So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[V.C. Brunswick]

And I could also do without the way that toner cartridges for printers are now metered so you can't squeeze out a few more pages by taking the cartridge out and banging it the desk to redistribute what remains inside. No, better you should have to go out and spend $80 on a new one when all you want to do is go home and go back to bed. BAH.

Based on the price of toner cartridges I once figured that it would put toner at around several hundred dollars a gallon.

 

[tonyb]

Power windows in a semi-polar climate are the single stupidest idea ever to emerge from humanity's epic history of stupidity. Especially in the drive-thru line at Dunkies.

If I were to hazard a guess, it would be that the large majority of cars currently in use have power windows. And A/C and power steering and automatic transmissions.

In my early driving years the cars I could afford were made in the 1950s and early '60s. Few of those cars had any of the above-mentioned features. I've grown accustomed to having those conveniences, though, and would rather not do without, especially considering that the largest share of my driving is done in city traffic in a climate that gets real effing hot in the summer and real effing cold in the winter. One of these days I'll have a car with heated seats, I bet. I'm looking forward to it.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

If I were to hazard a guess, it would be that the large majority of cars currently in use have power windows. And A/C and power steering and automatic transmissions.

In my early driving years the cars I could afford were made in the 1950s and early '60s. Few of those cars had any of the above-mentioned features. I've grown accustomed to having those conveniences, though, and would rather not do without, especially considering that the largest share of my driving is done in city traffic in a climate that gets real effing hot in the summer and real effing cold in the winter. One of these days I'll have a car with heated seats, I bet. I'm looking forward to it.

With no mechanical backups. I call it Titanic on Wheels.

 

[LizzieMaine]

If I were to hazard a guess, it would be that the large majority of cars currently in use have power windows. And A/C and power steering and automatic transmissions.

In my early driving years the cars I could afford were made in the 1950s and early '60s. Few of those cars had any of the above-mentioned features. I've grown accustomed to having those conveniences, though, and would rather not do without, especially considering that the largest share of my driving is done in city traffic in a climate that gets real effing hot in the summer and real effing cold in the winter. One of these days I'll have a car with heated seats, I bet. I'm looking forward to it.

The '99 Subaru I junked last year had heated seats, but I wasn't aware of this when I bought it -- you don't haggle over features when you're buying a $500 winter beater. I'd never been in a car with heated seats, and really was only semi-conscious of the fact that such an option existed.

Not long after buying this car, I began to feel an odd, unpleasantly warm sensation when driving -- it was the sensation you get in an MRI machine, when they tell you "it might feel like you've wet yourself," which is, indeed, what it felt like, and an issue which is, sadly, something that can happen when a woman gets to be my age. So you can imagine that I was a bit concerned, but I couldn't figure out why I only experienced this feeling when driving. Finally I realized that I had rested my bag on the console, where the buttons for the heated seats were, and had accidentally turned them on. Ooops.

 

[2jakes]

With no mechanical backups. I call it Titanic on Wheels.

My 1946 GM truck!

 

[ChiTownScion]

Why has a very nice Eleventy velours-leatherjacket to cost 1.349,99 EUR?? Man, 134,99 EUR and you made the deal!

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=jesus+facepalm&FORM=HDRSC2

While I'd like to be able to afford a new leather jacket every year, the price (as you indicated) prevents that. I can justify spending about $1200 on a shearling jacket on the basis that I will never- ever - have to purchase another winter jacket. Got mine two years ago, and it's just now breaking in nicely. I just picked up a pair of shearling lined RAF flight boots from London that will also help me survive these damn Chicago winters. In fact, they and the jacket keep me toasty warm even in subzero (Fahrenheit) temperature.

My practice is to purchase these items with my own "fun fund" money saved from a modest allowance over the years, and then tell my wife about them after they arrive. A lot better for domestic tranquility than asking for her opinion before the fact. I don't really need any more shearling jackets.. but when we retire to the Pacific Northwest and I purchase my next car ( a small sports convertible) an RAF Irvin shearling jacket is on the Want list. Just seems like the kind of sporty thing that I need to wear in near freezing weather in a top down convertible, I suppose..

 

[ChiTownScion]

The '99 Subaru I junked last year had heated seats, but I wasn't aware of this when I bought it -- you don't haggle over features when you're buying a $500 winter beater. I'd never been in a car with heated seats, and really was only semi-conscious of the fact that such an option existed.

Not long after buying this car, I began to feel an odd, unpleasantly warm sensation when driving -- it was the sensation you get in an MRI machine, when they tell you "it might feel like you've wet yourself," which is, indeed, what it felt like, and an issue which is, sadly, something that can happen when a woman gets to be my age. So you can imagine that I was a bit concerned, but I couldn't figure out why I only experienced this feeling when driving. Finally I realized that I had rested my bag on the console, where the buttons for the heated seats were, and had accidentally turned them on. Ooops.

My dear wife swears by her heated seats. Unless the weather is extremely cold I find them a bit of a nuisance. In an open air convertible on those crisp autumn or spring days, I might get to like 'em.

 

[2jakes]

While I'd like to be able to afford a new leather jacket every year, the price (as you indicated) prevents that. I can justify spending about $1200 on a shearling jacket on the basis that I will never- ever - have to purchase another winter jacket. Got mine two years ago, and it's just now breaking in nicely. I just picked up a pair of shearling lined RAF flight boots from London that will also help me survive these damn Chicago winters. In fact, they and the jacket keep me toasty warm even in subzero (Fahrenheit) temperature.

View attachment 105394

My practice is to purchase these items with my own "fun fund" money saved from a modest allowance over the years, and then tell my wife about them after they arrive. A lot better for domestic tranquility than asking for her opinion before the fact. I don't really need any more shearling jackets.. but when we retire to the Pacific Northwest and I purchase my next car ( a small sports convertible) an RAF Irvin shearling jacket is on the Want list. Just seems like the kind of sporty thing that I need to wear in near freezing weather in a top down convertible, I suppose..

Got this shearling jacket years ago at an Army & Navy store for $300.
Paid on lay-away during the summer and was ready for the Fall.
Although the weather was not as severe like up North...it did get
cold on the flight-line when I was assigned to wait for Air Force One
to land at the air field.
Of the various Presidents I've had to video for the news, President Bush Sr.
was the only one who made reference to it which I thought was nice.

The jacket is just as good condition as the day I got it, except I've removed the
"Flying Tigers" leather patch I created for it.

Of the few photos of me at work were taken by
a newspaper colleague. She loved that I was always dressed in
military gear and kidded me when I wore several layers of shirts
and sweaters underneath. I don't like the cold!

 

[ChiTownScion]

Got this shearling jacket years ago at an Army & Navy store for $300.
Paid on lay-away during the summer and was ready for the Fall.
Although the weather was not as severe like up North...it did get
cold on the flight-line when I was assigned to wait for Air Force One
to land at the air field.
Of the various Presidents I've had to video for the news, President Bush Sr.
was the only one who made reference to it which I thought was nice.
View attachment 105402
The jacket is just as good condition as the day I got it, except I've removed the
"Flying Tigers" leather patch I created for it.

Of the few photos of me at work were taken by
a newspaper colleague. She loved that I was always dressed in
military gear and kidded me when I wore several layers of shirts
and sweaters underneath. I don't like the cold!

B-3's are quite awesome.

 

[2jakes]

B-3's are quite awesome.

The label inside was missing. I was never sure exactly the designation for this jacket.

Much obliged, ChiTownScion.

 

[ChiTownScion]

The label inside was missing. I was never sure exactly the designation for this jacket.

Much obliged, ChiTownScion.

Well, technically... B-3's do not have hand warmer pockets. They have an outside map pouch. My model is the ANJ-4, the last leather and shearling model before Hap Arnold- to the lament of his air crews- did away with them in favor of cloth jackets.

And technically, the B-3,the ANJ-4, and the British RAF Irvin, were part of a designated flight suit. A pair of shearling trousers were issued with the jackets. At 28,000 feet In an unpressurized fuselage, I am certain they were welcome until the plug in electric pants came into being.

 

[2jakes]

 

[Fading Fast]

Re heated seats: I'm with my dad who died before they were a common options, "just something else to break." (If you live in Alaska, exception noted.)

Re printer toner: arg, WTF, who is paying off whom to keep this overpriced nonsense going? I have cut my printing down to next to nothing in protest (required some creative solutions and training myself to adjust, but it's the only way I can fight back)

Re Leather Jackets: 2Jakes - you look insanely cool in that picture / I, on the other hand, know my limitations and, even at 53, have never developed the tough-guy look, so I'd still look like a kid trying too hard if I wore one / women have occasionally told me (when I think they are being genuine) that I'm "cute" or "nice" looking, never once has someone said "rugged," "manly" or "tough -" sigh.

(Me with Super Girlfriend at the beach)

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Re printer toner: arg, WTF, who is paying off whom to keep this overpriced nonsense going? I have cut my printing down to next to nothing in protest (required some creative solutions and training myself to adjust, but it's the only way I can fight back)
View attachment 105425

I did a Google search and found I was wrong about the price of printer ink. This link is from a South African website and after converting rand into dollars and litres into gallons, it comes out to $16,000 a gallon!
But the dirty little secret is that printer manufacturers make their money from the ink cartridges rather than the printers which are often priced nearly at cost.

https://www.inksaver.co.za/en/blog/6-Reasons-Why-Printer-Ink-Is-So-Expensive.php

 

[2jakes]

Re heated seats: I'm with my dad who died before they were a common options, "just something else to break." (If you live in Alaska, exception noted.)

Re printer toner: arg, WTF, who is paying off whom to keep this overpriced nonsense going? I have cut my printing down to next to nothing in protest (required some creative solutions and training myself to adjust, but it's the only way I can fight back)

Re Leather Jackets: 2Jakes - you look insanely cool in that picture / I, on the other hand, know my limitations and, even at 53, have never developed the tough-guy look, so I'd still look like a kid trying too hard if I wore one / women have occasionally told me (when I think they are being genuine) that I'm "cute" or "nice" looking, never once has someone said "rugged," "manly" or "tough -" sigh.

(Me with Super Girlfriend at the beach)
View attachment 105425

When I wear my "Mike Sullivan-Road-to-Perdition" long dark coat... I get kidded
by some who want to know where's my
tommy-gun?

I've been told that I wear summer colors in winter.

I should not wear a corduroy jacket with
corduroy pants.
Tennis shoes with a suit etc-etc-etc.

With the exception of funerals or weddings for friends that I want to
show respect.

I wear what I please.
Whether I look tough or cool or not...
I really do not give a darn.

And no one has ever told me I was rugged, manly or tough... well...
only once.
I was twelve and the girl was ten.
"Oh... you are so manly looking"
She said this as she closed her eyes
swooning at me as if wanting to kiss
me!

All I could think when I went home
and looked in the bathroom mirror...

"how in the world did she see that?"

All I saw was a thin pimply horny kid
who was so shy I would've wet my pants
if the cute girl with the blond pigtails
said hello to me!
No sheet!

 

[Fading Fast]

I did a Google search and found I was wrong about the price of printer ink. This link is from a South African website and after converting rand into dollars and litres into gallons, it comes out to $16,000 a gallon!

https://www.inksaver.co.za/en/blog/6-Reasons-Why-Printer-Ink-Is-So-Expensive.php

Read the article and it read like blah, blah, blah to me - eventually the real story will come out. Nothing is cheap to develop, design, etc. - but at some point, the sunk development costs are covered and you're left with a pretty low-cost repeatable process. No one is devoting billions to ink research for God sakes.

Some combination of corporate malfeasance with some political or governmental corruption aiding and abetting explains this insanity. I am not saying markets / capitalism work perfectly everywhere and for everything (please dear God, let's not go down that road here), but I will say an unfettered market for printer ink (no collusion, no gov't payoffs, etc.) would drive the price way down (the way it does for so many other commodity type products). Something dirty is going on here.

 

[HanauMan]

I went to get my hair cut the other day. A young woman cut my hair and then charged me the retiree price instead of the normal price. I'm 53!

When I pointed this out she said, "Oh, that's OK. You didn't have much hair needing cut anyhow...."!

WOW - double blow! Gathered up my remaining pride off the floor and left. And the worst part, I still gave her a tip!

 

[2jakes]

I went to get my hair cut the other day. A young woman cut my hair and then charged me the retiree price instead of the normal price. I'm 53!

When I pointed this out she said, "Oh, that's OK. You didn't have much hair needing cut anyhow...."!

WOW - double blow! Gathered up my remaining pride off the floor and left. And the worst part, I still gave her a tip!

She's gorgeous.
She smiles.
She says hi, how are you?

I smile.
I say hello, I'm fine!

Next thing.
Guy comes up to her and gives her a kiss
as they walk away.

People standing by saw this.

At that instant... I wish I was Claude Rains from the movie, "The Invincible Man."

 

[Fading Fast]

I went to get my hair cut the other day. A young woman cut my hair and then charged me the retiree price instead of the normal price. I'm 53!

When I pointed this out she said, "Oh, that's OK. You didn't have much hair needing cut anyhow...."!

WOW - double blow! Gathered up my remaining pride off the floor and left. And the worst part, I still gave her a tip!

LOL - great story. And, yup, I'd have tipped her too.

 

[Edward]

I know someone named "Norman Bates" who was born before the movie came out, but was just the right age to take a lot of kidding about it in later years. I never had the nerve to ask him how much trouble it caused him.

My grandfather had a friend by the name of Percy Mee. He used to have fun with British Army checkpoints back in the day - "Your name,. Sir?" "It's Mee." "Yes, but your name Sir?" " IT's Mee." and so on...

If I were to hazard a guess, it would be that the large majority of cars currently in use have power windows. And A/C and power steering and automatic transmissions.

I've been pucky enough not have to run a car in nearly twenty years, but it's interesting how these things vary. I get the impression power steering is now common (I only drove one or two cars with it, and hated it intensely). A/C I think varies; I remember it being something my dad avoided in cars because of the expense if it goes wrong, though to be fair there's not much call for it in Ireland. Automatics are still relatively rare here in the UK. Not so much demand for them as in the US. You can do your test in an auto here, but then your licence is only valid for an auto. Dad had a couple of autos at a time; I tried one, and it con firmed I would very definitely always avoid an auto, especially one coupled with power steering. It felt like I had so little real control over the car, I'd have preferred it to be a self-driver.

In my early driving years the cars I could afford were made in the 1950s and early '60s. Few of those cars had any of the above-mentioned features. I've grown accustomed to having those conveniences, though, and would rather not do without, especially considering that the largest share of my driving is done in city traffic in a climate that gets real effing hot in the summer and real effing cold in the winter. One of these days I'll have a car with heated seats, I bet. I'm looking forward to it.

Heated seats I can see appealing in the Winter!

Of the various Presidents I've had to video for the news, President Bush Sr.
was the only one who made reference to it which I thought was nice.
View attachment 105402

Bush Snr would have been the one I'd expect to notice it - wasn't he the only one since Eisenhower who was in the military - at least as a pilot?

I am certain they were welcome until the plug in electric pants came into being.

It always seemed risky to me that you'd plug your clothes into the planes' electrics, but then if you're already going to be sitting in a goldfishbowl while some enemy shoot at you, what's one more risk?