I honestly don’t understand where the M rating comes from. A few blood smears on the scenery? Is it the packs of cigarettes lying around?

And “Revolution” was Nintendo’s codename for the Wii at the time.

I would accept that as an explanation if it was the one they gave.

I mean, the only reason I hardly ever use 10x zoom is that it looks like a shitty impressionist painting. If optical zoom made it look better, I would use it often.

I’m biased, but brokers and independent local agents are definitely the way to go. Going direct through one company means that everyone you talk to has no choice but to put that company’s priorities ahead of yours, even when they’re wrong. As an independent agent, if a company stops treating people fairly, we can just stop writing with them and offer our customers quotes with other companies. I also think there’s a lot of value in having an actual person with a local office that knows your situation and can help if things go sideways. I’ve physically been to every house I’ve ever written a policy on. You don’t get that online.

Quite a bit of what I have on my Jellyfin server is ripped from DVDs and Blu-Rays that I already had.

Same. The “topical” episodes are rarely great, and they’re often among my least favorite. Who looks forward to Decision 3012, Proposition Infinity, or Attack of the Killer App coming up in their playlist? I generally skip those. There are some good ones, like A Clockwork Origin, but they seem to be the exception. Those episodes also tend not to age well (Attack of the Killer App being the worst offender here in my opinion), and, as you said, several of these themes have been old news for several years now. I’m definitely looking forward to the second half of the season more than the first.

Same. The “topical” episodes are rarely great, and they’re often among my least favorite. Who looks forward to Decision 3012, Proposition Infinity, or Attack of the Killer App coming up in their playlist? I generally skip those. There are some good ones, like A Clockwork Origin, but they seem to be the exception. Those episodes also tend not to age well (Attack of the Killer App being the worst offender here in my opinion), and, as you said, several of these themes have been old news for several years now. I’m definitely looking forward to the second half of the season more than the first.

I’m an insurance agent and I’m constantly frustrated by shit agents and shit companies giving all of us a bad name. Not that I always agree with the decisions from our claims people, but they generally try to be fair. I’m assuming this was long enough ago that it’s too late now, but for anybody else reading this who runs into a similar situation, you may have some recourse.

My first stop, if I have a local agent, would be their office. I would calmly and politely (agents don’t make coverage decisions so it isn’t their fault) explain the situation to them. They have a vested interest in keeping their customers happy and they may have access to claims supervisors who can make it right. They probably don’t want to lose you as a customer, especially over such a small claim.

If I’m still not happy, I would start pestering the adjuster to talk to their supervisor. Don’t be rude, but be persistent. Call every day. Leave messages and emails until you get the supervisor.

If they won’t give you a supervisor or the supervisor is no help, you can go above the claims department. It’ll be different for each company, but look for contact info for the “office of the president” or something like that. In my experience, those calls always get looked into by someone who has the power to really ruin your day as an agent or claims person. If you get a call from them, you had better either have a good explanation for why you did what you did or fix it in a hurry.

As a last resort, check with your state’s insurance department. You may be able to file a grievance.

I take claims practically every day and I can’t imagine this not being paid. I’m not sure why it would even be questioned, since it’s your first claim and it’s not huge. Could be that that particular adjuster is an idiot or on a power trip, but it’s also possible that the company is just shady.

If the neighbor is doing this intentionally, I’m pretty sure it violates some pretty serious wiretapping laws.

Adding to this for more context, in America, credit card fees on merchants are like 3-5% of the transaction. That’s why some places have started to pass them to consumers, especially in low-margin businesses like restaurants and movie theaters. If your margins are around 5% and Visa is taking 3.95%, that’s not super sustainable. Card network fees tend to be much lower in Europe. I’m not sure about elsewhere.