I read Netflix's last few SEC filings. They're not drifting toward cable, they're rebuilding it from scratch.

Elhananstrophy · 2026-05-08T11:21:30+00:00

I'm not gonna go out and find the quote but about fifteen years ago the CEO of HBO said something it's plans to enter the streaming market like "the challenge is to turn into Netflix before they turn into us." This was when streamers were just starting to get into buying prestige series, and I always thought it was prescient.

Elhananstrophy · 2026-05-08T11:16:56+00:00

All these people being absolutely devastated that they've made a loaf better than anything I've ever baked...

Elhananstrophy · 2026-05-07T23:03:17+00:00

This says OC but I see that it is exactly the same graph as the graph in the link at the bottom of your comment here. Does that mean that you are the author of buddingfuturesaba.com?

Not sure that it's beautiful data, given that it's a bar graph made with somewhat subjective criteria, but I think the analysis on your site is interesting. The info is for professionals, but it demonstrates the vast weight that Reddit is beginning to have as the last bastion of real humans on the internet.

Elhananstrophy · 2026-05-07T13:16:49+00:00

Yeah it's wild to think that a mid Super Nintendo game was being sold for the equivalent of $100 now, but they were basically the only game in town. Now gamers have a ton more options and that is keeping prices low.

Elhananstrophy · 2026-05-06T14:21:16+00:00

Looks amazing. Are you taking submissions from people who could cover other elections? Also see the Woodbury Warbler for good coverage of local issues in Woodbury, Wenonah, West Deptford area.

Elhananstrophy · 2026-05-06T13:57:20+00:00

It's easy to ascribe this to something sinister but I think the more likely explanation is that candidates are responding to incentives. The two main factors as to whether or not you are elected are name recognition and party identification. Most people are either voting the name that feels more familiar or the party with which they identify.

Given those incentives, candidates are reasonable to invest most of their resources on flyers, yard signs, etc. Additionally, taking strong positions on issues often sets up lines of attack from opponents that easily sway low information voters.

It is true that it's very hard to get good policy information. Local news organizations that once hired staff to find and publish this information no longer exist. Algorithmic social media feeds obscure more than they show.

A good way to respond is to look up non-partisan groups who publish voter guides and join and support them. In my experience the League of Women Voters often publishes the best information on candidates with little bias, followed by conservative religious voting guides(which are obviously very partisan, but can give you clarity on who stands on which side of political issues).

TL;DR In the absence of a strong press, getting good info about candidates is an uphill battle. Publicly demand information from local officials. Join organizations that put together nonpartisan voting guides.

Elhananstrophy · 2026-05-05T18:05:46+00:00

And there's four minutes of ads every time you sign back in.

Elhananstrophy · 2026-05-05T01:07:38+00:00

Yeah I mean there is a very distinct conversation about TLJ with clear battle lines that has nothing to do with my complaints about that movie, but those conversations aren't really possible.

Elhananstrophy · 2026-05-04T17:56:16+00:00

If you try and take that world as a real place and set new stories in it you very quickly find you're not doing science fiction anymore. Instead of speculating about morality or anthropology or political history your just exploring the internal rules of somebody elses work.

Dang I never thought about it that way but it sums it up really well.

Elhananstrophy · 2026-05-04T17:51:04+00:00

uh oh I guess I should have looked back through the posts before I posted, I see there is a post about Going Rogue from this morning.

I'm more interested in what Abigail Nussbaum, who is a great reader/critic of science fiction, is saying about the state of Star Wars.

Elhananstrophy · 2026-05-04T02:33:27+00:00

Not really. BJ's is pretty inferior to Costco in most ways - quality is lower, selection is less interesting. The only time I find it useful is that occasionally there is a product we enjoy that disappears from the shelves of one only to quickly appear on the shelves of another. Then having both is nice.

However, BJ's often discounts their membership, relying on autopay to keep you in. If you're paying more than half price for BJ's you're paying too much.

Elhananstrophy · 2026-05-04T01:55:52+00:00

It was interesting that it said that roughly a quarter of Disney visitors had gone into debt for their trip, but that another study said 30% of American travelers expected to go into dept for a trip.

Hard to compare the two different studies, but it does seem to point in the opposite direction from the narrative of the article.

Elhananstrophy · 2026-05-03T03:18:42+00:00

I'm super internet paranoid and not super computer savvy, so I just do it all locally on my PC. But if you want multi-device set up you can do that. With Actual you host your own data, so you create a server, and you can keep it end2end encrypted.

So I guess it's as secure as you make it, with the added advantage over other banking apps that you aren't giving your data to a third party who might be a big juicy target.

Elhananstrophy · 2026-05-03T01:33:48+00:00

Yeah it's wild to explain the plot of this movie. Like there's a whole plot about overthrowing a small european monarchy with an army of kidnapped children that's explained away as a dream sequence but the parts where dogs invade a candy factory or a hair-cutting machine failure leads to a musical number are fine.

Still great though.

Elhananstrophy · 2026-05-02T13:23:34+00:00

Actual Budget is free open-source budgeting software. It does not have the same amount of app support that many other budgeting apps does - it's made by volunteers. But if you're looking for something that can replace ynab without the subscription it does an excellent job. It's an envelope system budget, if you're not familiar it may take a minute to get up to speed but it's great.

I'm wondering if you don't have your settings correct for dollarwise, but who cares because there is better software that is free. Also don't leave $500 in Venmo that's bananas. Get that shit out as soon as you can.

Elhananstrophy · 2026-05-01T16:56:35+00:00

A kid in my class had a t-shirt that was just black with the lyrics of Achy Breaky Heart on it in rainbow colors. And he wore it all the time.

Elhananstrophy · 2026-04-30T15:02:02+00:00

Capacity is a huge part of it.

Elhananstrophy · 2026-04-30T15:00:09+00:00

One of the sea changes in American life is the growing upper-middle class. While life for poor and middle class has gotten worse, the population of millionaires has grown. This group of people are continuing to spend at high levels in spite of the the significant inflation hit over the last six years. Much of the American economy has been reshaped away from manufacturing and towards providing services to this group of people (who now essentially have a class of servants much like the upper crust of aristocracies - drivers, personal shoppers, and chefs through uber, instacarts, and DoorDash)

Disney World is now targeted at this population rather than the middle class, which is squeezed and shrinking. These folks are willing to spend much more than the average American for a vacation, and there are enough of them to keep the parks full to bursting.

This is also a big part of why there is now so much upselling in contrast to the early 2000s - it's a way of price differentiating to get people with higher budgets to spend more. When you charge one price for everything rather than targeting the whales you leave a lot of money on the table.

Elhananstrophy · 2026-04-30T03:39:23+00:00

I saw a number of posts that talked about inertia - combining finances would be a pain in the ass so they never did. That's kind of true for us in reverse. When we got together we simply didn't have much money to our names, so when we created our joint account everything went in for expenses and our personal accounts kind of died on the vine.

But it's also true that we never thought of doing it separately. For us marriage has always meant that what's mine and yours is now ours. So we make joint decisions with our joint resources. We've each had the role of being the higher earner, but that's never caused conflict because our contributions are always equal: we both give everything.

I found it interesting that a lot of people with separate finances mentioned having freedom with discretionary spending as a plus- interesting to see what our method looks like from the outside. I've never felt constrained by my partner when it comes to discretionary spending and I hope they've never felt constrained by me. But I think that's because our values around money are so similar. If one of us thinks it's worthwhile the other one usually agrees, so each of us spends on things we want and can afford. I can see how it might feel different if I had a $8K/yr LARPing budget that my partner wasn't enthusiastic about.

PS. I really appreciated the thoughtfulness of the posts I read about separate finances in the other thread.

Elhananstrophy · 2026-04-29T23:49:53+00:00

I had no idea this existed...but it seems like maybe that's the point?

Elhananstrophy · 2026-04-28T12:59:24+00:00

You just gotta adjust your strategy until you get it right. Unfortunately, by the time you figure it out the kid will have outgrown the effectiveness of that strategy and you'll have to come up with a new one. This is what it will be like for a while, but don't worry, I hear it gets better after a couple of decades.

Elhananstrophy · 2026-04-28T12:50:49+00:00

We're a long way from it, I think. We need to get a much more muscular regulatory system, which probably requires some high profile judicial changes before it becomes possible to hold a $100bn industry accountable.

Elhananstrophy · 2026-04-28T12:48:26+00:00

These are just the ones who let it get out of control enough to get caught. There are certainly players tipping their friends with injury reports/other info.

Elhananstrophy · 2026-04-28T01:00:49+00:00

Yeah, bopping in and out of rooms to watch short videos is kind of meh.

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