4. Volunteer for the military in a related field, or even in a general occupation. A two-year military enlistment qualifies for the GI bill which will fund your 4-year degree with perhaps some left over for other education.

The GI Bill is important, but it's not the only thing this gives you that will help you for the rest of your life. You also get VA medical benefits that never end even if you come out without any Service Connected conditions. And, judging by all the complaints about the high costs of Health Care that I see here, it's a good thing to have.

As a personal example, back in early '22 I lost my balance on a patch of black ice and came down on my right knee like a pile driver. That led to two weeks in a hospital and I still have a rod in my femur. As I was already retired at the time there was no way I could have ever paid off that debt, but as I have my VA benefits I ended up not paying for any of that care.

Back when I was first learning Linux, back in the prior millenium, I took one good look at The One True Editor (vi) and knew that I didn't want to waste the time and energy needed to memorize it. Instead, after a little experimentation, I settled on Mork's Editor (nano) and have stuck with it ever since. One of the many things I like about it is that with vi, if you get into it by mistake, it takes you five keystrokes to exit without saving. With nano, if you haven't entered any text, one keystroke (^X, classic geek-speak for Crtl-X) does it. If you've entered some text, but don't want to save it, two keystrokes (^X N) does the trick. As you can see, when working in Linux, KISS is my motto.

Wrong! Just because you started out using a GUI and had a hard time adjusting to a CLI doesn't mean that nobody's comfortable working in a text-based interface. Those of us who were using computers back before GUIs were invented find a command line quite comfortable, TYVM!

A long time ago, back when you had to go to the Unemployment Office every two weeks to turn in your paperwork and get your check, I was told that by a clerk. So far, I've seen no reason not to believe it, even though I've seen supposedly authoritative claims that it's not true. It's the type of thing the PTB would deny even though it's true.

No, it means that they've lost their jobs and their Unemployment Benefits have run out. The various government agencies responsible for these numbers assume that if you're not receiving government handouts you've left the workforce and they stop counting you as unemployed.

My parents' retirement home was on the flight path that the shuttle used to land at Edwards, and I remember hearing the double BOOM as they went over. Not the loudest thing I've heard. That was my ship's 5"/54 doing shore bombardment while I was topside back in '72. Yes, I was wearing hearing protection but I still have a notch in my hearing range because of it. I also heard the Newport News firing a full broadside of 8" guns one night but that wasn't as loud, both because it was several miles away and because it was firing away from us. It also wasn't using flashless powder, giving us a nice fireworks display as a side effect.

Are you sure that the telescope isn't named after a sandwich?

... I really liked the first Superman they did.

So you managed to find and watch the Superman serial that Columbia put out in 1948. And if you liked that so much, did you hunt down its sequel, Atom Man vs. Superman that came out in 1950? If not, you really should as they used footage of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsing as part of the first chapter's cliffhanger.

I do wonder how much of the bloatware needs to be disabled to actually realize that, though.

There's a very simple way to find out. Just type this one command into a terminal:
systemd-analyze blame

Yes! And considering Disney's penchant for recycling old stories, I'm surprised that they've never tried to remake the old Andy Hardy movies from the 30s and 40s.

Hell, I'm doubting you have the humidity to go with the heat they way we do....?

You might want to take a moment to reflect on the fact that New Orleans is on the Mississippi River before taking your foot out of your mouth. I'd also like to add that I live in Trinidad, COI, on the Pugatoire River and know exactly what "Mosquito Season" means.

I know Alex Jones is a wacko but Boomers believe everything printed in The Sun is God's own truth.

No, we don't. I say that as an early boomer (born '49) and a proud 'Nam vet. Not, please note, a "Vietnam war era veteran," but a true 'Nam vet and a member of the Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club. I have never read the Sun, and have no idea what it is except that it appears to be some sort of newspaper that right-wing Limeys read.

Having a society with so much importance placed on "credentialism" and so little importance placed on being able to actually do things doesn't help.

I used to know a man who was trying to break into IT. The basis of his efforts was making sure he had the proper credentials for whatever position he was chasing. I don't know how many certs he ended up with, but they turned out to be a waste of time and money because I don't think he ever got into IT. What he never realized is that while certs may help, HR wants experience as well even if they're demanding seven years experience in a field that's only three years old.

Well, he could have tried. SCOTUS almost never accepts an appeal unless their are constitutional issues involved. And, if this had happened in the US, the student would have been charged as an Accessory Before the Fact for providing any credentials, passwords or other documents needed to get into the exam room and both of them would be charged with Conspiracy to Defraud.

Like with drugs, how many get away with it because they have the right connections?

And do you think that the fact that some people get away with it makes it right? I wonder what their clients would say when they found out how incompetent they were.