I think the debate on this issue is blown out of proportion.

First, giving a small amount of money to someone in need is a very direct and human act of compassion which makes it worthwhile, if you gift someone money it is their prerogative what they do with it and the idea that it is harmful is blown out of proportion.

Second, giving money to a local charity is also worthwhile, if you don’t feel comfortable for whatever reason.

The idea that one approach is good and the other is actively bad is at best a distraction and at worst an excuse to do nothing at all

The fact is that even in Australia, which by world standards has a not bad safety net, it is not possible for most people to get crisis housing and waiting lists for public housing are rarely less than 6 months, welfare payments can be cut off for trivial reasons and public mental health services are overwhelmed. These are the problems that successive governments have refused to tackle.

If you can make someone’s day with a small gift then please do.

I’m sad to say I have no advice for you but I feel for you, it must be a very hard time. Don’t be afraid to lean on those close to you for support.

Found it

Emperors of Rome: Episode CVIII - A Lesson in Latin II Starting from: 00:08:02

Episode webpage: http://www.latrobe.edu.au/marketing/assets/podcasts/emperors/181128-latin02.mp3

Media file: http://www.latrobe.edu.au/marketing/assets/podcasts/emperors/181128-latin02.mp3#t=482

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Emperor’s of Rome podcast addressed this in a Q&A episode.

From memory the answer is that top level generals would almost always speak Greek and Latin, mid level commanders would speak either Greek or Latin adequately as well as the local language of the troops they were commanding.

Respectfully, I am very confident you are misreading this situation. The thought patterns displayed in the original post are almost textbook typical of major depression and would be extremely atypical of someone who is a genuine emotional manipulator.

Other posts here have given genuine good advice, unfortunately I have to agree that while I am sure you are well meaning, you are being quite unhelpful here.

Apricots, upside down pears, Easter eggs, those teeny tiny sealed shot glasses of UHT milk you get in hotels, those big marbles we used to call Tom bowlers in primary school, eye balls, a large toy ant(assuming 6 holes in the holder rather than 12, otherwise 2 large toy ants)

The possibilities are endless!!!

This is true, an egg won’t last long unrefrigerated after its opened ;)

It’s not a bad measure but I don’t think it’s the best, I’m currently working my way through Spirit Level and so I think some measure like the Gini coefficient would be important.

I think that median income, Gini coefficient, poverty rate and something like the human development index would give a decent overall picture. I don’t think a single metric really does the job.

This group is interesting

Global Governance Forum

Especially their Second UN Charter .

In much the same way that almost no one has perfect physical health, almost no one has perfect mental health.

You don’t need to be a complete wreck to be able to benefit from paying attention to your mental wellness.

Eating well, regular exercise, mindfulness, forgiveness, good sleep practices are all worth practicing whether you feel unwell or not.

I’m a huge advocate of gardening. It gets you outdoors and active, gives a sense of achievement, you learn and improve over time, it’s popular enough that you can get involved in a community, if you’re growing veg it promotes healthy eating.

It should be mandatory.

I’m lucky to have been able to experiment a bit with this as my work is flexible and I’m in a pretty good bargaining position. I also do a fair bit of unpaid work out of hours.

Having either Friday or Monday I’ve found to be little different. Having alternating Fridays and Mondays is pretty awesome, 4 days on, 2 off, 4 on, 4 off.

There’s a lot to be said for a mid week day off too. I’m looking at moving to a new employer and hoping to go negotiate a 3 day week, maybe Mon-Tues-Thur for example which will be heaven if I can pull it off.

The idea that capitalism and liberal representative (I refuse to use the word democratic) government are the only viable option are so ingrained. It makes it difficult to engage anyone in serious discussion of alternatives.

What I do is point out injustice when you come across it and suggest a socialist solution. Don’t mention socialism, talk about unions, worker ownership, workplace democracy, social housing, structural injustice.

If you get pushback I will say something like “I feel like our political system is so focused on capitalist solutions that often good sensible policies don’t get considered”

With people you interact with frequently this approach will usually, over time, result in them no longer thinking you’re a crackpot and often soften them up for a more detailed discussion in which you can discuss revolutionary change.

This is the best I have been able to do. Interested to see other responses.

Wondering if you read the linked article which presents evidence that this has changed?

It made me laugh, it’s not silly per se but the idea that such an esteemed title as blue zone was earned through pension fraud is hilarious.

The more schadenfreude version is that the idea of these blue zones has been trotted out ad nauseum by longevity nuts for at least a decade and now they look like fools.

I call myself ‘functionally atheist’. I’m philosophically agnostic in that I hold no strong opinion on the existence of a god/gods as that is fundamentally unknowable but for all practical purposes I act as though there is no god.

I can’t say that I’m very familiar with the UK laws in depth other than that they have been in operation for many years and are generally considered effective.

For referenda there’s no reason you can’t have a publicly funded campaign for yes and no and limit private advertising, we have something like that here in Australia.

Sortition, random selection, when combined with an elected body has a lot of benefits. It has the advantage of having professional politicians with institutional knowledge and relationships while also having a body the that is actually representative of the larger population.

100% agree!

As an addition to this I firmly believe medical marijuana is a phase.

Now I’ve made people angry here’s the nuance.

CBD/THC combinations certainly have a role in some patients with chronic pain, especially where it’s use can avoid or reduce the use of opioids.

There are clear specific uses such as intractable epilepsy where it is clearly the best treatment. It is effective for glaucoma but there are better treatments available.

I’m highly suspicious of marijuana having any role in mental health and there are, in my opinion, no convincing studies published showing that it is useful at all despite the fact that large studies have been done and presumably file-drawed.

The idea that smoking is an appropriate delivery method for a medication when other methods are available is insane. Very few things are as bad as tobacco smoke but inhaling smoke is bad for you.

My prediction is that in 20 years we will have cannabis derivatives in capsules that fulfil the specific purposes and the idea that any doctor prescribed marijuana to smoke will seem insane to younger doctors.

A bicameral legislature, one house elected by mixed member proportional system and the other selected at random from the voting age population. Legislation must pass both houses, if it passed one house but not the other it can go to referendum at the same time as the next general election.

You can also have things like citizen initiated referenda. Campaign finance laws similar to those in the UK are also desirable.