The best part is the random bill.

• Go to the doctor. Get blood drawn.
• Doctor send the blood to a lab for the test. Doesn't tell me who. I don't care who. It's their subcontractor, let them worry about it. *Go back to the doctor or get a call for results. Pay the doctor the standard co-pay. *Months later a random company sends me a bill. This is a company that I have never interacted with or entered into any contract with, for work that somebody else (presumably my doctor, but who the fuck knows for sure) asked them to do for them, sending the results to that other person and NOT to me.

The system is broken. If any other company subcontracted a part of their work to a third party, you as the client would reasonably expect that work to be paid through the original contract, not get a bill directly from the subcontractor. I didn't hire them, the doctor hired them. As far as I'm concerned, that's the doctor's subcontractor and their debt, not mine. I paid the doctor already.

Or another variant.

• Go to the emergency room.
• Get separate bills FOR THE SAME SERVICE from the hospital, the doctor, and somehow the hospital again but this time it's the emergency room (which is somehow separate with a different billing company).

The system is not just broken. It is designed to fleece us and train us to always accept whatever debt the institutions decide to levy on us without question.

"non-lethal" Oh, boy! What an infuriating misnomer that is.

This is also a good time to remember nothing here in this context is "non-lethal". All of these things (sand bags, tear gas, tasers, pepper spray, mace, rubber bullets, batons, shields, tactical holds, etc.) are accurately called "less lethal" because all of them can and will kill under certain circumstances, even when used by trained officers with good intentions. (I know. How often does that happen, right?) It doesn't take much to cross that line between "not intending murder" and "actual fucking murder", often something as simple as a common medical condition or simply falling while moving over hard ground like curbs and sidewalks. If a reporter is using the term "non-lethal" in the context of police brutality, that's a pretty good sign that you are being lied to.

More to the point, even if the vehicle can seal completely and keep the water out, very few bodies of water that deep would be any safer to traverse in a car for other reasons. Most significant of these I think is the force of water pushing on the vehicle laterally. Claiming that a consumer vehicle can ford rivers or creeks up to 31 inches deep WILL get people killed regardless of how well the designed the vehicle. Don't drive through flowing water or even still water through which you cannot clearly see the bottom unless you're prepared for things to go very badly very fast.

Whenever I'm forced to use windows, show file extensions and show hidden files.

Thumper (Bambi) is a rabbit.

Hazel (Watership down) is a hare.

In spirit I totally agree with you, but that kind of strategy just doesn't work anymore. Boycotting Apple is relatively easy. Boycotting Disney is a little harder, unless you're already a pirate, but not impossible. Then there's companies like Nestle, arguably worse than any of them. Companies like Nestle, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, Coca-Cola, and Pepsi are so diversified, with so many subsidiaries and shell companies spread the world over. It is damn near impossible for the average person to boycott Nestle in any meaningful way.

Go ahead and try to boycott just one or two of the corporations in this image. Boycotts may still impact specific brands at a local level, but they have become pretty ineffective against corporations.

All of the boycotts in the world can't beat the apathy rotting away the foundation of democracy. Boycott one company or brand and another will step in to fill the political void. Apathy keeps young voters out of the voting booths in local elections. These companies have a vested interest in convincing you that your vote doesn't matter and that government regulation is ineffective. It's a lie to keep you apathetic and disinterested in politics because your vote is the only part of the system they can't directly influence.

They're all very fungible assets, maybe even more than cash in those times. Except the drummer boy, but a song is probably all that poor kid had to give.

I guess the secondary directive of the Federation is to gatekeep having fun?

Animation isn't for children by default. Only boring, unimaginative people talk that way about animated stories.

Star Trek has always had violence.

Star Trek has often had profanity. In another alien language sure, but we all knew which Klingon words were curses.

Does sophomoric humor graduate to senior humor when it's subtle enough that you didn't catch it as a child? Humor is SUPER subjective and VERY sensitive to the current zeitgeist, so comparing humor across a franchise that has been around this long seems a little absurd. Data pushed Crusher into the ocean for a laugh, that seems pretty sophomoric to me. Bones regularly joked about Spock's racial differences, that also seems pretty crude by today's standards.

Chopsticks. Use them. It takes a little practice, but they are perfect for snacking, especially popcorn. Cheetos are easiest of the chips, but others are possible. No more residue on your finger tips, or the backs of your hands from reaching into the bag. I also switched to chopsticks for things like salads (fruit or vege variety), noodles, and getting olives and such out of jars. Even a good stew or chili can be eaten with chopsticks and a spoon. Now I just need to get better at using chopsticks with my nondominant hand.

A decade ago she would have been seeking that validation from her friends. ChatGPT is just a validation machine, like an emotional vibrator.

I don't think I've ever seen boobs used in quite this way to indicate running in a static image.

I'm sure there are other birds that look more like the sketch on the right.