#Makerspaces for school

[melonnade]

Had a really long talk with my roommate about this & we came to opposite conclusions. What do you guys think?

[k12academics]

Our mission is to bring together people, technology and knowledge to address the challenges of the 21st century.

We accomplish this through high quality academic programs, an interdisciplinary and entrepreneurial spirit, enthusiasm for learning and teaching, the operational application of knowledge, and cutting-edge research initiatives.

CEHC is committed to ensuring that our learning, living, and working environments demonstrate respect for all and are free from inequality and discrimination.

Our rigorous academic programs – helmed by expert and experienced faculty – are helping to shape future leaders in the fields of preparedness, security and informatics. CEHC offers undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and continuing education programs in areas leading to careers in emergency preparedness, homeland security, cybersecurity, informatics, information science and library science.

[noiriarti]

The Winner Takes it All: Anakin Skywalker x Reader (Enemies-to-Lovers Modern AU)

NSFW! Minors DNI!!! Summary: The moment the thesis competition was announced, you knew your biggest threat. Anakin Skywalker, golden boy of the engineering department. He's the only other person smart enough to beat you, and the only other person insane enough to stay in the lab until midnight every night. He's also an asshole, but you're starting to think maybe he's not as bad as you thought he was... Pairing: Anakin Skywalker x Fem!Reader CW: mentions of masturbation WC: 3.4k AN: hello darlings!! another anakin x reader longer fic coming your way!! lmk what you think, and asks/requests are always open!

[Ch. 1], Ch. 2, Ch. 3, Ch. 4, Ch. 5, Ch. 6

Chapter 1: Soldering

The moment the competition was announced, you knew your biggest threat. Anakin Skywalker, golden boy of the department. As soon as he heard about it at the thesis info session of your senior year, his eyes found you in the crowd, because he knew you're his biggest rival, and you're coming for him. He was surprised to find you were looking at him, based on the way his eyes widened, and you found a shocking amount of satisfaction in it. The top prize was 10k and a job at Boeing, after all. The more you surprised him, the more likely you were to catch him off-guard. Not that you would sabotage his work, that was just unseemly conduct for a senior at Coruscant U, but you'd encourage his sloppiness.

The instant after the presentation finished, you rushed to the lab. The thesis lab adjoined the regular makerspace in a continuation of the glass walls and sleek design of the rest of the engineering building. You'd spent the end of your junior year there, when you'd had to submit your thesis proposal (A Novel Method for Glaucoma Detection Utilizing Machine Learning and Mass-Producible Hardware). Anakin was always there too, which made the space just a little more annoying, with the loud music blasting out of his headphones and the hair-raising racket of the band saw.

Last year, you'd decided to admit to yourself, despite your best efforts since you had met him, that okay, Anakin Skywalker was hot. Like, horrendously hot. He was a looker no matter what he did, with those blue puppy dog eyes, full lips, and his gorgeous chestnut hair, which looked so soft that you had wondered on multiple occasions what it would be like to touch it. And, being captain of the university taekwondo team, he was muscular as all get-out. You'd catch a peek at his calves and ass on hot days when he wore shorts, and his biceps and shoulders were almost always flexed in the lab when he was sawing something or bent over the soldering station. One time, he wore grey sweatpants, and you had to literally tear your eyes away. But it wasn't just those features that made him hot. It was, unfortunately, him as a person. The confidence with which he sauntered through the building. His mischievous smile that he'd cast you in group projects, or the clench of his jaw as he wired something finicky. Your roommate, Ahsoka, a junior and also his vice-captain, told you that, oh yeah, he was also really good with younger team members. That he taught kids in the nearby school once a week, too, even though he had such a busy schedule. Wasn't that just sweet.

He wasn't that kind to you. Another thing that made him hot, unfortunately, was his brain, and his wit. He was kind of smart, okay, very smart, and that might make him the one thing standing in your way this year. Anakin also never shied away from a biting comment at you, usually about how if you had done it correctly, you wouldn't have an issue with some wiring. Unfortunately, he was usually right, but you wouldn't give him the satisfaction of telling him that.

Your rivalry started in freshman year, when your physics professor would choose the best student's homework and post it to the class as an example. You were sure you'd be chosen--your first homework was perfect--but then you saw his name. Anakin Skywalker. The next week, you beat him, but then he came out on top immediately after. And so it went. Always fighting for the top spot, to see who could outdo the other. Now, the department was just paying you to do it.

You were in the lab right after the "Senior Thesis Information Session" presentation, using the few minutes you had before your thermodynamics class to tinker with the 3D print that had just finished. Then, the door slid open with the beep of an ID card. You didn't have to turn around to know it was Anakin. Only he would be insane enough to work on day 1 of the semester. Him, and you.

"So you're seriously competing for this, huh?" He asked, watching you sand off some rough edges off the plastic. His tone was playful, but there was an undercurrent of seriousness. He was sizing up the competition.

"Yup. And I'm gonna blow you out of the water," you said self-assuredly. Your project was too good not to win. Anakin barked out a laugh.

"Sure. Right. We'll see about that," he remarked. His voice was dripping with smugness, just like usual with you. You just rolled your eyes. It wasn't worth it to waste time verbally sparring with him, you had better things to do. Like thermo. So you pushed out of your chair, leaving the print on the shelf that had your name laser cut into wood (a gift you had made yourself after your junior thesis proposal got an A), and heading to Lecture Hall 3.56B. Anakin was, of course, heading there too. You were in lockstep, as always. However, he refused to walk there with you, so he waited precisely enough for you to close the door before he left too.

And so, the first three months of the semester passed in relative peace between the two of you. There was only a handful of people who used the thesis room, and you were the only ones there consistently. It helped because safety regulations meant you had to have a buddy in the room to use any of the really useful machines, so you sometimes found yourself pleased to see him. It meant you could get work done. At night, the engineering building was fifteen minutes away from the dorms where you both lived--in the same building, which vexed you to no end when you saw him in the dining hall--so you both had to make the walk home late at night through the city. Oftentimes, you ended up walking home at the same time. It would be wrong to call it walking together, because that would imply you were near each other, or in each other's company, which would be plain wrong. You were always as far as possible on the sidewalk, and oftentimes you two would end up speedwalking home, not allowing the other person to be faster. Was it childish? Maybe. Did you feel a rush of joy every single time you hit the door to your building before him? Definitely.

In November, as the biting cold chilled the air, you found yourself done before him. All your current tasks were done, and you had to wait for a print to finish before you could keep going, plus he wasn't using any machines that needed a buddy, according to lab rules. It had been a long day, and you'd barely dragged your bones into the lab, let alone through all that work.

"Hang on," his voice called from across the space. He was at the soldering station in his safety glasses, bent over some chip.

"What?" Why couldn't you just go home? To your beautiful bed?

"I don't feel good about you walking home alone, so can you just wait for, like, three more seconds?" He wasn't even looking at you as he said it, instead he was pressing the soldering iron to some metal. You scoffed. Like you were so frail you couldn't walk fifteen minutes on your own.

"Are you serious? Do you think I'm vulnerable because, what, I have a vagina? I've taken self-defense classes, thank you very much." Your tone was poisonous, and you tried to infuse every drop of venom you had in you at his stupid idea. Anakin finally looked up from the bench, turning the iron off and cleaning it in the steel wool, catching your eyes with an angry glare.

"No, dumbass. You're just less likely to get robbed in this part of town if you're not alone. But do what you want, I guess. Have fun getting all your valuables taken!" He shrugged sardonically and turned off the vent fan above him. Anakin was right, it killed you to admit. You didn't exactly feel safe walking home at 3am through this part of town. There were enough reports of students getting hurt. So you planted yourself in your chair and waited. When he saw you, a smug smile grew on his face. Asshole.

"C'mon, let's go home," he said nonchalantly once he'd shut down and locked the woodworking room and the laser cutters. As you walked home, this time at a comfortable pace and with his headphones off, you realized it was almost nice, peaceful to be with him like this. The night was still, not a single thing moving in the dark of the night. You passed the corner store, its graffiti-covered grate down at night, then the Vietnamese restaurant you loved, dark and empty. There was no one on the planet but the two of you at that moment. Much to your chagrin, you didn't mind it at that moment. Anakin looked even more ethereal in the moonlight, lighting up the light parts of his hair a silvery white and casting shadows all over his face. He really was handsome, you admitted reluctantly. When you got home, he wished you a good night, which he had never gone. You found the word escaping your lips out of habit. After that, your walking home at the same time turned into walking home together. On November the 8th, he asked you how you were doing. You told him you were good, your tone clipped. He echoed good into the quiet street, then you lapsed into silence. On the 10th, he asked if Ahsoka was feeling better. She had sprained her ankle at practice the previous day. You told him she was, and he said good again. On the 11th, he asked how your project was going, and, in a fit of weakness, you told him it wasn't great. That you were nervous about your first real test of the finished product, the one that would tell you if the past three months had been wasted or not. He told you that if anyone could do it, it would be you, and you spend the rest of the walk wondering where the insult buried inside the statement was hiding. Later that night, once you had tucked into bed, you realized there wasn't any insult at all, just genuine encouragement. For the next week, your walks were filled with slightly guarded conversation, sometimes about upcoming homework assignments, but sometimes about how the taekwondo team was doing, or if you thought Professor Yoda's ear hairs were a countable or uncountable infinity. But he was still an asshole.

About a week later, you were alone with Anakin in the lab around midnight, working on a piece of the lens, trying to get the refraction just right before the test run, when your phone buzzed. Midterm Grade Posted for PHYS 485: Thermodynamics. Your heart stopped. You had been hoping and praying that the number of hours you'd poured into your thesis wouldn't come back to bite you in terms of classwork, but now was the moment of truth. You opened the notification, then to the Canvas page, where you saw your grade. 38/100. Everything in the world stopped. How could you have fucked up that badly? Your eyes scanned over instructor comments. Average class grade: 40/100. Maximum grade: 49/100. Okay, okay. It would be curved up, and you'd probably get a B, but you were below average for the first time in your life. Fuck. Fuck. How could this happen? You glared at Anakin, who was screwing in a bolt to the metal scaffolding of his project. That motherfucker was probably the one who got 49. The thought made you so angry you bolted out of your chair and went to go grab the materials for your test. That motherfucker got everything. It wasn't fair.

You lined up the small device you made, plugged it into the port of your phone, and opened the corresponding software. Through the external lens, you scanned the two printed-out pictures of eyes, one with glaucoma and one without. You held your breath throughout the loading screen. Please, just let one thing go right. Please. Please. The little loading circle stopped. Both eyes were cleared of glaucoma. A false negative. Motherfucker. Three months of work, and for what? You'd never get the prize at this rate. You'd have to start from scratch. You slammed your fist onto the table in anger.

"Hey, there's hammers for that," Anakin called, teasing from the other side of the room. He looked up at you, mouth open to snark something else out, when he saw your eyes welling with tears.

"Woah, are you okay? What's wrong? Did you hurt yourself?" His voice was soft, warm. Anakin dropped the wrench he was holding on the table and half-jogged over to you, putting his hand on your shoulder. You jumped at the contact, but it wasn't entirely unwelcome. It was kind of comforting, actually, but you were too upset to notice that.

"It's just, it's not working, and I've spent so much time and--" you trailed off.

"Don't cry, it's okay, we can fix it," he said with a shrug and a smile. Why was he smiling? God, was he actually pleased right now? Suddenly, your tears turned to anger, not at yourself or the system or the difficulty of your project, but at him.

"Like you're not happy about this. I bet you sabotaged it yourself," you spat out and shrugged his hand off your shoulder. He balked.

"Sabotage? Are you serious? I'd never do that." You stood up, incensed, and pointed a finger into his chest.

"Really? It sounds exactly like something you would do--remember in sophomore year when Barriss's robot mysteriously stopped working?" He half laughed, half scoffed, mouth dropping open, then snapped back with his voice raised.

"You've got to be kidding! Maybe if you paid two seconds of attention to your classmates or anyone around you, you'd know it was her wiring! The connections were bad!"

"Sure," your voice dripped with sarcasm as you scoffed at his insult, "And when you told her it served her right? You were so smug!" Your voice was rising. He ran a hand through his hair and bit out another laugh as he retorted.

"And if I was? Like you're not the queen of being smug in this department. 'Oh, my robot's better, Anakin. I got an A, Anakin.'" He raised his voice high, mocking you. His eyes were wild, furious.

"Me? Smug? Look in the mirror, asshole! Pretend all you want, but I know who you are. You can pretend to be oh-so-nice to everyone else, but I see you for what you really are. Just. A. Fucking. Asshole." You emphasized each word with a jab of your finger, getting closer to him each time. The tension between you was turning somehow--were you losing the argument? You couldn't tell.

"Oh yeah? You don't know a single thing about me," he gritted out, right up in your face, jaw flexing. His intense eyes bored into yours, flicking back and forth, and then they dropped down to glance at your lips.

You weren't sure which one of you moved first, but all you felt was his lips against yours and your hands fisting in his hair, which it turned out was as perfectly soft as you had imagined. Bastard. Anakin's kisses were hot, insistent against your mouth as you sloppily made out in the middle of the lab. His arms, warm and firm, circled your waist and pulled you to him while you tilted your heads this way and that to get closer. Your tongue swiped his lower lip, and he treated you to a surprised, low moan that you wanted to hear again and again until your ears bled. He got your hint, though, and started teasing your lips with his tongue until you opened your mouth just enough to touch your tongue to his. His arms tightened and pulled you against him so that you could feel his warmth from chest to thigh. The two of you were frantic, like if you got close enough, deep enough in each others' mouths, you'd figure out why you were doing this and why it felt so goddamn good. Your heart was pounding when his hands slipped lower and grabbed you under your ass.

"Jump," he whispered huskily after he reluctantly separated his mouth from yours. You hopped, and he used the hands under your thighs to lift you up and sit you on the lab table. Dutifully, you wrapped your legs around his hips, interlocking your ankles around his unfairly attractive ass, and kept your hands buried in his hair. Anakin was back on your lips immediately. He was sloppy and excited until you shifted your hips against him, and then he became electric against you, even hungrier than before. You were definitely feeling something underneath your hips, a lump. It hit you that he was hard, and that sent a bolt of lightning between your legs. You'd stared a little bit more than you cared to admit that time he'd worn gray sweatpants, and what you'd seen was now pressed against you. You drew in a shaky breath at that idea, and you realized that God, he smelled like metal from his soldering earlier and, underneath that, sandalwood and vanilla.

Sometime around the time his hips tilted forward into yours, a beep echoed through the empty lab. You both jumped apart, leaving you sitting on the table, and the noise continued. Beep beep beep. The insistent noise came from one of the 3D printers in the corner. Anakin's print was done.

The silence of the lab felt deafening as you both panted. What had you done? Making out with your enemy was completely against lab safety guidelines, for one, and your morals, for another. Your heart was still pounding in your chest, despite your misgivings, but you willed those wisps of excitement deep down into some mental box. This couldn't happen. If there was a single person on this campus you couldn't fuck, it was Anakin. Not only was he rude, but if you got too close, how would you navigate it when only one of you won? Most importantly, though, you had hated him for four years. And for good reason. (Though you couldn't remember exactly what it was, or think critically at all, in that moment.)

"We shouldn't do that again, Anakin." Your voice was small in the empty space. For a second, his face fell, but he pressed his lips into a thin line to disguise it.

"Definitely not. I--Sorry." And that was that.

You walked home in complete silence, stealing glances at one another in the dark night. When you got to the door of your dorm, you opened your mouth to say something, but then closed it. Better not. So why, once you separated, did you feel so sad? Why did you want to see him again, to feel that silky hair under your fingers in your bed? You laid awake until the early hours of the night, and told yourself that your fingers slipping inside the waistband of your pajamas wasn't about Anakin, you just hadn't gotten some in way too long. It wasn't about Anakin. Even though it was his mouth and chest and arms you thought about when you came on your fingers, it wasn't about him.

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

please let me know if you'd like to be added to the tag list!

[thejessiecarper]

Took some time yesterday to play around in Womp3D and I’m just obsessed with my 3D Cherry Pals ✨🍒🌱

All through college I worked at my school Makerspace so I got very comfortable with CAD softwares but I’ve never really “sculpted” things in 3D and Womp made it really easy to jump in (not sponsored I just had a LOT of fun making this!!)

I loved that making this got me into a state of play which I tend to find hard to do so I was able to just create ✨✨

[simpishly]

Get your read on at the Newcrest Public Library! This state-of-the-art library features a makerspace/crafting lab, rooftop garden, teen room, and a kids' area with indoor treehouse and play area.

Part of a new #WanderingToNewcrest build series.

Newcrest Public Library 30x40 Library Lot (§141,932) (fully playtested on the Rippling Flats lot in Newcrest)

Required Packs: For Rent, Horse Ranch, Get Together, High School Years, Eco Lifestyle, Discover University, Seasons, Cats & Dogs, City Living, Get Together, Get to Work, Dream Home Decorator, Dine Out

Custom Content: None

Feel free to replace or redesign objects as necessary for personal use, but please do not upload this lot anywhere else, original or modified.

DOWNLOAD FROM THE GALLERY ID: simpishly or search #simpishly

[bubonickitten]

The ALA's State of America's Libraries Report for 2024 is out now.

2023 had the highest number of challenged book titles ever documented by the ALA.

You can view the full PDF of the report here. Book ban/challenge data broken down by state can be found here.

If you can, try to keep an eye on your local libraries, especially school and public libraries. If book/program challenges or attacks on library staff are happening in your area, make your voice heard -- show up at school board meetings, county commissioner meetings, town halls, etc. Counterprotest. Write messages of support on social media or in your local papers. Show support for staff in-person. Tell others about the value of libraries.

Get a library card if you haven't yet -- if you're not a regular user, chances are you might not know what all your library offers. I'm talking video games, makerspaces (3D printers, digital art software, recording equipment, VR, etc.), streaming services, meeting spaces, free demonstrations and programs (often with any necessary materials provided at no cost!), mobile WiFi hotspots, Library of Things collections, database subscriptions, genealogy resources, and so on. A lot of electronic resources like ebooks, databases, and streaming services you can access off-site as long as you have a (again: free!!!) library card. There may even be services like homebound delivery for people who can't physically come to the library.

Also try to stay up to date on pending legislation in your state -- right now there's a ton of proposed legislation that will harm libraries, but there are also bills that aim to protect libraries, librarians, teachers, and intellectual freedom. It's just as important to let your representatives know that you support pro-library/anti-censorship legislation as it is to let them know that you oppose anti-library/pro-censorship legislation.

Unfortunately, someone being a library user or seeing value in the work that libraries do does not guarantee that they will support libraries at the ballot. One of the biggest predictors for whether libraries stay funded is not the quantity or quality of the services, programs, and materials it offers, but voter support. Make sure your representatives and local politicians know your stance and that their actions toward libraries will affect your vote.

Here are some resources for staying updated:

If you're interested in library advocacy and staying up to date with the challenges libraries are facing in the U.S., check out EveryLibrary, which focuses on building voter support for libraries.

Book Riot has regular articles on censorship attempts taking place throughout the nation, which can be found here, as well as a Literary Activism Newsletter.

The American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom focuses on the intellectual freedom component of the Library Bill of Rights, tracks censorship attempts throughout each year, and provides training, support, and education about intellectual freedom to library staff and the public.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation focuses on intellectual freedom in the digital world, including fighting online censorship and illegal surveillance.

I know this post is long, but please spread the word. Libraries need your support now more than ever.

[alexanderwales]

I've had a number of jobs that I would consider blue collar, mostly when I was younger, just not skilled blue collar work. I worked at my uncle's landscaping company for a summer (planting bushes, repotting stuff, watering plants), and on my other uncle's farm for a few years (feeding animals, helping hook up equipment, being an extra pair of hands, doing a lot of the various odd jobs that farming seems to consist of). I was a janitor for two years when I was taking a break from college, and did enough manual labor that I had some actual muscles from it.

When I worked as a janitor, one of my duties was to bale cardboard, which means taking all the cardboard generated by the store and placing it into a baler, having it crushed flat in bulk, then tying the bale of cardboard up with wire so it could be placed in a corner of the loading bay and later, shipped of somewhere else for processing. I imagine that before the baler was invented, this was a lot more labor, and even with the baler it felt like a significant amount of labor. And I did always think that it could have been easier, simpler, faster, except that it was cheaper for a human to do everything. Even the very primitive baler probably cost thousands of dollars, and it was just a glorified hydraulic press. But I didn't respect the work, and would have been happy for that to no longer be a thing that humans had to do.

I guess my opinion on automation is that it's generally good insofar as it means that people can stop doing things that they would rather not be doing, things that they do because they've been coerced into doing them for money.

But I do think there's something to working with your hands and seeing some tangible results from your labor. I took wood shop in high school, and every now and then I have cause to use those skills for something, even if I am outcompeted by giant factories that can make the same things by the hundreds with better precision. There's also the question of customization: my wife is far more handy than I am, and is always making little custom things for us, either 3D printed or with tools at the local Makerspace that she helps run. I think it's good to look back at something you've done and being able to say "yes, I have done that". And of course there are other ways to compete against a factory that's shitting out things by the thousands, and not just by having things bespoke: there are things that benefit from not having to be made in quantity, or with fresh ingredients, or locally sourced products.

I guess there are a lot of things that I would replace with robots, if I could, but also a lot of things that I wouldn't, because I place some value on doing them myself, or having a process that I can control, or an end product I can take credit for.

We're entering a new era of automation, assuming that AI doesn't just fail and escape from the public consciousness like a weak fart. I'm hopeful that it can kill a lot of grunt work, things that people didn't ever want to be doing, and worried that it will kill the kinds of enriching labor that people actually enjoy. But of course I worry that it's going to be like a lot of automation has been, making an inferior product at prices so low that only the very rich can afford what humans do.

[subspaceember]

I keep thinking about the idea of universities not being classes and homework and assignments and forced essays and regurgitated facts, and instead being campuses of libraries and makerspaces and laboratories and discussion and community.

Imagine how that would be. If universities served not as tools to form people into gears for the system, and instead was a resource.

Filmmakers and artists with access to equipment and the channels for their work to be seen.

Labs and greenhouses for the sciences, stocked with materials and filled with others doing research.

Makerspaces and shops filled with equipment and tools, and with anyone there who can be asked how to use them.

Libraries with shelves of books, kitchens for cooks, rooms for groups and discussion, places for people to stay and eat, yes even gyms and fields.

The university could become a resource people return to again and again, to learn and to share, rather than a mold to force people into workers. The same could be true for any school.

[stellar-haikyuu]

stellar's haikyuu ocs! ☆ timeskip jobs

I'm still wondering how to go about their individual introductions, but I figured it would be fun to share my Haikyuu original characters' future professions! This post will also feature their names and their meanings hehe. ♡ Feel free to leave any thoughts or questions hehe I'll be more than happy to overshare! (Unfortunately, I still find drawing quite difficult, so I use this picrew by veluv_art to help make my visions come to life.)

Works as a pediatric speech-language-hearing pathologist

Plans to specialize in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)

Collaborates with Ennoshita whenever he is given pediatric cases

Works as a volleyball coach for Niiyama Girls High School

Plans to coach the Japanese women's national team and youth/under 19 representatives team

Works as a preschool teacher

Employed in the same facility as Inuoka

Supervises or leads workshops at her sister's dance studio every other weekend

Works as a video game developer

Plans on spearheading the creation of more sports games

Also works as a freelance graphic designer

Plays volleyball with the former Date Tech members

Works as a family medicine resident/doctor

Employed at the same hospital as Shirabu

Does free consultations for families who cannot afford health services

Works as an author of both children's and adult books

Writes under two pseudonyms and is employed at the publishing company Akaashi works at

Privately posts fanfiction online

Works as a food and lifestyle vlogger

Promotes Kita's rice farm and Onigiri Miya

Also works as a soundtrack composer for small film projects and games

Works as a professional volleyball player

In the same team as Kanoka (Hikari Pharmaceutical Red Rabbits)

Also a member of the Japanese women's national team

Works as an artist

Sells merchandise such as stickers, crochet items, keychains, you name it

Co-owns an art makerspace with Himekawa

Works as a psychologist in the private and school setting

Plans to specialize in child psychology and play therapy

Often asks for Hirugami's insights for cases needing animal/pet therapy

Works as a disability/accessibility advocate and consultant for the Paralympics

Hosts accessibility workshops for workplaces and universities

Hyakuzawa always promotes her advocacy projects on his social media and volleyball interviews

stellar's masterlist

[nitewrighter]

Hi, I’m studying to get my associates in library tech with the goal of becoming a children’s librarian. Is there anything that you wish you knew before becoming a librarian?

Well it's tough to say for sure because I had been working as a library assistant for a long time before I got my master's, so I actually did have a lot of 'on the ground' experience in libraries, albeit in a very immediate, lower-skilled customer service sense.

I would say, on a "librarian as a whole" level, try to get as much hands-on experience in programming development and assisting with programming as you can--a major part of advancing your career as a librarian (at least as a public librarian) is being able to plan and implement programming, and also evaluate the success of that programming, and while I got a lot of experience with that in theory in Library school, it wasn't something I really bothered with as a library assistant because I felt too intimidated by it and I felt it "wasn't my place"--even though it's absolutely something I'd have to do as a librarian. And it's something they ask you about at EVERY interview for Librarian positions! If I could go back in time, I'd go back to 2018 and thwack myself with a newspaper to tell me to elbow my way into more programming development--because there ARE openings for it! Libraries ARE always looking for fresh ideas for programming, and one day, I WILL get my Makerspace Cosplay Workshop For Teens idea launched, goddammit!!

On a more "Children's Librarian Specific" level, I realize I talk a lot on this blog about like... the basic thesis that Children Are Indeed People. And I realize in that last ask I got that I was complaining a lot about parents basically using library space as a space to shut down and recover--often at the expense of the space, or sometimes even at the risk of their children. But I do think in terms of like... practicality, respect, and humility, that you as a librarian have to acknowledge that these parents are caring for their kids 24/7 and a lot of the time, for all your dreams of "Youth Liberation!!!" they will, generally, know their kids' triggers and patterns of behavior better than you, Cool Youth Liberator Librarian, ever will. I'm gonna use an example I call the "Give a Mouse a Cookie" story:

So we have coloring sheets and crayons at our children's desk, right? And this little girl comes up to the desk asking for a coloring sheet and I'm like, "oh, okay, we have a puppy coloring sheet?" and she's like, "No, I want the kitty." And her parents are going, "Sweetie, just get the puppy, we need to leave," and I'm like, "Oh, I can just print out some kitty coloring sheets. It's not a big deal. It looks like we're running low anyways." So I print out a bunch of kitty coloring sheets, hand her the first warm-out-of-the-printer kitty, and she starts melting down, because it wasn't just a kitty coloring sheet she wanted, it was a Unicorn Kitty Coloring sheet (except she's like 4 or 5 so it's not really fair to act like she could articulate that), and this is where the story gets stupid, because I'm like, "Oh. Here." and I draw a unicorn horn on the kitty--and like, I need you to understand that this is me going off of babysitting experience where I'm used to little kids being psyched at me drawing something especially for them. And this would provide an immediate 15 second solution rather than however long it would take me to track down the unicorn kitty coloring sheet she wanted through our coloring sheet database and then send that to the printer. And like, I know how to draw a horn so that it meshes decently enough with the coloring sheet's art style. LIKE IT MESHED WITH THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE CAT'S HEAD. But still, the meltdown intensifies because that's not the unicorn cat that other kids were coloring. How dare I slap a horn on this regular-ass cat and try to tell her it's a unicorn cat?!?!? So finally her parents just go, "She needs a nap" and drag her off. I told this story to my brother and he went, "Oh yeah. You gave a mouse a cookie."

Like, yeah, there is something very rewarding in validating a kid's desires and meeting their needs just like you would any adult patron. I love that little flare of 'Yes! I did the thing! I asked the lady where the InvestiGators books were, and she showed me!" I love seeing kids light up when you take them to the nonfiction section they ask for and then you help them leaf through it for the right book for their desired content and reading level, but also... sometimes it's not about the unicorn kitty, and you have to be able to trust when the parents are picking up on that and be able to put up a united front. It's kind of like when you start getting caught up in your own anger, and you have to ask yourself, "Am I letting this burn out, or am I adding oxygen to the fire?" There is so much going on under the hood with kids! So much is happening! Developing brains and very little experience are a helluva drug! You do want to fight for and encourage the kid's agency and value when you can, but also they're part of a family! And families have their own unique dynamics and needs! Growing up and having to negotiate your wants and needs with everyone around you is a trauma in and of itself!

[cassolotl]

Ethnic groups and race and hierarchies: an experimental question to the universe

Hello! This is a question for people of colour, I am not interested in hearing from white people. When responding please affirm that you're not white and also tell me which country you're in; extra points if you're also in the UK. For context, as may be obvious, I am white. I am just chucking this out there to see what happens and there is no obligation to join in with this.

So. Our makerspace in Mid Wales is creating an ~Equalities Monitoring~ form, which I think is a really good idea.

For ethnic groups, we're bouncing off from this question and answers made by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) who do the census, which is their set for Wales:

What is your ethnic group? Choose one option that best describes your ethnic group or background White 1. Welsh/English/Scottish/Northern Irish/British 2. Irish 3. Gypsy or Irish Traveller 4. Any other White background, please describe Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups 5. White and Black Caribbean 6. White and Black African 7. White and Asian 8. Any other Mixed/Multiple ethnic background, please describe Asian/Asian British 9. Indian 10. Pakistani 11. Bangladeshi 12. Chinese 13. Any other Asian background, please describe Black/African/Caribbean/Black British 14. African 15. Caribbean 16. Any other Black/African/Caribbean background, please describe Other ethnic group 17. Arab 18. Any other ethnic group, please describe

They call this question "harmonised" - they've done two years of research using lots of info from lots of organisations and concluded that this is, like, the best question and answer list.

I would really love to hear from people of colour. What do you think? Do you have any comments on the wording, the order of the answer options, etc? Please critique my government's cross-governmental research and conclusions!

To save everyone some time and energy, maybe have a skim through the fairly thorough info on the ONS page about their reasonings, just on the off-chance that what you're saying is covered there? (Then you can critique their reasoning too, which I'm actually more into.)

Also, no offence USA, but this is an issue I run into a lot: please try to bear in mind that not all countries are like the USA when answering!

This post is very experimental, I'm very new to this and curious to see what happens. Needless to say, if you're like "ughhhhhhh" feel free to comment that, and no one is obliged to Educate me, but everyone is welcome to school me. I am interested in anything you are thinking about. Reblogs are fine. Come at me, sibs.

Thank you. <3

[bisexual-engineer-guy]

I think my goal in life--the thing that gives the most fulfillment for me--is being "the guy." At school, I'm "the guy" for CAD work and machining and programming and anything to do with the makerspace or shop. In my internship, I'm "the guy" for photogrammetry or surveying or niche SFM software. In my startup, I'm "the guy" for anything weird and mechanical, and possibly soon radio and signal electronics. And this is honestly what I love, it's my calling

[thrownsoul]

@maybepeace said: 💃 alice/bucky 💃

It starts with a vintage radio at a rummage sale. It is at least fifty years old, and Alice knows—and says—it doesn't work before he forks over the $10. But maybe it's no surprise that Bucky is determined to repair something broken.

For a week or so, it's pet project. He wipes off dust and grime and buffs out marks. He straightens the antenna. He tightens screws. It's missing a dial; Alice hauls him to the library makerspace to 3d print a new one. The librarian, who falls on the younger side of millennial, looks just as confused by the radio as Alice is. He has to fiddle with the antenna some more.

It's nice to see him working on something for him, not just whatever the landlord hasn't bothered to get to for their neighbors up and down the complex.

And then they have a working radio. She hasn't heard one of those since she drove her dad's car to school.

On a clear evening, she follows him up to the roof. The moon hangs waning in a still-blue summer sky. The sofa looks a little less like he dragged it out of a dumpster, which he did, with the addition of fairy lights strung around the rooftop. She perches on the arm and swings her legs, watching him turn one silver knob and one two-toned purple-blue knob, courtesy of the Chicago Public Library system.

I'll never smile again Until I smile at you I'll never laugh again What good would it do

She's swaying with the beat, slow as it is, but it doesn't occur to her to take it seriously when he says, "Dance with me?"

Alice laughs. "Change the station and maybe I will."

It's just a subtle tightening of his face that tells her (her own eyes widening, smile dropping) that he actually meant it. Her hands go still mid-playing idly with the skirt of her dress, along the place where a seam skips over the sunflower print.

You know we couldn't have danced in the '40s, she doesn't say. She's never felt self-conscious before that she can't be nostalgic with him—she just takes him as he is, and doesn't worry about the rest. He'll tell her if it matters to who he wants to be.

Maybe this matters.

Because there's his face again. His irises appear very pale blue in the light. His eyes being so steady is nothing strange. He hasn't broken his staring habit yet, maybe never will. But he's not looking at the radio; he's looking at her.

And she doesn't believe it's just nostalgia. Not really.

"I guess I've got no beef with Sinatra."

She pushes herself off the arm of the sofa, shaking out the full-length skirt, then giving it an experimental swish. Glancing up at him then, her heart jumps into her throat.

Scarab is suspiciously silent about her pulse rabbiting off.

Within my heart I know I will never start To smile again Until I smile at you

Alice lifts her hands, and then flinches back. Like a hot stove, or that game where you try to pull your hands away before your partner slaps them—just as her fingertips touch his.

"I don't know what I'm doing."

[engineering-anthology]

30 days of productivity

(Because 100 is scary)

02/30

I was productive and made a lot of progress today, but I'm nowhere near the end. Last night I worked late on campus and then slept until morning on a beanbag. It's not good, I know, but it's where we're at right now.

Things I did:

algae data wrangling and conditioning ~3 hours?

held open hours at the makerspace (tried to do more data analysis, but ended up helping a bunch of people with their projects... at least it was a really nice break!)

asked for a teeny tiny extension on my paper, so I now have until tomorrow morning (downside: I will probably be working through the night :_( alas, I can only blame myself)

Things I have yet to do:

reach out to nonlinear dynamics professor and ask for a meeting to discuss bioconvection project (ultra! high! priority!)

finish data analysis and generate plots

write a whole-ass academic paper draft by 9am (I'm gonna die)

prepare for electronics oral exam (itll be ok. itll be ok. itll be ok. o.O)

shower!

Musings:

I need to clean my room. I feel like the clutter might be what's making me reluctant to work and drowsy... like the mental overload of looking at all the bits and bobs drains the energy straight from my brain. Luckily, I have some time this weekend to clean! (and I kind of have to since a prospective housemate is coming to look at this room on Monday)

I think I want to get some more plants. I don't have time to do much gardening or plant-networking (where you ask your plant-friends for cuttings), but I do have enough energy to keep them alive and they make my room feel so comfy. I guess it'll have to wait until summer.

I had a thought earlier that I kind of wish school was year-round? I have this problem where I get used to the workload throughout the semester, and I start actually delivering with the intensity that I'm supposed to, and suddenly it's summer or winter break and everything changes and I have so much time to forget all of the useful skills and habits I've developed. It's frustrating! And any time I visit my family home I get roped into so many little tasks that I have no time to myself to rest. Part of it is that I'm bad at setting boundaries with family, but I do wish a week of home didn't factory-reset all of my hard-earned good habits away into the abyss.

Good luck with your work and studies everyone!!! You can do it! <3

[liskantope]

My condolences about your friends. I hang out a lot in New York makerspaces and have met a few people in a similar position to you. I’m not a rationalist or an Effective Altruist. However I do know what it’s like to be caught up in a cult-like friend group ruled by someone who has done everything in their power to eschew genuine human connection and suppress their sense of cognitive empathy. I also know what it is to be manipulated by a charismatic but fundamentally selfish and power hungry person into doing terrible things. From one stranger on the internet to another, I hope you’re taking care of yourself.

Thanks for your empathy and concern.

It's really not as severe of a situation for me as it might sound. I've always heavily compartmentalized my online-as-Liskantope life from my "real" life, and that includes my friendship with the former Tumblr user in question -- it was very much the closest thing I had to a true "Tumblr friendship" in the late 2010's (not as deep as some -- we didn't even go as far keeping up a DM conversation -- and at the time I was very leery of even labeling it as any sort of friendship because I was in my early 30's while he* was in high school, which felt weird), and a "Tumblr friendship" felt like a much less substantial thing than a real-life friendship. That said, I do have very warm memories of our Tumblr interactions some 6-8 years ago, which are warm in a sort of unique way (at least those are the best words I can come up with right now to express it?), and my every thought/realization of what wound up happening does make me feel gut-twisted on a daily basis. It's also hard to balance a compulsion to learn as much as I can about the broader story here with the importance of making sure I'm in the right mindspace to handle its very disturbing aspects (both regarding my old friend individually and the ideas that animate the whole Ziz group collectively).

And to be clear, I find it quite plausible (not going to make an actual judgment here, especially when even after weeks I still have some reading to do) that he really committed a serious crime, namely that of attempted murder (and legally speaking another crime of actual murder of Emma Borhanian, but I'm just going to go ahead and say that the CA law that puts this on paper as "murder" is bullshit). I have almost complete confidence in declaring that he fell in with, let's say, a very dangerous crowd, which is still not quite to say that Ziz ticks off all the necessary boxes for "cult leader" or was manipulating people with a very high level of deliberation. But at the same time, I knew him to be a thoughtful, earnest, and kind person at least as recently as 5-6 years ago, refuse to believe that he is a monster at least outside of very narrow areas of his psyche, and refuse to believe that it's morally fitting for even someone who is an actual monster to be subjected to the kind of torture that is my understanding of solitary prison confinement. *At the time and until recently, I was mainly using "they/them" for this Tumblr user, but recent news articles suggest that he was on hormones and asked to be housed in a male prison.

[ettawritesnstudies]

Hi!! How do you balance writing and studying ChE?

I've been out of college for about a year now but I remember it wasn't easy lol. Most of these are more general tips that apply for any college student but especially for STEM majors!

Be gentle with yourself and manage your expectations: understand that your semesters will be busy seasons where your writing time or inspiration might dry up. Breaks might give you more time to write but you might also be dealing with burnout from the previous term or working to pay for school. NaNoWriMo overlaps with major projects and midterms. Try to know your body and your mindset as the seasons shift so you aren't forcing yourself to be productive when hibernating is a healthier activity.

Count small wins: I got a lot of out of writing short stories for my mailing list. This averaged out to 10 pages across 3 months. That's a tiny word count but these stories challenged my writing craft and I think I grew a lot from the exercise. (You could submit to competitions or your school magazine if there is one, but that's unnecessary pressure, only do that if it sounds fun). Now isn't the time to grind out a whole manuscript on a deadline. Play with some worldbuilding. Make character sheets. Outline the fun parts of an epic fantasy by commandeering the whiteboards in the library. Write fanfic. Just keep the creative spark alive even if it's something as small as jotting down a few lines of dialogue while waiting for class to start.

Make creative friends: I did this by joining the DnD club but there are tons of other clubs and organizations where you can find like minded people. Try the local county library off campus, the makerspace, an arts and crafts circle, or the fencing club (full of nerds). Attend write-ins if you can find a local group that still does NaNo stuff (even if they're not affiliated with the organization)

Schedule writing time: I kept a rigorous Google color coded calendar - yellow for classes, green for clubs and campus/department activities, red for my student research and work study at the makerspace, orange for working out, and purple for friend group get togethers or dnd. At this point most of my days were full, but if there were any empty slots of time, I'd mark a blue box for myself and guard it. That was my writing time. If anyone else wanted me to show up to an event I'd decline. It might just be an hour on a Saturday morning but it was mine. I'd try to go into these blocks of time with a plan so as not to waste them, but I also spent a lot of time sending Storyteller Saturday Asks. That was fun.

Take advantage of unexpected down time: this was an odd quirk about my campus, but the chemical engineering labs were on a separate campus that could only be reached by a one way bus loop (or driving through the frat houses and you'd get a parking ticket anyways). I did undergrad research as a work study/for credit across three semesters so I spent many hours round trip waiting for and riding the bus. I often used this time to listen to audiobooks but I also drafted on my phone in Google docs or my notes app. My research also involved a lot of waiting. Setting up the experiment and then observing for hours. I could multitask on homework or my writing while I waited. This isn't a universal solution, my advisor and the post docs were incredibly nice and chill, and I know that's rare. But if you find yourself in a similar position, don't doomscroll, use the time.

Don't be afraid of sharing your writing: pick trusted friends. You don't necessarily have to look for critique, there's no shame in going "hey I worked really hard on this scene and I love it a lot do you want to read it and geek out with me?" Positive feedback is a great motivator.

Take inspiration from your studies: chemical engineering is really cool! I hope you have a better experience than I did (1.5 semesters remote during COVID, 17 credits and a full time job, oof). You'll get to learn crazy chemical reactions and math and physics that makes you feel like a wizard. If your classes get boring, check out science YouTubers like Nile Red and Explosions and Fire. Some of my favorite worldbuilding has been scribbled in the margins of my notes. Take liberties with the laws of the universe. Lean into the dark academia aesthetic. Have fun with it even if you're suffering through thermochem. I believe in you.