Benjamin Sapiens

May 25, 2012

joetheblogger:

is it just me or does that helmet seem more spacious in there than it should be?

The Iron Man suit is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.
You guys.
The Iron Man suit … is a TARDIS.
It’s the only explanation.
Either that, or it’s just a visual conceit which lets the audience see both Tony’s face and the suit’s cool heads-up display at the same time.
In order for the shot to be spatially accurate, they’d have to zoom in to within a centimeter or two of his face and show the graphics superimposed over his eyeballs, and that would have been much less cool, not to mention a bit disconcerting. Basically this shot shows us an exploded cross-section of the suit.
Well, either that, or Tony Stark is a Time Lord.

is it just me or does that helmet seem more spacious in there than it should be?

The Iron Man suit is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.

You guys.

The Iron Man suit … is a TARDIS.

It’s the only explanation.

Either that, or it’s just a visual conceit which lets the audience see both Tony’s face and the suit’s cool heads-up display at the same time.

In order for the shot to be spatially accurate, they’d have to zoom in to within a centimeter or two of his face and show the graphics superimposed over his eyeballs, and that would have been much less cool, not to mention a bit disconcerting. Basically this shot shows us an exploded cross-section of the suit.

Well, either that, or Tony Stark is a Time Lord.

(Source: ignitetheliight)

10:54pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/Z6gpvwM8-mSA

(Notes: 939)

May 17, 2012

matuska:

therhumboogie:

By Adrián Villar Rojas, a most fascinating environmental sculpture, a to scale blue whale situated in Ushuaia, Ukraine. The subtle addition of the tree stumps to make it look like it is already being assimilated by nature, brilliant touch.

this is really creeping me out

i think i’m scared of whales or something.

9:48pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/Z6gpvwLgnFGy

(Notes: 12,892)

May 10, 2012

sonofbaldwin:

Would he have been arrested on the spot? Would the cops have believed self-defense? Would the teenager be villianized? Would the murderer be out on bail? Would ANY of that have gone down differently if Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman looked like this?

If you look at this and you still fail to understand that every single part of this tragedy is dripping with good old-fashioned all-American Jim Crow-style anti-black racism, then you’re a fantastically ignorant bone fide racist.

9:13pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/Z6gpvwLFs5bw

(Notes: 1,733)

May 9, 2012

He’s making a smart move here, but he’s also - finally - doing the right thing. Welcome to the right side of history, Mr. President.

10:23pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/Z6gpvwLCT0Qc

May 8, 2012

North Carolinians, we need to have a talk.

bohemianarthouse:

dank-potion:

You seem to be confused.

A marriage is a legal secular contract that two individuals have with the state which affords them basic rights they wouldn’t be able to attain otherwise. These rights are, but not limited to (as stated here):

Filing joint income tax returns with the IRS and state taxing authorities.

Creating a “family partnership” under federal tax laws, which allows you to divide business income among family members.

Inheriting a share of your spouse’s estate.

Receiving an exemption from both estate taxes and gift taxes for all property you give or leave to your spouse.

Creating life estate trusts that are restricted to married couples, including QTIP trusts, QDOT trusts, and marital deduction trusts.

Obtaining priority if a conservator needs to be appointed for your spouse — that is, someone to make financial and/or medical decisions on your spouse’s behalf.

Receiving Social Security, Medicare, and disability benefits for spouses.

Receiving veterans’ and military benefits for spouses, such as those for education, medical care, or special loans.

Receiving public assistance benefits.

Obtaining insurance benefits through a spouse’s employer.

Taking family leave to care for your spouse during an illness.

Receiving wages, workers’ compensation, and retirement plan benefits for a deceased spouse.

Taking bereavement leave if your spouse or one of your spouse’s close relatives dies.

Visiting your spouse in a hospital intensive care unit or during restricted visiting hours in other parts of a medical facility.

Making medical decisions for your spouse if he or she becomes incapacitated and unable to express wishes for treatment.

Consenting to after-death examinations and procedures.

Making burial or other final arrangements.

Filing for stepparent or joint adoption.

Applying for joint foster care rights.

Receiving equitable division of property if you divorce.

Receiving spousal or child support, child custody, and visitation if you divorce.

Living in neighborhoods zoned for “families only.”

Automatically renewing leases signed by your spouse.

Receiving family rates for health, homeowners’, auto, and other types of insurance.

Receiving tuition discounts and permission to use school facilities.

Other consumer discounts and incentives offered only to married couples or families.

Suing a third person for wrongful death of your spouse and loss of consortium (loss of intimacy).

Suing a third person for offenses that interfere with the success of your marriage, such as alienation of affection and criminal conversation (these laws are available in only a few states).

Claiming the marital communications privilege, which means a court can’t force you to disclose the contents of confidential communications between you and your spouse during your marriage.

Receiving crime victims’ recovery benefits if your spouse is the victim of a crime.

Obtaining immigration and residency benefits for non-citizen spouse.

Visiting rights in jails and other places where visitors are restricted to immediate family.

This isn’t about religion. This isn’t about the church. This isn’t about your personal feelings regarding other people’s lifestyles. None of that matters here. These are fundamental rights that should be available to every lawful, consensual partnership, regardless of your personal grievances.

Stop being assholes, thanks.

all the other states that banned same-sex marriage need to learn this also *cough, Ohio, cough*

11:30pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/Z6gpvwL8v-w7

(Notes: 625)

May 6, 2012

laughterkey:

monday-friday:

Kids, back in 2012, your Aunt Robin wanted to do something more with her life. So she took her love of guns to an organization called S.H.I.E.L.D. and fought alongside the Avengers.

Now, your Uncle Barney and I took it pretty hard; she was getting to spend a lot of time with another billionaire playboy, this guy named Tony Stark. Your Uncle Barney almost went crazy when he found out the guy had a metal suit.

“It shoots fireballs, Ted! He looks like a freakin’ storm trooper!”

Then your Uncle Barney decided to fight back.

(via wilwheaton)

10:22pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/Z6gpvwL1PWIl

(Notes: 34,485)

April 29, 2012

Neat Nature Facts

fakescience:

(via saturniinae)

9:52pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/Z6gpvwKb0fu8

(Notes: 13,894)

April 27, 2012

Last year I took part in the St. Baldrick’s fundraiser put on by our UMaine Circle K by shaving my head to raise money against childhood cancer. It was an incredible success. We had 119 people shave their heads on Maine Day last year, and we raised a total of $14,363 for research toward a cure for childhood caner - which was incredible, considering that our original goal was $2,000.

We held another fundraiser this year, and I shaved my head again this past Wednesday. The novelty of the event had worn off, unfortunately, and it wasn’t the same runaway success it was last year. Still, we managed to raise over $9,000 and we had about 100 people shave their heads, so we were more than happy with the results. Personally, I had more success raising money this year than last year. A year ago, I got $85 in donations for shaving my head; this year, I got $110. A huge thanks to everyone who sent donations my way, I really appreciate the support. If anyone still wants to make a contribution, you can head over to my St. Baldrick’s page and make a donation there.

Here are some pictures of the event. I’ve posted these and a few more over here. You can also watch a news report from WABI TV 5 and WLBZ 2, and the Bangor Daily News’ top picture of the day for Wednesday features me (well, not my face, but most of the rest of me is there).

12:38pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/Z6gpvwKTtUa7

Filed under: St. Baldrick's UMaine Circke K Maine Day 2012 bald head shaving childhood cancer fundraiser benefit

April 23, 2012

So, I read an article on BuzzFeed about the Romney/Obama Doggate “scandal” and then got involved in a struggle to balance the deluge of comments left by conservatrolls (gleefully oblivious to the fact that “turnaround is fair play” doesn’t apply when the turnaround is a false equivalency) with some sanity-based counterpoints.

There was one particularly determined troll leading the attack with all the dignity and cleverness of a four-year-old teasing one of his siblings:

After a while it occurred to me that his name seemed familiar. I googled it and I realized that this childish little twit was none other than the hack excuse for a columnist at The Daily Caller who “broke” this “story” last week.

That’s right: the only reason this “Obama ate a dog!!111!1!!” nonsense has been floating through our national dialogue this past week is because it got dredged up and published in a right-wing tabloid by some little twerp with an image of Breitbart on a piece of toast as his Facebook profile picture who’s paid to act as a travesty of a journalist and who’s now trolling this article on BuzzFeed.

This, America, is why we can’t have nice things.

Also, he personally insulted me responded to one of my comments, which is the closest I’ve come to interacting with a famous person since Stephen King’s family sat at a table across from our at Mama Baldacci’s a few years ago.