Sunday, April 22, 2012

fields in spring and the wonders of plastic


I recently bought a flat screen monitor for the computer and have finally given up on my old enormous CRT screen which is actually still working, so I will keep it as a spare. The only reason that I bought a new one was because it is second hand from a charity shop and cost £7.50. It also came with a keyboard and a couple of speakers. It was sold as seen and as such I did notice a small dink in the bottom right hand corner, possibly the result of a teenage hissy fit, but I'm only guessing here. After I turned the new screen on, the small dink becomes a pleasing spider web shape which I quite like. The only thing I am not sure about are the colours it gives, which when viewing my photos seems to give them a slightly plasticy look. I can probably fiddle around with the settings or I might just get used to them.

Generally I only replace things when they are completely broken, but this has freed up about 90% of my desk space and has given the cat a lot more room to run around hassling me for biscuits. One example of my not replacing things is my amplifier and speakers (wharfedale) which I bought when I was at school in the 1880s, and although the amp no longer has an on/off button that works, it still gives me a lovely loud sound to enjoy when I'm in the mood to listen to lovely loud sounds.

A lot of new things are rubbish anyway, for example the much trumpeted Dyson vacuum cleaner which seems to have been designed in a laboratory by a bunch of men who have never actually used a hoover in their entire lives. The multitude of things wrong with the Dyson become clearly apparent within about ten minutes of using it. None of these problems have ever been spotted by the lab boffins for some reason and the recycling centres have a special graveyard section for unwanted Dysons.

Another thing that seem to be rubbish are the new kettles, which seem to boil themselves into an absolute frenzy before they switch off. I usually give them a helping hand by switching them off myself and saying to them; " Yes, I think you're flipping boiling now" It's probably best not to talk to kettles too much but they can be annoying at times. Do they boil themselves for so long to give an extra bit of money to the power companies? Who knows eh?

9 comments:

aferrismoon said...

Great post, yup , new things are made badly and often prove unfixable, like cars which are now unrepairable at home due to their computerisation.

The kettle is probably pissed off at being averagely made and is attempting to top itself.

I would be pretty certain that the kettle etc. comapnies are in cahoots with the power companies. I notice it in offices where office kitchens [ in the newer buildings] have giant fridges, a 10th full, dishwashers [ generally just for coffee mugs] , a vending machine for hot drinks, another for various tyoes of water, a kettle, all requiring oodles of power.

cheers

Anonymous said...

Nice green fields , i've always liked them in the old classic movies and all love stories ,spring is great ,warm beautifull but many people get problem becouse of roses and flowers smell ,just like me here .

Some trees have got nice flowers here and it's still cool at night ,we enjoy walking next to the sea sometimes and waiting for hot summer .

I think your cat is happy now ,i would see her .....

I didn't miss your last post red forest ,i like the first photo it's so clear and the buds seem frish and beautifull ,the second one is nice too ...like it ...

People should not cut much trees ,near my town over the high mountains there was forest of Juniperus excelsa but year after year people cut these trees and after long time we lost them ,now there're afew trees that you can count ,this tree has special smell and stronge roots ,

Idon't know much about Fokushima disaster effects becouse our arabic news channels are busy ,,arabic spring ,, and we all worry and hope the events to come down ....we have already disaster here in the middle east ?????????

Have nice spring days ......

john said...

cheers aferrismoon and yes, I would think the garages can't be that chuffed at having to pay for loads of expensive computer stuff when the job used to done with spanners. Cars used to work without computers so why add them? Is a car that you are unable to mend progress.

And then there's all the machines, computers and tv's that have a standby mode, using lots of power, but how hard is it to walk to a tv to turn it on physically? Not that hard for most people. what is standby for apart from unnecessary power consumption.

cheers and thanks

P2P said...

this came up and thought you might find it interesting http://annakrentz.blogspot.com/2012/04/wales-by-photochrom.html

all best, you've had great sets recently.

john said...

Hi Reem. I hope all is going well. Yes there are many ongoing disasters in the world and much isn't how we would choose things to be. We too have lost many trees in this country, many over the last fifty years. The cat seems happy here, she has been going out in the garden more now as we have had a few sunny days. All the best to you.

john said...

Cheers P2P I will have a look at the link in a bit, thanks very much for that. I am enjoying your photos too, always interesting to see.

We have had many storms and much needed rain here for two weeks, so much that we have flooding. I have some timelapse of one afternoons weather to put up here soon. All the best to you.

A13 said...

Speaking of speakers and stereos and amps...i've still got my speakers (about 3 foot high towers) and amp that i recieved as a pressie for my 21st from my parents..back in 1989.
(sherwood brand...made in UK/GB apparently)
They still work very well and have never missed a beat or a thousand, and have plugged in a new turntable so i can play all my old vinyl as well..
the sound is warm and human..
solid and substantial.
like a very well aged red wine to drink..music for my ears..literally :)
A

john said...

Cheers A13 and wow you're all back here, i hardly ever come back unless a comment arrives. i find it pretty difficult to find things on my blog sometimes as there is a lot to go through now. i think the old speakers are very good, in fact i find that most of the things that used to be manufactured are better than what is around now, and you still have records eh? me too, though they have a bit of surface noise they really do have a wonderful sound. My best example is jimi hendrix, who to my ears has never been mixed properly for cd or mp3, it just doesn't work at al for me, somehow the power, fullness are simply not there, I find on cd it just sounds wimpy and thin and its a shame that a whole generation has grown up not hearing this music as it's supposed to sound.

john said...

blimey these laptops don't half jump around, pages appearing and going again, I can't get used to not having a mouse. cheers for now and thanks, I hope you are enjoying the back pages. i'm not much of a writer as I often notice when re reading these posts.