FTFA:

A few years and one pandemic later, the company filed for bankruptcy on Monday,

It’s also in a bunch of comments already

This is actually a regional bit of language, specifically the region of the US. The term ‘state’ originally meant (and in some places, still means) an independent and sovereign entity/government. Under the terms of colonial America, each state was truly independent, so the term makes complete sense. Even the original attempt at uniting the colonies (under the Articles of Confederation) maintained that independence.

But that failed and was promptly replaced by the US Constitution, which made the states much more like provinces. They became a piece of the whole, with significant influence from the larger entity. But we kept the term “state” when referring to them.

I find it mildly interesting that despite all of the perceived differences in intelligence, and the scary colors of the chart, every single state is between 94.2 and 104.3. IOW, there is no meaningful difference in IQ at the state level.

He’s dead? I didn’t even know he was sick…

(/s for anyone not familiar with his work)

Air conditioners are exactly a heat pump. As are refrigerators. The only difference is that it’s turned around so the hot side is inside.

The typical heat pump setup (in the US) is not reversible. That means you would also have the AC heat pump next to it, capable of moving heat in the other direction.

Not to discount your experience, but heat pumps are remarkably efficient. It would actually use less gas to convert it to electricity at an industrial scale, and then use that to locally power (recent) heat pumps, than it would be to burn the gas inside your home for all of its heat.

It sounds like your area has some politics in play that are either subsidizing gas or surcharging electric. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it does put a thumb on the scale.

For many, maybe even most Americans, NYC might as well be a fictional place. It’s featured heavily in countless movies, TV shows, books, etc. It’s more common than Westeros, Middle Earth, or Hogwarts. And people are expected to understand these settings, at least as much as NYC.

And that’s all before you consider places like Batman’s Gotham that is very clearly NYC.

I almost included that exact clip, but felt like it was too off topic. Glad that I’m not alone on thinking that

I remember seeing an analysis that said the reason nothing sticks to Trump is that there’s just so many negative stories that none of them really gain traction. There’s nothing simple like “But her emails!!!” To get anyone riled up.

All of the consumer lines are pretty bad these days. Acer has a reputation for being unreliable (backed by some data from SquareTrade ~10 years ago). HP is just as bad, in mostly the same ways, but has avoided the reputation.

Reliable laptops are the enterprise lines - Dell Latitude/Precision, HP Elite Book, and Lenovo Thinkpad. But they are significantly more expensive when buying new.

You should probably know that strangling someone is a strong indicator of a future murder attempt. Far more than other forms of battery.

You definitely need to consider your own safety, and those around you

They each have their own protection detail. Each will quickly move to protect the one they are responsible for, which will mean separating them (probably by a lot of distance).

Someone under SS protection can choose to waive it. There are some former presidents who deemed it unnecessary later in life.

No idea about the rest of your hypothetical

Sometimes. It was also frequently not connected to anything.

Often there are contracts. Sometimes for a very long time, often multi-year. There are sometimes escape clauses (like a morality clause for a spokesperson), but these aren’t easy to invoke.

I suspect many of them are up for annual review/renewal, when they can be terminated without penalty. It might also just be an attempt to get better terms.

FWIW, here is the US, the ground wire is often completely exposed. As in, no colored jacket, just the bare copper throughout the entire run. Attached to ground at the breaker box, and attached to any grounding ports or metal boxes throughout the building.

Shrinkflation is smaller quantities and/or higher prices. This is actually tracked in a variety of places.

Changing to a cheaper recipe/supplier is very hard to put metrics on, and isn’t tracked anywhere that I know of

Uber’s insurance is pretty bad. Many get the additional coverage from their regular insurer anyway because of this. That coverage also (usually) applies to this situation as well.

Ain’t no one approaching the T-800 to steal your wallet or anything. Curiosity, sure. But you don’t look at that and think “easy target”

Now, if I’ve done something specific to be a target, I’m not sure it would be an effective bodyguard.

How close are these surrounding towns? What’s the population, particularly for the demographics you would appeal to?

Often, it’s not worthwhile to bring your favorite culture to your home. Just go to the culture where it already exists. Often, these quiet, boring places are populated by people that WANT to live in a place that’s quiet and boring. It doesn’t make much sense for anyone to move there if they don’t.

Timing and pacing are inherently different when there’s a laugh track. You can’t just silence the laughter or cut the time range. In some cases, you have to rework the joke.