It worked for me last year. Put 5% on a home near a major city, purchase price $425k

Some areas like LA are just a special kind of fucked, but you don't have to live there.

Smoking is a single habit that a large percentage of people have no problem never being tempted to do.

Unsustainable practices pervade societ in a way that requires real education and lifestyle changes to avoid. It's not enough to "just stop polluting," you first need to learn how to. The fact that beef is unsustainable, that other meats are still far less sustainable than a plant-based diet, that some plant-based foods are still unsustainable. Where to get the sustainable plant-based food without them being packaged in disposable plastic -- and at prices you can afford, at the job you work at where commuting doesn't require a private vehicle. Learning that basically everything sold online from overseas is unsustainable, especially most of the stuff that advertises itself as sustainable. Learning to be content with what you have, unless it's a gas-powered dryer because wouldn't a heat pump clothes dryer be better? But really you should air dry your clothes!

Unsustainability isn't a single habit like smoking, it's entire lifestyle and thought patterns and ignorance and you have to learn about it all and change deeply ingrained habits. That's why blaming the individual is so unproductive. Governments should have responded to the danger of climate change a long time ago but chose not to, even actively accelerating it for profit. The failure lies there.

Iirc he didn't even get 'too excited' he just had the mic too close to his mouth.

$1,000/mo in savings is pretty difficult for most people.

$300/mo, invested earning 8% for 40 years, does get to a million though (10% rate of return + 2% interest safe assumption.) This is as $60k/yr job, contributing 3% to a 401k with an employer match, not something that's particularly rare.

I know prices are high and people are hurting... but there's a lot of people who are just not really trying.

Unironically iTunes

Getting out may be an exception but self-defeating right away, like a lot of people in this thread, isn't the way to become the exception.

Bing's copilot is genuinely pretty good, the AI answer is often pretty accurate and the way it's able to weave links into its answer is handy. I find it way more useful than Google search these days and I'm pretty much just using it on principle as Google is just pissing me off with killing their services, a few of which I've used.

I don't think Microsoft is some saint but copilot is just a good product.

The relationship to your lender is very similar to a renter’s relationship to their landlord

Is it though? Landlords typically have hot opinions on what you do with the property. Banks don't care so long as you don't literally destroy it. When I rented I felt stifled in things like modifying my place, adopting a dog, painting walls, etc. Owning my place feels a lot better even if it costs a lot more.

I get what you say kind of from a financial sense but even then it's radically different. You can pay extra every month to get a mortgage finished early. Each year you get more and more equity and are in a better financial spot. When a lease renews your landlord has the option to say "I want more money, so you have to pay extra now" or just straight up refuse to let you live there anymore, and at the end you have nothing. And a foreclosure is a much lengthier process with more outs for a homeowner than an eviction is for a renter.

The venture capital free money train is gone and they're realizing their revenue models make zero sense.

A nice email from Google explaining that would have been lovely.

Same reasons here. Also, if you regularly watch Youtube on smart TVs/streaming boxes, etc. it's just the most hassle free way to not get ads there.

Avoiding corporate software companies and abandoning established communities on principle isn't something your average person does. Also, wrapping your head around the Fediverse, even if the sign-up process is as simple as other platforms, can be an obstacle for most people.