To go hang out with people in a cool setting while having alcohol-like drinks without the problems. Like going to a Kava bar or something, or tea bar. Bunch of places out there with themed drinks to hang out. Sometimes you like the taste of cocktails but don’t want to get drunk.

I’m not big of a fan of Chinese surveillance but to most peoples point that have already posted here, if this was about privacy then the government should be passing laws to protect consumer privacy as a whole and not just targeting Chinese companies. Really shows that the government doesn’t give a shit about your privacy just who’s able to get it.

Weren’t the French pretty salty about the UK? I recall seeing some articles on punishing the UK for leaving

It’s really hard but I struggle to tell people about my operating system. I use Arch BTW.

I’m pretty sure the context of the fed saying that is inflation was partly due to there being too many people who have jobs with disposable income. I’m pretty sure nowadays there unfortunately more people with underpaying jobs.

“Too many people have jobs” - The federal reserve

Have you heard of the five stages of grief? That’s probably the best first way to deal with it. No capitalist/socialist/fascist/technocratic/authoritarian utopia will be able to fix that. I don’t believe there is a better system yet than what the western world already has. Maybe one day UBI will exist and everyone will have more freedom to enjoy their passions but even then it you’ll still have to work most of your life.

Best you can do is figure out what you want out of your life and take the steps to do it. Like what most people have said, living below your means helps with funding your goals and protecting yourself against accidents. Find ways to do what you want now but know there’s always a trade off. It isn’t fair but I don’t think it ever has been, except for a very privileged class of people.

I used to vape in college but afterwards decided to quit. Part of what made quoting easier was moving away and breaking from routine because for me it became a part of my day-to-day. The other thing that helped me was doing cardio. Running would suck so hard because my lungs had a hard time keeping up. That shitty feeling also helped push through cravings.

No, they’re not. You can use sandboxed google services, if you want to. Or you can use FOSS apps.