homepage
  roll on christmas  
click here to find out more about ship of fools click here to sign up for the ship of fools newsletter click here to support ship of fools
community the mystery worshipper gadgets for god caption competition foolishness features ship stuff
discussion boards live chat cafe avatars frequently-asked questions the ten commandments gallery private boards register for the boards
 
Ship of Fools


Post new thread  Post a reply
My profile login | | Directory | Search | FAQs | Board home
   - Printer-friendly view Next oldest thread   Next newest thread
» Ship of Fools   »   » Oblivion   » Sodding technology

 - Email this page to a friend or enemy.    
Source: (consider it) Thread: Sodding technology
MarsmanTJ
Shipmate
# 8689

 - Posted      Profile for MarsmanTJ   Email MarsmanTJ   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I love my ceramic hobs. They are fast, efficient and easy to clean. And I'm paranoid about taking good care of them, I clean off every spill. So I'm furious today to discover that overnight, a crack had developed across one of them. They're 18 months old, and the cost of replacing them is the best part of a quarter of my monthly salary. No idea what caused the crack, but I've been cooking on similar ones for 8 years now, and am super super careful. [Mad]

My landlord reckons it's a structural defect and is going to try and fight the warranty, but meanwhile I'm stuck unable to cook. [Mad]

Meanwhile other friends have had other minor accidents and broken phones, etc. When did technology become so short-lived?

[ 26. January 2016, 18:05: Message edited by: MarsmanTJ ]

Posts: 238 | Registered: Oct 2004  |  IP: Logged
Pigwidgeon

Ship's Owl
# 10192

 - Posted      Profile for Pigwidgeon   Author's homepage     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by MarsmanTJ:
Meanwhile other friends have had other minor accidents and broken phones, etc. When did technology become so short-lived?

It's known as planned obsolescence.

[Mad]

--------------------
"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf

Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005  |  IP: Logged
rolyn
Shipmate
# 16840

 - Posted      Profile for rolyn         Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I wonder who thinks up fancy names for various things and situations that are basically just SH--HIT.

--------------------
Change is the only certainty of existence

Posts: 3206 | From: U.K. | Registered: Dec 2011  |  IP: Logged
no prophet's flag is set so...

Proceed to see sea
# 15560

 - Posted      Profile for no prophet's flag is set so...   Author's homepage   Email no prophet's flag is set so...   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I looked up "hob" in the google. Does it mean a "stove top"? Having replaced a full-size oven and cooktop this month due to oven failure, I understand the pain. We replaced a full size fridge (69" tall) in the spring, the electric garage door openner just after.

--------------------
Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/

Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010  |  IP: Logged
Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768

 - Posted      Profile for Penny S     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I've got to replace the instrument cluster in my Skoda, which has developed a fault in which the handbrake warning light comes on when the left indicator flashes, or the seatbelt warning light comes on. This will cost around £450 for the part, already paid for, and requires a specialist peripatetic fitter who can't do the work until February 16th. (Does this mean the fault is common?)
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009  |  IP: Logged
Gee D
Shipmate
# 13815

 - Posted      Profile for Gee D     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
I've got to replace the instrument cluster in my Skoda, which has developed a fault in which the handbrake warning light comes on when the left indicator flashes, or the seatbelt warning light comes on. This will cost around £450 for the part, already paid for, and requires a specialist peripatetic fitter who can't do the work until February 16th. (Does this mean the fault is common?)

I thought that Skodas were cloned VW etc, not Alfa.

That cost sounds horrendous to replace whatever a circuit board has turned into these days, I can't understand why the whole instrument cluster needs a replacement.

--------------------
Not every Anglican in Sydney is Sydney Anglican

Posts: 7028 | From: Warrawee NSW Australia | Registered: Jun 2008  |  IP: Logged
Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768

 - Posted      Profile for Penny S     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
And they need me to take both keys in because they will need to be reprogrammed.

I assume there's basically a box with a few leads that need plugging into a few fancy ports, but the inside of the box has complex stuff with motherboards that can't be fiddled with, and then the system needs rebooting.

My initial thought that the whole thing was initiated by a very wet drive, but the garage says not.

Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009  |  IP: Logged
Schroedinger's cat

Ship's cool cat
# 64

 - Posted      Profile for Schroedinger's cat   Author's homepage     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
I've got to replace the instrument cluster in my Skoda, which has developed a fault in which the handbrake warning light comes on when the left indicator flashes, or the seatbelt warning light comes on. This will cost around £450 for the part, already paid for, and requires a specialist peripatetic fitter who can't do the work until February 16th. (Does this mean the fault is common?)

Mine was £900 plus fitting.

The problem is that the "instrument cluster" is now the computer that controls the running of the car. It is a very complex piece of equipment, especially in cars like mine (automatic DSG gearbox, almost fly-by-wire).

--------------------
Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.

Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
fletcher christian

Mutinous Seadog
# 13919

 - Posted      Profile for fletcher christian   Email fletcher christian   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I watched a programme last night where the University of Utah found that technology is making us stupid, paranoid, psychotic and depressed. I think it's time to heed the call of the wild.

--------------------
'God is love insaturable, love impossible to describe'
Staretz Silouan

Posts: 5235 | From: a prefecture | Registered: Jul 2008  |  IP: Logged
L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338

 - Posted      Profile for L'organist   Author's homepage   Email L'organist   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Endured a seven hour power cut yesterday - apparently the cable decided to give up the ghost. Anyway, since then my trusty printer has decided enough it enough and now refuses to recognise any paper, so won't print.

Been through all the online help, etc - nothing. I can take it to the nearest big store but they'll charge more to see if they can fix it than a new printer.

Nothing I like better than having to drive to the nearest big town and spend money I don't have on a piece of kit I shouldn't need simply because the same bit of kit at home is having a fit of the vapours.

Oh, and I'd just stocked up on toner which doesn't work in the new machine, even though its meant to be the same model [Mad]

--------------------
Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet

Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012  |  IP: Logged
LeRoc

Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216

 - Posted      Profile for LeRoc     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
L'organist: Endured a seven hour power cut yesterday - apparently the cable decided to give up the ghost. Anyway, since then my trusty printer has decided enough it enough and now refuses to recognise any paper, so won't print.
I guess you didn't unplug the printer when the power was out?

--------------------
I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)

Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002  |  IP: Logged
Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768

 - Posted      Profile for Penny S     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Some time ago I bought a set of wireless socket switches - as in, adaptors one plugs into sockets, links to a remote control transmitter, and then plugs appliances into. From either Aldi or Lidl, the first place I saw them.

My idea was to use one to operate the fridge, for which the socket is far behind the device, under the counter, and which the kitchen fitter didn't see fit to make accessible from the other side of the peninsula. This wasn't wonderful, because it would very occasionally decide to switch off for no apparent reason. But I have been using it with no trouble to operate the radio, so it isn't on standby all the time.

Until last week. Note, this is at least two weeks after I bought two OWL sensors which wirelessly communicate with displays in the house to show me how much current I am consuming, and how much I am generating from the PV panels on the roof, so it seems unlikely that what has happened is due to that, though the two sensors and transmitters are directly under the socket concerned.

The socket in use started to switch off randomly, but usually a few moments after being switched on. Or, it would switch on randomly, when I wasn't about. There had been a few occasions before, but with four possible transmitter frequencies, I'd just changed over to another one. But now, none of the frequencies work properly. And the same thing applies to the other three sockets, which have not been in use.

I have tried the neighbouring socket in the double one. I have tried another socket in the same room. I have tried another socket on another floor. I have tried removing the batteries from the remote to see if it is producing irregular signals, but it still happens.

I haven't tried removing the batteries from the current sensor transmitters yet. Nor have I tried the wireless doorbell.

Fortunately, I have another set, from a different maker, which I am now trying, so far with no problems. I might even try one on the fridge again. As they are the same make as the sensors, I wouldn't expect any interference from them.

But I am a bit put out. The last time this sort of thing happened it was with the first wireless doorbell I had, which managed to do a very good impression of a poltergeist playing Knock Down Ginger when I had a house full of physicists.

Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009  |  IP: Logged
Schroedinger's cat

Ship's cool cat
# 64

 - Posted      Profile for Schroedinger's cat   Author's homepage     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by L'organist:
Oh, and I'd just stocked up on toner which doesn't work in the new machine, even though its meant to be the same model [Mad]

Now that REALLY annoys me. In fact, pretty much everything about printers annoys me. They are cheap so they break down, the argument being you just buy another one (wasteful and frustrating, if you have a deadline to meet).

But the inability to stock up on printer cartridges, because you know the next printer will be something different. That is a rip off.

--------------------
Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.

Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Amanda B. Reckondwythe

Dressed for Church
# 5521

 - Posted      Profile for Amanda B. Reckondwythe     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
Some time ago I bought a set of . . . adaptors one plugs into sockets, links to a remote control transmitter, and then plugs appliances into. . . . My idea was to use one to operate the fridge, for which the socket is far behind the device, under the counter. . . . The socket in use started to switch off randomly. . . .

You've decided against calling an electrician to move the fridge socket to a more accessible location and figure out why the others are shutting on and off at whim?

--------------------
"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.

Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004  |  IP: Logged
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58

 - Posted      Profile for Ariel   Author's homepage     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by L'organist:
Endured a seven hour power cut yesterday - apparently the cable decided to give up the ghost. Anyway, since then my trusty printer has decided enough it enough and now refuses to recognise any paper, so won't print.

I had endless battles with mine (an inkjet made by a well-known manufacturer) to get it to do just that. I did eventually succeed. It involved turning it on and off and the computer on and off and loading and reloading the paper, until I hit the right combination, whatever that was. I eventually had to threaten it with being taken to the recycling centre. That was when life suddenly kicked in and it started printing. OK it does usually say "No Toner" but it does usually work.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338

 - Posted      Profile for cliffdweller     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet's flag is set so...:
I looked up "hob" in the google. Does it mean a "stove top"? Having replaced a full-size oven and cooktop this month due to oven failure, I understand the pain. We replaced a full size fridge (69" tall) in the spring, the electric garage door openner just after.

Hey! Did y'all notice this?! Help us poor 'mericans out-- we don't know what you're talking about!

--------------------
"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner

Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008  |  IP: Logged
rolyn
Shipmate
# 16840

 - Posted      Profile for rolyn         Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by fletcher christian:
I watched a programme last night where the University of Utah found that technology is making us stupid, paranoid, psychotic and depressed. I think it's time to heed the call of the wild.

Humanity often seems consistently good at being the architect of it' own disfunction.
Always good to walk around a bit and listen to a tree blowing in the wind occasionally.

Posts: 3206 | From: U.K. | Registered: Dec 2011  |  IP: Logged
Jay-Emm
Shipmate
# 11411

 - Posted      Profile for Jay-Emm     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by cliffdweller:
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet's flag is set so...:
I looked up "hob" in the google. Does it mean a "stove top"? Having replaced a full-size oven and cooktop this month due to oven failure, I understand the pain. We replaced a full size fridge (69" tall) in the spring, the electric garage door openner just after.

Hey! Did y'all notice this?! Help us poor 'mericans out-- we don't know what you're talking about!
Yes (basically, probably).
Specifically the circular burner/heaters directly under the saucepans.

Posts: 1643 | Registered: May 2006  |  IP: Logged
Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768

 - Posted      Profile for Penny S     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
Some time ago I bought a set of . . . adaptors one plugs into sockets, links to a remote control transmitter, and then plugs appliances into. . . . My idea was to use one to operate the fridge, for which the socket is far behind the device, under the counter. . . . The socket in use started to switch off randomly. . . .

You've decided against calling an electrician to move the fridge socket to a more accessible location and figure out why the others are shutting on and off at whim?
The sensible thing to do with the fridge socket is convert a panel on the far side of the peninsular unit to be openable, which I can probably do myself, when I get round to it. When I got an electrician in, we took a spur off the point to use on the worktop for the dishwasher and the toaster, but decided to leave the fridge access where it was.

Meanwhile, I now know that the fault is in my house, not the wireless switches, as I took one, and the remote, along to a meeting nearby, where it behaved perfectly all evening. The alternative make is also behaving well in the original socket.

Since this is the appropriate place for demonic influences, I will relate the doorbell incident.

At my last home, people kept claiming they had called and I had been out. Clearly, I couldn't hear the bell upstairs. I bought an early version of the wireless doorbell. It turned out that it got through batteries really fast - like in a day, but it had a mains lead, and I used that.

After a while, it would ring, I would go down, and there would be no-one there. Investigation failed to reveal my neighbours' son, of the right sort of age for that sort of trick, or anyone else in a position to enjoy my having to answer. There was another of the same make up the road, but too far to affect my receiver. I suspected a possible baby alarm or similar, and put a notice out requesting visitors to ring twice.

After a while, the bell would ring twice, and no-one would be there. This ruled out accidental power surges from other equipment, baby alarms and so on. So I altered the notice to three rings.

Guess what.

The evening the physicists were there, the number started upping, round about the hour each time. It did seem to be something to do with the mains, as on battery it didn't do anything (I think). I inquired of an AA man working on a vehicle outside if he had been doing anything which would have created a spark. I think we got to five - and without altering the notice, but with discussing it. The next day, I inquired of the power company if there had been any surges on the lines, which they denied. But that evening was very, very, weird.

So I took it back to the shop and was given a refund - they wouldn't let me keep it to take to pieces!

I'm wondering if I have brought something with me.

[ 27. January 2016, 21:25: Message edited by: Penny S ]

Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009  |  IP: Logged
Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564

 - Posted      Profile for Leorning Cniht   Email Leorning Cniht   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by cliffdweller:
Hey! Did y'all notice this?! Help us poor 'mericans out-- we don't know what you're talking about!

Yes, a hob is what an American would call a stove top or cook top. In Europe, it is pretty common for the oven and hob to be separate units, so one can have the oven mounted at a sensible height in a fitted kitchen (so you don't need to bend over to take things in and out) and the hob fitted into a nearby worktop. That arrangement seems less common in the US.

In my student days, the kitchens provided for our use contained a hob and a microwave, but no oven.

Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013  |  IP: Logged
marzipan
Shipmate
# 9442

 - Posted      Profile for marzipan   Author's homepage   Email marzipan   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Schroedinger's cat:
quote:
Originally posted by L'organist:
Oh, and I'd just stocked up on toner which doesn't work in the new machine, even though its meant to be the same model [Mad]

Now that REALLY annoys me. In fact, pretty much everything about printers annoys me. They are cheap so they break down, the argument being you just buy another one (wasteful and frustrating, if you have a deadline to meet).

But the inability to stock up on printer cartridges, because you know the next printer will be something different. That is a rip off.

In our office, we have three printers that print A3/A4. They're all the same make, all bought at different times and they ALL use different cartridges to each other. (At least they don't break very often)

--------------------
formerly cheesymarzipan.
Now containing 50% less cheese

Posts: 917 | From: nowhere in particular | Registered: May 2005  |  IP: Logged
Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564

 - Posted      Profile for Leorning Cniht   Email Leorning Cniht   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:

But I am a bit put out. The last time this sort of thing happened it was with the first wireless doorbell I had, which managed to do a very good impression of a poltergeist playing Knock Down Ginger when I had a house full of physicists.

It sounds like you have a whole lot of RF interference in your house. It is tempting to suspect the houseful of physicists could be involved, but it sounds like you have problems even when they're not there.

From what I have seen, most domestic "wireless control" stuff is junk. They are mostly worse than garage door openers. It's perfectly possible to do something very much better, but it would have two problems: first, it would cost a couple of dollars extra to make (which matters, because nobody wants to pay for security or robustness) and second, you'd significantly reduce the lifetime of the battery in the remote, which is a nuisance.

Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013  |  IP: Logged
Al Eluia

Inquisitor
# 864

 - Posted      Profile for Al Eluia   Email Al Eluia   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I'm actually surprised how many things can still be fixed. Several years ago our microwave stopped heating things; the timer still counted down. I opened it up and found that a couple relays were shorted and burned out, did a little research and found a store nearby that had parts. A microwave oven isn't expensive to replace these days, but I was able to fix it myself for about $6.

--------------------
Consider helping out the Anglican Seminary in El Salvador with a book or two! https://www.amazon.es/registry/wishlist/YDAZNSAWWWBT/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_ws_7IRSzbD16R9RQ
https://www.episcopalcafe.com/a-seminary-is-born-in-el-salvador/

Posts: 1157 | From: Seattle | Registered: Jul 2001  |  IP: Logged
mark_in_manchester

not waving, but...
# 15978

 - Posted      Profile for mark_in_manchester   Email mark_in_manchester   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I'm an engineer. It's my wholehearted suggestion to be a late-adopter and to get used to enjoying the ownership of that which someone else was wowed by as a novelty, 15 years ago.

Someone just gave us a (used) flat screen telly, and I'm feeling rather ungrateful. The picture isn't as good as the 20 y.o. tube set it has relegated to storage, but the fact of the gift means it has to hang around before developing a 'fault'...

[Devil]

--------------------
"We are punished by our sins, not for them" - Elbert Hubbard
(so good, I wanted to see it after my posts and not only after those of shipmate JBohn from whom I stole it)

Posts: 1596 | Registered: Oct 2010  |  IP: Logged
Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768

 - Posted      Profile for Penny S     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:

But I am a bit put out. The last time this sort of thing happened it was with the first wireless doorbell I had, which managed to do a very good impression of a poltergeist playing Knock Down Ginger when I had a house full of physicists.

It sounds like you have a whole lot of RF interference in your house. It is tempting to suspect the houseful of physicists could be involved, but it sounds like you have problems even when they're not there.

From what I have seen, most domestic "wireless control" stuff is junk. They are mostly worse than garage door openers. It's perfectly possible to do something very much better, but it would have two problems: first, it would cost a couple of dollars extra to make (which matters, because nobody wants to pay for security or robustness) and second, you'd significantly reduce the lifetime of the battery in the remote, which is a nuisance.

They were astro-physicists, so the kit would have been a bit large and noticeable - and the problem started before they arrived!

The current one waited a long time after the new router arrived to get going, so I can't associate it with that, unless Virgin has been doing surreptitious upgrades, which isn't impossible. Lights are always doing something, even when all the computers, and the central storage device are off, and the TV, which is smart.

It happens on both the ring mains. Did I mention that it happens when there are no batteries in the transmitter? I might test them against the current monitors to see if the changes happen as they update.

What can produce RF signals apart from the obvious?

Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009  |  IP: Logged
Doc Tor
Deepest Red
# 9748

 - Posted      Profile for Doc Tor     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
This isn't particularly, er, Hellish, is it?

--------------------
Forward the New Republic

Posts: 9131 | From: Ultima Thule | Registered: Jul 2005  |  IP: Logged
passer

Indigo
# 13329

 - Posted      Profile for passer   Email passer   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I have a number of difficult-to-access wall sockets in my elderly house. I use something called an extension cable to make them more user friendly, at a very reasonable cost.

My technological nightmare at the moment is that Google Chrome has just started telling me that it doesn't like Windows XP any more, and that soon it's going to abandon me from an updates perspective. I have other machines on Win7, Win8, and a couple on Win10 that I can use, but me and XP have a relationship on this PC, and I've managed to resist reformatting and reinstalling to upgrade it as I have shedloads of "stuff" which I'd have to reload from the data backups which I (genuinely) take regularly.

It's a legit copy of XP too, which hurts, as I'll have to fork out dosh to buy another copy of Win10 (which I quite like, btw).

I'm just pissed off that whilst Microsoft couldn't cajole me into doing it, bloody Google looks like they're going to nobble me from left-field. I've messed with PCs since they were invented, and one thing I learned very early was that if it ain't broke, it don't need fixing. I'm feeling bullied by software.

Posts: 1289 | From: Sheffield | Registered: Jan 2008  |  IP: Logged
Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768

 - Posted      Profile for Penny S     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Doc Tor:
This isn't particularly, er, Hellish, is it?

It was when it started! If you had to keep getting up to turn something back on again after a minute over and over again, you would feel a bit under attack.

I shall now desist.

Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009  |  IP: Logged
W Hyatt
Shipmate
# 14250

 - Posted      Profile for W Hyatt   Email W Hyatt   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by passer:
I'm feeling bullied by software.

Yes! That's exactly how I feel, and it has been gradually getting worse for many years now.

--------------------
A new church and a new earth, with Spiritual Insights for Everyday Life.

Posts: 1565 | From: U.S.A. | Registered: Nov 2008  |  IP: Logged
mark_in_manchester

not waving, but...
# 15978

 - Posted      Profile for mark_in_manchester   Email mark_in_manchester   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
What can produce RF signals apart from the obvious?
Compact fluorescent lights (most modern UK bulbs) and switched-mode power supplies (computers, mobile devices) are the biggest culprits.

I could make this more hellish by a big discourse on how tricky it is these days getting good long-wave reception in light of the above...really, really, boringly, hellish...

But instead, a book review (go on, Doc Tor, bounce this to Heaven [Smile] ).

Matthew Crawford, 'The case for working with your hands - or why office work is bad for us and fixing things feels good', Penguin (2009).

The author has a philosophy PhD, used to work in a Washington think-tank, and left to run a motorbike (repair) shop. A really great book you need to read in light of this thread - just a quick quote from the introduction:

"This book offers a nestled set of arguments on behalf of work which is meaningful because it is genuinely useful. It also explores what we might call the ethics of maintenance and repair, and in doing so I hope will speak to those who may be unlikely to go into the trades professionally but strive for some measure of self-reliance - the kind that requires focussed engagement with our material things. We now like our things not to disturb us. Why do some of the current Mercedes models have no dipstick, for example? What are the attractions of being disburdened of involvement with our own stuff? This basic question about consumer culture points to some basic questions about work, because in becoming less obtrusive, our devices also become more complicated. How has the relentless complication of cars and motorcycles, for example, altered the jobs of those who service them? We often hear of the need for an 'upskilling' of the workforce, to keep up with technological change. I find the more pertinent issue to be: What sort of personality does one need to have, as a twenty-first century mechanic, to tolerate the layers of electronic bullshit that get piled on top of machines?"

Even if you don't own a screwdriver, you ought to read it to find out what Heidegger thinks Windows 10 is going to do to you...

--------------------
"We are punished by our sins, not for them" - Elbert Hubbard
(so good, I wanted to see it after my posts and not only after those of shipmate JBohn from whom I stole it)

Posts: 1596 | Registered: Oct 2010  |  IP: Logged
mark_in_manchester

not waving, but...
# 15978

 - Posted      Profile for mark_in_manchester   Email mark_in_manchester   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I like it so much I'm going to give you another quick quote, which might make Christians smile - and then I'll stop.

"The [trades]man's habitual deference is not towards the New, but towards the objective standards of his [trade]. However narrow in its application, this is a rare appearance in contemporary life - a disinterested, articulable, and publicly affirmable idea of the good. Such a strong ontology is somewhat at odds with the cutting-edge institutions of the new capitalism, and with the educational regime that aims to supply those institutions with suitable workers - pliable generalists unfettered by any single set of skills."

--------------------
"We are punished by our sins, not for them" - Elbert Hubbard
(so good, I wanted to see it after my posts and not only after those of shipmate JBohn from whom I stole it)

Posts: 1596 | Registered: Oct 2010  |  IP: Logged
Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768

 - Posted      Profile for Penny S     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
OK, I'll buy it - two meanings.

Meanwhile I have fixed - I hope - the arch over my back gate, which is a metal frame which carries a chunk of rambling Albertine rose, and which has now twice been extracted from the ground spikes on one side, by the wind, which had pulled it free of the wires "fixing" it to the neighbouring gate post. I have now driven some old metal tool handles in to the ground with a rubber headed mallet and lashed the frame to them, and driven the frame further into the ground as well. The second time I redid it before, it was out of the ground by the time I was back in the house! So far, so good. More permanent fixing will utilise the centre pole of my last washing line.

The light bulbs, all, except the few LEDs replacing the huge number of halogens in the house when I moved in, of the low energy type, are usually not on when the switch problems were happening.

I have further gremlin problems with DAB radios, specifically the sleep and alarm functions. Again, worse recently. And internal, I would have thought, not RF problems.

Still, the good thing with a house full of RF is that I shouldn't get any problem with f-a-i-r-i-e-s. Just stuff simulating them.

Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009  |  IP: Logged
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58

 - Posted      Profile for Ariel   Author's homepage     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by passer:
My technological nightmare at the moment is that Google Chrome has just started telling me that it doesn't like Windows XP any more, and that soon it's going to abandon me from an updates perspective.

...

It's a legit copy of XP too, which hurts, as I'll have to fork out dosh to buy another copy of Win10 (which I quite like, btw).

You could just change your browser. They're free.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564

 - Posted      Profile for Leorning Cniht   Email Leorning Cniht   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by mark_in_manchester:
Compact fluorescent lights (most modern UK bulbs) and switched-mode power supplies (computers, mobile devices) are the biggest culprits.

Neither of these is nearly as bad as the AC inverter in a typical domestic UPS (the sort that powers one PC or so.) Those are real stinkers (but less ubiquitous).
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013  |  IP: Logged
Piglet
Islander
# 11803

 - Posted      Profile for Piglet   Email Piglet   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by MarsmanTJ:
I love my ceramic hobs ... a crack had developed across one of them ...

We bought a stove with a ceramic hob maybe ten years ago and some time afterwards (probably out of warranty) a crack appeared across two of the smaller rings. I have no idea what caused it: neither of us could remember anything being dropped on it.

I confess it doesn't seem to matter; the crack hasn't got any worse, and the rings are perfectly useable.

I'd rather the crack wasn't there, but as long as the rings work, I can live with it.

--------------------
I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music

Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006  |  IP: Logged
passer

Indigo
# 13329

 - Posted      Profile for passer   Email passer   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
quote:
Originally posted by passer:
My technological nightmare at the moment is that Google Chrome has just started telling me that it doesn't like Windows XP any more, and that soon it's going to abandon me from an updates perspective.

...

It's a legit copy of XP too, which hurts, as I'll have to fork out dosh to buy another copy of Win10 (which I quite like, btw).

You could just change your browser. They're free.
Yes, but I like Chrome. I hate Exploder and I find Firefox a bit, well - difficult to pin it down, but a bit - up its own ass. I like Chrome because it's unobtrusive.

The ability to take my pick of various free browsers is one I value, and complaining about free stuff is never going to get anyone far. In this instance, I feel that said ability is compromised by the requirement to buy a new thing to replace an unbroken thing in order to get shit for free. I'm still cross.

Posts: 1289 | From: Sheffield | Registered: Jan 2008  |  IP: Logged
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58

 - Posted      Profile for Ariel   Author's homepage     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by passer:
Yes, but I like Chrome. I hate Exploder and I find Firefox a bit, well - difficult to pin it down, but a bit - up its own ass. I like Chrome because it's unobtrusive.

Opera?

I disliked Chrome enough to disable all its annoying little processes on my pc but each to their own, some people love it. Not sure I'd splurge on an entire new operating system if I couldn't have Opera or Firefox though.

Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333

 - Posted      Profile for lilBuddha     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Pigwidgeon:
quote:
Originally posted by MarsmanTJ:
Meanwhile other friends have had other minor accidents and broken phones, etc. When did technology become so short-lived?

It's known as planned obsolescence.

[Mad]

Not that planned obsolescence doesn't happen, but much renders down to cost. The lower the cost of manufacture, the higher the potential profit.
We consumers are part of that as well. We want more for less and less is what we get.

--------------------
I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou

Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008  |  IP: Logged
W Hyatt
Shipmate
# 14250

 - Posted      Profile for W Hyatt   Email W Hyatt   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Pigwidgeon:
quote:
Originally posted by MarsmanTJ:
Meanwhile other friends have had other minor accidents and broken phones, etc. When did technology become so short-lived?

It's known as planned obsolescence.

[Mad]

Planned obsolescence may be common, but the linked article seems to completely misunderstand software upgrades:

quote:
The strategy of planned obsolescence is common in the computer industry too. New software is often carefully calculated to reduce the value to consumers of the previous version. This is achieved by making programs upwardly compatible only; in other words, the new versions can read all the files of the old versions, but not the other way round.
This is not a "strategy" - it's simply impossible to write software that is upwardly compatible so that it is somehow able to understand all the file changes that are going to be introduced with a new release in the future. The article goes on to compare software upgrades to children "speaking a completely different language from their parents." But it's more comparable to expecting dictionary publishers to include words that are going to be introduced to the language sometime in the future.

--------------------
A new church and a new earth, with Spiritual Insights for Everyday Life.

Posts: 1565 | From: U.S.A. | Registered: Nov 2008  |  IP: Logged
Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564

 - Posted      Profile for Leorning Cniht   Email Leorning Cniht   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by W Hyatt:
it's simply impossible to write software that is upwardly compatible so that it is somehow able to understand all the file changes that are going to be introduced with a new release in the future.

But it is completely possible to design the software such that file formats for new software that are readable (with perhaps degraded functionality) by older software.

Getting that right is expensive, though, so nobody bothers outside rather specialized cases.

Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013  |  IP: Logged
North East Quine

Curious beastie
# 13049

 - Posted      Profile for North East Quine   Email North East Quine   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I am going to express some love for technology, specifically Bob2, my Roomba (robot vacuum cleaner). Something jammed somewhere so that his brush wasn't going round, and so I stripped him back to give him a good clean, and I spoke to him reassuringly as I did so, promising I'd be gentle, and that it wouldn't take long.

Both my son and husband pointed out that I don't speak to either of them in the honeyed tones I use to Bob2.

Perhaps if they went around cleaning up, rather than spreading mess for me to clean up, I would. [Biased]

Bob2 [Axe murder]

Posts: 6414 | From: North East Scotland | Registered: Oct 2007  |  IP: Logged
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58

 - Posted      Profile for Ariel   Author's homepage     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
On the theme of sodding technology, automated helplines belong here. If your query doesn't fit into a recognized category you have no option but to go round in a loop for 10-20 minutes being passed from menu to menu with "Sorry, I didn't recognize your answer. Please choose from one of the following menu options", none of which include an option for holding until you can speak to a real person.

I wasted 20 minutes this way on Friday evening and have got to try again on Monday. Won't that be fun.

Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Firenze

Ordinary decent pagan
# 619

 - Posted      Profile for Firenze     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
I thought this sort of thing was the last word in sodding technology. I have seen ones where the blade is as long as the haft.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001  |  IP: Logged
Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768

 - Posted      Profile for Penny S     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Needed that. Took me some time though.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009  |  IP: Logged
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58

 - Posted      Profile for Ariel   Author's homepage     Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
Oh yes. Very cutting edge.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Amorya

Ship's tame galoot
# 2652

 - Posted      Profile for Amorya   Email Amorya   Send new private message       Edit/delete post   Reply with quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
But it is completely possible to design the software such that file formats for new software that are readable (with perhaps degraded functionality) by older software.

It's pretty damn hard, and requires some tradeoffs.

Omni Group chose to do that for OmniFocus version 2: it's completely compatible with version 1. But that means that there are a whole bunch of features that customers have been requesting, and Omni have had to say "Sorry, we can't add that whilst still maintaining compatibility".

And it's feature lists that sell. People don't pay for that level of backward compatibility, but they do pay for flashy new features.

Posts: 2383 | From: Coventry | Registered: Apr 2002  |  IP: Logged


 
Post new thread  Post a reply Close thread   Feature thread   Move thread   Delete thread Next oldest thread   Next newest thread
 - Printer-friendly view
Go to:

Contact us | Ship of Fools | Privacy statement

© Ship of Fools 2016

Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classicTM 6.5.0

 
follow ship of fools on twitter
buy your ship of fools postcards
sip of fools mugs from your favourite nautical website
 
 
  ship of fools