As far as I remember, yeah, that’s essentially what happened. At first, the government and the police saw drug addicts as criminals in the eyes of the law, and tried to go after them, which is, as far as I know, what the US and a lot of other countries do.

As a Portuguese who was alive (albeit a kid) in the 90s, I can summarize this as we didn’t have enough resources (both human and monetary) to keep enforcing the U.S. drug war model. Since it wasn’t working and we were reaching a critical situation (like half of Lisbon in particular was filled with drug addicts shooting heroin up their veins), we turned to the experts.

The article implies this was a decision made from the beginning of this epidemic, but it was pretty much a last resort because the other model was unsustainable for the government. Not sure if we would’ve adopted it if we had US’ resources.

Also, just giving context here, not trying to diminish this accomplishment.

Portuguese here. This is anecdotal evidence but, as far as I can tell, a lot of our proficiency comes, essentially, to constant exposure to the English language since the early to mid-90s. We don’t dub English-speaking media (apart from movies and tv shows more aimed at kids, but even then, Cartoon Network didn’t even have subs when I was a kid and I still watched it religiously), the video games we played when we were kids also didn’t have a Portuguese language option so we were basically forced to learn English.

And now that the Internet has become widespread throughout the country, the younger generation consume a lot of English-speaking content, so they have little trouble with speaking and writing in it.

This results in a good % of the population having decent to good English, not just the kids but a lot of people in their 30s (and some in their 40s) too.

I guess, haha. Not like we care all that much, though, if it’s good music, that’s all that matters. When I listened to the song you posted, I was reminded of YUKI, although they’re quite a bit different. YUKI has more arrangements and incorporates more instruments into her songs. Also, her voice is a bit weird, being very nasal, but I really love it, makes her have a very unique tone.

Kenji Kawai is such an amazing composer. I didn’t know about that particular composition you linked to (and thank you for sharing, it’s great!) but I know he made soundtracks for both Ghost in the Shell animated movies, which are so, so good. Here’s what I think is a medley of the Ghost in the Shell soundtrack played live. It opens with Making of a Cyborg, one of the most iconic pieces of the first movie.

I also really liked the 2nd song! I’m not sure but is her name Hako Yamasaki? Just so I can look for more of her stuff.

Aside from Mad World by Gary Jules and *Everything’s alright" by Laura Shigihara, which have already been mentioned, I have a few off the top of my head:

• Keiichi Okabe - Weight of the World/English Version. Going with this one just because I’ve heard most recently. Every version is great, though.
• Nobuo Uematsu - Aerith’s Theme. Orchestral version for maximum feels.
• Nobuo Uematsu - Tifa’s Theme. I always liked the Advent Children version best.

Not much of a country music listener but I’ve really liked Townes van Zandt, namely because of a tribute album made by various members of sludge/post-metal bands like Scott Kelly, Steve von Til and John Baizley. It’s more on the introspective and melancholic side but I think it’s also a bit different from a lot of other recommended artists/bands on this thread.

In most games, when there’s an option to play as a man or as a woman, I generally choose to play as a dude because…I’m a dude. I guess it helps to immerse myself in the game but I never really gave it much thought beyond that. But in my second playthrough, if it’s something like an RPG or anything like that, I usually switch to a girl just to see different story paths, conversations, personality even.

Except for fighting games. I’ve been telling myself it’s because I love fast, rushdown characters like Millia Rage or Cammy. I even managed to fool myself into thinking it was because I used to do the martial art they’re representing, like Lidia Sobieska from Tekken. Which is technically true, they have to have a play style I like.

But along comes Granblue and I’m torn between two characters: the badass old man brawler that is Soriz and zoner archer lady Metera. And at this point, I can’t lie to myself anymore and will probably play Metera because she’s a woman and she’s hot.

TL;DR: I like women and they’re hot.

I’ll chime in and suggest PC, as you can probably get them at a lower price than on PS4.

I’ll add Mamoru Miyano to the list.

EDIT: Also, Jouji Nakata aka Alucard from Hellsing.

I’m ashamed to say I’ve never watched Initial D. But it’s on my watchlist.

Not necessarily a song but a whole sub-genre: Eurobeat. It started with Running in the 90s and I just went from there to listening and thoroughly enjoying pretty much the whole Initial D soundtrack.

Really? This is ridiculous! How many parts are in this part?

Sorry, meant to say the last part of the final season.

So many great new shows and sequels airing this fall. Personally, I’m excited for:

• Frieren
• Overtake!, mostly because I’m a motorsports fan
• The Apothecary Diaries
• The sequels: Spy x Family, The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Goblin Slayer, and Girlfriend, Girlfriend

And, with considerably less excitement, I guess I’m going to watch Attack on Titan as well, hoping it’s the actual final season.

Aside from Frieren, which was already mentioned, the Apothecary Diaries has a shot at it if it’s well done. As far as I know, both the light novels and the manga are fairly popular.

https://downloads.khinsider.com/ is the best I’ve found so far. Some numbers:

• Total albums: 43,913
• Total songs: 1,325,601
• Total size: 12581

I remember having to use Internet Explorer to do some actions on the autoridade tributária website, like simulating and submitting IRS (even had to download an external application) but that was like 10-12 years ago. More recently, I had to do some stuff with regards to opening and closing my activity (I was on recibos verdes for a while) and did it all through Firefox. Haven’t had to do much else beyond this.

As for seg. social, I just tried to log in and it said my password expired and I had to create a new one. But when I filled in the password fields and tried to click on the button to submit it, it didn’t work. In any browser. Because there was no fucking link associated with the button. So the button did nothing. I had to manually click on the “recover my password” link so I could a create a new one.

When I logged in, I just clicked on a few things, even simulated my retirement pension and everything worked. It’s not much of a test, I know, but it’s something.

Never entered fundo ambiental so I have no idea if it works or not.

Portuguese here. Haven’t had to use anything but Firefox on the IRS and Social Security websites. What are you having trouble accessing?

I think it’s sub.rehab.