TIL that after psychologist Timothy Leary was sentenced to prison, he had to take a test that he himself created. He used his knowledge to be assigned to a lower-security prison and escaped.
On January 21, 1970, Leary received a ten-year sentence for his 1968 offense, with a further ten added later while in custody for a prior arrest in 1965, for a total of 20 years to be served consecutively. On his arrival in prison, he was given psychological tests used to assign inmates to appropriate work details. Having designed some of these tests himself (including the "Leary Interpersonal Behavior Inventory"), Leary answered them in such a way that he seemed to be a very conforming, conventional person with a great interest in forestry and gardening.[108] As a result, he was assigned to work as a gardener in a lower-security prison from which he escaped in September 1970, saying that his nonviolent escape was a humorous prank and leaving a challenging note for the authorities to find after he was gone
My boomer mom is all up in her suburban town councils business because she's afraid there is going to be a "marijuana shop" that goes in across the highway from her neighborhood in the strip mall that's being developed.
Anti-drug propaganda really did a number on that generation
It's fascinating how some of that generation have turned out. My parents are in their mid 70's and are on an edibles kick right now since they "are to old to be smoking". Their neighbor is the same age and has bought into the whole war on drugs and just about every other bit of propaganda authoritarians have put out in the last 50 years. The neighbor is a good source of daily excitement and stories that my parents like to tell us when we see them.
There's pot shops all over Washington state. They don't generally tolerate nonsense and respect the neighborhood they operate out of. I have not heard of any shops causing news worthy problems outside of financial. The shops always have a nice low profile vibe.
When my state legalized I recall tons of 'predictions' about dispensaries being some sort of crime dens, but it turns out the crime dens are really stores like Walmart and Target as they have police there multiple times a day to arrest people for stealing and people don't really rob dispensaries because the product is so cheap and accessable.
That's what I told her. I'm in Oregon and she's in Minnesota. I think it's just new and different for her. She's afraid of an "unwelcome element" coming into her suburb 🙄.
"Boomer" used to mean a specific thing: the boomer generation, people born from 1946-1964.
Now it's just a buzzword that's been poisoned and just means "old people I disagree with." What? It's completely subjective and serves one purpose anymore: mindlessly dividing people along generational lines.
Point I am trying to make here is that "boomer" being used in a discussion - when not used with its original meaning - becomes meaningless.
I was using it as a description of the age of my mother. She just happens to also personify the stereotypes of her generation as well. I love her, but I roll my eyes when she tells me about her latest scrap with a city council member and the interaction she had with the developers of the piece of land being developed near her house.
Yeah, I've started thinking that, too, so I push back every chance I get. As an actual boomer, I think it's my prerogative, in a kind of "get off lawn" way. :)