the-sleeping-ones:

Love this video, except that it second-handedly blames the U.S. for the actions of the Assad regime, which it had no role in installing and has had little to do with over the past years. I understand the sometimes harmful role American interference in the Middle East has played but the values of freedom longed for here, by this singer (who was later killed by the Assad regime because of this song) and by the crowd, are values also held close by Americans.

We tend to think animals are lower than us, but all the scientists in the world couldn’t design and operate a bumblebee’s wing. We can’t jump or run very fast, and we can’t carry vast weights like an ant can. We can’t see in the dark and we can’t fly except crammed in a noisy tube like sardines, which doesn’t count. Humans compared to animals are almost totally deaf, and we can’t smell a fart in an elevator by their standards. We are finite and separate, and neurotic, while the consciousness of an animal is at peace and eternal. We strive and go crazy to become more important. Animals rest and sleep and enjoy the company of each other. We think we have evolved upwards from animals but we have lost almost all of their qualities and abilities. The idea that animals don’t have consciousness or that they don’t have a soul is rather crass. It shows a lack of consciousness. They talk, they have families, they feel things, they act individually or together to solve problems, they often care of their young as a tribal unit. They play, they travel, and medicate themselves when they get sick. They cry when others in the herd die, they know about us humans. Of course they have a soul, a very pristine one. We humans are only now attempting with the recent rise in consciousness to achieve the soul that animals have naturally.

—Stuart Wilde  (via commovente)

(via itsinthestars)

shortformblog:

While this is the case (and Facebook and Microsoft are definitely ready to pounce), Yahoo currently has Tumblr negotiations under lock and key, Forbes reports:

A source with knowledge of the Yahoo/Tumblr discussions says they are proceeding rapidly and likely to result in an offer as soon as Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer can get her board’s approval. She is said to favor an outright acquisition rather than an investment or partnership. As mentioned above, a lockup agreement prevents Tumblr from holding a bake-off with Facebook, Microsoft or anyone else.

Part of Mayer’s courtship has involved working overtime to convince Karp that his fears of being “absorbed into a behemoth” and “raided for talent and traffic” are unfounded. Karp has made it clear that he would like to run Tumblr for a long time. According to my source, he would remain CEO under the outline of the deal being worked out.

Those last two sentences are key.

(via bobbycaputo)