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Author Topic: Do your appliances talk to you?
xrcrguy
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posted 25 November 2002 05:27 AM      Profile for xrcrguy   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Why marketers push excess tech
quote:
American manufacturers also induce consumers to upgrade by designing products that easily malfunction or cost a great deal to repair, a tactic known as built-in obsolescence.



Just thought this was an interesting article.

Sounds like they're desperate to come up with the next big thing.

A friend of mine once mentioned that he noticed that it seems like there haven't been any "new" inventions for the past 50 years. Everything is an improvement. He also thought that we were about to hit the next big tech advancement age and that major new ideas come and go in cycles.

Interesting thought.
Comments?


From: Believe in ideas, not ideology | Registered: Oct 2001  |  IP: Logged
Arch Stanton
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posted 25 November 2002 10:46 AM      Profile for Arch Stanton     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Cara Sposa heard from a colleague that frozen potato chips and those potato nugget things are processed up the yin yang (most start from rotten spuds that are bleached and otherwise chemically treated), so we'll not be buying them any more.

That leaves us with a dilemna.

Wither poutine?

Deep-frying chips in an open pot is smelly and messy, so we want to get a deep-fryer. And we don't want to pay very much money for one. I've never used one and hence know nothing about them. Which one do we get?

Any recommendations?


From: Borrioboola-Gha | Registered: Mar 2002  |  IP: Logged
swirrlygrrl
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posted 25 November 2002 11:21 AM      Profile for swirrlygrrl     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
That article is an illustration of everything that is wrong with consumer capitalism. That DVD player that conked after 9 months will go to a landfill, where all its toxic bits will leach into the soil and groundwater, and this will continue because they're supposed to f*ck up and get replaced. Buying a new cell phone every 18 months? That's ridiculous! As is the fridge/digital camera/internet mix - ohhhh, look, I can take a picture of the ice cube tray I just filled, then post it on my website! Though my personal favorite is still the sofa/breadmaker. Society is seriously f*cked up, and I'm so mad I can't even critique in a reasonable fashion right now. GRRRRRRR!!!!
From: the bushes outside your house | Registered: Feb 2002  |  IP: Logged
Smith
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posted 25 November 2002 11:46 AM      Profile for Smith     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Personally, I usually order poutine in instead of making it myself...but then I don't eat it very often.

Or you could cut potatoes into strips, coat them in oil, and bake them. That usually works out ok. I know nothing about deep-fryers, alas.

Also, a digicam in a fridge? The hell? Why would you ever want that? I thought ice dispensers were a bit much, but digicams? Web surfing? They must really be desperate.

Nice to know that they make things to break down quickly. Shouldn't they be mentioning that on the packaging? "The SDKJ-4359 provides superior performance at a low cost. Best before date: 450 days after purchase."


From: Muddy York | Registered: Oct 2002  |  IP: Logged
skdadl
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posted 25 November 2002 12:01 PM      Profile for skdadl     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
My appliances already talk to me. The clothes washer is the mouthiest: it says things like, "I don't want to do anything today, anything at all. Find me a therapist, or I won't spin dry again in this century."

So these guys are looking for the next "killer application" because that's what North American stockholders think matters? And that in the face of the fact that that application itself will be cheap trash in a few years? Charming.

What these people are not looking for is improved
design, and I think that's going to be a problem for NA business in the future. Forgive yet another nod to Europe, but some of us started noticing in the late eighties that European gadgets -- even in formerly benighted Britain -- were getting way, way better -- by which I mean not only more handsome, although they are, but also more sturdy, more functional, just plain more impressive -- than the flashier but tinnier stuff we get here.

American gadgetry led the world in the fifties, no question. But if these sorts of high-tech gimmicks are just being pasted on to the same old fridges and stoves, as I think they are, then U.S./Japanese manufacturers are one day soon going to find themselves playing catch-up to the much more craft-minded Germans, Scandinavians, etc.


From: gone | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
swirrlygrrl
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posted 25 November 2002 12:21 PM      Profile for swirrlygrrl     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
"Your door is a jar."*

Yeah, I really want my washing machine to talk to me too.

* I know, I know, its "ajar". But couldn't they have used a different word? Open? Not completely shut? Why on earth did they choose "ajar"?


From: the bushes outside your house | Registered: Feb 2002  |  IP: Logged
Lima Bean
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posted 25 November 2002 12:43 PM      Profile for Lima Bean   Author's Homepage        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I have suspected just this very thing for quite a while now. This is the reason why I shop at garage sales and thrift shops for most things.

Chances are, if you can find an old one (of anything) that still works, it'll work for a lot longer than a brand new one. And it's also likely to be prettier and sturdier. And if it does break down, it's likely to be more mechanical than electronic, and therefore easier to fix (unless you need some crazy replacement bit or another...).

Like my toaster oven, for example, or my old blender. Such a lovely blender.

Ahh, the good ol' days.


From: s | Registered: Aug 2002  |  IP: Logged
Arch Stanton
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posted 25 November 2002 12:50 PM      Profile for Arch Stanton     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I'm sympathetic to the "downgrading" idea. While we were shopping for a clothers dryer years ago, the sales dude asked what features we wanted. I said "a fan and a heat element." We bought a used model for $30. We rarely even use the thing, but instead have opted for the $2.oo length of clothes drying line.

Palm pilots? Cell phones? It's bad enough having a normal phone.

....And planned obsolescence has been around for so long that I take it for granted. Extended warranties are a scam, too. It's a little-known fact that most appliances, if they are going to break down, will do so within a year. Any breakdowns following that time are likely not going to cost as much as the cost of the warranty.


From: Borrioboola-Gha | Registered: Mar 2002  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
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posted 25 November 2002 01:05 PM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Deep-frying chips in an open pot is smelly and messy, so we want to get a deep-fryer. And we don't want to pay very much money for one. I've never used one and hence know nothing about them. Which one do we get?

Arch, I had a deep fryer about 10 years ago. It was just as messy and smelly as doing them in a big pot - in fact, basically all the deep fryer WAS was a deep pot that plugs in instead of going on the stove element.

My parents used to make the most amazing french fries when I was a kid. They had this big, ugly, sturdy metal pot with a lid (this thing was huge) and they used it for nothing but deep frying. I think since they didn't use meat, they would only have to change the oil once in a while (they kept it in its own corner of the fridge). And it worked just as well as, if not better than, a deep fryer.

Geez, nice grammar on me. It worked real good. brr.

[ November 25, 2002: Message edited by: Michelle ]


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Debra
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posted 25 November 2002 01:22 PM      Profile for Debra   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Spending too much time with ugly americans.

(not all americans are ugly these ones are trust me. )


From: The only difference between graffiti & philosophy is the word fuck... | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
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posted 25 November 2002 01:25 PM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Ha, no kidding, Earthmother. Geez. That's a subject for a whole 'nother thread.
From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
denise
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posted 25 November 2002 01:45 PM      Profile for denise   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Forgive yet another nod to Europe, but some of us started noticing in the late eighties that European gadgets -- even in formerly benighted Britain -- were getting way, way better

No kidding. I love my Miele.

Remember the early VCRs? That top-loading one with the big colourful buttons? Yeah, still works. The year after they made that, they realized they had to make a crappier version or nobody would have to replace theirs. I know three different families who have the original still.


From: halifax, ns | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
skdadl
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posted 25 November 2002 01:57 PM      Profile for skdadl     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
About deep-fat frying: I don't do it that often, but I love that smell. One of the things that convinced me that Bloor Street was maybe approaching civilized status was noticing that you can now smell our restaurant-patch of it from at least a block away.

The only thing I've deep fried for a long time is falafels. When I do chips, I roast them. That can produce problems for vulnerable teeth. I wouldn't mind learning better methods.


From: gone | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Arch Stanton
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posted 25 November 2002 02:15 PM      Profile for Arch Stanton     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
skdadl, have you ever noticed that peculiar urban-French aroma? Fried oil from pommes frites, mingled with Gitanes smoke, diesel fumes and perfume?
From: Borrioboola-Gha | Registered: Mar 2002  |  IP: Logged
skdadl
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posted 25 November 2002 03:03 PM      Profile for skdadl     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 

Heaven! Oh, Heaven! Take me back!


From: gone | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
WingNut
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posted 25 November 2002 03:16 PM      Profile for WingNut   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I attended a seminar recently that put today's social dynamics in persepctive for me. It was a seminar on wireless technologies. One of the speakers mentioned the refridgerator highlighted in the article above. He couldn't wait to have one. It can be used to order groceries from a deliverer. It can be used to record video messages for memebers of your family. Want a snack but don't want to leave the couch? No problem redirect your TV output to the fridge. But you need to go to the bathroom? The screen comes off and can be carried with you. My conclusion? Some people have way too much money.
Meanwhile, at the same place in a different room, there was a seminar taking place called the Millionaire's Retreat. Oddly, the people attending didn't look at all like millionaires. In fact, many looked poor. How could this be?
Well, it turned out, the Millionaire's Retreat is yet another program on how to get rich. People pay to hear how easy it is and to buy books, tapes, all manner of materials and paraphanelia that if they just follow the formual will lead to instant riches. So there you have it: Over priced, useless novelty for the rich and false hope for the poor. God bless North America.

From: Out There | Registered: Aug 2001  |  IP: Logged
verbatim
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posted 25 November 2002 03:22 PM      Profile for verbatim   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The false hope for the poor you mention is the only difference we have from Feudal Europe, IMO.
From: The People's Republic of Cook Street | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Lima Bean
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posted 25 November 2002 03:25 PM      Profile for Lima Bean   Author's Homepage        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
That, and the fact that we sit at computers instead of working with hoes and shovels...
From: s | Registered: Aug 2002  |  IP: Logged
Arch Stanton
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posted 25 November 2002 03:28 PM      Profile for Arch Stanton     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I can see the appeal that the video frigidaire would have for some people...

Imagine; the commercial comes on, yet you can stay on the chesterfield while gawking at all the stuff in the icebox. You can thus plan your next expedition to the kitchen having done a recce operation in preparation.

One may become a more efficient couch potato than was ever dreamed possible before the invention of the TV remote control.


From: Borrioboola-Gha | Registered: Mar 2002  |  IP: Logged
skdadl
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posted 25 November 2002 03:33 PM      Profile for skdadl     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Excuse me, but could you describe the layout of your home, Arch?

From your chesterfield, you can see your fridge? I have lived in some small spots, but I don't think I've ever been able to do that.


From: gone | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
WingNut
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posted 25 November 2002 03:39 PM      Profile for WingNut   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I think the thought, skdadl, is that if you have a wireless chip in both devices if you can send a signal one way, you can send a signal the other also. And if you can direct a camera drom outside the fridge it might also be possible to direct a camera inside. That way, sitting on your ass watching Survivor, you can have one of those screens with a screen showing you the inside of your fridge.
From: Out There | Registered: Aug 2001  |  IP: Logged
skdadl
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posted 25 November 2002 03:47 PM      Profile for skdadl     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
But Wingy: the light on my 15-yr-old VCR is still blinking because I don't know how to program it.

(Well, I learned once, but then I had to pull the plug out to use the vacuum, and the VCR has never been the same since.)

And now someone expects me to start sending signals to my blinking fridge???


From: gone | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
WingNut
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posted 25 November 2002 03:51 PM      Profile for WingNut   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
No, not you skdadl. Those people who have so much money they can waste thousands of it on such useless status symbols while complaining about the few tax dollars that actually get spent on helping. Those people.
From: Out There | Registered: Aug 2001  |  IP: Logged
Mandos
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posted 25 November 2002 03:57 PM      Profile for Mandos   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The first two of my last three jobs were with companies with major investments in this sort of thing--writing the software for it. I spent the summer of last year writing software for a Chinese cell phone (that has been brought to North America, by now). That particular company was very interested in the digital fridges, among other gadgets (like web phones, etc, etc). It's called "embedded software" or "software for embedded devices." My previous employer was thinking of getting into the "web browser in cars" business.

I don't own a cell phone, even when I was working on them. But most of my friends are techies and are usually covered in gadgetry. I sometimes feel the pull of them myself, in particular laptops and color PalmPilots.

And I actually think many of these electronic appliances will be ubiquitous in the future despite their apparent failure now.


From: There, there. | Registered: Jun 2001  |  IP: Logged
skdadl
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posted 25 November 2002 04:05 PM      Profile for skdadl     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Ah. Laptop. I understand laptop.

In fact, I understand little else. But say "Laptop," and I am engaged.

Why does anyone have anything else?

Gosh, but it's nice to find that I have at least that one wee connection with modernity.


From: gone | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
WingNut
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posted 25 November 2002 04:09 PM      Profile for WingNut   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I totally agree.
The technology behind them is sound. The problem is the useful technologies, at the moment, are limited to what already exists. And businesses hawking this technology instead of selling it to improve the things you already do, instead push the things that are novell but stupid. Selling the sizzle not the steak, I suppose.

But an example, wireless technology can give someone with a hand held device or a laptop high speed access to their office networks. That is far more useful and desirable than the stupid fridge. Problem is it is not sexy. It is not novel. But in the end it is what will sell the technology.

And here is a prediction: In the coming years palms, desktops, notebooks, as they are now will all be obsolete. The flash memory technology, prevalent with digital cameras, will evolve to allow you to store your operating system, applications, and files on a single tiny card. You will be able to carry the card around with you and plug it in almost anywhere and have full access to your data. Wireless technology will ensure you are always plugged in to the Internet.

The question is what embedded OS can best take advantage of the opportunity.


From: Out There | Registered: Aug 2001  |  IP: Logged
Mandos
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posted 25 November 2002 04:11 PM      Profile for Mandos   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Laptops are not extendable. There was a time (only a few months ago, really) when my computer had no external case. Just the eviscerated guts cascading down a pile of books on my desk. That way, I could move things around easily, which I did on a regular basis (video card for me, video card for brother, movable internal CD writer, etc, etc). This simply doesn't work on a laptop, where I can't share parts with the rest of my family.

A laptop and a desktop would be an ideal combination but I can't yet justify the investment. And if I'm going to get a laptop, it'll be a darn good leading edge one, pricey.


From: There, there. | Registered: Jun 2001  |  IP: Logged
Mandos
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posted 25 November 2002 04:14 PM      Profile for Mandos   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
WingNut: I don't agree. What you are expressing there is total relinquishment of consumer control over hardware. Not only do I think that that's not going to happen, I think it needs to be opposed if it ever takes that form.

I think there will be room for OSs of all scales, unless someone comes up with a scale-free OS (the only one that even remotely qualifies and is in popular use is Linux). I'd hate to think that PalmOS is our future, you know, and I don't relish the thought of replacing MS with another tyrant.


From: There, there. | Registered: Jun 2001  |  IP: Logged
DrConway
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posted 25 November 2002 08:33 PM      Profile for DrConway     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
skdadl: Desktop computers are favored by types like yours truly because they're further along the cutting edge than laptops. They're more modular, easily upgradable, and you can just do more to squeeze as much performance as you can out of it.

A classic example is the warranty-voiding overclocking. You take this big huge heatsink that weighs a half pound, with a fan that spins at 7000 RPM so it sounds like a perpetually roaring hair-dryer (*BrooooooOOOOOAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH* is the noise my FOP38 makes as it first fires up), and slap that sucker onto a CPU that you want to boost up a couple hundred megahertz.

Why the big heatsink?

Heat.

Gotta take it away from the CPU or it goes boom. And when it goes boom, you have no computer. You have an expensive post-modern piece of art.

And your normal el-cheapo $12 heatsink with a 5000 RPM fan isn't gonna take the heat away fast enough before the temperatures get too high for comfort.

That's just one example.

Another is that the whizz-bang fancy-ass graphics cards you need to play all them new games you can't get with laptops. Hell, until recently most graphics chips for laptops were barely worthy of the name. But you can lay down 500 bucks and get an ATI all-in-wonder Radeon, play games, do TV and video capturing, and output to a TV as well.

Laptops have a place, but for geeks like me they're as auxiliary machines rather than primary machines.


From: You shall not side with the great against the powerless. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
skdadl
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posted 26 November 2002 09:21 AM      Profile for skdadl     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Um. I'm sure you're right. *skdadl strums fingers on mouth*

Gee, but I would love to get the three of you over here to give me a seminar. There's almost nothing in those last posts that wouldn't be news to me, which would give you such an attentive student. Not to mention full-time occupation for some time to come. And money is beneath us, no?

Please carry on. This is fascinating to me, if only partly understandable.


From: gone | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
WingNut
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posted 26 November 2002 09:39 AM      Profile for WingNut   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
We are already racing that way, Mandos. Computer peripherals are becoming modular and are being adopted in a big way. USB and FireWire add-on devices has already had a tremendous impact. Where once tech companies could expect a call to install and configure a SCSI drive, now people just plug 'em in and turn 'em on. And sometimes not even have to turn them on like digital cameras or flash memory sticks, for example. As computers become more modular they also become cheaper and more disposable. I don't like it much either. But I don't like SUV's and I can't escape them.

However, I do not think we will lose total control of hardware just a lot as it moves toward a standard base and toaster format. But, then the OS becomes more important. You will need a scalable* OS and one that can adapt and reconfigure itself to whatever you plug it into. For example, while I think hardware will become more standards based and more modular, your computer might be a Sony, at work you have a Dell, and at the cybercafe they have something els all together. While they might all look and behave the same they might also include different chips for different tasks. Your OS must be able to recognize the different chips and configure itself to operate on boot. For that, I would suggest there is Linux and BSD.

*I find words like scalable can mean different things to different people at different times. For me, in this discussion, it means it can be as large or small as purposes and available resources dictate. For example, we know Linux can be used on embedded systems as well as monstrous clusters. But I envision flash RAM will eventually be gigabytes in size allowing full system installs and even host application and data for suchs tasks as video editing, for example.


From: Out There | Registered: Aug 2001  |  IP: Logged
Amy
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posted 26 November 2002 02:30 PM      Profile for Amy   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Remember the early VCRs? That top-loading one with the big colourful buttons? Yeah, still works. The year after they made that, they realized they had to make a crappier version or nobody would have to replace theirs. I know three different families who have the original still.

Ours isn't that old... i think that we bought it about 15 years ago (because i wanted to watch the little mermaid ) but it still works. it can be noisy sometimes, but then again, we had a newer one that we got from sears and it broke after about 3 years. new technology irritates the living daylights (is that a term?) out of me, especially my cell phone, which works well only when i am downtown (i live about 10k away from downtown). anyways, i had to rant... sorry


From: the whole town erupts and/ bursts into flame | Registered: Feb 2002  |  IP: Logged
Tommy_Paine
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posted 26 November 2002 09:01 PM      Profile for Tommy_Paine     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Remember when everyone rented their phone from Bell? Those things never broke. After a nuclear war, the cockroaches could have used them to talk to each other.

Now, we own our phones. What crap they are.

I have resolved that when my hot water heater bites the dust, I will own my next one instead of renting. I will buy the same make and model as Union Energy offers to rent.

I've been looking for a T.V. off and on for a while. It's interesting to see what bells and whistles they offer, which I wouldn't use. Picture in Picture, yadda yadda yadda. I compared two t.v.'s side by side. One had more lines of resolution than the other, and the one with less looked sharper to me.

Cars bug me. A century of manufacturing, and Ford and G.M. can't get a starting motor to last one go round on the odometer? Not to mention water pumps, heater cores, etc, etc.

I make truck wheels. Truth be known, most could be taken off at the scrap yard and put on new vehicles, and you'd never know the difference for the life of that vehicle.

That's value.


From: The Alley, Behind Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
DrConway
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posted 26 November 2002 10:08 PM      Profile for DrConway     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
A related note: You could take the wheels off a Ford Explorer and bolt them onto a Crown Victoria.

So the next time some SUV-driving idiot crashes the front end and leaves four perfectly good wheels, grab 'em and hawk 'em off to a CV guy.

If more people re-used perfectly serviceable items we'd make a lot of stuff last a lot longer than they allegedly do.


From: You shall not side with the great against the powerless. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
flotsom
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posted 26 November 2002 11:58 PM      Profile for flotsom   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Question: Given that heat rises, does it make sense to put the fridge motor at the bottom of the fridge?

Obviously refrigerator motors should be at the top.

Edited to add:

Both my (newly purchased) VCR and DVD 'talk' to me in print. Not audibly. My printer talks audibly to me - in a rather rude and abrupt manner, too. Does everyone's printer talk to them?

[ November 27, 2002: Message edited by: flotsom ]


From: the flop | Registered: Jul 2002  |  IP: Logged
TommyPaineatWork
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posted 27 November 2002 02:16 AM      Profile for TommyPaineatWork     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
A related note: You could take the wheels off a Ford Explorer and bolt them onto a Crown Victoria.

While I can't say if that's a good idea or not, what I can say, having exposure to Ford "engineering" is that such a wheel change would likely require you to remove the engine and dashboard, and crawl through the trunk......


From: London | Registered: Aug 2002  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
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posted 27 November 2002 08:54 AM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Just curious, flotsom, do you have a Lexmark printer? My mother's has this loud, obnoxious voice programmed to say, "Printing started!" and "Printing completed!" Very abrupt and loud tone too, like it's trying to be intimidating. Weird.
From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Debra
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posted 27 November 2002 08:57 AM      Profile for Debra   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Michelle we used to have a Lexmark and that is dead on.

It's really wierd. Like if you screw up some little lexmark gestapo guy is gonna come out and kick your ass.


From: The only difference between graffiti & philosophy is the word fuck... | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
skdadl
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posted 27 November 2002 10:15 AM      Profile for skdadl     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
If anyone is feeling nostalgic for the still-rented-from-Bell dial-phone experience, you can come over and use the one in our kitchen.

Then you can sit and feel impotent through long sets of recorded instructions about which number to press/appuyer sur.

Please phone first; I'm always embarrassed by how grubby it is, and I'd like a chance to polish it up first.


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flotsom
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posted 27 November 2002 02:15 PM      Profile for flotsom   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Yeah that's the one Michelle. Lexmark. My printer's a dink. And pretensious. Theatre my ass. "There is NO PAPER! in the automark theatre!!" "Yes there is" I mutter, "and I hope you get a paper cut on that nasty tongue of yours." If you shut L.Mark off with too much enthusiasm it takes offense right away and sabotages everything until you've no choice but to shut down.

Funny I thought everyone's printer had the same attitude problem.

[ November 27, 2002: Message edited by: flotsom ]


From: the flop | Registered: Jul 2002  |  IP: Logged
swirrlygrrl
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posted 27 November 2002 02:51 PM      Profile for swirrlygrrl     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
On cars, Michael Moore was talking about his new Beetle, and apparently the damn things have some type of chip that if you don't start it every day, it assumes that its broken, and refuses to start (pages xix and xx). Sounds wrong, but with that whole idea of the 3-5 year disposable car getting more prominent (accents and all), I could believe it. All I know is, my grandma's El Camino still runs great, and its older than I am.
From: the bushes outside your house | Registered: Feb 2002  |  IP: Logged

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