My favorite city in the world. 

1993: “Groundhog Day”

This story keeps on living and there’s nothing we can do about it. Every Feb. 2, it develops in the small Pennsylvania town of Punxsutawney like a never-ending replay of movie character Phil Connors’ days. There are only two outcomes: shadow or no shadow. And you never really know whether the dream of spring is going to arrive on time. But it is another year and “Groundhog Day” keeps coming back.

If you tend to rely on your rational abilities, you surely have suspicions about the forecasting abilities of a critter widely known as Punxsutawney Phil, the world’s most famous groundhog weatherman. Most people, though, recognize Groundhog Day for what it is — a tradition and, as it is with many traditions, it’s really hard to explain. Loyal fans don’t even try; they simply invent new traditions for Groundhog Day such as watching the beloved film with Bill Murray called… well, you know it.

There are a lot of ironic things that could be said about the film and one of the biggest ironies of all is that the film about the quintessentially Punxsutawney tradition was not even filmed in Punxsutawney. Certainly, the Bill Murray movie increased Punxsutawney’s fame, but Woodstock, Ill., gets all the movie credits, including a plaque on the square where Phil Connors, Bill Murray’s character, stepped into a puddle. Good thing information travels fast this days. Prior to Wikipedia and Google there were more disappointed visitors in Punxsutawney, they came there to see the town where the movie was shot just to be turned away and sent to a different state.

This is not to say that the famous Bill Murray hasn’t been to Punxsutawney. In 1992, he joined a sizable crowd to observe the ceremony. The actor flew in from California to witness Groundhog Day with his own eyes before the filming began. The newspapers at that time didn’t cover it extensively. In fact, we didn’t even have staff photographs from the event, documenting Bill Murray’s visit in the native land of the groundhog. The Pittsburgh newspapers — neither the Post-Gazette nor The Pittsburgh Press — assigned a staff member to that story, instead they chose to rely on reports and art from the Associated Press.

The AP story said that on the day Bill Murray was in Punxsutawney, “the reluctant critter was pulled from his burrow at 7:20 a.m. and a representative from the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club told a crowd of about 3,000 people that the groundhog had ‘whispered’ to him that he has seen his shadow. The crowd cheered and then booed at the news of more cold weather.”The photo for the story ran with a caption, “Actor Bill Murray loses control of the groundhog.” Later that day, it was announced that in the upcoming movie Bill Murray is going to play a TV reporter assigned to cover Groundhog Day.

We know how Bill Murray’s character hated it. And the same can be said of reporters across Pennsylvania, they dread to be assigned to cover Groundhog Day. As one of our librarians put it, “It’s absolutely the worst story to be assigned to.”

“OK, campers, rise and shine, and don’t forget your booties ‘cause it’s coooold out there today.”

Let’s see what Phil says in a few days.

— Mila Sanina

222 years later, Benjamin Franklin’s message about vaccination matters more than ever

This is as close as you’re gonna get to a dead ancestor appearing in the sky and telling you to get your shit together

I’m going to bring Benjamin Franklin back from the dead using black magic so he can bare knuckle box every single one of the anti vaccination people into submission with his powerful zombie strength

Reblog if you're okay with AUs

Of 2025 in general?

The Signs as Hamiltunes (Act I):

Aries: Non-Stop

Taurus: You’ll Be Back 

Gemini: My Shot

Cancer: The Schuyler Sisters

Leo: You’ll Be Back

Virgo: Right Hand Man 

Libra: Aaron Burr, Sir

Scorpio: Satisfied

Sagittarius: The Story Of Tonight / (Reprise)

Capricorn: Guns And Ships

Aquarius: Alexander Hamilton

Pisces: Helpless

The irony of Capricorn (which Hamilton was) being Guns & Ships (which he isn’t in) is amusing.

happy holidays from walt disney world!

Guess where I was today!

Guess where I am today!

Guess where I am today?

Images that you would probably not see again @thoughtstherapy

Ready for christmas

It was a christmas sweater!!

Pokemon Heritage Post

"Okay, where do I want to go … by myself at Christmas?"

∟ The Holiday [2006] Dir: Nancy Meyers

The Signs as Hamiltunes (Act I):

Aries: Non-Stop

Taurus: You’ll Be Back 

Gemini: My Shot

Cancer: The Schuyler Sisters

Leo: You’ll Be Back

Virgo: Right Hand Man 

Libra: Aaron Burr, Sir

Scorpio: Satisfied

Sagittarius: The Story Of Tonight / (Reprise)

Capricorn: Guns And Ships

Aquarius: Alexander Hamilton

Pisces: Helpless

The irony of Capricorn (which Hamilton was) being Guns & Ships (which he isn’t in) is amusing.

I know it's ~cringe~ and unacceptable, but a lot of voters are very much on board with "I love my country and want to make it better even though it's done some bad shit" moreso than any kind of active denigration and hatred of the country, and the former is more positive and effective. And I think that's what's helping Kamala a lot, in spite of the twitterati and punditariat. People want to not feel exhausted and drained and hopeless about the future.

Remember this from 4 years ago?

We’ve been stuck at 99% uninstalled for the last four years.

If you want to uninstall him completely, so he can go through the sentencing phase and a couple of other criminal trials, vote today if you haven’t already, and vote for Kamala Harris.

And if you’re in Florida, please also vote. Yes, on three and four, and against Rick Scott. 

i will literally never forget the senior year of my american politics degree. our professor did a show of hands for who was going to vote in the election and i was one of 4 people in a 60 person class that raised mine. “both candidate were bad” and it didn’t matter because we were in a blue state anyway, right? the day after the election, the little brother of a friend got called a racial epithet and beat up at school. it was the first incident of that kind in that school in years–the first of many since. my friend didn’t vote in that election. both candidates were bad, after all.

i think what she didn’t get, what most people don’t get is that voting isn’t about you. it isn’t. it’s about the society we’re trying to have here, the society you are a part of no matter how nihilistic you think you are. you’re never too good for kindness. this is the most basic test of that.

so i’m begging you: vote for people that don’t have a vote because they got illegally purged from voter rolls. vote for the environment. vote for kids that are going to have to deal with this stuff for the next 80 years. vote for the lgbt community. vote because it’s better than nothing. vote because if you don’t and then you turn around and complain about anything wrong with this country, you’ve given up your best shot at doing a goddamn thing about it. if nothing else, vote for spite. vote to scare them. here’s a post that has every piece of information you need to vote tomorrow. please do it. it’s not about you or about your single vote making a difference. it’s about caring enough for the weak and underrepresented in this society enough to do your best by them. 

you have to at least try.

You have to at least try.

Take that, Akin.

When you go to vote, don’t just choose a president - make sure you choose candidates for House and statehouse and local elections (and Senate if your state has an election for that this year). All levels of government matter!

(Sorry, non-US-ians, for all the US political stuff this time of year, but…)

From 2012 and now more than ever.

today’s date is the 3rd? what’s next, the 4th? the 5th? the minor fall, the major lift? 

A friendly reminder to USians: if you are planning to vote on Election Day, your mantra is "Nothing I see today convinces me not to go vote."

Exit polls suggest DT cannot be caught? YOU STILL GO VOTE.

Exit polls suggest KH has it in the bag? YOU STILL GO VOTE.

Pundits are saying the country is swinging overwhelmingly red? YOU STILL GO VOTE.

Pundits are saying the country is swinging overwhelmingly blue? YOU STILL GO VOTE.

Polls can be misleading (intentionally or not). The methodology can be biased (or simply poor). Early results may not reflect what the full count will show. There may be a red mirage. NOTHING YOU SEE CONVINCES YOU NOT TO VOTE.

The biggest Democratic win in swing states means nothing if democrats don't turn out everywhere to keep the reliably blue states blue.

VOTE. Wear appropriate weather gear if you think you may have to stand in a line outside (coat, hat, gloves, umbrella, sunhat, whatever, you know where you live). Bring water and a snack and something to do (book, game on your phone, podcast and headphones, whatever, you know what you like). GO VOTE.

NOTHING YOU SEE ON ELECTION DAY CONVINCES YOU NOT TO VOTE.

Thing Number Four

Plus, the Senate & House need to be blue no matter what.