radiumbath

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The Survivor, 1950 - oil on canvas. — René Magritte (Belgian, 1898-1967)

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Shoplifters who spoke to Novara Media said the cost of living crisis had pushed them to steal more of life’s essentials. “A couple of times I’ve been on the verge of crying when I go to buy Sainsbury’s Basics apple and blackcurrant squash and realise the price has doubled in the past three months,” said John.

Lara, a culture worker from London, has started shoplifting groceries more frequently; she said it has become more socially acceptable in her circles. “I know that other people do it, and I’ve seen how other people do it, and that really helped,” she said. Previously, she avoided stealing because her upbringing and wider moralism had convinced her it was “a shameful thing” to do.

“Before, I would have described stealing as this really anti-Islamic thing to do,” she said. Shoplifting is also especially frowned-upon by “parents who come from a working-class or lower middle-class background,” she said, because of how classist ‘scrounger’ stereotypes “trickle down to how we surveil and shame each other.”

Nowadays however, Lara sees shoplifting as “one of the few guerrilla tactics we have available to us.”

Alan, a construction worker from London, who, like John and Anna, has been shoplifting around half his groceries in recent months, has “no moral qualms” about stealing from supermarkets. “I just think that the stuff in the world is ours, all of ours,” he said, “and that we’ve invented a really stupid system for the distribution of resources which doesn’t treat them as ours, and treats them as things that can be used for capitalists to make profit.”

He wouldn’t steal things if it meant that “someone’s labour went unrewarded”, he said, but all shoplifting affects is “the profits of shareholders” he said. “[I have] no concerns about that at all.”

[…]

While, for many, shoplifting feels like a form of resistance to untenable living conditions, no one who spoke to Novara Media was sure how to build solidarity between shoplifters. Alan shoplifts food for rough sleepers, but wishes there were more organised approaches to shoplifting – like the mass stealing and redistribution of food that occurred in Greece following the 2008 financial crisis.

Lara believes shoplifting could be “revolutionary” if it could be “more of an organised operation” that involved “getting workers on side”.

“I think it would be really radical if there would be a widespread recognition and acceptance of stealing as a necessary mechanism for resistance,” she says. “If you can’t afford the things that you have to buy, then the logic should be that you just take them.”

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Autistics often struggle to learn how to drive, usually taking 6-9 months longer to obtain their licence (if they're able to drive at all).

This isn't surprising when you think about everything that goes into driving.

You need to successfully and confidently:

Know how to operate the car

Know all the laws of driving

Be able to switch between multiple tasks

Preempt other driver's movements

Be aware of your surroundings at all times

Not get distracted

Listen and watch for traffic hazards, emergency vehicles etc

Stay calm at all times

Anticipate and react to the traffic around you

Interact with other drivers as necessary to ensure the flow of traffic

Cope with the noise of traffic

Cope with police officers during routine traffic stops etc

Ensure your car is road worthy at all times.

And about a dozen other things!

So, if you're autistic and can't drive, there is nothing wrong with you. It's freaking difficult, scary to learn, and a sensory nightmare!

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we don’t fucking choose poverty

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The last 2 illustrations in the alien set 🫡 may or may not revisit these alien guys some day, but I always have some sort of beast or creature in the works.

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One of my biggest pet peeves:

"That animal doesn't actually feel [human like emotion], it's merely behaving as if it does on the basis of [description which could plausibly apply to human like emotion]."

For example:

"Dogs don't actually love their owners, they merely learn by experience that their owners are safe and will take care of them, and thus respond positively when they receive their owner's affection; it's purely a conditioned response."

Like, look... I don't know what dogs feel, phenomenologically. And I know that when I experience love, it's more than just a learned expectation of reward or whatever. But becoming "conditioned" to like someone by way of... noticing things that they do that you like, that's clearly a part of what goes into love, it's just that we don't phrase it in these clinical terms, we say "getting to know someone" or whatever. Like, by describing things in the above way, you haven't ruled anything out! You haven't ruled out a human-like phenomenological experience for the dog!

Of course you haven't proved one either. Dogs are highly social and pretty closely related to us, so on the basis of parsimony in explaining our large repertoire of shared social behaviors I'd guess that dogs experience things phenomenologically similar to love, anger, joy, etc. But I don't know. And it's even more uncertain when talking about like, a lizard or something. Still, I hate the above type of argument for the smugness with which people make it, as if it actually demonstrates anything. It doesn't! Yeah, your dog probably is making doe-eyes at you because it has learned, among other things, that that will result in some pets. Consider that you may have done the same to another human yourself...

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One of my biggest pet peeves:

"That animal doesn't actually feel [human like emotion], it's merely behaving as if it does on the basis of [description which could plausibly apply to human like emotion]."

For example:

"Dogs don't actually love their owners, they merely learn by experience that their owners are safe and will take care of them, and thus respond positively when they receive their owner's affection; it's purely a conditioned response."

Like, look... I don't know what dogs feel, phenomenologically. And I know that when I experience love, it's more than just a learned expectation of reward or whatever. But becoming "conditioned" to like someone by way of... noticing things that they do that you like, that's clearly a part of what goes into love, it's just that we don't phrase it in these clinical terms, we say "getting to know someone" or whatever. Like, by describing things in the above way, you haven't ruled anything out! You haven't ruled out a human-like phenomenological experience for the dog!

Of course you haven't proved one either. Dogs are highly social and pretty closely related to us, so on the basis of parsimony in explaining our large repertoire of shared social behaviors I'd guess that dogs experience things phenomenologically similar to love, anger, joy, etc. But I don't know. And it's even more uncertain when talking about like, a lizard or something. Still, I hate the above type of argument for the smugness with which people make it, as if it actually demonstrates anything. It doesn't! Yeah, your dog probably is making doe-eyes at you because it has learned, among other things, that that will result in some pets. Consider that you may have done the same to another human yourself...

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Last week, the California State Library hosted an online panel and presentations from three distinguished speakers titled: California's Environmental Heritage: Indigenous Wisdom, Historical Impact, and Future Sustainability. It was our most popular online event thus far, and we’ve now posted it on YouTube. Listen as Dr. Brittani Orona, Dr. Melinda Adams and Rose Ramirez discuss the environmental legacy of settler colonialism in California, including its impact on current land and water management policy, through the lens of Indigenous practices and perspectives.  The event was sponsored by the California State Library Foundation.

Here’s the YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/M8MmBJopv1s?si=WWKM8VT3Gu8Q0nVK&t=1

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this cyborg babe is my biggest achievement of this week as i was trying to get myself to draw her for so long but was always scared of the complexity (i don't usually draw robotics). finally she's here and in two colors!

✨🌹🤖✨🌹🤖✨🌹🤖✨🌹🤖✨🌹🤖✨

instagram | carrd | shop

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feel like every few months a new post goes around making fun of people on tumblr for never having had sex or kissed anyone which ironically is the most immature high school behavior out of anyone even though supposedly you’re using it as a statement on the immaturity of people on this website. i think people forget that a lot of this site is teenagers too and not having sex until ur 20s is completely normal and common. especially since a lot of this site is autistic and a lot of this site is trans and a lot of this site is exclusively attracted to the same gender and all these factors complicate things when it comes to sex and dating lol but also you can be a straight cis neurotypical person who doesn’t kiss anyone or have sex until your mid-late 20s and that’s still normal. there’s no timeline

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the line “your worst sin is that you’ve betrayed and destroyed yourself for nothing” is so raw you’d think it’s from a destiel fanfic or even hetalia but it’s actually from dostoyevskys crime and punishment

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💕SKETCHBOOK TOUR💕

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me when i meet the person who created webp files

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Mottled sea stars (Evasterias troscheli) and flat bottom sea stars (Asterias amurensis) clinging to the ferry pier pilings in Homer, Alaska. 

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my three ex wives. and yes, they smoke weed

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sick to my stomach abt the fact that 2014 is about to be A Decade Ago