It's, I don't want to say archaic, an old way to say pulled/gathered in some contexts. From a dictionary example for "select from a large quantity; obtain from a variety of sources" - "anecdotes culled from Greek and Roman history". Or, in a modern context "an IP address culled from a database of IP addresses and user login information".

It's definitely an appropriate term and usage, but not exactly common and I suppose indicative of an older writer or someone who went through a thesaurus to make themselves sound more authoritative/knowledgeable?

If Google is so vital to their operations that people won't receive the news WITHOUT Google, then it sounds to me like the news organizations should be paying Google, not the other way around.

They did fix it. The 2022 Postal Service Reform Act removes the 75 year prefunding requirement, and was signed by Biden on April 6th, 2022. Notice how the GOP refused to allow any reform of this measure until after the USPS agreed to drop plans for hybrid/electric vehicles and instead purchased a low mpg fossil fuel fleet. Back in 2006 when the GOP lead congress passed that pensions funding requirement, it was in direct response to a USPS plan to purchase a hybrid/electric vehicle fleet. That 2006 bill basically bankrupted the USPS, who had been flush with cash, and started a 20 year war against the USPS by the GOP to portray them as fiscally irresponsible.

And that 2006 bill was created precisely to bankrupt and stop the USPS from turning to an all new hybrid gas/electric fleet, and eventually going full electric. This new plan to go all gas with the fleet is the culmination of that plan - notice how as soon as the GOP assigned DeJoy finally forced through the decision for an all fossil fuel fleet, Congress rewards the USPS with the repeal of the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act provisions that required prefunding 75 years of pension pay for employees.

Except that since it's all digital distribution, the actual costs involved should see fees much closer to CC processing fees, not the traditional physical distribution fees. App stores in general, not just Apple, charge obscenely high rates for what they actually do. Consider Apple is estimated to have earned 70+ billion in gross revenue from the app store in 2020. Their 30% cut would be around 30 billion, out of which they presumably pay for storage costs, bandwidth, and support. Then consider F-Droid, run by volunteers, has about a $30,000 yearly budget, according to their donations page. Sure, Apple has to spend more to maintain a larger infrastructure, but I can guarantee it doesn't actually cost them a million times more than F-Droid to do so - most of that is pure profit.

https://www.att.com/wireless/b... - current and offering $250 in billing credits for bringing your own phone. It's NOT gone, whatever rep you spoke with lied to you to try to get a phone sale.

You were unaware of that AT&T policy, because it doesn't exist. AT&T has a BYOD program for devices purchased outside of AT&T. As long as the device is compatible/certified (VoLTE compliant, frequencies, etc), it's allowed. AT&T has a list on their website, including Apple, Samsung, LG, Motorola, Google, Sony, Alcatel, Essential, ASUS, Huawie, HTC, Kyocera, BLU, Nokia, TCL, OnePlus, RED, ZTE, Lenovo, and Microsoft. Pretty much everything ever sold in the US in the last 5 years, and a lot of international models too.

Even better, after more than 30 years of various scams cramming people into premium billing services, how is it that NONE of the carriers offer an option to their customer to block premium billing services?

Does the author realize this is basically no different to retail stores? Big Box retail stores charge a fee for the best shelf placements - effectively forcing manufacturers to buy advertising space inside the store. At least Amazon states the item is a paid promotion - there's no such notification on the shelf at a retail store.

I foresee a growth opportunity for mailbox rentals in localities with high cost of living.

Except it's a fucking scam every single time. They could supply vastly larger quantities of water for a fraction of the price by using trucks to transport it. They won't do that though, because they don't actually want to help - they want to scam gullible rich people out of their money.

It's not just that it's centered, it also moves to the left for each application you open to keep all the icons centered. That turns the start menu into a moving target, no longer in a single predictable spot. Stupidest thing I've ever seen.

The energy requirements are a sobering thought. Everyone is praising EV's as the future, without considering where that power will come from. So, yes, it's great to have pollution free cars, but that just moves the issue to the source of the power. If we had sustainable clean energy, great, but we don't. We still generate too much power by way of coal, and not nearly enough from renewables. And with coal use being wound down, we aren't yet replacing it with enough other sources to handle the load that transitioning millions of autos would create.

Even without EV's adding load, much of the pacific northwest is looking at potential brownouts like in California due to increasing demand, and the inability to add additional capacity without the green crowd going ballistic and all the NIMBY's that don't want to see additional dam's, or the "eyesore" of windfarms, or *gasp* nuclear plants. Unless we can agree on where/how/when to generate additional power, we're going to start to have real problems keeping things running in the next 15 to 20 years.

So, 400 m reduction over a 40 km span? Can they prove the cause, and that it's not just normal fluctuation? 'Cause you can correlate all sorts of things, but correlation is not causation.