u/Magicmechanic103

Please excuse any misunderstandings, I’ve long been a reader of Patrick O’Brien’s Aubrey-Maturin series and a general interest in the Georgian era has only recently lead me to Austen’s books.

And of course, as a veteran and an admirer of Jack Aubrey, I did take notice of the portrayals of military men in the books and I feel like there is somewhat of a pattern.

We have our arch-villain, Wickham, who of course is a Lieutenant in the militia (of course the militia is not the regular Army but is Army adjacent) and then becomes an Ensign in the Army. I also feel like her portrayal of the background officers of the militia portray them a bit as playboys or gamblers or at the very least as a bit annoying to have camped outside your town. I do think this jives with the contemporary feelings towards the militia of the time.

Also consider Colonel Forster. He is not really portrayed negatively and seems well-meaning, but he also totally drops the ball as Lydia’s protector which allows her to be taken advantage of and run off with Wickham. Not exactly great example of responsibility from a high ranking officer.

Of course none of that is to say that all of the Army officers in her books are bad, but it seems every less-than-stellar military officer who is a named character is wearing Army red.

Compare that to the two prominent Navy officers I am aware of in her books; Admiral Croft and Captain Wentworth.

Croft and his wife seem to have one of the happiest marriages in the Austen library. They love being together and Sophia Croft seems thrilled by the experiences of being a Navy officer’s wife, having travelled four times across the Atlantic and therefore being perhaps the most well-travelled woman in Austen’s books. This definitely raises her portrayal in the book, contrasting other characters who mostly haven’t been outside England. It would seem that Austen portrays a marriage into the Navy as a fun and positive adventure.

And of course, the romantic hero Captain Wentworth, who goes from a penniless Lieutenant to wealthy captain and has likewise lived a life of adventure and success.

Other Navy officers in Persuasion are portrayed generally positively as well I think.

Of course Austen had her two brothers who were Navy officers, both of them eventually being Admirals. I wonder is they influenced her portrayals?

Like many countries there was a bit of a rivalry between the Army and Navy. If her brothers were frequently coming home and even jokingly telling stories about how awesome gentlemen in the Navy are, much better than the boorish and crass Army officers, it seems likely enough that opinion might be reflected in her writing.

Just wondering, am I crazy or is there actually a pattern here?

Hey folks, I’m making my final grade adjustments this week and having a dilemma about grades for three students I had added to my class literally two weeks before the end of the year.

One of them is not too bad, she came from in state and at least had a transfer grade I can use for ballparking what she has earned.

But the other two came from way out of state and the counselors tell me they have no grade data from their previous school.

One of those seems like a super nice kid, he completed the last couple assignments without complaint, he’s been on time to class and did what I asked him without complaint. I think he probably would have had no problem getting an A if he had been here for the semester.

The other one is also nice enough, but was a little bit lazier in doing her work and tended to show up late to class. Friendly and nice, but not super interested in academics from what I can tell.

When I asked the counselors for any guidance they could give on grades and I just got a shrug and they told me to use my best judgement.

On the one hand, I don’t want to punish them with lower grades for a situation that is certainly way beyond their control. I practically leaned over their shoulder to get them to do the three assignments in my room they were present for, and if I average those together they are both sitting at about a 95-97.

On the other hand, all my other kids in my room have had to do year long projects, tests, midterms, smaller projects, essays, etc. to earn a similar grade to the above, and I feel like I would be very unfair to give the new kids the same grade for three assignments.

There is also the question of certain things students are required to do in my class for graduation that of course the new kids have not done, but again, failing them for it might mean ruining opportunities for them over a situation that isn’t their fault.

Just curious what other teachers do in this situation. My class is a graduation requirement, so they all have a lot riding on it. Has anyone had a similar situation with students? Do I give them the better grade and let it ride? Do I split the difference and give them like a B? I have already made my mind up that if nothing else, I am at least not going to fail them.

Referring to something like Duquesne Base, that Thomas Theisman commanded in the closing months of the first Manticore-Havenite War.

It is described as having many buildings over a sprawling area.

But since interstellar ships can’t enter atmosphere I’d assume most Navy bases are probably orbital, like Manticore’s Hephaestus.

What would a dirt-side navy base have around? Is it basically just a giant airport to support shuttles coming and going from orbit?

I’ve posted about this before a couple years ago, but my ex-spouse is on a tangent about it again and I just find it kind of fascinating.

For literally the entire time I have known her (15 years now) she has bragged and bragged to anyone who will listen about these big impressive things she is going to do in life.

For the most part she talks about going to medical school; we got together when we were 21 and she told me she was going to become a pediatric surgeon. Of course I was impressed. But……..that’s it. She has done literally nothing since that time to actually make it happen.

And it isn’t from a lack of opportunity. During the time we were married she stopped working, and she had access to some good scholarships and tuition assistance through my job that would have easily allowed her to at least start knocking out some undergrad courses.

She would tell me she is “getting ready” to start school, but the only thing she actually did is listen to hours of bullshit “self-improvement” videos on YouTube that were all about “manifesting success” and shit. Then I would try to remind her that having a good mindset is great and all, but like, you can’t just “manifest” into a medical program. Like you have to actually do some things to make that happen.

Then of course she would throw a big tantrum about me not supporting her and how it was actually my fault she hasn’t started school.

Anyway, the years have slipped by and we’re in the latter half of our 30’s now. I try to keep my contact to a minimum but we have two kids so I have to talk to her sometimes. And it just amazes me that she is still saying the same shit she was 15 years ago when we met.

She was picking up the kids this afternoon and she randomly decides to let me know she may be moving soon for Med School;

I knew fully damn well what is going on, but I can’t help but poke the bear on occasion, so I decided to just play along.

“Oh, what med school did you get in?”

“Well, I don’t know yet, but after I finish undergrad I’ll go somewhere.”

“Oh, okay. I didn’t know you were in school, where are you going?”

“Oh, I’m starting in the fall.”

“Cool, where’d you get accepted at?”

“Well, I don’t know yet. They haven’t sent out acceptance notices.”

“Oh. Well I’m sure you’ll get in somewhere. Where did you apply?”

“Um, I’m sending an application to a couple places soon.”

“Oh. Okay. I’m sure you’ll get in somewhere you like.”

“Yeah. So anyway, I’ll probably be leaving for med school soon.”

“Yeah. Yep. Definitely. Just let me know.”

For others I might be sympathetic about a dream that is clearly not panning out, but she spent years swanning around about how she is smarter than everyone else, especially me, and she is just totally going to prove it. One day. Some time. She frequently throws shade at anyone who accomplishes something she does not think is as impressive as the things she is “going” to do.

Like three years ago I graduated with two bachelors and brought the kids to my graduation. When she was picking them up she made a point to tell me how bachelor’s degrees don’t impress someone who is going to med school. She hasn’t done it yet, but she totally will one day.

Any time she hears about me moving upwards on the career ladder or something, she’ll have to find a way to claim that it’s just because I grew up privileged (My dad was in prison, mom worked full time, and I joined the Army because I couldn’t afford school). And she likes to claim that I’m only getting success because I have a better resume than her. And I just look at her like “Uh, yeah, I have a decent resume because I went out and did stuff to put on it.”

Every once in a little while she’ll side track towards some other career, but it’s always the same story; she does absolutely nothing to actually make it happen and blames her lack of success on everyone else in the world.

I think she just gets an emotional high off of telling people she is going to do this stuff. She shoehorns it into talking to strangers all the time, and they usually do the polite thing people do when some random person says they’re going to be a doctor and tell her something like “Oh, that’s great, I’m sure you’ll be a great doctor.”

But she is just completely unwilling to do any amount of work to actually do those things. And we are hitting the age now where even strangers aren’t too impressed by what we’re “going” to do.

It would be sad, if it wasn’t her own fault.