Telephones... then and now

[TomSeller]

Without seeing that, it probably would never occur to kids growing up around consumer products with 6-24 month life cycles that things could still work many decades later.
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Those were made when a "Lifetime Warranty" meant something. Now the term means practically nothing.

 

[ultrarunner]

Without seeing that, it probably would never occur to kids growing up around consumer products with 6-24 month life cycles that things could still work many decades later.

And, we are allegedly concerned about the environment today....

Even excluding the batteries, it would be interesting to calculate the embodied energy going into just one month's production of cell phones.

Rgds, D.

Yep... this is why I'm not on the Green bandwagon... sure, if I'm in the market for something I need the research is worthwhile... but I need a real good reason to part with something the still performs the intended function and this seldom occurs.

Still think of my 88 year old neighbor that had a bought new in 1980 Cadillac that was now 20 years old with 31,000 miles and garage kept... her grand daughter talked he into donating the dinosaur for a Toyota Prius... Grandma loved the Caddy that her husband had bought and never felt comfortable in the Prius... said it looked like a moon ship...

I the 4 years she kept driving it racked up about 2,000 miles... grand daughter said the Prius was green and got 50+ miles to the gallon... like that matters when your drive a 1000 miles annually.

It's been 27 hours since I swapped out the NIU card and so far so good...

 

[turnkey4099]

Plus carrying a small bottle of regular tap water they bought in a store.

No matter how long they are going to be out of the house. My wife would not leave the house even for a short trip to the grocery store without that dam bottle of water.

 

[Bird]

Plus carrying a small bottle of regular tap water they bought in a store.

That's one that I still think borders on insanity.

No matter how long they are going to be out of the house. My wife would not leave the house even for a short trip to the grocery store without that dam bottle of water.

Now I, too, carry some ice water anytime I leave the house, but it's a metal, insulated "glass?" with a lid and contains ice cubes from our refrigerator and tap water from the kitchen sink.:laughing:

BUT . . . . we have a bunch of those plastic bottles of water from Walmart in the shop refrigerator for when daughters and grandkids visit.:banghead:

 

[3930dave]

Still think of my 88 year old neighbor that had a bought new in 1980 Cadillac that was now 20 years old with 31,000 miles and garage kept... her grand daughter talked he into donating the dinosaur for a Toyota Prius... Grandma loved the Caddy that her husband had bought and never felt comfortable in the Prius... said it looked like a moon ship...

I the 4 years she kept driving it racked up about 2,000 miles... grand daughter said the Prius was green and got 50+ miles to the gallon... like that matters when your drive a 1000 miles annually.

That had nothing to do with what Grandma wanted/needed. Gen III had no interest in inheriting a Cadillac.

Many of the granddaughters generation aren't that green, though plenty will consume what is marketed to them as being green. One of the consequences of weak Science education today is that many people don't have the tools themselves to make their own assessment of what is "Green".

We have a few olde school telco guys kicking around here.... it would be interesting to rough out some power calculations. I wouldn't be surprised that even with relay technology, the old rotary dial systems used less power (system wide) than what is running today. Carbon handsets used no power idling. Care to guesstimate how much power gets burned, say just in the USA, charging cell phones every day ? Progress, yes; Green ?

Good thing you have a DIY attitude ur. If you were waiting for the "official" repair at the hospital, you might still be out. Here's hoping your good luck continues.....

Heck, the way things are going, you could probably hang an ad on kijjiji and do some consulting !

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Those were made when a "Lifetime Warranty" meant something. Now the term means practically nothing.

Canadian Tire (big national chain here) has revoked their traditional hand tool warranty. Used to be the same as Craftsman - walk in with broken tool, walk out with new one. Now, CTC needs a receipt - I don't have mine from 40+ years ago.

I spent plenty of money at CTC and Sears over the years, because of the walk-in/walk-out tool warranty. I will no longer buy hand tools at CTC, and will only continue buying Craftsman if their no-receipt warranty is continued by Stanley/Black&Decker.

Phones change, tools change, .... not always for the better.

Rgds, D.

 

[ultrarunner]

When things change I have to ask why and who is coming out better... often it is as simple as following the money.

I still remember when Bell System/ATT/Western Electric was the world standard... we had a huge Western Electric plant in town and another operation center in Silicon Valley and was there in San Ramon for the opening of the State of the Art Pacific Telephone West Coast Center.

Last night I saw my neighbor who except for military service was lifetime telephone man... he started repairing teletype machines in a brick warehouse in Oakland...

He said with the reorganization, the company was using many means to force the old guys out... everyone had to apply for their jobs, get new medical, provide resumes... etc and many simply opted to retire... he didn't and eventually became the old guy that was the only go-to guy left.

After he retired they kept calling him and he said he wanted a contract as a consultant at age 74... he got it.

 

[hawkeye08]

That's one that I still think borders on insanity.

Now I, too, carry some ice water anytime I leave the house, but it's a metal, insulated "glass?" with a lid and contains ice cubes from our refrigerator and tap water from the kitchen sink.:laughing:

BUT . . . . we have a bunch of those plastic bottles of water from Walmart in the shop refrigerator for when daughters and grandkids visit.:banghead:

When our oldest daughter got married, we had the rehearsal dinner at our house... nice summer gathering. My son-in-law to be had been drinking bottled water from the fridge and wanted a couple for him and his parents to take when they left. No problem.

What they did not know was that I had done a little experiment, he did not like our tap water (from well, 52 degrees) since it was "too hard". He brought some bottled water with him when dating our daughter. I saved the bottles from buying some water and refilled them with tap water and kept in fridge. He had no trouble with them.

That was over 4 years ago, he drinks water from the tap now.

 

[MossRoad]

When our oldest daughter got married, we had the rehearsal dinner at our house... nice summer gathering. My son-in-law to be had been drinking bottled water from the fridge and wanted a couple for him and his parents to take when they left. No problem.

What they did not know was that I had done a little experiment, he did not like our tap water (from well, 52 degrees) since it was "too hard". He brought some bottled water with him when dating our daughter. I saved the bottles from buying some water and refilled them with tap water and kept in fridge. He had no trouble with them.

That was over 4 years ago, he drinks water from the tap now.

My mother-in-law got my wife to try that trick on me with cheap off-brand cheerios... she put the off-brand in the name-brand box. I sat down for breakfast, poured them into the bowl and said "What the **** are these?" :laughing:

 

[hawkeye08]

My mother-in-law got my wife to try that trick on me with cheap off-brand cheerios... she put the off-brand in the name-brand box. I sat down for breakfast, poured them into the bowl and said "What the **** are these?" :laughing:

LOL, almost spit coffee on my keyboard..