The Old Fuddy-Duddy badge of honor:
"Yes, I have a cell phone - but only for emergencies!"
I dunno if you have them there but in the uk it would be a Doro ( Swedish ) ...
DORO phones , designed specially for seniors is their logo .
Hi Bill,
There were two qualities of ABS on the market. The expensive cars got a Bosch or equiv., the less expensive cars got "the other system". My car at that time ('84 Olds Delta 88) had the better ABS which cycled very quickly and worked as advertised. Driving another, less expensive car with ABS kicking in was a slow cycle and not terribly useful. If anything, that slow rhythm didn't instill confidence in the system at all. It may have even contributed to some accidents.
-Chris
There were two qualities of ABS on the market. The expensive cars got a Bosch or equiv., the less expensive cars got "the other system". My car at that time ('84 Olds Delta 88) had the better ABS which cycled very quickly and worked as advertised. Driving another, less expensive car with ABS kicking in was a slow cycle and not terribly useful. If anything, that slow rhythm didn't instill confidence in the system at all. It may have even contributed to some accidents.
-Chris
Now thats just down right lazy. Its not too difficult to start a small fire or even use one of those rocket stoves which takes twigs.
The Canon Powershot A480 is an amazing camera with extremely good low light exposure levels and even has a long exposure timer. Extremely good sharpness in regular photographs too. And best of all it takes two AA batteries.
Amazon.com : Canon PowerShot A480 10 MP Digital Camera with 3.3x Optical Zoom and 2.5-inch LCD (Silver) : Point And Shoot Digital Cameras : Camera & Photo
The macro shots that it takes are amazing aswell.
Here we have Jitterbug (named for a dance that only an old person would remember) and a few other minimalistic phones with large buttons. They aren't widely adopted by the general population, even the elderly ones.
My mother was afraid of technology, as are a good segment of the elderly population. Her reasoning was that she could being spied on by technology, especially cell phones and computers. Despite being a phone designer for Motorola at the time, I couldn't even get her to accept a VCR!
My 81 year old neighbor has a basic smart phone which she uses for phone and text messaging. She can also find things (mostly phone numbers and addresses) on Google, and operate the maps and GPS features. her husband (82 years old) however wants no part of it.
After watching these "kids" build my house, I wouldn't call any of them lazy. It's just that they have adopted SOME of our modern conveniences. They were making straight cuts on plywood with a circular saw, a metal straight edge (used as a fence) and two clamps (to hold the fence to the wood being cut). I asked why they didn't use a portable table saw, and got some puzzled looks, so I showed them mine. Everyone including the older guy the drove the truck (I assumed the boys father?) watched as I cut a piece of wood for them, then folded it all up and dragged it back into my shed. They seemed interested, but I don't know if they ever got one.
I have used my cheapie Panasonic for over 5 years. It has been dropped too many times to count, but still works good. It has developed a grey spot in the images, which is probably a dust spec in the lens system. It's too large and fuzzy to be dust on the sensor, but it could be. I have been looking for a similar sized replacement in the 12 to 20 MP range that does at least 1080 video, and has picture and video quality on par or better than the old Panasonic.
I recently bought a "new open box" Panasonic DMC-TS5 on Ebay, only to find that it was NOT new, was all scratched up including the lens and LCD cover, and it took lousy pictures. I returned it for a refund. The price WAS too good to be true.
Hi Bill,
Must have been white knuckle times during the winter if you had snow on the ground. The fast pulsing types worked like a charm - most of the time.
I find winter driving is easier if I turn the traction control off. That's in a 2011 Malibu. I happen to be fond of this car too ('cause I still have it for one).
-Chris
Must have been white knuckle times during the winter if you had snow on the ground. The fast pulsing types worked like a charm - most of the time.
I find winter driving is easier if I turn the traction control off. That's in a 2011 Malibu. I happen to be fond of this car too ('cause I still have it for one).
-Chris
I find the same on my 2008 Honda Element. Not only does it pulse the brakes on a spinning wheel virtually guaranteeing that the other one will spin, it also has a nasty habit of cutting engine power when it detects wheel spin (first gen drive by wire). This is a bad thing at two particular intersections where you must pull out from a standing stop with the wheels turned and there is limited visibility. The speed limit is 40 MPH, but it is common for a dump truck or other large vehicle to appear from the blind corner at 50+ right after you pull out and flooring the gas pedal will cut all power for about half a second. A very scary half second......so the "stability assist" stays off!
As you said, I like the vehicle and I can't think of what I will replace it with when funds are available for another vehicle. It has 100,000 miles. I have changed two power window mechanisms, the brakes, the battery (this winter will probably be time for battery#3), the tires twice, and I regularly change the engine oil (always Mobil 1). No other maintenance or repairs.
This one was described as new, never used without visible wear. It had taken 601 pictures, had dings all over it, two gouges into the plastic LCD cover and scratches on the lens face. I took several pictures of the unit and included them in the refund claim They were dated about 20 minutes after FedEx delivered the box. Refund granted. No more open box items, or anything from this Ebay seller.
I have gotten some good deals on open box items from Amazon in the past.
I hear you on both things George.
I have had very good luck with Nikon "remanufactured" cameras. The next one I buy will be the same if I can swing it. You have to walk into the head office, which used to be 5 min from where I worked last.
I have just over 100,000 mi on mine too. I had to rebuild the engine (timing chain tensioner went) and replace the front springs. This car was 6 months old when we got it. It came from the east coast where roads are brutal and people like to speed. I can't blame the car for the suspension. Not that happy about the tensioner. However, the work done was excellent and it now drives like new. That I am very pleased with.
-Chris
I have had very good luck with Nikon "remanufactured" cameras. The next one I buy will be the same if I can swing it. You have to walk into the head office, which used to be 5 min from where I worked last.
I have just over 100,000 mi on mine too. I had to rebuild the engine (timing chain tensioner went) and replace the front springs. This car was 6 months old when we got it. It came from the east coast where roads are brutal and people like to speed. I can't blame the car for the suspension. Not that happy about the tensioner. However, the work done was excellent and it now drives like new. That I am very pleased with.
-Chris
Start on the third gear and use the clutch without accelerating... then pass the others gears and accelerate just enough in order to stay above 1000 RPM.
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The only driving aid i like is power steering the rest of the assists may well help some people but if like me you enjoy driving nothing beats a rear wheel drive and a twisty road for adrenalin fueled fun , unless it's a motorcycle.
One of my first jobs was driving a 7 1/2 ton truck with no power steering and air brakes that were either on or off , by the end of the day i had biceps like Popeye and all the adrenaline rushes i could handle
One of my first jobs was driving a 7 1/2 ton truck with no power steering and air brakes that were either on or off , by the end of the day i had biceps like Popeye and all the adrenaline rushes i could handle
I was on a driver training recently and they also sad that if you are going uphill in snow, you have to turn the TC off or our you will have a hard time going up. Simple TC has hard time handling spinning tyre. They can't set the just enough spin. But if it is not in your leg you will have more problems without TC in snow. But to get experience you have to get over the limits to know where is the limit in a snowy day in a parking lot
Popeye and all the adrenaline rushes i could handle
My previous car has a vaccum pump explosion while i was driving... the assistance of the steering and brakes suddenly disapear and going hard as concrete, handbrake had been my last and only solution !
Snow tires (tyres) would save from doing all the above. They are obligatory here in friendly Quebec. Mind you, the snow is different here, because of the cold, the snow is dry and blows around, cannot make snowballs, it does not clump. Late winter/spring snow is a different story.
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