Definitely agree on the used idea. Ebay is full of used previous gen parts at great prices (stick with sellers with a deep history of 99% and higher feedback, avoid those with accounts less than a year old and/or single digit feedback. Avoid single digit sellers with suspiciously cheap prices for recent hardware like the plague - these are likely scammers.)

Personally, I’d avoid laptops if gaming is your primary interest. Performance does lag behind similar spec desktops, but more importantly, if something that isn’t ram or a storage drive breaks on a laptop, the whole machine is probably done. Not necessarily because the whole machine is unusable, but many if not most repair parts are model specific and can cost more than the laptop did.

Desktops can be repaired and upgraded per assembly, which makes them pretty kind to your wallet if gaming on a budget. I just scored an excellent condition 1080ti for around $150, and I know with absolute certainty that very robust off lease workstations from a few generations back can be had for $200-ish or less if you know what you’re looking for. Pair them with that 1080ti and you’ve got some decently capable hardware to play with!

I’ve got several gaming machines that I use to run everything from old stuff to heavily modded Skyrim VR and many new titles, and I pretty much only buy storage amd cables new. Everything else is purchased used on Ebay.

Could be - tbh it’s been a minute since I looked into those. Either way, a low mileage pull is an excellent option and will last the life of the car if well maintained…

Meant to mention those and forgot! As long as it’s got some kind of decent guarantee that’s a great way to go. Should be plenty of them out there, as I’d imagine most of those vehicles end up getting totaled in accidents of varying severities rather than dying from engine problems. I do believe the Japanese engines are available as a result of their having stricter emissions requirements, BTW…

As someone who is seemingly constantly working on computers and has done a ton of engine building and other deep car stuff, in addition to the garage mentioned previously, I’d recommend buying a buildable engine core for your subaru, getting that built (either do it yourself - recommended, or by a machine shop - will probably work well, but will cost a lot of $$) and having it ready to install rather than trying to pull the existing engine out and rebuilding it - especially if the current engine still runs.

Unless your plan is to make a hobby of having exploded cars in the yard, this’ll go a long way towards putting an end in sight for an engine rebuilding venture.

Also fuck all car subscriptions - that’s some gross profiteering right there…

A) I applaud you for your masterful continuation of the pelagic theme of this discussion about Elon porpoisely allowing this project to flounder into Davy Jone’s locker.

B) TIL that an anglerfish lure is called an esca and that a sufficiently literate person can seamlessly weave such an unusual word into this net of fishy discourse… Bravo!

Same. I love my Plex server - I rip all of my physical media audio and video to it and can watch/listen on all of my devices. Music is especially fun on Plex, as it pulls in great bio info for most of the artists, which makes organizing my decent sized music library a fun bit of zen…

Yeah, you don’t want to know more 😐.

Sounds like a solid plan! Note that you can also get BlueIris apps on Android and ios for a fairly low cost - still need the server + BlueIris server software, but being able to roll over in bed and check the cams in the middle of the night on your phone or tablet is indispensably convenient.

Been using Reolink IP cameras ever since I was robbed at gunpoint on my front porch in 2015. No complaints, though I wouldn’t use one of their NVRs or give them my info and sign into an app of theirs

I find used servers are cheap, more maintainable, and more configurable than proprietary hardware like an NVR.

A POE switch and BlueIris will run Reolink cams using the generic ONVIF protocol with no need to give Reolink personal data they don’t need.

I would avoid their zoom cameras - I bought a couple thinking they’d be a good supplement to the 6 standard 1440p Reolink cams I also have and tbh I really hate the zoom cameras. They go out of focus or zoom weird and it’s a bit of a PIA to get them dialed back in. Good luck!

What an incredible image! Love it!

There are a handful of gardening sites that sell the egg cases, called ooths. I got mine from Hirt’s Gardens - needed to get a native mantis type so as not to introduce a non-native species to my area.

Got them specifically for natural pest control. Hopefully they come back next year like the sunflowers did - guess we’ll see!

That is actually a Sunflower! My wife has been planting them over the last 3 years or so and this year they’re upwards of 15 feet tall.

All of the neighborhood small animals are converging to eat the flowers, and the dogs are eating whatever the squirrels happen to drop.

+1 for reolink. Works great with blueiris and has its own app as well. I’d recommend the basic 1440p model, which should run around $50 US on Amazon. You’ll need ether net cables and a POE switch to run them, also not very expensive. Stay away from the zoom versions - in my experience they kind of suck. Been running 8 of these for about 8 years now and they’ve been very reliable. Running both the native reolink app and blueiris on Android, Ipads, and PC, and they kick the dog out of that Ring junk - works great and easy/cheap to add cams and really place stuff when needed.