I am friends with a South Korean man, and asked him about this once. From his experience with North Korean people, he said they really did buy into the Kool-Aid and really did think of Kim-Jong Un as a glorious leader and all that jazz. Not that they are all fanatical, but there's a level of enthusiasm for it all that's really there.
I am 23, work at a startup, and also never drink, but definitely disagree with the implications of this post. Startups don't have any sort of particularly entrenched alcohol culture in the US- everyone does. And it's not really a problem, either. You can't ask for planet earth to be a safe space so you never get tempted by your booze urges again, just continue refusing, it's not something that can- or should- go away entirely.
Too senior? I'd say there's really no such thing, so long as the engineer is suitable for the job in terms of what she's looking for and what areas of expertise she has.
Genuinely don't understand how the medical systems in place throughout Europe are also socialized but so much more stable than ours. Is their quality of care lower? Fewer patient needs being met? Relative spending higher? It looks like Americans are moving towards socializing medicine more and more yet the further we move towards it, it seems like efficiency is only getting worse.