An irreverant/fantasy show with sypathetic well-intentioned protagonists, at minimum understandable volume, with characters and plotlines that invite analysis. Something about the pointlessness of studying a fantasy universe is a quite effective sleep aid. Various Star Trek series, Futurama, X-Files, Grimm, Family Guy…

For shows that are a great fit except for a few segments (boisterous theme songs, jarring fight scenes, etc) the PotPlayer Skip Playback function (hotkey ') is super useful. Also I have a basic script that gradually mutes the volume after 40 minutes.

if it fits in the slot, it would surely work

If you got something like the ASUS Hyper M.2 x16 Gen 4 Card:

https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-M-2-X16-Expansion-Card/dp/B084HMHGSP

https://www.asus.com/us/motherboards-components/motherboards/accessories/hyper-m-2-x16-gen-4-card/

Then there are specific motherboards listed that support the bifurcation requirements.

Of course, if your x16 slot is taken up with this thing, you can no longer use the slot for a graphics card.

Perhaps the cheapest way forward would be to use your x16 slot for graphics, and distribute your 4 M.2 cards using multiple adapters in the smaller slots (if you have room for that). One of the adapters might need to be PCIe x1. Well, cheaper than Threadripper!

Bias can be subtle and take work to suss out, especially if you’re not familiar with the source.

After getting a credibility read of mediabiasfactcheck itself (which I’ve done only superficially for myself), it seems to be a potentially useful shortcut. And easy to block if it gets annoying.

Did the cashier give off body language suggesting they closed the line due to not liking the guy behind you?

I don’t know under what circumstances a cashier might open a line only briefly, but I often realize I forgot something right when I start an activity.

But yeah, if they caught a glimpse of the guy behind you and then closed down in a pissy way, I’d probably start by offering to be a supporting voice during a complaint to the store management. If it’s any kind of pattern, the cashier will likely be out of a job.