#there would need to be a threshold at which it is considered a significant enough percentage AI generated that it must be labeled

[absentlyabbie]

dreaming of a world where legislation/regulation requires "content producers" to plainly, prominently label when their products are AI generated

#so i can easily avoid even considering it #and like if it's 'partially' AI content that you've coopted a human being to deal with #there would need to be a threshold at which it is considered a significant enough percentage AI generated that it must be labeled #the percentage should be low #real low

[reasonandempathy]

The weird radical/revolutionary politic larpers on this site are so allergic to political pragmatism I swear lmao. I am definitely left of the Democratic Party and I am certainly voting for Joe Biden in November. Not because I like him (I don’t). He is absolutely horrific on Gaza and that’s only the top (and priority considering there is a genocide going on there) of a list of complaints I have about him. I even voted uncommitted in my state’s presidential primary (the Pennsylvania one; I had to write it in) to protest. However, I’m still thinking pragmatically. Trump has said things that make me credibly think he will be worse on Gaza (insane that being worse on Gaza than Biden is possible but it is unfortunately), and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Project 2025, the potential for him to appoint more deeply conservative justices, more of his aggressively screwing over poor and middle class people with his tax policies. And does anyone else remember the spike in hate crimes after the race was called for him in 2016? Before he was even inaugurated? Whether people vote or not in November we will still have to deal with one of these two men in office come January unless all of the internet ancom larpers overthrow the government by then (doubt), so I’d rather deal with the one who will be marginally less bad and who didn’t try to overthrow the government. Can’t have your revolution if nobody’s alive cause you kept pushing off politically participating because there was no perfect option. 👍

Political pragmatist anon, sorry for ranting in your askbox but I feel like I lose brain cells watching these people talk. The other day I saw someone say Biden is bad because Roe v. Wade fell under his administration… even though the reason for that was Trump appointed justices. 💀 (2/2)

Fucking insane. Sincerely.

It's a completely, flatly binary choice for anyone with a brain stem and sincerity. It's distilled into the two below images:

Where all major third party candidates are even on the ballot

How many electoral votes the largest of those (green party, a.k.a. Jill Stein) would win if they won every single state they're on the ballot for.

They are literally, legally, incapable of winning the election. They are not on enough state ballots to win and Jill Stein would need to somehow win California and Texas to even "win" all the states they're on the ballot for. Which, again, would still not be enough to win the presidency and throw it to the currently existing Republican House of Representatives. Which would put Trump in office.

It's that straightforward. That simple. That BLARINGLY obvious to literally everyone except these people.

On the one hand you have:

Significant and continuous support for Israel and it's genocide

Record levels of pardons for low-level drug offenses

the gearing up of the strongest anti-trust regime since the early 20th century

the most aggressive NLRB I've seen in my lifetime, with massive wins and institutional changes to help workers

Including getting Rail strike workers a week of sick-leave that gets paid out at the end of the year, which is better than NYC and LA sick leave laws

Millions of people (not enough) getting student debt forgiveness

Some trillion dollars (not enough)of investment in renewable resources and infrastructure

Proposed taxes on unrealized capital gains (a.k.a. how billionaires never have any money but can still buy Kentucky, Iowa, and Twitter)

Effectively an end to overdraft fees

The explicit support of leftist world leaders like Lula de Silva. Who he has explicitly worked with to expand worker rights in South America.

Has capped (some, not enough, only a tiny amount really but it's something) some drug prices, including Insulin.

Reduced disability discrimination in medical treatment

Billions in additional national pre-k funding

Ending federal use of private prisons

Pushing bills to raise Social Security tax thresholds higher to help secure the General Fund

Increasing SSI benefits

and more

vs

Said Israel should just nuke Gaza and "get it over with"

Personally takes pride in and credit for getting Roe v Wade overturned

Is arguing in court that the President should be allowed to assassinate political rivals

Muslim Ban Bullshit, insistently

Actively damages our global standing and diplomatic efforts just by getting obsessed with having a Big Button

Implemented massive tax cuts on ich people, tax hikes on middle class and poor people, and actively wants to do it again

"Only wants to be a dictator for a little bit, guys, what's the big deal"

Is loudly publicly arguing that the US shouldn't honor its military alliances after-the-fact

Tore up an effective and substantial anti-nuclear-proliferation treaty with Iran

Had a DoEd that actively just refused to process student debt forgiveness applications that have been the law of the land for decades now

Has a long record of actively curtailing and weakening the NLRB and labor movement, including allowing managers to retaliate against workers, weakened workplace accommodation requirements for disabled people, and more

Rubber stamped a number of massive mergers building larger, more powerful top companies and increasing monopolistic practices

Fucking COVID Bullshit and hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths

Openly supporting fascists and wannabe-bootlicks ("Very fine people" being only the beginning of it

It's really not fucking close.

#biden #trump #gaza #palestine #politics #original content #union rights #realism #2024 election #jill stein #rfk jr #cornell west

[eoieopda]

🙏🏻 This is my first time submitting a request because I can’t stop imagining Dino helping his drunk BFF home while secretly being in love with her 🧎🏼‍♀️Please if you have time!

superpower

summary: not all heroes wear capes, but chan would probably do so if you asked. pairing: lee chan x reader type: drabble genre: fluff au: friends to ?, pining word count: 1.4k (oops) rating: pg15 — still, minors do not have my consent to interact. cw: alcohol/drunkenness, obvi; no pronouns or gendered language is used for reader. a/n: not even remotely proofread (double oops), but i still love this down-bad doofus, so i hope you do, too!

“I’m not saying I have superpowers, but I’m not not saying it.”

Your eyes are blinking a little more slowly than usual, but the unimpressed look you fire off at Chan can’t be missed.

“Can you just —” A hiccup cuts your question in half. You frown with your whole face just to make it clear how serious you are. “Hold my hand? It’s wobbly.”

Chan knows you’re referring to the sidewalk — where you stand and sway along to music that isn’t playing — but that description fits his knees, too. 

He hopes you’re too busy pouting at him to notice the way he wipes his palms against his jeans, afraid you’ll notice how nervous you make him. You start to lean a bit too heavily to one side for his liking, though; and he thinks it’s safe to bet that you’re not noticing much of anything.

That settles it.

The second he envelopes your hand in his, you take it a step further, tugging him close enough that you can slot yourself under his arm.

“Smell nice,” you mumble from his side. “‘s that the new stuff? From the place?”

Now, Chan is the one that’s blinking slowly. He was as drunk as you were until you needed him, and despite his sobering up on a dime — which is a superpower, thank you very much — his processing speed is lagging. You nudge him with your elbow, as if that’ll make what you just said make sense.

“Ahhh!” He plays along, making a big show of realizing things. “Yes, that place. By the thing, right?”

You nod. “Exactly.” 

Behind you both, the Uber that dumped you back at your place pulls away from the curb. Three beats later, you tilt your head and cheer “goodbye” at a long-gone Kia. He feels his heart swell three sizes in chest.

“You like it?” He redirects you because he’s a little bit greedy for your praise — and also because he bought this cologne with the hope that you’d compliment it. Chuckling, he notes, “Considering how much I’m propping you up right now, you’ll probably end up smelling like me.”

When you smile and mutter, “Good,” Chan suddenly feels weightless.

It takes some concentrated effort, but he manages to guide you up the front steps to your apartment building. It takes significant concentrated effort to corral you into the elevator once you clear the threshold. You would’ve spent your night talking the doorman’s ear off, otherwise, providing a dramatic retelling of every single step you took over the last few hours. It takes everything Chan has not to laugh at the relieved sigh he gets in thanks for intervening, although it’s hardly altruistic to want your rambling to himself.

Surrounded by the metallic walls of the elevator car, you point to your joint reflection and muse, “Someone’s awful smiley this evening.”

Chan makes eye contact without having to tilt his head. His brain works overtime to churn out a response that isn’t self-incriminating, but the only thought ricocheting around his brain relates to how cute you look, nestled into him.

With a ding, your reflection is gone. The moment goes with it, and without a barrier in front, so do you — like a bat out of hell.

“Oh, my god,” you wail when your apartment door comes into view. “I thought I’d never see you again!”

Chan chases after you, arriving embarrassingly out-of-breath — and more than a little fond — just in time to watch you wrestle your keys out of your pocket. They clatter to the floor the second they’re free. You groan, bereft at the loss.

“Stay here,” he says firmly with a finger pointed because he knows you, knows you’ll take one or both of you out of commission if you don’t heed his warning. 

Your eyes cross a little bit as you stare down the barrel of it, but you listen, thankfully; and he’s able to pick up your slack without anyone receiving a concussion. He’s able to usher you into your own home without further incident, too.

Once again: superpowers.

The task of kicking your shoes off is apparently too much to ask of you, so you wander off to your bedroom without even trying. His Nikes are discarded so hurriedly that they barely hit your mat by the time he takes off after you. The second he catches up, he wins the pleasure of watching you flop backwards onto your mattress.

Funny, he thinks. His heart makes a similar thwump when you smile at him the way you are right now.

Gesturing to the feet dangling off the edge of your bed, he laughs. “Can I please help you?”

You shoot him with dual-wielded finger guns. He takes that as a yes, please, and gets to work on the triple knots you managed to install in your laces.

“Chan?”

He hums in acknowledgment without looking up, too confounded by your drunken rope-work to take his eyes off his fingers.

Were you a sailor in a past life?

A little louder and a lot more pathetically, you whine, “Chan,” adding several seconds’ worth of the vowel sound in the process.

Chan has no option but to look up at you. As far as he’s concerned, he’s got no choice but to smile with all of his teeth, too. “You rang?”

“You’re so nice.” It’s supposed to be a whisper, he suspects, but it sounds much more like a shout. “How?”

His bemused snort is disguised by the sound of your right shoe hitting the floor.

“I mean it!” You laugh — like he’d ever doubt you — and smack your palms against your duvet for emphasis. “Like, hello? Good boy alert!”

That — well, that does something to Chan that he’s not willing to unpack right now. Instead, he shucks off your other shoe, bites back his smile, and sits back on his heels.

For a minute, the two of you stay that way: you gazing at him, him gazing right back at you. In every second that slips by in comfortable silence, he works to convince himself that the twinkle in your eye is a byproduct of the shots you took, nothing more. You’re smiling at him like that because you won’t have to sleep in your shoes tonight.

Right?

You nibble thoughtfully on your lower lip before your smile turns sheepish. “Chan?”

He’s not thinking that an angel gets its wings whenever you say his name, but he’s not not thinking that.

“The one and only,” he says with a nod, and he only cringes a little bit at his words, after the fact.

Whatever you want to say next seems to be stuck on its way out. In fact, you open and close your mouth twice to no avail. Patience is a virtue, and you are divine, so he waits there — on his knees, no less — and lets you take the lead. Your eyes flick from his face to the fidgeting fingers in your lap, then to the blank space at your side.

“It’s cold out,” you finally declare.

It’s July, but that’s neither here nor there.

“You shouldn’t have to walk home in this weather.”

The sky simply couldn’t be clearer, but Chan would take your word for it if you said that it was green.

“Maybe you should stay.”

He tries not to let the giddiness overtake him. Really, he does. He attempts to shrug nonchalantly, but it's more of a shiver than anything else, and he’s scrambling to his feet before he can chide himself for it.

You laugh — with your whole chest, no less — when he leaps into the spot beside you, settling flat on his back and grinning up at the ceiling. You’re still giggling when you mimic his graceless movements, still beaming when you turn your head to look at him. The air still feels electric, somehow, even after the laughter peters off.

A few moments pass, probably. He doesn’t notice them on their way out.

In a whisper that is actually a whisper, you say his name again, and it kicks off that wild thwump inside his chest.

“Yes?” He responds, much more quietly than his pulse in his ears.

You tug gently at the pillow under his head to draw attention to it. “You’ll probably end up smelling like me now.”

#svt #svt dino #lee chan #chan x reader #dino x reader #chan drabble #svt drabble #svt imagines #svt scenarios #jade writes #jade’s requests #lc #kvanity #re: superpower

[therealieblog]

A big part of Intuitive Eating involves the de-stigmatizing of food. How do we de-stigmatize food? By not assigning it moral qualities, and by not using derogatory, negative language when we talk about food.

Examples of moralizing, derogatory and negative language we, under diet culture, still use regularly when talking about food:

"Sinful"

"Fattening"

"Unhealthy"

"Deadly"

"Bad for you"

"Clean"

"Pure"

"Healthy"

"Good" "

Junk/Junk food"

"Crap/Crappy"

Words to use instead of: Instead of "Sinful", or "Fattening", use "Decadent", "Rich" or "Delicious". Avocados and dark chocolate and many organic, "healthy" foods will make you fatter if you eat them often enough. Is this really about health? Or is it about fatphobia?

Instead of "Unhealthy", you can just say what it is about the food that impairs your health. "It hurts my stomach," "It makes my skin greasy/makes me break out", "I'm allergic to it" "I feel nauseous when I eat that." That at least is honest. Saying any food that isn't on some diet culture list of approved foods is "unhealthy" is just not scientifically accurate or backed by anything other than fear mongering.

Yes, eating foods high in fat and salt and sugar in large enough quantities, for long enough periods of time can negatively affect your health, but the vast majority of studies done on exactly how it affects your health, do not control for participants' smoking, drinking, drug use, genetic predispositions (genetics makes up a significant portion of health by the way), sedentary lifestyle, exposure to chemicals in the environment, mental health status, or literally anything outside of what they eat, so... yeah... f@ck that.

Ditto with "Bad for you." It's just so formless and un-researched and based in fatphobia. What does that even mean? In what amount is it "bad for you?" would it be equally bad for anyone to eat "unhealthy" foods at any time? Is there a magic threshold past which one's donut consumption goes from infrequent to "bad for you" levels? Or, are human beings a wildly diverse group of people, who all have very different bodies, metabolisms, genetics, tolerances, tastes and needs.

"Clean" is just as bad as "Bad For You", only worse, because it's so moralistic. If food is made out of animals, plants and grains, and is considered edible by human beings, it's fucking clean. Now if you're talking about gross things falling into the food by accident during the process of making it, or if you're talking about pesticides being used on your fruit and vegetables, then I get wanting to make sure the food is "clean". But if you're putting food on some sort of angelic pedestal for being free from sugar, or saturated fats, or carbohydrates, then you are still stuck in diet culture.

Instead of "Junk food", which implies that the food itself is garbage, which is honestly just a horrifying way to think about and talk about food, you could say "play food", "fun food", "snack food". These foods: chips, chocolate, cookies etc. aren't meant to fulfill your nutritional needs. We eat them for enjoyment, or to pick us up when we're blue, to calm us when we're stressed, or just because it tastes good and we like eating it. I think gentle nutrition is important, and paying attention to how food makes you feel is obviously important, but the way we perceive food and talk about food, reinforces what we think of ourselves when we eat it. If we are eating "bad" and "unhealthy" foods, then we are bad and unhealthy people, and that is a mind-fuck, believe me.

I've performed a 25 year longitudinal dieting study on myself. I know what it feels like to absolutely hate myself for what my body tells me it wants to eat. Not fun. So please have a care with the way you speak about food, and the way you look at yourself in relation to food. Food is sustenance and life. It is meant to be enjoyed, not feared. Lets not talk about food as if the thing meant to connect us to life also makes us inherently morally deviant.

#fatphobia #diet culture #fat liberation #fat positivity #anti-diet #intuitive eating

[scientia-rex]

Hello!

Would you be willing to take a look at this paper and share your thoughts?

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-02012-w

Specifically Fig. 2a - Obesity - Relation between daily steps over time and incident chronic disease. The graph has the most fascinating increase in obesity rates at around 8000 steps per day but the researchers do not mention it at all in their results or discussion.

My hypothesis would be that overweight individuals are more likely to be aware that 8-10k steps is the recommended amount, given that the participants are Fitbit wearers? But presumably fitbit wearers are semi-uniformly aware of the recommended # of steps per day?

Thank you for any insights.

Honestly, I wouldn't put a lot of stock in that association until or unless it's confirm by repeated studies. Looking at their data analysis, they ran a SHIT TON of analyses, and when you do that, you need to divvy up the level of Type I error risk across ALL the analyses--which gets hellaciously complicated when you're looking at the kind of analyses they're doing, and I'm not shocked they're mostly like "look, the P-value here is less than 0.001, it's significant, OK?" but I'm not even kidding--that might not be significant enough when you consider how many tests they ran. Researchers running multiple tests to try and find something significant is a notorious problem in science because they rarely disclose how many nonsignificant findings they got before they found a significant one, and what you are supposed to do if you run the numbers multiple times (pulling out one variable, adding another in) is again raise the P-value bar proportionate to how many times you crunched the data. So if I'm willing to accept a 5% risk of a false positive result (the typical p < 0.05 we know and love) and I run 100 different analyses, which is not at all difficult to do with modern software, I am supposed to now raise my threshold for a significant result to p < 0.0005. No one does that. Which means that a lot of "significant" findings in research aren't, by the strict mathematical criteria we're supposed to use in order to make statistical analysis valid.

Which isn't to say that couldn't be genuinely meaningful at the population level, just that I doubt it is. And if I'm not convinced by the data and I don't see a reason why that has face validity, it goes in my "huh" file and I move on. Sometimes you need to revisit the "huh" file but most of those results drop into nothingness because they were nothing to begin with.

#the attending dr. kristophine

[thousand-winters]

So you have any hcs about how hunter's scars affect him and how he and Darius deal with them? Scar tissue in general can cause a lot of pain, and that much across your whole body would absolutely put Hunter in chronic pain

Oh, yeah, it's most definitely going to affect Hunter, and it won't even be something easy to ignore either considering that it's like half his face, his neck, his arms, his legs... probably part of his head as well, since the horns during the possession had to pierce through the skin there.

I imagine that there had to be already a certain amount of pain he felt on the scar on his cheek, because it was big and deep, and everything about Hunter's life at the castle points to the fact that he wasn't exactly receiving the top notch healing attention, especially if one considers the healing kit in his room, and the very alarming way in which he tried to sew the Golden Guard patch on his cloak as if he were instead stitching a wound.

Obviously he wouldn't have had enough care back then to do anything other than just ignore the pain, and that probably would be his go-to strategy after everything is over, except that with so many scarred tissue (including a significant amount over his face that would inevitably show because Hunter is SO bad at keeping his expression neutral with feelings alone, so I feel like any sudden twitching or spams because of his scars would show so fast) and with people actually caring about him and his wellbeing, he wouldn't be able to pretend that everything's alright for too long, even if his pain threshold is worryingly high for someone his age.

Now, once they actually have a conversation about it, and probably about Hunter's tendency to hide his discomfort, Darius is definitely going to spare no effort in trying to get Hunter some good care, especially if some of the long term pain can be avoided with the righ treatments. There will probably be lingering pain regardless, but even a little bit less of it is better than doing nothing and just having Hunter in a lot of pain in a regular basis if they can help it.

The advantage they have is Darius is lowkey exactly the kind of person who will be able to help with the day to day care.

Any moisturizer, gels, or creams that Hunter needs to apply on his scars? Not only Darius would probably move sky and earth to get the best quality products for Hunter, he would help him apply them too, in part because Hunter might kinda forget to do that or just feel like he has to use as little of the products as possible to not inconvenience Darius if they're expensive and that just won't do. That would make for a good opportunity too for Darius to help him massage the scar tissue, he feels like someone who would know about those things and if he doesn't? Well, it's Darius, he's so terribly committed to everything he does that he would probably insist on learning so he could help his kid.

Since Hunter has significant scarring on arms and quite possibly legs as well, he might need some sort of physical therapy, especially because he wanted to play Flyer Derby and the stiffness he's going to have because of the scars won't be much help for that. Even if he feels like he can do it, I think he would give in eventually because alright, he does not like his limbs feeling like that and besides, he really wants to continue being part of the team and for that he needs to be mindful of what his body needs.

Because it probably won't be too easy for Hunter to trust strangers for a while, I can see Darius and him going first to a healer for that and learning how to do the exercises properly so Darius too can help with that in a far more comfortable environment. I can't imagine it would be pleasant for Hunter to have someone he doesn't know nor trust close to him and touching him on a regular basis during the therapy even if logically he knows they're trying to help.

With Darius' papa wolf tendencies, it feels like it doesn't matter what it takes, he's going to put it his all to help because Hunter deserves to be a life in as little pain as possible. You know he's also absolutely not having Hunter going to school if he's having a bad pain day. Nope. Who gives a damn about perfect attendance, he's not having his kid forcing himself through a day of suffering just for something as inconsequential as that, schoolwork is always something he can catch up on later, and Darius would never berate him even if he had bad grades anyway.

#hunter deamonne #darius deamonne #dadrius #the owl house #toh

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I don't remember if you ever talked about this, but it seems to be a topic of discussion in the fandom again...

Leona respects women or only respects the women of his kingdom? And what is also up for discussion is if he would respect MC/Yuu if they were a girl? Or would everything be exactly like in the game?

Huh, I didn’t realize that topic was having a resurgence in discussions 🤔

The answer to the first question is very clear cut: Leona is respectful to women in general, not just the women of the Sunset Savanna.

It’s confirmed in Cater’s school uniform vignette, when Cater is trying to convince Leona to join him for a party being thrown for one of the enchanted portraits. The portrait in particular, Rosaria, is considered female, and Cater uses this fact to convince Leona (who at first refuses) to change his mind. Leona himself says, “Portrait or not, I respect ladies and Rosaria is a lady.” Cater elaborates by adding, “Leona's kingdom is all about being respectful to ladies.” This implies that the courtesy extends to women in general, not just the ones in his own country. (However, the respect for women does derive from the fact that Sunset Savanna women tend to serve as warriors; this may be a reference to how various real life animals like lions rely on the females to be the primary hunters and leaders.)

The second question’s more dubious 🤔 but I think it depends a lot on how one defines “respect”? I definitely don’t think Leona would bend over backwards to be an absolute gentleman to a fem!Yuu (ie be a “simp” or a “white knight”, for lack of a better term), but I do think it would expedite certain scenes. Leona seems to more easily yield to requests made of him by women (like attending the party for Rosaria or when his brother’s wife asks him to come home), but that doesn’t mean he’s happy about it (he agrees to both somewhat begrudgingly and complains about it to others). Rather than treat women like they need special treatment, it’s more like Leona respects their strength and listens to them because not doing so would mean more trouble for him in the future (as stated in his Ceremonial Robes vignettes).

I feel like the only scenes this would really impact are the ones where Yuu is asking for favors of Leona (like staying overnight in Savanaclaw or asking for his help stealing Azul’s contracts). In the initial story, Leona refuses until Yuu and Grim annoy him by making noise to keep him up all night, but I can see Leona more readily agreeing to help right away if it is a woman requesting it.

Smaller and less significant scenes like the ones where Leona gets annoyed or upset might also play out a little differently (but not so much that it drastically changes the course of the story), like maybe he wouldn’t get upset to the point of trying to fight Yuu in episode 1; he might hold his tongue instead. Leona’s not always super polite to women though; he deals with some women attendees during the NRC Halloween Stamp Rally and he treats them no differently than the men when he has to chase them off. These attendees were generally rude and nosy, which indicates that there is a threshold for Leona’s patience regardless of sex or gender… so if fem!Yuu stepped on his tail, it’s possible that it might be considered rude enough for him to be angry with them anyway.

In summary, I think the main story would still progress more or less the same with only some minor changes. I think the way the main story written is meant to be taken as easily interpretable for whatever the player identifies as, women included, so I also think that whatever Leona expresses by default can also generally apply to his reactions to fem!Yuu.

#Leona Kingscholar #twst theory #twst theories #twisted wonderland theory #twisted wonderland theories #notes from the writing raven #question #spoilers

[missingn000]

oh WOW where do i even begin with this chapter. okay maybe higuruma and nobara because you've gotten me all invested (again) in a pair that's never actually met in canon. pfpk will get their turn later in this ask lol so dw!

so higuruma and nanami finally meet again!! fuck yeah!! the "you talk all high and mighty" was a nice throwback, but that domain expansion joke was AWFUL. like... "lighten up" ?? um?? higuruma ?? all that aside, i found his description as a "dark figure" that "eclipses Nanami like a silhouette" really neat - it goes really well with their roles as each other's foils! no better way to hammer it in than with a symbolic image from another person's perspective :D

Nanami is the type of dad she’s always wanted, but Higuruma is the one she has. 

i hope u know i reread their fight in ch34 as a refresher and wow i need to write a separate analysis for that one sometime... anyway, it's just really interesting to me how nanami, higuruma's character foil, is the one who manages to earn nobara's respect! both of them have seen the worst of what humanity has to offer, but where higuruma came out of it disillusioned and despairing, nanami was lucky enough to have encountered yuuji & toge before the bleakness of it all could truly set in. the same can be said of the reverse! on the other hand, nobara and higuruma found each other at what was quite possibly the lowest point in their lives; higuruma was grappling with the crippling emotional aftermath of his and nanami's ideological clash, and nobara's grandmother literally just died. they may not realise it yet, but they're reliant on each other to make it through

also the parallel you drew between nanami holding back from killing nara & higuruma murdering the village sheriff Hit me like a fuckin truck. one of nobara's main arguments against higuruma is that he's a literal murderer, which is a very valid and fair thing to be upset over, BUT, and this is an important distinction, while nanami may come off as the ideal parent (in nobara's eyes), higuruma is the one she does have - and needs. and vice versa. also:

Toge expects her to ruminate, but almost immediately: “Thanks, but no thanks,” Nobara declares. “He said to come home whenever, right? That guy can’t cook for his life. I gotta make fun of his shitty dinner.”

he gave her a home!! got it in (...verbal?) writing and all!! the fact she's willing to acknowledge this in front of the ff is so significant too. higuruma says that "she'd be the first to tell you she's not my daughter," but her actions say otherwise! even if unconventional, lol. higuruma wasn't allowed past the threshold this time, but it's obviously just a matter of time and i can't wait. wonder what she has against toji but i'm not gonna dive into that rn. speaking of which - nobara's main issue (with regard to her fighting style) is that she tries too hard, which holds her back, right? i feel like that's also applicable to other parts of her life as well, so of course it'd seep into the way she approaches combat. clever, i like that!

megumi saying to gojo that "sometimes I wish I’d told you sooner that I love you too" absolutely ruined me, esp considering his silence in ch13. which i just read yesterday. don't do this to me. anyway, it's such a small thing, but it really shows how far they've come and it means the world to me! i would elaborate but this """ask""" is getting long enough as is </3

AND NOW

PFPK TIME

alternative title: reincarnated sorcerer tries to navigate the 21st century with a whimsical curse as their sole guide, it goes about as well as you'd expect

really fascinated by the descriptions of mahito's exaggerated imitations of human behaviour, btw. these are my favourites:

Mahito bursts into a jarring cackle.

He folds his arms with a vacant grin.

They wish he wouldn’t laugh like that. It sounds so real. 

all of it feels so staged. artificial. because it is - he copies what he sees humans do, to varying degrees of success. sometimes his attempts are hollow. sometimes they're startlingly... accurate, and blur the lines:

Mahito says, wiping a tear duct, and that’s just wrong. Only people should be able to laugh so hard they cry.

even though mahito actively messes with humans, he's... simultaneously deeply fascinated by them, going so far as to observe and copy their mannerisms AND retain a humanoid form. considering he's able to modify his body, it's not a stretch to assume he quite literally has to maintain his appearance-- but why bother putting in that much effort? if everything he does is a mimicry of the original, why does he bleed red? why does his name mean true person? the parts of himself that he has no control over are unsettlingly, undeniably human. really, he's doomed from the beginning, even though he tries to use his 'curse instincts' to distinguish himself from them.

AND - WAIT FOR IT - that's exactly he's so afraid of making a digestive system!! if he succeeds, he'll be crossing that invisible (and self-made, imo) line that differentiates curse from human. imitate the latter as he might, he still holds himself as separate from them, and he's not going to do anything that threatens that belief. on a subconscious level, he probably knows the truth, which is why he doesn't even try to prove kashimo wrong.

“Then I’ll fight you,” they murmur, beneath the booming crackle of pyrotechnics going out in a final blaze of glory, sacrificing themselves in the victoryless war raging in the heavens above.  “So look forward to it.”

wow. y'know, fireworks in chinese & japanese culture are apparently symbolic of warding off evil. fitting kashimo would talk about trying to kill mahito then, huh? :)

you already know what i think about the gojo-kashimo character foil but i'm putting it here again for easier reference in the future:

something gojo and kashimo share in common is strength (supposedly) being their defining trait, but there're some subtle differences here, namely in how they use it: in gojo's opinion, there's no point in being strong if you can't protect the people who matter most to you. in kashimo's eyes, though, it’s completely reversed. having an emotional crutch is "embarrassing," a hindrance more than anything else, the complete opposite of gojo's mentality. to them, you discard human bonds to become strong. to gojo, you become strong to preserve the people you've formed those bonds with.

the third time gojo and toji tried to kill each other, it was for highly personal reasons. but in kashimo’s and mahito’s hopefully hypothetical future fight ("Then I'll fight you"), it seems to be less about a personal vendetta than being the one to decide how their dearest person’s story will end.

There’s so little you can hold onto, in this world. If you can’t cherish something, maybe it’s enough to decide how you have to let it go.

KAY OH MY GOD. HI

ive already said this to you BUT this comment is everything to me. your analyses are always so insightful and on point dude, it's SO flattering that you put this much time, effort, and consideration into the themes & symbols in this monstrosity 😭❤️️ warm and fuzzies. like my heart is next to a fireplace

OKAY NOW FOR THE COMMENT ITSELF. more below cut!

nanami & higuruma meet again!! yes!! i just had to give higuruma a weird, off-putting joke, considering that "i'm a lawyer, so talking to me costs ¥5,000 every half hour" quip he gave yuuji during his introduction. his dynamic with nanami is so interesting to me, because out of all character foil duos they're definitely the most alike. which is why it's so interesting that you pointed out how nanami is the one who managed to earn nobara's respect; that "Nanami is the type of dad she’s always wanted, but Higuruma is the one she has" line physically hurt me to type. OW. the angst. they totally met at rock bottom, and i don't think they can climb back up without each other, either: you got it totally right that higuruma is the dad she needs!!

they're both already growing. higuruma now realizes nanami was actually lucky to not have to kill toge's aunt, because he saw firsthand the damage murdering the sheriff caused to his relationship with nobara. and nobara realizes she has a home!!! she's wanted!! even though she thinks he "probably didn't mean it like that," the fact that she's willing to hope already speaks volumes to how much she's grown in her short time with him.

dfghjk that megumi line...ive also mentioned this to you but gojo & megumi have one of my favorite canon found family relationships of all time. they're everything to me. i will put gojo & megumi fluff and angst wherever possible. this is a threat

ANYWAY.

PFPK.

i feel like im just gonna repeat what weve talked about in messages but YEAH, that constant sense of "off"-ness about mahito where he's just close enough to seeming human to give someone pause, but inhuman enough to show that he's dangerous. how much of it is an act and how much of it is real? it's a line unclear to even mahito sometimes. you can only pretend for so long before you either get too tired to continue or it genuinely becomes a part of you -- if it wasn't a part of you all along, and you just didn't know how to express it. mahito's "human" act is never one he's continually had to play, because he had some semblance of alone time to go off and commit atrocities.

but he's around a human 24/7 now. he constantly has to figure out how to react to external stimuli in the most human way possible, and i don't think he wants to admit how naturally it comes to him. mahito is born from human hatred: but the thing is, hatred goes so much deeper than just animosity towards others. it's self-hate, it's hate towards your own weaknesses, hating feeling a certain way and not being able to do anything to fix it. i think this is why mahito has such a wide emotional range in canon: hate is a multi-dimensional emotion. hate is fear, grief, anger. i always joke that being a hater fuels me, but to an extent it's actually true -- it's cathartic, y'know? it's fun to hate. you can love to hate. and you can hate to love.

GOJO AND KASHIMO...i was looking in our chat at for my response to this analysis and it was something along the lines of "RATTLING THE BARS OF MY CAGE" which is really in character for me but not great for, uh, actual analytical responses. of all the character foils, i think kashimo and gojo are the most different -- polar opposites, but with that one disturbing, awful similarity about dooming their own partners. it fucking sucks to care about who they each respectively care about, and kashimo won't even admit it, so gojo's really got his work cut out for him. poor guy, dude's dealing with enough already without having to instigate inconvenient realizations in some guy over 20 times older than him

GOD. of course you'd call attention to that last line. i won't lie, "There’s so little you can hold onto, in this world. If you can’t cherish something, maybe it’s enough to decide how you have to let it go" is definitely one of my favorite things i've ever written. it fucking HURTS and represents so much about this story. i need to lie down

THANK YOU FOR THIS MESSAGE!! i seriously have parts of it memorized. i'm sure we'll continue to discuss/screech over all these things and i greatly look forward to it

#whoops this got long #cant say im surprised #kay tag #tpg

[hellsbovnd]

insignia decay (part 1)

for ffxivwrite 2022

day 6: onerous

wc: 1892.

part 1/2, will be finishing out the back half of this and posting it as a free day because it, haha, it just keeps going

no significant cw’s in this part(?) but it does focus on janos who just carries a blanket cw for violence, memory loss, abuse, discussions of imperialism, etc

A wise man had once told Janos,

“Don’t start at the beginning. Start somewhere that matters.”

But he had not considered, for a long time, whether somewhere was best described as a place, rather than an idea.

And if this place didn’t matter, Janos wasn’t sure what did.

The dust-muddled dusk cast the sky in hues of rose and gold, the gully that the castrum had once been situated in drenched in violet shadows. Once upon a time, it had been a valuable supply depot for the Empire—though the Empire being the Empire, it had replaced its facilities with newer, upgraded ones in a more easily-defensible position along the supply lines. The facilities had been outdated even when Janos had been stationed there.

The embers that had burned the facility to the ground had long-since faded, but even years later, it stood untouched—a stain on the land where blood had soaked the ground and the ceruleum stores had burned for days after they caught fire, if the rumors Janos had caught wind of were true. The red flames had given way to blue after the fire had run out of wood, fabric, and bodies to burn.

“I heard there’s still an ongoing effort to identify the dead,” a voice beside him said, “In some parts of the castrum, the flames burned so hot that their signaculi melted.”

Janos pressed his lips into a thin line and, because it was true, replied, “I heard that, too.”

Such a disaster didn’t befall a castrum every day, after all, and if Janos had learned one thing over the years, it was that mercenaries loved to talk. If he had learned two, it was that he wasn’t special, either, and that of the hundreds stationed at the castrum, a handful who survived had defected. Their stories had been the most valuable to putting the pieces together.

And the woman standing beside him was one of them—a once-conscript from Dalmasca, who didn’t have anywhere else to go after the castrum had fallen. She, like Janos, had turned to mercenary work afterwards, having been taken in by a warband after her wounds were treated. Perhaps that kinship had been the key to getting Janos to take her words to heart despite his determination to turn away from anything having to do with what he had at some point started referring to simply as, the incident.

“Do you want to walk around a bit?”

He stiffened at the question, though he couldn’t quite place where the apprehension coiling in the pit of his stomach came from. He didn’t regard himself as particularly superstitious. But something about this place felt cursed.

Something about this place found his presence repugnant.

Still, returning here had been an onerous enough task—the terrain was inhospitable, and they’d left the rest of the group back at the inn in town to make their personal journey. The leader of their group had told them to be back by sunrise the next morning, or else they’d leave without them—which had seemed fair at the time, but it had taken them from noon until sunset to get here, and Janos wasn’t familiar enough with the surrounding terrain to navigate it safely in the dark.

“Well, Red… Do you have something to light the way?”

She nodded, shifting her backpack off of her shoulders to hand him a simple oil lantern and a book of matches.

“I always come prepared.”

The moment that he crossed the threshold onto what once had been the grounds of the castrum, Janos found himself fighting to tamp down a wave of nausea. If he believed in ghosts, then this place would have been certain to be rife with them. Years of exposure to the elements after the bodies and wreckage of magitek warmachines had been removed erased the evidence that anything had happened here, and the grass had returned in full force to reclaim all but the paths from one part of the compound to another, which had been paved with plated steel. It would be decades before it would rust away completely, but truly the bigger surprise was that nobody had returned to claim it.

“Do you remember the drills every morning, here in the courtyard?” Red asked, an edge of nostalgia creeping into her voice as they walked.

“I remember rem Aemilius giving the newcomers hell.”

“He was bad, but he wasn’t the worst. You were… What, kir?”

“Jen.” If he had gotten the promotion, maybe he would have had something to tell his parents about the last time he’d been home, before the incident.

“Ah, you probably never had to deal with him first-hand at all if you were that low. Lucky you didn’t enlist as a regular soldier, then.”

“I had the choice,” Janos replied simply, lowering the lantern as they came to the entryway to a building that had long-since been hollowed out, leaving little more than the bare cermet walls and steel plating on the walls that was only halfway in-tact. The evening breeze filtered through the space, whistling through the halls and through the holes that had once been windows, the glass having fallen victim to either purposeful vandalism or years of neglect. Beyond the light of the lantern, shadows stretched from the deepest parts of the building that Janos hazily recalled as the armory.

He lowered the light slowly, squeezing his eyes shut to keep himself steady.

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” Janos replied hastily, but then after a pause, corrected himself with: “I was just thinking… About rem Aemilius.”

“You don’t need to dwell too much on that prick, I think.”

“Well, true. But did you all ever get a break? Didn’t he, um… He was talking about taking a leave of absence, right? It was about his turn for one, of all the senior folks stationed here.”

Red stayed quiet for a moment, shifting her weight from one foot to the other as she considered the question. “He took his leave of absence, but the guy who replaced him was worse for us conscripts. You didn’t know…?”

“Oh…” Maybe that was one of the things that he was supposed to know, lost to the darkness forever. From what existed beyond it, Jan remembered being close to a few conscripts, though he could no longer remember put names to their faces. They had once confided in him about a number of things before his yearly homecoming to spend the depths of winter with his family back in the capital. “… No, it’s like you said, I never dealt with him… So I didn’t know. I’m sorry to hear that.”

He let his gaze follow her as she ventured into the darkness, beckoning him onward. She didn’t look to him, stuffing her hands into her pockets instead as she ventured past where the lantern’s glow would reach. “It’s in the past now.” She let out a sigh. “Anyway, come on. We’re supposed to be looking around, right? Maybe if we can bring back something neat, Boss won’t stay mad at us for our little detour too long.”

“R-Right.”

They proceeded, side by side, into the darkness. The entrance to the building had been relatively scarless, albeit left to disrepair, but deeper inside was another story entirely. The armory had not been spared the raging fire, and some metal plates lining the walls had started to warp from the heat, and the walls and floor remained blackened in some places where the fire had licked at them.

Some segments of the wall, though, were marred by bullet-holes. Some only had one or two, dark little punctures where the bullets had pierced the paneling and gotten lodged in the cermet underlying structure, but others were marred by sprays of holes that were nearly impossible to ignore. Janos paused for a moment in front of the first panel of many thus marred. Janos knelt before it, running his calloused fingertips over the too-cool metal, letting them sink into the holes left when the bullets sank into the wall. Where the metal burst inwards, forced to part to make way for the projectiles, some rust had started to form—or at least, what Janos would not let himself perceive as anything other than rust or some other kind of corrosion.

Any blood would have long-since faded away. Right?

With the thought came another wave of nausea, as he recalled the first thing he’d been asked when he woke up in the care of the mercenaries who saved his life.

“What did you do?”

What did he do? Even returning here, all these years later, he couldn’t say for certain. Even being here made him feel sick, made dread coil in the put of his stomach and a sense of guilt that was impossible to place with any amount of precision tug at his heart. He couldn’t imagine himself in a position where he would be able to wreak destruction of this scale, let alone one where he would have wanted to. The Janos before the gap in his memories had been unwaveringly loyal to the Empire, even when it spat in his face time and time again.

The Renata family will tolerate no stains.

The war machine does not need broken gears.

But he had tried to tell himself that he’d done good work regardless. He got passed over for the promotion, but it was okay because he would get it eventually—and then his mother would see what she had tried time and time again to discard.

These days, of course, he welcomed the freedom that turning his back on the Empire afforded him: the broader perspectives and colorful peoples of far-flung lands, who had never asked to be thrown under the yoke of Imperial subjugation and who had just as much a right to exist peacefully in their homeland as the Garleans did in the home they found in the northern reaches of Ilsabard. Those who Janos had learned in school to detest, in order to force him and other citizens of the capital to excuse or even justify victimizing those who had done nothing to warrant their land being stolen, their cultures being erased, and their people subjugated or worse.

But what cost had it come at? What did he do? He still didn’t have a perfect answer, only one pieced together from—

“Jan?”

The sound of Red’s voice snapped him, abruptly, back to reality—back to the present, this moment. He hadn’t rightly realized that he had been drifting. He straightened a bit, looking to her before pushing himself back to his feet.

“Sorry, I just—it was… Interesting.”

He kicked himself for being unable to come up with anything better than that half-assed excuse, but the wave of emotions that washed over him defied articulation every time he’d tried in the past—either to recall what had happened in the hollow formed by his missing memories, or to talk about how he felt about it with any meaningful precision.

Some things were best left unsaid.

#ffxivwrite2022 #( c: janos; ) #( writing; )

[indianmetro]

Indian Metro Course Excellence Academy

The emergence of metro rail transportation in the busy scenery of the Indian urban transportation territory has been a revolution. In these evolutions Delhi Metro is standing as the symbol of efficiency and on time. As the Indian metro network expands into a variety of cities, the need for professionals skilled enough to operate and control such complicated systems is equally increasing. Welcome to Indian Metro Training Courses – the entry point into the vibrant world of metro operation.

Delhi Metro: A Pioneering Force The very essence of metro evolution of India lies in Delhi Metro- a symbol of technological supremacy and operational efficiency. As the first metro system of the country has already been considered the benchmark for them for safety, punctuality, as well as a passenger’s overall comfort. Riding the wing of Delhi Metro, metro systems have taken root in the cities of major importance and as the deserving outcome of this run these metro trains, the demand appeared for the workforce with the skill of handling intricacies of metro operations. To enhance the skills the metro management institute in Dehi is Indian Metro.

Indian Metro Training Courses: Bridging the Skill Gap To understand the quantum of training that would be carried out, regional workshops have been organised in various Union Territories and States of the country where the development and delivery of the metro system has arrived. These institutions have developed and introduced elaborate Indian Metro Training Courses. Sociology courses are designed to prepare future professionals with the knowledge and capacity to well deliver in dealing with the metro systems systems. As training, Indian Metro Internship program is on the way for youth for which a certificate is also provided.

Key Features of Indian Metro Training Courses: Technical Expertise: Various topics on the technical side are downloaded lectures educating the graduates on signalling systems, rolling stock maintenance and station management among other things.

Safety Protocols: As safety is the cornerstone of metro operations, such courses provide high standards of safety measures and drills of response to emergencies.

Simulated Environments: Most training activities involve simulated metro settings which give rehearsed drills in a safeguarded domain, permitting trainees to act on practical circumstances using conceptual knowledge.

Soft Skills Development: Whereas the training programs usually feature courses on effective communication among the soft skills development recognizing the significance of effective communication and customer service, courses usually include modules on soft skills development to ensure a holistic perspective towards metro management.

India Metro: A Thriving Network Delhi Metro success has inspired growth of metro systems in cities such as Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai. The India metro network is growing at a tremendous rate, creating a flood of job opportunities for those possessing specialised training.  

Conclusion:

Metro Excellence Riding the Wave Growing every day, the Indian metro landscape has never needed a better supply of trained professionals. Indian Metro Training Courses can be essentially seen as a facilitator for a rewarding career in this burgeoning profession. Be it a graduate about to step on the threshold of career or be it a seasoned professional looking to change his gears; these courses provide an opportunity for success in the competitive sphere of metro operations. It’s time to accept the evolution of transportation, and that is why you should hop on the Indian Metro Training Courses train now.

#indian metro #metro #delhi metro #rapid metro #train station

[mas1blogs]

Navigating US Sales Tax: Insights for Foreign Businesses

Introduction

Thinking about expanding your business in the US may seem enticing but you must be ready to understand the daunting US Sales Tax system before that.

Navigating your way through the sales tax system is an essential step to accessing the vast potential of the US market. As a foreign entity, there could be many pitfalls and daunting compliances. Not having the proper US sales tax system knowledge will only work in your competitor’s favor.

So let the experts handle the complex, and break down the basics for you in easy-to-understand terms. 

Why must you understand the US Sales Tax?

Sales tax is a consumption-based tax levied on the sales of goods and certain services in the United States. However, the US doesn’t follow the VAT(value-added tax) systems like other countries do. Rather US sales tax is imposed on a state-level basis which means the rates can significantly vary from one state to another. Thus, for foreign businesses in the US, it can become an intricate and challenging matter to comprehend.

The X-Factor of US Sales Tax: Nexus and Economic Nexus

While handling your tax from US business, there is one word you will definitely get to hear and that is Nexus. Nexus can be understood as a significant connection or presence in a state which defines the sales tax for a business. 

Nexus was used to be applied when businesses have a physical presence in a state. For example, having a warehouse or store would invite taxes from the state. However, after the 2018 case of “South Dakota v. Wayfair”, the US Supreme Court ordered to consider economic activity in Nexus too.

Economic Nexus implies that having certain sales in a state can also trigger sales tax collection even without the physical presence. It considers a threshold amount of sales or a specific number of transactions. Therefore, one has to closely monitor their sales and business in different states while having state-specific guidelines.

How to get a Sales Tax Permit?

After getting the Nexus established, the next step is to get a US Sales Tax Permit. Foreign Business Owners must request a sales tax permit for each state where they have a presence. For this, you will be asked to submit an application to the State’s Tax Authority. Provide them with the essential business information, and then designate a person to handle your sales tax matters.

Figuring out what gets Taxed?

As if understanding the nexus wasn’t enough, the US Sales Tax System is complicated when it comes to understanding the taxable items too. Different states have different considerations for taxable items. In order to ensure that you are not getting tax charged unnecessarily, you must familiarize yourself with the state-wise rules.

In some US states, it is applied on almost every item; whereas, in other states, there are tax exempted goods and services. These tax exemptions may include items like groceries, medications, prescriptions, etc. Being mindful of these can help you to report accurate taxes.

Next Step: Tax Collection and Remittance

It isn’t a rocket-science now, is it?

Once you have established Nexus and done your homework on taxable items, all you need to do is collect the sales taxes. To maintain compliance, you must charge the accurate amount of taxes from the customers. Being a Foreign Business in the US or being unaware of the right amount will not work as an excuse with the authorities.

Along with the collection, you must be well-versed in the sales-tax remittance frequency as well as the method per the state. On one hand, where some states follow monthly tax remittance rules, other states follow quarterly or annual tax remittance. To avoid penalties or additional interests on the tax amount, it is suggested to mark the important dates on your calendar and never miss them.

Keep the Exemption Certificates ready

While doing business in the US, it is possible to encounter tax-exempt customers as well. They may be resellers, non-profit organizations, or government entities. In order to avoid charging tax from these customers, you must collect valid exemption certificates. Keep these certificates as safe records to be used in the future.

Stay one step ahead: Leverage Technology

Being a Foreign Business in the US that is new to the system, you can turn to sales tax software for an advantage. Utilization of technology can become one of your best decisions ever.

Be it tax calculations, collection, or reporting, you can automate it all. See it as an investment that can save hours of your time while reducing the risk of errors as well.

Conclusion

We know it was a load of information to process in a go. So, here is a sneak-peak. To successfully be on the top of the US Sales Tax system as a Foreign Business, you must do the following:

Keep a close eye on Nexus/Economic Nexus

Get your Sales Tax Permit

Collect and Remit accurate amounts of tax

Utilize Sales Tax software as your sidekick

When looked at with a confused sight, these steps might seem exhausting. But once understood, these can help you to rock the US market with your business passion. However, if it still feels like you need assistance, you can always seek an expert to have your back.

If you are looking to file Federal Tax, know which one fits your business needs; Form 941 or Form 944.

[eventindustrynews]

Employee Moonlighting – Decoding the Big Debate

Moonlighting is a new entry in Webster's new world dictionary which defines the practice as - holding a second job in addition to a regular one. Typically, moonlighting is used when a person has a full-time job and is working another job outside regular hours. Working on an additional side hustle alongside a permanent full-time job isn't new. As per the United States Census Bureau, a steady fragment of the workforce in the United States has always had a second job.  

Then why the hype now? Arthur Wong, Head of AIS Tarabut Gateway, one of the guest speakers at a recent event hosted by Eventcombo (Employee Moonlighting – The Big Debate), expressed that although moonlighting has existed forever, it is now being used with a negative connotation. Employee moonlighting has garnered so much attention post-pandemic only because the number of people moonlighting increased above a noticeable and implicating threshold. Previously more common in the IT sector, employee moonlighting has now extended to other skill domains. 

There are apparent reasons we can draw from practical scenarios that have pushed a significant workforce towards moonlighting.   

1. During the pandemic, the unemployment rate tripled. Many businesses shut their doors and couldn't offer the option to work from home. People found side jobs to sustain themselves. Now, even if they are re-instated in their previous job or have found another full-time job, they don't want to quit the side hustle due to the increasingly unstable employment environment. No one says no to some extra income.   

2. A simple need to earn extra dollars and manage economic hardships prompts employees to take up additional gigs. They may have rents to pay, debts to pay off (the highest inflation in 40 years is not really very helpful), and bigger ambitions. The compensation at their current job might not be enough to send their children to a better college or school or enough to maintain savings.    

3. Learning new skills or upskilling, maybe for a career change, is also why employees take up work apart from their regular full-time jobs. Often, they choose to work at odd hours with another venture to fill the voids in their primary employment, like versatile KRA, better job role hierarchy, or creative freedom. 

4. The rise of startup ecosystems has also fervently mobilized the moonlighting concept. Most startups offer unconditional part-time and freelancing roles, making multiple jobs more manageable and convenient over and above full-time. Professional satiety is also why many people pick two or more different jobs.   

5. Vocations aren't necessarily financially rewarding. Therefore, choosing to follow one's passion as secondary employment is also the reason.

The Big Ethics Debate   

According to a survey from Insuranks, about 44% of Americans work at least one side job to earn extra income.   

But the real question is, is moonlighting unethical? If truth be told, there is no direct answer to this.    

Another guest speaker of Eventcombo’s Moonlighting Debate, Jannet S Levey, the Employer’s Lawyer, shared her clear vote that moonlighting is not always ethical but cannot be termed unethical as well. She further added that an employer could make a policy restricting moonlighting, but it doesn't mean that if one could, they should. There are other ways to tackle the issue.  

Any employee engaging in secondary employment is not unethical until it directly or indirectly affects the performance at the primary job. If the terms of employment expressly prohibit the employee from moonlighting, it would have legal consequences but that doesn't make it inherently unethical.

The Employer's Perspective  

Considering how corporate houses have brought their concern about employee moonlighting to light, their ordeal is not irrelevant. By the end of 2022, 25% of all professional jobs in North America will be remote, increasing moonlight opportunities. Does that mean there's a need for specific moonlighting policies? A no-moonlighting policy can be an obstacle to the employees' individual growth.   

It is also crucial to identify the potential risks to address them with strategic policies, standards and compliance.   

1. Productivity Loss – Loss of productivity or proficiency at the main job is the first thought that comes to any employer's mind. It is possible that multiple responsibilities and overworking can distract and cause deterioration in job performance.  

2. Conflict of Interest – Conflict of interest arising from working with competitors or similar businesses can harm both employment places.   

3. Confidentiality – Data, product prototypes, or critical data and other sensitive information can open possibilities for a security breach. Suppose a person uses the company laptop to work on other gigs, which can potentially expose propriety information on this device.   

4. Inhibiting Performance of Others – Employees working multiple jobs may underperform primary employment tasks, indirectly burdening other employees with additional responsibilities and inhibiting their regular performance.   

5. Misuse of Employer's Resources – Many employees use resources available at the primary employment place for secondary ones, like the internet, laptops, and printers.

The Crucial Role of HR  

Rajeev Tupsakri, Founder & CEO of RAMA Consulting and another participant in the Eventcombo’s debate on employee moonlighting, shared a pretty strong point that the company's HR manager's role is not efficiently utilized. It's a fact that all HR policies are reactive. The HR department must be given the due identity as an equal partner in policy designing. Employee-related concerns must be handled proactively rather than working as damage control. Policies over moonlighting, employee engagement, workforce management, fair and equal compensation policy, and empathy must be in place beforehand.  

Facing the Dilemma of Moonlighting  

If an employer wants to restrict moonlighting, there must be an explanation. Why do they want to in the first place? The guest speakers and industry experts in the debate were unanimous on the fact that a specific moonlighting policy is only needed if the nature of business requires so.   

For other concerns mentioned above, a compliant and resilient HR policy and employment contract can suffice, which can also be regulated by primary US employment laws and is more pro-employee. Organizational policies can be weaved to focus on possible problem areas with some of the solutions listed below.   

a) A metric system to measure performance based on KPIs   

b) Using a non-compete clause   

c) Prohibit roles that fall under a direct conflict of interest   

d) Non-disclosure agreements  

e) Company resource usage policies  

Instead of focusing on tracking and taking stern actions against moonlighting, having open conversations with employees and constructively engaging them will prevent employees from hiding moonlighting. Companies can start with a simple question - how long are they looking to carry on moonlighting and what is the reason for doing so?  

Moonlighting isn't going to fade out but, on contrary, it’s expected to become more prominent. Devising solutions that create a win-win for both the employer and the employee is the need of the hour.  

Source — Eventcombo — event management platform

#event management #virtual event #hybrid event platform

[pantomathgroup]

The 5 Benefits of Best Investment Opportunities

Investing is a successful way to use your money and increase your wealth. Your capital may grow and outpace inflation if you make wise investment decisions. The power of compounding and the trade-off between risk and return is the main reasons investing has a higher growth potential.

 

Everyone should engage in investing. It is absurd not to start investing because there are so many advantages. Investing will get you where you want to go regarding wealth and financial security. Since you cannot save your way to becoming a millionaire, it is the only way to get there.

 

Why invest?

Although saving money is crucial, it only tells part of the story. The first step for wise savers is accumulating enough emergency funds in a savings account or investing in a money market account. However, investing in the financial markets offers several potential benefits after getting three to six months' worth of easily accessible savings.

 

First, let's address the second idea: you will eventually want to take a break from your job. Most people refer to this as retirement, but it's crucial to remember that retirement is a financial threshold, not an age. The FIRE movement, which stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early, may be familiar to you. These people desire early retirement but are more concerned with reaching their target with the best investment opportunities.

 

This is how investing ought to operate: you transfer funds from your working bucket into different buckets, such as those holding stocks, bonds, real estate, etc.

Then, when you eventually stop working, those buckets will still pay you!

 

Staying Ahead of Inflation

Over time, you'll lose money if you don't invest and grow your money. All of this is a result of inflation. The general annual price increase and the resulting loss of your money's purchasing power are both examples of inflation. Although inflation rates can vary greatly, historically, they have averaged around 3%.

 

You will stay well ahead of inflation and be able to increase the value of your money if you invest your money and, let's say, earn a rate of return of 7% on average. However, if you invest, your return on savings and your wage rate will keep pace. This is because you would pay more for the things you buy (like food, gas, and housing), and these higher costs would offset any extra money you make.

 

Saving for Retirement

It would be best if you started saving money for retirement while working. But first, invest your retirement funds in a diverse range of assets, including stocks, bonds, mutual funds, real estate, companies, and precious metals. Then, once you reach retirement age, you can continue to live off the income from these investments.

 

Consider taking on more risk with your assets when you're younger, depending on your risk tolerance. Your chances of becoming richer increase as your level of risk rises. As you get older and get closer to retirement, you should invest more conservatively.

 

Obtain greater returns

Your money needs to be invested in a position where it can acquire a high rate of return if you want it to grow. You will make more money if the rate of return is higher. Compared to savings accounts, investment vehicles typically provide the chance to earn higher rates of return. As a result, consider investing your money if you want the opportunity to get a higher return.

 

Meet financial objectives

You can achieve significant financial goals by investing. You will make more money over the long term and more quickly if your investments yield a higher rate of return than a savings account. You can use this investment return to help you achieve critical financial objectives like buying a home or a car, starting your own business, or paying for your children's college.

 

Participate in a new project

New businesses seek out investors to help them raise the capital they require. A new, cutting-edge product or service, or being a part of a company or movie that introduces them to a glamorous world, may be exciting to some investors.

 

Conclusion

The strategy advisory service of Pantomath Advisory Services Group provides such value to your company. They focus on aligning with your long-term visions and bringing life to them. They also offer services regarding investments, like the best investment opportunities and transaction advisory services, through which they help in the growth of investment management firms.

[littlespoonevan]

(and this is a different conversation but the possibility of their love confession happening way before the first kiss????? i’m obsessed. also in that case i’d need buck to initiate it if eddie was the one to drop the ily but again that’s for a different post askjfhsaskdfj)

Hello I am here to be an enabler about this part bc you got me like 👀 🍿

askdjfhas i was hoping someone would ask me about this bc as soon as i pressed post i was like 'wait i care about this idea way more than i thought i did' lmao. blame this on me rewatching buck actually this afternoon and wanting them to get their romcom moment

okay so. alternative scenario. if we got a situation where eddie realises he's in love with buck in the s5 finale and the idea didn't actually scare him, i would kill for a love confession that completely takes buck by surprise

because right now i feel like buck won't even let himself consider the possibility that he might be in love with eddie. because it's always been there, y'know??? the feeling has existed inside him for so long he's never really thought to examine what it means beyond the general devotion he has to eddie and chris

so imagine a scenario where eddie finally feels confident enough to admit it. where he wants to tell buck because he needs buck to know. because he needs buck to understand his worth in eddie's life (and oh what a beautiful parallel that would be to the 4x14 hospital conversation) and buck is just. completely fucking bowled over. because he doesn't expect it????????? and he doesn't even know how to begin to process it because how could eddie - beautiful, wonderful, incredible eddie - look at buck and see that kind of love??? how could he see buck's fucking trainwreck of a love life and want to be a part of that???

and eddie's so fucking patient and soft (like i'm talking season 4 fond faces dialled up to 1000) and he squeezes buck's wrist and says, "i'm not expecting anything here. you can take your time deciding what this means to you. if it means anything at all."

and buck nods, dazed, because he loves eddie, of course he does, but he suddenly doesn't know in what way and he just- he needs to think and he can't do that with eddie watching him with those gentle eyes. so he leaves but he stops in eddie's doorway first, eyes wide and scared, and says, "i'm coming back. no matter what i- whatever i- i'm coming back, okay?"

and eddie smiles and nods and says, "i know, buck," in the exact same way he says "i know you did" in 4x05

and anyway buck leaves  has an absolute breakdown to maddie in the next episode because his head is a mess and maddie just sort of watches amusedly as buck paces back and forth across her living room rambling his way through every significant moment he and eddie have ever had since the moment they first met. and eventually when he pauses to take a breath maddie's just like. "evan, sweetie. it kind of sounds like you're in love with him."

to which buck stops dead in his tracks and says, "oh my god i love him. oh my god, maddie, i'm in love with him."

and he obviously doesn't stick around because he has to tell eddie!!!!!!

so he fucking runs back to the diaz house because he can't make eddie wait any longer and he's so frantic he can't even think about fitting his key in the lock so he just starts banging on the door and eddie opens it looking completely confused. and buck just lets out this breathless, "hi." and eddie laughs and says hi back.

"you told me you loved me."

eddie ducks his head, hides a tiny smile. "i remember."

"i didn't answer you."

and eddie isn't going to push him, isn't going to ask for something buck doesn't want to give him, but buck steps through the threshold and into eddie's space and suddenly they're nose to nose and eddie's hand slips off the door handle and finds purchase on buck's hip and buck meets eddie's gaze head on, eyes steadfast and so, so sure and says, "i'm in love with you too." and they kISS and they're smiling into each other's mouth and buck starts walking them backwards and eddie kicks the front door closed with his foot and they're home 😭

#wilddragonflying #asks #buddie #911 related #mine #i also would be very content with this akjsdkfhas #if they dragged it out over an ep or two i'd DIE

[sickstarlight]

different causes of sickness

a friend had asked me for some advice on how I write differences between different types of sickness or reasons someone could get sick! so I typed up a reference of details I try to keep in mind in my writing. not by any means meant to be comprehensive but these are some of the more common things I see used or use myself!

eta: if you found this interesting or useful consider tipping me on kofi (/jallyns) or getting a $5 commission so I can fix my computer

drinking related:

drank too much: everyone’s threshold for this is going to be different obvs both in terms of how much alcohol they need and how wasted they’re able/willing to be before getting sick. also ime you have to be QUITE drunk for being drunk alone to make you sick, to the point where it may be dangerous, so personally I like this combined with something else - motion, something not sitting right in their stomach, etc - but it can be good otherwise too. probably the first thing the character will notice or be aware of if they have any warning is that being drunk stops feeling good at this point. they might feel flushed and/or clammy and will probably feel dizzy, their mouth might feel really dry depending on what they’ve been drinking. this is probably also the point where they recognize they have limited control of their body, feet might feel too heavy to move or head might be spinning, may feel very clumsy and suddenly become AWARE of it.

they might FEEL motion sick even if they’re not moving too because their motion sense is fucked at this point. might feel heavy but this is likely to be a whole body heaviness NOT just their stomach (though they might be very aware of it); might or might not be able to place the feeling of nausea. maybe burping but it depends on what they’ve been drinking (carbonated or not, mixed with soda, etc) and what else they ate! they MIGHT feel okay after throwing up but their friend probably shouldn’t let them drink anymore even if they do.

also this might come with very little warning, they may go from feeling fine and giggling with their friends to suddenly feeling Wrong to hurling all over the floor in a matter of minutes or even a few seconds. if they have friends with them who have been with them drunk regularly, depending on who’s more sober their friends might notice they look unsteady and/or queasy before they realize they don’t feel well.

other good things here: alcohol that tastes so strong it’s all they can taste when they throw it back up, feeling dizzy but not placing it as nauseous right away, feeling like their head is too heavy to lift. reeling on their feet when a drink hits them too hard and feeling the whole room spin.

drank too quickly - more likely to come on SUPER suddenly, but they’ll probably recognize it right away (unless they’ve already been drinking) because the alcohol hasn’t had time to get to their brain yet. so with gradually drinking more than they should they will get drunk first and THEN get sick, but if they drink too much too fast right off the bat they’ll start to feel some effects probably but they’ll also know pretty quick that their drinks aren’t gonna stay down.

hung over - throwing up from a hangover is a combination of a buildup of alcohol byproducts in the stomach, and the stomach lining being irritated + producing more acid. a headache is also a significant part of the misery of a hangover but (unlike a migraine, where the pain directly leads to vomiting) isn’t necessarily related to any queasiness, so the headache might get worse with sound, light, or movement, but their stomach likely won’t. they might feel a little like they have heartburn (or actually GET some acid reflux) from acid buildup, and their stomach might be sore or feel too warm as well as being upset. 

the only real cure for a hangover is slow sips of clear fluids and bland foods to help settle the stomach and reduce the acid, but lots of people swear by other things - certain kinds of foods, drinking more alcohol, etc, so that’s something you can have fun with! depending on how much alcohol is still in their bloodstream, they might also still feel a little drunk/tipsy and have some issues with their balance, thinking clearly, etc, which could make the nausea worse; also some people might always get sick from hangovers but others might not so consider how your character deals with that! They also might wake up sick, or feel sick right away, or might not feel sick at all until trying to get some fluids or take meds for their headache (especially since ibuprofen/aspirin also irritate the stomach lining).

food related:

ate too much -  character will likely feel bloated and tight, food might feel heavy in their stomach. depending on what they’re stuffed with there might be burping esp if there’s a lot of gas in their stomach, or a lot of gagging and unproductive dry heaving if it’s very heavy/solid. might need to drink something to get anything up, or have help from someone, or might just take a while to finally puke as their overstuffed stomach struggles to break down their meal enough that their stretched out muscles can get anything moving. any firm pressure on the stomach is gonna feel worse and likely to make them gag even if they’re not ready to throw up yet. maybe weak strained tummy noises as they try to digest. (side note if a lot of their stomach contents are liquid like soup, drinks, etc they’ll throw that up a lot faster; also a good excuse to discuss sloshing/jostling/swirling around in their tummy)

ate too quickly - ties in well to eating too much since it’s easy eating in a hurry to not realize you’re full until it’s already a little late - eating or drinking anything too fast can also make some people’s stomachs hurt or get upset in general, and is an easy way to end up swallowing a lot of air which can obviously lead to feeling much more full and tight with lots of burping that could easily bring up more!

ate something bad - this could be rotten, poorly prepared, or just something that upsets their stomach but what it is might change the feeling of it so there’s definitely variety here. probably also feels heavy but more localized, like they can feel the specific food they ate and where it’s settled in their stomach. might also be painful and cause cramping and tenderness. imo nausea from this is more likely to come in waves and recede but might also be more readily recognizable as nausea. some things I like in this scenario - character thinking about what they ate and feeling worse, imagining they can feel individual parts of their food in their stomach, burping and tasting what they ate (possibly noticing the taste having gone sour / etc in their stomach). good place to describe stuff like how greasy smt was/feeling the grease coating their stomach, or otherwise talk about the specific way the food feels in their tummy and how much it makes them want to puke. unlike with eating too much, they’re likely not to feel better until ALL of the offending food is out of their stomach (while with overeating, they may throw up a few times and then start to feel better once there’s less pressure on their stomach).

general notes - if something the character ate is what’s making them feel sick, a lot of focus on hyperawareness of how much food is in their stomach/how heavy it feels are gonna be big sensory things (as well as maybe taste, pressure/tightness, stomach contents moving around)

illness

appendicitis - if you’re looking for something more serious than food poisoning or a stomach bug, this is sure to end up with a character in the hospital as they’ll need surgery! the big distinguishing thing is pain, which will be sharp and located on the lower right side of the abdomen (or may start near the navel and move down). any kind of exertion or sudden muscle movement can make the pain worse. if the character or one of their caretakers is knowledgeable and suspects appendicitis, they might do the rebound test, which causes pain to get drastically worse AFTER placing pressure on the area and releasing it. sickness usually begins after the pain starts and may get worse when something exacerbates the pain as well.

in addition to nausea and vomiting, other symptoms can include fever, bloating, and bowel issues (either diarrhea or constipation), which will usually get worse over the course of the infection. if the character is treated soon enough (within 2-3 days) they’ll usually feel better after surgery and recover relatively quickly, but if they’re not seen by a doctor and the appendix ruptures they’ll likely need more extensive treatment including antibiotics and a longer hospital stay to make sure they won’t develop sepsis. (in some cases, symptoms could seem to suddenly go away when the appendix ruptures because it releases pressure, but worse symptoms would rapidly develop!)

rarely, there’s also such thing as chronic appendicitis, where milder symptoms may appear and recede over the course of weeks or months before developing into acute appendicitis and prompting surgery.

coughs, colds, strep, etc - can all cause vomiting as secondary symptoms thanks to postnasal drip, throat irritation, or forceful coughing. serious enough throat irritation or buildup of mucus can make a character gag, or feel the need to, and so can coughing up phlegm from their chest. if they’re sniffly and have their sinuses draining down the back of their throat, they may end up swallowing a lot of mucus too which can make them feel nauseous as their stomach gets full of sticky snot. I think these work best as emeto scenarios for characters with weak gag reflexes!

food poisoning - separate from eating something bad because food poisoning from a virus or bacteria is a longer lasting illness with a later onset; the character may first get sick within a few hours of eating the contaminated food, or it may incubate and make them sick within a day or two. like stomach flu (also frequently foodborne) many types can cause both vomiting and diarrhea, but symptoms vary depending on specific cause. characters also might puke early on and then develop more symptoms and become sicker later as bacteria multiply and produce toxins, and may take several days to recover from the later onset where they could have persistent nausea, or might feel okay and even regain their appetite if they don’t try to eat  but be unable to keep much or any food down. most types of food poisoning also cause pain, swelling, bloating, and cramping, usually in the lower part of the stomach and upper intestines, so those are other symptoms your character might have to deal with in addition to puking!

stomach flu - character may be feverish or achy as well as nauseous while their body fights the infection, which is an additional great source of hurt/comfort fuel! can cause both vomiting and diarrhea, so even food they manage to keep down might still sting them later. because it directly causes irritation and inflammation in the stomach and lower GI tract, character might throw up frequently or after every meal, or might be able to handle clear fluids but no solids, or some bland foods but nothing with significant sugar, spices, or fat. they also might only be able to drink or eat in very small amounts without bringing it back up. their stomach may hurt and feel like it’s cramping even if they haven’t tried to eat, and they may get only very brief relief of nausea after each time they’re sick because it reduces the immediate pressure on the stomach but not the inflammation; they might feel nauseous constantly or end up dry heaving even when there’s nothing in their stomach, and might need to keep a basin of some kind nearby for a couple of days since they can’t be sure if they’re done. dehydration is a common complication and can cause headaches, weakness, and dizziness in addition to other symptoms! the most common stomach virus, norovirus, is also EXTREMELY contagious, and virus particles can aerosolize and scatter widely during vomiting, so the caretaker may not be safe either.

injury, other medical

anaesthesia - people react to this in all kinds of ways but getting sick is really common so it can be combined with just about any reaction. character might be disoriented or dizzy and have trouble with balance, walking, other coordinated movement. some might be really confused and have trouble communicating their ideas clearly or say things that might not make any sense to other characters. from the anaesthetized character’s perspective though they’re  probably making total sense so it can also be fun to include their muddled thought process and what they’re feeling or thinking that they express in weird ways! other characters might feel pretty clearheaded and be able to communicate clearly though. they might feel “light” or like they're floating, or very  detached from their body; this may cause more dizziness and vertigo. they may also be cold they might feel nauseous right away and persistently from the anaesthetic irritating their stomach, or might only get sick from moving that makes the “floating” feeling worse. general anaesthetic is usually used for surgery so if they aren’t immediately nauseous the character can also wake up really hungry from fasting before, so eating too much or too quickly might also make them realize they’re nauseous and end up with them puking.

concussion - there are a lot of reasons someone might get sick from a concussion, but the most common (non threatening) are vertigo / vestibular disturbance and headaches! the character might  get nauseous or throw up when they turn too quickly or stand up too fast if their balance center is disrupted, or might have head pain similar to a migraine that makes them sick and can have similar sensitivities. mild concussions without other complications can still last up to a week after the injury, but the character should get sick less and less often as time goes on, so the most intense phase for sickness caused by a concussion is shortly after it happens! Frequently repeated or prolonged bouts of vomiting are often signs of more serious injury though, so if you’re keeping it mild they should probably be brief and a little spaced out even early on, though a character might have intermittent nausea between them. other symptoms of concussion are important too here - big ones are short term amnesia, loss of coordination, difficulty concentrating, and confusion. they might also hear ringing in their ears or sometimes have visual disturbances like in migraines! 

migraine - the pain from migraines can directly cause vomiting, especially when it’s at its peak, but it might also be caused by aura effects on balance and vision! (some people get tunnel vision or “kaleidoscope” vision with migraines, some just get dizzy, some people even hallucinate strong smells or tastes which could also lead to nausea!) for some people, the headache gets better after throwing up, but not everyone; they also might or might not feel the buildup of nausea or persistent nausea throughout their migraine, or alternately might retch or throw up almost IMMEDIATELY when any trigger makes their pain worse (common triggers are bright or flashing light, loud or high pitched sounds, strong smells, and sudden movement, but people have lots of different triggers so they can be a lot of things!) many people can’t chase off a migraine until after they’ve slept so you might also include them trying to get comfortable only to have their head start hurting worse or their stomach get upset and make them scramble to get over the trash bin.

motion sickness - anyone can get motion sick but some people are more prone to it than others! so you might have characters who always get motion sick in any moving vehicle, or who are okay in cars but can’t travel on water, or who only get sick with intense movement like on roller coasters - or characters who aren’t prone to motion sickness in general, but discover they get it when fatigued, anxious, etc. different characters might also experience it differently - for some there may be a cycle of gradual buildup of nausea until it becomes unbearable and they throw up, while for others it might come on suddenly, or they might have low level nausea throughout a trip but only puke when there’s a more sudden or violent movement. some people also only get motion sick after a period of time, and might be fine on short trips but get sick if they’re traveling longer.

other notes: many people who get carsick don’t get sick if they’re driving! being able to get fresh air also helps many people, as well as focusing on the horizon if possible. some people prone to motion sickness will also experience the opposite when sitting still but watching movement onscreen like in a video game. likewise, reading or looking at a still object for long while moving can trigger motion sickness, even in people who are less prone to it otherwise.

#sicknario #ish #emeto prompt #emetophilia #sickfic reference #illumivomi #I think that tag is for accounts w no rpf or p*dophilic ships ? #pls feel free to use as reference!

[polyamoryfacts]

I am worldbuilding for DnD, and I was wondering, how might a medieval fantasy world where polyamory is the norm look different than what we typically picture of a medieval fantasy world? Can give more details if needed.

Oh, that's a fun ask. Disclaimer, my familiarity with actual medieval culture is spotty at best, I am just familiar enough with DnD and the medieval fantasy tropes (which may be good enough for your purposes).

CN for discussion/mention of: coerced heterosexuality/heteronormativity, concept of virginity, adultery, fictional religion, sex, death.

Some things to think about:

Children

* How does polyamory impact primogeniture, child-rearing and inheritance? This has far-reaching geopolitical implications. For example, Germany got divided into a lot of small states because you would split your lands among your sons and everyone was supposed to get something.

* Does your world have a concept of citizenship? For example, is it necessary to be a citizen of a town to be able to sell wares there? Does the citizenship of your spouse(s) affect your own claims of citizenship? What about the citizenship of your child?

* if there is less emphasis on blood relations to your children, adoption may be more common.

* in a broader view: this society probably has less emphasis on the concept of virginity, as well as less discrimination against queer people. (For instance, there is less pressure on a gay person to produce an heir; during the time it takes you to convince the one person, their brother can probably produce five heirs with five different people.)

Culture

* Is adultery (that is, doing "spouse-stuff" with a non-spouse while being married) a more mild or more grievous offense? (Argument for more mild: if monogamy is not so heavily idealized, adultery might be not that big of a deal; on the flip side, adultery may be considered a worse offense because "you could have just talked about it and worked it out").

* Holidays? Metamour Appreciation Day? "Let's remember the time polyamory was introduced here" day? "Spend time away from your polycule" week, where you go on a short pilgrimage to reassert yourself? Equivalents to "round" wedding anniversaries?

* What is the relationship with religion? Are there any prominent polyamorous deities?

* What are ceremonies different cultures employ to celebrate a marriage? (Western polyamory has the concept of handfasting, but feel free to come up with your own ceremonies! Existing partners might welcome the new spouse into the family, or maybe the new partner has to give existing partners a gift (this implies a certain kind of dynamics and I am not sure you want that)).

* Speaking of which: You probably have to rewrite the Ceremony spell (XGtE), because it implies monogamy.

* What are the cultural implications of marriage? Is this a promise of exclusivity?

* What are the implications on sex life? Is it harder to get a 1:1 sex "session"? Is a "twosome" a popular fantasy? Do sex workers charge you more if they are "supposed to do all the work alone"? What about one-night stands or short flings? Are they easier to come by, or is every kind of relationship a significant thing and not to be entered lightly?

* How does this impact art? Is there a noticable trend to depict people with their polycule?

* How is monogamy regarded? Would someone wanting to be in a monogamous relationship be considered a bit weird? A pervert? A sinner, even? Are there monogamy-specific prejudices?

* Are there any cultural taboos against dating within your polycule, akin to "dating within the family"? What is the threshold when it stops being weird?

Infrastructure and Law

* How does this impact the service industry? Are there special "metamour councelors" akin to marriage counselors, for when you just cannot get along with your partner's other partner? Pubs probably have bigger tables, for when you want to dine with your whole polycule.

* How does this impact the manufacturing industry? A household with, say, 4 adults (plus grandparents) probably needs a bigger table, more chairs and possibly more beds. On the other hand, some items are probably not as necessary because there are more merged households.

* Speaking of merged households: how does this impact the population of cities per square foot, as well as size of housing? How does population density impact infrastructure (location of sewage systems, location of fire departments (granted, that's not so much a medieval thing), density of grocery shops, size of markets, ...)

* There is probably extensive tracing and documentation of relationships going on if it is important for any of the other questions. There may be clerks whose only job is registering new relationships and breakups.

* How do long absences of one partner impact the other factors? For example, if you leave your home for war and do not return, who can have you declared dead?

* What are people's preferences regarding burial rites? Assuming actual burying or interment of the remains of people, consider the following situation: Say B is a partner of both A and C. A and C die and are buried in different places. Then B dies. Is B buried next to either A or C? Are they buried alone? Do graveyards have special sections for people who are in the same situation?

It may be tempting (I noticed while writing this) to just transfer familiar Western-Christian rites by multiplying them by some factor ("an average family in that world needs double the space"), so remember you are free to make up new cultural details. And of course the answers to these questions might differ depending on where in your world your player characters are.

Feel free to feed me more details!

#polyamory #world building #writing advice #damn this got long