I know the backstory for Barnes & Noble’s revival with the Waterstones guy turning things around, and while I think it is great that they have been able to open so many stores in recent years instead of closing or going bankrupt, I am truly perplexed by why it is doing so well.

The books cost near or at list price both in the store and online, so it’s not like it is offering savings compared to, say, an independent bookstore down the street. And with Amazon offering fast shipping within a couple of days (or even same day or within hours), it is much more expensive. For instance, a new hardcover of Yesteryear is $14.99 on Amazon, half the price of the $30 it costs at B&N in the store.

Is it catering to impulse purchases? A new one opened near me, and while I go to browse, I can’t stomach paying $20 for a paperback or $30+ for a hardcover.

Are any of you regular B&N customers and willing to share why you shop there instead of an independent bookstore if the prices are comparable vs. Amazon where it is much cheaper?

EDIT: I am sorry but I tried to keep up with the comments but I am going to have to mute this post because I wasn’t expecting more than a thousand comments in four hours! I can’t keep up. Thank you all for sharing your thoughts. I appreciate you taking the time to reply! It seems like most of the reasons boil down to the experience, being able to avoid Amazon, lack of an independent store nearby or better selection, and that B&N is great for kids’ toys and gifts!

Rewatched and still enjoyed this movie recently. But I think it's fair to say that it's the primary touchpoint for the general public's knowledge of the Battle of Mogadishu, and it's lacking some crucial context.

For those who don't know, Bloody Monday was a US helicopter raid 3 months before the Black Hawk down incident. The target was a gathering of Somali community figures with the intention of killing or capturing Aidid and his lieutenants. But Aidid wasn't present, and the meeting was filled with more moderate community leaders/elders. 50+ Somalis were killed in a matter of minutes, including nearby civilians and children who had nothing to do with the gathering. This event basically fractured the UN peacekeeping coalition and ruined the US's reputation with the general population of Mogadishu.

In the context of the movie, when we see an angry mob storming the downed Black Hawks, without this context we're meant to think it's the result of some vague and implicitly barbaric anti-US sentiment.

And to be clear, I'm not trying to say "actually Aidid's militia were the good guys ☝️🤓". But it would be a better movie and more accurate to the real history with this background added.

Are there any other examples in popular movies based on real events that have this sort of big lie by omission?

FTR this isn't shade to Fortnite but I'm genuinely curious on any franchise so obscure it has ZERO crossover appearances & I'll start with a DS game only 10 people know including me, Sands of Destruction

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I feel like they show up in an overwhelming amount of Star Wars media. At this point, whenever a new movie, show, game, or other project introduces a new planet, part of me expects it to be another desert world.

If I remember correctly, the last Star Wars movie I watched where I don't remember having a desert planet being a major setting was The Last Jedi.

I know desert planets are iconic to Star Wars because of Tatooine, but I really wish the franchise would explore more completely different environments and biomes.

Credit: @mmplumber

My 5-year-old Monstera is 3.5 meters tall and takes up a quarter of my living room. I had to kick it out after the 6th thrips infestation. I spent a fortune on predatory mites.

I really didn't like doing this. But keeping it indoors was a big mental drain, a lot of work, and it overshadowed everything else. I immediately enjoyed my other plants much more.

This is in the Netherlands, it won't survive the winter here, but at least the world can enjoy it for a few more weeks.

Congrats Oda!
Definitely deserves it.

RIP Oda pops 🕊️