68kMLA

I'm not going to get rid of all my old machines - but it probably is time for a bit of a clear out. Maybe that will also lighten my mental load. So this weekend, time permitting, I will sort my computers and bits 'n' bobs into a 'keep' pile and a 'discard' pile. Discard will be sold for charitable donations (or swapsies). Nothing will be on eBay.

Over the last few years, I've taken to more or less giving things away (including covering postage) then asking people to make the postage + whatever extra their conscience prompts them to as a donation to a local food poverty and homelessness charity that does good work in their area. I don't know if this pragmatically does much good or not, but one has to try.

Absolutely right Cheesy. I used to donate to food banks (actually, I still do), but now I put a hundred a month in the Trussell trust - on the basis that a) they need to pay for the administration and b) anything left over they can spend on the items they know they need.

I look forward to the day when all the food banks are closed because the government is doing its job of looking after those in need and are taxing those who can afford it appropriately.

There's a trade-off between owning & using stuff. Ideal fairness is 1/n, but really it must follow an exponentially-diminishing usage, breeding less familiarity and thus less satisfaction. All gadgets get less use & fun gadget n gets neglected most. Having said that, After 40 years, I replaced my broken Casio FX-180P secondary school calc! Happy Nostalgia-fest!

I used to have one of those. I replaced with… dunno the number. Still have it somewhere. It stopped being used when the calculator on my Mac became more capable.

Just replying to the OP and food bank quotes. Donating to Trussell Trust is a good idea as they'll know exactly what they need. And yes, it really is shameful that it's needed at all. Personally I'm in favour of a UBI that is at least enough to survive on.

@VMSZealot : Seriously an actual FX-180P?! Gosh! I really loved mine even though it lacked hyperbolics, because: 10+2 digits; programmable; lovely keys; low power; Linear Regression! The FX-3600P is a wallet format version. I bought an emergency Sharp 531H when it broke, before saving to buy a FX-4000P.

An actual FX-180P? I seem to remember so. It looks right. I'd have gotten it for school in about 1986. I used if for about ten years and replaced it with an FX-115S (which I still have). The 115S only stopped being used when the Mac calculator became capable enough to do what I needed.

I’m sorry pal, but if you think ‘bile and horribleness’ are not ‘being unloaded’ on anyone who DOES happen to be ‘a) caucasian, b) male, [and] c) straight cis…’, you clearly haven’t been paying attention for the past three or four decades. Polarization and social extremism are found on all sides.

As someone who is all those things, I can see that I live a privileged and comfortable, free from the hatred directed at anyone who doesn't share my archetype. To say otherwise would be like a professional boxer trying to justify walloping a small child "because they hit me first". Society is polarised - but the responsibility should always be with those in a position of power to demonstrate the right behaviours.

There's also the psychological effect of privilege feeling 'normal' or 'deserved' (e.g. if one has worked hard), so that if/when the playing field is even slightly levelled it feels like an attack.

An excellent point, Snial. But when I see the deprivations that some people have to put up with it makes me feel profoundly distressed - and it's apparent that for society to advance then it's necessary for people like me to have a little less.
But no. I'm not prepared to give up my bicycles. Well. Maybe one or two of them.

For me, community (here, and in person at my job) is the best remedy to distress and depression that I’ve discovered. I’m not saying that one can ignore the horrors going on in the world, not at all, just that focusing on things that make you happy is very important.
Keep riding that bike!

Best thing is just chill, live your life, and don't care about what others are doing (or are supposedly doing) around you. You worry about you and those in your immediate vicinity.