#i am no longer a government employee..

[bsaka7]

i am now unemployed 👍

[grison-in-space]

you know what else fucks me up about the US election? one of the things that has left me reeling in bewilderment and grief this month?

I'm a scientist, y'all.

That means that I am, like most American research scientists, a federal contractor. (Possibly employee. It's confusing, and it fucks with my taxes being a postdoctoral researcher.) I get paid because someone, in the long run ideally me, makes a really, really detailed pitch to one of several federal grant agencies that the nation would really be missing out if I couldn't follow up on these thoughts and find concrete evidence about whether or not I'm right.

Currently, my personal salary is dependent on a whole department of scientists convincing one of the largest and most powerful granting agencies that they have a program that is really good at training scientists that can think deeply about the priorities of the agency. Those priorities are defined by the guy who runs the agency, and he gets to hire whatever qualified people he wants. That guy? The Presidential Administration picks that one. That's how federal agencies get staffed: the President's administration nominates them.

All of the heads of these agencies are personally nominated by the president and their administration. They are people of enormous power whose job is to administer million-dollar grants to the scientists competing urgently for limited funds. A million dollars often doesn't go farther than a couple of years when it's intended to pay for absolutely everything to do with a particular pitch, including salaries of your trainees, all materials, travel expenses, promoting the work among other researchers, all of it—so most smart American researchers are working fervently on grants all the time.

The next director of the NIH will be a Trump appointee, if he notices and thinks to appoint one. NSF, too; that's the group that funds your ecology and your astroscience and your experimental mathematics and physics and chemistry, the stuff that doesn't have industry funding and industry priorities. USDA. DOE, that's who does a lot of the climate change mitigation and renewable energy source research, they'll just be lucky if they can do anything again because Trump nigh gutted them last time.

Right now, I am working on the very tail end of a grant's funding and I am scurrying to make sure I stay employed. So I'm thinking very closely about federal agency priorities, okay? And I'm thinking that the funding climate for science is going to get a lot fucking leaner. I'm seeing what the American people think of scientists, and about whether my job is worth doing. It's been a lean twelve years in this gig, okay? Every time the federal government gets fucked up, that impacts my job, it means that I have to hustle even harder to get grants in that let me support myself—and, if I have any trainees, their budding careers as well!—to patch over the lean times as much as we can.

So I've been reeling this week thinking about how funding agency priorities are going to change. I work on sex differences in motivation, so let me tell you, the politics reading this one for my next pitch are going to be fun. I'm working on a submission for an explicitly DEI-oriented five year grant with a cycle ending in February, so that's going to be an exercise in hoping that the agency employees at the middle levels (the ones that know how to get things done which can't be replaced immediately with yes men) can buffer the decisions of those big bosses long enough to let that program continue to exist a little while longer.

Ah, Christ, he promised Health & Human Services (which houses the NIH) to RFK, didn't he? We'll see how that pans out.

I keep seeing people calling for more governmental shutdowns on the left now, and it makes me want to scream. The government being gridlocked means the funding that researchers like me need doesn't come, okay? When the DOE can't say fucking "climate change," when the USDA hemorrhages its workers when the agency is dragged halfway across the country, when I watch a major Texan House rep stake his career on trying to destroy the NSF, I think: this is what you people think of us. I think: how little scientists are valued as public workers. Why am I working this hard again?

This is why I described voting as harm reduction. Even if two candidates are "the same" on one thing you care about, they probably aren't the same level of bad on everything. Your task is to figure out the best person to do the job. It's not about a fucking tribalist horse race. A vote is your opinion on a job interview, you fucks. We have to work with this person.

Anyway, I'm probably going to go back to shaking quietly in despair for a little longer and then pick myself up and hit the grind again. If I'm fast, I might still get the grant in this miserable climate if I run, and I might get to actually keep on what I'm trying to do, which is bring research on sex differences, neurodivergence and energy balance as informed by non-binary gender perspectives and disability theory to neuroscience.

Fuck.

[fuck-customers]

Kind of a fuck customers but also a satisfying story at the same time.

My role in the call center I work in involves taking specifically corporate calls, which means I spend all day talking to “business professionals” (and I use that term loosely) including CEOs. As you can imagine, over 90% of these CEOs are the scum of the earth and the most entitled assfaces on the planet.

A week or so ago, I took a call and went through my usual routine of greeting the cardholder and then began going over verification questions. Since we’re A.) a bank and B.) a bank that handles corporate and government credit cards, we take security seriously and require a caller to be able to verify 3 pieces of information based on what the person responsible for their credit cards put on the account. If they don’t pass, we refer them to their company to get the right details.

So as I’m doing this, the guy on the phone is getting increasingly irritated as he keeps getting the security questions wrong. I’m calm and professional the entire time but firm. Eventually I run out of things to verify with him and tell him that we won’t be able to assist and that he needs to contact his administrator. This is apparently where I went wrong.

“LADY I AM THE ADMINISTRATOR!!” He screeches. Ok, great. I look him up and that’s true but there’s a second admin listed, so I ask him to check in with him. He then yells “THERE IS NO OTHER ADMIN! I’M THE CEO OF THIS COMPANY FOR CHRIST’S SAKE!!”

I apologize and tell him while that may be true, he still got his security questions wrong and needs to reach out to his account coordinator then. This man then proceeds to scream at me for the next minute or so saying how we’re an awful bank, how he’s had problems with us for years, blah blah and how we have the worst customer service ever. Keep in mind, I’ve been nice and empathetic this entire time but also I’m not gonna lose my fucking job just because a guy in a suit doesn’t know his shit. I give him the email to his account coordinator and stress again that he needs to talk to them. Then this exchange happens:

Him: “So let me get this straight. You are saying you are REFUSING and UNWILLING to help me, right?

Me: “No, actually I’d love to help you, however we have these security procedures in place for yours and your company’s protection and cannot make exceptions for anyone.”

Him: “This is fucking UNBELIEVABLE! I’ve HAD IT with this bank!!”

Me: “Ok, I’m sorry to hear that. Anything else I can do for you before we disconnect?”

Him: “WHAT IS YOUR NAME? I NEED YOUR NAME. NOW.”

Me: *gives my first name and spells it for him even though it’s a very basic 4 letter name because I’m a bitch*

Him: YOUR LAST NAME.

Me: “We don’t give out anything but our first name for the safety of our employees.”

Him: *insert that condescending, pissed off chuckle middle aged men do when they’re mad here* “Well I’ll tell you what (My Name), when I close this account and pull my MILLIONS OF DOLLARS out of (bank name) and they ask me why, I’ll make sure to tell them that it’s (My Name)’s fault. And I will see to it that you won’t be able to get another job outside of the minimum wage fast food job or whatever you had before this. How does that sound?”

Me: “Sounds great. Now seeing as how this conversation is no longer productive or professional and threats are being made, I’ll be terminating the call, have a nice day.”

Him: “DO NOT HANG UP O-“

Me: *click*

And that’s how making rich, powerful men rage-cry became my new favorite hobby. Thankfully, I haven’t gotten any feedback on that call; not that I would, seeing as how I did my job exactly how I was supposed to. Anyways I hope I’m his 13th reason. ❤️

Posted by admin Rodney.

[autumnmobile12]

My Hero Academia: Healthcare?

I don't know if any fanfic writers will find this useful or not, but I think the information is interesting and worth speculation in the My Hero setting. This also applies to any fanfic writers in the anime fandoms who want to have more immersive and in-depth writing. Obviously, writing fics that are 'accurate' is not a requirement since the point is to have fun, but here's some knowledge to use (or not use) if anyone is interested.

Obviously, Deku's been in the hospital a lot. A lot of the characters are injured and in the hospital a lot. But for all the hospital visits, nobody in the series is going to be bankrupted by astronomical healthcare costs. (Yes, that's a jab at America's system.) And it's not because the Pros, especially the popular ones, have money.

Here's why:

Quick rundown of how healthcare in Japan works: Everybody receives healthcare, everybody has health insurance. In Japan, your employer is legally required to provide you with health insurance. If you are unemployed, you will be on a community healthcare plan. There is also a plan for citizens over the age of 75. This also applies to foreigners who have established permanent residence of three months or longer.

Article 25 of Japan's Constitution is paraphrased as follows:

“all people shall have the right to maintain a certain standard of healthy and cultured life” and that “the state shall try to promote and improve the conditions of social welfare, social security, and public health” for this purpose.

I'm not going to reiterate the system in its entirety, but if you would like to learn more, this site here (the Article 25 quote I used is also found on that page) has a brief and comprehensive explanation of how healthcare is handled. However, one thing I am going to mention that is relevant for Deku and other Pros is the threshold out-of-pocket expense.

In Japan, citizens enrolled in healthcare do not spend more than ¥90,000 per month out of pocket, protecting them from financial disaster.

(To Americans, this may sound like a sweet deal, but hold your horses because Japan also funds this system through heavy taxation. Medical procedures are expensive and people will be paying for them one way or another.)

The question that needs asking now is how does this system apply to the hero society? Well, first off, since My Hero does take place in a slightly futuristic setting, we could take into consideration the system has been revised.

Assuming not much as changed, are heroes that operate their own agency technically considered business owners and are required to insure their employees and sidekicks?

Or...

Because they are all government employees, is the Safety Commission responsible for insuring all heroes and sidekicks no matter what they rank in their popularity?

Personally, I think it would be the latter since, in the coldest sense of the word, the heroes are essential to the Commission in upholding their system. So that makes them an asset. The Commission would want to protect its assets because as shady as they are, their own system could work against them. They certainly don't want heroes going on strike for lack of benefits or complaining the government doesn't take care of their people. So I assume it's the Commission who is covering insane healthcare costs on behalf of heroes.

(And since the system is probably funded by taxpayers' money, that also feeds into the prevalent societal discontent that's ongoing throughout the series.)

Now what about Deku and his classmates since they have not graduated and are not officially licensed yet? Honestly, I think it's probably UA itself that insures the students. That probably has to do with accreditation and so on, which is another matter entirely, but again, the backing is likely coming out of the Commission (and taxpayers') pockets.

And there you have it. Happy writing, happy research.

[redjennies]

hey I'm gonna be honest, I'm touched to be seeing all these posts about the flooding in Appalachia, but I do have to say, as an Appalachian, be VERY careful who you give your money to. a lot of Christian charities (and charities that don't advertise themselves as Christian but nonetheless still fall in to this category) in this area are extreme far-right evangelical fundamentalists who are going to at best only help people they think are deserving of help and at worst going to channel that money into political causes that actively harm poor and marginalized Appalachians. (I live in the state that tried to ban drag after all.)

I've been in touch with a lot of my friends up in Northeast TN (I used to live very close to Unicoi County and I know a lot of folks with family there) and the current on the ground response is mostly direct help by federal government employees trained in disaster relief (to Biden's credit, this is not looking like another Katrina at least in Tennessee.) and locals doing direct item drives and providing immediate shelter that untrained outsiders simply cannot provide in the same way. because of the power outages, there is a lot of confusion where the best place to donate is, and I honestly cannot tell you that either.

I'm not saying don't donate but I am saying even as someone who lives relatively close to the affected areas, the ability to organize has been very scattered but mostly localized. it's worth doing your research or if you don't feel comfortable with your ability to verify waiting until Appalachians can say "hey here's a group I'm personally familiar with and know isn't some Christofascist extremist group that's providing relief directly to victims" or you could be putting money directly in the hands of GOP campaigns that actively want to kill us.

note: turned off reblogs to avoid this getting too far away from me and becoming ~discourse~ when I really just meant it as a note to direct followers as what I personally knew about the situation (and a warning about my personal experiences in east Tennessee with religious-based charities.) in days to come this will no longer apply as it becomes easier to find good places to donate directly to victims, but the way Tumblr works most people will not see any additions once a post is in circulation.

[phoenixyfriend]

Calls for Action, Call Your Reps: 2/26/24

This is USA-specific, as that is the place I live and know.

Find your elected officials.

As usual, most of my information on what bills are on the floor comes from GovTrack. I am including some suggested listening/reading (you can find text versions if you google the title and 'transcript') at the bottom of the post. I am also including a current event that is likely to be a very powerful argument, with the right politicians. The event is prefaced with a red warning tag, and followed by event-specific verbiage.

Suggested verbiage and strategies for calling your elected officials.

GovTrack has said that there are still no votes scheduled, in this blog post from Friday: What's Next for Congress? (Feb 23, 2024)

In practice, that appears to mean that they are arguing over the budget to avoid yet another government shutdown. Given that the delays to the budget so far have been tied directly to the Israel/Ukraine/Taiwan military funding and Southern border.

Use this time to call their offices and tell them to vote the way you want them to.

The most immediate and pressing issue at this moment is the famine in Gaza. Widely reported today is that a two-month-old boy recently died of starvation, and the World Health Organization is declaring that it has become famine and a mass starvation event, no longer just a threat of one.

At this time, the three greatest factors in that famine are:

Israeli bombardment (destruction of existing food stores and farming land)

Israeli blockades of the Egyptian border into Gaza, preventing aid trucks from places like the US from reaching people

The cessation of funding to UNRWA, which has been the lifeline to Palestinian civilians for decades, and is currently the best and possibly only chance to save the one and a half million dying civilians

This information is being reported by the WHO, UNRWA itself, UNICEF, and more, along with journalists that are in Gaza at this time.

The other issue, more domestically, is the rising tide of concern for US Reproductive Rights stemming from the IVF ruling in Alabama.

Both House and Senate:

Reinstate funding for UNRWA. While the claims made by Israel that employees of the relief agency were involved in Oct. 7th are troubling, THEY are not well supported, and western officials did not do their duty in investigating the claims before cutting funding. This arm of the UN is currently providing food, water, shelter, and medical care to the 2.3 million displaced peoples of Gaza. It is especially disturbing and concerning that the many children of Gaza, who are already suffering due to this conflict, are now having this support revoked. Many sources are also claiming that the evidence is flimsy at best.

Urge both Senate and House to refrain from funding Israel, or to at least put some strings on it. The IDF cannot be given funding without some regulations on what they can do with it. They have proven that they are unwilling to take steps to protect civilians.

Sanctions must also be placed on Israel for its continued impediment of aid intended for Gazans, including aid from the US.

Urge for the US to stop vetoing ceasefire demands in the UN. No, the suggested replacement written by the US is not an excuse.

Not directly related to Gaza: It looks like they’re gearing up for another push at KOSA. The canned email responses I’m getting are really proud of being in support of KOSA, which is… bad. It is also bad for people outside the US, including Palestine, apparently. VOTE NAY.

Not related to Gaza: Alabama's recent court decision has put IVF services in danger in the state, with multiple fertility clinics halting all related services for any pregnancy that is not yet in progress; there were implantation appointments for last week that were canceled with no knowledge of when they might be greenlit. Push for full spectrum reproductive rights protection (fertility services, family planning, birth control, abortion, and more), and if you have a pro-lifer as your elected official, cite the Alabama ruling as a cause for concern of how the lack of codified reproductive rights protection can impact even those who do want children.

FOR THE SENATE: Urge your senator to put their support behind Bernie Sanders and his motion to restrict funding to Israel until a humanitarian review of the IDF’s actions in Gaza has been completed. Cite it as Senate Resolution 504 if your Senator is right-wing enough to react negatively to the mention of Sanders by name. NOTE: This resolution was TABLED by the Senate on 1/16, but it is being brought back in as conditions continue to escalate.

Passed in the House recently, so bother your senators about it, is H.R. 3016: IGO Anti-Boycott Act. Vote Nay. This appears to be intended to force US companies to do business with US allies instead of participating in boycotts. This appears, to me, to be an attack on movements like BDS. To Dem Reps, argue that this refuses the right of peaceful protest to US citizens. To Republican Reps, argue that this is a dangerous government overreach and that it is not the right of the government to force US citizens to purchase products and materials from specific foreign partners.

FOR THE HOUSE: Recommend that they support House Resolution 786, introduced by Rep. Cori Bush, Calling for an immediate deescalation and cease-fire in Israel and occupied Palestine. ALTERNATELY: Urge your representative to put their support behind Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s petition for the US government to recognize the IDF’s actions in Gaza as ethnic cleansing and forced displacement, and put a stop to it.

Alright, now the current big news story.

Warning: Self-harm, public suicide.

I will preface this with an explanation of a recent event.

The big American news of this week that is being talked about on all political news sources, from BBC to NPR to Al Jazeera, is the self-immolation in DC. A US Air Force service member walked to the Israeli embassy in Washingon DC, set up a Twitch Stream, and stated that he refused to be party to the genocide being committed with the support of his country's government. He then doused himself in a flammable liquid, set himself on fire, and shouted 'Free Palestine' on repeat until the fire grew too great for him to do anything but scream in pain. The man was rushed away to a hospital, but has apparently died since. Twitch has understandably removed the video for ToS violations, but the video has been saved and reshared to other sites since.

To be clear, the airman, a 25yo named Aaron Bushnell, explicitly stated that this was an act of extreme protest, but not as extreme as the current lives of Palestinians in Gaza. Please do not allow people to convince you this was just a random act of mental illness. It was tragic, yes, but this very public, recorded, in-uniform, motive-declared suicide was by all appearances a calculated choice based on centuries of precedent.

If your senator or representative claims to be pro-military, bring this up. Even if they don't, bring it up.

"A service member, someone who presumably has access to more information on what is happening 'on the ground' than the average citizen, someone who has proven their dedication to America, is dying in agony to prove a point: that Israel's actions cannot be condoned, cannot be justified, and most certainly cannot be supported with fourteen billion in military aid."

The above is one possible verbiage you can use when you call.

Today, I would also recommend listening to NPR's Politics Podcast as the episode contains some good information on The Michigan Problem, and the Democracy Now podcast, which has some good interviews on the confirmed famine going on in Gaza. I will note that there are some claims being made in the latter about the US government, including comments by Biden himself, using law enforcement and college administrations to punish pro-Palestine groups, from Students for Justice in Palestine to even Jewish Voice for Peace (notable since one of the major arguments for these actions is that anti-zionists are antisemitic). I am saying 'claims being made' as I have not had time to corroborate this with other news sources, and the other casts I listen to have not mentioned it.

If you wish to support my political blogging, I am accepting donations on ko-fi.

Alternately, I would also suggest that you send any spare money to PCRF (Palestine Children's Relief Fund), UNRWA, or Save the Children Sudan, which has been undergoing an incredibly deadly civil war for a year or so now, but that the US has significantly less involvement in on a bureaucratic level, so IDK what any of us in the US can do to help in that regard. But many of us do have money! So there's that.

[silliergoober]

Chainsaw Man is about Capitalism, and maybe everything else is too.

a dumbass essay.

Full Spoilers For All Of Chainsaw Man.

Part 1

Control

The cold war was one fought in the mind.

A war fought using the stealthiest weapon of them all:

Fear.

It was called the Red Scare for a reason.

It’s hard to say if America has since engaged in such intense propaganda. People feared the straw-man of Communism. Communism became an evil, blasphemous thing. It wasn’t a flawed ideology, it was the opposite of all that was good and right and civil and god-damned American. It became a devil of sorts. Those who fell to it were unforgivable. Irredeemable. And anyone could fall, too. Friends, family, colleagues; all damned by a deal with the devil. 

Ironically, the land of the free used their antithesis to create a devil.

They exerted control. 

Why am I talking about this in a Chainsaw Man essay? 

Well, Makima is control. 

On a small scale, Makima is, as far as we see, the head of Tokyo’s Public Safety. Even her superiors seem to at least respect or even bend to her will. She uses this position of power to manipulate and, by proxy, control, most all of Part 1’s cast. 

In a more literal sense, Makima is control. She is the living embodiment of Control. She is the Control Devil. 

And as discussed, control can, when used correctly, create devils. 

We see this in a literal sense with Pochita.

But with the right plan, it can also create much, much worse. 

Public Safety is a corporation. 

Or, it can be read that way.

It has shareholders, the higher-ups.

It has a CEO, Makima.

And, most importantly, it has disposable, low-ranking and easily manipulated employees.

Part 2

The American Dream

Aki Hayakawa is, by all means, the most normal and average man in the series. 

Granted, the bar is low. But it’s a bar nonetheless.

Aki is a simple man. He wants revenge for his family’s death by killing the Gun Devil. That’s all he needs. Many have whispered rumours about the Gun Devil. Most of Public Safety’s hunters strive to face it. 

The American Dream.

Anyone can achieve it. 

Pick yourself up by your bootstraps and work hard. One day, the dream will be yours. 

Except it won’t. 

When it is closest to you, it will crumble in your hand. 

When Aki finally, finally reaches his chance to fight the Gun Devil, his dream, it is revealed he was deceived. The gun devil is no longer a threat. His chance crumbled to dust in his one remaining hand. 

All will strive for the American Dream, yet none will reach it.

The American Dream is a lie.

It is a lie sold in bulk by CEO’s and execs and the like. In its modern iteration, it lies in entrepreneurship. 

“You could be the next big thing! Pick yourself up by the bootstraps and work hard!” 

A carrot on a stick. Always walking, never reaching it. 

Because in truth, it isn’t there to reach.

The Gun Devil _is_ the American Dream.

Obvious American/Gun symbolism aside, the Gun Devil we see on page is commissioned by the American Government.  It’s tied with the American half of the dream are undeniable

During the Red Scare, America, more than ever, portrayed itself as the Icon of Capitalism. In a way, this wasn’t untrue.

America is a deeply marketised country. 

Even at the highest power in the country, money rules. Funding, gerrymandering, outright bribery. Capital and its exchange determines every aspect of America.

Its so deeply intertwined- the lines between government and corporation, public and private blurring- that, in my eyes, to critique America politically is to critique Capitalism itself. 

Its no secret that Capitalism does this. It rots its own system. It incentivises corruption. It’s been said a million times but truly, it is cancerous. 

So, on some level, The Gun Devil is, too, the Capitalist’s Lie. The false hope that keeps the workers working.  

Even if it kills them.

Part 3

The End of the World

In the end of Chainsaw Man’s first part, Makima is killed by Denji. 

She is chopped up and eaten to prevent her regeneration.

Not even a chapter later, she is reincarnated.

It is, as far as we see, impossible to have a world without Makima. A world without control. 

In part 2, the scale of the conflict is drastically increased. 

Now, the Death Devil threatens the entire world, not just Denji’s. 

And throughout the part, Nayuta, Control’s new form, is there. 

She couldn’t be gone.  

She can’t.

In the latest chapters, Nayuta is unceremoniously killed. This is enough to trigger Denji’s transformation into Pochita once more. The devil made by control defends and avenges it by any means necessary. 

Denji believed himself to be free from Makima. From control. But he isn’t. He can’t be. Ultimately, he is still her slave.

In Chainsaw Man, a world without the Control Devil is less likely than a world ended. In fact, a world ended is quite likely, given the foretold coming of the Death Devil.

Two people who are much, much smarter than me, Fredric Jameson and Slavoj Žižek, once said, 

“It is easier to imagine the end of the world than a world without capitalism.”

I could delve deeper into CSM’s imagery and symbols, how Public Safety technically being governmental blurs the lines between public and private further, how the other three horseman play into all this, etc. But I believe my point has been made.

In a world where capitalism is so inherently intertwined with our every thought, so ingrained in society we cannot imagine a world without it, is anything not about capitalism?   I dont know.

All I know for sure is I fucking love this stupid chainsaw manga.

[shellingtons-failed-driving-test]

Chapter One

4,311 Words

Authoru's Note:

Sorry, this doesn't have a title yet, but I'm trying to think up one. I just wanted to go ahead and post it to see what people think. If you have any suggestions pls put them in the comments.

Oh, my word this got way longer than I'd originally intended. I hope I was okay with the characterisation. I was worrying so much as I was writing it. I hope the interactions feel in character and you enjoy it.

Also, I have changed the ages slightly, which I think is fine because they're unspecified. However, it is canon that Peso has finished Medical school, but in the story, he has not. He's 19 and a half because he went to nursing school right after high school and plans to get a medical degree later.

And, in this universe, all humans are animal hybrids so they have actual hands and feet but still ears and tails. I'm not exactly sure how to explain it, but they're referred to by what type of hybrid they are as well as their race. Certain areas have more common hybrids that correspond to what "regular/normal" animals live there. EX: skunk hybrids are only in the Americas because skunks don't live anywhere else.

Anyway, sorry about my ramblings, and happy reading!

Peso's Perspective:

The big car stops with a squeal, throwing me forward with its sudden breaking. As soon as the door opens the sound of waves crashing and seagulls crying fills my ears. The sea breeze is refreshing after being cooped up in a vehicle for so long.

“Here we are.” The driver says curtly. He’s a state government employee with a scruffy beard that makes him look older than he probably is. He didn’t say a single word the entire drive, leaving me in silence broken only by the occasional crackling of the radio. In a way, it was good because it gave me a chance to do some last-minute studying of the Octonauts handbook pdf I printed out at home. Still, I felt like he was kind of glaring at me in the mirror. Maybe it’s just the anxiety. Maybe he’s just a grumpy person. He had photographs of his children clipped to his visor, but I didn’t see a wedding ring. Divorced, maybe?

“Thank you, sir.”

“It’s just my job. Say, you’re with that team of astro- er, aqua- whatever, scientist, right?”

“The Octonauts, yes.”

“Right, that’s what it was.” He nods as he helps me unload my bags. I gulp a bit at their size. I’m really going to be living at sea for months. I hope my family will be okay.

As soon as he sets the bags down, he closes the hatch and drives off, leaving me once again alone. The other Octonauts, the original Octonauts, have been at sea for a year already. They got a send-off with fanfare at their port in England, all I got was a crumpled map to try and find my way around this place. I’m not jealous but . . . it only reminds me that I’m the newbie, not one of them.

I’m only here as a filler for Dr. Deere, who had to leave due to a research development for one of his projects on land. They’re going to have a proper replacement, someone qualified, in six months at the latest, that’s what they said. It takes a lot to qualify for this programme, the best of the best with years of study in their fields and here I am, just some lucky guy. I’m not even an actual doctor, just a nurse, and even then I still have a few final training courses to complete. All week I’ve wondered, why on earth would they pick me? Am I even good enough?

I blink at the blare of a ship’s horn. Crap, I can’t zone out like that! I need to be prepared for anything, ANYTHING. I will be . . . as soon as I find the ship.

I was sent the training videos, all 600-something of them, on a hard drive the size of my hand, but obviously, I haven’t had time to watch them all and downloading them would’ve taken nearly all of my storage space, so I just packed the whole hard drive instead. The schematics are on the hard drive too, so I have no idea what this thing looks like. They said they’d go over plans and safety once I was settled, but I wish I could at least have a photo. It’s got to be some kind of submarine, right?

The port on the Isle of Skye is a small, but bustling place. The signage is old, and blocked by containers coming in. A crew pulls a fishing net of turtles out onto the dock, and I wince. Then, I see they’re all for studying. Several scientists surround them, scanning red tags on the fins and retrieving cameras from their shells. I smile as I pass them, waving at the turtles, who wave back. I notice one of the scientists, a brown-haired man hurrying around. When he looks at his tablet he jumps in surprise.

“Jumping jellyfish! We were totally wrong about the feeding grounds. This is amazing! I thought . . .”

I don’t catch the rest as I walk on. I’ve never heard someone so excited about being proven wrong before.

As I round the corner, I see it. 

Dios mío . . .

It looks like an octopus. Of course, it does. I’m so stupid. It’s the Octopod. A state-of-the-art international research station with laboratories capable of housing a crew of 10 for extended periods. Can I just go in?

I stop when I get to the ramp, hesitating at the bottom, I survey the large oddly shaped submarine once more. My temporary home. As I look up something flickers in the window, like a lamp, or a streak of orange, but it’s gone before I’m sure.

I remember what my 4th grade science teacher, Mr. Perez always said: Take a deep breath. I do, and even after all this time, it helps.

The ramp echoes under my feet in a comforting way, assuring me of the ship’s solidity. A small yellow creature greets me, and I gasp. It frowns.

“Oh, I’m sorry, that was terribly rude of me. You’re very cute looking, you just scared me.”

It makes a chirping sound, which sounds affirmative. Laughing, I follow it into the elevator, as it closes I hear footsteps, someone running.

“Tunip!” A male voice pants, he has a heavy Scottish accent. “Don’t . . . leave me.” 

Huffing and a little winded the scientist from before appears. The yellow creature makes a sound that sounds like a scold. 

“Ah, well, sorry. I got distracted with the turtles.” the man says sheepishly. He’s the same scientist I saw with the turtles. Now that I can see him better it’s clear that he’s not too much older than me. His chestnut brown hair is messy and his eyes have bags underneath them but are still concerningly bright, He bears the appearance of an overworked uni student, and yet somehow still cute.

The creature blows a raspberry at him and starts to close the lift doors.

“Hey, now that’s not very kind! I was just trying to– Ah, hey! Don’t close the lift on me!”

The creature huffs, sounding almost affectionate, but allows the man into the lift. 

Once inside he takes a deep breath, pulling a handful of Polaroids from his shoulder bag, looking at them as if to make sure they don’t disappear. They’re of the turtles, and a few have him in them, but he doesn’t spend as much time looking at them. Finally, he turns to me, as if he’s just noticed me.

“Oh, hello there. Forgive me, I didn’t see you. I’m Shellington.” He doesn’t extend his hand, only nodding, but the greeting is still just as friendly.

“I’m Peso. I’m the temporary medic.”

He nods, more to himself than to me, I think, muttering “Oh, good. It’s dangerous for us not to have one on board, especially with Kwazii.”

As the lift rises, it makes a loud mechanical whirring, as if no one had bothered to dampen it as they do in most lifts. In fact, the whole thing looks industrial and feels about five degrees colder than before the door was closed. I wonder why, I also wonder who Kwazii is. Finally, it dings and the doors open and he steps out into a small dark room. I trip after him, barely able to see a centimetre in front of me.

“Uhhh?”

My foot collides with something and I go sprawling over (except not really because there’s barely space in this room for my body length).

“Owwie! You’ve stood on my foot!”

“Oh, I’m so sorry. But, where are we?”

“Oh, whoops, I must’ve forgotten to mention. This lift is only here because some equipment would be unsafe to carry any other way, either because it contains potentially hazardous materials or it’s simply too large.”

“Oh . . . I suppose that makes sense.”

It would be hard to carry an entire x-ray machine up and down stairs, even a portable one.

“Welcome to my closet!” He says it with his arms wide to indicate the space around us with affected excitement, but the space is small so he can’t extend his arms very much. I can’t help but laugh.

The idea of being in a closet makes me laugh a bit, but I still don’t like dark spaces.

“Can we, um, maybe get out?”

“Oh, right, yes.”

He presses a switch I can’t see and light streams in. With a sigh of relief, I follow him into the larger room. It’s a laboratory. It’s very green, with light green walls, floors and posters. Now that I pay attention, even his shirt is olive green. He must really love green.

I turn to ask him about where I’m supposed to be, only to see he’s already gone back to work. Right, they don’t have time for a bumbling rookie. After a moment of debate with myself, I tap him lightly on the shoulder. It takes a few times before he notices, and when he does he jumps again. 

“Excuse me, do you know where it is I’m supposed to go?”

He furrows his brow thoughtfully, “Hmm, I don’t have much to do with the recruitment process, that’s Professor Inkling and the Captain’s job, but I believe you’re supposed to meet with the Captain, he should be in HQ. I have to finish processing this data, but Tunip can take you.”

“Okay.”

The creature, Turnip, seems to smile. He chirps excitedly leading me back to the lift. When he gets in he jumps high enough to press the button that reads HQ. The ride is short and the doors open out to a large circular room. Glass makes up the top half of the room, a large skylight. I can only imagine what it must look like underwater. It must be incredible.

In the centre stands a tall man, not quite old enough to be my father, but a little older than Pogo, with neatly combed white hair, he wears a blue uniform with a tool belt. This must be the captain. He smiles, extending his hand. He towers over me.

“Good morning, you must be Peso. I’m Captain Barnacles, it’s lovely to finally meet you, Dr. Deere told me all about you.” His voice is loud, but kind.

“Oh, h-he did?” It comes out as a question, and I stutter under everyone’s sudden gaze. Even Tunip looks expectantly at me. “I mean, I’m glad he did. And I’m very glad to meet all of you and be working with you.”

“Us as well, we hope you can learn a lot during your time here. Let’s meet everyone.”

He waves for me to follow and takes me to a station full of buttons and computers. A woman gets up when she sees us. She has warm brown skin and hair cut in a fluffy chin-length bob, sunbleached with blond highlights. She’s a bit taller than me

“Dashi, meet Peso, our new medic.”

“Rad! Nice to meet you Peso. I’m Dashi, head of system and operation here in the Octopod. I run all the computer systems and track the weather patterns, but on my days off, I’m a surfer.”

With her Australian accent, it definitely makes sense.

“Ooh, fun.”

“It is, have you met anyone else yet?”

“The Captain, but that was obvious, sorry, and Shellington. He introduced himself as just Shellington, but does he have credentials I should call him by?”

“Not yet, but finished uni and he’s doing his PhD research on this mission, so he will. Have you met the vegimals yet?”

“The what?”

“They’re what he’s doing his research on. Oh, I’m sure you’ll just love them. I think Barrot is with Tweak right now actually.”

At this, Captain Barnacles nods, “Yes, I’m taking him to meet Tweak next.”

“Great, see you around, Peso!”

“You too.” I take a breath as we get back in the lift.

“This must be a lot for you.”

“Oh, no, sir. It’s really fine.”

“Oh, I’m sure you can handle it, but if you ever need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask any of us. I know they can be a bit intense at first, but they’re all good people and they all want the same thing, to help creatures in the ocean. We’re happy to have you and they’ll be happy to help you adjust.”

“Thank you, Captain.” I can tell from his voice just how much he believes in the crew and in me, the only question is whether the crew feels the same, and if I even deserve that belief.

“I do hope you’ll settle in easily.”

“I’ll try my best. The crew all seem really nice.”

The lift dings then, relaising us to what looks like a garage with a large pool in the centre.

I see more of the creatures like Tunip standing next to a machine I can only describe as looking like a big orange shark, holding wrenches. What was it Dashi called them? Vegi-mals? The vegi-mal is as orange as the gup.

“47, please.” a female voice calls. Whoever she is, she has a southern United States accent like I’ve never heard before. I look around for the woman but I only see a pair of fluffy, light green ears sticking out from underneath the metal shark. They contrast oddly with the orange.

The vegi-mal hands her the large wrench he was holding.

“Thanks, screwdriver.”

She reaches up and he puts a small screwdriver in her hand.

“Thanks.” she hands the wrench back, “carrot.”

Huh?

The vegi-mal hands her a carrot straight out of the toolbox.

“Tweak, are you almost finished?” the Captain asks.

“You bet, I’ll be done faster n’ you can say buncha munchy crunchy carrots.”

Just as she pronounces the “t” she slides out from under the machine, half-eaten carrot in hand.

“What’s up?” Her hazel eyes sparkle in a nice way.

“Tweak, I’d like you to meet the new member of our team, Peso. He’ll be our medic for the next few months.”

She jumps up, striding over to shake my hand, “Nice to meet ya, Peso. Welcome abroad, and welcome to the Launch Bay.”

She takes a big bite of carrot, smiling, her green braid swinging as she walks over to the control panel. She’s more muscular than I am, wearing a jumpsuit not zipped all the way so it shows her tank top revealing her build. Her belt is full of tools I can’t even name, she looks like she belongs here.

“Thank you, it’s such a nice space,” I tell her honestly, looking around at all the gadgets. Finally, I spot something familiar. Ring of Fire, it's my younger brother, Pinto’s favourite video game. Seeing it makes me miss him more. 

She follows my gaze, “You play? I’m always up for a tournament!”

“Oh, ah, no. My younger brother. I’ve joined him a few times but I always die before the first round.”

“Shame, maybe I can teach you. Perhaps I can even teach you so well you’ll beat Kwazii. Ah, speakin’ of Kwaz, I should probably put Bea way before he comes lookin’ for her.”

Two people now have mentioned Kwazii. I wonder what his deal is? Is he the Octonauts mischievous pet or something? Whoever he is, I really want to meet him now. Meanwhile, there's a bubbling and the orange metal contraption disappears into the water.

The Captain laughs, “Yes, you should. Thank you for taking the time for Peso, I’m sure we’ll be back soon to see which Gup he’ll be riding in.”

“Well I was working’ on a little project . . . but yeah, s’probably best if he just rides with one of us for now. Gup A’s probably safest. You’re going to see the professor?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, well tell him thanks for the book, it’s helped a lot with my design.”

“I will. He’ll be glad to hear it.” The Captain smiles as he takes us back to the lift.

“The Equipment elevator, really, Cap?”

“Well, I thought that—”

Suddenly there’s a whooshing, and somebody lands right next to me.

“Ahoy Tweak!” A male voice shouts.

Tweak looks unimpressed, but I can see hidden affection when she rolls her eyes. “She’s not here.”

“Not anywhere?”

“Nope, ya just missed here.”

He whines, “Tweeeak! When am I gonna get my Gup back?”

“Come on, it’s just repairs, we do this every quarter, you know this.”

“I know, but . . .” he turns, starting to stalk off, then calls over his shoulder, “Fine, but I’ll be back!”

“I’m sure you will.”

While he’s looking at Tweak he stalks right into me. I fall very gracefully onto my butt. He snaps his head back in my direction with surprise, looking down.

“Oh, hey there little fella. I’m sorry about that.” he bends down offering his hand, and after a second I decide to embrace the humiliation and take it. He smiles, “So what brings you here?”

“I-”

“Are you lost?”

“What? No, I-”

“Kwazii.”

“I’m just trying to make conversation, Captain.”

“I know but-”

“Are you here for a tour? I didn’t think they let people do that.”

“Kwazii.” Captain taps him hard on the shoulder.

“Ouch! What is it, Captain?”

“He works here now.”

The man, Kwazzi, steps back, eye wide, then narrowing into basically a slit. I shiver. “Oh.” he lifts his eyes patch, squinting to look at me . . . and then he bursts out laughing.

I feel my entire body heating up with humiliation. Tweak winces.

“Oh, matey, I’m so sorry!” he manages between laughs, “I thought you were a kid. My bad, my bad.” At last, he recovers himself, extending his hand. “You must be Peso. I’m Kwazii, First Lieutenant.”

I don’t shake his hand. He frowns, retracting it and crossing his arms in disappointment. He seems kind, like someone who cares but that only makes it more patronising, only he isn’t wrong. Of course, he thought I was a kid. I am a kid. I don’t belong here with these smart talented adults.

It must show on my face because he softens, he steps forward, then back as if unsure of what to do. I don’t want to be babied. I’m not some creature he has to help. I want to be here to help, and here I am obviously a penguin out of water.

“Oh, I’m not laughing at you, I was laughing at meself, for being so knot-headed”

It’s fine really. I’m used to it, to being underestimated (even though I’m not sure I even have the skills) I don’t let it touch me anymore. (at least that's what I’m trying to tell myself. It’s not working.) I shake my head, not able to help the sign that escapes me. I am so in over my head. I don’t think he meant to be rude (surely not, but maybe insulting rookies is acceptable in scientific communities. Even if he sounds like some sort of pirate, he’s probably waaay smarter than me). “Oh. No, it's perfectly fine, you’re not the first and won’t be the last.”

He stands even farther back, not saying a thing, arms still crossed. His eyes scan over me, as if picking me apart, definitely judging me. He almost looks still, almost, but I can tell he’s not, not on the inside anyway. He can’t seem to truly stand still, his tail and ears twitching impatiently. He rocks on his feet ready to go do whatever it is he does at a moment's notice. Now that he’s as close to still as I suspect he gets I take the chance to really look at him.

The last member of my new team is tall (well, tall to me, and most people are tall to me, so probably medium height), and ginger. Unlike most gingers I’ve seen he’s not actually strawberry blond or a carrot top, but a light shade of orange that changes colour as the light shifts. It’s pretty.

His eye does the same. I can only see the right one and it's hard to tell because he keeps twitching but I think he has heterochromia, the rarer kind where one eye has two colours. The eye that I can see is brown with an amber in a ring around the middle.

But that’s not the strangest thing about him, one of his ears has a piece missing from it. I shiver at the thought of what could’ve done that. Did he get it while on a mission? Luckily they said I won’t have to go on missions . . . probably.

The Captain coughs awkwardly to break the silence. “Kwazii is field personnel, so he spends most of his time outside of the Octopod. You most likely won’t be seeing each other too often.” he looks at me as if trying to assure me. I know it’s unkind, but it makes me feel a bit better that I won’t have to spend much time around Kwazii. He's loud, seems unpredictable and looks dangerous (though I’m sure he’s not).

“That must be very exciting. I’m sure we can get to know each other some other time, then.”

He smiles but like all cats he has fangs, so it’s all teeth. I try my best not to gulp. Thankfully Captain leads me toward the lift. As we walk away I hear Kwazii whisper to Tweak “Huh? Where are they going?” I don’t even know why I turn around, but I do.

“Why aren’t you using the octochute?”

“The what?”

“The octochutes, haven’t you been using them?” I can tell he’s not trying to be mean. He looks so genuinely confused that it’s almost comical. His face is like the "???” expression in real life. It makes me laugh a little, releasing the tension.

“No.”

“Well then how’ve you been getting around, then?”

“I just took the lift.”

“But . . . it’s for equipment?”

“Yes, Shellington told me.”

He still looks incredulous. “The equipment lift? Why in the seven seas would ya do that, matey?”

“I don’t know, I just . . . did.”

“Matey, we ONLY use it for equipment, plus it’s sooo slow, and cold.”

Oh, that would explain why it isn’t nearly as fancy as the rest of the ship and opens into closets. I feel dumb for not realising it before. I guess I just thought they were cramped for space, but of course not. How stupid of me.

“Kwazii. Be polite, I told him too. It is his first day, after all. The octochutes can be a bit shocking at first, and he’s already come a long way to get here. I wanted to ease him into it.”

Kwazii droops, face losing the confusion and entering to a neutral state with no expression at all, after seeing him so energised it looks wrong like excitement is the natural state of his particles.

The Captain leads me away, back into a second equipment lift (I didn’t know there were two), I exhale when it closes and Kwazii and Tweak disappear.

After escaping another closet, we step into a bright blue and white room. It’s filled with medical equipment. This must be the Medical Bay. Through the door’s small window, I can see through the window across the hall. In his laboratory, Shellington is typing away on a desktop. Probably finishing the data he was talking about earlier.

“Here we are.”

I turn back to where the Captain stands. 

“This is the Medical Bay, where you’ll be working for the next few months. You share a sleeping pod with Dashi and there’s an Octochute that will take you there.”

“Sh-hare?” I mean, sure, I’m gay, I’ve known that since I was young, but still, wouldn’t Dashi like her privacy? I’d like my privacy. We barely know each other!

“Oh, not like that, this isn't a sleepaway camp. We’re all professional adults, she gets one half and you get the other, there’s a wall in the middle with an Octochute. If you want Dashi to show you how to use it she’ll be happy to, I’m sure.”

“Oh, okay. Thank you, Captain.”

“I hate to leave you all by yourself, but I have a meeting with Tweak to discuss her latest project. If you need anything just find one of us.”

“Oh, okay.”

He leaves, and then I’m alone. The Octopod must be soundproofed to outside sounds because I can hear nothing but the air system cycling. I pull my phone from my pocket for music, but the battery is dead. Great! And then, I’m not even sure exactly why but I start to cry. I’m an idiot, trapped on a ship with people I don’t know who probably think I’m incompetent and unqualified for a job I didn’t even sign up for. The meeting with Kwazii showed me exactly how much I don’t know. Now here I am, pathetically crying. I miss my family.

There was a cat in my class in primary school, an orange tabby just like First Lieutenant Kwazii. He’d been held back a year so he was taller and bigger than all of us and he was loud too and would always bully the smaller kids and get away with it. I don’t even know why I’m remembering him all of a sudden. I know he and Kwazii aren’t the same, but I’ve never liked loud unpredictable people. They scare me. Maybe that’s why.

And something tells me I’ll be seeing Kwazii in the Medical Bay somewhat often. I’m not sure how to feel about that. I don’t dislike him, of course not, but I feel . . . wary.

Oh well. I won’t allow him or anyone else to interfere with my job. I will prove to myself and them that I can handle myself for a few months. And then it’ll all be over and I’ll get to go home again.

Taking a deep breath, I keep busy by familiarising myself with the workings of the Medical Bay and everything in it. It’s fully stocked with any supplies and equipment I could need so all I brought were clothes. There isn’t much to do, so I resort to cleaning the space that’s probably already sterile, just because it calms me down.

After a while, an announcement comes over the speakers that we’ll be departing for the Mediterranean Sea to aid in the preservation of coral at sunrise tomorrow. 

Before I know it I find myself falling asleep at the work table. Too tired by the day’s events I let myself drift off.

(A/N: Poor Kwazii, he can be kinda scary without meaning to be. He’s just so confused as to why someone wouldn’t want to use the super duper fun octochutes. LOL)

[the-littlest-kojin]

The Journal of Shio Shinju: The Coming Dawn (Dawntrail, Journal I)

Spoilers for: MSQ up through "The Coming Dawn".

Today, I was asked by Erenville to meet a client - not as Warrior of Light, but as a hero and adventurer. It is... Pleasant, to have someone recall that I do not wish to be always seen as the hero of the land.

The client is a Xbr'aal by the name of Wuk Lamat, who was recommended my services by Erenville. He is very careful with his words, but knowing that he has tacitly endorsed the task that Wuk Lamat wishes is enlightening, even if he is loathe to show it.

To demonstrate that I am sufficiently skilled for her task, Wuk Lamat had me accompany her for a miscellaneous task upon the Isle of Haam, wherein we dispatched an overgrown colibri - the kind of thing I used to do in the days before the Scions as odd jobs for the Adventurer's Guild. Apparently, my prowess with the blade was enough to convince her to lay out the task she wished of me, in addition to a bevy of personal details about her.

Wuk Lamat is the child of Gulool Ja Ja, Dawnservant of Tuliyollal - nation and capital city both - which lies at the heart of governance of Tural. It seems that there is to be a succession, as the current Dawnservant is aging past his prime, and so four claimants have stepped up. Erenville and Wuk Lamat both are rather quiet on the subject of most of the claimants, but one of them is "A man who is too ambitious by half", who "cannot be allowed to rule".

Concerning as this is, apparently Gulool Ja Ja expressly encourages the claimants seeking aid from outside of Tural, and so Wuk Lamat reached out to Erenville, who she considers a close friend. (Erenville professes to consider her an acquaintance at best, but see my note above, regarding whom exactly he recommended for her trial.) I was assured I do not need to give an answer this day, and so I will return to my room to ponder this - seeing a new land will be a wonder and a relief, and to be hired as what seems to be, in essence, a bodyguard sounds like a refreshing reprieve from my usual fare.

As a client, Wuk Lamat seems... Dishonest, but not in a malicious way. She lies as casually as breathing, but in the way that I have witnessed many people do when they are insecure, afraid, or both. She lies about her capabilities, and she lies about those lies, in order to make me like her. It accomplishes the opposite. But, I have worked for worse clients. I could work for her, easily enough. Leaders lie all the time. She seems to affect a gregarious visage when the mood strikes her, I could very easily see her rubbing elbows with Nanamo, Aymeric, and suchlike. She could very easily be a leader with such a skillset.

But I do not think she would make a good leader.

I think I shall have to see this other claimant with my own eyes - the one who is "too ambitious by half". Take his measure for myself.

Side-note: Investigate Turali language, a constructed language of all of the peoples of Tuliyollal, attain fluency without Echo ASAP.

Before I was able to retire to my chambers for rest, the (allegedly) retired Scions waylaid me - specifically with Alisaie hearing about the new job, and the twins setting out to attain their own invitation from Wuk Lamat to join the voyage to Tural - to further their goals of rebuilding Garlemald. Loathe as I am to share yet more of my time with the Scions, I can only hope that they recall that I am no longer their employee and no longer required to feign friendship with them. Cordiality shall be my refuge, I feel - Grandfather wishes me to not let asymmetrical feelings fester in my mind, and so I shall not.

I do, however, wish that whomever was primarily responsible for tutoring the Leveilleur twins taught them how to ask things, rather than assume or state them. Wuk Lamat has been polite and careful to always frame things as invitations or queries, and I hope that this habit of hers is not eroded by exposure to Alphinaud and Alisaie.

Krile, on the other hand, concerns me considerably less. While I have enough familiarity with her tactics vis-a-vis interpersonal relationships to not trust her (such as her manipulations with Estinien), I can understand her desire for an understanding of family and legacy. I will support such as best I can, while maintaining a cordial distance - although, if it comes to a conflict of her own interests against that of Wuk Lamat's claim for the throne... I cannot rightly say.

Too much unknown, too much hinging on the mystery of this "unfit claimant".

[wannabepapa]

thinking about working in this little shop, maybe a bakery or small diner, where part of your contract to work there is to go through a full term magical pregnancy. but they aren't going paying you when you're outside of work, so for reasons to do with labor laws or whatever, your pregnancy gets paused. you only grow when you're clocked in for work, meaning that a full nine months of pregnancy takes over two years to complete even when you're working full time (and most of the employees are only part-time). imagine coming right up on the end of a pregnancy, maybe overdue, and ready to be done, and you get a few weeks off for the holidays. Last year maybe you were at the end of the second trimester, big but not massive. Just a little inconvenient. this year you have to get all the way to the New Year with this cumbersome belly, stretched and exhausted, just waiting to go back to work and throw that little apron on so you can be unburdened.

The bakery is definitely the strangest place I have ever worked for. The pay was fantastic—more than I could have ever imagined getting in my entire lifetime! Really, there shouldn't be a reason why I was overcompensated for such an easy job. That was until I had finished with my training and officially hired.

The owner was a wizard—very old, very powerful being—that had only one condition for me to even be considered as a worker. They had a fruitful side hustle as surrogacy business (the place was merely a façade to keep the magickal government off their tail) and in order to be brought into the fold you would need to fulfill pregnancy contracts for the customers. Not only had the background check been meticulous in its contents but my medical history had been gone over with a fine toothed comb. If I were honest hearing that I was still being considered with my medical problems it blew my mind. Raising that concern the owner explained magical remedies that would heal any ailments that would otherwise cause pregnancy complications, meaning I would be the perfect surrogate for the babies. I didn't hesitate a moment while white knuckling the pen to sign the dotted lines.

I should have read the fine print.

———

There clearly was nothing standard about this operation. To quell any magickal suspicions these pregnancies were enhanced in very special ways. The fetuses were perfectly healthy and safe, the pregnancies were as normal as possible given one big circumstance. The pregnancies were elongated and you only progressed while you were on the clock.

As terrible as it sounds to an outsiders prospective, this is easier to handle. With the slow growth I was able to go about life normally for much longer without worrying that my secret would be revealed. Though the nausea and overall discomfort were murderous in the beginning my first trimester took six and a half months—I barely looked any different! Every scan I had showed a perfectly healthy pregnancy which meant more money being added onto my already cushy check. It all felt like a fever dream.

As the weeks turned into months of growth I had begun to realize I was enjoying this. As much as I had felt anxiety over passing nine months I was able to get into the groove of this magickal pregnancy. It was easier with my coworkers in the same predicament in so many different stages for us to all bond together. Though taking the mandatory holidays for Thanksgiving and Christmas were difficult—there was no extra growing and it felt like my skin was burning with power that was ready to burst forward. Stepping back into the bakery I swore up and down that I grew about four inches around the middle from this surge of pregnancy magick.

Now that I'm nearing the end of this pregnancy a whole two years later, I am more than ready to pop. The babe is very happy in here having parties every day of the week and even midnight (let's be honest here it's more like three am) dance battles to show off their moves. As much as this little nugget has brought happiness, excitement, and joy into these long years carrying I clearly need a break. My skin is stretched tightly across my womb with no trace of skin unmarred by red stretchmarks. I'm not angry about it since most were there before I got pregnant. What I will miss is having someone this close to me when I needed them and experience the craziness of pregnancy over an extended period of time.

What I really truly hate is that I'm stuck at home now until the fifth of January. It wouldn't be terrible if I wasn't on the cusp of labor with false contractions for the last three weeks or the equivalent of a bowling ball sitting heavily on my pelvis. The baby shows no signs of being ready to leave their warm home but I'm very certain that there will be a visit to the birthing center in the coming days after I start work again. I don't think I'll be the only one either. My one coworker has twins and he is very ready for those buns to be delivered as soon as possible.

Even with this bump in the road I can see myself doing this all over again. Possibly requesting to go part time for that pregnancy—to really relish in my slow growth and see how different it feels

[sonicenvy]

I had another conversation with someone who didn't have health insurance today about ACA that she didn't know existed as an option. Ever since I got my first ACA plan last year after turning 26 I have been a big ACA fan because this piece of landmark legislation is the reason I have health insurance instead of being in thousands of dollars of medical debt. It bugs the ever living shit out of me whenever I see internet leftists saying things like "the ACA didn't do anything because it is not medicare for all." It really speaks to me about the privilege that these people likely have because they're not noticing the amount of monumental positive change and harm reduction that was made by the bill.

The ACA is a bill that is comprehensive, and walks, talks, and chews gum at the same time, and I think a lot of people who are either a.) too young to remember how health insurance in this country worked before the ACA or b.) have not had to get government subsidized health insurance because they have always had either their parents' insurance or employer insurance really and truly don't get it. I am obviously too young to remember how healthcare worked before the ACA because I am under 30, but I do have a mom who works in healthcare and lots of older relatives that talk about it a lot so I was pretty familiar with the concept despite this.

I am low-income, in school, and have an employer that doesn't offer me employer subsidized plans, so the ACA quickly became pretty important to me as a person with lifelong disability, higher than normal cancer predisposition and a need for lifelong psychiatric care.

Also, if you are in your 20s but under 26 and still on your parents' health insurance? Bam! You are directly benefiting from the ACA. Before the ACA you would not have been able to be on your parents insurance plan in your 20s.

Some things that the ACA did:

Made it affordable for people who are above the medicaid income limit and/or self-employed to independently purchase health insurance. Before the ACA premiums for independently purchased health plans could be $500+ for individual plans! If you were one of the many Americans who worked multiple part-time jobs that did not provide PT employees with insurance, you were basically fucked and uninsured. If you were a small business or self-employed, you were also fucked. The creation of the healthcare dot gov health insurance marketplace, which is open to anyone was a massive success of the bill, and millions of Americans benefit from it. During open enrollment (or after a specific life event such as "turned 26," or "became unemployed") a person can log on to health care dot gov, see a wide range of plans, and purchase one. The government then provides you with a premium subsidy (which is what your employer does for you if you have an employer plan) to lower the cost of the premium. Subsidies are calculated based on a person's income so people with lower incomes get higher subsidies.

Obviously there is some nuance, and a coverage gap with ACA plans for individuals who make above $60,000 (and are not a small business obtaining a group contract with an insurance company) where premiums are still very expensive because they are ineligible for the majority of the premium tax subsidy, which is a major ACA weakness, but for everyone in the $30,000-$55,000 gap and for owners of small businesses that want to offer plans for their employees, the benefits are huge. I am able to get a PPO with a low deductible, low OOP for less than $200/mo in premiums! There is exactly zero way that I would have been able to do that if I were trying to get insured pre-ACA.

Made it so that insurance companies could not discriminate against patients with so-called pre-existing conditions — so basically if you are disabled, the insurance company can no longer: a.) decline to provide you coverage or b.) increase your premiums/ reduce your plan benefits because you have a disability or get something like, oh, idk, FUCKING CANCER. Like there were people who got cancer and found out that their insurer dropped them because they did not want to pay out for expensive cancer treatment. That was a thing that was legal for health insurance companies to do before the ACA, and they fucking did that. The pre-existing conditions clause was one of the biggest benefits that has been touted since the beginning of the bill's conception and passage. Under the ACA, all health insurance companies are banned from denying plan applications for any reason, or from revoking plan coverage for any reason that isn't "patient stopped paying their premium." Made it so that children could stay on their parents' health insurance plans until they were 26 instead of being booted at 18. Made it so that all plans must provide some level of coverage for a list of specific EHBs (Essential Health Benefits) such as "emergency room care," "prenatal and pregnancy related care," "preventative care such as doctor recommended cancer screenings for patients" "office visits with general practitioners," etc.

If you have an marketplace plan or medicare/medicaid, that plan MUST provide you with contraceptives at no cost to you regardless of whether or not you have met your deductible. Democrats also wanted this to be true for all other plans, but unfortunately in 2014, whacko religious conservatives got themselves an exemption for "companies with fervently held religious beliefs against contraception" from providing this coverage in their employer subsidized plans in the bullshit case of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., which was decided by a conservative majority vote in the Supreme Court. A case which had other broad and shitty implications btw, and which is yet another example of why allowing weird conservatives to get elected to the presidency is bad for America. btw, in the original intention of the ACA they wanted to also include mandatory coverage for abortion services. Unfortunately, the Republicans (and a group of stupid pro-life dems who suck, and to my knowledge are not in congress now) torpedoed this provision despite Nancy Pelosi's best efforts and refused to pass the bill at all as long as this provision remained in it. Reason #10000000 Republicans suck.

Lots more that I'm not naming here, but I hope you get the idea. My point is that even though ACA was not a medicare for all bill, it was a landmark (and very needed) piece of healthcare reform legislation that changed a lot about the landscape of health insurance in America. Tragically, right wing and far left smearing of it has obscured the truth about the many good things that the bill did do. Was it perfect? Absolutely the fuck not! Even Obama himself admits this. What it was was a major victory against injustices in the system, and a massive piece of harm reduction legislation, and I wish that more Americans credited it for the things it did do.

Dems managed to get the bill passed with the vast majority of their highest priorities still in it despite major republic ratfuckery combined with a minority of independents and dems who sucked. Pelosi walked circles around these fuckers day and night to get this bill passed, and I for one am deeply grateful. Because of the ACA I can get the healthcare that I desperately need as a disabled person with higher than normal cancer risk. I can get my desperately needed medications and see all of my doctors because of this piece of legislation. I was able to get surgery to remove CANCER from my body becuase of this legislation, so yeah, fuck everyone going "the ACA is bad because it's not perfect medicare for all." Girl (gender neutral), I (and many other people) would not be surviving if it were not for this bill, and I for one, think that that is a whole heck of a lot better than all of us dying because y'all want to wait for perfect legislation. Harm reduction is good and is an important step on the road to bigger and better change. Universal health care has risen to more popular and broad public opinion/knowledge because the ACA passed.

Yeah, anyways this is rant about how fucking stupid anti-ACA people are. To deny the gains of meaningful healthcare reform is a clear sign of privilege, ignorance, and tunnel vision that lets perfect be the enemy of good or better.

This is also a post about a clear and obvious way that Dems are infinitely different (and better) than republicans. Voting dem is harm reduction. Not voting, voting third party or protest write in voting is a vote for republicans. And republicans??? They give exactly zero shits about anyone other than themselves. They support stupid and insane religious conservative politics, and look to fuck over the American people (and everyone else abroad) at every turn because they don't believe in helping people; their convictions are all about hate, prejudice, fearmongering, and a right-wing Christian Theocracy. They would rather see millions of people die than give dems a win, because they are spiteful and hateful. They want us to be afraid, disengaged, disorganized and fighting one another, because their ideas, convictions and beliefs are deeply unpopular, and if we organize against them, they will lose.

[transingthoseformers]

Hello I am here to harass you with a not so thought out tfa Cywhirlgate au that focuses on Whirl even tho I could post this on my own blog.

Even though in tfa only Decepticons are flyers with the expectation of the jettwins, Whirl still remains a helicopter but no one knows since because early on in the war the council deemed Whirl an important asset to loss to the cons, so they ended up taking their tcog and removing all of their kibble. So as far as anyone knows Whirl is a monoformer who mostly used to turn into a motorcycle.

Post war Whirl ended running the clock shop they always wanted to own, even though the council wanted for them to remain in the military but they decided that Whirl was too unstable to be apart of the Elite guard post war as they are no longer that desperate for soldiers.

Whirl's shop is one of the only shops on Cybertron that makes and sells costume clocks as the majority of the public the government has decided that those things were useless when they had internal clocks, so they end up getting so they end up hiring some employees. A very socially awkward bot who showed up out of the blue one day with no documents of any kind or record of them but owns a ship twice the size of the shop that looks a little too much like the owner(oc named Toolbox) working the front desk, a tiny former waste disposal minibot who could easily be mistaken for a minicon who helps Whirl in the back putting together the clocks(Tailgate) and a clear minibot beastformer in hiding who insists that she's a monoformer as with the introduction of protoform moulds beastformers have became nonexistent and borderline illegal to be(Sharp Claw, whether this character is an oc or not is a surprise for later, but just know I stole that name from a character who appears in Last Bot Standing) who also helps out in the back.

When the Decepticons launching their attack on Cybertron in an attempt to reclaim it during the events of The trail of Megatron, Whirl's shop ended up getting caught in the crossfire while them and their employees were there. Whirl being Whirl thought it would be a great idea to go out there and give the Decepticons a piece of their mind with their barely legal home made duel blasters. Of course Toolbox, Tailgate and Sharp Claw try to stop them but they end up getting dragged into fighting the cons too.

Eventually Whirl ends up fighting Cyclonus as he was entering an empty ship when the Decepticons call for a retreat. Unfortunately for them they hit the ship's control panel by accident and that ended up shooting them uo into space. Even more unluckily Tailgate, Toolbox and Sharp Claw were in the ship with them trying to get Whirl to back down as the cons were leaving.

In short because of being lost in space they end up becoming unlikely allies to get back to Cybertronian space, with Whirl, Tailgate and Cyclonus being idiots in love and poor Toolbox and Sharp Claw being the fourth and fifth wheel.

Oh this is super duper interesting!

We know Whirl is in tfa from like. A single photo, and that he was in the Wreckers, so it's ~interesting~ to see where that goes

[georgegraphys]

@grbambi63's theory really made me peek into Daimler's 2018, 2019, and 2023 annual report to see the difference between Zetsche's management to Kallenius' management.

Zetsche's objective:

Kallenius had a similar objective on that too but I won't include it for today because we're not talking about the similarity but... the one thing Kallenius had that Zetsche didn't.

2019 & 2023's Kallenius-term annual report objectives:

Lower cost base. Reduction of (...) costs.

This isn't just some move that Kallenius added just because he loved saving some pennies but it might be due to the chaos that happens in his first year as a CEO. I am going to highlight two major events here.

1) Diesel Emission Scandal

In the beginning of 2018 (Zetsche's term), Daimler was accused of having shit devices on their control software for their US products but they denied this allegations. Then it was reported that the US authorities were investigating them for diesel emission cheating scandals.

In June 2019, Daimler had to recall 60,000 Mercedes diesel powered cars in Germany, the model affected is the Mercedes-Benz GLK 220 SUV produced between 2012 and 2015, the car is fitted with software aimed at distorting emissions tests. And during the same year, Daimler was fined 870 million euros in Germany for "negligent violation of supervisory duties" in relation to not fully complying with emissions regulations. In 2020, they had to pay $2.2B in settlement.

The scandal got serious actually as "The Daimler boss is also putting the german federal government in trouble. It has its back against the wall internationally because of the fraud committed by its flagship industry. US President Donald Trump has targeted Daimler in the trade dispute and threatened that he no longer wants to see Mercedes cars on Fifth Avenue in New York" source

This crisis ironically started at Zetsche's management but the peak of the case was handled during Kallenius' early stage of leadership 💀💀💀 (I FELT BAD FOR HIM NGL LMAOOO)

2) COVID 19

Do you think Kallenius' trials decrease after his first year? No. COVID-19 happens. They still profit as they are THEE Mercedes but sales were slow at one point. Kallenius and other executives had to take pay cuts due to COVID and even before, COVID he also had to struggle with Daimler's stocks dropping drastically while having to deal with the lawsuit and satisfying the investors. He also said this: (source)

Looking at how they have interesting differences as CEO. Kallenius is definitely all about cost efficient and maybe this was due to the crisis he felt in 2021 and as a preparation for Daimler's future ventures in focusing more about EQs

Update: Yeah this confirms that he had a pretty rough start to his management year in 2019 due to diesel scandal (source)

And bold of you to think that Zetsche retired from Mercedes with a bang. No he didn't. (source)

AND THE BEEF THICKENS as some board member reportedly are against his rise to be the chairman of the supervisory board (source)

Just a personal thought from me, but what if the reason Kallenius was pissed at LH in 2021 is caused by all these financial wrecks Mercedes are in during these years? They were hit again and again. To add that, Kallenius is very adamant on his cost efficient and cost reduction objectives after these hardships. And at that time, just after 2020, LH demands a raise. A raise from a company who is literally in the trenches fighting for a surplus and good result from all the legal battles they're in and COVID that caused the board members and employees to get paid cuts. Maybe this was what pissed Kallenius off? Because at that time, Mercedes wasn't doing so well and suddenly, LH asked for pay raise to a guy who is very set and clear about saving every pennies 😭😭 That must've pissed the hell out of him. I'm not saying Lewis is wrong but kinda 💀💀 to think that the butterfly effect from that moment of their contract negotiation in 2021 to what is happening rn in 2024 💀💀.

If that is true then Zetsche is the catalyst for the butterfly effect happening rn:

Zetsche diesel scandal>Him retiring>Kallenius' rise to position>Mercedes financial flopification due to dieselgate and covid>LH demanding more salary>Cost efficient and suffering Kallenius, with his hands full on Zetsche's mess, getting pissed at LH>LH and Mercedes fallout>Kallenius using George as a piece in the contract negotiation>Toto Wolff power decrease in Kallenius' era>George to Mercedes>Another contract negotiation problems>Ambassadorial promise getting yeetus deletus-ed>LH pissed>Ferrari move early>George steps forward as team leader

If this is real. If the butterfly effect is real, then it's crazy.

[pynkhues]

I want you ask you since you are Australian and in the industry or at least adjacent to it. I've heard that Sam has cancelled his ABN and my understanding is that Australian actors working in Australia have to have ABN to get paid legally. Maybe I'm wrong, if I am please explain how it works. But what are your thoughts about what that indicates about Sam's future career plans if anything at all?

Oh! This is not a question I ever thought I'd be answering on tumblr-dot-com, anon, hahaha. No, he doesn't need to have an ABN as an actor to work legally in Australia, a lot of the actors that I work with don't have one.

In Australia, everyone has a Tax File Number which is what you legally have to have to be able to work here. An ABN is an Australian Business Number, which every company has to have, and if you're operating as a sole trader, you're technically operating as a business in and of yourself. Basically if you're self-employed, and offering services from sex work to business consultation, you have both a TFN and an ABN, and which you use depends on whether you're acting as an employee or as a business.

So for myself as a writer for instance, if I am copywriting under a longer contract with a company, I usually go on the company payroll and use my TFN, but if I sell a short story or write a one-off document for instance, I use my ABN because I am not being employed by the journal, anthology or magazine, they're just purchasing a service that I offer or art that I made. They are engaging me for a one-off service, not paying for me to work for them.

ABNs are important more for actors when they're still jobbing? Like for instance at the theatre company I work at, the core cast will all be on payroll for a show's season - they are being employed by the theatre company for the show, so they will be using their TFNs - but if one of the cast members got sick and we had to call in an understudy, the understudy would usually use their ABN as they're basically being contracted in to backfill an employee, and aren't technically an employee of the theatre company itself in the way that core actors are for a season of a show. We're engaging them for the product that they offer - acting - for a one-off engagement - the night the main actor is sick -, not hiring them to work at the company.

An ABN is more important for actors when you're booking a lot of short term jobs like doing one episode of something here, or a commercial there, because those productions usually don't want to put you on payroll. You're not a consistent expense for them, and they're engaging you to deliver a few lines and be a plot tool for the main actors aka the actual employees to work with, not employing you for the duration of a job. If you're a lead actor or supporting actor in something like, say The Newsreader, though, you'd be on the payroll as an employee of the production for the three or four months it'd take to shoot because you'd be working consistent hours at a consistent rate. So yeah, Sam would be hired as an employee, not a company providing a short-term service.

If it's an indication of anything, it'd be more I'd say a sign of him stepping up as a lead and knowing short term contracts are probably less likely to be a part of his career moving forwards. That said, my ABN was actually cancelled three weeks ago randomly too, as was a friend's, so I think the government's been doing a sweep of them lately (they do them occasionally to get rid of dead ones). They're not hard to re-activate - I got on the phone and it was done in 15 minutes - so that could've happened to him too.

[hriobzagelthewanderer]

Things Hriob is No Longer Allowed to Do, Revised Edition - Part Quarte

#121 I am a Master of Conceptual and Elemental Magics, especially the Natural elements such as Wind, Lightning, Earth, Wood, and Water. However, no matter how ‘natural’ their existence may be, I cannot cast ‘Bear’ and it is not an element, and no amount of arguing, evidence, or demonstrations will change this.

#122 When courting certain individuals I will remember the following; “Using Protection” means the proper use of contraceptives or barriers during coitus, NOT using wards or other magical means of surviving close proximity to individuals whose mere existence provides a serious hazard to my health.

#123 Just because it is one of the few things that CAN still affect me given my supernatural constitution, and just because she is my friend, does not mean I am allowed to occasionally use Shylow-Venom as anti-anxiety medication a recreational drug for ANY reason on my own person or anyone else’s.

#124 When engaging in Small Talk with Lord Alexander, I am to respect the presence and personal safety of his Steward, Sir Cromwell, by politely avoiding use of the following terms and turns-of-phrase: ‘Splitting Hares’, ‘Hot Crossed Buns’, ‘Hare-Rasing’, ‘Hare Removal’, ‘Careful Hop-Timism’, ‘Bad Hare Day’, ‘Hoppily Ever After’, ‘I’m all Ears’, ‘Hare Conditioning’, and any other hilarious bad puns revolving around Lagomorphs in general. Upon further review, Bonnie Kalsang is to be given the extended benefits of this ruling.

#125 I shall remember that ‘Tuning’ is for Musical Instruments, ‘Attenuation’ is for Spiritual and Mystical aspects and machinations, and ‘Vibe Checks’ are for violently percussive maintenance on other people. Just because they SOUND like they’re the same thing doesn’t mean they ARE the same thing.

#126 If I am ever to host a ‘Movie Night’ with my friends/associates/subordinates/rivals/sworn enemies, I will avoid playing the following films for various reasons: Kill Bill, Repo: The Genetic Opera, Shrek 3, Saving Private Ryan, and any historical fiction "i may have been present for when it happened".

#127 I am forever forbidden from doing anything if I am preceding the action(s) in question with any variation of the phrase ‘Hey ___, Watch This!’

#128 I am forever forbidden from officiating Weddings Funerals Birthday Celebrations Coming-Of-Age-Ceremonies Duels Archery Contests Eating Contests Battle Royales Anything.

#129 I am a self-reincarnating Avatar of Life. I, at best, have an understanding with, and at worst, trying relationships with Entities that deeply connect to or convey Death as a Concept. This means that I need to maintain my moral superiority as best I can, which in turn means I should avoid conflict with them… and therefore not try to prank or annoy them.

#130 I am not the Patron Saint of Oktoberfest, no matter how much I wish to be.

#131 I am not allowed to visit Australia, nor am I to confuse it for Austria, be it to mess with other people or try and get around this ruling.

#132 I am forever barred from entering an IKEA store, and am forbidden from chanting backwards in Swedish in any language to assemble disassemble reconfigure rearrange manipulate IKEA-brand any furniture in any way.

#133 I am forever barred from teaching any variety of ‘Shop Class’.

#134 I am forever barred from leading field trips guided tours any sort of group of people for any reason through the following locations: Zoos, Museums, Government Buildings, Anarchist Buildings, Aquariums, Shopping Malls, Alternate Timelines, Alien Planets, Pocket Dimensions, Dimensional Nexus Points, Nuclear Reactors, Industrial Plants, and anything owned by a ‘rival’, ‘nemesis’, ‘adversary’, or any other hostile group or individual.

#135 I am not allowed to appropriate terminology research papers documents artifacts entities employees architecture ANYTHING from the SCP Foundation without due credit at all.

#136 Just because I am now able to transform into certain animals at will, does not mean I get to abuse the ability. This extends to bans against the following: eating my own paperwork and blaming ‘the dog’ on it, attempting to use ‘puppy-dog-eyes’ as a form of negotiation, massively decreasing the local wildlife population single-handedly, and leaving dog hair/fur in unpleasant locations as a petty form of revenge.

#137 I am forevermore banned from playing around with wax, especially heated. This is for my own safety and well-being more than any other reason.

#138 I am not allowed to start my own cult, religion, club, non-profit-organization, or any other form of organized group for any reason, least of all because I need an excuse to change any sort of government-issued id photo.

#139 I am an accomplished Arbormancer, capable of taking living trees of all kinds and fashioning them harmlessly into furnishings or tools, especially magical staves. I am Not, however, allowed to threaten sentient tree-based creatures such as demons, ents, and the like with transformation into such items, nor demonstrate my ability to do so.

#140 Just because some previously-incorporeal people enjoyed my gift of customized living human bodies for them to possess and inhabit, does not mean that Everyone will appreciate such a gift to the same degree. I am not to begin creating such vessels for those I know unless they specifically ask me to, no matter how convenient or helpful I think I am being.

#141 I am forevermore barred from following the ‘advice’ of the maxim ‘Tis better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission’, given that I have by now empirically proven it wrong.

#142 Just because I am a powerful and talented Oathkeeper for pacts and magical deals of all kinds, does not mean I can try and negotiate with children, especially those I am supposed to be babysitting.

#143 No matter how powerful and talented I am with Wood-based, Wind-based, and Ink-based magic, I am not allowed to make magically empowered paper planes and throw them into windstorms of any kind or origin. Not even if the kids ask nicely.

#144 I understand that, given my pact with the Worldspirit Gaia, I am often pulled to act as an emergency agent of their will to stop catastrophic incidents. I understand that, more often than not, those times when a single person is behind the danger, it is someone of necromantic alignment, skills, powers, or so on. Despite this, I am not to complain to them as I try to stop and/or slay them that they remind me of my ex-fiance, no matter how close, depressing, or infuriating the resemblance may be.

#145 I am forever banned from turning any portion of the Halls of the Mountain King into a Ball Pit of any size or depth.

#146 In regards to entry #53, given that I now do offer deals and pacts fairly regularly all things considered, I will remember to try and at least fall mostly in line with the Better Business Bureau’s ethical standards with said dealings.

#147 Given that prior rulings (#42 in particular) have failed, and I am happily sadly considered, among other things, The Wonderful Wizard of Gauze, I shall instead remind myself that flinging bandage wraps at people is not an effective attack. And that, strong as they may be, they cannot support my weight even in bulk - therefore I am forbidden from trying to swing off or around tall buildings with them as my ‘webs’. I am not ‘Spider-man’, and never will be - no matter what I attempt in order to change that.

#148 As an addition to the above ruling, I am to remember that, even if being able to wrap-and-pull items in the heat of battle is a neat and useful utility to have over my adversaries, using the same skill with my ‘bandage shooting’ to grab things around the Halls in a casual setting is frowned upon, even especially if people offer to be ‘test subjects’, ‘training dummies’, or any other kind of volunteer to be ‘shot’ thusly.

#149 Given item #72, I am to extend the same ‘general line of thought’ towards attempting to ‘forcibly evolve things with magic’, or any other medium to attempt the same end result. Spoiler alert: they always turn into crabs. Every. Single. Time. No more crabs.

#150 Just in case, I am forever banned from setting foot within 5 miles of Las Vegas, Nevada. No, not even if the magical forces behind it try to invite me.

[ivygorgon]

No free rides for old money! - Pass The Billionaires Income Tax Act! (S. 3367)

I am writing to express my strong support for the proposed S. 3367 bill, which aims to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. This legislation represents a crucial step towards achieving economic justice by seeking to eliminate tax loopholes that have allowed billionaires to defer taxes indefinitely. By doing so, we would be ensuring a fairer distribution of wealth and rectifying a system that has long favored the ultra-wealthy. Additionally, the bill modifies over 30 tax provisions, requiring billionaires to contribute annually. It's time to ensure that those with the most significant influence and wealth contribute proportionately to our society's well-being. Therefore, I urge you to support and pass the Billionaires Income Tax Act.

Billionaires have amassed vast wealth, often at the expense of their employees who struggle to make ends meet on minimum wages. It is only just and equitable that they pay their employees a living wage AND contribute proportionally to the betterment of our society.

Furthermore, if billionaires wield significant influence over our government and policy-making, they should demonstrate their commitment by financially supporting the very system that has allowed them to prosper. No longer should they enjoy free rides on the backs of hardworking taxpayers. It is past time to ensure that billionaires are contributing their fair share to the well-being of our country.

Passing the Billionaires Income Tax Act is not only a matter of fiscal responsibility but also a moral imperative. It is time to ensure that our tax system is fair and equitable for all, not just the wealthy few.

Thank you for considering my views on this important issue. I urge you to stand on the side of fairness and justice by supporting S.3367.

No free rides for old money!

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