So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[HudsonHawk]

I don’t know if this is the situation in Germany, but over here, in my experience, it is cheaper to buy a new appliance than to repair one. Last year, my refrigerator went belly up, and I had it repaired. It ended up costing nearly as much as a new one, and a year later broke down again.

Depends on what's wrong with it. I've repaired my refrigerator a couple of times, and my washing machine three times. Once I had to replace the tub bearings, which wasn't easy and I had to rent a special tool, but managed to fix for $150. Another time, I had parts 3-D printed to replace the parts they wanted $600 for. It cost me $30, including shipping.

 

[tonyb]

One of GE's big selling points during the heyday of the Monitor Top was that the mechanism had been subjected to the equivalent of something like 400 years of testing without failure. Imagine how many half-used jars of mayonnaise shoved in the far back that would be.

Actually living with one, though, had me appreciating certain features on the newer models, such as shelves on the inside of the door and a freezer compartment large enough for something more than two ice cube trays.

The Whirlpool that came with the house we bought three years ago has an automatic ice maker, the water supply to which I shut off on account of a leak.

There may come a day when people wonder aloud how their ancestors lived without ice water dispensers in the door and video screens telling them the asparagus is going limp.

 

[2jakes]

It’s still chugging along.

 

[GHT]

It’s still chugging along.
View attachment 142217

Well done you, my Missus has got quite a collection of vintage sewing machines, all working, but kept on display shelves in her cabin.
We have my grandmother's radio, pre-war, it was known as a wireless, but then some geek came up with: "Remote Audio Discrete Integrated Oscillations," so it's been a radio ever since. Indulge me in a quick digression. Did you know that the first 'Ra' in Radar stands for Radio? Radio Detection And Ranging. An acronym from an acronym, I wonder if that was a first?
Back to our wireless, it's a valve driven 1922 Ferguson. We also have the first telephone that we hired. We hired it because the telephone system was nationalised and you had to have what was given. The appliance was so robust that after privatisation we were allowed to purchase it, so we did, for the princely sum of one pound. It's still going strong, although there is a modern phone, discretely hidden, that we need to read the number on incoming calls. We also need touch tone so that we can call numbers with voice menu. The old phone can't handle, press one for the money, two for the show.

 

[LizzieMaine]

You'd think shelves in the refrigerator door would have become a common idea fast, but they didn't because Powel Crosley owned the patent for the concept. If you wanted shelves in the door you had to buy a Crosley Shelvador.

The patent remained in effect until about 1950, so if you wanted shelves before that you had to deal with Crosley. Contrary to this image, Crosley didn't also own an exemption to the laws of perspective, he just hired a hacky artist.

Crosley also gave the world the remarkable Icy-Ball. Stop snickering you guys, you aren't in the fourth grade.

 

[2jakes]

We have my grandmother's radio, pre-war, it was known as a wireless, but then some geek came up with: "Remote Audio Discrete Integrated Oscillations," so it's been a radio ever since. Indulge me in a quick digression. Did you know that the first 'Ra' in Radar stands for Radio? Radio Detection And Ranging. An acronym from an acronym, I wonder if that was a first?
Back to our wireless, it's a valve driven 1922 Ferguson. We also have the first telephone that we hired. We hired it because the telephone system was nationalised and you had to have what was given. The appliance was so robust that after privatisation we were allowed to purchase it, so we did, for the princely sum of one pound. It's still going strong, although there is a modern phone, discretely hidden, that we need to read the number on incoming calls. We also need touch tone so that we can call numbers with voice menu. The old phone can't handle, press one for the money, two for the show.
View attachment 142219 View attachment 142220

Pre-war & still going strong!

S-20r *Sky Champion*

by Hallicrafters

 

[LizzieMaine]

Tech vs Children, or The Modern Prometheus. As I've been saying all along...

 

[vitanola]

Well done you, my Missus has got quite a collection of vintage sewing machines, all working, but kept on display shelves in her cabin.
We have my grandmother's radio, pre-war, it was known as a wireless, but then some geek came up with: "Remote Audio Discrete Integrated Oscillations," so it's been a radio ever since. Indulge me in a quick digression. Did you know that the first 'Ra' in Radar stands for Radio? Radio Detection And Ranging. An acronym from an acronym, I wonder if that was a first?
Back to our wireless, it's a valve driven 1922 Ferguson. We also have the first telephone that we hired. We hired it because the telephone system was nationalised and you had to have what was given. The appliance was so robust that after privatisation we were allowed to purchase it, so we did, for the princely sum of one pound. It's still going strong, although there is a modern phone, discretely hidden, that we need to read the number on incoming calls. We also need touch tone so that we can call numbers with voice menu. The old phone can't handle, press one for the money, two for the show.
View attachment 142219 View attachment 142220

 

[2jakes]

Nestled on snow of cotton batting, a display of phonograph records and player-piano rolls. "Santa Claus Time" is, the placard ... of the phonograph appears to be describing the latest "Edison Records”

 

[vitanola]

Nestled on of records and player-pianaano rolls. "Santa Claus Time" is, the placard ... of the phonograph appears to be describing the latest "Edison Records”
View attachment 142259

An Aeolian-Vocalion talking machine equipped with "Graduola" and, perhaps, "Volunome". The cabinets were plain, but superbly well built, relying entirely upon strongly tiger striped mahogany or highly figured walnut veneers for decorative effect, and look at those lovely red Vocalion records resting in the cotton wool snow! Perhaps this was one of them:

 

[2jakes]

An Aeolian-Vocalion talking machine equipped with "Graduola" and, perhaps, "Volunome". The cabinets were plain, but superbly well built, relying entirely upon strongly tiger striped mahogany or highly figured walnut veneers for decorative effect, and look at those lovely red Vocalion records resting in the cotton wool snow! Perhaps this was one of them:

There's no way on earth I can sit still and
enjoy this sound.
Thanks V

 

[vitanola]

Nestled on snow of cotton batting, a display of phonogdraph records and player-piano rolls. "Santa Claus Time" is, the placard ... of the phonograph appears to be describing the latest "Edison Records”
View attachment 142259

There's no way on earth I can sit still and
enjoy this sound.
Thanks V

Well, Louis Armstrong on corner and a young Coleman Hawkins on tenor and bass sax! What more could one ask?

In another few months the introduction of electric recording would have the same band sounding like THIS:

 

[tonyb]

You'd think shelves in the refrigerator door would have become a common idea fast, but they didn't because Powel Crosley owned the patent for the concept. If you wanted shelves in the door you had to buy a Crosley Shelvador.

The patent remained in effect until about 1950, so if you wanted shelves before that you had to deal with Crosley. Contrary to this image, Crosley didn't also own an exemption to the laws of perspective, he just hired a hacky artist.

Crosley also gave the world the remarkable Icy-Ball. Stop snickering you guys, you aren't in the fourth grade.

If I were more tech savvy I'd post a circa 1956 TV commercial featuring Bess Myserson in a bullet bra hawking the Frigidaire Cold Pantry (TM) refrigerator. It's impressive -- the refrigerator and Bess Myerson.

 

[BobHufford]

^^^^ Got your back...

 

[Edward]

I've only ever had a plain red, white, and yellow one. I can think of nothing in the world more pathetic than someone who ties their identity to the color of their debtload.

We used to have a company around here that proudly declared that it pioneered the "affinity credit card" racket -- wooo, look, your credit card has the logo of your favorite sports team or college. Aren't you just the most special thing.

I remember when a credit card company got into bed with Virgin records a few years ago, and you could have an album cover on your card. There was something wryly arppropriate about a credit card bearing the cover of Never mind the Bollocks, here's the Sex Pistols. After all, "It's all just cash from chaos", innit?

 

[LizzieMaine]

If I were more tech savvy I'd post a circa 1956 TV commercial featuring Bess Myserson in a bullet bra hawking the Frigidaire Cold Pantry (TM) refrigerator. It's impressive -- the refrigerator and Bess Myerson.

I suspect teenage boys of the time spent long hours debating the relative abilities of Ms. Myerson, Betty Furness, and Faye Emerson. The "Willie, Mickey, and the Duke" of pneumatic spokesmodels. Offstage, Furness was the smartest of the three, and in later life, after realizing what the Boys were up to, she became an outspoken consumer advocate.

 

[crawlinkingsnake]

Couldn't you knock up a spoof: Notice of Removal. You might even find a real one somewhere on the internet. Make sure that the licence plate is quoted, give something plausible like 21 days, then suggest that after that, it will be towed away to a car breaker's premises where it will be crushed. Costs for removal & crushing will be invoiced to the last address of the owner. Stick it inside a sealed plastic bag and then leave it stuck to the windscreen. See if that gets a reaction.

Hmmmmm? Excellent idea GHT. I'll see what I can come up with, thanks.

 

[2jakes]

^^^^
Power of the print word.
I have a sign in backyard:
"Caution-Pitbulls in the Yard".

Now...even the gas/meter inspector will
politely knock on the front door and ask
if it's safe to go back and check the meters.
I hate answering the door to unsolicited
people.
But this is one time, I don't mind.

 

[LizzieMaine]

OMG PITBULLS SO SCARY

 

[2jakes]

OMG PITBULLS SO SCARY

View attachment 142530

OH WHAT A LUCKY DOG!