It's About Liberty: A Conservative Forum
Topics => General Board => Topic started by: trapeze on January 10, 2012, 10:03:35 PM
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Sowell uses the Kodak bankruptcy as a platform to decry the uselessness of the USPS. Read the column, it's good. The rest of this is just me rambling about crap.
LINK (http://rightwingnews.com/column-2/kodak-and-the-post-office/)
Post offices were once even more important than Eastman Kodak, and for a longer time, as the mail provided vital communications linking people and organizations across thousands of miles. But, today, technology has moved even further beyond the post office than it has beyond Eastman Kodak.
In 2011, the only grocery store in my town (yeah, there's only one) shut down their photo processing equipment at the customer service counter. Which was kind of strange because they were all set up to process prints from the digital camera data cards in addition to the traditional film processing. The end of an era.
Another obsolete item is the phonograph record. For a while recently they were still sort of useful because those goofy hip hop people were making weird sounds with them but now they have electronic versions of the record players that do the same thing. I still have a record player, of course, because I have several hundred classic rock phonographs...all preserved in individual vinyl slip cases. It's an absolute pain in the rear trying to find a replacement needle (or cartridge, as we used to say).
I have to admit that I prefer the convenience of my iPhone for music. Audiophiles say that mp3 music is vastly inferior to CDs but since my hearing was downgraded by an infection several years ago I can't tell the difference.
Also obsolete are the megawatt stereo receivers of my youth. It's funny. I was recently able to acquire a 150 watt per channel Marantz receiver on eBay for about $50 ($30 plus $20 shipping)...that thing would have cost close to a grand when it was new. I combined it with a pair of Pioneer CS-99A speakers (15" woofers and I already owned those) and they will make your ears bleed when turned up all the way. I use the stuff in my workshop where I can be as loud and as obnoxious as I want without it bothering anyone else. Can't do that with records because the vibration from the mega speakers feeds back into the record needle and the distortion is intolerable.
I find myself with a lot of obsolete stuff these days. I have a big bag of SLR photography equipment that I will probably never use again. I guess I can put it in a display case or something as a conversation piece.
But at least my out of date, useless stuff isn't costing the taxpayers an arm and a leg to support the way the post office does. I have thought about the trouble that I would have to go through if the PO went tits up. I think it would be a pain in the ass for maybe two or three weeks and then after that I would be wondering why I hadn't switched over earlier.
I wonder how much longer we will be using paper currency and metal coins given the widespread use of debit cards?
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Sowell uses the Kodak bankruptcy as a platform to decry the uselessness of the USPS. Read the column, it's good. The rest of this is just me rambling about crap.
LINK (http://rightwingnews.com/column-2/kodak-and-the-post-office/)
Post offices were once even more important than Eastman Kodak, and for a longer time, as the mail provided vital communications linking people and organizations across thousands of miles. But, today, technology has moved even further beyond the post office than it has beyond Eastman Kodak.
In 2011, the only grocery store in my town (yeah, there's only one) shut down their photo processing equipment at the customer service counter. Which was kind of strange because they were all set up to process prints from the digital camera data cards in addition to the traditional film processing. The end of an era.
That's too bad for the folks like my parents who have a digital camera but no computer. Then again, folks my parents age are phasing out as well.
Another obsolete item is the phonograph record. For a while recently they were still sort of useful because those goofy hip hop people were making weird sounds with them but now they have electronic versions of the record players that do the same thing. I still have a record player, of course, because I have several hundred classic rock phonographs...all preserved in individual vinyl slip cases. It's an absolute pain in the rear trying to find a replacement needle (or cartridge, as we used to say).
Gunsmith was smart enough to buy an extra cartridge when it was still available, and I've been toting around my Marantz 4270 Quadraphonic since 1975. Only amp we've ever owned and it still works fine for the LPs and the cassettes, which, yes, we still play.
I have to admit that I prefer the convenience of my iPhone for music. Audiophiles say that mp3 music is vastly inferior to CDs but since my hearing was downgraded by an infection several years ago I can't tell the difference.
Got a TracPhone; that's good enough.
Also obsolete are the megawatt stereo receivers of my youth. It's funny. I was recently able to acquire a 150 watt per channel Marantz receiver on eBay for about $50 ($30 plus $20 shipping)...that thing would have cost close to a grand when it was new. I combined it with a pair of Pioneer CS-99A speakers (15" woofers and I already owned those) and they will make your ears bleed when turned up all the way. I use the stuff in my workshop where I can be as loud and as obnoxious as I want without it bothering anyone else. Can't do that with records because the vibration from the mega speakers feeds back into the record needle and the distortion is intolerable.
See above: Marantz. I can't take the music so loud, maybe because my hearing is still relatively good.
I find myself with a lot of obsolete stuff these days. I have a big bag of SLR photography equipment that I will probably never use again. I guess I can put it in a display case or something as a conversation piece.
Nope; I'm gonna use my camera equipment again one of these days. Shaddap. I WILL!
But at least my out of date, useless stuff isn't costing the taxpayers an arm and a leg to support the way the post office does. I have thought about the trouble that I would have to go through if the PO went tits up. I think it would be a pain in the ass for maybe two or three weeks and then after that I would be wondering why I hadn't switched over earlier.
Constitutional amendment required to get rid of the P.O. Interesting to consider how UPS or FedEx or an unknown concern will replace it.
I wonder how much longer we will be using paper currency and metal coins given the widespread use of debit cards?
They can take their debit cards and shove 'em. If it comes to it, I'll be trading in commodities.
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I didn't know until I read about it last week but Kodak invented the digital camera in 1971. They decided against developing it as a consumer item because it would cut into their film profit center. Pretty stupid mistake.
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BTW, I can see how the Post Office gets left in the dust, Constitution or not. People just naturally move to what works better.
Think about how the Post Office has devolved. There was a time (a very long time ago) when the mail was delivered seven days of the week. Now it's six days a week and they are thinking seriously about eliminating Saturday service. When I was younger the mailman (not the PC "postal carrier") would hand deliver to every physical address. That probably still happens but it doesn't in my community. Where I live the closest the mail gets to my door is a few hundred yards away at a "cluster box." Additionally, the cluster box mail isn't delivered by a post office employee but rather by a contractor.
Mail volume is down and it will continue to dwindle. At some point there will cease to be a need for it.
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Up next is Hostess Brands (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204124204577151211961572458.html), maker of Twinkies, Wonder Bread and other foods of dubious taste and nutritional value. Filing for bankruptcy protection.
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So where in the hell am I supposed to get my G-D Twinkies?!!
(http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2009/10/9/1255082186695/zombieland-woody-harrelso-001.jpg)
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Yeah! I'm sorry but the Twinkies have to be rescued!
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How could Hostess Twinkies go belly up? Good Lord, we don't live in America anymore.
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Never met a Twinkie I liked, but then there were those Hostess Cupcakes iced with Hot Chocolate Butter and Hostess Sno Balls - coconut covered orange snowballs, incredible. ::sigh::
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. . .
I use the stuff in my workshop where I can be as loud and as obnoxious as I want without it bothering anyone else.
Care to elaborate? Seriously:
I wonder how much longer we will be using paper currency and metal coins given the widespread use of debit cards?
The parking meters in Raleigh take a freakin debit card. For $1.00 of parking! Have you seen the robot key makers in the box stores that make a key without human assistance? They take a freakin debit card.
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I use the stuff in my workshop where I can be as loud and as obnoxious as I want without it bothering anyone else.
Care to elaborate? Seriously:
Mrs. trapeze does not appreciate my taste in music at any volume level. I have a 2500 square foot workshop that is now the home of my antique record collection and one very high powered sound system. It is a great place to crank it up when the mood strikes me.
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This is the best part of the article, IMO:
A society in which some people make decisions, and other people are forced to pay the costs created by those decisions, is a society where a lot of decisions can be made despite their costs being greater than their benefits.
That's pretty much the root of almost all of our fiscal problems.
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I find myself with a lot of obsolete stuff these days.
I find myself a lot obsolete these days.
FIFM
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. . .
I use the stuff in my workshop where I can be as loud and as obnoxious as I want without it bothering anyone else.
Care to elaborate? Seriously:
Mrs. trapeze does not appreciate my taste in music at any volume level. I have a 2500 square foot workshop that is now the home of my antique record collection and one very high powered sound system. It is a great place to crank it up when the mood strikes me.
Don't sound too obnoxious to me. Got internet in there?