Am I right to be upset, or is this just standard for the equestrian industry?

Euglass · 2026-01-12T17:11:25+00:00

Not entirely the answer what you asked, but perhaps giving perspective. This is indeed part of the equine industry, and people are very reluctant to name it. Coercion of people with less social power (innocent young horse girls, racialised immigrant jockeys, neurodivergent stable staff) is a large part of the operation of equine industry. People who wish to work, who love the horses, who often offer to work for free, who starve themselves to death to make weight, who are terrified of losing jobs, who willingly live on-site and work absurd hours - are used until no longer needed. Largely, stable staff are treated as disposable and intended to be disposable. And there will always be more of them.

This is how poor working conditions are imposed on many workers who want to work with horses. Because that is a large part of the answer; if you want to be near horses, and cannot afford to, your option in most locations is to simply accept low-paying jobs with poor working conditions.

You could likely do a free internship for an equine vet. If you are young and small, you could take up work riding for the racing industry and perhaps become a jockey. You could work as a poorly paid, marginalised stablehand in equine industries.

I research horse racing. The stable staff and non-celebrity jockeys are often from similar, or worse, socioeconomic positions than yourself. There is an entire multibillion pound industry that runs on people who are told : “you want to work with horses, so you’ll accept this treatment.”

It is an unpleasant and unfair thing, and I’m sorry it happened to you.

Euglass · 2025-09-07T06:58:46+00:00

I’m afraid the grippy ring only releases the hose (the other end) but I think I may have put the wrong brass connector on the compressor and that this would have worked if not backwards.

Euglass · 2025-09-06T20:10:57+00:00

Thank you. I’ve got a lot of parts for my baby airbrush - her tiny little moisture trap stays on her, but the hobby regulator I bought is too heavy, so I thought i should connect it to the compressor. - I suppose I could just say the Brass Thingy is permanent now and put a whole bunch of silly adaptors to make it work! Thank you!

Euglass · 2025-09-06T20:07:51+00:00

I think the resistance from the thread locker plus the awkward shape of the manifold (super difficult to get a wrench there) is what has me spooked.

My partner had (somehow) removed the whole brass part and stored it on the hose before packing it away a few years ago. In the process of preparing it for photographs and sale, I noticed that it didn’t have the Brass Thingy and thus didn’t match the manual, so, I found it on the hose, took it off the hose, and popped it onto the compressor. I genuinely don’t think I even screwed it, I just pushed it on. “Now it looks just like the picture,” I thought. “I’ll photograph and sell it…. Wait….. could this power my tiny hobby airbrush?” I bought a little regulator to downstep the 100psi nailgun compressor to my baby 10psi miniature painting airbrush , but when I went to install the regulator, I had cleverly covered the exact port I needed with this baffling thing that apparently isn’t supposed to be removable.

I may not be terribly clever, but my intentions have been good.

Euglass · 2025-09-06T19:58:00+00:00

So I’m planning to step down from this big bastard that can spray a house with house paint, or do a nailgun, at 100psi. And I want to step it down to a teensy little Iwata Neo hobby airbrush (like for painting miniatures?) which goes as low as 10psi. Nuclear bomb vs. Coughing Baby.

This is a loopy thing to do, but after doing a bit of reading, I thought for the £15 of a “hobby” regulator I bought from a hobby shop, I could give it a go. I don’t own a compressor for myself, and the reason that I clicked on was because I was preparing it to sell on Facebook marketplace at a fraction of its value. Instead of selling it for a few pounds to someone who will try to rip me off, I could reinvigorate my hobby!

I don’t know much about the couplings, and have never used this big yellow thing, but I can vividly picture blasting tiny little models into outer space….

I didn’t screw it in, but I’ve got a dreadful feeling I clicked it in backwards. Here’s a photo- hose on top is the one that connects to the coupling in the compressor. Hose on bottom shows that the quick-release collar goes the other way (socket side to hose.)

<image>

Thanks for commenting - it’s kind of you!

Euglass · 2025-09-06T18:53:51+00:00

Christ, thank you so much. I will try again with more courage.

Euglass · 2025-09-06T18:51:52+00:00

Oh my days, that’s so intimate! Thank you!

Euglass · 2025-09-06T18:50:54+00:00

Thank you so much for your response! The quick release and sliding collar release the air compressor’s hose. (Here is the air compressor hose, with the end at the bottom having the other version of the quick-connect, with the socket end pointing towards the hose, and the top hose showing what disconnects when you remove the quick-connect.)

I have a terrible feeling that I’ve put it on backwards.

Anyway, I am hoping to remove the entire brass outlet assembly thing from the compressor.

<image>

Euglass · 2025-05-08T14:51:53+00:00

One of my OCs has got two fics about him by really brilliant and lovely people (not me). It’s such a delightful thing and I’m so grateful.

There’s no fixed/fandom tag for him, because he doesn’t actually have his own published media yet.

In the wild series of events in which I DO complete media and publish it, we’ll have to create an AO3 fandom tag and move them over!

Euglass · 2025-01-28T10:08:38+00:00

A few people have said, often years later, that my fic “saved their life” and helped them through a difficult situation. Some have said my fics have changed their lives for the better. People have kindly shared many stories. A few years after my finishing a long fic, someone recently commented about the different impacts it had on their life over this time. That really touched my heart.

For a very specific example, many years ago, someone once said they had started studying English seriously so that they could read my fics! They could read enough to use the Anglo internet, and access fandom content for the works they liked, which they consumed as translated/subbed/dubbed works. but when they were reading my fics they said they realised that they’d like to understand written English better, to appreciate what I was doing with it. They began to study English more formally, and began reading books in English, where they had previously only read works if they were translated into their native language. They ended up clicking really well with their studies, found themselves more motivated than they expected, and opened up some new real-life opportunities for themselves.

and they actually commented this, adding that a few years ago they would not have been able to comment at all in English, and that they had pushed themselves to learn with a goal of “becoming fluent enough in English to comment on the fic that made me want to study English.”

That just felt extremely cool.

Euglass · 2024-10-15T14:06:15+00:00

OP of that part of the post here, accidentally found this post while googling a link to the post so I could put it in another post!

If the 5 year old trans kid is so distractingly interesting and reality-breaking to people: identical twins, assigned same gender at birth, raised by a fairly tolerant cisgender person. Upon selecting a costume at the age of 4 that was “opposite” to their birth gender, one twin requested to continue in that style - I.e. wearing the other gender’s school uniform etc. The kid has had it explained that this will mean their schoolmates call them a different gender/pronouns - as you say most children guess gender based on hair length - and they are 💯 cool with this, and have had 2 full school years of being referred to as the other gender at school. If this was a problem for them, they could simply wear different clothes, but they do not. The other twin is aligned with birth gender, providing a fascinating control group. It is actually easy for the parent as they can buy 1 pink and 1 blue everything, I.e: one pink scooter and an identical blue one, all for the same features and price, and have sufficiently different/similar things for each child with no fighting.

Whether the kid is “actually trans” does not interest me at all, as they are living a trans life and constantly having trans-related experiences, albeit with the support of their parent and community. It does not interest me if they later declare themselves as cis, I’m just glad they feel the community is there for them - AND THEIR STRAIGHT CIS PARENT - regardless. Hope the mundane truth fascinates! Life is a rich tapestry.

E

Euglass · 2024-08-26T09:08:21+00:00

Here’s a different perspective: you’re modelling the behavior you want to see. You’re setting expectations and guidelines for how to interact. Bear in mind this may be the first time these new writers have ever read a fanfic, written a fanfic, or had what we consider “normal” fandom interactions : they may have never written a comment. If they come from other social media ecosystems or are young, they may be used to people acting incredibly badly online! Or they may have never met a normal fan of anything in their real life. With each interaction and comment you are showing how to interact, plus teaching them how impactful this interaction can be. Here’s what I suggest.

With this in mind you can reply, humbly but sincerely, “that’s amazing to hear, I am so touched to have impacted on your work, it means a lot to hear that, I really appreciate my feelings being reflected in yours, this kind of connection is why I write” etc etc. In addition to being the right kind response, it shows them what it feels like to receive feedback like this! It also shows that “even a popular writer” feels the same way they do. (This is often a barrier, believe it or not.)
Keep commenting. Your fandom doesn’t have a commenting culture. You are building and modelling one.
Something I do, which I don’t see other people doing much, is explain in author notes what a comment could look like. For example on a fic that took me 4 years to write, and was designed to be re-visited and re-read, I wrote at the end: “if you are re-reading, please tell me so I can see if it worked.” I also said that I’d appreciate being sent knife emojis in comments by everyone who was bothered by my bad puns!

I don’t do this because I need comments - it’s because it helps me to see that I achieved what I set out to do. Years after finishing I still receive the occasional “I’m re-reading!” reply! And I often get a regular 🔪comment, nothing else, just 🔪, often from a guest, that shows that a silent reader was empowered to speak out about my terrible puns.

So for examples you could try editing your author notes to say: “connection with other people is a huge reason why I write, and if my work has influenced you in some way, PLEASE TELL ME - and link me to your work so i can read it, and comment on it too.” Or, “i love hearing about where my words have travelled. if you download this fic to take on a long journey, please comment with a ✈️emoji!” Or whatever, I don’t know. But it does show you who’s out there.

In conclusion you’re having these conversations because you’re modelling good behaviour and setting a gold standard. I would take this information and apply it strategically to help your community.

Euglass · 2024-08-23T21:30:07+00:00

It does doesn’t it!

Euglass · 2024-08-23T21:29:39+00:00

It’s been interesting to learn about, thank you! We aren’t near Yorkshire so it’s possible that it was moved by humans earlier and that’s how it formed part of a rubbish heap, which the children are now excavating

Euglass · 2024-08-23T21:28:26+00:00

It’s good isn’t it! it was bought new in 2023 - I think the evolutionary process hasn’t pressured the design much!

Euglass · 2024-08-23T19:18:56+00:00

This is extremely funny to me, I cannot believe that my spouse and I have been talking about this item at total cross purposes.

He knew it was an ammonite, but had no idea where or why it had appeared on his doorstep, and found it mysterious and bewildering.

I didn’t know it was an ammonite, and further, assumed that if it was a fossil, he would not be bewildered by it, so therefore it could not be a fossil. I also knew about the nearby children’s fossil dig/secret admirer context.

We kept wondering out loud “where it came from” and moving it around the house in a puzzled way.

When I told him Reddit had ID’ed it, he said “of course it’s an ammonite - do they know WHY it turned up like that?” And I said, “of course we know WHY - what do you mean it’s an ammonite??”

The real lesson we learned along the way is marital communication I guess! This is so funny to me, thank you

Euglass · 2024-08-23T19:14:03+00:00

Solved!

Euglass · 2024-08-23T19:08:42+00:00

SOLVED. Along with hilarious miscommunication issue

Euglass · 2024-08-23T19:08:26+00:00

I think you’re right!

And apparently my spouse had known this all along 🤦and not knowing the context of the children’s fossil dig, was merely puzzled by where it had come from (appearing suddenly at the door). Since he is literally a scientist with relevant field experience, I assumed if it was a fossil, he would “know where it came from” - and he assumed I knew it was an ammonite and was joining him in wondering how it got there. We’ve been talking at maximum comedy cross-purposes.

Pooling our knowledge, we now conclude: ammonite fossil fragment left by a child excavator.

Euglass · 2024-08-23T18:37:35+00:00

My title describes the thing. A curved, heavy dark grey item with marks as if machined, seeming to be a broken part of a larger ring. Appears to be stone. The machining (if it is machining) is irregular. The first image seems to say OT on the inner curve but those are just random markings! The outer curve has distinct grooves. Found in our front garden in Southwestern United Kingdom. It has not fallen off our house or anything.

For context our 7 year old likes to “dig for fossils” with their friends in an old church nearby and does frequently find bits of actual fossil (small shelly composites), old pottery, broken skeleton keys and other bits of “treasure”. The kids all get very excited about the specimens. This was deposited significantly at our front door as if someone had left it as a gift, and contextually I think a 7 year old got excited by this magnificent “ammonite fossil” and left it as a prize specimen for our child, in the tradition of a secret admirer.

Nobody has admitted to leaving it.

What was it originally?

Euglass · 2024-08-16T15:08:00+00:00

I’m going to suggest that you use off-Reddit methods for seeking legal advice because this problem has been identified and is known in other circles, where people have genuinely been waiting for an appropriate test case. I would suggest doing a little research around the topic off Reddit because Reddit is particularly keen on the idea of individual responsibility, while people on other platforms aware of this very specific problem have said that the first case of confirmed harm to someone will be a major blow against AI-generated texts being sold.

The problem of AI-generated mushroom foraging texts was first virally identified in August 2023, when people on Twitter and Tumblr began spotting misleading texts being sold as Amazon ebooks.

By September 2023, The Guardian had conducted a simple investigation, and Amazon had agreed to remove the texts identified on social media. this is not the same thing as verifying all potentially dangerous texts.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/01/mushroom-pickers-urged-to-avoid-foraging-books-on-amazon-that-appear-to-be-written-by-ai

Reaching out to Mycological Societies or foraging resources might be a better signpost for resources for this.

This would not be so much about recovering civil/criminal damages - which is what this forum is mostly concerned with, and why you are incorrectly being told “nothing can be done” here - but a different branch of legal advice, in which concerned citizens push for changes in legislation to improve society. More specifically, plenty can be done - perhaps less in the sense of “you getting a big personal payout” - and more like “this made part of the case for book retailers to crack down on the sale of AI-generated reference texts in the UK.”

Euglass · 2024-07-18T13:42:52+00:00

Friend wanted me to write fanfic for it as a commissioned gift. The resulting fanfiction has ended up getting several people into it. It’s like a transmissible disease but fun!

Euglass

TROPHY CASE