A former Sergeant in the Marine Corps took a new job as a high school teacher. Just before the school year started, he injured his back. He was required to wear a plaster cast around the upper part of his body. Fortunately, the cast fit under his shirt and wasn’t noticeable. On the first day of class, he found himself assigned to the toughest students in the school. The smart punks, having already heard the new teacher was a former Marine, were leery of him and he knew they would be testing his discipline in the classroom. Walking confidently into the rowdy classroom, the new teacher opened the window wide and sat down at his desk. When a strong breeze made his tie flap, he picked up a stapler and stapled the tie to his chest. There was dead silence… the rest of the year went quite smoothly.

I strongly support this and try to practice it in real life. If someone does something bold or that clearly required effort, it’s worth calling out. Bonus if you can do it as you pass them, like going opposite directions in the vestibule of a store, so it’s clear that you’re not looking to get something in return.

For selfish reasons, I also genuinely appreciate people who do something to make themselves stand out. I have trouble with faces, so if you have distinctive jewelry or a big hairstyle or colorful clothing, it makes it easier to recognize you. (Obviously this part only applies in a group social setting and less so in the vestibule of a store.)

One of my favorite instances of this was when I was in the waiting area of a restaurant and saw a guy wearing a loud jacket. I said something like “hey man, awesome jacket!” He got a huge grin, clapped me on the shoulder, and expressed a big thank you. Meanwhile, the person that I assume was his girlfriend smiled and rolled her eyes. I don’t know the background story there, but it was a very satisfying response.

edit: Also, I’ve heard some cool stories in response to this in situations where people weren’t passing by. For example, I might compliment a receptionist’s watch and get back "thanks! I got it from my brother when he went to … " and learn a lot about a person’s history, with the only cost being hopefully making them feel good.

I started doing this after reading a comment on Reddit about how most men rarely get compliments, so each individual one is likely to mean a lot. I don’t limit my compliments to men, but I do try (hopefully successfully) to make sure that nothing I flatter seems predatory. I’ve almost universally gotten positive responses and it’s very rewarding.

That’s a very respectable attitude.

It was indeed unpopular at the time and not widely known now. I personally actually enjoyed the action (I think the final gunfight is one of the best or at least most fun I’ve ever seen), but I understand how it would be unappealing to some.

As I mentioned, Christian Bale’s performance is allegedly what got him the role of Batman, so make of that what you will.

It’s also worth mentioning that there are enjoyable qualities to the movie even discarding the action. If and when you do watch it, I hope you enjoy it!

Gotcha, thanks for the explanation!

What is a croft in this context?

Definitely agreed on the last two.

Sounds like good decision making there.

I’d never heard of that, but it looks very nice. A local merchant says that his brother lives in Norway and he loves to visit.

A long time ago, someone posted advocating symlinking vi to emacs. Evil, but entertaining.

Usually this is because they are posting to social media and many social media environments use OCR to scan screenshots for “offensive” words. If the scanner finds something it deems unacceptable, the post will get a smaller audience or might even be disallowed.

The censoring is for the machines, not the people.

edit: Fixed autocorrect.

Sounds like your preferences are pretty flexible.

That is the protagonist from the (IMHO excellent) movie Equilibrium. He describes himself as a “tetragrammaton cleric.” Prior to your comment, I didn’t know the first word had any actual real world meaning, so that’s where my mind went when I saw you use it. (Apologies if this is disrespectful to the intent of the word.)

As an interesting side note, supposedly that movie is what got Christian Bale cast as Batman.

That’s pretty specific.

I’m not familiar, but an image search makes it look like you’re describing the middle of a roadway. Did I find the wrong thing?

I think you’re the first person in this thread who hasn’t said something related to being remote/isolated. Good luck in achieving your dreams!

That sounds nice. I work remotely now and don’t talk to people outside of my home very often, but I do have a family that lives with me and they provide plenty of interaction. When we were moving, I did spend a few weeks completely alone here and it did get pretty lonely. I’m sorry you now live somewhere you don’t like.

I like the pachycephalosaurus because its etymology is so clear. Like submarine.

Also, when my kid was three or so, they couldn’t really enunciate any words correctly but they could pronounce that dinosaur name perfectly.

I, too, was confused until your post enlightened me. Thanks.