Madness from Beyond the Mountains

There's not really a good way to give a size idea. I measured Bug once, as a yearling.

Here's Mantis in front of me with her wings spread, as a yearling. For reference, I'm 5'3".

and Mantis up on my arm, with her father's train beside me

she was around 6.5-7lbs in this photo, so obviously the males get bigger.

Stan was a fairly small male (around 8lbs), but not a small bird by any means. a small peacock, but not a small bird.

For comparison, here's Stan at around 7lbs beside a yearling male at around 9lbs

Annoying the small child a little bit, as a treat

So, your landlord/parents/home inspector/favorite movie star is dropping by, and your place is a disaster. You don’t have much time to clean it up. You’re in emergency mode. Let’s get started.

Don’t panic. Panic leads to fear, fear leads to procrastination, procrastination leads to the dark side. You can do this, but you have to stay calm.

Unlike maintenance cleaning, we’re not looking to completely unfuck one space at a time. Instead, we want to decrease the overall mess in stages, spread evenly across the whole area that we’re concerned about. If you think your home is at Level 10 filth, we want to bring the whole thing down to a Level 9, and then down from there. One really clean spot in an otherwise messy home is not going to be helpful here.

Get prepared. You’ll want to shut the computer down (or turn the modem off if you need your computer to play music). Trust me. Get your music going. Gather up trash bags, your vacuum and mop, some rags or paper towel, sponges, and other cleaning supplies. Use what you have on hand. Don’t get distracted running to the store and spending an hour browsing cleaning supplies. A multi-purpose cleaning concentrate or a jug of vinegar will be just fine.

Breaks are very important. Depending on your time constraints, work in 20/10s (20 minutes working, 10-minute break) or 45/15s. But take breaks because otherwise you’re marathoning, and marathon cleaning is no one’s friend. Keep hydrated, don’t forget to eat, and check in with yourself frequently to make sure you’re physically doing OK.

Make your bed. This will be your home base if you get overwhelmed or need somewhere clear to take a break.

Start with the garbage. Going from room to room, throw out anything that is obvious trash. Once you fill a bag, take it out. Repeat as many times as necessary.

Move on to dishes. Gather the dishes from all over your house and bring them to the kitchen. If you can, start them soaking in a sink of hot, soapy water or start loading the dishwasher. After the dishes are all in one place, spend one 20/10 getting started getting them under control.

Now it’s time for your flat surfaces. Countertops, tables, dresser tops, etc. Clear them off and wipe them down. Don’t get distracted in too much sorting and organizing. We’re in crisis mode here. There will be time to get in-depth once this is all done. The same applies to cabinets and closets. Unless you have reason to believe people will be opening closed doors, leave these alone for now.

Attack the floordrobe and shoe pile. Get your clothes either put away or in the hamper. Start a load of laundry if you need to, but keep in mind that laundry and dishes have three steps: wash, dry, and put it away, goddammit!

Get random stuff up off the floors. If something is trash-worthy, throw it away now rather than just move it around a bunch of times. Otherwise, put stuff where it belongs.

Take another 20/10 or 45/15 to catch up on more dishes, if needed.

Head into the bathroom. Pour some cleaner in the toilet bowl, fill the sink with hot water and cleaner, and either spray the tub and shower with cleaner, or fill the tub up with some hot water and add cleaner and let it soak. Put everything away that’s out and shouldn’t be, clean the mirror, counters, and toilet seat. Sweep or dry mop the floor. Wipe down the sink and tub/shower, and give the toilet bowl a scrub. Mop the floor.

Sweep and mop the kitchen floor.

Vacuum everything you can, and sweep everything you can’t.

Walk outside of your house (don’t lock yourself out, please). Walk back in and see what catches your eye first. Go and deal with that.

If you’re being inspected or your landlord is coming in for repairs, spend time on whatever area they’ll be focusing on.

Give the whole place one more once-over and pay attention to anything you’ve missed so far.

It’s an old trick, but if your place is a little funky-smelling, put a pan of water on the stove on low heat and add some citrus or cinnamon or vanilla. Don’t leave it unattended or forget about it.

Take a shower, put on something clean, and eat something.

You can do this. It’s overwhelming, yes, but it is not impossible. You just need to do it. You have a list. You have directions. You have a whole bunch of Internet strangers who have been there before and who are cheering you on. You can do this, but you need to get started.

So: I had a pretty non-violent upbringing. Though it wasn't without disruption and trauma, it wasn't violent and I didn't experience much death and loss close to home. I also had an upbringing that left me pretty ignorant of the world at large. I didn't encounter anti-Black racism, and the media myself and my family consumed was purposefully diverse (like the middle Star Treks).

Now, I always had a drive to Do Justice. Naturally, I was attracted to police work first, because of the impression that copaganda had left with me. I thought that was how to do good and protect people.

Because, on the surface, the threats that I understood existed in America came from criminals and guns and violence. How could it be any other way? What I saw on TV was Bad People doing Bad Things and police putting things to Rights.

When did I learn that the causes of violence were so complex? Not until I was boots-on-the-ground meeting abjectly poor people and promising to defend them, earning their trust, hearing their stories, and coming to understand them. And even on top of that, really feeling out the shape of the criminal justice system and its numerous traps, which I have sketched out for Tumblr in the How The Justice System Works posts, took even longer. It took years of seeing and experiencing things firsthand and hearing from every person involved and realizing how complicated the truth is and following common threads anyway.

At this point, I've spent a literal decade learning this system. My knowledge and understanding of the juvenile "justice" system particularly in my state... like, I'm definitely in the top 100 experts, probably in the top 50, and maybe in the top 25. (A terrifying realization.)

Understanding required on-the-ground knowledge. It wasn't just viewing individual acts -- this crime, that police shooting, this prosecution, that mental health call -- and reaching conclusions. It was knowing where the training comes from. What the rules are. What the "gold standard" is. And even smaller things too: what the police sergeant says before he sends everyone out on patrol. The in-jokes. The sideways glances. The shorthand.

It's not that I think I need a master's degree to understand the Middle East (though to put together enough history to really get to causative roots, someone might need one). It's that my experience of the Israel-Palestine conflict is a whole lot of people Confidently Stating what they believe to be the Truth on Tumblr, combined with individual journalistic pieces. Lads and ladies, I've read the individual journalistic pieces on the criminal justice system, and they are the tiniest of windows, and they don't explain anything. I just don't trust all these sources of information!

Not that I think this information is necessarily wrong -- though, of course, it might be. Let's say everything I've seen and heard relates truthful facts, such as they are. Knowing that certain acts took place is only the first part of understanding a conflict. It's barely enough to start understanding who's responsible for even just that one act!

I think young people especially have a very difficult time with this. They haven't had the experience to really settle in one place and start to Understand how a system works, any system. There's nothing wrong with them; they're still growing. They don't know yet that when you open yourself up to points of view that are truly, absolutely foreign to yourself, you learn truths you didn't even imagine existed.

Today, when I see a kid shoot another kid, I don't see a little gangster criminal who needs to be locked up. I see a tragic trend of young black people in my city feeling like they need to carry a gun for protection, and the natural escalation that occurs from that point. I see causation that involves a world of violence and risk for them, where they do not trust the police and where owning a gun and having a gun is glorified. And I think it's pretty common now to acknowledge that gang violence is something that is perpetuated by the actions of the police and solidified by systemic barriers to economic freedom and progress. It's nice that the broader understanding has made it into the story so I don't have to explain it from jump every time.

But I'm just lacking that understanding when it comes to Israel and Palestine. Reading books will only go so far. (Which, I do still read books, but like. I understand the limitations therein.)

I simply cannot attain the level of understanding that I have for my clients with an overseas conflict. Not without without, like, a huge learning curve, and abandoning a place where I truly believe I am doing good.

I don't know their ground reality. I haven't held their hands and looked into their eyes and listened to their voices. And don't tell me "there are documentaries" -- I was a film production major on top of a poli sci major and I've done documentary filmmaking. I know how easy it is to make even a neutral event into propaganda. And there are so many people who want to make propaganda out of Israel and Palestine.

So, yeah, truth is complicated. My kid-who-shot-another-kid example: I'm drawing from a real life case here. My client was obviously not without blame. Brought the gun. Pulled the trigger. Took a human life. That is murder. It affected so many people. It removed a person from the world forever. War-related violence is also not okay!!

(In fact, at this point, I think I've come down pretty hard against violence of all kinds. From the state especially.)

And, even setting All This Shit aside, I think judgment and blame are impediments in a peace process.

So, while I can make some pretty simple statements, the majority of my judgment is reserved. That's just how it's going to be. Not because I'm pro-Jewish. Not because I'm pro-Arab. Not because I'm picking a side. Because of who I choose to be. I choose to be this.

I want Palestinians to be able to thrive without the oppressive and traumatic infliction of state violence. I would also like my Jewish friends here to be able to thrive without fear of a shooter breaking into a house of worship and killing their friends and family.

He’s eating it.

I can tell because the bags are nearly empty except for a few small clumps.

We had him tested and in the course of that vet visit he stole

6 tips

3 of the ear light cover things

Our other cats collar

the ear bud of the vets stethoscope 

several hearts

a plastic glove

the vet techs hair tie

This is his ledge

His ledge is taller then my husband who is 6’2”

I am 5’5”

Here's what I need you to do:

If you see a post with a "mature content" label, and it's 2026, DM me a link to the post.

Yes, that's really it.

I am hoping to collect several thousand such posts, so that I have a decent sized dataset. I do not care what the post is about; if it's labeled as "mature content", I want to add it to my dataset.

What's your hypothesis, OP?

I am not talking about that unless I have results to share. That would bias the results.

I did write them down and I did share them with a trusted contact who can prove that I wrote them down the same day I made this post. (While I did so before I made this post, I am not sure they will be able to provide proof of that, because I did so on the same day.)

OP are you interested in...?

Do you have to click through to see the post? Does the clickthrough contain the words "mature content"? Then yes.

OP are you interested if the post is about...?

Should I reblog this for reach?

Yes, please. I felt really silly when I noticed I forgot to include that in the original post.

Is it okay if I send you my own posts?

Yes, those are perfect for what I'm looking for. I actually need to do some processing on a post to make it useful for testing my hypothesis, and this makes it easy.

Are you looking for "potentially mature content" also, or just "mature content"?

I want both, please. Anything that throws up a blocking screen that you have to click through. The distinctions between them are one of the things I am hoping to study.

Does it matter when the post was made originally?

Technically no. There's no way to respond to this without introducing some bias in the results, and I don't want that. However, I do collect some data on a post as part of making it useful to me, and that data is easier to collect if the post is recent.

What if I request content label review on a post after I send it to you?

I need to see the mature content label to be able to use the post. Because the mature content label hides the content of the post, it is very hard to use a post that no longer has a mature content label. You could send me a screenshot, but people could use that to lie to me.

Basically, it's more work for you to make it usable to me.

OP are you a transphobe? It would ruin the experiment for me if you're a transphobe.