It's really easy to use. You assign it your smart plug and it's power consumption sensor (that's the only requirement). Then you can define thresholds when the automation should trigger and actions that should take place in these events. I send a notification to my phone when the program has finished so I know exactly when I need to go and collect my laundry.
You can have a look here: https://zigbee.blakadder.com/
This not the database mentioned here, but a community effort for several systems. HA database has to be better than this to be useful.
That depends. If it is an obvious scam (which I have only encountered once in a lot of years) I agree, but otherwise I always try to solve it first. There's a person on the other end.
On AliExpress it can be a little bit more complicated as every seller is different and communication can take some time. But I have to agree that most sellers try to find a good solution. On the other hand the support quality on Amazon has declined dramatically. A few years ago it was almost a "no question asked" service when you contacted Amazon but this has changed. They try to pull every trick - beginning with how hard it is to actually contact a real person.
I am sorry but I have trouble understanding what you were trying to say.
In the early nineties a single transformation shot of Odo cost at least 10.000$ depending on the complexity maybe even more. But even more it took weeks to complete. Even then it was just not possible to do this for every episode. In the 60s such an effect would have been nearly impossible to create because technology wasn't ready yet.
There were of course other effects and maybe the use of puppets would have been possible (think of Yoda in Star Wars or some decades later ALF on TV), but it would have limited the sets or required specialized construction. The living room set for ALF was raised up so the puppeteer playing ALF could go under the floor and play the puppet for closeups when the use of a costume was not possible.
Special effects like the ones you are thinking of were expensive - the absence or novelty of computer generated imagery made these time consuming and incredibly complicated.
The in-universe reason is explained in TNG's The Chase.
The reason from a production point of view is obviously money. It is easier and cheaper to have humans with some hair and makeup instead of a totally alien creature. Today the price tag is manageable, but in the 60s and even in the 80s it was not a thing you would do for a regular cast member.
But think about it: You could outsource procrastinating to it and just do other things instead - like herding puppies…