Canadian:

Lots of things are covered, not even a bill or anything to sign put in front of you. Childbirth: $0. ER visit for an injury: $0. Tests of all kinds: $0

Mental, dental, and eye care are out of pocket. If you have a job that is a “career”, as in not fast food etc., you will likely have some workplace coverage for that stuff through insurance. My insurance covers eye exam and some money for glasses every 2 years, fairly generous amount for dental that will pay for cleaning and cavity filling and small procedures, drug coverage so most medications are $0, but sadly only a pittance for mental health (therapy, psychiatrist, etc).

Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers.

There was a version with a working zipper on the cover, but it was expensive to produce and scratched the record.

If that were released today there would be a Culture War Discourse about it.

“I don’t want to be a product of the environment. I want the environment to be a product of ME!”

Everyone is a product of their environment, as well as their genetics and epigenetics. You still have a choice of what to do with all of that. I’m learning to accept everything that happened so there isn’t a constant “why me?” noise in my head. The mental quiet will let me make better decisions.

Didn’t think I could make it past late 20s. I just couldn’t picture myself past then. That was due to depression - I was convinced my future was bleak. Things are better now.

Somewhere in there, TV and movies switched. Movies used to be good, now they’re trash for the most part. TV used to be trash with the occasional gem, now there are many good TV shows. I heard a lot of writers got fed up with movies and switched to TV.

There are a lot of frontends you can use to access services:

https://github.com/mendel5/alternative-front-ends#youtube

Portable Firefox/Librewolf might be able to be pulled off.

Portable apps in general.

I was able to add a lot via Scoop: https://scoop.sh/ but your work computer might be too locked down.

You make good points - the reality is that most people whether in the USA or not are “apolitical” and have a surface-level understanding of things. Probably the thing to figure out is how that surface-level understanding is even formed. Those who DO have a strong opinion about things are more likely to be the ones trying to pull “common sense” or surface level understanding toward what they support.

USA has a large population of Jews. Not all are zionists, in fact there have been many anti-zionist Jews protesting against Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. However, some are zionists. Some Jews see Israel as a backup plan - if shit goes south in the USA they can always flee there.

USA has a lot of evangelical Christians. Somehow (it’s not in the Bible) they have convinced themselves that a Jewish return to the Holy Land is necessary before the end of the world happens. Which they want to happen, because they believe they are the good guys and will go to heaven.

USA has a lot of racists. They see Israel as an ethnostate, they like that and support it. Their hatred of brown people is stronger than their hatred of Jews so they are happy to see Israel oppress Palestinians.

USA also has anti-semites who are glad to see a place exist where Jews “should” go to. And they are ecstatic that Israel’s genocide of Palestinians is igniting a new wave of anti-semitism.

Many Americans also see Israel as the only democracy in the middle east. It isn’t a democracy, of course, since it has de facto control over Palestine and therefore a huge population is disenfranchised. But wait - rights only for a certain group of people, oppression for the rest - that’s like America when it was “great” (ie pre-Civil Rights era) and they want America “great again”.

The older I get, the more I realise I am susceptible to moral injury. I can’t do evil work without destroying myself. And I don’t mean morally as in I feel a little guilty - I get increased stress, more depressed etc.

But unfortunately, I need to keep a roof over my head and stay fed.

Went sober.

For me it was a small change. I was having a drink here and there, maximum 3 beers a night. I just found that it made me feel like shit the next morning even after having one, and I no longer enjoyed the feeling of even a mild buzz. There was also a huge relief at not having to figure out which situation to drink in or not. Do I have a drink at this birthday party? After a hard day? While barbecuing? If I am just sober the answer is always no, so it eliminates one choice.

It’s really common for men not to bond with kids for a while. Could be 3 months, could be 18 months, eventually the bond happens and it’s becomes an amazing experience. Shame we don’t talk about it, because living in the dark makes it so much worse to go through. For me it was when the little larva started to smile at me. It clicked then.

Traumatised and avoidant.

Wow you’re the exact opposite of my experience of middle management! Which is: never discuss salary, don’t encourage certification or training, do not explain how you got there, do not give employees a roadmap, just pile on the work and stoke fear.

From personal experience going from skinny enough that people commented on it regularly to normal size:

The insecurity does not go away if you get in shape. You will feel confident a lot of the time and then the slightest emotional breeze will knock over your confidence. “The day you start going to the gym is the day you start being small forever.”

You can work on your body image while your body is still not “ideal”. If you wait til you look good, you’ll be hot but still have body dysmorphia. Love what parts of your body you can love. Appreciate what your body can do. If you can walk up & down the stairs, be happy you can do that. Go to therapy.

1-3 cups of coffee per day. I try to keep it low, with little success.

AI’s primary purpose is to provide an unaccountable excuse to fire people and keep wages down.