Old Common, Day to Day Technology. Waht do you hang onto?

[k0ua]

Blackberries here are far from amusing as they can take over in a matter of months, we simply don't get the frost to knock them back, one corner of our place is overrun with them as the adjoining property won't spray his, I spray them four times a year but they just bounce back, they are controlled on my side but the other side are spreading like wildfire, the coldest we get is about -2ｰC but only about half a dozen times a year, we curse the English botanist Von Mueller who introduced them here as a food source a few hundred years ago.

We are not very happy with the English person that introduced the starling and the sparrow over here either.

 

[Oaktree]

Not really technology, but I'm too cheap to buy AC. My place is small and by the time I settle in at night the sun has set below the trees and a good fan will cool it down. I put the fan in one window, open another in the other end of the house and the breeze flows right through... the same way that we cooled the greenhouses.
For years I've used an old all steel window fan which my employer was throwing out; I had to lube the motor up to get it to work properly, and it's a little noisy when I shut it down yet it's served me well for 10 years or more.

I'm the same way, don't especially like AC. Don't even use it in the car. Of course, I live in a part of the country where you don't really need it anyway.
I'll go ya one (actually 2) better on the fans...I have 2 window box fans...one I bought in 1969 when I got my first apartment, the other was one I scavenged from the curb on trash day. Lube the motor bearings once a year and they both still work just fine. One's in my shop, the other is used as an exhaust fan in a spare room in the house...turn it on in the evening once things cool down, house stays cool most of the next day.

Once upon a time, we had a 3 day power outage and I bought a 8000 watt generator after it was over. It happened in the winter due to an ice storm. We used my Coleman camp stove to cook on, LED lanterns for light, a propane infrared heater for heat. I got the new generator and it sat for 5 years till the next storm. When I went to use it, the carb was messed up, took it to a repair shop and they found a spring missing from inside the carb (factory screw up) that took him just about 10 minutes and $20 to fix and it ran like a champ. We ran that for 6 days day and night. Now it is back in its storage hole, waiting for a new disaster to happen.

That's the trouble with a generator, it just sits most of the time. I bought a 4000W one about 10 years ago after a power outage (mainly to keep the freezer & refrigerator cold...it was in the summer). Don't think I've used it since, other than semi-annual exercise runs. Always make sure I shut off the fuel valve and let it run dry after each use.
Don't really need it for winter...we can get along just fine for a couple days without electricity if need be...propane kitchen stove and HW heater, gravity fed well, woodstove and lantens.

That is the one great technology that I like, debit cards and electronic banking. I write about 2 checks a year, one to pay my property taxes and one to get my sprinkler checkvalve certified. Both dont take debit cards. I always hated carrying around a checkbook and writing out checks. I got the standard box of checks when I opened my current bank account in 1990 and I just last year had to order more.

I don't like debit cards, more than likely I'll forget to enter a purchase in Quicken and I'll lose track of balance. Way easier not to when writing a check. Even checks are to pay bills, not used at stores...either cash or CC there. My bank has a "senior free" checking acct with no fees, and one free order of checks per year.

I also am seeing (native) elderberry and sumac in places where it never was before, in forest openings we've created.

Now there's an invasive plant we have. It's a relatively low-bush sumac with white blossoms, not the usual red. When we bought the place it was over-run with it. After much bush hogging and mowing I keep it mostly contained, but it's an ongoing battle.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I will not use a debit card.
Sons friend had checking account drained by someone who hacked a pay app linked to it.

 

[Jstpssng]

I will not use a debit card.
Sons friend had checking account drained by someone who hacked a pay app linked to it.

I won't either. I used to pay my power bill with my debit card, but earlier this year "Amazon Financial" made a query on my account. They shouldn't even have my card number. The next day I called up the CU, had the card shut off, and am not going to activate the new one which they sent me.

I've mentioned in other posts about a friend who works low-paying jobs but keeps her credit immaculate. About a decade ago she suddenly had checks bouncing all over the place; upon checking, she discovered that somebody had made a purchase at a Sears storedown in Florida using a debit card, which the clerk had entered by hand. Somehow she punched in the wrong numbers and the money-around $400, which was more than a week's pay for her- came out of her account. She hasn't been out of Maine for as long as I've known her. It took several weeks with the assistance of the CU manager before Sears finally agreed to refund her money- in the form of a check, which they took their own sweet time sending her. They also refused to cover her overdraft fees although Sears clearly was at fault; that was a pretty big hit for her.

 

[the old grind]

Sister's friend took her Mom to Spain for Birthday, but took her whole wallet too. While trying on coats someone snatched her purse w/cel phone then emptied her business debit card and ran up her biz CC accts before she could get to the US Embassy to call and block her accounts.

For months she was taunted by phone & email about what new accounts were run up using her ID and personal details gained in the theft. They were the worst bum-holes imaginable & it was pretty hard on her for almost a year. It took much longer to clear her credit after the 'international extravagance' it led to.

I keep a checking acct for auto-pays that won't allow CCs to be used. (poco, Care Credit, IRS ..) Most everything I pay for goes by paypal and/or CC and I pay the card down as accepted during the month by the fading art of walking into the bank (and teasing tellers ).

 

[two_bit_score]

I won't either. I used to pay my power bill with my debit card, but earlier this year "Amazon Financial" made a query on my account. They shouldn't even have my card number. The next day I called up the CU, had the card shut off, and am not going to activate the new one which they sent me.

I've mentioned in other posts about a friend who works low-paying jobs but keeps her credit immaculate. About a decade ago she suddenly had checks bouncing all over the place; upon checking, she discovered that somebody had made a purchase at a Sears storedown in Florida using a debit card, which the clerk had entered by hand. Somehow she punched in the wrong numbers and the money-around $400, which was more than a week's pay for her- came out of her account. She hasn't been out of Maine for as long as I've known her. It took several weeks with the assistance of the CU manager before Sears finally agreed to refund her money- in the form of a check, which they took their own sweet time sending her. They also refused to cover her overdraft fees although Sears clearly was at fault; that was a pretty big hit for her.

So not only did the clerk key in the 'incorrect' number for the card in hand and came up with your friends CC # but the "security code" on the back of the card in hand was the same too????

Amazing

 

[bunyip]

Not all use that CVT on the back of the card

 

[bunyip]

Who remembers the strobe cardboard discs for turntables, I used one as the marked turntable I had was marked for the USA market.

 

[two_bit_score]

Not all use that CVT on the back of the card

If the card has to be entered manually they should plus he said it was a debit card so there should be a PIN number. My suspicions are that some 'friend' of the owner got access to her card and info and used it. May be why Sears was willing to reverse charges but not overdraft fees.

 

[bunyip]

I use debit aand credit cards, both are VISA AND with a phone transaction they have often gone through, in store are supposed to check signature but rarely do, mine is signed SEE PHOTO ID but I have never been challenged.
Lost a credit card 2 weeks ago and cancelled it within 10 minutes with my bank app on my phone, no one had tried to use it but haven't got it back eiither, had a new card in 4 days with a new number.