The Prickly Little Rose

Since its founding in 2007, Tumblr has always been a place for wide open, creative self-expression at the heart of community and culture. To borrow from our founder David Karp, we’re proud to have inspired a generation of artists, writers, creators, curators, and crusaders to redefine our culture and to help empower individuality.

Over the past several months, and inspired by our storied past, we’ve given serious thought to who we want to be to our community moving forward and have been hard at work laying the foundation for a better Tumblr. We’ve realized that in order to continue to fulfill our promise and place in culture, especially as it evolves, we must change. Some of that change began with fostering more constructive dialogue among our community members. Today, we’re taking another step by no longer allowing adult content, including explicit sexual content and nudity (with some exceptions).  

Let’s first be unequivocal about something that should not be confused with today’s policy change: posting anything that is harmful to minors, including child pornography, is abhorrent and has no place in our community. We’ve always had and always will have a zero tolerance policy for this type of content. To this end, we continuously invest in the enforcement of this policy, including industry-standard machine monitoring, a growing team of human moderators, and user tools that make it easy to report abuse. We also closely partner with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Internet Watch Foundation, two invaluable organizations at the forefront of protecting our children from abuse, and through these partnerships we report violations of this policy to law enforcement authorities. We can never prevent all bad actors from attempting to abuse our platform, but we make it our highest priority to keep the community as safe as possible.

So what is changing?

Posts that contain adult content will no longer be allowed on Tumblr, and we’ve updated our Community Guidelines to reflect this policy change. We recognize Tumblr is also a place to speak freely about topics like art, sex positivity, your relationships, your sexuality, and your personal journey. We want to make sure that we continue to foster this type of diversity of expression in the community, so our new policy strives to strike a balance.

Why are we doing this?

It is our continued, humble aspiration that Tumblr be a safe place for creative expression, self-discovery, and a deep sense of community. As Tumblr continues to grow and evolve, and our understanding of our impact on our world becomes clearer, we have a responsibility to consider that impact across different age groups, demographics, cultures, and mindsets. We spent considerable time weighing the pros and cons of expression in the community that includes adult content. In doing so, it became clear that without this content we have the opportunity to create a place where more people feel comfortable expressing themselves.

Bottom line: There are no shortage of sites on the internet that feature adult content. We will leave it to them and focus our efforts on creating the most welcoming environment possible for our community.

So what’s next?

Starting December 17, 2018, we will begin enforcing this new policy. Community members with content that is no longer permitted on Tumblr will get a heads up from us in advance and steps they can take to appeal or preserve their content outside the community if they so choose. All changes won’t happen overnight as something of this complexity takes time.

Another thing, filtering this type of content versus say, a political protest with nudity or the statue of David, is not simple at scale. We’re relying on automated tools to identify adult content and humans to help train and keep our systems in check. We know there will be mistakes, but we’ve done our best to create and enforce a policy that acknowledges the breadth of expression we see in the community.

Most importantly, we’re going to be as transparent as possible with you about the decisions we’re making and resources available to you, including more detailed information, product enhancements, and more content moderators to interface directly with the community and content.

Like you, we love Tumblr and what it’s come to mean for millions of people around the world. Our actions are out of love and hope for our community. We won’t always get this right, especially in the beginning, but we are determined to make your experience a positive one.

Police dogs are trained for a period of 12 weeks to determine their capability to join a K9 unit. Many dogs fail to achieve the high standards required by the police and those that complete their training successfully partake in routine training on a weekly basis to maintain their abilities.  Specialist dogs receive additional training in specific skills, such as abseiling and performing CPR. Below are the four most popular dog breeds trained by police forces and intelligence agencies.

German Shepherd

German Shepherds are used routinely and on a daily basis as General Purpose Dogs (GPD’s). They defend officers on duty, deter suspects from attacking officers, and prevent suspects from evading capture. German Shepherds are also trained to incapacitate suspects, particularly if they are in possession of lethal weapons or firearms. German Shepherds are used widely because they are intimidating, fast and agile, and they remain focused and alert in the face of danger. They form incredibly close bonds with their handlers who they will defend at all costs.

Weight: 30-40 kg (male) 22-32kg (female)

Life expectancy: 10-14 years

Character: Energetic, Protective, and Hard-working

Image credit: Dog animal pets german shepherd by Adam Kontor. CC0 license via Pixabay.

Belgian Malanois

In addition to the German Shepherd, Belgian Malanois are also used as General Purpose Dogs. Police forces have found it difficult to secure German Shepherds in recent years and the Belgian Malanois is the perfect substitute. They surpass the speed and agility of the German Shepherd due to their lighter weight, and their longer life expectancy means they are able to work to a greater age before retirement. Like the German Shepherd, they are used as a deterrent to prevent suspects from attacking officers or fleeing a crime scene.

Weight: 29-34kg (male) 25-30kg (female)

Life Expectancy: 12-14 years

Character: Energetic, Protective, and Hard-working

Image credit: German shepherd pet by Stock snap. CC0 license via Pixabay.

Cocker Spaniel

They may not look threatening, but spaniels are vital members of police dog units throughout the UK. Spaniels are trained as Specialist Detection Dogs (SDD), sniffing out drugs, illegal tender, firearms, and explosives. Arson dogs are trained to sniff out traces of accelerant in cases of suspected arson. Recently, the breed has been trained to detect digital devices such as USB sticks and cameras. In addition to the Cocker Spaniel, the English Springer Spaniel is also widely trained as an SDD. Spaniels are friendly, energetic and have an extraordinary sense of smell, detecting scents which could be up to 10 years old.

Weight: 13-16kg (male) 12-14kg (female)

Life expectancy: 12-15 years        

Character: Active, Smart, Friendly and Outgoing  

Image credit: Dog pet quadruped animal by Amorhunter. CC0 license via Pixabay.

Labrador Retriever

Labradors have been voted as America’s top dog for 27 years. They are gentle, reliable and patient dogs with a calm temperament, making them excellent companions for people and children. They are highly trainable meaning they excel as service and therapy dogs, and also as police dogs. Like the Cocker Spaniel, Labradors are trained as _Specialist Detection Dogs, _sniffing out anything from drugs, weapons and illegal tender, to discarded objects, clothing and human remains. The breed has recently been trained to detect digital devices and they are also used widely in the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency).

Weight: 29-36kg (male) 25-32kg (female)

Life expectancy: 10-14 years        

Character: Gentle, Friendly, Playful and Intelligent 

Koalas have had it hard. The marsupial nearly disappeared in the 1920s and 1930s due to heavy hunting. Even earlier, at the time of the first European settlers, the animal was considered to be extremely unintelligent and millions were killed for their pelts. Since, they’ve been threatened by “the impact of forest clearance, large-scale forest fires, and the introduction of zoonotic disease, particularly domestic animal strains of chlamydia.”

Another struggle comes from the fact they they’re frequently referred to as “koala bears” while the koala is not, in fact, a bear, but rather a marsupial. Other friends in this category include kangaroos, wallabies, wallaroos, wombats, and possums.

But one stereotype about koalas rings true: that of their apparent laziness. Like some other modern 21st century citizens, koalas spend the majority of their time napping and eating. More than 80 percent of their time is spent sleeping, with less than 10 percent eating (up to a pound of leaves a day), and the rest just sitting.

Regardless of the koala’s uncomplicated schedule, the Australian Koala Foundation estimates that there are less than 100,000 Koalas left in the wild, and possibly as few as 43,000. As it happens, this has led to the term ‘koala’ being adopted in Australia as slang for a diplomat who is immune from law.

While some are fighting to change their protection status from “vulnerable” to “critically endangered” it seems high time that the everyone appreciates the koala for the unique, gentle creature that it is.

Passover began 30 March at sunset and continues until Saturday evening, 7 April. Passover, or Pesach, is one of the more important holidays in the Jewish calendar and commemorates the escape of the Hebrews from their enslavement in Egypt.

One of the central elements of the festival is the avoidance of all leavened bread in favor of matzo or unleavened bread. This restriction harkens back to the Hebrews who left Egypt so quickly that they had no time to let the dough for their bread rise. Carrying the dough on their backs, it cooked in the sun and didn’t rise.

The image above shows a matzo container with the Hebrew inscription: “You will eat matzo for seven days” (Exodus 23:15). In addition to the centrality of matzo, the seder feast, held on the first evening of Passover, is composed of various symbolic foods. Find out more about the food and drink of Passover.