Perhaps people on Lemmy just aren’t learning anything.

I just had the odd experience of using a manufacturer’s discount card to pick up a medication for my wife. The medication is relatively expensive and seldom covered by insurance.

According to the information on the card, if you have private insurance which covers the medication, the discount card covers the co-pay, so you pay nothing. However, if your insurance doesn’t cover the medication, the discount card covers the cost, and you still pay nothing.

Our insurance didn’t cover the cost, and we didn’t pay anything for the medication.

I don’t understand how that works.

I think it’s important to remember that the USA isn’t a single culture. Things vary dramatically even within a single state to say nothing of differences between states.

In some areas prom is very important. In others, not so much.

Only one of my three kids went to prom (Eastern PA).

Prom in my high school was a relatively big deal. You rented a tux or bought a dress. Some people would rent a limo. The prom was held in some kind of banquet hall with a fairly fancy meal. There’d be a DJ and dancing.

My wife was one year behind me in high school, and we attended FOUR proms (my junior prom, then the next year her junior prom and my senior prom, then the next year I came back for her senior prom).

I think for most people it’s just an opportunity to get dressed up, have a good meal, and dance. If you’re already dating someone, it obviously has more significance, but I had plenty of friends who just took another friend as a date for the prom and others who didn’t go with anyone. However, there was a lot of pressure to be a “couple”, even if you weren’t actually romantically involved with your “date”.

Typically the parents take pictures of the kids in their dresses and tuxedos. From the parents’ point of view, it’s a moment to sort of take note of how your kids are maturing and think about what the future holds for them. Lots of thinking about how old you are ;-)

Often there’s an after party that goes on late into the morning, and for many kids the after party is more important than the prom.

I think social media has had an effect on what prom is, but it also has the effect of distorting what it is to people who only experience it remotely. When you’re seeing the crazy YouTube videos and Instagram posts, you’re not seeing what prom is. You’re seeing a snapshot of what those particular proms are.

the 1950s. This was a high water mark for conservatism in the U.S., and in order to go on any date at least one parent, usually the girl’s dad, had to be present.

Perhaps this was a regional thing.

I was born in 1970, but from what my parents have described, dates were not chaperoned in the 50s unless you happened to have particularly strict parents. Like maybe if you were Amish or something.

Here’s the only thing I was able to find online about dating in the 50’s

https://www.plosin.com/beatbegins/projects/sombat.html

I’m just going to drop this here:

https://whywontgodhealamputees.com/

Long ago when my wife and I moved into our house, after we moved Kaybee the cat in, I witnessed a mouse run from under the dishwasher over to the cat’s dish, steal a piece of food, and run back.

I went and got the cat, took him to the kitchen, and sat on the floor with him to show him the mouse. The mouse repeated the theft, but Kaybee was still too freaked out from the change of residence to react.

A few days later I found a dead mouse on the floor with a piece of cat food in its mouth. I interpreted that as Kaybee’s way of saying, “I’m back on duty. All you mouse bastards are on notice.”

it has pedals like a bicycle

Are you taking about the Aptera from the video you linked?

If so, the Aptera doesn’t have pedals like a bicycle. It’s a fully electric vehicle (or it will be if it reaches production).

Florida: “It was really cold that day!”

Came here looking for this.

I have a treadmill desk at work.

If you edit your comment, and Cethin deletes theirs, and you delete this one, and I delete mine, you can be a comedic genius for whoever reads it later!

On the 90’s TV show Wings, there was a character, Roy Biggens, whose birthday was on Feb 29th, and his parents were dicks, so they only let him celebrate on Feb 29th. So, in the show when he was turning 40 years old he had a 10th birthday party with all the shit a 10-year-old would want.

If I recall correctly, he got the job by scaring the shit out of Kubrick.

While I don’t disagree, I have a point to make.

Recently watched a home movie of our kids when they are little (18 years ago), so ages between 3 & 8.

It was a little horrifying to hear the absolute despair in our voices as my wife and I kept asking one kid after the other, “please stop.”

Three kids, all desperately trying to get ALL the attention. It’s amazing the five of us survived.

I don’t particularly recall the day the video was made. Hearing our voices, it sounds like we were just completely past the breaking point. Yet, consider: that was a moment that we considered adorable enough to record forever. Watching it now, they were adorable. However, it sounds like we were dying inside without realizing it.

I hear the same voices in every video. I love my kids and I love being a parent, but it’s amazing looking back how much that and all the other demands on us was just absolutely crushing the life out of us.

“Uh… Thank welcome. I mean, you’re you… Uh , you’re welcome… Aw, crap.”

An insult to shit.

Ok. Who printed “Code zero zero zero. Destruct. Zero”?

That’s not funny, guys.

Answer in a way that doesn’t make it sound like you were in jail or involved in a lawsuit, and you’re good.

Recruiter: “So, tell me about this gap in your CV.”

You: “I’m not permitted to answer any questions about that period of my life unless the files are declassified. I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.”

Recruiter: “Ha ha.”

You: “No. Seriously. Let’s move on.”

I think the rule is: if a headline asks a question, the answer is always “no”.

Those of you women living in U.S. red states will be familiar with the feeling.