Windows XP is running smooth as silk without a single error. I haven't seen a Blue Screen of Death since I started this. As for this S. M. A. R. T. thing, I honestly have no clue what it's about—haven't even poked around there yet..
I’ve got a Ghost image of my old setup with Windows XP sitting right there on the C drive. Since this is my main workstation, I need to make sure I can roll back to XP and all my software in under five minutes using Ghost if things go south during the upgrade. Do you guys think I should just wipe the C partition clean before I attempt the Windows 7 install? And just to be safe, assuming chkdsk comes up totally clean with no errors or bad sectors?
Look, I’m absolutely not formatting this drive because there is no way in hell I’m losing what’s sitting on it. This is my work machine, for crying out loud. I’ve already run chkdsk on all the drives and partitions, and everything comes back clean—zero errors found.
I’ve tried absolutely everything under the sun to get Windows 7 installed (I’m stuck on Windows XP for now), but I’ve been at this for two straight days, grinding from sunrise to sunset. I’ve cycled through every possible workaround and fix I could find online, but nothing—and I mean nothing—has worked... The only thing I haven't messed with is the BIOS settings, mostly because I don't want to screw things up so badly that I have to go into hiding.. Honestly, Error 404 is going to be the death of me. 😠
I’ve tested both the 64-bit and 32-bit versions. I’ve swapped out the RAM sticks—tried them one by one, then tried a completely different set, then even a third set just to be sure. I’ve tried booting from the DVD and from a USB drive. It doesn't matter; there is zero chance of success... It starts the unpacking process, hits about the 20-30% mark, and then just slams me with an error. It is seriously driving me up the wall, it's beyond frustrating.. Does anyone have any actual advice?
Since the BIOS is the only thing I haven't touched yet, I’m betting my last dollar that the culprit is hiding in there. 🙄
Is it just a coincidence that the exact same thing happened twice in three days? Is it also just a coincidence that not a single moderator bothered to lift a finger even four hours after someone dropped an insulting post aimed directly at me? And is it purely accidental that both times my response was wiped out within sixty seconds and I got slapped with a trolling warning? Funny how the mods only seem to take action after I push back, despite having seen the insults thrown my way before I even opened my mouth. It’s quite the coincidence that I’m the one getting flagged for trolling just because I reacted to the fact that the moderators aren't doing their jobs. Isn't it weird how the guy hurling the insults gets the same amount of points as I do for supposedly "trolling"? And isn't it strange that the posts where I'm being insulted stay perfectly intact on the forum, while mine get deleted instantly? Am I just imagining things, or is all of this happening exclusively on the Gastronomia subforum? Why doesn't this kind of stuff happen over on the Politics board, where there are a hundred times more people arguing and a hundred times more tension? Then, to top it all off, a moderator actually has the nerve to tell me they didn't give me a harsher penalty because I'm a veteran user who has made a "significant contribution" 🤮 to the subforum. So, does that mean users who have made even "bigger contributions" basically have a free pass to act however they want?
There are just too many "coincidences" here for my liking.
We are looking at some seriously incompetent and biased moderation over on the Gastronomia subforum. I really hope someone actually steps in and deals with this.
Unbelievable. It hasn’t even been two minutes since that post above, yet the guy insulting me gets a warning only after I snap back, while my actual reply gets nuked from orbit.
Now we just sit here and wait for them to slap a strike on me.
The pattern here is about as consistent as a three-term Taft presidency.
It’s honestly hard to believe how ridiculous this is.
Look, we’re dealing with a relentless cycle of double standards, blatant hypocrisy, and straight-up incompetence from the mods over at the Gastronomia subforum.
I’m not pointing fingers at specific mods because I have no clue who handles what or which individual makes the call in any given instance, but...
After being insulted, the post where the insult actually happened stays up—totally untouched—until the exact moment I snap back and reply. That’s when the magic happens: my response gets nuked, the guy who started the whole mess gets a slap on the wrist for "insulting," and I get slapped with an equal penalty for "trolling." It’s like the aggressor and the victim are getting treated as two sides of the same coin.
Fast forward to today, three days later: I get insulted again. This time, the mod doesn't just ignore the post—even though they clearly saw it since they replied to it—they basically sit there waiting for me to bite. It feels like they’re just biding their time until they can hand me a card for trolling, while tossing a pro forma warning to the guy who was being a jerk to begin with.
It’s becoming a predictable pattern, where I’m essentially being punished for nothing. I don't even engage with these people; I don't interact with the person insulting me at all. I get hit, the moderation team does absolutely nothing while the insults fly, and then the second I react, I'm the one getting penalized.
I’d love for a moderator on Gastronomia who actually knows what they're doing to explain the logic here. What is the point of having a mod team if, instead of keeping things civil and preventing blowups, they actually encourage confrontation through sheer inaction—or maybe even intentional bias—and then punish both the aggressor and the target identically?
There is way too much hypocrisy and lack of skill for such a small niche community, so I’m asking for someone to actually step up and look into this. Right now, this subforum is turning into a private playground for a specific clique of users who seem to be working hand-in-hand with the mods.
Thanks.
P.S. To anyone trying to spin this as "we didn't know" or "we wanted to help but couldn't"—save your breath and just give up now. I’ve got the screenshots and the full timeline to prove otherwise.
But man, this was easily one of the most exhausting, high-budget slogs I’ve ever sat through. The violence is just... overkill. It feels like they cranked the gore up to eleven just for the sake of being shocking, and honestly, it gets pretty nauseating. As for the plot? Don't even get me started—it's a joke. And the casting? A total disaster from start to finish. Personally, I thought Gerard Butler was completely out of his element here, and you can tell Morgan Freeman is just punching a clock; you can practically see him counting down the minutes until he hits the wrap on set. But if this movie sticks in anyone's memory, it'll be because it features the absolute worst portrayal of an American President in cinematic history.
Brenda Martin6 said:Hey there! I was hanging out in Central Park today and spotted some elderberry blossoms. Some guy gave me a recipe to grab 30 blossoms and soak them in 4 liters of water since they're pretty big, then toss in 3 kg of sugar and 200 g of citric acid and let it sit for 24 hours. My issue is I went ahead and dumped the flowers, sugar, and acid all in at once. Am I gonna be okay, or did I totally wreck the juice? I'm seeing other recipes where you wait 24 hours for the flowers to sit in cold water before adding the sugar and acid. Thanks!
You definitely trashed the batch because you actually listened to that random guy at the park and threw in five times more citric acid than you should have. 🤷
analogharbor44 said:Heh! I’m calling it now: we’re going short on tomatoes and long on bell peppers! I mean, I track the market, but honestly, I think most retail traders are just puppets for the big players. It gets especially tricky with gold since half of it is tied up in jewelry—it can turn into bullion in a heartbeat if things shift.
I’m really not following your logic here 🤷
Why on earth would someone turn jewelry into bullion, and why should that even be an issue? A huge chunk of that gold you're talking about comes from places like India and China, where people buy jewelry as a way to store value, much like we buy bullion bars. To them, jewelry *is* bullion. Besides, they mostly deal in 21-karat gold over there, which is basically identical to something like a 22-karat Goldman Sachs bar.
Everyone knows the karat count and what that gold is worth in US Dollars. At the end of the day, you'll get the exact same amount of cash whether you're selling jewelry or pure bullion. The only catch is that when you bought the jewelry, you paid a premium for the craftsmanship, so you'll naturally walk away with less than you originally spent when you sell it back.