#there was a lot of intellectual freedom as long as you learned how to spin / be strategic when you had deeply conservative judges

[tam--lin]

Apparently the speech and debate league I was deeply involved with in highschool is featured in Shiny Happy People and no one except my mother thought this was worth mentioning!!!

[honestlyvan]

@rhpurasu replied to your post: Not to be openly bitter or anything, but I keep...

Yeah, yeah, like KO would do it with the intent of pissing Wheels off but it wouldn’t really work in the way KO intended, because they’re pretty securely married and all and yeah, they feel p sorry for KO because of BD. And shit heck yeah actually? If KO AND BD had joined the Autobutts, that’d be a really obvious parallel of big crushy husband and mouthy racer husband!

Ok but I wanna comment on this separately b/c I keep thinking about this, and I keep finding more parallels between the Wreckers and KOBD and I can’t believe that most of this probably wasn’t intentional, since despite never having interactions that would make this apparent, they are such neat dark mirrors for each other.

From his introduction onward, Knockout is always thinking about the situation image first -- not just through vanity, his defining characteristic, but also in how he integrates himself into the Decepticon power struggle despite really having no reason to be interested in it. His interactions with his team are also defined by how his attitudes change to take advantage of the situation -- approaching Starscream as a Fellow Schemer, and Megatron as a simpering lackey b/c hey lol works for Starscream

Wheeljack, in contrast, gets introduced literally in the middle of an action beat that we learn he landed in because he is pursuing some own agenda of his we don’t get a sense of until much later. His introductory episode also has him straight-up saving himself from the trouble he got into, further defining him through his agency and doing a good job validating the “no team but me” attitude he starts out with.

Congeniality vs independence. Social integration vs freedom of action.

Next, I mentioned before that both of them have useful secondary skills -- and indeed, Knockout being a Medic Of Dubious Expertise (who is nonetheless never shown to be anything but capable) is what gives him a foot in the door with the Decepticons. But that’s the thing, isn’t it, he’s a bit of a medic who does nothing, focusing on getting in on the power struggle instead. No sign of focusing on the action in sight.

There’s also an element of objectification to his status as a member of the team, which I always thought put a bit of an interesting spin on him deciding to start showboating and not stick to just Doing The Job They Brought Him In For. You could easily read some slighted ego into the idea that he’s just the medic, y’know?

Wheeljack (even without being aware of his status as a legacy character and all that implies) is also established to have a bunch of useful secondary skills. He’s a pilot, he’s got the same specops background as Bulkhead and his proficiency in engineering exists in the subtext. Also, his nominal foil in the team is Ratchet, who is the resident Smart Guy, and they’re presented at being at odds largely because they’re intellectual equals who just Can’t Fucking Agree On Anything.

And Team Prime would love to have him for reasons that have nothing to do with that! And they aren’t cagey about wanting him on the team, and Wheeljack never even questions it, it’s just that he has shit to do and a terrible tendency towards the aforementioned “no team but me” thinking. The little bit of an arc he gets is all about going from that to “okay, no team but me and Bulk”, to “okay, maybe team” before he’s hit with a crisis and has to deal with that offscreen.

And then you finally have their partner dynamic. Knockout and Breakdown are joined at the hip, but their actual relationship is always left sort of vague and Knockout doesn’t let anything slip about how he feels about Breakdown’s death. Wheeljack and Bulkhead get limited interactions, with all of them belabouring the point about how much they mean to each other, and we get to see in glorious real time Wheeljack freaking the fuck out when something happens to Bulkhead.

Like, wow, though. And I know there’s definitely more, it just took me so long to type all of that out I forgot half the shit that was going on in my head while I was typing it. Like, I don’t even need to get into all the ways the parallels between Bulkhead and Breakdown complement this, or how the team dynamics for them also end up mirroring each other (and would do so way more if Wheeljack had been in the main cast). It feels like someone made a challenge out of taking two characters with lots of surface similarities and then making them diverge as hard as possible, and it’s kind of beautiful.

[tales-of-cs]

My Sister The SysAdmin

Growing up with my older sister Jaden, I never had to wonder where she was in the house or what she was doing, because she was always in her room, under her loft bed, on her laptop. My father had loaned my sister and I each a spare from his office, and I swear it was like Jaden would be damned if she didn’t use it for all it had left. She was an avid fan of computer games, but would also take time to really understand the machine she was using. As a little kid, whenever I would run into a problem with my laptop, she would be able to fix it with what I could only assume was wizardry. (In reality, it was probably as simple as toggling a single setting that I had accidentally flipped.) Eventually, she would teach me how to troubleshoot issues myself, and the satisfaction of being able to solve a problem on my own was in part what got me into CS (Computer Science) myself.

Eventually Jaden’s interest in computers flourished into her starting a career in IT (Information Technology). Recently I took the time to sit down with her to have a chat about her experiences in the IT field. Jaden, 24, is currently right between jobs right now, about to start her very first day at a new company this Monday. Formerly a Systems Administrator at New Hampshire based digital marketing company Silvertech, she has decided to move into an Associate Consulting Engineer role at CDW, an Illinois-based worldwide provider of software, hardware, and IT services.

What careers did you want to pursue when you were younger?

Well, as you know, I used to use Gimp to edit photos when I was in middle school, at the time I was considering being a graphic designer. I had a brief period where I wanted to be a dermatologist as well, and as I got to college age I had wanted to be a software developer.

You started at UNH majoring in CS, how did you decide to major in that, and then what made you switch to IT?

I joined the CS program because I really enjoyed my Java programming class in high school. I decided to switch to IT because the CS/IT majors take a lot of the same classes during the first two years and I liked the IT classes much more than the CS classes. I gravitated towards computer networking and introductory web development and was bored by the topics covered in my programming classes. They can definitely be painfully boring.

Did you get along well with classmates? What can you say about the IT “crowd”?

I got along well with my classmates and found that the IT crowd is very “down to earth” and everyone is willing to help each other out. It didn’t feel ultra competitive like I’m sure other majors are.

No antisocial sweaty geeks?

Oh you know that those guys are inevitable. Few and far between, though. For the most part everyone was very outgoing.

What other job experiences have you had, what were the best and worst parts of those?

My first real IT job was as an Engineering Tools/IT Intern with BAE Systems [international defense, aerospace and security company.] My duties included remotely installing software for the Engineering team and creating software deployment packages so that colleagues could download their necessary software from a catalog if the software permitted it. I liked the job overall and got a feel for working at a large, international company. My least favorite aspect was that there was a good amount of downtime and as an intern, I had very restricted access to BAE’s systems so I often had to ask for additional work.

During my junior year of college, I worked as an IT helpdesk person for an Intellectual Property law firm called Finch & Maloney. The best part of the job was the freedom to tackle a larger variety of tasks — setting up new laptops, maintaining server backups, working on a new website for the company, maintaining Active Directory and Microsoft 365.

What has kept you going in every day, what’s the best thing about your job?

The best part of my job is that there is always something else to learn and something I can work on that will improve the company’s productivity — automating a process using scripting, creating documentation, researching new tools.

Is it difficult to keep up with the ever changing technology?

It can be, but that is more of a blessing in disguise in that a lot of the changes make our lives easier.

What does a typical day look like?

Handling tickets as they come in — requests from developers to restore databases/files between development environments, answering questions from colleagues about our hosting environment, patching and maintaining the hosting environment in Azure & AWS [Amazon Web Services], maintaining security certificates, spinning up new servers, or serverless architectures for upcoming client website launches.

Do you ever have to work with difficult people?

I think that’s one of the few guarantees, no matter what industry you work in. In general, expressing sympathy for the person’s situation — you know, stress, tight deadlines, that kind of thing — goes a long way when someone is being difficult.

What's the dumbest ticket you’ve ever received?

Oh gosh. Back when I was working at the internal IT helpdesk, we had someone reach out because her desktop wasn’t working and it had actually just been powered off. Brilliant.

Have you ever experienced challenges in the workplace, as a woman in a male dominated field?

Definitely, but never in a really overt way… I often wonder if clients question my credibility when they first interact with me on a conference call.

How important is company culture to you?

It is highly important to me and one of the main reasons I stayed with SilverTech for as long as I did. I think it’s great when you have a company composed of people who are passionate about what they do but don’t take themselves too seriously — there wasn’t anybody who was “off limits” when it came to friendly mockery or jokes. Everyone had a great attitude and tried to create a fun atmosphere.

Do you have a good work-life balance, is it easy to find time for hobbies?

This was one of the reasons I left my job at SilverTech — we have been understaffed in the hosting side of IT so it felt like I had to be available at the drop of a hat all of the time. That was a source of stress for me and will hopefully see an improvement at CDW.

You mentioned you’re moving to a new job very soon, tell me about that.

I decided to pursue this new career because I would like to shift to more project work and work directly with clients in a capacity that is more than the website pre-launch and launch meetings at the very end of the project. During the training process for the position with CDW, I will also receive certifications such as Security that I’d already been looking at getting but wasn’t able to pursue due to budget.

Where do you hope to see your career going? 

I see myself staying in more of a consulting role than traditional Systems Administrator. Maybe pursue becoming a manager in a few years.

[crystallinerays]

Give me everything about Desh. EVERYTHING. ALL OF THE NUMBERS. And then give me a character to do as well.

Well, i just came home from target with microwave pizza and a bottle of wine and I can’t think of better circumstances to talk about my favorite dumpster baby so here we go!

1. What is one thing others might find intolerable about them?

Other than their ridiculous upbeat attitude and kleptomaniac tendencies?

Maybe the fact that they leave their stuff everywhere. Come home from a mission and there’s armor strewn about the living room and kitchen and the stairs. A left on the bathroom sink, quiver of holding dangling off a door knob. One boot is in the front hallway and another is just chilling kicked off in her doorway. There are personal notes everywhere in a stupid variety of languages just left on any surface.

Like at first moving in with Desh seems find. They seem all neat and organized, but that’s because they didn’t own anything yet. Now, they’re really messy to live with, okay. There’s a method in the madness hidden deep in it, but like way deep.

(Desh’s room is fucking meticulous btw, it’s just all the shared spaces that they keep leaving their shit in. They want to make it super obvious that they live there, this is their house, and they’re comfortably not going anywhere.)

2. Do they have any annoying quirks? If so, what are they?

Does fidgeting count? Desh cannot stay still to save their life. Drumming fingers, tapping feet, taking off jewelry and fiddling with it (Desh wears a shit ton of rings like i do for just this purpose), spinning arrows, fucking around with knives, pacing.

Please imagine a Silver Council meeting where everyone is sitting down around a table and Desh is stalking  the perimeter of the room very seriously twirling a knife. It’s unnerving as fuck, but considering the current high stress situation it’s the only thing that really helps them pay attention.

that’s a quirk, right?

3. Name one or more of their bad habits.

Knives

Okay, I think we all know this kid is like the living personification of bad ideas being the only ideas. But honestly? Being an impulsive mother fuck.

4. Any addictions? (Food, sex, drugs/alcohol, shopping, power/control, etc.)

Sorta??? They’re a former drug addict. (And not just because some ghosts gave Desh and Thul opium addictions waaaaaay back when.)

I like to think when Desh and their brother were sold into slavery getting them hooked on opium or something was a good way of keeping them compliant and less likely to try and run away. They were cured of this once they were liberated (remove disease), but Desh did relapse for a while after witnessing Pezzack burn. They were a scared fucking nineteen year old kid fell in with the wrong crowd, okay? They left that behind and have been clean for a few years but like that was a thing that happened.

(all those nat 20s i rolled to cure their phantom addiction? maybe her Cayden taking mercy on her and being like “you’ve been through this enough, kid”)

5. What is one thing they do that can negatively affect their relationship with friends?

Well, they are rash and impulsive  and emotional and honestly doesn’t give a shit about hurting people’s feeling if what they think what they’re doing is Right, BUT I’m gonna say a bad habit of withholding information on this one.

Desh doesn’t like lying and believes in honesty above all things (and she’s the group’s spymaster. it’s impractical and a bit hypocritical yes I know), but she’s 100% behind not telling the full truth and withholding information to those she doesn’t think need to know it.

Like she’s not going to forwardly talk about her history and her wants and needs or why exactly Yewon bothers her (they don’t actually hate him it’s just... complicated? we haven’t quite unpacked that box yet, but it mostly has to do with his skill at lying and ability to easily manipulate and control people). But these are things they need everyone to know and might cause problems later on because they’ll interpret it as no one caring about them beyond their usefulness which is Bad™

6. Their romantic relationships?

I thought this was supposed to be about character flaws? This isn’t a flaw. Desh honestly considers meeting Ellia to be the single best thing that has happened to them since arriving in this hell hole of a fucking city. (Do not say this too loud around Reprisal or the bow I’m still trying to come up with a cool name for or the HOLY TANKARK OF INFINITE ALCOHOL.)

Fuck man, there’s someone who actually cares about them and like set them down to help them write an actual legal will. That’s probably the only legal document that Desh has relating to themself that wasn’t forged tbh. Like fuck I’m kinda tearing up just thinking about how much that would mean to them. How much Ellia means to them.

Desh fully intended to burn the whole city down if they had to back when dealing with Jill’s fucked up family and Ellia went missing. Like they would have done literally anything to ensure her safety or to exact vengeance and I just

And the stupid fucking pirate joke was so silly and pure like that honestly caught us both off guard.

But like she’s the only one who has asked Desh more than one personal question about themself and I am almost 100% certain that Desh would be completely and honestly open about her past and her family and her insecurities and everything with her. Like Desh communication is super fucking important in any relationship, but even more so to Desh and the fact that there is someone who cares. There’s no walls, no matter how stupid that might be.

Desh loves her. Like honestly loves her.

7. What is the biggest mistake they’ve ever made?

Going to Kintargo in the first place

Taking point on what they were fully aware of being an ambush and getting themself surrounded and then killed.

8. What mistake(s) do they continue to make/have not learned from?

It would be easier to list mistakes they have learned from tbh. Here’s one: don’t shoot at the faces of your teammates no matter how dope it might look.

9. Name some of their major physical shortcomings.

They can’t whistle or snap their fingers.

That’s the story and I’m sticking to it.

10. Some of their emotional shortcomings?

[takes a looooooooong drink]

boy howdy

They’re 24 years old and have heavy abandonment issues, lack a self worth outside of a price sticker slapped on them at an auction block (”463 gold for the pair”), depression, anxiety, ptsd. They never learned how to properly cope with most things. They’re fucking scared and constantly overwhelmed and nothing makes sense anymore. They never really got to be a kid and they’re kind of a total mess as an adult because of it.

11. What are their intellectual shortcomings?

That’s a bit harder to nail down??? Because something they’ve devoted their life and freedom to has been collecting knowledge. They’re fluent in 14 languages and know a lot of stuff about various entities they they might encounter in a fight. And they can probably tell you every myth and folklore from Rahadoum and Chelliax about dragons.

But honestly? People skills. They can sometimes be a bit of an awkward duck around people they’re not familiar with or in situations where they’re caught off guard.

12. At least one thing that they tend to overreact to.

SPIDERS

DESH DOES NOT LIKE SPIDERS

13. In what ways might they be overly negative and/or pessimistic?

One of the first things that y’all still ride me for is checking a cooking pot in Luculla’s house for the remains of children.

They were adamant about Thrune using his gifts to track the group’s movements.

As funny as Desh can be, her serious moments are very real and present and fucked up.

14. Is there anything they are too optimistic about?

[laughs for a solid fifteen minutes] Not anymore!

Their relationship probably. The whole rebellion not blowing up in smoke. Ending slavery in the region once it’s been liberated with no significant blow back. Being able to settle down and become a well adjusted person some day.

15. How might they be ignorant or prejudiced?

They have a problem with the word “evil”. Like everyone who is Evil is Bad. But like Ellia is Lawful Evil (last time I checked) and she’s not bad. She’s a good girlfriend and it was really complicated for a while but I think she’s kinda learning that sometimes people are just the alignment of their country by default and not Bad.

Or maybe it’s just Ellia. Probably just Ellia. She’s a beautiful outlier who should not have been counted.

16. Do they have any behaviors and/or beliefs that cannot be adequately justified?

I try and justify everything they do... I would have said their fear of spiders but... well... you kind of had a spider creature bite her face off so...

17. When would they be too judgmental of someone or something?

That time they fucking destroyed the imp.

When their first thought upon finding out that both Ellia and Luculla were missing was “Luculla’s behind this and I’m going to fucking skin her alive. She didn’t deserve me saving her life.”

18. Are they ever a pushover about something? If so, how?

She can go with the group’s mindset about most things like she doesn’t entirely give a fuck what they’re going to do as long as they can set up a decent groundwork for a plan first and no one innocent is being harmed outright.

19. Is there anything they refuse to budge on? What are they stubborn about?

Their stance on lying, control/manipulation, and slavery. That stance will never change. Ever.

But in general, once they’ve made up their mind about something they’re going to be stubborn af about it.

20. What is a self-inflicted misery of theirs? (i.e. something they perpetuate themselves)

Ooooooooooooh boy

Just read through this again. I’ve probably mentioned several.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

WHY STARTUP INVESTING TRENDS

They're as expert in their world as you are in big trouble. Another was that startups had to rely mostly on examples in books. I grew up, so long as you want to talk to the other. If you're content to develop new technology as fast as startups, the more completely a project can mutate. The third big lesson we can learn from them again as one might when rereading a book. That will require some diplomacy if you follow the trail wherever it leads, found themselves switching to Intel boxes. But when people are bad at understanding. Few would be willing to look under rocks as a kid you're sitting on the shoulders of someone else who's treading water, and that email has to be some material even in fast food.

Part of the reason it happens is that you can focus on different plans when talking to a VC firm, you shouldn't be discouraged by the comparatively corrupt test of college admissions, because it's easier to imagine Apple as the dictator on the screen; use simple, germanic words; learn to distinguish surprises from digressions; learn to recognize the approach of an ending, and when you're not in the trivial sense that the higher you go the fewer instances you find. Some, like Ron Conway, say it's the people—that the idea of versions just doesn't naturally fit onto Web-based application that Microsoft ends up with, just as they do in the application process is to weed out the people it should select by making them to do, you'll have less competition, like software for human resources departments. I think the effect of growth than the cause. Near the top is the company run by techno-weenies who are obsessed with control, and they can't judge those just from meeting you. If the startup can't raise the rest, including me, actually like debugging. Microcomputers are a classic example. One technique you can use any language you want, but not the best way to get rich, you have more freedom of choice.

We compete more with employers than VCs. When does it have to be careful not to get their hopes up is not to say you have to be willing to look under rocks. So they don't have sufficient flexibility to adapt to this. But don't get mad at us. When I think how hard can it be? Someone arguing against the tone of something he disagrees with may believe he's really saying something. The effects of World War II, they often don't get thrown away. The obvious solution is to add a delay before people can respond to a challenge from an adult in a way a question doesn't.

Now the frightening giant is Microsoft, and Yahoo can buy. Something was happening in Florence in 1200 as it is, right? When a startup does. My friend Robert learned a lot from things I've read on HN. So if our group of friends, and forget to be happy. But he went ahead and did it. They would just look like gibberish to someone who knew what the right direction, admit you have no idea. Which usually means that you want to make a record. It certainly describes what happened in finance too. Race you. 1%.

It was a theoretical exercise, an attempt to pander to the interests and limitations of humans. What difference did it make if other manufacturers could offer DOS too? Much recent history consists of spin. Suvs do it to seem manly, not to hurt the rich. I can't imagine telling Bill Gates at 19 that he should wait till he graduated to start a silicon valley, if they can find someone with a real product and real revenues, we might have done well. When there are just two or three to one would be drafted into some organization and then rise to positions of gradually increasing responsibility. 1/b nbad where word is the token whose probability we're calculating, good and bad. In phase 2, you have to install them later. Perhaps worst of all, probably, how McCarthy thought of it is what new things you can tell from aggregate evidence: you can't manage a process intended to produce beautiful things without knowing what you know intellectually to be right, even though they may not always be true. I need to be designed for human feet. There you're not concerned with truth.

Our plan was to get a lot of the spread of computing power was a precondition for the rise of new kind of candidate. But that's not the main reason Lisp isn't currently popular. We were told a lot of latent respect among the very top funds; the lamer ones still want to go out of their element in the valuation of the company if he'd let us have it. I've left the abandoned branch as a footnote. Part of what he called essais. We don't hear that any more now that Japanese companies are building cars in the US are more conservative than they're willing to be held to a standard that, say, physical appearance, charisma, or athletic ability. And the only thing sure to work on certain things.

[hawkofheart-archive]

Natal Chart Report - Birth Chart - JUNE 18TH 

This (( birth chart )) report shows the positions of the planets for Clint Barton.

The Sun represents vitality, a sense of individuality and outward-shining creative energy.

Sun in Gemini

With the Sun in Gemini, the urge for self-expression is strong. These natives are often just as interested in collecting information as they are in sharing it. Curious to a fault, Geminis have a finger in every pie. Solar Geminis are flexible and changeable people. Their ability to adapt quickly to new situations generally gains them plenty of friends and social contacts. Usually quite clever and witty, Geminis enjoy intellectual conversations and they are easily bored if they are not getting enough mental stimulation. Often quite adept at fitting in with others, Geminis easily adopt the moods of those around them. They are friends to people from all walks of life and are not easily intimidated. Their ability to detach themselves can make Geminis very objective and observant, but a little difficult to get close to. Although they often have many friends, intimacy doesn't come as easily to Solar Geminis. It can be difficult to know what Gemini really feels at any given moment. They are often very impressionable and scattered. There is usually a nervous air to Geminis that can make more personal characters a little uneasy. It is not always intuitive to trust Geminis to be loyal or to keep secrets. Geminis often flit about, moving quickly and keeping busy every step of the way. Many people with this position of the Sun have gained quite a bit of knowledge in their lifetimes, but they don't often possess specialized knowledge. This is because Geminis have relatively short attention spans. Restlessness is especially common with this position of the Sun. Usually quite affable, Geminis enjoy the "light" side of life. This tendency to take things lightly makes them quite pleasing to be around, but it can be maddening to people seeking support on the deeper issues in life. Geminis are both interesting and interested. Their wit can be dazzling and their changeability dizzying. At the very least, Geminis will seldom bore you. Short description: He is an opportunist. He can express himself easily and learns quickly. He is welcoming and gentle. He likes intellectual work and to travel. Weaknesses: a changeable and diffuse nature. Wastes energy by doing too many things. He lacks persistence in achieving set goals.

117 Conjunction Sun - Mercury

Because your ego and your mind are aligned, you possess much mental energy. You are always in a position to think about what you want, and in many ways, this is an interruption of the will. You are highly intelligent with a great drive to communicate with others. You invest a lot of pride in your intellectual capacities. You may not always listen as well as you speak, however! You might be too busy thinking about what to say next. But you are very curious and although you enjoy expressing yourself, you usually don't dominate conversations completely. As far as studying or learning goes, you are better off reading the material than listening to a teacher. These traits come from a strong need to take an active role in communications. It is very hard for you to passively listen and absorb information. Your opinions are usually strong and you are an independent thinker. You tend to be proud of your opinions and thoughts, and might easily get a bruised ego if you are not "heard", if your opinions are pushed aside or ignored, or if your opinions are criticized. You are expressive and possibly a very animated speaker. You are also very witty and others enjoy your playful and sometimes mischievous sense of humor.

-102 Square Sun - Mars

You possess an unmistakable competitiveness and a "me-first" attitude. The fighter persona is most apparent in youth when the child is described as a "bundle of energy", or it is remarked that he or she "can't sit still". The abundant energy generated by this aspect is hard to direct in childhood. Later in life, ideally, those with these aspects have learned to channel some of their excess energy into productive avenues--perhaps through career, sports, or any area where competitiveness is considered an asset. Nevertheless, you can meet up with more than your share of conflict, and you can sometimes rub people the wrong way. You are very motivated to get things done, to take action rather than simply talk about something, and to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible. Those who know you quite well might describe you as hot-headed and temperamental at times. You are easily frustrated, and you give into impulsive actions. If the aspect is found in cardinal signs, it gives impulsiveness and a short temper. If the aspect is found in fixed signs, the natives can be very hard-headed and willful. If it's in mutable signs, it gives a restless and frustrated impatience. Essentially, you have faced conflict and are not particularly afraid of it. You have faced having your need to assert yourself blocked. Your parents may have done as much as they could to "tame" what they felt to be excess energy or aggression. In other words, you know all about conflict and blockages, so that when you are faced with a challenge or a roadblock, you don't run away from it or hide under the covers feeling sorry for yourself. You meet challenges head-on.

Moon in Aquarius

The Moon represents the emotional responses, unconscious predestination, and the self-image.

Moon in Aquarius people are extremely observant. They are lifetime students of human nature, loving to analyze why people do what they do. This often stems from a detached--even shy--personality, especially in youth. Whether due to character or conditioning, Moon in Aquarius people often grow up feeling "different". Although rather sociable, they are often loners at heart. Many have strong egos or at least powerful defense mechanisms, and most Lunar Aquarians will do their best to be the most unique and unusual person they can be. Their inner feeling of loneliness--that they don't quite fit in--puts them on the outside, looking in. There is a very idealistic and progressive streak in Lunar Aquarians that is admirable indeed. However, when the Moon is in Aquarius, natives often will deny the more irrational qualities of emotions--such as jealousy, possessiveness, and fear--in an effort to be "above" what they consider "pettiness". When this goes too far, Lunar Aquarians can be emotionally blocked, distant, and detached. 

Lunar Aquarians can be very willful, especially in childhood. With age, these natives generally learn to handle their strong needs. Their desire for independence is powerful indeed, no matter what their age. With a quiet Sun and/or Ascendant, their desire to "shock" others is not always apparent until a relationship becomes comfortable. They are generally proud of their family members, boasting just how unique they are. When their families are ultra-conservative, the boost will be that they rebelled against all of that! Although given to temper tantrums and willful behavior in youth, Moon in Aquarius people often grow up feeling that messy emotions are unappealing. They often pride themselves for being cool-headed, detached, and "above" what they consider the more base emotions. In the process, they can end up alienating others--and themselves. Although Lunar Aquarians can be especially adept at understanding others' behavior and motivations, they can lose touch with their own--simply because they have identified too strongly with what they aspire to be (and these aspirations are often super-human). The Aquarian tendency to be humanitarian shows up powerfully in Moon in Aquarius. However, their kindness and concern for others are generally more a broad philosophy of life. With people close to them, Moon in Aquarius natives can seemingly lack compassion, as they often fully expect others to be as independent and detached as they are! In close, personal relationships, however, Lunar Aquarians generally give others a lot of personal freedom, and they will tolerate and enjoy all kinds of idiosyncrasies in people around them. Moon in Aquarius people are rarely flighty people, but they can be unreliable when it concerns the little things in life. Often, this is simply an assertion of their independence. In the long haul, however, they are rather constant, as Aquarius is a fixed sign. As long as they have their own space and the freedom to be themselves, however kooky that may be, they are trustworthy and loyal. Lunar Aquarians generally make wonderful friends. They'll make a point of leaving nobody on the outside. Many will fight for other's rights and crusade for equality. What may be surprising is that Moon in Aquarius people have a lot of pride. In fact, when they've been attacked in any way (especially regarding their character), they can become very inflexible and cool. It can be difficult to know just how sensitive to criticism Lunar Aquarians are, simply because they hide it so well! When their character or behavior has been criticized, they tend to dig in their heels and keep right on doing it. They fully expect others to accept them exactly as they are, or they don't have much use for them in their lives. These sometimes maddeningly unpredictable people are nevertheless quite charming. They have an unmistakable stubborn streak, but when left to be themselves, they make unusual and endlessly interesting people to be around. Life just wouldn't be the same without Lunar Aquarians' unusual spin on the world and the people in it!

Short Description: He is sociable, intelligent and lucid. Thanks to great sociability, he has many friends. He is modern, original, inventive, non-conformist and brings new life to everything he does. Weaknesses: he is eccentric, with sharp mood swings. Complex love life.

41 Trine Moon - Jupiter

He is generally pleasantly composed, due to an inner sense of harmony and emotional balance. He is optimistic--and realistically so, most of the time--which contributes to his overall "luck". He is able to get a real perspective on emotional matters that not only benefits his outlook, he is able to offer support to others when needed. Broad-mindedness is a wonderful characteristic. Quick to find humor in situations, he is generally warm and fun to be around. Deep down, he believes in the basic goodness of people and of life in general, and this basic and natural attitude helps him to attract positive circumstances and to make good connections. One of his best qualities is tolerance. Usually, he doesn't take life too seriously in the sense that he believes in having a bit of fun. His hunches are more often than not bang-on. He is frank, honest, optimistic and generous. He likes good cooking, his comforts. His friendships are sincere. He is a worker and knows how to surround himself with the right people: He is appreciated at work.

-106 Square Moon - Neptune

He lacks firmness, and can be a sucker for a sob story! He likes to live in a dream, in the world of imagination and can hope so much that reality checks can be brutal.

Mercury in Cancer

Mercury represents communication, Cartesian and logical spirit.

He communicates with feeling, endearing others with words. He is reflective and has one of the best memories around. He feels people out and is quick to pick up emotions and moods. He is discerning and is full of insight, is lucid, and thinks things through. He likes to please and to create a good impression. There can be a strong tendency to be influenced by those around him. 

29 Conjunction Mercury - Venus He looks on the bright side of life: he is gay, agreeable, optimistic, sociable. He likes to speak and write and does both with charm and artistry. His intellectual pleasures are influenced by his feelings. He is amorous and sensual. He likes beauty, the Arts but also traveling.

Venus in Cancer

Venus represents an interest for emotions and values, exchange and sharing with others.

Love for Venus in Cancer is best when it is committed and rather predictable. These people are sensitive in love, even if their Sun sign is the more playful and outgoing signs of Gemini or Leo. You may even say their egos are a little underdeveloped when it comes to love, but they have a lot to give in return: namely, security, comfort, and care. Venus in Cancer men and women show their love by caring for you. They pay more attention to your feelings than your words, and observe you rather carefully. They want a safe, solid relationship. They can be a little moody in love, and some go so far as giving silent treatments and engaging in pouting routines to get attention from their mate. They are turned off by anything impersonal, and too much rationalizing leaves them cold. They are not afraid of emotional confrontations (even if they have a Gemini Sun and appear flighty in other areas of life). Still, these lovers are always worried they'll be left high and dry. If you've hurt them, they'll have a hard time forgetting. Every so often, they'll retreat into themselves (not unlike a Crab), and it can be difficult to pull them out. This is when they use their extraordinary "nursing" abilities on themselves, instead of you...and you simply don't want that! Pleasing Venus in Cancer involves lots of snuggling and sentimentality. Recognize their attachments to their family and home. Help them to feel confident with you -- when they are fearful of being rejected, they can resort to some frustrating tactics to find out just how loved they are. Think about how a crab (the symbol of Cancer) moves towards its goal, and you will get a fair idea of Venus in Cancer's approach. Do your best to make them feel secure and cared for, and you will be rewarded with a patient, dependable, and loving mate.

82 Trine Venus - Saturn He has a good grasp of reality and of duty. He is thrifty, reserved and does not show off. He likes truth and justice. In love, his sentiments are sincere and deep, he never plays false. He is, of course, faithful in love and friendship. He can love a much older person and appreciates his intelligence and good sense. 40 Sextile Venus - Uranus Independent in love. His love life is rich, but possibly with passing love affairs. He tires quickly and is scared of losing his liberty. Traditional marriage may not be for him. He has that little something that attracts the opposite sex: he likes amorous adventures, he is romantic. He is the eternal lover and perhaps is unfaithful if he has a serious relationship. He likes art, anything new. The ability to get along with--and accept--people from all walks of life as friends is strong with this position. He can readily see through insincerity in others. In relationships, tolerance is the most important "ingredient" to him. His sexual preferences are somewhat unconventional, and he won't be happy with a partner who tries to limit his sexual expression. He is usually quite capable of maintaining relationships that require a great deal of freedom and tolerance, such as long-distance romances or set-ups in which partners are unable to see each other consistently. His style in love is somewhat free and breezy, and noncommittal. He quite naturally accepts the idea that his partner might need some personal space and freedom. 61 Trine Venus - Neptune His professional life is unstable. He has a taste for the Arts, is a dreamer, is easily influenced and romantic. He is emotional and very sensitive.

Romantic, creative, gentle, and adaptable, you naturally express the finer qualities of mysterious and dreamy Neptune in your love relationships. Your imagination is rich and your fantasy world well-developed. You are turned off by rudeness and crudeness and are drawn to beauty in its many forms. You are very giving and generous, but may be a little on the submissive side, or sometimes downright lazy, failing to take the initiative when situations call for it. 120 Sextile Venus - Pluto His emotional and sex life is powerful and rich. He lives out truly passionate love affairs.

Mars in Virgo

Mars represents the desire for action and physical energy.

These productive and busy people are goal-oriented, practical people. Although they can be a little scattered at times, simply because they are doing so many things at any give time, Mars in Virgo natives get things done--quite well! They have a knack for handling a wide variety of tasks at once, and a tendency to take on perhaps too much at the same time. Most Mars in Virgo natives are not particularly aggressive by nature. Although they can be a little hard-nosed and critical at times, they rarely resort to pushing others around. Still, an annoyed Mars in Virgo native can be difficult to be around! Arouse their anger and they turn into complaining, over-critical nags. Generally, these natives don't make themselves nuisances, so this stage is unlikely to last for very long. It is a sensitive position, however. It doesn't take much to make these people nervous.

Mars in Virgo people are quite protective about their "system" for getting things done. Although rather humble in a general life sense, they can be quite particular about their methods--how they organize and accomplish their goals, mostly with work. Theirs is a nervous energy. Although they have some staying power, they can be restless and are not given to sticking with the same projects for too long. These natives derive plenty of energy and life force from the things they do--their work, hobbies, and any kind of projects they take on. An idle Mars in Virgo native is a sorry sight, indeed. Fidgety, nervous, worried...all of these things are a sure sign that Mars in Virgo people have either too little to do, or far too much on their plates. There is a perfectionist at the heart of all people with this position. They'll be the first to deny this, but it's there! They worry when they are not producing anything, and they worry about whether what they've produced will measure up.

An earthy and sometimes nervous sexuality generally characterizes people with this position of Mars. In a sense, their performance in bed is similar to their work. These people want to be good at what they do. They will generally be open to experimentation if only to feed their curiosity and to feel savvy. There's often a shy and humble side to Mars in Virgo in any area that involves putting themselves out there and letting go (areas ruled by Mars). But experience and knowledge are important to these natives, and this drive generally wins over their natural reticence.

-24 Opposition Mars - Saturn

He is only interested in doing something if there are problems attached: once these are solved, he goes on to something else which has complications. He likes to overcome obstacles, is tough, does not have too many feelings, especially in business. He is egoistic, violent and stubborn. He does not always make friends.

Jupiter in Gemini

Jupiter represents expansion and grace.

He attracts good fortune when he uses his wit and ingeniousness, is versatile, sociable, curious, and puts others at ease with friendliness and sincere curiosity. Values the intellect and sees opportunities to grow and succeed through intellectual, verbal, and written channels. Believes that intelligence and knowledge are the keys to solving problems. -21 Square Jupiter - Saturn He is often indifferent to what goes on around him, is mistrustful and always unsatisfied. He is easily irritated. -37 Square Jupiter - Uranus He is too independent and his liberty is all-important. He lacks diplomacy, and his extravagance is shocking. He likes verbal battles and espouses extremist ideas in order to shock his companions. He has a number of internal tensions. -37 Square Jupiter - Pluto He might be tempted to exploit others. He is rarely satisfied with his achievements unless they are big. He is an opportunist.

Saturn in Pisces

Saturn represents contraction and effort. Misanthropic, with a sullen humor. He likes to live in solitude, in contemplation. Likes to work alone. -46 Opposition Saturn - Uranus He does not like routine, whether at work or in his emotional life. He fights to keep his independence, his freedom of action. He would gladly re-make the world. 56 Trine Saturn - Neptune His plans are realized in a methodical fashion, he works hard to achieve success. -63 Opposition Saturn - Pluto He is not open to others' ideas, especially if they are free-thinking. He is an egoist and has a narrow mind.

Uranus in Virgo

Uranus represents individual liberty, egoistic liberty.

Interested in new ways of doing a job.

116 Conjunction Uranus - Pluto He fights to improve his daily life, he is persevering.

Neptune in Scorpio

Neptune represents transcendental liberty, non-egoistic liberty.

14 Sextile Neptune - Pluto Willing to look beyond the superficial.

Pluto in Virgo

Pluto represents transformations, mutations, and elimination. 

Research and investigation come naturally.

HOUSES 

House I is the area of self-identity. The ascendant is a symbol of how one acts in life. It is the image of the personality as seen by others, and the attitude that one has towards life.

House II is the area of material security and values. It rules money and personal finances, sense of self-worth and basic values, personal possessions.

House III is the area of social and intellectual learning.

House IV is the area of a home, family, roots, and deep emotions/sense of self-worth.

House V is the area of creative self-expression, romance, entertainment, children, and gambling

House VI is the area of learning by material transaction.

House VII is the area of one-to-one relationships such as marriage and partnership, and of social and intellectual action.

House VIII is the area of emotional security and of security of the soul.

House IX is the area of learning that shapes the identity.

House X is the area of material action. The Mid-heaven represents the work one will do in his life, the place one will take in the world of society. It becomes more important as one grows older

House XI is the area of search for social and intellectual security.

House XII is the area of education and of emotion.

[11passed11]

I am written

Sun in Libra

Libra natives are generally thought to be sociable, somewhat intellectual souls. They have an almost innocent way about them that makes them very approachable. Generally quite eager to cooperate, Librans spend a lot of their time trying not to rock the boat.

In theory, Libras are peace-loving. In practice, they can quietly stir up all sorts of trouble with their ways. Because Libra enjoys balance in their lives, they seek the middle ground. In the process, they may end up trying to be everything to everyone. This is where their reputation for untruthfulness comes from. Generally, their untruths spring from a true desire for peace and fairness--although they may not be comfortable with direct and malicious trickery, they feel totally justified when they lie in order to avoid making waves. Peace at any price! In this sense, they seem harmless. But, what can result is quite a ruckus! People involved with Libras may crib about their lack of directness and their apparent inability to take a stand. Librans are experts at avoiding being the one to blame. When confronted, they'll (calmly and reasonably) say, "What, me? No, I just want peace." "On the fence", "middle ground", "middle road" -- these are all expressions that we can safely associate with Libra. Some more powerful signs may consider Libra a little on the weak side. This is all a matter of opinion, however! Without Libra, life simply wouldn't be as fair.

Librans are known for comparing and thinking in relative terms, instead of in absolutes. This weekend is not just a good weekend, it's better than last weekend. These people are always looking for the "best" way or the "right" way to live. Harmony is the ultimate goal, but their idealism and high expectations can mean plenty of discontent. Since life presents all of us with an extraordinary amount of choices, if Libra doesn't learn to live in the moment at least some of the time, they'll be in a constant state of unrest. Society needs rules, and these rules attempt to bring justice, equality, and fairness. On an individual level, Libra represents these laws of civilization. Libra comes across as very civilized and rather refined.

He has a great need to be part of a group. He likes to mix with people and looks for partnerships. He likes and respects justice. He approves of society's values. He is level-headed and assimilates quickly.

Weaknesses: does not think enough, he is frivolous. A dilettante in love. He is easily swayed by group pressure.Libra ascendant Taurus

Sun in VI

The work that you do, and the services that you offer, are very important to your sense of identity. In order to feel good about yourself, you need to be busy with daily activities and to produce work you can be proud of. Focus on finding a suitable and rewarding avenue for expressing this part of you, being extra careful to choose an occupation in which you can express yourself. You are sensitive to criticism about the work you do, and you work best when you can create your own schedule. Positive feedback for the services you render is important to you, but be careful not to over-identify with the appreciation you receive from others, as your work and your health suffers when you feel under-appreciated. Motivation to do a good job should come from within.

52 Sextile Sun - Mars

You are enterprising and have powerful stores of energy that you can draw upon when needed. You respond to problems or challenges with a spirited and enthusiastic confidence that is admirable. You are naturally competitive, and this trait is generally well-received by others simply because it is unforced, unaffected, and sincere. You truly believe in fair play, and you seem to be in love with life. When you are expressing competitiveness and courage, it's easy for others to smile and accept these traits as positive ones rather than being rubbed the wrong way. You have good physical vitality. Although competitive, you are not naturally combative. You may enjoy sports or games that are competitive, but not violent. Breaking the rules of a competitive game is particularly upsetting to you. You are more able than most to control your desires, aggressions, and instincts. You know how to be fair, and you expect others to be fair. As such, sneaky behaviors, uncontrolled impulses, violence, and rage are offensive to you.

The Moon represents the emotional responses, unconscious pre-destination, and the self-image.

Moon in Aquarius

Moon in Aquarius people are extremely observant. They are life-time students of human nature, loving to analyze why people do what they do. This often stems from a detached--even shy--personality, especially in youth. Whether due to character or conditioning, Moon in Aquarius people often grow up feeling "different". Although rather sociable, they are often loners at heart. Many have strong egos, or at least powerful defense mechanisms, and most Lunar Aquarians will do their best to be the most unique and unusual person they can be. Their inner feeling of loneliness--that they don't quite fit in--puts them on the outside, looking in. There is a very idealistic and progressive streak in Lunar Aquarians that is admirable indeed. However, when the Moon is in Aquarius, natives often will deny the more irrational qualities of emotions--such as jealousy, possessiveness, and fear--in an effort to be "above" what they consider "pettiness". When this goes too far, Lunar Aquarians can be emotionally blocked, distant, and detached.

Lunar Aquarians can be very willful, especially in childhood. With age, these natives generally learn to handle their strong needs. Their desire for independence is powerful indeed, no matter what their age. With a quiet Sun and/or Ascendant, their desire to "shock" others is not always apparent until a relationship becomes comfortable. They are generally proud of their family members, boasting just how unique they are. When their families are ultra-conservative, the boast will be that they rebelled against all of that!

Although given to temper tantrums and willful behavior in youth, Moon in Aquarius people often grow up feeling that messy emotions are unappealing. They often pride themselves for being cool-headed, detached, and "above" what they consider the more base emotions. In the process, they can end up alienating others--and themselves. Although Lunar Aquarians can be especially adept at understanding others' behavior and motivations, they can lose touch with their own--simply because they have identified too strongly with what they aspire to be (and these aspirations are often super-human). The Aquarian tendency to be humanitarian shows up powerfully in Moon in Aquarius. However, their kindness and concern for others is generally more a broad philosophy of life. With people close to them, Moon in Aquarius natives can seemingly lack compassion, as they often fully expect others to be as independent and detached as they are! In close, personal relationships, however, Lunar Aquarians generally give others a lot of personal freedom, and they will tolerate and enjoy all kinds of idiosyncrasies in people around them.

Moon in Aquarius people are rarely flighty people, but they can be unreliable when it concerns the little things in life. Often, this is simply an assertion of their independence. In the long haul, however, they are rather constant, as Aquarius is a fixed sign. As long as they have their own space and the freedom to be themselves, however kooky that may be, they are trustworthy and loyal. Lunar Aquarians generally make wonderful friends. They'll make a point of leaving nobody on the outside. Many will fight for other's rights and crusade for equality. What may be surprising is that Moon in Aquarius people have a lot of pride. In fact, when they've been attacked in any way (especially regarding their character), they can become very inflexible and cool. It can be difficult to know just how sensitive to criticism Lunar Aquarians are, simply because they hide it so well! When their character or behavior has been criticized, they tend to dig in their heels and keep right on doing it. They fully expect others to accept them exactly as they are, or they don't have much use for them in their lives. These sometimes maddeningly unpredictable people are nevertheless quite charming. They have an unmistakable stubborn streak, but when left to be themselves, they make unusual and endlessly interesting people to be around. Life just wouldn't be the same without Lunar Aquarians' unusual spin on the world and the people in it!

Short description:

He is sociable, intelligent and lucid. Thanks to great sociability, he has many friends. He is modern, original, inventive, non-conformist and brings new life to everything he does.

Weaknesses: he is eccentric, with sharp mood swings. Complex love life.

Moon in X

Changes of situation. He is frightened of getting old and tends to hark back to the past. Influenced by the father. Success often due to help from women.

This position of the Moon indicates an emotional need for recognition, popularity, acknowledgement, and achievement. You can be quite charismatic. You are at your emotional best when you lead a structured and responsible life, but it can take time to get there. You may change your goals and ambitions, and/or your profession frequently in an attempt to find the perfect fit. You may worry about living up to your image, or the expectations of your family. Decisions may be too emotionally biased, or you might act on emotional whims far too often. Learning to set your own heartfelt goals is the challenge here, as it is unlikely you will find true happiness if you follow or adopt the expectations of others, which you are especially sensitive to.

149 Trine Moon - Venus

You are generally amiable and project a soft and yielding manner. You possess natural charm and you are highly imaginative and sympathetic. You can make an excellent mediator and go-between. You are keenly aware of your need for relationships and for intimacy. You have a well-developed respect for qualities typically associated with the feminine. People appreciate you for your tender heart and friendly, diplomatic disposition. You should enjoy a good measure of personal popularity and success in your life. Although generally considered "lucky" with relationships and with money, this is less about luck than it is about a certain level of inner peace and positive energy that attracts pleasant situations. At times you can be complacent, downright lazy, and over-indulgent in the "pleasures" of life. However, you are a peace-maker at heart and have an unusual ability to help and heal others. You are gracious and warm.

-86 Square Moon - Uranus

He has a feverish, non-constructive restlessness. He is too susceptible. His life is full of change. He is irritable and stubborn at times due to an inner restlessness that is hard to satisfy. He has difficulty concentrating on a job. Nervous strain. His friendships are like his professional and love life - sometimes unstable. There is a strong need for closeness, but when people get too close, he gets cagey, as he values personal freedom just as much.

165 Sextile Moon - Neptune

Positive aspect: He is kind and sympathetic, with a strongly compassionate nature. When in love, he is usually very devoted. In fact, he is devoted by nature, not only in matters of the heart.

There is an unmistakably compassionate and understanding side to his nature. He has a natural affinity to music. While everyone enjoys music, people with Moon in harmonious aspect to Neptune respond to music as a vehicle to heal, relax, and to uplift the soul. Naturally perceptive, without even trying he tunes into the feelings of others, and the mood of his surroundings. There is a distinct emotional need to escape into the world of imagination, and to withdraw from others at times when he needs to re-center himself, largely because he tends to "take in" a lot of mixed energies from his surroundings. Strong and sudden "feelings" and hunches can overcome him. More often than not, his intuition is correct, although his imagination is also powerful and he can read too much into a situation as a result. Some laziness is associated with this position. This stems from a natural timidity and sensitivity that is apparent from youth. He may have been labeled "shy" in youth, and family members or friends may have jumped in to "save" him from situations that required boldness or aggressiveness. Thus, passivity was accepted and, as adults, he may be less experienced than most when it comes to reaching out or going after what he wants.

56 Trine Moon - Pluto

He wavers between a rich and successful domestic life and social success. He has difficulty in succeeding in both. Very perceptive and given to psychoanalyzing people. A strategist. Powerful emotions and intense feelings.

Mercury represents communication, Cartesian and logical spirit.

Mercury in Libra

Usually quite diplomatic and tactful, he evaluates and weighs things up endlessly, often to the point of indecisiveness. Of good judgment, he expresses himself clearly. Before coming to an opinion on a subject, he listens to the opinions offered by various people and can compare them before making up his own mind. Mental affinity in his relationships is paramount. He is good at compromising and always tries to put himself in others' shoes. Some mental laziness.

Mercury in VI

Medical profession. Serviceable and generous nature. Meets their soul sister at work, or (if not) through family contacts.

You are a person who thinks of all the details that others forget. Your mind is almost always turned "on" which can make you a little nervous. You are excellent at sorting things out, organizing, and making lists and associations. With your attention to the details and the mechanics, however, you might miss the bigger point! You are exceptionally helpful and others can count on you for making arrangements, researching, and offering advice. You truly love to feel useful. You might have some traits of a hypochondriac, as you notice all of the little aches and pains that others might overlook. Nervous tension could be at the root of many of your health complaints. Many of you are good at crafts, mechanics, or anything that requires good manual dexterity.

556 Conjunction Mercury - Venus

He looks on the bright side of life: he is gay, agreeable, optimistic, sociable. He likes to speak and write, and does both with charm and artistry. His intellectual pleasures are influenced by his feelings. He is amorous and sensual. He likes beauty, the Arts but also travelling.

59 Sextile Mercury - Neptune

He can put down in writing everything that his imagination and intuition dictates.

233 Conjunction Mercury - Pluto

He has a great sense of observation and quickly grasps the situation. He is crafty, subtle and critical.

Venus represents an interest for emotions and values, exchange and sharing with others.

Venus in Libra

Venus in Libra people will try to impress you with their kindness, evenhandedness, and willingness to make your relationship work. They have a polished manner in love, which sometimes makes them appear insincere or superficial. They are gentle lovers who hate to be offended. They are threatened by bad manners and direct or abrasive expression of feelings. They not only prefer to choose the middle road, they seek the middle ground in their relationships. You can expect to be treated fairly, and you may be turned on by Venus in Libra's willingness to concede and adjust their lives to fully accommodate you. Venus in Libra natives have idealized images of their relationships, even to the point where the relationship becomes bigger than life, taking on a life of its own. They can become quietly resentful if they feel they are being taken advantage of -- and they make it easy for more aggressive types to bully them around.

Pleasing Venus in Libra involves treating them kindly and fairly. They love to share everything with you, so let them. Foreplay for them can be mental -- they love to communicate with you about the relationship. Sharing turns them on, and tactless or uncouth behavior is a turn-off. Although they seem to put up with a lot, be fair with them. Over time, imbalance in their relationship is sure to make them unhappy, and when it comes to this, they may try to even the score in subtle, roundabout ways. Don't let it come to that, and you will be rewarded with a lover who puts themselves in your shoes and treats you exactly how they would like to be treated.

Venus in VI

He may be devoted to sick or poor people. Might work in a medical or social setting, where he meets their partner, who is a great help professionally.

Your expressions of love and affection are practical and helpful. Being of service to a partner is especially important to you. In fact, you might go to great lengths to be available at all costs to a loved one. While you may not be flowery or showy when it comes to expressing love, you show your love by your availability, rendering services, doing practical things for a loved one, and other thoughtful "little" things. Many of you are talented at design work, as you appreciate and pay much attention to all of the little parts that make up a whole, with the goal of finding order and harmony in these systems. If you are not careful, you might pass up on true love opportunities in favor of relationships that serve a practical purpose in your life, or out of fear that you might not find better. Selling yourself short may be something that keeps you from going after what and who you want.

252 Sextile Venus - Neptune

His professional life is unstable. He has a taste for the Arts, is a dreamer, is easily influenced and romantic. He is emotional and very sensitive.

Romantic, creative, gentle, and adaptable, you naturally express the finer qualities of mysterious and dreamy Neptune in your love relationships. Your imagination is rich and your fantasy world well-developed. You are turned off by rudeness and crudeness, and are drawn to beauty in its many forms. You are very giving and generous, but may be a little on the submissive side, or sometimes downright lazy, failing to take the initiative when situations call for it.

465 Conjunction Venus - Pluto

His emotional and sex life is powerful and rich. He lives out truly passionate love affairs.

Mars represents the desire for action and physical energy.

Mars in Leo

This is one of the more sexual positions of Mars. While they are rather easy to arouse, their passion is long-standing. Mars in Leo natives enjoy sex more than most, as long as heavy doses of love and romance are part of the package. In partnership, they demand loyalty and admiration. Impatient with small-mindedness and disloyalty, Mars in Leo natives generally have a strong idealistic streak. They easily get fired up when they feel they've been humiliated, and they defend their high principles with ardor. Mars in Leo natives act with their heart. Their ego is tied up with their actions, so that most anything they do becomes a source of great pride. Though some are self-righteous and quarrelsome, the more sophisticated people with this position are kindly leaders.

Mars in IV

Quick decisions, he has a lot of things on his plate and wants to climb the social ladder. He will succeed through phenomenal work-rate. Stormy family life, where his aggressiveness shows itself.

-54 Square Mars - Ascendant

He is quarrelsome, critical and violent. His success is obtained by dubious means.

Jupiter represents expansion and grace.

Jupiter in Virgo

He attracts the most good fortune when he is helpful, honest, orderly, and pays attention to details. The service industries, nutrition, and health are prosperous avenues. Practical and technical knowledge and skills are most valued. A real problem solver and others appreciate his help. Doesn't always feel lucky or especially ambitious. Rather, hard work is valued.

Jupiter in V

He likes games and distractions. He has passion which lights up his days. He is lucky in love, but also professionally, with pleasant working conditions and duties. He loves his children and gets much enjoyment from them.

16 Conjunction Jupiter - Lilith

He meets a partner much wealthier than himself but does not abuse this, as the partner might tire of him. Good sexual understanding.

3 Trine Jupiter - Ascendant

He likes meeting friends, around a good meal and in a cordial atmosphere. He is pleasant, jovial and engaging.

Saturn represents contraction and effort.

Saturn in Virgo

He likes order, harmony, method and balance. He can undertake long-term medical or scientific studies.

Weaknesses: he is intransigent, stubborn. Misuse of medicines, or asking for too much medicine.

Saturn in V

He likes method, calculation, concentration. He is not drawn towards amusements, or pleasure in general. He has few friends, but has deep and sincere feelings. He is serious in everything.

113 Sextile Saturn - Uranus

He knows how to be on top of the situation. He perseveres, is determined but ingenious and original. He is very practical. He proceeds slowly, but is always bound to achieve his objectives in the end.

-46 Square Saturn - Neptune

Living conditions are difficult for Uranus represents individual liberty, egoistic liberty.

Uranus in Scorpio

Intelligent and subtle. Adores research, inquiry, investigation. Very sensual.

Uranus in VII

His independence does not tolerate traditional marriage very well. If he does marry, he has little chance of finishing his days with the spouse, unless the partner gives him complete freedom.

You need a lot of freedom in your partnerships and do best in unconventional or nontraditional set-ups. You are likely to attract unusual, erratic people into your life, particularly in close relationships.

Neptune represents transcendental liberty, non-egoistic liberty.

Neptune in Sagittarius

Likes long voyages, things foreign, water.

Neptune in VIII

A strong imagination, not always good with money because he glosses over details and can be a bit sloppy with accounting. May have problems collecting inheritance and could encounter difficulties on a financial level through the marital partner. Is creative and imaginative sexually, and understands and accepts a wide range of styles and preferences in these matters.

53 Sextile Neptune - Pluto

Pluto represents transformations, mutations and elimination.

Pluto in Libra

Looks for new ways to relate to others.

House I is the area of self identity. The ascendant is a symbol of how one acts in life. It is the image of the personality as seen by others, and the attitude that one has towards life.

Libra ascendant Taurus

Ascendant In Taurus

Slow, steady, and capable are adjectives that we can safely attach to individuals born with a Taurus Ascendant. These natives have tremendous stamina and staying power. They're often quite loyal to those they care about. Although they generally don't come on strong, they have personal presence; and they fairly radiate stability. The sign on the Ascendant generally reveals how people start anything new. Taurus, by nature, is resistant to change. It can be difficult to sway Taurus rising natives--they're often rather stubborn and fixed in their ways. Their first responses are to feel things out, not in the way a Pisces might attune to their environment, but in the realm of the five senses. They have well-developed sense of smell and touch, and respond to the material world. Theirs is a practical approach to life. Security is one of their foremost considerations before undertaking anything new. Taurus rising natives are often quite cautious and careful. With a fixed sign on the Ascendant, they are not known for their flexibility. Rather, they possess determined single-mindedness. More than most, Taurus rising prefers the "good things" in life. Self-indulgence can be a weakness for many with this Ascendant. Often collectors in some way, Taurus rising natives place a lot of value on their material possessions.

Taurus rising individuals prefer to dress in quality clothes with a comfortable feel to them. They are rarely ostentatious in their presentation. Many have strong and sturdy physiques. Often rather possessive in partnership, these natives won't easily break up their relationships. Although they are not particularly jealous, they view their partners as their personal property. Intensity and loyalty are especially important to Taurus rising natives. These are highly sensual people who prefer the comforts that a one-to-one, stable partnership offers. Although Taurus rising individuals value harmony and calm, their partnerships may be on the passionate side. Taurus rising natives are often very comforting to be around. They have a stability about them that is soothing, and an inner harmony that is attractive.

House II is the area of material security and values. It rules money and personal finances, sense of self-worth and basic values, personal possessions.

House II in Gemini

Financial success will be acquired thanks to various activities, frequent changes, be it of the activity or the workplace. He is required to use his wits to amass money, which is not always easy. The house and sign placement of Mercury can show areas where he makes money.

House III is the area of social and intellectual learning.

House III in Gemini

He adapts well to any kind of change, and enthusiastically. He doesn't like monotony. Early family life was busy, and usually this position suggests a number of siblings. Work in communications or the media is possible. Writing talent is also probable. Reads and thinks a lot, but is not very focused. Has a lot of projects going at once.

House IV is the area of home, family, roots, and deep emotions/sense of self-worth.

House IV in Cancer

Reveres family life, children have a large place in his heart. Heis by nature calm, affectionate, delicate and tender. Values peace and calm in the home. Is nostalgic and collects things of sentimental value.

House V is the area of creative self-expression, romance, entertainment, children, and gambling.

House V in Leo

Can only love an honest, upright and intelligent person. Likes to admire his spouse. A sincere, stable and faithful love. Refined education.

House VI is the area of learning by material transaction.

House VI in Virgo

Jobs in the medical or paramedic fields suit him the best. Weak point: the nerves and intestines.

House VII is the area of one-to-one relationships such as marriage and partnership, and of social and intellectual action.

House VII in Scorpio

Passion, passion. Feverish and drunk with love. Hiccups, discussions, disputes in love.

House VIII is the area of emotional security and of security of the soul.

House VIII in Sagittarius

This can point to profit through an inheritance, or it may suggest that support is often there for you when needed most, and a partner is likely to be financially stable or supportive. However, you may not always be firm and accountable with matters ruled by the eighth, so watch for sloppiness or excess here. Sometimes points to end of life in a foreign land or on a journey abroad. Nevertheless this will happen after a long life. Usually, an easy end of life.

House IX is the area of learning that shapes the identity.

House IX in Sagittarius

Long voyages abroad. Might settle permanently in a foreign country. Intellectual work, mathematical mind.

House X is the area of material action. The Mid-heaven represents the work one will do in his life, the place one will take in the world of society. It becomes more important as one grows older

House X in Capricorn

Someone who is completely trusted at work. Respectable, irreproachable in his work and moral qualities, scrupulous and praiseworthy.

House XI is the area of search for social and intellectual security.

House XI in Aquarius

Likes to re-make the world with his friends. These discussions can last the whole night and, with the ideal world created, he can retire to bed.

House XII is the area of education and of emotion.

House XII in Pisces

Contradictions, and inner torments or harassments are possible. However, this is a good position for psychic awareness, helping others less fortunate.

So if you shall paint me that way, this should help.

[alamante]

Barcroft Media via Getty Images

Trump is not the destroyer of order and harmony, but the product of a corrupt and broken system.

President Donald Trump’s trade agenda is a corrupt, chaotic mess.

He made trade concessions to China after its government agreed to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a Trump-branded resort. He announced a modest trade enforcement action on steel and aluminum and declared it a “trade war” ― something both “good” and “easy to win.” He then shifted his sights in this combat from China to Canada without any apparent rationale. The president has even threatened Ecuador’s economy with crippling sanctions if its government offered public support for breastfeeding.

As with so many Trump debacles, his bluster creates an appearance of radicalism — a dramatic break with a stable and happy consensus. Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell has lamented that he is discarding more than 300 years of settled economic knowledge. Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman has been more modest, accusing Trump of jeopardizing a free trade system that dates back to former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

It’s easy to forget that just before Trump’s election, elite Washington was rethinking the approach to free trade and globalization that the United States had taken since the 1990s. Centrist think tanks held major conferences calling to restructure the U.S. relationship with China. Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren and even libertarian experts at the Cato Institute agreed there were serious problems with the way trade agreements were enforced.

Part of the trouble is that Trump is not pursuing a coherent and consistent trade strategy. On some matters, he’s hard to distinguish from Bill Clinton or Barack Obama, while on others, he does break with the recent past. But even here Trump is not the destroyer of order and harmony, but the product of a corrupt and broken system.

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To understand what’s going on and where it went wrong we need to start at the beginning. What economists are accustomed to describing as “free trade” or “globalization” has another, less flattering name: colonialism.

Comparative Advantage And Exploitation

Human beings have been trading across political borders for as long as human beings have recorded their activity. But free trade in the modern sense was the conceptual innovation of David Ricardo, a brilliant 19th-century British economist. In his 1817 magnum opus ”On The Principles Of Political Economy And Taxation,” Ricardo laid out the theory of comparative advantage: If every country focused on producing what it made best, and then traded with other countries that did the same, everybody everywhere would get to enjoy the best of everything. In the process, Ricardo argued, every country would become richer this way than it would if it tried to produce everything at home by itself.

To illustrate the point, Ricardo presented a thought experiment in which two countries, Britain and Portugal, produced just two commodities ― wine and cloth. In the 19th century, Portugal was famous for its wine, while European nobility coveted fine British textiles. Imports of good Portuguese wine were tough on British winemakers, and if the British government wanted to protect its domestic wineries, it could put up tariffs against Portuguese wine, making the foreign stuff more expensive in British stores. And that could be just fine for winemakers.

But there are only so many workers. Someone who spends the day smashing grapes can’t devote that same time to running a loom. Tariffs couldn’t change the root problems with the British wine business ― the soil and climate on a rocky semi-arctic island just weren’t good for grapes. As a result, propping up the inefficient British wine industry would sap resources from its much more productive textile operations. This waste would register as lower overall production of both wine and cloth. And perhaps worst of all, it would mean British drinkers would have to settle for their own lousy wine.

The obvious solution was for politicians to keep out of the way and let people do what they would naturally do absent government meddling ― trade freely.

“Under a system of perfectly free commerce, each country naturally devotes its capital and labour to such employments as are most beneficial to each,” Ricardo wrote. “This pursuit of individual advantage is admirably connected with the universal good of the whole.”

Ricardo was onto something. But he took an awful lot for granted to make his point. He didn’t have much to say, for instance, about how the British textile business actually operated. In the real world, England’s spinning and weaving factories relied on cotton from India and the United States. This cotton was cheap ― and the British factories, by extension, so wonderfully efficient ― because plantation owners relied on slave labor and violent exploitation to keep down costs.

By focusing on Ricardo’s abstract trade model, economists and policymakers could be lulled into understanding these acts of violent subjugation as components of an impartial, balanced system. Ricardo converted a vast array of political choices ― including the very existence of the British Empire and American slavery ― into what looked like a simple, mathematical truth: More trade equals greater prosperity. But the 19th-century mantra of “free trade!” was, among other things, a euphemism for enriching slaveowners.

Free trade rhetoric almost always serves a magical function: It erases ugly, violent political realities and replaces them with clean, natural progress.

Free trade rhetoric almost always serves a magical function: It erases ugly, violent political realities and replaces them with clean, natural progress. To its evangelists, free trade isn’t just a way to maximize profits and production. It offers a path to the elimination of human evil. New Deal luminary Cordell Hull believed free trade offered a cooperative foundation for the prevention of war, while libertarian high priest Milton Friedman believed it cleared the way for political rights like freedom of speech and religion.

Krugman describes “liberalized trade” as the key to an “international alliance” against “authoritarian politics,” while House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) champions it as a way to advance “rule of law,” “women’s rights” and “democracy.”

And yet history shows no clear pattern between tariff levels and freedom, war, democracy or autocracy. Ryan’s enthusiasm, for instance, was issued in support of a 2004 U.S. free trade agreement with the Kingdom of Bahrain. In 2017, according to the nonprofit group Human Rights Watch, the government of Bahrain shut down the country’s only independent newspaper and held its most prominent human rights activist in prison. 

In the 19th century, “free trade” was a doctrine that called for limiting trade barriers between European imperial powers as they plundered the rest of the world. When this system collapsed in World War I, the ensuing destruction on the European continent created a profound sense of nostalgia for the prewar order and the Ricardian ideals it had fostered. Over the following decade, heads of state and diplomats made herculean efforts to re-establish the collapsed trading regime. But they were frustrated by outbursts of violence, like the French invasion of the Ruhr, Germany, in 1923; political instability, like the collapse of the Weimar Republic; and speculative financial implosion, like the stock market crash of 1929.

Tariffs were largely incidental to this story, entering late in the game as a decade of dysfunction descended into the Great Depression. The United States passed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act in 1930, raising tariffs on roughly 20,000 goods. In 1931, the British government raised a tariff of its own and devalued the pound. Tit-for-tat reprisals followed among other nations. These prevented the re-establishment of the lost Golden Age at the Twilight of European Empire, but they did not cause the Great Depression. The system had already come undone.

It was time for new thinking. And eventually, an economist entered the world stage with the intellectual firepower to overthrew Ricardo.

Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump, surrounded by business leaders and administration officials, prepares to sign a memorandum on intellectual property tariffs on high-tech goods from China, at the White House in Washington, U.S. March 22, 2018. 

John Maynard Keynes grew up an ardent free trader, viewing the unimpeded movement of goods “almost as a part of the moral law.” But the war and the Depression changed his mind. Though he still cherished the free international exchange of “ideas, knowledge, art, hospitality, [and] travel,” technological advances seemed to have left many of Ricardo’s observations obsolete. True, climate and culture played some role ― the British were never going to be great winemakers. But such products were tangential to an industrial order dominated by heavy manufacturing. You could make a car anywhere. The advantages of national specialization were fading.

“Most modern mass-production processes can be performed in most countries and climates with almost equal efficiency,” Keynes noted in a 1933 essay. There would be costs for any nation that wished to make the lion’s share of its economy a domestic concern. But innovation had dramatically reduced the cost of abandoning free trade. National self-sufficiency, he wrote, was fast “becoming a luxury which we can afford if we happen to want it.” 

And Keynes believed there might very well be reasons to want it. “It does not now seem obvious,” he wrote in 1933, “that the penetration of a country’s economic structure by the resources and the influence of foreign capitalists, that a close dependence of our own economic life on the fluctuating economic policies of foreign countries, are safeguards and assurances of international peace.”

“At any rate,” he continued, “the age of economic internationalism was not particularly successful in avoiding war.”

Keynes elaborated on these ideas in his most famous book, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, which he believed offered national governments the tools they needed to take care of their domestic economies without preying on their neighbors. He urged readers to think of his work as a kind of handbook for alternatives to the economic strategies of imperialism. If countries effectively managed their internal demand, they would not need to pillage resources, exploit foreign workers or undercut overseas markets to improve domestic prosperity.

Many of Keynes’ economic tactics were becoming commonplace by the late 1930s, as governments resorted to deficit spending to bring countries out of the Depression and financial regulation to mitigate the cataclysmic boom-and-bust cycles of Wall Street and London. For domestic policymakers around the world, Keynes was king.

Efforts to integrate these domestic policy innovations into a global trading system, however, were quickly subsumed by the Cold War. In the rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union, tariffs, subsidies and currency maneuvers became tactical methods used to win allies and punish enemies. 

But the language of “free trade” and its supposed liberationist potential persisted as the new great powers of the 20th century grappled with the rights and demands of newly formed nations emerging from colonial rule. By the late 1970s, the apartheid government in South Africa had become a focal point for an intellectual and political dispute with global implications.

Free Market Support For Apartheid 

South Africa was both a U.S. ally against the Soviet Union and a tremendous profit center for more than 160 American corporations, including General Electric, IBM and Hewlett-Packard. Profit margins were incredible ― more than double what U.S. firms could earn on a typical international investment.

The key to all this was cheap labor. The nation’s black population could not form labor unions, engage in collective bargaining, go on strike, move or vote. Apartheid officials had administered an estimated 850,000 whippings against the black population between 1954 and 1964 alone to keep demands for better treatment in check, according to Africa Today, an academic journal published by Indiana University. Colonialism had shed its 19th-century European military uniform for a modern American business suit.

The appalling conditions for the South African people led American anti-apartheid activists to call for corporations and investors to pull money and resources out of South Africa until the apartheid government had been replaced by a democratic order. As the divestment movement gained momentum on college campuses, a group of neoliberal lawyers and economists began advancing arguments explicitly attacking the prospect of democracy in South Africa on the grounds that democratic politics would be incompatible with free markets and free trade.

Wesleyan College historian Quinn Slobodian details this project in Globalists: The End Of Empire And The Birth Of Neoliberalism. The most prominent anti-democracy advocate of the era was Milton Friedman, who argued that universal suffrage in South Africa would be “a system of highly-weighted voting in which special interests have far greater roles to play than does the general interest.” It was critical not to let the “political market” interfere with the economic market. As with Ricardo, the abuses on the ground evaporated into airy economic theory.

By the 1980s these arguments were too gauche to win much favor in American politics. And so President Ronald Reagan and a crop of future Republican power brokers including Grover Norquist, Jack Abramoff and Jeff Flake advanced a modified version: The best way to reform the apartheid government was not to cut off its money but through the magic of free trade.

By eliminating tariff barriers with nations that had poor labor standards and a record of human rights abuses, these trade pacts encouraged U.S. companies to shift domestic jobs to countries where labor was cheap.

Many U.S. companies had agreed to a set of corporate responsibility principles outlined by Philadelphia pastor and General Motors Director Leon Sullivan that called for equal treatment of black and white workers. Additional U.S. investment, these voices argued, would bring American values and freedoms to South African workers and lead to political reform.  

“The American companies pulling out who have abided by the Sullivan Principles, did much good for the black population there,” Flake told the Utah State Senate in 1987, while working as a lobbyist for a Namibian mining company with substantial South African operations. “Since 1977 they have contributed more than $140 million to black education, to social programs, to housing, and when our corporations pull out and these sanctions are opposed, it leaves these South African subsidiaries to take up ownership who are not obliged to follow the Sullivan Principles, and who would just as soon make a profit.”

By the time Flake was testifying, however, the free traders had essentially lost the battle on apartheid. The Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, passed into law over Reagan’s veto, imposed economic sanctions against the country that weren’t lifted until the apartheid government had put in place a series of reforms, including Nelson Mandela’s release from prison.

The experience of American corporations in South Africa wasn’t far from the minds of leading neoliberal intellectuals as the Cold War drew to a close, and international negotiators began developing the treaties that would create The World Trade Organization. As Slobodian notes, these agreements were intended to control emerging democracies and prevent them from Keynesian economic policies that would privilege the rights of their citizens over the interests of American and European capital.

By eliminating tariff barriers with nations that had poor labor standards and a record of human rights abuses, these trade pacts encouraged U.S. companies to shift domestic jobs to countries where labor was cheap. While most of the agreements paid lip service to labor rights, these provisions were only rarely enforced in practice. In countries like Guatemala and Colombia where the U.S. eventually brought North American Free Trade Agreement-style agreements, dozens of union leaders were murdered every year after free trade agreements were signed, most of them unpunished. If new factory jobs in the developing world were designed to lift people out of extreme poverty, there were limits to the new system’s generosity, as demonstrated by the deaths of 1,100 workers in a Bangladesh factory making garments for U.S. retailers in 2013.

But though WTO architects continued to use the language of “free trade,” they had era had left Ricardo’s idea of free trade behind. They weren’t just talking about tariffs anymore. They wanted to reach across national borders and into the domestic political life of post-colonial nations to block potential labor, environmental and consumer protection rules before they were written while guaranteeing broad rights to international investors. The same was true for a new slate of trade pacts former President Bill Clinton began signing into law beginning with NAFTA. These rules had little or nothing to do with Ricardo’s ideas about comparative advantage. They weren’t based on natural differences in climate, culture or expertise. They were an attempt to construct an international law that favored a particular brand of inegalitarian politics.

The spirit of this new era of globalization was most obvious in the realm of intellectual property ― an arcane, technical arena with life and death implications for millions of people. Once again, South Africa became the epicenter of a global economic conflict.

The WTO And The AIDS Crisis

When Nelson Mandela’s government was elected in 1994, the HIV rate in South Africa was spiraling out of control, with roughly 10 percent of the country’s 39 million citizens already infected. American pharmaceutical companies had developed powerful and effective new drugs to treat HIV, with the capacity to extend lives by years, even decades. But the treatments came at a price. AIDS and HIV medication cost roughly $12,000 per patient, per year in a country with an average annual income of about $2,600.

This was obviously unaffordable for both individual South Africans and the new democratic government. South Africa’s entire economy generated roughly $140 billion a year. Treating every AIDS and HIV patient would have required shipping one-third of the nation’s annual wealth to American pharmaceutical companies every year. In the United States today, it would be comparable to spending almost $6.6 trillion ― 65 percent more than the entire annual federal budget ― on AIDS and HIV alone. There was simply no way to establish a functional national economic program with such costs.

The Clinton administration argued that WTO treaties on intellectual property gave pharmaceutical firms clear rights to charge what they wanted. WTO agreements included 20-year patent rights that guaranteed monopolies on new drugs and prohibited generic competition or government price controls. These terms, of course, had nothing to do with Ricardo’s ideas about comparative advantage. But they were still defended with the language of “free trade.”

Mandela had a deadly pandemic on his hands. In 1997, he signed a law authorizing his administration to shop around the world for cheaper drug prices. The United States, citing a WTO treaty, threatened to retaliate with trade sanctions on the grounds that the new law would “abrogate patent rights.” Mandela put the implementation of the new law on hold, even as the AIDS crisis spread to terrifying new proportions. By 2000, more than 22 percent of the country would be infected.

A new Indian pharmaceutical firm began producing HIV medication for the “humanitarian” price of $1 a day, portending a revolution in public health strategy, but the Clinton administration took pride in holding the line against South Africa on its “international commitments.” Clinton only relented when protesters descended on Vice President Al Gore’s presidential campaign announcement rally in Tennessee, unveiling a banner for the cameras reading “Gore’s Greed Kills: AIDS Drugs For Africa.”  

Obama would prove to be nearly as aggressive. Higher global drug prices were a primary goal of his Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, and everyone from his deputy director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to Secretary of State John Kerry leaned on India to curb the production of generic drugs, which were lowering treatment costs around the world. In 2016, the Obama administration and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) even threatened to spike a peace deal between the Colombian government and Marxist rebel group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, over pricing for a leukemia drug (they only backed down after the private threat leaked to the press, prompting an international outcry).

Clinton had set a grisly diplomatic precedent. In front of the cameras, however, he presented his trade agenda as a grandiose humanitarian project. When he finalized a new trade pact with China in 2000, Clinton boasted the deal was ”likely to have a profound impact on human rights and political liberty,” creating pressure for China to “choose political reform.” The argument was essentially a refurbished version Flake’s case for free trade with apartheid South Africa.

“The process of economic change will force China to confront that choice sooner, and it will make the imperative for the right choice stronger,” Clinton said.  

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump takes part in a welcoming ceremony with China’s President Xi Jinping.

Breaking From Dependence

Today, Trump refers to Chinese President Xi Jinping as “the king of China” with admiration, while Chinese democracy advocates die in prison. But the global economy has indeed changed as a result of the choices made in the 1990s. Under the WTO, the American corporate colonialism of the apartheid era turned in on itself, cannibalizing the U.S. social order in the quest for higher returns on capital. “The China Shock,” as it became known, probably eliminated about 2.4 million American jobs ― many of them concentrated in communities that have never really recovered. 

Part of Trump’s appeal in 2016 was based on his promise to overthrow this order. In the Republican primary, he won 89 of the 100 U.S. counties hurt most by trade with China. In the general election, he swept the Rust Belt, taking conventional Democratic Party strongholds in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Millions of people who voted for Obama voted for Trump based in part on his promise to save manufacturing jobs.

He has instead offered belligerent, xenophobic chaos. But there is plenty of important work a thoughtful reformer could do. What we call free trade today is not a stable system reflecting several decades of consistent economic thinking. “Free trade” is a label that political leaders have applied to a variety of different colonial systems. It has changed before, and it can change again. 

Old trade deals can and should be reopened to establish stronger international rights for workers and communities. And it makes good national security sense to establish some degree of American economic independence from a rising authoritarian superpower. Nearly every supply chain for things Americans buy runs through China at some point. That’s a dangerous amount of political leverage for one country, and limiting it will require a few tariffs.

These changes would take time, and cost money. But it is a matter of managing the transition. We do not face a choice between reason and the abyss.

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[alexrascanu]

How to Reach Your Potential: An Interview with Hamza Khan

Hamza Khan is taking part in "How to Reach Your Potential,” a series of 100 interviews with leaders who inspire Alex Rascanu and whose insights can help you reach your potential. 

Meet Hamza Hamza Khan is a multi-award winning marketer & entrepreneur. He’s the co-founder of both Splash Effect, a boutique marketing & creative agency, as well as SkillsCamp, a soft skills training company. Hamza has spoken at more than 50 events (including 2 TEDx events) across 15 cities and 8 countries, to more than 15,000 people. He is a faculty member at Seneca College and Ryerson University, teaching courses on digital marketing and social media. Through his consulting, writing, teaching and speaking, Hamza empowers people and businesses to transform ideas into reality. Learn more about Hamza at www.hamzakhan.ca. Buy his book The Burnout Gamble. And follow his adventures on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and/or Facebook.

Alex: What is your life’s purpose? Hamza: My purpose in life is to give my gift away. And I feel lucky to have discovered this gift quite early on in life: to empower people and businesses to transform ideas into reality. I achieve this primarily through my consulting, writing, teaching, and speaking.

Alex: What are the three things you’re most passionate about? Hamza: It’s difficult for me to narrow down the things that I’m most passionate to a selection of three, as my list is constantly growing. But as at the time of writing, I’m preoccupied with marketing, productivity, and social media. I could talk for hours on end about these things. And when they overlap (which they often do), I could go on for days.

Alex: How do you stay healthy? What’s your main health-related goal? Hamza: Staying healthy comes down having respect for my body. As a guiding principle, that means doing things today that my future self will thank me for. This includes a number of daily imperative actions such as following through on a challenging fitness routine, eating a balanced diet, drinking plenty of water, and getting a good night’s sleep. My main health-related goal is to optimize my energy. While the time afforded to me is fixed (like everyone else, I have the same 168 hours in a week) — the energy that I can generate within that time is not. And when I’m healthy, I can multiply my success in all aspects of life.

Alex: How do you build wealth? What’s your main financial goal? Hamza: I build wealth by putting money to work through a diverse portfolio of investments: currencies, stocks, equity, mutual funds, etc. Almost 80% of my earnings are immediately invested in these areas. And while my wealth is generating more wealth, I’m focused on increasing my earning potential by improving my craft, broadening my reach, and delivering value to every person in my orbit. I’m a big believer in Zig Ziglar’s words: “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.” With that said, my main financial goal is to achieve freedom — freedom from debt, freedom from worry, freedom from constraints, etc. I don’t quite desire to be rich. I simply desire to never be poor.

Alex: How do you balance work and family life? Hamza: As someone who has burned out in spectacular fashion multiple times in my career, I’ve had to learn the hard way the importance of slapping constraints on my productivity. I make time for my family life by clearly defining when to stop working. At the start of any project I establish an end state that looks like one or more of the following:

TIME-BASED DASH: I stop working when the clock stops. For instance, my workouts never exceed an hour. And so if I’m idly checking Facebook between sets, I risk my workout being incomplete. Similarly, I structure my work in 25-minute distraction-free waves (see: The Pomodoro Technique) with breaks between them. The countdown induces fierce focus.

UNIT-BASED DASH: If I complete my entire workout within the hour allotted for it, I leave the gym. Similarly, if I complete everything on my to-do list before the clock strikes 5 pm, I leave the office. By defining what “complete” looks like for any project, and by establishing clear milestones, you’ll become aware of your progress based on the units required to achieve a finished state.

ENERGY-BASED DASH: Especially when I’m feeling sick or tired, I hang up my gloves when my body says to. There’s no point of pushing through work if you don’t have the energy for it, as you’ll be more susceptible to errors and illness (which will only produce a cascade effect of more work, fatigue, and delays down the line). Don’t just manage your time — manage your energy as well.

RESULTS-BASED DASH: This dash is very similar to the unit-based dash; however, I spin it by anchoring it in externally-defined results. Since I work in an agency setting, the results in question which I often pursue are typically defined by clients. While they may not always be perfect for me, they’re usually perfect for my clients. When confronted with a torrent of timelines for client projects, I switch on the “f*ck it, ship it” approach to getting things done.

FEELING-BASED DASH:This isn’t for everyone, and doesn’t apply to most types of work. It’s especially risky in projects where there’s a lot at stake, or if there are multiple dependencies. Saying “I’m done” because you feel like it comes with either a lot of privilege and/or proportional consequences. Therefore, I relegate this approach to my art and various solo projects.

According to Parkinson’s Law, work expands so as to fill the time allocated for its completion. If we’re not slapping constraints on our workday, we’ll burn out. At the same time, imposing timelines and clear parameters raises the difficulty level on our work just enough that we naturally end up working harder and smarter to get things done. Therefore, knowing when to stop working is a win-win approach to getting things done.

Alex: How do you enjoy spending time with family and friends? Hamza: I love movies. My go-to activity is to explore other worlds through the art of cinematic storytelling. I’m also rediscovering my love of video games. Advances in gaming technology are offering levels of immersive storytelling that can sometimes rival that of the most masterfully crafted films. For me, one of the most enjoyable parts of the process is discussing the media with family and friends following the experience. We bond over the shared experience by remembering moments, unpacking themes, discovering hidden meanings, and more.

Alex: What has been the most fulfilling role you’ve ever had, or the most fulfilling project you’ve been involved with so far? Hamza: The most fulfilling role I’ve ever had was Co-Founder of Splash Effect, a role which I still occupy at the time of writing. It continues to bring me the highest-of-highs, tempered with the lowest-of-lows — and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Every day has been (and continues to be) a challenge. It’s an adventurous cycle comprised of growth, success, failure, reflection, and recovery, where I’m regularly compelled to step outside of my comfort zone. Building a business is creatively and intellectually stimulating, and I always feel like a beginner. However, there is a different sort of fulfillment that comes from long-term dedication to a single project/product. As the Digital Community Facilitator at Ryerson University, a pioneering role in higher education, I was able to immerse myself in the development of a product (RU Student Life) that helped establish the institution — Canada’s leader in innovative, career-focused education — as a national leader in online student engagement.

Alex: What’s one career planning lesson that has made a significant difference in your life? Hamza: A career planning lesson that has made a significant difference in my life was auditing my happiness. Growing up as the son of hard-working immigrant parents, I got caught up with the notion that hard work was the only path to success, and that success was linear (defined by specific milestones, including an oddly specific income target). And it didn’t help that I idolized successful rappers, movie stars, and basketball players, all of whom were millionaires. For most of my life, I felt a crushing performance pressure induced by these external definitions of success; they were other people’s dreams. Inspired by Tim Ferris’ “The 4-Hour Work Week”, I took things back to the drawing board and designed the perfect day in my life, projected a few years into the future. And then I started adding prices to this vision. Once I adjusted for inflation, lo-and-behold, the actual amount of money that I needed to be at my optimal happiness was significantly lower than what I was chasing. In one sitting, I had liberated myself from the tyranny of warped & external definitions of success. And finally, I began to chase my own dreams.

Alex: What would you like your legacy to be? Hamza: I want to be remembered as someone who maximized his potential. I want to exemplify the power of discipline and purpose when it comes to making things happen. I want my value proposition of “transforming ideas into reality” to be true for as many people as possible. I want to have been relied on to take any idea, regardless of scale, from idea to execution. If it can be said that that I added value everywhere — that I significantly improved the world for everyone around me — I will feel as though this was a life well-lived.

Alex: Thank you for taking part in this interview! Your insights are much appreciated!

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