#it service operations

[snurtle]

I've been thinking about the templars lately. they were promised honor, virtue, told that they would be charged with protection of the innocent... And then those same people are systemically exploited and abused, abuse others because they're taught to regard everyone else as either sheep who need to be lead or potential threats. Never equals, except in their brothers/sisters-in-arms. They act as the guard-dogs and military arm of an entirely different organization that they're only a functionary member of but have no governing say in. Even the chantry aren't their equals- they function as the templar order's supervisors! And all this isolation and closing of ranks ends in disability, addiction, death, and abandonment by the system they spent their bodies in service of.

To top that off, retaliations against them just confirm the paranoia they were taught to embrace. It's probably a long hard road to get out of that hole.

Like, listen. the dichotomy of mage vs templars is a satisfying and easy one, but the system is tearing them apart too. have you ever heard of a retired templar?

at the end of it, mages and templars need to unite against the real threat. the chantry.

[decamarks]

“Suddenly, there was a light As brilliant as the Lord himself, Ushering me from the darkness With mighty arms that held me As I have never known”

[epaulettesharks]

i've certainly seen a lot of Takes surrounding the watcher streaming service debacle, but it's pretty wild to me how "this fully fledged production company doesn't need 30 employees." is a fairly common sentiment i've observed. like first of all, 30 is on the smaller side for the number of employees a production company needs, and second of all, are you suggesting that the kinder decision for watcher to make would be to lay off most of their workers in order to keep costs down?? like can we get real for a moment???

[zytes]

ozone

[whats-in-a-sentence]

Wrens played a major part in the planning and organisation of naval operations, serving at Bletchley Park and its out-stations, operating machines used in code-breaking.

"Normal Women: 900 Years of Making History" - Philippa Gregory

[ingravinoveritas]

Camera operators knowing exactly what they are doing by panning up David Tennant's body.

[pvrrhadve]

society if small local thrift stores that have nice stuff at good prices were open even just one evening a week. or perhaps even normal afternoon hours

[dearest-alexander]

THAT BILLOW-Y SHIRT was really working overtime.

[phoenixtakaramono]

OPERATION BABYLON - PART VII

aka the butchlander sugar baby AU.

Tumblr Navigation (note I have not shared the prologue here with its premise setup; I’ve only started sharing this twitter threadfic on tumblr starting from the 2nd 🔞 scene): I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII

Update Schedule: weekly/ biweekly

(You can read the rest of the threadfic update here!)

Keep in mind, all of my AU Butchlander threadfics on Twitter are the unpolished first draft versions of what’ll eventually be polished up into long fics on AO3 under the Shock and Awe series. So you may regard this threadfic as an experimental first prototype and exclusive preview whose contents may or may not be changed in the future final draft version. We’re just loosely playing around with ideas and concepts for now!

If you don’t have a Twitter account, screenshots are provided below the line break so you can read this update on Tumblr as well:

A/N - ...I shouldn't be surprised but it's always a surprise to me seeing the effect whenever I switch POVs in my fics (because, depending on who's POV it is, it somehow always humanizes the male chara whose POV I'm in and makes him seem...softer than were I to write in the opposite POV).

In Billy's POV = HL is provocative and manly

In HL's POV = Billy is provocative and manly

Maybe it's just me imagining this strange phenomenon but I feel the dynamic has certainly flipped a tad when this happens, haha.

Next update we'll get the stereotypical rich sug*r d*ddy spoiling and pampering his wide-eyed sug*r b*by scene. Tbh I tried to fit it into this update but it didn't feel like it's the right placement yet and it needs buildup (to set up the next spicy scene). Homelander has to earn that D 🍆 💦.

[healing-and-free]

There are good albums and great albums and then there are perfect albums. The ones that move you and make you and don’t have a single skippable song.

To me, these albums are perfect. I’m sure some are left out and I will add them later.

I’m interested to know, what’s your perfect album?

1. The Swiss Army Romance - Dashboard Confessional

2. Tell All Your Friends - Taking Back Sunday

3. I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love - My Chemical Romance

4. The Sunset Tree - The Mountain Goats

5. Give Up - The Postal Service

6. Dookie - Green Day

7. How to Build an Ocean: Instructions- Bears in Trees

8. Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge - My Chemical Romance

9. Through Being Cool - Saves the Day

10. The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most - Dashboard Confessional

11. A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar - Dashboard Confessional

12. Transatlanticism - Death Cab for Cutie

13. Bottles and Bibles - Tyler Childers

14. Live on Red Barn Radio I & II - Tyler Childers

15. DeAnn - Zach Bryan

16. The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle - Bruce Springsteen

17. Operation Ivy - Operation Ivy

18. Dude Ranch - Blink 182

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

By Annie Norman

The public learned last fall of one particularly controversial element of United States Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s 10-year plan for the U.S. Postal Service that would be rolling out soon. Essentially, the function of sorting and delivering mail would be consolidated into regional centers, leaving empty former sorting space in the back of post offices. No layoffs were announced.

At first glance, this sounds innocuous, but seasoned postal observers suspect that with less activity happening at smaller or rural post offices, they become vulnerable to a reduction in hours or closure. This leads to the kind of job losses that initially present as don’t worry, we’ll relocate you to the regional center but are experienced by postal workers as if I don’t commute two hours there and back each day or more, I lose my job.

In response, The Save the Post Office Coalition, which I coordinate, wrote to the Secretary of the USPS Board of Governors to ensure the board was made aware of emails from 160,000 postal customers across the country urging them to stop the disastrous elements of DeJoy’s plan before it’s too late.

Among the several thousands of personalized messages, we highlighted a handful in our note:

“The USPS provides a service to the public. It was never intended to be a profit-making business. I’m disappointed & ashamed at where politics seem to be taking us.”

— David B. (veteran) Seattle, Washington.

“As a former United States Postal Service employee and as someone who regularly uses the [USPS], I ask you to do something about DeJoy, who continues to degrade everything about the postal service — especially the service part of it.”

— Kristin F. in Cottonwood, Indiana.

“It is important for seniors like me to be able to count on a dependable means of getting medications without having a further drain on our resources.”

— Peter L. in Los Angeles, California.

“I believe that a well supported and functioning post office is a hallmark of a healthy, advanced nation. Stop DeJoy’s undemocratic plan now before it’s too late.”

— Janet M. in Downers Grove, Illinois.

“We senior citizens depend on USPS. Please help keep it viable.”

—Joanne L. in Akron, Ohio.

“Our postal service should be about serving us rather than serving businesses that give it money.”

— Douglas L. in Rio Rancho, New Mexico.

We have yet to hear a response or acknowledgement that the messages from the public were received, and DeJoy continues to make it clear that he doesn’t want anyone asking questions about his 10-year plan.

On the same day that USPS leadership received our coalition’s messages, the Postal Regulatory Commission issued a public inquiry order to DeJoy asking that USPS provide details on the sorting and delivery changes under his plan. In the order, the Commission said it “notes that stakeholders have expressed concerns regarding a lack of a forum to explore the impacts of these proposed changes.”

DeJoy responded with an objection to the Commission’s inquiry. On May 17, DeJoy delivered congressional testimony for the first time in nearly two years at a hearing of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Government Operations. Rep. Summer Lee asked him why USPS is objecting. In his response, DeJoy was openly hostile toward the postal regulator, accusing them of actively participating “in the destruction of [USPS].”

Just last month, DeJoy sat down with the press for a 90-minute interview where he once again doubled down with an adversarial attitude toward postal regulators who seek details for the public on his 10-year plan, calling the Commission’s inquiry “nonsense,” saying, “We don’t need to be babysat.”

On May 22, DeJoy delivered the keynote address at the 2023 National Postal Forum where he spoke at length touting his efforts to implement “dramatic changes” and increase the pace of his 10-year plan. The postmaster general told the audience that “dramatic changes must be done at a pace, and with a tenacity that is rarely seen.” However, these changes are a mystery to many, and for a public institution, this mystery is dangerous.

If the past is any guide, the effects of potential post office closings and reduced hours will be devastating, particularly to rural and Indigenous communities. The Save the Post Office Coalition organized a petition to the Postal Regulatory Commission and the USPS Office of Inspector General urging them to stop DeJoy’s “dramatic changes” and demand public input, and so far has received over 131,000 signatures from the public who regularly use the postal service.

The bottom line is that the public has a right to more transparency and input in the decision-making process at a public institution. This requires engagement with said public — which DeJoy is actively resisting. When you put a rich, white, private-sector executive who isn’t used to public accountability and cooperation in charge of a treasured public institution, such a clash might be inevitable. It’s plain DeJoy doesn’t have the temperament for public service.

Communities across the nation want dramatic change at the post office too, but that dramatic change is not to be secretive or a surprise; it must be a shift toward protecting and expanding the public footprint and services available at the post office to meet new needs and change with the times. The People’s Postal Agenda outlines a framework for an expanded USPS that includes things like postal banking, expanded nonbank financial services like bill payment and ATMs, WiFi in parking lots, and public electric vehicle charging.

We still remember former President Donald Trump’s plan to privatize the post office, right before he put his thumb on the scale to have his donor DeJoy appointed as postmaster general. We also remember DeJoy’s role in sowing public fear and uncertainty in the vote-by-mail process by slowing down the mail and then sending out mailers to voters that meeting their state’s deadline would not ensure their vote would arrive in time to be counted, causing him to be sued by the NAACP and Public Citizen, as well as secretaries of state.

There is nothing to suggest that DeJoy has abandoned the privatization vision of the people who got him the job. So it’s our job as citizens to make absolutely sure any upcoming “dramatic changes” to the post office don’t shrink and privatize the institution but protect and expand it for generations to come.

[imminent-danger-came]

tbob is driving me mad why does it go so much harder than the og show

[ichorblossoms]

yarrow's fun bc he's a doctor bc he wants to help people but then you peel that back a little and the reason he wants to help people is bc he would want others to do the same for him, then you peel that back and realize it's in parts a manifestation of his inability to ask for help in outright as well as feeling like he has to be "worthy" of receiving "good things" (re: outsources his self worth on how much he can help others). so he doesn't ask for the things he wants/wants to see in the world, and instead gives and gives hoping that people will see what he's doing and be inspired to do the same, but he's doesn't communicate this to anyone so he's left perpetually feeling like he's giving more than he receives and that doesn't become an arrogant sort of "i'm better than anyone else" but instead warps into a "i must not be doing enough" that starts the cycle over again. and he's at least semi-aware of this and how it's probably slowly destroying him as well, but doesn't know any other way to be so he just. continues.

guy who asks via actions and not words except nobody knows that so he's constantly left wanting for more. i don't have a conclusion for this i just wanted to talk about them

[dnangelic]

(finally able to put a floaty thought i've had into concise words) thematically it's great that dark isn't an actual angel because then he really does become undefinable and incomprehensible to everybody else. an angel is generally recognizable and readily digestible as a concept in people's minds and dark gives off every impression of one; the wings, the inhuman aspects, the grandeur, and yet he's still not one, which plummets him from any graph of divinity and the religious to the realm of the beast; the mysterious and the monstrous.

in other words, there isn't really ever an apt descriptor for what he is apart from vague ones, (let's see you try to encapsulate 'live artwork ripped in half whose out of control magic ended up imbued into the body and bloodline of humans as an entirely second set of DNA and second self' into a defining species---) and when people ask what he is, dark himself only calls himself a thief. he doesn't dare to try to call himself human (with his wings? his teeth, his eyes his talons?? he's obviously "not", and he's acutely aware of the fact too,) yet he doesn't want to go so far as to ever call himself a monster either out of respect for daisuke; his body and heart. (even if he can't stop others from judging or declaring him a monster, anyways.)

when it comes to dark and his 'existence' as something nonhuman, without counting company that gets close to either side, (for example, the rest of the arts like towa or argentine and baku, who are 'pure' live arts,) dark and daisuke truly do exist 'alone' as the sole members of their 'species,' excluding only hiwatari who can be in a friendly or antagonistic space, or other niwa ancestors like daiki or taize, who were once prior but no longer 'are' dark. "satan has his compansions and fellow devils to admire and encourage him, i am solitary and detested -" bittersweetly enough, the closest thing dark and daisuke ever are around others is either a strange monster or a strange human.

[carbone14]

Débarquement des commandos du quartier général de la 4th Special Service Brigade à Juno Beach – Secteur Nan Red – Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer – Calvados – Normandie - France – 9 h 00 – Opération Neptune – Opération Overlord – 6 juin 1944

Photographe : Lieutenant Handford - No. 5 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit

©Imperial War Museums - B 5218

[hauntedfalcon]

AO3 has been online for exactly 14 years, funded only by user donations, and exceeds its donation goal within days every single time, but you don't think it's sustainable? It's unconventional to how other non-profits operate, but it also shows zero signs of failing because of that.

happy anniversary of the website that asks its users for money every six fucking months, anon!! so I've posted a lot about this. I mean, a lot a lot. if for some reason my stance and opinion isn't painfully clear after a look through those tags, sure, I'll reiterate.

tl;dr in advance: it is, as a rule, fundamentally unsustainable for a nonprofit to rely entirely on unallocated donations from its userbase. the OTW's insistence on not diversifying its fundraising is one symptom of an underlying issue of gross mismanagement.

related issues include: their "transparent" financials are consistently Not, promised investments (which would have been diversified funding!) go unmade and ultimately abandoned, and their public finance meeting Q&A session was laughably uninformative.

the direct result of this "donations-only fundraising -> operating with volunteer staff only -> tell people they need to donate because we're a fully volunteer-run organization!!" pipeline is that as of this July, the OTW's strategic plan (found via this post, worth a full read) for diversity consulting, reviewing potential alternative fundraising methods, and transitioning to paid staff (all very important moves) will take the next three years to fully implement.

this is not a sustainably run nonprofit. the fact that the AO3 website is still chugging along, receiving one or maybe two functional updates per year that improve its usability somewhat, does not make the OTW a functional or sustainable nonprofit.

and the fact that AO3 uses its volunteer-run status as a reason to encourage donations in twice-yearly drives while the OTW is sitting on:

(sourced from the OTW's Guidestar page, current as of 2021) $2.3 million dollars in ready cash from previous fundraising, makes them downright fucking malignant in my opinion.

hope that helps!