Usenet as daily driver works 99% of the time. Only use VPN/torrents for extremely new or very obscure shows. $5/month pays for unlimited Usenet and VPN.

I’m assuming 1172 is a count of donations to official mainstream servers. I have definitely contributed to my local server.

Won’t employers just adopt the same workaround that they’re using in Colorado, by posting a huge pay range and hiring all employees near the bottom?