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https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/california/story/2020-05-05/mu...
Well, this virus is doing it’s evolutionary thing quite quickly :(
@White
---and we're off to the races.
Here there has been politician's talk about the worst being over etc etc .
I seem to remember reading of health officials warning there could be several series of infections.
I didn't even consider the simple fact that viruses tend to mutate. That's why we need different flu vaccines every year.
This is very scary to me. Regardless of the claims, it is my perception I will be in deep do do if I catch it.
@cranky47
If I recall correctly what I believe you wrote earlier, yes, there is a lot of reason for you to fear the virus.
But it is not a death sentence. Especially if you have access to modern high end care. And they are making advancements even on the care/critical care side of things reducing mortality rates.
What's crazy to say but true is: if you are outside a hotspot, in a lot of ways the virus is still exceedingly rare. The more rural you are, the rarer it gets.
If you continue to carefully distance from everyone, and can do it for the long haul, you will likely not get covid. As a bonus you will likely not get any cold/flu at all.
@White
Yeah.
I'm a bit concerned that our government has not made a thing out of it, because it IS a thing and could mean a a lot more people are going to die.
My Government is talking about easing restrictions. I wonder what happened to 'an abundance of caution'. I mean it's not as if we have an election coming up soon.
@Whitefire13
This is not fully confirmed yet. This particular virus is rather unique in that it does not "change" that much.
@Logic...no it’s not - just another thing being studied in relation to this little fucker. One reason I pull my imagination back...
I did...almost the first thing I thought of because of flu vaccine. I’m just fucking surprised this fucker is adapting so fast. I try not to think about it too much because imagination wise, I see where this little fucker is going. AND I’ve learnt that what I imagine usually isn’t anywhere near reality (although sometimes it has been)...ugh
@Whitefire
Because of this disaster, my old farts mens group has been closed down. Instead, one the handlers phones me every Wednesday to make sure I'm still alive.
Today, one of the handlers I like phoned me. Seems they're thinking of opening the group in June. First, I have to give them a note showing I've had the flu vaccine. Fair enough.
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OT : there are 8 blokes in my group. We often have speakers ,such as that nice lady lawyer who spoke about wills, power of attorney and like that. We also have outings. Fair dinkum I had no idea Adelaide had so many fucking museums. (there are eleventy two)
BUT, my favourite was going the Central Market. We looked around, bought special foods and then had a nice lunch. We were ready to leave when one of our minders realised there was one old fart missing.
The poor girl. She became all discombobulated. . The old prick had just decided to have a little wander.He eventually meandered back
Controlling a group of elderly men is like trying to herd cats. I TRIED to warn her. Told her to tie us all together, in a chain. But did she listen?. Nooo, she fucking did not. A great a day all around.--AND we got to go home on THE OBAHN!!!! ***
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*** Picture with link. Adelaide is one of only two places on earth with an Obahn Busway. if you have a read . I think the reason will soon become obvious
"The O-Bahn Busway is a guided busway that is part of the bus rapid transit system servicing the northeastern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. The O-Bahn system was conceived by Daimler-Benz to enable buses to avoid traffic congestion by sharing tram tunnels in the German city of Essen.[2]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O-Bahn_Busway
@cranky47: Adelaide is one of only two places on earth with an Obahn Busway.
They should advertise it more. I've been to Adelaide a couple of times and I never saw it. I'd love to have ridden that. I'll have to go back when inter-state travel opens up again.
@Algebe
"They should advertise it more"
I think they're embarrassed.
I love but only when I board at the last interchange. From there, it's about 12 minutes to the CBD, mostly though parklands at 110 kmh, It's terrific!
It services my area and is mostly just a normal bus. From my local stop , the bus meanders around a couple of suburbs for about 40 minutes, before joining the Obahn.
If I drive my car, it takes about 25 minutes to reach the CBD (off peak) If I take the Obahn, from the time I leave home to the time I get off in the city is around 90 minutes. But, I still love the white elephant, and am glad we have it. ,
wow what a cool thing the O Bahn is! Love to have it here, instead we are building trackless trams....same thing but in reverse...our trams will run on guides embedded in the regular road tarmac.
I might come to Adelaide just to ride that fucker....oh and share a bottle of red with you Cranky. Adelaide is still the ONLY city in the world where I was arrested for drunk and disorderly....while hiding under a table to get away from the brawl that was happening...
@Old man shouts
When I was a gossoon, herein Adelaide we had both electric trolley buses and trams.
In the late 1950's, trolley buses were replaced with diesel buses. Trams discontinued, with most track ripped up. ONE tram service was kept; city to Glenelg beach. In the last ten years they have extended that service north and west by about 15km in total. NOW they're talking about more tram service. I think they could be viable if they are run on a renewable energy source. .
I never like tram;, cold in winter, hot in summer and uncomfortable all year round. Modern ones are a lot.
OT; When I was visiting my aunt in Seattle I was surprised to see an old Adelaide tram in service outside the Pike place market.
Ah fuck Cranky ...
Had a good laugh with the visuals:) cool bus idea (sorta)
I hope you’ll be out and aboot soon, eh...
@White
Oh, I'm still often out, but not about so much.,EG Today ;to my chemist to pick up my meds . Door to door to door 20 minutes total.
I DO love the Obahn, but parking is a problem at the exchange I like to use. My favourite city trip is taking theTram from the city to Glenelg beach. Glenelg is an old suburb and posh these days. I like to have wander, have a gelato and go down to the marina to see if there are any dolphins there that day..
A train trip through the Adelaide hills is pretty good too. As a senior, I pay nothing to use public transport off peak.
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Clip about Glenelg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqZBM_QcYV4
There are some pretty good clips on Youtube about trains in the Adelaide Hills. Plus of course, The Indian Pacific, which runs from Sydney to Perth ( 2,700 miles) . Also one I want to take before I die; The Ghan, straight through the centre of my country, from Adelaide to Darwin. ( 1851 miles)
Predictions/thoughts
Now 2+ months into major voluntary self quarantine, my county been in major "stay at home orders" for most of that.
A lot more is known about the virus, it is pretty clear this is no spanish flu level of deadly/awful. Infected death rates (IDR) Are likely .5 to .9 overall if the person has access to modern healthcare. Possibly reduced even further with blood thinners and certain other drugs, with reduced recovery time likely as well.
Speaking in terms of USA (the country I am most familiar with.)
Covid has left behind the headline grabbing NYC, LA super famous, rich people areas. WIth those areas in case decline and shell shocked populations take distancing efforts seriously. Covid moves to the usual victims of contagious disease, the poor and vulnerable. Which will not get as much news coverage, and may even face efforts to conceal overall numbers.
Economic need has forced states to scale back shut-in practices in efforts to restart economies, but rightfully fearful large portions of society will stay home if they have the choice to do so.
US equity /stock market numbers are currently trending around where it's was at average high's were back in October time frame.
Over 33 million people has lost their jobs, again highlighting the difference between main street and wall street. (Wall street is at where it was 6 months ago, where mainstreet has lost 33 million jobs and counting.)
Covid deaths average 2000 a day for USA, and without the numbers going down, they are opening up more activity. Which also encourages people to be more apathetic about being careful. This double whammy means infections/deaths will only go up as they unlock, especially without robust testing/tracing efforts being ready.
Widespread vaccine is likely at least a year away if not much longer. (The rich will get it first if it shown to be safe.)
So the new normal that prohibits large gatherings of people in close proximity is going to be around to stay. Most forms of work, stores, and many other things can adjust to a new more expensive mask covered and distancing reality. Other areas of the economy will have to go into long term hibernation. With some, (like the cruise ship industry, and probably fracking) likely never recovering even half of their original business.
Wonder how churches are going to handle being shut down for many months? Oh wait, no I don't.
Supply disruptions will be a constant issue, we will get reports of bad outbreaks that overwhelm the area's hospitals, and the death count in the US will keep going up, until the virus has gotten access to everyone it has access to. I would not be surprised if the virus directly or indirectly has killed 1 million people in the USA by this time next year.
I am willing to predict that Drumpf will lose, (and badly,) the Nov 3rd election. And senate majority going to democrats.
I don’t know about the Trump prediction...he’s like got an abuser/abused relationship going on with his supporters...they’re “doubling down”. I don’t think the “relationship” will end until he leaves (forced out the door)... unless there are some quiet Democrat voters...
Canada is opening. Lots of guidance for health measures and re-assurance of pulling back should we have to.
My oldest just got a job at a Dr office (he starts in a week). I ordered him scrubs last night. His job is “greeter” - checking the patient first for symptoms, out of country visits, etc... getting them a mask, hand sanitizer, etc before letting them in the office area.
We also had massive lay offs, but the govt here was impressively quick with CERB and other programs (financial) - emphasis placed on citizen health first and foremost.
My understanding is the Spanish Flu was a 2-3 year thing. Social distancing and social tracking was utilized.
IMO, as an outsider to the USA, it’s Trump’s “public response” to this virus that’s most disturbing and shocking. Conspiracy, set aside (virus unleashed to derail Trump re-election and it is exaggerated to cause “loss of freedom and economics” verse “nobody told us to stay home because “they” want the virus to kill us...”they” always put economy over people and it’s a depopulation weapon) his complete lack of empathy and intelligent communication is mind-numbing!
@Whitefire13
Oh I agree, his supporters will continue to support him. And I agree they will double down. But his support base is not enough people to win an election.
Reasons why I think drumpfus will lose:
- Covid is not going away. It may start to fall out of the news cycle, but it is going to get worse, not better, especially the economic effects. The timing of covid could not be worse for drumpfus.
- Economy will be in the toilet esp. for mainstreet voters, 33 million people lost their jobs and counting. Some of those jobs will come back, others will not and their will be more job losses in new sectors from the ripple effect. Democrats tend to lean towards more techy, online white collar jobs, where republicans tend to lean towards more blue collar and not be as technically proficient. Those that cannot adapt their jobs to the new long term reality of covid are going to be hit far harder then those that are capable of working from home.
- Looking at history, incumbent presidents that have a negative rating and a "mainstreet" economy in the toilet, never do well in re-election years. People blame who is in office for their economic woes. The trump fanatics wont, trump will give them a different target to blame. China maybe, but it is a poor target, halfway around the world with nothing to really "point to" that makes much sense and so far is not gaining very much traction. As problems get worse in the US China side of things will get increasingly irrelevent.
- US presidential elections are decided by a few "swing" states, none more important than Florida. And Florida's economy will be particularly hard hit.
A) Older, more health vulnerable population
B) Huge tourism industry that has to mostly shut down for long period of time. Airports, hotels, theme parks, etc.
C) Huge Cruise boat industry (that will likely be many many years - if ever - to recover to even 50% of old numbers.
D) Large import of Drumpf haters from Puerto Rico, (yep those people can vote!)
- Drumpf can no longer "rally," Yes that also affects Biden, but it will not be nearly as bad for Biden. Drumpf feeds on crowds, can go off script, can bad mouth the press covering it, and make himself more than just a twitter feed. More importantly these people can see how many other supporters are with them and repeat their echo chamber and get super fired up. They are not going to get so fired up over an email, or yet another television/news coverage of him talking again. 3 years on, even these people get bored, especially when they are dealing with the effects of covid. Worse still for republicans, the people can no longer easily rally. The evangelical church was pretty instrumental in drumfus 2016 election. Well that church is not supposed to be having large masses anymore. And much of their audience will have difficulty tuning into online stream events.
- Mail in votes will likely be widespread, in at least a few of the battleground states. Mail in votes circumvents any attempts to suppress the vote. A nasty trick that republicans employ more than democrats as democrats tend to get more of the vulnerable/poor/minority votes. Republicans already tried to block mail in votes in a special election/democrat primary, and it backfired on them, badly, enraging the voting population and causing a "sure win" republican incumbent justice pick for the republicans to be beaten by a democrat challenger. The first win of its kind for democrats in that state/position in 20-30 years.
- 2 years ago interim election was a disaster for republicans. Many special elections have been disasters for republicans.
- Many of the advantages drumpf had in 2016 are gone.
A) Democrats never won 3 terms with 2 different presidents in a row in over 100 years. Democrat/republican presidency has followed a melodrome tick tock style. Where it swings one way and back to the other. Essentially once drumpf won the republican primary he was very likely to win the presidency. And he almost didn't. Lost the popular vote by 1.7 million votes, and the final delegate count was still pretty close.
B) He was mostly an unknown politically, he had no "political baggage" like Mrs Clinton did. Also the democrat party knows his, and his staff's methods, trump methods do not vary much or are very orignal anymore.
C) He will be 4 years in, he can not as easily just blame "Obama" anymore. He has a 4 year record now, and with the "main street" economy gone, his record does not look good. He cannot make huge promises about how things will be different under him. He already has 3+ years of history.
- Trump is getting increasingly unstable. Being locked up in the white house with no rallies, getting yelled at if he golfs/socializes, and now losing even his daily "press briefings" this guy has no outlet, he lives for the spotlight and attention, and he increasingly is losing said attention. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has more widespread respect/exposure then trump does right now. Retreating to camp david represents a huge psych blow for him, hiding when he needs to be campaigning.
- Republicans and one issue voters got their supreme court justices. While they would like to further increase their majority in SCOTUS, the desire/will to put up with drumpfus to get said Scotus appointees has severely diminished.
- His big re-election chances weapon, the 1200 dollar per taxpayer hand out, has been mostly a disaster so far. A large majority of people have been promised the much needed money, and have yet to receive it. While at the same time, checks are all too often going out to people that have died years ago. The main street bribe money has actually shown just how inept the government he is supposed to direct is.
- Bidens biggest weakness, (this Tara Reade accusation,) while definitely is a very bad look for Biden and may drive up democrat voter apathy, we all know Drumpfus still has a large lead on this sort of unfortunate accusation, it will be easy to cast Biden as the lesser of 2 evils in this subject area. Drumpfus cannot hammer on this without drawing attention to his own much more numerous and dire accusations.
I will fully admit I am pretty annoyed that neither party seems to be capable of producing a candidate that does not have a possible history of being sexually abusive towards women. This is democrats election/presidency to lose, sadly I do see the possibility of democrats squandering their huge lead. Democrat base is fairly split between Biden and Bernie. The Bernie supporters with the additional Tara Reade accusation may stay home, but I think more of them fear another 4 years of drumpf even more then their anger towards the democrat party.
I could go on, but I hit most of the major points I can think of, and this post is already way too long.
Logic ... thanks for the run-down (I forgot about swing states...but then again I’m Canadian lol). We have something “similar” here too :)
Ahhh, but there’s nothing like getting the info from someone a person somewhat “knows” ;)
God! Biden!!!! Ohhhh I hope he reads his memos and stocks “empty cupboards”. Fuck! ;)
@LogicFTW
Fascinating post. Thank you. As an outsider I'm not qualified to comment on most of your points.
So, from my cozy-in-another-country-position:
Rationally, I can't see how Trump can possibly win a second term. My understanding is that his hard core base is not huge. Seems to me a great many of those who voted for him have realised they've bought a pup.
The 41% of non voters bothers me. Should it? I think I may be biased because I live in a country with voter turn out at around 98%---BUT voting is mandatory here and you get fined if you don't vote .
Does anyone have a realistic idea of the profile of the 41%? I think the 'neither-party-is relevant- to -me mantra may be a smidge simplistic.
Two what degree do you think the Trump administration is culpable for the dire position of the US at present? To what degree Is Trump et al culpable for the economic basket case the US is becoming?
I'm not convinced that the ever skittish stock market would have been much better without Trump. Australia seems to be doing pretty well against the US, UK and much of Europe. Yet our stock market remains very volatile. So much so that ASIC** put out 'a public health warning' against day trading, because such investors are losing their shirts. Apparently many are retirees looking for a better return on their money tan provided by normal investments at the moment.
Me? I don't care too much about investment interest rates as long as inflation is low. Right now, return on my money is under 1%. Current Australian inflation rate is 1.8% % and falling I think. But I don't rely on interest from investments as many retirees do.
** Australian Securities and Investment Commission.
@cranky47 and anyone interested in trump talk.
Rationally, yes, should be near impossible. But then many were saying that when he ran for the republican primary.
Correct, his "hardcore" base is not huge, nowhere near large enough to elect him by themselves, I would say they represent maybe 20% of people who voted in 2016. The rest came from republican party falling in line, a few disgruntled bernie fans, one issue voters, republican evangelicals (of which is the majority.) And ofcourse with the ~40 percent of voters who do not vote at all makes all these numbers work in these more extreme candidates. Then there is the disenfranchised voters. There is literal voter suppression that occurs. Where they do not staff/provide voting booths, do not make a national holiday of it, in many areas not allowing the enormous prison population vote, and exclude any and all immigrants, even if they are paying taxes, and lived in the country for many years. A few realized they "bought a pup" but as we learn here in atheist debate boards, they are more likely to double down on the lie/con/etc rather than face that they have been "had." This is true of humanity in general.
It should. It is a powerful sign of a broken system. A system is broken in many ways, including the fact that the voters do not get to pick which who to vote for, only a small pool of pre-approved candidates that swore allegiance to eithir the democrat or republican parties. We have not had anywhere near a realistic 3rd option in the US in a long, long time. The last billionaire that tried made an utter fool of himself. And only billionaires could realistically self finance anywhere near a realistic shot at presidency.
Young adults, (I could vote at 18, but I did not, I simply did not care, I was more interested in girls, fast cars, and which college I can get into, politics was for "old people.") I started voting at my parents/friends urging in my 20's and took it seriously in my 30's. There is also a large disenfranchised vote block. Like single moms working 2 jobs, to support her family. Her boss won't let her take the day off vote, she is tired, and cant possibly look into and keep up with who to vote for herself, so she looks to someone else to help her decide. There is language barriers, and people that simply do not like to go to a public place and vote. Just about everyone is really upset and fed up with the system. Quite a few people voted for trump simply as "a brick through the window" they know trump was a bomb waiting to go off, they wanted the drama, and to shake things up. They were angry, and thought tossing a grenade into the system would make them feel better.
Not as much as the democrats and CNN likes to say. But a responsibility is absolutely on Trump's part. I think it is fair to say the Obama administration would of handled this a bit better. But there are some realities that would of been big issues regardless who was president. US and China does a tremendous amount of business and have people traveling between the 2 countries constantly. As people are increasingly finding out, this virus has been in circulation for quite some time. Signs that the virus was in this country in early January, or even December. This virus is highly contagious, and can spread asymptomatically.
US is far beyond the point of being able to detect and track every case. And stop the spread. This is likely to have happen even in the Obama years. And the resulting economic devastation of having to shut the economy down would of happened anyway.
US has an enormous population, huge amounts of people crossing its borders every day, and large portions of the population simply not interested in following rules that are not convenient to them. The protestors at the state capitols would of happened regardless. The economic
He is more culpable for this. But the republican party as a whole shoulders a lot of this blame. Trump took an already humming economic engine and poured gasoline strait into the air intake. Which revved the engine up super hard when there was zero need to (except to make the very rich even richer.) trump's primary plan for re-election all along was a booming economy with all kinds of jobs. His entire re-election platform relied on it. Nothing else would get enough people to overlook everything else he has done and not done.
The only reason he has not gone completely off the rails is because he thinks he can still save the economy and get re-elected. Stock market wise he already has, (at least for now.) US stock markets are already recovered to the point that was all time highs in a 10+ year bull run a mere 6 months ago. Now he just needs to bribe and hide the job loss numbers and he thinks he has saved the economy enough to get re-elected. Problem with his plan is: he thinks things are going to get better, right now. He already thinks things are better, right now. Even though 2000 covid deaths are occuring every day, that the entire country is still getting more infections and deaths each day once you subtract out New York.
This is correct, you should not be trying to "grow" your money when you are retiring/retired. You should be in a high cash, safe position, because you are looking to spend down the money in a consistent manner. Not trying to gamble on the market to grow it. Some folks try to "stretch" their retirement money by actively investing large portions of it, but they are taking on substantial risk doing so.
The markets are only really good odds to grow wealth when you have 10-20+ year time horizons. Back to that whole impossible but correct advice:
Get a part time job at 14, save and invest everything until you are 18. And be able to retire very comfortably when you are 70 without ever saving another cent in all your adult years.
But convincing a 14 year old to do that? Hah! And only a 14-18 year old in a more wealthy family could even "afford" to do that, instead of contributing at a frequently large portion of their income to the total household income.
@LogicFTW
"@cranky47 and anyone interested in trump talk.'
Thanks for a terrific post
Of course I'm interested in what Trump and his administration does or does not do. Not in any maudlin sense , but purely from self interest.
It is my perception that the Trump presidency is leading the US over a cliff. That it seems increasingly likely that the US is headed for a depression, the effects of which will last a generation.
This is where my self interest kicks in; America going down the drain must effect Australia and many other countries, badly .The effect of a badly managed US will be far greater if Trump gets a second term, imo..
I guess I'm more naive than I like to admit. I remain stunned at the moral bankruptcy, naked ambition and greed of the elected sycophants who have attached themselves to Trump''s shooting star.
At least we have David Scott (The Kiffness) covid music videos to watch on YouTube.
Hahahahaha. The USA is optimistically “opening up” (but kudos to California!)
Anyhoo, in my mailbox today. Took the boys last June to Disney... ahhhh memories.
My guys and I laughed and laughed. Ones afraid of bees in general, so we laughed at the murder hornets too...
“Greatest”. “Number One”...at Corvid-19 stats ...
Nah. I think we’re going to BC this August (that’s the plan)...
Attachments
Attach Image/Video?:
Up here in Canada it is vastly different than what is sadly happening in the USA. All of our politicians are on the same page, their decision is largely based on scientific and medical advice. Unfortunately in the USA it is determined by November 3rd, the election. I doubt if Trump comprehends that we do not set the schedule, the disease does.
Anyhewwwwww , I was pondering the future of large shopping malls. Up here, they are definitely shut down, and will be close to last on the return to business. And since those malls are natural gathering places for large groups of people, will they ever enjoy the large crowds again? My wife and I have already decided that our annual "visit the mall for christmas shopping" is off the list, we will buy any presents online.
In ten years from now, will large malls be dinosaurs? Gone, and old farts like us reminisce to kids "I remember when we had malls".
@David
." All of our politicians are on the same page-------"
Same in Oz and New Zealand.
PERHAPS two reasons (in part) is the politically different arrangements of the states and the different understanding of the very word 'democracy' .
To this outsider the states which make up the USA are more like European countries under the EU than states in my country. Any Aussie state gets uppity with that states rights crap, it gets slapped down very smartly by the Federal government.
Under our parliamentary system , democracy is about equality before the law, even at the expense of individual rights. The US system seems to emphasis the rights of the individual come hell or high water.
With what I see as a quite hysterical attitude to ANYTHING smacking of 'socialism'' the US seems closer to Libertarianism and the amoral "fuck you jack, I'm OK" ideas of Ayn Rand than to a just democracy.
@poopygnome
I am actually trying to think of valid benefits of going to a mall. I can come up with a few, although not really valid. Having different needs in one relative location, cuts travel. Although in reality, while traveling to the mall, I likely pass many individual stores that carry all my needs. Going to a mall to people watch...my wife and I did that while eating froyo together, quite often...although, to be honest...people watching is better at the beach. Having many food court restaurants to choose from in one location...if high priced fast food is on your diet. The only real valid thing I came up with, is they are good for shopaholics...if you are addicted to buying things to make you feel good...a mall is fuckin heaven. Just ask my wife. :O
The world is going to change, many things were assumed as just normal will be replaced by other practices and customs.
Agreed...Lets just hope the changes don't come from the talking yam.
@Thread
Well, there is presently ONE [registered} case of Covid19 in my state. So naturally our idiot politicians are going to ease restrictions. I am not.
Just got back from the shopping centre. Ten days since I was last there. Washed hands as soon as I had unpacked groceries. This is a big deal to me .Since I retired 20 years ago, it has been my practice to go shopping most days, some days twice or even three times. Still wearing my clinical face mask in public and am strict with social distancing.
Being isolated has not meant the end to enjoyment. I've been doing my favourite thing ; spending money. Lots of gear from Ebay. mostly around $20.
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OT for those who may be interested:
My house is on a sloping block and it is two metres from the back door to the ground. So must have decking. The old deck had been patched and repaired but was cactus. So have had the old one demolished and a new one built from scratch. The good news it that it was a couple of K cheaper than my rough estimate. Also got an excellent builder.The new deck is quite beautiful, as such things go.
Tech : The computer I'm using for this is an Imac I've had for 4 years. . Nothing wrong , I'm just bored with it. I'm keeping it for now, but may sell it later. Currently am having a modest PC put together. It will be ready next week.
Tower. Intel core i5 processor, 8GB RAM, 1 TB SSD, no HDD , generic integrated graphics card.. 32 inch Viewsonic monitor. Total total cost $AU1250.
I'm buying the PC based on my needs. As it is the CPU is probably overkill. I don't play games and keep any large files on external HDD. The SSD is a cheapish Samsung, and will slow down if it fills up . I'll partition it as well.
This is going to be a challenge. It's nearly ten years since I've used Windows daily. Thank goodness for my nerdy mate.
I love new tech and shiny things.
I bought the new PC with the money saved on the decking, and I'm still $750 under budget so quite pleased. I guess I should withhold being pleased until I have the new PC up and running.
@ cranky47
A someone who has a relatively small SSD (120 GB) on a gaming computer, I perform regular clean-up on my primary drive. Because if I get sloppy, I can fill that SSD up very quickly. One of my major tools I use is called WinDirStat, that gives a graphic representation on what is inside the drive. I click on each major colored box, do a little Google to see exactly what it is, what it does, and if I can live without it.
I suggest you consider this free tool.
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