They really struggle to understand that all businesses have departments that consume money and departments that generate profit (cost centres and profit centres); not every part of the system makes money, but the parts that do (Sales) need the support of departments that don't (Human Resources, Accounts, Legal) - get the balance right and you have a resilient organisation that will do well.
Public spending and the public sector are a bit like the cost centres of a business. Having high quality public education, healthcare and transport creates and supports an environment in which free enterprise has access to a skilled, healthy and mobile workforce; the profits naturally follow. Balance that properly with appropriate taxation and the system trundles on...
Dual monitor; this is because my workflow requires me to use two very different tools together and having them on large and wholly separate monitors helps maintain the separation while retaining a pleasing aspect ratio.
When I had a single ultrawide it worked but it always felt awkward even though technically it wasn't cluttered.
The draw is the mechanical intricacy of it. I was fortunate to be given a Speedmaster at a crucial time in my late teens; if it had been a car I would likely just as easily have become a petrolhead.
There are a number of enthusiast communities out there - some superficially might seem to be brand specific or oriented around buying / selling but most have quite a lot of technical know how on them.
The stuff I play with is cheap (broken or damaged items bought second hand) and the tools are second hand too.
I forget which map it was, but Battlefield: Bad Company 2 had a particularly broken area where a medic class (machine gun and 4x scope) and assault class (ammo drop) could pin down the opposing team at their spawn point, from a distance, indefinitely.
Took me and a buddy around a minute to find it, so we weren’t doing something particularly unusual.
Good design could have rendered this tactic inoperable. I don’t know if it ever came.
I have a few; the main one right now are mechanical wristwatches - learning about them, acquiring them, wearing them, taking them apart, trying to put them together again, modifying them, all of it.
Well that was a refreshing listen. Thanks for posting!