How about chess? I know you said you are not really looking for video games, but chess to me is a bit different to video games.

I had a similar problem to you a few years ago during Covid. I was very stressed and lonely and didn’t know what to do with myself. I am completely addicted to chess now. To the point that I play for like 4-8h a night sometimes. Time passes fast, especially in the shorter time modes. And if you are looking for a more low stakes, slow paced distraction you can play correspondents chess and think about your next move for 1.5 hours.

Bonus: if i tell people that i play chess for over an hour every day, they often assume i am a genius, even tho I’m just a 800 elo idiot like most people

Interesting… where I’m from most cabs are Mercedes limousines. I never heard about people thinking less of Mercedes because they are popular with taxi drivers.

Yeah, that thing about red states sending their homeless to you guys is absolutely fucked. Makes policies that would actually help seem like they don’t, because more desolate people keep showing up, even though you guys are doing your best.

Also agree about the billionaires obviously, and I think the whole silicon valley tech culture also doesn’t help. FAANG employees with their big salaries can just afford way higher rents and costs of living than the average american, driving up the prices. But I’m sure as a resident you know all of those issues better than I do.

I hope it gets better for you guys, it’s an incredibly sad situation, especially in such a beautiful city like SF.

Sounds absolutely horrible, and I definitely understand that residents don’t wanna live or work in these environments.
I don’t think there is an easy fix for this problem tbh. Or at least not on a local level. From what I see SF is doing a lot of social stuff right, or at least better than the rest of the country. On the other hand you have crazy inequality pushing people into desperation and addiction. This somehow needs to be solved, but it might get worse before it gets better. Idk man, it’s tough.

Where I think people can make a difference is on a personal level. A little kindness goes a long way, and those people are yearning for empathy. You said they are like 4 year olds, and I think they are probably just as vulnerable. Addicts don’t have the luxury of thinking about consequences, they just survive until the next fix. So the right thing to do is be as kind and understanding as possible, even though they might make it difficult.

If you don’t have it already, might I suggest you get some Narcan for your workplace? Sounds like you could literally save a life with it someday.

First, no they don’t give out free drugs. Even tho having clean drugs would help a lot in reducing the harms of addiction, I don’t know any government that would pass that.

Obviously fentanyl is fucking dangerous and toxic, no matter how you take it. Overdoses at those sites happen. That’s why they are equipped with Narcan, and also have a line to medical services. So users that would OD somewhere in private and not make it to the ER have a chance.

The second important part is all the stuff that goes with taking the drugs themselves. Usually addicts don’t have a ready supply of syringes and other paraphernalia to use their drugs. This leads to them sharing needles, using dirty gear and other behaviors that spread diseases like hepatitis c. By handing out clean needles and other things, a lot of those diseases can be avoided. They also hand out other medical supplies to treat the damage from the drugs and living in the streets.

Finally, they always offer addicts that want to quit support and help them find treatment. This is the most important part. Addicts trust the people at those sites, because they treat them like people, not junkies. So there is a higher chance that they feel safe enough to ask for help when it’s time for them.

I hope that answers some of your questions. If you want to learn more, Channel 5 with Andrew Callahan has a great series on drugs and homelessness on YouTube. There’s one Episode where they go to a safe injection site, but the other episodes in Philadelphia and SF are definitely also worth a watch. You will see some absolutely harrowing and terrible shit tho. If you have the stomach I highly recommend them.

https://youtu.be/Ym7qS27oiHU?si=UpV19WFJL7MU9Zqq

Edit: Reading some of your other questions in this thread I definitely recommend you watch those Andrew Callahan documentaries. They will answer a lot of your questions and hopefully clear up some misconceptions. Start with San Francisco Streets, then watch harm reduction facility and finally Philly streets.

They wouldn’t have to shoot up in the streets if SF still had the safe injection sites up. People who shoot up in the streets do so mostly because they want to get found if they OD.

Making it illegal to be high won’t make addicts want to stop getting high, it will just push them into dark corners where they die when they OD. Imo that’s way more unacceptable.

Iirc Dr. Oz used to be quite the renowned heart surgeon. Makes it even more tragic that he chose this life as a charlatan giving harmful advice, instead of using his talent for good.

It already does. Just not so much in the countries that are most responsible for the pollution.

There is an evolving porn meta? My friend would like to know more about this…

Usually I’d agree with you, but Snyder said in interviews that there weren’t any demands from the studio for cuts. He just wants to make an R rated version and Netflix likes the publicity from having a Snyder cut. It worked for DC, so they use it as an advertisement to generate buzz around the movie.

Guess under those circumstances a health tracker might be a useful thing. I’m not a huge fan of quantifying that kinda stuff, but getting a heads up for problems would be nice. Don’t give me any shit like a sleep score or whatever, just beep me if my heart is beating irregularly or something else is wrong.

But as the other guy said, I’m too much of a pessimist to believe in a gadget like that ever existing ;) There’s always gonna be data mining and companies bombarding you with bullshit and ads.

I already hate that I have to have my phone with me at all times (cause of work and family that wants me to be available). Definitely don’t want to wear another thing tracking me, distracting me and spamming notifications.

If I had to switch my phone to a wearable the best would probably be an earpiece that reads text for me, if needed.

Glasses and wristbands are a privacy nightmare and I can’t wait for people to get AR ads with their shiny new glasses.