"You're crazy Tim. Nobody designs products intentionally to fail. With the amount of competition out there it would be suicidal for any business. Why would anyone do that?" Tim lowered his head slightly and frowned, paused a moment to gather his thoughts, then replied. "Greed brother. You are so naive, think about it. How many tubes of caulk have you had to throw away and replace because after you used it once, there was no easy way to seal the tube back up, and it completely dried out? In Mexico every tube of caulk comes with a plastic replaceable cap, completely solves the problem at virtually zero cost. The exact same caulk in the States, no cap." Joe looked at Tim a look of obvious confusion on his face. "So?" "Without that cap the caulk dries out in the tube after one or two uses and needs to be replaced which sells more caulk. In Mexico the caulk never dries out, and the entire tube gets used. Less caulk is sold overall and a lot less waste. A win win for the consumer and the environment, but not as much profit for the caulk manufacturers. That is just one example out of hundred I could give you. So many technical problems related to storage and stability have been solved but solutions are never implemented because it means things last longer and so less of them are sold." Joe looked at Tim and smiled as he said "You are crazy man."
About the Creator
Everyday Junglist
About me. You know how everyone says to be a successful writer you should focus in one or two areas. I continue to prove them correct.
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Technonomatopoeia
There can be no doubt that modern technology is noisy. From the dings and blings of cell phone notifications to cshooooooooos, bwaaaa-bwaaaaa-eeeeerrr of old school internet connections, technology has brought us a huge number of new sounds, many of which are difficult or impossible to capture in words. The sound made when making a selection on a touch screen cell phone is a good example. I think it is intended to be a click, similar, but not exactly the same as the click of a finger on a physical keyboard. To me however it sounds more like an abbreviated snick. Actually I would say it sounds like a depressed version of the famous snikt sound made when Wolverine unsheathes his adamantium claws in the X-men comic books. Really it is SNIKT! because it is always written in all caps and emphasized with an exclamation point and a hyperaggressive font choice. Comic books have brought us a huge number of onomatopoeia. Batman is well known for having introduced Pow and Ka-pow into the lexicon along with hundreds of other words for noises. Today, technology like cellpnones and computers bring us access to comic books and graphic novels of a seemingly infinte variety. The graphic medium forces the onomatopoeia on those works. If one wants to make sounds in a visual medium, one has only words to work with. Technology itself however has brought us very few. I think that should change and technonomatopoeia is what those words should be called.
By Everyday Junglist2 years ago in Fiction
Miss Persephone's Manual to a Seemingly Ordinary Life
Miss Persephone was found at the dining table, her blue eyes swollen, her tears arriving and retreating like the tides of the ocean. Earlier that day, her family had visited her in the retirement home where she had lived for eight years. It was her eightieth birthday.
By Imola Tóth2 days ago in Fiction
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