The tracking for items I bought from AliX recently shows that they shipped from china.

There wasn't any mention of China in the tracking information for my recent order. Instead of having multiple packages, each with shipping labels, they were all "bare" and the address the package shipped from was Albatross America in southern California. It's the same street address as before, but now there's a company name associated with it.

I just bought some grills for my car on eBay. The shipping location was in southern California, but it ended up being a Chinese company.

 

 

40 year old fridge? It's just a baby.

Our 1954 International Harvester fri is still going strong as a bar fridge in the basement. We did have to replace the door gasket in about 1980.

 

Our 1954 International Harvester fri is still going strong as a bar fridge in the basement.

Wonder how it compares in efficiency with similar size modern fridges (?).

 

Wonder how it compares in efficiency with similar size modern fridges (?).

Considered across 70 years, it will far exceed the efficiency of any modern products, since all modern fridges will spend the majority of that timespan irreversibly broken hence working at zero efficiency (no power consumed but no refrigeration either)

 

 

Wonder how it compares in efficiency with similar size modern fridges (?).

Hush

 

Yes. Seriously.

He's referring to the tariffs that the president has imposed on many countries, odd that you haven't heard this news.

 

He's referring to the tariffs that the president has imposed on many countries, odd that you haven't heard this news.

When referring to current events, you should take care to note the dates of posts to which you're replying.

 

When referring to current events, you should take care to note the dates of posts to which you're replying.

You didn't know what tariffs he was talking about, now you do, no need to thank me.

 

 

 

 

 

40 year old fridge? It's just a baby.

Our 1954 International Harvester fri is still going strong as a bar fridge in the basement. We did have to replace the door gasket in about 1980.

View attachment 353975

At the fairgrounds in Indianapolis where a local hamfest was held annually (and may still be, but I am not in the area anymore and so don't know) one of the concessions that opened for any event was a "lemon shake-up booth" that had been at the fairgrounds since it was opened in the 1940's.

The fridge was a GE, top coil design. In the 1990s when I last saw it, it was still running.

this is the same model, though I don't know if it is exactly the same​

Speaking with the people running the booth, they said it had been in their family since it was purchased (in the 1930's) and had been moved to the concession when a more modern fridge replaced it at home.

He told me they had never done service on it, and they would just plug it in three or four times a year, then unplug it off-season.for the winter. When I saw it, it was about 60 years old. I don't know if it is still running but it could be, and that would make it about 90 years old and operational.

This isn't really about "American made", it's about things made before the intentional churn of planned obsolescence. Products today are almost universal designed to be feature rich and dirt cheap to manufacture—and sometimes to sell. While this fridge didn't need service, it could have been serviced, easily, thanks to a small parts count and simple construction.

Given the climate, the demands of the market-driven priorities of publicly traded companies, and the need for cashflow it is hard to see much alternative to the constant rounds of new product introductions and the need to incentivize consumers to "upgrade".

I like to keep things a long time, but for various reasons that is less and less possible today. Some of them are structural, some are driven by new technology and the concomitant new possibilities, and some are intentionally forced by the manufacturers so they can stay in business and attract investment.

I prefer to keep my cars for as long as possible. I like to choose cars with "timeless" designs. One of my cars, a 2010 BMW 328xi is squarely in that category. Even at 15 years old I get people commenting appreciatively on it. Though, as a BMW, servicing it is not cheap, it is quite possible and I have no reason to believe I couldn't keep it another 10 years, if I choose.

​

My other car, until recently was a 2015 BMW X5. I liked the car a lot, Well built and with a classic design it offered a lot of practicality in terms of passenger and cargo capacity and ground clearance. One thing that made me less than happy—though would not have been a reason to buy a new car—was the infotaintment system.

​

New, the technology in the car was quite good, interfacing well with the iPhone—which I have carried in various models since the introduction. It had a large screen and decent built-in navigation, and the cloud services offered by BMW via the car's cellular connectivity were acceptable.

Then, Apple introduced CarPlay and there was something I really wanted that the car would never do. First of all, it didn't have a touch screen, even at a time when many cars of its class did. I was told that German sensibilities wouldn't permit fingerprints on the display—something that I am not entirely insensible to, if it is true.

Second, it lacked the hardware/software needed. And this is a key point. As well made as the car was, no modularity was present that would allow the addition of the CarPlay hardware, and BMW was not about to redesign their infotainment system on a five year old car for replacement, theirs hands full with current models. And, even if they did do it, BMW pricing would have made the upgrade cost prohibitive.

The thing that really hurt, though, was the shutdown of the 3G mobile network. The car's connected services depending on the 3G radio-modem, and suddenly—and irreparably—my emergency calling, GPS location, remote unlocking, and other connected features were... gone.

There was no upgrade path, thanks to the lack of modularity mentioned above. But still I would not have replaced the car over that, as much as it bothered me. I couldn't bring myself to replace an excellent car over such a thing. Turns out, though, a distracted driver took car of that for me.

I was hit in an intersection but an old Toyota that was traveling at 40+ miles per hour as I made a left turn. The driver made no effort to slow down and while I tried to accelerate and leave the intersection, I only managed to make it so that instead of hitting the front of my car, she hit the rear wheel. I spun around, but I really didn't feel the impact very much. Because the frame was cracked, the car was totaled.

When I went to my BMW dealer to replace it, I was dismayed at the selection available. First of all, I by CPO (Certified Pre-Owned) vehicles only. New cars are just not a good value. The premium to buy one is... crazy. But, in this case that was OK because with few exceptions, and those being cars I like the look of, but not being something appropriate for me, I find the new BMW designs very unappealing.

I want a car that will look "good" 10, 15, 20 years after it is made. BMW seems to have embraced a "fast fashion" strategy. Since a very large part of their business is in 3-year leases, it seems to me they've decided that designs that age out at the end of that are beneficial. They can sell cars that match the current trends, and the purchaser's (lessee's) aesthetic calculus only has an end-of-lease horizon.

While I want to have a car to keep for as long as it is mechanically sound, and so a design that is decidedly not trendy, a 3-year lifetime serves their purposes well. So... they are largely... ugly. They are also expensive. When I say that, keep in mind I buy BMWs, so I am not so price sensitive—or my sensitivity is scaled to the market.

But, I wasn't feeling the bang-for-the-buck proposition. The car I really wanted was the 5 Series Grand Touring. The GT cars as essentially performance luxury sedans that are effectively hatchbacks but retaining the sedan profile, This means you can "have your BMW and drive it too", that is, you can have the lovely driving experience of the BMW 5 series sedan while still using it as a practical vehicle.

The trouble is, they only made a few of them (just like the "estate" or wagon body styles, which have been my favorites, they only import a limited number into the US. They are great cars and they need to stop that.), and finding a CPO 530xi GT would have been like winning the lottery—spoiler: I didn't.

I decided I had to look elsewhere, and to make this story much shorter (it is already beyond any reasonable expectation of being read) I looked at Audi, a company I had always had my eye on anyway. Turns out I won a different lottery, the prize was a 2022 Audio S5 Sportback—the effective twin to the 5 Series GT.

​

The Sportback offers a hatchback functunality, and very importantly, which slightly touched by trendy influence, its design manages to be "classic" and I feel that it will not expire. There are things I wish were different about it, but overall—so far—it's a really nice vehicle and well capable of assuming the role of my daily driver and road trip car.

I'll stop now.

 

At the fairgrounds in Indianapolis where a local hamfest was held annually (and may still be, but I am not in the area anymore and so don't know) one of the concessions that opened for any event was a "lemon shake-up booth" that had been at the fairgrounds since it was opened in the 1940's.

The fridge was a GE, top coil design. In the 1990s when I last saw it, it was still running.

View attachment 358800
this is the same model, though I don't know if it is exactly the same​

Speaking with the people running the booth, they said it had been in their family since it was purchased (in the 1930's) and had been moved to the concession when a more modern fridge replaced it at home.

He told me they had never done service on it, and they would just plug it in three or four times a year, then unplug it off-season.for the winter. When I saw it, it was about 60 years old. I don't know if it is still running but it could be, and that would make it about 90 years old and operational.

This isn't really about "American made", it's about things made before the intentional churn of planned obsolescence. Products today are almost universal designed to be feature rich and dirt cheap to manufacture—and sometimes to sell. While this fridge didn't need service, it could have been serviced, easily, thanks to a small parts count and simple construction.

Given the climate, the demands of the market-driven priorities of publicly traded companies, and the need for cashflow it is hard to see much alternative to the constant rounds of new product introductions and the need to incentivize consumers to "upgrade".

I like to keep things a long time, but for various reasons that is less and less possible today. Some of them are structural, some are driven by new technology and the concomitant new possibilities, and some are intentionally forced by the manufacturers so they can stay in business and attract investment.

I prefer to keep my cars for as long as possible. I like to choose cars with "timeless" designs. One of my cars, a 2010 BMW 328xi is squarely in that category. Even at 15 years old I get people commenting appreciatively on it. Though, as a BMW, servicing it is not cheap, it is quite possible and I have no reason to believe I couldn't keep it another 10 years, if I choose.

View attachment 358802
​

My other car, until recently was a 2015 BMW X5. I liked the car a lot, Well built and with a classic design it offered a lot of practicality in terms of passenger and cargo capacity and ground clearance. One thing that made me less than happy—though would not have been a reason to buy a new car—was the infotaintment system.

View attachment 358804
​

New, the technology in the car was quite good, interfacing well with the iPhone—which I have carried in various models since the introduction. It had a large screen and decent built-in navigation, and the cloud services offered by BMW via the car's cellular connectivity were acceptable.

Then, Apple introduced CarPlay and there was something I really wanted that the car would never do. First of all, it didn't have a touch screen, even at a time when many cars of its class did. I was told that German sensibilities wouldn't permit fingerprints on the display—something that I am not entirely insensible to, if it is true.

Second, it lacked the hardware/software needed. And this is a key point. As well made as the car was, no modularity was present that would allow the addition of the CarPlay hardware, and BMW was not about to redesign their infotainment system on a five year old car for replacement, theirs hands full with current models. And, even if they did do it, BMW pricing would have made the upgrade cost prohibitive.

The thing that really hurt, though, was the shutdown of the 3G mobile network. The car's connected services depending on the 3G radio-modem, and suddenly—and irreparably—my emergency calling, GPS location, remote unlocking, and other connected features were... gone.

There was no upgrade path, thanks to the lack of modularity mentioned above. But still I would not have replaced the car over that, as much as it bothered me. I couldn't bring myself to replace an excellent car over such a thing. Turns out, though, a distracted driver took car of that for me.

I was hit in an intersection but an old Toyota that was traveling at 40+ miles per hour as I made a left turn. The driver made no effort to slow down and while I tried to accelerate and leave the intersection, I only managed to make it so that instead of hitting the front of my car, she hit the rear wheel. I spun around, but I really didn't feel the impact very much. Because the frame was cracked, the car was totaled.

When I went to my BMW dealer to replace it, I was dismayed at the selection available. First of all, I by CPO (Certified Pre-Owned) vehicles only. New cars are just not a good value. The premium to buy one is... crazy. But, in this case that was OK because with few exceptions, and those being cars I like the look of, but not being something appropriate for me, I find the new BMW designs very unappealing.

I want a car that will look "good" 10, 15, 20 years after it is made. BMW seems to have embraced a "fast fashion" strategy. Since a very large part of their business is in 3-year leases, it seems to me they've decided that designs that age out at the end of that are beneficial. They can sell cars that match the current trends, and the purchaser's (lessee's) aesthetic calculus only has an end-of-lease horizon.

While I want to have a car to keep for as long as it is mechanically sound, and so a design that is decidedly not trendy, a 3-year lifetime serves their purposes well. So... they are largely... ugly. They are also expensive. When I say that, keep in mind I buy BMWs, so I am not so price sensitive—or my sensitivity is scaled to the market.

But, I wasn't feeling the bang-for-the-buck proposition. The car I really wanted was the 5 Series Grand Touring. The GT cars as essentially performance luxury sedans that are effectively hatchbacks but retaining the sedan profile, This means you can "have your BMW and drive it too", that is, you can have the lovely driving experience of the BMW 5 series sedan while still using it as a practical vehicle.

The trouble is, they only made a few of them (just like the "estate" or wagon body styles, which have been my favorites, they only import a limited number into the US. They are great cars and they need to stop that.), and finding a CPO 530xi GT would have been like winning the lottery—spoiler: I didn't.

I decided I had to look elsewhere, and to make this story much shorter (it is already beyond any reasonable expectation of being read) I looked at Audi, a company I had always had my eye on anyway. Turns out I won a different lottery, the prize was a 2022 Audio S5 Sportback—the effective twin to the 5 Series GT.

View attachment 358805
​

The Sportback offers a hatchback functunality, and very importantly, which slightly touched by trendy influence, its design manages to be "classic" and I feel that it will not expire. There are things I wish were different about it, but overall—so far—it's a really nice vehicle and well capable of assuming the role of my daily driver and road trip car.

I'll stop now.

That's interesting, likely people would dump those fridges over the years because they wanted new features like lights or fashion, even though they probably worked fine. I've got some old radios (one is a hundred years old this year) some from the 50s work fine, but that was just before the dawn of planned obsolescence.

I recall being told as a kid that "they could make light bulbs that easily last twenty years, but if they did they'd sell fewer bulbs".

I was horrified, did adults really act that way...

 

I recall being told as a kid that "they could make light bulbs that easily last twenty years, but if they did they'd sell fewer bulbs".

It is actually very true.
Please google “Phoebus Cartel”.

 

It is actually very true.
Please google “Phoebus Cartel”.

There still doing it.

Bulbs advertised as "14 Year Lifetime" (and cost 5 times more) last no more than 6 months.

 

My late grandmother also had one of those ancient refrigerators.

When she passed away, one of her many grandchildren took with him. The only reason that he later replaced it was because it kept tripping the RCD breaker, something that her ancient home didn’t have.

 

Those old fridges if they leak can really mess you up. Had a guy in college released the gas inside our work space OMG we all ran outside just then someone said wheres the dood that did it, we hurried to look luckily the Teacher took him outside.

SO2
(sulfur dioxide) gas was used as a refrigerant in very old refrigerators, but it is extremely poisonous and obsolete today, having been replaced by safer refrigerants like the CFCs in the 1930s and later, HFCs. A leak from an old fridge with
S02
can be hazardous and may require immediate evacuation of the area, ventilation, and professional hazmat response, as the gas is heavier than air and can cause vision loss and skin burns.

kv