stewie3128

Disney has for the last few decades positioned itself as a premium product at a premium price (think the entry costs for theme parks, cruises, etc.) much the same way Apple has. They clearly think their content is worth the premium, so they're going for it.

Also, a lot of their best films are going public domain in the coming years, so they need to maintain and grow their revenue stream somehow.

Shedding ABC, eliminating physical media, and increasing streaming prices makes total sense if you think the way they do.

CPAP.

Same. Refi'd into 3% and not going to budge. It'll be interesting to see if our loan servicer ever changes, because who in the world would want to buy a loan with such a low interest rate?

Just like any other job, entirely dependent on your particular unit/department and manager. In the US Fed gov't there's a huge difference between working for CBP, civil Marines, and NASA, just to name 3 random agencies.

The difference with the feds is that you get a basically predictable paycheck (as long as Congress does its damn job), health benefits that make life habitable, the best possible version of a 401k around (TSP), and you're extraordinarily unlikely to get downsized.

Last I checked, the plurality of civilian federal employees make GS-13, which in 2023 was between $98k and $153k depending on where you were located, and how long you've been at that pay-grade. It's not an overwhelming plurality, butnit's not unusual to promote into a GS-13, and then hang out there for most of your career.

Retirement is a three-legged stool: your TSP (aka 401k), Social Security, and a small pension. People hired before 1985 were the ones who got the sweet fat pensions, but it doesn't work that way anymore.

Also, Feliz el año del Niño! Gonna be a great 16 months for weather. Especially in Texas!

Trump admin was a little too insane to satirize effectively, I think. They try to stay playful while biting, with only the occasional blunt headline.

Basically, Trump only deserved single-entendre, and that's not really what they do.

We need to block ads so that ads die. Anti-angiogenesis for advertising. Get a less annoying business model.

That said, I have YouTube premium at that I don't see ads.

We just muted the TV during the ads and did something else until the show came back on. Ad breaks for regular shows like dramas were a predictable length of time, so you could time your bathroom or fridge run pretty well.

When the original news broke about Alabama using nitrogen, my wife woke me up by hitting my arm to tell me - because I've been saying that is the most humane possible method for the last 16 years.

I think the death penalty is stupid to begin with, and am kinda over talking about its merits after years of debate team in high school and college. But trying all of these seat-of-pants cocktails of midazolam and pentobarbital etc, and then inventing all of these ridiculous devices that require two people to push buttons at the same time so no one ever really knows whose button actually killed the person.... it's just needlessly complicated and dumb. Not to mention the fact that the legal costs involved in defending appeals and housing someone on death row are much higher than the cost of a life sentence anyway. And that's leaving aside the statistically significant number of wrongful convictions...

I mean, we shouldn't have the death penalty. But if we're going to, it should be by nitrogen hypoxia.

Next GOP president is going to expunge all of the convictions.