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R.I.P.

Rest In Peace

R.I.P., Jean-Luc.

View: https://youtu.be/wFyUUrrYsrQ?si=Sk-lBWgOJEnBiHlL

View: https://youtu.be/dc_y8df2xtA

reubenray said:

After having continuing trouble with my eight+ year old Dell Inspiron laptop I am looking to hopefully catch a good deal on new one. My options to buy is Costco and Sam's Club. It seems like a lot of new laptops are 2 in 1 which I do not need. I use the laptop to mainly surf the web and keep up with my finances, money and bills. I would like to have at least a 15" screen and having a touchscreen is a plus. The keyboard would need to lighted also. I don't game any. It would have to be Windows instead of and not Mac. The brands I see the most are Asus, Dell and HP. My two last laptops has been Dell's. Of these brands are there any standouts over the other brands. My budget (hopefully) is $600+-. Also while researching I noticed that do not have ethernet ports.

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Instead of ethernet ports, there are ethernet to USB adapters. Usually around $20-$30 depending on speed needed. 1gb are very inexpensive. 2.5gb are a bit more.

jsmit86 said:

Instead of ethernet ports, there are ethernet to USB adapters. Usually around $20-$30 depending on speed needed. 1gb are very inexpensive. 2.5gb are a bit more.

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Now that you mentioned that I may have one of these already.

Why not do a CTO directly through the manufacture? Get exactly what you want. Plus It's quite common to find 10%% (or higher) discount codes for Dell and HP.

Backlit keyboards are pretty much standard, and in the constant effort to try to make devices and thin and dainty as possible ethernet ports are becoming rarer, if not a normal ethernet port, you may be able to find a laptop with drop-jaw style one.

Dell and HP are usually heavily discounted during Black Friday sales. I picked up a Dell from Best Buy for 50 percent off. I ordered it online and picked it up locally at the store. Black Friday deals are just a couple of weeks away.

This meets your 15" touchscreen requirement and budget when marked down.

Can't really help with an exact set of suggestions. I can say that if you have a set budget. And $600 these days wont get you much. One thing I can say is check out Dell Refurbished.
I've suggested and even configured, ordered a few for friends who were a bit iffy in deciding what they needed and wanted.
Refurbished doesn't mean that they came back defective and were repaired. Companies and organizations who order quantities of the same computers often cancel or modify their requirements.
Dell builds usually on demand. Their direct refurbished line will be brand new, unused. Perhaps not exactly the "today" specifications of the latest-greatest. And you can get a nice pc for quite a bit less with full warranty.
Just a suggestion.
"I use the laptop to mainly surf the web and keep up with my finances, money and bills. I would like to have at least a 15" screen and having a touchscreen is a plus".

As far as Asus, HP goes. And others you may consider. I'd think $600 (new) would get you a laptop. A quality, long lasting one? Not so sure. Now. If you could get a $1000 lappy for $600. Good deal, don't you think?
Surf the web doesn't need a killer Nvidia graphics chip. Nor a pinnacle, top of the line Intel, AMD processor.
12-16 gigs of memory will get you by just fine.
I'm personally an Asus fan. Brands aside. The one thing is the batteries. We discussed that here someplace else.
I repair these critters. Batteries. Cheap laptops have cheap batteries. Asus suggests that you don't keep the charger plugged in all of the time to make them last. Like you see on phones where 85% vs full charge is suggested to preserve battery life.

THE NIGHT Chicago Died-Paper Lace

(I Just) Died In Your Arms - Cutting Crew

Ooh! My Arms - The Beatles

Ooh! My Soul - Little Richard

Lonesome Loser - Little River Band

Where would you spend 6.3 billion in crypto without anyone noticing?..In today's digital world most countries are watching purchases over 10k

Juan said:

Where would you spend 6.3 billion in crypto without anyone noticing?

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They say it was North Korea so they'll probably just use it to buy things they need....oil, food, etc from nations and entities who don't care where the money comes from and since it is BTC...it can be spent anywhere with no blowback.

How does it have such billions simply "on hand" to replace stolen billions?

telstar_1 said:

How does it have such billions simply "on hand" to replace stolen billions?

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You "print" it, of course. That's part of the magic of cryptocurrency.

dishstaller said:

They say it was North Korea so they'll probably just use it to buy things they need....oil, food, etc from nations and entities who don't care where the money comes from and since it is BTC...it can be spent anywhere with no blowback.

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North Korea can't pay for oil with BTC. The money has to be laundered and cashed out first. Analytics firms can trace it on the public blockchain, and exchanges (including Binance) have frozen money traced back to prior hacks when it showed up. Much of it may still gets through eventually. It's just slow and lossy, not "spend anywhere."

Juan said:

Someone using AI would be able to see the purchase...plus if you were to buy a couple billion barrels of oil or any other commodity..someone would notice..or if you bought your own country

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It can be traced, the rest of this is pretty much your usual nonsense though.

telstar_1 said:

How does it have such billions simply "on hand" to replace stolen billions?

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Binance has had an insurance fund since 2018, funded by 10% of trading fees. It's around $1.2B, and Binance says it'll cover the rest from company money. As the world's largest exchange, it makes a lot in fees. On top of that, the ~$3B in frozen stablecoins can be reissued by Tether/Circle, so the actual hole is smaller than the headline.

harshness said:

You "print" it, of course. That's part of the magic of cryptocurrency.

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Nobody can print bitcoin, Binance included. Supply is fixed by the protocol. The only thing in this story that can be frozen and reissued is stablecoins, because they have a company behind them.

dishstaller said:

They say it was North Korea so they'll probably just use it to buy things they need....oil, food, etc from nations and entities who don't care where the money comes from and since it is BTC...it can be spent anywhere with no blowback.

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HA! That short/fat Dictator will buy more arms. He does not care about the people.

meStevo said:

North Korea can't pay for oil with BTC. The money has to be laundered and cashed out first. Analytics firms can trace it on the public blockchain, and exchanges (including Binance) have frozen money traced back to prior hacks when it showed up. Much of it may still gets through eventually. It's just slow and lossy, not "spend anywhere."

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Yeah, I read the same thing in multiple articles. However, when some type of hack takes place and a company's computer system is hit with ransomware, the culprits always demand BTC and those stories always say they want BTC because it is untraceable so the hackers are therefore never caught. It is contradictory crap like this that causes people not to believe any "official" statements when something like this takes place.

mheisen said:

Over the past few weeks, I have had problems connecting to streaming services (Netflix, HBO et al). When I go to the TV's native Channels, I have no problem. The Dish internet troubleshooter shows I have a good internet connection. I'm wondering whether it's an issue with my internet provider or a problem with the Dish software on the Hopper Plus. Anyone else seeing this?

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I have a DISH Hopper 3 (Software H713) with Hopper Plus (Software P15403). I have not tried streaming services but I primarily watch TVB Jadeworld international package which is only available by streaming and when I have an issue, I usually have to go to a non-streaming satellite channel first before the streaming channels will work again. What software versions do you have and what is the error message if any are showing on your screen? or is that Dish downloading logo just stuck and never finishes?

Almighty1 said:

I have a DISH Hopper 3 (Software H713) with Hopper Plus (Software P15403). I have not tried streaming services but I primarily watch TVB Jadeworld international package which is only available by streaming and when I have an issue, I usually have to go to a non-streaming satellite channel first before the streaming channels will work again. What software versions do you have and what is the error message if any are showing on your screen? or is that Dish downloading logo just stuck and never finishes?

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I'm on H713 on the Hopper and P15403 on the Hopper Plus. It shows internet connection issues and doesn't finish loading the various services. I see the "loading circle going around. Sometimes I get a message saying that the service is having trouble loading my content and to check the internet connection.

mheisen said:

I'm on H713 on the Hopper and P15403 on the Hopper Plus. It shows internet connection issues and doesn't finish loading the various services. I see the "loading circle going around. Sometimes I get a message saying that the service is having trouble loading my content and to check the internet connection.

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Did it ever work correctly before? Hard to say what the problem is. Usually for streaming, it will show the Dish logo with lines sweeping down to show downloading, never seen the circle issue. Did you try a manual reboot, red button reset, power cord unplug/replug to see if it makes a difference.

Almighty1 said:

Did it ever work correctly before? Hard to say what the problem is. Usually for streaming, it will show the Dish logo with lines sweeping down to show downloading, never seen the circle issue. Did you try a manual reboot, red button reset, power cord unplug/replug to see if it makes a difference.

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Might be worth just to ditch the hopper plus. No issues here on h713

mheisen said:

Over the past few weeks, I have had problems connecting to streaming services (Netflix, HBO et al). When I go to the TV's native Channels, I have no problem. The Dish internet troubleshooter shows I have a good internet connection. I'm wondering whether it's an issue with my internet provider or a problem with the Dish software on the Hopper Plus. Anyone else seeing this?

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Buy a roku and dump the hopper plus you'll be better off. If you have a smart tv you don't need either one. No hopper plus here and no issues!!!

slow_poke_pete said:

Might be worth just to ditch the hopper plus. No issues here on h713

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I have a Hopper Plus and no issues either. charlesrshell has both a Hopper 3 with Hopper Plus and one without, he doesn't have the same issue. Before blaming it on the Hopper Plus, he should see if the problem still exists without the Hopper Plus connected as it could be the Internet connection itself or some setting in the router itself. There is someone in another thread who has EHD issues on the Hopper 3 only setup but does not have the EHD issues on the Hopper 3 with Hopper Plus and he has already tried swapping the EHD and it did not make a difference so like the saying, YMMV.

slow_poke_pete said:

Buy a roku and dump the hopper plus you'll be better off. If you have a smart tv you don't need either one. No hopper plus here and no issues!!!

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The Roku costs $$$, Hopper Plus is free. That may not be the only costs as it depends if the TV in question still has available HDMI ports and if not, it will require a HDMI switch and HDMI cable which adds more to the cost.

I have a LG 3D OLED Smart TV and I still need either of them because it does not have Android TV built in. Add a Hopper Plus and see if you actually have issues or not as until you actually tried it, it means nothing.

If the OP has a router and a managed switch, that could be the problem.
I have a Hopper 3 and 5 Joey 4s. I recently updated my Router, Switch and access points with Ubiquiti UniFi gear. I had an issue where the switch interpreted the communication between the hopper internet connection and one of the Joeys as a data loop. I had to change some settings in the switch to re-enable that port. Your router could possibly be doing the same thing blocking the connection.

If your router has a malware connection setting, try disabling it temporarily, and see if the internet comes back. Contact your ISP and see if there is a block happening at the router or switch level, or via the ISP's threat protection.

Correct me if I'm wrong but Dish borrowed lots of money to start a wireless company that was most likely doomed from the beginning. They bought spectrum at any cost to acquire enough bandwidth to achieve their goal. They signed leases and bought equipment and borrowed more money. They held onto the spectrum as long as possible. They then sold most of it to different companies and made a lot of money. Then they started to screw the companies that were installing and leasing the equipment and cell towers. Now they are going to claim bankruptcy under the Dish Network part of Echo Star while they have billions of dollars. So Dish basically took everyone's money that was involved in the financial part of this transaction made a huge profit is screwing everyone over from the banks to the little guy working on the towers and infrastructure.

News about the tower's dispute-

Bruce said:

News about the tower's dispute-

Towercos now own Dish's 5G radios – and SpaceX might be a buyer

Tower companies now own Dish's deserted 5G gear, says American Tower CEO Steven Vondran. This could feed into SpaceX's mobile ambitions, analysts say.

www.lightreading.com

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So does this mean the churches and businesses that Dish owes back payments to are going to get paid now?

"
They note that the Dish Wireless radios at issue support the 2GHz and 800MHz spectrum SpaceX is acquiring from EchoStar and Grain.

"Buying compatible equipment already installed on towers could give SpaceX a head start on its wireless terrestrial network build and throw a big bucket of cold water on Verizon's four-to-six-year timeline and $300-$500 billion estimate for SpaceX's buildout," said the analysts."

ewindowman said:

Correct me if I'm wrong but Dish borrowed lots of money to start a wireless company that was most likely doomed from the beginning. They bought spectrum at any cost to acquire enough bandwidth to achieve their goal. They signed leases and bought equipment and borrowed more money. They held onto the spectrum as long as possible. They then sold most of it to different companies and made a lot of money. Then they started to screw the companies that were installing and leasing the equipment and cell towers. Now they are going to claim bankruptcy under the Dish Network part of Echo Star while they have billions of dollars. So Dish basically took everyone's money that was involved in the financial part of this transaction made a huge profit is screwing everyone over from the banks to the little guy working on the towers and infrastructure.

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i heard charlie went to dubai begging for money. but he didn't get none... that should have raised red flags.

nelson61 said:

"
They note that the Dish Wireless radios at issue support the 2GHz and 800MHz spectrum SpaceX is acquiring from EchoStar and Grain.

"Buying compatible equipment already installed on towers could give SpaceX a head start on its wireless terrestrial network build and throw a big bucket of cold water on Verizon's four-to-six-year timeline and $300-$500 billion estimate for SpaceX's buildout," said the analysts."

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Back when Dish was installing antennas everywhere for their internet service I mapped several of the tower locations around me. One is less than a mile away from me and several more about three miles away in several different directions. If SpaceX does something with these I may be in a prime spot.

A.I. - Be careful what you wish for…

6:43p Central was dumped off the site, then when I got back on could not reply to post. Down for several minutes.

telstar_1 said:

6:43p Central was dumped off the site, then when I got back on could not reply to post. Down for several minutes.

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Yeah... that was me...

I did another security update and it required me to reboot the server.

I also did a patch for something else and accidently put two ;'s in the config file so when the server rebooted it wouldn't restart a service because of the extra ; in the config file.

And of course as I did it my step dad called me slowing me down in figuring it out.

That was a Scott mistake. Sorry about that.

OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!

Aww- nevermind.

been blazing fast here

You mean other than Miami being in the final last year... and Indiana being the only bye team to win a game?

Yespage said:

You mean other than Miami being in the final last year... and Indiana being the only bye team to win a game?

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No, I was actually referring to outside of the Top 8, but should have been Top 12 ...

I guess I should have looked at the bracket from last year first ...

I'm more thinking about them trying to expect a 15 to beat a 5 seed or there abouts .

Jimbo said:

I'm more thinking about them trying to expect a 15 to beat a 5 seed or there abouts .

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I mean you get upsets all the time.

Just a couple of weeks ago. Unranked Florida knocked off number 7 texas. Unranked Auburn beat number 1 Georgia.

This week unranked Cincinnati beat number 8 texas Tech. Unranked UCF beat number 2 BYU.

No reason to think similar upsets wont happen in the playoffs where a low seed can upset a higher one.

Ronnie- said:

I mean you get upsets all the time.

Just a couple of weeks ago. Unranked Florida knocked off number 7 texas. Unranked Auburn beat number 1 Georgia.

This week unranked Cincinnati beat number 8 texas Tech. Unranked UCF beat number 2 BYU.

No reason to think similar upsets wont happen in the playoffs where a low seed can upset a higher one.

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Correct, you Do get upsets from time to time ....however .
You Don't get teams UPSETTING teams for 5 weeks in a row.

They are trying to make this Basketball and its a far cry from the way that is played.

How long till they go to 32 teams ? Then they will say, well, the NFL is 32 teams, we can make more money that way .... except the NFL is 32 teams, that are a set number of teams and divisions, you don't have that in College ... oh but they will try.

They would have to choose what teams they would want in and thats it.
Hopefully that NEVER happens.

I can see the NCAA going away and the CFP taking that portion over and a Collective Bargaining agreement coming in the not to distant future.

Jimbo said:

Correct, you Do get upsets from time to time

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Yes. As shown in a few posts now.

Jimbo said:

You Don't get teams UPSETTING teams for 5 weeks in a row.

.

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But that wasn't what your stated argument was though.


I mean if you drag it out, no team even a favorite is gonna win every game 20 weeks in a row.


With the parity in college football now, who knows who can beat anyone at any given time?

This season and last have shown it might not be the ones we think that might win it all that will win it all.

Ronnie- said:

Yes. As shown in a few posts now.



But that wasn't what your stated argument was though.


I mean if you drag it out, no team even a favorite is gonna win every game 20 weeks in a row.


With the parity in college football now, who knows who can beat anyone at any given time?

This season and last have shown it might not be the ones we think that might win it all that will win it all.

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No, no ... if you want to make the playoffs, you want to Win it ... If you want to Win it, you need to Win 4-5 games in a row against Top 10 teams for the most part, theres a Possibility you'd play someone out side of the Top 10, but not much.

The Playoffs is a 4-5 game Win or Go Home.

View: https://youtu.be/uRgnlk9Sj8M?is=z_Y_NZD5B4bCEwod

..I hate playing in Ames.

osu1991 said:

..I hate playing in Ames.

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I hate playing in LA ...
Buckeyes had 2 weeks off and came out and looked absolutely terrible ... broke in a new Freshman Qb, but that wasn't the worst part ... undiscipline play, at last count they had 10 penalties.
Freshman in the end of the game trying to play catch up, had a lot of Over throws ... Bucks lose ...

#1 Miami struggled but pulled away in the end beating North Carolina by 3 ...

Tuesday the CFP brings out thier Playoff Top 12 again ... Buckeyes should drop from #2 to about #22 (they won't) had they had thier Starting QB, it would have been a different game ...

They could lose the rest of thier games at this point.

that cut is only for illegals to get off the rolls and I was being sarcastic before -

vazhog said:

that cut is only for illegals to get off the rolls and I was being sarcastic before -

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That's not who it is for. The cut is for those who won't work (though you typically had to prove that you couldn't work to get it in the first place).

Why isn't this Political thread over in the Pit? This is why there is a Pit, and why I rarely use the Chit Chat Club. But someone said, "The Pub is Elitist since you have to pay dues to enter, so please post in the Chit Chat forum so more guests can read and participate."

Foxbat said:

Why isn't this Political thread over in the Pit? This is why there is a Pit, and why I rarely use the Chit Chat Club. But someone said, "The Pub is Elitist since you have to pay dues to enter, so please post in the Chit Chat forum so more guests can read and participate."

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I didn't start it as a political statement and have no interest in the political BS of this country. Everyone wants to make everything political nowadays. This was just my rant over the outrageous increase in my premiums and how unaffordable healthcare is becoming to the average person here.

admin can close or delete it if they don't want here.

Foxbat said:

Why isn't this Political thread over in the Pit? This is why there is a Pit, and why I rarely use the Chit Chat Club. But someone said, "The Pub is Elitist since you have to pay dues to enter, so please post in the Chit Chat forum so more guests can read and participate."

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There are no dues to be paid to be in the Pit. You just have to use the password which is clearly shown when you try to log in to it.

osu1991 said:

Everyone wants to make everything political nowadays.

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Yes.....they do. Which is why I am very careful when at a customer's house these days....you NEVER know what is going to set someone off. Polite dialog is a thing of the past.....which is why I like my dog so much

harshness said:

That's not who it is for. The cut is for those who won't work (though you typically had to prove that you couldn't work to get it in the first place).

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Which makes zero sense. If they are healthy and able to work but won't, they aren't using any health resources up.

Until a runaway pickle truck hits them.

navychop said:

Until a runaway pickle truck hits them.

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I'm sure Vlasic has good insurance!