The title pretty much sums up the situation.
I bought a Lenovo Legion 7i three months ago (Legion 7 16IAX7 - Type 82TD). Two weeks ago it had started giving me issues. Freezing, blue screening and sometimes blue screen looping while rebooting, with a range of errors relating to the GPU.
Funnily enough this would only happen when the laptop was plugged in and charging, so I suspected it was a GPU hardware issue (because when not plugged in the graphics would revert to the dedicated graphics, getting around the GPU issue). I had tried every software solution possible - updating drivers, resetting BIOS etc, and finally factory resetting the machine.
Well after a short conversation with support I sent the machine off for repair to Poland. About a week later it got there. The next day I was informed that the repair would not be covered under my waranty as it was somehow deemed Customer Incduced Damage. They quoted me €4400 for repair!
The part they are replacing is:
LNV-5B21J11312 MB L82TDI9RTX3080TI16G670WINRM
And the cost for replacing this part is €3476.16
And then there's 60 euros for the repair itself and then VAT to top it all up to €4400.
I bought this laptop for €3200. The one part they're replacing is worth more than the entire laptop. Besides the outrageous €4400 repair price, what's more concerning is that I had the laptop for three months. I took excellent care of it. It was hardly ever moved around (it never even left the room it was used in), I kept it clean, it was never dropped, scratched or internally opened and I never installed any questionable software. I used the laptop in an expected manner and was very responsible with it. So to accuse me of somehow causing damage to it is extremely surprising and disappointing.
I've used the laptop as I have used every other laptop I've owned that has lasted years. The one difference between this laptop and the others is that this one was significantly more expensive, (and new!) which compelled me to take extra care of it. And given that this was a more expensive purchase, I would have expected the build quality and durability of the machine to be more robust. But still, I would have never relied on that assumption to neglect the laptop in any way. I loved this laptop and wanted to continue enjoying it.
The support ticket which was initally opened for this incident has suddenly been closed, but clearly unresolved as I want to argue the case. I want to dispute the Customer Induced Damage to the fullest extent and escalate the issue.
I've emailed them several times asking for the issue to be escelated, open a complaint, move the case on to a supervisor, anything that will get responsive support as I'm not getting any lively attention here. I have requested images of the supposed Customer Induced Damage and a report on how they suspect I may have caused it. But am getting nothing.
I have noted to them that this is a matter of urgency now as I have been without the laptop for almost two weeks and need it repaired or replaced as I use it for work.
There's just no sense of care or support coming from Lenovo. It's very disappointing to have bought a product, laptop or not, and for it to suddenly stop working after less than three months and then be accused of having damaging it myself and be given a quote greater than the cost of the original product to fix it when I know in my heart I genuinely did not do anything to "induce" the damage.
So yeah, TLDR:
I bought a Lenovo laptop, treated it with excellent care, three months later it starts showing signs of issues. I send it off for repair as it's in warranty, but they refuse to repair it as they classify it as Customer Induced Damage (CID) and the repair price is 37% more expensive than just buying the same laptop brand new. Lenovo is practically not engaging with me on the matter after several days of emails.

"But that’s not all! In an upcoming software update, we’re updating the Quest 2 and Quest Pro GPU and CPU. Quest 2 and Pro will see an up-to 26% CPU performance increase with an up-to 19% GPU speed increase for Quest 2 and 11% for Quest Pro. As developers take advantage of these changes, you can expect smoother gameplay, a more responsive UI, and richer content on both headsets. And we’re enabling Dynamic Resolution Scaling for both Quest 2 and Quest Pro, so games and apps can take advantage of increased pixel density without dropping frames."
source: https://www.meta.com/blog/quest/vr-hardware-news-quest-3-sneak-peek-price-drop/

Timestamp: https://i.imgur.com/NRorqHH.jpg
Photos:
Check out my other posts : >COLT UPPERS<
>GLOCK 19 (Gen.5) 9mm SLIDES<
>RIFLE link<

 -Must buy (((3))) MAGS for free insured shipping. If not it’ll be $5 shipping CONT.USA. -ALL are in great condition. 

MAGAZINE LOT/BULK PRICE $88🚢 AM4

No high-capacity ban states

Mags

•LANCER a5 AWM 30rounds; CLEAR $16 each (Quantity 3)

•Magpul M2 30rounders $9 each. (Quantity 2 left)

•Magpul M2 30rounders WINDOWED $14 each. (Quantity 2)

Misc.

•Splintered-A Cerakoted upper receiver (only comes with forward assist.) $60

•Schmid [S] single stage trigger $30

• Ruger grip with hardware $16

•SBA3 (left) (less salt)

$55$50$45 $43 shipped & insured

•SBA3 (right) (more salt)

$50$45$40 $38 shipped & insured

You pay 3.5% G+S fees https://thefeecalculator.com/

⚠️⛔️NO NOTES in any payments.⚠️⚠️

⚠️⛔️Here’s why:⚠️⚠️

Just seeking opinions of quality of work, cost, value for money, etc. I’m in downtown Buffalo area.

PLEASE NOTE ALL PRICING DOES NOT INCLUDE SHIPPING. I WILL CHARGE SHIPPING EXACTLY BASED ON ZIP / LOCATION. Typically shipping for a game will range between $3-5.
NES Games

• CIB Mike Tyson Punch Out - $200
• Boxed Mike Tyson's Punch Out $170
• Fire N Ice - $200
• Castlevania with Manual - $55
• Mike Tyson's Punch Out - $41
• MC Kids with Manual - $40
• Boxed Tetris 2 - $22
• Bubble Bobble - $20
• 1943 - $20
• Lolo - $16
• Puzznic - $14
• Mario Bros - $20
• Super Pitfall - $13

SNES

• Arkanoid - $25
• Thomas the Tank Engine - $15
• Star Fox - $16
• Tin Star - $14
• NHL 94 - $10
• Toy Story (bad label) - $10
• Speedy Gonzales - $10

GAMECUBE

• NEW Smash Ultimate Gamecube controllers (x4) - $45
• CIB Mario Kart Double Dash - $75
• Boxed Animal Crossing - $55
• Boxed Sonic Adventure 2 Battle - $50
• CIB mario Sunshine - $45
• CIB Sonic Adventure DX - $40
• Boxed Sonic Adventure DX - $35
• Boxed Rayman 3 - $30
• CIB SSX Tricky - $30
• Loose Metroid Prime - $25
• Loose Four Swords Adventure - $65
• Loose Zelda Collector's Edition - $50
• CIB Need for Speed Carbon - $25
• CIB Spyro Enter the Dragonfly - $25
• CIB Spyro Enter the dragonfly (players choice) - $25
• Star Fox Adventure For Display Only - $40
• CIB Time Splitters 2 - $30
• Boxed Spongebob Revenge of the Flying Dutchman - $20
• CIB Barnyard - $20
• Loose Super Monkey Ball 2 - $18

Nintendo 64

• Mario 64 Player's Choice with original Mario 64 Box and manual - $125
• CIB Lego Racers - $70
• Mario 64 - $40
• Mario Party - $40
• Pokemon Snap - $20
• Mario Golf - $30
• Mario Tennis - $25
• Mario Kart 64 - $45
• Jeopardy - $15
• Wave Race - $10

Wii

• CIB Metroid Prime Trilogy - $130
• CIB Wii Party - $50
• Boxed Skyward Sword - $25
• CIB Kirby's Return to Dream Land - $35
• Sleeved New Super Mario Bros wii - $25
• CIB Wii Play Motion - $20
• CIB Super Paper Mario - $20

Switch

• NEW Zamazenta & Zacian Switch Lite - $325
• NEW Smash Ultimate Special Edition - $250
• CIB Dragon Quest XI S Echos of an Elusive Age - $45
• Sealed Pokemon Diamond/Pearl Double Pack - $85
• Sealed Jump Force - $50
• CIB Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania Anniversary Edition - $25
• CIB Sonic Colors Ultimate Launch Edition - $30
• CIB Pokemon Shield - $40
• CIB Link's Awakening - $40
• CIB Kirby Star Allies - $35
• CIB Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - $55
• Sealed Octopath Traveler 2 - $45
• Sealed Neo World Ends with You - $40
• CIB Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu - $40
• CIB Skullgirls - $40
• CIB Disgaea 5 Complete - $40
• CIB Mario Tennis Aces - $40
• Sealed Diablo 3 - $40
• CIB Zoids - $20
• CIB Helmut - $20
• CIB Shining Resonance Refrain - $30
• CIB Stardew Valley - $35
• CIB Ghostbusters Remastered - $20
• CIB Bravely Default II - $35
• Sealed Fortnite Minty Legends - $15
• Sealed Fortnite Anime Legends - $15
• Sealed Trollhunters - $15
• Sealed Ben 10 Power Trip - $ 15
• CIB Nickelodeon All-star Brawl - $20
• CIB Big Brain Academy - $15
• CIB Team Sonic Racing - $15
• CIB Sega Genesis Classics - $23
• CIB Puyo Puyo Tetris - $15
• CIB The Sisters - Party of the Year - $15
• CIB Just Dance 2017 - $25
• CIB Splatoon 2 - $20
• Hotel Transylvania loose - $10

Gameboy

• Gargoyle's Quest - $40
• Pokemon Blue (bad label) - $45
• Pokemon Gold (bad label) - $45

GBC

• Wario Land 3 - $30

GBA

• WATA 9.2 A++ Factory Sealed Golden Sun - $1500
• WATA 9.4 A+ Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga - $1250
• CIB Pokemon Sapphire - $250
• CIB Doom Advance - $150
• Final Fantasy VI Advance - $100
• Mario Pinball Land - $20
• Castlevania Double Pack - $90
• Castlevania Circle of Moon - $30
• Kirby Amazing Mirror - $50

DS

• Pink DSi - $45
• Shaymin Pokemon Distribution Cartridge (EUR) - $900
• Darkrai Pokemon Distribution Cartridge (EUR) - $900
• Diddy Kong Racing Not for Resale - $20
• CIB Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky - $210
• CIB Pokemon White 2 - $220
• Sealed Assassin's Creed 2 Discovery - $35
• Sealed Shaun the Sheep - $50
• CIB Puffy Ami Yumi - $30
• CIB New Super Mario Bros - $20

3DS

• CIB Dragon Quest VIII - $120
• Sealed Gogo Kokopolo Double Pack - $120
• CIB Pokemon Ultra Sun - $50
• Sealed Pokemon Moon - $40
• CIB Pokemon X - $45
• CIB Pokemon Omega Ruby - $45
• CIB Pokemon Alpha Sapphire - $45
• Loose Pokemon Art Academy - $45
• Boxed Super Mystery Dungeon - $45
• CIB Monster High New Ghoul in School - $25
• CIB Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate - $22
• Boxed Zelda Ocarina of Time 3D - $25
• CIB Final Fantasy Explorers - $40
• CIB Hey! Pikmin - $40
• CIB Story of Seasons Trio of Towns - 50
• CIB Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley - $25
• CIB Harvest Moon Skytree Village - $25
• CIB Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate - $20
• CIB Monster Hunter Generations - $20

Sega Genesis

• Boxed Wings of Wor - $90
• Loose Truxton - $50
• Boxed Forgotten Worlds - $35
• Boxed Strider - $40
• Boxed Star Control - $30
• Boxed Raiden Trad - $65
• Boxed Raiden Trad (cart wouldn't read) - $45
• CIB Cool Spot - $20
• CIB X-Men - $25
• CIB Sonic Spinball - $20
• CIB 6-Pak - $25
• CIB Ms. Pac Man - $10
• loose Street Fighter 2 Special Champ Edition (destroyed manual) - $20

DREAMCAST (all disc only)

• Marvel vs Capcom clash of Super Heroes - $55
• Sonic Adventure - $35
• House of the dead 2 - $20
• Jet Grind Radio - $40
• Trick style - FREE IF YOU BUY 3 OTHER SEGA GAMES

PS1

• CiB Silent Hill Black label (gutted manual) - $160
• CIB Primal Rage Long Box - $60
• CIB Tekken Long Box - $60
• CIB Battle Arena Toshinden 2 Long Box - $40
• CIB Parasite EVE 2 - $110
• CIB Parappa the Rapper - $120
• CIB Mega Man Legends with damaged manual - $70
• CIB Resident Evil 3 Nemesis 2 Disc (damaged case) - $55
• CIB Alien Resurrection - $45
• CIB Metal Gear Solid - $50
• Boxed Metal Gear Solid - $40
• CIB Final Doom - $40
• CIB Ace Combat 2 - $35
• CIB Road Rash - $25
• CIB Chronicles of the Sword - $20
• CIB Krazy Ivan LONGBOX (damaged manual) - $18
• CIB NHL Face Off LONG BOX - $10
• CIB Arcade's Greatest Hits LONG BOX - $15

PS2

• CIB Shadow Hearts + CIB Shadow Hearts Covenant - $200
• CIB Predator Concrete Jungle - $70
• CIB Neo Contra (x2) - $25
• Boxed Bouncer - $20
• CIB God of War 2 - $20
• CIB The Guy Game - $100
• CIB Final Fantasy X - $10
• CIB Auto Modellista - $30
• CIB Disaster Report - $60
• CIB Raw Danger! - $35
• CIB Siren - $50

PS4

• Factory Sealed WATA 9.6 A+ Liar Princess and the Blind Princes - $100
• Factory Sealed Star Wars Bounty Hunter Premium Edition - $120
• Factory Sealed Kingdom Hearts 3 Deluxe Edition - $55
• Last Guardian - $23
• Heavy Rain & Beyond Two Souls Collection - $22
• Middle Earth Shadow of War Gold Edition (with steelbook) - $20
• Root Letter Last Answer with art book - $20
• Knack 2 - $18
• Shenmue 1 & 2 - $17
• World of Final Fantasy - $15
• Sealed Minecraft Dungeons Hero Edition - $22
• Atari Flashback Cassics Vol 1 - $15
• Far Cry 5 - $10
• Skyrim VR - $12
• Payday 2 The Big Score - $12
• Nioh 2 - $8
• Assassin's Creed origins - $8

PSP (all CIB)

• Trails in the Sky - $110
• Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling together - $35
• Ghost Rider - $17
• Star Wars battlefront Elite Squadron - $16

Xbox 360

• NCAA Basketball 10 - $110
• College Hoops 2k8 - $110
• College Hoops 2K7 - $25
• NCaa Basketball 09 - $35

Planning on making my first build after being a long-term laptop user. Can you provide any feedback/experiences with these? Mainly any compatibility issues, inaccessible slots, or something I may have missed in terms of features? Please don't mind the vender specific prices. I will still search for better prices than on Amazon.
Some of the basic requirements I had when making the list: * Covering gaming for at least a few years. I don't care much for the highest requirements 4 gaming. Examples of the games would be Elden Ring, Total War Warhammer, and Guild Wars. * Programming (compilation heavy) and virtualization. I'm considering upgrading the build to 64GB, but for now, 32 GB will be enough. * More CPU-heavy tasks with fast SSD access since some of the stuff I work on in my free time tends to be about scanning files. This means I will sometimes put a heavier load on CPU (Let's say 6+ cores at 100% for several minutes). * Ability to run some of the Adobe graphic design tools (no 3D rendering) for occasional use by my partner. It seems they will introduce some new AI features there, and I am not sure what kind of requirements that will bring. But at the same time, looking into the current generation of GPUs, I can't bring myself to invest in the pricier ones, and anything other than NVIDIA seems to be a no-go for this.
Extra notes: * I have some 1TB SSDs on hand that are not present in the build and wanted to use all of the slots I can from the motherboard. The one listed would go for the Windows partition (since it tends to bloat with the VMs). I might also add some HDDs for backups
The current build I cooked up:
PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 4.2 GHz 16-Core Processor	-
CPU Cooler	Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler	€116.89 @ Alternate
Motherboard	MSI MEG X670E ACE EATX AM5 Motherboard	€865.99 @ Alternate
Memory	Kingston Renegade Silver 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL32 Memory	€144.89 @ Alternate
Storage	Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive	€176.89 @ Alternate
Video Card	Asus TUF GAMING OC GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12 GB Video Card	€964.00 @ Alternate
Case	Fractal Design Torrent ATX Mid Tower Case	€206.89 @ Alternate
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x (2021) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	€166.89 @ Alternate
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	€2642.44
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-05-31 21:29 CEST+0200

Cardano is perhaps one of the more controversial cryptocurrencies in the space. Many people absolutely adore it and believe it’s the future. Many completely despise it. In this post I will go over the advantages and disadvantages of Cardano
If you prefer to read on substack, here is the link

Advantages

Parallel processing from the UTXO model

There are 2 ways to store users’ balances. The simpler and more intuitive model is the account model. This model is like how you have an account with a balance at a bank account. It’s very simple and easy to understand.
The other model is the UTXO model which is what Cardano uses. This model is more like a list of coins with the current owner of the coins. When users want to spend a coin, they will destroy the coin(s) they own and create new coin(s) with new owner(s). The new coin(s) need to have the same value as the destroyed coin(s).
This model is more complicated to understand at first, but when it comes to parallel processing, the UTXO model is much simpler. If you have 2 transactions trying to spend different coins, you can easily have different cores of a processor process each transaction. It’s only in cases where two transactions are trying to spend the same coin that you need to have agreement between the nodes on the order they came in.
With the account model it is more complicated to parallelize transactions but newer chains like Algorand and Solana have done it which makes the UTXO model less of an advantage compared to before.

UXTO’s and state bloat

The UTXO model also seems like the easier model to prevent state bloat. Cardano has set it up so that the more data you want to store in the UTXO set, the more ADA is required in the UTXO. This sets a limit on the maximum state size so prevents the state from growing too large. State bloat is a big issue with EVM based chains so this is a big advantage.

Native assets

Compared to the typical ERC20 style smart contract for managing secondary tokens in the network, native assets are a nicer solution.
Native assets have a much better UX as they are treated as first class citizens of the chain and don’t need things like setting approvals which is an annoyance with ERC20 tokens.
They are also much cheaper to use than ERC20 tokens as they are just a field in the UTXO instead of a smart contract that you need to interact with.

Easy to verify (Good decentralisation)

It’s very easy to verify the Cardano blockchain. Block sizes are small and occur roughly every 20 seconds. To verify the correct staker posted the block, you just have to verify a simple verifiable random function. This means you can run a Cardano node on lightweight and accessible hardware which allows for high decentralisation.
Currently the node specs might actually be too low. One of Cardano’s main selling points is using the UTXO model so it can do parallel transactions however nodes only require a 2 core CPU. Parallel processing is not much of an advantage with only 2 cores so I’d expect node specs to increase a bit in the future.

Low to zero inflation rate

Cardano’s current inflation rate is only 3% and is expected to slowly drop to 0% by around the year 2050. This inflation rate is already pretty low so gives Cardano good tokenomics for potentially being a store of value.

Fairly good distribution

It’s not as well distributed as Bitcoin or Ethereum but compared to the vast majority of cryptocurrencies, Cardano tokens are well distributed. Distribution tends to get better over time and generally more distribution happens when the price goes up. ADA is now a fairly old token and has gone through multiple hype cycles so should be fairly well distributed.
The initial distribution of tokens is not bad either. Again, not as good as Bitcoin or Ethereum who mainly distributed via mining but compared to most cryptocurrencies, not too many tokens went to the founders and VC’s. Most tokens were distributed via a public ICO which is the second best way after mining.

Large development fund

If you are not the first mover who already has the majority of developers, having the funds to develop the protocol and ecosystem is important.
Network effects are incredibly important for blockchains. Dapps and users attract more dapps and users to a chain. However it’s incredibly difficult to attract developers and users away from the status quo in the first place so being able to tempt them with money to bootstrap the ecosystem is a valid strategy. Cardano has a sustainable source of funds to do this through its treasury which gets built up through fees.

Designed for robustness

Cardano uses a consensus method called Ouroboros which is based on the longest chain style of consensus methods. Longest chain methods tend to be more robust than BFT based methods as they don’t need to receive a vote from every single participant to stay live and instead just use probabilistic finality based on how the recent participants have voted with their blocks. BFT style methods will shut down if more than 34% of the participants are offline but longest chain methods will keep going even if 99% are offline, albeit at a much slower speed.

Disadvantages

Slow

When you use the longest chain model for consensus, you get improved liveness but generally sacrifice speed. However, even taking that into account, Cardano is slow to reach a solid level of finality.
Consensus methods are voting models. With longest chain models, every time there is a fork, each validator votes on the chain they want to win by adding a block to the chain they prefer. Whichever chain ends up longest will have had the most votes so will be the winner.
The problem for Cardano is that only 1 validator votes every ~20 seconds and each vote doesn’t have much voting weight behind it. Ethereum also uses the longest chain model but each block added has many validators attesting to it so has much more voting weight behind it.
With Cardano, every epoch, a random set of validators, based on their stake, are selected to produce blocks/votes. These chosen validators will have 100% of the voting power within this epoch. For Cardano, an epoch 21,600 blocks. This means there are 21,600 votes over the epoch, each one represents 1/21600 or 0.0046% of the voting power for the epoch.
Ethereum has 100% of validators split into 32 equal committees every epoch and each committee is responsible for producing a block/vote. For Ethereum, an epoch is 32 blocks. This means each block represents 1/32 or 3.1% of the voting power.
It would take almost 4 hours for Cardano to have the same amount of voting weight on a block as Ethereum does after one 12 second block making it 1200x slower.
This method of comparison probably isn’t the best but it’s very hard to find a good way to model the voting weight for each Cardano block.

Low Throughput

Cardano is currently not scalable at all and is in fact one of the lowest throughput chains in the space being only able to handle around 7tps of basic transactions and more like 1-4tps when smart contract transactions are mixed in. Bitcoin which is known for low throughput does 7tps.
Increasing the node specs and future updates like Input Endorsers should increase the throughput significantly so it should get better over time. However, it’s unlikely to compete with high throughput chains like Algorand or Solana unless it makes the same sacrifices to decentralisation as them.

Lack of actual finality

Longest chain models do come with the major advantage of being robust but this comes at the cost of only having probabilistic finality.
More modern PoS longest chain models such as the ones used in Ethereum, Polkadot and Near, tend to use an Ebb and Flow model where they use the longest chain model to produce blocks but also have a BFT finality gadget running on top of it to provide finality. These models get the benefits of the longest chain model whilst also being able to provide finality.
Cardano does not have this and should think about adding a finality gadget on top of Ouroboros. There’s little to no downside of the Ebb and Flow model compared to a pure longest chain model.

No priority mechanism

Cardano has static fees. If there are more transactions than the network can handle then people don’t pay higher fees but instead join a queue and just have to wait. The mempool for Cardano is not that big so the queue gets full quickly. This means people have to keep posting their transaction over and over until there is room in the mempool again. There is no in-built method to guarantee your transaction reaches the blockchain during times of congestion.
If this scenario were to play out for a significant length of time, you will end up with users contacting stake pools directly and giving them a fee to guarantee their transactions will be included in blocks. If there is demand for block space, people will be willing to pay extra to get it, even if it’s outside of the protocol.
Fee markets are inescapable if there is not enough supply to match demand so whilst Cardano may not have an on-chain fee market, an off-chain fee market would develop if people actually used the chain. If a fee market is inevitable, it’s better to have it on chain where it’s transparent and fair.

Concurrency issue

Every block, each UTXO can only be spent by 1 person as when they are spent, they get destroyed. For simple transactions this is fine. If you own the UTXO then being the only person who can spend it is not an issue.
However smart contract UTXO’s are UTXO’s that can be spent by anyone. If more than one person within a block wants to interact with a DEX to buy a token, they can’t. The first person will spend the UTXO destroying it so the second person can no longer interact with it. This means you can’t have multiple people concurrently interacting with a smart contract per block.
To get around this limitation, apps have had to force users to interact with them off chain using centralised services. Here they are more prone to censorship or things like sandwich attacks.
The concurrency problem is not something that is unavoidable with the UTXO model. FuelLabs have created a smart contract language using UTXO’s that don’t suffer from the same issue but they sacrificed being completely deterministic to do it. Cardano could go in the same direction to get rid of this issue. The current situation where users are forced off chain already sacrifices determinism for users so FuelLabs’ UTXO model seems like the better option.

Hydra as the main scaling method

If you are unfamiliar with Hydra, I have a video explaining how it works here: https://youtu.be/Mx79j_-HRmk
Hydra can give potentially unlimited scaling between a small group of users as long as they are all online, have powerful enough computers to do it and are in complete agreement with each other. However the use cases for this are limited.
It’s very difficult to keep a large group of people in complete agreement over something for long periods of time and you are always prone to trolls who just like to disagree for no reason. This limits the number of people per Hydra head to around 10 people which limits its use cases.
Many dapps have community owned assets like liquidity pools which users interact with for things like trading or taking loans from. You can’t move these pools to hydra heads so the heads are limited to whatever assets the group of users bring with them. This means that the majority of defi is not possible on Hydra.
State channels like the lightning network (BTC) and Raiden (ETH) have largely been a failure but it looks like Cardano is still pursuing them heavily with Hydra. It’s hard to see why Cardano has so much confidence in a technology that doesn’t have a good track record.
Hydra is meant to be made up of two parts, Hydra heads and Hydra tails. Very little information has been revealed on Hydra tails so maybe they have something up their sleeve that will solve the problems with Hydra heads but we will have to wait and see.

Sidechains for scaling

Sidechains also seem like a big part of Cardano’s scaling roadmap. Sidechains don’t share security with Cardano and each sidechain needs to find its own security. This is incredibly difficult. Not only do side chains need a token with a large market cap, they need it to be well distributed as well if they want a good level of security. This is not an easy problem so the number of secure side chains will be limited.
Again, this is another technology that the rest of the crypto ecosystem has tried and deemed not good enough but Cardano seems to be spending a lot of resources pursuing them.

No slashing

If you are a staker then no slashing will be an advantage for UX but staking is meant to be about security first and foremost. and slashing brings added security to the protocol. Proof of stake protocols that don’t implement slashing are more open to bribe attacks or collusion between validators. In Cardano, if a validator adds a block to 2 conflicting forks there is no punishment.
If consensus methods are voting models and validators are being paid to choose a side, shouldn't there be a punishment if they vote for both sides?

Delegated stake being more prone to bribery attacks

If I am running a staking pool I may have staked with just 1 ADA out of my own tokens and have 64,000,000 ADA delegated to my validator node. In this scenario, I will have little alignment with keeping Cardano secure and yet I will have quite a bit of power within the ecosystem.
If an attacker came along with a large bribe for helping with an attack, it would be rational behaviour for me to accept the bribe. I don’t have a lot of tokens locked up that can be slashed and I don’t care if my 1 ADA loses some value.
No slashing combined with the majority of stake being delegated and not owned by the validators makes Cardano more prone to bribe attacks than other proof of stake protocols that do have slashing and don’t have delegation.

Untested by actual users

Cardano may spend a significant amount of time researching the best ways to do things but this has meant it doesn’t really have real world experience on what is needed. When I look at Ethereum or Solana’s roadmaps I see things addressing MEV and fee markets due to the unpredicted ways in which users used their chains.
For Cardano there’s nothing on MEV. Barely anyone is using Cardano so they don’t have a problem with it but if they ever start to get an active DeFi economy they will realise it’s inevitable and something that will need to be researched. We’ll then have to wait years for a solution to be researched and built.
When I look at Ethereum L2’s, I can see they already tried building state channel solutions and plasma chains which failed. Them failing with these experiments completely changed their roadmap and was one of the best things that happened because these failures eventually developed into rollups.
Cardano decided it wanted to use state channels with Hydra years ago and is only trying it now. The ideas it is developing haven’t actually been tested in the real world.

Conclusion

Despite listing a lot of disadvantages here, I actually like Cardano. The tokens are fairly well distributed, they prioritise keeping node specs modest and they value robustness. Their core values are great.
They also actually try different things. They aren’t trying to recreate Ethereum with slight improvements. They have their own methods for trying to achieve the same goals.
Unfortunately, different is not always better and they have been very slow to implement their ideas. To me when I look at Cardano I see a chain that is trying to become the ideal cryptocurrency from the ideas available in 2015. The rest of the space has largely moved on from experimenting with side chains and state channels but Cardano has not.
So whilst the core values may be good, they are too slow at implementing them. The rest of the space is racing ahead. By the time Cardano will have completed its roadmap and realised it’s not good enough, other projects will already be far ahead.
Looking at it as an investment, Cardano has largely lived on hype. Reality will never match the hype so when it launched smart contracts that didn’t solve all the world’s problems, it was seen as a disappointment.
I struggle to see Cardano being able to generate as much hype as it did in previous bull cycles. It can no longer live on the promise of smart contracts and Hydra solving everything as these both now exist on main net and neither have lived up to the hype. For this reason, I see it struggling to reach the same heights in the next bull cycle unless it gains significant adoption.
If you enjoyed this post, check out my previous posts for other cryptocurrencies. I’m planning to create posts like this for all the major layer 1 cryptocurrencies so subscribe to my substack if you don’t want to miss them.

Hey all,
Prioritizing local sales, Philadelphia PA 19104.
Prices are negotiable if marked OBO and if buy multiple items!
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MONITORS

Item	Timestamp	Price (Local /shipped)	Note
MSI Optix MAG341CQ 34" Curved VA 100Hz	https://imgur.com/a/VE6jGHL	$225 local / $250 shipped	In excellent condition, no scratches or scuffs. Comes with VESA mounting adapter. In original box with original stand. No HDMI/DP cable, no power cable.

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MOTHERBOARDS + CPU

Item	Timestamp	Price (Local /shipped)	Note
ASUS ROG MAXIMUS GENE XI Z390 mATX + monoblock (see note) + 9700K	https://imgur.com/a/RLG9fhH	$300 Local / $325 shipped (OBO)	Awesome motherboard that is hard to find nowadays. Great for OCing. Bundle with monoblock (not separating). I was not able to boot with onboard video output (HDMI and DP) and had to use a discrete GPU.

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AIO/Coolers/Fans

Item	Timestamp	Price (Local /shipped)	Note
Noctua U12S Redux Cooler	https://imgur.com/a/fhrIZ3V	$45 / $55 shipped (OBO)	Good condition, comes with 120mm fan and Intel+AMD mounting hardware.
Noctua Fan, Scythe, Antec Fan Lot (22 fans)	https://imgur.com/a/DmSMXJe See photos for list of fans/qty.	$225 local / $250 shipped (OBO)	$400+ worth of fans (based on amazon prices). Come as shown in photos. Comes with giant bag of Noctua cable extensions and rubber dampers (can get photo on request). See photos for list of fans/qty.

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CASES

Item	Timestamp	Price (Local /shipped)	Note
NCase M1 V6.1 Silver + Fractal Celsius+ S24 Dynamic + Clear plexiglass panel + extra top panel	https://imgur.com/a/RtDBikC	$250 local cash / $275 shipped (OBO)	In excellent condition. Comes with original accessories + 240mm AIO + 2 noctua A12x25 fans + 2 noctua A12x25 slim fans. Also comes with a plexiglass side panel + second top panel. AIO has some staining from previous use with Liquid Metal but has been thoroughly cleaned and works fine. INTEL mounting hardware.

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GPU

Item	Timestamp	Price	Note
Sapphire Nitro+ RX 5700XT Special Edition	https://imgur.com/a/5z80pTF	$150 local / $175 shipped	Works great, has special edition fans that have RGB

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PSUs
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Item	Timestamp	Price	Note
Corsair SF 750	https://imgur.com/a/82Pfa2u	$120 local / $135 shipped	Works great. Comes with power cable.

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Prioritizing local sales, Philadelphia PA 19104.
​
Please comment before sending PM. Thanks for looking!

I'm seeking advice on constructing multiple powerful, budget-friendly, and energy-efficient servers. I understand it's a balancing act to achieve all three, but I hope you grasp my intention.
Currently, I'm leasing three servers from a hosting company named Hetzner, based in Germany, where I also reside. The servers' specifications are as follows:

• Processor: 14 Cores / 20 Threads @ 2.5 GHz
• RAM: 64 DDR4
• Storage: 2x 1024 GB SSD and 1x 4TB HDD
• Price per server: 44.00€
• Total for three servers: 132€

I'm considering transitioning to my own hardware due to the need for expansion, as my resources are almost maxed out. I'm contemplating acquiring 1-2 more servers, or perhaps even doubling the existing number.
However, the challenge is the high electricity cost in Germany, currently standing at 0.35€ per kWh. I also plan to house the servers in a colocation rack in Frankfurt, which would incur an additional cost of 29.99€ per unit height, or 79.99€ for four units.
I'd greatly appreciate any recommendations or guidance on this matter.

I'm seeking advice on constructing multiple powerful, budget-friendly, and energy-efficient servers. I understand it's a balancing act to achieve all three, but I hope you grasp my intention.
Currently, I'm leasing three servers from a hosting company named Hetzner, based in Germany, where I also reside. The servers' specifications are as follows:

• Processor: 14 Cores / 20 Threads @ 2.5 GHz
• RAM: 64 DDR4
• Storage: 2x 1024 GB SSD and 1x 4TB HDD
• Price per server: 44.00€
• Total for three servers: 132€

I'm considering transitioning to my own hardware due to the need for expansion, as my resources are almost maxed out. I'm contemplating acquiring 1-2 more servers, or perhaps even doubling the existing number.
However, the challenge is the high electricity cost in Germany, currently standing at 0.35€ per kWh. I also plan to house the servers in a colocation rack in Frankfurt, which would incur an additional cost of 29.99€ per unit height, or 79.99€ for four units.
I'd greatly appreciate any recommendations or guidance on this matter.

Got a wood burning fireplace that I don't know when it was last cleaned (bought house 2 years ago). I've called around a bit and found these prices. Obviously All Aspects Chimney svcs is cheaper by about $100, but I'm curious if anyone has a strong opinion or wanted to throw another name in the hat.
All Aspects $189
All American $289
Ace $300
Chimney Experts $195 inspection, $80 cleaning

I'm seeking advice on constructing multiple powerful, budget-friendly, and energy-efficient servers. I understand it's a balancing act to achieve all three, but I hope you grasp my intention.
Currently, I'm leasing three servers from a hosting company named Hetzner, based in Germany, where I also reside. The servers' specifications are as follows:

• Processor: 14 Cores / 20 Threads @ 2.5 GHz
• RAM: 64 DDR4
• Storage: 2x 1024 GB SSD and 1x 4TB HDD
• Price per server: 44.00€
• Total for three servers: 132€

I'm considering transitioning to my own hardware due to the need for expansion, as my resources are almost maxed out. I'm contemplating acquiring 1-2 more servers, or perhaps even doubling the existing number.
However, the challenge is the high electricity cost in Germany, currently standing at 0.35€ per kWh. I also plan to house the servers in a colocation rack in Frankfurt, which would incur an additional cost of 29.99€ per unit height, or 79.99€ for four units.
I'd greatly appreciate any recommendations or guidance on this matter.

Hello! I need some advice. So, I bought a Novation Peak recently and I want to get a hardware sequencesampler to pair with it. I use Ableton as my DAW and the Push 2/3 seem great but I’d like to see if there are any alternatives. The things that I’m mainly looking for are: 1. A good MIDI sequencer (minimum 32 steps); 2. A competent sampler, so I can edit, chop etc. my recordings ; 3. Good integration with Ableton Live/ computer (I ain’t particularly looking for a standalone); 4. A price tag of under 1000 euros.

I'm seeking advice on constructing multiple powerful, budget-friendly, and energy-efficient servers. I understand it's a balancing act to achieve all three, but I hope you grasp my intention.
Currently, I'm leasing three servers from a hosting company named Hetzner, based in Germany, where I also reside. The servers' specifications are as follows:

• Processor: 14 Cores / 20 Threads @ 2.5 GHz
• RAM: 64 DDR4
• Storage: 2x 1024 GB SSD and 1x 4TB HDD
• Price per server: 44.00€
• Total for three servers: 132€

I'm considering transitioning to my own hardware due to the need for expansion, as my resources are almost maxed out. I'm contemplating acquiring 1-2 more servers, or perhaps even doubling the existing number.
However, the challenge is the high electricity cost in Germany, currently standing at 0.35€ per kWh. I also plan to house the servers in a colocation rack in Frankfurt, which would incur an additional cost of 29.99€ per unit height, or 79.99€ for four units.
I'd greatly appreciate any recommendations or guidance on this matter.

For the first time ever, I bought a guitar that's not a Jackson. I've been playing guitar off and on for about 30 years. I love this new guitar but I feel a little bad about it at the same time.
I pretty much exclusively play Vs. It seems like the mid to higher end King Vs have fallen by the wayside lately. I'm not complaining about the quality or playability but more that there aren't many finish options in the X series and above right now. The few options they do have are all split across different hardware setups like trem vs non-trem or 24 vs 22 frets. So for example if I wanted I higher quality white one, I'm stuck with a hardtail and only 22 frets. The company I ended up buying from has a pretty huge range of different finish and hardware options available for Vs and pretty much every other style of guitar.
I've been waiting and hoping Jackson would announce some other new finish options for the kv pro but now it's halfway through the year and to my knowledge they've not even teased any King V other than the X series Baldini.
I hope they will offer a little more variety in the future. I still want my next new guitar to be a Jackson. The thing that originally drew me to Jackson was their uniqueness and originality but I think they've somewhat lost touch with that lately. At least with the higher price point. I know there have been supply chain issues since the pandemic but plenty of other guitar brands are still finding ways to offer quality and variety.
I'm not at all trying to bash Jackson. They'll always be my #1 guitar brand. Seriously though, how many more plain black King Vs does the world really need?

Company Name	Title	City
Reliance Hotel Group	Staff Accountant	Daytona Beach
Goodwill Industries - Big Bend, Inc.	Retail Manager in Training	Panama City Beach
Harmony United Psychiatric Care	Psychiatrist - Outpatient Clinic Independent Contractor	Altamonte Springs
North American Risk Services	Accounts Payable Specialist - Hybrid	Altamonte Springs
Elevance Health	Prior Authorization Representative	Altamonte Springs
Park Square Homes	New Home Sales Counselor - Babcock Ranch Community	Apollo Beach
InBloom Autism Services	Registered Behavior Technician (RBT)	Apopka
Town Star	CashieSales Associate	Apopka
Carter's Ace Hardware of Hunt Club	Outside Sales/Accounts Manager	Apopka
H&H Recruiting	Class A Truck Driver	Arcadia
Concierge Care- Jacksonville, FL	CNA or HHA-All shifts needed! 4-12 hours	Atlantic Beach
Fenix Parts Inc	Loader Operator	Auburndale
RAC Brands	Delivery Specialist	Auburndale
Tb Isle Resort Lp	Retail Sales Associate	Aventura
Hollister Co. Stores	Hollister Co. - Key Holder, Aventura	Aventura
Orangetheory - Franchise #0316	Sales Associate	Aventura
HCA Florida Aventura Hospital	Patient Care Technician	Aventura
One Hope United	Therapist	Bartow
Titanium Solar	Inspection Technician	Bartow
PalletOne	Forklift Operator - $14/hr + Bonus	Bartow
Healogics, Inc	Clinical Nurse Manager (RN)	Bartow
Planet Fitness	Front Desk Associate	Bayonet Point
Aflac	Insurance Agent - Training Provided!	Bayshore
Complete Home Care	Home Health Aides	Big Cypress
United Water Restoration Group	Entry level Business Development Representative and Assistant	Boca Raton

Hey guys, here are some recent job openings in fl. Feel free to comment here or send me a private message if you have any questions, I'm at the community's disposal! If you encounter any problems with any of these job openings please let me know that I will modify the table accordingly. Thanks!

• Total budget (in local currency) and country of purchase. Please do not use USD unless purchasing in the US: 2400 GBP, with student discount
• Are you open to refurbs/used? Not really as it must be purchased through my grad-school administrator. Unless there is a good value proposition - want it to last 4 years min.
• How would you prioritize form factor (ultrabook, 2-in-1, etc.), build quality, performance, and battery life? Ultrabook or standard laptop form factor.
• How important is weight and thinness to you? Weight is of moderate importance.
• Do you have a preferred screen size? If indifferent, put N/A. 14"+
• Are you doing any CAD/video editing/photo editing/gaming? List which programs/games you desire to run. Run PyTorch/Jax/Numba locally and use cloud services. Fusion360 possibly.
• If you're gaming, do you have certain games you want to play? At what settings and FPS do you want? N.A
• Any specific requirements such as good keyboard, reliable build quality, touch-screen, finger-print reader, optical drive or good input devices (keyboard/touchpad)? Must last 4 years of degree (with appropriate care)
• Leave any finishing thoughts here that you may feel are necessary and beneficial to the discussion. Required for a 4 year PhD in Machine Learning and Robotics. So I would like the hardware to be somewhat relevant at the end of it. I am open to suggestions at the top end, but this money comes out of a budget available for consumables and conferences so I would ideally want good value. Potential considerations are M2 Macbook Air with 24GB unified ram (at a discounted price of ~1600). M2pro Macbook Pro 16GB unified ram and XPS 17 FHD model 16GB ram, RTX 3060M. I am leaning toward the M2 Macbook air with more ram.

Company Name	Title	City
MudPenny	Barista	Ada
Advanced Correctional Healthcare	PRN Physician	Allegan
Great Lakes Ace Hardware - 18416	Cashier	Allen Park
Admiral	CashieSales Associate	Alma
SpeedyQ Markets	Manager Trainee	Almont
Tri City Pizza Group Llc	Pizza Delivery Driver-3617	Alpena
Dunham's Sports	Key Team Leader	Alpena
A Place for Mom	Inside Sales Representative	Ann Arbor
Zomedica Inc.	Account Manager	Ann Arbor
European Wax Center - Ann Arbor, MI	Receptionist	Ann Arbor
Deloitte	Senior Salesforce Developer	Ann Arbor
Camel Energy Inc.	Regional Sales Manager - Residential Energy Storage System	Ann Arbor
Cognizant	Automotive Electrical /System Engineer	Auburn Hills
State Wire and Terminal	Warehouse Associate	Auburn Hills
Gardner-White Furniture	2nd Shift Delivery Helper	Auburn Hills
Samsung SDI America Inc	Systems Engineer	Auburn Hills
SpeedyQ Markets	Customer Service Representative	Bad Axe
Denver Cole Farms LLC	Extraction / Kitchen Technician	Bangor
Pettibone	Materials Supply Chain Supervisor	Baraga
Bronson Behavioral Health Hospital	Activity Therapist - CTRS	Battle Creek
Admiral	CashieSales Associate	Bay City
Helix Diagnostics	Phlebotomist - Bay City	Bay City
7-Eleven, Inc.	Store Employee	Bay City
Cardinal Senior Management	Care Aide/Med Tech - Belmont	Belmont
Snipes	CashieSales Associate	Benton Harbor

Hey guys, here are some recent job openings in mi. Feel free to comment here or send me a private message if you have any questions, I'm at the community's disposal! If you encounter any problems with any of these job openings please let me know that I will modify the table accordingly. Thanks!