I agree in sentiment and can't find the link now but just yesterday I read an article saying the doj or fbi or someone like that had stated that just using Monero or zcash is suspicious behavior. I think this is part of changing the narrative from cryptocurrencies are bad to these ones are good (btc, eth,...) and anyone who uses any other ones is therefore definitely bad
I have this problem, except it's a whole nation (seemingly) of people due to how common my last name is in a specific country.
My address is [first initial][last name]@gmail so anyone with a first name that starts with the same letter as mine and the same last name (which, there are SO MANY).
I get;
job offers
family photos (I typically respond letting these people know they're not getting through to whoever they're intending)
verizon bills (I'm also a verizon customer and they absolutely refuse to take my email off of the other two accounts - I've also texted both accounts since they're numbers have come through various times in the correspondences and they don't even acknowledge my communication let alone update their accounts - they're always late on their payments, but have the newest iPhone's all the time :D)
purchase receipts from so many retailers I don't keep track (some of these people have real silly amounts of money)
auto purchase receipts
bank emails
lease offers (just today I had to respond to a leasing agent who was trying to let someone know they got a place they were trying to rent in NYC for crazy money)
It's mind blowing to me how many people get their email address wrong and miss so many important emails, seemingly without ever realizing it.
When I was growing up in the 90s, we would keep an argos catalogue in the rest room. Sounds weird now that I'm typing this out.
Spent countless hours (over time) browsing toys and games. The novelty of each turn and then replacing the entire thing with the new one.
I also miss the little blue pens that argos and index had along with the small paper for your order submission.
The pricing on the catalogue would be in blocks so you'd have to work out the price by entering the code for the specified product into the calculator-like gadget that would rest on the counter.
Good Times. As you grow older, things like this being phased out make you realise how long it's been.
I think you are confusing schools like Harvard with your run of the mill state university. The latter rarely has much of an endowment to fund itself with.
My run of the mill state school has an endowment larger than than $500 million and still sent out emails begging alumni to donate to a fund to make sure students didn't go hungry in the early days of covid.
"A typical endowment consists of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of individual
funds. In most cases, the donors who have created these funds have set restrictions on how their donations may be spent. In 2007-8, about 78 percent of endowment assets at public institutions were under such restrictions; an average of 55 percent of the resources contained in private university endowments were restricted (See National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) 2008 Endowment Study). In such cases, money restricted for research in a specific subject, for example, may not be applied toward student financial aid, and vice versa. Donations are typically restricted to fund student scholarships, conduct specific kinds of research, finance specific programs to enhance undergraduate and graduate education, create professorships in specified fields, develop or maintain teaching and research facilities, or improve a wide range of campus activities, including the arts, public service, student housing, and athletics."
However, other articles go on to note that money is fungible, making the restrictions less onerous than they appear. If, for example, a specific restricted endowment fund is restricted to providing scholarships, it still reduces the amount of scholarship money the university has to provide out of general funds by the amount the restricted endowment provides, freeing up that money to be used elsewhere.
Profit. It's always profit. Higher education is nearly mandatory to get a good position and good salary. It's nearly a gateway. 30% of the population has a university degree in first world countries.
Forcing multiple thousands of dollars is a toll for a bridge where few alternatives exist. And in a country that considers so many things a business, this is of course run like a business ergo profit is very important.
As soon as I entered the workforce @ 21 I cut out 2 things from my diet, sugar and news.
This habit has compounded so much, not saying its been 100% perfect because I still read reddit, twitter (very selective following and blocking all outlets that end up on my TL) and HN (this place is a total bubble of smart, high IQ people, I enjoy the comments here, I don't get to interact with such smart people on a day to day).
Any interesting developments will filter through my social circle, someone will bring it up.
I stopped watching TV altogether, I stream the occasional show though.
