Observations of an anomaly

columns that aren’t

“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

— Teddy Roosevelt (via m-w-9-2)

(via hope-infinitely)

inbonobo:

“If you can’t say something good about someone, sit right here by me.” Alice Roosevelt Longworth (1884–1980), daughter of Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States

Alice enjoyed shocking people, a characteristic which remained over her long life. When she was first daughter, a guest in the President’s office, annoyed by Alice’s frequent interruptions, demanded that Alice be disciplined. Roosevelt sighed and said, “I can either run the country or I can control Alice. I cannot possibly do both.” The media loved this presidential wild child. They dubbed her Princess Alice, and the attractive young woman was the source of songs, poems, even a color (Alice Blue). When her father banned her from smoking in the White House, she went to the roof to puff away. She bragged about setting speed records in her friend’s roadster, as they drove around the Northeast unchaperoned. While representing her father on an official government junket to the Far East, she literally made a splash by jumping into the ship’s pool fully dressed. Hardly scandalous these days, but her antics were quite newsworthy at the turn of the century. She married a playboy Congressman from Ohio, Nicholas Longworth. It was not a happy marriage by any accounts, but it kept Alice in Washington, where she became a fixture in the Congressional and Senate galleries. She was staunchly Republican, and there is some debate to how much she worked behind the scenes to kill Wilson’s League of Nations. She denied it, but her father and Wilson were great enemies, and after her father’s death, Alice seemed determined to make sure her father’s idealisms be carried out. During the debates surrounding the League of Nations, Alice invited Senators to her home to meet informally with other Senators who opposed the League. She hosted late night pow-wows of the group fighting the League on the Senate floor. And she was in the gallery the day it was defeated. After her husband’s death, Alice remained in Washington and became known as “the other Washington monument.” Her home was a salon, full of politicians, writers, movie stars — anyone who kept her entertained. She kept a pillow on her sofa with the following phrase embroidered on it: “If you don’t have anything nice to say, come sit by me.” She loved gossip, and while she denied ever creating them, many one-line quips are credited to her, such as “Coolidge looks like he was weaned on a pickle.” She had one daughter, Paulina, with whom she had a strained relationship. After Paulina’s death, Alice fought for — and won — custody of her granddaughter, Joanna, giving her a second chance at motherhood. Alice died in 1980, at the age of 96. (via Alice Roosevelt Longworth Biography)

(via hope-infinitely)

“You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you’ll escape it one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present.”

— John Green (via peachnaked)

(Source: fucklovedarling, via hope-infinitely)

(Source: -photosets, via thepandacat)

artactually:

For my 1000th post I wanted to post something more near and dear to heart.

I am female and I like video games. A few years ago I first discovered online gaming and the world it opened up. I was so excited to play with other people, so happy to find people who liked what I liked.

The things written here are just a few of the things other gamers have said to me without provocation while playing online. Sometimes I spoke up. Sometimes I didn’t. But no matter what I did, chances are the next game would be exactly the same. If I didn’t make a big deal of it, the teasing and insults continued nonstop. If I spoke up, I’m “too sensitive”, a label that once again circled back to me being female. Eventually I stopped playing, no matter how much I loved the game.

This is by no means true of all male gamers. There are plenty of civil, polite male gamers out there, but the others outnumber them, or rather it seems that way because they are more vocal. Like in many areas of life, women have to defend, justify, or prove ourselves just because we are women. This should not be the case, especially when it comes to something that’s supposed to be recreational. Supposed to be fun.

You like to play. So do we. And we like to play with you. Don’t be mean to us, or insult us, or make assumptions about us just because we’re girls.

(via magichuenicorn)

in The Doctor’s timeline, the events of The Angels Take Manhattan happened before The Power of Three

(Source: astrangecall, via intoxicatingvenom)

thisismyoneroomdisco:

adventurerscelebrationgathering:

Tell ‘em.

I dedicate this little number to all those who like to say Disney princesses are nothing but passive, submissive, and horrible role models.

Bless this post.

(via magichuenicorn)

“Did you know, you can quit your job, you can leave university? You aren’t legally required to have a degree, it’s a social pressure and expectation, not the law, and no one is holding a gun to your head. You can sell your house, you can give up your apartment, you can even sell your vehicle, and your things that are mostly unnecessary. You can see the world on a minimum wage salary, despite the persisting myth, you do not need a high paying job. You can leave your friends (if they’re true friends they’ll forgive you, and you’ll still be friends) and make new ones on the road. You can leave your family. You can depart from your hometown, your country, your culture, and everything you know. You can sacrifice. You can give up your $5.00 a cup morning coffee, you can give up air conditioning, frequent consumption of new products. You can give up eating out at restaurants and prepare affordable meals at home, and eat the leftovers too, instead of throwing them away. You can give up cable TV, Internet even. This list is endless. You can sacrifice climbing up in the hierarchy of careers. You can buck tradition and others’ expectations of you. You can triumph over your fears, by conquering your mind. You can take risks. And most of all, you can travel. You just don’t want it enough. You want a degree or a well-paying job or to stay in your comfort zone more. This is fine, if it’s what your heart desires most, but please don’t envy me and tell me you can’t travel. You’re not in a famine, in a desert, in a third world country, with five malnourished children to feed. You probably live in a first world country. You have a roof over your head, and food on your plate. You probably own luxuries like a cellphone and a computer. You can afford the $3.00 a night guest houses of India, the $0.10 fresh baked breakfasts of Morocco, because if you can afford to live in a first world country, you can certainly afford to travel in third world countries, you can probably even afford to travel in a first world country. So please say to me, “I want to travel, but other things are more important to me and I’m putting them first”, not, “I’m dying to travel, but I can’t”, because I have yet to have someone say they can’t, who truly can’t. You can, however, only live once, and for me, the enrichment of the soul that comes from seeing the world is worth more than a degree that could bring me in a bigger paycheck, or material wealth, or pleasing society. Of course, you must choose for yourself, follow your heart’s truest desires, but know that you can travel, you’re only making excuses for why you can’t. And if it makes any difference, I have never met anyone who has quit their job, left school, given up their life at home, to see the world, and regretted it. None. Only people who have grown old and regretted never traveling, who have regretted focusing too much on money and superficial success, who have realized too late that there is so much more to living than this.”

— Wunderkammer: Did You Know (via de-licacy)

(via headlessdragoon)

relationboats:

rollerskater:

yaya this is my art major thing with the three layers put together. weee
my art teacher still doesnt like it though fookin’ hell.

is she fucking joking though