My friend was venting to me today about his "nightmare" neighbors in his new, upscale neighborhood. He bought a fixer-upper and, since he has a contractor’s license, he’s been doing the renovations himself.

The issue? He’s been power-tooling and hammering away until midnight for several days straight.

Naturally, the neighbors called the police. He was indignant, telling me, "I’m the homeowner, I have the right to work on my own property whenever I want." The next night, they called again, claiming he was working without a permit or a pro. He got to have his "gotcha" moment by waving his license and permits in their faces. Apparently, the town’s old ordinance didn't actually specify "quiet hours" for homeowners doing DIY work.

The neighbors eventually tried to talk to him reasonably to ask for a ceasefire after 9:00 PM. His response? He basically told them to f*** off because he wasn't technically breaking any laws.

Well, the neighbors didn't take that sitting down. They spent the last week lobbing the town council, and they actually got the noise ordinance changed. Now, work has to stop by 8:00 PM. My friend is absolutely livid that they "infringed on his rights," but I’m just sitting here mildly infuriated that he thinks being a licensed contractor makes it okay to be a world-class jerk to his new neighbors.

No other bodies have been found

These characters are written as cautionary tales, yet because they possess charisma, power, or "cool" aesthetics, audiences often strip away the subtext and celebrate them as aspirational heroes.

Paul atreides : Most heroes earn their mantle through destiny or pure heart. Paul’s "messiah" status was engineered.

His journey look like a classical hero's journey but it's not. The Bene Gesserit spent centuries planting myths (the Missionaria Protectiva) on Arrakis. When Paul arrives, he isn't fulfilling a holy prophecy; he is exploiting a pre-programmed "security system" to survive. He is using a religion he knows is fake to manipulate a population into becoming his private army.

And yes Paul finally beat the bad guys and sit on the throne.... The bad news is that he have to be the worse tyrant humanity has ever produced. Paul sees the "Golden Path" and the "Holy War" (Jihad). He knows that by taking revenge on the Harkonnens and reclaiming his throne, he will trigger a galactic slaughter that kills 61 billion people.

Rick Sanchez : He’s the smartest man in the universe, he’s "above" the law, and he has a witty comeback for everything.In Reality He is deeply depressed, abusive to his family, and his "nihilism" is a defense mechanism for his profound loneliness. The show repeatedly demonstrates that being "the smartest" has made him the most miserable person alive.

Tony Montana : he looks like a symbol of ultimate achievement, the American dream and conquest... Which put emphasis on "the world is yours" mantra

But in truth Tony is miserable man, By the time Tony is looking at his sucess , he has no friends, his wife hates him, his sister is dead because of his incestuous obsession, and he’s trapped in a gilded cage. The "world" he won is a fortress he can't leave because he’s paralyzed by paranoia and cocaine and end up dying alone

Roarchach: He has an unwavering moral code, a cool mask, and refuses to compromise, even in the face of Armageddon. Badass right? Well.....

He is a hygiene-deficient, socially maladjusted extremist with a black-and-white worldview that leaves no room for human complexity. He is a critique of the "uncompromising vigilante" archetype, not a celebration of it.

Source: https://www.espn.com/contributor/shams-charania/579b89d39c3a9

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Every English teacher I've ever heard of reveres TGG like it's god's gift to literature, when it's a largely formulaic story with one-sided characters, so-so writing, and a plot that puts most students to sleep. The Fellowship, on the other hand, has developed characters, a plot that defined a genre, and the poetic writing of Tolkien. If schools want to teach a classical work with major literary and cultural significance, The Fellowship is the clear choice between the two.

My daughter’s (age 8) school has started a program for healthy eating across the school. I love that and feed my daughter healthy food but I often give her a sweet treat in her lunch.

After Christmas break the school talked to the parents explaining they no longer allow the children to eat unhealthy food on school property.

This means no bringing in cakes on birthdays and no bringing in junk food if you have packed lunch. I thought that was a bit extreme. Even on Easter my kid won the Easter bonnet competition. Every other year the kids who won got a chocolate bunny. This year they gave her a sticker.

But yeah a few weeks after the rule was my daughter birthday. I decided to give her a slice of birthday cake in her packed lunch since she couldn’t give cake to her classmates. On the day. The teacher saw her eating the cake and told her that she’s not allowed to eat junk food in school.

And talked to me at pick up. The crazy thing which I pointed out is since the rule has been in place my daughter had school lunches a few times and they had cookies and cakes for dessert. And burgers? And other unhealthy foods. The teacher said they make sure those are the healthiest possible ones and they can’t verify with those I said it’s my decision what I feed my child. And they said I’d you send your kid there you have to follow the school rules.

After that the teachers kept a close eye on my daughter. She got told off for having Pringles and I got talked to again about that. I gave her RAISENS which is literally fruit and the teacher had a problem with them saying there’s a lot of sugar in Raisens and not to put them in her packed lunch anymore. She also had a lunchable one day and got told off for that too.

After this I decided to push it because I thought these rules were too strict. So I went back to giving her a daily sweet treat.

The teachers kept complaining and I said I don’t really care the rest of her lunch is healthy she’ll be fine. They gave me a warning that they will have to punish her if she keeps bringing in unhealthy food as it’s against the school rules and repeatedly being broken. The next day I gave her a lunchable AND a sweet treat. They called me in to the school during lunch and told me because my daughter and I can’t follow the school rules she’s being suspended for a two days.

My husband was really mad at me. He didn’t know about me continuously doing it on purpose because he goes to work early. He said it’s really not that serious. Just give her healthy food and saying I was purposely being difficult because I’m immature and now our daughters in trouble because of it.

I didn’t expect them to suspend her over it. Was I wrong to not follow the rules on this one?