unsettlinglymoist

Authorities are searching for a third mountain lion in that area (two others were killed), so you might want to avoid the area until it's been found. Definitely get some spray. Sabre and Counter Assault both make 40 ft sprays (I believe most sprays are 30ish ft).

I bring spray just about everywhere on hikes, mostly with mountain lions in mind. Never actually seen one but I've come across their scat.

For me: Mullvad (VPN), Viaplay (streaming video), Tidal (music), Wondery (podcasts), addy.io (privacy), Posteo (email), onX Backcountry (trail navigation). Half of those are annual subscriptions though.

I listen mostly to electronic music, especially house, and I never listened to a single podcast on Spotify, so no idea why it started pushing those far-right podcasts!

I find the recommendations on Tidal and Spotify to be pretty different from each other, but one isn't necessarily better than the other. Spotify will recommend dozens of tracks that sound almost identical to one I like, while Tidal suggestions are broader as they pull from related subgenres.

As an American/Swedish dual citizen...

I think I've only had to show mail to prove my address when first getting a driver license in a new state. So that's a thing yes, but not very common.

Unlike in Sweden, in the US you don't register/update your address with the authorities when you move. It's not that the US doesn't have a "working database" for that -- it's just not a thing at all, there's no population register like in Sweden.

In Sweden you use your personnummer for identification, but you also have secure authentication methods like BankID that aren't available in the US. Your personnummer is public information and you'll provide it just about everywhere because there's little risk to you.

In the US we use our social security numbers for both identification and authentication. Because they're used for authentication, they're considered secret and we'll only share them when strictly required for necessary services (like government agencies and banks). This is obviously really poor security and they weren't originally intended to be used for authentication, but it is what it is.

Swedish system is of course more efficient and more secure.

OP clearly doesn't know anything about living with cats. I'd guess they had a past bad cat experience (smell and damage) because of an owner that neglected their cat, and that's the extent of their knowledge.

Also... I'm not saying that dogs don't belong inside, but they're almost always capable of causing way more damage than cats, so it's weird of OP to single out cats for that.

I switched to Tidal a year ago because Spotify kept recommending Joe Rogan and Trump/Musk podcasts and there was no way to opt out. First I tested Deezer and Qobuz but unfortunately didn't like them. Tidal is a US company but they're way less unethical than Spotify and their service is much better IMO.

PostNord (in Sweden at least) is partially privatized. It's government owned and operates its own logistics network, but the customer facing side of it is privatized. Instead of dedicated post offices staffed by PostNord employees, you mail and pick up packages at partner businesses staffed by retail workers. In my experience these are usually gas stations, grocery stores and tobacco shops.

As someone that's lived in the US and Sweden, in my experience the US Postal Service is the only US government agency that's better than its Swedish counterpart.

USPS runs tens of thousands of post offices staffed by its own workers, while PostNord has privatized its retail services and makes you mail stuff from gas stations and tobacco shops. USPS delivers mail AND packages to your home six days a week, while PostNord only delivers mail 2-3 days a week and makes you pick up your packages from their partner businesses. USPS offers "Informed Delivery" as a free service that emails you every morning with scanned images of the mail you'll be receiving later in the day. You can renew your passport through USPS and they also offer some financial services.

Yep. My aunt (in Sweden) still receives and pays all her bills by mail. She's never been online, she doesn't have an email account and she's never owned a computer or a cell phone.

I'm in the US and recently discovered that High Coast (Sweden) is available in my area. I also visited their distillery a few months ago and sampled some of their whiskies!

High Coast Hav can be found here for $42 which is less than at Systembolaget in Sweden. It's lightly peated and I'm working on my second bottle of it.

High Coast 63 -- I was surprised to find this here and I bought a bottle for $120. It's heavily peated, smoky, piney and briny. I'm absolutely loving it and highly recommend it.

I've also discovered you can buy Mackmyra and other High Coast whiskies elsewhere in the US, but I haven't seen them around here and my state doesn't allow alcohol to be shipped from other states.