So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Touchofevil]

The lack of sticking with tape nowadays. There must have been a lawsuit once upon a time where someone must have been injured by the stickiness of tape so they had to reduce its ability to stick. It doesn’t work unless you are willing to pay.

And scotch tape, I remember when it was clear. Someone must’ve been hurt by its transparency.

 

[Hercule]

And scotch tape, I remember when it was clear. Someone must’ve been hurt by its transparency.

Just a few years ago I worked with an older lady (in her 70s at least) who referred to scotch tape as "magic mending tape." I had never heard that term before. Interesting woman - quite the night owl and, for whatever reason, she always smelled of mothballs. Lovely lady nonetheless.

 

[Woodtroll]

Just a few years ago I worked with an older lady (in her 70s at least) who referred to scotch tape as "magic mending tape." I had never heard that term before. Interesting woman - quite the night owl and, for whatever reason, she always smelled of mothballs. Lovely lady nonetheless.

We always called it "Magic Tape" growing up - it seems to me that it was once labeled that way on the green Scotch label. Not sure where the "mending" part came from, but it does make sense.

 

[Zombie_61]

We always called it "Magic Tape" growing up - it seems to me that it was once labeled that way on the green Scotch label...

It still is.

 

[Edward]

If memory serves, the 'magic' appellation came from a particular variant which was designed so as to be less immediately visible; in particular, it didn't show up at all when a repaired tear was photocopied, as memory serves.

Funny how generics vary; here in the UK, we have many of the same proprietary marks that have slipped into generic usage - Hoover, Walkman (increasingly now 'ipod') - but for clear sticky-tape, the brand that became the generic term is Sellotape. Scotch Tape is available here, but clearly was never quite the dominant brand.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The old-fashioned "clear" cellophane tape was highly acidic -- if you've ever handled an old scrapbook or album where the original owner used it to affix clippings or photos to the pages, you'll note ugly dark-brown marks wherever the tape contacted the paper. It didn't take long for these marks to start to appear, either -- just a few years was enough, so you can imagine what the results are after fifty or sixty years. And the adhesive also dries up and becomes useless, so when you pick up the scrapbook the contents will flutter out from between the pages and land on the floor. Fun!

Unfortunately, the "magic" variety of tape isn't much better. It makes a better-looking repair job on book pages than the original style, at first, but it's also acidic -- not as much as the original, but acidic enough that it will yellow the paper.

If you really want to do a nice job taping up a torn book, get archival library tape. It's made, not of cellophane, but of a very fine rice paper, with a pH neutral adhesive. If you apply it properly -- which is very hard to do because of how thin it is -- you'll barely be able to see it, and it won't ever dry up or yellow.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^^
We (the nuts who find great value in old crap) sometimes lose sight of the impermanence of this stuff. While it’s true that furniture and household appliances and whatnot can be (and were) made to last much longer than the next hot new style, nothing that gets used for its intended purpose will remain like-new indefinitely.

I’ve mentioned before how it’s fine by me that the “market value” of so many old things that capture my imagination is so dependent on condition. I don’t object to old furniture having dings and scratches, to old paper ephemera having tears at the edges and a bit of foxing, to old commercial signage showing it was out in the weather for several years, especially if it means I can acquire it at a small fraction of the cost of the same item in pristine condition.

Craggy old faces are often more visually compelling than smooth young ones.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I've come to realize as I get older that I really don't care about "preserving my stuff for the future," because in a hundred years who's gonna care about a pile of radio magazines from the 1930s? All the content's been digitally scanned, so the only real point to having them, to me, is that I don't like to read digital scans. So if the cat chews on a corner, or the corner of a page flakes off or I sit on one by mistake and it gets wrinkled, who really cares? As far as I'm concerned, the only "value" any of my stuff has is the value I get out of using it. What happens to any or all of it after I die is of absolutely no interest to me at all. It's ephemera, of an ephemeral culture, and the day is approaching when it will all be as forgotten as I myself will be. So who cares?

 

[Touchofevil]

It still is.

It is magic tape in the sense that as with magic, they will trick/fool you into thinking it is something that it is not.

 

[tonyb]

I've come to realize as I get older that I really don't care about "preserving my stuff for the future," because in a hundred years who's gonna care about a pile of radio magazines from the 1930s? All the content's been digitally scanned, so the only real point to having them, to me, is that I don't like to read digital scans. So if the cat chews on a corner, or the corner of a page flakes off or I sit on one by mistake and it gets wrinkled, who really cares? As far as I'm concerned, the only "value" any of my stuff has is the value I get out of using it. What happens to any or all of it after I die is of absolutely no interest to me at all. It's ephemera, of an ephemeral culture, and the day is approaching when it will all be as forgotten as I myself will be. So who cares?

At base it’s another manifestation of the human desire to cheat mortality.

I’m presently dealing with the meager worldly effects of a person whose condition will likely be deemed terminal before long. I can’t very well just leave it all at the Arc thrift store donation station. Not yet, anyway. But that’s its likeliest fate.

The handful of photos and other paper documents specific to this person’s own history will get filed away. They don’t take up much space, and subsequent generations might appreciate that someone thought to keep them. But then, maybe they won’t. If so, they can throw it away.

 

[GHT]

As far as I'm concerned, the only "value" any of my stuff has is the value I get out of using it. What happens to any or all of it after I die is of absolutely no interest to me at all. It's ephemera, of an ephemeral culture, and the day is approaching when it will all be as forgotten as I myself will be. So who cares?

Actually Lizzie, a great many care. I was at a funeral today, the deceased, knowing of his own demise, had written a eulogy of sorts that paraphrased your sentiment.

Like you, I, and many others, feel that it's no big deal to celebrate me at my passing, but after today I feel differently. We might feel just ordinary, but we are ordinary in an extraordinary way. We might feel that we are not worth celebrating, but that's our own perspective, for others the piece of theatre that happens at funerals is far more than lip service. They are there for the love and cherished memories of the dear departed loved one.

 

[ChiTownScion]

I've come to realize as I get older that I really don't care about "preserving my stuff for the future," because in a hundred years who's gonna care about a pile of radio magazines from the 1930s? All the content's been digitally scanned, so the only real point to having them, to me, is that I don't like to read digital scans. So if the cat chews on a corner, or the corner of a page flakes off or I sit on one by mistake and it gets wrinkled, who really cares? As far as I'm concerned, the only "value" any of my stuff has is the value I get out of using it. What happens to any or all of it after I die is of absolutely no interest to me at all. It's ephemera, of an ephemeral culture, and the day is approaching when it will all be as forgotten as I myself will be. So who cares?

I can agree when it comes to old magazines, but your "stuff" also includes that lovely Plodge. It's clearly given you (in addition to some frustrations and grief, no doubt) quite a bit of pleasure and enjoyment in the brief time that you've owned it over its long life. Doesn't the vision of someone else who'd appreciate driving it as much as you do seem a lot more attractive than the thought of it cannibalized for parts, or even worse, rusting in some landfill?

With me, it's scale model trains. My greatest concern is that when I go, my wife or son enjoy maximum financial reimbursement for most of the locomotives and rolling stock. But I also like the idea of someone else sharing the joy of running them as I did. To that end I am designating that cars and engines of certain railroads end up in the hands of friends I know who have an interest in or affinity for the roads in question (They're all "fallen flag " railroads that were lost to mergers, buyouts, or bankruptcies years ago.). Worst case scenario would be that they were thrown out: I know that others will appreciate them as I do, and I'd love to see them in those hands.

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

Yard sale people that park across your driveway...or anywhere there’s not a car already sitting.
I secretly toy with the thought of flipping one over with my Hummer.
B

 

[BobHufford]

Yard sale people that park across your driveway...or anywhere there’s not a car already sitting.
I secretly toy with the thought of flipping one over with my Hummer.
B

 

[Hercule]

I blame Antiques Road Show for instilling in people a falsely inflated sense value to their stuff. Sure, your trinket is worth $$$$, good luck finding someone to pay that. In the end, that kinda makes it worth nothing now doesn't it? It's all arbitrary. Surely high-end things excepted, but how often do such things actually recoup their "value" when sold? The prices on some things in "antique" stores these days are just stupid rediculous.

Don't get me started on metal things losing their value because they were polished....

 

[Edward]

It still is.

I believe that's Wallace Green tartan, a variation on the standard Wallace, which is red where this is green. From memory, the regular Scotch tape uses the red Wallace. I wonder if there was a connection, or they just liked it?

Actually Lizzie, a great many care. I was at a funeral today, the deceased, knowing of his own demise, had written a eulogy of sorts that paraphrased your sentiment.

Like you, I, and many others, feel that it's no big deal to celebrate me at my passing, but after today I feel differently. We might feel just ordinary, but we are ordinary in an extraordinary way. We might feel that we are not worth celebrating, but that's our own perspective, for others the piece of theatre that happens at funerals is far more than lip service. They are there for the love and cherished memories of the dear departed loved one.

The funeral ritual has always been as much for the benefit of the living as for the soul of the deceased, for sure.

The block in which I live opened in 1951, the first block on the Estate to be built post-war after the Luftwaffe gave the immediate area an extensive remodelling in 1940. Originally, all residents were Jewish (rehoused locals who had been bombed out, and it was a very Jewish area at the time). When I first moved in in 2001, many of the original residents were still here, though they have gradually died or otherwise moved on to sheltered accommodation over time. Once in a while we used to see what were obviously an elderly person's possessions being removed and skipped by the Council, presumably where there simply was no family left to do it. That was always sobering, thinking of my own stuff. A couple of Summers ago, we cleared out somewhere in the region of forty odd black binbags full of stuff for recycling. WE're still far from finished clearing out from my having a hoarding problem for some time about ten years ago, but we're getting there. Part of it is a fear that I'll check out early and be shamed by what somebody else has to clear out.

 

[tonyb]

I blame Antiques Road Show for instilling in people a falsely inflated sense value to their stuff. Sure, your trinket is worth $$$$, good luck finding someone to pay that. In the end, that kinda makes it worth nothing now doesn't it? It's all arbitrary. Surely high-end things excepted, but how often do such things actually recoup their "value" when sold? The prices on some things in "antique" stores these days are just stupid rediculous.

Don't get me started on metal things losing their value because they were polished....

I appreciate Antiques Roadshow for occasionally showing fakes for what they are, and for their “vintage” shows, wherein they pull up footage from shows 15 or 20 years ago and compare the appraised values then vs. now. Very often values have gone down.

Many (most) “collectible” items have little intrinsic value. A “priceless” antique chair functions no better as a place to plant one’s rump than a chair you might pick up for a few bucks at the discount furniture place out by the Interstate.

A while back I had a phone chat with a pleasant fellow in the movie poster business. He said that some of the more valuable posters he’s handled aren’t really much to look at. Such is the market for that stuff, though. Some movies mean enough to enough people to drive up the prices of the posters, even if the artwork is no great shakes. And when those people die off, it’s a good bet that the prices will plummet.

A couple-three weeks back I attended a small get-together at a house with a theater room in the basement, complete with projector and oversized reclining seats with built-in cup holders — everything except the accu-jack attachment. The walls were adorned with framed movie posters — reproductions. I didn’t mention that I knew they were fakes, of course, but I’m snobby enough about old paper for the thought to have crossed my mind. I’d rather have an original in so-so condition than a new reproduction.

Thing is, though, reproductions and knockoffs (the MCM furniture market is mostly knockoffs, it seems) are fine by me, so long as the stuff isn’t misrepresented.

The absurdity of the fine art market was brought into sharp focus on an episode of Antiques Roadshow featuring an artwork the appraiser said was worth a pile of money if it were by the big-name dead artist it perhaps was. And if not, it might bring 50 bucks. So it’s obviously not the art itself that matters.

 

[Zombie_61]

I blame Antiques Road Show for instilling in people a falsely inflated sense value to their stuff. Sure, your trinket is worth $$$$, good luck finding someone to pay that. In the end, that kinda makes it worth nothing now doesn't it? It's all arbitrary...

I've been saying something similar for many years now: "Any item, regardless of what anyone says, is really only worth what someone is willing to pay for it."

I believe that's Wallace Green tartan, a variation on the standard Wallace, which is red where this is green. From memory, the regular Scotch tape uses the red Wallace...

I'm almost positive my real last name is Thompson, so I'm partial to those tartans myself; particularly the blue and the camel.

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

Thanks Bob. I took notes on technique.
The idiot kicking the excavator had to be the gate blocker....priceless!
Didn’t have sense enough to jump in the car and RUN.
In defense of his X Gen...he did keep videoing!
B

 

[Edward]

I've been saying something similar for many years now: "Any item, regardless of what anyone says, is really only worth what someone is willing to pay for it."

I'm almost positive my real last name is Thompson, so I'm partial to those tartans myself; particularly the blue and the camel.

My mother's people were Blairs and McCaws; we had Davisons on my Dad's side who I've not yet managed to trace. These can link to specific tartans, though I also find many of the modern generics very pleasing. (The modern 'family' tartans are most Victorian era inventions anyhow.) One of the nicest ones I've seen recently in a blued turned out to be the recently invented tartan of Glasgow Rangers soccer club, alas!