"Fishing" You A Happy Valentine's Day!

Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) 2022.

definition from sentate: “the kids online safety act (KOSA) empowers kids and their parents to take over kids’ online experiences to protect their health and well-being”.

now, if you’re from the UK or any other country that’s not revolves around the US, you may not have an idea of what’s going on- like i did.

one of my anon’s sent a message to me last night, it was the 🦈 anon to be specific. and the message read “if KOSA gets passed, goodbye, you were my favourite blog.”

now when i first read the message i thought they were talking about another blog for a second, and i was a little confused. then, i decided to google what KOSA is.

KOSA is a bill that tried to get recognition back in 2022 that is focused on monitoring the internet of children. now, in 2023 it’s been re-introduced with some terrifying adaptations.

if the KOSA (2022) bill was to be accepted then:

-> filters would be installed to wipe the internet of anything that deemed ‘inappropriate’ for minors, which would silence them from accessing materials regarding suicidal prevention and LGBTQ+ content.

-> it would KOSA the power to shut down websites that discuss race, religion, sexuality- basically retract free speech and only allow access to content they approve of.

-> age verification and parental monitoring tools will be expanded and enhanced which are not only invasive, but can silence innocent victims of abusive environments for reaching out and finding help.

this whole bill is a sick and twisted way of trying to silence the younger generation, and attempt to stop them from seeking out the truth in the government’s lies and to have a voice in this world.

well, we’re not going down without a fight!

sign letters to oppose KOSA -> link here!

sign petitions here -> link here.

i’ve signed both! now it’s your turn <3

we deserve privacy to be who we are in a world that would rather kill us then listen to what we have ton say.

From the people who brought you Squid Facts, Horseshoe Crab is Calling

I don't know about you, but I need a little joy right now. Earlier this month, I was walking down the street in my neighborhood and I came upon this:

I was like "Wow. Ok. Yes I AM picking that up." I couldn't resist! What an enticing strategy!

I had to try it myself.

After kicking the idea around with a few friends, I landed on "Horseshoe Crab is calling", and we updated to the modern iOS. Maybe i should have kept the green and red, I'm not sure.

Who the hell wouldn't be intrigued by this?!

(P.S. shout out to Basic Barbie, another street artist in the city who is unapologetically femme in a predominantly male scene. We love Basic Barbie.)

The link on the bottom goes to a list of actionable things people can do to slow climate change. Very curious to see how many people visit the page.

If you would like the print file so you can get business cards printed yourself to pepper around your natural habitat, DM me. Happy to share.

"Fishing" you a happy Valentine's Day!

part 1/4 of the fish valentine cards I drew for some friends

i mean this in the gentlest way possible: you need to eat vegetables. you need to become comfortable with doing so. i do not care if you are a picky eater because of autism (hi, i used to be this person!), you need to find at least some vegetables you can eat. find a different way to prepare them. chances are you would like a vegetable you hate if you prepared it in a stew or roasted it with seasoning or included it as an ingredient in a recipe. just. please start eating better. potatoes and corn are not sufficient vegetables for a healthy diet.

"Fishing" you a happy Valentine's Day!

part 3/4 of the fish valentine cards I drew for some friends

Crowtober day 2: Tea

Jesper is highly amused by using the Van Eck teacups for target practice, fabrikating them back together, and repeating the process.

Wylan is happy to let him.

@crowtoberchallenge

In which I achieve a lifelong dream, of sitting on the seafloor with a bunch of giant Australian cuttlefish

This morning I checked a major bucket list item off the list: hanging out w/Giant Australian Cuttlefish. They're super focused on mating, and are shockingly chill about people hanging around. I'd heard this was true, but whew, it was wild to experience firsthand.

It's a rare thing for an animal to reliably be found at a certain place & certain time. So often "lifer" animals depend on luck to seen. With these cuttlefish, so far it's been like clockwork. Late May-August, go to Whyalla in winter, and there they are, resplendent and numerous.

Good news:they're reliable + stunning. Bad news: Whyalla is a friggen hike from Philly & the water is a bit chilly (58 degrees F today). If you want to swim with them, you better get a thick wetsuit on and maybe be a bit cold (I was honestly too excited to be cold).

Seeing mating behavior up close was so completely amazing. The males perform dominance displays where they roll black bars across their body directly at another male. It's mind-blowing to see in person. They generally do it with the half of their body facing the other male.

we all need to start appreciating peridot stevenuniverse more for what she did for us. it would be easier to say what she DIDN'T do honestly. she's autistic. she's silly. she's sad and little. she's an overworked i. t. guy. she's a saturday morning cartoon villain. she's aroace. she's gay. she yelled at her boss and immediately had a mental breakdown. she's both a victim of and perpetuates the oppressive society she was raised in. she has to unlearn her conceptions of other people's worth and her own worth so she stops hurting other people and hurting herself. she achieves this in part through robot fights. she's hyperfixated on a canadian soap opera. she draws shipping charts. she's nonbinary. she can never go home again. she doesn't want to go home again. she went from believing literally anything was a weapon that could be used to harm her to farming and making art and music with her best friend in a barn. she's like 3 feet tall. she has a twitter account where she talks in all caps constantly. she's green and her hair is a triangle literally what can't she do.