Customers attract customers. Even if some customers are not spending a lot of money, they bring in other customers who more than make up for them. This is the reason why so many coffee shops go out of their way to provide power outlets near every table.
It is very hard work raising kids if you are interested in parenting and want to do your best.
The thing is that not everyone's life goal is to be the best parent around. And there is pressure from the society/culture/government to reproduce for healthy economy.
If we as a country want people to have more children, then we need to make their job easier. That may include censorship, age verifications, etc.
> how simultaneously stern everybody looks with no fake smiles
They still have stern looks in photos back home in Asia. But when they immigrate to America, everyone starts smiling in photos.
My parents had a theory. They noticed that even in real life, Americans smiled more than back home. They think and I agree with them, that back home life is hard for most people and it is hard for people to put a smile on. Sometimes life is too hard for even a fake smile. And even if you have a pretty good life, you do not want to stand out by smiling, especially with a big smile that shows your teeth. People will mock you if you smile too much in photos.
In the US, life is easy, comparatively, people are happier and it is easy to smile. And if someone is unhappy, they still want to fit in, so they, at least, put a fake smile on.
And I think this can extend to older photos too. Back then life was harder and people did what was natural to them.
In very early photography the exposure time was so long that people used expressions they could keep up for a while without moving.
Europe is comparable to the US in terms of happiness if not better, yet Europeans don't smile as much. Faking a smile is considered weird unless you're a politician in press photos (and those look creepy if you actually look at them closely)
Not only that really old emails can be liability. When searching through my gmails, I come across some truly stupid emails that I sent or received.
Lately, I am purging all emails older than 10 years, unless there is a reason to keep them. True it doesn't delete those emails on the other side but, at least, it reduces the chances of any accidental exposure on my side.
Hopefully, now people will know this. And it is a good thing. There are plenty of stories of people selling their laptops without wiping data and laptop falling in wrong hands.
I rather IT is forced to properly reset laptops even if takes longer because there has been too many incidents of data leaks when IT doesn't take time to properly remove data before donating laptops.
> we have encouraged widespread neuroticism and anxiety...
Are they neurotic or are you projecting?
I have friends from many of those lifestyles, while myself, I am a "non-pork". But have never worried about what my friends with different lifestyles want at my party. We invite them all and most show up. Vegans may bring their own food. Halal eaters can stick with vegetarian options, if any.
And I never been offended by pork options at my friends' parties. Almost always there are side dishes.
Our parties are very diverse and our friends are very tolerant and curious about different people. We had friends who would get offended by alcohol or non-halal meat but they ended friendship.
You don't need to go crazy for other people's lifestyle. Good friends will stick around, intolerant will leave.
I think the new religions are gyms, fitness classes, sports, volunteering, book clubs, etc. My wife made friends at such places.
But it also depends on a person. I have never made a real friend at a gym or fitness class. I haven't done anything else like join sports team or book club. I also used to go to religious building (mosque) but never made new friends there. So don't think you really need religion for community building.
All those examples you mentioned while you may find some good friends, they cannot entirely replace the purpose of a religious community. Religion and spirituality are far more than a social club or hobbyist group. Maybe you did not make friends at a mosque for some ever reason, but it is more than just a place for friendship. Religious buildings serve communities, promote unity, educate children, and it is all based on belief and practicing these beliefs. True brotherhood in faith far outweighs most any other type of relationship between people.
> Mass layoffs give you the opportunity to quickly purge poor performers without as much paperwork. It's advantageous to have regular rolling layoffs because of this if you can justify them by economic conditions.
Yeah, unfortunately, this is believed by so many low level employees that it hurts their confidence, if they ever are part of layoffs. I wish organizations really educated employees how layoffs work.
I was part of layoffs in 2008 in which my whole department was eliminated, including managers and their managers. The developers who were hurt the most, were the smartest ones who could not believe that C-level executives didn't see their contributions. Their egos were bruised and some even switched from development to other fields.
