#which like I can't be working last minute like they do

[random2908]

Ok, I have a lot to say about scientific glassblowers.

First, luckily, there are a lot of them in China who are very good. If, like me, you work in private industry, the government has rules against buying Chinese components. But there's at least one American company (FireflySci) that launders Chinese custom scientific glass components, so you can still get them. If you're in academia you can buy direct from China and save a ton of money, if you or a colleague knows enough Chinese to be able to find these glassblowers on your own.

Within America, you have to know, the quality varies immensely. Scientific glassblowing is one of those trades that takes like 20 years to master. So there is a huge tension between the old masters who are really really good but have significant limitations in their capabilities because they're using old techniques; and the younger glassblowers who are learning or inventing new techniques but don't have the hand-skills to pull them off successfully. In larger shops, you can have a mix of ages, and so get around this a bit--but larger shops mostly don't do (serious) custom work. And often these larger shops are an in-house shop within an even bigger company.

For a lot of things, though, any scientific glassblower will do. In which case, you can still find them scattered all over the country. When I was dealing in glass a lot at a previous job, we had a long-standing contract with a glassblower about two hours away, who did all of our simpler stuff. There was a closer one, too, 20 minutes away, I'm not sure why we didn't go with them, I think because they had too much work already to take a long-term contract with us. So, yes, you can still find glassblowers, although not in large quantities.

But sometimes you need something really precise. This is science, after all. And your local glass shop just can't do it.

So then you have to find an old master using newer techniques. (I recommend Mike at Spectrocell in Pennsylvania, careful of the spelling--there are many similarly named companies--but he sounds very old over the phone.) (I know a lot of scientists will say Jay at Precision Glass Blowing in Colorado is the only guy they will go to for serious work, and I have some rude things to say to such scientists; not that Precision Glass Blowing does a bad job (...at the glassblowing part, that is--buyer beware if you ask for extras from them, but their willingness to offer extra services, such as chemical handling, is why everyone uses them in the first place), but they're not the only, or best, option out there.)

Get talking with an old master, and they'll constantly complain about how they've run out of apprentices. It is a real problem. It is a dying art, within the United States. (And, despite "scientific" in the name, it is very much an art; "scientific" refers to the customer base.) When I was collaborating with the University of Michigan at a previous job, the Chemistry Department's glassblower, Roy, was complaining that he was in his 70s and it had been several decades since he last had an apprentice, and he was going to retire any day now and the university would have no one to replace him with. (It wouldn't at all surprise me if he's retire by now, and if you could no longer get custom glass in-house at the University of Michigan.)

The irony is that there's still significant demand! Not as much as there once was, because you can buy mass-produced beakers now, you don't have to go to your local scientific glassblower for some of the simpler components. But for anything at all custom? For anything at all delicate? That's still done by hand. There's still a glassblower, somewhere, probably in China, whose handicraft that is. But like all trades, scientific glassblowing in the US has been almost entirely undercut by the availability of cheap labor (even cheap skilled labor, even cheap mastery) in other countries.

the world is running out of glassblowers and yet you want to become a fucking doctor

[captain-huggy-bear]

Into the Penalty Box

Pairing: Jack Hughes x Fem!Reader

Warnings: N/A

Summary: Jack has to put your son in the sin bin...

Notes: Short but I had this really fun idea for how Jack doles out consequences as a dad.

Totally happy to take requests/ideas/prompts at the moment in my ask box :)

Writing Masterlist

"Jack, baby...Carter just bit Ellen." You're tugging Carter along behind you by the wrist gently, he's pouting at the entire way and dragging his feet. Ellen is in your arms sniffling and crying into your shoulder because her big brother (at the tender age of 5 years old) decided that the best way to get rid of his 'annoying' baby sister (of 2) was to bite her. Hard. On the arm.

"Let me see, baby girl." Your daughter holds her arm out to her dad, who's suitably sympathetic, cooing over the teeth marks and pressing a kiss there to 'make it better'. It brings a smile to her little face, tears starting to dry up, but leaving blotchy redness behind.

Once Jack has dealt with the issue of his baby girl crying he turns to his son who you've release your grip on knowing he's unlikely to make a run for it and has typically been pretty good at accepting punishment. Mostly because he's stubborn enough that he always wants to plead his case first.

Jack folds his arms across his chest looking down at the spitting image of himself at 5 years old, light brown near blonde curls, bright blue eyes, chubby blushing cheeks and many missing teeth. Carter is Jack, rowdy, loud, full of energy and from time to time fed up with having a baby sibling who wants his attention all the time. One day he'll grow to love it, hate when his sister stops idolising him, but for now? For now apparently biting has become his new solution and Jack had always taught him that biting was not something they did in their house.

You bounce Ellen in your arms, running a hand over her hair and down her back while you watch Jack crouch down to Carter's level. Jack, despite people's belief, was a disciplinarian. Just not in the usual way...he never shouted, he didn't scream, he didn't insult the kids, none of the typical old school dad stuff, but what he did do always seemed to work.

"Bud, you can't bite your sister."

"But she was being annoying!" It's like watching a second Jack, the way Carter folds his arms across his little chest and puffs out his cheeks as he pouts. You're surprised he didn't stomp a foot on the floor, but it seems he learnt from last time that that only got him more penalty minutes.

"I don't care, it's against the rules, bud, against the code. You've got 5 minutes in the penalty box, get." Jack points to the corner of your living room where the penalty box sits. At first the penalty box had been simply a pillow in the corner, but one summer Jack, Quinn and Luke had spent some time and money making a replica penalty box that sat perfectly in your living room. At first you'd been...less than pleased, but now it was the highlight of your parenting adventures. The way Carter would slam the little door closed, how he'd pout on the bench and drink from the water bottle you always put in there for him as he'd watch the little clock. Whenever he was in hockey gear it was made even better, especially the replica Devils Jersey Luke had gotten him one Christmas. Then it really was like watching a baby Jack sitting in the sin bin.

"But you bite mom!" Carter's face practically goes bright red with his frustration, brows so furrowed they're almost in his eyes and this time he does stomp his feet.

There's a beat of silence, one in which you do your very best not to laugh because Jack's play biting apparently has come back to haunt him. All those times he's come home and pretended to take chomp out of your arm or neck, every time he placed a kiss on your neck in front of Carter only to bite you lightly to make you laugh...

Jack tries everything in his power to remain stern, to not laugh, to not give in because fuck, he's really dug himself a hole with this one, "I nibble on your mom, I don't 'bite' her and I never hurt her. You were trying and succeeded in hurting your baby sister."

"Dad!"

"Do you want another 5 for unsportsmanlike conduct?" Jack's favourite tool whenever Carter or Ellen start to argue back to him, although mostly Carter. Ellen has yet to reach the terrible period of defiance that all toddlers go through.

"No..."

"So into the penalty box, bud." You both watch as Carter slumps off towards the box, slamming the door closed behind him, the wood and plastic wobbling slightly under the force of it.

He sits on the bench, arms crossed, glaring at the clock. Jack sets a timer for 5 minutes and you watch. There's something about watching either of the kids in the box that's interesting because you can see the moment they start to cool down and realise that maybe they're in there for a reason.

With Carter it's the way he starts to look towards Ellen, face scrunched up in guilt, biting on his little lip. You know at 2 minutes and 24 seconds in the sin bin, that Carter will never bite Ellen again and you know that he understands that he hurt her, really hurt her.

It's what has you putting her down and letting her waddle towards the box nearer to the time being over and what has you opening the box a minute early.

You lean into Jack's side and watch as Carter leans down and pulls his baby sister into a hug, before reaching for her arm and placing a kiss on the boo boo where he bite her a little too hard.

"'m sorry, Ellie. I shouldn't have bit you."

"'s okay, Cay-Cay" Because she always struggled to fully say Carter so he'd become Cay-Cay to her. She pats his cheek with her little hand and you know, you know it'll be okay, that you're raising two good kids even if they have their moments.

"Sin bin works again, and you wanted to get rid of it." Jack looks smugly down at you, all dimples and stupidly attractive smirk as he wraps an arm around your shoulders.

You roll your eyes at him even as you lean further into him, "Yes, well, I guess you have good ideas sometimes...biter."

"Hey! You love when I bite you...just, maybe need to avoid the jokes around the kids...did not see that coming."

[hellsslibrary]

hear me out , yoichi with m!reader on the same team but the dear reader didn’t pass to him and now isagi is mad (BOTTOM ISAGI NATION)

ily

I hate you, I despise you, you are absolutely hateful to me, you are a pathetic excuse for a man... What difference does it make if I cook you cream buns in an apron that says "best wife in the world"? (real dialogues with my husband, like quotes day I go crazy)

MASTERLIST is here.

#a.n. : I love you too, anon. If only you all knew how I squeal like a little schoolgirl in love when I see requests for power bottom characters. Next request, if I finish it before another one, will be about a game that 1,5 people know, I hope you're ready for that LOL.

!!Warnings: subtop!male!reader, meandom!Isagi, he is not wild like on the field don't worry (or cry if you are a slut for that), riding, overstimulation, but Isagi is cute later, the reader sits between Isagi's thighs, jerking off, teasing.

"Why the hell did you give him a pass out of all people, huh? I was the best option there in terms of everything... Moreover, you hate him too!" Isagi says, biting your neck, watching with great pleasure as you lean your head back on his shoulder with a groan.

"I... I don't know," you're repeating the same thing as in the past, because fuck... Of course, you're an idiot, why did you even give a pass not to Isagi, but also to Kaiser of all people?

"Wrong answer."

You bite your lip, hearing this answer, feeling his hand moving on your cock again, repeating it for the third time. The sensations are simply tearing, you can't even figure out what the game looked like, even though it ended only twenty minutes ago, and you're already such a mess from just a couple of orgasms.

"Well?" Isagi asks, kissing your shoulder while his thumb lazily strokes your head, specifically touching your urethra, causing your hips to jerk up But he doesn't give you the right movement, even though he plans to drive you into a frenzy.

What do you have to say? 'Sorry'? Utter nonsense. It's just a game, he's overreacting. Although we're talking about Isagi, of course, he's always taken it too seriously. Too much.

He doesn't rush you with an answer, allowing you to think about everything with your last working convolutions, while his blue eyes are practically fed up with the sight of your current penis and how the predicate flows onto his fingers.

Your body relaxes when you exhale heavily, shifting most of your weight onto his chest, actually lying on top of him and just looking at the floor below you.

"I'm sorry," you say without thinking, even though you couldn't have thought of anything better.

You are absolutely sure that he will take it out on you at the next training session, even too much. Especially if that idiot German thinks to tease Yoichi about giving him a pass...

"I'm not offended," the brunette whispers, speeding up the movements of his hand again, pulling a satisfied moan from your lips, rolling one of your nipples lazily with his other hand. "Give the pass to anyone, but not to him... And not that shitty chihuahua, huh?"

"Yes, Yo," you nod, although you have absolutely no idea what you are agreeing to, because your brain is focused only on the feeling of his hand on your penis and the warmth of his body against yours.

"Will you come for me again?"

You don't have to say it twice, right? Of course, after that, anyone will be a good boy! So your cock twitches, and you feel the knot in your stomach unraveling as Isagi's hand is covered in white liquid...

"Nice. Get off me, I'm not done with you," he says, making you immediately straighten up and turn to look at him, to which he just shrugs his shoulders. “What? You still haven't fucked me, no?"

[charmre]

When your groups either won't get back to you about meeting times or haven't decided on a direction to go in so you can't make work for it...and the projects are due on Monday...

[cappurrccino]

i was gonna say "i shouldn't have to go to work when my brain feels like a depression slushie" and then i was like "wait but then i'd basically never ever go to work" and i'm actually doubling down on the first part now bc my god how am i supposed to heal my brain from burning out 5 years ago if i can never get an actual break

[tackrusso]

i'm like i have nothing to be stressed about and then i'm having a breakdown in the car and then i'm like oh okay maybe i do have things to be stressed about

[keeps-ache]

another day another consumption of vegetables

[sskk-manifesto]

(´｡• ◡ •｡`)

[blackfilmmakers]

(Do want to point out I'm Korean on my mom's side. I'm biracial in a sense my mom is Blasian and my dad is Afro Latino, so, Black)

Hi, it's always fun to talk about Blasian identities, seeing as how of all the mixed identities, that's the one you see the least in media. And I can't help but feel it's because we have to always focus on white people one way or another in stories. Same thing with interracial love stories

Here are some things to consider when writing about Blasian characters:

1) Physical features - This is something people struggle the most when it comes to biracial Black characters in general. Everyone just assumes the "Blackness" washes away the moment another race is mixed in. That's not how genetics works people. First off, Black and Asian people come in a widerange of skintones and hair textures, yes this includes East Asians. Second, you can't determine how a Black and Asian couple's baby will turn out. You can probably have a guess as to how, but you can never guarantee they will come out lightskinned with straight wavy hair.

Yes you can have someone like my mom who is very lightskinned and Asian passing(is that a word?). You can also have someone like Naomi Osaka who has monolid eyes but a deep brown skin tone. Or you can have someone like like Miss Universe Vietnam, Huýnh Thị Câm Tiên, who is darkskinned and has more predominant Black features. If anything I definitely encourage you to give them dark brown skin and Black features, only because colorism is a bitch in media.

But definitely don't do the thing where you make Blasian girls inherently lightskinned and more mixed in appearance, while the Blasian boys are allowed to be darkskinned and unapologetically Black. That's colorism, and racism. Equating Blackness with masculinity, yeah, don't do that. It hurts both communities

2) Don't ignore your Blasian character's Blackness - Essentially don’t put so much focus on their nonBlack heritage, you practically forget they are Black. No, there is no one way to be "Black enough". But a Black character's Blackness is something you have to consider through their design, personality, worldbuilding and story all the way through. Take Kipo from Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts for instance. I like Kipo. I like how she is Korean and Black, cuz shout out to me specifically ❤️. But if it weren't for the fact we've seen her Black dad, no one would think she is also Black. You have a sense she's Korean the moment she named her pig mutant companion "Mandu," but what about Kipo celebrates her Blackness? Her skin is dark pink, but that just tells us she's not lightskinned(glares at fanartists that whitewash her). She has Black friends, and the show's music track has a lot of hip hop, but like.....gestures to Black entertainment used by everyone worldwide.

I wish I can find the fanart, but there was this drawing someone did where Kipo is braiding Wolf's(a darkskinned Black younger sister figure character in the show) hair. And I wish the show had moments like that. Kipo doesn't need to braid her own hair into cornrows, and she doesn't necessarily have to have an afro based hair texture, but braiding hair of someone close to you does show a celebration and unity of her Black identity. When you don't consider your Blasian character's Blackness in their writing, you miss out on effective, subtle characterizations like that. If you think I'm accusing Kipo of "not being Black enough" btw, the show creators literally admitted that making Kipo Black was a last-minute decision, which as a Black and Korean person, I picked that up quickly.

I don't want to say you have to sacrifice your Blasian character's Asian identity either, but it's one of those things where everyone wants to get rid of any trace of Blackness so badly, they would figure that "Asian" is the closest thing to whiteness, thus the more important heritage to focus on. Case in point, Kipo.

The other issue when writers do that is that they ultimately dilute the Asian identity as well. Like Kipo names a pig Mandu and likes Kimchi and listens to K-pop cool, so does every white kpop fan. Was there anything else about Korean culture the writers could have established for Kipo's personality and story?

They did this with G3 Clawdeen Wolf too, where her latina heritage is what they focused on mainly cuz "it's not Black" (even though latina isn't a race, and Afro Latines exist). At the same time, they have her eat an entire tamale with the entire husk still on.......on multiple occasions, demonstrating they did little research on even her latina heritage

3) Avoid making them quirky - It's overdone and colorist at this point. The idea that a Black character can only be weird and quirky when they are mixed with a nonblack identity and divorced from their Blackness is all antiBlack racism. This doesn't mean they can't be odd in the sense that main characters stick out from the background characters naturally. But don't make them quirky to be palatable for white audiences. It also comes off as “because they are mixed they are weird” 😕. Have a good understanding of your characters’ different heritages before giving them a trait that makes them “weird” too cuz that’s how you end up calling different races odd too 🫤

4) No anime references - At least not in a sense where because they are Asian that gives you the excuse to have their entire characterization be nothing but Japanese animation references. Like the moment Lars from Steven Universe was confirmed to be Filipino and has a whole character arc of what that means to him, struggling to fit in- they killed him, turned him pink when revived, and changed his entire personality to just space anime protagonist. Don't do that. Again, it's just another way to make the character of color palatable for white audiences, this time through orientalism

5)Take note where your character lives - Like any other character you write, you need to do research on where they live and how that affects them as a person. No character lives in a bubble. Do they live in the Asian country one of their parents is from? Do they live somewhere in the West or global South? Are their parents/grandparents immigrants? Are they themselves immigrants? What language(s) or dialect(s) do they speak? How do they interact with the community? Again, it's all stuff you have to consider writing any character. Even if it's not necessarily important to the story, you as the creator need a good understanding of your character

6) Who is this story for? - Are you writing this character to actually uplift unheard mixed people's stories? Or are you doing this for brownie points?

Keep in mind when you write about a Blasian character, you are not just writing for Blasians. You are writing for Black and Asian groups as well. You need to understand the connection between Black and Asian groups, which goes back to point 5 a bit. Like how did the parents of your Blasian character meet? Do they both live in LA in neighboring communities? Was one parent and African migrant that moved to an Asian country?

You want to make a biracial character, you're gonna have to do a lot of work to research both sides of that heritage.

There's some ugly in that history, but there is also community and solidarity at times

7) Stop only giving them white friends/love interests - W/o fail you have these characters live in such a diverse environments, only to somehow be surrounded by white people. I’ll give Kipo credit here for having mainly Black friends. It's again the need to force white people take up the main focus of the story. Frankly I’m tired of it 🥱

Note this is not a thorough “How to Write Blasians” check off list because I’m just one Blasian with my own one experience. Seek out more Blasians, and Blasian writers. Most of this has to do with how much research you are willing to put into

Hi,any help on writing Biracial,Blasian in particular characters?I can only find some about Black-White Biracial characters but not really about Blasian characters.Thanks in advance.

Unfortunately I only have my lesson on multicultural Blackness! @blackfilmmakers might have more direction on this point!

Also, it may help you to direct your research towards a specific group (e.g. where from in Asia?) as you can then narrow in on aspects of both cultures, and then research the experience within that community. Typing in "Blasian" won't be more than generally helpful because Asia is a gigantic continent with a LOT of peoples within it, so there's no One experience.

[ilkkawhat]

just reflecting today on the 7th poured drink tonight and recalling how when i was venting to my co-workers about yesterday and the panic attack i had and all that, she mentioned how I needed more help when I was drowning and i swear to you the immediate thing that came to mind when she said that was alan wake

[britneyshakespeare]

Yesterday at the high school I was in for this art teacher and they all had like projects they were gonna present to work on in Google classroom, so like many days as a substitute teacher it was quiet and I mostly just sat at the desk and read. But then this one kid in my peripheral vision was looking at me and when I glanced over her laughed a little. And I looked away cuz I was like whatever maybe he was whispering smth w his friends.

But then he says "I have a question"

"Yeah?"

"What two colors make purple?"

"Oh. Red and blue"

"Thank you... I appreciate the no judgment answer"

I didn't even think about it lol

[confinesofmy]

i did something incredible today. i was terse with my flakey cousin over the phone before fully understanding why i was angry with her. i acted on it BEFORE completely processing it. and i withheld information to put her at a disadvantage and benefit myself! i am so proud of myself, this never happens.

[tardis--dreams]

I actually realized i hate work. Won't be putting any effort into this anymore ♡

[finniestoncrane]

running around in a circle tugging at my hair and holding back tears: too many things too many things too many things too many things too many thi

[savage-rhi]

Magenta.

[bloomingonionbitch]

(my school is taking the 8th graders for pizza and to see "Guardians of the Galaxy 3" as an end-of-the-year treat. i read a review [on gd NPR of course] and it emphasized the amount of pretty brutal "live" animal experimentation, see below:

i think it's going to really fuck with some of my students and it seems like a not-so-stellar idea to have the entire 8th grade class WALK 32 minutes to the movie theater for a fun celebration, only to wind up sweaty and sobbing over baby Rocket Raccoon's insides being messed with).