People who can see where you made social media posts can easily figure out where you live.

This is not just a reason to ask Twitter not to tell others where you were when you posted. It is a reason not to let Twitter know where you posted, by connecting through Tor.

Only a small fraction of patients that use opioids ever abuse them. It is a mistake to panic about them.

Some blockbuster Hollywood movies are now designed principally to make viewers feel they have to see the prequels or sequels. They don't need to have a meaningful plot any more, and they don't need to please the audience, only convince them to see other movies.

We can change this: don't watch a movie unless you think it is likely to be good (by whatever criterion of goodness you use). Otherwise, you know in advance that you're wasting your time (as well as your money). Don't be a sheeple and watch crap just because your friends are in the habit of settling for that.

If you use this opportunity to practice refusing to follow the crowd, eventually you will get good at that, and you can apply it to other things too.

Privatizing parts of the UK's foreign ministry was supposed to save money but cost money instead.

Privatizers typically claim that it will do the same job and cost less, for some theoretical reason such as "investment" or "improved methods" or "economy of scale". Over and over, the result is the opposite. Do they then respond, "It was worth trying, but it failed, so let's now unprivatize that"?

Never. Because those theoretical reasons are merely excuses.

A new surveillance robot carries microphones and cameras, and can scan the license plates of all the cars it sees.

It sends the data it collects to a company's server, which means the data can be misused by the company, by the state, and by whetever criminals get into the data base. That is the worst possible scenario, but it is standard practice.

Listening and watching systems such as this should be prohibited by law, except when authorized by a court for a specific place and time period.