@glossyfeathers - Tumblr Blog

unrestrained summer fun

oh i also wanted to mention that i've been volunteering with the prison library support network and really enjoying it! i thought i would post about it in case anyone else is interested bc i know there are a lot of library/library-adjacent people and abolitionists #onhere.

plsn is an abolitionist volunteer org whose primary service is reference, so answering questions and providing resource access to people inside, and you can volunteer to either be a part of processing their incoming/outgoing mail or otherwise to actually help answer the reference questions, which is what i've been doing. you don't have to be a librarian to volunteer; they will teach you how to do reference and there are templates and faqs to help you every step of the way. plsn is based in new york but they answer mail from facilities all over the country, and you can participate remotely + asynchronously even if you live elsewhere or outside the u.s. it's also a low time commitment - they ask you to answer at least 4 letters per year, though of course you can do as many as you want - the only time-sensitive part is that once you claim a letter, they ask you to answer it within 5 days.

it's an opt-in system where you to choose the letters you'd like to answer and you're never required to answer a letter that you don't want to; i would say based on my experience so far that there is a particular need for volunteers who are interested in helping letter writers access erotica; people frequently write in requesting written erotica, photos of celebrities, pornstars, and cartoon characters, etc. and volunteers' job is to provide that while keeping within whatever specific facility guidelines apply so that the resources can actually make it back into prison without being rejected by censors. there are also so many letters about different games and gaming systems, especially magic the gathering; i had no idea how many people inside are playing magic the gathering! plus tons of requests for different books and articles either in part or in whole, so it is also a lot of straight resource acquisition.

there's information about how to get involved here, how to get trained for reference here, and/or you can check out their instagram -- i'm also happy to chat about my experience if it would be helpful to anyone!

wachinyeya

Biotech Startup Breeds Blight Tolerant American Chestnut Without Any Genetic Defects https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/biotech-startup-breeds-blight-tolerant-american-chestnut-without-any-genetic-defects/

By analyzing variance between plants, SilvaBio's models were able to predict which ones would stand the best chance of resisting the blight.

Jul 20, 2026

The company is inspired by saving American hardwoods that have been ravaged by an introduced fungal disease, and says their proprietary approach could be replicated to help save American elm, ash, and white oak trees as well.

North American timber is a $350 billion industry. Hardwood forests support habitats and biodiversity, and anchor some 15% of all American carbon. Yet between chestnut blight, the emerald ash borer, and Dutch elm disease, many native species have experienced catastrophic declines.

Several concepts for protecting or immunizing American chestnuts from the blight which landed on American shores in the early 1900s from East Asia have failed or are being tested. Along with his partner and aptly-named entrepreneur Michael Bloom, Serazin and SilvaBio have approached the challenge by combining sophisticated predictive methods and knowledge of the chestnut’s genomics with their “Lightspeed” breeding process that offers an enhanced form of propagation.

—

“A foreign pathogen took the American chestnut from our forests. As we approach our 250th, American innovation, science collaboration and stewardship are bringing it back. That is a story worthy of this anniversary,” said Jessica Bowron, National Park Service Acting Director, in a speech to mark the occasion.

Before Darling cultivars can be cultivated on mass, however, detailed regulatory science has to be conducted to ensure that focusing Natural Selection so pointedly to a single purpose does not compromise other aspects of the American chestnut’s biology.

For example, in December 2023, the American Chestnut Foundation withdrew its support for a genetically engineered chestnut that was decades in development, after multiple documented research errors revealed the tree to be genetically defective. Discouraging field performance rendered them, in the Foundation’s opinion, unsuitable as the basis for species restoration.

“Healthy forests depend on genetic diversity. Our goal is to develop dozens, and eventually many more, blight-tolerant, regionally adapted lines,” they wrote.

“In the United States alone, an estimated 41% of our live forest biomass is threatened by just 15 non-native insects and diseases. The American chestnut is functionally extinct. We’ve lost roughly 75% of our mature elm trees. Ash is being devastated by the emerald ash borer, while beech, white oak, and walnut face their own emerging threats.”

“The American chestnut is our first application, but the same approach can be extended to other species facing similar challenges. Each new species builds on the scientific knowledge, propagation capabilities, and restoration partnerships we’ve already established.”

valentinetheeviljester

Maybe lean out

valentinetheeviljester

glorious-spoon

spent forty-five minutes today helping an 87yo woman who does not own a computer or a cell phone try to set up an email account so that she could then set up a second account in order to access benefits. went with protonmail, because they don't require 2fa, but it turns out that while you can still make a protonmail account without authentication you can no longer use it to create OTHER accounts without it, and the benefits page she needed to get to required both an email and a cell phone to create an account anyway. asked if she wanted to try going in person to see if someone there could help her, and she said that she had, and they'd directed her to the website. she tried signing up with her landline, but of course that didn't work because you can't do SMS authentication that way. finally ended up writing up detailed instructions for how to log in and authenticate her account so she can drive to her severely disabled daughter's house forty minutes away because that's the only person she knows and trusts who has both a cell phone and a computer.

anyway i fucking hate mandatory 2fa and i think the people responsible for it should have to spend a year navigating their lives with no cell phone and no internet access beyond the public library pcs. fuck.

markscherz

Today my magnificent octopus magnum opus, a 126-page monograph on the genus Rhombophryne—Madagascar's diamond frogs, was published open access in the journal Vertebrate Zoology. In it, my colleagues and I have described seven new diamond frog species and provided detailed revised accounts of each of the now 27 species in the genus, compiling practically everything that is known about these curious and obscure frogs!

Allow me to introduce the new characters:

This piece of lint precious child is Rhombophryne maraorao, a little burrowing species from the northeast of Madagascar. It is very similar ecologically to R. coudreaui, a long-known species from further south. The name maraorao means ‘rough to the touch’ in Malagasy, referring to the rough skin of this species. They do a weird thing where they straighten all of their limbs and go stiff in self defence. Think pumpkin toadlet post-launch mid-air stiffness, but… in the hand?

This beautiful creature is Rhombophryne mavokely, a little leaflitter-dwelling species from the northeast of Madagascar. The name mavokely is the Malagasy word for ‘pink’ but literally translates as ‘small yellow’ (mavo = yellow, kely = small). I LOVE this bizarre etymology, and also this species is small and sometimes pink and sometimes yellowish, so the name seemed extremely apt. This species was the first Rhombophryne I ever saw alive—I caught the first ever specimen immediately underneath my hammock on Marojejy in 2016!

This shiny boy is Rhombophryne sonaliae, a rather well known species from eastern Madagascar that has previously been called R. alluaudi—until we showed in 2019 that the correct use of that name was for a Plethodontohyla alluaudi from southern Madagascar! We dedicated this species to Sonali Garg, in recognition of her fantastic work especially on Asian frogs.

This forbidden truffle is Rhombophryne anatiala, a very poorly known species very closely related to R. sonaliae but found further north and differing subtly. The name anatiala means ‘in the forest’ in Malagasy, referring to the forest habitat of these frogs.

This bumpy beanbag with his go-faster chevron is Rhombophryne kotrobaratra, an interesting species from northeastern Madagascar with rather unusual anatomy, especially its quite long and strong hindlimbs. The name kotrobaratra means ‘thunder and lightning’ in Malagasy, and refers to the inclement weather that seems to bring these frogs out (true for all Rhombophryne, really) .

This coffee bean is Rhombophryne quentini, an orange-thighed species from high-elevation forests in northern Madagascar that resembles R. ellae. Back in 2020 I named R. ellae after my partner, Ella, and I thus took particularly great pleasure in naming this new, closely related species after our four-and-a-half year-old son, Quentin. A little family of frogs. :3

This little pebble is Rhombophryne kilonjy, a small, poorly known and obscure species related to R. ellae and R. quentini but found in lowland forest close to the coast in northwestern Madagascar. The name kilonjy means ‘pebble’ in Malagasy because, well, just look at it.

Even way back in my tumblr posts from 2013 and 2014 I think you would find mentions of the work I had begun on this monograph. I had no notion that it would take more than twelve years to complete. But I cannot express my joy at finally being able to share these charming, round frogs with the world. I hope you approve of the names!

If you want to read a bit more about these frogs, you can do so on my website. I have even posted a couple short videos about them on TikTok and Instagram (which also will show you how to pronounce the names!). Basically, you can find me most places on the internet, and wherever you find me, you can be sure to find frogs and lizards and snakes and a good deal of enthusiasm.

wyrmicelli

me tongue-deep in a sandalwood candle: 🤤

the tjmaxx employee loading a fourth tranquilizer dart into their blowgun: i need backup

snowown

vanglaggle

"why are so many leftists disabled" maybe it's because disabled people don't really care for the "kill all disabled people" parties but who can say

shamebats

inzaltsiknyam

the problem marxists have on disability is that they aren't reading marxist thought on disability and just kind of winging it. marta russell already laid out the political economy of disability in the global north in the 90s and global south scholars have their own (marxist) schools of thought on disability and have iterated on global north marxist disability analyses. disabled people are workers, most often. and handicapitalism (russell's term) has also turned disabled people into commodities. it's impossible to understand modern politics without engaging with these two realities.

inzaltsiknyam

everyone read right to maim and capitalism and disability now !!!!!!

butch-of-the-blades

pdf of capitalism and disability

pdf of right to maim

quoms

The blockbuster success of weight loss drugs is fueling a wave of giving that’s boosting Christian ministries across the U.S. and Canada.

Eli Lilly and Company’s largest shareholder, the independent Lilly Endowment, gave nearly $1.3 billion to religious causes in 2025, much of it specifically to Christian groups, according to its annual report released last week.

The donations have funded theological seminaries, religious displays in museums and an initiative meant to “tell compelling stories that portray the vibrancy and hope of Christian faith and life to inspire and help people from a wide variety of backgrounds to come to know and love God.”

Religious giving made up a third of the $3.85 billion the Lilly Endowment sent out the door in 2025, according to the report. Its other core focuses — education and community development — also exceeded $1 billion in gifts for the first time.

With a nearly 10% stake in the Zepbound creator, the endowment has been the biggest beneficiary of its 230% stock surge since the end of 2022.

It overtook the Gates Foundation as the country’s largest private foundation at the end of 2024 and became the first private foundation in the U.S. to cross $100 billion in assets last year. It finished 2025 with $105 billion and will have to deploy at least another $3.9 billion in 2026, according to its federal tax filing released in May.

hagiomoto

I don't think this is an appropriate response to an article about South Asian farmers losing their teeth because temperatures are now reaching 45 Celcius.

hagiomoto

The average Tumblr blogger has such poor manners that even a pig would be embarrassed to bring them home to its mother.

bagofmice

After I suspected a climate connection to tooth decay, I conducted systematic saliva pH testing across my patient population and documented

okay so i think i found the article op's (and me in my tags) talking about. being exposed to over 40 celsius (120 farenheit or so) for the whole day means youre sweating a LOT (the article says rashid- the farmer at the centre of the text- drinks around 17 liters a Day. humans usually only need 3, so i presume the rest is mostly used for sweat). so much so that the organizm reroutes water from other parts of itself to not die of heatstroke - salivary glands included, which means that 1. they have very little saliva in comparison to a healthy human being 2. what little their bodies DO produce is incredibly acidic, falling to ~5.5 ph from the ideal of 7ph. Teeth dissolve. Quickly. There's a mention of someone losing 8 teeth in two years

im not reading the whole article now (headache -_-), but later on the author of the article says about 30 million people (employed in agriculture) are at risk for extreme dental health problems. 30 million people at risk of not being able to eat solid food. 30 million people at risk of not being able to find work. being able to marry. being able to be part of their community. being able to speak clearly

this is. fucking horrible feels like an understatement, but it is the best i have. this exceptionally, terribly inhumane, and the pakistan goverment's lack of a plan to adress this is embarassing

yet-another-heathen

kropotkindersurprise

May 31 2016 - Collin Kennedy, who is a cancer patient, used expanding spray foam to disable a parking meter at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg where he gets his treatment. He says the fees are a tax on the sick. [video]

chronic-illness-resources

yes!!!!!!!!

estrangeloedessa

Lots of well-intentioned (I hope) but extremely condescending comments in the notes like “maybe don’t film yourself doing crime.” Respectfully… This man knew what he was doing. He didn’t just film himself, he invited media to film him. He did this to make his own statement, with his own voice, with his own face. He wanted himself and his actions to be visible.

Collin Kennedy died in 2018, just two years after this video was taken. What would anonymity have achieved for him in those last two years? Avoiding punishment? His whole point was that these parking fees are already a punishment on the sick.

Is public protest dangerous? Sure. Is it more dangerous than merely existing as a sick or disabled person navigating a hostile healthcare system? I think that is for every individual experiencing it to decide for themselves.

A Winnipeg man who filled a city parking meter with spray foam to protest the high cost of parking for sick people around hospitals has died

Collin Kennedy, 50, lived with multiple myeloma — a type of blood cancer — for 19 years.

He invited media to watch him fill a parking meter with spray foam to raise awareness about the high costs of parking for cancer patients and other sick people getting treatment. Video of Kennedy vandalizing the meter was widely shared on social media. It led to a Canada-wide petition to end the practice of charging for parking near hospitals.

He was a man who fought the only way he knew how, even if that meant taking matters into his own hands and disabling parking meters. He wasn’t in the boardrooms or corridors of power, he was on the streets trying to make a difference. (CBC News, December 12, 2018)

go-learn-esperanto

Hey. If people aren't aware, Microsoft admitted they know who you and where you are at all times and will give your info to the police.

They have a Global Device Identifier (GDID) Tracker that functions as a fingerprint for your PC that can surpass VPNs, proxy servers and countries. Although it can't survive a clean reinstall of Windows (it can survive updates), because Microsoft forces you to go to the internet and log in into a Microsoft account, they will be able to get to you.

Microsoft kept it secret and it was only found out when the FBI tracked a hacker thanks to the information Microsoft gave them.

You should be paying attention to this, and possibly consider moving away from Windows. If a government, especially the US government, doesn't like you for some reason, this could be seriously concerning.

This article specifically notes:

For journalism, activism, or domestic abuse situations, skip Windows and use Linux routed through Tor instead of a commercial VPN. A GDID doesn’t care which VPN you use, only that it’s still the same Windows installation.

GDID is the persistent Windows ID that helped FBI trace a Scattered Spider hacker despite VPNs. Here's how it works and how to limit it.

Other important quotes:

What has researchers uneasy is everything else the case reveals. Costin Raiu, a well-known malware researcher, asked on the Three Buddy Problem podcast how much of this exists on other platforms, and whether it is linked more permanently to hardware. Matthew Hickey, another security researcher, called Windows “surveillance software”.

Two things back that up:

There’s no consent screen. A GDID gets assigned when you sign into a Microsoft Account. Apple’s advertising identifier needs an App Tracking Transparency prompt and a visible reset; Android’s works the same way. GDID has neither, and a Windows reinstall only gets you a new number Microsoft can still get back to the same account.

Then there’s activation. Massgrave, the group behind Microsoft Activation Scripts, notes that Windows setup sends hardware info to Microsoft and gets identifiers back, the same tokens later used for Store access and licensing: “It’s impossible to prevent Windows from getting a GDID without breaking activation and UWP app[s].” Anyone who lost a license after swapping a motherboard has already met a smaller version of this.

standwithdaanes

When Joseph Lamont Williams refused to leave the public park where he has lived for years, he was charged with a felony. Camping bans are on

When he refused to leave the Nashville public park where he has lived for the past several years, Williams became one of a handful of homeless people in the country to be arrested and charged with a felony for camping on public property. Eleven states have passed homeless camping bans over the last four years, according to the National Homelessness Law Center. In the two years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that cities can ban people from sleeping and camping in public, more than 300 municipalities have joined them. Supporters of these laws say they enable public officials to enforce rules that already exist and provide incentive for unhoused people to seek shelter. But opponents call the laws cruel and say that an arrest record only makes it harder for those experiencing homelessness to secure a job or a home. The maximum penalty for felony camping in Tennessee is six years in prison. Williams pled to a lesser charge and was released from jail after nine days. "The slickest thing was asking me if I knew what I was pleading to," Williams said. "I'm just trying to plead to get out of here." [...] Williams was one of two people arrested in the park on June 28 and charged under Tennessee's no-camping law — the only one in the country to make sleeping on public property a felony. Though the law was passed in 2022, advocates for the unhoused say they have never before seen it used like this. [...]

Homelessness in Nashville has been on the rise, according to the city's Homelessness Planning Council, which in December 2025 estimated that roughly 4,300 people experience homelessness in the city, an uptick of more than 30% in less than a year. Nationally, homelessness has dipped slightly after reaching record levels in 2024. But chronic homelessness has grown, according to 2025 data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD's most recent tally of chronically homeless people in the U.S. found more than 155,000. Camping bans differ from state to state — some enable the state to level penalties against cities that refuse to enforce the ban; others make it easier for law enforcement to involuntarily commit people experiencing homelessness — but the broad strokes are the same. No camping, or sleeping, on public property. Many state legislatorshave taken inspiration, or even borrowed legislative language, from the Cicero Institute, a conservative think tank founded by tech billionaire Joe Lonsdale. Lonsdale is a co-founder of Palantir, whose data mining software has been used by local and federal law enforcement, including the CIA and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). [...] Devon Kurtz, who oversees Cicero's homelessness and public safety policy efforts, has been a vocal critic of the longstanding program model known as Housing First, saying it is ineffective. Housing First, which has long been promoted by experts and homeless outreach workers, aims to get unhoused people into stable housing before attempting to address any other needs, such as mental illness and drug or alcohol addiction. [...]

"My hope is that no one is ever convicted under any of these camping bans," Kurtz said. "The intention is not to jail people. I've also said, however, that sometimes, at the margins, it is essential that law enforcement has the ability to jail them because it can save lives." Nashville's oldest homeless enclave, Old Tent City, was disbanded last year. The area along the Cumberland River where more than 100 people once lived is now encircled by fences and no-trespassing signs. Krinks said the encampment had been there since the 1980s. Krinks has seen more security cameras installed around public parks and benches ripped out of the ground in downtown Nashville. The no-camping felony, she said, only makes things more dire for the city's homeless community. "Punishing people and using police to address homelessness only makes the crisis worse, and it prolongs people's experience of homelessness," said Krinks, who also helped start the statewide coalition Housing for All Tennessee. "Most people I know experiencing homelessness are so hungry for freedom, for agency, for their dignity to be seen and recognized and understood. Jail erodes every aspect of a person's agency." If you ask Williams how long he's been living in the park, he'll say he doesn't think of it that way. It's not living, he says. It's a place he goes to stay because he doesn't feel like he has anywhere else. Williams has been offered a bed at a Nashville shelter. He's been approached by service providers over the years. But he doesn't trust those organizations, and doesn't want to leave the neighborhood he considers his own. Instead, he sleeps sprawled across the wooden picnic tables, heats his food up in the sun and does pullups on the monkey bars at the playground. But the park is not home. Home is the aging public housing complex just up the hill; that's where he grew up. Williams can see it from the picnic benches. No one lives there now. [...]

Last month, prosecutors charged Williams with two felony counts of camping and one misdemeanor charge of evading arrest. According to charging documents, Williams attempted to flee after police officers told him they had a warrant for his arrest. That's when he was tased. Alissa Heydari, a court-appointed attorney who represented Williams in the camping case, said the arrest "makes what is already a very difficult life situation for Mr. Williams harder and worse." Williams pled guilty to the misdemeanor charge and was sentenced to time served. Prosecutors dropped the two felony counts on the condition of his plea, Heydari said. He was released from custody on July 6, nine days after his arrest. As far as Cicero is concerned, this is the law working as it should.

Joseph Williams, 49, a chronically homeless man, was arrested on June 28 and charged with two felony counts of camping on state property after police found him living in a public park in East Nashville. He spent nine days in jail before the felony charges were dismissed by a judge. After his release, he returned to the park.

free-and-to-none-accountable

The Monongalia County Sheriff’s Office Detective Division announces the continued investigation of the theft and destruction of multiple FLO

MONONGALIA COUNTY, W.Va (WDTV) - The Monongalia County Sheriff’s Office Detective Division announces the continued investigation of the theft and destruction of multiple FLOCK cameras. Wesley Jackson, 20, of Gerrardstown, was arrested on July 16 for his alleged involvement. Jackson has been charged with damage, destruction or theft of equipment used by emergency responders and conspiracy to commit a felony, according to officials. The Monongalia County Sheriff’s Office says they remain committed to a thorough investigation and expects additional arrests. House Bill 2066 was passed in 2025 to make the charge ‘damage, destruction or theft of equipment used by first responders’ a felony offense and will have at least 1 year in jail. Jackson has already posted his $15,000 PR bond.

Anybody know if there's a legal defense fundraiser or w/e for this innocent man who's being falsely accused of committing a cool crime?

uglymelon

Found one here

Help raise money for the legal fees and defense of Wesley Jackson of G… Johnathan Jackson needs your support for Stand with Wesley Jackson i

thatdiabolicalfeminist

are people talking about the labor conditions at Taylor Farms yet? like the fact they use enslaved prisoners in their facilities?

are we drawing the connection between worker safety and consumer safety & public health yet?

are people demanding to see the conditions in this place that keeps making us sick? why are the enslaved workers not having the time to use the bathroom or to rest when ill? very few people would shit in front of their coworkers given any choice at all.

cutecipher

On the prisoners point:

In a sweeping two-year investigation, The Associated Press found goods linked to prisoners wind up in the supply chains of everything from F

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