Brain Detritus

what's rattling around in there
mind-cave: lord-kitschener: artfis: The Invisible Borders That Define American Culture One of the clearest regional differences in the U.S. can found by tracking the words people use to refer to soft drinks, which is in fact the map you saw at the top of this story. Pop or soda, or even Coke, these small linguistic differences are not as small as we might think. While “soda” commands the Northeast and West Coast (green) and “pop” is in between (black), “Coke” reigns in the south (turquoise). These small distinctions can often act as touchstones for larger cultural differences. Read more. [Image: Samuel Arbesman] Sodaaaaaaaa Soy de California y eso es cómo lo hacemos. If you, for any reason, need to get a group of Americans to fight each other to the death, simply ask them all what carbonated soft drinks are called. They’ll be ripping each other’s spleens out in minutes. I remember a college class that devolved into chaos over this issue, with someone openly weeping, ‘It’s called POP, you fucking jerks.’ (It’s soda.) Brb, dying. YES! It is definitely soda. I think I must have gotten that from my step-mother though, since she’s from Maine.

mind-cave:

lord-kitschener:

artfis:

The Invisible Borders That Define American Culture

One of the clearest regional differences in the U.S. can found by tracking the words people use to refer to soft drinks, which is in fact the map you saw at the top of this story. Pop or soda, or even Coke, these small linguistic differences are not as small as we might think. While “soda” commands the Northeast and West Coast (green) and “pop” is in between (black), “Coke” reigns in the south (turquoise). These small distinctions can often act as touchstones for larger cultural differences.

Read more. [Image: Samuel Arbesman]

Sodaaaaaaaa

Soy de California

y eso es cómo lo hacemos.

If you, for any reason, need to get a group of Americans to fight each other to the death, simply ask them all what carbonated soft drinks are called. They’ll be ripping each other’s spleens out in minutes.

I remember a college class that devolved into chaos over this issue, with someone openly weeping, ‘It’s called POP, you fucking jerks.’ (It’s soda.)

Brb, dying.

YES! It is definitely soda. I think I must have gotten that from my step-mother though, since she’s from Maine.

I’ve been seeing lots of posts and heard lots of conversation about strange/funny things people have been seeing/experiencing at Wal-Mart.

geekcounselor:

feministsbakecupcakestoo:

Why the fuck are you at Wal-Mart in the first place???

Unless you live in a fucking small-ass town with no other option around you should not be at fucking Wal-Mart.

Wow… I usually love everything you post so I feel kind of weird about calling you out on this, but the whole “fuck walmart” sentiment completely ignores the reality of socioeconomic oppression, food desserts, and poverty. 

There are a lot of things wrong with Walmart. Having worked there for two years while I was in college, I saw and experienced a lot of Walmart’s problems first hand. Although it can’t be proven, I’m fairly sure that my gender kept me from getting a promotion. I also worked a Customer Service Manager position for nine months while being paid a cashier’s wage because of some bullshit loophole in their pay grade system. Because I was part time, I wasn’t eligible for medical insurance until I’d been there a year, and I was never eligible for the dental insurance I really needed. 

On the other hand, Walmart gave me a job that I desperately needed. It was 2008 and we were just experiencing the beginning of the stock-market crash and the recession. Nowhere was hiring and just lost my home because my parents’s house had been foreclosed on. Walmart hired me when no one else was hiring, and because of my job there I was able to go back to college and finish my degree. 

I did live in a fairly small town, though it wouldn’t be accurate to say that there were “no other choices”. The town had a few grocery stores, a K-mart, and plenty of small businesses. However, my home town was also a place full of poverty. A good majority of the customers I saw every day simple couldn’t afford to shop anywhere else, and before Walmart came to town they were barely scrapping by and often doing without. 

About a year into working at Walmart our store was closed so that a bigger one could be opened in the neighboring town. Every day people (especially the elderly and the poor) would lament to me that they wished we weren’t moving, because they weren’t sure where they would be able to get their basic supplies and there was no transit system to get them to the new store. Fortunately our town updated public transit so they could get there, but for about six months I listened to people tell me why they needed a walmart in their neighboorhood. When we finally opened the new store it was an upgrade from a standard Walmart to a supercenter with a full grocery. The prices of the food were so much better than the other grocery stores in town that people would just gush their excitement to me as they went through the checkout. People told me over and over again how exciting it was to be able to afford fresh food that had been out of their budget before. 

So if you’re privileged enough that you can shop somewhere other than Walmart, then by all means please do. But please keep in mind that it is a privilege to be able to choose where you shop rather than just going to the absolute least expensive store around so that you can make your food stamps stretch a little further. And stop looking down on people who do shop at Walmart, because it doesn’t make you sound like a socially conscious shopper. It just makes you sound like a jerk who isn’t aware of their privilege. 

Thank you for this. I always hear people bitching about Walmart, but that’s where I  can afford to shop.

I live in a town where you choose between Walmart and the one other grocery chain in the area, which is a local chain with higher prices. We don’t have a Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods. In fact, you’d have to drive about 150 miles to get to one of those. Walmart on the other hand, is right across the street from where I live.

I’m not going to feel bad about shopping where I can afford the prices. I’m going to take a discount where I can, especially since my wife is the only one working right now, and if that means shopping at Walmart, that’s damn sure what I’m going to do.

sploops: never hoped to read the words “the suspect was HIGH AS FUCK ON PCP” more in my life… Omg same.

sploops:

never hoped to read the words “the suspect was HIGH AS FUCK ON PCP” more in my life…

Omg same.

(Source: imariddle)

voguefemme asked: FUN FACT: I was a bouncer at TWO very popular Gay Bars. Yes, Butch Bear Queen, yours truly. I wielded a large Mag Lite to full effect. So, one night, a limo pulls up. A gaudy, red interior, white exterior, OLD Lincoln limo. Out pour at least ten women, like a clown car just with terrible outfits. Even clowns knew better than to buy everything at Contempo Casuals. They were escorted out after three patrons complained of being hit with their purses. Those boys were NOT having it.

I love it. 

A butch queen with a mag lite gets shit done.

BACHELORETTE PARTY AT A GAY BAR

girl-non-grata:

braindetritus:

girl-non-grata:

thebostongays:

I will never ever understand this. First off, girls, whether you realize it or not, you’re flaunting the fact that you can get married, right in the face of a community that is denied marital rights. Secondly, you’re having a bachelorette party at a gay bar for the novelty of it, like it’s a circus act or something, and you might not intend it but that’s pretty insulting.

But, really, it says a lot about binary gender roles that straight bachelors go get lap dances while their brides awkwardly shuffle in a circle around their purses at a gay bar (usually with drinks in their hands on the dancefloor, sloshing booze all over anyone looking fabulous — stop doing that, ladies).

If I get hitched again, the bachelorette party will be in a penthouse suite with strippers and blow. I won’t be happy unless I wake up in a bathtub, naked, covered in baby oil and glitter.

Thank you. I hate this.

Shanna and I went to S4 in Dallas a couple of months ago for a drag show and a bunch of girls showed up for a bachelorette party. They were SO fucking obnoxious. They had to be told repeatedly that it wasn’t okay to grope the drag queens, and they almost got their asses kicked out. Then they acted all pissy because their fun was being ruined. (Although the bride did get read to filth by one of the queens about coming to a gay club and basically flaunting her straight privilege. She almost cried. It was great.)

It’s not that I don’t want straight people in gay clubs if they want to be there. Just show some damn respect. It’s not a petting zoo or a sideshow, and gay people aren’t accessories who are just there to make sure you have a good time. 

See, I think drag shows are okay for bachelorette parties, or any groups, because they’re SUPPOSED TO BE performances and they’re SUPPOSED TO BE entertainment. That’s different than going to a gay bar like it’s a side show act for your amusement. However, I think it depends on the bar. Jacque’s is a drag bar in Boston that does drag shows every night of the week; on Fridays, a portion of the show caters to bachelorette parties (and birthday parties) that attend. Half of the people who go to shows at Jacque’s are straight, really — but, again, it’s specifically a drag bar. In contrast, when I saw Jackie Beat at a GAY BAR, she totally read shade on a bachelorette party (that showed up late and interrupted the show without apology) and she gave them shit for coming to a gay bar for their last hurrah. She said, “Unless you’re looking for a stylist for your wedding, honey, you’re in the wrong place.”

It’s not that I don’t think drag shows are okay for bachelorette parties. I mean, you’re right, it is a show and they are actually entertaining on purpose. It’s just that it seems like the majority of the people who act like assholes in gay bars and at shows are straight girls who are with bachelorette parties. They were the only ones who had to be told to stop trying to feel up the drag queens.

I’m having a hard time articulating this, I guess. It was just something about the way they were behaving. It’s not like they were having fun and enjoying the show like everyone else. They had sort of a collective attitude of entitlement in their group, and were really pissed when they were asked to stop grabbing people. The drag queens are there to entertain, yes, but if they ask you to stop grabbing their ass, you stop. Not these girls, though. It was like they didn’t see the entertainers or anyone else as people, and that’s what made me angry.

(Source: sourcrumb)

BACHELORETTE PARTY AT A GAY BAR

girl-non-grata:

thebostongays:

I will never ever understand this. First off, girls, whether you realize it or not, you’re flaunting the fact that you can get married, right in the face of a community that is denied marital rights. Secondly, you’re having a bachelorette party at a gay bar for the novelty of it, like it’s a circus act or something, and you might not intend it but that’s pretty insulting.

But, really, it says a lot about binary gender roles that straight bachelors go get lap dances while their brides awkwardly shuffle in a circle around their purses at a gay bar (usually with drinks in their hands on the dancefloor, sloshing booze all over anyone looking fabulous — stop doing that, ladies).

If I get hitched again, the bachelorette party will be in a penthouse suite with strippers and blow. I won’t be happy unless I wake up in a bathtub, naked, covered in baby oil and glitter.

Thank you. I hate this.

Shanna and I went to S4 in Dallas a couple of months ago for a drag show and a bunch of girls showed up for a bachelorette party. They were SO fucking obnoxious. They had to be told repeatedly that it wasn’t okay to grope the drag queens, and they almost got their asses kicked out. Then they acted all pissy because their fun was being ruined. (Although the bride did get read to filth by one of the queens about coming to a gay club and basically flaunting her straight privilege. She almost cried. It was great.)

It’s not that I don’t want straight people in gay clubs if they want to be there. Just show some damn respect. It’s not a petting zoo or a sideshow, and gay people aren’t accessories who are just there to make sure you have a good time. 

(Source: sourcrumb)

geekcounselor:

mister-dinosaur:

audiodopexx:

youngbadmanbrown:

ragingsocialist:

reallyfoxnews:

Posted without comment.

YOU CAN ONLY BE POOR IF YOU ARE FREEZING COLD YOU ONLY DRINK MUD AND ALL YOUR FOOD IS ROTTEN

These dumb motherfuckers

why is poor in quotes

How dare “poor” people act like they have a right to keep cool in the summer.

How dare I have a refrigerator!

The air conditioning rate seems high, actually. Maybe it’s regional. It rarely gets above 95 here so a lot of houses don’t have air conditioning. Our rental doesn’t, but we finally broke down and got a cheap window unit so we can survive the really hot days. 

It probably is regional. Where I live in Texas, the temperature regularly gets up to and sometimes above 110 degrees for a good part of the summer. It’s rare to find a home here without at least some type of air conditioning, even if it’s just a window unit, and it’s really hard to get through the summer without one.

I used to work for Meals on Wheels, and when I would go into a home where there was only a small window unit running or where nothing was running, it would be so stifling hot, even with all of the windows open and fans going.

Unfortunately this is the time of year when we start seeing cases of (mostly) elderly people dying in their homes because their bodies just can’t take the weather, but they can’t afford to cool their homes.

unicornempire:

Yeah, I’m going to have to say you’re still just not getting it.

The point is not to play the safety blame-game. You’re looking at a single, hypothetical situation. My original disgust was at a man who would blame his daughter for getting raped in any situation. You’re blaming the victim for the crime that was forced upon them. Don’t you see that’s a little fucked up?

You still haven’t even once said anything about why men shouldn’t rape. You’ve never acknowledged that men shouldn’t rape, or that maybe women should be allowed to be falling down drunk in public and not have their bodies violated by men. That is what I’m saying. Anyone, women too, should be allowed to be naked in a park and passed out, and they still do not deserve to get raped. Men do not have that right to peoples’ bodies, end of story.

You say you would maybe press charges against the man who rapes your daughter, but then you’d for sure ground her until she’s 40, punishing her for something that she did not ask for. Oh, but then you say, why didn’t she protect herself better, or not make those choices to be alone and get drunk? Well, that implication is that somewhere in your brain you’re thinking - A woman goes alone, gets drunk, gets raped, it’s her fault because she was asking for it. No. A woman is not asking to be raped no matter what situation she puts herself in. 

Perhaps you should be examining why you’re so quick to defend victim blaming when it comes to rape. No one ever seems to really blame rapists for rape, we’ve only just started to lean away from media and advertising that tells women ‘Hey, you should work harder at not getting raped’, and even still it’s not very much as of yet.

You know what? Rape has always been around. When women were wearing full dresses that covered them from neck to toe, they still got raped. When women were all ultra-pure and wearing Quaker Frocks, they were still getting raped. When women do everything they can to be safe, they still get raped. I’m really tired of people acting like we’re just not working hard enough to be safe, because the fact of the matter is, maybe fewer men should be rapists, and maybe if men stopped defending rapists by blaming women, we’d have less of a rape-accepting culture.

Your simple argument of trying to pin some of the blame on the victim in a situation that she didn’t want is clear evidence of a very strong rape culture. Just… Sit and think about it for a minute. If you went to a party and got totally shit faced and wasted, and blacked out, and found out that a guy had stripped you naked in a back room and fucked  you against your will, and then your parents blamed you for it and said “Well son, you really should have been more careful. You should have had a friend, and you definitely shouldn’t have been drinking that much. We might press charges, but you’re definitely grounded. Be more careful next time, really, you were asking for it.” How do you think you would feel?

Now instead of it just being your parents, imagine it’s -everyone-. All of society thinks that it’s your fault, all the time, for something that someone else did to you. Does that even make sense, still? Does it compute? Because it’s baffling to me how anyone could think that. It really, sincerely is. And do try and really imagine the scenario, how it would make you feel, if you’re sincere in your quest for understanding this situation.

All of this. Thank you. 

(Source: postsecret.com)