I’ve enjoyed Linux since Windows MEllennium Edition convinced me that I didn’t like paying a lot, in money and time, to be an unpaid product testing guinea pig. A work friend put Windows 2000 on that laptop when ME went bad. I used it until a got a blue screen of death one day, and switched to Linux. The 1st was a $230 ePC that could be had with Windows XP or XanderOS (a flavor of Linux). I chose the latter, and had a great time of it. I’ve since used Mint and Ubuntu.

Or use Amazon (I’m guilty), or shop at Walmart (sometimes guilty, but not often), or shop at Target, use Tiktok, use Facebook (reunion coordination only - but still guilty, I guess), use PayPal (very guilty), use LinkdIn, use Google (guilty).

It’s really difficult to live a modern life, without being guilty of using anything exploitative of something. Of course, all the things (and many more) mentioned above are made to make people reliant on them by design.

Amazon operated in the red for over 7 years, before turning any profit, often selling and shipping items for a lower cost than they purchased the items for. But after that 7 years, they’d driven much of their competition out of business. Now there are fewer choices with regard to finding some items, because Amazon drove everyone out of business. The cheaper prices on Amazon? Nothing like what they used to be - they don’t have to compete.

How many small towns have Walmart as virtually the only place to shop and/or the only employer?

It’s very important in our modern, separated society, for people to return to basics…get to know your neighbors, stick together, become friends, and help one another out. Reddit used to really drive me nuts, in the work-related subreddits, where everyone used to say, “Your co-workers are not your friends.” I wondered if many people ever looked past that, to ask if that’s how HR wants things. How do you ever achieve solidarity in the workplace, when you walk in with that attitude? I’ve certainly had my share of hated co-workers, but much more often, I have been friends with many of them. Co-workers are a great resource to vent, problem solve, find out what’s going on behind the scenes, and if there are problems - a great co-worker can be honest and let me know if I might be the problem, or not.

But, separated and isolated within our own little tribes/families, too busy working too many hours, for too little money, trying to keep up with too many financial obligations, is exactly how they get us exactly where they want us.

Soon to be seen on the battlefield: Reinforced, armored attack-Ladas, with turrets mounted on the roof.

If the US government believes if everyone is an asshole, nobody will be an asshole.

My teen daughters were both surprised, when I told them of my ban - like I’m some sort of subversive rebel they didn’t know existed. They both laughed when I told them what Reddit said was the reason, and were both familiar with the video, from other sources. Life goes on. Less time on a screen can’t do any harm.

I was coming up on 4 years. I haven’t brought myself to deleting the app though, as there are some good subs there. I’ve been here for less than 1 full day so far, so I have a lot of exploring to do.

Last week, I got a 3 day ban from Reddit. The next day it turned into a permanent ban. Reddit claimed that it was due to a comment made about a video, showing a coach pull the ponytail of one of the girls on his team. While I don’t recall what my comment was, as the father of a HS girl who plays sports, it bothered me, but as a man in his 50s, who played football in the 1980s, who periodically got his ass kicked by his coach, when he screwed up, it didn’t bother me enough to say anything terrible. Of course, they deleted the post, and refused to elaborate. I’ve been supportive of Luigi, and have heard that Reddit was coming after Luigi supporters, so I thought that could be the real reason. Who really knows?

Boomer: What?! Just walk into the building, go up to the receptionist or bossman, and demand to be interviewed for a job, and fill out an application form. Refuse to leave without a job offer. They’ll be so impressed by your dedication, they can’t do anything else, but to hire you! What are you waiting for?