Before being publicly traded they were privately traded. Any start up that IPOs already has a board and shareholders. And often even shareholder elections, at least for the voting class shares.

Having a practical way to cash out is what being public means. And unfortunately that can also lead to management (board or non-board) playing fast and loose with goals and reporting in order to pump up a stock price. So that employee and executive alike can bleed off some of their holdings as a tidy little bonus. Even at the expense of business interests. (I'm not saying Anthrophic will do this, but I've seen it happen elsewhere in the tech industry)

nobody has any idea what AI is going to need 5 years from now, let alone 20 years. Don't tack garbage onto DNS that is bound to be irrelevant, I don't even want to see an IETF RFC in the listing on AI because these documents are meant to be for long-term use. Anyone designing for AI today is not forward thinking.

Makes me wonder if they would have turned around if it was named "Not a bomb"

Come on, don't do that. This narrative that somehow the new stuff is retroactively ruining your childhood, that it's specifically designed as an insult to your fandom... That's toxic.

Last Jedi is a good example of that. Some people complain that Luke isn't a Marty Stu anymore, he's not just waiting to be unleashed and go defeat the First Order with a laser sword. That would have been a terrible movie. How unsatisfying would it be that all the Rebels needed to do was find the guy who saved them last time, so he could do the same thing again. It would also prove again that the only people who matter are Skywalkers, everyone else is just waiting for them to resolve their issues.

The whole point was that everyone in the Rebellion matters, they all contribute, and The Force isn't just something that a few privileged people can use to shape events on a galactic scale. Rey is revealed to be nobody special at all, just someone who has the opportunity to do something meaningful. Then they blew all that up by writing a movie that was supposedly based on "fan feedback", and it was the worst one of the lot. Undid all the interesting ideas from TLJ.

Probably one of the worst examples of fans ruining a franchise. It's never really recovered. Andor was only good because it ignored all that stuff, didn't have any Force stuff in it, just ordinary people trying to make a difference, and not because it's the right thing, but because the Empire hurt them and the people they care about.

That list just proves the point. Finn isn't trying to beat her, he's trying to diffuse the situation. She can't fly the Millennium Falcon better than Han, in fact the first thing she does is crash it into the ground. At no point does she ever demonstrate particularly good piloting skills, unlike Luke who goes from shooting womp rats to taking down a heavily fortifies Death Star in about a week.

I can't be bothered to go through every point, and I'm not disputing some bad writing decisions, but she is in no way a Mary Sue. She is no way the equal of Kylo Ren either, who dominates in his fight with her in the first movie. She never beat Luke in a 1-on-1 fight either, that simply never happens in the movies.

Ha ha, you used "Trumpism" and "understanding" in the same sentence, absolutely hilarious!

Welcome to "Identity Fusion" - aka "Sports team" mode

To grasp what has happened, you just have to realize that some political supporters have gone into "Sports Teams" mode. They have turned politics into an Identity Fusion issue. Basically, they have stopped thinking about the representative government as a functional group of public servants. They are thinking about it as if it's their "team" and everything political has become "us versus them."

Some characteristics of a team fanatic:

Once you realize this is what's happening, the common attributes are there to see:
        -- Wearing identifying clothing (hats, badges, colors, logos, slogans) in everyday life.
        -- Loyalty regardless of performance or behavior of their "team."
        -- Instant disrespect for any member of the opposing team based solely on team affiliation.
        -- Hatred of any perceived disloyalty from fellow team fans.
        -- Having rallies and parades even when there is no pending game with the primary goal to celebrate and reinforce being loyal.
        -- At gatherings, fans chant slogans and/or sing.
        -- Team players (not fans, but players) are 100% supported unless they leave the team. Then they are ostracized and demonized even though they are basically the same person.
   

"In some cases, the lawsuit claims that customers were paying more for the exact same items through the Subscribe & Save program than they would be if they bought the items from other sellers on the site."

Amazon did something calculatedly underhanded? UNPOSSIBLE!!

Really man? You are going to vaunt "Return of the Jedi" above all later Star Wars movies?

I agree with you.

Is it too much to ask for a single adult-themed Star Wars sub-franchise with minimal puppets?

I really enjoyed the politicking around the birth of the rebellion.

It's the lizard people in the hollow earth messing with us...

Thrawn is just a bad idea. Yet another guy who is destined for something, born special. A generic Empire baddie with no interesting traits or character arc.

Contrast with, say, Gul Dukat from Star Trek Deep Space Nine. Both are Space Fascists, but unlike Dukat, Thrawn isn't likeable and only views his actions as necessary, not morally right. His interactions with the heroes are only as an opponent, a simple villain who they must defeat. His personality is paper thin.

DS9 is some of the best Trek ever made, because it put the writers in charge and didn't try to be popular or pander to what fans wanted. Voyager did, and it ended up being mediocre for the most part. But it had fan service. I'm half expecting Disney to cast Sydney Sweeney and bring back metal bikinis.

They are quieter, yes. Nuclear subs aren't all that stealthy because the reactor is constantly making noise. They are designed to stay submerged for long periods of time, not engage other subs at ranges where the noise gives them a disadvantage. The hope is that they can't be found in the vast ocean, or at least not consistently enough to negate the threat of nuclear retaliation.

Battery electric propulsion can't be beat for stealth.

It would be good if I could have it auto cancel above a certain price.

They do all sorts of misleading stuff to make you think you are getting a bargain.

"Lowest price in the last 30 days", and they limit API users to a year's worth of price data. Typically when I see a message like that, I assume it was cheaper 31 days ago.

"Limited time deals" are rarely limited time, and usually mean that it is available somewhere else for the same price anyway.

"Subscribe and save" just means "save compared to the price at time of re-ordering", not that it will lock in a lower price. You still have to check every month.