#Military Experience in Workforce

[darrenwalleyconsultancy]

Employing a Veteran

Photo by Benjamin Faust I decided to write this article based on the typical behaviour of the new entitled generation or “snowflakes” that are now in the workplace, giving managers like me a hard time. In my current role I am actively employing veterans and demonstrating the terrific benifits. I want to champion the benefits of employing a veteran. To keep things straight, I write this from…

[heirbane]

i think there could be something said re: gaius and his age gap ships but. i'm not educated enough to form a hypothesis

[foldingfittedsheets]

The Daisy story has made me realize I have a piece of advice for my younger followers. When we are in school, those of us who are different, we are often bullied. People are mean to us because of who we are. We patch over those wounds as we go out into the world with our scars.

But when you enter college, the workforce, the military, a food service job, whatever, people are going to be mean to you for an entirely different reason. Not because of who you are but because of what you are. And what you will be is new. New to the team, new to the job.

When you are new to an assimilated group of people working towards a common goal you represent a liability. You are by default not pulling your weight and everyone knows it. You don’t know the rules and the rhythms.

So humans as a collective developed hazing. Across time and cultures people decided to be dicks to newcomers. It’s usually petty suffering inflicted because the core group wants to see what you’re made of. How you’ll handle mishaps and adversity. They need to know if you’re someone they can count on and the fastest way to do that is through aggression.

The biggest mistake you can make in that situation is to automatically assume they’re being mean because of who you are. They might be! People are shitty sometimes! But it’s worth reflection because it’s much more likely that it’s just generalized spite trying to reveal your character. I’m not saying bullying doesn’t happen in work places or that you should put up with people being a dick to you but this is just a phenomena I’ve seen over and over. I’ve been on the receiving end of this in a ton of jobs.

We didn’t dislike Daisy as a person when we pulled our prank. We disliked that we couldn’t count on her. We got yelled at for pizzas that she fucked up, we got yelled at when she was going too slow. We as a team bore the brunt of her ineptitude and so we as a team tried to vent it back to her. Daisy then showed us what she was made of.

What she was made of was just sunshine and buttercups and amazing good temper. We understood then that she needed tasks that weren’t as fast paced but rather customer facing because her positive attitude made up for her lack of hustle.

In my workplace experience food service will almost always haze, retail only sometimes, sales very seldom.

[oukabarsburgblr]

Bite Me [Hybrid AU]

FEATURING : AITO SOUSUKE (OC), DAISUKE YUICHI (OC) x male reader

In a world of hybrids, one man stands out amongst the others, a human. Enjoy one night stands with two very popular hybrids!

a bit of worldbuilding, more focused on the hybrids pov, short fic

Find out more under the cut!

It was the year 2095, technology had advanced far past, dismissing the human morale. Tall buildings began to spread more in countries, bearing a sore sight to some, an opportunity to others.

Flying cars one said, that humans would have invented the ability of having cars flew in the sky despite the obvious safety risks or legality protocols. Instead however, in the recent breakthrough in Russia back in the 2010s, human genetics have been modified, successfully producing the first hybrid through artifical insemination.

Albeit the abnormal features, its ability to even live for three years was a breakthrough for humankind. The first step was for military combat, humans gaining the genetics of animals, the ability to suppress fear, increased sight in low light or even the ferocity of violence.

An agreement was drafted, to dispose the use of these experiments, that were called hybrids. Although at first, were revolted against, slowly it was accepted into the public which had first charmed the upper class. More people had wanted these animalistic features, injecting neurological modifications into their spine to which they call 'hybrids'.

As more and more hybrids began to integrate into society, it began a trend to engrave those modified genetics into families. Humans began to marry hybrids and hybrids began to breed more hybrids.

It had gone to a point where the population of a pure human was 5% globally. The animals that were adopted into the human brain ranged from herbivores to carnivores, but the most worshipped ones were the predators, the top of the food chain.

Due to the fact that humans were slowly dissipating off the face of the earth, any pure human would receive protection from the government. Even a monthly subsidy just for existing, since these hybrids had dominated the workforce.

Even a human marrying a human could receive a yearly pension that would allow them to retire at an early age, that was how severely endangered humans were.

This didn't apply to a particular man. Black small rounded ears, barely noticeable yellow spots just located at the roots of the man walking into a bar with his companions. His long red hair, tied up into a bun, tucked behind his two pairs of ears. Brown irises that had flicker of yellow scanned the occupants of the bar, sitting at the counter with the barista.

In just a fleeting moment, the man had marked in his head who was his natural prey or his formidable opponent. Aito Sousuke, a college student studying physiological education, had the features of a black panther, mixture of the more famous leopard and jaguar combined with the rarely occuring recessive allele to produce his black ears between his locks of red.

His noticeable large fangs flicked off the cap of the beer bottle, slugging it down his throat, cheered by his similarly hybrid friends.

Sousuke was used to their Friday evening outings, although the main reason they had came here was to have fun, preferrably a feline or a bunny.

His friends had suddenly whispered amongst each other, glancing at the entrance of the bar and Sousuke was weirded out by the shift in atmosphere until he looked closer to the person walking by him.

A warm smile was present on his face, his hand swiping his locks of (h/c) back as he sat on the far corner of the counter beside Sousuke with distance between them, ordering a glass to the barista. But the most odd thing about the (h/c) was that.

He was a human. A pure human.

No noticeable animal ears on the top of his head, no gills nor abnormal nose. And his scent was different. It was blank, empty of undertone. But it was easily stained as Sousuke stared at a few other hybrids approaching the (h/c), asking to drink together as the latter declined. Their suffocating aroma mixing in with the blank slate.

There was a rumour that the humans were different than hybrids, more ways than one. Other than the physical and emotional changes, the other rumour was that the sex was much more pleasureable, especially for the hybrid.

When he saw the (h/c)'s approachers not backing off despite his rejection, Sousuke grabbed the cap of the bottle and flung it to the direction of the other hybrids, the cap embedded into the wooden wall beside (m/n).

"Stop making a fuss, ya' mutts." He bared his fangs, flashing his long retractable claws at the harassers who meekly stepped away, mumbling curses to themselves.

The human stared at him for a while, before snapping out of his own stupor. "Thank you." He mentioned with the same warm smile on his face. "I'm (m/n)."

Sousuke nodded to him. "Good to know." And the redhead returned to his drink, his friends egging him on beside him. (m/n) only chuckled to himself, the bear barista checking up on him and giving him his drink.

The night ensued, Sousuke's friends going off to dance to Latin Pop and he brushed off some felines that were asking him for a dance.

"Not feeling it tonight?"

The panther's ears twitched, Sousuke turning to the left to see the (h/c) smiling at him again. His eyes downturned, hazy from the drink with his arms crossed across his chest as he leaned on the wall behind him.

"...not really. Just came to diffuse." The hybrid replied with a slur in his voice, heat creeping up his neck. (m/n) stared at the hybrid beside him before asking again.

"What's your name?" "...Just call me Sousuke."

(m/n) tested the name on his lips. "Sousuke...Has a nice ring to it." He hummed, finishing his glass.

The redhead groaned, a heating buzz in his stomach flaring as he slumped over the counter. "Is that so?" He numbly mumbled, red hues rising to his cheeks, his long fluffy tail swishing behind him.

"Care to test it out?"

The (h/c) had a tilt to his head, as he scooted his chair closer to Sousuke's, who took a second to consider the question, the offer as he stared at his (e/c) eyes.

-

"Urmmff mmnn!"

Sousuke wasn't sure how he ended up taking the human home with him. Kicking the apartment door open, the redhead stumbled into the living room while messily making out with the (h/c).

Sousuke's tongue was noticeably longer and wider, easily licking (m/n)'s mouth, caressing his teeth, lapping up his tongue and his fangs clashing against the (h/c)'s normal ones.

(m/n)'s eyes were rolling to the back of his head. His breathing was heavy, his mouth full of the redhead's wet muscle, it was rough compared to his soft ones. Little spines on the surface that looked like tiny hooks.

Pulling out of his mouth, Sousuke placed his tongue flat on (m/n)'s neck and dragged it up to his jaw, earning a hiss from the human. It felt rough, coarse against the (h/c)'s skin, brewing tingles in (m/n)'s stomach.

As they continued to drunkenly stumble into the bedroom, Sousuke immediately ripped (m/n)'s shirt, his claws digging into the fabric and pulled it apart, exposing (s/c) skin.

The panther was heaving, sweating buckets and drooling like a madman. He could smell his own scent filling the room's, more distinct than usual. Sousuke sniffed into (m/n)'s neck, pressing his nose against his jaw before sinking in his teeth. (m/n) screamed, pushing against the panther as he shuffled his pants off.

The foreplay was rough. Sousuke's hands were thick, his knuckles had a clear curve and his palms had a padding like texture. He kept licking (m/n)'s jaw, his teeth hovering over his cheeks. There were squelches amongst (m/n)'s incoherent moans, his hole being fingered by the panther.

He was careful to avoid jamming his claws into his walls but there was a fervent burning curling in his lower stomach. Sweat accumulated at his back and his forehead. Eyesight getting hazy and his head was getting foggy.

(m/n) pushed his hand away and spread his thighs further, panting at the redhead to slip his cock in. Sousuke pulled the rest of his clothes off before mounting the (h/c) who was admiring the spots on his sides, the redhead pushed (m/n) on his back as he hooked his thighs on his waist.

The (h/c) choked on his own spit when Sousuke fucked his cock inside him, his hair splayed on the bedsheets as he moaned incontrollably. (m/n) groped his own chest while getting drilled by the hybrid.

Sousuke's heaving was getting deeper as he pounded his dick inside of the human, mushing his tip against his prostate, feeling his precum leaking all over his base. The amount of lube paled in comparison to his own bodily fluids.

"Your- mmnn! Face is red- ahn! A-Are you okay?" (m/n) placed a hand on Sousuke's cheek, directing his gaze to him and the panther felt something burst inside him.

Glossy (e/c) with fat tears brimming the the edge, drool slipping past his lips, and his messy hair from all the thrashing of his head. Unbeknownst to Sousuke, he was going into an early heat, accidentally cumming inside (m/n).

The (h/c) only made a confused noise while mindlessly jacking himself off, squirting onto his own stomach. As he regained his breathing, he sat up thinking it was over but inevitably was pushed back down as Sousuke began to rut his cock inside him again.

(m/n) mewled loudly, fat beads finally slipping down his cheeks as Sousuke began to desperately thrust his penis inside his senstive asshole. The human called out to the panther above him but he was in a feral state, growling to himself as he kept burying his nose into his crevices, desperate to find a scent.

Sousuke even tugged his arm upwards, licking (m/n)'s pit just for a whiff and the (h/c) pulled back, feeling full of the twitching cock around his walls as he tried to crawl away. The panther bit his nape as he dragged him back to the center of the bed with his claws.

Helplessly whimpering, (m/n) could only take the desperate humps Sousuke was giving him as he laid stomach down on the bed. He could feel his tail coiling over his leg. The panther was sweating buckets, his skin burning as he began to even knead his paws into the human's back.

The (h/c) cried out from overstimulation when Sousuke kept biting and chewing on the skin of his nape. He could hear a confused growl from him, the redhead was trying to mate with him by biting his scent glands but since he wasn't a hybrid, his efforts were essentially useless.

It wasn't until the seventh round where (m/n) woke up since he had passed out around the fifth, he noticed his hole was still being fucked raw, cum spilling out of his puffy rim. The (h/c) pulled on Sousuke's red hair, trying to gain his attention out of his heat.

He eventually smacked the side of his head with his palm, yelling at him to calm down. "Tone it down!" Sousuke growled back, baring his fangs at the (h/c) who slapped him again.

"Play nice, kitty." (m/n) stroked his hair, his fingers moving to scratch under his jaw as Sousuke stopped his thrusts, purring at his touch and swinging his tail. The (h/c) managed to push him to the side and the panther didn't realised how exhausted he was because as soon as he hit the bed, he passed out.

Sousuke woke up alone, his sheets damp and empty of a human. His head was hurting, the aftermath of yesterday's drinking sinking in and he remembered bits of the (h/c) but his body remembered the intense pleasure he was bestowed. The human's, (m/n)'s touch was so pleasureable to him that he had gone into an early heat in one night.

He muffled his screams with his pillow, trying to forget about his one night stand with the human as he tried to recreate the same effect with random cats he picked up at the bar but it paled in comparison to (m/n)'s flame.

Sousuke could only sulk to himself, constantly glancing out of the corner of his eyes, trying to find the same human that had bewitched his body as he prepared himself to began his studies at his college for the new semester.

-

"Yes, father. I'll check the offer letters as soon as I get back. It's just a coffee run, I don't need this many bodyguards."

His calm voice contradicted with his father's lecturing tone as he rambled in his ear about how he needed to be safe as his child. White fluffy ears perked up at the chatter of birds flying above them, a dark indent on the corner of his eyes flicker as he glanced at the soaring crows.

Daisuke Yuichi was walking downtown, in the dimming evening with five men in suits surrounding him, guarding his perimeter as they prevented innocent passerbys from standing in his way. His bushy shiny tail dimmed low, embarrassed from his predicament.

The family of Daisuke was famous for having the blood of an arctic wolf. The genetics were plucked clean from the body of a white beast and imbedded into the members of the Daisuke family, and ever since then, they had tried to keep the bloodline pure by marrying humans or other white wolves.

Daisuke Yuichi was a fresh highschool grad, still hadn't made his choice for college despite not being in school for a good a year and a half now, his father wasn't too temperamental on his education. He could afford his son's lifestyle in anyway he liked.

The man had dark black hair, in contrast to his white thick fur on his prominent ears and large bushy tail that matched his deathly pale skin.

Amongst the random pedestrians he encountered, his sensitive nose felt itchy when he and his barrage of guards had walked past a specific person.

He looked past his shoulder to see a man with (h/c) hair going about his day. It wasn't until he saw that he had no prominent animal features that he realised something was different about him. It was then that he had remembered of his family's ways of keeping the blood line clean.

The next day, he decided to walk down the same path again, now with lesser bodyguards as per his request. Almost passing by a coffee shop, he stopped in his tracks, alerting his bodyguards when he noticed the same person from yesterday, sitting in the middle of the cafe typing away at his laptop on the table.

"...I feel like buying coffee again." He shooed away his bulldog bodyguards as he swiftly entered the cafe and lined up at the counter while glancing at the mysterious (h/c).

Daisuke wasn't sure why he felt the need to go up to the human, but he felt attracted to. As he got his order, he silently went up to the table that seated the lone human. "...Is this seat empty?"

The human who took off his headphones, offered him the seat and Daisuke gladly took it, giving him his thanks and worked his charm with the (h/c).

"Oh, I just finished my foundation studies out of town. Got a scholarship offer to continue college here so I moved." (m/n) told the wolf, sipping to his latte while Daisuke haven't touched his drink.

"Interesting...so where is this college, you speak of?" His tail was swishing wildly, knocking against the tile floor in excitement as he continued to chat with the wonderful human who he learned his name of.

"Hey, I really enjoyed our talk. Is it okay if I take you out for dinner? I'll make reservations. All you have to do is show up!" He held out his phone for (m/n) to punch in who was more than happy to get a free meal as he gave his number to the wolf.

The ravenette even called the number immediately, checking the veracity as he laughed it off jokingly. Pointing out the bandage on (m/n)'s neck, the latter brushed it off assuringly as they bid their goodbyes.

That night, he suddenly felt nervous as he pulled at the collar of his neck with his expensive three-piece suit at the five-star restaurant he managed to 'nepo' his way through.

White ears fluttered excitedly when he saw the (h/c) arriving at the door as he ushered the human excitedly to their table.

-

Their last-minute dinner went really well, both of them enjoying the meals with a few flirts here and there. The ravenette didn't feel anything going off in his gut.

So how come Daisuke immediately went into a rut when he brought back the human home with him that night?

Drool was writhing down his teeth as he clenched them tightly together, Daisuke seeing red as he gripped (m/n)'s waist while pounding his hips, slamming his cock inside the writhing human.

Cries and pained moans came from the (h/c), who was squirming on the bed, trying to peel himself away from the wolf. But Daisuke grabbed his wrists and pinned them onto his bed, the ravenette pushing his pelvic against his ass, forcing the (h/c) to bend his stomach.

"I'm sorry." He mumbled, in contrast with the feral look on his face. Daisuke leaned into (m/n)'s neck and ripped off the bandage with his teeth. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Muttering empty apologies, a sane part of him felt sympathetic with the human but his animal counterpart was eager to claim him for his own.

Daisuke shot his cum inside the (h/c)'s hole, (m/n) yelping in shock as he squirted on his stomach. The wolf's base throbbed and swelled, forming a knot inside him as he mumbled more apologies, hugging the human underneath him.

"I-It's okay. Can you pull out?" (m/n) didn't expect Daisuke to go into a rut as he tried to adjust his bottom half but hissed in pain as his walls stretched against the knot in his hole. He let out a cry of pain as Daisuke cooed at him, growling deeply while continuously nudging his neck.

The wolf's knot deflated and as soon as he could move, his rut came back and his animal instincts took over, breeding the (h/c), or attempted to as he manhandled the human onto his lap. Sitting while thrusting his cock upwards into the human.

(m/n) whined, his legs circling around Daisuke's waist but flinched every time the wolf fucked his cock up into him while mindlessly stroking his own. The only sense of grounding was the tip of his cock driving deep inside him, mushing against his prostate as he clenched around the dick, painting Daisuke's abs with semen.

Daisuke wasn't himself at that moment, continuously slamming himself inside the human over and over, swelling and knotting him until it deflated and another round occurred. He even bit his neck at one point, his tail swishing when he saw a faded teeth mark, laying new ones over the old mark.

His ears were tense, flickering every time he came and his tails flapping against the sheets when he started a new round of sex. Daisuke was sure (m/n) had passed out at one point, his mind went blank, only his body rutting himself into the unconscious (h/c), his body moving on its own to breed the human.

Daisuke woke up to an empty bed, stumbling over in his robes as he ran to the entrance of his home, asking his guards where the human went. His ears laid flat against his head when he found out (m/n) had left early in the morning and he was more devastated when he found out the (h/c) had blocked him.

"Yeah! I definitely want to enrol here....No no. It's just, I'm suddenly interested in the course. And it's close to home."

Daisuke was busy persuading his dad over the phone, trying to assure that he was fine with studying in a not-so-prestigious college. It was the same one that the human had told he had transferred to.

Unbeknownst to all three, they were bound to study in the same college, all three with different aims in mind. Sousuke trying to achieve the level of pleasure with his one night stand, Daisuke desperate to find and woo over his ghosted date and (m/n) whose intentions were left concealed.

[END SCENE]

How mad will you guys be when i say theres no part 2 for this

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[courtesycalling]

would you happen to have any more headcanons related to octo valley/canyon culture? i’m a very big fan of the way you portray agent 8 and i’m curious about your headcanons for the area that she’s from

Octolings don't experience senescence like ancestral octopuses do, but there's still historically been a high maternal mortality rate for related reasons. Due to this, it's common in many Octo cultures to not be raised by one's own parents. In Octo Valley/Canyon, there is a strongly established and heavily used state foster system. Most of its residents are from parents who were encouraged to prioritize their careers over all else, and the majority of these children are pushed into the military training program. It's statistically likely (though not definite) that Eight was raised here.

Due to long-term birth rate decline, larger & larger amounts of Octarians have been created from limb cuttings to fill out the workforce. The military can't recruit enough women anymore.

Traditional gender roles dictate that women (esp. working class) do physical labor, but it's not necessarily a matriarchal society.

Occupants of the underground Octoling world are fairly diverse in terms of ancestry, but there has been a notable amount of cultural assimilation, especially directly after the end of the war. It's likely that Eight is descended from multiple different groups of Octolings who came from somewhere else originally, and were forced underground a few generations ago. It's also likely that she was raised with no connection to their cultures. If she reconnected to anything, she learned about it from surface-dwellers.

A fair amount of music, dance, fashion, and other artforms on the surface either originated from or were heavily developed by underground-dwelling Octolings. Though this has been especially true recently due to migration, there's always been exchange as things were smuggled across borders.

[8housevenus]

career in astrology

hii everyone, i wanted to talk about where in your birth chart you can see your potential jobs, career, and inflow of money. i will also go over how some of the planets manifest throughout your chart with it.

for starters, you want to look at your midheaven. the sign it is in, and planets you have aspecting it, as well as planets that fall under the 10th house are critically important. your midheaven represents you in the actual work field: 10th house represents the ways we might get there or what specifically speaks to us for our endeavors. check your 2nd house to see viable forms of income, the ways you can attain it, and expectations for your living. 8th house-6th house can also represent work life in terms of 8th (money from others or lended), 6th (work ethic & fixations).

career paths

having aries midheaven, mars in 10th, ascendant trine/conjunct/sextile mars, or mars aspecting the midheaven can make one so driven to have an early start to their career. from personal experience, i know many aries placements that love being successful from an early age. very versatile career options, they love something that they can express their creative style while switching it up as often as can. they can also experience many burn outs and crash outs due to them having more spontaneous bursts of energy rather than consistent prolonged efforts. career paths best for these people would be anything more hands on; military, construction, teacher, social worker, business person, etc. because aries traditionally rules over the head region, these people want to indulge themselves in challenge & help challenge others.

celebrities with aries 10th house: elon musk, franz kafka, angelina jolie, kanye west.

taurus midheaven, venus in 10th, ascendant trine/conjunct /sextile venus, venus aspecting midheaven these people love to make adjustments according to their fashion. they want a career that can show off their etiquette and cleanliness. something about showing themselves off as “perfection” or their arts as perfections makes these people highly intrigued into careers like; cooking/baking, niche businesses, clothing designers, interior designers, artists, singers, and influencers. they have sweet spots for being home made and brought up naturally, they take a while to get to their goals- but they will never lose sight of them.

celebrities with taurus 10th house: jessica alba, blake lively, margot robbie, drake, selena gomez

gemini midheaven, mercury in 10th, ascendant trine/conjunct /sextile mercury, mercury aspecting midheaven would appreciate a lifestyle where they can endlessly express their opinions or concerns on topics. they like having it figured out from a young age. they seem attentive, quick minded, chameleons to the state of the world. they love to communicate everything because they “blend in” so much, they sometimes want to stand out the most. careers that suit these people are; activists/ public speaker, sometimes even temporary jobs resonate better for them, directors, communications, accountant, journalists, authors/illustrators, engineering.

celebrities with gemini in 10th house: kevin hart, brooke shields, kris jenner, madonna.

cancer midheaven, moon in 10th, ascendant trine/conjunct /sextile moon, moon aspecting midheaven makes an individual more emotionally bonded to their careers, they need to do something that coincides with their morals. these people are very receptive in their workforce, willing to give and willing to treat their jobs/careers like it’s their baby. their work really is their life, they want to do careers can genuinely better people; therapist, social worker, nurse, dispatcher, personal assistants, instructors of some field.

celebrities with cancer in 10th house: jimmy carter, leonardo dicaprio, denzel washington, john f kennedy, kendrick lamar.

leo midheaven, sun in 10th, ascendant trine/conjunct/sextile sun, sun aspecting midheaven creates a vibrant person, one who shines through their careers. they must have a career they truly enjoy and can encapsulate their essence. they want to be seen for what they do, and oftentimes they are noticed. they get applause a lot in their jobs, certificates, something where they can make a statement. they would preferably settle in careers that are bold; actors, musicians, public speakers, influencers, athletes.

celebrities with leo in the 10th: janet jackson, katy perry, diego costa, harry styles, diego maradona, lana del rey.

virgo midheaven, mercury in 10th, ascendant trine/conjunct/sextile mercury, mercury aspecting midheaven makes one very peculiar about their field. they like to serve, aid, and assist. many like to do the work that no one else does, it makes them feel productive and extremely useful as they are. usually likes to go for health related, science related, or anything physically related as their careers. this can include; nurse, doctor, surgeon,, scientist, dentistry, athlete, physical therapist. anything where they can contribute to perplexing subjects, they are really drawn to.

celebrities with virgo in 10th house: usian bolt, joe biden, bruce lee, nelson mandela, neymar, thomas edison.

libra midheaven, venus in 10th, ascendant trine/conjunct/sextile venus, venus aspecting midheaven makes a person more inclined to pursue a career with legal systems, politics, anywhere where equity lies. they believe their belief system is their biggest power, their fairness serves as admirability from others, can be very well liked in public space & looked up to. because of the venus influence, they appear very alluring in their careers. seems like naturalists to being effortlessly out there. can also be benefitted from others giving them money simply for little things. careers that libra midheaven can excel in; lawyer, political figure, micro influencer, model, police officer, actress, principals, managers.

celebrities with libra in 10th house: princess diana, ronaldo, kylie jenner, parison hilton, messi, malcolm x.

scorpio midheaven, pluto/mars in 10th, ascendant trine/sextile/conjunct mars or pluto, pluto aspecting ascendant makes an individual go for more darker careers- in the sense that they can dig deep into their and other’s psyche. they want to understand things that are deemed impossible, unsolvable, mysterious. they are drawn in by odds stacked against them. they are motivated by struggle & challenge. one where their path has life & death really coincide. careers that these people are suited for are; detectives, psychologists, analysts for their endeavors, forensic scientist, surgeon, police, psychics.

celebrities with scorpio in 10th: ariana grande, obama, megan fox, nicki minaj, kobe bryant, selena quintanilla, sza.

sagittarius midheaven, jupiter in 10th, ascendant trine/sextile/conjunct jupiter, jupiter aspecting ascendant is somebody who wants to expand in their careers, go further, likely to get a masters or bachelors. education is so important to them, the more they know the better. they love to try new things, new places, meet new people. they can become extremely abundant by their work and want to share some of their wisdom to the world. always want to subliminally teach something. careers for these people that suit them are; pilots, flight attendants, journalist, realtor, religious teacher, priest, social worker.

celebrities with sagittarius in 10th: michael jackson, abraham lincoln, hozier, jenna ortega, deepak chopra, nispey hussle.

capricorn midheaven, saturn in 10th, ascendant trine/sextile/conjunct saturn, saturn aspecting ascendant very determined people, persistent, and resilient to their work. one of the most ambitious to achieve their goals. since they were younger they’ve known that they are destined for making something out of themselves. seen as very serious and intimidating because they feel super protective over their reputation and paths. discipline comes a long way, they might even have to work twice as hard just to be where they are. careers for these people; business owner, corporate, consultant, dentists/surgeons, accountants, financial planners/advisors.

celebrities with capricorn in 10th: rihanna, billie eilish, nikola tesla, jeff bezos, jordan peterson, morgan freeman.

aquarius midheaven, saturn/uranus in 10th, ascendant trine/sextile/conjunct uranus, uranus aspecting ascendant gives one skills and abilities in things that others do not understand or find stressful. aquarius midheaven has a natural interest in difficult areas. they like coming up with different things, extremely innovative and creative. these people leave legacies in their area of interest, inflicting change and making hard things easier to understand is common for them. careers for these people; engineers, computer scientists, activists, mathematicians, -ologists of any kind, designers, transportation, autonomy.

celebrities with aquarius in 10th house: hilary clinton, neil armstrong, amy wine house, jared leto, will smith.

pisces midheaven, neptune in 10th, ascendant trine/conjunct/sextile neptune, neptune aspecting ascendant allows a person to be huge visionaries in their field. they have so many ideas, influx of projects, and they get inspired through absolutely everything. as contemplative as they are, they love leaving their options open. not all those who wander are lost type of vibe. they naturally love to give and it is important that they are at one with their careers. sometimes seems like they are so fit for what they do. it has to be something they feel at peace with or that doesn’t involve too many others; artists, writers, philosophers/psychologists, photographers, spiritualist, architects.

celebrities with pisces in 10th house: lady gaga, adele, van gogh, cher, kamala harris, shakespeare, lebron james.

remember, it is not just your midheaven that represents what you will do in this life, keep in mind of the others things like i stated earlier, also jupiter is very important when we talk about income here. depending on the house it is in will show you how you can attract that money. ex; jupiter in 11h, make money through similar ways an aquarius midheaven might. or they might find that it interests them to go after something that standardly an aquarius midheaven would. 6th house is how we can approach projects. ex; 6th house mars could have an assertive work style, communicative, sharp minded, calculated, determined to duty. 2nd house shows you how you are with money in general, ex; neptune in 2nd can make someone more reckless with spending, giving to others easily, or losing track of budgets. ex,if you have an 8th house mercury persay, you can get money lended a lot by siblings or close relatives, fellow coworkers. (if you have any in particular shoot me a message or comment it down below and i can let you know my inputs on yours).

thank you for reading and like i said if you need any clarification i will be more than happy to clarify!

[crashimminent]

Alright, I'll start this blog off strong...

Jimmy Headcanons

His legal name? James Zimer Jr. However, he completely detests his father and prefers to go by Jimmy.

He's likely in his late 30s.

He stands 6'0", but slouches a lot and tends to be 5'10" unless putting in effort. His back hurts quite often.

Jimmy was raised down in the states, growing up in poverty. His family was very military and didn't understand why he didn't want to serve. His childhood was already traumatic, and the child abuse didn't help.

He has hallucinated his whole life, only becoming distressing around 15.

He is no longer in contact with his family, and was actually disowned.

Jimmy attended college for 4 years, where he met Curly. They shared a dorm together.

After graduation, Jimmy went into the workforce and bounced from job to job. However, due to sexual harassment and other misconduct, he usually didn't stay in one place very long.

He ended up in jail for a month after public disorderly conduct brought on by hallucinations. Once he got out, he went right back to job searching, but it was much harder.

Jimmy ended up barely making it by or being outright homeless for about 2 years before reconnecting with Curly, who immediately took pity and offered to help.

NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder), Paranoid Schizophrenia, OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder), and PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder)

Used to self-harm, but stopped about a year into college upon realizing Curly might find out.

Due to his Schizophrenia, he has Zoophobia and cannot actually stand being around animals without freaking out and getting potentially violent.

Would have fallen into alcoholism but never had the money. Lightweight because of this.

Cannot swim and has nearly drowned thrice because of this. Was tossed into a pool twice in college.

Has never actually been romantically involved with anyone. Has had a handful of one-night stands, but that's about it. Closeted bisexual.

Loves to tease and pull pranks on people to figure out what gets on their nerves. Known to have "a cruel streak", but it's really just him experimenting.

He likes classic and alt rock!

Likes M*A*S*H , Breaking Bad, and Star Wars.

Tons of sensory preferences. Hates being unshaven for too long. Hates shaving. Hates taking off his socks. Hates blowdriers. LOVES taking long showers, the heat feels good.

[legalkimchi]

Geopolitics is not what you think.

It is interesting to me that how we view issues of global politics and how academics and certain political actors view the issues have such a huge separation.

For instance, when people view the russian invasion of ukraine, they think of a simple power grab, or they don't understand why russia would want to do that.

When i was talking to a friend, who is a geopolitical expert, about the russian war against ukraine, he pulled out a topographical map of europe. Geopolitics is the study of how geography affects politics. it is NOT a general term for international politics.

The easy answer is Russia's need for a warm water port. If you know russia's borders, you would know that all of it's major ports are in the north and they freeze in the winter. They don't have a good port in the black sea that stays unfrozen. Sevastopol is the port in Crimea. While technically Ukrainian territory, it has been controlled by Russia since 2014.

The second point he made was looking at the moutains. See the map above. Then let's look at a map of the warsaw pact

Understanding moutain ranges and how they are defensible, you start to see why NATO and the Warsaw pact involved those specific countries. it creates a natural bottle neck in Germany. This also goes into why Poland gets invaded so much. it is a flat territory without natural boundaries that makes it easy to attack, and if you want your border to be a mountain you have to go through Poland. Without the countries to make up its borders anymore, Russia lacks natural boundaries. Instead of the carpathian mountains, they have simple grassland.

Then you talk to demographers as to why russia is aggressive, you see that since the end of the cold war, russia's death rate has exceeded it's birth rate. this causes a decline in population and a "demographic crisis." the average age in russia is over 40 years old. this stagnation has rippling effects throughout the country. with an older workforce, they don't have a surplus younger generation to pay for the care of the older generation. they are experiencing migration out of the country of individuals with experience and education needed in the country. They are, in short, a nation in panic.

In the international relations field, you see discussions of the lack of political influence. Russia once held a spot as one of two superpowers in the world. a regional giant who's influence shook the way international politics operated. From 1950-1989 there were really only two countries in the world that everyone needed to pay attention to: the Soviet Union and the United States. everyone else was a pawn. There was the First world, the US and her allies, the Second World, the Soviet Union and her allies, and the Third world, the non-aligned nations. (which, by the way, is where that phrase came from. a "third world" country was thought as a country so unimportant, neither the US or USSR cared about you.) in this climate, Russian, who still held what was considered the second most powerful military in the world (though... not so much now) felt they were under appreciated. China was the emerging economic powerhouse.

This is something i went into in my IR video. (as i have an IR background)

What is amazing about all this analysis is that different fields point to different reasons as to why russia invaded. and similar analysis could be done other regions. any conflict can be analyzed in this manner. the disputes in africa are interesting because the easy answer to why there are so many wars in africa is "colonialism." and i think it does make a useful, simplified solution. but it foregoes the other realms of analysis as to why these conflicts are happening.

not sure what made me procrastinate on making a video and writing this out. i needed a break from editing. I hope you found this interesting.

[sudriantraveler]

Rheneas' Return

I’ve been thinking about Rheneas’ return to the Skarloey Railway after his overhaul, and there is a lot to talk about.

First of all, for those who don’t know or maybe just need a reminder, in the RWS Rheneas left the Skarloey Railway for a major overhaul in 1952, having just barely kept the railway running through its darkest hour as its sole working engine since Skarloey was sidelined in 1945.

He was then away from Sodor for 9 years, before finally returning home in 1961.

And he was probably in for a bit of a shock when he returned, because a lot happened in those 9 years.

First of all, the Skarloey Railway was in the middle of a crisis when Rheneas left. Only one engine is operable barely, the track is falling apart, revenue is low to non-existent, and about 90% of the work needed to keep things functioning day-to-day is being done by just two guys.

When Rheneas returns, it's like a completely new railway. Passengers are plentiful, there are new engines and coaches, the railways workforce has grown significantly, and the track actually feels good to run over instead of delivering a sensation of being repeatedly punched in the frames.

The thing is, Rheneas is still on some level probably going to be operating in crisis mode, because that’s all he’s known since about the beginning of the 1930s.

He insists on taking much more work than the other engines. Partly because he enjoy his work and is extremely happy to be home again, but mainly because he’s been having nightmares for the last few years about returning to nothing, and the fact that the railway still exists let alone that it’s actually thriving, is something which he’s having to constantly remind himself is not just a dream.

Then there’s all of the new stuff.

Before Rheneas left it was just him, Skarloey, the four old coaches and the one guard’s van, the numerous trucks, and a modestly sized workforce who Rheneas knew all of the names of. That was it since the railway began in 1865, the only exception being during WW2 when the war department briefly came in with a few of their own engines.

Now though, there are four new engines, several new coaches, and someone’s coming to light Rheneas’ fire in the morning who isn’t Mr. Hugh (keep in mind that in Rheneas' previous experience this usually meant the regular firelighter had either retired or died).

Also apparently the old slate quarry has been entirely taken over by the military and is now completely off limits, and there’s a big metal fence and a bunch of scary looking signs at the entrance, and frankly the whole situation up there just makes Rheneas feel really uneasy.

Needless to say, it takes something of an adjustment period for Rheneas to get used to everything.

I particularly want to talk about Rheneas early dynamic with the new engines, one in particular. You’ll know who when I get there.

To start with, Rheneas at least saw Sir Handel and Peter Sam before he left, so he at least knows they’re on the railway before he returns.

The thing is, his first impression of them was probably the same as Skarloey’s: Peter Sam is excitable and maybe a bit too overeager for his own good, and Sir Handel is bad tempered and takes his anger out on everything around him.

Rheneas probably breathed a sigh of relief when he saw they hadn’t burned the place down in his absence.

After Rheneas returns from overhaul he adjusts to the two former Mid Sodor engines well enough.

Sir Handel is still bad tempered, but he also still does his work regardless of how much he grumbles about it. Plus Peter Sam keeps insisting that Sir Handel does indeed mean well and is just having a hard time adjusting, and given the occasional details the two of them just casually drop about life on the Mid Sodor, Skarloey and Rheneas are inclined to give both of them plenty of time to adjust.

Peter Sam is still very energetic but Rheneas also sees that he’s clearly a hard worker, and the fact that the coaches adore him also helps to make him look pretty good in Rheneas’ eyes.

Rheneas immediately takes a liking to Rusty for much the same reason Skarloey did. They’re hardworking, kind, and their work repairing and maintaining the line makes them seem to the two old engines like an angel sent down by Lady herself.

I fully believe that after years of nothing but bent rails and rotted sleepers, running over an actually good permanent way for the first time after overhaul must have felt like a religious experience to Skarloey and Rheneas.

And then there’s Duncan.

Duncan, as he will happily admit himself, is a plain blunt engine who will rock and roll, and who speaks as he finds.

Sure, he means well, and he’ll pull just about anything… But Rheneas hears the story of him stopping on the viaduct, and is immediately wary of Duncan.

It doesn’t help that, having had the serious responsibility of being the only working engine on the line for an extended period of time, Rheneas has a bit of complex about doing everything himself and see’s anything that happens on the railway as, at least partially, his responsibility.

So Duncan just fully blowing off his responsibility to his passengers and stopping in the middle of the line, something which Rheneas did only once and very much against his best efforts, just feels like a personal insult to Rheneas.

It doesn’t quite register with him that Skarloey has already given Duncan the whole lecture on why that was stupid and how passengers are important.

And Duncan has improved since then. He acknowledges the importance of looking after his passengers and knows to at least keep his complaints out of earshot of them.

The thing is, Duncan is still a plain blunt engine, and passenger etiquette does not come naturally to him. But he’s trying, and quite frankly some of the passengers' complaints just seem ridiculous to him. So what if he rocks and rolls a bit? That's just how he is, and he still gets them to the station on time… usually.

But when Rheneas hears Duncan one night in the shed complaining about a particularly rough journey where there were significant delays and the passengers were really pushing his limits, Rheneas decides that Duncan still hasn’t learned their ways.

Rheneas may also be having a bit of a crisis of questioning just how much the railway still needs him with all of the new engines who are also there now. And what better way to reassure himself that he's still needed than to position himself as a mentor figure.

Duncan, for his part, does in fact respect Rheneas since Skarloey told him how he had saved the railway, and he wants to get along with the guy…

But that becomes increasingly difficult to do when Duncan keep having moments where he’s shunting the yard, minding his own business and doing a pretty alright job… and then he look towards the sheds and see Rheneas watching him like a hawk, looking for any sign that he’s about to mess up somehow.

And on the occasions that Duncan does mess up, however slight, Rheneas is very quick to give his input on what he did wrong and how the whole situation could have been avoided.

Skarloey may be stern, but he at least acknowledges that Duncan is trying his best, and gives him credit when he does well. He at least gives Duncan the respect of treating him like a capable engine.

So Duncan gets along fine with Skarloey… But Rheneas?

Respect him and his efforts to keep the railway running… Sure.

Actually get along with him… Not so much.

This pretty much sums up the dynamic between the two of them.

Until one day…

Duncan is taking the morning train, and one passenger in particular is just being a complete pain in the ass. It’s not just Duncan who’s fed up with him by the time they leave the station, this guy is getting on everyone’s nerves.

But Duncan puts forward his best effort, and maintains his professionalism.

But the guy keeps being a jerk throughout the entire run up the line. Anything goes slightly wrong, and he’s making his grievances known.

Duncan is glad when he doesn’t see him on the platform when he begins the journey back down the line, the man having decided to hike one of the various trails around Skarloey Lake.

When he gets back to Crovan’s Gate, Duncan immediately rolls off to the sheds and starts venting to whoever will listen about the angry passenger.

And right on cue, Rheneas begins his lecture.

Duncan, by this point, has been having a really bad day, and is quite frankly beyond his normal limits. So he just says “Alright then… You know how to deal with passengers, you take the afternoon train”.

So Rheneas does, and all goes well on the up journey. But then he finds Duncan’s passenger at the top station, who is apparently furious that Duncan’s train didn’t wait for him as he went wandering around the lake.

Rheneas tries to point out, very calmly, that there are schedules posted very clearly at every station building, but the man doesn’t listen.

Ok… This is fine.

Rheneas has dealt with his fair share of difficult passengers before, all of them with grace. He can handle this one.

But the journey back down the line doesn’t go smoothly, and all the while the angry passenger is becoming more and more unbearable.

And then, between Glennock and Cros-ny-Cuirn, Rheneas derails.

It wasn’t a particularly bad derailment, and it wasn’t his fault. Just a bad joint in the rails which Rusty and Mr Hugh hadn’t had the chance to fix on their last maintenance run, and which had been worsened by the last few times a train had run over it.

Naturally, the angry passenger is complaining more than ever now, and Rheneas is feeling rather defeated.

It’s Duncan who comes to rescue the train, and Rheneas is surprised but very grateful for the fact that he doesn’t say anything as Rheneas is leavered back onto the rails.

It’s a pretty speedy rerailing too.

Duncan is coupled on infront and the two engines double-head the train the rest of the way home. They get there with no further issues, and most of the passengers are just happy the derailment was sorted out quickly and efficiently, and that they were still able to catch the connecting train.

All except one.

The angry passenger is now just being insulting. Everyone is tired and unhappy, and now they still have to deal with him ranting about what a bad railway this is.

And then Duncan just snaps.

Rheneas never thought he would be happy to hear someone cursing out a passenger…

But Duncan’s tirade in Rheneas’, his own, and the railways defense, is just about the most cathartic thing he’s ever experienced.

Duncan only fully stops after the Thin Controller gets involved, denies the passenger a refund, and watches him storm off out of the station to catch a bus (he had spent so long arguing he had missed the connecting train).

After that, and with one final uttering of good riddance, the two engines shunt the coaches away and go to the sheds for a well deserved rest.

Rheneas see’s Duncan in a new light after that. He still often disagrees with his more grumpy and blunt approach, but he’s finally giving Duncan some space to make mistakes without needless criticism.

Rheneas still insists on the importance of passengers, and treats all of them with respect and high regard…

But he and Duncan have come to an agreement that some of them are just nuisances.

[fatehbaz]

Various different ways of effectively legalizing slavery. All on display in different regions colonized by England. Including the formal system of chattel slavery at plantations in the United States; the criminalization of poverty and enforced labor regimes of urban factories in the British metropole in London; and the prison labor of penal colonies in Australia.

Reading about how some people were victims of all of these ways of de facto enslavement. For example, all of these conditions of imprisonment were experienced by one man named John Moseley.

Around the year 1800, this forced labor existed across the British Empire. At the time of the American Revolution, Moseley had been enslaved in tobacco fields under the chattel slavery system in the Tidewater region of colonial Virginia. When Britain offered emancipation to slaves willing to join the military campaign against the Americans, Moseley joined the British forces. When Britain conceded and surrendered, Moseley feared that he would be re-enslaved in the United States, where chattel slavery remained legal, so he fled to London. However, around this same time, in England, rural livelihoods were being made more difficult; during this so-called Industrial Revolution, many were forced to move to cities or accept manufacturing jobs. And authorities were beginning the tradition of criminalizing poverty, rounding up “vagrants and vagabonds” in urban areas, as debt and poverty were forcing people to work in brutal labor conditions in factories. So Moseley sought income through criminal fraud. Moseley was arrested. He was sentenced to death. However, a death sentence could be commuted if the prisoner submitted to “transportation” and labor. And thus Moseley was once again imprisoned in chains, once again forced to work, and shipped to the convict colonies of Australia.

As Jeff Sparrow puts it: 

To control the desperate and the jobless, the authorities passed harsh new laws, a legislative program designed to quell disorder and ensure a pliant workforce for the factories. The Riot Act banned public disorder; the Combination Act made trade unions illegal; the Workhouse Act forced the poor to work; the Vagrancy Act turned joblessness into a crime. Eventually, over 220 offences could attract capital punishment - or, indeed, transportation. [...] [C]onvict transportation - a system in which prisoners toiled without pay under military discipline - replicated many of the worst cruelties of slavery. [...] Middle-class anti-slavery activists expressed little sympathy for Britain’s ragged and desperate, holding [...] [them] responsible for their own misery. The men and women of London’s slums weren’t slaves. They were free individuals – and if they chose criminality, [...] they brought their punishment on themselves. That was how Phillip [commander of the British First Fleet settlement in Australia] could decry chattel slavery while simultaneously relying on unfree labour from convicts. The experience of John Moseley, one of the eleven people of colour on the First Fleet, illustrates how, in the Australian settlement, a rhetoric of liberty accompanied a new kind of bondage. [...] The eventual commutation of a capital sentence to transportation meant that armed guards marched a black ex-slave, chained once more by the neck and ankles, to the Scarborough, on which he sailed to New South Wales. [...] For John Moseley, the “free land” of New South Wales brought only a replication of that captivity he’d endured in Virginia. His experience was not unique. [...] [T]hroughout the settlement, the old strode in, disguised as the new. [End quote. Text by Jeff Sparrow. “Friday essay: a slave state - how blackbirding in colonial Australia created a legacy of racism.” The Conversation. 4 August 2022.]

[witchofthesouls]

So, uh, this little memory just suddenly popped up out of no where and I figured it would serve as good(?) ‘world-building’ material.

So, when I was in my private all-girls Catholic high school (that’s how you know it’s going to be a good story) girls would soak their tampons with vodka to get drunk. Some where more successful than others, but some where also less fortunate when their near fatal encounter of alcohol poisoning and nasty-ass vaginal infections where known throughout school.

My question is; do cybertronians have a similar method of madness like the vodka tampons?

And my second question; did Cybertronian’s have their own version of an all girls catholic school? And if they do, what kind of crazy shit went on there?

I can tell you so much about the crazy shit that went on there; the illegal gambling ring, the bi-curious and lesbi-curious girls who were convinced that they liked/loved another girl and stalked the poor girl, some of the shady male teachers, the secret LGBTQ+ club (which was actually kind of wholesome and I was apart of), the bullying (sweet Jesus was there a lot of bullying and harassment), some nuns were Grade A+ assholes who would wack our hands with rulers and have affairs with some of the male teachers, and there’s was a…uh,…secret orgy/cunnilingus club too.

It was the nineties, what would you expect?

Oh wow. I heard of things in private, religious schools from a friend, but hot damn that's wild!

I did go to a religious university. They had a weekly chapel where classes were suspended and all students were required to attend. I did start a tiny alcohol ring in the dorms. Nothing nefarious or crazy binging, just enough in plastic bottles to use in cooking or sipping for a secret meat meal in the rooms. I came from a time when weed was still illegal, but damn I never thought it would prepare me for smuggling meats into a strictly vegetarian campus.

So going back to the questions:

Cybertronians do have alcoholic goodies for popular sex play. Unlike humans, their reproductive system is a closed loop circulatory-wise, and they don't need to worry about poisoning themselves. But for an experience similar to humans doing stupid things for that drunk-high is the equivalent of a wine enema into their afts. That's because their "asshole" is actually a medical port that has components connected to their pelvis structures; meaning, they can get off really well with that alcoholic enema. Yeah, you don't need to be an expert in alien biology to understand that pouring drugs into a hole that's connected to your nervous system can be a stupid bad idea.

Get ready for a lot of worldbuilding:

Education on Cybertronian is severely restricted to caste due to edicts based on Functionism where frame dictates function in society. Some city-states like Vos and Tarn get away with public schooling by citing it as a necessity component of their citizenship and to the benefit of Cybertron as a whole. Vos stylizes their system as a military academy since Seekers are typically slotted into such hierarchies and citizens are drafted into the Air Force during wartime; whereas Tarn is famous for its factories and mines. Sparkling armature is too fragile for the unstable environment, so keeps the workforce much more docile that the bits too big for the holds are kept away and provides leverage as a union-busting technique. Accidents happen.

There are the old traditions of apprenticeships and mentorships for mecha that catch the attention of a well-established professional. Each decade, the number dwindles as more fees are added such practices, such as "alt-mode exemption for education" and "Form Ed-98A-3432d: Exemption to mentor a student two castes below."

Higher education typically functions as private entities with very high-stakes testing. If a student fails to pass progress exams to move to the next module, then it's game over. There's no retakes or repeats or any sort of second chance. They're permanently expelled from completing education within the city-state.

Because of this, coercion is a common phenomenon, especially to snap up specific connections or talented individuals under the school's domains or their related patrons. Skill was the means of trade among the faculty and students as well as the ability to cultivate it. Money could be both everything and nothing within these facilities; it was as meaningful as the parties in agreement made it. This was a strange world compared to what was outside the walls as it blended all the castes and frames and cultures and reduced it to what a person could bring to a table via their own hands or their future. Make no mistake, it wasn't a utopia. It was a cutthroat arena with deep tensions that were mitigated by the faculty and student council as they all battle to polish diamonds from the rough, force people into cohorts, and seal alliances. If done right, a low-caste sponsered can be taken care of for the rest of their lives or die back on the streets with nothing.

Ratchet managed to get away with his old clinic doing illegal free services by utilizing this strange culture. The relationships he cultivated with his old mentor's ties into their own university as well as Ratchet’s own ties via teaching will cover his tracks and provide some funding as long as he takes in "chosen" medical apprentices to train in such conditions and documents the long-term effects of poverty at those sunless levels. Ratchet was only able to trace a few of his benefactors in his project, Senator Shockwave and Counciler Alpha Trion.

Because it was a different world with so much on and off the books, the really secretive clubs would be the "heretics" with worship to certain Primes, Titans, or Unicron, sex clubs that cater to xeno-related kinks, and those with dysmorphic frames, either by force or assigned (cold construction, lab-grown sentio metallico, or noncon frame overhaul), trying to find themselves without anything set on legal paperwork.

(Knockout took advantage of that.)

[mariacallous]

Over the past two years, more than 20 states have expanded access to state jobs through a simple move: assessing or removing bachelor’s degree requirements. With state, local, and federal governments employing 15% of the U.S. workforce, these actions are of enormous consequence, especially for “STARs,” or workers who are skilled through alternative routes. STARs—who have gained their skills through community college, the military, partial college, certification programs, and, most commonly, on-the-job training—represent over half of the nation’s workforce, and currently occupy approximately 2 million state jobs.

Government leaders see removing bachelor’s degree requirements as critical to meeting their hiring needs and public service delivery obligations. And at a time when states are struggling to fill a high number of open roles, removing these requirements can attract a larger pool of talent.

Many states already have laws or policies that forbid discrimination based on educational attainment. But in practice, hiring patterns have favored degrees, and the composition of the state workforce reflects this. While they comprise half of the workforce, STARs fill only 36% of state jobs—representing a gap of 1 million good state jobs for STARs nationwide.1 The explicit commitment to removing degree requirements is a signal to STARs that they are welcome to apply.

Further, these actions are meant to build a state workforce that reflects the community it serves. Historically, government employment has been used to improve economic equity, providing increased economic opportunities for members of historically disadvantaged groups (notably women and Black workers). In recent decades, however, the bias toward credentialing has resulted in the inadvertent exclusion of STARs, with disproportionate consequences. When a bachelor’s degree is required for a position, employers automatically screen out almost 80% of Latino or Hispanic workers and nearly 70% of Black, veteran, and rural workers. Increased STAR hiring will help correct this inequity.

It is still too early to measure the impact of these changes on hiring behavior, as it will take time while hiring numbers slowly accumulate through job turnover and new positions. Yet we can already see signs that the effort is bearing fruit. In the first quarter of this year, more than 20 states made a yearlong commitment to focus on skills-based hiring through the National Governors Association’s Skills in the States Community of Practice. As one of the lead partners, our organization—Opportunity@Work—supports states through peer learning to prepare and make action plans for the organizational changes needed to implement skills-based practices, which will ultimately improve hiring and advancement outcomes for STARs.

We also see changes in state job postings. We analyzed two years of data on jobs that paid over the national median wage and were posted by all the states that took action to remove degree requirements by April 2023.2 Our findings show that in the 12 months prior to these state actions, 51.1% of roles explicitly listed a bachelor’s degree as a requirement. In the 12 months following, that percentage fell to 41.8%—a nearly 10-point shift. The largest shifts occurred in job postings for roles in management, IT, administration, and human resources—all occupations in which STARs have been underrepresented in the public sector compared to the private sector. For example, in state governments, 69% of general and operations managers hold a bachelor’s degree, while only 45% do in the private sector.3

State leaders view these actions as a critical first step. “We are creating opportunities for everyone, not just those with higher education,” said Melissa Walker of the Colorado Department of Personnel and Administration. “We want to draw on all kinds of experience.” Colorado has pragmatically focused on policy implementation and behavior change; in addition to updates to agency rules and regulations, its executive order focused on a transition to skills-based hiring as the norm for Colorado human resources, including funding for the training of hiring managers and development of a skills-based hiring toolkit. The state’s Department of Personnel and Administration is providing training and resources for human resources teams across state agencies, enabling each to make the necessary changes in their processes and procedures. Resources include a new job description template designed to identify skills—a simple tool that promotes skills-first thinking and behavior change at the hiring manager level.

Culture and systems change both take time. Adjusting common processes and procedures—as well as attitudes and behavior—is challenging, especially in a large, decentralized state government. Yet more than 20 states have begun this hard work. This month, bolstered by these early successes, Opportunity@Work is proud to launch the STARs Public Sector Hub to support these states and others on their skills-based journeys and build the public workforce to meet this moment.

[the-pink-baphomet1861]

any alfred ashford headcanons?

Wow, ok omg someone finally asked. Buckle up time for the insane ramblings of a mad creature with absolutely too much time on their hands. (Sorry it took so long, you know how it can be sometimes.)

Even though he and Alexia had their education start as soon as possible for them, there was a rather short time where they were on about the same level, and Alfred delighted in talking to her about what they were learning. 

Despite not being as smart as Alexia, he still did quite well educationally and managed to graduate university at 21. He did study a lot about biology and chemistry to emulate Alexia, but his favorite classes were actually history, specifically warfare, and social studies. He even did a little creative writing on the side

He’s just as useless as Alexia in the kitchen, however, due to being equally reliant on servants to do it for him. Although he might be slightly better as he’s had more time growing up and living instead of being stuck in a pod for his teenage years

When Alexia was busy studying and Alfred was left with nothing to do, he took to wandering the halls and looking at all the artwork and decorations in the base. He especially liked to stare at the paintings of his ancestors and hearing about their accomplishments, although he eventually grew to resent Veronica specifically due to his father heaping praise on her.

Alfred is a deeply repressed gay man. Ever since he was a child he was told than even feeling heterosexual feelings were a disgusting and immoral thing that only the lower classes fell victim to, so he’s buried his “abnormal” desires deep, to the point where any slight suggestion of these feelings would send him into a frothing rage.

His relationship with Alexander was always tumultuous. At best Alexander was cold and distant, and at worst he was downright hostile towards Alfred, Alexander was just too focused on his goals to ever view him as anything more than a byproduct of the experiment. Eventually Alfred gave up on trying to have a relationship with him and focused solely on Alexia 

Speaking of which, his relationship with her was always something important to him, even when he was just a baby, and it only got more intense as he grew older, to the point that his entire self perception in wrapped up with her. I’m not a huge fan of incest, so I see it more as incredibly bad codependency than anything romantic or sexual.

After Alexia graduated from high school and moved on to university, Alexander thought that it would be a good idea to send Alfred to a boarding school to improve his education. This was a terrible idea. Alfred was incredibly bratty and disobedient towards the teachers and quite antisocial and rude towards the other students. He believed that this was a waste of his time and resented that he was being kept from Alexia. This culminated in his second term where he beat another student bloody for insulting Alexia, Alexander wisely decided to have him privately tutored after that.

When Alexia was working at the Antarctic base as head researcher, Alfred liked to accompany her and help wherever he could, although it really wasn’t all that much help most of the time.

The discovery of their origins caused Alfred to have a huge identity crisis about who he was, why he’d been the failure and if he was even really human. Eventually he settled into the mindset that he was an inferior version of Alexia, and that the only purpose he would have was serving her and her desires. Any hope of Alfred finding a place among others and building other relationships died that day.

After Alexia froze herself, Alfred was appointed as the head of Umbrella’s newest base on Rockfort island, mostly to get him out of the way (real smart, putting a grieving twelve year old in charge of a large military complex). The palace and private residence were both built under his orders using the prisoners as a workforce, and most of his money was spent on his decorations and collections.

His whole situation with the false Alexia was born from his deep feelings of isolation and loneliness, the only person who ever cared about him as a person was gone and he couldn’t form relationships with the other people on Rockfort, so his mind created another version of Alexia to serve as a companion.

This other Alexia is a lot colder towards him personality wise, reflecting his insecurities about not being able to uphold the family name and make Alexia proud of him, and constantly criticizes him for any perceived failures. She is physically represented by a wooden mannequin Alfred keeps in the residence, with Alfred only dressing as her when she needs to get up and do stuff. (I’m not a mental health expert, this is just a dumb headcanon. So take it with a grain of salt.)

Alfred was also in charge of the Antarctic facility, but just because it was his family estate and he inherited it after Alexander’s death.

His mental state slowly deteriorated further and further as the fifteen years went by, to the point that he even forgot about his role to wake up Alexia, believing that she was still with him. So ironically, the attack on Rockfort and Steve and Claire’s escape was the thing that got him back on track.

After falling down the pit, his only thoughts were about Alexia. He believed that she would save him and make everything better, but by the time he had arrived, his body was too damaged to keep going. Both of his legs were completely broken after the fall, he had several puncture wounds in his abdomen and a piece of his ribs had pierced his heart. So the only thing Alexia could do was put him in the cryostasis tube to prepare him for infection with the T-Veronica virus. (This is also once again a request to go look at my art blog.)

Alfred owned a bedazzler gun as a child and once covered half the mansion in tiny plastic gemstones. Alexia was somewhat amused by this incident (and still brings it up from time to time). Alexander was not.

[whatthehelloh]

Trump

This is an edited thread that @JohnFugelsang posted on Twitter

“Here's a thread for anyone who's been conned into believing Donald Trump cares about the US military or our troops.”

Faked a disability 5 times to avoid a war he didn't oppose

So 5 non-rich guys went to Vietnam in his place

Tried to kick homeless vets off 5th Ave

Stole from vets via his fraud online U

Lied about donating $1 million to veterans' nonprofits

Said he'd make troops commit war crimes

Pardoned a guy who committed war crimes

Falsely claimed he signed Vets' Choice into law

Insulted POWs

Insulted Gold Star Families 

Fined for misusing funds from 2016 Vets fundraiser

Called Generals "dopes & babies"

Falsely accused US service members of stealing funds for Iraqi reconstruction

Deployed 5,600 soldiers to the border in a midterm election stunt 

Personally insulted Generals Allen, Mattis, Kelly, Powell, McChrystal; Purple Heart recipients Mueller & Vindman, & Admiral McRaven

Lied about donating $6 million to veteran’s groups in 2016

Sided with Putin against all branches of military intelligence 

Blew off Veterans Day cemetery ceremony in France because it was raining.

What he said to Myeshia Johnson, widow of ambushed Sgt. La David Johnson. Not gonna repeat it.

He wants to cut SNAP. Do you understand how much that hurts military families & vets?

His budget seeks to cut Medicaid. Do you understand how much this hurts military families & vets?

Froze pay for all Fed agencies via Executive Order

Fed workforce is 31% veteran, approx. 623k vets

Undid regulations on predatory lenders who target military members 

He tried to destroy the Post Office, which employs thousands of veterans

Declared a fake national emergency to divert billions from the Pentagon to fund a wall he lied that Mexico would pay for

Downplayed & trivialized troops w/traumatic brain injuries in Jan 2020 

Insulted troops with PTSD

Used the national guard to tear gas US protestors so he could be photographed w/an upside down bible

Forced West Point cadets to travel back for graduation during a plague, endangering their health and the health of their families, for a photo-op 

Said 26,000 military sexual assaults were to be 'expected' because America lets women serve

Announced that transgender troops could no longer serve, via a tweet, without informing the Pentagon.

Invited the Taliban to Camp David on the anniversary of 9/11 

Claimed, stupidly, that his military budget made up for his lack of military experience

Told wife #2 he'd disown their daughter if she entered the service

Remember his fake veteran’s hotline?'

Here's What Happens if You Call the Veterans Hotline Donald Trump Set Up in 2015 | Blaze Media

TheBlaze decided to investigate.

Lied to US troops in Iraq that he'd given them their 1st pay raise in over a decade

Trump Institute fired a vet for 'absences' after he was deployed to Afghanistan

Claimed if an armored Humvee was hit by an IED, soldiers "go for a little ride upward & they come down." 

Blamed military leaders for the deadly failed Yemen mission he approved

He can't stop defending the Confederacy

Said his expensive prep school gave him “more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military.” 

Attacked Navy Captain Crozier, who sounded COVID alarm for his sick sailors

Used military against peaceful protests by citizens of color

Had government give hydroxychloroquine to 1300 vets w/COVID-19 despite evidence it was dangerous

Didn't know what happened at Pearl Harbor 

Pulled out of Syria with no notice, abandoning US allies

Russia then posted footage of Syrian base, built by US, that they now own

Exploited 4 murdered Americans in #Benghazi for crass political purposes, after his own party had cleared the Obama WH in multiple investigations 

He kept trying to destroy NATO

Because of his government shutdown, members of US military worked without pay for the 1st time ever

No Other President Would Have Survived Defrauding Veterans’ Charities

No Other President Would Have Survived Defrauding Veterans' Charities | Washington Monthly

One of the many perversities of the Trump era is the low bar to which presidential accountability has now become set.  We are currently watching unfold the saga of presidential bribery and extortion o…

Said in 2018 that he was too busy to visit the troops: "I don’t think it’s overly necessary"

Ordered Navy to Strip Medals from Prosecutors in Eddie Gallagher's War Crimes Trial, even though Gallagher was extremely guilty.

Trump Orders Navy to Strip Medals From Prosecutors in War Crimes Trial (Published 2019)

President Trump lashed out at military lawyers who tried the case of Edward Gallagher, a Navy SEAL who was acquitted of killing a captured teenage Islamic State fighter.

Now this. Read it to a #MAGA loved one

Putin is financing the murder of our troops and Trump couldn't stop siding with him.

Russia bought the murder of our soldiers.

Trump knew for months and chose to say and do NOTHING about it.

Russia Secretly Offered Afghan Militants Bounties to Kill U.S. Troops, Intelligence Says (Published 2020)

The Trump administration has been deliberating for months about what to do about a stunning intelligence assessment.

The Pentagon & cabinet presented him with many options:

a diplomatic complaint to Moscow

a demand that they stop offering bounties for murder of US troops stop

an escalating series of sanctions

Trump has refused to say or do anything. 

He knew that Putin, who owns his debt via Deutsche Bank, was paying Islamic militants for murdering US troops.

He gave a speech and did nothing. 

Well, that's not actually fair…

Trump did a few things after learning Putin was paying for dead US troops in Afghanistan.

He lobbied other countries for Russia to be let back into the G7.

He also talked to Putin on June 1.

Days later he signed off on a plan...

...to permanently withdraw up to 1/3 of the approx. 34k U.S. troops currently based in Germany.

Which is part of Putin's dream of dismantling NATO.

Trump never told Germany he was going to do this.

[feministfocus]

The 2024 Presidential Election: The Candidates’ Policies and Their Impact on Marginalized Groups

by Sofia Bocchino

Today, Americans know Kamala Harris as the first female Vice President of the United States, but what will we know her as after November 5th? The 2024 presidential election will be historic regardless of who wins, as Kamala Harris will be the first female candidate of color to make it this far into the election, and now the second woman running against former president Donald Trump.

Sources such as The New York Times indicate that this election is going to be close, where either candidate could win by a narrow margin. When considering who to vote for on election day, it is important for voters to educate themselves on the policies each candidate holds in order to make an informed decision to determine what the future of our country will look like. This is especially impactful for voters in swing states, who have the power to sway the state towards either candidate. Swing states also serve as a “battleground” for the competing parties, and according to NPR, where 75% or more of campaign funds are spent. It is crucial that Americans understand which candidates will protect their rights and best serve the country for the next four years.

Since Joe Biden dropped out of the race, Harris has worked tirelessly to continue progressive policies and restore freedom to marginalized communities. Her policies include restoring and protecting reproductive freedom, providing affordable housing, strengthening and bringing down the cost of health care, ensuring safety against gun violence and crime, fixing the immigration system, tackling the opioid and fentanyl crisis, protecting civil rights and freedoms, and so many more liberating policies that can be found on Harris’ website. For citizens who are less privileged and experience disadvantages due to lack of resources for issues they may be affected by, Kamala Harris proves to be the better choice for rebuilding the rights that these marginalized groups have been stripped of. According to Cambridge University Press, a recent study concluded that over 40.3% of U.S. citizens are politically, socially, and economically marginalized groups.

Although the 40.3% of Americans in marginalized groups still make up a little under half the population, that will increase with racial, gender, ethnic, and religious minorities, regardless of their income and privilege. Unlike Harris, Donald Trump’s policies are more conservative and radicalized, not taking into account the large percentage of the population that could be negatively impacted by what he is calling for, essentially a new system of government. Some of Trump’s policies include carrying out “the largest deportation in American history,” protecting the right to bear arms, cutting outsourcing, strengthening the military, cutting federal funding to schools which educate students on anything related to race, sexual orientation, or politics, keepinging men out of women’s sports, and determing women’s reproductive rights by states. All of these policies can be found on Trump’s website and The Washington Post.

These policies are directly targeted towards deporting immigrants, who, according to the American Immigration Council, make up 17% of the U.S. labor workforce, denying trangender people of basic equality and rights, and radicalizing the education system, leaving students uneducated on critical socio-political issues. With these policies in mind, it is important to consider how the Democratic or Republican parties in the running could affect the future of the United States of America. Conservative policies present limitations for minorities and intersecting marginalized groups, which together make up over half the population of the U.S. according to research conducted in 2020 by Census. If you are eligible to vote this year, please take into account how both candidates’ policies will not only affect you, but your friends, family, and most importantly, the country as a whole.

Harris’ policies serve as a beacon of hope to marginalized communities, minorities, and liberal groups in preserving their rights and access to better education, healthcare, housing, jobs, safety, and civil liberties. As I mentioned in the beginning of the article, this election is predicted to be close, and it is likely either candidate will win within the margins. It is important that swing state voters, single issue voters, and those undecided vote on November 5th, as every vote counts in the race to that will either progress our government forward or radicalize it.

From my perspective, I believe Harris has the ability to make a positive change in the U.S. government, and enforce policies that will positively impact the future of the country, helping to establish a fair balance between the majority and minority. If you are not yet eligible to vote, please educate your peers on the importance of voting and the policies each candidate plans to enact if elected. The future of the country is at the hands of its people, and it is our job to ensure everyone is granted their basic freedoms and rights as a human being, so if you are 18 or older on Tuesday, November 5th, please head to the polls and exercise your civic duty as an American citizen and vote, not only for your personal benefit, but for the benefit of all individuals who deserve the same rights, freedoms, justice, and equality.

[fdrlibrary]

Women at Work

World War II profoundly affected the lives of American women as the nation mobilized for national defense. With factories booming and millions of men entering the military, labor shortages threatened the war effort. To help overcome this problem, the government urged women to enter the workforce in greater numbers. Millions responded, including many who took well-paying industrial jobs previously reserved for men. Between 1940 and 1944 the percentage of women workers in the iron and steel industry jumped from 6.7% to 22.3%. In the automotive sector it increased from 5.7% to 24.4% and in the chemical industry from 15.4% to 31.6%. Between 1941 and 1944, the number of working women rose from 14.6 million to 19.4 million. Married women accounted for over two-thirds of this increase.

While encouraging women to join the industrial workforce, wartime recruitment posters sometimes offered mixed messages that reflected, and reinforced, the pervasive gender discrimination present in America during the 1940s. The imagery in many was calculated to assure Americans that female war workers retained their traditional femininity. Some offered reassuring messages that women would happily exchange their “overalls for aprons” when the men returned from battle. While many women wished to remain in their jobs after the war, they were encouraged to give up their positions to returning veterans. During demobilization, they were terminated in disproportionately large numbers. Ultimately, most wartime employment gains for women were reversed. Yet the experiences of women war workers helped inspire the postwar women’s rights movement.

Learn more about this poster on our Digital Artifact Collection: https://fdr.artifacts.archives.gov/.../theres-work-to-be...

Follow along throughout 2024 as we feature more #TheArtOfWar WWII posters from our Digital Artifact Collection.