Stuff On My Mind

http://minasavac.tumblr.com <- my Avengers Academy screencaps

[catalystofthesoul]

So this is just a PSA, y'all should never sign a contract until you read it. I’m talking in rl right now. I just got through reading my employee handbook/service contract and my bosses slipped in a lot of bullshit like telling me I can’t complain about my job on social media, demanding I work off the clock in the name of good service, expects me to show up on time during inclimate weather, and considered disability or religious accommodation a direct threat to the company.

These are all things I took issue with and brought to my employer for further discussion before signing the contract. Most of my coworkers signed without reading, treating it like an internet terms of service contract.

Tl;dr real life is serious shit, lawyers write contracts to protect your employer FROM YOU, read contracts before you sign them - fucking ARGUE about contracts before you sign them

[lyrslair]

Also important to note, and something my bf has repeated to me many times: a contract is a negotiation until it is signed, and YOU ARE ALLOWED TO AMEND IT. Tech companies often put some bs in there about “we own everything you make while you work for us” which broadly applied also means anything done on your own time. He always ALWAYS does write-in amendments with initial and date to state that they only own things done FOR the company, on company time, because there have been companies that enforced that bullshit when somebody had a personal side project the company decided they wanted to steal. There’s only one company that threw a fit at his attempts to amend it and he considered that a huge red flag and refused to sign, turned down the job.

Never. EVER. Sign shit without reading it. Also: if your prospective employer won’t let you take the thing home to read before you sign it and says you need to sign it then and there THAT IS A RED FLAG. The job I had that turned out to be abusive as shit was like that. Every other job I’ve been able to bring the contract home to my parents to have a more experienced set of eyes on it. It’s also common practice in some fields to have one’s attorney look over it before signing. So never let them tell you that you can’t look over it with someone else. That’s a fat load of shit. For “lower level” jobs they may not accept amendments to the contract but if they won’t even give you the proper time to read it over, they’re trying to pull some bullshit on you and you’re going to regret it if you sign. Even if there’s nothing bad in what you signed it’s an example of how they are going to treat you while you’re there. Take it to heart and run like fucking hell.

[asryakino]

Please also tell your coworkers. Inform others. Tell everyone. Please, for the lovee of everything TELL PEOPLE THEY ARE ALLOWED TO DO THESE THINGS.

Companies BANK on the fact you’re not going to read it. Then they slip in shit like ‘you can’t talk about your wages’ because they want you to keep quiet, so thy can pay that guy six bucks, and pay the guy over there fifteen and pay you eight. They want you to accept it all blindly. PLEASE DON’T STAY BLIND.

Yes, I’ve lost out on jobs because I wanted to read it and they didn’t want me to. Or they wanted m to resign and I said no to to the things they added that I pointed out were unfair and borderline illegal. 

Read shit. Tell everyone else to read shit. BE INFORMED. 

[cricketcat9]

Absolutely 100% good advice ☝🏼☝🏼☝🏼

Never ever ever sign shit without reading and re-reading it! Take it home, show it to someone more experienced, if you can, show it to a lawyer. A contract is supposed to work for both sides. A company in Toronto tried to make me sign a contract with clause that in event of me leaving the job I will not work in a similar position anywhere in Ontario. Yeah, right, not enforceable in court, dudes, you can’t prevent me from making a living. Read the shit and don’t let them intimidate you. 

[noping-out-deactivated20241117]

I have line-edited contracts before signing on multiple occasions. If you line edit something out of the contract (cross out and initial + date), it no longer applies to you. If the employer co-signs the contract afterwards it’s official. If they didn’t bother to read through your line edits that’s on them.

[howtoimpersonateanadult]

Also, try to either familiarize yourself with the labor laws where you live, or connect with a union or other entity that exists to protect workers’ rights, because sometimes a company will depend on you not knowing your rights in order to demand you agree to something that’s illegal for them to ask of you - unpaid overtime and not discussing your salary are ILLEGAL demands in many places! And in many places, a contract can’t sign away some of those rights, which is important to know about.

[jenniferrpovey]

This includes freelancing contracts, fiction sale contracts, etc.

I’ve only amended/negotiated a short fiction contract a couple of times, but I have done it. And stayed friends with the editor afterwards. (Particularly watch to make sure you aren’t signing life of copyright exclusivity).

All contracts are negotiable.

Another clause to watch for in employment contracts is one which states that they own the copyright on everything you write. I once turned down a temporary job because they insisted that if I wrote something during my commute (time they were not paying me for) the copyright belonged to them, but there really are companies who will say they own everything including your D&D characters.

If a company tries to do this to you, ask for a fine art exemption. This exempts fiction, art, etc from that clause.

And yes, watch for those non-competes. I turned down a gig once over a clause that would have made it impossible for me to write and sell anything set in any version of the real world. Well, I tried to negotiate and got ghosted. I clearly dodged a bullet.

So, yeah. Read your contracts, even if it’s a $10 short fiction sale, and know your rights. And if you are really unsure and have the cash, get a lawyer.

[lexkixass]

This also goes for housing contracts and apartment leases.

When to-be-spouse and I wanted to move to share an apartment, we went over the contract line by line, writing down questions as we went. I can't recall what the questions were, but I *do* recall management thanking us afterward, because we'd pointed out some problems in wording. They updated the lease agreement, which we again scrutinized.

We lived there 4 years, and had no problems with management at all.

We're in a house now, and when we have repairs done, I sit there and read the whole of the receipt plus any other paperwork they say I'm required to sign. I have and will continue to ask that, should there be something in the paperwork the service guy says doesn't apply anymore, that the service guy write that in, then initial and date it.

I got screwed over once for not being as vigilant about this sort of thing. I refuse to let it happen again.

[o-kurwa]

If Eminem's the rap god she's the rap silent goddess

[ruby-white-rabbit]

heres the thing about sign language as i know it, my step mom is a concert interpreter.

they need the set list and lyrics ahead of time. not just so they know whats being said, but because some things need to be retranslated. sign language has different sentence structure and also needs some word changes if things are similar or dont have hand signs.Some words we use in speech normally dont actually exist in sign. So instead of signing either something repetitive or spelling out a word without a sign, she would have to find one that fit to keep the song going and also keep the meaning behind the lyrics accurate.

this woman probably had to not only shuffle words but also alter them slightly so they would make sense to the people shes signing to. along with keeping on beat, on topic, and on fucking fire.

[coolfeistyowl]

[breakingnewsin-no-oneasked-deac]

Mrs. Pots snapped

[queenstravelingdarling]

Mrs. Pots sick of the shit!!!

[bellusamauwu]

GOD THIS IS A MASTERPIECE NGL

[demigoddessqueens]

Mrs. Potts has had with it the doubters!

[mcarcanageek-deactivated2022052]

Mrs. Potts did NOT hold back

[mastincala-deactivated20240527]

im so tired of seeing (white) people comment on how expensive native made goods are. your expected prices for items are made by underpayed exploited people. asking natives, who are already more likely to be at a financial disadvantage, to charge those same rates, especially when we already underpay ourselves for what we make, is so insulting. i know that my beadwork is more expensive than a pair of earrings from F21 or h+m or walmart or amazon. but i still make $3-4 an hour on them, i pray over every stitch like i was taught, i use a stitch that is specific to how i was taught. you arent just buying beadwork, or a weaving, or a piece of silver jewelry, you are buying the result of hundreds of hours of practice and learning, and traditions being passed down.

[whitepeopletwitter]

[beesmygod]

What’s your stock portfolio like

chicken, beef, veggetable. the classics, mostly

[bunjywunjy]

well keep it up and before long you’ll be a boullionaire

[lexkixass]

@iamtehzuul

[leeshajoy]

Hey, remember back in 2016 when there was a lot of cynicism on social media about how both the Democrats and the Republicans were hopelessly corrupt?

Remember how a lot of that turned out to come from Russian psy-ops designed to discourage left-leaning people from voting?

Because I do.

[leeshajoy]

Self-reblogging because I’m seeing both a lot of cynicism about Democrats and a bit of “Biden’s got this sewn up, no need to bother voting” on my socials lately.

Anyone who tells you you shouldn’t vote does not have your best interests at heart.

[one-time-i-dreamt]

Have people lost their minds completely???

[mouchefska]

Imagine choosing “we should stop caring about poor people” as the hill you’re willing to die on. IN FRONT OF THE POPE.

[mysticwayfinder]

[biteswhenprovoked]

Cosplay Christians.

[lexkixass]

Yeah.

Also, "are you biblesplaining to the Pope?" has me giggling so hard

[tiktoksthataregood-ish]

[theradioghost]

dead metaphors are really interesting honestly and specifically i’m interested in when they become malapropisms

like, the concept being, people are familiar with the phrase and what people use it to mean metaphorically, but it’s not common knowledge anymore what the metaphor was in literal reference to. people still say “toe the line” but don’t necessarily conjure up the image of people standing at the starting line of a race, forbidden from crossing over it. people still say “the cat is out of the bag” without necessarily knowing it’s a sailors’ expression referring to a whip being brought out for punishment. some metaphors are so dead we don’t even know where they come from; like, there are ideas about what “by hook or by crook” references, but no one is entirely sure. nobody knows what the whole nine yards are.

and then you throw in a malaprop or a mondegreen or two, where because people don’t know what the actual words of the expression refer to, they’re liable to replace them with similar sounding words (see “lack toast and tolerant”). so we can literally go from a phrase referencing a common, everyday part of life to a set of unfixed, contextless sounds with a completely different meaning. that’s fascinating. what an interesting piece of the way language and culture are living, changing, coevolving things.

maybe part of the reason we can’t figure out where some phrases come from is that over time the words themselves have changed! one of the theories about “the whole nine yards” is that it’s a variant of “the whole ball of wax,” which some people further theorize was originally “the whole bailiwick,” meaning just “the whole area”! the addition of “nine yards” might be related to “dressed to the nines,” which might reference the fucking Greek muses! language is so weird and cool! (and I only know any idioms in two languages!)

the point is. I just came across the words “nip it in the butt” in a piece of published, professional fiction, and now I can’t stop giggling.

[lynati]

“Osteoporosis!” the next generation announces happily before starting a meal.

[striving-artist]

I’m sorry, what was that about Joe not being liberal enough for y’all?

Because me and my six figures worth of student loan debt would like a word.

Source

[Picture ID: Tweet from @itshilarybuff, October 5th “Not a drill: Joe Biden commits to eliminating student debt for those who make under $120k. Y’all Go Vote!!!” Below that is the quote tweet from NBC News showing a clip from a town hall in Florida.]

[striving-artist]

btw, his plan, as stated here, doesn’t wipe my stupid loans, those aren’t going away shy of economic miracle, and I still love this answer. He’s talking specifically about killing loans going forward for people, and to handle the loans we already have, I copied from his website below.

From joebiden.com/beyondhs/#

More than halve payments on undergraduate federal student loans by simplifying and increasing the generosity of today’s income-based repayment program. Under the Biden plan, individuals making $25,000 or less per year will not owe any payments on their undergraduate federal student loans and also won’t accrue any interest on those loans. Everyone else will pay 5% of their discretionary income (income minus taxes and essential spending like housing and food) over $25,000 toward their loans. This plan will save millions of Americans thousands of dollars a year. After 20 years, the remainder of the loans for people who have responsibly made payments through the program will be 100% forgiven. Individuals with new and existing loans will all be automatically enrolled in the income-based repayment program, with the opportunity to opt out if they wish. In addition to relieving some of the burden of student debt, this will enable graduates to pursue careers in public service and other fields without high levels of compensation. Biden will also change the tax code so that debt forgiven through the income-based repayment plan won’t be taxed. Americans shouldn’t have to take out a loan to pay their taxes when they finally are free from their student loans.

That is much better than what the current set up does. Minus taxes and essential spending will be a fight over what that means depending where you live, but its a really good thing.

He also wants to help with job training so we don’t all get these degrees that don’t help us get dang jobs. And he wants to go after private for-profit universities. And he wants to better fun grant programs. and, and, and.

Most important of all? This guy listens. Sure, sure, politics is gonna politic, but millennials are the largest voting block in the country now. If we raise a fuss, it actually matters. But only if we vote.

[striving-artist]

Actually, let me just show you some math. Actual total of loans doesn’t really matter above a certain point to be honest because the interest grows faster than you can pay them, so lets say you’re on that sinking ship, where the payment amount to actually pay them off would mean paying something like 2700 a month. obviously not gonna happen. So you’re on an Income Based Repayment Plan with your borrower. You can be asked to pay between 10 and 20% of your net income (depending on many factors)

Lets say you’re a single human person, working a good job, 60k a year; after tax, you have around 45k. Under Biden’s plan, they start by taking 25k of that, putting it to the side and removing it from the calculus. Then. they take an amount off for essential spending. Don’t know what that math works out to yet, so lets assume someone awful gets to decide it, and its 12.7k a year (the poverty line for a single human) Then, they only can bill you for 5% of the remainder. So.

60k - taxes = ~45k

45k - threshold = 20k

20k - essential spending = 7.3k

$7300 x 5% = $365 a year -or- $30 a month

Sure, Strife, that’s a pipe dream, you say, what happens if the ‘essential spending’ part dies in congress? Fair point, Congress is a sinkhole of evil. But lets see:

60k - taxes = ~45k

45k - threshold = 20k

20k x 5% = $1000 a year  -or- $83 a month

Yeah, you say, but I’m a curmudgeon and I want to assume the worst because I hate politicians, what if they lose the threshold, and only get the 5% through and everything else stays exactly the same?

In that case, it will straight up cut everyone’s payments in half. Minimum. Whatever you’re paying now? Half that. In the case of the example above, that means

60k - taxes = ~45k

45k x 5% = $2250 a year  -or- $187 a month

So this guy is out here going after free college for the younger parts of GenZ and all of our kids. AND he’s going to make the loans we have into a much more bearable burden. PLUS. If you didn’t see up there? That he’d kill the taxes paid on forgiven loans? Yeah, that’s a thing right now. If you pay for 20 years, and end with 60k in loans to be forgiven, you pay taxes on the 60k all at once. Which means you owe the government around 15k. Which. Ironically. Usually means you have to take out another loan.

And this would apply to everyone, you can opt out if you wanna clear yours sooner, but you don’t have to do the jump through hoops and beg routine like you do now.

This is a really really really good plan, folks, please look at something other than tumblr and fb, please look at his website, there’s some really good stuff in there. If you don’t understand, ask for clarification, bc there is so much good.

[hallsofstone2941]

#the biden plans are heavily inspired by the progressives#Liz wrote parts#Bernie wrote parts#AOC wrote parts#the man is listening#so get him in office#and flip the senate#so Liz can drop a six inch binder called ‘plans to get shit done’ on the desk#and make McConnell cry from his minority leader desk

I’m sorry but you can’t just leave this in the tags

[awesome-picz]

Wholesome Cat Posts That Will Hopefully Make Your Day.

[thebigpapilio]

Friendly reminder to adopt older pets!!!

[chai-on-life-blog1]

One thing I love about Judaism is that long involved conversations about things like “can a zombie attend shul?” or “can i use my pet dragon to light candles on shabbat?” or “is meat from a replicator kosher?” are seen as completely normal.

[westsemiteblues]

Yes, but it should avoid contact with a Cohen if it can, and if the dragon is a Gentile sure, why not, a pet dragon is an ideal Shabbos goy, since it probably lives with you, and will get a kick out of helping. If it’s a Jewish dragon, though, no, it’s better for you to do it yourself rather than cause another Jew to violate Shabbat.

[bmidbar-deactivated20200410]

Wait wait… if a jew owned the dragon as a pet wouldn’t using the beast’s labor to light candles be pretty explicitly prohibited?

[westsemiteblues]

Good point. Is the dragon property, or is it a roommate?

[hagar-972]

I think it was ruled that one may allow a dragon to ignite a fire if (a) the dragon is non-sapient, and preventing them from lighting the fire would be animal cruelty, or (b) the dragon is sapient, non-Jewish and not in indentured service.

[ardatli]

And one cannot bring a dragon into a household for the express purpose of lighting candles at a later date, since the Jew would be directly benefiting from the dragon’s actions on Shabbat. 

But if the dragon just happens to live there already and feels the urge to light candles, it should not be stopped from doing so – as the sages said: “the same candle that benefits one can be used to benefit one hundred.“ (Shulchan Aruch HaRav, 276:6) 

[hestiashotsauce-deactivated2022]

This was a thrill from start to finish.

[butch-with-a-tortoise-deactivat]

I love being Jewish

[lexkixass]

@shiraglassman

[votedami]

I want you all to know that an Arab Muslim from Tunis proposed the Theory of Evolution near 600 years before Charles Darwin even took his first breath. Don’t let them erase you.

[evilscum-deactivated20160223]

his name is Ibn Khaldun

[imaanhammaam-deactivated2016031]

Also, it was not the apple falling from a tree that made Issac Newton “discover” gravity. He was reading the books of Ibn Al Haytham, an Arab Muslim from Iraq, who pioneered the scientific method, discovered gravity and wrote about the laws governing the movement of bodies (now known as Newtons three laws of motion) some 600 years before Newton existed. Without him, modern science as we know it wouldn’t exist. Read on him. His achievements are far greater than what I’ve just mentioned here.

[afghanmenace]

#no offense but arabs literally invented chemistry and algebra and we came up with the concept of the camera #the cataract operation that’s still practiced today was invented by an Arab #we created alchemy and the wright brothers used abbas ibn firnas’ findings and writings to build on to create a plane #I could go on and on and on #pls don’t erase our scientific history

[guluna]

I reblog this post every time I see it

[kyraneko]

We fucking replaced a Muslim scientist with an apple?

[deliriumcrow]

In the middle ages, THE place to go for an education was the middle East, or, failing that, Spain. The Muslim world didn’t have the same limits placed on scientific inquiry that the Christian world did, and since they were willing to look at more than just Aristotole and actually compare texts to the observable world, they had some incredible scientific and mathematical advancements. And street lights and toilets. I mean theories and algebra are great and all, but street lights and toilets. In the 12th century. Also medical advancements, and fewer rules against women studying. Hell, women *should* be the ones studying the female body, would you rather a woman see your female relatives, or some old man? Would you rather have someone who lives in the same kind of body, or one who has no first hand idea what the parts can do?

[mdmshakespeare]

Europeans erased centuries of knowledge from the East because of fear. When we “rediscovered” it, we were still too egotistical to admit that non-whites could have been smarter, so we invented our own mythology.

Bring credit back where it’s due. Honor the true pioneers.

[rumaan]

Also the world’s oldest continuous existing university was established by a woman, Fatima al-Fihri, in 859 AD (244/5 AH) in Fez, Morocco.

[tricycle-jaune]

There is also a man called Jâbir Ibn Hâyan (or also called Geber) who has written books and taught on material transformation processes (distillation, combustion, fixation etc …) which later led to what Westerners more commonly called alchemy (from the Greek word “kimiya” and the Arabic prefix “al”, it can also be found in “algebra” or “algorithm”)

[vampireapologist-archive-deacti]

Anyway that’s why you wear wool and a life jacket babeeeyyyy

[vampireapologist-archive-deacti]

The important thing about wool is that it continues to keep you warm even when it’s soaking wet.

Other natural fibers don’t do this. In fact, quite the opposite. Campers and boaters are usually familiar with the phrase, “cotton kills.” If you’re wet in cotton or linen, your clothes actually sap heat from your body.

If you sink in a lake in late October like I did today, staying warm is important. I was rescued long before I would’ve actually died, but cold makes your muscles seize up, which isn’t good if you have to swim to land.

Which brings me around to life jackets. If the water’s cold enough, you may only have five-ten minutes until your muscles seize (today I probably had 40-60, more than enough time to get to land if I hadn’t been picked up), and you’ll drown.

In a life jacket, even in extremely cold water, you can float semi-conscious for perhaps another 30 minutes or so before you actually freeze to death, which is usually when someone rescues you.

What’s more, you probably know that moving around on land warms you up. Jumping jacks, jogging in place, etc.

In water, moving actually makes you colder. You need to stay still curled up in a ball, which you can only do in a life jacket.

In wool AND life jacket, you’re warm, and your head’s above water, which is pretty much your only and entire goal.

If you’re allergic to wool, synthetics are available specifically for this purpose. I know I always say natural fibers are the way to go, but when it comes to safety, wear what protects you!

[vampireapologist-archive-deacti]

Yep! A really simple “experiment” I learned as a kid and now use in my own courses is sticking your hand in ice water. Compare moving it around in the water to curling it up in a fist. The contrast is stark!

To increase your survival time in on cold water, you want to curl up! If you’re with others, you want to huddle!

Again, both are only possible when wearing a life jacket!

[vampireapologist-archive-deacti]

I know a lot of people are reblogging this for writing reference, but I like to believe that 7,000 people on this site were actually continually living in fear about this specific situation and that when the time comes, I’ve prepared them with what they need to know to survive.

[lexkixass]

I live nearish to Ichetucknee Springs. I've gone tubing down it several times. It's fun. One summer, I decided that instead of an inner tube, I'd go down the 2hr route on a pool noodle, wearing a long-sleeved shirt (and some shorts) over a swimsuit to protect me from getting sunburned. I mean, the water's 72*F, I should be fine.

I. Fucking. Froze.

I spent the two most miserable hours huddled in a ball around my pool noodle to keep warm. I learned fast that when/if I moved, I lost that teeny pocket of warmer water.

So yeah.

[kitmarlowe]

Right, hard to be conclusive about the cause of death but, uh…Well, it’s going to be plague, isn’t it?

[archaeo-geek]

A bunch of plague pit ghosts invisibly playing Guess Who with their own skeletons while an archaeologist excavates them is honestly one of the funniest concepts I’ve ever seen.

[math-is-magic]

What is this from this is amazing?

[jaidskywalker]

Seriously, what is this? I’m very down. 

[lexkixass]

Yes, please share!

[heartbeatemoji]

how do yall just… drink soda every day??? how do you do that?? like… that doesnt hurt?

[spacemomalex]

for some of us, it’s a way of self medicating certain diseases- ADHD for example.

[heartbeatemoji]

it is NOT at ALL that deep

[antiandrogen]

screaming

[ithotyouknew2-deactivated201710]

some people??? use soda???? to cope???????????

[mosticonicposts]

certified iconic post

[anarcho-smarmyism]

I have ADHD and caffeinated sodas literally help me focus….

[gay-jesus-probably]

ADHD medications are either amphetamines (like adderal and vyvanse)  or methylphenidates (like ritalin or concerta). Both drugs increase the production of neurotransmitters and make neurons reabsorb them slower, which helps counteract the problem where neurons in ADHD brains reabsorb neurotransmitters too early and prevent signals from transmitting.

Caffeine gives a slight boost to the brains production of neurotransmitters, meaning that it basically functions like a weaker version of ADHD medication. But unlike meds, you don’t need a prescription to get caffeine, and it’s usually a hell of a lot cheaper. If someone has ADHD and doesn’t like coffee, then to self medicate they’ll have to get caffeine from another source. Like tea, or energy drinks, or… maybe… just possibly…… caffeinated soda. And since it has a weaker affect than proper meds, and doesn’t last nearly as long, the best results come from drinking pop throughout the day.

But as we all know being disabled is super cringey so this whole middle school bully routine was very justified, keep it up man.

[lady-byleth]

It’s also good for people with chronic headaches who don’t want to keep popping pills or don’t want to take the strong kind cuz caffeine boots the effectiveness of common meds like aspirin and narrows the blood vessels in the brain which become enlarged during headaches

[mossywetlog-deactivated20251007]

This post is the best way to sum up the experience of having adhd. You recognise a pattern, you say “maybe its a mental health thing,” people who have no idea what tf they are talking about tell you “you’re just over reacting”, you stop questioning it and blame yourself for “having bad habbits” until eventually somebody who DOES know what the fuck the’re talking bout gives you the confirmation and support you should have gotten forever ago.