Gadgets & Gizmos Aplenty

dec 13, 2022

we literally have just a few days to act. the senate is debating about putting KOSA, the Kids Online Safety Act, into the omnibus spending bill. if it is added, it WILL pass. despite the title and content of the bill seeming to be about protecting kids, we know everytime someone claims they are "saving the children" they have more sinister goals

which is why Senator Blumenthal is working with one of the biggest transphobes in the senate, Marsha Blackburn, to force this bill through, and claiming they are listening to LGBT voices when they are blatantly ignoring us.

essentially this bill gives every state attorney generals the power to remove anything they deem 'harmful' to kids online. you can see how a state like Texas or Florida would run with that, yes? it also forces you to upload your government ID online to access the internet. the bill will create a 'commission' led by handpicked members of the govt to oversee what is and isn't allowed online. it will lead to mass censorship of anything related to race or LGBT content. in a post-Roe world too? say goodbye to any abortion/sex-related info.

they are doing a shit ton of PR for this, including claiming they are listening to LGBT voices. i mean just look.

two weeks ago, 90+ human rights, LGBT, and tech orgs signed onto an open letter telling Senators NOT to pass this bill. in response, over 230 orgs led by the American Psychological Association signed a letter urging senators to. it's really fucking bad. like i can't sleep because of this. i didn't expect this to happen. we really really need people to speak up.

if this bill goes through it will literally kill off the internet as we know it

sign the open letter and petitions against KOSA here

the best way to fight against this bill is to call these specific senators (if you have dem senators, call them too)

nancy pelosi (202) 225-4965 roger wicker (202) 224-6253 chuck schumer (202) 224-6542 maria cantwell (202) 224-3441

call script below:

I told him that I looked up to everything you've managed to do while having OCD, and he told me that I couldn't achieve the same because you're famous and so have perks I can't have and I disagree. I still look up to you. Turtles all the way down gave me words to understand things I was going through years before my diagnosis and your videos helped me when I was at my loneliest.

I hope you're having a nice day if you see this

Hey. I'm sorry you have OCD. It sucks--or at least it sucks for me!

Maybe your therapist was trying to take the pressure off you--to say that doing X or Y in life is not essential to living a good life. (On this front, I agree--most of the people I know who have really good lives and contribute within their families and communities are not famous or rich.)

But if they were trying to say that you can't pursue dreams and ambitions while living with mental illness, then this therapist is clearly in the wrong field. Lots of people, including me, live with serious mental illness while also having a fulfilling life.

Also, the whole idea of therapy is to develop tools and frames that allow you to live better while also understanding that there may be times when you need to accommodate or make space for your illness.

Just to be clear, I've had OCD when I was not famous, and I've had it when I was famous, and I found it to be quite unpleasant both ways.

ao3 is facing a ddos attack from an overseas right-wing anonymous group because it contains "degeneracy and disgusting things like LGBT and NSFW".

they're not the only right-wing group that is attacking fanfiction sites because of queer & nsfw content. the Heritage foundation, the US right wing think tank that writes laws for republicans, wrote an article about how "big tech turns kids trans" in which they're advocating for the Kid's Online Safety Act to pass because it will give state attorney generals power to sue websites for "potentially harmful content towards minors". in this article they point out websites like wattpad, tumblr, tiktok, twitter as sites that GOP attorney generals can and will target for censorship if this bill passes. all places where fandom, that's mostly queer, hangs out.

if you think this bill has no chance of passing because of all the red flags it poses, think again. it currently has 38 cosponsors in the senate, and is being pushed by the democrats as a "protecting the children!!" type bill.

there are left-aligned orgs in congress rn lobbying for this bill to pass. july is extremely decisive, because if KOSA goes through to markup it'll be bundled with the Earn It act, Restrict, and all the other bad internet bills and passed as a package, completely censoring the internet forever.

if you want to learn more about the bill, go here. also sign the open letter against it here

it's ESSENTIAL that you call your members of congress, specifically Maria Cantwell (you can call from out of state) and tell them DO NOT PASS KOSA. this site here connects you to your members of congress and gives you a short simple script to read off of! super easy and doesn't take much out of your day! please do this now!!

—

The Supreme Court is out of control and must be reformed

SCOTUS is dominated and controlled by unelected right wing christian nationalists who are so thoroughly corrupt they present a real and direct threat to every marginalized, Othered, protected class in America.

Ooooohohoho these are good ones! (from this post)

📚 A fic you wish you could display on your bookshelf

This one is so hard because if I had the time and energy I would either ask my friend-who-is-a-professional-bookbinder for book-binding advice to bind like all 420 (nice) of my bookmarks or pay her to do some of them. Alas... I will just have to dream of my fic bookshelf.

Anyway. I will narrow down the list slightly for now. And keep it to one fandom.

So for bookshelf fic, I feel like you have to go for things that you would recommend to almost anyone. And I do have a relatively long list for that, honestly... but we do not have time for the whole thing here. So here is my top 5 bookshelf fics, a tragically short list, with reasons for each:

The Space in Between by @whatevertheweather - As I noted in my ao3 bookmark, this fic absolutely destroyed me but in the way a really painful loose tooth hurts so good. Also it's the perfect chunky 100k length for a good looking novel. And I would rec this to pretty much anyone. Like... can be read outside the fandom. Plus I cannot help but imagine it with the fanart @cutestkilla drew of it for the cover 👀 and that would be some hot shit.

Local Hero by BasicBathsheba and breadofgod - this is a masterpiece of the ban and bread partnership. It was coming out at the start of the pandemic and so can bring up some painful memories, but also some really good ones. I just started making fandom friends around then and it was a bright spot to read this fic. Also I'm a jock at heart and love a good sports fic. Being stupidly into EPL for Americans is an endearing family trait of mine and I love it when my loves mix well. Also same as The Space in Between, this fic can be enjoyed regardless of fandom, imo, so huge props for that.

All this soulmate shit by half_witch - It's the loveliest tropiest thing in the best way. I can't get enough of this fic. It's made of nearly everything that makes fanfic fanfic, so why am I binding it into a real book (in our imagination, at least)? Well it's because it's all executed so well it's practically textbook. I must admit, I may not recommend this to Everyone, but I would love to show it off on my bookshelf and have it to reference.

Some Kind of Path by @im-gettingby - This fic fits in perfectly in my scifi bookshelf. It's just a perfect little taste of everything good about spec fic in one fantastical go. I imagine it bound with some illustrations I would add to it. Make it into a little poetic short story pamphlet thingy? Give it out at parties? perhaps.

When the Tides Held the Moon by @vkelleyart - I mean. Eventually I have got to have the real book when it comes out, but for now, the fic version is absolutely worth keeping like a precious pearl on the bookshelf! Reading through this as it came out was such an experience. And marveling at all of Venessa's amazing art with each chapter to boot? I live for those kind of fanish experiences. I'd love to have a reminder of this one.

Aaand I do most certainly have bookshelf fics for aftg, check please! and HP next gen as well, but I have already written a freaking essay. (Low key anyone who wants those recs can send a follow-up ask tho. I'll do another essay.)

💌 A fic that inspired you to create something for it

This one has an immediate and easy answer: rebel rebel.

I literally joined active fandom because of this fic. Even in my many years in the harry potter fandom, I was only a lurker. It took about seven chapters of rebel rebel for me to dive fully into fic art. I made my first two fanart pieces for this fandom for rebel rebel. And that was back when I just drew with pencil irl, took a picture of it with my phone, and colored that picture in photoshop with a mouse. So I have come a long way. (I had to troll thru my archives for those links. yikes.)

But yeah, reading rebel rebel as ban wrote it was an unparalleled fandom experience for me. This fic is obviously an invaluable staple in our fandom now, but I'm stuck in the nostalgia of that first read-through as each 10k+ chapter came out and we all devoured it together.

This is Matrix movie star Keanu Reeves. He was abandoned by his father at 3 years old and grew up with 3 different stepfathers. He is dyslexic. His dream of becoming a hockey player was shattered by a serious accident.  His daughter died at birth. His wife died in a car accident. His best friend, River Phoenix, died of an overdose. His sister battled leukemia.

No bodyguards, no luxury houses. Keanu lives in an ordinary apartment and likes wandering around town and often seen riding a subway in NYC. 

When he was filming the movie “The Lake House,” he overheard the conversation of two costume assistants, one crying as he would lose his house if he did not pay $20,000 - On the same day, Keanu deposited the necessary amount in his bank account. In his career, he has donated large sums to hospitals including $75 million of his earnings from “The Matrix” to charities. 

In 2010, on his birthday, Keanu walked into a bakery & bought a brioche with a single candle, ate it in front of the bakery, and offered coffee to people who stopped to talk to him.

In 1997 some paparazzi found him walking one morning in the company of a homeless man in Los Angeles, listening to him and sharing his life for a few hours.

In life, sometimes the ones most broken from inside are the ones most willing to help others. 

This man could buy everything, and instead every day he gets up and chooses one thing that cannot be bought: 

Be a caring and kind person.

He is NOT a good person. He is a rich person, and way too many people think they are the same thing.

If he had ANY seriousness about making a single thing better in this world for the uncountable number of human beings who are suffering right now, and not just getting attention or cosplaying as Tony Stark, he would have done it by now.

Way too many people admire the myth, while they ignore the truth of the shitty billionaire who smeared a literal hero who saved children’s lives as a “pedo”, because Musk’s ego got bent out of shape when he couldn’t make something the world cared about all about himself. He has numerous children, who he has just abandoned. His factories are consistently reported as being toxic, racist, environments. And all these folks are like, “yeah but rockets.” Do you even hear yourselves?

Hi! The other day my gf’s car got totaled. Obviously, they kinda need one of those, so I’m coming to you guys to help them out! (A little aside: if you know Bri please refrain from reaching out right now. We’re trying to keep this a surprise, and they’re focusing on themselves rn. We don’t want them to feel overwhelmed ❤️)

In order to raise money, we’re going to be throwing a snowbaz giveaway!!

Donate then send a screenshot of your receipt along with a viable way to contact you to the email [email protected] or dm us on tumblr @adamarks or @motherscarf. For every $20 you donate you’ll be entered to win. (Ex. Donate $20 and be entered once. Donate $40 and be entered twice, etc etc.)

What are the prizes, you ask? Well! We have an array of stuff ranging from prints to dolls to stickers to bags and more! All from great and generous creators such as @krisrix @unseelieseelie @nick-eyre @stillmadaboutpetra @cynopoe @motherscarf @carryonsimoncarryonbaz . (And… me😘)

As the month goes on, images and descriptions of prizes will be posted regularly and collected in one masterpost before the drawing on the first week of March. If you have ANY questions or concerns please feel free to contact me or @motherscarf and we’ll be happy to help you.