A lot of retail in Cambridge, Maskachusetts did not survive the coronapanic shutdowns and mask orders. Micro Center did however, and while up in Boston to retrieve the Cirrus SR20 I stopped in for nostalgic purposes. These are photos from August 26, 2021, shortly before the City of Cambridge went back to its indoor mask order (coronaplague was an emergency on August 27 when the order was enacted, but they decided to let COVID-19 rage until September 3 when the order went into effect), so masks were optional and, in fact, mask usage in the store was lower than the observed voluntary average in Palm Beach County.
As you can see from the below, people can’t buy a PC or video card without presenting a government-issued ID, similar to the process that would be required to purchase Sudafed (a precursor to meth, or so I am told). Even motherboards are limited to 1 per household. (When everyone in the same house uses a single PC, privacy can be compromised; see Au pair to green card.)
And, since I like to follow the examples set by our Presidents (even the one-termers)…. let’s remember that this is Pearl Harbor Day. (“I wonder how many Americans remember today is Pearl Harbor Day. Forty-seven years ago to this very day we were hit and hit hard at Pearl Harbor and we were not ready.”
“In a Bush administration that lesson would not be forgotten,” said Bush, who was a Navy flier decorated for combat missions during the war. “It would guide my defense and foreign policy.”)
Should we be grateful to meth heads for preparing U.S. retailers to distribute motherboards, graphics cards, and PCs?
I remember Pearl Harbor Day; Last night I watched a movie that indirectly referenced it several times and had a little guessing contest among my friends. I guess I should make it explicit because nobody else in the Elsewhere that I know picked up on it.
There’s a chip shortage going on. Taiwan manufactures a lot of them and the Chinese are overflying their airspace with nuclear bombers and fighter planes to teach them a lesson about preemption and redemption, apparently.
I have a friend who sells cars and trucks on the side so he and his family can eat food and pay their mortgage without relying on government support. The other day he was talking about the exorbitant asking prices for used “work” vehicles, like a 2010 Chevy Tahoe, which isn’t really a work truck but people are press-ganging them into service as such. He saw one and the owner was asking $40,000 “lightly used.”
https://www.kbb.com/cars-for-sale/used/2010/chevrolet/tahoe/providence-ri-02901?distance=100
Where are the chips made on those graphix cards and motherboards? Can we call them motherboards any longer? Does Micro Center in Cambridge (I’ve been there, long time ago!) still do that?
https://www.kbb.com/cars-for-sale/used/2010/chevrolet/tahoe/providence-ri-02901?distance=100
In normal times lightly used Chevy Tahoe with starting sticker price of around $70,000 would fetch over $40,000. Or is it 10 year old with 100K miles “lightly used”? My repair guy convinces that Chevy Silverado with 150,000 miles on it is almost new vehicle and claims with his maintenance it will run another 300 000 miles minimum.
@LSI: It was 11 years old and higher than 100,000 mi. It looked good and clean and shiny outside but paint corrections with modern products work wonder, and who knows what lays beneath the surface. I am trying to find the original post, he thought it was crazy and he sells a lot of cars.
@LSI: Also look here. All the good ones are “Purchase in Progress.”
https://www.carvana.com/cars/ford-transit-connect-cargo?utm_vehicle_id=1916121&store=Carvhft&stocknumber=2001177022&utm_source=google
These are ideal for a small business doing local delivery of things less than 1500 pounds.
Also, I have tried to rent a truck in the past several days from many places including dealerships and the dealerships promised to get back to me and never returned my calls. There are *none* to rent here in Massachusetts is what I infer.
Alex, I agree. I myself are being bugged by offers from dealers to sell my vehicles. 11 years old Chevy Tahoe with 100 K + miles Kelly blue book value must be around $10K. From experience I know that even if 5.3 or 6.2 L GM engines are eternal Tahoe is bound to develop axle problems if it has been used for purposes it was designed. There is no easy way whether it was under experienced mechanic care or not without taking it apart that will cost at least several hundreds $$ for regular dealer.
Meant to write “I am being bugged”
Always get an independent inspection, and right now so many cars and trucks are flying around into the hands of the desperate that many are not having one done (especially submerged vehicles from NJ/NY/PA et. al.) It’s mayhem in many places. I also have reports that disproportionate numbers the submerged vehicles in Jersey were **Mercedes.** I joked: “At one time the Germans were known for their very, very good submarines. Perhaps now not so much.” Caveat Emptor! Brian from BSG / FTM knows. He has people ship their cars and trucks to him in Chicagoland from California, Kentucky, and many other places because he knows what he’s doing.
Sudafed policies for cryptocurrency junkies. Makes sense.
(I’d like to build a new computer and passionately hate all cryptocurrency hardware locusts.)
The locusts have invaded the hard drive aisles as well. Hard drive prices seem to have almost doubled overnight supposedly due to the introduction of a crypto that uses data storage instead of processor cycles.
I think you will get a second chance at celebrating Pearl Harbor Day. I believe it’s actually December 7th :).
Something’s wrong with monetary policy when a threadripper is $6000 but a threadripper with Greenspun’s reflection is only $1300.