My therapist has recommend taking FMLA to work on my mental health which is rather bad at the moment. I contacted my HR department and they provided me with the paperwork for FMLA and STD. I gave it to my therapist and am waiting on them to return it to my employer (said it takes about a week.) HR told me it is all very confidential and no one will know why I am on FMLA. What they didn't say is what to do while I'm waiting on the paperwork to be returned and approved? I've been working this whole time still and it's been very hard to keep my head above water. I also haven't told my supervisor that I'm requesting FMLA because I don't know if it will be approved or not (HR did make it sound like it would be since it's coming from a doctor?) and I don't want her prying (she's very nosey and gossipy.)
So my questions are:

1. Do I tell my supervisor I've requested FMLA or does HR? If me, when do I tell my supervisor that I've requested FMLA?
2. When the doctor returns the paperwork, how long usually until HR approves/denies the request?
3. Once approved, when does FMLA start? Immediately?

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Apologies if these seem like silly questions, but FMLA seems really cut and dry to me when taking it for something with very precise start dates like surgeries. Something more nebulous like mental health break feels very confusing and overwhelming.
Thanks!

I’m jamie - a freelance graphic & web designer that works with brands, agencies & entrepreneurs to create meaningful simple design solutions. Check out my portfolio www.jamiestewartdesign.com and on Instagram @jamiestewartdesign for case studies of my previous work.
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Long story short: I have a friend with benefits. This relationship is working fine because we're both fine with this. None of us two is looking for a relationship, we're both young (mid 20's), we are building our future, and we don't have much free time because University keeps us busy.
We're just two friends who find each other attractive, but we do not develop romantic feelings for each other. We can kiss for 5 minutes straight in public because we're attracted to each other, but still, with no feelings involved. It's rare to make this kind of friendship work or last, but we both know how to handle this.
We're friends outside of the bedroom, we can just hang out or spend time together normally with or without other friends of ours.
He always compliments me a lot and he calls me ''gorgeous'' every day. I like that it's genuine, he doesn't need to do that. But last week he said ''you're the most beautiful woman I've laid my eyes on'' and that irked me. I did hide my frustration, but it's been almost 10 days and I'm still angry. I know it's a little irrational, but that's one of the most annoying things a guy can say imo, can't help it.
I'm really happy with my look and I do consider myself lucky in that department, but I'm totally sure that in his entire life he has seen a few women who are as good-looking as me. Whenever a guy says I'm the most beautiful woman he's seen, I feel like he's making fun of me and I feel like he's just saying it to make me want to sleep with him. I like to hear ''you're * one of the * most beautiful women I've seen'' much more than I like to hear ''you're * the * most beautiful woman''. I ignored that thinking ''I'm a psycho for being still mad 10 days later'', but yesterday he moved my hair to the side while he was talking to me face to face and said ''no one is as beautiful as you''. It's annoying.
However, I don't want to bring that up 'cause it'd make me sound insecure and I don't want to say something like ''please stop, I know it's not true'' and denigrate myself, I'm not insecure. But his comments are annoying.
I love him as a person, but this specific thing he says annoys me.

For I was yet scarcely fallen asleep, when I thought that I, together with an innumerable multitude of men, lay fettered with great chains in a dark dungeon, in which, without the least glimpse of light, we swarmed like bees one over another, and thus rendered each other’s affliction more grievous. But although neither I nor any of the rest could see one jot, yet I continually heard one heaving himself above the other, when his chains and fetters had become ever so slightly lighter, though none of us had much reason to shove up above the other, since we were all captive wretches.
Now when I with the rest had continued a good while in this affliction, and each was still reproaching the other with his blindness and captivity, at length we heard many trumpets sounding together and kettle drums beating in such a masterly fashion, that it even revived us in our calamity and made us rejoice.
During this noise the cover of the dungeon was lifted up from above, and a little light let down to us. Then first might truly have been discerned the bustle we kept, for all went pell-mell, and he who perchance had heaved himself up too much, was forced down again under the others’ feet. In brief, each one strove to be uppermost. Neither did I myself linger, but with my weighty fetters slipped up from under the rest, and then heaved myself upon a stone, which I laid hold of; howbeit, I was caught at several times by others, from whom yet as well as I might, I still guarded myself with hands and feet. For we imagined no other but that we should all be set at liberty, which yet fell out quite otherwise.
For after the nobles who looked upon us from above through the hole had recreated themselves a while with our struggling and lamenting, a certain hoary-headed ancient man called to us to be quiet, and having scarcely obtained this, began (as I still remember) to speak on thus:
If the poor human race
Were not so arrogant
It would have been given much good
From my mother’s heritage,
But because the human race will not take heed
It lies in such straits
And must be held in prison.
And yet my dearest mother
Will not regard their mischief,
She leaves her lovely gifts
That many a man might come to the light,
Though this may chance but seldom
That they be better prized
Nor reckoned as mere fable.
Therefore in honour of the feast
Which we shall hold today,
That her grace may be multiplied
A good work will she do:
The rope will now be lowered
Whoever may hang on to it
He shall be freed.
He had scarcely finished speaking when an ancient matron commanded her servants to let down the cord seven times into the dungeon, and draw up whosoever could hang upon it. Good God! that I could sufficiently describe the hurry and disquiet that then arose amongst us; for everyone strove to get to the cord, and yet only hindered each other. But after seven minutes a sign was given by a little bell, whereupon at the first pull the servants drew up four. At that time I could not get very near the cord, having (as is before mentioned) to my huge misfortune, betaken myself to a stone at the wall of the dungeon; and thereby I was made unable to get to the cord which descended in the middle.
The cord was let down the second time, but many, because their chains were too heavy, and their hands too tender, could not keep their hold on the cord, but with themselves beat down many another who else perhaps might have held fast enough; nay, many a one was forcibly pulled off by another, who yet could not himself get at it, so mutually envious were we even in this our great misery.
But they of all others most moved my compassion whose weight was so heavy that they tore their very hands from their bodies, and yet could not get up. Thus it came to pass that at those five times very few were drawn up. For as soon as the sign was given, the servants were so nimble at drawing the cord up, that the most part tumbled one upon another, and the cord, this time especially, was drawn up very empty.
Whereupon the greatest part, and even I myself, despaired of redemption, and called upon God that he would have pity on us, and (if possible) deliver us out of this obscurity; who then also heard some of us. For when the cord came down the sixth time, some of them hung themselves fast upon it; and whilst being drawn up, the cord swung from one side to the other, and (perhaps by the will of God) came to me, and I suddenly caught it, uppermost above all the rest, and so at length beyond hope came out. At which I rejoiced exceedingly, so that I did not perceive the wound which during the drawing up I had received on my head from a sharp stone, until I, with the rest who were released (as was always done before) had to help with the seventh and last pull; at which time through straining, the blood ran down all over my clothes, which I nevertheless because of my joy did not take notice of. Now when the last drawing up on which the most of all hung was finished, the matron caused the cord to be laid aside, and asked her aged son to declare her resolution to the rest of the prisoners, who after he had thought a little spoke thus unto them.
Ye childer dear
Ye who are here,
It is completed
What long hath been known,
The great favour which my mother
Hath here shown you twain
Ye should not disdain:
A joyful time shall soon be come.
When each shall be the other’s equal,
No one be poor or rich,
And who was given great commands
Must bring much with him now,
And who was much entrusted with
Stripped to the skin will be,
Wherefore leave off your lamentation
Which is but for a few day
As soon as he had finished these words, the cover was again put to and locked down, and the trumpets and kettle-drums began afresh, yet the noise of them could not be so loud but that the bitter lamentation of the prisoners which arose in the dungeon was heard above all, which soon also caused my eyes to run over.
Presently afterwards the ancient matron, together with her son, sat down on seats before prepared, and commanded the redeemed should be told. Now as soon as she had demanded everyone’s name, which were also written down by a little page; having viewed us all, one after another, she sighed, and spoke to her son, so that I could well hear her, “Ah, how heartily I am grieved for the poor men in the dungeon! I would to God I could release them all.”
To which her son replied, “It is, mother, thus ordained by God, against whom we may not contend. If we were all of us lords, and possessed all the goods upon Earth, and were seated at table, who would there then be to bring up the service?”
Whereupon his mother held her peace, but soon after she said, “Well, however, let these be freed from their fetters,” which was likewise presently done, and I was the last except a few; yet I could not refrain (though I still looked upon the rest) but bowed myself before the ancient matron, and thanked God that through her, he had graciously and fatherly vouchsafed to bring me out of such darkness into the light. After me the rest did likewise, to the satisfaction of the matron.
Lastly, to everyone was given a piece of gold for a remembrance, and to spend by the way, on the one side of which was stamped the rising sun, and on the other (as I remember) these three letters, D.L.S.; and therewith everyone had license to depart, and was sent to his own business with this annexed limitation, that we to the glory of God should benefit our neighbours, and reserve in silence what we had been entrusted with; which we also promised to do, and so departed one from another. But because of the wounds which the fetters had caused me, I could not well go forward, but halted on both feet, which the matron presently espying, laughing at it, and calling me again to her said thus to me: “My son, do not let this defect afflict you, but call to mind your infirmities, and therewith thank God who has permitted you even in this world, and in your state of imperfection, to come into so high a light; and keep these wounds for my sake.”
Whereupon the trumpets began to sound again, which gave me such a shock that I woke up, and then first perceived that it was only a dream, but it so strongly impressed my imagination that I was still perpetually troubled about it, and I thought I still felt the wounds on my feet. Howbeit, by all these things I understood well that God had vouchsafed that I should be present at this mysterious and bidden wedding. Wherefore with childlike confidence I returned thanks to his Divine Majesty, and besought him that he would further preserve me in fear of him, that he would daily fill my heart with wisdom and understanding, and at length graciously (without deserting me) conduct me to the desired end.
Hereupon I prepared myself for the way, put on my white linen coat, girded my loins, with a blood-red ribbon bound cross-ways over my shoulder. In my hat I stuck four red roses, so that I might sooner be noticed amongst the throng by this token. For food I took bread, salt and water, which by the counsel of an understanding person I had at certain times used, not without profit, in similar occurrences.
But before I left my cottage, I first, in this my dress and wedding garment, fell down upon my knees, and besought God that in case such a thing were, he would vouchsafe me a good issue. And thereupon in the presence of God I made a vow that if anything through his grace should be revealed to me, I would employ it to neither my own honour nor my own authority in the world, but to the spreading of his Name, and the service of my neighbour. And with this vow, and good hope, I departed out of my cell with joy.

So we have four physical servers running esxi and some VMs on top of them. We've always only had direct attached storage which meant that even if the host was on the cluster, it could not have a common datastore.
We've been using SATA SFF SSDs and I recently found out that the HPE MSAs don't support them! So I've been looking into vSAN.
Below is my hardware spec -
2 x Proliant DL 380 Gen9 with onboard P440ar controller
2 x Proliant DL 380 Gen10 with P408i-a controller
Ideally I'd like to use all of the existing architecture and it is only a development lab. Currently we get 500MBps and I'd like to make sure we don't have a dip in those read/write speeds.
We can add 10G adapters to the servers and connect them to a 10G switch. So could we implement vSAN with this setup?
We don't have any separate boot controllers and I'm not sure if the existing controllers (listed above) support pass-through mode? Two of the disks are on a RAID1 as my boot disk array while the rest of the disks are on a RAID10. As someone with no experience in vSAN (but do have a vSAN license), I'd like to know if there are any immediate red flags in the hardware implementation of this?
Just so you are aware, primary reason for vSAN is cost. Thanks for your advice.

Twenty years ago this week, the United States began its blatantly criminal invasion of an unthreatening sovereign state that inevitably turned into a hideous quagmire.
I had joined the United States Marine Corps in the summer of 2001. I was still in boot camp on 9/11, which made for an interesting couple of days. In early 2002 I obtained a two-year leave of absence to ‘serve’ a Mormon mission, and by March of 2003 I was more than a year into being a full-time religious propagandist in Mexico.
The war was big news in Mexico, with public opinion generally running pretty strong against it. Given my history of relentless indoctrination, and my current assignment of telling everyone I saw that they were immorally wrong about everything that mattered, and the fact that I wasn’t allowed to consume any kind of non-religious media material of any kind, I of course took the opposite position.
But I improved with time. I came home in early 2004, and quickly discovered that the war was, at best, very badly managed. But I was back into military service (as a reservist), so I fully expected to end up being deployed to Iraq at some point.
The miserable shitshow that played out across Iraq throughout 2005 and especially 2006 convinced me that the war wasn’t just badly executed but a hopelessly terrible idea from its very beginning, supported by blatant lies and unconscionable manipulation.
When my turn to deploy finally came, in 2009, I was rather conflicted. On the one hand, I clearly understood that the war was immoral and dangerous and I should avoid it at all cost. On the other hand, I was four years into attending college and making no discernible progress towards any of the goals I had set for myself: graduating, choosing a career, getting married, existing as a functional adult. So the choice (and it was a choice: contrary to the contract I thought I’d signed, I was set to be released from service in mid-2008, and so this deployment was entirely optional for me) was fraught. I didn’t want to kill or die for a mistake; but I also didn’t want to dodge what I was sure would be the challenge of a lifetime for a second time; and I also could not say with a straight face that I had anything better to do.
So I went. It didn’t go well , but it went at least as well as I had any right to expect. I never saw anything like combat (shooting flares at a few civilian vehicles was as close as I ever got), was never in danger, and so on. But it was no picnic, either: severe and extended boredom can be just as damaging as actual trauma, and the psychological abuse inherent in military life was constant. And things weren’t entirely safe: my unit had two suicides during the work-up, and given the state of my mental health, I was never all that unlikely to have joined them.
The whole experience did me no immediate good, but as an experience with disillusionment with and escaping from an all-consuming self-admiring institution, it was a pretty decent dry run for my exit from Mormonism a few years later. And, as I had expected, it got me a year’s salary (which was probably the majority of the money I’d made in my life up to that point), and a lifetime of monthly disability payments and free health insurance. So I really can’t say I completely regret it.
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The movie I’ve chosen to commemorate this anniversary is Green Zone, because it came out shortly after I came back, and I’d always wanted to see it, and I’d heard that it took an interesting angle on the whole mess, and I’d heard that it was pretty good (which is a rare quality among Iraq War movies, which have, shall we say, a mixed record ). And it’s pretty good, though of course it has some issues.
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The best thing about it is how it nails the look and feel of the military occupation. The movie abounds with details large and small that just look exactly right, from US troops driving green Humvees with no doors and unprotected gun turrets* to piles of Pizza-Hut-labeled shipping containers at the airport to one of them carrying around a bottle of chewing-tobacco spit to the use of the then-new Blue Force Tracker technology. Greg Kinnear as the villain of the piece looks exactly like he should, a completely nondescript bureaucrat that would never get a second look at any white-collar office in America, incongruously transplanted into a blood-soaked conflict in an environment where only fools and the extraordinarily pampered (he is both, of course) dress like that. And I didn’t know I needed to see exactly what the Google homepage looked like in 2003, but I did, and the movie delivered.
It’s also a very good look at the culture of the US military; the briefing with Colonel Bethel is pretty spot-on (except for the one guy interrupting to speak the truth; that pretty much never happens). It’s a bit optimistic to assume that a random US military unit would have even one Arabic speaker in it, but the movie makes up for it by having him only know a dialect that’s completely useless in Iraq. The soldier who argues with Damon and tells him that the reasons for going to war don’t matter to him struck me as a perfect distillation of the me-first attitude that the US military explicitly teaches its members: the “My only job is to get home safe” dogma was basically a part of the official training materials, very much to the detriment of accomplishing any particular mission beyond that (and of course no one ever wants to talk about how obviously cowardly and selfish such an attitude is).
The movie also does well with points of view from outside of the US military, namely the absolute terror of being an Iraqi unfortunate enough to fall into US hands during the occupation, and the possibly greater terror of being on the ground when the Americans started bombing or disbanded the Iraqi army and purged the civil service, which this movie treats as an irrefutable sign of the apocalypse. Not that any of that took any great insight to determine in 2010, years after it became clear what US detention was like and how foolish it was to send thousands of unhappy armed men out into the streets with nothing to do, but it’s still good to see it stated so plainly.
One aspect that does not look so good is the trademark Paul Greengrass shaky-cam technique; it’s tolerable in the actual action scenes, which are supposed to be stressful and chaotic, but in the opening scene, in which the ‘action’ mostly involves men walking quickly down crowded hallways,** it really doesn’t work. I do wonder how Greengrass does it; does he plan and rehearse the camera movements, or just have the actors do their thing while someone waves the camera around randomly? One analysis of one of Greengrass’s Bourne movies pointed out that it seems that the camera can’t predict the characters’ movements, which adds to the sense of uncertainty and danger; I wonder how closely Greengrass controls the camera’s ‘random’ movements, and what he thinks he’s saying with them.
There are other moments that fall short of the movie’s best moments of authenticity: Damon’s first scene, in which he explains (over the radio, no less!) where his team is going and what they’ll be doing there is pure Hollywood bullshit; any such explanation would be given (likely multiple times) well before the mission actually started, and the team will try to minimize radio use while out in the field. And that’s not the only moment of clumsy exposition; once that mission fails to find anything of use, Damon laments “That’s the third one in a row,” to a roomful of guys who’ve been on all the same missions and all presumably know exactly how many of them there have been. On that same mission, someone, for some reason, uses a Geiger counter to analyze a suspected chemical weapons site, which…what?
The movie’s second-strongest sympathetic character is a CIA ‘Middle-East expert’ that knows everything he needs to know and that no one listens to. While I don’t doubt that no one important listened to anyone who knew what was going on, the thing-knower being a CIA agent that the CIA chose to send to Baghdad seems unlikely; were there any such thing-knowers left in the CIA in 2003? If so, why would leadership (which was fully behind the WMD hoax) send such an ‘unreliable’ person to such a sensitive post? Surely they knew there was a risk of him doing exactly what he ended up doing, and would have kept him as far from the action as possible.***
And how and why does he have such detailed information at his fingertips about the movements of people that don’t officially concern him? That information would be a closely guarded secret that he has no plausible official need to know. And why the hell does he dare take a very important phone call, which concerns a blatantly illegal operation he’s running off the books, on speaker in a room that’s crowded with god knows who that he very obviously can’t necessarily trust?
Once he makes contact with Damon, he sets up a meeting in the most secure part of the infamous Green Zone, which Damon is somehow able to access with minimal trouble. That strikes me as outrageously implausible; the highest security I ever experienced in Iraq was about 37 levels lower than the Green Zone (where American civilians could expect to live and work in pretty much complete safety), and even there I had to show my dog tags and scan my ID to enter the gym or the chow hall. Green Zone security would emphatically not just wave through any random US military vehicle or personnel that showed up at the gate. Damon would have to show some kind of proof that he belongs there, and since he’s going to an unauthorized meeting with a civilian far outside his chain of command, he just wouldn’t have that, and the gate guards would turn him away.
At that meeting, the CIA guy instructs Damon to get out of uniform, which is wise, but we never find out where Damon gets the civilian clothes and the civilian body armor we see him wearing right after. (I doubt he would have brought civvies with him for his invasion deployment, and even military body armor was pretty hard to come by in Iraq in 2003.) But also I understand why the movie felt it didn’t have time for a deep dive into this question. What it leads to is egregious, though; in the movie’s climactic scene, Damon, dressed in civilian clothes and carrying a clearly non-American weapon he stole from a local, runs through a combat situation involving US troops who spot him from a helicopter…and they somehow assume that he’s an American who’s on their side. What makes them think that? Did all US troops in Iraq in 2003 have implanted RFID chips that all US night-vision scopes could pick out from a distance? (No. No they did not.) Nothing at all that they can see indicates that Damon is American, but even if they knew he was American, he’s actually working against those particular US troops (who are very explicitly there to kill the man that Damon is trying to contact and rescue), and so there’s still no reason to identify him as a ‘friendly.’ This is a most unfortunate misstep, because doing it more realistically (having the US troops not know who Damon is, assume he’s their enemy, and act accordingly) would actually better serve the movie’s general theme of disunity and confusion.
Those same US troops are first seen arriving in a helicopter that suddenly arrives from below the not-very-high high ground that Damon is standing on, which means they must have been flying very low indeed (like, below rooftop level) over a very urban area, which is ridiculous; and without anyone hearing them approach from miles away, which is even more ridiculous.**** But those same US troops also drive around in Humvees at night with their headlights blazing, which is just dumb enough to be real. But what’s way too smart to be real is the timing of that helicopter arrival; Damon apprehends an important individual, and those troops (who are also looking for that person for unrelated reasons) somehow know about that and are able to arrive instantly, which…rather stretches the bounds of plausibility.
There are also some timeline issues, which are bad to have in a movie that is so closely tied to historical events on very specific dates. The invasion began on March 19, as seen in the first scene. Then we skip forward to ‘four weeks later,’ around April 16. The rest of the movie seems to take place over only a few days, and yet prominent plot points include George W. Bush’s (spit) Mission Accomplished speech (which happened on May 1), and the CPA’s dissolution of the Iraqi state apparatus (which happened on May 23). In the movie, those 22 days seem to pass in a matter of hours.
Also, and this is unbelievably petty of me, somewhere in the Green Zone, sometime at least as late as April 16, we catch a glimpse of someone watching a college basketball game (UCLA vs. Oregon, if I’m not mistaken) on TV. The final game of the 2003 NCAA tournament was played on April 7, and didn’t involve either team: Oregon lost to Utah in the first round, and UCLA didn’t even make the tournament, so that game is misplaced in time by at least a month.
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Around the time it came out, I heard that this movie was a kind of Inglourious Basterds treatment of the Iraq War. While it’s certainly not NOT that (in that it’s an optimistic fantasy that revises well-known historical events about which there is little cause for optimism), it’s also different in that it doesn’t depart from the historical events nearly as much. There really was a ‘Magellan’ figure in real life, but he was called ‘Curveball,’ and, despite being pretty different from the version in the movie, he had precisely the same effect of being cited in favor of the invasion. In the movie, Magellan is an Iraqi Army officer who secretly meets with Americans to tell them that Iraq has no WMD programs. The Americans then falsely report that he’s told them Iraq has WMDs, and the war machine’s gears start to turn and the Americans plot to kill Magellan so he won’t reveal what he actually told them. In reality, Curveball was an Iraqi exile who actually told the Germans (not the Americans) what the Americans wanted to hear, because he figured it would make his asylum application (he’d fled Iraq after embezzling money from his government employer) easier. I’m not sure why the movie felt the need to change these details; an Iraqi who lies for his own gain is at least as interesting a character as an Iraqi who tells a truth that certain people are determined to disbelieve, and what US intelligence did with Curveball’s obviously flawed reports was hardly any more honest than blatantly telling the world he’d said something he never said.
The movie isn’t really clear what it thinks Damon’s heroism amounts to. He leaks his final report to every news outlet he can think of. Perhaps one of them will publish, but perhaps not. News outlets strive to scoop each other, but sometimes, as the real-life Iraq War amply shows, they collude to cover things up, especially when it’s something as explosive and ‘unpatriotic’ as “The whole reason for this very popular war was a complete lie.” Furthermore, how credible is Damon’s information? It’s based entirely on conversations he says he had with an enemy general who is now dead. No one has any reason to believe these conversations took place, or if they did that the general said what Damon says he said, or if he did that he wasn’t mistaken or lying.
But even if someone does publish, it will make no difference. US troops are already in Baghdad, and the CPA has already taken the plunge that made civil war inevitable. A report (even one whose credibility is bulletproof, which this one very much is not) that the whole war was based on a lie will not change anything, any more than it did in real life when the lack of WMDs and the falsity of the pre-war intelligence became similarly clear on a similar timeline.
In any case, Damon’s Army career is over. He leaked a very sensitive internal document, using an email account under his own name. He might not be guaranteed to go to prison, but he has to be in a shitload of trouble. The Army quietly booting him out and never speaking of this again is the absolute best-case scenario for him.
The movie’s two main sympathetic characters take turns reminding each other to not be naïve, but the movie itself is pretty naïve if it thinks that what we see is a happy ending. Or maybe it’s not meant to be a happy ending, and I’m the one being naïve.
In any case, I was expecting the SF team led by Jason Isaacs to kill Damon and then, upon realizing who he was, hype him up as a hero who gave his life for his country, thus completely obscuring the very unpatriotic truth about what he died doing and why. You know, a slightly worse version of exactly what the real-life Army actually did with the actual case of Pat Tillman.
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The movie also runs into trouble upon consideration of its moral perspective; movies love the idea of someone going rogue, breaking whatever rules get in the way of ‘doing the right thing,’ as Damon does throughout the movie. But that’s the whole problem with the Iraq War, isn’t it? Government officials decided that brutalizing Iraq was ‘the right thing,’ and they broke any number of rules of humanity and decency (not to mention actual laws) to make it happen. They went rogue exactly as Damon does, so who can really say that he’s right and they’re wrong?
His confrontation with Amy Ryan’s reporter character also struck me as backwards; the movie wants us to see it as Damon, the heroic teller of inconvenient truths, heroically confronting the corrupt and decadent and much more powerful peddler of lies. But it’s really not that at all; she got lied to just as hard as he did, and he’s a heavily armed agent of the state security apparatus upon which her life and safety directly depend. It’s pretty ridiculous to see him as any kind of underdog in that situation.
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Some stray observations:
It’s pretty funny that the early scene at the airport shows the blown-up remains of a large cargo plane, given the famous fate of the An-225 in that other, more recent, blatantly criminal invasion of an unthreatening sovereign state that inevitably turns into a hideous quagmire.
I was surprised by how much of the spoken Arabic I understood; I ‘studied’ Arabic for two years in college, and didn’t really get anywhere with it, but there were multiple instances where seeing the English word in the subtitles brought to mind a particular Arabic word that the characters promptly said. (These include ‘ichwan’ for ‘brothers,’ ‘kul il balad’ for ‘the entire country,’ ‘bernamaj’ for ‘program,’ and some others.)
Ben Sliney is in the cast as a random bureaucrat in the background of one of the Green Zone scenes. This is the air-traffic-control official who gave the ground-all-flights order on 9/11, and then legendarily played himself in the movie United 93. This is his only other non-documentary film credit, so I hope he kept his day job.
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*By the time I got to Iraq, the Humvees had all been painted desert-tan and heavily armored, but my understanding is that this change did not take hold until like 2007.
**In a manner unfortunately reminiscent of George Bluth Senior ‘running with great intensity.’ Yes, this is foreshadowing. It is inevitable, because despite its ambitions, this movie proves that the definitive Hollywood treatment of the Iraq War is still selected episodes of Arrested Development. (And Generation Kill, which I considered revisiting for this anniversary post.)
***I do enjoy how Kinnear frames the idea of people who know things: they’re ‘dinosaurs’ with heads full of ‘old ideas,’ which sounds like he’s being boldly innovative and courageously resisting hidebound bureaucracies that have outlived their usefulness. But of course the ‘old ideas’ are things like ‘Know what the hell is going on’ and ‘Don’t assume you can simply kill anyone you don’t like,’ and Kinnear’s ‘bold innovations’ are just clueless wishful thinking.
****Movies very often miss this detail, but helicopters are really loud. Almost as loud as gunfire, though of course movies also very often fail to convey how loud gunfire is. It is impossible for a low-flying helicopter to sneak up like that on anyone with functional ears. They’d be drowning out any attempt at conversation before they got within hundreds of yards.

For I was yet scarcely fallen asleep, when I thought that I, together with an innumerable multitude of men, lay fettered with great chains in a dark dungeon, in which, without the least glimpse of light, we swarmed like bees one over another, and thus rendered each other’s affliction more grievous. But although neither I nor any of the rest could see one jot, yet I continually heard one heaving himself above the other, when his chains and fetters had become ever so slightly lighter, though none of us had much reason to shove up above the other, since we were all captive wretches.
Now when I with the rest had continued a good while in this affliction, and each was still reproaching the other with his blindness and captivity, at length we heard many trumpets sounding together and kettle drums beating in such a masterly fashion, that it even revived us in our calamity and made us rejoice.
During this noise the cover of the dungeon was lifted up from above, and a little light let down to us. Then first might truly have been discerned the bustle we kept, for all went pell-mell, and he who perchance had heaved himself up too much, was forced down again under the others’ feet. In brief, each one strove to be uppermost. Neither did I myself linger, but with my weighty fetters slipped up from under the rest, and then heaved myself upon a stone, which I laid hold of; howbeit, I was caught at several times by others, from whom yet as well as I might, I still guarded myself with hands and feet. For we imagined no other but that we should all be set at liberty, which yet fell out quite otherwise.
For after the nobles who looked upon us from above through the hole had recreated themselves a while with our struggling and lamenting, a certain hoary-headed ancient man called to us to be quiet, and having scarcely obtained this, began (as I still remember) to speak on thus:
If the poor human race
Were not so arrogant
It would have been given much good
From my mother’s heritage,
But because the human race will not take heed
It lies in such straits
And must be held in prison.
And yet my dearest mother
Will not regard their mischief,
She leaves her lovely gifts
That many a man might come to the light,
Though this may chance but seldom
That they be better prized
Nor reckoned as mere fable.
Therefore in honour of the feast
Which we shall hold today,
That her grace may be multiplied
A good work will she do:
The rope will now be lowered
Whoever may hang on to it
He shall be freed.
He had scarcely finished speaking when an ancient matron commanded her servants to let down the cord seven times into the dungeon, and draw up whosoever could hang upon it. Good God! that I could sufficiently describe the hurry and disquiet that then arose amongst us; for everyone strove to get to the cord, and yet only hindered each other. But after seven minutes a sign was given by a little bell, whereupon at the first pull the servants drew up four. At that time I could not get very near the cord, having (as is before mentioned) to my huge misfortune, betaken myself to a stone at the wall of the dungeon; and thereby I was made unable to get to the cord which descended in the middle.
The cord was let down the second time, but many, because their chains were too heavy, and their hands too tender, could not keep their hold on the cord, but with themselves beat down many another who else perhaps might have held fast enough; nay, many a one was forcibly pulled off by another, who yet could not himself get at it, so mutually envious were we even in this our great misery.
But they of all others most moved my compassion whose weight was so heavy that they tore their very hands from their bodies, and yet could not get up. Thus it came to pass that at those five times very few were drawn up. For as soon as the sign was given, the servants were so nimble at drawing the cord up, that the most part tumbled one upon another, and the cord, this time especially, was drawn up very empty.
Whereupon the greatest part, and even I myself, despaired of redemption, and called upon God that he would have pity on us, and (if possible) deliver us out of this obscurity; who then also heard some of us. For when the cord came down the sixth time, some of them hung themselves fast upon it; and whilst being drawn up, the cord swung from one side to the other, and (perhaps by the will of God) came to me, and I suddenly caught it, uppermost above all the rest, and so at length beyond hope came out. At which I rejoiced exceedingly, so that I did not perceive the wound which during the drawing up I had received on my head from a sharp stone, until I, with the rest who were released (as was always done before) had to help with the seventh and last pull; at which time through straining, the blood ran down all over my clothes, which I nevertheless because of my joy did not take notice of. Now when the last drawing up on which the most of all hung was finished, the matron caused the cord to be laid aside, and asked her aged son to declare her resolution to the rest of the prisoners, who after he had thought a little spoke thus unto them.
Ye childer dear
Ye who are here,
It is completed
What long hath been known,
The great favour which my mother
Hath here shown you twain
Ye should not disdain:
A joyful time shall soon be come.
When each shall be the other’s equal,
No one be poor or rich,
And who was given great commands
Must bring much with him now,
And who was much entrusted with
Stripped to the skin will be,
Wherefore leave off your lamentation
Which is but for a few day
As soon as he had finished these words, the cover was again put to and locked down, and the trumpets and kettle-drums began afresh, yet the noise of them could not be so loud but that the bitter lamentation of the prisoners which arose in the dungeon was heard above all, which soon also caused my eyes to run over.
Presently afterwards the ancient matron, together with her son, sat down on seats before prepared, and commanded the redeemed should be told. Now as soon as she had demanded everyone’s name, which were also written down by a little page; having viewed us all, one after another, she sighed, and spoke to her son, so that I could well hear her, “Ah, how heartily I am grieved for the poor men in the dungeon! I would to God I could release them all.”
To which her son replied, “It is, mother, thus ordained by God, against whom we may not contend. If we were all of us lords, and possessed all the goods upon Earth, and were seated at table, who would there then be to bring up the service?”
Whereupon his mother held her peace, but soon after she said, “Well, however, let these be freed from their fetters,” which was likewise presently done, and I was the last except a few; yet I could not refrain (though I still looked upon the rest) but bowed myself before the ancient matron, and thanked God that through her, he had graciously and fatherly vouchsafed to bring me out of such darkness into the light. After me the rest did likewise, to the satisfaction of the matron.
Lastly, to everyone was given a piece of gold for a remembrance, and to spend by the way, on the one side of which was stamped the rising sun, and on the other (as I remember) these three letters, D.L.S.; and therewith everyone had license to depart, and was sent to his own business with this annexed limitation, that we to the glory of God should benefit our neighbours, and reserve in silence what we had been entrusted with; which we also promised to do, and so departed one from another. But because of the wounds which the fetters had caused me, I could not well go forward, but halted on both feet, which the matron presently espying, laughing at it, and calling me again to her said thus to me: “My son, do not let this defect afflict you, but call to mind your infirmities, and therewith thank God who has permitted you even in this world, and in your state of imperfection, to come into so high a light; and keep these wounds for my sake.”
Whereupon the trumpets began to sound again, which gave me such a shock that I woke up, and then first perceived that it was only a dream, but it so strongly impressed my imagination that I was still perpetually troubled about it, and I thought I still felt the wounds on my feet. Howbeit, by all these things I understood well that God had vouchsafed that I should be present at this mysterious and bidden wedding. Wherefore with childlike confidence I returned thanks to his Divine Majesty, and besought him that he would further preserve me in fear of him, that he would daily fill my heart with wisdom and understanding, and at length graciously (without deserting me) conduct me to the desired end.
Hereupon I prepared myself for the way, put on my white linen coat, girded my loins, with a blood-red ribbon bound cross-ways over my shoulder. In my hat I stuck four red roses, so that I might sooner be noticed amongst the throng by this token. For food I took bread, salt and water, which by the counsel of an understanding person I had at certain times used, not without profit, in similar occurrences.
But before I left my cottage, I first, in this my dress and wedding garment, fell down upon my knees, and besought God that in case such a thing were, he would vouchsafe me a good issue. And thereupon in the presence of God I made a vow that if anything through his grace should be revealed to me, I would employ it to neither my own honour nor my own authority in the world, but to the spreading of his Name, and the service of my neighbour. And with this vow, and good hope, I departed out of my cell with joy.

National Women's Commission (Establishment) Bill

A
BILL
TO
Establish a National Women's Commission to oversee the implementation of policy and objectives on sexism and discrimination.
BE IT ENACTED by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows –
Part 1: Commission and Board
1 Establishment of a National Women’s Commission
(1) There shall be a commission known as the National Women’s Commission
(2) There shall be a Governing Board of which members shall comprise of–

(a) A chief commissioner appointed by the Secretary of State;
(b) A member appointed by the Scottish Ministers;
(c) A member appointed by the Welsh Ministers;
(d) A member appointed by the Northern Ireland Executive; and
(e) Three members to be appointed by the Secretary of State who have had experience in law or legislation, trade unionism, management of an industry or organisation committed to increasing the employment potential of women, women's voluntary organisations (including women activists), administration, economic development, health, education or social welfare.
(f) Two members to be appointed by the Secretary of State who identify as LGBTQ+, and has experience in matters pertaining to LGBTQ+ rights within and alongside women’s rights, within the law or public life in general.

(i) at least one member appointed under this paragraph shall identify with a gender identity or gender expression not entirely aligned with that previously assigned to them.

(3) Before a member is appointed under subsection (2), the Secretary of State must be consulted by—

(a) The Scottish Ministers, in exercise of paragraph (b);
(b) The Welsh Ministers, in exercise of paragraph (c); or
(c) The Northern Ireland Executive, in exercise of paragraph (d).

(4) An appointment made by the Secretary of State under subsection (2)(a) or (2)(e) may be terminated by the Secretary of State.
(5) An appointment made by the Scottish Ministers, Welsh Ministers, or Northern Ireland Executive may be terminated by the Scottish Ministers, Welsh Ministers, or Northern Ireland Executive, as the case may be.
(6) At least 75% of the Commission must be women.
(7) At least one member of the committee should be a member of the LGBTQ+ Community.
2 Duties of the Governing Board
(1) The Governing Board is to present to the Secretary of State an annual report outlining–

(a) the use of finances provided to the Commission;
(b) recommendations on the implementation of the objectives of the Commission;
(c) progress made on meeting goals if set by the Secretary of State under Part 2, Section 1(1)(e);
(d) any other information the Governing Board sees fit to include.

Part 2: Operations of the Commission
1 Objectives of the National Women’s Commission
(1) The objectives of the National Women’s Commission are–

(a) to investigate and examine all matters relating to the protections provided for women under the law;
(b) to investigate complaints and take notice of matters relating to–

(i) the deprivation of the rights of women;
(ii) the non-implementation of laws enacted to provide protection to women;
(iii) non-compliance of policy decisions, guidelines or instructions aimed at mitigating hardships and ensuring welfare and providing relief to women.

(c) to promote the equality of women and prevent discrimination in all aspects of life;

2 Changes to the Objectives of the National Women’s Commission
(1) The Secretary of State may by order–

(c) change the objectives of the National Women’s Commission;
(d) implement tangible goals to be achieved by the National Women’s Commission.

(2) The Secretary of State will in their proposal add the draft order and the views expressed, or a summary, accompanied by their position on those views.
Part 3: Miscellaneous
1 Definitions
(1) For the purposes of this bill, “woman” and “women” are defined the same as in the Equality Act 2010
2 Short title, commencement, extent
(1) This Act may be cited as the National Women’s Commission (Establishment) Act 2023.
(2) This Act comes into force six months after it receives Royal Assent.
(3) This Act extends to the United Kingdom.

(a) This Act extends to Scotland if the Scottish Parliament passes a motion of legislative consent;
(b) This Act extends to Wales if the Welsh Parliament passes a motion of legislative consent;
(c) This Act extends to Northern Ireland if the Northern Irish Assembly passes a motion of legislative consent.

This Bill was written by the Rt. Hon. Lord of Melbourne, Leader of the House of Lords, on behalf of the 32nd Government.
Deputy Speaker,
When we formed this Government, we outlined our commitments to the British people in our King's Speech. One of those promises made was the implementation of a National Women’s Commission, and we intend to make good on this promise.
This Commission would seek to ensure that we are able to meet our goals to ending gender inequality within this country, and have expert advice on how to do so. It also would have the power to investigate complaints regarding the non-implementation of laws within any setting whether that be public or private. It shall offer advocacy to women and promote them in all aspects of society.
The Governing Board of the Commission will contain not only political appointees, but experts in law, trade unionism, activism, education, women’s health, and business. These will be strong women who can ensure that the Government continues to be held to account on the issues that affect them, and allow us to continue to mitigate centuries of patriarchal systematic discrimination that women have faced. In further promoting the views, activism and perspectives of women, we shall finally be able to have a more equal society.
I would hope that in this House we are able to recognise that this is a step forward towards promoting the rights of women, and a promise we took the British people; I would strive to see that my colleagues are able to steadfastly support this Bill, and what it seeks to achieve.
This division will end on Friday 24th March at 10pm GMT.

Just Eat Takeaway.com, Europe's largest food online ordering and delivery service, said on Tuesday it will reorganize in Britain, ending a service by which it employs its own couriers, a decision that will impact the jobs of around 1,870 workers. https://www.wikifx.com/en/newsdetail/202303212994696095.html?gip=TGal46
Of these, around 1,700 are couriers that will no longer be employed on full contracts. Another 170 in the company's operational department will also be impacted, the company said in a statement.
Just Eat said it will retain the employed courier model in most parts of continental Europe.

You can try to align your spells with the different periods of time, as it might help to strengthen the intention of the spells.
These spells don't have to elucidate, but a little bit of meditation or intention setting is enough.

Dawn: spells for study, business, employment, jobs, healing, and travel. You can also ritually purify something and bless new beginnings.
Noon: spells for strength, courage, protection, success, opportunity, and financial aid.
Sunset: spells for releasing, banishing, and breaking addictions and bad habits.
Night: spells to enhance self-development, psychic dreams, awareness, divination, spirituality, love, peace, healing emotional wounds, and releasing stress.

So have a great time. Blessed Be.

I posted here before about my time working in a call centre for the UK division of geek squad. The building we were in was owned by the parent company, and most "departments" were actually different businesses owned by the parent company. This meant that different brands were often on the same floor or in some cases in the same room.
So for a little while, (I think less then 2 years) the Best Buy call centre was in the room next to ours. They provided logistics support for the stores and gave customers delivery updates etc. It was a pretty small team because only 11 stores ever opened before best buy gave up on its UK expansion. It failed pretty miserably.
But at the start, best buy were enthusiastic about the venture, and this extended to the few American executives that were sent to the UK to help set things up and get things working in a way that fit the "Best Buy spirit". These people were cheery, enthusiastic and hated by basically everyone who worked there. They weren't bad people really, but their style of energetic motivation clashed pretty heavily with the working style of a British call centre. Where the standard attitude was essentially "I'm here because it pays marginally better then retail. I know that, you know that. Let's just get through this shift with as little fuss as possible".
But no. They had to pretend that being here was fun. And as part of that, they put a ritual in place for the start of the work day for best buy workers (that geek squad didn't have to participate in thankfully). To get "hyped up to provide great customer service", their words, not mine. They would start the day with a song. This song was D.I.S.C.O. but with the lyrics changed to be B.E.S.T. Buy. In a toe curling display of corporate team building, the team was expected to stand at their desks, and sing this song, complete with lyrics such as "We are B, brilliant attitudes, we are E, excellent service, we are S, super knowledgable" etc etc. To their credit, the team did this on the first day with a level of enthusiasm that could be described as "passable". But when they came in for work the next day, were asked to stand up and the music started, I know some looks were exchanged like "wait, that wasn't a one off?".
For the next two weeks this went on, and the singing slowly changed. No longer was this a mildly embarrassed sing along. By the end of week two, this was a slow funeral dirge to a disco instrumental. While a pair of inanely grinning American businessmen in blue suits stared at them, Dad dancing and spouting encouraging slogans. Like a corporate sponsored Joker.
It eventually ended when one brave soul said no. I believe the explanation was "I'm not doing this, you can't make me do it. And if you try and go the disciplinary route, you will end up explaining to an employment tribunal that you fired me from my call centre job because I wouldn't sing and dance to disco music". It then became voluntary and shockingly enough, noone ever volunteered.
Best buy eventually closed all of its UK stores, lasting less then 2 years. One of the common explanations why it failed was that they tried to force strategies that had worked for them in the US, rather than adapting to the British marketplace. Having seen that depressing display every morning for 2 weeks, I can believe it.

Hey all, coming to this forum just for some general advice on a path I can take. I’m currently 23 years old with only about a year or so of college before I left. I am a licensed EMT and am going to be starting my job with the fire department in about 6 months. This is certainly a good path and something I have been working towards for a while but I want to do more for myself. I have always wanted to attempt to become a self taught developer but the path to take isn’t very clear. This week a friend and myself are going to start Harvard’s CS50 because I heard this is a very good starting point and gives you a good way of thinking. What is a realistic road map to employment in this field, and is this even realistic at all. Just looking for some general advice, thanks everyone :)

RIP To All Folks in the IE

1. Delmann Heights Bloods vs California Garden Crips(definitely the worst Black gang war in IE)
   
2. Westside Verdugo vs Colton Varrio’s
   
3. 1200 East Coast Blocc Crip vs Eastside Riva( Worst Black vs Brown war in Riverside & probably in the IE)
   
4. Chino Sinners vs Onterio Black Angels
   
5. Cucamonga Varrios vs Upland Varrio’s
   
6. Sex Cash Money Murda vs Dorner Blocc Crip(Moreno Valley War)
   
7. South Fontana vs HeadHunters
   
8. No Luv Gangster Crip vs 5 Time Hometown GC(Rialto vs San Bernardino)
   
9. WS Riva vs Project Gangster Crips
   
10. Casa Blanca Fern St vs Casa Blanca Evans St(one of oldest rivalries right here)
    
11. Westside Verdugo vs SS Verdugo Flats
    
12. Cucamonga Kings vs NAW(started in the 2000’s)
    
13. California Gardens vs IE Projects
    
14. Westside Verdugo vs Eastside 13(mainly in the 80’s & 90’s)
    
15. Corona Varrio Locos Vs Multiple Hoods
    

In 2021, my employer at the time sold the land to a developer. We were all given a lump sum of cash and told to have a nice life.

Whenever I think I've found someone who understands me, I start to get comfortable and show them the parts of myself that I mask for the general public, and then they turn on me. I get it, I'm a 28 year old woman who's never done anything with my life except for a few failed attempts at a college education and employment, and I throw tantrums like a child when I get overwhelmed with negative emotions...but fuck, I am still a human who never got the love and support that helps people develop into functioning adults. I can't control it when my brain starts to go crazy and my body goes into fight or flight mode from the stress. I literally spent years around a group of people who did everything in their power to put me into survival mode and literally told me I was schizophrenic more times than I can count whenever they put me in that state. They would film me freaking out after they pushed me beyond my limit, share the videos with the group, and laugh about how pathetic I am. I had people who I didn't even know trying to trigger me, make me freak out in public, and ruin my life over those videos they were shown of me having my tantrums after being mentally abused and biting my tongue for hours or days at a time until I couldn't take it. Those videos were sent to my new boyfriend a few months into our relationship and he hasn't taken me seriously since when I've been trying so hard to do good this time.
Nobody knows what I've been through except for my abusers who refuse to own up to what they did to me and blame it all on me, I've experienced every type of abuse except for serious domestic violence, and nobody knows how hard I try to keep myself from just freaking the fuck out and giving up on everything...all anyone sees is the rich white woman privilege that I NEVER ASKED FOR and hate myself for and decide that I'm just a pathetic cry baby POS who puts in no effort. I can't take it anymore. If I'm not actively throwing my own life away to help anyone who comes into contact with me, they all just make me feel like a selfish POS because I'm not putting myself into situations where I'm spending all day driving them all over town, helping them get jobs, buying them groceries, and fixing their whole lives for them when I can't even do or afford those things for myself without my mom. I have people getting pissed at and verbally abusing me daily when I try to explain to them that my mom is doing all she can to do those things for me and that I can't extend that privilege to them because I alone am putting enough on my mom's shoulders without spending HER MONEY on them. It feels like I exist solely for people who are unhappy with their own lives to project all of their shit on me and mentally beat me into the ground when I can't make their lives better. I am literally about to stop trying since everyone already thinks that I have, and then they'll really see.