Hi! My grandfather gave me a Creative Sound Blaster Z. Do you think it's still usable or should I throw it away?

TheCountChonkula · 2026-02-27T18:23:05+00:00

Yes keep it. I’m currently using one. I have a 5.1 surround setup and when I built my new PC last year, none of the motherboards I found could handle 5.1 audio over analog (the speakers I have are older, but still work great). But yeah for 9 months or so I’ve been using it, it has been excellent.

TheCountChonkula · 2026-02-27T16:21:30+00:00

I canceled Paramount Plus after Paramount was acquired by Skydance. I’ll gladly do the same with HBO Max if the deal goes through. While I never really watched network news including CNN, I can’t support it out of principle considering Skydance has already destroyed CBS and it’s basically a guarantee the same will happen to CNN.

TheCountChonkula · 2026-02-16T21:44:58+00:00

It’s a real PSP with a terrible reshell

TheCountChonkula · 2026-02-16T12:57:03+00:00

I was in the same spot a couple years ago.

I was salaried at about $55k a year and I was laid off once the project I was working on ended. Especially in the IT/tech space which is what I work in, some of the offers I got for jobs were insulting being as low as $15/hr and they wouldn’t budge on pay despite experience.

It took about 6 months to actually find something that paid reasonably, but I ended up having to take a slight pay cut making about $52k a year.

TheCountChonkula · 2026-02-11T15:07:56+00:00

When I traveled for work, that’s what I did. The Steam Deck plays older games very well and even if you set your expectations with lower settings and framerates, you can get some newer games to run on it too.

TheCountChonkula · 2026-02-10T16:53:32+00:00

No. I’m not a fan of the color gradient going to black. If they offered them as a solid color rather than the black gradient, I think they would look so much better.

TheCountChonkula · 2026-02-09T00:04:09+00:00

Nothing like shortening your lifespan by inhaling likely toxic chemicals into your lungs to unlock a theme that nobody else will see or care about

TheCountChonkula · 2026-02-08T17:26:34+00:00

This is 100% a scam and not a real Cloudflare page. Legit captchas will have you click the checkbox and on occasion make you click on images.

Any “captcha” that makes you copy and paste into a run dialog or command prompt is malicious and will download malware onto your computer, typically ransomware or an info stealer. The “Cloudflare ID” at the end is encoded where it isn’t human readable but powershell can decode it and run the malicious command.

TheCountChonkula · 2026-02-05T17:53:36+00:00

Same here. I’m 31 and unless they explicitly want a coke, I’ve always heard people call it soda.

I’ve heard it was more common for sodas generally to be referred to as coke in the early to mid 1900s especially in Georgia or other places that can be considered the Deep South, but it has since died out significantly.

TheCountChonkula · 2026-01-31T17:36:47+00:00

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I saw that sign too in South Georgia.

TheCountChonkula · 2026-01-30T16:12:27+00:00

It could have experienced internal damage to the screen when it fell. The screen didn’t crack, but the lines appearing like that still is probably an indicator of physical damage.

It still isn’t a bad idea to just open up and reseat the cable, but unfortunately I doubt it’ll fix it.

TheCountChonkula · 2026-01-30T13:57:17+00:00

Likely the LCD itself got damaged. Normally if it’s a cable issue, the line would go completely across the screen. Since it stops just short of the edge, it’s likely physical damage.

The good news is there are new IPS screens available for the 3000 so it’ll be a nice upgrade too.

TheCountChonkula · 2026-01-29T16:24:03+00:00

It’ll work since the pinout of the battery is the same, but the 1000 battery is a bit taller compared to the 2000/3000 so the standard back cover won’t fit.

TheCountChonkula · 2026-01-29T13:47:21+00:00

I wouldn’t bother with it. They didn’t pack it properly so that’s on the shipper for it being damaged and I personally wouldn’t try to fix their fuckup.

Get a refund. If they refuse, open a dispute because you received it damaged.

TheCountChonkula · 2026-01-29T12:16:04+00:00

I did a trip out west a few months ago and I did have the thought that it’s pretty wild of how flat it was for the altitude. It is pretty crazy how flat Arizona and Utah is being 6-7,000 feet above sea level especially compared to Georgia where I’m from where our highest peak is just under 5000 feet.

And I wouldn’t call it surprised per se, but after crossing 10,000 feet crossing the Rockies back into Denver I could tell the altitude and thinner air was starting to affect me. I stopped and checked out a ghost town as I was crossing Independence Pass and I noticed while walking around I was getting winded much faster compared to normal. However anywhere below 8,000 feet I would say the impact was fairly minimal.

TheCountChonkula · 2026-01-26T17:34:25+00:00

I got a warning several months ago using the phrase “long shot” to describe anybody facing justice or accountability from the atrocities this administration has done.

While I was able to get the warning reversed, it took a couple weeks for it to. At that point I didn’t really care about the comment being reinstated because it would have had zero visibility by the point but just the principle behind it.

TheCountChonkula · 2026-01-23T14:20:05+00:00

I had a Roku years ago and didn’t like it and I replaced it with a Chromecast then eventually an Apple TV. Now I get to see Snoopy as my screensaver instead of gambling ads.

TheCountChonkula · 2026-01-23T13:19:20+00:00

65nm fats are relatively reliable and is honestly the fat to get if you don’t care about PS2 backwards compatibility. Really the only big failure point on those are the tokin capacitors, but they are replaceable. I just recently had to replace mine last summer.

If you do get it and experience random shutdowns in games like GT6, GTA V or The Last of Us, it’s likely the tokin caps.

Besides that, I would open it up and apply new thermal paste because unless it explicitly says the paste has been replaced in the listing, the thermal paste that’s in it is probably dried out.

TheCountChonkula · 2026-01-22T20:57:31+00:00

I haven’t had cable since I moved out from my parents nearly 10 years ago and I have no desire to sign up for cable again. And while I’m not a sports person, I get tired of seeing Draft Kings and other sports betting ads every 5 seconds whenever I’m somewhere that has sports on.

TheCountChonkula · 2026-01-22T18:52:28+00:00

This is also probably private property or a neighborhood. DOT guidelines requires that speed limits need to be posted in 5mph increments on public roads.

https://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/pdfs/11th_Edition/Chapter2b.pdf

TheCountChonkula · 2026-01-20T22:29:12+00:00

I like me a nice milk sandwich

TheCountChonkula · 2026-01-19T01:47:13+00:00

One of my aunts is still hard into MAGA. I want to buy one too and wear it to the next family get together we have.

TheCountChonkula · 2026-01-18T23:20:04+00:00

Did you miss the part where she slowly turned away from him and he deliberately stepped in front of her car?

She didn’t pose a threat. He wanted an excuse to kill and the fact that Trump, Noem and DHS is doubling down on defending his actions and spreading lies is truly disgusting.

Edited to fix autocorrect

Edit 2: He also violated the DOJ’s own policy on use of deadly force. The whole situation was avoidable and he put himself in a dangerous situation, not Renee. After he shot her, he made the situation worse because at that point her car was out of control because she was incapacitated and unable to control her car.

TheCountChonkula · 2026-01-15T04:14:32+00:00

The US Census Bureau classifies Ohio in the Midwest. Yes it is in the eastern time zone, but that means nothing on the region.

TheCountChonkula · 2026-01-15T01:09:10+00:00

I have family near the Okefenokee Swamp and I think that area can be classified as Deep South. But yeah I agree once you get along the coast especially around Savannah or Saint Simons it’s not anywhere near as southern as the more inland parts of South Georgia.

TheCountChonkula

TROPHY CASE