My phone is a $100 second-hand Nexus 6. My average Fi bill is $30.97. I don't stream much, seldom use it as a hot spot, and make few international calls when overseas. So, yes, that is considerably more expensive than other plans. But I don't have access to those plans.

I'm not a heavy (10GB+) data user, and do not automatically recommend Fi to those who are. I find Fi better because I pay for the data I use. If I don't use it, I don't pay for it. And that, to me, is BETTER. Also, my Fi devices work well everywhere I've been in Europe. My only additional charges while outside the US are $0.20/minute for old-fashioned phone calls. And, BTW, fuck Verizon and their abuse of the language. Fuck ALL who redefine words for profit and power.

I wish I had mod status today. Your comment addresses an extremely important issue. I would go further to say that no court or agency whatsoever should be allowed to even partially support itself via fines and/or seizures.

Because nougat.

Sorry Zume, but my 500 pound mom is already the Amazon of Food.

I use PlayOn, and lifetime-subscribed to their complete service long ago. My PlayOn is scheduled to record real-time as I sleep. While browsing their supported channels, which include bundled channels like Hulu as well as my paid subscriptions, vids can be marked for recording. Recorded videos from Netflix and other providers are mp4. They are flagged with 2 seconds of per-your-EULA-do-not-distribute-warning at the beginning and end, but are ordinary files and can be copied to any of my devices, although I mostly just serve them up from the PlayOn file location to a Roku PlayOn client. PlayOn includes a decent media server and has other features as well. It's been a good deal for me. I just keep one good PC running and don't have a DVR or cable subscription.

Meh. It ain't me. Every time I've been to Oklahoma the people are smaller than ants and the cop cars could be squished between my fingernails. I and my carry-on full of prepaid cards will be fine up here at 40,000 feet.

Out of a bazillion comments (I read them ALL, hehehe) this is the most insightful and useful. Glasses are dirt cheap to manufacture these days. Go to zennioptical.com.

I went out of my way to locate, prepare according to directions, and taste every available variety of Beyond Meat "chicken" because it supposedly fooled folks at The New York Times. But, including the sample I sauteed in butter (to add fat), I found the texture a whole lot more like baked tofu than like chicken. I suppose Beyond Meat is more chickenesque than all the other faux chicken out there (I've tried all available products), but those who attest that the difference isn't obvious are impaired.

There once was a word know as "fuck" -
It's banned; from our speech it's now struck.
But on the *up* side,
I won't have to ride.
My only command will be "suck".

Think of religion and repeat the following for irony:
"It's a risky long shot that burns up money and might never, ever
pay off. So is searching for intelligent creatures on unseen worlds
worth the candle? After all, aren't there better ways to use our monies
and technical talents than trying to find something that's only posited
to exist...?"