What's the first "big news story" you remember from when you were a kid?

It's something I love to ask mixed-aged groups sometimes because I think it's really interesting to see the responses. I've gotten answers from the Olympics of [whatever year] to Watergate to more recent stuff from my niblings.

He did a wonderful job, but as he was returning my plant to my custody, he explained "I watered her every other day, I gave her new dirt, moved her into the sunshine, prayed the rosary-"

"What?"

He looked at me, confused. "Isn't she a plant you pray with?"

"No," I said slowly. "She's a prayer plant. That's the... colloquial name of the plant."

Upon seeing his stricken face, I realized something went wrong. Turns out, this entire time, he's been including my plant in on his prayers and leaving her near icons.

Behold, Dorothea

they post about me every day, multiple times a day, speculating about my income, my family, my medical transition, my disability, and so on. extremely transphobic things have been said. extremely ableist things have been said. I have blocked them, but this has not stopped them from screenshotting everything I post. and when I don't say anything new and interesting, they scroll through my blog history until they can find something worth mocking. it makes feel genuinely unsafe to have this level of obsessive attention on me.

even still, I would love to ignore this person! that's largely what I've been doing. but every now and then, one of their HUNDREDS of posts about me finds traction, and then I have to deal with large numbers of people who spam my posts, fill my inbox, and make very real threats.

and recently, the concentration has been on taking away my ability to make an income. which, not to play the 'disabled' card, but I am not a wealthy or powerful person. I am on immunosuppressants, there are times when I'm housebound or bed bound, and I am very much struggling to scrape by. you are not punching up.

I just don't know what to do. this isn't "healthy criticism". I am open to criticism. I want to have conversations, and look into my blindspots, and make changes about how I write and present myself. even if you can't see me doing it publicly, that IS what I am doing.

that is not the goal of this campaign, though. I genuinely think the goal is bully me into suicide, and hey, it's kinda working!

Re-creating my first webcomic from 12 years ago, "Hair Expectations vs Reality."

I can't help but feel all kinds of emotions after re-visiting the original comic: the one that started it all. A lot has changed since then, and I feel so fortunate to still create art and tell stories for a living. Thanks for your support, and sticking around for so long ❤️

Check out the other versions:

2014 (OG)

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.

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.