Ok, I’ve told this story a few times, but maybe never here. Here we go. 🧵👇

I was about 6. I was in the car with my mother. We were driving a few hours from home to go to Orlando. My parents were letting me audition for a tv show. It would end up being my first job. I was very excited. But, in the meantime we drove and listened to Rush’s show.
There was some sort of trivia question they posed to the audience. I don’t remember what the riddle was, but I remember I knew the answer right away. It was phrased in this way that was somehow just simpler to see from a kid’s perspective. The answer was CAROUSEL. I was elated.
My mother was THRILLED. She insisted that we call Into the show using her “for emergencies only” giant cell phone. It was this phone:
I called in. The phone rang for a while, but someone answered. It was an impatient-sounding dude. The screener. I said I had the trivia answer. He wasn’t charmed, I could hear him rolling his eyes. He asked me what it was. I told him. “Please hold.”
After a few minutes, I was taken off hold. Rush picked up and told me I was on the air. He asked me what the answer was. I told him. He asked me how I knew the answer. I told him the truth... that I just... did? He started to goad me.
This is the first time I can ever remember this happening, btw. It was very confusing. “Come on, your mind told you the answer.” “No! She didn’t even know it!” I told him. He stays on this bit for a minute, then he switches gears.
“What are you doing out of school?” He asks. I’m excited to say why! “I’m auditioning for a tv show!”

This was a mistake. I shouldn’t have told him this.
He asks to speak to my mother.
At this point, my eyes kind of start to glaze over. I realize this guy is going to give my mom a hard time for letting me do this, and I probably should’ve kept my mouth shut about the trivia answer.

He’s now berating her for being a psycho parent.
After she speaks with him for a few incredibly uncomfortable few minutes, we get off the phone.
But the show has changed course.
They’re talking about me and my mom. And then in general about how insane it is to let your kids have hobbies like acting or whatever. I
It was incredibly surreal. We kept listening in silence. The whole show was now about this topic.
I don’t think we ever even spoke about it.
Anyway, maybe he was right. My mom was kind of a psycho parent, and maybe I shouldn’t have been an actor?
So, RIP Rush. Thanks for the good story. You’ll always be the first grown man I remember gaslighting me for being smart. 🥰

More from Tech

These past few days I've been experimenting with something new that I want to use by myself.

Interestingly, this thread below has been written by that.

Let me show you how it looks like. 👇🏻


When you see localhost up there, you should know that it's truly an experiment! 😀


It's a dead-simple thread writer that will post a series of tweets a.k.a tweetstorm. ⚡️

I've been personally wanting it myself since few months ago, but neglected it intentionally to make sure it's something that I genuinely need.

So why is that important for me? 🙂

I've been a believer of a story. I tell stories all the time, whether it's in the real world or online like this. Our society has moved by that.

If you're interested by stories that move us, read Sapiens!

One of the stories that I've told was from the launch of Poster.

It's been launched multiple times this year, and Twitter has been my go-to place to tell the world about that.

Here comes my frustration.. 😤

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The YouTube algorithm that I helped build in 2011 still recommends the flat earth theory by the *hundreds of millions*. This investigation by @RawStory shows some of the real-life consequences of this badly designed AI.


This spring at SxSW, @SusanWojcicki promised "Wikipedia snippets" on debated videos. But they didn't put them on flat earth videos, and instead @YouTube is promoting merchandising such as "NASA lies - Never Trust a Snake". 2/


A few example of flat earth videos that were promoted by YouTube #today:
https://t.co/TumQiX2tlj 3/

https://t.co/uAORIJ5BYX 4/

https://t.co/yOGZ0pLfHG 5/