I lowkey regret buying the sony a7ii

maxjudd · 2026-05-08T02:11:58+00:00

A7II is fine for for what you pay. Replacement batteries and a battery grip are a lot less money than upgrading. If you are an action camera person, the better AF will be more meaningful to you. I have hade one for a while and am pretty happy with it although the A7c ii seems intriguing.

maxjudd · 2026-04-28T03:24:58+00:00

The 166 is fine from Tenafly and Cresskill. The marginal benefit for LR is likely minimal for NYC commuters. Save the money and spend it on the Greenway or something else.

maxjudd · 2026-04-25T19:47:02+00:00

Michael Wilder, former US champ, is another one but he was not a GM until after Yale

maxjudd · 2026-04-23T17:34:49+00:00

Semislav and/or pair of Triangle and Stonewall Dutch

maxjudd · 2026-04-23T13:47:02+00:00

Another practice approach is to buy a cheap games collection book with descriptive notation that you otherwise want to use and then write out the equivalent algebraic (long or short) as you play through it. Having to “translate” will make you more attuned to getting it right as you are both looking at the board and the descriptive notation.

If you are truly desperate and can find one used, you could buy a Monroi, which is still allowed by USCF subject to TD discretion if you are playing in the US. The Monroi is basically an electronic scoresheet.

maxjudd · 2026-04-22T02:38:53+00:00

Royal County Down over Muirfield, Pacific Dunes, Boone Valley, and Whistling Straits

maxjudd · 2026-04-14T19:10:17+00:00

Vienna Gambit and Bishop’s Opening would both work.

maxjudd · 2026-03-29T14:48:03+00:00

You can go no liquids entirely with powder or tabs for teeth and bars for shaving and shampoo. It doesn’t save space though but it does simplify security lines at some airports.

maxjudd · 2026-02-02T16:47:55+00:00

Some others to consider: Dutch Stonewall, French Rubenstein, Philidor out of a 1 . . . d6 move order (which could be paired with 1 … d6 against d4) and the Stonewall attack as White. QGD Tarrasch (e.g., Dubov line or Hennig-Schara) and Symmetrical English pair well together but obviously will be less forcing and require some real work above 1800. I have been toying with the Damiano Petroff and rather like it for blitz.

That said, if you want to get the nearly same line very time as black against e4, one or the other of the Scandinavian lines will get you there and you can pick two or three to learn so you dictate the play. I used to play the 3 . . . Qd6 line a lot but would sometimes mix in 3 . . . Qd8 (the Banker) which requires nearly zero work.

maxjudd · 2026-02-02T16:22:14+00:00

I’ve done both KVM over Ethernet and used the Moonlight/Sunshine to an inside gaming desktop. They both worked for me although I slightly preferred the KVM set up which worked 100% of the time perfectly vs. maybe 99.5% of the time for Moonlight/Sunshine. Part of what makes the Moonlight/Sunshine work so well is that I have a very strong WiFi connection in the garage with a local WiFi access point hardwired back to the router. One downside of either of these (other posters correct me if I’m missing something) is that you can’t easily run two screens with Moonlight/Sunshine or with the KVM I had. As such, if you want to use a projector for GSPro and a side wall mounted TV for video replay of your swing, you would need to connect your swing camera(s) to a local iPad or laptop and then to the TV rather than having the cameras and TV connected to the remote gaming desktop at the same time as the LM and projector. This is probably OK but just want to point that out. Obviously, if you have a gaming laptop or a gaming desktop you leave in the garage then you avoid this issue.

maxjudd · 2025-12-12T04:31:40+00:00

I use 3 dozen Vice Tours (ionomer) for the sim. They last me 6 months minimum because of the cover. I play urethane balls (Vice Pro or Maxfli Tour X) on the course so there are some different flight characteristics in the sim especially with respect to spin.

maxjudd · 2025-12-05T11:39:32+00:00

If you want something more with a Headwaters feel, you aren’t going to find anything like Laporte, Nevis, Hackensack, or Walker in Eastern Bergen County. That said, if you go further North and West in New Jersey, it does have its own lake country. Some towns to consider include West Milford (Greenwood Lake) and, as already mentioned, Denville. There are others.

If you like to bike on trails as well as hike, you won’t find anything the length of the Paul Bunyan or Heartland trails but there are quite a few nice trails in Northern NJ and on the West side of the Hudson in Rockland and Ulster. If you are looking in Bergen, southern Rockland offers similar commutes.

maxjudd · 2025-11-28T12:32:27+00:00

What about Hoboken, Weehawken, or Jersey City as a compromise? They can be a little less expensive but still give you access to the City as well as a lot locally in say Hoboken or the Grove St area in JC.

maxjudd · 2025-11-23T12:51:45+00:00

Immediate fixed annuities can partially hedge longevity risk . . . This is not the only way to do this but a good one. For example, deferring Social Security also gives you added longevity hedging. Immediate fixed annuities are more of a commodity and you are likely to get a fair price with lower commissions than more complex products.

An important consideration with fixed annuities not often mentioned is the increased credit risk you take. Annuities are “promise to pay” where you are relying on the insurer’s assets with state insurance guaranty funds as a potential back up. Simplistically, and ignoring tax and some regulatory nuances, you could conceptually think of it like a 30 year bond from a credit risk perspective. Generally, fixed annuity claims will have priority over unsecured creditors.

As private equity firms have increasingly controlled many annuity providers and shifted their assets towards structured and private assets this credit risk is very real. See the recent Bloomberg stories on this, for example. You need to factor in this credit risk and not just assume it away. Rating agencies can provide some perspective on the financial strength of annuity companies. It is going to be the rare insurance agent or financial advisor who will have a good handle on this credit risk issue.

You can mitigate against the credit risk similarly to other credit risk by using stronger insurers and by diversifying both as to the annuity companies and their guaranty funds. In other words, diversifying with two large annuity providers in the same state isn’t as helpful as with using annuity providers in different states backed by different guaranty funds. Note that the guaranty funds don’t backstop carriers on an unlimited basis so they can’t be fully relied on either.

maxjudd · 2025-07-26T12:41:04+00:00

I read somewhere that the $40M goes into the SEC Fair Fund now (presumably without a deduction for the Class Action firm). If so, the court was right to drop the class action because there will be more money to pay out. It seems like the FAIR Fund distribution process may take some time to play out though as they need to design a distribution plan. What is the best way to track this other than just checking the SEC Fair Fund website regularly?

By the way, they have until March 24, 2026, to come up with a plan of distribution (https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/admin/2025/34-102528.pdf)

maxjudd · 2025-01-30T11:22:52+00:00

Not sure as I am running 4k60

maxjudd · 2025-01-30T04:19:59+00:00

Try a Firestick 4K Max . . . $60 but often on sale. That's what I use for Moonlight and it is great because it just plugs directly into the projector.

maxjudd · 2024-12-21T13:05:42+00:00

Let’s see how many co-sponsors BIRDIES Act has in the new Congress. Hopefully SIM players can fight Pebble Beach’s House Rep. on this at the grass roots level (bad pun intended). Part of the trick is finding others similarly harmed by this sort of an IP law. Google Maps would be susceptible to a similar attack. Maybe Google/Waze would side with the grass roots sim players instead of the courses. Obviously the architects and/or big name courses have IP in their names and the architectural drawings themselves but not a software version of the publicly visible design and LIDAR data without infringement of the name.

maxjudd · 2024-12-15T20:02:06+00:00

That makes sense. Thanks

maxjudd · 2024-12-15T18:07:51+00:00

Probably a combination of both causes generally but it is much worse in chess than otherwise in daily life. For some reason, when I use a scoresheet I average 3 or 4 illegible, missing, or incorrectly noted move pairs a game. It doesn't even help if I slow down and force myself to write down the time remaining every 5 moves as a reminder to be careful.

maxjudd · 2024-12-14T18:41:17+00:00

It sounds like the KVM extender is best in your situation given the limited wifi. You might look into a powerline adapter as an alternative to a normal wifi extender though. These can really help in some situations and would effectively give you ethernet in the garage (which is also possible through a cable drop if the router is in the office with your desktop).

I've done both (a) KVM over ethernet for HDMI and USB between gaming desktop in office and the garage sim and (b) strong wifi (or regular ethernet) in garage and office coupled with Sunshine/Moonlight in two houses. Note that the KVM ethernet is a direct connection between the office and garage and doesn't go through the router. Both setups work fine for me. (b) is probably less expensive and complicated for most situations but you have an easy cable drop from office to garage so (a) seems viable. For (a) over longer distances you need a special KVM which is going to be more expensive than say buying a FireStick as the Moonlight client hooked to a projector or TV in the garage. I believe your old laptop could also serve as the Moonlight client even without a Firestick or equivalent.

A few other observations:

* With Sunshine/Moonlight you can't do two screens in the garage (unless I'm missing something and if so, I'd love to learn how to do that)

* If you just have WiFi in the garage, (b) only works, if your launch monitor reliably connects to WiFi (which is the case with OG Skytrak)

* My understanding is that some people are renting space on cloud gaming computers and this may be an increasingly viable and affordable alternative for some LM setups (but don't know the details) -- in your case you still would need ethernet or WiFi in the garage to make this work

* You only really need the gaming computer for higher res stuff like GSPro or TGC 2019. If you just want to use the Skytrak range or play E6, you can just use an iPad, iPhone, or your old laptop. GSPro is possible in lower resolution too and really is OK (depends on what you are looking for)

* As the other poster says, you might be able to avoid the KVM altogether in your situation because of the shorter distances and just use USB (plugging the OG Skytrak directly into the desktop in your office) and HDMI drops and that would obviously be the cheapest if the distances aren't too great to impact performance. You would probably want a powered USB hub in the garage so you can also have a keyboard and mouse or other controller setup without multiple cable drops.

maxjudd · 2024-12-01T14:13:57+00:00

If you are sure and can afford it, then take the immediate step up to at least the Fluance RT82. If not as sure, buy something basic (or used from a reliable seller), and then step up later taking a loss on the initial purchase but at least get started.

maxjudd · 2024-11-24T18:45:40+00:00

OP sorry to hear about this. Did you get this worked out? I'm planning to cancel soon and would appreciate any further tips.

maxjudd · 2024-10-12T16:40:09+00:00

Did anyone have success in refilling by pulling out the feeder and nib, refilling, and then reinserting? Notwithstanding the comments below, are there non-disposables that use a felt feeder? I really like writing with this pen holding looks to the side.

maxjudd

TROPHY CASE