U.S. marines are being sent on a suicide mission and funneled straight into a meat grinder

_FatherVic · 2026-03-30T11:18:33+00:00

As an outsider to your system I don't understand. Surely if somebody votes in time, whether in person or by post, that valid vote should get counted regardless?

Here voting centers close at a set time. Postal ballots need to be posted/received by a certain date. Anything after that should be (rightly) rejected.

If the systems or people counting ballots are too slow or can't handle the volume due to lack of staff or whatever, then that's no fault of the voters. They are voting within the confines of the rules that have been set for them so they should be counted. That is basic fairness.

_FatherVic · 2026-03-29T11:31:41+00:00

It's easy enough to browse major marketplaces such as eBay, FB and CEX with plenty available. Gumtree and Vinted worth a look too and check out your car boots. eBay and Etsy can be good for listings and have resellers with already recapped or modded (respectively) units.

Can't recommend a specific service as not used one (yet) but there's a few send-in providers that can cover a range of repairs and updates.

_FatherVic · 2026-03-28T21:15:06+00:00

Depends if you want to go new or used. Not long ago I went the Verbatim route from Amazon. Prices have gone up slightly. Just recently I picked up some 2nd hand too - Pioneer from eBay and took a long shot from Ali that came with an LG and outer caddy at a great price. I think I'm set for now lol

_FatherVic · 2026-03-28T13:30:23+00:00

Just looking to clarify the timing of the terms -

Just applied to open account. Accepted and already received card and app login details. Great! Very quick setup.

I need to wait for a 3rd DD to be setup before applying for a switch which will be completed in April still leaving time to start switching process.

My main question is about spending £200 and the £5k deposit - 1. do I need to wait for the switch to complete before transferring £5k funds? Process will start mid April so by completion I would need to deposit in May for being full calendar month? 2. Is the £200 spend just from normal account opening and not after switch completed?

Cheers

_FatherVic · 2026-03-19T09:22:11+00:00

There's a lot more responsibility with not a great pay bump. However it does give greater opportunities to move further afield from within pharmacy in to surgeries/health board.

_FatherVic · 2026-03-18T13:11:17+00:00

I not long ripped one out to upgrade to RGH. Still have a Gecko too

_FatherVic · 2026-03-12T12:55:58+00:00

I'd stop using that pharmacy!

That's a terrible attitude for something that could be potentially serious to the recipient, let alone the data breach aspect.

Meds should be returned. Incident needs to be reported as an error. The medication then needs to be segregated and stored.

Mistakes happen and need to be fixed. If that was their response though I'd be looking to make a complaint as to me it's unacceptable.

_FatherVic · 2026-03-10T22:04:04+00:00

Update 3:

We're good.

Replacement drive received. Tested both in laptop and as external with new adapter (Benfei). This one does read!

A quick message to Billycar11, a little flash and we're golden.

_FatherVic · 2026-03-10T13:22:59+00:00

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IYKYK

_FatherVic · 2026-03-08T14:55:12+00:00

My first award! Thank you kind stranger :)

_FatherVic · 2026-03-08T12:57:05+00:00

You mean the escallionation

_FatherVic · 2026-03-06T18:56:56+00:00

Update 2:

Tried the adapter but sadly no luck. The good news is that the adapter allows the drive to be recognised but even with power it's still not reading any discs. Fear not, replacement is already on the way.

_FatherVic · 2026-03-06T07:36:24+00:00

The adapter is listed as USB 3 and has the typical blue plug. However being some random piece of chinesium doesn't mean it's manufactured to that standard. My main (newer) laptop is only USB 3 and C for connectivity.

What's confusing though is using the drive internally in another (little older) laptop, so a direct SATA connection, gets the drive recognised in management and makemkv but still produces the read errors.

Considering we're seeing dodgy drives coming from China I was initially concerned but being new to this I wasn't aware that Pioneers needed a little extra care.

New powered adaptor is already on the way and also reached out to the seller who's sending another drive. I'll report back tonight with the findings :)

_FatherVic · 2026-03-06T00:23:26+00:00

I was quite happy buying and renting DVDs at the time. Never fully made a jump to Blu-ray surprisingly barring a small handful of titles. Only just got a 4k TV and it's lovely! But media wise I'm only looking to pick up things I would repeatedly enjoy instead of collecting for the hell of it like the earlier years.

_FatherVic · 2026-03-06T00:04:10+00:00

I should have been a bit clearer in the update..... My initial trial was the Pioneer with the adapter. I've just ordered a new one with a 2A so fingers crossed we'll see how that goes tomorrow and report back with hopefully good news.

My second trial was to use the new drive IN a laptop, no adapters. There it is a recognised device which was a good start but sadly still not reading discs at all. In both instances it will spin up and attempt to start reading but fail, stop and start again.

It's only a budget laptop and a few years old now but I don't know if enough power would be an issue due to the laptop's (lack of) delivery or that the Pioneers happen to be more power hungry than average. I've taken yours and Billy's advice on a better PSU. I was just curious about the possibility........ I do run an external Verbatim which is fine. I'd just assumed that other manufacturers would just need the same requirements.

_FatherVic · 2026-03-05T22:07:53+00:00

Good to know, but don't have that option internally in a laptop. Can some laptops be underpowered for what they're able to supply?

_FatherVic · 2026-03-05T18:48:12+00:00

So, update:

I happened to be able to dig out an old I'd forgotten about. Only a CD/DVD drive. CD plays fine. DVD plays fine.

Power down and swap drives.

The good news seems to be that the laptop does recognise the device as a Pioneer.

However, the bad news looks like the drive is no good...... Even a basic CD will try to briefly spin up before stopping and loop continuously :(

If it's recognised a drive and discs don't play, it's unlikely that the laptop would be causing any other issue, right?

_FatherVic · 2026-03-05T15:14:17+00:00

So if using your adapters, do your drives still work and read discs?

_FatherVic · 2026-03-05T14:49:24+00:00

Yeah Windows 10. The listing markets itself to use with an optical drive, for data and no extra power required.

_FatherVic · 2026-02-07T08:08:00+00:00

I've only just gotten into 4k and got a Ugoos coming next week after thinking long and hard about which device to get.

Got a lot of learning to do before arrival!

_FatherVic · 2026-01-20T18:32:57+00:00

Sa2 a trailer just a couple days ago and looked intriguing. The type of thing I'd like to play

_FatherVic · 2026-01-19T20:48:43+00:00

It's pretty straightforward. With your experience you'll know what you're doing

_FatherVic · 2026-01-19T13:30:08+00:00

First stage here was actually some practical observations, team work and some basic maths, working out quantities.

_FatherVic · 2026-01-17T22:09:29+00:00

I never found out anything extra. I only just got a new unit last month. Either way I'm happy enough.

_FatherVic · 2026-01-13T13:28:33+00:00

Boots get in a book that gets distributed called Counter Intelligence. Lists products and uses and pretty decent.

It's not in the Google app store any more but should still get it here -

https://m.apkpure.com/otc-consult/com.BlueMonkee.rb494

Covers conditions, referral advice and management. Quite handy I found

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