Regdok

I used to think so too, but once I had been off caffeine for about half a year I realized that's not really true. First of all, long-term users of caffeine have just forgotten what it was like before they made it a daily habit. And if they do quit for a couple weeks, and get over the acute phase of withdrawals (usually extreme lethargy, headaches, extreme lack of motivation), they'll still be in post-acute withdrawal for months (below-average mood and motivation, low'ish energy levels, chaotic sleeping patterns).

I tried several times in my 20s and early 30s to quit. I hit 30 days several times and, still feeling kinda depressed and unmotivated, figured that "I'm just a person who's brain chemistry requires caffeine to function, I guess" and went back on the bean.

It wasn't until I reached 2+ months off caffeine until that dull grey cloud of "meh" (or buffer lag, as you say) really started to lift.

At 4+ months I only saw benefits compared to being on caffeine:

• Better focus
• Deeper sleep (+ more vivid and far fewer violent/stressful dreams).
• No more "spinning wheels" (doing something probably unproductive very intensely and feeling like I'm being productive... edit: kind of like what I did with this massive post)
• Far easier to think deeply about things without being distracted by my own chaotic thoughts (helped a lot for stuff like coding)
• Better working memory
• Even energy levels throughout the day
• More dependable motivation-levels
• 90%+ reduction in anxiety
• Better overall mood (mood-swings became very rare)
• Way more patient with others and myself. I used to get irrationally angry at myself when I couldn't figure out coding issues, for example. This also made me a nicer person to be around (got several comments on how I had changed for the better in this regard).

Getting over the post-acute withdrawals also helped me remember what I felt like as a kid/teen: to wake up refreshed and keep trucking all day without significant slumps, then fall asleep quickly at roughly the same time every night (and almost never wake up randomly during the night, as opposed to 3+ wakings).

Keep in mind that the post-acute period varies a lot from person to person. It seems to be mainly based on how long caffeine has been a daily habit, and how much caffeine one has each day. As for me I had a 3-cup (about 300-400mg caffeine) coffee habit from age 18 to 34. I've talked to people who had a 1500mg+ daily habit over the same rough timespan as me that didn't feel fully normal until almost a year had passed.

All that said, I eventually fell back into the caffeine trap once I started drinking alcohol again. Caffeine helps with hangovers a little, and the more often I drank alcohol, the more often I felt I needed the caffeine pick-me-up. Now 4 years later I'm in a cycle of 2-3 days off alcohol (but on caffeine). Then anxiety starts to spike, and I think I need Alcohol "to take the edge off". Then after what always turns into a massive drinking session I'm in a dopamine deficit for the next 1-4 days and so turn to caffeine to get somewhere close to normal... until I'm unbearably anxious and need to take the edge off again.

Would be nice to go back to complete sobriety (including no caffeine). It's just a bit daunting knowing how many months I'm going to feel what you're describing before I see all the benefits.

It's filled me with such joy (schadenfreude?) watching their stock drop the past couple months.

What does China stand to gain by attacking Russia?

@LilaOrchideen@feddit.org already mentioned rare-earth's, but Siberia is also extremely rich in non-rare minerals and metals. China would also stand to gain oil, gas, and coal deposits. However one probably overlooked resource is fresh water.

Water is already a massive issue in the northern half of China (not just the arid west, but even around Beijing). Eastern Russia has a lot of fresh water, like for instance Lake Baikal which contains 20% of the planet's unfrozen freshwater. I saw some talk (5+ years ago) about China wanting to buy water-rights to this lake and pipeline it through Mongolia, but I've not heard of there being any concrete plans in the works yet.

Another possible gain would be easier access to the pacific and the arctic. In the extreme scenario where the Russian Federation splinters, and the eastern states of that federation find themselves without a way to make ends meet, China might make some very favorable deals in the region. Hell I wouldn't be surprised if several of them ended up federalizing with China (or something very similar; some form of vassalage).

And with global warming comes two huge boons:

• Siberia's tundra thawing, making it easier to access untapped resources.

• North pole remains largely ice-free for at least parts of the year, making shipping between eastern Asia and Europe cheaper and faster.

Maybe. There's no guarantee that every European nation would be on board with sanctioning the US in this scenario.

The Netherlands (where I believe they have the only manufacturing base of the machines that make advanced chips) might decide that it's not in their best interest to cut the US off.

Anyways I hope this Greenland shenanigans dies on the vine and my silly scenario never comes to pass.

europe will not go to war over THAT.

Yep. Here's a fun possible timeline:

• US takes over greenland. Europe won't respond militarily, but will cut off most ties to 'murika, and the US government will be like "why would europe be so mean to us, we were only trying to keep them safe from Russia and China?!".

• Europe won't pivot too hard to China/India, but they'll become preferred trading-partners. EU will become the bastion of actual Democracy.

• China will take that whole debacle as a green light to take Taiwan, or just re-taking manchuria (and keep taking bites out of Russia until they have reached the arctic). I honestly don't think they'll waste energy on Taiwan. Their military build-up and posturing towards Taiwan is probably just a ruse to lull Russia into a false sense of security.

• Russia will throw a hissyfit (threaten nukes, fail to deliver, and get fucked on the ground/air/sea). The US will try to come to their aid under the guise of stopping the "yellow threat" or whatever. That'll eventually fizzle out as the US devolves into a civil war (that will hopefully be over quickly, but will probably make the US truly isolationist for at least 50 years). Europeans might lament the aggression of China in public, but will privately go "fuck yeah get 'em".

• The Russian federation will collapse and splinter, and the rest of the 21st century will be a mess of global instability and the odd rogue van-borne nuke going off here and there, because swamp-troglodytes infested with a mongol khanate mindset (muscovy) should never have had nukes in the first place.

“magic box does things when I perform this ritual”

Sounds like humanity's understanding of tech in Warhammer 40k.

Sadly scrubbed for today. Not surprising as it has been really windy here in Vesterålen the past few days (I live in a neighbouring town, and it's been a little uncomfortable even just driving over bridges in cars).

Wouldn't be surprised if they start (or have started) hiding comments mentioning lemmy. I've recommended it a few times over there and never gotten any responses to those comments.

The exchange ended with Mr. Trump telling Mr. Duffy that he had to hire people from M.I.T. as air traffic controllers. These air traffic controllers need to be “geniuses,” he said.

His comedic genius knows no bounds...

and figure out which distro would be best for it. My steam deck is great and I want basically the exact same thing but more powerful at the cost of not being a handheld.

Bazzite might be your jam. They're a sort-of competitor (?) to SteamOS, as in they have distros for handhelds in the same way Valve has with SteamOS (which they are now leasing out to manufacturers like lenovo). But they also have versions for laptops and desktop PCs.

I've been using their PC (nvidia) version for a week now, and it's been wonderful. Of course I probably wouldn't have made the switch if Valve hadn't helped pave the way and made proton so powerful. Also I probably wouldn't have switched if I hadn't given up on LoL and Battlefield (kernel-level anticheat).