17 minutes ago, dave2013 said:

I will not resume a "pissing match"

 

That's a very rude word, it's wee wee. 😲

19 minutes ago, dave2013 said:

Europe would immediately be cut off from supplies of chips from Taiwan.

 

We got loads in the land of the British.

 

 

 

In my seventies I remember some things about the good ole days that were not as good about some things today. Cars had to be tuned every five to ten thousand miles, plugs and points changed and getting timing right was not always easy. Tires wore out much faster, keeping front end in alignment had to be adjusted often. I can’t remember anything about automobiles superior to what we have now, and safety, forget about that compared to standards today. Most cars were ready for the junk yard before 100,000 miles. 
Washing machines could be repaired but those guys who came to your house didn’t work for nothing, labor and parts could run up an oh no bill for a family with kids trying to make ends meet. And yes appliances did break. 
 I remember the joy of a new television but would need a repair tune up after a short time. Vacuum Tubes burned out mechanical dials have to be cleaned and or replaced. Couldn’t get the picture to stop rolling. All quite expensive by the economic standards of that day. I’m sitting here watching my fifteen year old LG TV that has a beautiful picture and probably will for years to come.

I dunno, I think we have it pretty good thanks to advancing competition fueled technology. I try to look up and ahead instead of wistfully back to a time that may not have been as good as we try to remember. Nothing wrong with reminiscing though. Just count your blessings of today.

56 minutes ago, martin-w said:

1 hour ago, dave2013 said:

Europe would immediately be cut off from supplies of chips from Taiwan.

 

We got loads in the land of the British.

And we in the U.S. have artificial  chips that can power AI:

34 minutes ago, Mike A said:

And we in the U.S. have artificial  chips that can power AI:

 

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. They aren't chips my boy, they are called crisps. Chips are big fat and greasy and served with salt, vinegar and tomato sauce. Although some like gravy or curry sauce, a weird choice. 

I’ll take the Sandwich, can’t do the Pringles (Doc says limit my salt intake) but I love Pringles (AI or real).  Now if only AI could solve my feeling hungry all the time … maybe AI can … hmmm.

1 hour ago, Patco Lch said:

Cars had to be tuned every five to ten thousand miles, plugs and points changed and getting timing right was not always easy. Tires wore out much faster, keeping front end in alignment had to be adjusted often

This is the exact reason why Japanese cars became so popular … they were more reliable and the engineering was better.  I remember my Dad’s 1970’s era Buick, OMG the steering wheel play was horrendous … I could move it 2 inches in either direction and nothing would happen.  

While the US auto industry kept pumping out big displacement V8s that consumed much more fuel and oil and had horrible power efficiency.  How the heck can you produce a V8 that only puts out 150HP … hard to make it that inefficient.  US manufacturing got replaced by foreign manufacturing not because of “cheap” labor nor tariffs, they lost because of poor product design and inefficiency.  Then the gas crisis of the 70’s came and the shift to V6 and 4 cylinder … US manufacturing was again too late, foreign market already had a hold on V6 and 4 cylinder efficiency … because, better designs and more efficient (again nothing to do with Tariffs or cheap labor).  

9 minutes ago, martin-w said:

Although some like gravy or curry sauce, a weird choice. 

How un-British! 🙂 … and in newspaper please …

37 minutes ago, SayAgain said:

 I remember my Dad’s 1970’s era Buick, OMG the steering wheel play was horrendous … I could move it 2 inches in either direction and nothing would happen.

I remember about 35 years ago a friend and coworker gave me a ride home after work in his 1962 Chevy Impala. After 2 blocks, I said “Man, this thing handles like a Spanish galleon!” 😆

Edited October 10, 2025Oct 10 by Mike A
Correct year.

2 hours ago, martin-w said:

We got loads in the land of the British.

Oh, man, I remember getting a paper cone of hot chips on a Friday night after a few pints.

I've never had such good chips(fries).  Most Americans think that some fast food fries are the best.  They just don't know what really good chips taste like.

Dave

2 hours ago, Patco Lch said:

I dunno, I think we have it pretty good thanks to advancing competition fueled technology.

You're certainly right about the technology we have nowadays compared to yesteryear.

However, my experience with modern TVs, cars, and other machines hasn't been as good as yours, apparently.  I've had 2 LCD TVs fail within 2 years, a couple strange problems with relatively new cars that were hard to diagnose and repair, and our 2-year old heat pump just had a pressure switch go bad requiring a total system pump down, switch replacement, refrigerant refill and vacuum test costing $500.  We had a 1-year old fridge freezer fan fail a few years ago, and a 2-year old microwave suddenly quit working, and it wasn't just a blown fuse, unfortunately.  Maybe we were just unlucky?

IMO stuff isn't made as well as it used to be in many cases.

Dave 

That noble and inspiring company Microsoft is doing it's part by putting MSFS onto download streams instead of onto physical discs. It also allows for the cat people in space to watch and enjoy flight simulation by observing the streams being broadcast from the cloud. 

1 hour ago, SayAgain said:

Now if only AI could solve my feeling hungry all the time … maybe AI can … hmmm.

 

That's easy, its called "Mounjaro" my friend. Trust me, it works.  👍 

51 minutes ago, dave2013 said:

Oh, man, I remember getting a paper cone of hot chips on a Friday night after a few pints.

 

Cone! Cone you say! I scoff at your Cone. Half a ton of chips wrapped in paper is the way it's done. And throw in some battered cod for the additional saturated fat. 

47 minutes ago, dave2013 said:

and our 2-year old heat pump just had a pressure switch go bad requiring a total system pump down, switch replacement, refrigerant refill and vacuum test costing $500

 

Heat pump? I recall us debating about ground source and air source heat pumps a while back, and you hadnt got one. So you bought a house with a heat pump?

1 minute ago, martin-w said:

 

Cone! Cone you say! I scoff at your Cone. Half a ton of chips wrapped in paper is the way it's done. And throw in some battered cod for the additional saturated fat. 

I'll do you one better!

That same Friday morning, before the pints and chips, I had a lovely English breakfast with fried eggs, bacon, sausage, and bread fried in bacon fat.  Later that night, I got a greasy kebab and wolfed that down.  Mmmm, mmmm!

I likely reached my saturated fat allowance for the whole month that very day.

Dave