#so the ones that do get funding tend to be extremely good

[masochistic-tifosi]

As a continuation of my Finns in F1 post, what about Spain?

There has always been a Spanish F1 driver since 1999 (Some drivers may come up multiple times due to multiple stints in F1)

Marc Gené (1999-2000)

Pedro de la Rosa (1999-2002)

Fernando Alonso (2001-2018)

Marc Gené (2003-2004)

Pedro de la Rosa (2005-2006)

Jaime Alguersuari (2009-2011)

Pedro de la Rosa (2010-2012)

Roberto Menhi (2015)

Carlos Sainz (2015-Current day)

Fernando Alonso (2021-Current day)

There have been 15 drivers from Spain. Between the 15 of them is 121 podiums, 33 wins, 25 pole positions, 27 fastest laps, and 2 WDC

Interestingly, the only thing the Spanish have over the Finns is amount of drivers.

Fernando Alonso is responsible for 32 wins, 104 podiums, 22 poles, 23 fastest laps, and 2 WDC.

5 of the drivers did multiple sints in F1, Pedro is the only one who had 3 F1 stints.

[ms-demeanor]

I’ve been using browser password managers for a while now. How are these different from something like bitwarden besides not being open source and having the master password be the one tied to your [Google][Firefox][Apple] account? (I assume they’re insecure but I swear my infosec professor said the browser based ones were better. However he also said that’s because they were local to your device and I know that’s not true)

One problem with browser-based password managers is that you may not have access to your browser. If you're at your university library and using their computer to print from your google account, what do you do if they have chrome but not firefox? If your phone breaks while you're on a trip with friends do you install a browser on a friend's phone and log into your account to check funds in your bank account? What happens if you use firefox at home and on all your personal devices but work gives you a chromebook? Do you migrate all your passwords? Do you just never do anything personal on the work chromebook? Do you share some passwords between the two?

Another problem with browser-based password managers is that people's behavior when logging in to their browser is not the same as their behavior when logging in to, say, a social media site.

People don't always lock their screens. People put very sensitive information into their browser password manager and then walk away from their desk. People don't log out of their browser when someone else sits down to use their computer. My attitude is that if you are going to use a browser-based password manager, you should ONLY be logged-in to your browser when saving or accessing a password, because otherwise it means that your password manager is always on and always accessible.

I've got bitwarden set up to time out after fifteen minutes. The password manager I use for work kicks me out every hour. I set my phone screen to lock at two minutes and my desktop to lock after five minutes.

The idea that people are just walking around logged in to their phone browser and never locking the screen makes me crazy. The idea that people might be logging in to their browser on shared devices makes me crazy. But it describes how a lot of people use their browser-based password managers.

One thing that I *love* about Bitwarden is where I can choose to use it. If I want to keep it totally isolated and offline, I can. If I want to access it through a browser plugin or an app on my phone, I can. If I want to go to a webpage in any browser and log into my vault to get passwords, I can. It's extremely portable in a way that browser-based password managers (and honestly some paid app-based password managers) aren't.

Also yeah they aren't local to your device, they store the passwords with your account information. There are device local password managers but I personally do not tend to recommend them because I think that they don't really meet the needs of most users. Sometimes you have to log into your bank account when you're not at home and using a password manager that is only on one computer and nowhere else is going to make that impossible.

(there are use cases for device-linked password managers, and they aren't insecure, but if you set someone up with a password manager that they can only use on one device and then they can't use their passwords when they're out and about, they will not use the password manager - user behavior is a really important part of infosec that sometimes gets overlooked in favor of what is "THE MOST SECURE" - the most secure password manager is the one that someone will USE, so if all you can get someone to use is the browser password manager then that's a good password manager, however if I'm giving my recommendations for what I think is the most secure and works best for the greatest number of people, it's Bitwarden all the way baby!)

[sockmeat]

𝐆𝐍 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑 -- 𝑰𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝑺𝑨𝑮𝑨𝑼... (𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏 𝑰𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒕) 𝐏𝐓. 𝟏 

𝐏𝐓. 𝟐: (𝐱)

(𝐰𝐜): 730

𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: The creator is reincarnated into the world and everyone goes apeshit.

(𝐀/𝐍): Why do I wanna be a baby so bad... Is it the daddy issues

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠(𝐬): The babies go through life-threatening tests (Seriously, do not give these people your babies), reader gets separated from her mother and the mom doesn’t really care

𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆

    Ever since their beloved creator died, every newborn has to go through tests determine if they are the previous creator reincarnated. This is non-negotiable; the parent will have to serve time if they deny this law, even if the baby doesn’t display features of the creator.

    The first test is their eyes. Their creator has white eyes to distinct them from any other. It isn’t often babies are born with white eyes, so if they do past this test, they are put under immediate watch.

    The second test is based on their ears. The creators ears are pointed, making them resemble an elf. Because of this, pointed ears are highly adored and are a huge beauty standard.

    The last test is completed in segments. They are first placed around the more docile creatures, such as cats, dogs, foxes, squirrels, etc. They will either leave the baby alone or flock toward them. The latter will allow them to continue onto the next phase.     The second part of this phase, they will be placed in the center of a herd of slime. Again, if they flock toward the infant, they will move onto the next phase. For the last part of this phase, they’re offered to a pack of Hillichurl. By this point, their status is practically guaranteed, so the archons will be there to spectate to make sure the baby stays safe.The Hilichurls will either accept or deny the baby.

    If they are accepted, a celebration will be thrown and the baby’s birthday will become a national holiday, celebrated by all. The mother is congratulated for giving birth to their divine creator, but unfortunately, the baby will be moved to a palace and the mother will not come with.

    As compensation, the mother will be given enough funds to live the rest of her life peacefully, but it is unlikely they will see the baby past this point.

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒂𝒃𝒚

    You are the most pampered baby in Teyvat. You are treated with the utmost care; anything you even look at will be offered to you immediately.

    The second you cry, someone is there to coddle you and tend to your needs.

    There will always be at least one archon with you. Every week, they will hold a little “ritual” where they sit in a circle and you’re placed in the middle. Whoever you touch first--on your own--will be assigned the role of your protector. They can remove anyone from your general area as they see fit; how much they do this varies on which archon you have chosen.

    Before Nahida came along, you chose Venti the most often, because the others intimidated you. Venti is extremely salty that you choose Nahida most often now and suggested a rule that an archon can’t go twice in a row.

    The others agree fairly quickly, so now whoever protected you before is kicked from the circle.

    There is now a designated nap-time for everyone in Teyvat. Anyone else in Teyvat that needs nap-time will do it when you do. Even if they are unable to nap, they’re required to keep their volume down. Construction can’t be scheduled if it overlaps your nap-time.

    Every month or so, there is an event where you travel through Teyvat and meet everyone you possibly can. You are given toys, food, luxury items, etc. If you were to reject someone openly, they are shunned; the public firmly believes that you are like a cat in the sense that you can predict evil in people. It’s not likely they will stay employed.

    However, anyone you accept will be given amazing opportunities, as they are seen as good luck. They will be given high-paying job offers, contracts with important people, and even a chance to play with you themselves because you’re so fond of them.

    After you’re confirmed as the creator, you’re name becomes very common. For babies, It’s the highest honor to be named after you, as they won’t be close to you otherwise. Not until you’ve reached an independent age.

    Anyone that requests to visit you personally gets a background check. Anyone with a criminal record that may put you in danger is rejected immediately. Because of this, you haven’t met any of the harbringers.

                                                        𓆩♡𓆪

[historia-vitae-magistras]

Sorry if I've missed it, but have you ever posted about what zee did when women were supposed to be in the house and not working?

Oh, I haven't! This is one of those fascinating parts of life where class, an ideal of women, and reality clash. She has more restrictions but she'd start clawing at the walls if she wasn't doing something. Her brother's restrictions are based on either their or Arthur's preferences, and she has more issues but women have never just sat at home without a purpose. Working class women always worked, middle class and upper class women were encouraged to prioritize children and home but many engaged in charity works or other 'proper' activities in the public eye.

Zee has a very practical personality. She wants to play rugby, shear sheep, plant her garden. She has vines, birds, and bees to tend. She likes hiking, driving, baking, canoeing. She has degrees. She has worked as a civil engineer, a sapper, an agricultural technician, a vitner, welder, and a mechanic. She'd much rather have been a sapper for most of the wars rather than the nursing positions she often found herself in but she was still active in that sapper role and others. That ideal of women not working really is strongest in the upper classes where she was educated and partially socialized in because often, class could balance sex, gender and ethnicity to give her a much needed leg up. Jack can much more easily indulge in his image of his working class culture than she can. So she has to walk a fine line. But she's involved as hell.

I can't say he was a good father, but if there was a category in which Arthur didn't 400% suck it was that he had her extremely well educated. One of the reasons Alasdair and Arthur both are so fond of her is while Matt never had a head for numbers and Jack would get distracted, Zee would observe and ask questions in her lessons or even just watching them at work. When other father's will comment to their daughters 'no one wants to marry a blue-stocking' Arthur will snort and say something about how his Eleanor is too treasured to be handed off to some inbred baron so and so anyway. And she won't ever marry, but even with Arthur's benevolent-sexism she still needs to move somewhat carefully. Arthur didn't care about her grades as much as he did say Leon's, but there was still a line too far for her. Appearances had to be kept up. Even when Zee graduated from Oxford in 1892, she wasn't given a proper degree as women wouldn't be permitted those until the 1920s. And even when she had her accomplishments, she didn't do much with her degree in the 1890s. She got the right to vote in 1893 and discovered bicycles, fencing, sex and other activities instead of a calling at first.

It's not until a new level of respectability and professionalism is granted to imperial nurses by the Boer War that she enrolled in nursing school. New Zealand was the first country to register its nurses and hold them to a certain standard of education. So her life was fairly long slog of playing to respectability politics. From teacher, to nurse, then in WW1 when the British army banned Anzac nurses from administering anaesthetic, they accidentally left out New Zealand nurses in the wording so several Kiwi nurse-anaesthetists were trained. There's also social work, flight, child development, and surgery after that. The first New Zealand engineers were trained in England, and it wasn't until 1965 that New Zealand graduated their own but once they did, I can see her studying that, conservation, ornithology and other things with Arthur probably funding several of them to keep her in his life, as the British government handed out grants and incentives to keep the Commonwealth invested in British institutions. But she's busy. She won't just sit around even when she can, it's just not how she's built.

[fatuismooches]

Ahhh i love your sagau stuff <3 its so cute and i love it all! Today was a bit rough with fibro, I got my first injuries from it, scrapes on my knuckles and hands from wobbling into walls and corners because my arms and legs had trouble supporting me even with my crutches... made me think of how dottore or any of the harbingers would react to seeing fragile!reader with these injuries, and how they would help... Dottore bandaging you up, despite the wounds being nothing more than scratches at most... Pantalone buying the best devices or funding things to make sure life was more accessible for you Sandrone creating self stabilizing crutches or outer leg supports to keep you steady.... Tartaglia just straight up carrying you so you dont have to walk at all lol, no matter if you weigh on the heavy side (like i imagine reader to be because self insert lol), he can lift you, he promises Just... imagining stuff like this after today. Hope its ok to just drop in and talk about thoughts like this. I worry its too much or that its too personal, but the thoughts of them caring for someone "fragile" and struggling with stuff like this made me a little bit happier - that they wouldn't be offput by the extra effort they need to make you feel just a bit better... that would be nice <3 - ❤️‍🩹🌹

Hehe thank you!! I'm glad you liked it! And don't worry about it, it's not too much. My inbox is always open and I will always love to write about your favs loving and comforting you the way you are. They will always be willing to go the extra mile to make you feel better, it doesn't bother them at all 💖

Oh Dottore would take any injury you get extremely seriously. Even if it's just the tiniest scrape or cut he won't let anyone else take care of it, he is going to be the one to tend to you. One because he doesn't trust anyone else in general and also because he feels the need to make sure you receive the best treatment for everything possible. Even though he doesn't exactly do proper doctor stuff, he's going to be putting his vast knowledge to use to the fullest extent for you. Uncharacteristically gentle but firm. Pantalone spares no expense when it comes to you. Anything and everything will be available to you. He doesn't just buy things, hell, he'll pay someone to create stuff too if that's possible. Not to mention he's amazing at comforting you in general and gives the best cuddles, so no matter what you request he'll be able to deliver. And Sandrone, she'd dedicate a lot of time to perfecting the most flawless support system for you. She has a lot of knowledge in mechanics that she never thought she'd be using like this, but she is more than happy to make them to assist you. Always checking up and you and asking for your feedback so she knows what to adjust. She also lets her robots carry you around too so you don't need to walk. And pretty much all of the Harbingers can carry you easily, but Childe definitely does it the most often. It becomes a habit of his because he actually thinks it's quite romantic and cute, he loves feeling your warmth against him and your face nestled into his neck. And his stamina is out of this world so he can do it for lengthy hours, mans will take you anywhere and you won't have to move a muscle. He'll talk the whole time to distract you too, he's good at that.

[seat-safety-switch]

Living in the desert is probably really fun. For one thing, you get a lot of experience pulling sand out of things. Salt, too, if you’re lucky enough. And it’s super screamingly hot during the day and extremely cold at night, so you get a lot of weather to complain about. Maybe the greatest benefit is that other people aren’t around you, until they are.

My buddies and I had been pretending that we lived in an apocalyptic wasteland for the last few weekends. Every Friday, we’d hit the road in our rotten shitbox cars, cobbled together from dozens of unrelated shitbox cars, and go have fun camping in the desert. Our Mad Max fantasies would finally come to fruition, as law enforcement was both unwilling and incapable of reaching us out there as we flared nitromethane into the hot air and wore leather for inappropriate reasons.

Unfortunately, some rich folks turned up. They were going to have a festival. At first, we were excited. Rich people tend to be a little loose with their money when they get plastered, and if the sandstorms picked up again it was likely that they wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between us and assholes who were running a promising small-market-cap bioinformatics startup in need of a “B” funding round. As soon as we saw them starting to roll out the artificial turf and telling their butlers to get to pouring out gin and tonics, though, we realized what we were in for. It was going to be that kind of festival.

Suddenly, security was hassling us for “illegally parking” a 1996 Chevrolet Cavalier whose bodywork had been meticulously plasma-cut away from what we guessed was the structure. The whole vibe of the place had soured. We decided to set sail and find a new uninhabited part of the desert to inhabit, only to find another rich person’s festival!

Defeated, we returned home, only to find that the lights were all turned out in the rich part of town. Presumably, every be-moneyed individual was off in the playa, snorting nano-assembled turbo-peyote. Along with their security.

We still had a really good weekend, even though the atmosphere was different. All you have to do sometimes is choose a different way to dress up. The good news is that, even when you’re dressed like a yacht captain or the Crown Prince of Uzbekistan, a Bentley jumps a swimming pool just as well as a rotten old Camry wagon jumps a dune.

[miss-atena]

TWST MAFIA AU SORTA GALORE OF INFO

ehehehe I'm up to no good...

WARNING: in-depth depictions of crime, mentions of drugs, ring fights, animal trafficking, extortion, assassination, doxxing and other cybercrimes, gore, people trafficking, and other really bad stuff of the sort. PLEASE AVOID THIS IF YOU CAN'T HANDLE GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF HEAVY TOPICS IN GENERAL, THIS MAY GO WITH LOTS OF THOSE FROM ALL SORTS. note:I'll try to keep everypost about my mafia au with the text under the cut, so no one is triggered, as well as tagging properly. anything needed to be tagged that I don't cover please tell me. I am not afraid of delving into heavy topics of all sorts, and as such if the existence of this makes you uncomfortable, I will not be sad or mad to be blocked. Do what your health desires <3 Now onto the gruesome sights...

The Basics: As we may all know, Twisted Wonderland is a world full of sights to observe, culture to delve into, and all sorts of wonders. It is no different expected from a Wonderland. But if you delve closer, you may see that Twisted is much tamer than what really goes on in this world. The bane of the existence of a heavily capitalistic and globalized world is, of course, that as long as there is demand, there will be products to sell. Behind the curtains of pretty places and delightful music and cuisine, you may find yourself seeing some of the worst things happening to others. The heads, who control all of this monopoly over all sorts of twisted and gruesome acts, have their favorite heirs to this dangerous, yet extremely rewarding throne of crime. Those lucky ones are sent to the place that, on the outside, looks like the perfect magical academia, with only the most capable students and fierce-minded people, but soon you will find the reality when the doors close and the back ones open. Night Raven College is supposed to be a normal magical academy, that is on the paper, but when we were in need, we resorted to getting in debt with some of the most gut-wrenching people of all twisted Wonderland, and now we retribute by letting their... trainees, we will say, study and do their deeds there. They get the knowledge of the (metaphorical) underworld, and NRC gets enough funds for all we may need. Ain't I- I mean, the Headmage ever so generous?

The Dorms: Why, it is common knowledge that the different uniforms mean different dorms, but what does this entail, in this newfound context? Glad you asked! The Dorms selection used to not be biased but... that ended up on a whole new set of troubles... So now the dorm selection is, of course, by the Dark Mirror, but sometimes I- I mean, the Headmage finds there were "troubles" when dealing with the paperwork, and the student will be residing in another dorm for... a while, let's put it that way. That while can change, of course! but sometimes... it is not a good thing to change what is already good.

The Heartslabyul dorm, ever so strict about the rules! They make sure their exotic and wild animals are well-tended before they are sent to their new homes, with their brand-new owners. It is well known that Heartslabyul students have a heavy Animal Linguistics course, for the heads in the Queendom of Roses always need more animals. What if their delightful clients want a pink hedgehog instead of a blue one? The students need to deal with that, over the overlook of their dear housewarden Riddle Rosehearts. Just make sure to not anger him, as he has a tendency to Off people's heads. Sometimes he may even get... too literal.

The Savanaclaw dorm is persistent in keeping their pack. If you are one of them, you are not getting off the hook so easily. Always troublemakers though, love to pick a fight with the weaker. It is like the King of Beast's though himself: the weaker follow the stronger and smarter ones. Their rings tend to be open on the school basement or on the dorm training grounds at night, but don't be fooled, if you are seen there, you are under the One and Only, the rejected prince Leona Kingscholar's rules. If he says you fight, you do. We don't anger a lion, do we?

The Ocatvinelle dorm, so kind and benevolent to lend their works to other dorms. These students seem to always have contacts with the big people, and are always so kind to lend these contacts... for a price, of course. Don't take them for fools now, they will want a bit of this, and a bit of that. It is only fair right? An Eye for an Eye, a Leg for a Leg, how people say. Azul Ashengrotto makes sure everything is always prim and proper in case some dorm might need to stuck stuff in the confinements of this sub-aquatic dorm. But... he may ask for a price some are not willing to pay.

The Sacarbia dorm is always mindful of their allies as much as of their enemies. They are quiet in their work, as being loud would make them as disposable as their targets. When you look into it more, you will find that a student going missing is normal, and if they talked with housewarden Kalim Al-Asim, then you should be worried. How can someone who looks as innocent and sweet do what he does? No one knows and, frankly, do you even want to risk questioning it?

The Pomefiore dorm is tenacious with the quality of its products. The Fairest Queen didn't walk so that they would crawl, after all. They seem to be Professor Crewel's favorites when it comes to alchemy and potionology classes, and no wonder, as their potions, curses and drugs are some of the most deadly a person can take. Housewarden Vil Schoenheit makes it a point to everything be only the most perfect, and if not, he might curse it himself so it will do just as good. He has no pity when it comes to imperfections.

The Ignhyde dorm, Full of diligent people who know their place and do what they need to do. Of course they would do as they are told, but although they lack the strength of a Savanclaw student, and the charms of a Pomefiore one, they make it up in knowledge of technomancy. Just say who, and they have everything about them. Criminal record? Wiped. IP? Doxxed. Anything that is online, they can and will know. And if they don't, Just go to Idia Shroud, he seems to be happy to show just how smart he is by completely wiping evidence of someone's existence, or hacking databanks to feed to scams. They work great ways with Octavinelle on the "marketing" side.

The Diasomnia dorm and the nobility it helds from even being in it. Something not many can afford, really. While they seem quiet and mysterious, as most expect, the loud and nosy ones are the worst. Moles between the products, how they are called. They not only see themselves as above but will do all they can to prove their point, be that dismembering someone limb by limb, and seeing how long they go while still alive and conscious before releasing them of their suffering. Or maybe even holding the troublesome students in the Diasomnia basement, where they will meet their end one day, be to be the next heart to a great mage, or the slave to a rich countess. Malleus Draconia, if that even is his real name, is the one in charge in here, and what he lacks in social cues, he makes up in the strength to lead those under him. He reminds some of a king with an iron fist, who is not afraid to throw some peasants in the dungeons to make room for the nobles.

The Ramshackle dorm, once in disuse, is now up and running again with this strange human. They have no knowledge of magic, although their monster companion seems to get that just enough to pass, but... something about that human. It drives the others near, it makes them want to know what goes on in their little brain. Who knows if they will show themself capable of a role in this twisted world?

[strangebiology]

So, I just read your post on Myths surrounding Traditional publishing, and as an aspiring writer myself, I hope you don't mind me asking a question. How would I go about getting "experience" to have a better chance at getting traditionally published? I've been writing my whole life, but I haven't published anything, apart from some poetry in a state fair when I was a kid. Do I have to just self publish a book first and then try to find an agent?

Hi! (re: Myths about Traditional Publishing)

My writing experience involved getting jobs at Nat Geo, PBS Newshour, Newsweek, and Bay Nature. Got hundreds of articles published. My grad degree in science journalism, for which I am in $70k of debt, may have had something to do with me getting those jobs, or at least the first one.

You do not have to self-publish a book first; there are many types of writing and places to publish them. Most of what I know about is science journalism, and a tad bit of journalism in general. Here is a list of lists of science journalism resources which probably has a few articles on breaking into science journalism.

Regarding other types of writing, there are literary magazines to apply to and publish in. Not everything has to be a book! I don't know which lit mags are good. I know you can find calls for submissions in the Funds For Writers newsletter, but don't be fooled by the name, it mostly lists not-funds, but contests that you have to pay to enter. I imagine a lot of places that make money from the writers and not the readers could be considered scams or just targeted at people who are happy to pay to be included in a compendium. I don't know, what I see seems sketchy from my side of the aisle, as a journalist, where we expect to be paid for our work, but maybe it's just a different philosophy over there.

If you self-publish a book and then try to find an agent for that book, they will most likely not want to represent you. Trad publishers will make offers on books that have been self-published generally only when those books have sold very well already as self-published books, which is extremely rare. Actually, that sounds a bit of an unfair policy to me, as self-published books tend to sell very poorly even if they are good (it's WAY harder and more work for an indie author to sell their own wares than for a big, established company with lots of distribution lines to sell it.) So there may be exceptions if your book is truly amazing.

Self-publishing is a form of practice so it's sort of a good idea IMO. My book is taking me a year+ to write so I could not and would not self-publish a book and just starve for a year, as the advance for a self-published book is $0 and quite a lot of people lose money in the process paying for editing, advanced reader copies, etc. Agents also often don't want to acknowledge previous self-published books when pitching a new book to a trad publisher, unless those self-pubbed books sold well, which...well, see above.

Some writers will write a novel, stick it on their shelf, then write another, then another, then at some point they'll have the one worth publishing. But, you can't gain popularity or win prizes for the writing that sits on your shelf. Fanfiction seems like a good idea, even though it can't be published for money or put in any lit mags, there is a built-in audience there. If you're doing fiction, some fiction communities might have better advice for you--but ask the person giving advice what their success is, if you can. You don't wanna follow in the footsteps of someone who wants something completely different from you.

(PS. Again, I know self-publishing a book is the best deal for some people and there is a tiny minority that sells them very well, and I'm not trying to encourage trad pub, and a discussion of trad publishing isn't a dig at everyone else, I respect you and your craft, in fact if you enjoyed and/or profited from self-pubbing that's amazing...)

[grison-in-space]

Hi. I am stuck in how to get a job I want. How did you do it? The little I know about it, sounds cool.

Ahahahaha. I'm not sure how great my job actually is, but it does give me the opportunity to chase down questions. It's also pretty good for adapting to my various neurodivergences because the hours are flexible and it's got a high tolerance for an absolutely batshit random scattering of skills.

On the other hand, it doesn't pay for shit and I spent eight years getting my PhD and making even worse money, so. And it requires so much moving. Traditionally, I should be done here within a few more years—I've already been at my current position two years but I'm doing a weird thing that is moving slowly—and then have to make an interstate or even intercontinental move. In practice, I may change careers again to avoid that: eight years of PhD in Texas left me with some pretty bad scarring, and I don't know that I have it in me to move again.

Anyway, you asked how I got here. I have a basically boring career progression for an academic: I started by working in a lab tech during undergrad, and then I applied for PhD programs during my senior year. I really should have taken another year or two to grow up some more and figure my shit out, but that's hindsight. My program was oriented around ecology, evolution, and behavior, with a distinct slant towards evolution; I worked with a behavior lab within that. I graduated in 2020, which was incredibly bad timing: normally, after you get the PhD you go work for a year or two in a lab under a senior scientist that heads the lab (a PI or Primary Investigator). Their grant pays your salary, right? But no one was hiring during COVID, because everyone good to work with I had been cultivating was hunkering down and not taking new people; they were busily sheltering existing postdocs or students in place, or the funding opportunities we had planned to pursue together dried up and were outright canceled in the wake of COVID. Not that I'm bitter. I wound up making a huge field move in order to stay in academia and keep doing work I cared about, which has meant leaving EEB and moving into neuroscience.

Less specifically, if you want to know how I got into a job I liked? I did (and do) a lot of yelling on the internet, both pseudonymously and under my real name, about the things I think and feel strongly about. One of those things went moderately viral back in 2017, and my now-boss saw it and loved it. I approached her about a potential job when my other opportunities fell through, and she had money and she made space for me. I'm extremely grateful.

In my experience, the best way to get a job you like is to talk a lot and compliment all the people you genuinely think are doing cool things. Even if you're shy—and I am, I have leveraged the hell out of the internet to do this because it takes so many fewer spoons for me than making friends in person—you gotta take the risk and spread out friendly communications with a real wide net.

Focus on finding people doing stuff you think is interesting and give them honest compliments, then ask questions. Lots of low grade positive interactions, and you want to invest more in talking to people who also talk back to you. I have had good luck with mostly approaching other low ranking new folks like me; they tend to be more surprised and delighted by compliments and then they're willing to give me a little more attention. If people don't respond I shrug and move on: the important thing is that I try to make the people around me whose work impresses me feel good about that. I am a really critical person by nature, so I work hard at deliberately looking for things to praise in the work of people around me.

Anyway, you asked how I got here, and the short answer is, I made a lot of good friends and that saved my ass when I wound up in a tight place.

[fio-renze]

Becoming a citizen was going to take some time — that’s what the lawyer had said, at least. Not that the timeline mattered too much, there were reasons to avoid Silvermoon that weren’t related to her fears around the intelligence wing of the Magistry claiming that the memories of her former projects were government property and seizing them. 

There were reasons to stay fairly well hidden in Dalaran, too; at the very least it made sense to avoid some of the more public spaces where people she knew tended to congregate. The floating city, with its hard boundaries, was still fairly large and had quarters she hadn’t spent much time exploring. Fiorenze’s realtor had tipped her off about the upcoming sale of a modest flat in a tower that had been converted into a multi-unit situation — a rarity, and certainly a situation not worth passing up. 

It certainly wasn’t the Sunmote Tower; just a single floor, segmented up into a kitchen, a sitting room, a guest room with its own small bathroom, a master bedroom with its own large bathroom, and a couple terraces like most of the tower living quarters tended to have. The carefully curated style of the wooden floors and wall moldings made it pretty clear that it had once likely belonged to an entire household that likely spanned a couple more levels above and below. 

Now it was hers, and mostly empty. The down-payment alone had taken a decent chunk out of her funds left over from the settlement with Sheizara Tel’vaiel, and while she certainly wasn’t destitute, she didn’t want to touch the gold she’d sequestered away for investments. Getting some kind of a job was starting to seem more and more prudent as the days drew on. 

Pyraelia had kindly offered to put in a good word with the Violet Citadel for her, they were always in need of clerks and reliable administrators. It was a safe bet, but seemed horrendously mind numbing and tedious. 

Fate, fickle mistress as she was, smiled a bit during one of her small adventures in her new neighborhood cluster. There was a little flower shop tucked away at the base of one of the grander towers, and she’d ducked in to see about a couple bouquets and vases to help brighten up the new apartment. The bell above the door jingled and Fiorenze was met with an immediate shout from the back of, “I’m SO sorry, we’re closed!” 

The florist hurried out immediately, an extremely harried look on her half-elven face as she looked at Fiorenze and the sign on the door that still very much was turned to ‘Open’. Fio raised an eyebrow and smiled politely, “Of course, I.. well, this is probably a bit of a forward question, but do you need any help? My name is Fiorenze Sunmote, I’ve just moved in down the street…” It seemed like she needed help, and it was bad luck to not seize what seemed like a good opportunity. 

“My employee hasn’t shown up for the third time this week and there’s a wedding in the citadel that I have to start setting up in less than an hour—” the florist paused as Fiorenze’s question caught up to her, “Do you have experience with floral arrangements?” 

Fiorenze smiled brightly and nodded, “I do, I am well versed in the language of flowers and previously worked in an antiques shop in Silvermoon City, so I know how to work a till.” She certainly didn’t remember how to work a till, but how hard could it be? Not to mention she’d been fired from Brasspride & Birchleaf’s, but that was a different time and circumstance. 

“I’m Emeli Springwhisper, it’s very nice to meet you. I do need the help, but I don’t know you,” she reached up to brush the pieces of black hair that had fallen out of her messy bun back behind her short, pointed ears, “and I really need to be going. Would you mind coming back by tomorrow with a resume and flipping the open sign to closed on your way out?”

That was, at least, not an outright no. “Of course! I don’t mind at all, more than happy to. I’ll come back first thing tomorrow morning — I hope the wedding goes well, the flowers smell amazing from here!” Fiorenze left one of her personal contact cards on the main counter as Emeli immediately rushed back to whatever she had been doing.  

At the very least, Fiorenze liked flowers more than she had liked antiques, and even if it wasn’t the best paying job it was still better than nothing to help provide a cushion for the necessities. She turned the sign to closed like she said she would and started her walk back across the city to Sunmote Tower. 

Pyraelia was going to have to help her write a resume.

[bunposting]

How wary are you of pet store rabbits?

Extremely.

1. Pet stores generally cater to the audience of people who don't actually do much research on the pet they want to buy in the first place, and considering how difficult it is to find genuinely good care advice for rabbits, that means it's even more likely that those rabbits will end up in the wrong hands.

2. Generally, a breeder that really cares where/who their rabbits are going to won't sell to pet stores because they know the people who are buying rabbits from there are likely people who won't properly care for those rabbits.

3. Because most reputable/responsible breeders won't sell to pet stores, the rabbits you buy at pet stores tend to be from irresponsible breeders. These may be people who otherwise breed for good reasons just genuinely don't care what happens to their culls (this is somewhat rare, but it does happen), or they may be people just throwing together whatever random adorable bunnies they come across together in order to pump out even more adorable babies to sell to pet stores or to literally anyone who wants a pet rabbit. Either way, by purchasing rabbits from pet stores, you're telling those pet stores that there is a demand for rabbits to be bought from them, which means they're going to continue to give those irresponsible breeders more business and encourage/fund them to keep going.

4. You have no idea what you're getting when you buy a pet store rabbit. You don't know what medical conditions might run in its lines that it may either express or carry, you don't know what the temperament of the rabbit might turn out to be. Chances are, a rabbit bought at a pet store will have something wrong with it, and you as the pet owner have to decide whether you're willing to/have the financial ability to potentially go through all of the vet bills or if, should any issues arise, you are willing/able to euthanize that rabbit.

5. Just as a general rule, I would say the vast majority of rabbits found in shelters or found released/feral either come directly from irresponsible/non-reputable breeders or from pet stores. By buying from a pet store, you may either directly or indirectly be contributing to the amount of rabbits in shelters and/or found released/feral, and therefore giving rabbits rights groups such as House Rabbit Society more fuel to push their agendas by proving their point that 'there are too many rabbits in shelters/too many rabbits released, and that means all rabbit breeding needs to be stopped' - which then affects all breeders and all rabbits of all kinds.

Basically... Pet store rabbits are generally a huge no from me. They're irresponsibly bred and irresponsibly sold, and really probably shouldn't be a thing (at the very least not until more work has been done to make accurate rabbit care guidelines and facts about what it's like to have rabbits as pets way more accessible).

It gets a little complicated because yes, there is still a market for pet rabbits, and if reputable breeders generally don't sell any pet rabbits then where is anyone supposed to get one? I think the answer to that is... If you already prove yourself to be somebody who is open to listening and learning from folks who have been raising rabbits for years (or who have been taught by folks who have been raising rabbits for years/generations), then folks might be more willing to sell a rabbit that could be suitable as a pet to you. Idk how other breeders feel about this, but personally I think it would be cool if somebody really interested in a well bred pet rabbit came to a rabbit show and talked to some breeders that work with the breeds they're interested in. If somebody came up to me and said they were looking to get a pet rabbit and wanted to learn more about my breed and the general care of rabbits, I might be willing to take their contact information so I can let them know if/when I have something available for them if they're still interested. Again, that's just me personally, and idk how other breeders would feel about this, so I wouldn't say that's the be-all-end-all for how to go about buying a pet rabbit from a reputable breeder.

[simplysummers]

what's one of your favorite headcanons for your meerkat?

Okay so the lovely Meg sent me the exact same ask a while ago, and so I think I'm going to reserve my top favourite Sebastian headcanon for that post, just because it may be easier to find since it came from an account, and the headcanon I'm going to talk about is very special to me, and I'm super duper proud of it.

So for this ask instead, I've decided I'm going to list a few of my fave Sebastian hcs that I have! Some may be general, some are unique that I came up with, but either way I've realised that I tend to talk about my version of Sebastian a lot of discord, but not so much on here! So let's introduce you all to him.

Sebastian headcanons:

In my mind Sebastian is an only child, and a miracle child at that. For those who do not know, a miracle child is a surprise baby conceived and carried to term by a couple who were told having a baby would be borderline impossible. I think this hugely contributes as to why Sebastian is so spoiled, it's extremely hard not to melt over the son his parents never expected to have, and considering they have the funds to do so, they do exactly that.

(Have this from an edit video I made about Sebastian to fully explain what I mean 🙂)

In my mind Sebastian is an only child, and a miracle child at that. For those who do not know, a miracle child is a surprise baby conceived and carried to term by a couple who were told having a baby would be borderline impossible. I think this hugely contributes as to why Sebastian is so spoiled, it’s extremely hard not to melt over the son his parents never expected to have, and considering they have the funds to do so, they do exactly that.

(Oh I dubbed his parents Nathaniel Smythe, and Gabrielle (née Alarie) Smythe. We know his father’s canon job is a states attorney (and according to me, formally an international lawyer flitting between the Columbus and Parisian firm, where he specialised in finance) and I’ve always thought his mother to be a surgeon.)

I think Sebastian gets a lot of his mannerisms from his mother, his cold shoulder, his snark, his passive aggressiveness, it all comes from her. And always has. (They both find it comical when Sebastian is an adult, but as a child/teenager, they could argue about anything due to clash of personalities.)

His parents appreciate his talent in the arts, and made sure he explored all aspects of the craft at a young age. He took multiple styles of dance, had singing lessons weekly, and was even forced into learning an instrument (the violin) from a young age (the last of which he wasn’t very fond of.)

Growing up in Paris, while having family in the states, Sebastian struggled a lot with his childhood bilingualism. As a child he was merely upset by the prospect that he couldn’t hold a conversation with people in his family and their dislike for his bad communication skills, but as a preteen he would instead obsess over every little pronunciation when speaking in English, just to make sure it was absolutely perfect and he wouldn’t have to feel so degraded for something so basic. (I have an unpublished fic about this if anybody would like to read it.)

Equally, music and dance helped Sebastian a lot with his bilingual struggles, which is another reason he is so passionate about the hobby. It helped shape him in so many different way.

Sebastian’s favourite childhood TV show was Disneys ‘the house of mouse’, and he would always, without fail sing along, to the theme song.

When Smythe’s moved back to America indefinitely, Nate bought Seb a car because Seb was really upset and he wanted to make his son’s sadness disappear :( (Gabi’s like “girl what- 🤔🫣”

They 👏 love 👏 Kurt

Gabrielle warms up to Kurt a lot quicker than Nate does because he’s a protective father who doesn’t want Sebastian to get hurt (because he knows deep down Seb is a good person), whereas Jeff and Nick are like “what’re you talking about? Mr Smythe is lovely” to Kurt, who is petrified of.

Kurt has a clothing line named after Sebastian called ‘Simply Sebastian’ and yes that’s a nod to my old username. His little logo is an embroidered meerkat.

If anyone steals my headcanons I’m going to personally put baked beans in your shoes

[theresattrpgforthat]

Howdy!

I have a friend that really wants to get into other games that aren't just mostly combat like pathfinder and dnd but they're a shitpost kinda player so they aren't fond of horror or angsty games.

Do you have any good suggestions for more light-hearted/comedic rpgs? They like Risus if that helps,just it's a bit too light for me to run it.

Sorry if this is a lot.

THEME: Shitpost Games

My friend, this is not a lot, there are plenty of great shitpost-style games out there of all kinds of genres! Let’s see what I’ve got that might be up their alley.

When it comes to the “lightness” of Risus, I’m not sure if you mean that there aren’t enough rules or if there’s not enough setting. These recommendations will have much more specific settings, although shitpost games tend to be pretty light on rules all-round, so hopefully there are some rules systems here that still appeal to you!

Pride and Extreme Prejudice, by Grant Howitt.

A hand-created one-page RPG about proper ladies of a marriageable age and their giant robots powered by a malign eldritch intelligence. Will you find a suitable husband? Will you repel the French invaders? Will your eternity reactor leak and drive you and your sisters irrevocably mad, haunted my whispers from the dark between the stars?  And - will you be late for the ball on Thursday eve?

Combining Regency styles of flirting with giant multi-pilot mechs is a game that I didn’t know I wanted until I found it. It involves 4 players and a GM, with each character embodying one of four young women, all looking for a husband while also fighting off giant French clockwork dragoons.

 Each situation will be a combination of a social outing and a military action taken by the opposition. Each turn, your players will have to figure out how to pursue true love while also redirecting power, how to unleash hell with a shot cannon while also coming across as cool, calm and collected, and how to charm someone with your earnest opinions while also charging an enemy before they can shoot the gentleman you’re flirting with. 

I think the only thing more hilarious than playing this game, is playing this game absolutely 100% seriously. Go ham.

Never Send A Barber to do an Assassin’s Job, by Silver Hoof Games.

You are a professional. You are a…  Confectioner, Architect, Fisherman, Gravedigger, Barber or Actor. But you couldn't find proper employment for yourself! You had no other choice, or perhaps by mistake, you became none other than an assassin.

You would need some d6, friends and no DM! 

As a GM-less game, this might be a great way for the person who usually runs the show to get in on the action with everyone else. Using only d6s, you’ll find ways to use your confectioner’s bag of sugar or your barber’s strong perfume to play as assassin’s who are just trying to pay the bills. Something about using a round peg to fill a square hole - right now it’s just a page with rules, but the designer is hoping to use whatever funds they raise with it to turn it into something more complete.

OSHA Violations: The Game, by Alex Kingsley.

Regulations are in place to keep workers safe. But c’mon, in this economy? The goal of the game is simple: commit as many OSHA violations as possible without getting caught. The player with most OSHA Violations at the end wins-- unless they get shut down by the Safety Inspector! 

This game selects one person to play the role of Safety Inspector, while the rest of the group will present themself as Site Managers. The Safety inspector will create a tragic backstory, a dirty secret, and their favourite OSHA violation. The Site Managers will design their construction sites and roll a d6 to determine how many OSHA violations they MUST have on site (although they may have more). What specific violations those are will be determined by a roll table. 

This game heavily relies on improv, but there’s a win condition: the Inspector must guess who has the most violations. If they guess correctly, the player with the second-most violations is the winner - if they do not guess correctly, the player with the most violations wins the game!

Games I’ve Recommended in the Past

My Silly Games Post.

My TragicComic Games Post.

Something is Wrong with the Chickens, by Elliot Davis.

Clown Helsing, by Planarian.

Untitled Ghost Game, by Alice V.

Everyone is John, by Gamer Nation Studios.

[qqueenofhades]

May not by your wheelhouse, but regarding ever-increasing college tuition, where does the money go? Why is college so much more expensive than it was a few decades ago?

I have indeed written several posts about the college affordability crisis, which are probably to be found in my "ronald reagan burn in hell" tag. This is because, as with most of the batfuckery of the American economy since the 1980s, it is indeed Ronald Reagan's fault. The overall causes of college skyrocketing in cost include, but are not limited to:

1) Huge tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, gutting the funding that public education systems/public universities previously received from the government;

2) This in turn increased the costs at private universities, which had always been more expensive than public universities anyway, and besides, they were now free to put up their prices as far as they wanted;

3) The "unregulated free market trickle-down capitalism for everyone!!" Reagan-era mentality led to the explosion of costs in healthcare, housing, education, etc etc., and drastically widened the level of income inequality between rich and poor;

4) The replacement of grants (which you don't have to pay back) with loans (which you do), which incentivized unscrupulous loan companies to increase the burden of debt on students and for colleges to charge more and more tuition in the form of loans;

5) A bachelor's degree was once supposed to guarantee you a job, and now does nothing of the sort, and because the market has become so crowded and oversaturated with generally unsatisfactory and unstable job options, you are expected to pay for multiple degrees and go even DEEPER into debt;

6) Obviously, because of this total rejiggering of the economic landscape, everything costs a fuckton more than it used to 40 years ago, so colleges can't return to their 1970s-era fee structure;

7) As an academic, I can promise you that very little of this money is actually going to faculty salaries or the development/sustainment of new programs. Yes, obviously it costs money to run a quality educational institution, and I also obviously want all universities to be funded properly and for academics to be paid what they deserve. But the actual distribution of this money is... less clear.

8) Schools with giant well-known Division I sports programs tend to get all or most of the money that comes into their institutions, leaving relatively little for academic or faculty development;

9) For example: I work at a large, fairly prestigious, private university with very high research activity/classification, and we don’t even have a football team sucking up the money. But still, every single quarter, my department has to go through the budget with a magnifying glass, cut low-enrolled courses, argue constantly with the dean about which courses we do get to teach, etc. Our adjuncts also get paid literal peanuts for taking on a lot of work, and because we're so low on core faculty and just had to cancel another faculty search because of budget reasons, probably 50% of our schedule in the upcoming quarter is being taught by adjuncts. This is... not ideal.

10) Student debt is now such a lucrative part of the American commodities market, is so embedded in the financial system, and constitutes (at last glance) up to $1.8 trillion of outstanding debt, that when Biden tried to cancel even some of it, the Republicans immediately lost their minds and sued him to stop it. As of now, that case is still pending before SCOTUS, and because they're the literal worst, nobody hold your breath for a good outcome.

In short: college is one of the areas that has suffered the most from unregulated Reagonomics over the last 40 years, has been repeatedly incentivized to become and to stay extremely expensive and to represent a long-term burden of debt, and while you would hope that the money was being responsibly reinvested into actual faculty hiring/retention/academic program development etc, that is... not usually the case. The big Division I universities that serve as farm team training programs for the NFL, with a little academics on the side, also tend to have tons of investment in sports and not nearly as much in the classroom. But I'm sure this is fine!

[paldean-ranger-brandy]

✘ Your opinion on each regions ranger system

✖️ - no lies ask game

WOW that is a lot! I'm gonna be honest with you chief I will not be doing that. I have proper opinions on the union chapters I've worked directly with, but for the others I can really only give you what I've heard through the grapevine. I'll go in order of where I worked;

Almia: never actually worked here, but I did go to ranger school here, and ranger school involves a brief placement in a local base. Almia's chapter is... fine. They do a LOT of advocacy, a lot of research, test out a lot of new initiatives. Any time there's new tech upgrades Almia gets first crack. There's also no pokemon league here, and a LOT of rangers which means for the most part it is extremely peaceful. I find almia's chapter a bit performative tbh. Almia rangers are the first to tell you how they think things should go, even tho most of them have very little experience with all the problems competitive pokemon trainers bring. Also that's where head office and top rangers are. Yucky.

Fiore: My first REAL ranger job was in Fall City, so most of my experience is in that hub. Kinda similar to Almia, no real league, no competitive trainers, and a fuckton of rangers. They tend to be a lot more chill overall compared to Almia. Not in Fall City mind, Joel ran that place like a fuckin boot camp. I forgive him for it tho, he was finding his feet as a base leader. The union here is fine, but I will say there are a LOT of people-pleasers in Fiore that the citizens just kinda walk all over. Fiore citizens are so fuckin needy, they are most of the reason I don't wanna go back there.

Hoenn: my Homenn. I am extremely biased but this is top tier. Number one. Best of the best. Hoenn has the most knowledgeable rangers in the entire union simply for the fact that Hoenn's eco-systems are INSANELY diverse. Hoenn has every eco-system under the sun coupled with an insane weather system and has a team of dedicated rangers who collectively know all of it inside and out. I'm super proud to have spent most of my career in Hoenn. Rockstars, every one 🖤

Johto: trash region. Competitive trainers everywhere, breeding and releasing pokemon en masse into the wrong habitat. So much burnout among the rangers, especially the leadership. Union is grossly underfunded and disrespected by the rest of the region. There are some rangers out there trying their best to make a difference, but it's such an uphill battle that they end up burnt out in a week. That's just what my experience was tho.

Paldea: this place rules. Not as good as Hoenn, and largely funded by the league itself which is not unheard of but also isn't super common. This chapter is also decently new, Geeta was the one who pushed and negotiated getting us set up here. They fuckin did it right though, our chapter has enough freedom to run all the extra programs and workshops that make us actually able to make a genuine difference. Pretty heavy on the regulations, but most of them are rooted in sound logic so I'm not so bothered by this. The ranger school that's being run through N-U academy I think is gonna end up one of the best outside of Almia, they are killing it over there. Plus Joel is with me again 🖤 yay.

This got long. The only other regions I kinda know about are Kanto (similar to Johto), Galar (brand new and kinda suspicious), and Alola (fuckin top tier).

[edzephyr]

This is a post to fans, friends and colleagues alike. I am overjoyed that people appreciate my work. I’ve for years been trying to break through in an extremely difficult industry, and have been met with silence and setbacks, despite always being told I stood out, that I could ‘make it’, and holding to that faith others had/have in me. I developed ‘Kirk’, as a role, almost by accident - in response to becoming a fan of the original Trek and frustration at being pigeonholed in a certain appearance and character type, which is utterly unrecognisable in this guise. This was, and is, me breaking confinement. I’m also the sort of person who will aim to break barriers and do the impossible. Years ago a tutor had me play this very character in an improvised scene, and the performance (despite me being unfamiliar with the role) was met with attentive silence and the tutor saying to me "does your agent know you can do that? You can play that part". And, implicitly, a variety of other similar parts, that I knew were where my best expression resided. When the long hair went and I hit the gym, and I incidentally started to watch Star Trek, I realised the resemblance was also there and thought, well. Rather than sitting in my room waiting for the phone to ring, why not do something...maybe a little unconventional.

It was always more than a cosplay; it was, deep down, proving, despite the lack of opportunity, that I could do something, in terms of performance, that is really very challenging; that many actors couldn’t do. To portray one of the most iconic characters of all time, in a way that some have said, is untouchable and impossible. OK - so I will perform the parody, the comedy for entertainment – Shatner himself does that! He (and I) lean into both; we’re performers, entertainers. And as many of you will know, what I do, underneath, isn’t based in parody, or imitation. This month, all going to plan, we will be releasing a short film/‘test’ footage in which I portray Kirk, in some way similar to how I would if I were employed to do the job, and it should demonstrate, that this does indeed, work. That it would be terrific to see. It will also hopefully serve, to the eyes of the keepers of the gates to success, as a demonstration of capability. It may not get me THE role (as I cannot mitigate all factors in play), but it may show to someone my qualities and fibre as an actor, for any given role - and I hope that someone gives me that chance.

In the meantime, I have of course taken myself as Kirk out everywhere I can. As much as this could read as a descent into madness, it has made me feel that somehow, I am in fact doing my job. I am doing what any performer hopes to do. To move, to entertain, to extend a positive and thoughtful influence on this chequered world. And it’s a role I’m very good in. Kirk’s optimism I empathize with; he is, if I do say so myself, not a bad fit to what I bring to the table as a persona and actor – and likewise, I have his shadows, so it’s not always easy. Kirk, however, doesn’t tend to give up; he would also be breaking the rules and trying to prove a point. And so, it has kept me going.

I do receive suggestions to attend more events – and thank you for making me aware of them. Beyond a few local and small ones, due to limited funds, I can only generally go further afield and/or attend the bigger cons in a professional capacity / when supported to attend. My primary work is as an actor/performer, and while I'd love not to need financing to provide the entertainment I do, and to go to lots more events and bring people joy, we don't yet live in a Trek post-scarcity society where basic needs are met and most people are able put their energy into what they do best without needing any return. It's a catch 22 as nothing else is funding my entertainment but my entertainment, and the core of the industry I work in is still playing hard to get. You might say it's another broken system, where talented people aren't given opportunity to work, opportunity that is often based on a number of random and esoteric factors that are very difficult to bring to bear. I and others have to waste beautiful moments to perform, that can be as enriching to others as personally fulfilling to the artist, in either finding other ways to survive, or not being able to afford to finance it otherwise. I guarantee, some of you will have enjoyed seeing my work or performance at some event or another that I wouldn't have made it to without support. We will never know the positive impact, for example, I could have had at an event I didn't appear at, as I had no professional capacity in which to attend and couldn’t afford it otherwise. It's heartbreaking to me that, for example, I'm thinking about another weekend and at least two events I could go to but can't; worrying about even the next tube fare as I had another month with barely any income; and grieving in advance the lost opportunities to be out and reaching people. The last thing I also want is to be stuck inside my London brick cell, for a variety of reasons. I suppose the whole situation I find myself in, away from the glamour of events and cons etc, feels like a point of shame. But I know people like what I do, and have been supportive, when they’ve known how to help; and always understood. Even Shatner, post Star Trek, was living in a caravan, despite having literally just played Kirk! Frankly, I’d love a motorhome (actually, it’s a mad dream to live in a converted bus and call it the ‘Starbus Enterprise’ but I digress...)

In general, be it for events, or in film/tv, or on stage; we all know, something enjoyed, wanted and valued needs support. I am very grateful for the support given to me by my friends and colleagues. The physical, moral and professional – I would ask that you continue to lend that support – and I’ll be there, being able to do more wonderful stuff for you all to enjoy.

LLAP 🖖 Ed