analog_kidd
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Posts posted by analog_kidd
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On 12/19/2019 at 7:05 PM, MP5_Rizzo said:
I have 3 kids, the youngest is 19 years old. You have any other ideas?
Buy the gun you want, and drop it off at a friends house. A few days later they come by with the gun and say "Thanks for loaning me the gun, sorry I kept it so long." The wife will just think it's a gun you already had.
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15 hours ago, jgradyc said:
We have xfinity for internet and cable. It's ridiculously expense, but my wife is absolutely addicted to Fox News. She is also technologically challenged.
Are there any cord cutting options that provide Fox News? The last time I looked, I couldn't find any.
According to this comparison matrix, that lists what networks are on what service, Fox News is available on Hulu Live, AT&T, YouTube TV, and Fubo.
We use YouTube TV, and I can't tell the difference between it and Comcast for Fox News. There are a couple of extra remote control clicks you have to do to get to it, but once you do it a few days, it becomes second nature. I'm certainly willing to do an extra click or two to save $80.
We tried using the Fox News App to watch the news. If you have an active Comcast account, you can watch it using the app on a Fire Stick. However, every day, you had to jump thru hoops to log into the account. Had to launch the app, go to login, get a code, open a browser on your phone or PC, go to FoxNews Activate link, enter the code, and wait a moment. You had to do that every time, and it became frustrating. With YTTV you just launch the app, click on the channel and watch. Just like cable. Plus, if you cancel your TV service with Comcast, I'm not sure you qualify for watching it with the app. I've never tried it, so I don't know, but my gut tells me you can use the app only if you have the ability to watch the network on cable.
My suggestion is try the 1 week free trial with any of the services I mentioned above and see if it meets your wife's needs. You might be surprised how easy and comparable it is.
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For those of you on the fence, wondering if you should cut the cord, or how to go about it, I would say take each of the services for a test drive and see if it works for you. All of them give you a free week just to kick the tires. All you need is some sort of streaming device, either a Roku or an Amazon FireStick, or a smart TV with one of the apps already built in. The Roku's and FireSticks are on sale now and can be picked up for around $25.
Once you have a streaming device, try out each of Hulu, YouTubeTV, Sling, ATT, Fubo. See if you like the interface and if you could see yourself using it instead of the cable box. It took us a minute to get used to it, but its second nature now. Don't cancel your cable at this point, just check out the other services. But try to just use the service for the week you are getting the free preview.
Make a list of all the shows you like to watch, and what channel they are on. Then look at each service and see what channels they carry. Cord Cutter News Website has a page that lists all the services and the channels they carry, side by side, so it makes it easy to compare.
Once you have decided which service you like best, go ahead and sign up. None of them have long term commitments like cable does, so if you find you don't like one after a while, it's really easy to switch. Or if you want to binge watch a show that is only on one service, switch to it for a month, then switch back.
The last thing to do, which is the most satisfying, is to call the cable company and drop your service down to just internet. These days, they don't even really try to keep you on. Everyone is doing it and they have resigned themselves to losing customers. I think they half-assed offered us something, but it was just barely better than what we already had. We said no thanks, and they said OK, no problem.
If you want to go hard core and not have any monthly service, but still like the convenience of a cable box with DVR, look at something like Amazon's Fire Recast. It's a little box with a hard drive in it and WiFi. You put it in a place that gets good antenna signal, and then connect it to your home network, and an antenna. Using a FireStick on any TV, it will send the signal across the home network to the FireStick. So you can watch anything your antenna can pick up on any TV, without additional antennas on each TV. PLUS you get DVR. The hard drive in the Recast box will record programs, then you can watch those on any TV with the FireStick. You can even fast forward thru saved shows.
We did antenna only for a while on the upstairs TV. I was too cheap to get another cable box. I tried the Comcast app on the FireStick to use instead of the box, but the app is not ready for prime time, and I had to do all kinds of hacks on the remote to make it work. In the end, it was more work than enjoyment. The antenna was nice for just watching local news and such, But I really wanted cable-only channels and DVR, so a streaming service is what we decided on.
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I finally had enough of Comcast charging me $200 for Internets and crappy TV, so we took the plunge and cut the cord. Knocking off the TV part of my service, and just using Internet brought my bill down to $70. We settled on YouTube TV for $50 a month, so that is a total of $120 for both, and a savings of $80 a month.
With the YouTube TV, I get all the channels I ever watch, and I can't really tell much of a difference in quality. We can DVR the shows we like and fast forward thru the commercials.
We are already bought into the Amazon Alexa ecosystem, and already had a FireCube on our main TV. I bought a couple Firesticks for the bedroom and upstairs, when they were on sale for like $25. These work really well for us. They perform well and the video streams to them very well. I did recently install an AC WiFi access point, so I'm sure that helps.
We settled on YouTube TV due to it being one of the few that carry AMC and the Walking Dead. Sounds silly, but it's one of the few shows my wife and I both like, so don't judge. Otherwise, I would probably consider Hulu's Limited commercial plan. I think it is like $10 a month, and you just have to wait a day to watch a show, which we do anyway to be able to skip commercials.
So, anybody else make the cut, or considering to?
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In the Samsung Smart Things product line, they sell a water detection sensor and a water main shutoff motor. You can link them together thru the app to shut off the water if any water is detected.
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I have been using the free AntiVirus that comes with Windows for years. Not sure if it is still supported on your Win7 O/S though. (Why didn't you do the free upgrade to Win10?) The free MS Antivirus works well, and I've never gotten a virus while using it. Of course, I'm not one to go willy-nilly clicking any link that pops up in my browser. I have a few trusted web sites that I visit, and I'm not likely to get a virus from them.
I also am a big fan of using host files to block unwanted sites. You need to have a (very) slightly better than average set of computer skills to set it up. You already have a host file on your PC, you just need to copy over it, or edit it in notepad and paste some text into it.
Here's how it works: When you browse to a website, your computer has to convert that friendly name into an IP address. It usually does that by looking up the IP on a DNS server. However, your PC will check the host file on your PC before it asks the DNS server. You can fool your PC by giving it the wrong IP address for a given web site. Usually that fake IP is 127.0.0.1, which goes nowhere. So if I add an entry to my host file for www.badwebsite.com to go to nowhere, if I accidentally click a link that tries to send me there, the browser just returns a blank page.
If you google "no ads host file" you'll get plenty of examples that you can copy onto your PC.
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What are these Dick's Sporting Goods stores you speak of?
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Last year I calculated what I thought we would be saving in taxes, and we used that savings to sign up for a new truck payment to replace my 18 year old truck. I would not have gotten a new truck had it not been for that tax savings. But just like the Pres said, people would spend the money, which I did, and that helped other people (dealership, manufacturer, suppliers, etc.).
I also used some of the money to increase my 401k contributions, which will help out in my future. I figured with the extra money, I would enjoy something now, and be responsible and plan ahead for a better future. All that, and a net gain / loss of $0 in my paycheck, so I never even noticed it.
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On 2/9/2019 at 11:24 PM, Garufa said:
I’ve been on a quest for some “new” music lately since what they put out now is crap. Here’s an hour and a half of 20 songs from some great 70’s Rock that didn’t make it to the radio. Some bands are familiar, many other not.
A couple of years ago I was in the same boat. I had played out all the good stuff, and there was nothing new that was worth a listen. Then I discovered a new to me genre of music that changed everything.
If you like old classic rock, like Led Zeppelin, and Bad Company, well, they are still making it but now they call it "Electric Blues". These artists never get any air play, and you gotta go looking for them. But if you spend the time, you will be rewarded.
Here are a couple of bands to get you started:
Joe Bonnabassa, Ana Popovic, Buddy Guy, Coco Montoya, Danny Bryant, Erja Lyytinen, Robert Cray, Shemekia Copeland, Deborah Coleman, Tab Benoit, Debbie Davies, Walter Trout, Tinsley Ellis
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My favorite is "Stuff you should know". The topics are usually interesting, and I like the format and banter between the hosts.
Ridiculous History is good. They tell you about some off the wall thing that happened long ago. Truth is stranger than fiction stuff.
BrainStuff is another one. It is usually really quick, explain like I'm 5, segments on how something works.
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One of my fondest childhood memories was the day we went to see this movie. We didn't have a lot of money, and so we never went to the movies. This movie was all the rage and everyone I knew was going to it. My family went shopping one evening, and in the shopping center was the theater, and I saw it was playing, and dreamed of a day when I might see it, perhaps for free on TV several years later.
Well, my sister and I followed our parents down the strip mall, window shopping like we often did. When we came to the theater, my dad asked "You all want to go see this movie?" It was better than Christmas. I'm sure they must have been planning it all along. What an awesome surprise!
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I was in college, and working on the loading dock of a KMart in West Palm FL. We had a perfect view of the direction of the launch site, and would often watch the launches. You couldn't make out the details, but you could see the fire from the rocket, and easily see the contrail left behind. So, I recognized that this was not a typical launch and something went terribly wrong. The entire store ran over to the Electronics department to watch the news reports on the wall of TV's.
That Y-shaped contrail is burned into my memory and I'll never forget it.
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Yaknow, They could have publicly just said, "The guns and ammo sales aren't working for us, so we're going to phase them out of the stores." But instead they had to try and make a point and say, "Guns are evil and we hate them." The former would have accomplished the same thing without alienating a large portion of their customer base. We all know their prices were too high, and nobody would have given a second thought that they weren't making money on them, and getting rid of them was a good business decision.
What was it, the Vegas shooting that started all this for them? America has largely forgotten about that by now, but we have not forgotten that Dicks doesn't want our business.
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I recently bought a RAM truck, and have been very happy with it so far.
I really wanted the Toyota Tundra, but they are seriously proud of that truck and wouldn't budge on price. Plus they just laughed when they unashamedly said "Yep, it gets 13 miles per gallon". My RAM gets 18-20 with the Hemi V8. For way less money, I got a much nicer truck than what I could have afforded with the Toyota. The options I got on this truck would have bumped the price up $12-15k at Toyota.
I was going to go Ford when I realized I couldn't afford Toyota, but the trucks I looked at just didn't get my juices flowing. The V6 they are pushing didn't seem to have the power of the RAM, and the interior seemed just blah.
Plus RAM threw in a lifetime powertrain warranty. I told them that the truck I was getting out of was nearly 20 years old, and I plan on keeping this one even longer. So, for me that is a good deal.
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I put something like this (LED Light Strips) under my cabinets. I also got some wire and the connector clips to connect them together. Where there were gaps between cabinets, I drilled small holes in the cabinet corners and ran the wire up and over to the next cabinet. At first I bought the wrong clips and just made do by modifying them, and that was a hassle. I went back and found the proper clips and it made it much easier.
They have an adhesive back, but I found that the adhesive gives and they pull away. I probably should have cleaned the cabinets with alcohol first. I ended up stapling the strips up afterwards, and that seems to have worked.
I did notice that the end farthest away from the transformer is slightly dimmer than the end closest. I read that this is an issue with these as they lose voltage along the strip. It's barely noticeable, and if I turn the dimmer up all the way, I can't even tell.
They do look nice tho. You just use scissors to cut the strips at the length you want, pull the backing off and stick them up.
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Hey, That's the little town I was born and grew up in. What are the odds?
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PInk Floyd
Rush
Yes
Led Zeppelin
Jethro Tull
Extra Credit:
Aerosmith
Van Halen
Black Sabbath
Bad Company
The Who
AC/DC
A lot of these bands have their roots in the blues. I realized several years ago that a lot of modern Electric Blues is really just Classic Rock, rebranded. If you like Classic Rock, and want to listen to something new, try the likes of Joe Bonnamassa, Buddy Guy, Ana Popovic, Walter Trout, etc
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I was showing a friend Basil's web site and some of his You Tube videos. All I can say is "WOW". We were nearly in tears laughing so hard. I think he is well intentioned, but WOW. I don't think there is a sentence on his web page that doesn't have a spelling error, or even makes sense for that matter. And you can't go to his old page, because that one was "stolen". He wears a badge around his neck in many of his videos, but he says don't be afraid of it because he's not a cop, so I assume its a fake badge of some sort or one of those HCP badges.
It will be interesting to see how many votes he actually gets. I wonder if there is a way to find out the last elections vote count?
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In the couple of utility style fixtures I've done so far, it was really easy to re-wire to bypass the ballast. I wouldn't hesitate to just go that route. It took longer to get the ladder and remove the fixture, than to do the wiring. Plus you get the added bonus of additional power savings by not having to power the ballast.
Once thing I do wonder about: Are there any stickers or some standard way of marking the fixture that it has been converted? What happens if you plug in an old style fluorescent bulb into a fixture that has been straight wired?
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Just picking numbers out of the air, $100k @ 8.25% is about $750 a month for 30 years. At 3.5% it's $450 a month, or $715 at 15 years. You will NOT pay that interest again. Given these made up numbers, at 8.5% you would pay an extra $170k just in interest on top of the $100k! 3.5% for 15 years you would pay only $28k in interest. Google "Mortgage calculator" and run your own numbers. I think you'll find you are unnecessarily throwing good money away.
I would make it my new mission to call every bank in the county till I found someone that will loan me the money. Screw BOA, if they are the only ones you asked. Go to a Credit Union, they are a little more relaxed about loans. Trust me, if you sold your place, the people buying it would get a loan from someone. You can too.
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13 minutes ago, dralarms said:
I hate boa. They charged me 15 bucks a month to make my house payment for 14 years, then my bank was bought by SIMMONS banks and all of a sudden the charge stopped. SIMMONS must be owned by boa is the only thing I can figure. If I could refinance I would. I’m still paying 8 1/4 % interest.
Not to derail the thread, but Holy Cow! You need to refinance immediately. What have you been waiting for? Interest rates have been lower than ever before and are now going to start getting higher, so this is your best opportunity. You can probably refinance to a 10 or 15 year loan and still have the same payment.
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I love how you asked him what kind of gun he owned. That was a genius response to him.
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I got my bulbs in yesterday. I converted the fixture just like in the picture @mike_f provided. I looked for a wiring diagram in my box, but did not find one. Regardless, there was a similar picture in the Amazon description, so I used that. It was very simple to re-wire the fixture. Did have to provide my own wire nuts, but I had plenty of those laying around.
Once wired up, and rehung, the lights work wonderfully. I only put one bulb in each fixture, where there used to be two bulbs, and I think the light output is brighter than before. I only did the two fixtures in the garage, but the garage is very well lit now.
The one thing I don't care for with these strip LED type lights, is they play tricks on my eyes. When I look up, or side to side, and my vision catches the light, I perceive the lights to jump around. I don't know if that makes sense, or if it happens to anyone else, but it is distracting. It does it to me on the under cabinet LED lighting I installed a few months ago too.
Anyway, thanks to everyone here who offered advice and tips. I admit, I didn't even know these things existed till this thread. Just one more way TGO has made my life better. Thanks
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It's easier than you think to wire that up. The hard part will be snaking the wire and making it look nice.
What are you listening to now?
in General Chat
Posted
Recently went on a camping trip and a buddy only had Tyler Childers on his phone, and played it on a loop. Kinda got in my head. This video is totally trippy, but the song is cool.