A mother and baby potoroo spotted at South Australia’s Cleland Wildlife Park enjoying a little snack in the sunshine.

all images from the american pigeon museum's breed gallery

there are three types of pigeon breeds: "just your average french fry thief," "a little weird but nothing to write home about," and "what the fuck"

normal dude. just loitering around the city. kinda funky, interesting colorway, but feral pigeons have plenty of variety. not really of any particular note, all things considered

u know, that one’s a bit of an oddity right there. in the realm of weird, yeah, but i can still connect point A to point Z

what the fuck. no, seriously, what the fuck is this. how did you get to this morphology via selective breeding. what led you to choose to continue this at each and every step. what.

bonus: why they ourple

oh this is evil

What is that?

discord is adding parental surveillance. as nerdskii's tags pointed out its a ridiculous measure that doesnt help anyone because apps like Signal exist for actual illegal/sketchy activity and this just hurts lgbt teens looking for somewhere to be themselves and have resources especially with conservative parents

I use android. this is my secure folder, which was built into my phone. it has a customize option, so I've made it look like some bland fitness app. when you open it, it asks you to enter a password or unlock it in any other way you've set it to unlock before it lets you in

inside of this folder is like a 2nd phone almost, I can hide apps in here or have different accounts on apps I've already installed. I have a separate discord and tumblr inside of my secure folder (which I moved this blog to recently)

there are similar third party apps, usually disguised as a calculator that you set a certain number or calculation as the password to unlock. that's a lot more inconspicuous if opened, but also more well known, and parents might be looking out for any suspicious calculator apps

also, be careful what 3rd party apps you download, especially when it's concerning things like your accounts and data! make sure you're downloading something safe and secure

this isn't foolproof, depending on how far your parents are going to track you. if they've installed anything or had you install anything on your phone or computer, or had the chance while you weren't there, be careful for spyware. some apps report how long you look at each app, or can record sound from your phone on demand

also important: a good VPN can secure what you're looking at from the router, which parents may be able to access information from, but this also isn't guaranteed to work if the parental controls are set to block VPNs

another one, if your parents are tracking your location but not your app usage: download a GPS spoofer. you don't necessarily need to root your phone for this, as long as it's supported in developer settings. a lot of them are branded as tools for pokemon go, which can be helpful for plausible deniability

parents reading this: these are things I've learned from constantly having my shit taken and looked through as a teen. you aren't protecting your kids, you're ruining any chance of them trusting you with anything. if something goes wrong, you're going to be the last person they tell, because someone who goes to these lengths to see any little thing isn't going to be chill when something actually bad happens if this is how you act when literally nothing is happening

I swear sometimes my fellow leftists talk like absolutely no one is ever dangerous. It baffles me. Like are they way more privileged than me or has my life just been very weird?

I have no desire to adopt conservatives’ paranoia but I often headtilt and wonder what world they’re living in.

“I don’t ike punitive justice” okay dude, me neither, I’m not even mad at Window Guy, but “stop doing that right now” still needs to be a thing. And I don’t know how exactly you discourage recidivism WITHOUT telling people “oh hey and also please don’t do this ever *again* either.”

Like it really seems like leftists talk like forgiving everyone is the way to go, but they seem also to be redefining everyone. Like you don’t forgive Nazis so as not to be punitive, you punch them and hope they die.

I'm glad I ended up in a circle of leftists who take queues from the French Communists and their like and not whatever that stuff is. The world is harsh and unfair and a big part of fixing that is correcting and preventing antisocial behavior. If someone proves themselves to be a constant danger to others then you gotta have plans in place to keep them separate, preferably while also giving them the best quality of life possible.

I think a lot of people have their dialectical materialism dial turned up way too high, where they think the contradiction-correction sysrem operates like personal karma instead of as a civic system for diagnosing structural problems.

Yeah, that's how it seems to me.

The right goes "Everyone is evil. Give everyone a gun."

The left goes "No one is evil. Abolish the police."

And I stand in the middle just going... but some people behave consistently badly, and that's a problem?

We should work very hard within ourselves not to forget that they're people, not to write them off as "fash" or "billionaires" or "crazies" or "thugs," but we still have to, you know, stop them.

I guess that I see a punitive system as one with intent to punish? Like, if someone will not stop hurting others, "plans in place to keep them separate while also giving them the best quality of life possible" is my ideal. I don't think we need full abolition of any setting that could be used to contain people, or that could be experienced as punitive as a side effect of its purpose (even if you give them the best care possible, most people will experience lack of freedom as a punishment).

But to get there, we have to realise that the way we operate prisons now, at least in the US, is designed to egregiously punish rather than contain. I think if say, the Muskrat goes to prison it's wholly his own fault, because he had the opportunity and education and resources to live a non-asshole life and he still chooses to screw people over in the most flagrant of ways. But I still don't want the Muskrat in a prison that routinely reaches over 100F in the summer, where prisoners don't have regular access to cold water or ice, and where medical conditions are ignored. I want him to get three healthy meals a day and have somewhere safe to sleep and to be able to have private time alone. I don't want him to be tortured like his Neuralink monkeys. I would probably laugh if he blew up in one of his rockets, because he made that choice and it would be staggeringly poetic, but I don't actually think he should be forced every day of his life to board a shoddy homemade rocket that might kill him, because that's psychological abuse.

I think, ideally, he should be stripped of his assets, not as a punishment but because they're what gives him power and allows him to cause so much harm. You probably wouldn't even have to imprison him, tbh, because without his power and influence he's no one. I think a lot of billionaires would be best treated like that: liquidate their companies, ban them from office, do whatever you need to do to keep their hands off the levers of power.

But they don't need to suffer, especially because it's pretty well proven that punishment doesn't change these people. If you want a poor or mentally ill person to Stop Doing Thing, generally what needs to happen is they get their physical and mental needs met, they get assigned social support, they get care. If you want a rich person to Stop Doing Thing, you take away their access to power, and maybe also give them psychological support, idk. But it seems like the catch-all idea of tossing people in deadly hotboxes for 10+ years for anything they do just does what you'd expect: makes them less stable and more bitter, and less able to cope with the outside world once they get out.

Oh, I WISH I could be for prison abolition. It would be Nice and Neat and Principled. The one and only reason I’m not is I’ve met one too many people who’ve told me things like “August 12th is when my stalker gets out of prison. If I suddenly stop answering the phone, assume I’m Not Okay.” I literally do not know how we keep people safe from stalkers if we decide that In Principle, limiting someone’s freedom of movement in society is Always Wrong.

I am definitely for not putting most people in prison. It’s just that “abolish” means “never do,” and I can’t tell women living in that kind of terror I’m sure they’re safe with Never Do. A Lot of Don’t Do is as far as I can go there. If someone presents me with a clear solution that doesn’t involve keeping people separate and yet doesn’t put victims at risk, I’m all ears.

And I think there’s a similar thing going on with “I don’t see how we devise a moral system that completely lacks punishment,” too. Punishment is nothing more or less than trying to extinguish behavior through aversives.

Like, suppose a terf wants to read my blog. I’m cool with this, but I want her to never misgender my friends. I could just decide the thing to do is lavish praise on her for calling trans women she and putting the space between trans and women. Or I could say hey if you DON’T do it, I’m blocking you, and also I’m probably not gonna have nice things to say after I give you the boot.

Have I done terrible harm? No, I’ve just decided that reward alone might not always work!

Which is why I think how humans do morality will always have punishment in it. I’d love it if all we ever had to do was give people treats like they’re cute puppies when they do what we want, but… just think of how long we tried that with Trump. No one wanted to be big meanies and call him a liar or bring him before a jury… but all that taught him was “this is fine, I can keep doing this.” So he got away with more and more.

Which is why morality without punishment makes zero sense to me.

If people DIDN’T so frequently interpret “no one is stopping me” as permission, I’d be all for it.

Yeah. Like, I tagged this abolition because it's that conversation, but I think what I'm really for is "we rethink prison from the ground up". It shouldn't be for people whose only crimes are things like drug use or petty theft; those people do better with rehabilitation and social support. It shouldn't be for "crimes of morality" like being nude or

It *should* be for people who won't stop hurting others, like said stalker. But also, I feel that the view of prison as intended for punishment (which is when we hurt someone purposely so that they will find it unenjoyable and act differently, rather than as a side effect of what we're trying to do which is keep their victims safe) just adds to this problem.

Because if we have the idea that prison is punishment, then we're tailoring the sentence to how much punishment we think that act deserves. Like, what is the appropriate amount of Bad to inflict on this stalker, in exchange for what they've done? 5 years? 10? 20? Okay, but then they're out -- and they haven't been helped in prison, they've become worse. So now they're doing it again.

Whereas if we saw prison as about keeping people safe... maybe some people would get longer sentences, actually, because they've shown that every time they're let out, they'll hurt people. But we're not torturing them purposely to try and make them stop, because that doesn't work. We're giving them all the resources they need to have a decent life. Hell, maybe they can even get a puppy, if we know they'll be kind to them and not abuse them; some people in prison keep cats, and it's said to help them with emotional regulation and growth. We're giving them a decent life, so we don't have to think about "how much of this prison-torture-time is okay to do to someone", and instead we're thinking, how long do they need to be here for their victims to be safe?

In a short version: punishment, in my understanding, is when you do an unpleasant thing to the person and expect that unpleasantness to make them decide to be nice. What I believe in is prioritising the "make sure they don't do harm" part, make them comfortable, let them live as much of a life as possible, but keep them separated from those they intend to hurt. This may also be unpleasant for them, but in this scenario, the cruelty is not the point.

Oh yeah. If “morality isn’t abou5 punishment” means “cruelty should never be the point’ then I agree. Cruelty often begets more cruelty. It’s why I find the Nazi punching memes in here so confusing—why do people think getting into street fights is going to stop Nazis from Naziing? Street fights are what Nazis DO!

But at the same time, there really are people who intend to harm others, and just asking them nicely to stop often doesn’t work. That’s why when people talk like there should be no criminal justice system I get very confused. I’m pretty sure they’re gonna find they have to reinvent it eventually. So I’d rather we just be honest about that unless and until eureka! We figure out how to convince EVERYONE to be prosocial just by asking nicely.

Like. Think about bullying. When I was young the only bit of advice anyone gave you was don’t stand up for yourself, they WANT to get a rise out of you, gray rock as best a tiny human can and they’ll get bored and eventually wander off.

Problem number one: tiny humans are typically not able to do that for very long. It’s hard for adults not to react!

Now people don’t seem to think that’s true any more. Now people say intervention works and don’t blame people for defending themselves.

Which is where I get that… I wish we could assume every malefactor has an easy to find off button! But I’ve done case management. I’ve literally talked to a dude who smiled and laughed while telling me the court wants him to do this and that to learn the rape he committed was wrong, but that’s bullshit and isn’t it funny they think he’d take it seriously?

Is that person evil incarnate? No, but he is (or a4 least was that day) quite literally an unrepentant rapist.

That’s bad, and telling someone like me “oh you just need to find the RIGHT WORDS to convince him he’s wrong!” blames the people interacting with him for HIS lack of remorse and HIS Chou e not to set things right.

Yeah. That guy should be kept away from people until such time as he doesn't think that rape is okay.

But imo this shouldn't be framed as "we will punish you until you stop doing the bad". It should be framed as "you can't act safely and fairly towards other people, and for those people's safety we will keep you separate, and try and teach you better, and give you opportunities if you will stop raping - but if you can't, you're staying here".

Because that framing, it seems to me from looking at things like Swedish prisons vs US prisons, makes a massive difference in how the people running the place treat the people there. If guards are given license to punish, some will be cruel. If staff are there to rehabilitate... they won't be able to help everyone, and some people may still have to be confined for life, but they can still be treated with some dignity.

I read about a guy who has to be kept in solitary and fed his food through a grate, because if he's allowed out he violently attacks those around him. But that particular prison (can't remember where it was) still had people come to talk to him and give him therapy, through the grate. They were giving as much compassion as they could, given the circumstances and the risk to their own lives (and psyches). I imagine that position is hard to work in. But if someone is willing to take it, to try, I say offer what we can, as long as we're making sure those staff are also getting proper mental healthcare.

(As for Nazi-punching... I think a bloke (gender neutral) has a right to have a pop at someone invading their space and spewing hate. Does it help? I'm not sure, but the ones who like to flash their memorabilia at protests are often awful in a real fight and cowardly once they get bonked. So it seems to work, and I don't consider a punch to someone already looking to fight the same as extended and/or state-sanctioned abuse. I also don't think it's the most useful thing ever - I think there are much more effective things to focus on to fight Nazism, like education - but I am cool with it happening.)

“How were LGBT people able to hijack the rainbow!?!”

Uhh, well Jake, we started using the rainbow to connote gayness and you immediately stopped using it because you were pants shittingly afraid of looking gay.

The same with a lot of women fashion, the very moment women starts to wear something too, it becomes “women fashion” and het cis men won´t touch it with a stick.

• you will in fact continue to have acne past the age of twenty
  
• you will eventually hit a point where you start to feel icky inside if you go too long without eating some sort of vegetables
• depending on your current level of athleticism/physical activity as well as the kind of activities you did as a kid/teenager, your joints may start acting whack in your twenties, despite what everyone says about that not happening until middle age
• eventually you will reach a point where you wonder how you were able to stay up until 3am nearly every night and be perfectly fine the next day (and this moment will come much younger than you expect)
• it is much harder to meet new people after you’re done with school than sitcoms would have you believe
• don’t let society tell you shit: it is perfectly acceptable to live with your parents after you graduate, there’s no need to be broke and miserable just so you can have some misguided attempt at independence straight out of school
  

• aging in general will catch up to you much sooner than you think. you’ll notice your first grey hairs ~25. crows feet appear when you smile ~30. aging is a slow and gradual process that’s happening throughout your life, including your 20’s. it’s not like an Old switch flips when you turn 40, any more than a Puberty switch flipped when you turned 13.
• same thing with not being Cool anymore. you’ll be vibing one day and suddenly media is saying your favorite style of jeans or hairstyle “date” you. (on the up side, you probably won’t care about that kind of thing anymore.)
• taking care of your body and your home is Relentless. nobody will make you do chores or eat your veggies. it can wear at you if you let it. setting and keeping good habits lessens the strain.
• measuring success is harder as an adult. in school you get graded most days, sports are measured in points. feedback at work regarding performance will be largely arbitrary. nobody can tell you if you’re on the right track to raise children into well-adjusted adults (though there’s plenty of conflicting advise out there). are you happy? how happy?
• outside of some obscene luck, you probably won’t build the life you want at the speed you want. that’s normal.
• you don’t have to stop liking “kid” stuff when you grow up. if you can still like ice cream or sports, you can also still like disney or nerf guns.
• you’re gonna have a favorite burner on your stove.

embracing the patterned ambiguity of gender and sex as more or less social constructs can grant you so much more precision in thinking about so many concepts in science.

like, if there was a study (and I'm just making this up as an example) showing women suffer from mosquito bites more than men do

you could do the ~"Gender Critical"~ thing and go "see!? mosquitoes get it!!"

OR

you could go "that's interesting" and start asking more questions, like:

• is this data self-reported? controlled?
• were they studying the women or the mosquitoes?
• did the study use methods that would let you tell the difference between "being bitten more often" and "noticing bites more often"?
• did the study include any trans people and were their results any different? if yes were they on HRT or not?
• how similar were the men and women in aspects other than gender? do we know their social class, jobs, diets, blood types?

because in fact the study i made up just then could lead to a huge variety of conclusions. from my description above you can't tell the difference between studies that show:

• mosquitoes are attracted to people with higher estrogen levels
• mosquitoes are opportunistic and women spend more time near mosquito habitats for sociocultural reasons
• every gender gets bitten about the same amount but men are socialised to pay less attention to physical discomfort so more of them don't notice minor bites compared to women (and by more we mean like 60-40, this is a bell curve thing)
• we accidentally got heaps of women in the study that have the mosquito's favourite blood type and not so for the men, oops
• mosquitoes are attracted to people with more x and y in their diets, which is currently mostly women for, again, largely sociocultural reasons

etc etc etc

you're just not going to understand actual Gender Science, and therefore reality, if you can't put "hmm, but what do they mean by woman this time" in your mental toolkit in a relatively neutral way.

Honestly this is a great way of presenting the kind of scientific literacy that is needed in an era of clickbait headlines and sound bites and facts that turn into memes; so much science "news" as reported by mass media distills nuanced studies into easily quotable and shocking one-liners that generally ignore the context behind the statistic.