#back to regular programming

[1386]

baseball bf for rugby!nemo

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

It's a federal employee's favorite time of year...Budget Shenanigans Season, aka government shutdown due to lapse in appropriations. A few of you have reached out about this and I thought it might be a good idea to share some advice/my answers with everyone.

This is going to be long so I'll put a cut in here.

First: my job is okay and safe for now. I work for an agency whose mission is focused on finding and preventing fraud, waste, and abuse. This aligns neatly with some of the Administration's goals so we are hopeful to continue having their support.

Second: what exactly does a government shutdown mean?

Essentially, it means that the Executive Branch of the federal government doesn't have a budget or any funding so it has to close. No one can work, nothing can open, everything is basically on hold until we get funding.

Our budgets (called "appropriations" in federalese) come from Congress, who determine how much money to portion out to all the agencies and departments. The money comes from your taxes.

Third: what's the impact of a government shutdown on you, the American citizen?

Well, it depends. Certain federal benefits - Medicare, Social Security, etc. - that are funded by their own separate statutes/laws payout from automated systems (sorry, misspoke here) will continue during a government shutdown. So if that's you, you'll still continue to receive your benefits without any stoppage.

Executive Branch departments and agencies will close because there's no money to pay the employees and by law, federal employees cannot work for free. There are exceptions to this rule, in which there's a certain class of federal employees called "excepted employees." Excepted employees are the bare minimum skeleton staff who are there to ensure public safety or to ensure mission-essential work that would otherwise significantly harm the federal government if not completed during a lapse of appropriations. Excepted employees are required to work during a shutdown; however, they do not get paid until after the shutdown ends.

Meaning the military will still defend and protect, the FBI will still investigate, air traffic controllers will still control air traffic, Social Security payments will still be processed, National Weather Service will still weather, etc. They just aren't getting paid and they will be on bare minimum skeleton staff so call times and wait times to talk to someone will skyrocket.

But everything else will close, including Smithsonian Museums and national parks.

If you have travel plans, you will still be able to fly - just plan and budget for longer wait times at TSA checkpoints and flight delays; however, you will not be able to renew or get passports during this time.

You will still get your mail - the US Post Office (USPS) has different funding and they're not expected to be affected.

Courthouses will still run and trials will continue - that's the Judicial Branch and they have different funding.

Four: what's the impact of a government shutdown on federal employees?

For those of us who are non-excepted - aka the vast majority of us - we're placed in a furlough status, which is essentially a temporary layoff. We can't work, we can't even volunteer our time to work, we can't cover the time with PTO or other paid leave/absence, but we also can't get new jobs. (Well, we could but there are rules in place for this and it gets a little tricky.) We can collect unemployment insurance, but we have to pay it back immediately when the government reopens and we're working again. Most people don't go after unemployment insurance, only because it takes about 4 weeks to process claims and the government has never shut down that long before.

For excepted employees, they're working their regular jobs without pay. For the entire duration of the shutdown. The longer this goes on, the more likely some of them - in large numbers probably - will start calling in sick because it is incredibly demoralizing.

And yes, we all do get backpay from the time the government was shutdown, regardless of whether we were excepted or not. It is not the giant cushy check most people think it is, because for the duration of the shutdown, our taxes are accumulating, our health insurance is accumulating, our retirement contributions are accumulating. All of that will be taken out of the first paycheck and for some of us, whatever is left may not be enough to dig out of the debt or savings hole.

Fifth: what can you, the American citizen, do?

Write to your Representatives and Senators in Congress to urge them to pass spending bills.

If you travel, please be patient and kind to TSA. They're putting up with a lot and not getting paid one cent for it.

If you have a federal employee in your life - invite them to dinner, offer to take them to a movie, give them gift cards to restaurants or grocery stores, ask them to do odd jobs around the house for pay (or meals) - maybe you've been meaning to paint the bathroom or you can't be in three places at once for each of your kids. Especially the longer this goes on.

As a reminder, while the DC metro area has the single highest concentration of US federal employees living in one area and our regional economy is heavily dependent on the federal government, federal employees live all over the US and are in every single community. Even yours. Everyone will feel it in some way eventually. Please be kind to the federal employees in your life; be angry at the Congress, not us.

Sixth: when will it end?

When Congress passes the 14 spending/appropriations bills that are needed to fund the government. What kind of time that takes, no one knows.

The 2018-2019 shutdown, which lasted 34 days, only ended after the airline industry fell apart - air traffic controllers started calling in sick, TSA had huge numbers of people calling in sick and couldn't get anyone to work, and the flight attendants union were planning to strike (not threatening to strike - actually planning and intending to go on strike).

I expect something very similar to happen again this time; an industry core to everyday American life like air travel will fall apart and make people so angry Congress can't deal with the criticism that they'll pull a budget together.

[persevering-soul]

ok, this might as well be very rambly and go nowhere, maybe, is not like anyone but friends n mutuals follow this blog, but im adding my two cents to the current discussion as both a spanish speaking latino who found undertale via translations and also as someone who translates, even as a hobby (though it is in my mind one of the paths i would like to do professionally, maybe, but thats another thing)

for starters, i dont really think toby is being that much of a perfectionist with this? is more so about the translations for his games being pretty loaded with context, so to say, and he taking the steps necessary so things doesnt get mixed up too much as the og context is molded around for a new language

like, ive seen a few people saying things like "oh, but translation is just changing words from one language to another, toby has the money for a team of people doing that, so why not??" and first of, translation is Not like that, is 80% about what is being said more than just the words, that sometimes words match 1:1 is not common, and between spanish and english is only possible because those two languages share similar roots for some of the words (and sometimes they look similar but dont even share the same meaning, e.i. embarrassed and embarazado.....) and second of, he already said that he hasnt done translations to other languages yet because he wants to be familiar with the quirks of the language he's working in, like... he is with japanese... because he studied japanese

have none of yall thought of the phrase "lost in translation"? things can and Will be lost when theyre passed from a language to another, and when you dont know the full extend of something, an error in a translation can led to a whole different interpretation of the text, often not intended

like. just to illustrate that, and adding in the topic of fan translations, one example that i actually experienced back then when translations to spanish were first starting to pop up as undertale started to blow up, was this common agreement that frisk was a boy, because a lot of people would use él (the masc pronoun) for frisk And Nothing Else

(there were a few instances of people Straight Up just skipping mentioning pronouns to keep frisk as neutral as possible, but those were few)

kinda the same with a lot of interpretations (even modern...) of "what are these kids, actually" discussions, but made worst because masculine language is both used for men and often used as The General Neutral™, so even if translations were intended to be read as neutral, it was mainly read as masculine, to the point that i genuinely thought frisk was a boy (or up to interpretation/connected to the player's gender) for a long time due the translations i would come across, and never really questioned it until i learned english and Then learned about the neutral, singular they, which then led me to find out about nonbinary people—which both frisk and chara are

now, yall might or might not know, but spanish (and portuguese, and french, and italian, and a Lot of latin based languages) doesnt really have any kind of official neutral pronouns. hell, even when referring to concepts and objects, those got pronouns, and those strictly are either fem or masc. no in between, no neutral

that, of course, has been getting fought against as of late, with elle as a fully neutral in spanish specifically—like, i dont know how to tell yall, but elle, by it's use in the current spanish language, is technically a neo pronoun for us still. is not yet nearly as mainstream as singular they

so you would probably imagine how that would go in terms of a full translation, with all the bits and pieces toby wants Right in the exact place he wants them to be, and dont get me started with the goddamn... word specific puns....

like I've been translating a specific ut fic from time to time from english to spanish, and the puns keep kicking my ass because i straight up have to made them up in the spot from scratch and in Context with what's happening in that moment, because direct translation of them doesnt do them 1) justice and 2) it doesnt make Any Sense

but you know, as a middle ground in this whole discussion, there's also the option of toby giving the full meaning behind a pun or scene to the translators, and then they giving him back the full context of how they translated something and he giving them the go ahead or giving even more context just to get it Right——and even then, with that barrier that toby is not able to cross in terms of language, things will be lost. because no one but toby thinks like toby, and sometimes speaking in a different language does make you feel like a whole different person, yknow?

so there wouldnt be a "hispanic" toby unless toby himself learns spanish (and do yall even know how many flavors of spanish there is?? como que un popote es un sorbete en españa, voy a matar a alguien.... (reference))

[vip-komilk]

Because you keep playing with them Ingo! >:T

See full version here

[charseraph]

Thinking unwell thoughts about Psychesoma

[ozwriterchick]

Just once, when they’re in the throes of smut, and the guy asks “Is this all for me?” I wish the reader would be a smart ass and say “No it’s for the guy behind the door/curtains/couch or whatever”

I’d read the shit out of that. No hate or whatever to writers who write that I’m just not sure why a guy would ask that. I mean, do you see anyone else here? Oh it’s for my imaginary lover in my head.

Sorry.

That is all.

Go about your business

[goldammerchen]

(probably already done before)

HWS North Italy & HWS Prussia: I miss my dead boyfriend HWS France: (Sweats)

[fugue-feast]

"Well well, I wasn't expecting to see competition on my little hunt through the Ghostlands today." The now familiar hooded man said. "I do hope you're on a different treasure hunt then me."

The woman didn't turn around right away, but the stillness in her posture spoke more of consideration than cowardice. A breeze tugged at the worn hem of her slate grey cloak like quiet urging, flicking muddy droplets onto the ground. Distant thunder rumbled, threatening to end the recent storm's brief reprieve.

"I didn't take you for the scavenger hunting sort, Lord Felscythe."

Dim light glinted off the bend of fel-forged chitin as she turned, the remainder of the back-swept horns poking at the underside of her deep hood. Her bright green eyes found him next, glinting with their usual fire. They were narrowed with something between amusement and irritation at being caught off guard—again. The felhound at her side had already turned to face the other warlock, but remained silent, seated at its mistress's feet.

"Unless your treasure is bruiseweed or certain woodland fungi, then I think you'll find I won't be much competition at all." She tucked a small pouch inside of her cloak and turned to face him fully. "Khiidhon here is as adept at sniffing out reagents as he is leeching mana." The creature's tail answered with a dull, repetitive thudding against the leaf-strewn ground, apparently understanding the note of praise.

"But, what is it that brings you so far from Silvermoon's dark alleys? Surely not a wet stroll through the muck and mire."

@nixalegos