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Guru

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The long life of products

10/26/2021 1:51 PM

Technology is changing so rapidly that you have barely gotten in the door with the fastest processor than you see a commercial for one even faster and more powerful.

College-bound students will probably change majors many times before graduation because of obsolescence of the present technology.

Gone are the good old days of making things last a lifetime,or surviving to pass on down to the next generation.I should have kept the old DEC PDP 8 computer and manuals,since they are now museum pieces.

I find a lot of old stuff when I clean up in my shop.

Last time I did,I found a can of WD39,and an old 6Up bottle.

Anyway,there is a danger in keeping something too long;to wit:

A little long,but worth the read,just exit if it is too long for you.

Something a little lighter for CR4:

      by

Oliver Wendell Holmes

    (1809-1894)

Have you heard of the wonderful one-hoss shay,
That was built in such a logical way
It ran a hundred years to a day,
And then, of a sudden, it — ah, but stay,
I’ll tell you what happened without delay,
Scaring the parson into fits,
Frightening people out of their wits, —
Have you ever heard of that, I say?

Seventeen hundred and fifty-five.
Georgius Secundus was then alive, —
Snuffy old drone from the German hive.
That was the year when Lisbon-town
Saw the earth open and gulp her down,
And Braddock’s army was done so brown,
Left without a scalp to its crown.
It was on the terrible Earthquake-day
That the Deacon finished the one-hoss shay.

Now in building of chaises, I tell you what,
There is always somewhere a weakest spot, —
In hub, tire, felloe, in spring or thill,
In panel, or crossbar, or floor, or sill,
In screw, bolt, thoroughbrace, — lurking still,
Find it somewhere you must and will, —
Above or below, or within or without, —
And that’s the reason, beyond a doubt,
A chaise breaks down, but doesn’t wear out.

But the Deacon swore (as Deacons do,
With an “I dew vum,” or an “I tell yeou”)
He would build one shay to beat the taown
’N’ the keounty ’n’ all the kentry raoun’;
It should be so built that it couldn’ break daown:
“Fur,” said the Deacon, “’tis mighty plain
Thut the weakes’ place mus’ stan’ the strain;
’N’ the way t’ fix it, uz I maintain,
Is only jest
T’ make that place uz strong uz the rest.”

So the Deacon inquired of the village folk
Where he could find the strongest oak,
That couldn’t be split nor bent nor broke, —
That was for spokes and floor and sills;
He sent for lancewood to make the thills;
The crossbars were ash, from the straightest trees,
The panels of white-wood, that cuts like cheese,
But lasts like iron for things like these;
The hubs of logs from the “Settler’s ellum,” —
Last of its timber, — they couldn’t sell ’em,
Never an axe had seen their chips,
And the wedges flew from between their lips,
Their blunt ends frizzled like celery-tips;
Step and prop-iron, bolt and screw,
Spring, tire, axle, and linchpin too,
Steel of the finest, bright and blue;
Thoroughbrace bison-skin, thick and wide;
Boot, top, dasher, from tough old hide
Found in the pit when the tanner died.
That was the way he “put her through.”
“There!” said the Deacon, “naow she’ll dew!”

Do! I tell you, I rather guess
She was a wonder, and nothing less!
Colts grew horses, beards turned gray,
Deacon and deaconess dropped away,
Children and grandchildren — where were they?
But there stood the stout old one-hoss shay
As fresh as on Lisbon-earthquake-day!

EIGHTEEN HUNDRED; — it came and found
The Deacon’s masterpiece strong and sound.
Eighteen hundred increased by ten; —
“Hahnsum kerridge” they called it then.
Eighteen hundred and twenty came; —
Running as usual; much the same.
Thirty and forty at last arrive,
And then come fifty, and FIFTY-FIVE.

Little of all we value here
Wakes on the morn of its hundreth year
Without both feeling and looking queer.
In fact, there’s nothing that keeps its youth,
So far as I know, but a tree and truth.
(This is a moral that runs at large;
Take it. — You’re welcome. — No extra charge.)

FIRST OF NOVEMBER, — the Earthquake-day, —
There are traces of age in the one-hoss shay,
A general flavor of mild decay,
But nothing local, as one may say.
There couldn’t be, — for the Deacon’s art
Had made it so like in every part
That there wasn’t a chance for one to start.
For the wheels were just as strong as the thills,
And the floor was just as strong as the sills,
And the panels just as strong as the floor,
And the whipple-tree neither less nor more,
And the back crossbar as strong as the fore,
And spring and axle and hub encore.
And yet, as a whole, it is past a doubt
In another hour it will be worn out!

First of November, ’Fifty-five!
This morning the parson takes a drive.
Now, small boys, get out of the way!
Here comes the wonderful one-hoss shay,
Drawn by a rat-tailed, ewe-necked bay.
“Huddup!” said the parson. — Off went they.
The parson was working his Sunday’s text, —
Had got to fifthly, and stopped perplexed
At what the — Moses — was coming next.
All at once the horse stood still,
Close by the meet’n’-house on the hill.
First a shiver, and then a thrill,
Then something decidedly like a spill, —
And the parson was sitting upon a rock,
At half past nine by the meet’n-house clock, —
Just the hour of the Earthquake shock!
What do you think the parson found,
When he got up and stared around?
The poor old chaise in a heap or mound,
As if it had been to the mill and ground!
You see, of course, if you’re not a dunce,
How it went to pieces all at once, —
All at once, and nothing first, —
Just as bubbles do when they burst.

End of the wonderful one-hoss shay.
Logic is logic. That’s all I say.


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Guru

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#1

Re: The long lfe of products

10/26/2021 2:37 PM

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Guru

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#2

Re: The long lfe of products

10/27/2021 2:34 AM

I guess the story means that when something breaks, the rest of the parts are on the verge of breaking. Everything is designed to the n'th, i.e, there's not much safety factor in the parts. I don't use aftermarket parts on my vehicle anymore because the original parts are designed to the n'th. If an aftermarket part is a little off spec.-whammo.

I'm beginning to believe that's the way God designed my body.

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Guru

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#3
In reply to #2

Re: The long lfe of products

10/27/2021 11:57 AM

Fred C. Offenhauser built race engines,and his company still does.

His emphasis was on minimal weight of components.

He told his engineers:"If a part fails because it was too light,no problem,but if it fails because it was too heavy,you will be fired."

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#4

Re: The long lfe of products

10/27/2021 12:03 PM

Claim: Automaker Henry Ford scavenged junk yards to find out which components had outlasted the useful life of his automobiles, then made those parts out of cheaper materials.


LEGEND

Some blame Henry Ford for planned obsolescence, but according to Snopes, it's just a legend.

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Guru

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#5
In reply to #4

Re: The long lfe of products

10/28/2021 5:33 AM

Some blame Henry Ford for global warming,as well as cavemen that discovered fire.

The MSM is determined to try to make the public feel guilty about everything.

Rumors are like the wind,they come and go.

Where there is smoke,there is fire,the saying goes,but I say where there is smoke there is usually a steaming pile of bull manure.

Has anyone snooped out Snopes?

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Guru

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Location: About 4000 miles from the center of the earth (+/-100 mi)
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#8
In reply to #5

Re: The long lfe of products

10/30/2021 1:45 PM

I tend to agree with you, a lot of so called "fact checkers" are driven by political motivations. (I say, name your source and let the reader decide.)

In this case, there's probably not a lot of political capital in the question of whether Henry was scouting out junkyards.

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#6

Re: The long lfe of products

10/28/2021 8:04 AM

If you believe in a free market economy, then you have to accept that there are multiple factors that drive the cost and longevity of a product:

You have to sell it for enough to cover your costs and make a profit, but not so expensive that nobody will buy it.

You have to make it well enough that it will last the purchaser for a "reasonable" lifetime, or they'll quickly stop buying it, but can't make it last so long that they will never have to buy another (you'll soon lose all your potential customers who don't need another!).

If you make it cheap enough and well enough to get people to buy your product, others will try to do the same (competition!), so you have to find some other way to keep selling more.

It has to be worth enough to the buyer for them to pay the price, and to the seller for them to part with it. "Fair" is in the eye of the beholder - everyone will have a different idea of what that is, and the object of the free market is for the seller and buyer to come to an agreement of what that is.

I could go on, but you get the point. Thomas Sowell presents it well in his book "Basic Economics" - the study of the allocation of scarce resources that have alternative uses.

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#7
In reply to #6

Re: The long lfe of products

10/28/2021 10:45 AM

Buying the cheapest version of something gets you the lowest quality generally speaking, I mean you can spend from around $600 to $2500 or more for a refrigerator, so it's getting what you paid for that is the challenge....It used to be you could trust a particular brand, but that is less so today, the companies change hands so quickly that the brand dependability has suffered...Your not even certain where the appliance comes from now, though if you guessed China you have a good chance of being correct...assembled in America is about as good as it gets...

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