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Overkill objects for everyday life

neil.computer

631–640 of 732 posts

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#631

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haha, pretty sure the author doesn’t expect anyone to take this post entirely seriously.

I'm considering this very seriously: > The entire consumer market is rotten. TV? It's going to come with smart apps. Get one from NEC that's meant for commercial use. A TV has the potential to be a lifetime purchase, but the software on it can render it obsolete. I can always plug my streaming device of choice into the back of a "dumb TV."

as someone that has worked with tvs for a few years I disagree strongly. Speakers are a lifetime purchase. A TV is not. Professional displays are super expensive (and often dont come with speakers). The pricing will also change a lot depending on the size. They are made to run 24/7 on airports etc. Today there aren't many display manufacturers anyways. I would never spend 4k-20k on a professional display to use it as a TV.

you can still buy 30year old speakers for 200-400 and consider it as a buy it for life purchase.

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#633

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally disagree. I’ve bought all kinds of items from surplus stores and Swiss military gear. Usually, better by a large margin. The only thing it suffers is aesthetics if you care about such things. These are all better in most cases: Medical grade Military grade Industrial grade Cleanroom grade (for some items) Marine grade Try looking into it.

I use a Swiss "weapons bag" made in the 40s out of 8mm thick leather for my laptop, I love the aesthetics! Any links to places where I can get more Swiss military gear?

varusteleka.fi

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#634

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least in the area of outdoor gear (clothes, packs, tents, sleeping bags, etc) I know serious military dudes buy the high end commercial stuff, sometimes with their own money, rather than get stuck with “military grade” stuff.

I’m really into camping and outdoors stuff, but have never heard of this. What do commercial packs / sleeping bags look like? Are they heavier? What commercial use even is there for this sort of thing? I’m so interested! I’m a huge fan of buying high quality gear that’ll last forever - do you have any ideas where to shop for these?

I'm guessing they meant regular consumer stuff. Commercial as in "commercially available".

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#635
post #255

This started off as a fun article about "what's the most overkill way I can get this?" and then looking for second-hand fighter jet seats just for the shits and giggles. I like that. But then it goes south from there, the author seems to believe that anything that isn't from the USA military must be crap: > Made in the USA from military grade [...] preferably a military supplier [...] This is the real thing, used by…

I bought my knife from a delta force commando that retired and now makes knives. It’s beef.

So you had to get another one for cutting pork?

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#636
post #618

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not all dishwashers have it. I found that most dishwashers in the US don't have it, so you have to work to find one that does. If they do, it's usually a compartment at the bottom of the thing with a sealed screw-cap. Oh, and don't bother buying "dishwasher salt", just buy medium-grain table salt, it's 10x cheaper.

>Oh, and don't bother buying "dishwasher salt", just buy medium-grain table salt, it's 10x cheaper. Is it the same thing?

In one sense, "Yes". A water softener using this principle just needs a source of Sodium ions, and Sodium Chloride aka salt is exactly what's called for in this application. They do literally just need salt.

But in another sense, "No". The people selling you table salt know it's for cooking and eating not to run a water softener, so they may tweak the product for these purposes. The product should be labelled, but we saw earlier that people don't read the fine print.

For example isn't it annoying when the little grains of salt stick together in a salt shaker? In some environments it's difficult to prevent plain salt from doing that, especially if it sits in the shaker for a few weeks because you (sensibly) don't use extra salt in most food. But an anti-caking agent reduces this problem while not making any difference (in a tiny quantity) to the taste or dietary effects of the salt. A water softener does not need anti-caking agents, so the manufacturer recommends using dishwasher salt.

Another example: Humans are supposed to have the element iodine in their diet. Some countries historically had a big problem with insufficient iodine, and so the "ordinary" table salt in those countries is laced with (a tiny amount of) iodine. Result: Fewer children with mental development problems. A water softener has no need for iodine, maybe it makes no difference, it clearly can't help, hence, the recommendation specifically for dishwasher salt.

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#638
post #16

Using a ka-bar for hiking is a terrible idea. At 0.7lbs it weighs as much as a quality sleeping bag/tent/pack. Also, you likely don’t need a knife. Scissors are much more useful, and micro scissors weigh less than an ounce. Ultralight hiking adds an interesting forcing function to gear - correctly “built” (as in not overbuilt or under built). Bring the gear which matches the need. In essence, the complete opposite se…

Ka-bar's name comes from literally kill a bear.

A lot depends on the wildlife you could expect to encounter - a pair of micro scissors weighing less than a ounce won't be useful against even a smallish dog went feral. (Lots of stray dogs around the places I live, not all of them good boys)

Having a rugged piece of metal that you could use for defense, prying stuff apart, lever, axe is a must for me. Especially one that is easy to re-sharpen with a simple rough whetstone.

I go hiking with esee 6 - it is comforting to know it is there if the going gets rough since it is nigh indestructible

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#639

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean I love Victorinoxes, but 35 euro kitchen knife is far from high end. Although theirs and Morakniv Frost have surprisingly good steel and HT for the price and they can get sharp - they are the cheapest real knives in the kitchen (kiwi and some chinesse cleavers excluded), not high end stuff.

I wasn't talking about the €35 "Classic" knives from Victorinox (e.g.: [0]). They're serially produced stamped steel blades. I'm talking about Grand Maitre series [1], which are "Made in Germany under supervision of Victorinox" and are forged steel. They're nowhere near €35. I have a 15cm Grand Maitre Carving/Utility knife, and that thing's sharpness is scaring me sometimes. It's virtually equal with another handmade…

Found the video [0]. Watch from 05:17.

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e50gujs4l-I

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#640
post #609

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A right to repair law would make most products equally servicable How is that possible to enforce? If a company comes up with a design that is less serviceable than its competitors, but has other advantages, is it forbidden from selling its new design? If a company comes up with a design that is more serviceable than its competitors, are all the competitors now forbidden from selling their old design?

Just banning all the zany things manufacturers come up with to thwart repair should be fine. No security screws, no tamper seals, no plastic clips that you must break, no cryptographic verification of components, cartridges, or firmware. I'm probably missing a load of other tricks, but just doing the above would go a long way to ensuring products can be repaired reasonably.

> ... no cryptographic verification of components, cartridges, or firmware

No, I definitely think that the verification on the parts to make sure that they are original should stay, but it should not disallow non official parts to be installed. Because, if I want to replace a part with an original, there should be a way to verify the part is not counterfeit, and I think it would be super beneficial for consumer if the part was able to verify itself as genuine. But, I should also be able to install non genuine parts as well.

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