golden brown. DO NOT cook yourself.
Wait. Antidepressants can make you overheat more quickly??? This makes so much sense, wow..
