Two of my favorites are already up. Here’s some more.
Professor Carolin Crawford’s Gresham stint is my all-time favorite astronomy lecture series. It’s somewhat outdated, especially on the topic of Pluto, but fundamentally, it’s outstanding.
It’s not the expression of opinion that sinks a channel, but a pivot from topic-focused to issue-focused. AvE didn’t go downhill for getting frustrated about the pandemic, he fundamentally changed the focus of his channel.
It’s one of the things I appreciate about the better firearms channels. I know they’re probably unpalatably conservative (to my taste), but by largely sticking to a topic (rather than the multitude of issues that are doubtless important to them), they manage to reach a wider audience.
On that topic, Anton Petrov is legit. Daily videos on math, physics, and cosmology. Less frequent but better produced, Sixty Symbols is one of Brady Haran’s channels at University of Nottingham.
Here’s the trick I used when I was young and poor. I worked for cash with an estate liquidator, and I saw the passion some of the customers had for their collectables. I decided to develop that flavor of passion for a collection of $20 bills.
For me, the hardest part of saving money (assuming it’s even a possibility) is avoiding the trap of saving to spend. The savings itself has to become a goal, and that can be really, really boring.
Another tactic I used was to always save double the value of a large planned purchase: if I started with $500 and I wanted a $200 item, I’d save until I had $900 before spending. That way my stack never felt like it was diminishing.
If I’m not actively using a tab, I’ll close it, unless I’m working on a longer term project. Right now I’m planning a fairly long trip to South America, so I’ve had several travel sites up for multiple weeks.
The rapacious micro transactions we see in games today started on mobile. People associate mobile games with that model. I have some mobile games, but these days they’re all premium. The gacha system just starts to feel like work to me after a while.
As to the stares, non gamers always sneer at gamers. You’re playing games in public. They’d probably give you the same looks if you had a handheld console.
I make sure I always have an unopened jar. As soon as I open it, I put another jar on the shopping list. Check out some Puerto Rican dishes. Arroz con Gandules, etc. Great use of green olives in those.
People will always want you to do stuff that’s outside of your classification. The key is to be “too busy” when it doesn’t advance your career, and willing to learn when it does. Ideally, you don’t have to directly say no. When you hit the balance right, they stop asking.
I think the language you just used answered your own question: “manage to get”. Those platforms, with likes and retweets, boosts (and to some degree, Karma) are competitive, everyone vying for increased following. Some might follow, comment, retweet or boost genuinely. Most are, at least subconsciously, looking to expand their personal influence.
That attitude obviously also exists here, but it’s tempered by the lack of an endgame. It’s harder to become Internet famous without a scorecard.