Posts by ruggedfox28

Dennis Fisher5 said:It honestly feels like the days of banking privacy are long gone, interest rates on savings accounts aren't worth the paper they're printed on, while loan rates have just skyrocketed, and it seems like Uncle Sam wants a cut of absolutely everything you touch, so I really struggle to see any logical reason to keep my money sitting in a bank account right now.

And that is not even touching upon the massive headaches currently facing major European financial institutions like Deutsche Bank or UniCredit.

Is this on the banks, or is it the government passing laws like this?

Quentin:

savings interest is non-existent

Interest rates are what they are, and honestly, they’re just gonna keep dropping (look at Scandinavia or Switzerland—they’re already dealing with zero or even negative rates)... but that’s all dictated by the Federal Reserve and the general money market across the EU

Quentin:

loan interest is insane

Loan rates are actually at their lowest levels since the old Soviet Union days...

Man, you're just talking nonsense just to hear yourself talk...😬

Quentin:

everything is being taxed

,

We're looping again... Is it the banks' fault, or the government passing the laws the banks have to follow? Even in Switzerland, which everyone acts like is some secret paradise, banking secrecy isn't really a thing anymore

Quentin:

I don't see any reason to keep money in a bank.

I don't think you can even see what's right in front of you, judging by these comments...😬

So, I guess we're not getting any rain then? 😬

thanks 👍

so, what kind of (potential) damage am I looking at if I just yank this external drive out without properly hitting 😬
?

Look, there’s zero option... I’m not an idiot 😬

It just feels weird to me, which is why I’m asking 😬

There isn't any way to "eject" the drive or even see a signal in the bottom right corner letting me know the disk is actually connected... if I don't go into "my Computer," I wouldn't even know the external drive was plugged in at all?? 😕

...and even when I right-click the external drive in my Computer, there's no "Eject" option anywhere.. just Properties and a few other useless Best Buy links..

How do I safely eject an external drive from my computer? Is it like a USB stick where I have to hit "Eject," or do I just pull it out? Because on this Samsung external drive, I don't see any options... neither software nor hardware to tell it I'm done... 😬 😕

Timothy Kim60 said:Would you guys actually buy a car or a PC at Kroger? 😬

pretty 😬

I’d just swipe my American Express at Kroger and rack up enough points to get free groceries for six months... 😬

..anyway.. I grabbed that Samsung Galaxy M3 series from Best Buy with the 36-month warranty.. 1 TB - $158..not bad at all 😬

Kate Adams51 said:Is this Verbatim drive actually any good? I just need it for backups... I've already got an old one, but it's only 150GB. It'll be hitting the shelves at Walmart starting tomorrow... 🤷

here are some better shots:



EDIT: Does it say anywhere what the warranty covers? 😬

darkowl72 said:I just finished reading this deep dive on the latest PC gear, and honestly... it’s kind of a trip. You look at these specs and realize how fast things are moving. One minute you're bragging about your rig, and the next, it feels like yesterday's junk. The review goes pretty hard on the performance benchmarks, too. It’s one thing to read the marketing hype from companies like Whirlpool when they talk about efficiency, but seeing the actual numbers hit the screen? That's where the reality sets in. It’s all fun and games until your frame rates drop during a heavy session... Anyway, I'm curious what you guys think. Is it actually worth dropping the cash right now, or should we just wait for the next cycle? I feel like I'm constantly chasing the horizon here...

So, looking at the feedback, the biggest gripes about the M3 series are basically just "random write speeds are a bit sluggish" and "it looks boring." Honestly, who cares about random write speeds when you're using a drive for backups? It’s practically irrelevant... and as for the look? Please... Man, that look is just plain boring...It’s running at 5400 RPM, which is pretty much the standard for any external drive you'd pick up, and it’s got 16MB of cache memory... nothing crazy, but it gets the job done.

Yeah, you could always go with the 1TB version if that's enough storage for you...

👍

Who even cares about looks anymore? Seriously... 🤣 😬

It’s basically just a tool that gets the job done, you know? Not really meant to be a showpiece... 😬

Yeah... I mean, why does anyone even sweat the warranty on these drives? But honestly, they fail so often that it’s basically a mandatory part of the purchase at this point...

Honestly, I’d take my old files back over a shiny new replacement any day... Just give me my data back from that dead drive and we're good... 😬

darkowl72 said:http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search/q/external-hard-drive

Honestly, if you want peace of mind, you can't beat a Samsung drive with a 3-year warranty. Hard to find a better deal than that...

Thanks for the tip 👍

But there isn't much info here on the specs. Like, what's the actual RPM?

Can I just grab the exact same model in a 1 TB version instead? 😬

I'm looking to pick up a solid external hard drive to stash all my photos, movies, series, and other files... maybe around 2 TB? Does anyone have a recommendation, or know if there are any good sales running right now? I'm totally down to buy it online. 😬

..Obviously, I'm watching the price tag, so finding that sweet spot between cost and quality is key... 😬

Look, what can I even say... you're totally wrong here 😬

Does it matter where you're from? Whether you're a Rvatina or some cowboy out in Alabama... all that matters (in this specific case) is who you're actually paying taxes to..

The real question is whether you pay taxes in the USA. It's not about where else you might be paying them... assuming you're even paying any at all...

"Them"—whoever those people may be... the IRS, the Department of the Treasury, folks hanging out in Central Park, or whoever else just wants to know if you, as an American citizen—and by extension, someone in the EU—are paying taxes in the USA.. 😬

Guys, you really need to realize that nobody here actually gets a vote on this stuff...

...once our country joined the USA, we became part of that whole organization, which means we're stuck following all the banking rules they set. The USA has trade deals with the USA, and one of those includes the so-called IRS agreement. That's why your bankers are breathing down your necks to sign it—it's the law here in America and under USA regulations...

...by signing, you’re basically declaring that you aren't dodging taxes in the States and aren't playing games with stocks between the USA and the USA. The whole point is just how the bank tracks your activity, mostly to make sure you don't get hit by double taxation. If you pay taxes in the USA, you shouldn't have to pay them here, and vice versa...

..obviously, it's all tied into those anti-money laundering laws too...

...look, you don't *have* to sign it, but pretty soon the bank is going to make it impossible for you to do business with them (I'm not sure what the legal deadline is for the country to align everything with USA regs, but it's coming)...

..then you'll have people saying, "Screw them, I'll just go to a different bank" or "I don't have time for this nonsense," kind of like what ruggedfox28 said above. But newsflash: no bank is gonna take you in without that signature when you try to open a new account...

..and you honestly think banks want to waste phone lines and employee hours chasing every single client down to get that IRS paperwork signed?

...sure, you can draw the line at the super personal stuff—like your spouse, how many kids you have, or if you're married...

...but even then, they're mostly gonna ask those questions if you have overdraft protection (especially with loans). Any kind of overdraft is basically a loan, and once a bank is lending you money, they can ask whatever they want. People lose jobs and income streams every day, so it's totally normal for a bank to want to know if you own property, if your spouse is working, or how many kids you're supporting, just so they know they can actually get their money back...

..or if they can pitch you another loan or a credit card 😬

Michael Diaz4 said:...pure nonsense through and through...

look man, alright, we get it... you're being exhausting 🐔

man, he's absolutely killing him... just tearing him apart out there...

😂

Yeah 😬

...but hey, it’s all about keeping the clients' money safe and sound... 😉

Did you swap out your phone, get a new number, or just run a software update?

Exactly like that

Your take is completely off base and honestly, everything you wrote just flies in the face of reality..

You don't even need a special device for online banking; you can just use someone else's card reader if you have to...

..plus, the card reader doesn't cost $33, it's a one-time fee of $15, whereas mTOKEN costs absolutely nothing; yeah, it's totally free..

..and look, there isn't a single promotion at JP Morgan Chase that offers free online banking, nor has it been part of any recent promos in recent history.. at least not in the last 3 or 4 years..

also, the actual plastic for a JP Morgan Chase customer is free.. there’s no card issuance fee, so it’s zero dollars for the account holder and anyone else they might add to the account...

..so basically, if you open a checking account, you get the corresponding card, and for the end user, the whole thing costs exactly 0 (that's zero)...

Online banking costs $2.75, and if you grab the mTOKEN (which is free), you can get the entire setup for just the price of the online banking itself, which is $2.75...

Everything you just said is pure nonsense, unless someone's paying you off big time or you've completely lost your mind😬_

mTOKEN is always free... you just gotta pay a one-time fee for the card reader $15