Designed to break?

"Self-esteem."

Thanks, Rich

Uhm, that seems to be utterly lacking as well. The number of kids who move back in with their parents and pretty much never leave the nest anymore is mind-boggling these days.

The metal ones are great but the plastic ones with the ABS lid cover are horrible. They don't last.

I just wanted to avoid that hassle. Next thing we probably have to machine our own gears for the transmission...

That's what the marketeers think but their are dead wrong. The story goes more like this: A visit for a barbeque. One guy says they want to build a new deck and thus do a few upgrades. The other guy's ears perk up and he instantly counters "Just don't ever buy that stuff from XYZ". That's the kind of advice that really sticks because it's based on first-hand experience of a good friend. Now the sales losses become staggering and such damage is usually irrecoverable for a very long time. No matter how much money XYZ sinks into TV ads. Ask the guys in Detroit about that...

Sure, they're losers and parasites, but by golly, they sure do have great self-esteem! ;-)

What's sorely lacking is self-respect. >:-(

Thanks, Rich

I've seen good used metal ones in thrift stores for a few bucks. I didn't buy any of them, because I haven't needed to buy on for over eight years.

Problem is that the ones that break all the time contain a transformer. I could, of course, mount an additional metal box there but the WAF won't be that great because it's right next to a patio door.

You can't bypass the internal timer and mount the other timer at the breaker box?

Manufacture them then sell them to retailers!

Teaching self esteem is like teaching helicopter piloting with no hands on experience. Two feet off the ground you'll lose it.

I tried it with an RC helicopter once. Didn't lose it ;-)

The owner was next to me ready to jump in as a crash would have been quite expensive.

But you are right, self esteem cannot be taught. It needs to come from the parents. Unfortunately many of those have signed off and believe that public school must do that. Politician of a certain kind seem to believe the same, and they are wrong.

Sure but the other timer would need to be mounted right there. It's where the outlet is and I can't time that whole circuit. Else the vacuum cleaner would only work from 8:00pm til midnight. Very low WAF ;-)

Aha! Alright, here comes the capitalist spirit. Good idea.

Vista You turn the keys and a message appears on the all-glass dashboard. It says that your car is currently to weak and unable to drive anywhere unless you buy a new car with a turbo-charged V8 Power-Stroke Diesel engine and that if you want to haul back groceries it also needs a $4k Banks upgrade.

It also depends on how regulated that industry is. I design medical gear and that is often nursed along until things literally fall off. This is not because of greed but because the paperwork to initiate a repair is often overwhelming the staff.

But when self-esteem isn't based on accomplishments and is just taught as a basic "right" they can move back in and feel just fine about it.

Robert

That's because "modern" parents often totally pamper their kids. They buy them everything they want. No wonder that any feeling of accomplishment vanishes. That was very different in my days and I am thankful to my parents that they didn't do that to us. For example, I had to slave six grueling weeks in a meat-packing and processing plant to make enough money to by my first used and heavily beat-up ham radio transceiver. The 8 miles back home on a bicycle at night were really excruciating but in the end it got the objective accomplished.

I'll bet it was, with all those hungry dogs chasing you because of the smell of meat! ;-)