Geez, I forgot to mention that they WEREN'T TOYS. You should have seen what people were doing with lowly VIC-20s.

These early personal computers weren't much more than toys. You could play pong or simple shooting games, maybe do some word processing. And these toys were marketed almost entirely to men and boys.

Wow, not only is this wrong, it's stupid. Home computers were aimed at FAMILIES, especially Commodores. Apples were ubiquitous in education, and I don't remember girls being asked to leave the room while the boys hacked on BASIC and LOGO. Were there male-oriented ads? Yes, but I don't remember any unless you count Shatner's-- and that would be only if you were some ironic sexist who thought Star Trek wasn't for girls. The author provides a biased sample by digging up two that happened to feature boys in them-- and they still have girls present. If I felt like slogging on YouTube for an hour, I could probably find ten that had girls and women prominently involved.

To be fair, that 5.9 number is after millions of people decided to quit working and either 1. Live with a lower single income in the family or 2. Go on the public dole indefinitely, whether through social security or welfare. The federal government permanently removes these people from the rolls, as if people who aren't even looking for work don't drain the rest of the people who are being productive.

Life is stranger than fiction.

You apparently don't even know what the yellow light is for. Hint: it's not the "pre-red".

But the lines are too long. And we should fix that, because we can.

I think you mean...

This ONE WEIRD TRICK will let you know how to avoid clickbait!

There's no reason HIV/AIDS should be as prevalent in the US as it is.

Isn't that more a result of not using condoms or being selective with their partners than not taking their meds?

Quite a few of the 100 didn't show, so I think it was adjusted down a little. Regardless, this was central Pennsylvania, and there I had financial leverage taking my expensive Philadelphia dollars there. No, it was not gourmet food, it was family restaurant food, but from a restaurant I had been to many times since college and I sampled the dishes to make sure their quality was up to par. They charged less per plate due to volume, which doesn't happen with high end restaurants. I'm not afraid to spend $25-35 a plate at a high end restaurant, but I could not afford to and preferred to have more people there.

In related news, my wife reminded me that her sister's 5K actually didn't even cover the photographer (who failed to show and still kept the money), limo, and tux rental. She actually spent near 10K. These are people who have never made more than $20K in a year individually.

You wouldn't think that, with the people around here acting like Americans are so backward for using checks in such a manner. Many stores don't take them here anymore, either. Supermarkets and some discount stores do, but I rarely see anyone under 60 use checks. If you see that old lady pull out her checkbook, call home to let them know you'll be late.

Well, how big can a torrent be? Just wondering...

Since you don't use cheques in most of Europe, how do you manage large transactions for things like vehicles? There are certainly electronic means here, but they are far from ubiquitous and with every other company getting hacked, no one is inspired to shuttle their money through them.

You must have had a terrible childhood.

You just have to follow the Barney Stinson Hot-Crazy scale, and make sure she's above the line.

My wife and I spent less than $2K on our wedding and reception. Yes, we had an actual reception, with good food, a dance floor, and a DJ for about 100 guests. Ordering the gown over the internet instead of going to a ripoff bridal boutique helps a lot. So does actually comparison shopping, instead of just seeing something and buying it immediately.

Meanwhile, my sister-in-law spent at least 5K-- excuse me, she ran up over 5K on credit cards, which she never paid off-- and has never been financially stable, even when living rent-free with her husband's uncle. I make several times more than she does, yet she simply had to have a (relatively) fancy wedding and, I presume, hope fairies would fly carrying gold coins to pay for it. And trust me, having a wedding she couldn't afford wasn't the begging or the end of her financial troubles.