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"Every morning at 6.30am in a padlocked wing of a military-style compound in southern Beijing, a whistle sounds. It's the cue for around 50 camouflage shirt-clad young Chinese men and around five young women to get up.
They line up outside their dormitories as a drillmaster barks out a name register and a day of punishing military exercises and lectures begins.
At 9.30pm they are locked up again and it's strictly lights out. For most people sent here (some of whom have been drugged by their parents to get them behind the locked gates), this routine is repeated daily for six months.
But these people are not army cadets or prisoners. They are patients at the China Young Mental Development Base: China's toughest internet addiction rehab centre - and MailOnline was allowed inside its sterile walls."[^]
«I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center» Kurt Vonnegut.
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BillWoodruff wrote: Every morning at 6.30am
That's night, not morning.
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
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I try to avoid mornings... The big yellow circle in the ceiling hurts my eyes 
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That's nearly midday! 
Or at least, in summer it is - I'm up with the sun, I can't just lie there when I'm awake.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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OriginalGriff wrote: I'm up with the sun, I can't just lie there when ![Sheep | [baah]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/sheep.gif) are awake.
FTFY
Once you lose your pride the rest is easy.
In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you. – Buddha
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The smarter sheep have become nocturnal.
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OriginalGriff wrote: I'm up with the sun
There's this wonderfull invention called a "curtain" which would easily solve that.
OriginalGriff wrote: I can't just lie there when I'm awake
Then how does sleeping start?
All this getting up early makes you sound rather confused 
Bastard Programmer from Hell
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
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Eddy Vluggen wrote: There's this wonderfull invention called a "curtain" which would easily solve that.
We have those, even in Wales.
We also have had a series of cats, who all have known when their bellies are empty, or the mice are running about, and have sussed that the food / door is controlled by the Pink Blobs. Wake the Pink Blob, he'll get up, they get what they want. Occasionally. One of them was about 8kg, and would stand on my bladder and give me a Gorbals Kiss to wake me. You don;t sleep after that, and you do get into teh habit after a while.
Eddy Vluggen wrote: Then how does sleeping start?
With annoying difficulty...
It used to be easier: I drank a lot, so I went to sleep really easy. Now I don't, and don't have an artificial sleep support system!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Yes, the FUTURE is here!!
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That's just what my kid needs. I'll forward this on to the wife.
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...and that's how the fight started... 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Now if they'd just do the same thing for TV.
Jeremy Falcon
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I thought that's what parents were for? You know, to guide, control, direct, and educate their spawn in regards to life, consequences, and proper behaviour? My mother would have smacked me hard enough to drop the iPad if I didn't do was I was (repeatedly) told. We were restricted from television as punishment; why can't dad change the wifi password?
If I didn't listen, there were consequences right at home, enacted by my parents.
You know what? It worked. 
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That's because people don't take responsibility anymore. I mean McDonald's is the reason people get fat after all.
Jeremy Falcon
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dexterama wrote: I thought that's what parents were for?
 I take it you have no children?
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During most of our history, it has been the burden of being a parent.
Did that change suddenly? Who else would do it?
Bastard Programmer from Hell
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
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Far from it. The care of children has been farmed out to grandparents, wet nurses, nannies, the church (or equivalent religious body), boarding schools, and just about everybody but the actual parents since the first glimmers of civilisation (and probably before that). The idea of the nuclear family is a thoroughly modern invention and in all but a handful of families an unmitigated disaster. The last people you should trust to be your parents are your biological parents. I refer you to Mr Larkin's famous comments on the matter!
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Member 9082365 wrote: The care of children has been farmed out to grandparents, wet nurses, nannies,
the church (or equivalent religious body), boarding schools, and just about
everybody but the actual parents
We went to church for mass, not for care.
Member 9082365 wrote: The idea of the nuclear family is a thoroughly modern invention
You'll find that nature works this way, as the ones that are passing on their genetic code are the ones that have the most benefit of its survival.
Bastard Programmer from Hell
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
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Nature does nothing of the sort. Species that kick their offspring out shortly after birth or have absolutely nothing to do with rearing at all (laying eggs to which they never return, for example) or that rear as a collective rather than as individual parent-carers are in the majority.
And I'd take a lot of convincing that individuals of any species benefit directly from the survival of their genetic heritage. In any event there is no suggestion that the survival of offspring necessitates rearing by biological parents. Indeed in many cases, such as species which eat most of their young, it's a thoroughly bad idea to stick around one's parents. I have long been of the opinion that many human children come into that category!
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Good for them, I say.
Marc
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Did you know that cat puns freak meowt?
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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You got to be kitten.
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment
"Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst
"I don't drink any more... then again, I don't drink any less." - Mike Mullikins uncle
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and here I thought you were declawed (married). 
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment
"Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst
"I don't drink any more... then again, I don't drink any less." - Mike Mullikins uncle
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