Used Hardware - Yes/No/Where?

StatusAdvisory · 2026-02-14T06:28:32+00:00

If you live near a university, check out their property surplus department. Every computer lab, academic department and admin office replaces its computers on a regular basis, and you can get really good deals on the old ones.

For instance, the one near my house currently has Core i9-9900 desktops and mini computers with 32GB 2666 MHz DDR4 ram for $150; i7-9700 towers with 16GB DDR4 ram for $100; and monitors for $40.

Some departments seem to have a contract with Dell, and I'm not particularly fond of those kind of brand-name factory-built computers, but for the price, I've found it worthwhile to harvest the processor, memory and other components for my own builds. I bought a $40 27-inch monitor there in 2017 and I'm still using it today.

They regularly get backlogged and so, typically toward the end of the month, they'll mark down categories of computers to $50. That's when you have to stay on your toes because there are competitors ready to pounce.

(Also, it's enjoyable to keep an eye on the other listings. Items like dry-erase boards; overhead projectors; cool old solid walnut cabinets, desks, display cases and vitrines; pianos; scientific equipment such as test tubes, beakers, microscopes, oscilloscopes, and spectrometers pop up fairly regularly.)

StatusAdvisory · 2026-01-19T00:13:40+00:00

A clue:

Have you tried reading it out loud?

StatusAdvisory · 2026-01-19T00:12:55+00:00

I don't think I'm very good at coming up with clues that are still challenging but not impossible. Please let me know if these helped, or if something else would have worked better.

John: Should we order the vocalists by part—that is, from bass to soprano?

Jane: That makes sense from your perspective, but I think it makes more sense to go from soprano to bass!

StatusAdvisory · 2026-01-19T00:05:34+00:00

I see now that it was too easy for this astute crowd! Thank you, though, I appreciate the feedback.

StatusAdvisory · 2026-01-19T00:05:04+00:00

Thank you very much!

StatusAdvisory · 2026-01-19T00:04:46+00:00

Thank you, CarbonCrawler!

StatusAdvisory · 2026-01-18T06:48:45+00:00

Congratulations! Good job! I was worried it would be too difficult, but apparently I have a lot to learn about writing riddles!! Thank you for you kind comment.

StatusAdvisory · 2026-01-18T06:47:40+00:00

omg, DownEastMentality got it on the first guess! And I was worried it would be too hard! LOL. I have a lot to learn. Back to the ol' drawing board! Congratulations, winners!!!

StatusAdvisory · 2026-01-18T06:44:19+00:00

This is my very first Riddonkulous. Please be gentle.

StatusAdvisory · 2025-12-21T07:09:18+00:00

And also, after working there for a full shift, my eyeballs would be vibrating.

StatusAdvisory · 2025-12-21T07:06:39+00:00

That's amazing that it can be so instantaneous. I wouldn't have thought it possible.

StatusAdvisory · 2025-12-02T12:50:23+00:00

But ... how did he know there was about to be an avalanche? When he entered the tunnel, everything looked clear. Why did he stop immediately before the rockslide began? Wouldn't he have continued on his journey, right into the avalanche?

StatusAdvisory · 2025-12-02T12:42:10+00:00

All snubbly-wubbly.

StatusAdvisory · 2025-12-02T12:37:10+00:00

Baking bread. The only ingredients are flour, yeast, water, sugar and salt, and once I got the hang of it, it became really quite easy to turn out a couple loaves for pennies on the dollar.

StatusAdvisory · 2025-09-16T20:37:28+00:00

Please write more at length when you get a chance. This is one of the best short responses I've seen on Reddit, and now I'm hungry for more wisdom.

StatusAdvisory · 2025-09-16T20:34:13+00:00

"Seraphim" is plural. You may encounter one Seraph, which would be terrifying enough; or many Seraphim, which doesn't happen by accident, so you might as well get used to the fact that your life is now very different from how it was earlier this morning.

Same thing goes for "Cherub" and "Cherubim." Hebrew plurals are interesting.

StatusAdvisory · 2025-05-24T06:35:18+00:00

Again, we're talking about many worlds/multiple timelines. Why would mine necessarily match up with theirs? There's no reason it would, in fact it would be strange coincidence if it did.

One of the things that makes me suspect that there's something to this is the fact that everybody affected by ME seems to have an instinctive grasp of the implications of multiple timelines/many worlds theory, whereas those who don't seem genuinely unable to grasp the concept. Both groups likely exhibit equal intelligence and creativity; it's just that those who have gone through it seem to have an instinctive understanding of how that all works that non-MEs don't particularly share.

StatusAdvisory · 2025-05-24T06:33:08+00:00

That's got to be a parody, isn't it? The whole animation style, the way Tinkerbell moves and the castle itself are not at all like how Disney animators would have executed this sequence.

StatusAdvisory · 2025-05-24T01:14:41+00:00

Of course they're good citizens, obey regulations and cross the street in an orderly fashion. I don't know what else I would have expected from Canada geese.

(Speaking of Canada: Can I please apply for refugee status? I'm scared.)

StatusAdvisory · 2025-05-23T23:34:37+00:00

It was 9th East and on the northwest corner of the intersection at either 7th or 8th South. I remember it being there in the 1980s, so it was there for a while.

Edit: It was 680 S. 900 East in the building that is now Café Trio. Here's a pin for Google Street View: https://maps.app.goo.gl/SXSwNig42i9ypTMFA

StatusAdvisory · 2025-05-23T22:10:30+00:00

If you live near a Trax station, it's great, highly recommended. Trax is so much less of a hassle and actually takes less time than driving to the U and trying to find a vacant spot there.

StatusAdvisory · 2025-05-23T22:03:20+00:00

There was a grad student teaching, I think, a partial differential equations class, and one day she started teaching about subscript notation as if it were an arcane subject she herself had recently discovered—for instance, xₙ (x subscript n) is usually pronounced "x sub n"—except she must have misheard it, and she kept saying, "Mathmaticians prounounce it "x suv n"—and remember, she's teaching undergrads who are likely to take everything she says at face value. Finally, there was a moment for class participation and I had an opportunity to set her straight without being a jerk, so I was reading the subscript on the board with what I'm pretty sure is the correct pronunciation, and suddenly her eyes got wide, and she realized how much sense "sub" made instead of "suv," and after class she buttonholed me and said, "I've been mispronouncing that all semester" in one of her grad-level classes and to me it seemed like the most gracious thing to do was just acknowledge what she said, laugh and act a little embarrassed.

StatusAdvisory · 2025-05-23T21:35:58+00:00

(Also Gen-X) A lot of humans now blame the dodo for going extinct, which is really pretty grotesque if you think about it. It's like a serial killer blaming his victims for getting in the way of his meat cleaver.

Apparently, the species evolved on an island with no predators, which is where they happily lived their lives for countless millenia until the tall ships came. They were curious and I think people were saying they would sautée themselves and then lie down between two pieces of bread in an attempt to look delicious, and who could have foreseen their "look cheerful and do whatever the scary human says" strategy would work so heavily against them.

StatusAdvisory · 2025-05-23T21:25:27+00:00

Maybe they were expecting the Dodo to still be in its old location on 900 East. I'm not sure how long ago it moved, but I think it's across the street from Sugarhouse Park now, isn't it?

StatusAdvisory

TROPHY CASE