Thru the late 90's and 2000's, I sat through presentations for new battery technologies a few times every year. None of them have ever replaced Lithium Ion (yet).

I'm not saying that it will never happen... I'm sure it will eventually. But there is no predicting when it will actually get invented; and just because someone is hyping it, doesn't make it real.

A lot of storage will be needed for solar power to get us through the nights. If all other thing are equal (and I don't know that they are), Sodium Ion battery might be good for that storage, where weight doesn't matter.

Something like this happened to my cousin last fall. He logged in (Windows 10), and all his documents and desktop files were gone. He called me, I couldn't figure out what had happened, so we started restoring his most important files from various backups.

THEN, towards the end, we rebooted the computer, and all of his original files were back!?!

I have no idea what happened, but you might try rebooting a few times. Good Luck.

The main reason that I used LastPass was the support for the fingerprint reader (The master password was too long to be typing in all the time). Does anyone know if any of the other password managers support the finger print reader?

And like some other, I don't store my most sensitive financial passwords in LastPass. And, for all of my financial passwords, I keep two factor authentication enabled (even if it gives me a change to "remember" that trusted device).

I wouldn't mind activation (so much), once per machine, especially if I could put them all on one email account (I do have a very old hotmail account). I just don't want to have an email for every login. I take care of computers for my church, friends, and family (and I have too many computer, myself), and that is too much of a hassle.

Thanks, I haven't upgraded any of my computers to Windows 11 yet. But when I (eventually) do, I want local accounts.

I assumed MS would give in eventually; but if not, I hope they don't close this loophole.

Just a note about Password protected spreadsheets: I use password protected spreadsheets too (to at least slow them down), but be aware that password crackers are readily available for Excel (and any other popular program), so still make sure that you use a strong password. Twenty years ago, I tried one of the Excel password crackers and it broke a 9 character (Upper, Lower and numbers) password increasingly fast (in the same workday).

That was twenty years ago, and computers have only gotten faster, and the crackers have gotten better. For Windows passwords, they don't have to brute force crack them any more... They cracked all the passwords (up to a certain length) once, stored the hashes in a database, and just look them up (I tried that too... it worked).

About a month ago, I "lost" my phone in a foreign country. Amazingly, it was recovered in less than 24 hours (and the remote wipe feature had worked). But, for a day, I was really sweating what do about the passwords that were in the (hopefully) obscure vault on the phone. What if the vault isn't really obscure enough (and they find a cracker for it)? What if they get past the "5 tries and delete the database" feature? How many passwords in the vault weren't abbreviated well enough? etc.

Hmm, not so sure about that. History's first known money was the Sumerian Barley money (literally fixed amounts of Barley) which appeared on the scene around 3000 BC. Barley had an inherent value, but it was difficult to store and t***sport. The first money that lacked inherent value was probably the Silver Shekel (not a coin, but 0.3 ounces of silver) documented to be in wide in use in Mesopotamia around 1700 BC (during the Hammurabi rule). The first (Silver) coins were minted around 640 BC by King Alyattas of Lydia. The Roman Gold Dinarii were widely accepted in the 1st Century AD. Trade eventually spread the Lydian system and the imaginary, mythical (had to throw that in there) gold standard around the world (because of the trading efficiency which it enabled).

There have been several times when the value of the gold standard has been threatened. Most notable when the gold discovered in South America in the 1500s flooded and destabilized the market (because the Aztecs saw little value in gold, so yep they almost gave it away), but so far it has always retained its position.

The Chinese had a system based on bronze coins, but the time frame is not clear.

BTW, if (when?) the Chinese become the dominant economic power, it is quite possible that they will try to unseat the gold standard, because it benefits the west too much. They will want something that they control.

Quote from Yuval Noah Harari in "Sapiens" (Ch 6): "How do you cause people to believe in an imagined order such as Christianity, democracy, or capitalism? First, you never admit that the order is imaginary. You always insist that the order sustaining society is an objective reality created by the great gods or by the laws of nature."

My first car was a 1975 White on Black Hurst Olds. It didn't look that good, even back when I had it (bought it in 1978).

OK, it's not imaginary or a myth, it is a "representation". What is a "representation"? Can you pick it up and show it to me?

It makes people uncomfortable to realize that they believe in myths (so let's just call them something else or try to rationalize them). But, all civilization on this planet is based on the shared myth that money has intrinsic value (and many other myths).

And, of course, the vast majority of "money" in the world today doesn't exist in physical form, it is just numbers in a ledger.

The value of all money is imaginary (Legal fiction, based on intangible "myths" accepted by the collective societies). It only has value if you (and everyone around you) have faith in the institution that issued it (and the institution itself is a legal fiction). Even if it is backed by gold (which most aren't), you would have to have faith that the institution could and would exchange it for gold. And, what gives gold its value in the first place? It has a few industrial uses, but not enough to justify it's price.

If you want to read more about this, I suggest the book "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari (but, despite its title, it is not a brief book). And, I will warn you: whether you are left, right, or center; religious or not, there are parts of that book that will make you uncomfortable. As in: wait a minute, I believe in that, so it's not a myth.

Sorry to here that, and I feel your pain (or at least my wife does... she is the one that waits on hold for hours to talk to them).

Also, make sure that you keep track of the refund to make sure that you receive it. If you paid by credit card, you should get it fairly quickly. But, if you paid by check (to get the good-buy discount), the refund check will be much delayed (and in our case, lost and reissued... after another delay).

We like their trips once we are on them (or we wouldn't keep putting up with their front office), and their reps are helpful once you actually get to speak with one, but their front office has issues (and it is costing them business).

Enjoy Thailand!

But, after reading this thread, I have ordered some dielectric grease, to see if some preventive maintenance help.

And... even though I have at least one of just about every flashlight mentioned in this thread (plus some headlamps, and a few underwater flashlight), I can't help myself... I have order one of Trix's Light sabers :-)

GAS for flashlights?

Quite often, with those pen lights (whether they are cheap or expensive), I find that the problem is oxidation on the threads of the screw-on cap. Unscrewing and re-screwing the cap a few times usually fixes it.

Good to know. I use a Moto G7, but I assumed that if any part of it ever broke, I would just have to replace the phone. My $200 Moto phones have, for the most part, lasted longer than I need them to.

I did have an issue once where my old phone would overheat rather than taking a charge, but after a few days the problem somehow healed itself.