DigitalDilemma

Agree, it’s a bit unfair that people are blaming Labour for trying to sort things out. The mini budget from the previous government a year before is estimated to have cost the UK £30bn alone in two weeks.

Neither. Cinnamon on Debian. Has just enough bling to be pretty and still manages not to be fat, and pretty similar to both your choices.

UK:

• Snowing in some parts of the country. First time this year. Historically we lose our shit when it snows. (England and Wales at least, Scotland are pretty good at dealing with it)
• Farmers upset at a recent budget where they get taxed on death duties above £1m if they didn’t transfer property to their kids early enough. (The French farmers are also protesting, but for different reasons)
• Quite a few small businesses going bankrupt because of the same budget. (Especially motorbike retailers who’ve suffered some other problems)
• Ukraine fired a UK-supplied missile into Russia. We’re kinda worried about repercussions, but why did we give it to the them if it wasn’t meant to be used?
• Sex allegations about Al Fayed, the now deceased boss of Harrods. “As bad as Savile”

Pretty much a normal Wednesday.

IKR? This is the dumbest thing I’ve seen on the internet for a long time.

If that horse bolts, she’s not going to have a fun time at all.

At the speed at which government push back the retirement age, I expect something like 70 with 47 worked years by the time I’ll be old enough.

I don’t know which government you mean. Here in the UK it’s gone from 65 to 67 for men and 60 to 67 for women (Sliding scale - currently 66, but 67 when I get there, and further still for younger people), so I guess it’s happening for everyone. I started work at 16, so if I retired at the legal age I’ll have worked for 51 years.

But - that’s just the state pension which is subsistence only. If you’re smart you have a private or work pension alongside it, and you can take that whenever you can afford to, then collect state pension as well when you’re old enough.

We’ve also lost the mandatory retirement age - you can keep working until you drop, if you want to.

Honestly, it scares me a bit. I’ve known men who retired and just… stopped. Sat in their chair, or maybe went for a little shuffling walk. Dead within a few years.

I could probably retire now, finances wise, but I enjoy my job and don’t know what I’d do all day without some structure.

It’s the Sharepoint of chat.

50s here. I’ve had that too. Sometimes due to low mental health, but often just a change in interests. Gaming is one hobby I’ve kept coming back to since the early 1980s, and overall it’s pretty constant. Other hobbies have come and gone - I think it helps to have a variety of things to spend your time doing, rather than one big one.

What isn’t constant is the type of games. FPS used to be amazing, but now I get motion sickness with many, including some third person games. Also my reactions are slower with age, so online is often frustrating. I adapt by playing more cosy and strategy games. Factorio Space Age currently taking a lot of my time, but I’ve a few that I keep going back to.

Thanks for the reply - interesting response. I think I might be projecting my own likely response to the plate question, so in hindsight it’s probably not very useful other than identifying we react differently.

An interesting question, thanks for asking it. I’m guessing I’m not the only one thinking about their own behaviour in framing an answer.

Two questions for you:

1. You accidentally drop a plate in the kitchen and it smashes. How do you feel? Are you angry? Frustrated that you’ve behaved less than perfectly?

2. Your friend does the same thing. How do you feel then?

If you’re like me and more likely to be forgiving to them than yourself for what is obviously an accident, why?

Why do you treat yourself harsher than yourself?

For me, it’s because at some level I consider myself better than them so shouldn’t have made such a mistake, even though at other levels, I think almost everyone else is better than me. Looking at my own mind logically for just this scenario, I have to conclude it cannot be trusted on the matter of self image. I think that’s accurate.

And how do you define behaving perfectly? That’s a subjective standard, you cannot achieve it to everyone’s satisfaction. You’ve set yourself up for failure - that doesn’t feel healthy, it feels like a trap set that’s impossible not to walk into. I’m pretty sure nobody trustworthy has ever has a moment of absolute clarity that allows them to answer all these questions satisfactorily - I’m getting old now and as far as I can see, we’re all just trying to figure this stuff out as best we can.

There’s the phrase - be kind to yourself. As I’ve got older, I think that’s more true than ever. I’ve tried to honour it, alongside being kind to others. I don’t always succeed, but I figure that as long as I’m trying, it’s /good enough/.

Like you, I’m an Athiest. I’m not living to a standard to score points. I try not to mostly live within society’s norms because I’m selfish, and it’s easier than not doing so. Upset people cause fuss. Breaking laws has consequences. I dislike fuss so I try not to cause it.

I hope you find your way. I think your therapist is on the right track, but what answers are right for you aren’t always clear to see.

Well, this aged quickly.

Find your thing.

For me that’s been different things as I’ve gone through life. Currently in my 50s and enjoying riding a motorbike at weekends. When I’d ridden all the local roads so many times it was starting to get boring, I added another layer and am now riding my bike to every Village in my county. It’s going to take a while, but has given another layer of interest and purpose. Many people won’t understand why it’s interesting to me, and that’s fine, they don’t have to. Finding what works for you is half the challenge.

BTW, if you’ve got depression, then finding happiness without resolving that is really, really difficult. Been there and absolutely everything felt bleak and pointless. Fixing that is the first step.

Ringworld.

Thanks, that’s some good thoughts. I do already do that, contribute to FOSS, write fiction and I’ve taught some stuff to younger folk at work so it’s not entirely wasted. If I can achive net zero on whatever cosmic scoreboard is in place, I figure that’s okay.

Mixed, but mostly okay.

Pros: The world is massively overpopulated already. Our genes aren’t particularly noteworthy. I’m not very optimistic about the future. People’s happiness generally seems a lot less than it was when I was younger and I don’t see that changing.

Cons: Not being able to pass anything on - my knowledge and experience, ironically much of which was gained through having time that would have been unavailable if I had had kids. As we both get older, our own care is concerning. Doing physical things around our smallholding is getting harder and a pair of young hands would be nice.

I don’t begrudge other people having kids. We tried once but lost it and that kind of took the excitement out of it for us. Before we knew it, it was too late anyway.

The UK has seen a stratospheric drop too. Banned from all non-private indoor spaces, taxed through the roof. At least in the South, it’s rare to see or even smell someone smoking now, even on TV. Although in some cities it’s just as likely to smell cannabis as tobacco.

I don’t think you’re “exporting it” though - it’s not an American initiative. This was a pretty universal shift of “why the fuck do we do this stupid shit?”

Much of the UK’s regular government stuff is online and very simple too - their website is actually very good. It doesn’t integrate everything though. The health service is particularly fragmented and communication is often by post and not that good.

If you’re like me, then some time in your thirties. I didn’t brush from early teens through until then - I had several abcesses and needed seven teeth removed, including my top fronts. Turns out I had undiagnosed autism, depression and low self image. Now I do brush, and it’s just a case of forcing myself to adapt to a routine. Even keeping some flouride mouthwash handy for a quick swill every now and then helps a bit. Hope you find your way.

Agree. If you were 100% capitalist and everything you did was about money, then maybe. But most of us balance that for the benefit of our mental health and, well, not being a dick.

China is somehow still okay?

China is too important a supplier to the West. Sanctions against them would lead to retaliatory sanctions against the West from China which would be economically devastating.

Obviously they are just as dangerous and as actively involved is espionage as the other world players, but they hold too many cards to risk escalation. The West is also too important to their economy to escalate beyond war games. At least - we all hope so.