It’s All About the Weenies! by deadlockvictim

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

It’s All About the Weenies!

POSTED BY: DEADLOCKVICTIM
UPDATED: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 09:40
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VIEWED: 1477
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Monday, February 25, 2008 8:52 AM

They needed weenies, and Mr. Brown the butcher had weenies. It's as simple as that!

kinda makes me want to duck and cover…

if you have some more time to kill – this 20 minute film is worth watching…

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

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Monday, February 25, 2008 3:37 PM

DEADLOCKVICTIM

just curious if anyone watched The Story of Stuff...

that first one was just a funny old film but Story of Stuff has some valid points and will make you think twice before buying that new tv, iPod, washer/dryer... or whatever you are replacing just because there is a new, improved model on the market....

it's called 'perceived obsolescence' - and uncle sam wants you... to buy more stuff

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Monday, February 25, 2008 4:03 PM

FREMDFIRMA

Bwahaha, my TV's a Zenith, so old it's american made, and since it's been off since firefly was canned, I don't even know if it still works.

Funny how, once you remove that thing from your life, it's very presence becomes an intolerable irritant tho - I'll leave the room if someone turns one on, just find it unbearably grating.

Imma big believer in "If it still works, why replace it ?" and since I have the mechanical skills to fix and maintain stuff, a lot of our 'stuff' is pretty old, all our appliances are, they came with the house.

I use stuff till it wears out or fails completely, and even then I can often repair or replace enough to keep it in service.

New stuff tends to be of poor QC, like planned obscelence(sp?) with unreplaceable parts made of shoddy crap that wears out quickly - but even then a little ingenuity and part adaptation can surmount this.

I like my 'stuff' to durable and functional for reasonable periods of time, which puts me out of step with todays 'disposable' society, but I don't much care.

-F

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Tuesday, February 26, 2008 4:26 AM

DEEPGIRL187

My mom had an old black and white TV that was older than I am. It came with us through almost ten moves I'd guess, and the only reason we left it behind the last time was because of that stupid digital upgrade their planning. The damn thing worked better than any other (newer) TV we've had, in my opinion. I sure will miss antennas...

****************************************************

"This is my timey-wimey detector. It goes ding when there's stuff. Also, it can boil an egg at 30 paces, whether you want it to or not, actually, so I've learned to stay away from hens. It's not pretty when they blow."

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Tuesday, February 26, 2008 4:34 AM

SERGEANTX

Quote:
Originally posted by Fremdfirma:
Bwahaha, my TV's a Zenith, so old it's american made, and since it's been off since firefly was canned, I don't even know if it still works.

Funny how, once you remove that thing from your life, it's very presence becomes an intolerable irritant tho - I'll leave the room if someone turns one on, just find it unbearably grating.

Preach it brutha!

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

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Tuesday, February 26, 2008 6:10 AM

DEADLOCKVICTIM

I have to admit that I get caught up in the mass market hysteria from time to time...(ohhh a new iPod touch... gots to have that), but I also do my best to live a self sufficient lifestyle. Grow vegetables, get water from a well on my own property and try to get the last bit of use from something before retiring it..... i even read newspapers!

I've always known that our economy is consumer driven, but what I learned from the film is just how much the U.S. actually consumes.
5% of the worlds population using 30% of the planets resources... that can't be a good thing.

I suppose that each generation looks at the next one coming up and thinks that the young'uns are going to have a really hard time in their turn at bat, but this time around there could be some serious consequences for the future of this country and this planet unless we actually slow our rate of consumption now.

So, park that Humvee and ride a bike to work.

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Tuesday, February 26, 2008 7:24 AM

FREDGIBLET

Quote:
So, park that Humvee and ride a bike to work.

Not a chance, I'd have a heart attack trying to come up the hill to my place. But I'll tell you what, I will drive a '08 Honda Fit, does that work for you?

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Tuesday, February 26, 2008 8:31 AM

DEADLOCKVICTIM

that works....

and when i said bike - i was thinking of my Gold Wing, which i ride almost every day (here in texas) - but i do ride the mt. bike whenever i can, too.

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Tuesday, February 26, 2008 9:00 AM

FREMDFIRMA

I wish some american company would come up with an alt-fuel subcompact that was affordable.

There's quite a niche market for an in-town or city car that does not require a high top speed or long range, I know I could use one for trips to the store and running errands.

I hate using the girls 12mpg Dakota king cab for something as mediocre as three bags of groceries.

-F

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Tuesday, February 26, 2008 9:17 AM

DEADLOCKVICTIM

I think the Europeans are ahead of us on the sub compact car front. My niece recently spent several weeks in Italy and told me that my Civic would be considered a big car in Rome.

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Tuesday, February 26, 2008 9:50 AM

CANTTAKESKY

I watched the Story of Stuff, twice. Once by myself, and once with my kids. Thanks for the link.

I have noticed in my family's travels that the amount of trash generated by the community is directly proportional to the wealth of the community. In some parts of Africa, there is no such thing as trash. Every little bit gets used and reused until it disintegrates. If you can't use it, someone else will. No landfills needed.

I live in Peru. There are things I normally would throw away in the States that I am able to donate here. I couldn't donate a pair of pants with holes in the States, but here, someone will patch them up and wear them. Old plastic and glass containers, coke bottles, plastic bags--they all get used until there is no functional life left.

In the States, we throw away a perfectly good empty mayonnaise jar, then go to the store and buy another jar of mayonnaise. While we're there, we buy an empty glass jar in which to store our knick knacks. It's crazy.

--------------------------

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Tuesday, February 26, 2008 11:25 AM

SERGEANTX

Okay, so I finally watched the vid and I was disappointed. While I think it's important to shed some light on what's going on, her solutions, those implied by the video and those expressed explicitly on her site, are worse than worthless. We can't fix the problem by feel good campaigns, goading people into recycling or driving hybrids. That will never be anything more than yuppies assuaging their guilt. We also can't fix it with a patchwork of regulatory efforts (which will only be manipulated by the corps to their own ends).

She identified the root of the problem quite accurately though, and attacking that is the only way we'll scratch and claw our way back to sanity. This whole mess begins and ends with our foreign policy and has since the beginning of modern western consumerism.

The cycle she describes hinges on the ability of our corporations to steal the labor and resources of other nations. And that ability is directly supported, in point of fact it's enforced, by our military. The corporations, the folks who own our government and our media, do whatever they want in the world, all with the implied threat of annihilation to any who dares stand in their way.

As long as they can outsource the bills for our excesses, those excesses will continue. People who aren't paying the bills just don't care. But if we have to provide, or pay for, the resources and labor that fuel our consumerism, if we have to figure out what to with our own waste, the issue will suddenly become real.

It isn't easy, or simple, but it is fairly obvious. The real solution will be much more painful than doing without a new TV or walking to work. It will mean that we'll have to give up our quasi-empire and the sense of privilege and entitlement that's built up as a result of this cycle.

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

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Tuesday, February 26, 2008 12:58 PM

KIRKULES

Quote:
Originally posted by Fremdfirma:
I wish some american company would come up with an alt-fuel subcompact that was affordable.

There's quite a niche market for an in-town or city car that does not require a high top speed or long range, I know I could use one for trips to the store and running errands.

I hate using the girls 12mpg Dakota king cab for something as mediocre as three bags of groceries.

-F

I saw a report on the "Smart Car" http://www.smartusa.com/ on the local news the other day. Starts at $11,000 and gets 40mpg. Dealers already have a waiting list. Hopefully competition will bring the price down even further on these commuter cars. For someone like me with a reasonably short commute, this car would be fine.

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Tuesday, February 26, 2008 3:43 PM

DEADLOCKVICTIM

Quote:
Originally posted by SergeantX:
Okay, so I finally watched the vid and I was disappointed. While I think it's important to shed some light on what's going on.....

at least you agree that it is important to have this message heard, right? I mean, there are countless numbers of Americans who go about their everyday lives and never give a thought about the waste all around them... it takes lessons like the one in the story of stuff to make people aware of the problem. Granted, most of those same people would probably not watch the film in the first place, but maybe if shown to a younger audience - school kids and young adults - maybe then it might generate new ideas and new ways of dealing with this problem.

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Tuesday, February 26, 2008 4:14 PM

SERGEANTX

Oh yeah.. definitely. It's a hundred times better than the pap we get from the television. I certainly wouldn't tell her to stop. We all gotta start raising hell or it's all going to come crashing down.

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop RockoH

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Tuesday, February 26, 2008 5:12 PM

FREMDFIRMA

Good luck with that...

I find myself these days less concerned with trying to pound it through the thick heads of folks who I have come to believe firmly deserve it, and more concerned with preparing for the impact when it does.

And were it not for children who did not contribute to this mess being caught it, I'd not shed a bitter tear for the lot of em.

-F

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Tuesday, February 26, 2008 8:25 PM

CANTTAKESKY

Quote:
Originally posted by SergeantX:
The real solution will be much more painful than doing without a new TV or walking to work. It will mean that we'll have to give up our quasi-empire and the sense of privilege and entitlement that's built up as a result of this cycle.

Your whole post was great. Thank you.

Sometimes I think of myself as a green libertarian. I identify a lot of the same problems as the Green Party, but just see different solutions.

Part of the problem is the whole concept of "intellectual" property--the entire patent system. It is government guaranteed monopoly for a certain period of time. It, as well as an entire slew of laws that make certain types of entrepreneurship difficult to impossible, oppresses competition, esp technological competition. It keeps us from developing the technology to override planned obsolescence.

It also makes it difficult to develop the technology for looping disposal in with extraction. Eventually, we're going to have to do that--harvest our waste for raw materials or we can't produce anymore. But laws, not science, make it difficult to research this type of technology. It isn't the type of stuff you can do in your garage.

So for me, a significant change has to come from changing things politically to allow technological solutions--technological solutions that are now prohibited in order to protect corporate interests.

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Wednesday, February 27, 2008 7:40 AM

FREDGIBLET

The problem is that without patents innovation is much less valuable, it costs a lot of money to do R&D and if your competitors only have to do some relatively cheap reverse-engineering then you are virtually guaranteed to lose money on it as your competitors will be able to sell it for cheaper.

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Wednesday, February 27, 2008 9:40 AM

CANTTAKESKY

Fred,

I understand the arguments for patents. It has its benefits. What I am saying is the costs outweigh the benefits.

Yes, people can steal your ideas without the investment. But you, as the originator of the ideas, will always be ahead of the game. It's a race, and the inventor has a headstart. Competition is good for the market, including the technology and invention market.

Here's the other thing. People with more money and power will steal your ideas anyway, patent or no patent. All the patent system does, in practice, is protect only people with enough money and power to enforce monopolies. All it does is give corporations who already have money/power a government protected advantage. Your garage inventor is not likely to be able to afford a patent attorney good enough to win any dispute in court.

I say they can do without that advantage. Society as a whole will benefit if the government didn't protect corporations so much.

Here is a nicely written essay on it.

http://futureprogress.net/-/2007/11/17/on-innovation-an-argument-again
st-patents/

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