Elizabeth Banks kicks ass!
Elizabeth Banks: I Thank Birth Control Pills for My Son
Just over a year ago, my son Felix was born via gestational surrogacy. He came out of me nine months early and because of my broken belly, his babycake was baked in a wonderful angel’s oven and now — I can’t believe it — he’s a year old and walking. He has expanded my capacity for joy a thousand-fold.
His life would have been much harder to come by if not for the birth control pill. How’s that, you ask? Well, it’s a simple fact: The pill is used for many situations that have nothing to do with the prevention of pregnancy. The pill was prescribed to me when hormonally induced migraines kept me locked up in dark rooms for days at a time. It was prescribed to me to regulate insanely painful cramps every month — cramps so painful that I often vomited.
And here’s a little secret I am happy to blow the lid off of: The pill is often prescribed during the IVF (in vitro fertilization) process to help MAKE BABIES! That’s right, women dealing with infertility are often put on the pill to help regulate a cycle so that they might have a more successful IVF. The pill is used to manage ovarian cysts, endometriosis and other conditions too. Not to mention, it helps couples plan for wanted children.
Obviously, I’m not a doctor. I’m just a woman grateful for my necessary and very helpful medication. And I’m sure glad I don’t have to discuss any of these conditions, including infertility, with my employer.
A girlfriend and I recently wondered what would be more mortifying: having to tell her male employer she needed birth control to mitigate a heavy flow or just bleeding all over herself in the office?
So with that image in mind, I encourage all women — and the men in their lives — to protect access to birth control, and encourage our politicians to take women’s health issues out of the political process.
For more information, please visit the most comprehensive and willing advocates for women’s health in America: www.plannedparenthood.org.
I will never understand why women need to fight for medicine that can improve their lives on so many levels, but no one thinks it’s a waste of tax-payers’, employers’, or insurance companies’ money to pay for Viagra.
K
(Source: selinameyers)
Aurora 2012
Glowing skies like these must have sent our ancestors running for the nearest cave oracle, where they would beg for mercy from the sky dragons and burn the fattest calf in hopes that they wouldn’t be eaten.
Luckily for us, we know that there’s nothing to be afraid of when we see beautiful aurorae. The recent spike in solar activity has provided far northern Earthlings with a light show of truly epic proportions. This most recent one peaked over the last couple weeks, and here’s a time-lapse of images from it by Christian Mülhauser.
Sit back, full screen, HD, relax and go “AHHHH”.
(by Christian Mülhauser)
Via It's Okay To Be Smart
animalworld: TURTLE FROG - Myobatrachus gouldii
NOT A TURTLE, NOT A FROG - this is a mash-up of both - turtle and frog with a little alien thrown in for good measure. It’s a real animal the aptly named Turtle Frog and is endemic to Southwestern Australia.
A very peculiar frog with a body shape resembling a small turtle with its shell removed. The head is very small, with reduced eyes, and quite distinct from the body, unlike most other frogs. The limbs are short but muscular. This species burrows forward through the sand, unlike most of arid-adapted burrowing frogs that use their hind feet and descend backwards in to the soil. The back color ranges from pink to a uniform light to dark brown.
Lays up to 50 eggs. There is no tadpole stage as the embryo goes through its entire development in the egg capsule and emerges as a small but fully formed frog.
Source: http://frogwatch.museum.wa.gov.au/Southwest/SouthwestForests/434.aspx
Other Australian Animal posts:
* THIS IS MY FAVORITE FROG EVER!!!
I present to you: the 11th Dogtor.
His TARDIS will hang from his leash and spin around.
allcreatures: Albino Humpback Whale Calf
Aerial view of an albino whale calf migrating south with its mother off the coast of Botany Bay, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The white calf is believed to be the offspring of the albino humpback whale known as ‘Migaloo’.
(Picture: Sam Ruttyn/Newspix / Rex Features)
The creators of the Water-Scraper believe that the effects of climate change mean it’s “only a natural progression that we will populate the seas someday,” so they designed this sustainable structure for humans to occupy. The Water-Scraper uses wave, wind and solar power, and its bioluminescent tentacles provide sea fauna a place to live while collecting energy through kinetic movements. This floating structure even generates its own food through farming, aquaculture and hydroponics. A small forest is nestled on the top of the Water-Scraper, along with wind turbines, a garden and livestock, and the living areas are located just below sea level where natural light is best.
Ready to abandon the land? Check out some other amazing designs for life on the sea.
