Greetings Citizens!
BDF is looking for both experienced and new players to help us continue growing as an effective fighting unit as well as a great place to meet new friends and have a good time. BDF is UEE oriented, legal, full fleet, anti-pirate, anti-griefer, star citizen dedicated, and noob friendly.
We are an English-speaking international organization with 3 active fleets headquartered in the NA, EU, and Asia/Oceania regions. We have members active at all times of day, and regularly run events that will fit any timezone or timeframe. Wherever you may be and whenever you may play, we would be happy to have you alongside us!
BDF is proud to have a significant number of active military and veterans as part of our membership. We salute you no matter when or where you served. o7
WHAT WE OFFER:
Military structure
Ranking system
Training
Many awards, medals, ribbons and certification badges for a wide range of combat and non combat accomplishments.
A website where all main members will have individual areas for character development and display of their uniform, rank, awards, etc.
Solid organization with clear goals and the determination to consistently move forward despite the roadblocks that Star Citizen may (will) throw at us.
POSITIONS AVAILABLE:
• Light and Heavy Fighter Pilots
• Gunship and Dropship Pilots
• Light, Medium, and Heavy Bomber Pilots
• Multicrew Turret and Engineering Roles
• Capital Ship Pilots, and Crewmembers
• Space and Ground Marines
• Short and Long-Range Exploration
• Logistics and Support
• Combat and Specialist Medics
• Search and Rescue
Please be sure to visit our RSI site for more information regarding our purpose, goals, and history!
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/orgs/BDF1
If you would be interested in joining in our efforts to grow one of the finest organizations in Star Citizen, please be sure to join our Discord server!
https://discord.gg/CNnA3czh

1. PERSONALIA

• Age: 32
• Education: High school (TSO) - Dropped out of college (Applied Informatics)
• Work Experience : 10 years in IT
• Civil status: Married
• Dependent children (Kinderen ten laste/enfants à charge): 2

2. TYPE OF CONTRACT

• Current job title/description: Client Project Manager
• (Ancienniteit/Anciennité): 6 years as PM
• Official hours/week : 39 Real hours/week
• (excluding transport): Mostly 90% homeworking
• SectoIndustry: Public Sector

3. WAGE CONDITIONS)

• Gross wage (brut): 5900
• Net wage (incl. net fees): 3300
• 13th month (full? partial?): Full
• Mobile phone? Laptop?: laptop + Phone budget (€300 net every 2 years)
• Meal vouchers: for each day worked -> 8€
• Ecocheques: 250€ / year
• Group Insurance (% part employer): About 2% of brut
• Hospitalisation Insurance: yes, incl children for a really low price.
• Other advantages (bonus, 14th month, stocks...): 5K Bonus/year

4. MOBILITY

• City/region of work: Brussels
• Distance home-work (km's): 85 approx
• Distance home-work (time): Between 1h and 2h depending on traffic
• Do you need your own car?: no
• How is the travel home-work compensated:
• Company ca-bike (what's the budget, do you have fuel card?): Company car + fuel card (Budget of 1200€ per month)

5. OTHER CONDITIONS

• Amount of official holidays: 20 legal
• (ADV, RTT) : About 12 extra
• Other extra holidays: none
• How easy can you plan a day off: Easily if project on track
• Shiftwork or daytime job? Daytime
• Flexible working hours: yes
• Amount of stress (standby for troubles at work)?: Depending on project , allot.
• How often does overtime happens: I try to limit it but it happens maybe 1-2 a month
• Education possibilities: a lot internally and externally (certificates etc..)
• Teleworking (besides corona-period): 90% of the time
• Responsible for personnel (reports): yes

Greetings Citizens!
BDF is looking for both experienced and new players to help us continue growing as an effective fighting unit as well as a great place to meet new friends and have a good time. BDF is UEE oriented, legal, full fleet, anti-pirate, anti-griefer, star citizen dedicated, and noob friendly.
​
We are an English-speaking international organization with 3 active fleets headquartered in the NA, EU, and Asia/Oceania regions. We have members active at all times of day, and regularly run events that will fit any timezone or timeframe. Wherever you may be and whenever you may play, we would be happy to have you alongside us!
​
BDF is proud to have a significant number of active military and veterans as part of our membership. We salute you no matter when or where you served. o7
​
WHAT WE OFFER:
Military structure
Ranking system
Training
Many awards, medals, ribbons and certification badges for a wide range of combat and non combat accomplishments.
A website where all main members will have individual areas for character development and display of their uniform, rank, awards, etc.
Solid organization with clear goals and the determination to consistently move forward despite the roadblocks that Star Citizen may (will) throw at us.
​
POSITIONS AVAILABLE:
• Light and Heavy Fighter Pilots
• Gunship and Dropship Pilots
• Light, Medium, and Heavy Bomber Pilots
• Multicrew Turret and Engineering Roles
• Capital Ship Pilots, and Crewmembers
• Space and Ground Marines
• Short and Long-Range Exploration
• Logistics and Support
• Combat and Specialist Medics
• Search and Rescue
​
Please be sure to visit our RSI site for more information regarding our purpose, goals, and history!
​
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/orgs/BDF1
​
If you would be interested in joining in our efforts to grow one of the finest organizations in Star Citizen, please be sure to join our Discord server!
​
https://discord.gg/CNnA3czh

This was posted in the AngryObservation subreddit (that I stumbled on two seconds ago)
Essay posted by u/dcmetro7
https://www.reddit.com/usedcmetro7/
Democrats have a branding problem : AngryObservation (reddit.com)

Democrats have a branding problem

😴 Long Observation 😴
I was inspired by u/Randomuser1520 's post about the Democratic Party's seemingly weak bench of future potential presidential nominees.
A lot of the problems trace back to 2016, but I'd argue the Democrats' branding woes go back even further. Think all the way back to the last time the Democrats had a consistently strong electoral record as a party -- the 90s, where the only truly bad year for Ds was 1994. Bill Clinton had successfully rebranded the party under the 'Third Way' label that Dems at any level could embrace and benefit from, and he had a clear successor in Al Gore. But Gore loses narrowly in 2000, and the problems for the Dems' brand begin.
'Yes We Can'
After 9/11, the electorate supports Bush and they support war. Dems' brand takes a hit and they lose the 2002 midterms. In 2004, John Kerry is successfully painted as an out-of-touch Ivy League liberal, disengaged from 'real America.' Dems lose and their brand suffers further.
But by the end of Bush's term, most Americans are disillusioned with Dubyaism. They wanted change, and one man promises to lead them to it with posters that proclaim 'HOPE' and cries of 'Yes We Can,' heralding in a new age of politics. Barack Obama and the Democrats are swept into a trifecta in Washington.
And we certainly got a new age of politics. When Obama was inaugurated, pundits speculated about the 'emerging Democratic majority', and how the GOP may literally go extinct in ten years. By the end of Obama's second term, those same pundits are surveying the absolutely decimated state of the Democratic party at all levels of power. Dems had lost the Senate, the House, most governorships, and most state legislatures. Control of the state legislatures makes the GOP's hold on the House even stronger. Control of the Senate effectively leads to control of the Supreme Court.
While Obama certainly can't be blamed for everything the GOP threw at him, I feel like it's safe to say his rebranding of the Democratic party failed in the long run. The 'Party of Hope' was sunk into the quagmire of a slow economic recovery, some of the most cynical politicking ever, and some of the most dysfunctional White House-Congress relationships in the history of the country. Obama's signature healthcare legislation would languish in the 30s approval-wise until after he left office. By 2015, no one was talking about the Democrats as the Party of Hope anymore. Even the guy who designed the original 'Hope' poster said he was frustrated by the lack of progress under the Obama admin. I'd argue that the Republicans were responsible for the clear majority of this dysfunction, but if their goal was to muddy the waters between the parties, they succeeded. And with the Tea Party, they were better at rebranding themselves even when they were in the opposition.
And none of this was helped by the face that Obama seemed extremely reluctant, even uninterested, in stepping into the role of party leader. Congressional Democrats were frustrated at the way he kept his distance from them, making it hard to solidify the policy goals they'd implemented in his first term. This article (https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/19/us/aloof-obama-is-frustrating-his-own-party.html) sums it up well, with this prescient quote sticking out:

In interviews, nearly two dozen Democratic lawmakers and senior congressional aides suggested that Mr. Obama’s approach has left him with few loyalists to effectively manage the issues erupting abroad and at home and could imperil his efforts to leave a legacy in his final stretch in office.

And sure enough, Obama's legacy was in peril before he even left office.
'Stronger Together'
In 2016, Democrats didn't plan for a primary, they planned for a coronation. Hillary Clinton had been locking up all the support she could get from the Democratic establishment while Obama was serving his second term. Biden would seem like the clear establishment successor, but by the time he was able to turn his attention from VP duties to the primary he realized Hillary had completely boxed him out. She had already corralled all the big donors, operatives, and endorsements into her corner, and Joe was checkmated before he even sat down to the board. Thus, he turned down the opportunity, likely burying his long-nurtured presidential ambitions.
But then the coronation gets bumpy. Sanders challenges her from the outside, and immediately begins putting her on the spot as to why she's running. In other words, what does she envision for the Democratic brand? Hillary herself doesn't know. Is it a third term of Bill (whose star was starting to fade among everyone whose name doesn't rhyme with Shames Scarville), a third term of Obama (whose Hope posters have since become landfill), or an all-new thing?
To Hillary's credit, she couldn't portray herself as a total break from the past, both because she had been was strongly anchored to the national political landscape for the last thirty years, and because she could hardly attack Obama's record too harshly. In the end, she also struggled to brand both herself and the party. Consider the slogans most associated with her campaign; 'Forward Together' and 'Stronger Together' sound like the slogans of a centrist third party with no concrete policy ideas. They just attempted to project a feeling of unity onto a people who were united only, if the candidacies of Sanders and Trump meant anything, in the feeling that 'establishment' politicians like HRC had failed. And, of course, 'I'm with Her' was barely a rebrand at all, simply associating the party with its uncharismatic yet seemingly unstoppable frontrunner.
In the meantime, Trump had done the opposite, rebranding himself and the GOP as the party of 'America First populism.' What that meant exactly in terms of policy seemed to change from day to day But as a brand, as a forceful statement of intent, it worked, especially when contrasted with a seemingly rudderless HRC campaign that failed to answer the age-old question: 'Why are you running for president?'
'For the People'
After the 2016 fiasco, the Democrats were decimated and leaderless. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had passed his leadership position to Chuck Schumer and passed on soon after Trump took office. Tim Ryan led a mutiny against Nancy Pelosi, blaming her in part for the party's plunge from ascendance to irrelevance in the House. Hillary Clinton disappeared into the woods of Chappaqua. Obama started making a docu-series for Netflix. Joe Biden entered semi-retirement and wrote a book.
But in all of this, they found something they had been lacking. A brand.
Not the one they would have preferred, but one that would work nonetheless for winning elections. House Dems would embrace the (once-again) vague slogan of 'For the People' ahead of the 2018 midterms, but the aim was clear. The Democrats were now the Opposition; the Anti-Trump party.
Trump's approval rating was not just low, but incredibly sticky. People tended to have very firm opinions on him, and so his approval rating barely escaped the 35-45% range, with him almost hitting 50% before the pandemic hit. Thus, running on opposition to Trump would be fine electorally. In 2018, the Democrats had a blue wave year based mostly on opposition to Trump, retaking the house. Ironically, a big policy motivator for voters was backlash against the GOP's effort to repeal and replace Obamacare -- a promise that had driven Republican electoral gains since the bill was passed into law. Republican branding and messaging had been so successful that, for the better part of the decade, people trusted them to 'fix' the ACA until the very last minute before the replacement was signed.
'Battle for the Soul of the Nation'
But the problem remained for 2020 -- who would lead them? This was a difficult decision even before the pandemic. And Democratic primary voters were treated to a veritable buffet on angles on how to rebrand the party to beat Trump.
Should the party embrace democratic socialism under Sanders, or heavy consumer advocacy under Warren? Should it embrace a young, charismatic up-and-comer like Harris, Buttigieg, or O'Rourke or someone just as 'establishment' as Hillary, like Michael Bloomberg? Old-school liberalism with the Klob? Whatever Andrew Yang was doing?
But as the polls drew near, the Democrats seemed to conclude that beating Trump was simply more important than charting a new course for the party. If they could get elected or rebrand, they'd choose the former. And so all the other more moderate candidates dropped out to consolidate the vote around Biden, as the safe, expected pick who could stay the course. Biden and his surrogates began adopting the slogan 'Battle for the Soul of the Nation,' an epic and apocalyptic phrase that is still fundamentally reactive in tone, implying that the biggest motivator to vote for Democrats that fall was not to pass any specific agenda, but to put a stop to the GOP's plans.
Biden wouldn't govern in this way, but he would campaign this way -- as the normal, capable candidate who could lead the country's post-covid recovery in opposition to Trump's perceived incompetence. Biden won, but Democrats didn't get nearly the boost they wanted from covid, and House candidates underperformed Biden nationally, leading to a surprising loss of seats in the House. And after the effort to throw out the election failed, Trump left office with severely damaged standing with independents. The anti-Trump brand had delivered Dems a trifecta; now it was time to use it; hopefully to establish a new brand for a new decade.
'Building Back Better'
Upon taking office, Biden and the Dems lay out their agenda; the 'Build Back Better' plan, which centers on a three-pronged approach; a pandemic relief bill, an infrastructure bill, and a social policy bill. Passing such plans will involve all 50 Senate D's on board in some cases, and a bipartisan filibuster-proof majority of 60 senators in other cases.
People laugh, think back to 2010, and begin arguing whether a prediction that the GOP will control 55 Senate seats by 2023 is too conservative. Nancy Pelosi is trying to manage a mere five-seat majority in the house. Mitch McConnell, who once feasted on the Democrats' lost hopes the way a hungry turtle devours a plate of juicy strawberries, still held enough sway in the Senate to hold up any significant policy not related to budget reconciliation. Even then, Schumer must wrangle mavericks like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. Dramatic divisions still rip across the fabric of American society. But then, something truly strange happens.
The 117th Congress ends up being one of the most productive sessions ever.
Whether or not you think any or all of the 117th's acts were good policy, it's undeniable that this was an unusually politically efficient session, especially considering the last decade of hardball politics. Bipartisan majorities drive the infrastructure act, a gun control act, a tech-manufacturing promotion act, and even a somewhat-legalization of same-sex marriage nationwide. Plus, Schumer and Pelosi navigate their tiny majorities toward passing partisan priorities, like the pandemic relief act and the scaled-down Build Back Better social policy bill, rebranded as the Inflation Reduction Act or IRA. McConnell drops his trademark stonewalling and collaborates with Biden on the bipartisan bills, and 'Yea' votes roll in even from deep red states -- Republican senators from Mississippi, West Virginia, and North Dakota get these bills over the line. Bipartisanship returns to Congress in fleeting glances -- something that I feel confident in arguing absolutely no one expected Biden or the Dem leaders to be able to do.
Of course, no one has forgotten 2010, and 2022 looks to be another rough year. Inflation soars, and Biden's approval rating drops. Dems brace for impact. The Dobbs ruling happens, but polls repeatedly suggest that the economy is the top issue on voters' minds, and they don't like Biden's handling of it.
But while these things are true, they ignore a crucial factor -- the GOP is embroiled in an identity crisis of its own. The leader of the party is claiming to be the legitimate president of the United States, which is a bit of a hard issue to ignore. Trump loyalists beat out 'establishment' Republicans in the primaries, and bring their hard promotion of the MAGA brand to the general elections. And they lose.
I think it's fair to say that the GOP lost most of the key races of the 2022 midterms, rather than Democrats winning them. Swing state Republican parties chose candidates who adhered so closely to a brand so toxic that independents still chose the Democrats, even in some cases where they were dissatisfied with the party. Republicans who have managed to establish a brand for themselves -- DeSantis, Kemp, and DeWine among them -- soar, while the Trumpiest candidates fall flat. McConnell remains in the minority, and McCarthy becomes the head of a very, very dysfunctional family.
Will Brandon's Rebrand Stand?
So, coming off an unusually strong midterm, where does the party go in 2024? Probably, as u/Randomuser1520 said, back to Biden. When your party wins one of the most fiercely contested elections in American history, has a productive legislative session, and then massively overperforms in the midterm, you don't usually change horses regardless of what approval polling says. If Biden were just 10 years younger and the health concerns were off the table, there would be no question in anyone's mind who to nominate.
The establishment and progressive wings of the party seem to be behind him if he runs, meaning challenges will only come from real outsiders like Marianne Williamson and Robert Kennedy Jr. The DNC will probably work to make those challenges as unviable as possible.
2024 is tricky to predict. Trump is favored on the Republican side, and as said before, his brand is so toxic that Biden can probably glide to reelection barring any massive economic downturns or serious health problems. I won't get too much into 2024, because it seems pretty clearly on the path to becoming another referendum on the GOP's brand, not the Democrats'. Biden's second term (and the rest of his first term) may be defined as much by implementation of the legislation they passed during the 117th as much as by new legislation, if not more.
So the question becomes this -- where does the party go in 2028? Or, in other words, what will Democrats take away from the Biden presidency, and how will Biden shape the party's brand going forward? Who they choose to lead the party next will tell, and Biden's presidency may already be laying out a blueprint.
In his 1996 State of the Union address, Bill Clinton declared 'the era of big government is over,' essentially conceding that Reagan and his vision of a small role for the federal government in domestic affairs had won out for the time, and that Democrats would need to work within that political reality in order to win elections. Obama's efforts to change that status quo resulted in an avalanche of backlash from Tea Partiers, self-proclaimed champions of fiscal conservatism. Hillary Clinton's failed campaign strategy arguably rested more on that understanding of the political climate than anything else, causing her to miss a series of growing frustrations with Reaganism at times channelled by Sanders and, at times, Trump -- at decimation of the manufacturing sector, at the growing gap between rich and poor, at China's seemingly unstoppable three-decade rise at the expense of the U.S.
Biden's approach to American industry and government is a strong repudiation of Reaganism, based around the idea that it is the government's job to fortify and guide the economy in ways that are necessary where the free market has little incentive to. It argues that the issues of infrastructural decay, manufacturing decline, and the growing need for green energy in the face of climate change will only be solved if the government directs the power of the private sector towards those goals at great upfront cost. And free trade, long held as the unassailable source of America's prosperity, must now only be employed in moderation -- if the U.S. has to arguably break international law to lure foreign investment into the U.S. through generous subsidies, it will be worth it, even if it earns the fury of our economic partners. This may be the groundwork of Bidenism.
These plans may fail. The money may be wasted by incompetent or corrupt administrators and the American people may become even more jaded at the thought of big government. But movement within the GOP may suggest a broader shift in the American mind towards this kind of economic interventionism is already in progress. Promising to reverse the decline of manufacturing through tariffs and other measures would have been political anathema twenty years ago, but it has become a core Republican plank. Florida Republicans' punitive measures towards Disney and the GOP's growing support for government action against Big Tech companies suggests openness towards not just using state power to guide the economy, but also to reshape the social landscape by manipulating the private sector. It may well be that the era of small government is over.
I've sorted some potential 'brands' and some of the people who might be nominated in 2028 / become party standard-bearers should the Democrats go in that direction. These lists aren't exhaustive; I'm just trying to establish a general vibe.
The 'Biden Blueprint': Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, Gina Raimondo
These are members of the Biden admin who have been given great power (and great piles of money) to enact the legislation of the 117th. If American sentiment towards big government changes as quickly as I think it could, a Cabinet secretary could have a decent shot in 2028. Harris would be the natural successor as the VP, but Transportation Sec Buttigieg and Commerce Sec Raimondo, who were empowered to implement much of the Infrastructure Act and the CHIPS Act respectively, could become standard-bearers for this new vision of technocratic governance if they administer these programs well (and in a way that makes headlines). If Energy Sec Granholm were a natural-born citizen, she would definitely fit here as well, considering how much power the IRA gave her department.
The 'New New Deal': Amy Klobuchar, Catherine Cortez Masto, Mark Kelly, Tammy Duckworth, Raphael Warnock
Liberal senators who are capable of working across the aisle to achieve compromise could be a strong bet if Democrats want to recreate the success of the 117th Congress in the future. There's always an argument that effective legislators won't necessarily make for effective executives, but these choices would help with Democrats' goal of rebranding the Democratic party as the party you vote for if you want Washington to function properly and anticipate constituents' needs. Such a ticket could brand itself as the path to bipartisan yet assertive solutions on familiar and emerging issues like immigration reform, federal protection for abortion, the housing shortage, and the drug crisis.
The 'Bulwark': Roy Cooper, Laura Kelly, Andy Beshear
I'll admit that when I began writing this post, I had a more favorable opinion of the above three governors and politicians like them as presidential nominees and the potential 'future of the party.' I no longer feel as strongly about them, however, because I don't believe they do enough to change the brand of the Democrats and the political environment as a whole. These governors are best known for winning races in red states; for holding the line against the most conservative policies while finding areas of compromise, especially on kitchen-table issues.
But this brand of Democrat is fundamentally reactive, even defensive -- it assumes that most of the job will be obstructing right-wing legislation from a red legislature. In other words, it is a kind of strategy you use when you're trying to hold ground, not gain it. It works well when your opponent's brand is toxic (as the GOP's has been since 2016), but this I suspect this brand of 'competent normality' will struggle if the opposition ceases to actively repel voters. If Trump and his acolytes continue to hold a strong grip on the party through 2024 and beyond, this brand may not be a bad bet short-term, but long-term Democrats want to be the ones establishing the rules of the game, not just beating your opponent at theirs. That's what a successful political brand does. While Dems in similar situation should definitely look to these governors for guidance in running their campaigns (and hopefully, their administrations), I would caution at this point against basing the national party's brand on their model.
I think somewhere between these three groups lies a successful path forward for the Democrats that towards becoming the dominant party in U.S. politics at the federal level. There are some other interesting currents in the party; like how Democratic governors like Whitmer, Evers, and Walz have rebuilt D strength the Midwest after a rough 2010s, and how Western Dems like Jared Polis, Mary Peltola, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez have found unexpected electoral stength by embracing a form of libertarianism. However, these currents may be regional, and Democrats shouldn't necessarily try to nationalize every idea that works in one part of the country. Creating different regional 'flavors' of Democrat would be necessary to keep the party relevant in all parts of the country.
Regarding the 2020 primary runners-up, I don't think most of the visions laid out then work post-2024, and for this reason I tend not to give too much weight to current Democratic primary polling, because it assumes these same people would be running again.
Assuming Biden ends his term without catastrophe, I don't think the party needs to place all their faith in a young, charismatic Obama wannabe like O'Rourke or Swalwell, nor does it need to drastically pivot to the center, nor does it need to proclaim itself the party of 'outsiders,' nor does it need to give the reins to the progressive wing. If everything goes right, they can remain ideologically where they are now (roughly) and establish a solid brand for the first time in a generation.
The Democrats been losing the branding war since the days of Nixon. They may currently have all the tools they need right now to change that, and set the expectations for the next fifty years of politics. Let's see how they do.
This is my first big write-up, so I almost certainly missed some stuff and made some assumptions. Let me know what you think.

Company Name	Title	City
United States Secret Service	Criminal Investigator	Greensboro
Mission WorkWell	Registered Nurse - PRN	Asheville
Vetco Clinics	Vetco Relief Veterinarian	Clinton
Geode Health	Outpatient Psychiatrist - Durham	Durham
Vetco Clinics	Vetco Relief Veterinarian	Forest City
Vetco Clinics	Vetco Relief Veterinarian	Franklin
Milan Laser Company	Metro Travel Nurse Practitioner	Greensboro
Nu-Tec Systems	Customer Service Representative	Mooresville
Milan Laser Company	Metro Travel Nurse Practitioner	Raleigh
Geode Health	Psychiatrist	Raleigh
Edward Jones	Associate Financial Advisor - Wake Forest, NC	Wake Forest
ISOFlex a Division of Sigma Plastics	Extrusion Supervisor	Aberdeen
ISOFlex a Division of Sigma Plastics	Press Assistant	Aberdeen
Best Buy	Geek Squad Autotech Installer (Retail)-Starting Pay $16.00/hr.	Asheville
Best Buy	Retail Sales Associate- Starting Pay $16.00 /hr.	Asheville
Georgia-Pacific	Industrial Electrician	Brogden
Georgia-Pacific	Forklift	Brogden
Discount Tire	Tire Technician	Cary
Beacon Hill Staffing Group, LLC	Part Time Customer Support / Data Entry $18-20 Cary, NC	Cary
Aic	AV Tech - Any level - Raleigh/Durham	Chapel Hill
Wellstar Health System, Inc.	RN Support Team MedSurg III	Chapel Hill
Duke Health	Certified Medical Assistant - Duke Primary Care - Brier Creek Internal Medicine and Pediatrics	Chapel Hill
Aic	Lab Scientist 1	Chapel Hill
Wellstar Health System, Inc.	Nurse Practitioner (NP)	Chapel Hill
INSPYR Solutions	FLM Technician	Charleston

Hey guys, here are some recent job openings in nc. Feel free to comment here or send me a private message if you have any questions, I'm at the community's disposal! If you encounter any problems with any of these job openings please let me know that I will modify the table accordingly. Thanks!

I’m a huge fan of the culture and the music, although I can’t say I’ve claimed the edge myself. I’ve been clean and sober and in a recovery program for over two and a half years now, best thing that’s ever happened to me. Part of that was being able to go off to college and not do stupid shit/actually learn and internalize information unlike in high school. But yadda yadda … nicotine is my one problem. AA is my primary recovery program, where nicotine / caffeine is permitted as not only a means of harm reduction, but accepted as not as acutely harmful as say alcohol or heroin (this may be debatable to some, but in the sense that in most scenarios you’re not actively fucking up your life if smoking or vaping as opposed to those other two examples). So when I got sober, my life did improve drastically, but nicotine use became habitual. Fast forward these two and some change years, and I have a 5+ year dependency on nicotine, trying to quit on and off but never succeeding. This past year I’ve gotten really into running / hiking, and the last 3 or so months I’ve gotten increasingly frustrated with how I could feel physically better if I quit smoking. Additionally, I committed to going vegetarian after the end of this past semester at school, hopefully weaning off animal products to become vegan.
It’s my understanding that all of these aspects of the straight edge practice / philosophy feel good once they’re undertaken, analogous to my struggle with drugs and alcohol. And I really want to quit nicotine so I can “round it out”. But FUCK - this feels harder to quit than anything I ever have laid down. Does anyone have any tips? I know at the end of the day it’s just something I have to do, and there’s no shortcuts, and that’s fine with me. I think I just need some more affirmations from people that nicotine is just fucking poison.

Hey guys,
This is my first pc ever. I've been looking into many different pc parts and finally picked on these. Feel free to let me know if I could have done better, but keep in mind I already bought them, so I can't really do anything about it if they're not the best.
CPU: Intel Core i5-12400F 2.5 GHz 6-Core Processor
CPU COOLER: Vetroo V5 52 CFM CPU Cooler
MB: Asus PRIME B660-PLUS D4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard
RAM: Silicon Power GAMING 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory
MEMORY: Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive
AND Samsung 980 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive
GPU: PNY GeForce RTX 3060 12GB XLR8 Gaming REVEL EPIC-X RGB Dual Fan Edition
CASE: Antec DF700 FLUX ATX Mid Tower Case
POWER: EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G5 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
MONITOR: Lenovo G24-10 24" (23.6" Viewable) 1920 x 1080 Full HD 1ms 144Hz G-Sync Compatible HDMI DisplayPort Tilt Gaming Monitor
WIFI: ASUS AC750 Dual Band PCIe WiFi Adapter (PCE-AC51) - Compatible with PCIe
About the wifi pcie adapter: I actually have really fast Wifi 6 at home, and didn't know this when I bought the wifi. Is there a drastic difference between this wifi card and the one I might buy? Here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/Ubit-Ubit-AX200/dp/B07Y2MYK4N/?th=1
I am planning to build this in a couple weeks. I am really confused by all the different cables and fan hubs and stuff, so it would be greatly appreciated if someone can help with that. It would be the greatest help if anyone could give me a list of all the necessary cables, asus motherboard drivers, and bios settings. Thanks!

This is part of my little series about the adventures of Vr'ocria and Human Aldrick. If you'd like to read previous parts, they're linked below, along with brief summaries of each:
Part One: Alien learns what "sleep" is and how humans prefer to do it in a comfy bed with blankets and pillows. And they find it utterly adorable.
Vr'ocria and Human Aldrick are sent on a survey mission together. Things go south, Aldrick makes sure they're safe, and then Vr'ocria learns what human sleep is and how vulnerable humans are when they sleep. Vr'ocria's people don't sleep, but enter stasis, a form of rest in which they typically stand, and they are still slightly aware of their surroundings. Vr'ocria finds human sleep utterly adorable, and also decides she will protect Aldrick while he sleeps. And she also develops a massive crush on him. (Her scales turning purple is her version of blushing)
Part Two: An alien + human adventure with such shenanigans as poison drinking, befriending dangerous wildlife, and fighting a space pirate. Oh, and they have a huge crush on each other.
Vr'ocria and Human Aldrick end up assigned together for another survey mission. Vr'ocria tries to deny her feelings for Aldrick after a tense conversation with her nestmate about the danger of humans, but when they're ambushed in the night by a pirate and Aldrick takes a blow to save her, becoming injured in the process, she comes to realize just how strongly she feels for him. She kills the pirate, carries Aldrick to safety, and the two share a tender moment.
Part Three: When a cold-blooded alien has to cuddle a warm-blooded human for warmth
Vr'ocria and Human Aldrick are assigned to an ice plant for their next mission. Aldrick chews out Command for assigning Vr'ocria there when they know she's cold-blooded and not built for the cold, and when the power goes out, they cuddle to keep her from freezing. They finally confess their feelings for one another, and Vr'ocria learns what kissing is.
Part Four: A human leaves a hickey on his alien lover. Her nestmate doesn't understand what a hickey is, and thinks the human injured her
Vr'ocria enjoys neck kisses, and asks Aldrick to indulge her. Later, she has a video call with her nestmate Galek. Galek is already wary of humans, and when he sees a bruise on her throat that she didn't notice, he figures out Aldrick is responsible and freaks out, thinking Aldrick intentionally hurt her. Vr'ocria dresses Galek down, explaining that it's not an injury, and also that he needs to get over it and respect her relationship with Aldrick.
Now for the new story!
TW: There will be blood and broken bones.
—
"I have a bad feeling about this."
Vr'ocria turned to Human Aldrick in the pilot seat next to her. He was drumming his fingers on the console, brow furrowed, as he watched the Xenthum solar system approach.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"I dunno. I just–" he bit the inside of his cheek. "You ever just get an ick feeling about something?"
Vr'ocria frowned. "No. Can you explain it?"
He scratched the back of his neck. "It's hard to explain. Like, there's nothing wrong that I can tell about this mission, but ever since we got within visual range, I've had this gut feeling that we need to turn back."
Vr'ocria wasn't sure she understood, but she didn't like seeing him uncomfortable. "Well, we're here on orders–"
"I know, I know, I don't want to get us in trouble, I'm already on thin ice after yelling at Lieutenant Prax–"
"–but the minute anything starts to go wrong, no matter how small, we can turn around."
He glanced over at her. "Thanks," he said with a grateful smile.
They had entered the Xenthum system now. Its main planet was sparsely populated, used mostly as a trading outpost since it was so close to the Dridian border. The trick was navigating through the minefield of asteroid clusters. Aldrick let Vr'ocria take the lead piloting, since of the two of them, she was more skilled at delicate maneuvers.
They were almost to the planet when an alert pinged. Aldrick sat up to check the sensors.
"There's a ship nearby," he reported. "A big one."
"Where?" Vr'ocria pulled up the sensor on her screen. "I don't see anything. Just asteroids."
"Turn on the warp detector and increase the ion frequency."
Vr'ocria pressed a few controls. "Oh wow, you weren't kidding." She frowned. "It's way too big to be in the middle of an asteroid field. What are they doing?"
"I don't know, but I don't like it." She could feel the tension radiating from him.
"You want to get out of here?" she asked.
He chewed his lip. "Y'know what? Yeah. Let's at least take an alternate root, we can–"
But before he could finish, there was a loud BANG and they were sent flying from their seats as the shuttle rattled.
"What the fuck?" Aldrick yelled as he scrambled to his feet, lunging for the console. "Did we scrape an asteroid?"
Vr'ocria crawled back into her seat as well and banged out a few commands on her screen. Her blood froze.
"No," she said in a low voice. "It was phaser fire."
They'd been so focused on the massive ship that they'd missed the tiny shuttle creeping up from below them.
BANG. The screens flickered and glitched.
Aldrick cursed. "We've lost shields!"
There was another hit, then another, and another. Sparks were flying now, and the sensors were screaming as the shuttle's operating systems started failing.
Vr'ocria was tossed against the wall in one particularly brutal crash, and the last thing she saw was a broken panel flying right towards her face.
—
Everything hurt.
Especially her nose. The tang of blood clung to the back of her throat.
There were muffled voices somewhere nearby, and the sound of metal scraping. When she tried to move, she abruptly registered something cold and hard encircling her wrists.
"She's waking up."
Vr'ocria coughed, blood splattering from her lips. Moaning in pain, she managed to lift her head and crack her eyes open.
The scraping sound was the heels of her boots sliding across metal grate flooring as she was dragged by her wrists. She craned her head back, pain shooting through her neck, and realized that her wrists were clapped in rusty manacles. A massive blue hand fisted the rust red chains that suspended her arms over her head.
"Wha' th'fmm–" she slurred. Her brain felt like sludge.
Suddenly she was yanked even higher into the air, her toes just brushing the floor. A shock of cold assaulted her and she yelped, flinching as water dripped down her face.
"You awake now?"
A man was standing in front of her, tossing aside a now-empty bucket. There were several people, actually. All different species, all looking very pleased, and all wearing distinctive black Norvidian armbands.
Pirates.
A hand cracked across her cheek, sending more blood flying. She bit back a cry as the shockwave laced through her broken nose. "Fuck you," she spat instead.
The man chuckled. He was tall, muscles bulging through his coat, and his skin was blue. He must've been the one dragging her. "Picking up human words, I see."
Vr'ocria's blood turned to ice. "What have you done with him?" She demanded in a low voice.
His grin only widened. His teeth were crooked and rotting. "I'll be asking the questions here."
Her scales burned a bright and hot yellow and snapped as they turned on end. But before she could respond, his hand lashed out and grabbed her throat–not enough to choke her just yet, but enough to make her freeze.
"You're the lizard bitch from Theta-7, yes?" The grin was gone now, replaced by a withering glare.
Understanding dawned on Vr'ocria. Blast. Oh, blast.
He saw the realization in her eyes and slowly released her throat. "You are."
"What's it to you?" She snapped.
He sneered. "You killed one of my men."
"He attacked us first!"
Stars burst behind her eyes as the air was forced from her lungs, and it took her a moment to realize that he had punched her in the gut. All she could do was cough and gasp, trying to regain her bearings through the pain as he turned away from her and towards the others standing around. He raised his arms.
"We are Norvids!" He boomed, and the others whooped in agreement. "We stand together! We protect our own!"
Vr'ocria tuned him out as he kept proselytizing, using the opportunity to look around the room. It was massive and almost all metal with towering walls. Crane chains hung from the ceiling, and crates and barrels of different sizes were scattered about, everything dusty, rusty, and old. A storage room. An old cargo ship? She wondered. That would explain why it was so big.
She ran a quick headcount of everyone she could see. Seventeen.
But where was Aldrick?
Vr'ocria felt sick. You better be okay…you have to…please be okay…
The man–the captain, she guessed–finally turned back to her. He drew a dagger from a sheath strapped to his arm, and her eyes went wide.
"A life for a life," he growled, stalking towards her.
But before he'd made it even two steps, a voice rang out through the cargo bay.
"Don't you fucking touch her."
It was enough to stop the captain in his tracks.
Footsteps sounded from behind her, and Vr'ocria tried in vain to twist her body around.
But she didn't have to. The man approaching from behind came forward and stepped in between her and the captain, and she didn't have to see his face to know who it was.
"Aldrick," she nearly whimpered.
The caption sneered. "Well well, a little escape artist, are we?"
Aldrick was silent.
Deathly so.
Vr'ocria swallowed.
Even the captain, who was twice Aldrick's size, seemed to waver. Vr'ocria wasn't sure she wanted to know what he saw on Aldrick's face.
Finally, Aldrick spoke. "Any of you touch her, and you will die." His voice was so cold it pierced her to the bone. She could see his clenched fists trembling at his sides. He's not even armed!
The captain began to laugh, his voice echoing around the bay. The others laughed with him.
"And who's gonna stop us?" He demanded. "You? Little human, you don't know who you're messing with." He dashed forward, raising the blade, ready to strike.
"Aldrick!" Vr'ocria screamed.
But Aldrick dodged as easily as water flows through a river, ducking under the dagger and going for the captain's legs. He barreled his full weight against his hips, and with a shout, the giant fell, the dagger clattering from his grasp. Quick as a whip, Aldrick snatched it up–and drove it directly into the captain's throat.
Vr'ocria couldn't help but watch in horror as green blood frothed forth, spraying all over Aldrick. The captain's eyes were wide, and he choked and spasmed as his life drained out onto the dirty floor.
By now, the others were surging forward, shouting, screaming, and brandishing their own weapons.
"NO!" Vr'ocria screamed as they converged on him. She kicked and yanked uselessly at her chains, desperate to help, to do anything. The manacles bit painfully into her scales, some of them even popping off onto the floor, leaving beads of blood welling up in their wake. But the manacles did not yield.
When she looked back, she was terrified she'd see Aldrick lying dead on the floor.
But he wasn't.
In fact, there were three pirates–no, make that four now–sprawled lifelessly instead. Aldrick was a whirlwind of limbs and gnashing teeth–he ducked and dodged, spat and kicked, slashing at knees and elbows, slowly incapacitating or discombobulating each one until he was able to sink the dagger into throats, chests, between ribs–bodies were dropping--he was covered in blood now, eyes wild–
"BEHIND YOU!" Vr'ocria screamed.
Aldrick turned just a second too late, and a woman covered in dark fur landed a kick directly to his chest. He hit the floor, the dagger flying from his grasp. The woman pounced, her hands wrapping around his throat. His legs thrashed as he clutched at her hands, and he was just able to roll them over until he was on top. From there, he simply started punching, and punching, blood spraying his face with each hit.
A large man behind him had stumbled back to his feet. He lunged forward and yanked Aldrick into the air by the back of his shirt, throwing him bodily into the air, where he crashed against a metal crate.
He hit the ground and didn't move.
Vr'ocria was screaming. She didn't know if she was saying words anymore, but she was screaming, and blood was streaming down her arms now from how hard she was pulling against the manacles. All she could do was watch as the final three pirates approached her mate where he lay lifeless on the floor.
They stopped before they were in arms length, looking between each other. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but one of them finally edged forward and poked Aldrick's side with her toe.
Vr'ocria wanted to rip their entrails out with her bare hands.
He still didn't move. Seeming satisfied, they moved forward, and one bent to grab him.
All at once, her human surged back to life. The man closest to him hit the ground as Aldrick swung his legs around, sweeping the man's feet out from under him. Once he was down, Aldrick bashed a crane hook–one he must've picked up from the floor–into the man's skull so hard that it caved in with one blow. Still lying on the floor, Aldrick used his vantage point to kick the woman's knee backwards, and she collapsed with an agonized scream. One more strike with the hook, and she was silenced.
That left just one. The final pirate appeared to be reptilian like her, although he had large spines stretching across his head and shoulders. This one didn't try to rush Aldrick. Instead, he kept his distance, watching warily as Aldrick climbed to his feet.
"So it's true," the spined pirate said, "what they say about humans."
Aldrick returned a deadly stare. "And what's that?" His voice almost didn't even sound like his anymore.
"You're monsters. Demons. Scourge of the universe."
Aldrick grinned, but it looked more like a feral animal baring its teeth. "That's me."
The pirate's spines flexed. "You could join us," he said. "Join the Norvids. We'll find another crew, you can be captain."
They were circling now, Aldrick crouched like a predator ready to strike, the pirate shuffling back with his hands held out.
"You could be rich!"
Aldrick picked up a rusty chain from a barrel as he passed by.
"Think of the power you would wield!" The pirate cried desperately.
Aldrick still said nothing. He forced him back, and back, until the pirate realized, too late, that he was cornered between two crates. His back hit the wall and he slid down, cowering, as Aldrick loomed over him.
Vr'ocria could barely hear because of the distance, but the metal room carried Aldrick's low hiss as he bent down to the trembling pirate: "You hurt my mate. Now, you die."
The rusty chain crackled as Aldrick wrapped it around the pirate's neck in one fell swoop. He pulled the loop tight and the pirate clutched at the noose, his eyes and forked tongue bulging out. Then, with one swift and hard yank, an audible splinter-snap filled the room–and the pirate was dead before he hit the floor, his neck bent at an unnatural angle.
Aldrick dropped him in disgust. His back was turned, but Vr'ocria could still see his chest heaving.
He turned and met Vr'ocria's eyes, and the demented expression drained from his face. He stepped towards her, slowly at first, and then broke into a sprint.
It seemed like he wanted to throw his arms around her, but he came to a sudden halt before he could touch her, instead raising his shaking hands to her face. "Vr'ocria, 'ria, my Ria, I'm so sorry–" his voice broke and his eyes welled with tears that quickly spilled over and began running down his face, carving tracks into the grime and blood spatter.
"Aldrick," she whispered, drinking him in. He's alive.
"Hold on, hold on, I'll get you out of these cuffs, fuck–" he turned to the dead captain on the floor and rifled through his pockets until he produced a key.
He returned and had to stand on his tiptoes to reach the manacles, and with a scrape and groan of metal, the manacles cracked loose.
Vr'ocria collapsed onto Aldrick, her legs too weak to hold her up. Her arms fell over his shoulders, and he caught her around the waist. Together they sank to the floor until they were both on their knees, clutching at one another as if they would disappear.
Aldrick buried his face in her neck, shaking with silent sobs. Vr'ocria tangled her hands in his bloody hair, not caring about the mess. Her people couldn't weep like humans did, but she might as well have with the way her chest heaved with stuttering breaths, her scales burning bright red.
Aldrick clutched her tight enough to hurt, but she didn't care. "Ria, my Ria, my love," he gasped like a mantra.
She finally took his face in her hands and pulled him back, forcing him to look at her. "Are you alright?" She implored. "Are you hurt?"
He let out a half-laugh, half-sob. "You're asking me?"
She used her thumbs to wipe away some of the grime on his face. "You took on all of those people by yourself," she croaked. "And the way he threw you–planets, I thought you were dead."
His hands slid up her back to clutch her shoulders. "I'm alright," he assured her. "Bumps and bruises is all. But you–" he looked her up and down, rage rekindling in his eyes. "Son of a bitch, what they did to you–"
She shook her head. "They're dead now," she said firmly. "It's over and done." She leaned forward to squeeze him again, resting her head on his shoulder. "Let's just go home."
"Don't have to tell me twice." Aldrick rose, pulling her up with him. Her legs were still too unsteady to walk, so instead, he slid one hand under her knees and swept her up into his arms. She settled against his chest as he carried her out of the cargo bay.
"Should we be worried about any other crew members?" She asked, casting her eyes around the barren corridor.
Aldrick shook his head as he walked. He seemed to know where he was going. "It was just them."
"How do you know? And what happened to you, by the way?"
His arms tightened around her. "After you got knocked out, they locked a tractor beam onto the shuttle and pulled us inside."
They came to a fork in the corridor, and he turned left. "I thought they were just raiding for scrap metal and Union tech, but when they boarded the shuttle, they went straight for you. I–" his voice cracked. "I tried to protect you, but there were so many of them and I was so caught off guard..."
Vr'ocria stroked the nape of his neck with her thumb. "It's okay, it's not your fault."
Aldrick swallowed before continuing. "They took you away and locked me in an old storage container. Thankfully the hinges were on the inside, so I just popped the pins out once they were gone. I was able to access the ship's computer and scan the whole ship, because the idiots didn't know how to encrypt anything. All brawn and no brains, I guess. That's also how I was able to figure out where they kept their own shuttles, since ours is pretty busted."
"Is that where we're going?"
He nodded. "Anyway, I used the scanner to find your location, and then I just crawled through the air ducts so I could get inside without them knowing." He stopped. "We're here."
They'd arrived at a loading door with a rusty label that read "SHUTTLE BAY."
Twenty minutes later found them back out in open space in the least-old shuttle they could find. The engine puttered every few minutes, but with any luck, they'd reach their ship in an hour or so.
Vr'ocria had regained her bearings, and she was rummaging around the storage box at the back of the cabin. She finally found an old "in case of emergency" kit, but frustratingly, all the first aid supplies had been picked clean. She did, however, find an unopened package of wet wipes.
Vr'ocria took the wipes back to the front of the cabin. Ripping the package open, she knelt by Aldrick where he sat in the pilot seat.
"What're you doing?"
"Hold still," she murmured. She raised a wipe to his face, and began gently cleaning the blood off. His eyes became soft as she tended to him, throwing the dirty wipes aside one by one while she worked her way down his face and neck.
When she was done, he took her hand before she could get up. He reached for the package as well, and began wiping the blood from her arms, taking care around the nasty scrapes that marred her wrists. "We need to get these bandaged up."
"It's okay. They're not bleeding anymore, we have time."
Aldrick placed a hand on her cheek. "I love you so much," he whispered. "And I'm glad you're okay."
Vr'ocria leaned into his hand, closing her eyes. "I love you too."
Turns out it's REALLY hard to write fight scenes lol. I can see it happening in my head, but getting it down on paper is another story. I had fun though! And I hope I did it justice.
Thank you for reading!

I've always been really secretive about my personal life and internalized my feelings but yesterday she asked me if I was seeing someone and I told her yes and she often wonders why I never date. For a long time I thought it was because I get tired of people and prefer to be single. I've realized it's because my bfs often become my FP and that is exhaustingggg. As much as I love giving and receiving love, not knowing whether something is real or a fabrication of my own mind is scary. There's been relationships where I loved someone and woke up one day and suddenly didn't. I never want to hurt someone so I avoid having people have to deal with me and for the most part I'm happier that way but now I'm in a situation where I have a FP/boyfriend and I'm crying often. Not because he's a bad person - hes actually wonderful. But because when i miss him I'm in agony.
Anyway, I was telling my mom for the first time I have bpd and trying to explain why I have abandonment issues. I touched on the fact that she was emotionally unavailable when I was a child because she worked a lot and my older sister used to treat me like shit and when I needed my mom to reprimand her she wouldn't because she was tired. I feel guilty for feeling abandoned by her because I know in her mind she did her best. She tends to make things about her so after sharing this with her she said well I did my best I sacrificed everything for my kids, threw you parties, etc. And yes that's true, she struggled, but I feel like she sorta invalidated my feelings and I don't know what I want from her but it wasn't that. I wish I didn't bring it up at all because she doesn't understand it and there's no way she will. She wasn't a bad mom, I was just an emotional child who needed more affection. Idkkkkk I wish I can undo telling her. I feel so weird now.

I work as a 3D Artist right now. Over a year ago I applied for a position that was expressly described as a full time, salaried position with benefits at this company. Interviews went great, the Creative Director asked if I wanted to come into office for three days to test working, and I would be paid for these days. I agreed, and came in the following week. The first red flag was the HR manager sending me a 1099 form for contract work. I immediately confronted her asking why I was being given a contract tax form when the position was labeled for salaried full time? She said it should only be for a short term/ trial basis, and the Creative Director would have final say if they felt I would fit in the full time role.
It has been over a year, I have watched other people get offered full time before me despite me contributing the most towards ongoing projects. The company is in a position where if I call out, they get screwed over and projects get delayed. Despite their reliance on me as a worker, they refuse to make efforts to move me to full time. Since I’m 1099, when I bill them, they are not obligated to pay me overtime. Their internal contracts bar me from using works I’ve created within company jobs as personal advertising/ portfolio works. They state in their contracts that freelance workers are free to set their own hours and determine their own place of work, and are only obligated to work in office if the per view of their work requires materials only accessible from the office. Despite having the tools to work seamlessly from home while using their internal systems, they have refused me continuously every time I push for remote work, and have had meetings with me regarding my arrival time in office because their hours are “9a-6p”. They constantly overload and overwork the artists. When I started I had a week of close to 70 in office hours, having to stay one Thursday until 2am to complete a job.
This place has almost made me hate the field I’ve shifted into. I’ve previously worked almost exclusively labor jobs, I transitioned into 3D thinking I’d have more autonomy to find a better balance for my personal life. This place disregards all of that to extract the most amount of work they can from me. The kicker? The CEO/ Creative Director got his role by being the son of the previous owner. The man makes enough money to afford his family a cushy life in a notoriously wealthy part of the city we live in, while I haven’t had a pay raise since I’ve started, I receive 0 benefits and currently don’t have healthcare, and never have enough time in my day to take care of my personal responsibilities. I’ve worked my fair share of shit jobs with shit employers. I’ve worked jobs in the automotive industry where the managers “fix paystubs” so when I went overtime, they were only paying me my standard rate! I haven’t had a job in the almost 10 years that I’ve been in the workforce in the US where I’ve felt an employer appreciated my work and showed that in pay, benefits, and respect for my time as an adult. I’ve been anti-work for a minute, first hand experience plus de-programming will do that. But man does this shit just infuriate me on the daily. They advertised one full time, salaried position, get me into a contract, freelance position, but expect me to work like I’m full time.
Wanted to share my struggles with y’all. Solidarity in this fight is important, I’m learning that more and more. For those who may be asking why I don’t quit, I’ve been looking for more work for a while, places don’t want to hire at reasonable rates, and I’m not shortchanging myself just to get into another shit spot. I’ve considered talking to others about unionizing, but this CEO rotates in artists like it’s nobodies business, some people are so new they don’t know how shit it gets yet so getting that department solidarity is difficult. Not off the table though.

Company Name	Title	City
Zurich	RCIS Crop Claims Field Adjuster I	Batesland
Henkel	Automation Engineer	Brandon
Henkel	Safety, Health & Environmental Associate	Brandon
Thies & Talle	Maintenance Technician - (762)	Bridgewood Estates Ii Sioux Falls
Monument Health	RN Patient Navigator - Relocation Assistance Available	Brookings
Monument Health	RN Surgical Services Rapid City Hospital Up to $40,000 Sign On Bonus Available	Hermosa
Stability Healthcare	L&D Travel RN	Huron
Monument Health	RN Home Infusion (Office Based) Full Time - 40 Hours	Rapid City
RTI International	Field Interviewer - NSDUH	Rapid City
Frontline Source Group, Inc	Housekeeping	Rapid City
Cox Automotive	Dealer.com Inside Regional Sales Manager-Upsell	Sioux Falls
Collabera	Escalation Speciality	Sioux Falls
Collabera	Call Center Representative	Sioux Falls
Taranis	Regional Account Manager	Sioux Falls
Dakota Wesleyan	Immediate Openings Accounting And Business Business Faculty Position Mitchell	Alexandria
Dakota Wesleyan	Immediate Openings Director McGovern Library Mitchell	Alexandria
Dakota Wesleyan	Faculty Position in Accounting	Mitchell
Dakota Wesleyan	Library Director	Mitchell
Dakota Wesleyan	Accounting - Faculty Position	Mitchell
Avera	Supply Chain Technician - PRN	Aberdeen
Midstates Group	Forklift Operator - Receiving	Aberdeen
Gates Corporation	Warehouse Worker	Brandon
Coborn's, Inc.	Stock Clerk	Mitchell
Menard, Inc	Part - Time Outside Yard & Receiving	Mitchell
Avera	Supply Chain Technician - PRN	Pierre

Hey guys, here are some recent job openings , feel free to comment here if you have any questions, I'm at the community's disposal! If you encounter any problems with any of these job openings please let me know that I will modify the table accordingly. Thanks!

Hello everyone,
I applied to NYU SPS and they’re asking for international transcript evaluation because I went to college outside of the US in 2013. However, I don’t want any of my credits from this school to be taken. I also went to a community college in the US and I need these credits to be taken because it is a transfer degree to a BS program. I check the website and it shows the transcript evaluation under the “international student” part; however, I’m not an international student.
Is this normal? They are asking because I added this school as it was asked in the application.
Anybody has experienced this before?
Thanks in advance!

Hello everyone, I am an international student expecting to come to Glasgow this year and was wondering what is the average monthly wage I could earn as a part time worker? Is it hard to get a job in the first year and could I also be able to cover my monthly living costs with the salary? Thank you.

I got an offer from a consulting firm (not big 4) as a junior FA. I am a college dropout, but am currently following a relevant course through VDAB.

1. PERSONALIA
   Age: 25
   Education: High school (ASO), studied IT in college but dropped out final year
   Work Experience : 1 year in irrelevant field
   Civil status: legal cohabitation
   Dependent children (Kinderen ten laste/enfants à charge): none
   
2. TYPE OF CONTRACT
   Current job title/description: Junior Functional Analyst
   (Ancienniteit/Anciennité): 0
   Official hours/week : 38h/week + 2h/week for ADV
   (excluding transport): transport will depend on the client I will be placed with, they do take travel time into account for placements
   SectoIndustry: private sector
   
3. WAGE CONDITIONS
   Gross wage (brut): €2534,02
   Net wage (incl. net fees): €2102,02
   13th month (full? partial?): full
   Mobile phone? Laptop?: laptop
   Meal vouchers: €7,91/day
   Ecocheques: €250/year
   Group Insurance (% part employer): 2% of bruto
   Hospitalisation Insurance: yes, and can family members free of charge
   Other advantages (bonus, 14th month, stocks...): cao90 bonus, holiday pay (0.92 months)
   
4. MOBILITY
   City/region of work: Mechelen (main office)
   Distance home-work (km's): 62km
   Distance home-work (time): 1h20
   Do you need your own car?: no
   How is the travel home-work compensated: Company car + fuel card (€660 TCO budget)
   
5. OTHER CONDITIONS
   Amount of official holidays: 20
   (ADV, RTT) : 12
   Other extra holidays: none
   How easy can you plan a day off: depends on client I'll be placed with, but normally quite flexible
   Shiftwork or daytime job? Daytime
   Flexible working hours: yes
   Amount of stress (standby for troubles at work)?: NA
   How often does overtime happens: NA
   Education possibilities: both internal and external training and certificates
   Teleworking (besides corona-period): depends on placing with client, probably 50%
   Responsible for personnel (reports): no
   

I have anxiety and I’ve never been diagnosed with anything else but I have this weird habit of repeating things in my head after hearing them. This happened as a kid when I’d be watching TV and would hear a certain line. I recently noticed it still happens. It isn’t every single phrase, just random ones that cause me to subconsciously repeat them internally. Same goes for conversations with others; sometimes they’ll say something and I repeat it right after in my head.
Another thing I repeat is a conversation before I say it out loud (As an example: I might have to talk to a coworker about something work-related). I say the phrase over and over again in my head before I can say it out loud, or I’ll repeat a part of the conversation afterwards. Is this due to anxiety or is this common for neurodivergent people?

Just not using my PC enough to warrant keeping it. Everything is in perfect working condition, there is some scratching on the metal side of the case but that is always against the wall for me. GPU has only ever been used for (pretty light) gaming, never mining.
Asking $850 + shipping Paypal G&S. Local to Charlotte, NC is even better. Happy to ship however the buyer wants, I have most of the boxes for the individual parts still. Here is a link to pictures as well as the PCPartPicker list. Please let me know if you have any questions!
PICTURES
PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$272.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS (WI-FI) ATX AM4 Motherboard	$209.99 @ Amazon
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 CL15 Memory	$49.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Samsung 850 Evo 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	-
Storage	Western Digital Black SN750 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive	$123.00 @ Amazon
Video Card	Gigabyte GAMING OC GeForce RTX 3070 8 GB Video Card	$629.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Corsair CX650M (2021) 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$79.99 @ B&H
Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
Total	$1365.95
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-05-22 12:10 EDT-0400

I'm currently employed; but my current job was intended as a year-ish long stop-gap. I was working for a tech startup and saw the writing on the wall so I went back to my old employer in a manager role about five months ago. I'm an attorney, and I HATE the role I am in right now - I am not doing any legal work at all. However, the company I work for is well regarded in the industry I work in, and having their name on my resume looks good.
I've been contacted by a firm that wants me to come be a dedicated writer for internal/external projects. I would be essentially be a knowledge management attorney. The pay should be great, the job is 95% remote, I will hopefully not be bored out of my mind, I've liked everyone I have spoken to at the firm, and there are no billable hours; but I will work longer hours and give up some pretty great perks at my current position. I also have not always worked well in constant high-pressure environments.
At the same time, I have been interviewing for my dream job with the federal government. I know it takes forever to get hired; but I'm worried about harming my chances if I take this other position. (Many people from my current company have managed to get hired by the agency I am interested in.) However, taking the position would also put me in a better place negotiating pay/steps/vacation time if the federal government DOES offer me a position.
Should I stay with my current company and hope I get the federal job? It isn't bad pay by any means, I like my colleagues for the most part, there are some really great perks, a fair amount of flexibility and I'm worried that my job hopping will look bad. Or should I take the chance on the new position?

I’m toying with the idea of doing a part time PhD in SUSS. I’ve seen the curriculum and it seems to be manageable as SUSS seems to tailor its programmes to suit working adults. The other universities only offer PhD as a full time programme which I think it too much of an opportunity cost.
I been working in private sector for more than 10 years now and mostly working in supply chain and logistics kind of jobs and I’m already holding a masters degree so the eligibility part is not a problem and supply chain seems like a popular area in operations research for PhD programmes.
My motivation is to get out of the corporate and move to academia for the later part of my career until retirement. I suppose academia is not so hectic. What interest me is that I do like to run trainings in my current job and have to do some internal consulting work as well so it seems like being a academic would be a good fit.
Anyone did a PhD and move from a private sector job to academia? I would love to hear more from you.
And given the part time PhD programme in SUSS seems very new, I wonder if this will be viewed on par as other PhD from the other local public universities?

Company Name	Title	City
Collabera	Credit Collections Specialist	Johnston
Vicor Corp	Sr. EDA Engineer	Lincoln
The Computer Merchant, LTD.	Oracle Primavera Unifier Configuration Specialist	Providence
RTI International	Field Interviewer - NSDUH	Providence
V-Soft Consulting Group, Inc.	Data Engineer (Python)	Smithfield
V-Soft Consulting Group, Inc.	Java Software Engineer	Smithfield
Capgemini FS	Healthcare Analyst	Warwick
Konica Minolta Business Solutions	Field Service Technician	Warwick
Textron	Manager, Leadership Development Program	Providence
Brown University	Operations Manager	Providence
Arnold Lumber Co	Seaside - Shipping Associate	Coventry
Power Home Remodeling	Warehouse Coordinator	Cumberland
Usagov	Supply Technician	East Greenwich
Bekaert	Warehouse and Planning Administrator	Exeter
A. Duie Pyle	Dockworker Inbound	Johnston
Navy Exchange Service Command	Warehouse Worker / Part Time - Recruitment Bonus $300	Newport
Brunswick Corporation	Freedom Boat Club - Dock Hand at North Kingstown, RI	North Kingstown
Spherion	Entry Level Warehouse/Packer	North Smithfield
Abercrombie and Fitch Co.	Hollister Co. - Stock Associate, Providence Place	Providence
VF Corporation	The North Face Stockroom Supervisor (Providence Place, Providence, RI)	Providence
M.S. Walker	Warehouse Associate	Warren
Brunswick Corporation	Freedom Boat Club - Dock Hand at Warwick, RI	Warwick
Penske Automotive Group Inc	Parts Runner	Warwick
Aramark	Warehouse Worker - Flowers Lepage Rhode Island	Warwick
Ferguson Enterprises, LLC	Warehouse Associate	West Greenwich

Hey guys, here are some recent job openings , feel free to comment here if you have any questions, I'm at the community's disposal! If you encounter any problems with any of these job openings please let me know that I will modify the table accordingly. Thanks!

Hi all,
I am just looking to see if others can relate to my experiences.
TDLR: I feel like I was treated as a lazy irresponsible kid who needed to try harder yet still feel pressure to have my shit together since I was diagnosed as a kid.
I was labeled as gifted the same year I was diagnosed with ADHD (fourth grade) which I think contributed to my inconsistent educational history. I was always the lowest highest achiever in my grade if that makes sense lol. I had consistently high grades until about middle school when my grades became more discrepant. For example, I was on the honor roll even though I had a D in Algebra because all my other grades were so high. The same went for even honors and AP courses I took: All As in one class and then near-failing in one or two.
My overall academic achievement lead to my school refusing to do any sort of accommodations until the very end of my senior year when I was diagnosed with Dyslexia. The lack of any academic support for my ADHD while taking the honors path in high school was especially brutal. Because the school had no plan, my teachers generally viewed me as a very intelligent student that needed to try harder. They did not see all of the work and effort I put in at home because while content naturally made sense, not having the executive functioning skills to set up and begin homework basically cancels it out. Even my parents, who did believe I had ADHD and were generally supportive, were very strict with grades and would punish me if I performed poorly. They believed that while ADHD had challenges, it also was no excuse for me to not do well in a course.
To add to the fun, my parents did try to medicate me but after years of trying medications and having bad reactions, they decided to stop trying. I was very fortunate to have access to therapy and that helped a lot with developing coping strategies but didn’t necessarily make up for the complete lack of academic support I needed in school.
It felt like my ADHD diagnosis didn’t mean anything outside of a defect that I needed to overcome by myself. Even now, when I notice my ADHD symptoms act up, I get into a “I must change this ASAP or I am a failure” mentality.
As an adult roaming ADHD spaces, I am finding it to be somewhat challenging to sort of find my place in this community. I see a lot of other women with gifted labels be diagnosed later in life and can sometimes relate to their struggles as children but I also never have had the sort of "relief" that many posters here seem to have after getting a diagnosis. Instead of having a diagnosis explain my issues and affirming I am not just a lazy person but someone with an actual disability, my ADHD has always felt like just another flaw I needed to fix.
Another thing that I have noticed is that since it is more common for women to be diagnosed later in life, it also comes with a lot of grief and questioning of “How could my life be if I were diagnosed earlier?”. It is very understandable and I cannot imagine the trauma that is there. I do not want to downplay anyone's experience either. However, for me, I already have the answer for that: my current life for better or for worse. Being diagnosed early didn’t help me in the ways that many people hope for. I have coping strategies with my feelings and actually wrote in my planner. but still had to retake Algebra. I was always the lowest achieving kid in the gifted group anyways.
I also feel a lot more pressure to have things together since I was diagnosed as a child and had access to therapy. The pressure there is mostly internal. While I have done some neat things, I still don’t have all of my shit together. I am still disorganized and my desk is cluttered. I deal with moldy food sometimes in my fridge. Even in terms of career and academics: I am doing graduate school partly because my old career conditions were too overwhelming for my ADHD and Dyslexia symptoms.
Please do not misunderstand, I feel grateful for being diagnosed early in life. I just feel caught in this weird overlap of relating to being the gifted kid that needs to try harder and having the pressure being the person with an early diagnosis with the expectation living a successful life when I forget to read my own grocery list that I bring with me to the grocery store.
For those of you have similar experiences, have you felt similarly? How do you view your ADHD symptoms now? What is your story?

So I'm looking to upgrade my bone stock VSR-10RS to shoot at around 4.5 joules with .2g bb's. I'm aware that basically every single part of the internals needs to be upgraded, so what are the best part options for it? and how reliable will it be, if the compromise in reliability is really bad then 3.5-4J will be enough, price is not an issue as long as its not insane