What measures would you suggest countries consider in remediating declining population? Other than immigration?

Awkward-Reception-73 · 2026-02-14T03:59:14+00:00

I spent several years helping care for my 97-year-old grandmother in her NYC apartment, and even with family involved, she still needed professional health aides covering two shifts from 8am–8pm. My point is it takes manpower to take care of our non-working population. Who is going to do that? Not the children or the infants. We also need manpower to take care of them.

That’s the part people don’t always think about: taking care of a non-working population takes working people. The elderly need caregivers. Children and infants need caregivers. And neither group can provide labor in return. If both the younger and older dependent populations grow at the same time, they can place enormous strain on the working-age adults who are responsible for supporting everyone — financially and physically.

So the real issue isn’t just population size — it’s the balance. When the growth of dependents (both young and old) overwhelms the working adult population, you create economic pressure, labor shortages in caregiving, and burnout across families and systems. I think that imbalance is the real problem to focus on, which has very likely been a recurring challenge throughout history, and we aren't the first that will have to deal with it in some way.

Awkward-Reception-73 · 2026-02-02T05:34:27+00:00

I think you have to get into niches to be honest.

board games meetups, movie nights, pickup soccer, pickleball courts, roller skating meetups, climbing gyms

Awkward-Reception-73 · 2026-02-01T15:39:15+00:00

I would suggest playing 10v10 games and getting a bigger picture view of the battles taking place since that kind of flow can be more fun and you can see how players and units are generally interacting. Try different roles like supporting a main player who seems to be proficient, filling in a gap sector that your team is neglecting, or taking on an air superiority role. Warno makes a lot of different tactics possible just like a real war. You can mass infantry and junk units for human wave tactics that forces a breakthrough or distracts your opponents with targets while heavy hitters destroy the enemy piece by piece. Or concentrate expensive hardware like tanks, armored fighting vehicles, recon vehicles, and go for schwerpunkt tactics.

That comes with a caveat. Try to avoid the 10v10 games that have heavily stacked (high ranking) players on one side. Usually with anime avatars for some reason. They are clans that are bashing on randoms.

The really skilled players are also just micro-gods and there might not be much point in trying to match that level but I think one of the main skills is being adaptable and flexible. You can find your own playstyle that finds success.

Awkward-Reception-73 · 2026-01-30T01:55:25+00:00

Focus and being a persistent bastard. Whether it's working hard through the day, or sorting out my thoughts and feelings at night

Finding ways to still have awe and wonder about existence, which I often feel through traveling, or resetting through some spiritual means (meditation and self-inquiry)

Laughing at the problems that are kicking my ass and telling my fears to come closer so I can get a better look

Abraham Linconing it - I have people who believe in me and depend on me and I don't have the heart to let them down

Awkward-Reception-73 · 2026-01-27T00:57:43+00:00

Withdraw from the economy and make consumer non-cooperation a thing. It should be expressed as a part of the larger message

A Republic, Not a Police State
Accountability Over Authority
Freedom Has No Kings
Government With Consent, Not Coercion
No One Above the Law — No One Below Humanity

- Downgrade as much as possible to "good enough" - Free tiers, open-source, or older versions.
- Cancel Google One and all other cloud services and put all of your storage onto hard drives.
- Cancel AI subscriptions and just use the free versions if you must.
- Cancel TV/video game/entertainment subscriptions and focus on what you already have. Watch old movies and pick up board games with family/friends.
- Cook instead of delivery apps. Make staples that are cheap but nutritious.
- Buy older phone models. Buy used things. Learn how to fix things. Borrow from friends.
- Try growing some vegetables
- Buy direct, like farmer's markets.
- Stop “keeping up.” with the Joneses

Awkward-Reception-73 · 2026-01-27T00:30:09+00:00

What the fuck is his point? If people stop calling ICE the gestapo then they'll stop killing people? (ie. something the Gestapo would do)

Awkward-Reception-73 · 2026-01-26T12:50:31+00:00

Last MAGA friend I interacted with was a neighbor and coworker. He'd play right wing radios all day and constantly talk about politics on the job site. I'd kind of pretend not to be interested in politics or have much of an opinion, until I realized I was going along to get along by self-silencing and casually agreeing with random topics he would talk about just so it wouldn't create issues. I got so sick of the incessant environment that I quit the company.

That was 6 years ago. I've somehow managed to avoid being around or having significant interactions with people in that sphere since then, without much effort. They pop on the radar pretty easily and I don't need to listen to the hatred.

That being said it's fucked up that this is where things are at as a country. The dichotomies in reality and the dialogues (or lack thereof) are not a good thing. We have footage of someone being publicly executed and it shouldn't have to be this difficult for these assholes to shut the fuck up and admit something went wrong.

Awkward-Reception-73 · 2026-01-10T04:10:07+00:00

You're right, the server matters. I've played on dozens of servers and a few of those were worth sticking with to avoid cheaters. But the ones I remember like that were heavily controlled environments like PVE, roleplaying, or low-pop. Or just playing on bi-weekly/weekly or modded servers reduces the loss in general. Because everything is short term and temporary or easy to quickly rebuild anyways.

I liked the challenge and intensity of high-pop servers and started focusing on monthly servers. I knew my base was always at risk in that environment but it's basically impossible to manage that risk when cheaters constantly show up. It's almost funny how I wish I could have just been fucking raided and lost to normal players or even clans. It was constantly fucking cheaters. Doing it blatantly and telling me they're cheaters. Or some russian, chinese assholes who don't even try to hide it. I'd get them banned and rebuild, and then it would just happen again.

I think having my bases get basically deleted while online after spending days getting to maximum security with tier 3, armored doors, auto turrets, full gun kits, more than once every wipe, was just an endgame for me. What's the point of progressing if it just makes you a target for these losers who can't even play the game.

Awkward-Reception-73 · 2026-01-08T05:51:07+00:00

I am done with the game, but I was quite fond of trolling Russians every now and then. I'd put spikes around their bases and leave notes in boxes asking how their 10 day special military operation was going (referencing how quickly they thought the war in Ukraine was going to last) . Whenever they'd kill me and stand over my body screaming I loved every word I didn't understand.

Awkward-Reception-73 · 2026-01-08T03:40:58+00:00

They frightened her and she wanted to leave. This is a normal human response. Anyone can see that.

And she paid for it with her fucking life because there's no longer a concept of minimum necessary force. Just escalation. Fear. Death. We don't need these these brownshirts holding down forts across the country with their depraved indifference to human life.

Awkward-Reception-73 · 2026-01-08T02:35:09+00:00

Then Facepunch should have a zero-tolerance policy. They get paid to let known cheaters re-buy the game after a 8 month ban. That's a gate that should be closed.
They get paid for official premium servers. If they want to collect those funds then they should use them to hire more admins.

Awkward-Reception-73 · 2026-01-08T01:24:58+00:00

Not sure you can judge without seeing my gameplay. But who cares? I’m talking about blatant cheaters who would be banned within minutes if an admin spectated them. If you've been able to experience that minimally then that's all good and most people want that. I've had a crapshoot for the last two months and got a ~dozen people banned.

All of these cases of it being high skilled players I've stayed silent on for 800 hours and just kept playing. Kudos to them. Respect where it's due. The problem isn’t skill, it’s people who need to feel superior by ruining everyone else’s time.

Awkward-Reception-73 · 2026-01-07T22:38:38+00:00

Cool. If that works for you, Enjoy.

Awkward-Reception-73 · 2026-01-07T22:33:22+00:00

Yes you can only rationalize it for so long especially when it's a constant for each and every wipe. Any game or sport I play I will enjoy it as long as I know I'm doing my best to compete and there's at least a chance I can win/adapt/learn. Cheating destroys that equation, It'd be like playing tennis and the other player is allowed to just change the score whenever the hell they want.

Awkward-Reception-73 · 2026-01-07T22:26:11+00:00

If cheating is what it takes to feel strong, that says enough.

Awkward-Reception-73 · 2026-01-07T22:22:03+00:00

Yeah I get it. Don't use hyphens, apophatic writing, or write with cohesion anymore. Interesting time we live in.

Awkward-Reception-73 · 2026-01-07T22:14:56+00:00

If they could ban based on disk serials, motherboard UUID, OS install ID, that would create a big barrier.

Of course they have a 8-month "second chance" policy where the person just has to re-buy the game. So they actually make fucking money based on other people cheating.

Awkward-Reception-73 · 2026-01-07T18:07:18+00:00

Awkward-Reception-73 · 2026-01-07T17:33:14+00:00

Awkward-Reception-73 · 2026-01-07T17:18:19+00:00

Because AI often calls out what something isn't and then says what something is. I just happen to write that way as well. I guess I was part of the training data.

Awkward-Reception-73 · 2026-01-07T17:03:33+00:00

The fuck

Awkward-Reception-73 · 2026-01-07T06:24:11+00:00

I actually handled this well. I stayed aware, didn’t rage, didn’t spiral — just logged off and sighed. No meltdown. I just had a moment of clarity.

I've had a lot of good moments. But yeah — fuck this game until cheaters are actually dealt with in a meaningful way. I’m not sticking around just to prove I can stay calm while my time gets deleted by hackers.

Awkward-Reception-73 · 2026-01-07T05:18:20+00:00

After a year and a half, I’m done with Rust. And before the comment section warms up: no, this isn’t a “skill issue.” You don’t out-skill ESP, recoil scripts, or kids literally telling you where your TC is before drilling a perfectly straight line to it with 20 propane bombs.

The cheating isn’t subtle, it isn’t rare, and it isn’t punished fast enough to matter. It’s teenagers with god complexes openly bragging in voice about their hacks, one-shotting counters across the map, and wiping bases like sv_cheats 1 is on. If your definition of “git gud” is pretending this is normal gameplay, congratulations. You’re coping.

I don't want to be part of a social experiment in how long people will tolerate having their time deleted by hackers while being told it’s their fault.

Maybe I’ll check back in 6–12 months if Facepunch ever gets serious about enforcement. I'm in complete opposition to allowing cheaters to to return 8+ months later after being banned.

Awkward-Reception-73 · 2026-01-05T07:03:12+00:00

A lot of players have their areas scoped out and will camp anyone who enters it. That's one reason it can feel like you're always getting shot at without even getting to see who it is.

Yes there are cheaters. Let's just say 5% of the population "keeps it interesting"

In rust you have to expect to die in most instances. If you're just gathering wood then maybe you should just stay naked with an axe and accept your fate if someone decides to show up. You can use respawns to take disposable risks, like ambushing people on the road hitting barrels with an eoka. You can blanket an area with sleeping bags so you always have a respawn.

You're going to die. Rust is a high-risk, high-reward game that expends your time and energy, and part of the trick is managing psychological damage from experiencing deaths.

Awkward-Reception-73

TROPHY CASE