From what I understood, the syndication packages usually didn't include the hour-long episodes from season 4 (because stations didn't want a single show with 2 different lengths), so they were broadcast far less often than the other seasons.

I worked for internet startups before, during, and briefly after the 2000 boom and crash. These dudes are those dudes and the level of “let’s make money off of people we don’t like” is exactly the same.

And they waste huge amounts of time explaining our business and our art to us.

Yes. That logic is why W commuted Scooter Libby's sentence rather than pardoning him.

The Who's first album came out around the time I was born, but throughout my teens and 20s I had more of their albums than (almost) any other artist.

The exception is Tangerine Dream, who are sort of in a class by themselves.

That's good to hear.

As Atrios and others have pointed out, the issues wrapped up in "culture wars" aren't trivial--they can absolutely destroy people's lives.

The Reagan years felt like an ongoing existential crisis because of how clearly Ron was zoned out and how his handlers actively hated the US government. They also marked a turning point in the weaponization of "culture" issues with the rise of televised Christian Nationalism, so that was fun.

Does the warning have any force behind it, or is it just going to goad them to haste?

I am 99% sure I had the same first guess.