#if i ignore it it didn’t happen

[pub-lius]

Hyper niche question for my autism warrior: What was the perception of aide-de-camps during the AmRev like? I assume it would be viewed as a softer position - though of course, the extent would vary depending who your CO was - but many did see action and a few were reassigned so they could fight

Hey y’all… how y’all doing… i know its been yet another period of many moons since ive posted or answered (i hope this information is still relevant btw), but ive had a lot going on with getting a job, finding colleges, my mommy issues, travel, etc. anyway, im back, and im here to tell you about my main men

It actually was not viewed as a softer position at all! The station of aide-de-camp was highly desirable for several reasons, which i will describe approximately right now

1) people had to compliment you a LOT to get in

Most of the results I got from my research on this ask were letters of recommendation for potential aides-de-camp. Letters of recommendation were high honors for any station, especially for that of a military capacity. According to my favorite source on the American Revolution (which you should know by now), George Washington’s Indispensable Men by Arthur S. Lefkowitz, it was practically impossible to get a job as an aide-de-camp if you did not have a widely positive reputation or a letter of recommendation from someone reputable (or both if you wanted to clerk for the Commander-in-Chief).

I found one letter of recommendation from j*hn ad*ms that i think serves as a very good example of the sort of statements that could land you a seat at a Continental officer’s writing desk:

“There is another Gentleman of liberal Education and real Genius, as well as great Activity, who I find is a Major in the Army; his Name is Jonathan Williams Austin. I mention him, sir, not for the Sake of recommending him to any particular Favour, as to give the General an opportunity of observing a youth of great abilities, and of reclaiming him from certain Follies, which have hitherto, in other Departments of Life obscurd him.”

-John Adams to George Washington, June 19-20, 1775, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Founders Online, Washington Papers)

Those are my italics btw. These compliments are carefully chosen to suit the honor culture that was so pervasive throughout the 18th century and first half of the 19th century. A liberal education at the time was very hard to come by, and would be of great importance in a clerical position. Great activity also helps, because you dont want some lazy ass writing to Congress under your name, or god forbid George Washington himself, you might get hung (not really). The mention of youth is also intentional, since young men have always been preyed upon by the military. I think it’s especially noteworthy the final phrase of “reclaiming him from certain Follies”, which indicates that he might have previously had a negative reputation- whether it was warranted or not, im not sure.

2) the pay was fucking fire

For this we’re going to be utilizing my super amazing math scores that im renown for throughout the math community (yall dont know about my math tumblr), and we’re going to be using Alexander Hamilton as our lab rat, as per usual.

Alexander Hamilton joined Washington’s staff in early 1777 where a regular aide-de-camp (not a military secretary) made $33 dollars a month, which averages to about $1.10 a day. Meanwhile, according to the University of Missouri, the highest paid laborer in Massachusetts in the same year made $0.50 a day, which is about $15 a month, others making as little as about $0.22 a day, so around $7 a month. If you’re looking for ratios, by the end of the war, a pound of raisins was around $0.30. So, the highest paid Massachusetts laborer could save up every paycheck from 1777 to 1782 and buy 324 pounds of raisins, and Alexander fucking Hamilton could waltz up next to him and buy 712.8 pounds of raisins and rub it in his sad, poor face. And he wouldn’t even share because he was a congressman by that time and congressmen HATE THE POOR.

Disclaimer: Hamilton’s numbers dont include the time he quit the office bc I didn’t feel like googling how long he was away for and also i dont care. And yeah he probably would share his raisins with the guy, Hamilton was pretty nice, but i dont think he’d buy 712.8 pounds of raisins in Massachusetts anyway. Or maybe he would, I dont fucking know, stop asking me questions

3) it gave you a lot of street cred

There are many instances of aides-de-camps rising to higher status after their service, but i dont give a fuck about those nerds going into politics and law and stuff.

Most people now only know about Washington’s aides (or if you’re really autistic you know Lafayette’s too), but at the time, being an ADC to any general would get you fairly well known in society. General Sullivan’s aides seem to have been pretty well known and admired, as they are frequently mentioned in John Adams’ correspondence with other congressmen, as well as that of Benjamin Franklin with French diplomats all the way across the Atlantic.

But I imagine you’re also wondering (or at least i am) about what the everyday enlisted man thought of the ADCs, and that answer doesn’t really change. Of course, the men sitting out in the rain and mud without food for the past week are going to be envious of the guys who get to sleep in a house, but their quarters weren’t the most comfortable either. Aides-de-camp were probably the most connected out of the disconnected officers, if that makes sense. They weren’t fraternizing with the enlisted, but they were seen by them more frequently than the generals, and they were the ones advocating for the needs of the enlisted men. Even if they didn’t have any battle experience whatsoever (which really was never the case, i cant think of an aide who WOULDNT have seen battle), they would still be respected by the men as hardworkers and the only people who might actually get them food and clothes.

Thank you for the ask! I really enjoyed researching it and my family had a great time joking about me hunched over my ipad reading through the national archives while we all watched jeopardy, misspelling like every other word because its hard to type on an ipad. Im going to try to be more active, so please feel free to send further questions! I forgot how cathartic research is for me so id be very happy to do more. I have one more ask in my inbox i’ll try to get done sometime in the next few days. Love yall!

[anxi04]

tim and bruce have an odd relationship to the rest of the family. they don’t act like father and son but it seems like they have a “deeper” bond than the others

bruce seems to take tim’s advice more seriously, bruce actually takes a break if tim tells him, tim still gets benched but not nearly as much as he should, and most confusingly, tim benched bruce once. not alfred benching bruce, TIM.

normally bruce has to be forced to take a break, and normally by alfred, but if tim says “you’re benched for a week” bruce? listens?

they have no idea why. some of them ask dick if he knows since he was there but he’s just as confused

and then despite all that there’s also such a strain between them? it’s really on the line of a professional relationship and almost a care taker. it’s very confusing. and then the times bruce gives tim a present or anything like that and tim stops and stares at him for a second, like he’s dissecting bruce. no one is able to fully figure it. until bruce is de-aged to tim’s robin era.

tim is very adamant about most of them, but especially jason and damian, do not reveal their names to him. for the time being they have a strictly professional relationship with their father who doesn’t know them.

they finally get some of the picture when they see tim start acting as bruce’s caretaker. tim switches between being gentle “hey, you need to sleep” to screaming at bruce. it always works. tim knows exactly which version bruce needs and it scares the team cause that has to require some practice

they’re then also thrown for a loop when they hear bruce call out jason’s name in a shocked voice, which makes sense cause he doesn’t know jason is alive but jason still has his helmet on so what? and then they hear a voice none of them have heard. except dick goes pale and jason’s breath hitches. and suddenly tim is responding to jason’s name and acting weird, almost like what some of dicks stories described jason as. and it’s so fucked up when they’re watching time act like someone else and bruce going along with it

the dynamic they’re getting is also fucked up once again when, during one of bruce’s really bad days, tim straight up acts like bruce’s parent. and bruce reacts well.

they’re all horrified by this. the realization that tim and bruce’s relationship has so many layers and that they do act like father and son sometimes. except bruce isn’t the father and tim isn’t the son

[rozugold]

Tommy but he’s a bit older :]

[zvmz]

Making ratatouille rn 👩🏼‍🍳🐀

[little-shop-of-urinetown]

Guys I had this idea and I had to draw it.

I love my little blorbos so much.

[randomness-is-my-order]

the thing about jiang cheng’s relationship with jin ling is that it is not the sugar-coated caretaking film which people wish to see it through and this is besides the fact that jiang cheng was physically abusive towards jin ling. jc was not interested in imparting good values to jin ling or partaking in his upbringing in any meaningful manner. what he taught jin ling was violence and anger and his own abrasive and entitled world views. he exposed jin ling to his treatment of demonic cultivators for a substantial enough time for jin ling to have been desensitised to it in some capacity. his lessons to jin ling were about being indiscriminately ruthless to anyone who he perceived to practice demonic cultivation. jiang cheng wasn’t “raising” jin ling to be a good, upstanding individual but moulding him with his worst impulses and never once reflecting over what that meant for jin ling and his future. people citing jiang cheng’s displays of overprotectiveness (which themselves are a detriment to jin ling’s progress) as proof of jiang cheng being this caring, kind uncle is an oversight of how utterly careless jiang cheng is with jin ling. jiang cheng wielded his influence over his nephew quite callously and he did jin ling damage by trying to make him another wheel in his vehicle of violence and that is unrefutable.

[jamandjazz]

My formal apology for the forgetting what Two Bit looked like when I was doing speed draws @jasmine145946 😔

[winn-wynn]

If Hogwarts used Emails

From: Percy Weasley <percy.weasley@s.hogwarts.edu>

To: Filius Flitwick <filius.flitwick@hogwarts.edu>

Subject: CHARMS-ASGMNT 3

Dear Prof. Flitwick,

I hope this message finds you well. I am currently working on assignment 3, which is about the history of Weathering-Modifying Charms and whether or not they should be regulated. I also remember you writing down mobilicorpus, which is the spell for moving bodies of those who found themselves unable to walk. I was wondering if you meant mobiliarbus, which the spell to move plants and trees, which is closer to the subject?

I would greatly appreciate any guidance or suggestions you have to offer.

Thank you and have a great night!

Percy Weasley

W8008569

From: Filius Flitwick <filius.flitwick@s.hogwarts.edu>

To: Percy Weasley <percy.weasley@s.hogwarts.edu>

Subject: Re: CHARMS-ASGMNT 3

whoops typo yeah it's supposed to be mobiliarbus

-Flitwick

Sent from my iPhone

[faerygardenparty]

also I apologize for my doomerism but I’m getting real sick of seeing “you survived through last trump election you can survive this one!” posts because motherfucker thousands of people did not survive and it’s privileged as hell to be able to say as much

[melodiousoblivionao3]

As I was worried about, there’s the first report of racism/transphobia from ‘fans’ directed at Banda for the season coming out of Gotham yesterday.

If you’re at a game and you hear this, a lot of stadiums/teams have text lines you can use to report the behavior as it’s happening. You can also approach security. I would also probably go straight for finding a team staff member, and additionally getting in touch with the team after (extra helpful if you have a ticket rep).

Get in touch with your team’s fan group, ask them what they’re doing to be proactive about this. Be prepared yourself, if it is safe to do so, to combat this narrative in person.

[hannahhasafact]

Hey hi hello I didn’t take any good pictures of it but please appreciate my Imelda Pulse cosplay that I spent a lot of time on okay thanks

[isthataraccoon]

first time reading kotlc and just got to this part:

absolutely no hate to fitzphie at all (seriously. none.) but alden, babe, they’re fifteen?? stop acting like this is set in stone because it’s absolutely not?? high school relationships rarely ever last and they also haven’t even started dating yet so literally anything could happen.like guilt tripping a teenage boy into not confessing his crush on a friend because she may potentially get into a relationship with your son is soo icky

[ask-the-colony-tree-siblings]

For Enot

Why do other slugcats find your markings strange? I find them quite charming and interesting

Inv: Well… technically no Slugcat has ever told me that my appearance is strange, but… 

Inv: But…

Young Inv: Maybe I’ll run away! I can find some Slugcat parents who will want me, and I’ll never have to see you again!

Iterator: Oh, Inverted.

Iterator: You will never be accepted as one of your kind.

Iterator: You think other Slugcats will welcome you into their colonies? You are not like them. They will see you as nothing but a freak. They will drive you out, or, more likely, kill you in disgust and fear. 

Young Inv: B-But-

Iterator: And they will hate my little Saint even more.

Iterator: Would you leave them behind, or take them to be slaughtered alongside you? 

Iterator: Whine as you might, you are better off here, with me. I could banish you from my can, but I am choosing to keep you and my little Saint safe. 

Iterator: Nobody else would ever want you. 

Inv: …

Inv: Thanks for saying you think my markings look cool!

Oooookaaaayyyyy, that got a lil darker then intended lol. Inv flashback time, yay!

Yeah, Inv and Saint haven’t actually been told by Slugcats that their appearances make them freaks, it was their creator. Their creator is… not a very nice Iterator, let alone parent.

[chirpsythismorning]

“Mike said his life started the day he found El in the woods, which was technically the following night. What he said had nothing to do with offending Will because he went missing the day before.”

[riacte]

being a fan of false/ren/both atm is kinda weird and surreal in these times because you have to carefully tread around in your mind to avoid thinking about upsetting things (which consist of like 50% of the total stuff in your head) and you have to rewire your longtime neural pathways but it’s necessary and doable lol

[hanafubukki]

I know I shouldn’t be surprised but I am lol

Been seeing two spectrum of opinions when it comes to Dawn Armor Silver??

The people who love it like me.

And the people who hate it.

And of course everyone is allowed their opinions and reservations, etc.

But I think some are jumping the gun a bit.

We haven’t seen the preview of the outfit for a reason and I can understand why some does not want Silver in KOD armor.

But we don’t know how it looks?? Or the colors?? Or the symbols on it? 🤔🤔

Personally I don’t mind if Silver is wearing KOD armor or some variation of it or a new style etc. I’ll love it either way. (He’s pulled of the look wonderfully in his platinum and fairy gala cards)

[and story wise, wether it is KOD armor or a variation, it has so many plot and symbolisms to explore]

Everyone who got book 7 card had new outfits/forms we haven’t seen before and I expect the same from Silver’s card. 💞💞💞

And let’s see how the story goes, I have my own feelings about the directions and certain details, and how it might head but it’s a mobile game and it can only do so much. Besides, it’s their story to tell however they want it.

And the fun part of fandom is, we can make our own lore and theories that canon doesn’t give us.

Besides, there’s always the light novel or magical archives 3 they’ll eventually release too.

And if that is not satisfactory? Then that’s what fandom is for after all. To fill in the gaps and explore and enjoy what you like about the story and make your own versions and what ifs. It’s what makes it fun. 🥰🥰

I just wanted to show some positivity for silver’s new card. I keep seeing negativity but wanted to show some love and thoughts on it 💞💞💞