Archived version: https://archive.ph/vNSJa

A YouTuber's announcement of a video games console giveaway sparked chaos and a major police response in the heart of New York City on Friday.

A crowd of roughly 2,000 converged at Union Square Park in anticipation of free PlayStation 5 devices from celebrity Twitch streamer Kai Cenat.

Police said the influencer was among a number of people detained and he could be charged with inciting a riot.

People were seen hurling fireworks, bottles and toppling barricades.

Subway trains passed the Union Square stop during the incident, the BBC's US partner CBS reported, as police urged people to avoid the area.

People first gathered at around 13:00 local time (17:00 GMT) after Mr Cenat posted on social media - where he has more than 10 million followers and subscribers - that he would be handing out 300 PlayStations.

By 15:00, hundreds had piled on to streets surrounding one of New York City's busiest train stops.

They climbed cars and the train station entrance's roof and threw bottles at responding police officers.

New York Police Department declared a "level four" mobilisation, meaning roughly 1,000 officers were deployed to the scene.

During a livestream inside a vehicle near Union Square as the disorder was unfolding, Mr Cenat said: "They're throwing tear gas out there.

"We're not going to do nothing until it's safe. Everybody for themselves, because it's a war out there man."

Mr Cenat was taken into police custody at around 17:00. The crowd was finally dispersed about an hour later.

According to a CBS affiliate, Mr Cenat did not have a permit for the event, which was reportedly a collaboration with Bronx YouTube star Fanum.

NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said: "We have encountered things like this before, but never to this level of dangerousness, where young people would not listen to our commands."

He added: "You had people walking around with shovels, axes, and other tools from the construction trade.

"In addition, individuals were also lighting fireworks. They were throwing them towards police, and they were throwing them at each other."

Mr Cenat made headlines in March after he broke the record for attracting the most Twitch subscribers by reaching 300,000.

Twitch is a livestreaming platform, where people typically play video games while chatting to viewers.

In the build-up to breaking the record, Mr Cenat launched a round-the-clock drive to boost his subscribers - chatting, gaming and interviewing guests, as well as sleeping, all on camera - for 30 days.

A YouTuber's announcement of a video games console giveaway sparked chaos and a major police response in the heart of New York City on Friday.

A crowd of roughly 2,000 converged at Union Square Park in anticipation of free PlayStation 5 devices from celebrity Twitch streamer Kai Cenat.

Police said the influencer was among a number of people detained and he could be charged with inciting a riot.

People were seen hurling fireworks, bottles and toppling barricades.

Subway trains passed the Union Square stop during the incident, the BBC's US partner CBS reported, as police urged people to avoid the area.

People first gathered at around 13:00 local time (17:00 GMT) after Mr Cenat posted on social media - where he has more than 10 million followers and subscribers - that he would be handing out 300 PlayStations.

By 15:00, hundreds had piled on to streets surrounding one of New York City's busiest train stops.

They climbed cars and the train station entrance's roof and threw bottles at responding police officers.

New York Police Department declared a "level four" mobilisation, meaning roughly 1,000 officers were deployed to the scene.

During a livestream inside a vehicle near Union Square as the disorder was unfolding, Mr Cenat said: "They're throwing tear gas out there.

"We're not going to do nothing until it's safe. Everybody for themselves, because it's a war out there man."

Mr Cenat was taken into police custody at around 17:00. The crowd was finally dispersed about an hour later.

According to a CBS affiliate, Mr Cenat did not have a permit for the event, which was reportedly a collaboration with Bronx YouTube star Fanum.

NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said: "We have encountered things like this before, but never to this level of dangerousness, where young people would not listen to our commands."

He added: "You had people walking around with shovels, axes, and other tools from the construction trade.

"In addition, individuals were also lighting fireworks. They were throwing them towards police, and they were throwing them at each other."

Mr Cenat made headlines in March after he broke the record for attracting the most Twitch subscribers by reaching 300,000.

Twitch is a livestreaming platform, where people typically play video games while chatting to viewers.

In the build-up to breaking the record, Mr Cenat launched a round-the-clock drive to boost his subscribers - chatting, gaming and interviewing guests, as well as sleeping, all on camera - for 30 days.

Source: https://haunted.computer/@netspooky/110832978569741892

Luca Galante went from flipping burgers in Thornton Heath to accidentally creating a gaming sensation in one of the few true indie developer rags-to-riches tales

Archived version: https://archive.ph/RYbQn

Luca Galante went from flipping burgers in Thornton Heath to accidentally creating a gaming sensation in one of the few true indie developer rags-to-riches tales

Archived version: https://archive.ph/RYbQn

Luca Galante went from flipping burgers in Thornton Heath to accidentally creating a gaming sensation in one of the few true indie developer rags-to-riches tales

Archived version: https://archive.ph/RYbQn

Luca Galante went from flipping burgers in Thornton Heath to accidentally creating a gaming sensation in one of the few true indie developer rags-to-riches tales

Archived version: https://archive.ph/RYbQn

Luca Galante went from flipping burgers in Thornton Heath to accidentally creating a gaming sensation in one of the few true indie developer rags-to-riches tales

Archived version: https://archive.ph/RYbQn

Archived version: https://archive.li/6efBd

Could you dodge the duopoly? We asked three people to try shopping for a week without visiting Coles or Woolworths and keep a diary of their results.

All three spent less money than they typically would, but that’s where the similarities ended.

Depending on your location and your existing grocery habits, shopping without the big two can either be a breeze, or an enormous inconvenience.

‘I desperately wanted to flake’: Molly Glassey, inner Melbourne

I’m a farmers’ market snob who supplements any weekend shortsightedness with a post-work Coles or Woolworths trip. So when I ditched the big two for a week, I thought it would be as simple as buying a bit more fruit and veg on my days off and dining out on self-satisfaction if all else failed.

I thought it would be easy.

But less than 24 hours in, sticky date pudding in the oven and no ice-cream in the freezer, I desperately wanted to flake.

IGA just doesn’t discount junk food like the big two do. Funky gelaterias aren’t an option in a cost-of-living crisis. All I wanted was half-price Connoisseur from Coles. Day two and it happened again; I set out to make tacos, forgetting we didn’t have taco shells, grated cheese or sour cream (don’t judge my obsession with Tex-Mex). Every day for my entire week of abstinence there was something I needed to top off a meal that I didn’t have on hand; dry pasta, tinned tomatoes, tissues! I thought about going to a chemist to stock up on tissues for my snotty toddler but felt awful paying on card for something under $5; a guilt I’d never faced at Woolies or Coles, let them cop the fee. Fight the power.

It was shockingly hard. Not because we have a toddler, but because I’m just so used to “popping” out and grabbing something. I wish I could blame the monopolistic capitalist entities, but I suspect the problem is me. Maybe it’s a hangover from Covid lockdown when going to the shops was a chance for fresh air: “Sorry darling, I need to pop out as we’re dangerously low on moth balls.”

But I definitely saved money this week. I’m a sucker for specials and end up spending more than I intend when I go to Woolworths and Coles. In fact, when I did “pop out” to IGA, I wasn’t at all wooed into buying more than I needed. These small grocers really need to work on their sneaky spending tactics.

While I despise Coles and Woolworths for their bright lights, cheap tricks and huge profits, I also find myself there multiple times a week, falling for it all and loving it.

Did you save any money? Yes, I definitely get sucked into buying more than I need when I go to Coles or Woolies.

Did you save any time? No.

Would you do this again? Sure, but not willingly.

‘I’m a convert’: Jasper Peach, regional Victoria

Where I live in regional Castlemaine there’s no Coles or Woolies. There is a massive IGA and its smaller counterpart that locals affectionately call the IGB. In our lovingly shambolic household with my social worker spouse and two little kids, Woolies deliveries usually arrive fortnightly. We buy pet food, cleaning supplies, dairy, freezer, pantry items and lunchbox snacks from the supermarket online.

Forgoing that online order this week has been a pleasant surprise.

I discovered my local shops have chivalrous staff to carry everything to your car. I felt like a cast member of The Sullivans, but with a slightly discounted bulk buy box o’ Bonsoy. The groceries I usually order online at great expense were widely available and not as pricey as I expected.

I usually shop for fresh produce at Harvest and their neighbour Sprout for bread, so no habit change was needed there. Both stores are open a couple of days a week and the proprietors run a soup kitchen on Monday nights. Having a relationship with shop owners such as Jo, Ro, Patricia and Paul is a special part of small-town life.

Vegetables used to languish in the crisper after I’d shopped for an impossible menu plan. I’ve found combating perishable supplies one or two days at a time is far thriftier than buying things that disappear from my field of vision (and thus my memory) the moment they’re put away.

We were already buying toilet paper in bulk and using period undies rather than buy disposable period products. We shopped for meat from our freezer stash, a mix of items bought on special and a monthly organic meat delivery from the nearby Jonai farm.

I routinely go hog wild at the discount shop Cheaper Buy Miles whenever I’m in Melbourne. Fighting food waste! Fellow tightarses! Discount wheels of fancy cheese! I was in town for a writers’ group this week and picked up this bonanza of goodies for $81 on the way.

There were building blocks for many of the week’s dinners here. Cheaper Buy Miles’ $3 meal kits are often to solution to the “you want dinner again?” problem. You just add protein, veg and $1 noodles.

So long as the icy poles and snack plates are plentiful (chopped raw veggies, cheese, crackers, salami, fruit) the kids really don’t give a hoot about dinner. The kids just want to watch Bluey, eat mostly carbs then drink some milk and go to sleep.

Did you save any money? Yes, this week $197!

Did you save any time? Yes! Even though Woolies delivery sort of saves time, the reasons for delivery aren’t applicable once you shop a few times a week and stop prepping for the apocalypse.

Would you do this again? Absolutely – I’m a convert.

‘I’ll always need a major to cover the gaps’: Mostafa Rachwani, western Sydney

Western Sydney is still awash with ethnic grocers, from Lebanese to Indian, Indonesian, Greek, Nepalese or Turkish, and I believed I was well-equipped to go a week depending on them.

As a single man living alone, I thought it would be a breeze, especially considering I usually visit my local Lebanese grocer, Fruitopia, on shopping trips anyway.

I am lucky in that my local shopping centre, Lidcombe, has three independent grocers, and a spice shop thrown in for good measure.

My initial plan was to get as many fruit and vegetables at Fruitopia as possible, back it up with a visit to the iconic (it has its name in lights out front, so people can take selfies there) Fresh Asiana for anything I’d missed, then hope for the best.

Fruitopia was well stocked when it came to fresh produce. I picked up most of my usuals, including lettuce, tomatoes, onions, radishes and chilis.

I was pleasantly surprised to see it also had a fantastic dried pasta selection, plenty of cheeses, a lot of sauces and dips, and an incredible snack aisle, including a surprisingly extensive range of Cheetos, and Lotus Biscoff biscuits (a Muslim community favourite).

It also had a predictably good selection of spices, although the only canned tuna was chilli-seasoned, which says a lot of its expected clientele.

By then I was just missing some minor cleaning goods, paper towels, bread and some fresh herbs, which I prefer to get from Asiana anyway.

And while Asiana had more fresh herbs than I could use, as well as the kimchi and sesame oil I was looking for, they didn’t have bread or paper towels.

This is when doubt set in. While I found some sliced bread at the local BreadTop, I ended up walking away without paper towels, and felt strangely sad about it.

I don’t normally do one big shop a week, preferring to shop when I need something, so it’s hard to do a direct comparison, but I would say I normally spend between $70 and $80 on a big stock-up.

The groceries, alongside a quick stop at my local halal butcher (my regular anyway) amounted to just over $60; but it took roughly 15 minutes longer than usual and I had to spend a week mopping spills up with face tissues (expensive and inferior).

Did you save any money? Yes, roughly $10

Did you save any time? Nope! Going up and down the stairs between the different grocers and hunting for a final few items added about 15 minutes to my shop.

Would you do this again? I really wanted to do it all, and I really enjoyed the wider selection and slightly cheaper options at the independent grocers, but I think I’ll always need a major supermarket to just cover the gaps.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/CpoEk

How do I figure out what I want? I feel like I am good at achieving goals that I care about, but I’m hopeless at deciding what goals to pursue. I don’t know what I want and I’ve gotten increasingly anxious about it over the last five to 10 unhappy years. I’m anxious to set any goals because I feel like I’m absolutely unable to decide what to do.

I don’t like my job, it doesn’t align with my values, it’s ultimately meaningless, but it’s comfortable. I’m paralysed to make a change because I really don’t know where I want to end up, and it doesn’t feel right to risk the security I have to find more meaning in my work. I feel rudderless, encumbered and I truly don’t know how to figure out what to do. So how do most people decide what they want? Do you have any tips on how I can figure it out?

Eleanor says: “Figuring out what you want” can get easily confused with two other questions that suck up your time and deplete your energy while dangling the possibility of getting it right just out of reach.

The first is: “What should I want?”

Figuring out what you should want (not what you do want) is a miserable experience, because there are too many plausible responses. Family, money, prestige, doing certain kinds of good in the world, creative fulfilment – when you’re running at the question by asking what would be objectively best, it’s impossible to figure out a standardised unit with which to weigh these things against each other. If “what should I do with my life” gets read as “what would it be best for me to aim at”, you’re functionally asking yourself to solve an aeons-old question about the best use of a human life. No wonder it feels impossible to answer.

The second question we can accidentally embark on in the guise of asking what we want is: “How can I have an ideal life?”

When we ask that, we start to stress over all the possible ways we could improve things. Improvement is in principle never-ending, so the stress of trying to achieve it is also never-ending. If I lived elsewhere, would things feel a little better? What about if I had some more money, or a different job, or a different schedule or hobbies? Around each corner, after each tweak, the promise of a slightly better life.

The endless chasing of the slightly-better external environment can really make things worse. It can manufacture dissatisfaction with a situation that would have seemed totally fine and lovely if we hadn’t thought of it as second best – and second best not to a specific picture of a better life, but to the vague idea that things could be better. To crib an insight from the Buddhists, past a certain point – if your needs are satisfied and you have love, projects, safety, fun – the route to making things feel better is not in fiddling with the external environment. It’s in fiddling with how you react to it.

The question of what you want is separate to both. It’s about asking when you feel most like yourself. When do you feel at ease; like you have both feet firmly planted on the floor? When do you feel like the best of you is showing up in your interactions? When are you proud of yourself in that deep, lamp-in-the-soul type way?

It can be really difficult to stay focused on that question and not lapse into the others, especially if one has grown up in relative prosperity and freedom (at least compared with most of the planet for most of history). Although we have levels of possibility that many of our ancestors could only dream of, many of us don’t actually feel freer for it. So much opportunity can turn into the imperative to never waste any.

But one way to absolutely guarantee wasting it is to let optimisation be the enemy of good. The upside is that once you pick something, anything, things often get more wantable the more you commit to continuing to want them.

It’s not that you got the decision “right”, just that once you’ve made it, you can finally cease looking at life with evaluative eyes, and live it instead.