#but it is a huge deal

[princessfoxington]

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

SING(2016)

SING 2 (2021)

Also, I'm sick 🤒 but I hope everyone else is doing fantastic! I love Sing!

[mwagneto]

aint no WAYYY THEY JUST TRIED TO SAY THAT. not even "the doctor's" but doctor who's in general 💀💀 so now that they have a disney contract every single gay thing (which they've had for fucking decades) is gonna be a huge big huge first gay thing ever!!1!1!1!! event??? like yeah there's a very specific significance to it i get it but what the fuck do you mean😭 jamie pull up the files

[chloesimaginationthings]

Five nights at Springtrap’s is just William Aftons arguing..

[crumb-crumblet-s-crumbington]

"You and me, Ethan. Together we go save Rose, and then we can grind Miranda into paste!"

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Burning Rotten Bridges

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[reasonsforhope]

Federal regulators on Tuesday [April 23, 2024] enacted a nationwide ban on new noncompete agreements, which keep millions of Americans — from minimum-wage earners to CEOs — from switching jobs within their industries.

The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday afternoon voted 3-to-2 to approve the new rule, which will ban noncompetes for all workers when the regulations take effect in 120 days [So, the ban starts in early September, 2024!]. For senior executives, existing noncompetes can remain in force. For all other employees, existing noncompetes are not enforceable.

[That's right: if you're currently under a noncompete agreement, it's completely invalid as of September 2024! You're free!!]

The antitrust and consumer protection agency heard from thousands of people who said they had been harmed by noncompetes, illustrating how the agreements are "robbing people of their economic liberty," FTC Chair Lina Khan said. 

The FTC commissioners voted along party lines, with its two Republicans arguing the agency lacked the jurisdiction to enact the rule and that such moves should be made in Congress...

Why it matters

The new rule could impact tens of millions of workers, said Heidi Shierholz, a labor economist and president of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. 

"For nonunion workers, the only leverage they have is their ability to quit their job," Shierholz told CBS MoneyWatch. "Noncompetes don't just stop you from taking a job — they stop you from starting your own business."

Since proposing the new rule, the FTC has received more than 26,000 public comments on the regulations. The final rule adopted "would generally prevent most employers from using noncompete clauses," the FTC said in a statement.

The agency's action comes more than two years after President Biden directed the agency to "curtail the unfair use" of noncompetes, under which employees effectively sign away future work opportunities in their industry as a condition of keeping their current job. The president's executive order urged the FTC to target such labor restrictions and others that improperly constrain employees from seeking work.

"The freedom to change jobs is core to economic liberty and to a competitive, thriving economy," Khan said in a statement making the case for axing noncompetes. "Noncompetes block workers from freely switching jobs, depriving them of higher wages and better working conditions, and depriving businesses of a talent pool that they need to build and expand."

Real-life consequences

In laying out its rationale for banishing noncompetes from the labor landscape, the FTC offered real-life examples of how the agreements can hurt workers.

In one case, a single father earned about $11 an hour as a security guard for a Florida firm, but resigned a few weeks after taking the job when his child care fell through. Months later, he took a job as a security guard at a bank, making nearly $15 an hour. But the bank terminated his employment after receiving a letter from the man's prior employer stating he had signed a two-year noncompete.

In another example, a factory manager at a textile company saw his paycheck dry up after the 2008 financial crisis. A rival textile company offered him a better job and a big raise, but his noncompete blocked him from taking it, according to the FTC. A subsequent legal battle took three years, wiping out his savings. 

-via CBS Moneywatch, April 24, 2024

--

Note:

A lot of people think that noncompete agreements are only a white-collar issue, but they absolutely affect blue-collar workers too, as you can see from the security guard anecdote.

In fact, one in six food and service workers are bound by noncompete agreements. That's right - one in six food workers can't leave Burger King to work for Wendy's [hypothetical example], in the name of "trade secrets." (x, x, x)

Noncompete agreements also restrict workers in industries from tech and video games to neighborhood yoga studios. "The White House estimates that tens of millions of workers are subject to noncompete agreements, even in states like California where they're banned." (x, x, x)

The FTC estimates that the ban will lead to "the creation of 8,500 new businesses annually, an average annual pay increase of $524 for workers, lower health care costs, and as many as 29,000 more patents each year for the next decade." (x)

Clearer explanation of noncompete agreements below the cut.

Noncompete agreements can restrict workers from leaving for a better job or starting their own business.

Noncompetes often effectively coerce workers into staying in jobs they want to leave, and even force them to leave a profession or relocate.

Noncompetes can prevent workers from accepting higher-paying jobs, and even curtail the pay of workers not subject to them directly.

Of the more than 26,000 comments received by the FTC, more than 25,000 supported banning noncompetes. 

[bixels]

My partner and I were talking about whether AU AJ would be a devout Christian.

[theabigailthorn]

I'm in Star Wars

other platforms: I'm really excited to be part of the upcoming Star Wars series The Acolyte and I hope my audience enjoy seeing me in a project that means so much to me as a professional

tumblr: SKIDDLE SKIDADAWS I HAVE A ROLE IN STARWAARS

[civetside]

if they if they like played dnd or something am i right

ive never played dnd

[orange-coloredsky-archive]

a development team that looks like this could not possibly have any preconceived biases against Black people. noooo way. its just a mistake that all of the Black people in fo4 are slaves or named after fascist colonizers or murdered or stereotypical conspiracy freaks. there is no way that the reality of this team is reflected in the art they create over and over and over and over and over and over and

[ID 1: A photo of the Fallout 4 development team taken from above and forward, showing a large crowd smiling at the camera, made up apparently entirely by white people, and almost entirely by white men. End ID.]

[maeve-is-annoying-about-books]

Arcane Season 2 and Jinx

Oh moon above, the way they handled Jinx is fantastic. They really never let you forget she has this... almost otherworldly innocence to her despite all of the violence she consistently commits. She's not Powder, anymore, but she's not really the monster everyone thinks she is either. Not some grand mastermind, and not the face of Zaun's evil.

Look at what she's done in season 2. She blasted away some thugs because they were threatening a kid. She reminisces with Sevika and makes her a brand new arm. Just based off that small little kindness, and it's returned fivefold. And then, then her big plot? Her massive attack against Piltover?

It's just neutralizing the Grey being used against Zaun and blowing it all back topside. It's a paint bomb, it's graffiti. It's a re-enactment of a children's tale framed as something sinister so that Vi and Cait will show up and they can settle this. Jinx, at her most salient, thinks "Yeah I should probably die. That's fair. At least it'll be from Vi." And who saves her? That same child she helped earlier, clinging to her because, well, who else? Ilsa is that childish part of Jinx that's still left, an external representation of it even. Her heart, essentially, in plain view.

Just... AUGH. It's so good! It would be so easy to start Jinx's monster arc and they will never let you forget that no matter how damaged, no matter what crime, no matter what happens, Jinx is still a person. Attempting to erase that aspect is what makes another person a monster, and I think nothing better represents that than the final moments of the battle. If Caitlyn had made that shot, it would have been at the expense of that understanding. It would have been merely slaying a monster. It would be making another monster in her place.

[detentiontrack]

A lot of people think my autism is “getting better” but I think a lot of it has to do with being an adult and being able to make my own decisions. I used to have frequent meltdowns and shutdowns and on the outside seemed more “obviously” autistic. But I’m 19 now, so I have a lot more say in my life. I only buy one brand of socks. I only own 2 types of shoes. All of my clothes are the exact same. I only eat what *I* want to eat and think feels safe. I can drive and can choose when to leave for appointments and obligations. If I were still a child and forced to wear socks with seams in the toes or clothes that fit me wrong or foods that trigger my sensory issues or have my routine thrown off by other people, I would have A LOT more issues. But since I’m an adult, I have control over most aspects of my life. I’m not “less autistic” now, I just have more free will and know myself well enough to avoid triggers.

[prokopetz]

I think where a lot of attempts to do "Dungeons & Dragons-style" settings in alternative milieux go wrong is that they're imitating the explicit trappings of standard D&D settings without putting a whole lot of thought into why those trappings are the way they are. Your standard D&D setting is essentially gonzo sword and sorcery fantasy, and there's a very particular internal logic to it which isn't necessarily going to be obvious examining it in isolation.

For example, one of the more common sword and sorcery fantasy tropes which strongly informs D&D-style settings is the convention that "monsters" are usually something protagonists can talk to (and have stupid arguments with), even – and often especially – when it would be incongruous for them to be so chatty in a more conventional fantasy setting. If you want to carry that over, it's not enough to go "well, D&D settings have chatty dragons, so my setting should have chatty dragons, too"; you need to think carefully about what things qualify as "monsters" in your setting, and what role they play in it.

Basically, what I mean to say is that if you're transposing D&D-style worldbuilding into a steampunk milieu, player characters should definitely be able to talk to the trains.

[chloesimaginationthings]

IDK IF ANYONE HAS ASKED YET BUT LIKE...WHEN IS YOUR BIRTHDAY????

Today’s my birthday! 🎉

[bacchuschucklefuck]

space sweepers but they're delivery people and are at no point on screen through the entire movie

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

At your side [End of Season 2]

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