Posted on 12/28/2014 12:12:37 PM PST by familyop
Danielle George, Professor of Radio Frequency Engineering, at the University of Manchester, claims that the under 40s expect everything to ‘just work’ and have no idea what to do when things go wrong...This year’s Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are entitled ‘Sparks will fly: How to hack your home’ she is hoping it will inspire people to think what else they can do with common household objects...Ideas include using a magnifying glass and shoe box to turn a mobile phone into a rudimentary projector; how to use tin foil to make too small batteries fit correctly and how to turn a bottle of water into a lamp.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
***No oil light?***
We don’t call it an “Idiot Light” for nothing.
Sadly my sister-in-law falls into this category. A couple of years go she went out to get in her car and it would not open! She panicked!
I went over, took her remote, used the ignition key on it to open the door and found her battery was dead, dead, dead.
She did not even know her doors had a key slot!
Pulled the battery, got a new one installed and she was ok.
I used to fix everything except electronic equipment. Even rewired and rebuilt my house without outside help.
I could set up my AC unit to come on automatically 30 minutes before I got home. It was easy!
Now the most simple tool or appliance seems to have an electronic touchpad that automatically defaults to the OFF position when no power is on.
I don’t think things have changed that much. I have been fixing things all my life for people who didn’t want to try. I have seen kids that will take apart a new toy to see how it works. People who tinker with stuff are born that way and will try to take apart anything given to them. Most like me started when they got their first rattle. I repaired a toaster when I was in first grade. They were a lot more fixable item around back then. Back when electronic stuff had discrete parts you could find smoked parts and replace then. I got my a metal finder with a bad diode in the rectifier bridge. Less than a dollar in parts to repair. And parents were more likely to let you blow out circuit fuses. When I was in Jr High I took apart my saxophone and put it back together.
Some people learned how to repair stuff because they had to. And some people repair stuff because it is there.
My point was that the opportunity is still there, the boys just aren’t doing it, the bicycles, parts, engines, wheels, switched, wire, junkyards, things they want and could build or assemble, are all there or waiting to be built, so something else has changed.
A typical store bought computer has the absolute cheapest parts that can be sourced. With an eye on quality hardware a home made machine is simply better, and that is a reward. After you've done it a few times it's not a lot of work either.
I am a boomer woman, and I taught myself how to do minor carpentry, plumbing, and electrical wiring many, many years ago, when I could not afford to hire someone to do my home remodeling work. If the Internet had been around then, I could have saved a lot of learning time. Batting my eyelashes at the fellow in the hardware store got me a lot of free advice.
Not here. wouldn’t pass inspection without stock parts.
My husband was visiting his sister and husband in their ritzy house in San Diego. There was some loose wood staple in the basement and the b-i-l (aged 42) couldn’t pry it out by hand. My husband (age 40, who has many tools at home) asked if he had tools so the b-i-l checked his “tool box”: a child’s kit with a mini-flashlight, two small screwdrivers and mini-tape measure. They had to go the the neighbor’s house to borrow a pair of pliers.
I used to work for a phone-in mail order company that sold hats. Our customers were mostly retirees or older folks. If people didn’t know their hat sizes, I’d tell them to get a cloth tape measure to measure their heads and I’d convert the inches to a hat size. I think only once in three years I spoke with a customer who did not own a cloth tape measure, so they had to use a string. That was twenty years ago.
Today I am 38, have a cloth tape measure in my house as well as a sewing machine. I’m no expert dressmaker, but I make repairs to clothes as needed. I don’t know a single woman my age or younger who owns a sewing machine or cloth tape measure. Perhaps a few may have a spool of thread and some needles, but that’s it.
That bottom one cracks me up.
You might be interested in this or know something who is. It’s a collaborative effort to build machines. There’s also the list of links that I posted earlier in the thread.
Machine Builders Network
http://kramerville.net/mbn/
I’ve also seen quite a few repair and home build projects at the following. Ignore the ads.
TractorByNet.com
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/
Sewing and sewing machines is a great example, people just quit doing them.
See the bottom photo in post 130.
One of my favorite movies for the kid in me is Zathura... Dax played the astronaut. I just like the way the film is presented... the house is gorgeous.
Love the motel story!!!
My son is 34 and can fix anything. He’s fixed high dollar equipment at an auto plant, air conditioning, plumbing, cars, boats-anything. He’s in the Air Guard and is in Ammo.
He is one amazing guy.
what year??? anymore replacing the module is one thing, reprogramming the unit is another... depending on year/make/model they want the engine ID/info, transmission info, mileage, and prolly the VIN# too
yup... funny guy Hit & Run is good too
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