Dear Ex,
I'm sorry it ended the way it did. I'm sorry I let our relationship go on when I knew I couldn't love you. I want you to know that part of that is on you.
You cheated and promised to change. Apologized and gave me passwords.
You showed naked pictures of me and claimed that you did it because you were proud I was yours.
You constantly insulted me and insisted it wasn't my fault, but my family's for the way they raised me.
You put my lifestyle down, told me yours was better... and I listened.
Finally, you hit me. You hit me because I finally stood up for myself. I made you get out and cried and called you, because I suddenly realized that you were the only one in my life I hadn't alienated after dating you. But you did one amazing thing for me.
You didn't come back...
Lifestyle
By William Henry Gates III
February 3, 1976
An Open Letter to Hobbyists
To me, the most critical thing in the hobby market right now is the lack of good software courses, books and software itself. Without good software and an owner who understands programming, a hobby computer is wasted. Will quality software be written for the hobby market?
Almost a year ago, Paul Allen and myself, expecting the hobby market to expand, hired Monte Davidoff and developed Altair BASIC. Though the initial work took only two months, the three of us have spent most of the last year documenting, improving and adding features to BASIC. Now we have 4K, 8K, EXTENDED, ROM and DISK BASIC. The value of the computer time we have used exceeds $40,000.
The feedback we have gotten from the hundreds of...
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Over the weekend several incidents involving scareactors at Halloween Horror Nights have sparked debate among the theme park fan community, and has called into question the safety of the actors at the event, and other events like it. Several actors at HHN at Universal Orlando publicly gave reasons to friends and fans why they were leaving, just one week before the event ended. In a word, safety. They don’t feel safe at the event after several guests physically, verbally and in one case sexually assaulted actors. So what is to blame here? Is the park doing enough to protect the employees and guests? Is it because alcohol is involved? Or is it simply because people tend to check their brains at an event like Halloween Horror Nights? Well, it’s not really as simple as a yes or no question....
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Dear Glamour Magazine:
I heard you’ve named Caitlyn Jenner as your “Woman of the Year.”
Ummmmm… Are you f*cking kidding me?
No, seriously. Are you pulling my leg? Is this some kind of Halloween prank? Did I wake up in the Twilight Zone?
Let’s break this down for a minute.
I don’t really care what your qualifications for “Woman of the Year” might be. I don’t harbor any expectations of depth from a magazine known for their groundbreaking listicles on how to give your boyfriend the ultimate blow job and how you know your man is cheating. I get it. But there is one universal qualification for any “Woman of the Anything;” one thing that can’t be intelligently disputed or questioned; one thing that is the basic common denominator of literally every single woman on the face of the...
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Dear Mr. Patel,
I am a taxpayer living in Yonkers. I am aware of the city budget crisis, and of Mr. Pierorazio's statements this weekend regarding busing cuts and Pre K cuts. These cuts will hurt my neighbors, and we are not happy.
I have two questions for you:
1. How can you justify the millions of dollars of expenses associated with summer school for students who failed during the school year. Taxpayers pay for their education once and then have to pay for their education again during the summer?
Instead of my neighbors kids going to Pre K, we are paying twice for the education of some students. Is the reason for this to keep the abysmal graduation rate up so that certain Yonkers Public Schools staff can receive contractual bonuses? Why not make these students repeat the...
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Dear Wendy,
Hope you and your family had a happy New Years.
Without Teach For America there wouldn’t be a ‘me,’ or at least there would be one but I’d likely be doing something very different and likely much less fulfilling with my life. And without you there wouldn’t be a Teach For America. So in that sense you ‘made’ me. To put this into pop culture terms, if I’m Luke Skywalker then you’re, um, Anakin Skywalker.
I don’t know if there are many people whose identity is as wrapped up with TFA as me. Starting twenty-one years ago I’ve pledged my time and my heart into this organization. I’ve been a corps member, a staff member, an alumni summit attendee, a volunteer recruiter, a workshop presenter, a keynote speaker, a panel member, a financial donor, a mentor, and a dinner...
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Dear Jimmy Fallon's Mom (can I call you Gloria?),
I hope you are having a nice summer! A thousand apologies for the whole “open letter” thing. I kind of can’t stand that phrase, but it’s a thing. How about this - “An Open Letter to Open Letters: Dear Open Letters: Please stop.” Haha!
Anyhoo, I’m writing you because I'm really hoping you might ask your son if he would babysit my seven year old son: “G.” I am thinking $15 per hour, but can’t do any more than $20. (If it happens this week, they could go to the Maggie Daley Park or something. We are having ironwork done at my condo and it might be a little loud.) "G" is an aspiring funny guy, but that’s not why I’m requesting babysitting help from the host of The Tonight Show. The reason is that there are some admirable qualities I see...
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Dear Cambridge,
My husband and I have enjoyed living in your city for 10 years. My son took a little while (8 years) to come around, but he now likes it, too. My daughter was born here, so this is home to her.
We want to thank you for your efforts to keep us here when we thought we couldn’t afford it. The last few years, we’ve been looking for a bigger place. We thought a multi-family dwelling was the solution, but it turns out to have snags we hadn’t realized.
Last summer, we toyed with moving in or near Salem. We decided to give in one more year. To squeeze in a two-bedroom condo with a porch, but no property. (Why are there nearly no three-bedroom places in Cambridge? WHY?)
Our needs have been modest: 300-400 more square feet, three bedrooms, 1 ½ baths, a little property...
2,293
Dear Mr. Ice Cream Truck,
Oh my God, I hate you so hard right now.
I thought I would write this to explain why I glare at you with my eyes (and heart) full of furious and righteous anger. You notice me scowling at you, but you don't seem to care. Which only deepens my fury.
Yesterday, you caused my 4 year old to have a 30 minute meltdown. In front of a large group of people because of course. I had to smile and nod and murmur phrases like "We don't reward this kind of behavior" and "No thank you, make another choice" approximately 400,000 times, while wrestling my beloved offspring as she writhed around on the pavement, howling like Mariah Carey with a bladder infection.
You may think the whole point of what you do is to make children happy, BUT YOU JUST MAKE THEM SAD. It's...
2,454
Dear parents,
I think it’s time that all of us sports parents accept some truths about kids’ sports. I think if we can do this, together, we’re all going to have a lot more fun, and, most importantly, so will our kids.
These are KIDS and your screaming is ruining everyone’s experience. This is the one that gets me fired up the most. I know you’ve dumped thousands of dollars into equipment, ice fees, ump fees, costumes, uniforms, and traveling. I know you have expectations for your children. I understand you’re competitive and want to cheer your kids on to a victory. But these are KIDS. They want to have fun. They should be learning to love this game they’ve committed to playing for hours every week. They should be learning what it means to be a good teammate and how good it feels to...
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