I was rebellious. It started when I was in the 4th grade, and I had a goofy teacher. It made me want to not be serious and not do my work.

I started slacking off. By the 6th grade, I decided to skip school one day. I got caught in a Best Buy-like store (I can’t remember the name) playing Nintendo on the store display.

By the 7th grade, I befriended a 9th grader who taught me how to skip school and not get caught. It was addictive. He also taught me how to break into people’s houses (mostly through doggie doors) and steal. We got busted by the cops for truancy once, and he ratted me out saying I was the ring leader.

I spent a lot of summers in summer school making up for all the failed classes (due to skipping class). It should also be noted that I was a latchkey kid (80s and 90s), and we had an answering machine that I would regularly wipe messages from the school before my parents got home.

When I was 15, my parents joined Amway and would go on regular weekend trips. So my brother would have his of-age friend buy us booze using the food money, and we would throw huge house parties that usually ended with the cops being called. I would get blackout drunk on those weekends.

I used to drive my car to drivers ed.

I dropped out of high school three times. I also attempted suicide 7 times. It’s a miracle Im alive.

My kids are nothing like me (so far), and I aim to keep it that way. I don’t lie to them, and I will gladly tell them about my childhood. They need to know that I understand that shit happens so they can come to me with any problems they have.

I don’t force or guilt them into doing things. I give them choices. I also give them consequences. They don’t always agree with me, but they at least do what needs to be done (they are both usually A/B students). My oldest got his first D in 7th grade Spanish. I’m glad he did. Now he knows what it feels like to not succeed, and hopefully won’t suffer as much anxiety when he starts struggling the next time; i.e. he knows that life will go on regardless of what grade he gets.

I am American. Born and bred in the south, no less. I’ve seen both blatant and subtle/accidental racism first hand from my family. I’ve also seen financial struggles and a foreclosure on my childhood home. But I’m still blessed compared to most. And I won’t hesitate to help anybody out when I can (I don’t care who you are). I can only hope my kids grow up to do the same.

~Take all that for what you will. It’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.~

Did you know that before crowbars were invented, they used to drink at home?

Instagram also auto skips some reels (i.e. makes it look like you swiped up on it when you didn’t), and then shows you the same ad you just skipped right after.

In my area, there are special schools dedicated to hosting expelled kids. It most certainly makes things worse and not better.

Oh! Ok. I was under the impression the verbiage had the word Reject in it somewhere; that’s on me. It makes much more sense now, and I get what you’re saying. Thanks for the clarification!

I personally have never seen a pay to reject. What types of websites have you come across that do that? I’m genuinely curious.

Ironically they are making it much more difficult to consume by making wages stagnant, while increasing inflation. I can’t wait for it to backfire on them.

Nothing will get better.

Ironic given the community you’re posting to, and its own rules. But 🤷‍♂️.

I can’t help but feel Douglas was poking fun at himself, considering how his editors had to lock him in a room to finish So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish.

Yes. Correct.

Hey, maybe they enjoy the bone-jarring slam that happens in the middle of the night when the seat slips out of their hand and slams down like the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs.

Who are we to judge? 🤣

It literally crumbled under the weight! 🤣

We shall see. I have yet to go back to the store.

Would this count in your book?

Thank you for confirming what I said. 😊

This may or may not help, but here’s my two cents:

Windows was originally built to be as user-friendly as possible because its target audience are non-tech-savvy people. It then evolved into being a business OS. So security was never its first priority.

UNIX was built for tech savvy people to do business-sensitive stuff, and required sophisticated security models. Linux was modeled after UNIX (Minix specifically), and thus inherited those same principles. It evolved to become more user friendly. But security remained a priority.

Now, that said, both Windows and Linux are configurable. You can make Windows more secure with effort, just like you can make Linux less secure with effort (and I don’t mean simply using root all the time).

There are diehards on both sides , and they will make excellent (or terrible) arguments for their favored OS. So you need to decide what works best for you and your use case and go with that. 😊

Ths might be an over generalization, but it’s my layman’s understanding that all Native American and Latino people migrated over from Europe-Asia; some went south and colonized Mexico and Central America, while others went to Canada and also the US. So if that’s true, then I would imagine they’d have some shared lineage.

I still sometimes face the shelves because I’ve been there and I want to show solidarity.

Tell that to my girlfriend… oh wait. 😢 😂