#certification program focuses

[whentherewerebicycles]

man oh man i have so many thoughts about how insistently (and i think kind of blindly/uncritically) my university pushes us to frame absolutely every type of learning experience we offer to students in the language of "career readiness" and "career-connected learning" and "professional development." i totally get that we have a large first-gen student population who are making a big investment of time & money in a college degree and who want to be sure that doing so will grant them access to greater socioeconomic mobility. and i DO think it is important for us to think about like, ok, long-term, what comes after these experiences or after this four years in college, and what can we be doing to set students up for success as they transition out of college and into the rest of their lives. but like. idk man. i find it really bleak sometimes. just this relentless messaging that the only thing that matters in your adult life is how competitive you are on the job market. and i also think it pushes us to just like, kind of warp or distort the things we are offering students to make them fit under that rubric, or that particular framework for valuing things? like if we want to convince a student to study abroad we can't be like, living abroad is one of the most amazing things you can do. it's so fun/scary/exhilarating/awesome and it will expand your horizons in ways you can't even anticipate and it will expose you to different ways of seeing the world and you will get to interact with people whose perspectives have been shaped by totally different cultures & contexts and it will help you become more independent and more confident in your ability to handle unfamiliar situations and it will give you stories you will remember all your life and you will build strong friendships with the people you meet and you will take cool pictures or buy little knickknacks that remind you of those experiences in your daily life forever and it will motivate you to travel more and when/if you have kids of your own you will probably make it a priority to travel with them if you can or to encourage them to study abroad when they're older because you know how amazing that experience is and you want them to have access to those kinds of life-changing opportunities. like instead of saying any of that we have to say oh this will develop your skills in time management and project management and professional communication with your supervisors and it will give you something impressive to talk about on your resume or in job interviews and blah blah blah. or even if you use a more capacious definition of career readiness that focuses more on habits of mind (like, in the workplace you will sometimes have to navigate complex situations where expectations are not fully clear! you will also likely have this experience living abroad!), it's still just like... idk man... i find it so reductive lol like yeah sure but "get a skill that applies to your job as a project manager or an IT professional or whatever" just feels so much... Less... than the more humanistic appeal to like, this will enrich your life in so many ways, and you will, through these experiences, just become an all-around more emotionally mature, confident, and interesting human being who has engaged in an experience that challenged you and helped you grow. but then i am all in on the humanities and humanism in general so maybe i am biased here and someone who wants to be a software engineer or whatever would be wholly unmoved by that kind of appeal. idk. anyway. it looks like our team is going to be subsumed into our career center in the next year or two so like. what can you really do except to inwardly say "wow i kinda hate this"

[pttedu]

Top Facilities at PTTI That Help You Succeed in Automotive Repair Training

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[old-powwow-days]

With the summer heat rolling in I really wanted to take a moment and highlight a program I am a big fan of, A.N.E.

"Adopt-A-Native-Elder (A.N.E.) serves to help reduce extreme poverty and hardship facing traditional Elders living on the Navajo Reservation. A.N.E. is a trusted humanitarian organization focused on delivering food, medical supplies, firewood and other forms of Elder support. Respecting the tradition and dignity of Navajo Elders, we create relationships and honor and serve the Elders. The Program is organized in the Native American Spirit of the Giveaway Circle. The Giveaway Circle has a tradition of giving the best that we have. That may be a gift of time, talents or skills, or actual gifts of food and donations. When asked what the boxes of food meant to her, Ruth Benally explained that they were like "miracles from the sky." The miracle is the letters and gifts that arrive from people that they don't know and may never meet. For over 30 years, Adopt-A-Native-Elder has used an integrated approach to go beyond charity to assist indigent Elders on the Navajo Reservation in Utah and Arizona."

A.N.E also puts on an annual rug show & sale, you can read about last years here. Apart from their annual events they also host an online shop where you can buy jewelry, woven baskets, and elder made rugs. All proceeds go towards providing support for our elders be it food, medical assistance, firewood, weaving supplies and so much more.

Not in the market for beautifully made Indigenous crafts? Well they also accept general donations, buy specific items for elders in need, food certificate sponsors, rug show sponsors, and of course adopting an elder.

Adopt a Native Elder Website, Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter

[the-cosmic-cauldron]

Jupiter shows where you tend to overdo things. Here’s a description based on its placement in each house:

1st House

• You have a strong, dominant personality and often want to be the center of attention.

• You can be overly demanding and push too hard for your goals.

• Your fashion style may be excessive, and you might indulge in cosmetic procedures or wear a lot of jewelry and accessories.

• You tend to spend heavily on your appearance and may try to juggle too many things at once.

• There’s a tendency to be overly focused on yourself.

2nd House

• You may hoard items or shop impulsively, often buying things just because.

• There’s a tendency to overwork, possibly juggling multiple sources of income.

• Spending on cosmetics, hair, clothes, and style can get excessive, and cosmetic enhancements may be frequent.

• You might prioritize stability to an extreme and focus heavily on having a structured, set life.

3rd House

• You may talk excessively, engage in frequent debates or arguments, and interact with many people.

• Constantly learning, you may have too many tabs open—both literally and figuratively.

• Your mind is filled with endless ideas, and you might overcommit to various educational programs.

• You could spend too much time with siblings or excessively text and talk on the phone.

• Spend excessive time on your phone.

• Spend a significant amount of time talking to others.

4th House

• You might spend an excessive amount of time at home with family and friends.

• Constant redecorating or buying things for your home is common.

• You may overindulge in comfort activities like staying in bed, cuddling, or enjoying home-cooked meals.

5th House

• You can be overly expressive and may try to juggle multiple hobbies or projects at once.

• Romantic relationships may become excessive, with frequent dating or hookups.

• You might have many children or find yourself in party and nightlife scenes too often.

• Overindulgence in fun, partying, or avoiding responsibilities can be a challenge.

6th House

• You may be a workaholic, often juggling several jobs and constantly staying busy.

• Helping others and being productive might become excessive, leaving little time for rest.

• You could overdo your wellness routine, such as dieting, exercising, or taking supplements.

• Obsession with skincare, hygiene, or maintaining a youthful appearance may develop.

7th House

• Relationships may be a central focus, with frequent dating, multiple marriages, or seeking romance excessively.

• You might rely heavily on others, becoming co-dependent or overly people-pleasing.

• There’s a tendency to overanalyze different perspectives or play devil’s advocate too often.

• Obsession with approval from people who don’t like you could arise.

8th House

• You may constantly crave change and new experiences.

• There’s a tendency toward excessive intimacy, with a high body count or obsession with sex.

• Financially, you might seek wealthy partners or focus too much on joint resources.

• You may overindulge in analyzing people, diving deeply into psychology, or exploring taboo topics.

9th House

• You might pursue multiple degrees, certifications, or philosophical discussions excessively.

• There’s a strong urge to travel frequently or learn about different cultures.

• You may have a lot of beliefs and constantly search for meaning in life.

• Overdoing growth and chasing life experiences can leave you feeling ungrounded.

10th House

• You might be overly focused on improving your career and achieving status.

• There’s a tendency to obsess over your image, goals, and purpose in life.

• You may become fixated on reaching the top of your career, gaining power, or finding your ultimate life purpose, often to the detriment of other areas of life.

11th House

• You could become overly focused on finding friends or fitting into social groups.

• There’s a tendency to immerse yourself in humanitarian causes, fighting for equity, and solving societal problems.

• You may obsess over social media, community involvement, or niche projects.

• Dreams and aspirations could dominate your attention, leaving little room for balance in other aspects of life.

12th House

• You might spend excessive time introspecting, trying to figure out yourself, others, and the world.

• There’s a tendency to become overly spiritual or religious, diving deeply into escapism or dreamlike states.

• Isolation can become excessive, with a strong urge to withdraw from society or live off-grid.

• Addictive tendencies or living in a fantasy world may surface.

• Overindulgence in healing or imagining life as you wish it to be could lead to a lack of groundedness in reality.

[reasonsforhope]

"Cody Two Bears, a member of the Sioux tribe in North Dakota, founded Indigenized Energy, a native-led energy company with a unique mission — installing solar farms for tribal nations in the United States.

This initiative arises from the historical reliance of Native Americans on the U.S. government for power, a paradigm that is gradually shifting.

The spark for Two Bears' vision ignited during the Standing Rock protests in 2016, where he witnessed the arrest of a fellow protester during efforts to prevent the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline on sacred tribal land.

Disturbed by the status quo, Two Bears decided to channel his activism into action and create tangible change.

His company, Indigenized Energy, addresses a critical issue faced by many reservations: poverty and lack of access to basic power.

Reservations are among the poorest communities in the country, and in some, like the Navajo Nation, many homes lack electricity.

Even in regions where the land has been exploited for coal and uranium, residents face obstacles to accessing power.

Renewable energy, specifically solar power, is a beacon of hope for tribes seeking to overcome these challenges.

Not only does it present an environmentally sustainable option, but it has become the most cost-effective form of energy globally, thanks in part to incentives like the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

Tribal nations can receive tax subsidies of up to 30% for solar and wind farms, along with grants for electrification, climate resiliency, and energy generation.

And Indigenized Energy is not focused solely on installing solar farms — it also emphasizes community empowerment through education and skill development.

In collaboration with organizations like Red Cloud Renewable, efforts are underway to train Indigenous tribal members for jobs in the renewable energy sector.

The program provides free training to individuals, with a focus on solar installation skills.

Graduates, ranging from late teens to late 50s, receive pre-apprenticeship certification, and the organization is planning to launch additional programs to support graduates with career services such as resume building and interview coaching...

The adoption of solar power by Native communities signifies progress toward sustainable development, cultural preservation, and economic self-determination, contributing to a more equitable and environmentally conscious future.

These initiatives are part of a broader movement toward "energy sovereignty," wherein tribes strive to have control over their own power sources.

This movement represents not only an economic opportunity and a source of jobs for these communities but also a means of reclaiming control over their land and resources, signifying a departure from historical exploitation and an embrace of sustainable practices deeply rooted in Indigenous cultures."

-via Good Good Good, December 10, 2023

[star-anise]

God I love how often I have to remind my disability benefits people about the rules of THEIR OWN PROGRAM.

The rule says: "The income of an incorporated business is legally separate from its shareholders. The income of an incorporated business is not a factor in determining eligibility for benefits."

So I jumped through a million hoops to incorporate my business! I have the certificate and everything!

...And I just got a real physical paper letter in the mail asking me to provide bank statements from my incorporated business so they can use it to determine my eligibility for benefits.

So I had to write a bossy white lady email to go "I believe this is in error. According to YOUR OWN FLIPPING POLICY MANUAL..." (I did offer to rustle up a balance sheet so they could see how much of an asset the company is. Spoilers: it's super in debt, though it's looking more likely to cover its basic operating costs quite soon!)

This is how the "financially conservative" governments spend their time and money: hovering over the shoulders of poor people to snatch back every penny that lands above a sharply austere threshold. Even if they have to break their own rules to do it.

It's almost as if... they don't want poor or disabled people to actually achieve financial self-sufficiency. Just like they don't actually want to help us achieve employment.

(And yes, I understand that a lot of the front-line workers want to help people and do good, and they're usually burnt out and/or being railroaded by their bosses into focusing on very particular outcomes. They're a separate group of people from the ones who designed and legislated this system. That's why I'm as polite as I can be to them, and save my bitching for my elected representatives.)

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Demon-haunted computers are back, baby

Catch me in Miami! I'll be at Books and Books in Coral Gables on Jan 22 at 8PM.

As a science fiction writer, I am professionally irritated by a lot of sf movies. Not only do those writers get paid a lot more than I do, they insist on including things like "self-destruct" buttons on the bridges of their starships.

Look, I get it. When the evil empire is closing in on your flagship with its secret transdimensional technology, it's important that you keep those secrets out of the emperor's hand. An irrevocable self-destruct switch there on the bridge gets the job done! (It has to be irrevocable, otherwise the baddies'll just swarm the bridge and toggle it off).

But c'mon. If there's a facility built into your spaceship that causes it to explode no matter what the people on the bridge do, that is also a pretty big security risk! What if the bad guy figures out how to hijack the measure that – by design – the people who depend on the spaceship as a matter of life and death can't detect or override?

I mean, sure, you can try to simplify that self-destruct system to make it easier to audit and assure yourself that it doesn't have any bugs in it, but remember Schneier's Law: anyone can design a security system that works so well that they themselves can't think of a flaw in it. That doesn't mean you've made a security system that works – only that you've made a security system that works on people stupider than you.

I know it's weird to be worried about realism in movies that pretend we will ever find a practical means to visit other star systems and shuttle back and forth between them (which we are very, very unlikely to do):

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/09/astrobezzle/#send-robots-instead

But this kind of foolishness galls me. It galls me even more when it happens in the real world of technology design, which is why I've spent the past quarter-century being very cross about Digital Rights Management in general, and trusted computing in particular.

It all starts in 2002, when a team from Microsoft visited our offices at EFF to tell us about this new thing they'd dreamed up called "trusted computing":

https://pluralistic.net/2020/12/05/trusting-trust/#thompsons-devil

The big idea was to stick a second computer inside your computer, a very secure little co-processor, that you couldn't access directly, let alone reprogram or interfere with. As far as this "trusted platform module" was concerned, you were the enemy. The "trust" in trusted computing was about other people being able to trust your computer, even if they didn't trust you.

So that little TPM would do all kinds of cute tricks. It could observe and produce a cryptographically signed manifest of the entire boot-chain of your computer, which was meant to be an unforgeable certificate attesting to which kind of computer you were running and what software you were running on it. That meant that programs on other computers could decide whether to talk to your computer based on whether they agreed with your choices about which code to run.

This process, called "remote attestation," is generally billed as a way to identify and block computers that have been compromised by malware, or to identify gamers who are running cheats and refuse to play with them. But inevitably it turns into a way to refuse service to computers that have privacy blockers turned on, or are running stream-ripping software, or whose owners are blocking ads:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/02/self-incrimination/#wei-bai-bai

After all, a system that treats the device's owner as an adversary is a natural ally for the owner's other, human adversaries. The rubric for treating the owner as an adversary focuses on the way that users can be fooled by bad people with bad programs. If your computer gets taken over by malicious software, that malware might intercept queries from your antivirus program and send it false data that lulls it into thinking your computer is fine, even as your private data is being plundered and your system is being used to launch malware attacks on others.

These separate, non-user-accessible, non-updateable secure systems serve a nubs of certainty, a remote fortress that observes and faithfully reports on the interior workings of your computer. This separate system can't be user-modifiable or field-updateable, because then malicious software could impersonate the user and disable the security chip.

It's true that compromised computers are a real and terrifying problem. Your computer is privy to your most intimate secrets and an attacker who can turn it against you can harm you in untold ways. But the widespread redesign of out computers to treat us as their enemies gives rise to a range of completely predictable and – I would argue – even worse harms. Building computers that treat their owners as untrusted parties is a system that works well, but fails badly.

First of all, there are the ways that trusted computing is designed to hurt you. The most reliable way to enshittify something is to supply it over a computer that runs programs you can't alter, and that rats you out to third parties if you run counter-programs that disenshittify the service you're using. That's how we get inkjet printers that refuse to use perfectly good third-party ink and cars that refuse to accept perfectly good engine repairs if they are performed by third-party mechanics:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

It's how we get cursed devices and appliances, from the juicer that won't squeeze third-party juice to the insulin pump that won't connect to a third-party continuous glucose monitor:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/

But trusted computing doesn't just create an opaque veil between your computer and the programs you use to inspect and control it. Trusted computing creates a no-go zone where programs can change their behavior based on whether they think they're being observed.

The most prominent example of this is Dieselgate, where auto manufacturers murdered hundreds of people by gimmicking their cars to emit illegal amount of NOX. Key to Dieselgate was a program that sought to determine whether it was being observed by regulators (it checked for the telltale signs of the standard test-suite) and changed its behavior to color within the lines.

Software that is seeking to harm the owner of the device that's running it must be able to detect when it is being run inside a simulation, a test-suite, a virtual machine, or any other hallucinatory virtual world. Just as Descartes couldn't know whether anything was real until he assured himself that he could trust his senses, malware is always questing to discover whether it is running in the real universe, or in a simulation created by a wicked god:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/28/descartes-was-an-optimist/#uh-oh

That's why mobile malware uses clever gambits like periodically checking for readings from your device's accelerometer, on the theory that a virtual mobile phone running on a security researcher's test bench won't have the fidelity to generate plausible jiggles to match the real data that comes from a phone in your pocket:

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/01/google-play-malware-used-phones-motion-sensors-to-conceal-itself/

Sometimes this backfires in absolutely delightful ways. When the Wannacry ransomware was holding the world hostage, the security researcher Marcus Hutchins noticed that its code made reference to a very weird website: iuqerfsodp9ifjaposdfjhgosurijfaewrwergwea.com. Hutchins stood up a website at that address and every Wannacry-infection in the world went instantly dormant:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/10/flintstone-delano-roosevelt/#the-matrix

It turns out that Wannacry's authors were using that ferkakte URL the same way that mobile malware authors were using accelerometer readings – to fulfill Descartes' imperative to distinguish the Matrix from reality. The malware authors knew that security researchers often ran malicious code inside sandboxes that answered every network query with fake data in hopes of eliciting responses that could be analyzed for weaknesses. So the Wannacry worm would periodically poll this nonexistent website and, if it got an answer, it would assume that it was being monitored by a security researcher and it would retreat to an encrypted blob, ceasing to operate lest it give intelligence to the enemy. When Hutchins put a webserver up at iuqerfsodp9ifjaposdfjhgosurijfaewrwergwea.com, every Wannacry instance in the world was instantly convinced that it was running on an enemy's simulator and withdrew into sulky hibernation.

The arms race to distinguish simulation from reality is critical and the stakes only get higher by the day. Malware abounds, even as our devices grow more intimately woven through our lives. We put our bodies into computers – cars, buildings – and computers inside our bodies. We absolutely want our computers to be able to faithfully convey what's going on inside them.

But we keep running as hard as we can in the opposite direction, leaning harder into secure computing models built on subsystems in our computers that treat us as the threat. Take UEFI, the ubiquitous security system that observes your computer's boot process, halting it if it sees something it doesn't approve of. On the one hand, this has made installing GNU/Linux and other alternative OSes vastly harder across a wide variety of devices. This means that when a vendor end-of-lifes a gadget, no one can make an alternative OS for it, so off the landfill it goes.

It doesn't help that UEFI – and other trusted computing modules – are covered by Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which makes it a felony to publish information that can bypass or weaken the system. The threat of a five-year prison sentence and a $500,000 fine means that UEFI and other trusted computing systems are understudied, leaving them festering with longstanding bugs:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/09/free-sample/#que-viva

Here's where it gets really bad. If an attacker can get inside UEFI, they can run malicious software that – by design – no program running on our computers can detect or block. That badware is running in "Ring -1" – a zone of privilege that overrides the operating system itself.

Here's the bad news: UEFI malware has already been detected in the wild:

https://securelist.com/cosmicstrand-uefi-firmware-rootkit/106973/

And here's the worst news: researchers have just identified another exploitable UEFI bug, dubbed Pixiefail:

https://blog.quarkslab.com/pixiefail-nine-vulnerabilities-in-tianocores-edk-ii-ipv6-network-stack.html

Writing in Ars Technica, Dan Goodin breaks down Pixiefail, describing how anyone on the same LAN as a vulnerable computer can infect its firmware:

https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/01/new-uefi-vulnerabilities-send-firmware-devs-across-an-entire-ecosystem-scrambling/

That vulnerability extends to computers in a data-center where the attacker has a cloud computing instance. PXE – the system that Pixiefail attacks – isn't widely used in home or office environments, but it's very common in data-centers.

Again, once a computer is exploited with Pixiefail, software running on that computer can't detect or delete the Pixiefail code. When the compromised computer is queried by the operating system, Pixiefail undetectably lies to the OS. "Hey, OS, does this drive have a file called 'pixiefail?'" "Nope." "Hey, OS, are you running a process called 'pixiefail?'" "Nope."

This is a self-destruct switch that's been compromised by the enemy, and which no one on the bridge can de-activate – by design. It's not the first time this has happened, and it won't be the last.

There are models for helping your computer bust out of the Matrix. Back in 2016, Edward Snowden and bunnie Huang prototyped and published source code and schematics for an "introspection engine":

https://assets.pubpub.org/aacpjrja/AgainstTheLaw-CounteringLawfulAbusesofDigitalSurveillance.pdf

This is a single-board computer that lives in an ultraslim shim that you slide between your iPhone's mainboard and its case, leaving a ribbon cable poking out of the SIM slot. This connects to a case that has its own OLED display. The board has leads that physically contact each of the network interfaces on the phone, conveying any data they transit to the screen so that you can observe the data your phone is sending without having to trust your phone.

(I liked this gadget so much that I included it as a major plot point in my 2020 novel Attack Surface, the third book in the Little Brother series):

https://craphound.com/attacksurface/

We don't have to cede control over our devices in order to secure them. Indeed, we can't ever secure them unless we can control them. Self-destruct switches don't belong on the bridge of your spaceship, and trusted computing modules don't belong in your devices.

I'm Kickstarting the audiobook for The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by @wilwheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There's also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/17/descartes-delenda-est/#self-destruct-sequence-initiated

Image: Mike (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/stillwellmike/15676883261/

CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

[brokenpieces-72]

Birthday

Told you guys it would be happier. Trust me this had a much darker outcome but that can come later on. Thought the reader deserved a bone to be thrown their way.

The following is inspired by @bluegiragi hybrid au and feature @diejager reader character.

“You don’t know your own birthday?” Gaz asked one morning. You were both sitting on the roof relaxing and waiting for the sun to come up.

“Nope.” You shake your head. “Never celebrated it, and I haven’t really seen my birth certificate so I don’t know when it is.”

“What about when you were at the program? Never even showed you your file?” Kyle asks. You shrug with a bit of swallowed disappointment.

“The handler never did. Tried to celebrate the other’s birthdays but no one really invited me.” You say.

“Wait here.” He says and swoops down from the roof. You sit and watch the colours paint the sky. When he comes back he has a file in hand and offers it to you, with a small grin.

“Happy birthday.” He says sitting next to you while you open it. It’s your file, which you realize Gaz probably… “temporarily misappropriated” from Price’s office. Kyle glances over your shoulder while you look through it. Your eyes widen when you see the date. Today.

“Happy birthday.” He says again, ruffling your hair. “What do you wanna do?”

“…I don’t know.” You shrug. Talk about last minute.

“Why don’t you go for a run? I can find you later.” He suggests. You smile at him before hopping down from the roof and hurrying inside to grab some extra clothes for exploring, along with your journal. Kyle does a final check in, giving you a radio just in case before you shift and take off towards the mountain range. You had something you wanted to try any ways.

Once you go some distance up the mountains you could smell some decay. You make your way towards the smell finding the source. You shifted back to you human form, and threw on a poncho to help keep yourself covered. You got a little closer to the carcass. The smell was pungent, and you could see a few maggots. With a deep breath, you shut your eyes. Another deep breath and focusing on everything around you. The body in front of you, is one that held a soul. A soul that has broken away. When you open your eyes you look around again, and notice in a small cave opening, a soft light. You approach it slowly and cautiously. It stays in place. Once you get closer it comes closer to you. You reach out and touch the ghostly soul of a deer. It presses its nose to your hand and you gently pet it.

“You can go on now.” You say to it. Its ears flick noting its own decaying mortal vessel. “It’s time to sleep…”

The deer looks back at you with white eyes. It tilts its head slightly before looking to the side. You follow the doe’s gaze and see a buck and two fawns. Her family. You look back at the deer.

“Watch over them. Until you are ready to return.” You say, stroking the doe’s neck. She walks off towards her family. You watch them with the buck staring back at you while the fawns stay close by to the father. You stand and stare back. The buck paws at the ground, bowing its head. The male was acknowledging you, while also warning you. The buck is a fighter, and will fight you off, despite him knowing how strong you are. You bow back, a sign of respect. The buck leads his young back into the trees and brush while you watch.

After you left, Kyle found Johnny, Horangi, Rudy, and König in the kitchen, still waking up.

“Johnny do you know when Spirit’s birthday is?” He asked. Johnny stopped midsip of coffee, his tail pausing. König looked at him.

“You don’t know Spirit’s birthday?” König questions.

“Shit I meant to look that up.” Johnny grumbled, finishing his sip of coffee.

“It’s today.” Kyle clarifies and is met with a spit take from Johnny. Kyle’s wing shields him before Johnny can damage his shirt.

“For fucks sake you serious?!” He asks Kyle.

“Just nabbed the file, Spirit is off on their own in the mountains with a radio. We have time.” Kyle exclaims. “No need to go overboard either.”

“You could buy that child a stick and she’d be happy.” Horangi comments, sitting up on the counter.

“Honestly I was thinking cake and Uno would do the trick.” Kyle suggested getting himself some coffee just as Hunter walked in. Rubbing the sleep out of their eyes they asked, half yawning, “what does the trick?”

“It’s Spirit’s birthday today.” Rudy chimes in offering a mug for their very tired and somewhat overworked medic.

“We only learned today didn’t we?” They asked. Rudy nods for them.

“You guys have any gifts?” They ask, sipping coffee.

“…I do.” Johnny says slowly grinning with realization. He sets down his mug and leaves the room.

“How did you sleep Hunter?” Rudy asks.

“The coffee earns you a polite response of, not the best.” Hunter replies as Johnny skids back into the room. A couple of them are surprised to see Johnny’s holding paperwork.

“I think these will work for a gift.” He says holding them up. Kyle, Rudy and Hunter clue in quickly. While Horangi and König are a little confused.

“Was ist es?” König asks.

“Custody papers.” Johnny says, looking down at them, making sure the signatures were right for the tenth time. “Ma was sayin she’d be willin to look after er when we went ‘ome. A lots been appening so I’d held off on it.”

“So you’d be her dad?” Hunter asks.

“Her brother.” Johnny corrects them. “Not ready to be ‘er da.”

“Until the program decides to be a massive ass pain.” Horangi mentions. He gets a swat on side from Rudy. Hunter ignores the two of them and hugs Johnny from the side.

“It’s a great gift.” Hunter says, patting the large wolf man on the shoulder.

“What’s a great gift?” Came the gruff voice of Captain Price walking in to get some coffee.

“Adoption papers for the corporal.” Johnny says holding them up. Price gets himself a mug of coffee from Rudolfo. He then scans the room and notices the file by Gaz.

“Find something shiny Kyle?” He asks. Gaz gave an awkward smile.

“You know it was the corporal’s birthday?” Kyle says, changing the subject.

“I did. Was about to tell you lot you had the day off for it. Where’s the corporal now?” Price asks.

“They’re in the mountains.” Kyle replies.

“Doing?” He asks.

“Didn’t say.” Kyle says.

…………..

When you returned to the base Johnny found you immediately.

“aye, pup come here. Got something for you.” He says gesturing for you to follow. You smile and go with him into his room where he has a laptop open. He has you sit down and opens a window on the screen, and you see a familiar face.

Johnny’s mom and his older brother smiling and saying hello. Your smile grows brighter upon seeing them, and receiving immediately wishes for a happy birthday.

“Yer stay in safe too?” Johnny’s mom asks.

“I’m trying.” You reply.

“Last thing I want is for Mae new child to be gettin cut up worse than er brother.” His mom says. You raise an eyebrow confused. Maybe a slip of the tongue.

“I’m keeping her safe ma.” Soap says. “And pup hasn’t said anything about it yet.” He says through tight lips. His mom raises a hand to her mouth realizing she had let it slip. The conversation continues on from there for another hour or so, with Johnny offering some translations if you’re struggling to understand. Once the laptop closes you look over at him.

“New child?” You ask. Johnny goes a little red.

“Ma has a vivid imagination?” He offers as an answer. You sit back in the chair and cross your arms. When you stare him down he sighs giving in.

“Wasn’t sure when to bring this up with ya. With the program bein all complicated and we didna know where’d ya be goin, figured giving you a proper home couldna hurt.” Johnny explains. You continue to listen waiting for more information.

“This was over the holidays. Foster system ain’t easy I don need to experience it to know it. Also didna give em to ya over the holidays cause thas a lotta pressure. If you say yes, than I have the papers, if you say no, there’s no hard feelins. I’ll still see ya as my little sister, that wone change.” Johnny offers.

“Yes please.” You say almost immediately. He smiles at you and gestures for you to follow him again. You have a fluttering in your chest, thinking about how you will have a family. A real family. One that loves you. For now though, you join your pack as Johnny takes you to the rec room where there’s a cake on a coffee table surrounded by the people who have been raising you for the longest time.

The rest is a happy blur with a few pieces forever ingrained in your memory. Your gifts were a new journal and sketchbook. Hunter gifted you a couple of field books for plants and animals, while Price gave you a bow for missions. After your mask had broken on a previous mission König and Ghost had been working on getting you a new one.

The best gift though, the one that made you tear up with joy was a pen. A pen that Johnny offered you to sign the custody papers. You had to stop yourself a couple times, pulling away so the tears wouldn’t stain the paper. There were a few teasing comments but you got them signed.

There was an intense game of Anomia over some drinks. The team snickered seeing your face after your first taste of alcohol. You made cake go into Johnny’s face and got an equal amount in your own. More than once your stomach aches from laughing so hard.

By the end of the night you’re exhausted. While watching a movie you keep nodding off until you find yourself cuddling up to Horangi of all people. He notices but says nothing, letting you rest. After an hour though he gets Johnny’s attention silently gesturing to your sleeping state. Johnny pulls a blanket over you offering to pull you of Horangi. Horangi lets him, needing to get up anyways.

Taglist: @yourlovely-moon @kaoyamamegami @H0n3y_L3m0n @sans-chara @1mommyrose4ever29 @smitten-haematite-quartz @talia-the-gemini @yuki2129 @whitetiger846 @graystorm444 @chibiduck @reaperxxxxzz @danielle143 @sobbingnshtting @cringeycookies

[theglowsociety]

Why More Black Women Are Entering the STEM Field & Why It Matters

Black women are breaking barriers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) like never before, stepping into fields that have historically lacked diversity. While STEM careers offer high salaries, innovation, and job security, the push for Black women in these spaces is about more than just representation—it’s about creating generational wealth, closing opportunity gaps, and ensuring our voices shape the future of technology, medicine, and science.

Why Black Women Are Choosing STEM:

1. High Earning Potential & Job Security – STEM careers often come with six-figure salaries and strong career growth.

2. Innovation & Impact – From medical breakthroughs to tech advancements, Black women are making history in fields that shape society.

3. Representation Matters – Seeing Black women succeed in STEM inspires the next generation to pursue these careers.

4. Closing the Opportunity Gap – More scholarships, mentorship programs, and initiatives are making STEM more accessible.

5. Entrepreneurial Freedom – Many Black women in STEM are starting their own businesses, consulting firms, and tech startups.

How to Enter the STEM Field:

• Education & Training: Look into STEM-focused degrees, boot camps, and certifications.

• Networking & Mentorship: Join organizations like Black Girls Code, NSBE, or STEM Noire for guidance.

• Internships & Scholarships: Take advantage of programs designed to support Black women in STEM.

• Build Skills & Confidence: Develop coding, engineering, or research skills through online courses and hands-on projects.

Black women belong in STEM, and the more we step into these fields, the more we change the future. The time is now—let’s innovate, lead, and break ceilings together.

[ms-demeanor]

If you don't mind me asking, what happened with the nutrition stuff?

The only in-state school accepting nutrition students as a second bachelor's degree is 300 miles away from the place where I can both work and afford housing.

At this point my options are:

Move to the area with the school, which would require quitting my job (losing my insurance!) and probably taking out loans to afford housing.

Take out loans to go to a nearby private school.

Take out loans to go to an out of state program with online classes.

The second and third options would probably cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $100k, and the first option would cost less but would mean there was no possibility of me working to pay for rent or insurance while finishing the degree. I'm just not willing to take on that level of debt for a field that I'm deeply interested in but that doesn't appear to pay well enough to justify that kind of debt when I'm approaching my forties and don't know if I'd be physically able to get through the internship required for certification.

If a local state school ends up opening up their nutrition program to 2nd bachelor's students, I would jump on that immediately, but both programs I was looking at two years ago are no longer open for students in my situation.

So it has nothing to do with losing interest or not being able to keep up with the work, I just plain can't afford it and am unwilling to take that much of a risk.

The community college I'm looking at for the computer science program is a lot more technical than my current school, and has a nutrition certification that is a lot more comprehensive than the classes I've been able to take so far, so I may end up doing some nutrition stuff while I do the computer stuff too.

I had considered getting a nursing degree (because there are a bunch of local state schools with nursing programs open) and focusing on nutrition once I finished that, but I realized that I just don't have the level of interest in nursing that I would need to go that route. The only reason I'm still involved with either computer classes or nutrition classes is because I'm genuinely interested, and I get the feeling that if I tried to finish nursing school I'd waste a lot of time and money and bail out, or I'd finish and I'd hate my options.

So computers and a growing resentment for the US education system it is!

[wisteriaovermybarefeet]

ATTENTION to all my LGBTQ+ friends and allies in Ohio!!!!!!

THIS IS A CALL TO ACTION TO STOP A DISCRIMINATORY ANTI-TRANSGENDER BATHROOM BAN FROM GOING INTO LAW.

Ohio State Congress voted to pass a bill today that will be on Gov. DeWine's desk likely by tomorrow. A portion of this bill was snuck into legislation focused on the College Credit Plus program to get it to pass after a house bill focusing on just the bathroom ban failed earlier this year.

Sections 3319.90 and 3345.90 of Senate Bill 104 would force anyone in a K-12 or college setting to use the bathroom that matches their assigned sex at birth. Even if you have legally changed your gender on licenses, birth certificates, etc. the passing of this bill would allow whoever is policing it to forcibly remove/bar you from using you from the bathroom you are trying to use if the gender they believe are presenting as does not match your assigned sex at birth.

Please call Gov. DeWine at 614-466-3555 and urge him to not sign this bill into law!

UPDATE: DeWine's voicemail is full and it's not letting people leave anymore voicemails at the moment. You can also contact him regarding this bill here: https://governor.ohio.gov/contact

[tarysande]

Hi! I’m considering becoming an editor but I’m not sure if it’s the right fit for me. If you don’t mind answering, what was your path like for becoming an editor, and what does the job mostly consist of for you?

Additionally, while I really do like helping other people’s work become better, I get too in my head to release a lot of my own work. Does editing require you to also be a writer most of the time, or could I get by mostly just editing?

Thanks!

Hi, anonymous friend!

These are really good questions for a potential editor to ask.

To (sort-of) answer your question, the amount of writing involved depends on the type of editing, honestly. So, first you have to decide what kind of editor you want to be.

Roughly, editing breaks down into three-to-four types: developmental/substantive, line/stylistic, copy editing, and proofreading. These terms are mixed up and interchanged ... often. Increasingly, line editing includes or incorporates copy editing, which is why I say "three-to-four."

Developmental is the big picture stuff, including manuscript critiques. Books of all kinds usually undergo some kind of developmental editing--by editorial agents, acquisitions editors, freelance developmental editors, etc. In my experience, this is also the kind of editing that requires the most writing and/or the most author/editor interaction.

Stylistic/line editing tends to be editing at the sentence level, looking at diction, structure, clarity, consistency, etc. Copy editing, on the other hand, is what many people think of when they think of editing--it's the mechanics of writing, like spelling, grammar, punctuation.

Proofreading is the rather specialized skill of editing proofs. They're the final eyes on a pre-published piece; they're looking for typos and errors rather than anything that will involve significant authorial changes because a proof page has already been "set" (as it were).

All of these kinds of editing can be applied to many different areas of communication, and the editors who perform them can be self-employed (like me) or work for an employer (i.e., as a more traditional employee). Employee editors might work in-house at a publisher (of books, magazines, academic journals, etc.), or they might have any number of editing-focused roles in business, government, education, etc. Self-employed editors may also end up working as contractors for other companies; this is pretty normal.

Many book publishers, including the Big Five, farm out a lot of their editing these days, by the way. Especially the copy editing and proofreading. So, those particular jobs are dwindling as in-house options. Publishers can pay freelancers less ... and avoid paying benefits. (#capitalism)

I will also say that, especially in jobs with anything to do with marketing or advertising, there's a lot of annoying scope creep where "copy editor" is often expected to be a copy writer, too. Again, it's a symptom of employers wanting to pay fewer people to do more jobs (and it's really annoying).

My path has mostly involved trying as many things as possible and slowly weeding out the ones I don't like. I've pretty much always been self-employed because the personal benefits (setting my own schedule, rates, deadlines) works better for me. That said, I'm Canadian (so I don't have to worry about employer-covered healthcare), and I have a partner whose salary is regular and whose benefits cover me, so I don't have some of the worries a freelancer in the US or a single-income household might have. I'm increasingly working on the development side of things because big-picture storytelling, including writing and editor/author interaction, is my jam. But I have also done a ton of line/copy editing on fiction, non-fiction, academic work, etc.

Without knowing what kind of editing you're looking to get into, it's harder for me to offer suggestions for next steps, but generally, I'd say it's important to get SOME training--whether through a school, a certificate program, or the various workshops and professional development offered by editing associations (Editors Canada, the CIEP, ACES, the EFA, ...there's an Australian one whose acronym has slipped my mind). Researching the flavor of editing you're interested in will probably offer up avenues for study, too. For example, most US publishers/authors use iterations of the Chicago Manual of Style. Most UK publishers/authors use Hart's Rules/Oxford. Academic journals/schools/students have different style guides (APA, AMA, MLA, Harvard, Vancouver). Law uses the Blue Book. It's good to have working knowledge of a few style guides--and then you have to keep up with the changes (Chicago's 18th edition is coming out this year, and I hear some significant changes are afoot--such as fully embracing the singular they!).

The tl;dr here is that yes, there are a lot of writer-editors. But there are also a lot of editors who aren't writers at all, or who have no interest in becoming writers, or who don't want their writing and editing to overlap, or who edit because they like helping people and they value clarity. At the end of the day, editing and writing are two very different hats, and you don't necessarily need to wear both.

...this is already a bit long, but if you have other questions or want me to get more specific about something, please ask!

[cyberstudious]

Hey! This is very random, but I saw that you work in cyber security right now. I work in data science, but I'm really interested in cyber security and considering making a switch. I was wondering what kind of cybersecurity work you do, and what has been the most helpful for you to learn what you need for your job!

Hi! Cybersecurity is a really broad field, and you can do a lot of different things depending on what your interests are.

My work is mostly focused around automating things for security, since my background is in programming. Automation is really helpful for speeding up boring, monotonous tasks that need to get done, but don't necessarily need a human involved. A good example is automated phishing analysis, since phishing reports are a big chunk of the cases that security analysts have to deal with, and an analyst usually follows the same few steps at the beginning. Rather than someone having to manually check the reputation of the sender domain, check the reputation of any links, and all of that every single time, we can build tools to automatically scan for things like that and then present the info to the analyst. The whole idea here is to automate the boring data retrieval stuff, since computers are good at that, and give the analyst more time for decision-making and analysis, since humans are good at that.

If you're coming from data science, you might be interested in detection engineering. Cybersecurity is essentially a data problem - we have a ton of logs from a ton of different sources (internal logs, threat intelligence feeds, etc.) - how do we sort through that data to highlight things that we want to pay attention to, and how can we correlate events from different sources? If you're into software development or want to stay more on the data science side, maybe you could also look into roles for software development at companies that have SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) products - these are essentially the big log repositories that organizations rely on for correlation and alerting.

As for starting to learn security, my general go-to recommendation is to start looking through the material for the Security+ certification. For better or worse, certifications are pretty big in security, much more so than other tech fields (to my knowledge). I'm a bit more hesitant to recommend the Security+ now, since CompTIA (the company that offers it) was bought by a private equity company last year. Everyone is kind of expecting the prices to go up and the quality to go down. (The Security+ exam costs $404 USD as of writing this, and I think I took mine for like $135ish with a student discount in 2022). However, the Security+ is still the most well-known and comprehensive entry-level certification that I'm aware of. You can (and should) study for it completely for free - check out Professor Messer's training videos on YouTube. There are also plenty of books out there if that's more of your thing. I'd say to treat the Security+ as a way to get a broad overview of security and figure out what you don't know. (It's certainly not a magic ticket to a job, no matter what those expensive bootcamps will tell you.)

If you aren't familiar with networking, it's worth checking out Professor Messer's Network+ training videos as well. You don't need to know everything on there, but having an understanding of ports, protocols, and network components and design is super useful. I hear a lot that the best security folks are often the ones who come from IT or networking or similar and have a really solid understanding of the fundamentals and then get into security. Don't neglect the basics!

One thing that I'll also add, based on conversations I've had with folks in my network… getting a job in cybersecurity is harder now than it used to be, at least in the US (where I am). There are a ton of very well-qualified people who have been laid off who are now competing with people trying to get into the field in the first place, and with the wrecking ball that Elon is taking to the federal government (and by extension, government contractors) right now… it's hard. There's still a need for skilled folks in cyber, but you're going to run into a lot of those "5 years of experience required for this entry-level job" kind of job postings.

On a slightly happier note, another thing you should do if you want to get into cyber is to stay up to date with what's happening in the industry! I have a masterpost that has a section with some of my favorite news sources. The SANS Stormcast is a good place to start - it's a 5 minute podcast every weekday morning that covers most of the big things. Black Hills Infosec also does a weekly news livestream on YouTube that's similar (but longer and with more banter). Also, a lot of infosec folks hang out on Mastodon & in the wider fediverse. Let me know if you want some recs for folks to follow over there.

The nice thing about cybersecurity (and computer-related fields in general, I find) is that there are a ton of free resources out there to help you learn. Sometimes it's harder to find the higher-quality ones, but let me know if there are any topics you're interested in & I'll see what I can find. I have a few posts in my cybersecurity tag on here that might help.

Thank you for your patience, I know you sent this in over a week ago lol but life has been busy. Feel free to send any follow-up questions if you have any!

[spikedupspidey]

Hey, how's it going?

I signed up for really nice classes a month ago. I'm trying to do as many things relating to math right now, I want to do something related to it in university and I need a good background for that. There were many classes to pick from, but the only class that focused a lot on mathematics was a class about how AI works. I'm really against AI, I only signed up for the math part. I didn't even expect to get in, but here I am.

Once you complete the classes, you will be awarded with a certificate. I really don't want people to see my certificate and assume that I condone AI. I want to build connections with like-minded people and that does not include individuals who endorse AI. What do you think? Am I overthinking it, or should I cancel the classes? I do really want to learn more about math/programming.

Nah, you’re not overthinking it, you’re thinking critically --and that’s exactly what punks, artists, and disrupters should be doing.

Here’s the thing, yeah: sometimes we’ve gotta get our hands dirty in the machine to learn how it ticks -- so we can dismantle it better. If you’re in that class for the math, for the skills, and not to parrot AI propaganda, then you’re not sellin’ out -- you’re gearin’ up.

You don’t owe anyone an explanation, but if it helps ease your mind, you can always make it clear why you took the class. Put your own footnote on that certificate. Start convos. Say, “I studied this so I could fight it smarter.” 'Cause the tech’ll keep evolving whether we like it or not -- so better we’ve got folks like you in the know, not just the bootlickers and brand lovers.

Don’t let the certificate define you. Let your actions do that. Keep learnin’, keep questionin’, keep buildin’ somethin’ better. Proud of you for thinkin’ it through.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Dan Rather at Steady:

If their national convention didn’t motivate Democrats to register, volunteer, donate, and vote, perhaps the prospect of a widespread voter suppression plan at the hands of the Republican Party will. Just listen to Marc Elias, one of the foremost election lawyers in the country, who recently said that the “Republicans are building an election subversion war machine.” Last week, Elias began working with hundreds of lawyers and thousands of volunteers already teamed up with the Harris campaign to combat the Republican voter suppression effort. He will focus on recounts and post-election litigation.

This is not a new tactic for the MAGA right, but in this election cycle, “the other side is more organized, more ruthless, and more prepared [than ever before],” Elias told Rolling Stone magazine. Here’s the Republican playbook, according to The Brennan Center for Justice. “Over the last 20 years, states have put barriers in front of the ballot box — imposing strict voter ID laws, cutting voting times, restricting registration, and purging voter rolls.” But this election cycle, new MAGA tactics seem even more insidious — including delaying or refusing vote certification. So if someone in, say, Georgia doesn’t like the election results, Republican officials could question the count, seriously slowing down or stopping the process of announcing results. That’s a very big deal. The 2024 pre-election period has already seen dozens of lawsuits filed in 25 states by Republicans trying to manipulate or change laws to, among other things, make it easier to challenge ballots and voter eligibility and to deny election certifications.

In an investigation of local election boards, Rolling Stone found 70 pro-Donald Trump conspiracy theorists working as election officials in key counties in battleground states. Since 2020, Republicans have refused to certify results at least 25 times. I know I may sound like a broken record saying Donald Trump is an existential threat to American democracy. But he is, and this is a terrifying example of his cult leader-like ability to get others to do his undemocratic bidding. At an Atlanta rally, he recently called out pro-Trump members of the Georgia State Election Board as “pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency, and victory.” Seriously. In 2020 he primed the voter suppression pump before the election, knowing he was likely to lose the race, and then promoted the “Big Lie.” Hundreds of lawyers, dozens of lawsuits, and an insurrection later, he still lost, but all those efforts laid the groundwork for a more organized Republican push, or perhaps putsch is a better word. Fortunately the Republicans aren’t the only ones gearing up for this battle. The Harris campaign has assembled the largest Democratic legal team ever to protect voting rights. It is 10 times larger than the 2020 team. Ten times.

[...] The Democrats’ voter protection program is focused on eight battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, and four states of interest: Florida, Maine, Minnesota, and Virginia. Their pre-election efforts are two-fold: First, protecting voters’ ability to register to vote while also having unfettered access to the ballot box. They are doing this by fighting all the legal challenges Republicans are launching. Second, they are educating voters. All of this is a serious shift in how elections are run in this country. “The expansive new Democratic legal team, and the opposing group at the Republican National Committee, is a reflection of the legal arms race that is the new reality of American elections since Mr. Trump’s election victory in 2016. The battle over whose votes count — not just how many votes are counted — has become central to modern presidential campaigns,” explained Nick Corasaniti of The New York Times.

The Democrats are learning to fight the battle to ensure that the votes from this election are counted properly to ensure that a repeat of 2020 doesn’t happen.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Two graduates of an Inuit-led post-secondary program — one from Baker Lake, Nunavut, and another from Nuuk, Greenland — say Nunavut Sivuniksavut gave them confidence and a chance to learn in a culturally safe environment, informed by Inuit history, experience and values. 

"Literally my whole life I thought there was something wrong with me. I felt like I was dumb, I could never do my homework," said Nivi Rosing, from Nuuk, who just graduated from the one-year Inuit Studies program at Nunavut Sivuniksavut (NS).

The Ottawa-based program launched in 1985 with just two teachers and 10 students. Since then, more than 600 Inuit youth have attended. The program uses Inuit history to inform and empower students. This year, the program welcomed 57 students and now offers one- and two-year certificate programs accredited through Algonquin College, but taught at its own location on Rideau Street. 

Growing up in Greenland, Rosing said colonial education had always been a problem for her.

"All the material we have in colonial institutions, I could literally not relate to them," she said. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada