There was a time...

[Bishop]

There was a time I was good with technology and puzzles. As a child I could set the record timer on any VCR. Then later as an adult I mastered the mysteries of circuits and twisted logic of computing. I'm still barred from some places such as PC World for causing assorted mischief, dropping solder on classified documents that sort of thing.

However today is special, senility has finally set in. I am am officially out of step with modern society. It was a simple task of refilling my vape tank, take the lid off the refill bottle - squeeze - job done. Or so I thought.

Fifteen minutes later... I gave up. Dug out my reading glasses and gave the bottle a closer look. What I thought was small print Health & Safety blurb was actually operating instructions. You see or rather I didn't, the removable cap is not a stopper it's a key and has to be pushed onto the bottom of the bottle to release the fluid. WHY!!! it's this sort of technological insanity that got me smoking in the first place.

Rant over, unless they change the design of ring-pulls again

 

[petrochemicals]

Safety? You cannot buy nicotine fluid in bigger quantities than 10ml now.

I know what you mean. Design for design sake though seems to be the in thing look how often you update your phone/pc etc and it knackers the phone and the new fancy graphics and add features on the latest versions of computers, they slow the processes on a standard power computer things are always stopping working. Fancy design crap that breaks easy is rife.

 

[Janne]

Have you tried to open a Child Safe tablet container?

Push, twist, squeeze. Sure.
Get the pliers and break it off.

 

[Robson Valley]

Bishop, you are too funny. We have bilingual English/French labels.
My eyesight is so bad, I can't tell the difference, I can't read any of it.
What is H&S and what's instructions is another issue altogether.

The vape thing was so complicated that I quit smoking altogether.
I am reduced to using a very bright light and a magnifying glass to read instructions.
I mail letters with stamps at the Post Office.
I bought a microwave oven because everybody said that I need one.
I'm cooking on beautiful cast iron plates in my oven.

 

[Bishop]

Have you tried to open a Child Safe tablet container?

Yes several met my hacksaw until I learned the secrets of the old ones and how they put a drop of superglue in them.

 

[Fadcode]

Dont be too hard on yourself...............a few years ago I bought a 3d Full HD telly, and I still cant tell the difference between normal telly and HD, and now they have updated that to 4k.......................cheeky monkeys
The reason for all these changes are
A. To keep people updating to the latest technology, and spending much moolah.
B. the original article was crap
Some good examples are Apple Phones, simply put a new number or letter after the name and people start queing to buy one.
I remember when i was doing my degree, I studied consumer behaviour and built in obsolecence , I asked my tutor, why washing powder, and toothpaste, soap ,etc, was always relabelled as " improved", "added shine" etc etc, when if these manufactureres were honest they would simply say, sorry last years was crap, and we are getting our act together now............albeit slowly..
There is a caveat to this, I always wondered why car dashboards never evolved faster that they did, if you look at a dashboard in a car today, and one from the sixties, the difference is quite remarkable, yet they use the same materials(plastic, etc, not counting the modern lights etc)and do the same job,was there no one with the foresight to develop a jazzy dashboard then, or is it simply that once made they slowly improved it rather than take a dramatic leap forward...........a bit like Windows really, I still say the best windows version was Windows 3, and it fitted on a floppy disc.
We are too ready to praise things without really thinking about the problems with them, take the M25 any one who knows this road well, will see that the M25 can never be widened, as the bridges are built onto the road, so say in 20 years time, (when all the electric cars are parked on the hard shoulder with flat batteries), and the traffic is a lot worse, it could well be grid locked.
Talking about electric cars.................has anyone thought how these cars are going to be charged by people who live in high rise flats, terraced houses, or any houses with restricted parking, no driveway or garden, etc,.... can you imagine all the extension leads coming from all over the place............lol

 

[Janne]

They even put in medication for Rheumatoid Arthritis in either those sadomasochist plastic jars or blister packs......

I eat meds. Intestines. Got a new pill a couple of moths back. Blister pack.
I could not open it. Wife could not. So I have to cut it apart with scissors.
It is called a 'tropical grade" blister pack.

Maybe a machete is needed?

 

[Robson Valley]

I fought with a black plastic container yesterday.
Large cap on one end, knurled like it was to pull off.
Nope. Not going to happen.

Got two heavy-duty pairs of pliers and a screwdriver and got the top off.
Only to learn the lid was hinged.

 

[Fadcode]

Well at least we are all having fun..................I wonder who invented pliers, and thank God he did........lol

 

[Broch]

Dont be too hard on yourself...............a few years ago I bought a 3d Full HD telly, and I still cant tell the difference between normal telly and HD, and now they have updated that to 4k....................................has anyone thought how these cars are going to be charged by people who live in high rise flats, terraced houses, or any houses with restricted parking, no driveway or garden, etc,.... can you imagine all the extension leads coming from all over the place............lol

I'm glad you got that off your chest Fadcode; do you feel better now?
Have a lie down or maybe take another dose of the medicine if you can get the top off

 

[Janne]

I got a UHD, 3D curved tv. 55 Inch Toshiba smart tv.

My old Cathod Ray Blaupunkt tv, I bought before this flat screen crap started was much better. Better sound, better colours, better blackness, better whiteness. Sharper. 28 inch.

I could adjust everything in maybe one minute.

The Blaupunkt remote did not eat the batteries either, lasted minimum a year.

Yep,I am getting old! Losing it!

 

[Broch]

The Blaupunkt remote did not eat the batteries either, lasted minimum a year.

I can't work out how to get the back off my Samsung controller to put new batteries in!

 

[Robson Valley]

Broch: accost some little kid in the street to do it for you.

 

[Broch]

Broch: accost some little kid in the street to do it for you.

or my 4 year old grandson

 

[Janne]

I have a universal trick. I take the handle of a teaspoon and lever them out. Works on cans, battery operated stuff, anything with a lid.

 

[Nice65]

or my 4 year old grandson

He doesn't run on batteries mate, grandsons have a thermonuclear reactor that lasts a minimum of 18 years, and it's best not to try and get the back off them.

 

[Fadcode]

of course I cant get the top of the medecine bottle , if I could I would be asleep.............or a scientist.

 

[Old Bones]

a few years ago I bought a 3d Full HD telly, and I still cant tell the difference between normal telly and HD,

HD is a much better picture than SD, but many people automatically watch 1, rather than 101. Or connect up their HD box with a scart.
Watch something like Blue Planet 2 on SD and then on HD - the difference is very clear, as I occasionally still have to demonstrate to customers . As for 3D, dont worry about that aspect - the 3D panel was almost certainly a better panel (better movement and black levels) than a 2D set. The 3D was thrown in for nothing.

As for 4K - the bulk of TV's now on sale are now 4K - which means that they have 8 m pixels, compared with 2m for Full HD, and just about 300k for your old CRT TV (which was billed as HD back in the sixties, and a colour TV in 1967 would have cost you £4500 in todays money). Yes, your old CRT might have been sharper on analog - but thats what it was designed to do, but look at a CRT SD picture next to an LED HD picture, and there is no contest.

4K is what is projected at your multiplex, and unless you've got Sky Q or Virgin, your pretty much streaming, but they will still cope well with HD. I understand that The Crown looks fantastic in 4K, and Amazon/Netlfix will supply you with 4K content instantly.

The more things change, the more they stay the same - everyone complains that everything is too complicated as they get older, why did they change things, and moaning about the youth of today - a thought which goes back to Roman times. Remember, everything was new and possibly a bit of a gimmick once.

 

[Nice65]

I'd still like a tv that puts on a good picture where I don't have to enter a menu system to make contrast, balance, colour, advanced settings before exiting the menu system to check I like everything. Too much time spent meddling and not watching.

 

[chimpy leon]

I know what you mean. I often think technology is a giant backwards step in making life easier.
For example I have to go through an incredibly complicated sequence of events in order to watch freeview on our TV. It involves three remote controls, a high level of manual dexterity and the patience of a saint. I usually have to wait until the Mrs is about because either I can't find one of the remotes, can't find any AAA's to power the remotes, forgotten the sequence, or lost the ability to use my fingers due to the sudden spike in blood pressure. By which time the Mrs usually wants to watch Netflix.