The OMG It is 2017 This thread's end is Nigh Complaint Thread.

Mistara

no owl hoots tnite.  owls dont like rainy weather?

Mistara

miss bad wolf, are us supposed to render mary poppins for this thread?

 

chim chiminy chim chim cheroo

Sfariah D

How did it get to be eight thirty already?

McGyver

I took this a few days back... My kids were cleaning up and as usual they left some random items on my desk... 

I probably should have trimmed that... Too much background.

ps1borg

MistyMist said:

ps1borg said:

MistyMist said:

ps1borg said:

kyoto kid said:

MistyMist said:

 

 

...well, dry here for a couple more days before everything changes. Slow cooldown to below normal temps beginning on Friday through all of next week with water from the sky on now and then.

 

Tv iz saying wind is strong enough to rip electricity pylons out of the ground.

 

your wind from south pole?

think ours from Canada

Is local, you can see the eye in the photo think that makes it not a tropical cyclone, more of a local hurricane, 2 x gale force winds + anyhow

 

was readin bout the 22 power poles wind broke

 

Iz second state to go dark this year, don't think it means anything except we had some wild weather the past few months, nothin' new in the land of drought and flooding rains but you gots to haz a sorry for the people bringing in Spring crops this week, all this water has made stuff greener than it has been for years :)

ps1borg

MistyMist said:

miss bad wolf, are us supposed to render mary poppins for this thread?

 

chim chiminy chim chim cheroo

ps1borg

Miss Bad Wolf said:

How did it get to be eight thirty already?

 

McGyver

kyoto kid said:

McGyver said:

starionwolf said:

My dad's Cannon printer stopped working after 6+ years.  The error message said that some parts need service.  The printer was working fine until we saw the error message.  Planned obsolescence might be a real idea with printers.

Oh, definitely... Take a new one apart... Take an old one apart... Day and night. 

I get trying to keep costs down, but when you look at certain choices in materials from an engineering standpoint, either people are ignorant of a material's durability VS a better material's with a tiny, almost nonexistent price difference or it's done deliberately... 

It's not just printers... It's everything.

Almost every time anything breaks, I try and fix it (for me, friends, family... People are always asking me to fix stuff) or I at least take it apart to see why it broke (and scavenge any usable hardware or parts).

I'd have to say that in my experience, 85% or more of the time it is negligent design (or deliberate), or horrible choice of material (typical example- using Styrene plastic over ABS or Nylon... Just plain garbage soft cheap plastic... Plus in some cases it gets a petroleum based lubricant on it that eventually disintegrates it).

You used to see a consumer product enter the market and it would have bugs, but if you took apart later models those issues would be resolved or in the very least an attempt made at addressing the problem.

Newer products don't do that...  you see the original problem plus worse cheaper flimsy materials or bad design compounding the original problem... Even in stuff only months apart in production... It's like they are trying to outdo the crappyness of the previous model... It particularly kills me when the price goes up, but the newer thing is a lesser product.

 It's almost as though, when you look at the problem and you just can't see how someone would expect the part to last more than a month or two that you just have to assume there is some sort of industry guideline as to what point people except something breaking and won't return it and STILL buy the same brand. With all the data collection I can't see someone not tapping into that equation and not exploiting it.

Sadly, I really think people are generally to blame... Nobody cares that stuff breaks down so easy, nobody holds manufacturers accountable for the crap they shuck out, any consumer protection agencies that exist have virtually no authority anymore, even in the most extreme cases... And nobody really cares.

It gives manufacturers virtual cart blanch to do and charge what they please.

Its just part of the evolutionary socioeconomic crapification of everything.

The worst thing is when you complain, people treat you like you are unreasonable... I buy a pair of sneakers, same brand that I've been buying for years and suddenly they don't last more then two weeks because instead of co-molding the sole, it's a halfassed glued on part... Not only is it a tripping hazard when it starts falling off, but it actually costs more now... But I'm expecting too much.

Apparently not expecting a flap of delaminated rubber snagging the curb is a lofty expectation these days.

Maybe most people just blindly throw stuff out, never thinking to return it or complain... They never realize how often stuff breaks or they are uniformed as to what a reason lifespan is for a product is... Or they either are just plain egar to get the newest and coolest that they are fine with it... Or maybe it's the idiots who five star stuff in reviews with comments like:  "love it, I opened the box and it's exactly what I ordered! : five stars!" Or "I sent my uncle this and he got it the next day!!!!! five stars!"... Or "love it, it's so much of a nicer blue then in the picture! Five stars!"...?

Take stuff apart... Fix stuff and you'll be appalled by the level of craptastical crapification that just infests almost everything these day.

Planned obsolescence is almost a whimsical phrase... It's borderline malicious indifference/deception in some cases.

Sorry to go on about that, but it's a thorn in my side that bugs me.

 

...yeah I have been noticing this too.  I remember when a pair of old 5$ canvas and rubber Keds or PF flyers lasted couple years (as long as you didn't grow out of them).  Had a new pair of 120$ Nikes given to me and they began falling apart in around six months. and I'm nowhere near as rough on shoes in my old age as I used to be when I was a kid.

Sad how so much stuff is made so cheaply these days, from toys, to clothing, to appliances, to cars, to even houses and apartment buildings. ANd the prices they charge are ridiculous for what you get.

Those balsa gliders I mentioned a couple pages ago, they have pretty much been replaced by cheaply made styrofoam ones.costing 5$ - 10$ or more and don't fly nearly as well.

[Cool SCAYT spell check works again]

It really kills me to see stuff that I know had to cost about $2 at most (unless you are seriously bad at sourcing your materials and production houses), sell for like thirty dollars... Just check out a big box art store and see what the plastic craft pumpkins go for.

A while ago a freind got a pretty cool styrofoam glider online... It actually flew, and flew well... But this was a big thing... Probably a 3 ft wingspan or more.  Realistically what he spent was ridiculous... $30-35 for styrofoam is nuts, but the thing was actually well made out of the denser kind and stood up well to collisions... So me being the idiot I am, I see a similar one in one of those pseudo-liquidator/overstock stores for $5 and I think, "cool the kids will love this".... Yeah... If it was capable of flight... It had zero flight capability... It was aerodynamically challenged... Basically it fell better then it flew... Tossing it like a frisbee by the wing was its best chance of traveling any short distance through the air... Were it not nailed to the perch it would be pushing up daisies...

Oops, sorry... I got a little too John Cleese/dead parrot with that last one... But someone figured out a way of getting $5 for .25¢ worth of styrofoam... Cool, Hu?

As far as balsa wood is concerned, that is getting scarce and expensive too.

McGyver

MistyMist said:

ps1borg said:

kyoto kid said:

MistyMist said:

 

 

...well, dry here for a couple more days before everything changes. Slow cooldown to below normal temps beginning on Friday through all of next week with water from the sky on now and then.

 

Tv iz saying wind is strong enough to rip electricity pylons out of the ground.

 

your wind from south pole?

think ours from Canada

Stop blaming Canada for everything... They give us maple syrup and thick bacon... They can send a little wind our way sometimes.

McGyver

ps1borg said:

MistyMist said:

ps1borg said:

kyoto kid said:

MistyMist said:

 

 

...well, dry here for a couple more days before everything changes. Slow cooldown to below normal temps beginning on Friday through all of next week with water from the sky on now and then.

 

Tv iz saying wind is strong enough to rip electricity pylons out of the ground.

 

your wind from south pole?

think ours from Canada

Is local, you can see the eye in the photo think that makes it not a tropical cyclone, more of a local hurricane, 2 x gale force winds + anyhow

Well, stay safe and no kite flying... And wear extra heavy shoes if you go out.

LeatherGryphon

McGyver said:

kyoto kid said:

McGyver said:

starionwolf said:

My dad's Cannon printer stopped working after 6+ years.  The error message said that some parts need service.  The printer was working fine until we saw the error message.  Planned obsolescence might be a real idea with printers.

Oh, definitely... Take a new one apart... Take an old one apart... Day and night. 

I get trying to keep costs down, but when you look at certain choices in materials from an engineering standpoint, either people are ignorant of a material's durability VS a better material's with a tiny, almost nonexistent price difference or it's done deliberately... 

It's not just printers... It's everything.

Almost every time anything breaks, I try and fix it (for me, friends, family... People are always asking me to fix stuff) or I at least take it apart to see why it broke (and scavenge any usable hardware or parts).

I'd have to say that in my experience, 85% or more of the time it is negligent design (or deliberate), or horrible choice of material (typical example- using Styrene plastic over ABS or Nylon... Just plain garbage soft cheap plastic... Plus in some cases it gets a petroleum based lubricant on it that eventually disintegrates it).

You used to see a consumer product enter the market and it would have bugs, but if you took apart later models those issues would be resolved or in the very least an attempt made at addressing the problem.

Newer products don't do that...  you see the original problem plus worse cheaper flimsy materials or bad design compounding the original problem... Even in stuff only months apart in production... It's like they are trying to outdo the crappyness of the previous model... It particularly kills me when the price goes up, but the newer thing is a lesser product.

 It's almost as though, when you look at the problem and you just can't see how someone would expect the part to last more than a month or two that you just have to assume there is some sort of industry guideline as to what point people except something breaking and won't return it and STILL buy the same brand. With all the data collection I can't see someone not tapping into that equation and not exploiting it.

Sadly, I really think people are generally to blame... Nobody cares that stuff breaks down so easy, nobody holds manufacturers accountable for the crap they shuck out, any consumer protection agencies that exist have virtually no authority anymore, even in the most extreme cases... And nobody really cares.

It gives manufacturers virtual cart blanch to do and charge what they please.

Its just part of the evolutionary socioeconomic crapification of everything.

The worst thing is when you complain, people treat you like you are unreasonable... I buy a pair of sneakers, same brand that I've been buying for years and suddenly they don't last more then two weeks because instead of co-molding the sole, it's a halfassed glued on part... Not only is it a tripping hazard when it starts falling off, but it actually costs more now... But I'm expecting too much.

Apparently not expecting a flap of delaminated rubber snagging the curb is a lofty expectation these days.

Maybe most people just blindly throw stuff out, never thinking to return it or complain... They never realize how often stuff breaks or they are uniformed as to what a reason lifespan is for a product is... Or they either are just plain egar to get the newest and coolest that they are fine with it... Or maybe it's the idiots who five star stuff in reviews with comments like:  "love it, I opened the box and it's exactly what I ordered! : five stars!" Or "I sent my uncle this and he got it the next day!!!!! five stars!"... Or "love it, it's so much of a nicer blue then in the picture! Five stars!"...?

Take stuff apart... Fix stuff and you'll be appalled by the level of craptastical crapification that just infests almost everything these day.

Planned obsolescence is almost a whimsical phrase... It's borderline malicious indifference/deception in some cases.

Sorry to go on about that, but it's a thorn in my side that bugs me.

 

...yeah I have been noticing this too.  I remember when a pair of old 5$ canvas and rubber Keds or PF flyers lasted couple years (as long as you didn't grow out of them).  Had a new pair of 120$ Nikes given to me and they began falling apart in around six months. and I'm nowhere near as rough on shoes in my old age as I used to be when I was a kid.

Sad how so much stuff is made so cheaply these days, from toys, to clothing, to appliances, to cars, to even houses and apartment buildings. ANd the prices they charge are ridiculous for what you get.

Those balsa gliders I mentioned a couple pages ago, they have pretty much been replaced by cheaply made styrofoam ones.costing 5$ - 10$ or more and don't fly nearly as well.

[Cool SCAYT spell check works again]

It really kills me to see stuff that I know had to cost about $2 at most (unless you are seriously bad at sourcing your materials and production houses), sell for like thirty dollars... Just check out a big box art store and see what the plastic craft pumpkins go for.

A while ago a freind got a pretty cool styrofoam glider online... It actually flew, and flew well... But this was a big thing... Probably a 3 ft wingspan or more.  Realistically what he spent was ridiculous... $30-35 for styrofoam is nuts, but the thing was actually well made out of the denser kind and stood up well to collisions... So me being the idiot I am, I see a similar one in one of those pseudo-liquidator/overstock stores for $5 and I think, "cool the kids will love this".... Yeah... If it was capable of flight... It had zero flight capability... It was aerodynamically challenged... Basically it fell better then it flew... Tossing it like a frisbee by the wing was its best chance of traveling any short distance through the air... Were it not nailed to the perch it would be pushing up daisies...

Oops, sorry... I got a little too John Cleese/dead parrot with that last one... But someone figured out a way of getting $5 for .25¢ worth of styrofoam... Cool, Hu?

As far as balsa wood is concerned, that is getting scarce and expensive too.

As long as we're being Pythonic ... "it fell better than it flew" or in other words those planes "do not so much fly as plummet".  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJfPV7HU1IM

DanaTA

ps1borg said:

kyoto kid said:

MistyMist said:

 

 

...well, dry here for a couple more days before everything changes. Slow cooldown to below normal temps beginning on Friday through all of next week with water from the sky on now and then.

 

Tv iz saying wind is strong enough to rip electricity pylons out of the ground.

Watch out for flying pylons!  Duck!

Dana

DanaTA

ps1borg said:

MistyMist said:

ps1borg said:

kyoto kid said:

MistyMist said:

 

 

...well, dry here for a couple more days before everything changes. Slow cooldown to below normal temps beginning on Friday through all of next week with water from the sky on now and then.

 

Tv iz saying wind is strong enough to rip electricity pylons out of the ground.

 

your wind from south pole?

think ours from Canada

Is local, you can see the eye in the photo think that makes it not a tropical cyclone, more of a local hurricane, 2 x gale force winds + anyhow

I thought they were the same thing, just in different oceans.  The tighter the eye gets, the stronger the winds around the center.  Sort of like when an ice skater spins with arms out, then brings them in to the chest and spins even faster.  They spin in a different direction in the southern hemisphere?

Dana

kyoto kid

ps1borg said:

MistyMist said:

miss bad wolf, are us supposed to render mary poppins for this thread?

 

chim chiminy chim chim cheroo

...loved his original show with Mary Tyler Moore.

kyoto kid

McGyver said:

kyoto kid said:

McGyver said:

starionwolf said:

My dad's Cannon printer stopped working after 6+ years.  The error message said that some parts need service.  The printer was working fine until we saw the error message.  Planned obsolescence might be a real idea with printers.

Oh, definitely... Take a new one apart... Take an old one apart... Day and night. 

I get trying to keep costs down, but when you look at certain choices in materials from an engineering standpoint, either people are ignorant of a material's durability VS a better material's with a tiny, almost nonexistent price difference or it's done deliberately... 

It's not just printers... It's everything.

Almost every time anything breaks, I try and fix it (for me, friends, family... People are always asking me to fix stuff) or I at least take it apart to see why it broke (and scavenge any usable hardware or parts).

I'd have to say that in my experience, 85% or more of the time it is negligent design (or deliberate), or horrible choice of material (typical example- using Styrene plastic over ABS or Nylon... Just plain garbage soft cheap plastic... Plus in some cases it gets a petroleum based lubricant on it that eventually disintegrates it).

You used to see a consumer product enter the market and it would have bugs, but if you took apart later models those issues would be resolved or in the very least an attempt made at addressing the problem.

Newer products don't do that...  you see the original problem plus worse cheaper flimsy materials or bad design compounding the original problem... Even in stuff only months apart in production... It's like they are trying to outdo the crappyness of the previous model... It particularly kills me when the price goes up, but the newer thing is a lesser product.

 It's almost as though, when you look at the problem and you just can't see how someone would expect the part to last more than a month or two that you just have to assume there is some sort of industry guideline as to what point people except something breaking and won't return it and STILL buy the same brand. With all the data collection I can't see someone not tapping into that equation and not exploiting it.

Sadly, I really think people are generally to blame... Nobody cares that stuff breaks down so easy, nobody holds manufacturers accountable for the crap they shuck out, any consumer protection agencies that exist have virtually no authority anymore, even in the most extreme cases... And nobody really cares.

It gives manufacturers virtual cart blanch to do and charge what they please.

Its just part of the evolutionary socioeconomic crapification of everything.

The worst thing is when you complain, people treat you like you are unreasonable... I buy a pair of sneakers, same brand that I've been buying for years and suddenly they don't last more then two weeks because instead of co-molding the sole, it's a halfassed glued on part... Not only is it a tripping hazard when it starts falling off, but it actually costs more now... But I'm expecting too much.

Apparently not expecting a flap of delaminated rubber snagging the curb is a lofty expectation these days.

Maybe most people just blindly throw stuff out, never thinking to return it or complain... They never realize how often stuff breaks or they are uniformed as to what a reason lifespan is for a product is... Or they either are just plain egar to get the newest and coolest that they are fine with it... Or maybe it's the idiots who five star stuff in reviews with comments like:  "love it, I opened the box and it's exactly what I ordered! : five stars!" Or "I sent my uncle this and he got it the next day!!!!! five stars!"... Or "love it, it's so much of a nicer blue then in the picture! Five stars!"...?

Take stuff apart... Fix stuff and you'll be appalled by the level of craptastical crapification that just infests almost everything these day.

Planned obsolescence is almost a whimsical phrase... It's borderline malicious indifference/deception in some cases.

Sorry to go on about that, but it's a thorn in my side that bugs me.

 

...yeah I have been noticing this too.  I remember when a pair of old 5$ canvas and rubber Keds or PF flyers lasted couple years (as long as you didn't grow out of them).  Had a new pair of 120$ Nikes given to me and they began falling apart in around six months. and I'm nowhere near as rough on shoes in my old age as I used to be when I was a kid.

Sad how so much stuff is made so cheaply these days, from toys, to clothing, to appliances, to cars, to even houses and apartment buildings. ANd the prices they charge are ridiculous for what you get.

Those balsa gliders I mentioned a couple pages ago, they have pretty much been replaced by cheaply made styrofoam ones.costing 5$ - 10$ or more and don't fly nearly as well.

[Cool SCAYT spell check works again]

It really kills me to see stuff that I know had to cost about $2 at most (unless you are seriously bad at sourcing your materials and production houses), sell for like thirty dollars... Just check out a big box art store and see what the plastic craft pumpkins go for.

A while ago a freind got a pretty cool styrofoam glider online... It actually flew, and flew well... But this was a big thing... Probably a 3 ft wingspan or more.  Realistically what he spent was ridiculous... $30-35 for styrofoam is nuts, but the thing was actually well made out of the denser kind and stood up well to collisions... So me being the idiot I am, I see a similar one in one of those pseudo-liquidator/overstock stores for $5 and I think, "cool the kids will love this".... Yeah... If it was capable of flight... It had zero flight capability... It was aerodynamically challenged... Basically it fell better then it flew... Tossing it like a frisbee by the wing was its best chance of traveling any short distance through the air... Were it not nailed to the perch it would be pushing up daisies...

Oops, sorry... I got a little too John Cleese/dead parrot with that last one... But someone figured out a way of getting $5 for .25¢ worth of styrofoam... Cool, Hu?

As far as balsa wood is concerned, that is getting scarce and expensive too.

...the one thing you could do with the balsa gliders which cannot be done with the Styrofoam ones is use a little heat and moisture to slightly warp the trialling edges of the wings or stabiliser surfaces.  It was easy to get one of those 5¢ Strato gliders to do multiple loops or wide lazy circles. 

Yeah, the cost increase is pretty bad.  One model I bought back in the 60s was a 42" wingspan Cessna 185 Skylane which was balsa and pine (the latter for the motor area) designed for RC flying for something like 9$ (sans servos and transmitter).  Today it would probably cost a hundred or more easily without all the radio gear. Crikey even scale static display plastic models can cost 50$ or more.  No longer an "inexpensive" hobby.

kyoto kid

McGyver said:

MistyMist said:

ps1borg said:

kyoto kid said:

MistyMist said:

 

 

...well, dry here for a couple more days before everything changes. Slow cooldown to below normal temps beginning on Friday through all of next week with water from the sky on now and then.

 

Tv iz saying wind is strong enough to rip electricity pylons out of the ground.

 

your wind from south pole?

think ours from Canada

Stop blaming Canada for everything... They give us maple syrup and thick bacon... They can send a little wind our way sometimes.

...when I lived in Wisconsin they sent us those "Alberta Clippers" which dumped maybe a few inches of snow but often dropped the temperature below Zero (F) afterwards.

kyoto kid

ps1borg said:

MistyMist said:

ps1borg said:

kyoto kid said:

MistyMist said:

 

 

...well, dry here for a couple more days before everything changes. Slow cooldown to below normal temps beginning on Friday through all of next week with water from the sky on now and then.

 

Tv iz saying wind is strong enough to rip electricity pylons out of the ground.

 

your wind from south pole?

think ours from Canada

Is local, you can see the eye in the photo think that makes it not a tropical cyclone, more of a local hurricane, 2 x gale force winds + anyhow

...hmm a hurricane but with cold winds. Doesn't sound good at all.  Dealt with a Nor'easter once, wasn't fun at all.

Sfariah D

The combination of the storm outside and gotta go feeling woke me up.  I need to get back to sleep.

starionwolf

I hope you didn't see any bad flooding.

ps1borg said:

Morning. Not much difference between night and day a while after dawn this gloomy grey Thursday, there is a large storm blowing in, or not, maybe, seems to depend which radio or TV is on at the time. Wind is picking up right now anyway :)

 

ps1borg

DanaTA said:

ps1borg said:

MistyMist said:

ps1borg said:

kyoto kid said:

MistyMist said:

 

 

...well, dry here for a couple more days before everything changes. Slow cooldown to below normal temps beginning on Friday through all of next week with water from the sky on now and then.

 

Tv iz saying wind is strong enough to rip electricity pylons out of the ground.

 

your wind from south pole?

think ours from Canada

Is local, you can see the eye in the photo think that makes it not a tropical cyclone, more of a local hurricane, 2 x gale force winds + anyhow

I thought they were the same thing, just in different oceans.  The tighter the eye gets, the stronger the winds around the center.  Sort of like when an ice skater spins with arms out, then brings them in to the chest and spins even faster.  They spin in a different direction in the southern hemisphere?

Dana

Don't know. Iz Tornadoes and lightning that are doing all the damage, and a 4 meter swell along the coast so don't really know what to call it

ps1borg

starionwolf said:

I hope you didn't see any bad flooding.

ps1borg said:

Morning. Not much difference between night and day a while after dawn this gloomy grey Thursday, there is a large storm blowing in, or not, maybe, seems to depend which radio or TV is on at the time. Wind is picking up right now anyway :)

 

Last weekend was surrounded by water, is not so bad where we are but the river near us is running high. Everything smells good anyhow, and looks real green for once so can't complain too much :)

ps1borg

kyoto kid said:

ps1borg said:

MistyMist said:

ps1borg said:

kyoto kid said:

MistyMist said:

 

 

...well, dry here for a couple more days before everything changes. Slow cooldown to below normal temps beginning on Friday through all of next week with water from the sky on now and then.

 

Tv iz saying wind is strong enough to rip electricity pylons out of the ground.

 

your wind from south pole?

think ours from Canada

Is local, you can see the eye in the photo think that makes it not a tropical cyclone, more of a local hurricane, 2 x gale force winds + anyhow

...hmm a hurricane but with cold winds. Doesn't sound good at all.  Dealt with a Nor'easter once, wasn't fun at all.

But don't think the east coast has looked so green as that. Hmmm 105 km winds now....

TJohn

MistyMist said:

no owl hoots tnite.  owls dont like rainy weather?

Probably doesn't give a hoot. 

TJohn

McGyver said:

I took this a few days back... My kids were cleaning up and as usual they left some random items on my desk... 

I probably should have trimmed that... Too much background.

Not really random. A salt and battery. I see they have inherited your sense of humor. Or maybe it's more of an osmosis thing. 

TJohn

McGyver said:

MistyMist said:

ps1borg said:

kyoto kid said:

MistyMist said:

 

 

...well, dry here for a couple more days before everything changes. Slow cooldown to below normal temps beginning on Friday through all of next week with water from the sky on now and then.

 

Tv iz saying wind is strong enough to rip electricity pylons out of the ground.

 

your wind from south pole?

think ours from Canada

Stop blaming Canada for everything... They give us maple syrup and thick bacon... They can send a little wind our way sometimes.

That ain't bacon, that's ham. 

TJohn

LeatherGryphon said:

McGyver said:

kyoto kid said:

McGyver said:

starionwolf said:

My dad's Cannon printer stopped working after 6+ years.  The error message said that some parts need service.  The printer was working fine until we saw the error message.  Planned obsolescence might be a real idea with printers.

Oh, definitely... Take a new one apart... Take an old one apart... Day and night. 

I get trying to keep costs down, but when you look at certain choices in materials from an engineering standpoint, either people are ignorant of a material's durability VS a better material's with a tiny, almost nonexistent price difference or it's done deliberately... 

It's not just printers... It's everything.

Almost every time anything breaks, I try and fix it (for me, friends, family... People are always asking me to fix stuff) or I at least take it apart to see why it broke (and scavenge any usable hardware or parts).

I'd have to say that in my experience, 85% or more of the time it is negligent design (or deliberate), or horrible choice of material (typical example- using Styrene plastic over ABS or Nylon... Just plain garbage soft cheap plastic... Plus in some cases it gets a petroleum based lubricant on it that eventually disintegrates it).

You used to see a consumer product enter the market and it would have bugs, but if you took apart later models those issues would be resolved or in the very least an attempt made at addressing the problem.

Newer products don't do that...  you see the original problem plus worse cheaper flimsy materials or bad design compounding the original problem... Even in stuff only months apart in production... It's like they are trying to outdo the crappyness of the previous model... It particularly kills me when the price goes up, but the newer thing is a lesser product.

 It's almost as though, when you look at the problem and you just can't see how someone would expect the part to last more than a month or two that you just have to assume there is some sort of industry guideline as to what point people except something breaking and won't return it and STILL buy the same brand. With all the data collection I can't see someone not tapping into that equation and not exploiting it.

Sadly, I really think people are generally to blame... Nobody cares that stuff breaks down so easy, nobody holds manufacturers accountable for the crap they shuck out, any consumer protection agencies that exist have virtually no authority anymore, even in the most extreme cases... And nobody really cares.

It gives manufacturers virtual cart blanch to do and charge what they please.

Its just part of the evolutionary socioeconomic crapification of everything.

The worst thing is when you complain, people treat you like you are unreasonable... I buy a pair of sneakers, same brand that I've been buying for years and suddenly they don't last more then two weeks because instead of co-molding the sole, it's a halfassed glued on part... Not only is it a tripping hazard when it starts falling off, but it actually costs more now... But I'm expecting too much.

Apparently not expecting a flap of delaminated rubber snagging the curb is a lofty expectation these days.

Maybe most people just blindly throw stuff out, never thinking to return it or complain... They never realize how often stuff breaks or they are uniformed as to what a reason lifespan is for a product is... Or they either are just plain egar to get the newest and coolest that they are fine with it... Or maybe it's the idiots who five star stuff in reviews with comments like:  "love it, I opened the box and it's exactly what I ordered! : five stars!" Or "I sent my uncle this and he got it the next day!!!!! five stars!"... Or "love it, it's so much of a nicer blue then in the picture! Five stars!"...?

Take stuff apart... Fix stuff and you'll be appalled by the level of craptastical crapification that just infests almost everything these day.

Planned obsolescence is almost a whimsical phrase... It's borderline malicious indifference/deception in some cases.

Sorry to go on about that, but it's a thorn in my side that bugs me.

 

...yeah I have been noticing this too.  I remember when a pair of old 5$ canvas and rubber Keds or PF flyers lasted couple years (as long as you didn't grow out of them).  Had a new pair of 120$ Nikes given to me and they began falling apart in around six months. and I'm nowhere near as rough on shoes in my old age as I used to be when I was a kid.

Sad how so much stuff is made so cheaply these days, from toys, to clothing, to appliances, to cars, to even houses and apartment buildings. ANd the prices they charge are ridiculous for what you get.

Those balsa gliders I mentioned a couple pages ago, they have pretty much been replaced by cheaply made styrofoam ones.costing 5$ - 10$ or more and don't fly nearly as well.

[Cool SCAYT spell check works again]

It really kills me to see stuff that I know had to cost about $2 at most (unless you are seriously bad at sourcing your materials and production houses), sell for like thirty dollars... Just check out a big box art store and see what the plastic craft pumpkins go for.

A while ago a freind got a pretty cool styrofoam glider online... It actually flew, and flew well... But this was a big thing... Probably a 3 ft wingspan or more.  Realistically what he spent was ridiculous... $30-35 for styrofoam is nuts, but the thing was actually well made out of the denser kind and stood up well to collisions... So me being the idiot I am, I see a similar one in one of those pseudo-liquidator/overstock stores for $5 and I think, "cool the kids will love this".... Yeah... If it was capable of flight... It had zero flight capability... It was aerodynamically challenged... Basically it fell better then it flew... Tossing it like a frisbee by the wing was its best chance of traveling any short distance through the air... Were it not nailed to the perch it would be pushing up daisies...

Oops, sorry... I got a little too John Cleese/dead parrot with that last one... But someone figured out a way of getting $5 for .25¢ worth of styrofoam... Cool, Hu?

As far as balsa wood is concerned, that is getting scarce and expensive too.

As long as we're being Pythonic ... "it fell better than it flew" or in other words those planes "do not so much fly as plummet".  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJfPV7HU1IM

Ovine aviation. 

TJohn

ps1borg said:

DanaTA said:

ps1borg said:

MistyMist said:

ps1borg said:

kyoto kid said:

MistyMist said:

 

 

...well, dry here for a couple more days before everything changes. Slow cooldown to below normal temps beginning on Friday through all of next week with water from the sky on now and then.

 

Tv iz saying wind is strong enough to rip electricity pylons out of the ground.

 

your wind from south pole?

think ours from Canada

Is local, you can see the eye in the photo think that makes it not a tropical cyclone, more of a local hurricane, 2 x gale force winds + anyhow

I thought they were the same thing, just in different oceans.  The tighter the eye gets, the stronger the winds around the center.  Sort of like when an ice skater spins with arms out, then brings them in to the chest and spins even faster.  They spin in a different direction in the southern hemisphere?

Dana

Don't know. Iz Tornadoes and lightning that are doing all the damage, and a 4 meter swell along the coast so don't really know what to call it

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/typhoon-hurricane-cyclone-heres-the-difference/

Chohole

Tjohn said:

McGyver said:

MistyMist said:

ps1borg said:

kyoto kid said:

MistyMist said:

 

 

...well, dry here for a couple more days before everything changes. Slow cooldown to below normal temps beginning on Friday through all of next week with water from the sky on now and then.

 

Tv iz saying wind is strong enough to rip electricity pylons out of the ground.

 

your wind from south pole?

think ours from Canada

Stop blaming Canada for everything... They give us maple syrup and thick bacon... They can send a little wind our way sometimes.

That ain't bacon, that's ham. 

They should make a square variety as well,  to fit into Sandwiches

Mistara

Chohole said:

Tjohn said:

McGyver said:

MistyMist said:

ps1borg said:

kyoto kid said:

MistyMist said:

 

 

...well, dry here for a couple more days before everything changes. Slow cooldown to below normal temps beginning on Friday through all of next week with water from the sky on now and then.

 

Tv iz saying wind is strong enough to rip electricity pylons out of the ground.

 

your wind from south pole?

think ours from Canada

Stop blaming Canada for everything... They give us maple syrup and thick bacon... They can send a little wind our way sometimes.

That ain't bacon, that's ham. 

They should make a square variety as well,  to fit into Sandwiches

 

ham packs of 6, sammich rolls back of 8

Mistara

kyoto kid said:

ps1borg said:

MistyMist said:

miss bad wolf, are us supposed to render mary poppins for this thread?

 

chim chiminy chim chim cheroo

...loved his original show with Mary Tyler Moore.

 

it's the chitty chitty bang bang dude!