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SPICE-E BACoN (UDTQ#106) - NT4

Happy Throwback Thor’s day, folks!

The Recap:

Yesterday’s question asked how to continue searching the registry after using Ctrl+F to initiate it and OH BOY was I confused (and slightly worried) when I looked this morning, and only saw 30 votes on the poll!

The good news is I was looking at a cached page, because there’s actually 120 votes when I refreshed! :joy: The answer we were looking for was “Press the F3 key” which continues the search, which over 100 of you correctly chose! @CharlesHTN also pointed out that you don’t need to initiate with Ctrl+F, you can press F3 to start a new search, assuming you haven’t done one in your current window yet. Out of habit, I still Ctrl+F so I don’t end up waiting for the locked up window to potentially search the whole registry again, though. :joy:

Click to view yesterday's results

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The Ramble:

Do you carry cash?

I had some folks give me cash lately, which is fine, but always slightly annoying to me. My wallet is specifically designed to be as thin as possible, and paper money very quickly destroys that design. I currently have 5 bills, and that has over doubled the thickness of the wallet compared to my normal EDC of 7 cards (that’s including things like my license, insurance cards, etc.)

I don’t particularly mean to complain, but it’s just something that’s been occupying brain space lately. It’s like a chore that needs done. I either need to find a way to spend the money (without getting more cash back in change) or go the a physical bank location, which I don’t normally need to do, and either have them look up my account based on my name (which tellers always seem to get quite upset at me for) or find an old paper statement from back before I went fully digital for my bank statements to get my account numbers to make a deposit. (My bank refuses to give me my account number digitally anywhere, which is probably good for my security, but annoying that I cannot easily get my account number when I actually need to.)

So if you do have cash, what do with it? Do you spend it regularly? Do you hide it under the mattress? Do you just carry a “normal” wallet and not even think about things like this? Let me know below! :joy:

The Real Question:

Today’s question comes to us via @Jonathan-Johnson , who provided not only the question and answers, but also a detailed explanation that you’ll see tomorrow! :slight_smile: Big thanks to Jonathan for making my morning much easier! (Perfectly timed too, I’ve got 3 meetings that snuck up on me today!)
I also wanted to give a quick thanks to @www-olf who also answered my call for questions, you’ll be seeing their question SoonTM as well.

In Windows NT 4.0, what program was recommended for editing the registry?
  • REGEDIT.EXE
  • REGEDT32.EXE
  • REG.EXE
  • BA.CON
  • I’m not sure, but I’m excited to learn more!
0 voters

The Rest:

If you’d like to be notified when there’s a new question, check out this How To guide on following tags! I also typically post in the General chatroom when they go live, so come hang out there too!

As always, if you have suggestions for future questions, improvements, or want to help out with a full question, shoot me a DM or leave a comment below!

And since you’re still reading this, don’t forget to leave me a spice-up just below this! If it’s not orange and filled-in like this → :sw_pepper: it’s not spiced up yet! It lets me know you enjoy these and gives us both points, so why not?

38 Spice ups
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If you so dislike having cash, just send it to me! :grin: I use a proper wallet that can handle having cash in it (though it usually doesn’t have any in it these days :smirk:).

14 Spice ups
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I don’t even go to the bank, you think I go to a post office? :joy:

But, hey, if you ever happen to be in my neck of the woods, let me know! :joy:

7 Spice ups
4

Don’t couriers do pick-ups from your neck of the woods? :joy:

7 Spice ups
5

Cash is KING!
When you use a credit/debit card to pay someone (electronic transfer applies here too) then it is reportable income, and the credit company charges them 1-3% of the transaction. SO that $100 becomes $99-97. enough goes by, and soon that whole $100 is gone without anything to show for it. That $100 bill I give them will always be $100… if they don’t report it as income. If I have to pay someone back for something. Or if you’re a baddie and for some odd reason you’re being tracked, cards can be turned off. What then?
Not saying you’d ever be that bad of a guy, but any judge anywhere can have your cards turned off, seized accounts… hacked accounts … can’t hack cash.
Now, back to my paranoid little hidey-hole… where’s my tin foil hat?

13 Spice ups
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HA! Sometimes they won’t even do drop-offs :stuck_out_tongue:

5 Spice ups
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:scream:

4 Spice ups
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I suppose it’s a point-of-view thing, then?

I generally don’t pay individuals, only businesses, and my credit card company gives me that 3% that they take as cash-back, so my $100 becomes $103 spendable dollars, and that money turns into more money. :joy: Sure, they’re also making money selling the data about what I’m buying, which I’m not completely OK with, but it’s worked out pretty well for me so far.

As for paying individuals, at least in my friend-group, we don’t typically exchange money, it’s more of a “you blender me up a 3d model for a mouse, I’ll 3d print you a TTRPG mini” sort of thing , or a “you brought lunch last time, let me pay for the pizza today.” :joy:

I think technically per my area’s laws, you’re supposed to put a value on services and still report them on your taxes, but I don’t know how I would even start on that.

As for hacking/asset freezing, yeah, that is a legitimate concern, but it’s one I’m willing to live with for now :slight_smile:

5 Spice ups
9

It’s an intriguing conversation. I’ve been a dedicated customer of a bank for more than a decade. Shortly after opening my account, I relocated. In my new location, there were two banks; one was closer than the other. My account was compromised twice, resulting in shopping sprees. Fortunately, I was fully reimbursed each time. After the closure of the nearer bank, the issues ceased. (Perhaps an inside job?)

I’m wary of digital platforms. For security, I’ve stashed away a substantial reserve in case of emergencies.

5 Spice ups
10

I try to pay with cash as much as possible for a variety of reasons - anonymity, ease of operation, identity security, etc…

There’s a few shops around that are card only and almost every week there is an issue that stops their operation. I don’t care about the business and the employees that much but the dejected clientele who can’t get that Unicorn fart frappe just crushes my soul.

Anyway - I think I got the correct answer. Will have to check tomorrow morning. :saluting_face:

5 Spice ups
11

Definitely use cash to buy guns and ammo when possible.

6 Spice ups
12

That’s one obsession that I thankfully don’t have.

I’ve got family members that seem to have based their entire retirement on the value of their guns. In particular, my father seems to be completely baffled by the concept that I don’t want to inherit all of his hunting rifles if something happens to him.

I get the rational, and the sport of if, but I don’t particularly want them easily accessible around me personally. At least not anywhere that might have folks who don’t have the proper training and respect for them. At a range, where folks know proper trigger discipline I’m fine, but anywhere else, they tend to make me far too anxious.

5 Spice ups
13

For a long time, I didn’t carry cash at all. Lately, though, I have been carrying some. Mostly for restaurants; some of the local ones will charge you less if you use cash and it makes it easier when splitting the check and for tips. I do think it might be a good idea to start keeping some cash on hand. My nephew had all his money in an online bank that suddenly closed and the assets were ceased. I don’t know if he will end up getting anything back. It wasn’t a lot, but for a 20 year old, it was.

6 Spice ups
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This isn’t directed at you. This is more of a Public Service Announcement.

  • Guns safes are something all gun owners should have and use (with a few possible exceptions)
  • Gun owners - please do not leave unsecured guns in cars
7 Spice ups
15

Not if I can help it. Like you, I keep my wallet as thin as possible, and really only carry cash when I travel. I did get “stuck” recently, though, and went to lunch at a local corner tavern and didn’t realize it was cash-only until I went to pay the tab. Had to suck it up and hit the ATM and pay the fees to draw cash. The thing I appreciate most about using card is my ability to track my expenditures and download transactions right into my budgeting software. Can’t do that with cash. And I’ve never heard of a banking app that didn’t show you your account information! Mine (I have several) all show me the account number and the routing number when I log in.

3 Spice ups
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I usually have a small amount of cash on me for emergencies.

When I went to NYC for a trip a while back, I purposefully didn’t bring any cash. I haven’t spent any cash in years so I didn’t see the need. While I was there I found myself wishing I had some cash to tip various artists and performers.

4 Spice ups
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I intentionally stopped carrying cash when working “downtown” in a largish city…too many panhandlers looking for cash for their drug addictions (lest one think I’m over generalizing, I do consider the individual and I can tell the difference). Not having cash was the easiest way to stop the conversation, and if there was someone I was genuinely desiring to help, I would buy them a meal. It was also safer on the streets to not have cash.

Now that I’m working back in my hometown, and have a classic vehicle hobby, I carry cash again…never know when an old Ford truck or something else that piques my interest is going to be drug out to someones front yard to be sold, and you want cash on hand when you see it so you don’t leave without at least a deposit in their hands. Cash is definitely king in this addiction, err, hobby.

7 Spice ups
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File me under the normal wallet crowd. It’s not uncommon for me to get cash as a gift in a birthday card or for Christmas still from family and that’s probably the main source of cash for me (the other source being the option to get cash back checking out at retail stores). I mean, if you can’t really send someone a gift but you want someone to have a little something nice for their birthday and you’re not sure what they might like, it doesn’t make sense to get something like a Visa gift card with just a $20 balance on it that will get thrown away after the balance is used up when you can just send cash and not deal with the hassle of going to the store to get the gift card in the first place.

Even though I don’t use cash all that often compared to my debit card, I actually try to keep a modest amount of cash on-hand for circumstances where I can’t use my debit card, which isn’t unheard of in more rural settings, especially if we’re talking people having garage sales or people with side/hobby businesses out of their homes (doubly so if they’re Amish). I mean, you can’t expect someone having a garage sale to be able to process a debit or credit card or be signed up to some cash app like Venmo in those circumstances so that you can buy a couple trinkets off them for $10. It just wouldn’t be worth the hassle.

Frankly, everyone should keep a modest amount of cash on hand because cash will always be accepted (well, so long that cash is backed by something anyway).

6 Spice ups
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Weren’t some card processing companies being pressured to refuse service to businesses that sell guns and ammo not that long ago? Well, I guess I should say “primarily sell” since I’m sure they’re not going to say no to a big-box store like Walmart who sells both of those things at many of their stores. It seems like cash could end up being the only option in those circumstances anyway.

6 Spice ups
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I read about that somewhere. I prefer to use cash in those instances because the Corps/Banks report you to the feds. I say it’s “nunya”.

5 Spice ups