Accio birthday cake!
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The friendship continues.
In this photo the humans are turned around, but in a human pyramid, usually the humans are facing forward, that is if you are standing in front of them.
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And you should use it as a template for all sandwiches from here on out.
James Ransom/Food52 / Via food52.com
Equal parts simple to make and versatile to eat, it's the ideal blank canvas for your sandwich dreams.
James Ransom/Food52 / Via food52.com
Tortas are traditionally made on rolls — like telera, bolillo or birote. The roll should have a nice crust, but not be overly crisp.
James Ransom/Food52 / Via food52.com
Food companies are taking artificial additives out of food to suit consumers’ changing tastes. But “natural” doesn’t necessarily mean “better,” scientists say.
Matt Rourke / AP
This spring, some of America's biggest fast-food chains proudly announced that their menus were going natural, a change that would ripple through tens of thousands of restaurants nationwide.
Panera committed to removing artificial additives and banned more than 150 ingredients from its menu. Taco Bell and Pizza Hut — both owned by Yum Brands — followed with their own plans to nix artificial ingredients. Subway, the country's biggest chain with 27,200 stores, declared that it too would no longer serve foods with artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. Papa John's jumped in to advertise its long-held policy of using "clean" ingredients. And Chipotle, which helped to pioneer the healthy fast-food movement, announced it would switch to a natural tortilla.
Meanwhile, in supermarkets, giant food manufacturers including General Mills, Nestlé, and Kraft all made their own promises about removing artificial ingredients.
It seemed as if the food industry had reached a turning point in the name of wellness, and consumers largely greeted these changes with relief and support. But what many people don't seem to realize is that removing artificial ingredients isn't likely to have any impact on their health.
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What is missing from the discussion about ingredients is the fact that "natural and artificial flavors really aren't that different," according to the Environmental Working Group. "The actual chemicals in these two kinds of flavors may be exactly the same: The chemical structures of the individual molecules may be indistinguishable."
The chemical vanillin, for example, is found in vanilla bean extract and is the primary flavor people associate with vanilla. Vanillin can also be synthetically produced as an artificial flavor. It doesn't have the same range of flavors as natural vanilla extract, which contains other chemicals that make the taste more complex, but it does the job at a lower cost. According to Markus Lipp, a senior director of food standards at United States Pharmacopeial Convention, a nonprofit that publishes quality standards for the food industry, "there is no known and accepted study that would prove" it is less healthy than natural vanilla.
It gets even trickier when it comes to whether finished products, rather than the specific ingredients in them, can be labeled "natural." According to the FDA, "It is difficult to define a food product that is 'natural' because the food has probably been processed and is no longer the product of the earth."
Consider for example, the very idea of an all-natural hot dog.
"However, the agency has not objected to the use of the term if the food does not contain added color, artificial flavors, or synthetic substances," Kenneth Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, said. "A food is not healthy because it has fewer industrial additives in it. But we're waking up to the fact that industrial additives are put in without rigorous review."
Raging cases of chub rub and teeny, tiny bathroom stalls aren’t going to stop you from checking everything off your bucket list in style.
Or on the child next you, or the deathly swinging bathroom door.
Britney Spears VEVO / media.giphy.com
Good luck jamming yourself, your backpack, your camera and your must-have sunhat into a glorified cubbyhole.
C-Monster / Creative Commons / Flickr: arte
fuckyeahbridesmaids.tumblr.com
Jenny Rushmore says she’s seen an “overwhelming tide of support and positivity and public cake eating”.
In a comment that has now been deleted, "a guy in his early 20s, who really, REALLY, loves gym selfies" said that her body was disgusting and that she should eat less cake, Rushmore said in a blog post on 29 July.
"To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t that surprised or upset: this is the kind of thing that happens every day to women like me," she added.
The caption read: "Also: to the random jerk who fat shamed me this morning in a comment and suggest I eat less cake: as you can see from this pic my life is just a sad mess, so I'm glad you've helped steer my dietary choices, cheers! #effyourbeautystandards #CakeWithCashmerette."
On her blog, Rushmore called it a "lady-cake explosion," adding that "bigger women deserve to eat whatever they’re hungry for just as much as smaller women".
The most powerful magic of all.
Taking the time to fall in love with someone doesn't make you love them any less. Love is about growing with someone, getting to know them and yourself. It's about becoming your own people and respecting each other for it.
Ron and Hermione were both PRETTY obnoxious at the outset of the series, and we all know James had a LONG way to go before he was worthy of Lily, and that's ok! People can surprise you, people can get better, and everybody needs a little time to find themselves
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Ginny was mad about Harry from the second she saw him, but that didn't keep their relationship from deepening and becoming its own thing, unfettered by a childhood crush, as the years went on.
Some people fall in love at first sight, some people do it slowly, but what matters is keeping the commitment once you've made it.
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The nonexistent love triangle that launched a thousand shipping wars proves it. Harry and Hermione were great friends without a hint or interest in romance. They loved each other, they were family, and it was beautiful. A strong, truly platonic friendship is hard to find, but ones built on mutual respect, trust, and admiration are possible.
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Dormant Harmony shippers MAY want to argue in the comments regarding JK Rowling's recent suggestion that maybe Harry and Hermione were more compatible than Ron and Hermione, but compatible as they were, they weren't into each other, sorry.
And the truth is, that's kind of beautiful. Compatibility is important in friendships AND romantic relationships, but just because something ticks all the boxes on paper doesn't mean it feels right in the heart.
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As a black woman in public, I’m hyperconscious of my actions, tone, and words out of fear that I might seem too angry. Whether I’m making a suggestion to a customer service representative or telling the waiter he forgot a part of my order, I ask myself: Am I being the Angry Black Woman?
If black women aren’t characterized as hypersexual, man-stealing jezebels, or docile mammies with unlimited care to give our white employers, we’re the choleric group known as the Angry Black Women. Finger-snapping, antagonistic, and assertive, the Angry Black Woman is one of entertainment’s most reliable tropes: the short-tempered black girlfriend who emasculates her man for the the audience’s delight — with minimal consideration for how this archetype impacts actual, living black women.
But the Angry Black Woman shows up in the news as well. Two weeks ago, a 28-year-old black woman named Sandra Bland died in police custody after telling an officer she was “a little irritated” during a needless traffic stop. A week later, news outlets cast Nicki Minaj as the aggressor in Taylor Swift’s one-sided Twitter argument with the rapper. Two trending news stories — one tragic, the other trivial — showed how the fictional trope of the Angry Black Woman colors white Americans’ interactions with real black women. Bland’s death is a chilling reminder that, all too often, the imagined predisposition of black women has deadly consequences. And in both stories, the Angry Black Woman narrative quickly unraveled, suggesting white authority can no longer count on the trope to explain away the systematic mistreatment of women of color. We see it, we’re identifying it, and we’re not having it any longer.
As far as unflattering archetypes go, the Angry Black Woman is a relatively young one. She’s sometimes referred to as the Sapphire, after Sapphire Stevens on Amos ’n’ Andy, a radio and television minstrel sitcom popular from the 1930s to 1950s. Set in black Harlem — and written by two white men — Amos ’n’ Andy calcified many stereotypes about the African-American population, including the shrewish black wife. In an early episode, Sapphire’s husband, Kingfish, discreetly applies for a job in her name. Sapphire receives the offer letter and — none the wiser — considers taking the position. But not before humiliating Kingfish for being “the kind of man” who would want his wife to be a second earner.
Imitations of Sapphire multiplied and evolved to reflect the modern black woman— self-sufficient and self-reliant to a fault. Today’s Angry Black Woman is bitter and wrathful: Debra Wilson as a mouthier Samantha Stephens in MadTV’s black spoof of Bewitched, Be-Bitched; the character Kenya in Something New; Angela in Why Did I Get Married; Taraji P. Henson's “Lauren” in Think Like a Man. Their one-note personalities are mapped onto unscripted women. As the first African-American family entered the White House, the first lady was characterized as angry over and over.
The ubiquitousness of the Angry Black Woman isn't a matter of coincidence or paranoia. Studies indicate that negative racial stereotypes reinforced through media exposure unconsciously influence one’s interactions with the stereotyped group. That black woman may have been walking a non-black friend’s child home, but all you see is Aunt Jemima. At the same time, studies show that being the subject of a racial stereotype leads to low self-esteem and psychological distress. The repeated imagery of the Angry Black Woman eats away at black women’s mental well-being while simultaneously training the white population how to expand the trope’s power.
And the fictions foisted upon black women always work for benefit white male supremacy. The jezebel stereotype explained why slave women were eligible for extramarital sex while white women must remain chaste. Mammy suggested that black women enjoyed being domestic servants, and didn’t want lives of their own. What purpose, then, does the Angry Black Women serve?
It seems to me that the Angry Black Woman serves to silence women, and in particular to erase our identification of racism and sexism. Although black women exist at the intersection of these two systems of oppression, black women couldn’t possibly be righteously upset about either (or both). We are angry because it is in our nature. We are angry without cause. When 16-year-old Amandla Stenberg, a teenage actress known for her role in Hunger Games, explained how Kylie Jenner’s braids exhibited the theft and commercialization of black culture, Twitter users told her she was too angry. The trope doubles as an accusation; our opinions are irrational because they’re rooted in emotion.
In 2014, Minaj released “Anaconda” to record breaking views online, and collaborated with Beyonce on “Feeling Myself.” Both music videos — and the feminist messages therein — impacted pop culture for months to follow, but neither video was nominated for MTV's Video Music Award for video of the year. Talking to her Twitter followers, Minaj called it like it is: Black women who contribute exponentially to popular culture are never properly credited. A white reporter ran the numbers and confirm her claim — the work of women of color is consistently snubbed at the VMAs and various other award ceremonies. But Minaj’s own analysis of industry racism was nearly drowned out as a flood of images depicting an angry Minaj appeared on social media, illustrating her “attack” on a sweet Taylor Swift.
If racial stereotypes and racial discrimination are mutually reinforcing, it will be important to dismantle the Angry Black Woman trope in popular culture. That’s where the next generation will either learn to dehumanize black women by making anger her identity, or learn that anger is an emotion that, among others, all humans experience. To that end, it matters that Nicki Minaj refused to let media outlets write off her criticism as innate fury.
But worse than silencing women, images of the Angry Black Woman have colluded to engineer the perfect target for violence: too crazy to be believed, angry enough to justify physical retaliation. In the initial reports of Sandra Bland’s arrest, Officer Brian Encinia deemed Bland “combative and uncooperative” during her arrest. The Angry Black Woman narrative was more believable before a dashboard camera video of the events was released.
In the footage, it’s Encinia who seemed exceedingly on edge, because Bland was smoking a cigarette (legally). Bland was not silent or submissive — and that alone was enough to merit violence, and detention. This is what makes received wisdom about black womanhood so dangerous: It’s already accepted without any substantiation. Wrongfully detained — and later found dead — Bland never had a chance to prove the stereotype incomplete. If the Angry Black Woman trope doesn’t silence you, it’ll kill you.
Whiskers, silhouettes, and paw prints, oh my!
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Things can get hairy with Harry.
No money, no problem.
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The concept is simple: You stay in someone's house while they're away and do some task for them — feed their cat, water their plants, or whatever else. They get the comfort of knowing their house isn't going to shambles, and you get the sweet, sweet luxury of not having to pay for your stay. Best sites: TrustedHousesitters.com, MindMyHouse.com, and HouseCarers.com.
There's a word for this: voluntourism. That's volunteer + tourism, and it's a huge trend in the travel community. It's basically when you go on a trip to do something that helps the locals — like teaching English as second language, or building houses and schools for communities in need — and in return, you get free room and board. You don't have to do it for a super long time, either. One week is totally doable.
Some good voluntourism sites that will point you in the right direction: Voluntourism.org, ProjectsAbroad.org, and GlobeAware.org.
There's an organization called WWOOF, which for starters has nothing to do with dogs. It stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, and it's a large network of non-profit organizations all over the world that connect you with local farmers. The idea is that you go and work on a farm for however long you want, and the owners pay for your stay in exchange for your labor.
♫ When I look back I might be mad that I gave this attention ♫
Via youtube.com
Via youtube.com
Via youtube.com
Like, all the yikes.
The couple has sons Mason and Reign — who was born this past December — and daughter Penelope.
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Meow Do.
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Could also pair well with the right veil. Get them here for £25.00.
Slash-walking-down-the-aisle flats. Buy them for $99.99 here.
You could also do this to men's shoes, because for some reason there aren't many cat-toed men's shoes out there. Learn how to make these here.
scathingly-brilliant.blogspot.com / Via kittenhood.ro
Feel free to reflect upon these in silence. Your fingers must be so tired.
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What's next, the earth is round? Blondes have more fun? You can drink water?!
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Get ready to binge watch, friends.
Congrats, you two!
The couple married last August on Diana Ross' estate. 'Cause, you know, fam and all.
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Jagger is Evan's first child. Ashlee has son Bronx with ex-husband Pete Wentz.
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It’s like The Lion King, except the uncle is the good guy.
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Vince O'Sullivan / Via Flickr: vjosullivan
Vince O'Sullivan / Via Flickr: vjosullivan
