Comment Re: The US is no longer a safe country for Western (Score 1) 207
Boycotts, divestment and sanctions work. Use them.
Boycotts, divestment and sanctions work. Use them.
Here's an explainer, with a way to get involved to stop it:
https://darksky.org/news/orbit...
I canceled Prime several months ago, but it was part of what I called "Amazon Divorce," because I was sick of them and it took about a month, on and off to cut them out my my life and delete my data as much as possible. Canceling Prime was fairly easy, however my account went back to 1998 and I also had been using other services. So it took awhile to delete all my reviews, delete all my browsing and shopping history, save my wishlists to a file and delete them, ensure all my MP3s were backed up, research whether and how I can de-DRM my Kindle titles (yes, and it's complicated), and replace the various services with other things. So those were choices.
The problem is if you actually want to completely rid yourself of Amazon, unless you're prepared to never buy anything online, it's going to be tough. Some companies may have their own websites but do fulfillment via Amazon anyway. The unexpected bonus for my doing this was that I've since found superior companies to do business with, superior products, and often, superior prices. So am I glad I crawled out of the Amazon Hellmouth? 10/10 highly recommended, would leave again.
IDK people blowing smoke up my rear always raise my suspicions. Even ChatGPT doing it makes me a little disgusted.
It's likely a common tactic of conmen. Unstable mental health sets in after that.
It is a common tactic of con artists, narcissists and other anti-social types. Agree that the problem isn't "mental health" per se, IMO it's more emotional intelligence; not having experience/training enough to recognize when someone's being sincere, and to have a good defense mechanism. However having mental health issues can go along with that lack of experience/training. I think it's because someone can be so occupied dealing with their issue, they don't have a lot of time for learning self-defense against the psychological Dark Arts, or their mental state can drift into being particularly suggestible, for example.
As the daughter of a long time, now retired public school teacher and who has friends who are currently public school teachers, I'll chime in with supporting teachers to sell their plans and keep the money.
I'll also corroborate all the people saying that teachers make these lesson plans outside of class, at home. They also do all their grading at home, including over holidays and school breaks. They start school 1 week or more before all the students. Most teachers I know pay for a significant portion of non-textbook classroom supplies OUT OF THEIR OWN POCKETS.
Teachers may have summers off - at least, ones who don't teach in year-round districts - but what they often do with that time is get a part time job so they can make up for the crappy pay they get.
Frankly, I find it appalling that we do not consider teaching a true profession, yet we make teachers go through a long certification process before we let them in the public schools to do often thankless work for crap pay and shoddy treatment. I am one of those people who adores teaching and is good at it, but I've seen what the public school system does to people, and the pay won't even come close to covering my living expenses. No thank you.
So let them sell the lesson plans. If it gives teachers more time with their families and a little more spending money, they deserve it, and so do their families.
He who has but four and spends five has no need for a wallet.