I “flew to Ukraine” to sign up for YT Premium family at a fraction of what they normally charge. No regrets.

I have the same, cleaned my tonsils a treat at the same time.

The story in To The Moon absolutely floored me when I played it.

I can’t say as to whether it runs on Linux, but it’s pretty old at this point and was never graphically intense to begin with so should. It’s a pretty short game too, but really is worth the time you’ll spend with it.

Here in the UK you can be prosecuted for calling an ambulance unnecessarily. As a result, not many people do it. If we’re calling for one, chances are it’s because we need one.

Broken foot and we’re not alone on a mountain somewhere? We’ll make our own way to A&E, thanks. Having a heart attack? You gotta know we’re hitting 999 and demanding an ambulance.

And yeah, of course there are people who try it on because they think their special, or they’re having a real bad mental health time, but we have pretty highly trained operators who know how to sift through the calls and triage them appropriately. It’s not often that one of our ambulances gets to a frivolous call.

Yes, I agree with everything you said, and it’s all pretty much the same here in the UK.

I 'member seeing some Conservative Chud on Reddit arguing with people about how it’s actually good that ambulances are so expensive, otherwise people might use them as a free taxi to the hospital AND THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT THEY FUCKING ARE

:edit to add: OF COURSE I’m not saying that everyone should be entitled to a free ambulance ride to the hospital for every medical requirement. What I’m saying is that if you do need one, it shouldn’t bankrupt you. Here in the UK it’s getting increasingly difficult to get an ambulance if you feel you need one, so most people tend not to bother and just get driven in, or get told by the operator at 999 that it might be a long wait, so to go to hospital under their own steam if possible.

But if we do get an ambulance, we don’t have to take out a mortgage.

But the point is, whatever your take, an ambulance is LITERALLY a taxi to the hospital. That’s the only place they go.

Gaming aside (though that particular gap is beginning to close) I honestly can’t think of anything I’ve wanted to do with my various Macs over the years that I couldn’t because of macOS.

The closest I can get to is running radio station playout software, but that was less something I needed to do, and more an itch I fancied scratching at that moment. Other than that, my Macs have always had a way to do exactly what I wanted with them.

I’ve owned 4 MacBooks. A white plastic one, a 13" MBP, a 15" MBP, and now a 15" M2 Air.

I’ve had the Air for a year and I still can’t wrap my head around how it’s technically in a class below the fully specced 15" 2015 MBP, but outperforms it in literally every way. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that, even without Apple Silicon, computer tech jumped on in leaps and bounds in the 8 years between my last two, but the performance difference is astonishing.

Sure, it’s a lot of money for an ‘entry level’ laptop, but this fucker is going to last me ten years or more. When Apple no doubt drop OS support for it in a few years, Asahi Linux will almost certainly be rock solid enough to fully replace macOS.

I have also stolen this idea and give it as much as one (1) week before I forget that I’m doing it.

cleaning the kitchen in the evening

To add to this, I set a five minute timer. I have ADHD, so even starting on cleaning can feel like a mountain to climb. That five minute timer is a really good way to see just how much you can get done in that amount of time. And as an added bonus, once you’ve started you figure you may as well finish.

I always wanted my music to sound nice, but could never afford the best equipment.

These days I have a set of Sony MDR-7506, and while I appreciate there are ‘better’ headphones, the detail I hear when listening to lossless audio through them is astonishing. I can listen to tracks I’ve heard dozens of times and hear elements that I’ve never noticed before. And these headphones are relatively cheap at £80.

All of these are good answers, but the movie with the best opening theme is obviously Alan Partridge - Alpha Papa.

Slides are dog shit. Try running after the ice cream van in slides and you ain’t getting a cone. Run after him in crocs and you still ain’t getting a cone because you’ll be drowning in pussy instead.

I’d recommend The Blindboy Podcast, in which one half of the comedy rap duo the Rubberbandits talks about whatever’s taken his fancy that week. Sometimes it’s an hour about sniffing the crotch of a rented tuxedo, other times it’s a long, rambling conversation with Hollywood actor Chris O’Dowd. Or he could go on a deep dive about the history of a tennis ball.

I used to listen to a lot of podcasts. These days Blindboy’s is the only one I’m guaranteed to listen to every week.

I’ll also heartily recommend The Memory Palace.

It’s not as frequent as it used to be, but it’s always pleasant seeing an episode pop into my feed. They’re usually no longer than 15 minutes, and are a lovely little lens on some previously unknown facet of American history.

A Brief Eulogy for a Commercial Radio Station is the kind of writing that makes me sad, because I know I could never write something so beautiful.

On the subject of the US Supreme Court, I can also recommend What Roman Mars Can Learn About Con Law.

It started out as What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law, in which 99% Invisible host Roman Mars talked with US SC expert Elizabeth Joh about the various constitutional crises Donald Trump kept driving the country into. But then Biden got elected, so they made it more general. It’s still fascinating though.

I don’t meditate as a regular practice, but I do try to catch myself if my brain’s getting extra buzzy so I can stop and try to centre myself again. I have ADHD, so it can be difficult.

So far as I understand it, meditation isn’t literally emptying your mind, but trying hard to focus on one thing, then coming back to it when you realise you’ve slipped away. On that basis, I might do it for a few minutes a couple of times a week. Any longer than a few minutes and I get sleepy.

Headphones is a really good one.

I have a set of Sony MDR-7506 which are widely agreed to be the seriously good entry level audiophile headphones. They cost me £80. That’s quite a lot of money for some people, especially for just wired headphones, but they really are incredible.

But at the other end of the scale, you can now pick up really good Chi-fi IEMs for £20. When I was a teen 30 years ago, you were either paying £15/£20 for dog shit earphones that fell apart after a month, or £50+ for anything that was half decent, but still only lasted a year. Basic £10 wired buds sound pretty damn good these days. You might not hear the bongo man on Earth Wind & Fire, but you’ll get a good idea he’s there.

No one will vote for me, I’ll take the throne with sheer bloody force.

But I appreciate the sentiment.

BBC is the best! I love their radio stations.

Burgers need to be wider, not taller.

When I’m the King I will mandate this.