Durable Living

Why I don't like many bells & whistles on a car.

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 18:49:26 GMT

Users left in lurch by network shutdown

NEW YORK - When Adele Rothman bought her 16-year-old son a car in 2003, she made sure to pick one that had OnStar, the onboard communications and safety system.

What the Scarsdale, N.Y., resident didn't know was that the OnStar system in the car was already doomed to die. The federal government decided in 2002 to let cellular carriers shut down analog cell phone networks, used by Rothman's Saab and about 500,000 other OnStar-equipped cars, after Feb. 18, 2008.

It's the end of the nationwide network that launched the U.S. wireless industry 24 years ago, and it leaves a surprising number of users like Adele Rothman in the lurch.

OnStar told Rothman in March its service would stop at the end of this year, in anticipation of the network shutdown in February. "I was really upset," she said, "because that was my tieline" to her son.

Perhaps a million cell phones will lose service, but those are cheap and easy to replace. The effects will be felt the most by people who have things that aren't phones but have built-in wireless capabilities, like OnStar cars and home alarm systems.

It's a good lesson. Don't integrate non-durable goods with durable goods. The classic example is a TV & VCR combo. A 15-20 year old TV might still work, but it's unlikely that the VCR part will last that long, and even if it does, who cares when DVDs have replaced tapes?

Shoes

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 14:16:16 GMT

I have worn out my pair of standard everyday casual shoes. I picked them up a little over a year ago. It's a rare occasion when I wear anything else. They're good for work, dates, nights on the town, etc.

I really like the moc style, but the stretchy part started wearing away within six months of purchase, the soles of the shoes have almost worn all the way through near the heel, and the padding around the ankle started busting at the seams within a few months as well. I stitched it up myself and it held for another few months, but I don't want my shoes to look trashy with all my amateur hand-stitching. This all leads me to believe that despite how nice it is to have fru-fru slip-ons, they're probably more inclined to wear out than ones without elastic.

I'm looking to buy a new pair or two of shoes as opposed to handing the ones I have to a cobbler, because they weren't all that pricey to begin with. Less than the website showed, I believe.

So I guess I'm asking a few things:

How much should I expect a pair of shoes I wear almost daily to last if I invest in them properly? I'm willing to pay a lot if the shoes will last.

What brands or characteristics should I be looking out for that will indicate that a shoe is durable? It seems to me that the type of stitching and inclusion of non-leather materials are a reasonable indicator, but I don't know specifics.

Do you ever get shoes repaired?

Feel free to talk about any other aspect of durability as it relates to shoes. I'm all ears.

Thanks a bunch.

Tony Blair.

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 05:58:41 GMT

Appears to be a fan of durable living.

Outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair revealed Friday that he had worn the same pair of shoes to his weekly question-and-answer session in parliament since he became the country’s leader.

The shoes in question — an 18-year-old pair of hand-made leather Brogues that have only been re-soled once — were made by Church’s in Northampton, central England.

“I know it’s ridiculous, but I’ve worn them for every PMQs (Prime Minister’s Questions) … I’ve actually had them for 18 years,” Blair told The Times in an interview, adding that “cheap shoes are a false economy.“

What an excellent adage.

The jerry can.

Wed, 23 May 2007 01:14:47 GMT

How much history and technology can go into a gas can? Lots. This site sells them, but if you scroll down, you'll see the rest of the story.

One major weakness of Blitzkrieg was that the combat units moved a little too quickly. Supply and support units had to be able to keep up with the rapidly advancing infantry and armor units and keep them supplied with food, ammunition, and fuel. The thousands of tanks, armored vehicles, and trucks required huge amounts of fuel to remain on combat status. The German High Command foresaw this need and designed a fuel container (the same container that we know today as the jerrycan) well before invading Poland in 1939. By the time the Wehrmacht invaded Poland, they had tens of thousands of jerrycans already in their inventory and ready for the forthcoming Blitzkrieg across Europe.

The Germans, however, had done more than simply stockpile thousands of fuel containers. In a manner typical of Teutonic overengineering, the Germans put as much detailed and thoughtful effort toward designing these fuel containers as they had in formulating the art and science of combined-arms warfare. The result was a fuel container extraordinaire, the likes of which the world had never seen. The unique design features of the jerrycan were numerous and ingenious, and were sound enough that the jerrycan remains in almost universal use today in its original form.

Durable paint.

Tue, 01 May 2007 02:38:19 GMT

I'm thinking of picking up a new spotting scope, so I pulled my old broken spotting scope off the back porch to see of the tripod it came with could be salvaged. It's been sitting out there for literally years. To my surprise, after I tore it down, cleaned the dust off and greased the bolts and hinges, it was pristine. Then I noticed that the finish was the exact same stuff as my new Russian POSP scope. Has sort of a '50s industrial look to it. Like something you'd see on an old office chair or a tackle box. It's called "hammer finish paint", and most of the sites I'm finding it on have a .uk domain. There's a brand called Hammerite over there. Apparently popular for car parts, outdoor furniture, and other applications where metal will be exposed to nasty weather.

Well I can say for sure that it stood up to Arizona weather just fine.

Ah, in the US it's Krylon "Hamm-R". Rustoleum also has a Hammered finish. Seems like a good thing to have on hand.

Rescuing a pair of boots.

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 15:51:08 GMT

Found a pair of old Dr. Marten's boots in the back of my closet. Dirty, laces torn, scuffed to hell from riding motorcycle. But the soles—marked "MADE IN ENGLAND", to give you an idea of the age of the boots—still had some wear, so I figured "What the hell." Went to DM USA ordered up some new laces and a jug of their "Wonder Balsam". Scrubbed 'em up, rubbed the lotion on its skin, and put the new laces in.

An extra pair of wearable boots. And now I've got the goop to keep my other Docs from ever getting that bad.

Now that's investment dressing.

Sun, 03 Dec 2006 04:23:08 GMT

According to a recent article on the little black dress, Audrey Hepburn's dress from Breakfast at Tiffany's is expected to sell for £70,000. And still looks great.

"Do spend as much as you can on the perfect dress - you will still be wearing it years from now."

Nice to see principles of durable living promoted in the press.

Kitchen Knives

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 15:56:44 GMT

I have some really nice kitchen knives but I have no idea how to sharpen them (I have an electric knife sharpener but it works by actually removing some of the blade). I think a good kitchen knife should be a durable good so someone give me a tip on how to sharpen these things.

Celebrity endorsement.

Tue, 07 Mar 2006 02:18:09 GMT

The L.A. Daily News on George Clooney:

He's well-dressed: First of all he looks mighty fine in a tux. Even if it's the same one from Armani that he's admitted to wearing for the last 10 years. He said he thought about going out Sunday to get a new tux "or I could play basketball with my friends" ... so he wore the same tux.

Hmm. Buy durable, buy timeless, and you can stop worrying and devote your Sundays to hanging out with your friends. And still get props for your taste. The essence of durable living.

Good Furniture

Thu, 02 Feb 2006 17:09:55 GMT

Some of you won’t consider getting good furniture part of durable living, but I do. Now many years out of college and into our working lives my husband and I have been shedding the last remnants of an IKEA lifestyle; purging every last bit of particle board from our home.

Yes, you can get a desk or a nightstand very cheep in places like IKEA or Walmart or even Target, but it will not last very long. Chip it once and the piece is ruined (you can’t sand it or stain it) you can’t even move it that often because the construction is so poor that the parts rub together and all the joints loosen. You can go to Ethan Allen and buy over priced furniture because they claim that it is constructed out of solid wood; but it isn’t very good either.

Which is why I recommend antiques, this might sound expensive but as long as you’re not buying trendy things (deco right now – and 18cen stuff is way expensive) you can get some great deals on well constructed often hand made, sold wood pieces. I’d rather spend 2000 or so on a beautiful set of bookcases than 500 every decade.

That’s why I recently bought some lovely sold cherry book shelves, in a classic New England style. I’ll admit my book cases came from a woodshop (not antique) and were hand made so they were rather overpriced but I don’t think I’ll ever need to buy I new set of bookcases – maybe just more of them.

Durable philosophy in corporate America.

Thu, 26 Jan 2006 15:56:00 GMT

You can buy a lawn mower at Wal-Mart for $99.96, and depending on the size and location of the store, there are slightly better models for every additional $20 bill you're willing to put down--priced at $122, $138, $154, $163, and $188. That's six models of lawn mowers below $200. Mind you, in some Wal-Marts you literally cannot see what you are buying; there are no display models, just lawn mowers in huge cardboard boxes.

The least expensive Snapper lawn mower--a 19-inch push mower with a 5.5-horsepower engine--sells for $349.99 at full list price. Even finding it discounted to $299, you can buy two or three lawn mowers at Wal-Mart for the cost of a single Snapper.

If you know nothing about maintaining a mower, Wal-Mart has helped make that ignorance irrelevant: At even $138, the lawn mowers at Wal-Mart are cheap enough to be disposable. Use one for a season, and if you can't start it the next spring (Wal-Mart won't help you out with that), put it at the curb and buy another one. That kind of pricing changes not just the economics at the low end of the lawn-mower market, it changes expectations of customers throughout the market. Why would you buy a walk-behind mower from Snapper that costs $519? What could it possibly have to justify spending $300 or $400 more?

That's the question that motivated Jim Wier to stop doing business with Wal-Mart.

Read it all. It's beautiful. If I had grass to mow, I'd buy a Snapper.

Cast Iron is as druable as it gets and I have a problem

Tue, 24 Jan 2006 14:43:56 GMT

My husband left a cast iron pot soaking (smart I know).

Does anyone know how to fix the rust that has now accumulated at the bottom? I was thinking sandpaper and then re-curing the surface.

Also since the above is really asking for help and not a tip. Buy your cast iron in antique and thrift shops, it's cheaper and usually better than the new stuff that comes from China (and it is kinda cool to have something that was made in 1898 but will still out last you). The surface is smoother and I swear it heats better.

EDIT: I was doing some research on cleaning up old cast iron, and a tip I came across was to take the pan, put it in cold water and put in some lye (not for the faint of heart). Let it sit for a month and take it out -- season it as if it were new and you should be fine. This tip doesn't work with rust I'm going to go with the fine steel wool recommendation but it will work with built up grease and burnt food you don't know how to get rid of.

Getting your tin in order

Tue, 24 Jan 2006 14:35:51 GMT

Recently I picked up a set of copper pots and pans. To my great good fortune they ended up being tin lined and worth far more than I paid for them (thrift shop find if anyone is interested, 31 bucks for 8 pots and pans).

Copper pots and pans are great to use in cooking because it responds to changes in heat far quicker than most other metals used in the kitchen. The tin was a little worn in some spots (you can still cook with something that has copper showing through but you want to avoid cooking anything that is acidic because you will make copper salts -- this isn't all that dangerous it will just give you a stomach ache. You want to whisk eggs in a copper bowl you will get higher, tighter peaks with less free water, this is very important when making meringue) and since tin lined copper pots are VERY expensive I wanted to see if they could be saved.

As luck would have it live in Philly and we have a local that retins pots and pans

http://fantes.com/tinned_metals.htm#retinning

The cost was a few hundred -- expensive, but if you check out how much even a single pot would set you back, still cheaper. You can also retin a pot as many times as you want, it will never really wear out. I know there are people who will retin pots and pans in Maryland, NYC and Boston, not sure about the west though.

If you have something to retin you can mail it to the people I linked above.

edited because I spell like an idiot.

Glove Life

Sun, 22 Jan 2006 08:47:13 GMT

We started a new community about the lifes of gloves and mittens.

To all the lonely gloves and mittens: the one that fell out of your pocket as you got off the bus, the one the dog chewed up, the one you left at your ex-lover's place and will never retrieve.

It takes time to get over the loss of a loved glove, but think of what you still have. Nearly identical in shape and size, the remaining glove holds the memory of the one that got away.

the One Glove Club This is a forum for sharing memories and making new pairs.

Come show us your glove.

Durable media.

Sun, 22 Jan 2006 03:41:38 GMT

I've been getting into the reel to reel audio tapes lately, and discovering issues like "tape shed", where old tapes break down. But media degredation is a serious issue even for modern media like CDs. Today faustin showed me a wonderful notebook, which has an amazing history, and is designed to last for the long haul. Artists like Hemingway and Van Gogh used them, and they're just as durable today. If your important information is the kind that can be committed to paper, you should check these out.

Moleskine UK
Moleskine US

Wed, 01 Jun 2005 05:17:53 GMT

http://www.otherpower.com/

This site contains a fair amount of information about running your home ( or cabin, bunker, etc) off grid.

Also has some useful information on retrofitting flashlights for LED bulbs and other entertaining things.

Example of durable living.

Sat, 10 Jul 2004 03:19:57 GMT

Notice anything about this advertisement for the very latest in high-tech fish tanks? See the chairs in the first picture? Designed in 1928. Truly classic things never, ever go out of style.

Freecycle.

Tue, 22 Jun 2004 13:38:22 GMT

Should probably post a link to freecycle.org, since anything that promotes getting the most use out of things certainly falls within the bounds of durable living.

Rechargeable Batteries

Tue, 18 May 2004 23:11:26 GMT

If you use portable electronic devices and try to utilize standard size rechargeable batteries with a certain degree of dissatisfaction, I recommend this charger:

http://www.ccrane.com/quick_charger.asp

It's a bit pricey compared to the ones next to their batteries on the shelves but, it's well worth it. It has a battery checker built-in (not the mood ring stuff). It not only checks the total voltage of the batteries you are charging, discharges the batteries to remove the memory effect (Ni-Cad), it also sets them to trickle discharge once they are at full prior to you removing them lest you forget.

This charger will set a high level of assurance for your rechargeable battery collection.

Durable computing.

Fri, 09 Apr 2004 21:32:21 GMT

Those of you who read Slashdot have already seen this. Wood grain computer cases. I'm not sure if computer technology has stabilized enough to make a case usable for ten or fifteen years, but if it has, this is a great idea. Spend more for something satisfying and beautiful, and enjoy it for a long time afterward.

The psychology of durable living.

Mon, 29 Mar 2004 19:56:18 GMT

Slashdot has an article today on "choice shock", the problem that arises when people spend too much time choosing between the many different product options available to them.

PAUL SOLMAN: ...research shows that "choice shock" is a function of temperament, not age. The key seems to be: Are you a "maximizer" or a "satisficer"?
BARRY SCHWARTZ: The satisficer is somebody who is satisfied -- that's where the word comes from -- with good enough. So you have standards. They may be very high standards, but as soon as you encounter something that meets those standards, you stop the search and you choose it, and you're happy, satisfied with the results of the choice.
A maximizer, in contrast, is someone for whom the goal is to get not good enough, but best. And if you're that kind of person, the only way to know you've got the best is by doing an exhaustive search.
PAUL SOLMAN: And the exhaustive maximizer, says Schwartz, eventually becomes exhausted. Satisficer Schwartz has a quiz to determine what you are.
The short form is this one question. True or false?: "I never settle for second best."
If true, you're a maximizer, and probably overwhelmed, like Katherine Koromvokis here, our producer's sister, a devout maximizer -- looking, as always, for the best stuff at the best price, with zeal and guilt.

The profile of a "satisfier" is very similar to the philosophy of durable living. Find the things that satisfy your requirements, and then use them. So durable living not only has benefits for the post-purchase, but simplifies the purchasing process as well.

Durable living = Wealth

Sun, 21 Mar 2004 15:03:28 GMT

Escaping the Job Trap, by way of crasch.

Consider a lightbulb. An incandescent bulb is cheap up front, but costs more to operate and burns out quickly. A compact fluorescent bulb, on the other hand, costs more up front but lasts longer and uses much less electricity. In the long run you can realize a net savings of up to $40 for each compact fluorescent bulb you use. The trouble is that most people are already strapped for cash, and it is difficult to justify spending $120 on a dozen compact fluorescent bulbs, especially when there are a dozen incandescent bulbs sitting on the same shelf for only $12. So you buy the cheaper bulbs and pay the cost for more electricity, and guess what? When they burn out and need replacing, you are still strapped for cash, so again you go for the incandescent bulbs, virtually guaranteeing that you will be broke when those burn out too. It is a negative feedback cycle where poor choices lead to further poor choices. Wasted energy translates to wasted money, which translates to wasted time. And if you are short on time then you probably won't get around to weather stripping a leaky door either, in which case you will waste more energy, money, and time, and so forth. Follow this line of reasoning and eventually you discover that the whole reason that you are stuck in a meaningless job in a world where you cannot get ahead is simply because you bought the wrong bulb! Switch bulbs and you will be able to quit your job. Sound far-fetched? It may not by the time we get through examining these cycles of waste.

Mountain bike recommendations?

Mon, 01 Mar 2004 03:20:29 GMT

I recently purchased a Fuji folding mountain bike for $150.00. I wanted something inexpensive, but of reasonable quality. Unfortunately, it appears to have been a poor decision -- after a single ride, the left pedal fell off. The bolt that had been holding it to the crank shaft had pulled through, stripping the thread in the process. So I'm planning to sell the bike on E-bay and buy a different bike. Any recommendations?

The tragedy of the lamp.

Fri, 23 Jan 2004 16:25:14 GMT

Here's a funny commercial by way of crasch.

But it is kind of sad because, hey, that lamp still worked. And there are lots of people who could use a good desk lamp. Even giving it away is better than just throwing it into a landfill.

Wash Day!

Wed, 14 Jan 2004 11:40:04 GMT

Living in Iraq impresses two things upon me that drive me to seek advice here:

1. The cornerstone of civilization may be the flush toilet or the hot shower, but the runner-up has got to be the clothes washer and dryer. Clean clothes without hours of effort are a luxury here, and make all the other crap much easier to endure.

2. The washers and dryers that are available here get broken quickly, as they are pretty much in non-stop use. In one laundry tent, one washer out of six installed was operational, and three dryers out of eight. They all say "Heavy Duty" on them somewhere, but clearly aren't.

So, when I get home, I'm going to buy a washer and dryer, but I want to buy the very last washer and dryer set I will ever need to buy in my life. I want them to be able to take care of tough stuff like muddy camping clothes, and I want them to do it reliably, for the rest of my life. Energy-efficiency would be nice, and I am willing to pay more up front if it will be cheaper by the time I turn (say) 65, but lasting that long is the first priority.

So, who owns laundry appliances, what did you decide on, and why?