I learned in a Latin Studies class (with a chill white dude professor) that when the Europeans first saw Aztec cities they were stunned by the grid. The Aztecs had city planning and that there was no rational lay out to European cities at the time. No organization.

When the Spanish first arrived in Tenochtitlan (now downtown mexico city) they thought they were dreaming. They had arrived from incredibly unsanitary medieval Europe to a city five times the size of that century’s london with a working sewage system, artificial “floating gardens” (chinampas), a grid system, and aqueducts providing fresh water. Which wasn’t even for drinking! Water from the aqueducts was used for washing and bathing- they preferred using nearby mountain springs for drinking. Hygiene was a huge part if their culture, most people bathed twice a day while the king bathed at least four times a day. Located on an island in the middle of a lake, they used advanced causeways to allow access to the mainland that could be cut off to let canoes through or to defend the city. The Spanish saw their buildings and towers and thought they were rising out of the water. The city was one of the most advanced societies at the time.

Anyone who thinks that Native Americans were the savages instead of the filthy, disease ridden colonizers who appeared on their land is a damn fool.

They’ve also recently discovered a lost Native American city in Kansas called Etzanoa It rivals the size of Cahokia, which was very large as well.

here are some reconstructions of Tenochtitlan 

just a note, we don’t think of old european cities as ruins, because those civilizations continued and kept building over the old–there are no abandoned ruins for us to visit & photograph. when we picture those old cities, we have only mental images drawn from our own assumptions & prejudices–images that tend to glorify ‘civilized’ europe.

since victors write history, our image of native american cities was created by colonizers motivated to uphold the ‘native savage’ myth. when we think of these civilizations now, we think of ‘uncivilized’ (rough, broken, abandoned) ruins, because that’s what remains. ruins are the only thing left. because of the destruction wrought by western invaders, these civilizations never had a chance to continue building. they were destroyed, and all we have left is an unimaginative shadow of their former glory. 

went to peru and visited some of their museums and learned inca history that american schools don’t teach you. basically you know why they were beaten out by the spanish invaders? because incas were mostly scientists and not warriors. they had advanced medicine, farming and science technology. THATS what they were good at - tech - not building weapons to most efficiently kill people. the spanish were good at that. so they won. basically the real savages and thugs won and murdered a bunch of scientists, and their technology and advancements are lost forever. it took into the 20th century for colonizer technology to advance in the field of medicine and agriculture to the level of the incas. colonizers literally set human knowledge back like 500 years. 

Me trying to figure out the distance between places and how long it’ll take a character to get there in a society that travels mostly on foot:

What I do is determine about how many miles the distance is, after that I look up two European cities that are about that far apart, and switch the Google maps thingy from car to walk.

Holy shit my dude! Why you gotta blow my mind like this!?

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

The United States of America (1865-2018)

My jaw dropped at this joke. Like how’d that get in a marvel movie

villains who could have been protagonists in different circumstances? I live for that shit

potential counterpoint: protagonists who could have been villains in different circumstances? I live for that shit too

Third point: a villain and a hero that chose their path by making a different choice in the same kind of circumstance? I live for it too

fuck romance i want a sword

i swear i’ve read this post many times before for years on end, and it somehow has less than 300k notes?

i know ive talked about this before but we literally have no reason not to bring the original gay flag made in the 70s by gilbert baker back to regular use!

the pink stripe was simply taken away because pink fabric was too expensive to mass reproduce at the time, and the turquoise stripe was taken away for a really odd reason: for the harvey milk remembrance parade in 1979, they wanted three stripes on each side of the street and didn’t want it to be asymmetrical, so they did away with the turquoise stripe. like, they could have fixed it in some other way without removing a whole stripe, but eh whatever history’s history.

the pink originally symbolized sex and the turquoise was for magic/art and it would just be really cool if we could bring both the stripes back into regular use again since there wasn’t any significance behind the removal of the stripes and we’re perfectly capable of mass producing flags with all the stripes again!

if anyone is interested, in 2017, shortly before he died, gilbert baker added a 9th stripe in lavender to represent diversity, partly in response to trump’s election. while i dont expect it to gain any kind of widespread usage, it is an interesting fact!

(source 1; article) (source 2; official site)

Yes.

BIGGER,

GAYER

Was standing on the sidewalk beside a group of guys with strong brookyln accents, not really listening to the conversation. Took me a full minute to realize they weren’t speaking english and were in fact clearly slavic

Some guys: Давайте осмотрим достопримечательности!

You: Oh, those New Yorkers

To be fair, have you ever heard New Yorkers speak?

yeah, the only difference is the language not the accent

Get your ass on the dance floor

this is already on my blog like five times and i honestly don’t even care

Now that i think about it, if avengers and the mcu took place in the 90s who would eddie murphy play? like there is no way he’d play a supporting character esp to a white guy in the 90s….hmmm he’d probably audition and try hard for t’challa, but they’d probably give him blue marvel…but that character didn’t exist in the 90s…and there is no way he’d play Hiemdall lmao.

I literally just passed this when I was on imgur

I’m dumbfounded by how on point this is?

This is so perfect I’m actually a little pissed off

Because some days you want a small private gathering…and some days Arthur and his Knights drop by.  

That last comment

Repeated Rapist and Former Baylor frat president Jacob Anderson indicted for sexual assault will serve no jail time, not be registered as sex offender and only has to pay $400 fine

Anderson was accused of raping a 19-year-old woman at a 2016 off-campus party his fraternity, Phi Delta Theta, threw under his leadership as frat president. During the party, 

Anderson was initially brought up on for these alleged crimes, and charged him with “unlawful restraint” instead, for which the office recommended three years of probation, a $400 fine, and counseling.

This is the 3rd case in which this same judge has been lenient towards sexual offenders.

HERES HOW YOU CAN HELP

Sign the Petition 

CALL THE JUDGE: Ralph Strother

Phone: (254)-757-5081  Fax: (254)-759-5683 

CALL ATTORNEY WHO OFFERED PLEA DEAL: Hilary Stokes LaBorde 

Phone: (254) 757-5084

DEMAND JUSTICE!!!

#StayWoke

The judge’s name is Ralph Strother.

Give yourself a big hug for making it through this year.

Merry fucking Christmas my dad accidentally bought me a crate of hentai because he thought it was anime. Theres 55 fucking dvds in this box. What a time to be alive

*releases pack of dads into home depot* go……be free

invasive species encroach on lesbian territory

This is a common misconception because they’re such similar environments, but you should be aware that dads are native to Home Depot, while lesbians are actually native to Lowe’s. At this point, however, both dads and lesbians have made themselves at home in both Home Depot and Lowe’s to the point that trying to separate them back into their original ranges would probably do more harm than good to the delicate ecosystem of large chain hardware stores.