Yeah, that plus labor is 80% of what I typically pay for a whole brand new phone… I know why it is this way, but it really is this way and that makes it very hard for low volume players to enter the market.

What’s the cost to replace a cracked screen?

Any coincidence that 2012 e-mails are finally coming to trial today?

They “trust” me.

Dumb fucks.

If there ever is anything remotely competitive to Netflix, I’m gone like a shot.

Their “suggestive sell” interface is such garbage. We, the paying customers, should be able to default to a genre search without having to jump hoops every time. We, the paying customers, should be able to hit “not interested” and actually not see suggestions to watch the “not interested” title again. We, the paying customers, should be able to view the available catalog as we choose, not as their manipulative algorithms choose. The only reason we’re still with Netflix is because the ad-free version is still affordable, but their content selection system is heavy advertising in and of itself.

Honestly, folks, if you want to watch a couple of movies a week I bet your local public library has a better interface allowing you to choose from new releases and a deep catalog, all for free - you just have to drive by once a week to pick up / drop off your selections.

When “parenting” consisted of making sure the rugrats were off the streets by the time the streetlights came on in the evening, it was a little lower maintenance than today.

Now, they have multiple global access terminals in the home, open 24-7-365, that can connect them to anyone/anything anywhere anytime. The physical threats of broken bones, abduction, etc. are less than in Beaver Cleaver’s neighborhood, but these days you don’t have to worry about the one drug dealer that got chased from the neighborhood last year, these days they can have anything delivered “in discrete packaging” if not to your home then to a convenient parcel pickup box not far from the school bus stop.

They can get into video-chats with law enforcement agents trolling for child-sex, they can access porn you didn’t know existed, and they can do it all from “safe mode” of their phone browser after “lights out.” Smuggling a porno mag to look at under the covers by flashlight has gone far far more more interactive and easily hidden.

My approach is to confront the challenges in the open. When the OnlyFans.com charge shows up on the bank card, sit down and talk about how paying for sexy things isn’t good for either party. Don’t take away the bank card, don’t take away the internet access, try to teach why the whole thing is a bad idea. I suppose if it gets to be a habitual problem then denying access is the next step, but with respect to internet problems, I don’t think we’ve had that issue yet (after 45 child-years…) Other habitual problems requiring access denial? Sure. All depends on your particular circumstances, but attempting to deny internet access seems like a seriously losing battle in today’s landscape.

My kids are savants about media control systems. You don’t need to explain anything, they’ve got it figured out before they touch the first button.

Yeah, I passed that suggestion into the “don’t show me content from the New York Times anymore” selection box.

Just say yes, only use it to watch “Fireplace for your Home.” I think you can change the “Kids” icon to whatever character you want it to show.

It’s big, but is it news? Can he hold a coherent thought for more than six seconds? Tariffs on, tariffs off, tariffs paused, tariffs resumed, 25%, 10%, 45%, 124%, 0%, aaaand repeat.

Those stone soldiers should have made a world tour 25 years ago when they were declassified.

They’re not expensive ant time wasting to this guy, he just refuses to show up.

I suppose, eventually, he will be inconvenienced with an arrest and incarceration.

it’s reasonable to expect that ransom guy to pay your court costs.

Yes, and if you’ve paid a good lawyer they will indeed get a judgement against “ransom guy” to pay all court costs including your lawyers’ fees. What you won’t often find is a good lawyer who will not charge you up front, because a judgement still needs to be collected, and collecting judgments from random ransom guys is a low odds business. See OP.

We lived in a city that levied $500 per day fines for some fairly common stuff (like 30% of the homes in the city had the violations, but only a few were charged with them because, reasons…) so, some homeowners who ignored the fines accumulated city liens in excess of the value of their homes. When that went to court, the judges just threw out all the fines as unconscionable, particularly when you could point to hundreds of homes with similar conditions for years and years which were not being fined.

Be careful with the gators. You’ll be focused on the jaws, but the feet have claws too…

Death by alligator is quite rare, but the month before we moved to Florida one took a snorkeler just a few miles from where we were moving to…

It’s all about the harness…

My University issued me a BS parking ticket a couple of weeks before graduation. I appealed, appeal was denied with no explanation. Fine was $20, no interest, no penalties. I ignored it. They refused to release my transcripts - oh well, that was 35 years ago now, haven’t needed the transcripts yet. They did send letters to me for 10 years asking me to pay the $20 fine, I believe the postage alone amounted to over $20 by the time they gave up.

It is always different. I was born because times before I was born were different, my parents’ friends were being drafted and sent to Vietnam to die, or worse: come back mentally or physically screwed up. Apparently, being a new parent was just enough consideration to keep a college enrolled man from being taken - so they did that and here I am.

Subscription for the OS period, even if security updates were free, is pretty much the opposite of what I wanted a Jolla phone for back when I put a deposit on one. Are they actually delivering devices this time? Last time they got built but somehow were unable to be shipped to the people who paid for them.

They certainly had a rough spot about 10 years back, never delivered a device I put a deposit on, only refunded half my deposit.