Just in case you forget this exists.

It exists.

With those “when you want to design a character but you don’t know color theory” posts flying around I thought this would be relevant again.

SLAMs THE REBLOG BUTTON

there’s also Coolors website that gives you randomized palettes!

Tony Stark + his car collection

flange’s stuff covers pretty much all the basics, but!!! i have a great series of tutorials based on Science! from one of my favorite bloggers ever who has a PhD in chemistry and bases most of her beauty blogging around examining the science of why and how beauty products work. she did a fantastic series on the whys and hows of basic nail care

Ooh, helpful addition!

For those of you who write military fics

If you have never been in, or aren’t around people who’ve been in, I would dearly love to give you a few pointers.

Let me preface this: I love it when people write military fics (be they AU or canon-fic). I love the characterizations, the story arcs you create, and the love with which you create the stories.

But I’d like to help you make the actions of military personnel as accurate as possible, so someone who’s actually in doesn’t start to read your fic and roll their eyes at some of the things you unknowingly write.

-First off, you do not salute in civilian clothes. It’s actually unauthorized. There are only two exceptions to this rule: the President is allowed to salute in civvies, and if the national anthem is playing outdoors, combat veterans are now allowed to salute. (That came about in 2010, for accurate reference.)

-Do not salute indoors, unless during a formation (but I doubt people who don’t have intimate knowledge of drill and ceremony would bother writing about a formation, so that point is mostly just thrown in for shits and giggles). 

-The army and air force do not say, “sir, yes sir”. That’s a marine thing (I’m not sure about the navy, since I’m not in the navy, but I’m sure someone else could help out if there’s a question about it).

-Saying “black ops” isn’t really something we do. For the army, you’ve got SF (which is how we refer to special forces–the guys you’re probably thinking about (”green beret” is an old term for them that’s not really used anymore)) and Rangers for the two big special operations forces. SEALS are the navy force, and I apologize, but I don’t know the other branches’ special forces. Again, ask someone who’s served in that branch.

-People don’t usually refer to themselves (or others) by their ranks. Exceptions are usually made if hanging out with people from your unit speaking about a superior, such as “Yeah, LT and I were talking the other day and …”. 

-Sergeants are not referred to as “sarge”. You have no idea how many people got the shit smoked out of them in basic for that error.

-Army goes through Basic Training (or Basic Combat Training now; BCT for short), and marines go through Boot Camp. Yes, there is definitely a difference in terms. Army people tend to refer to their initial training as simply “basic”. I don’t know about marines or other branches.

-Calling someone “Soldier” is really something only done on TV/film. It’s usually mocked by people who are in.

-In the army, it is against regulation to just stick your hands in your pockets. We mockingly call them “Air Force gloves”, though I don’t know if they typically put their hands in their pockets. There is also a big stigma against wearing “snivel gear”: the poly pro cold-weather protection gear worn underneath your uniform.

-The everyday Army uniforms are called ACUs (Army Combat Uniform). They are never called anything else, but especially not fatigues. If you’re going back to 2003 or earlier, the uniform was BDUs, or the Battle Dress Uniform. The tan uniforms worn during the Gulf War and first few years of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF; Afghanistan) were called first chocolate chips (gulf war-era) and then DCUs (Desert Combat Uniform). 

-The dress uniform is called something different depending on what time period you’re going for. Saying “dress uniform” is usually a good bet, because you’ve also got Class A’s, Class B’s, ASUs, Dress Blues, Khakis, etc. 

-Typically when meeting someone else who’s in, the first things you ask are, “What’s your MOS (military occupational specialty–your job)? Where were you stationed?” Giving out rank and deployment backgrounds out of the blue don’t usually happen. 

-Time spent in the military is usually referred to as simply being “in”. “How long were you in for?” is heard way more often than “how long did you serve for?” That question is usually asked by civilians. 

-There are enlisted, and there are officers. Enlisted are those who start out as privates, work their way up through the NCO, or non-commissioned officer ranks: sergeant (called “buck sergeant” in a derogatory term for someone who has been freshly promoted), staff sergeant, sergeant first class, and eventually get to first sergeants and sergeants major after fifteen to thirty years in. Officers also usually start out as privates and specialists, then graduate from college and commission as second lieutenants (the derogatory term is “butter bar” and is usually used in reference to said officer’s lack of experience and knowledge) before working up to first lieutenant, captain, major, lieutenant colonel (”light colonel”), and colonel (”full bird”). The general timeline is making captain (”getting your railroad tracks”) after about 5-8 years for competent officers, and spending 5-10 years as a captain. 

-We do not stand at parade rest unless forced. Ever.

-Or at attention.

-When talking to an NCO, a lower enlisted will stand at parade rest. When talking to an officer, an enlisted will stand at attention.

-The highest ranking NCO is lower ranking than the lowest ranking officer. 

-If you want to throw in some humor, if there is a lower enlisted (E-4 (specialist) or below) joking with an NCO, and the lower enlisted says something, the NCO can snark back with, “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you because you weren’t standing at the position of parade rest.” It’s a dick move usually to call people out for that, but it happens often enough that if you put that in a fic, someone who’s in will likely laugh at that for a few minutes.

-There is a term for a slacker in the army called POG (pronounced “pohg” with a long o). It stands for Personnel Other than Grunt, meaning everyone who’s not infantry. The term has transformed to mean anyone who shirks their duty or is kind of a shitbag and should be kicked out. 

 -There’s also a bit of a stereotype that infantry are made up of dumb guys, because you don’t need a high GT score to get that MOS. Their nomenclature for their MOS is 11B (eleven bravo), which is often referred to as an “eleven bang-bang” when trying to insult them. 

-If someone is making someone else do push-ups, they do not say “drop and give me x number”. They’ll tell them either to push, or tell them to get in the front-leaning rest. The front-leaning rest position is the starting position for the push-up. 

-Usually referring to basic training and AIT (advanced individual training, where you learn your military occupational specialty), you get “smoked” on a regular basis. This refers to PT (physical training), usually in the form of push-ups, flutter kicks, and sprints. It’s not fun. One of the least favorite phrases to hear in basic is, “Platoon, attention! Half-left face! Front leaning rest position, move. In cadence! Exercise!” Because that is the full command for getting people to do push-ups. There is literally no other reason for the half-left face movement. It honestly exists only for push-ups.

-It is awkward as fuck to be told “thank you for your service”. It’s wonderful that people want to show their support, but it is very difficult to respond to that without sounding like a douche.

I know I said a lot about basic training in there, but that’s because I tend to read a lot of fics that are either about basic or about deployments. I can give some pretty firm answers on basic, but everyone’s deployment is different, and I also could be violating a shit-ton of OPSEC (operation security) by telling you guys specific details about deployments. Everything I’ve told you is information you can look up on your own on the internet, but this is a bit more insider’s culture for you to help make your stuff more accurate.

And if you ever find yourself writing a military fic and have questions, by all means, inbox me. I’ve been in for almost nine years and I do have one deployment under my belt, so I can give you accurate army info. I’ve never served in any other branch, though, but I can probably give you a little bit more accurate info than what the movies do if you’ve got general questions.

Also, if you’ve got questions about PTSD, I can help with that. It’s not the cake walk that a good deal of fics portray it as, and it doesn’t always involve nightmares and aversion to touch. It can present as depression, intense anger issues, pulling away from loved ones, driving in the middle of the road, freaking out over pops, bangs, crashes and other unexpected noises, being easily startled by things other than noises, hypervigilance, the inability to sit with one’s back to the room, sudden bouts of anger, depression, tears, silence, or mood swings, among many others.

-Also, please, please, if you’re going to write about someone with a disability, or something that gave them a medical discharge, talk to me about the VA first, unless you’ve got a lot of knowledge about them. Not only am I in, but I’ve also worked professionally for the VA, some of that time in enrollment and eligibility, so I know a lot about disability pensions, who would qualify, what type of benefits they would qualify for, etc. I also know the ways that people can accidentally get screwed over from the VA. (It’s actually one of my long-term professional goals to change some of those things, so I am very passionate and very knowledgeable about it.)

TL;DR: I know shit about the military and the VA. Ask me if you have accuracy questions.

@divadevi8808 @lustfulpasiphae

For the Navy. Cut for length.

Keep reading

How To Get A Job Fast As Hell

 @owenabbott​ 

Questions for after the interview:

1.  Does this position offer upward mobility?

2. Do you enjoy working for the company? (if you’re not interviewing for a temp agency who will send you anywhere)

__________

 The titles of each section are key words you can use to search for jobs on Snagajob.com  and Simplyhired.

Data Entry:

 Front Desk:

Other jobs you don’t need a degree for that aren’t retail:

I knew this but I’m reblogging cause someone might not know

I’m saving this.

Basically

“we all eventually have one.”

Except for those who aren’t weren’t “entitled” to exist past 18.

But wait… there’s more!

The author says he’s a millennial but the dude looks like he’s at least 45.

I’m being generous here because he actually looks older than my dad, and my dad’s 55.

HE’S FUCKING 58 I JUST FOUND IT HE LITERALLY SAID HE’S 58 HOW IS THAT A MILLENNIAL

THE CAP FOR BEING A MILLENNIAL IS 34 WHAT THE FUCK

How sway?! HOW! ^^^^

Wow, so many things to unpack here. 

First of all, one of the parts of the pledge is “I will not burn bridges”? Because no way any Chris Erskine-defined “adult” has ever done that, right? I certainly don’t know ANY middle-aged people (cough – family members, politicians – cough) who don’t even speak to each other anymore because of some arbitrary disagreement from decades ago.

Second, is he actually condoning spanking children?

Third, I like in the follow-up article how that quoted retiree says that no previous generation ever displayed entitlement. You’re going to go on record with this one, huh? You’re sure? 

Here’s the actual truth behind all of these anti-millennial articles: every young generation appears entitled and narcissistic and self-obsessed to the older generation(s). Every single one.

Oh did you want proof? 

Here’s an excerpt from a 1907 (yes, 1907!) article from The Atlantic on the subject of “Why American Marriages Fail”:

Oh, those twentysomethings born in the late 19th century – SO INTO THEMSELVES.

In “The Generation Gap”, a cover story from a 1967 issue of TIME, an uncle wrote about the summer he spent with his 20-year-old nephew (the nephew contributes some writing, too). Many experiences are covered, including an exchange about whether or not the uncle (who also owned an advertising agency) would take on a certain client:

Oh yeah, those twentysomethings in the 60s – so affluent! No idea how to make a living. How dare they object to a deal that supported a business that made napalm, a product that was concurrently killing innocent people and exacerbating a conflict in Vietnam which many of that 20-year-old’s contemporaries were engaged in. But you could get paid! Napalm schmapalm! What a brat! (Another good part of this story is where the nephew introduces the uncle to pot and points out that after doing it ONCE, the uncle pretends to know everything about pot and the nephew’s generation. BOY THAT DOESN’T SOUND OBNOXIOUS OR FAMILIAR TO OTHER OLDER GENERATIONS AT ALL.)

The cover story from this 1976 issue of New York magazine labels the entire time frame as ‘The Me Decade’:

SUCH INDIVIDUALISM.

The ‘Me Decade’ term was carried over into this New York Times article about “cynical and calm college students” not being all that engaged with politics, also from 1976:

Wow, college students didn’t want to go listen to a CANDIDATE for the HOUSE speak during school? How selfish!

In this Washington Monthly article from 1980, young people’s inability to maintain romantic relationships is repeatedly blamed on their out of control love of themselves:

Yeah, “nobody is as good as me, I can’t be bothered to love anyone else” was SUCH an exclusive thing to young people in the late 70s. No other age group has ever done that.

The cover of this 1985 issue of Newsweek shamefully labels young people as “The Video Generation” because with their newfangled cameras and portable microphones, they document every single thing in their lives. OH MY GOD WHAT ARROGANT ASSHOLES.

P.S., twentysomethings in 1985 were born in the early 60s. Which means they are now mid-50s… which means the above label and critique applied to the guy who wrote the Millennial Pledge article. Could you eat a meal without using your camcorder in 1985, Chris Erskine? WHAT AN ENTITLED JAGWEED.

In this 1990 issue of Time (titled ‘twentysomething’), Generation X’ers are called indecisive, more interested in climbing a mountain than a corporate ladder, entertainment-obsessed but with a short attention span, fearful of marriage because of the possibility of divorce, and “like Madonna in ‘Vogue’, this generation knows how to strike a pose.” Ugh. But the article did rank the then-twentysomethings as less-terrible than their baby boomer parents:

Wait, but how could baby boomers be self-centered, fickle, and impractical 25 years ago? I THOUGHT MILLENNIALS INVENTED THAT.

Also: one of the primary implications of this whole stupid pledge is that in order to become an adult (a designation which presumably would cover all demographics older than Millennials), a person cannot act entitled… which is funny because I cannot think of anyone who acts more entitled than people over age 34.

Don’t talk to me about millennials being entitled if you don’t know what it’s like in the service industry dealing with middle-aged business men who expect you to be their personal shopper, middle-aged women who demand discounts on everything because they can’t read a fucking sign, elderly assholes who run you over with electric carts and don’t apologize… I could go all damn day. I’ve been at this for six years, and the millennials are a hell of a lot nicer than the boomers.

Winter hacks

I don’t know if any of these actually count as hacks, but here’s some tricks for handling unusually cold weather (with a focus on doing it while broke-as-fuck because that’s where most of my experience comes from)

1) Layers. Dress in layers. Wear a shirt under your sweater or sweatshirt. If you’re going to be outside, wearing leggings, tight jogging pants, or thermal underwear (oh shut up, it’s cheap and it works) under your jeans or work slacks can make a HUGE difference. This also works when you’re at home and helps you keep the thermostat a little lower so you don’t break the bank on heating bills. At night it helps to have multiple layers - a sheet, a light blanket and a comforter. I sound like your grandmother - “Dress in layers, sweetie!” but it’s true and it’ll make you a lot more comfortable. Wear socks to sleep, it’ll make getting out of bed in the morning less painful if nothing else.

2) Bring a coat. Even if you don’t need it, bring it. If the weather changes and it starts to rain/snow or if the temperature drops faster than you expected you’ll be glad you had it.

3) If you’re walking anywhere, wear warm, practical shoes. Sneakers or boots don’t look good with your skirt or dress pants, but they will keep your feet much warmer than kitten heels or ballet flats. Dudes, this goes for you too - those patent dress shoes aren’t as warm as boots or sneakers and will do you exactly zero good on the ice. Put your nicer shoes in a bag and change your shoes when you get to work/school/your social gathering of choice.

4) Stock your car. Keep the following in it: 

5) Stop the drafts. Do you have old windows? Does your front door leak air like a sieve? The windows are an easy fix. Go to Walmart or most hardware stores. They have little kits you can buy - usually for less than ten dollars - that contain plastic sheeting, double-sided tape and adhesive foam. Use this to block the drafts coming through your windows. (You can also buy these items separately if you have more than one or two windows to cover up.) Use an alcohol wipe to clean the wall around your window, then once it has dried, apply the double-sided tape. Stick the plastic sheeting to the double sided tape. Make sure the plastic is as flat and smooth as possible with no sagging or bulges - if the wind gets bad enough it’ll make that loose plastic shake and the noise will drive you crazy.

For your front door, obviously, sealing yourself inside with plastic isn’t an option. If nothing else, I can guarantee your boss isn’t going to consider it a valid excuse for calling out of work for the next six to ten weeks. Instead you can buy some of the adhesive foam I mentioned earlier and line the top, side and bottom of your door with it. That way when you close the door, the foam will help stop the gaps around the edges. If this isn’t enough, or if your gaps are more than a half-inch or so, you can always hang a small curtain rod over your door and put up a thick curtain or blanket. This may feel a little tacky, but if you hang it nicely it just looks like a curtain from the inside and isn’t visible from the outside unless your door is open. You can also do what we do at my house, which is to get an old blanket or big bath towel and bunch it up along the bottom of the door. This makes my front hall floors much more bearable.

For indoor doors, if the gap is too big for the adhesive - I hate to say this - you can slice open a pool noodle and fit it over the bottom of the door to block drafts, or hang more curtains/blankets.

CLOSE THE FLUE. If you have a fireplace and aren’t using it at the moment, always close the flue. It will suck the warm air right out of your house.

6) If you have a high ceiling, turn your ceiling fan onto the lowest setting to push some of the warm air back down.

7) If you know snow or freezing rain is coming, lift up your windshield wipers so they don’t freeze to your windshield.

8) Get antifreeze windshield wiper fluid. It’s only a couple of dollars more and it’s incredibly useful to have.

9) If you have rooms that aren’t being used (like guest rooms), close the vents in those rooms and then close the doors. Put some blankets against the doors to stop heat from going in there. (Or the pool noodles)

10) Park in the sun, if you can.

11) Have jumper cables. Very low temperatures can drain your battery. If it’s going to be super cold out, don’t let your car sit unused for several days. Make sure you start it and drive around for at least fifteen or twenty minutes.

12) If you don’t have a snow shovel, a broom may do in a pinch, especially if it’s powdery snow. Also, when you’ve shoveled your porch or sidewalk, you can scatter cat litter if you can’t afford de-icer or sand.

13) Never, never, ever try to de-ice your windshield by pouring hot water over it. Never. Never.

14) Don’t use boiling water on your car doors if your handles or keyhole freeze. It may splash up and hit your window. You’re better off spraying a little WD40 in your keyhole before the weather gets too bad. If you can’t do this, use rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer to melt the ice over the handle/keyhole.

15) Got a boot tray? Get one. Line it with rocks or gravel. When you put your wet shoes in there, the snow will drip through the rocks and your shoes won’t be sitting in water constantly. This is especially good if there are multiple people in  your house.

16) If your shoes are wet and you need them dry in a hurry, stuff them with newspaper or microfiber towels. They’ll absorb the water and your shoes will dry much faster. Make sure you remove the paper or the towels once they’re thoroughly wet, don’t just let them sit in there. You may need to change them out a couple of times.

17) Wash your car - most de-icing agents are corrosive and will damage your car if you let it build up. Hit a car wash at least once a week or so if you’re having consistently bad weather. If you can’t afford a trip to the car wash, get a hose, or a sprinkler and thoroughly rinse off the top, sides, tires and underside of your car. Please try to wait until the temperature is above freezing.

18) Check your tires. Make sure they have enough air (your car manual will tell you how much and if you aren’t sure what to do, ask, google or give in and take it to a garage. A lot of them will help you with air without charging you, but not all of them). Check the tread! Take a penny, with Lincoln’s head facing down. Put it into the space between the treads (the gap). If you can see Lincoln’s head you need to look for new tires, especially in bad weather. 

19) If you know you don’t have time to scrape your windshield in the morning, or if you’re just realllllly bad at budgeting that extra time (me!) you can try covering your car with a tarp, or just covering your windshield and rearview window with towels to keep the snow off. This will NOT help you with freezing rain, just FYI.

20) A mix of white vinegar and water (NOT HOT) misted onto your windshield will help prevent it from freezing.

21) Hot water bottles are SO NICE. They’ll get your bed toasty warm and you don’t have to worry about falling asleep with them on like electric blankets or heating pads.

22) Moisturize. Don’t bathe with very hot water, it dries you out. You can boil some water on your stove to get some moisture in the air, or buy a small humidifier on Amazon or Walmart for about $25-$35.

23) Chapstick. Seriously.

24) If your hair freezes, don’t touch it anymore than you have to. Get somewhere warm and let it thaw. It’s really easier to break or otherwise damage frozen hair. 

25) Use coconut oil or something similar to moisturize your hair and scalp in cold dry weather.

26) If your front door freezes shut and you’re trapped in your house, toss your youngest sibling out the window and let them chisel you out. (Make sure there’s enough snow to cushion their fall!)

so quite a lot of people expressed interest in a guide to lion dance! and since the lunar new year is coming up in a couple weeks, which means everyone’s exposure to lions is probably going to increase, i figured i’d go ahead and make it! right click + open in new tab to fullview, etc etc, i hope it’s helpful, although if you only take one thing away from this powerpoint, it’s this: lions are not dragons

disclaimer: i learned fut san style at an american university, and the senior members of the troupe were almost all from hong kong and taiwan, so most of my knowledge is drawn from what they taught me. lion dance varies widely depending on the style and the country of origin, and many schools do things differently! this is just an attempt to establish a baseline and give you a really basic intro to one of my favorite art forms. :)

For those of you who write military fics

If you have never been in, or aren’t around people who’ve been in, I would dearly love to give you a few pointers.

Let me preface this: I love it when people write military fics (be they AU or canon-fic). I love the characterizations, the story arcs you create, and the love with which you create the stories.

But I’d like to help you make the actions of military personnel as accurate as possible, so someone who’s actually in doesn’t start to read your fic and roll their eyes at some of the things you unknowingly write.

-First off, you do not salute in civilian clothes. It’s actually unauthorized. There are only two exceptions to this rule: the President is allowed to salute in civvies, and if the national anthem is playing outdoors, combat veterans are now allowed to salute. (That came about in 2010, for accurate reference.)

-Do not salute indoors, unless during a formation (but I doubt people who don’t have intimate knowledge of drill and ceremony would bother writing about a formation, so that point is mostly just thrown in for shits and giggles). 

-The army and air force do not say, “sir, yes sir”. That’s a marine thing (I’m not sure about the navy, since I’m not in the navy, but I’m sure someone else could help out if there’s a question about it).

-Saying “black ops” isn’t really something we do. For the army, you’ve got SF (which is how we refer to special forces–the guys you’re probably thinking about (”green beret” is an old term for them that’s not really used anymore)) and Rangers for the two big special operations forces. SEALS are the navy force, and I apologize, but I don’t know the other branches’ special forces. Again, ask someone who’s served in that branch.

-People don’t usually refer to themselves (or others) by their ranks. Exceptions are usually made if hanging out with people from your unit speaking about a superior, such as “Yeah, LT and I were talking the other day and …”. 

-Sergeants are not referred to as “sarge”. You have no idea how many people got the shit smoked out of them in basic for that error.

-Army goes through Basic Training (or Basic Combat Training now; BCT for short), and marines go through Boot Camp. Yes, there is definitely a difference in terms. Army people tend to refer to their initial training as simply “basic”. I don’t know about marines or other branches.

-Calling someone “Soldier” is really something only done on TV/film. It’s usually mocked by people who are in.

-In the army, it is against regulation to just stick your hands in your pockets. We mockingly call them “Air Force gloves”, though I don’t know if they typically put their hands in their pockets. There is also a big stigma against wearing “snivel gear”: the poly pro cold-weather protection gear worn underneath your uniform.

-The everyday Army uniforms are called ACUs (Army Combat Uniform). They are never called anything else, but especially not fatigues. If you’re going back to 2003 or earlier, the uniform was BDUs, or the Battle Dress Uniform. The tan uniforms worn during the Gulf War and first few years of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF; Afghanistan) were called first chocolate chips (gulf war-era) and then DCUs (Desert Combat Uniform). 

-The dress uniform is called something different depending on what time period you’re going for. Saying “dress uniform” is usually a good bet, because you’ve also got Class A’s, Class B’s, ASUs, Dress Blues, Khakis, etc. 

-Typically when meeting someone else who’s in, the first things you ask are, “What’s your MOS (military occupational specialty–your job)? Where were you stationed?” Giving out rank and deployment backgrounds out of the blue don’t usually happen. 

-Time spent in the military is usually referred to as simply being “in”. “How long were you in for?” is heard way more often than “how long did you serve for?” That question is usually asked by civilians. 

-There are enlisted, and there are officers. Enlisted are those who start out as privates, work their way up through the NCO, or non-commissioned officer ranks: sergeant (called “buck sergeant” in a derogatory term for someone who has been freshly promoted), staff sergeant, sergeant first class, and eventually get to first sergeants and sergeants major after fifteen to thirty years in. Officers also usually start out as privates and specialists, then graduate from college and commission as second lieutenants (the derogatory term is “butter bar” and is usually used in reference to said officer’s lack of experience and knowledge) before working up to first lieutenant, captain, major, lieutenant colonel (”light colonel”), and colonel (”full bird”). The general timeline is making captain (”getting your railroad tracks”) after about 5-8 years for competent officers, and spending 5-10 years as a captain. 

-We do not stand at parade rest unless forced. Ever.

-Or at attention.

-When talking to an NCO, a lower enlisted will stand at parade rest. When talking to an officer, an enlisted will stand at attention.

-The highest ranking NCO is lower ranking than the lowest ranking officer. 

-If you want to throw in some humor, if there is a lower enlisted (E-4 (specialist) or below) joking with an NCO, and the lower enlisted says something, the NCO can snark back with, “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you because you weren’t standing at the position of parade rest.” It’s a dick move usually to call people out for that, but it happens often enough that if you put that in a fic, someone who’s in will likely laugh at that for a few minutes.

-There is a term for a slacker in the army called POG (pronounced “pohg” with a long o). It stands for Personnel Other than Grunt, meaning everyone who’s not infantry. The term has transformed to mean anyone who shirks their duty or is kind of a shitbag and should be kicked out. 

 -There’s also a bit of a stereotype that infantry are made up of dumb guys, because you don’t need a high GT score to get that MOS. Their nomenclature for their MOS is 11B (eleven bravo), which is often referred to as an “eleven bang-bang” when trying to insult them. 

-If someone is making someone else do push-ups, they do not say “drop and give me x number”. They’ll tell them either to push, or tell them to get in the front-leaning rest. The front-leaning rest position is the starting position for the push-up. 

-Usually referring to basic training and AIT (advanced individual training, where you learn your military occupational specialty), you get “smoked” on a regular basis. This refers to PT (physical training), usually in the form of push-ups, flutter kicks, and sprints. It’s not fun. One of the least favorite phrases to hear in basic is, “Platoon, attention! Half-left face! Front leaning rest position, move. In cadence! Exercise!” Because that is the full command for getting people to do push-ups. There is literally no other reason for the half-left face movement. It honestly exists only for push-ups.

-It is awkward as fuck to be told “thank you for your service”. It’s wonderful that people want to show their support, but it is very difficult to respond to that without sounding like a douche.

I know I said a lot about basic training in there, but that’s because I tend to read a lot of fics that are either about basic or about deployments. I can give some pretty firm answers on basic, but everyone’s deployment is different, and I also could be violating a shit-ton of OPSEC (operation security) by telling you guys specific details about deployments. Everything I’ve told you is information you can look up on your own on the internet, but this is a bit more insider’s culture for you to help make your stuff more accurate.

And if you ever find yourself writing a military fic and have questions, by all means, inbox me. I’ve been in for almost nine years and I do have one deployment under my belt, so I can give you accurate army info. I’ve never served in any other branch, though, but I can probably give you a little bit more accurate info than what the movies do if you’ve got general questions.

Also, if you’ve got questions about PTSD, I can help with that. It’s not the cake walk that a good deal of fics portray it as, and it doesn’t always involve nightmares and aversion to touch. It can present as depression, intense anger issues, pulling away from loved ones, driving in the middle of the road, freaking out over pops, bangs, crashes and other unexpected noises, being easily startled by things other than noises, hypervigilance, the inability to sit with one’s back to the room, sudden bouts of anger, depression, tears, silence, or mood swings, among many others.

-Also, please, please, if you’re going to write about someone with a disability, or something that gave them a medical discharge, talk to me about the VA first, unless you’ve got a lot of knowledge about them. Not only am I in, but I’ve also worked professionally for the VA, some of that time in enrollment and eligibility, so I know a lot about disability pensions, who would qualify, what type of benefits they would qualify for, etc. I also know the ways that people can accidentally get screwed over from the VA. (It’s actually one of my long-term professional goals to change some of those things, so I am very passionate and very knowledgeable about it.)

TL;DR: I know shit about the military and the VA. Ask me if you have accuracy questions.

Classical Pieces You've Probably Heard but Might Not Remember the Name

Add others if you want! Have fun!

I’m sure there are more but these were some of the first that came to mind as missing!

I think this one’s missing, one of my favourites:

Danse Macabre - Camille Saint-Saëns

This is one of the best classical music master-posts I’ve ever seen. I’m so proud of yall

fun facts about FN-2187 & friends

so i’ve been reading rucka’s BEFORE THE AWAKENING which is a pretty entertaining little book written by greg rucka with a bunch of backstory for the new trio and boy howdy let me tell ya:

- finn has a little posse of four friends he hangs out with. FN-2199 is called Nines, FN-2000 is called Zeroes, and FN-2003 is called ‘Slip’. anyway they all train together and are buddies as cadets and stuff

- FN-2003 is called Slip because he’s always slipping behind. eh? eh? GET IT? he’s like the worst. he’s terrible. finn tries to help him. like poor slip is just slow and clumsy and really bad at storm trooper-ing. any given training mission, if someone fucks up or falls behind, it’s liable to be him

- literally everyone else is annoyed at slip but finn just feels bad and tries to help the dude

- also notice how i didn’t mention a nickname for fn-2187

- he does not have one. he’s the only dude in his little squad without at least a cursory numbers-based nickname. i think it mentions offhand that he’s SOMETIMES called ‘eighty seven’ if they really have to shorten his name? but otherwise nah. a veteran trooper is like “lol yup you’re the outsider huh.”

- he’s also the best shot in his squad and was considered SUPER PROMISING, like promising enough that he coulda been promoted to officer based off his record in training/simulation

- he also has extensive first aid training for combat situations just an fyi

- anyway he is always trying to help slip until phasma finally takes him aside and is like “yo you aren’t helping this guy by coddling him. you have to let him succeed or fail on his own” and finn feels really bad about it but goes ahead and does as she says and stops helping his buddy. slip does not really pick up the slack. zeroes and nines are just even MORE annoyed with slip. rip.

- also jakku wasn’t the first time fn-2187 failed to follow orders; his first ‘test’ or whatever was on a group of striking miners the first order was in negotiations with who he failed to help shooting. slip shot the dude he was supposed to shoot for him basically. (phasma noticed)

- like he’s fine with shooting enemy combatants but even in simulation he freaks out over the idea of accidentally hurting civilians sooo

- anyway the trooper who dies on jakku and smears blood across FN-2187′s face is his sorta-buddy Slip who he tried to help and then was ordered to stop trying to help so like

- yeah