In my case there was almost no parenting. My mother died when I was ten. My father did the best he could but was too busy with work a lot of the time. So it was open warfare most of the time. Funny that now my older sib and I get along famously.

Someone beat you to the exit again, I see.

I don’t trust cloud storage services. Period. Full stop. That’s why I went to the trouble of setting up my own media server and network backup.

Is there any data on whether how many years between children make any difference? I came as an afterthought, or maybe by accident — there were seven years between me and my older sib, and pretty much all I can fermenter of my early childhood years was getting beat up mercilessly. But I didn’t turn out to be a serial…

What I really really hate are the bozos who run into you and act like it was your fault. A guy once walked into my car as I was pulling out of a Starbucks drive-thru while his face was plastered to his iPhone and started yelling at me like it was all my fault. If he hadn’t stepped to the side I might have been…

I used to buy a lot of paperbacks (both new and used) - my spent enough to pay for four or five Kindles. When I moved to my current residence I got rid of them all and made a conscious decision to stick with the Kindle because of space. Dead trees books and magazines just take up took much space. And while I’ve sold…

Sigh. They’re going the way of Penthouse magazine. Circulation must be waaay down. Won’t be long before they go full porno. So long, SI. We hardly knew ya.

Actually leaving a light on isn’t a bad idea. Cats are nocturnal so having a light on might actually induce them to go to sleep. If you use an LED lamp the energy expenditure would be minimal.

There’s supposedly a ghost on my street (young woman killed in a hit and run fifty years ago). Never saw her myself but occasionally I will hear this wild screech of brakes in the middle of the night. An old Jesuit priest who made a hobby of investigating such cases told me that if I ever encounter her I should invite…

Paper is a dangerous weapon, doncha know.

What I want to know is, if corporations are considered “people” for tax purposes, how come they get a lower tax rate than I do?

Wasn’t there something called Top Secret Q clearance at one time, or am I misremembering Ian Fleming? It’s been too long...

“Essentially, anyone who never updated their credentials at the time of the original breach.”

Reading the replies I am now convinced that HHS (Howard Hughes Syndrome) is approaching pandemic levels.

I think it has to do more with sparing the sensibilities of those who insist on watching the process, which I don’t happen to agree with. There don’t have to be any witnesses beyond those who have to sign the death certificate. A bullet to the back of the head is economical, quick and likely painless, and you could…

Would you rather he just be lobotomized and spend the rest of his life shoveling shit?

With all your exclusions I think the only things left are steamy romance novels.

Which brings up another point. Who was it that said “an army fights on its stomach”? I rather suspect the reason why Kim is so eager to develop missile technology is because he’s aware that his vaunted million-strong army is half starved and would not last in a firefight with the south. They’re just cannon fodder.

I doubt the North Korean people would revolt. They’re half-starved as it is - I rather think they’d welcome the change.

Wait till you leave one left sneaker in the fridge. I did that once.