The fed actually pays pretty well for most of their IT and engineering jobs. Have a look on usajobs.gov if you think otherwise. The problem is, they almost all require TS/SCI, which is neither cheap nor easy to get. Also, if you are "inside the beltway" near DC, the commutes to the suburbs can soak 2 to 3 hours each way even if you live near mass transit. Living in DC on budget is, uh, iffy. Don't get lost.

The contractors are a mixed bag. Even though the companies often gets paid more for the positions than they would otherwise cost overall, the employees frequently end up either underpaid or are on contract terms that are not renewed and lack benefits.

They just bugger some of us up the arse every so often, since that seems to be how we learn to pick, acknowledge, and accept leadership.

...but not always. I was stuck in an area where IT demand crashed post Dot Bomb. The few IT positions available paid so little that frequently Walmart paid more. So, I took a job as a trucker and used it as an opportunity to scout out and network outside of my area. A year later, I was back on track in an IT position that paid over twice as much as the positions back at my prior home.

And, on the plus side, if the IT market tanks again, I have a fall-back that pays more that minimum wage, something of a rarity these days. Being flexible and improvising can be an asset. In fact, it can literally save your life. Just be careful you do not supplant one rut for another.

And, I will just simply say that just because life > career does not mean career = job.

#1 "Works" because a) The worse you feel during, the stronger the sense of relief when it is over. People want to feel better. b) It makes you feel like you are in control and are doing something about it. People want to feel in control of their fate. c) It plays into the common-sense "No pain, no gain!" meme. People want to feel like they triumphed over adversity through hard work and/or suffering.

#2 Just helps reinforce #1 with an additional "I don't want to feel stupid; so, I want to believe it's true!" dissonance response. As someone said, "If you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bullshit."

Of course! The solution for every problem is to remind people that it could be worse; therefore, they should just shut up and take it. /SARCASM

Why not both? ...and more?

Seriously, the homicidal ones are a relatively small percentage of the actual APD population. It is just a larger proportion of that population than murderers in general are in the general population. Most that want people to die seem to settle on provoking reckless or suicidal behavior in others, and frequently indirectly at that. Think of it as the ultimate troll. None of that messy legal stuff happens if someone blows their own brains out or hugs a tree at 100 mph. Heck, the general consensus on such matters is usually along the lines of "He/she should have just shut up and taken it."

When people are intelligent and actually interested in learning, learning things out of order is a common hazard. Frequently, more basic subjects are skirted through just enough to make it possible to understand the more advanced ones. And, then later one falls back to the basic subjects later on to improve comprehension, or at least bring it up to the standards other people set. Subjects are also frequently thoroughly studied well before the actual course is taken.

It is not just social skills. Trying to communicate outside of the most basic pre-cooked concepts to your average person is draining and frustrating for both. It eventually gets to the point where they treat you expressing yourself honestly as a personal attack and will act in kind. The most starkly intense instances of loneliness have all come at times I was socializing with people and realized that I could not act nor answer honestly without facing some kind of egomaniacal backlash. And, I am not even close to your level.

But, yeah, learning social skills can at least help you pass under the radar a little better. But, still, that's not the point is it? We are looking for people we can be close to, are we not?

I have been a regular on this site for over a decade now. And, I have no clue what you are talking about. As for the shyster alt-e stuff, the group consensus is usually along the lines of fails basic thermodynamics, smoke and mirrors, untested/unrevised claims, cost higher/efficiency lower than existing tech, etc...

Perhaps you have this site confused with another you frequent?

I frequently find that people that people that push for extremely limited sexual contact usually only take that advice seriously when it involves other people contributing other genes to the gene pool, their teenage daughter. (That changes BTW. Usually in the twenties and later, the heat is on for grandkids.)

It is simpler than that. Most people want leaders that act as a substitute for their own super-egos, which lead them personally. Leaders that take and do what they want, largely ignore the desires of those they lead, have petty spiteful fights with each other, smack them for back-talk, and generally treat their followers as being innately ignorant, immature, and inferior are exactly what they want. ...and, exactly what they get.

FYI: The super-ego is the part of your mind that criticizes you whenever you do something wrong, and is essentially a warped version of the most dominant parental influence from your childhood.

This reminds me of a couple of stereotypical situations that pop up fairly often: Women that demand that potential mates be their friends first, then wonder why their male friends keep "betraying" them by actually wanting to be mates. Or, for that matter, men that denigrate women that actually enjoy sexual relationships as being sluts and whores, even if they are monogamous and would not sell. Then, they wonder why they end up with virulently avoidant cold fish that clam up the second they get a ring or a kid.

Basically, be careful what you wish for: The human mind is very poor at sorting out conflicting fears and desires.

I wonder if the price goes up to $350 a month after a year on that plan?

Oh that reminds me: The you and I are a lot alike pastime is another tactic frequently (but again, not exclusively by any measure) used by them. It dis-empowers their victims by making them doubt themselves and feeling shame, paradoxically something a genuine sociopath does not feel. And, it helps manipulate the people that would tend to want to empathize with the victim into ignoring the plight, instead.

All I can suggest is that you do some cursory research into the tendency to acquire pawns and patrons with sociopaths and the tendency for Narcissists and Histrionics to develop similar networks.

Disclaimer: Possible != True (or false) necessarily, though.