I, too, remember when folks did the same with Baseball cards and had also not heard / seen anything about it in a long time. So I asked an LLM what the current market size is:

Doesn't appear that it has gone away..

Oh great and wise one, let's hear your solution.

P.S. it's not all economics you retard. We'll break it down to a single product: Gold. Explain to the rest of us "barely evolved monkeys" how you'd deal with more demand than supply. You have to account for its industrial & commercial uses and no, you don't get to substitute it for another material. Assume that you're making something that needs Gold for its intrinsic properties (conductivity, resistance to corrosion, etc). If you don't like Gold, fine..Use Uranium or Plutonium for the exercise (maybe you're building a radio-isotopic generator or something)

Sure.. But this was the wrong stop. The buck should have stopped at the studio. The simple fact is that HBO didn't fuck up. They aired the right show & the right episode contained in the video file (I'm assuming it's that simple now) they were given by the studio or distributor. What HBO didn't do, and has absolutely no obligation to do, is check to make sure that it was a "final" version and not a working or rough copy. Are they really supposed to watch it, in real time, looking for production errors?

Beyond scanning it to make sure there's no hard-core porno embedded in it, it's not their job to make sure the studio didn't send out a rough copy..

No no no... We're not talking about not checking to make sure it's the right video and they're not about to air pornography or a snuff film. C'mon.

This was the right show... It was the right episode... But it was an uncut or unfinished version.

I hope you're not suggesting, for one moment, that HBO is supposed to watch the whole damn thing looking for shit like "a props guy was visible in a scene". That's what I'm saying. I don't expect HBO to do anything beyond "Is this the right show? Right episode? Okay, roll it... "

Is that what it was? They were given the wrong file and it's their fault?

They're supposed to watch every video before airing it? Okay....... yeah, that's reality..

But they didn't implement Socialism / Communism correctly. This time we'll do it differently. We'll do it the right way and everybody will be happy! :)

Are you really that stupid? That question has been asked & answered many times by people who are actually competent. Hate to break it to you, asshole, but it's for the exact opposite reason you're trying to imply.

Is there any political history you socialist fuckwits are familiar with?

Holy shit Batman! The person who just paid for the franchise is going to expect a return on his investment? What an asshole! And he's gonna take it from the gross income?!? Yeah.. Probably not and now we know you don't know what the fuck you're talking about. The gross income? That's where the new franchisee is going to take his cut, eh? He gonna do it as a percentage or a whole number?

Probably? A hypothetical person. A hypothetical franchise. But you know that he's taking the cut from "gross income" and he's doing it by eliminating hours, benefits, and salaries? Where you're at, is it typical for simple store employees to be on salary?

Do you actually know anything about how most businesses in the US operate? I'm gonna guess... "No".

Oh my! Please explain how all those franchises, which are an extremely popular type of business, are all ran by people teetering at the edge of bankruptcy and whom are being fucked over by the host company. Clearly you have insight into this that they did not. Those poor franchise owners... They're gonna fuck their employees while being fucked by the corporation.

In 2024, there were an estimated 821,000 to 831,000 franchise establishments in the United States. Franchises make up approximately 10.5% to 11.4% of all businesses in the industries covered by recent reports, or roughly 1 out of every 12 businesses nationwide.

Are you actually this retarded? Seriously. You say all this like you're the only person to posses this knowledge or that it's somehow secret.

Yeah, no shit, moron. When you operate a franchise, you have to keep it up to set standards. You're using someone else's name (think McDonalds or 7-Eleven) and that's what's bringing in the bodies, you incompetent cunt. You know what's also true? Most franchises are pretty fucking expensive and come with a contract you're expected to read and then sign. If you hand over a couple of hundred thousand dollars to someone and then don't bother to read the fucking contract.. well.... That's on you. But I'm pretty sure this isn't actually something that happens often, given the fact that franchising works... WHICH IS WHY IT IS SO POPULAR. Who the fuck do you think is buying franchises? People with a GED? People with absolutely no clue how the franchising system works?

Is the franchisee supposed to be able to operate a complete shit-hole of a business in your world-view?

Just fuck off already you perfect example of "Everything is a scam, everyone is out to fuck me, nobody who does anything knows what they're doing. I'm the most intelligent person and I know how shit should work and I'm gonna tell everyone how they're being exploited even though it's pretty clear to everyone around me that I don't know my ass from a hole in the ground.".

And would you please be ever so kind to relate to the fine folks here on Slashdot what that type of a government was called, oh about 80 years ago or so?

I'd like them to hear from you what type of a government the "liberal" State of California shares a lot of commonalities with...

It's total exasperation with you people. Y'all have absolutely no self-reflection or self examination.

This entire country lived through Trump v1.0. 4 years of him and his antics and yet, after an equal amount of time under Biden, the majority of the electorate looked at the fucktard you offered up to be the next President and they collectively said "No.. We'd rather have Trump again". This wasn't Ronald Reagan. You fuckers lost to Trump TWICE.

And yet, so far, everybody that's presenting as the next possible candidate for the Democratic Party is more of the same woke BS that Kamala dripped of.

Trump didn't win his second election because he was beloved by the majority of the country. He left office with something like a 34% approval rating (tied for 2nd worst with George W. Bush and Carter - Only Nixon left with a worse approval rating). The only reason Trump won because y'all have gone off the effing rails. For Pete's sake man... People look at Kamala and thought "Oh no, that's gonna be way worse..."

Do you dispute that? How do y'all deal with the fact that the Biden/Harris administration was so bad that people thought "I'd rather have 4 more years of the Orange Man than that crazy bitch"?

I guess to assuage your feelings, y'all have resorted to Conspiracy Theories about why he does stuff.. Yeah, that's how you get the electorate back.....

Do you clowns realize that in the last 100 years, you have only managed to produce three Presidents who were able to secure two terms (FDR, Clinton, and Obama)?

People forget... They elect one of you idiots and IMMEDIATELY go back to the other side, usually for 8 years before they try with you idiots again.. And then it's back to us for another 8 years....

Get a fucking clue already....

You're a fucktard who makes shit up in his own head and then acts like he knows the future.

Go home and suck off your woman.

My apologies. I didn't realize you were an Oracle who could peer into the minds of others.

You're a clown.

And? The US Federal Government already owns about 85% of the total land area of Nevada.. The majority of the population of that State is contained to a few cities like Vegas, Reno, and a small handful of others. There are vast tracts of desert that are uninhabited and were already used for testing.

How so? You think this country has a shortage of available land? The US Government owns 85% of the total land area of Nevada.. 45% of California, 40% of Arizona, and 65% of Utah. There's plenty of desert land in those states to dig a few holes and run some tests...

As opposed to what? Being allowed to make a decision that will mutilate a child for their ENTIRE FUCKING LIFE????

It's not reversible, you clown. Why the hell can't you wait until the kid is an adult and able to make his/her own decisions?