bitofarambler

Got it. Thanks.

What a job.

I did these in China.

4 first, poor had nothing, moved to teach English. It was fine, I paid for things with cash, I had a debit card to use the ATMs.

And up until that point I still didn’t have any phone, so I climbed the hills behind the apartment I was renting and just walked around town learning stuff, trying for, living life.

Then I got a dumphone, which changed little except I could hang out with close friends from the school but usually we coordinated when we work together in the school anyway, so there was very little change with a dumb phone.

Then I bought a laptop and I could study Rosetta Stone and watch TV/movies.

eventually I got a smartphone and then I could start dating in the modern world. I dated in China before that through organic meetups, but I didn’t realize how far into the digital age dating head lapped until I got a smartphone and used all the apps.

It’s very feasible and I’ll say a lot less stressful to not have a phone, but it’s not as anxious-fun, and I do like looking stuff up all the time and having gigabytes of music in my pocket.

which reminds me before I had a laptop or smartphone, I bought a mini iPod in China and used one of the school computers to load it up with music.

Shoot that was a revolution for me, I loved the little clip on the back and how late it was.

How bad would it be for your social life?

I’d say that without the tech you won’t make new connections as easily on a surface level, but whenever an unteched person does get into a conversation, their side of the conversation tends to be a bit more well thought out and significant.

You’ll also put more work into the real life relationship since you don’t have a hundred virtual relationships vying for your attention on your phone.

So it would probably help your social life, by my metrics.

More than other fish?

https://archive.ph/xTgzh

https://archive.ph/rjAFE

Dang, I’m reading that next. That sounds fascinating

and the red pandas!

they’re like fox colored raccoons, they’re super cool.

that is a very cool habitat, nicely maintained forests and pathways.

I was pretty thrown when I saw a dozen of these little orange fellas strolling around.

that sounds really fun, I want to play stratosphere or earthquake mode.

I’m going to try installing it.

i liked Investing For Dummies, it gives you fundamental to medium knowledge about pretty much every investing option there is, and you can look more into the investing routes that fit your risk attitude.

but if you’re not very interested in investing, then I would look into index funds specifically, which means you’ll invest some amount of money, usually a minimum of $1,000, into a fund composed of hundreds of stocks, so you’ll own exposure to the majority of the market, a fraction of every industry instead of investing in just a few different companies.

index funds are a fairly simple set it and forget it type of investment with a good return and don’t vary much regardless of how the overall market or different industries are doing.

you usually pay a small commission annually to the company who manages the fund you invest in, and the trade-off is that you put in money, have access to the entire stock market, watch your investment gain interest and you don’t have to do anything else, just let it gain compound interest until you want to take your money out.

it is that kind of country, this is going to rapidly change the country for the better when the barn goes into effect.

The exhaust and noise of engines is pretty rough in cities and towns there, which is common in Asia.

but for a lot of countries I visited, after they transitioned to electric mopeds, it’s so much more pleasant to walk around, shop, and live.

"Rev. Al Sharpton said in a statement that Trump’s unsealing of the MLK assassination files was “not about transparency or justice.”

“It’s a desperate attempt to distract people from the firestorm engulfing Trump over the Epstein files and the public unraveling of his credibility among the Maga base,” he added"

https://share.google/XsyC7F7SYQV35SPWX

I was very concerned about traveling to Vietnam the first time, and then once I got there I was shocked and relieved at how nice everybody was to me, and then one guy explicitly mentioned he felt bad Vietnam beat the US so bad in the war.

he even shrugged and did a “you know…because the US lost the war…but that’s behind us. and you are welcome, it’s very nice you are visiting!” and I was like ohhhh of course. i would be gracious too in his situation.

Texas is the 8th largest economy in the world.

that blew my mind recently.