So does straight edge strictly refer to not doing drugs? If that's the definition, then I'm a straight edged person... Hell, I don't even drink and I work for a Scottish company where all my co-workers drink like fish.
I'm not religious, it has just always seemed dumb to me that people felt they needed to be inebriated to have a good time. Maybe this is just the normal for them so they don't know any different? But doesn't that seem pretty stupid? Anyways, I was stubborn in college and resisted peer pressure and by the time I didn't care anymore, I just never saw the need to start drinking (or doing drugs). But I'm not here preach, I don't really care what you do as long as it doesn't affect me (i.e. drunk driving).
I'm a CTO for a midsized company. I have three kids and I've been happily married for over 25 years. Between my friends, there are more people who don't drink than those who do, but at work I'm definitely the oddball... But I'm also old enough that I don't really give a shit what other people think so I'm perfectly happy going along and being the guy who doesn't drink.
I actually have enough money to retire right now and live frugally for the rest of my life at the age of 51... But to be honest it sounds super boring and depressing.
I know this will go against the grain here, but I enjoy what I do. I'm an engineering manager and I work on cool and interesting projects. I enjoy what the extra money gets me, whether it's vacations or a better place to live or whatever. I enjoy working with other intelligent engineers trying to solve challenging problems. If I was retired I wouldn't have that same engagement. I don't know what I'd do with my time and I'm afraid I would not spend it in a healthy way.
So the reality is I've thought about it, but I'm not really that interested in retiring even though I could.
I hear you, but I don't use it if I disagree with somebody, I use it if they're disingenuous or rude or disparaging towards other people. Because fuck them.
I think the F-150 has some really cool features for a serious work truck. The front with the low entry means you can put relatively heavy tools there. The power outlets add a ton of functionality. The only thing it really doesn't have IMHO is the ability to do serious towing... But that's a problem with all electric vehicles.
Now I'm not a serious pickup guy, but from what I've seen, the F-150 looks much more built for work than any other EV on the market (and most pickups).
The stupid thing is, it was so easy to see what needed to be done. Tesla needed to release a pickup that appealed to Red State America. Functional first, but high end and ultra manly. Kind of like the F-150 lightning but cool.
Tesla needed to appeal to traditional pickup owners. Then Musk's run to the right would have actually fallen in line with that strategy. But the Cybertruck is the exact opposite of that. There are probably more techies who own cyber trucks than there are pickup owners, and that's pathetic. That's a failure to understand your target demographic. This really comes down to musks insane hubris.
My son's case wasn't severe. The specialist basically said "I can diagnose him with ADHD if you want" after seeing him for a 30 min session (may have been an hour). The specialist laid out options and let us decide. They never recommended anything. That's the way health care is these days in this part of the country. Don't fool yourself into thinking the specialist just knew the right answer and we just ignored it; that's not the way it worked in our case (and probably most cases).
I feel like you guys are crazy to act like this is a infallible binary diagnoses or that one solution fits everyone. Or that as parents we shouldn't be cautious with a drug that will affect the way our child thinks. That's just bonkers.
IMHO it's really all about you being worried about how others react. Speaking as a 50 year old guy, I would walk around naked if it was normal in society. Put the bikini on and stand in front of a mirror. Make sure you're confident that it looks normal (no tags still showing, nothing that is too revealing or pinching in the wrong spot or whatever... then put it on and go out in public and don't think about it. It'll be fine and nobody will think twice about it other than maybe saying "damn she's keeping herself in shape!"
It'll be fine. Don't let others get in your head so much that it determines what you're going to do or wear.
As a parent of a child with ADHD, bad grades are a signal they aren't able to cope or excel in their normal state. If the child is able to get good grades then it's really hard to justify putting your kids on a mood altering drug.
My oldest child has ADHD and is currently on drugs for him to be more successful. He started taking ADHD drugs in high school and that made it much easier as a parent to make the decision to put him on the drugs because he could provide intelligent opinion and feedback.
I know there is a tendency here to think that the parents are doing this for nefarious purposes, but wouldn't it be more nefarious to put your kid on mood altering drugs because they were hard to deal with?
Everything is a shade of gray for most kids. If it were black and white it would be easy. I want what is best for my kid, but that's not necessarily an easy thing to know what is best. If it's a close call, then it seems the safest route is the one where you don't give your kid potentially addictive mood altering drugs... and that's where we were for several years in junior high after he was diagnosed. He actually did quite well during covid doing school at home, and when he went back he struggled.
Let me emphasize again, this is not an easy decision. Almost all parents are trying to make the best decision for the sake of their child. You can always come up with the shit parent examples, but for every one of those there should be at least two or three good ones trying to make the best decisions possible.
It's funny, I hate clinical people like you almost as much as the evil people doing this to us. Democrats are not complicit, especially when they don't have any power.
I lived in rural Japan for 3 years... Seemed to work just fine there.