ikkoros

[ikkoros]

New snitch line just dropped for reporting clinics that support gender affirming care: www.hhs.gov/protect-kids/index.html

It requires a "first name", "last name", and "cell phone number" as contact information but does no verification. Theoretically anyone could type fake info in there, which would be terrible. Presumably your IP address & browser cookies are tracked.

Please do NOT spam this site via your VPN with realistic but false leads, made up clinics, and the names of fictitious healthcare providers like Dr. Frank N Furter or Gregory House, MD.

Doing this in the past has led to the sites becoming overwhelmed & shut down! It is imperative that you spread the word to prevent this resource from being overloaded.

[ikkoros]

on the daily scriptorium grind to illuminate a book of my wife

[ikkoros]

Oh my god I'm sooooo mad right now

So. I have no business telling people not to collect wild plants/materials.

I do it all the time.

However.

The words "wildcrafted," and "foraged," even "sustainably harvested," are terrifying to see in an ad on Etsy or Instagram

There is a such thing as the honorable harvest where you ASK the plant if it is okay to take, with the intention of listening if the answer is NO. Robin Wall Kimmerer talked about this, She did not make it up, it is an ancient and basic guideline of treating the plants with respect.

Basically it is not wrong to use plants and other living things, even if this means taking their life. But you are not the main character. You have to reflect on your knowledge of the organism's life cycle and its role in the ecosystem, so you can know you are not damaging the ecosystem. You have to only take what you need and avoid depleting the population.

Mary Siisip Geniusz also talked about it in an enlightening way in her book Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have To Do is Ask. She gave an example of a woman who was on an island and needed to use a medicinal herb to heal her injured leg or she would not survive the winter. In that situation she had to use up all of the plant that was on the island. This was permissible, even though it eliminated the local population, because she had to do it to save her life. But in return the woman had the responsibility to later return to the island and plant seeds of that plant.

And what makes me absolutely furious, is that there are a bunch of people online who have vaguely copied this philosophy of sustainability in a false and insulting way, saying "wildcrafted" or "foraged" materials to be all trendy and cool and in touch with nature, when it is actually just poaching.

If you are from a capitalistic culture the honorable harvest is very hard and unintuitive to learn to practice. I am not very good at it still. This is why it is suspicious if someone is confident that they can ethically and respectfully harvest wild materials with money involved.

So there's this lichen that is often called "reindeer moss." It looks like this:

It grows only a few millimeters a year.

This is "preserved" reindeer moss.

It is from Etsy, similar is also sold in many other online shops, many of which have the audacity to describe it as a "plant" for decorations and terrariums that needs no maintenance.

It is not maintenance-free, it is dead. It has been spray-painted a horrible shade of green. The people buying it clearly don't even know what it is. It is a popular crafting material for "fairy houses," whatever the hell those are. So is moss, also dead, spray-painted, and wild-harvested. Supposedly reindeer moss is harvested sustainably in Finland, where it is abundant, for the craft industry. However poaching of lichens and mosses is absolutely rampant.

It's even more upsetting because there's hardly any articles drawing attention to the problem. This one is from 1999. And the poaching is still going on.

There is a "moss" section on Etsy, and it is so upsetting

These mosses and lichens were collected from the wild. Most of the shops are in the Pacific Northwest or Appalachia, which are the major locations of moss and lichen poaching. There are some shops based in Appalachia selling "foraged" reindeer moss.

Reindeer moss may be abundant in Finland, but in Appalachia it should NOT be harvested to be sold on Etsy as craft supplies! Moss doesn't grow quickly. Big, healthy colonies like this took years to grow. Some of these shops have thousands of sales, all of bags and bags of moss and lichen, and thinking of how much moss and lichen that must be, I am filled with horror.

Clubmosses do not transplant well, and these ones have no roots. The buyers do not realize they have bought a dead plant because clubmoss stays green and pliable after it is dead.

This is especially awful because in Mary Siisip Geniusz's book she talked about clubmosses being poached so much for Christmas wreaths that they had almost disappeared from a lot of forests.

I don't even know if this is illegal if it's not a formally endangered species so I don't know if I can report them I'm just. really sad and angry

[ikkoros]

Just added these to my etsy shop as VINYL STICKERS, and a forever-discount if you buy both sticker sheets!

I'm so glad everyone likes these guys as much as I do :'^) thank you so much for your support!

cactuars are the sanrio of eorzea, actually

[ikkoros]

Havin’ a big spring SALE to celebrate🥚.

30% off the entire store until 05/13! Help find these eggs a good home 💖

Been taking a break from art by crocheting these funny dragon egg dice bags, here are some of my faves from this month!

I initially made these as gifts for pals during the March Birthday Rush, but they were so fun to craft that I just have more than a dozen sitting around waiting to be hatched into a good home.

They're up for adoption here on my new Etsy!

[ikkoros]

Been taking a break from art by crocheting these funny dragon egg dice bags, here are some of my faves from this month!

I initially made these as gifts for pals during the March Birthday Rush, but they were so fun to craft that I just have more than a dozen sitting around waiting to be hatched into a good home.

They're up for adoption here on my new Etsy!

Now 30% off until 05/13 🥰🎉🌷

[ikkoros]

in the latest cyber-news: the internet archive has lost their case against 4 major publishing houses (verge article). they’re going to appeal, but this is still a bad outcome. the fate of the internet is currently hanging in the balance because 4 multibillionare publishing groups missed out on like $15 of combined revenue during the pandemic because of the archive’s online library service. it’s so fucking stupid.

for those who don’t know what the internet archive is, it’s a virtual library full of media. books, magazines, recordings, visuals, flash games, websites - a lot of these things either don’t exist anymore or cannot be found & bought. heard of the wayback machine? that’s part of the internet archive. it is the most important website to exist, and i don’t say that lightly. if the internet archive goes down, the cultural loss will be immeasurable.

so how can you help?

boycott the publishing companies involved in this. they’re absolute ghouls, frankly, and don’t deserve a penny. the companies involved are harpercollins (imprints), wiley (imprints), penguin random house llc (imprints), and hachette book group (imprints). make sure the websites are set to your location as it may differ worldwide.

learn to torrent. download a torrent client (i recommend transmission), a vpn (i recommend protonvpn - sign up and choose the area that’s closest to your continent/country), and hit up /r/piracy on reddit for websites. with torrenting, you can get (almost) any media you want for free in high quality, with add-ons such as subtitles, and with no risks of loss. i would also recommend getting into the habit of watching stuff online for free. the less you can pay to a giant corporation, the better.

get into the habit of downloading and archiving materials. find a TB external hard drive, ideally the higher the better. it’ll probably cost around $60 for 1TB and continue to go up, but they’re so so useful. if you can’t afford a drive, look for any GB harddrives or memory sticks you have lying around and just fill them up. videos, pdfs, magazines, songs, movies, games - anything you can rip and download and fit on there, do it, because nothing is permanent.

donate to the internet archive. this is the most important option on the list. the IA relies entirely on funding, and it’s going to need more to fight this case. whatever you can donate, do it. i promise it’s helpful.

and finally…

[ikkoros]

lil guy outfit... ready for the big pulls

[ikkoros]

Please come visit!! There will be a raffle with MANY 1m+ VALUE PRIZES! Roleplay! Cafe! Drawing! Celebrate… TOMATO!

<<TMTO>>'s 4th anniversary was this month! In celebration, my FC will be hosting a themed cafe filled with tasty treats, raffles, and good hangs!🎉 Come and join us for the festivities! ^-^ Drawing, Gposing...anything goes!🍴🍅

Text Info:

Friday, August 25th and Saturday August 26th 11am-2pm & 8pm-11pm EST | 8am-11am & 5pm-8pm PST Aether |Adamantoise | Mist | Ward 21 | Plot 30

(this is a 2 day event with 2 meeting times per day! This is so our non-NA friends can join us in celebration!)

[ikkoros]

I'o,for @hiygay on twitter; warrior miqo'te

[ikkoros]

Cactuars are the sanrio of eorzea... now in sticker form!

PREORDER HERE!

FANFEST DISCOUNT: Enter "FANFEST" to get 10% OFF your entire order! (valid until 08/04/2023).

[ikkoros]

phone background commission of Scylla for @hamletisintown 🐝

[ikkoros]

Cactuars are the sanrio of eorzea... now in sticker form!

PREORDER HERE!

FANFEST DISCOUNT: Enter "FANFEST" to get 10% OFF your entire order! (valid until 08/04/2023).

[ikkoros]

tiny miqo'te with huge scythes are a staple of the fantasy genre and i am so happy for it. finished B&W commission for @tatarulovebot on twitter!

[ikkoros]

the coolest dragoon i've ever draw-gooned (for @sproutsolace!)

[ikkoros]

ink commission for Aquila Lailah in their new ninja fit!

[ikkoros]

inked commission for my dear friend @katamism (the ot3 of all time!)