A real camera.

[Frank Szabo]

The only real cameras are those in the hands of real photographers.

Good answer!

 

[Frank Szabo]

In music, much is made of the -digital- mixers and peripheral equipment - the add-on boxes to make -digital- sound analog cost a mint.

Re: a hunting rifle - there was a time when the major manufacturers couldn't sell one unless the word "magnum" was pressed into the metal somewhere.

Front wheel drive cars are junk, but they're pushed as being better for reasons other than them costing the manufacturers less to make.

The word "digital" is mainly what's for sale, with all its implied simplicity, not to mention the hope that one's neighbor won't have one as nice.

 

[Andrey]

Front wheel drive cars are junk, but they're pushed as being better for reasons other than them costing the manufacturers less to make.

Why is front wheel drive junk?

Never heard any cons for it except for plain ol acceleration forward.

 

[nickrapak]

Getting off the 70-90 hour/week treadmill is huge. Truly if we took all the overtime hours many of us work and gave those hours to other people we would have full employment even in the recession.

What's wrong with working just 40 and doing your own chores like changing the oil?

It may be a bit off-topic, but this reasoning makes no sense. If you change your oil yourself, you eliminate the need for the oil changers, which eliminates the need for that job.

 

[Polybun]

Why is front wheel drive junk?

Never heard any cons for it except for plain ol acceleration forward.

Because you are asking the front tires to deal with the forces needed to accelerate the car, and the forces needed to change the cars direction and they can't. Handling on FWD cars will always be very poor because of this, and thats ignoring the horrible weight balance and the fact that the weight is transfered away from the drive wheels when you need it there the most.

Its like having a guillitine shutter. Oh, they work, but, really, is it the best solution? Its cheap, thats the only reason you would use one.

 

[Andrey]

It may be a bit off-topic, but this reasoning makes no sense. If you change your oil yourself, you eliminate the need for the oil changers, which eliminates the need for that job.

Let alone you're not specialized. Everybody who changes their own oil only does it every month at best. So everybody would have to get a separate pan, deal with the mess, get the tools and spend extra time because they only do it once a month.

On the other hand if everybody would go to a garage, it would take a much shorter time and there'd be only one pan and one set of tools per 2000 cars. Sure you'd have to pay 10 bucks in labor (gasp ), but it would be done faster and better.

Each person needs to pick one thing they're good at and excel at it, make money off of it and outsource everything else to everybody else. This way we'll be more efficient and the world would be a happy place.

 

[Andrey]

Because you are asking the front tires to deal with the forces needed to accelerate the car, and the forces needed to change the cars direction and they can't. Handling on FWD cars will always be very poor because of this, and thats ignoring the horrible weight balance and the fact that the weight is transfered away from the drive wheels when you need it there the most.

Its like having a guillitine shutter. Oh, they work, but, really, is it the best solution? Its cheap, thats the only reason you would use one.

I'm sure it's true if you're actually racing and making fast turns.

I've driven on snow in russia with RWD and in canada with FWD. When I want to steer around in snow, I definitely prefer my front wheels weighed down by the motor and having control of where the car drives to.

Sure, when I go into a corner at 60 kmh on my mazda the back starts skidding, but then I just steer and gas in the direction I want to go and that gets me out no problem.

It looks something like this, but how many people do it in the city? How many do it long enough to live? or not get ticketed?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtO3booJgfo
(Ignore the music)

The big plus is that in case of drift, I still control where the car goes, because I have control of the rear wheels and gas. If I were to drift with RWD, I can only gas/release, but the direction of your acceleration you can't control.

So for the legal urban driving there are significant benefits to FWD.

If you want to race, then you might be better off having the weight distributed and not drift into a corner at all. Or you might want a front/rear differential control like in skyline, but we're talking a whole different car for a whole different purpose.

 

[Polybun]

Let alone you're not specialized. Everybody who changes their own oil only does it every month at best. So everybody would have to get a separate pan, deal with the mess, get the tools and spend extra time because they only do it once a month.

On the other hand if everybody would go to a garage, it would take a much shorter time and there'd be only one pan and one set of tools per 2000 cars. Sure you'd have to pay 10 bucks in labor (gasp ), but it would be done faster and better.

Each person needs to pick one thing they're good at and excel at it, make money off of it and outsource everything else to everybody else. This way we'll be more efficient and the world would be a happy place.

Eh, i could never trust someone else to work on my car for me. Last time i let some mechanic change a tire on it, he twisted a wheel stud off. Why? oh, well, because the left hand side of the car has left hand threaded studs and nuts. Now he was informed of this, and looked at me like i was out of my fucking mind. That was years ago, I STILL want to punch that guy, punch him hard.

I also like to monitor the state of the oil that I have removed.

Heh, that said, i've now been car free for 7 years, bicycle only. I don't take my bike to bike shops...

 

[Steve Smith]

It may be a bit off-topic, but this reasoning makes no sense. If you change your oil yourself, you eliminate the need for the oil changers, which eliminates the need for that job.

I always have a problem with paying someone to do something which I can do myself.

There are plenty of people who don't want to do their own car maintenance, plumbing, building etc. so there is always a place for the professional.

Each person needs to pick one thing they're good at and excel at it, make money off of it and outsource everything else to everybody else. This way we'll be more efficient and the world would be a happy place.

What's wrong with being competent at lots of things?



Steve.

 

[ricksplace]

What's wrong with being competent at lots of things?
Steve.

Absolutely nothing. It's called being a "renaissance man". It's something I strive for and it sounds like you do too. Bravo Steve.

 

[Andrey]

What's wrong with being competent at lots of things?

Inevitable mediocrity.

 

[Steve Smith]

Inevitable mediocrity.

No.

 

[Andrey]

No.

No is not an argument.

 

[Steve Smith]

I didn't really want to argue but you are being very judgemental when you only know me as someone who writes stuff on an internet forum.
In my post I asked what was wrong with being competent at lots of things. mediocrity is a long way from competent. I know what I am good at and I also know what I am hopeless at. I can do most construction related jobs such as bricklaying, plumbing, carpentry, electrical etc. but despite knowing how to plaster a wall, I am completely useless at it.
Everybody is different. Some people do very well using your 'excel at one thing and outsource everything else' example. If you can do this then that is fine. Other people (and I include myself here) are practically minded and like to do as much for themselves as possible. I am quite lucky as it seems that I only need to be shown something once and I can usually do it (except plastering!).
I am also quite happy to work something out for myself. Again, other people do not like to do this and that is also o.k.
I do not accept mediocre from anyone including myself so if I am going to do something, I will do it properly.



Steve.

 

[JBrunner]

I used to change my own oil. My time is worth more than that now, however hard experience has also shown me that I do better job at things like this than many of the people I pay to do it. When doing for themselves, most people who know what they are doing do a better job simply because they care more, and value their own time spent on a job well done. I know that I do a "better" job printing my own photographs, because nobody can do my custom job better than me, and nobody cares about them like me. My garbage can can attest to this, and it has been said by more than one person that no reason can be seen by a normal person for the most of the prints I put in the trash. You wouldn't generally see this at a lab, because they mostly need to gittr done. That's not to say many labs don't do a fine job, just that they can't really afford to sweat the smallest of things on a constant basis, unless you agree to be charged accordingly.

 

[Andrey]

I didn't really want to argue but you are being very judgemental when you only know me as someone who writes stuff on an internet forum.

This wasn't ad hominem, just economic theory.

 

[ricksplace]

Perfect example of why theories don't always work when humans are involved.

"Theory is when you know how something works, but it doesn't. Practice is when something works, but you don't know why. In my darkroom, theory and practice are combined. Nothing works, and I have no idea why.!!