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...in the destruction of any electronic gear, or even any technological products, for that matter.

Just a while ago I was whining to someone on MSN about my USB drive, when I started making a list on which technological products have given up on me.

They make up, well, quite a fantastic list.

The first MP3 player I had, a Creative MuVo TX FM, decided to kick the bucket after about half a year of use. Well, perhaps it wasn't QUITE six months, but I'm sure less than a full year has passed when it decided not to function very well. It still works, to a certain extent, but I'm not about to risk putting ANYTHING on it.

The second MP3 player, a Creative Zen Vision:M, I acquired at the turn of the year, probably during January. Knowing full well the fragility of hard disk MP3 players, I took every care not to damage it. However, despite every effort to avert fate(?), one day in May it fell onto the floor from from a height of about two feet, and has never been quite the same since. I will take it to the local Creative customer services centre tomorrow, and hope I won't bankrupt myself paying for repairs.

The USB drive mentioned above has been in my possession for about seven months. It is only these few weeks that I began to use it frequently, and even then I am sure I have NOT taxed it to flash memory's normal life limit.

I do not sit well with watches, it appears. The one I am using presently is, as far as I recall, the first one to last more than six months in my possession. The others have either mysteriously disappeared, most likely left on a bus or somewhere else, or been destroyed one way or the other. In fact, the light on this one has some small problems, but I chose to ignore it since it's not a very serious problem. Fortunately they are mostly the cheap electronic watches that are sold at a price that is probably cheaper than the batteries inside them, but even then I go through watches faster than Marie Antoinette goes through her wardrobe.

I am no more popular with headsets and earphones either. Looking back, I have apparently spent about $20 USD on headsets and/or earphones every month, two months at most. The Audio Technica earphones I use with my now-screwed-up MP3 player has lived a fruitful and long life, having lasted for about three months to date, and still functioning well, although, after two weeks of not having seen it, I am no longer so convinced as to that. The other headsets and earphones all seem to die after a month or two.

I have slightly better luck with mobile phones. My first mobile phone survived many pitfalls in its life in the literal sense of the word, and lived long enough to be lost on a bus. My present mobile phone also survived quite a few drops - credit be to these antiques that have only 1" greyscale LCD screen but which are far more durable than any of the new and expensive phones - only to have the charger malfunction.

About a year after buying my computer, the Intel motherboard died on me. I accepted that as my fault, as it was using the 350W junk power supply that came with the case, and I had added a 9800SE video card without considering the power demands. So I replaced the motherboard with a brand new Asus P4P800SE, and the power supply with a SPI 350W power supply.

One and a half year later, the Asus motherboards continues to serve, but there are some USB port malfunctions, the true cause which I have not been able to confirm, and which I have left alone. However, merely one year after replacement, the new power supply, which is of a fairly reputable brand, and which the technician assured me would be able to handle the power demands of my computer even if I added a couple of hard disks, died one week after I added an SATA hard disk. I now have a 520W SevenTeam power supply in my rig, and I'm going to boil if that dies.

The same thing happens to me in both software and hardware, and even website.

Perhaps I should consider a career in helping technicians bring business?

It is not you, Rookie, tis a natural law

Reporting: Summary



The Clark-Trimble experiments

A convenient point of departure is provided by the famous Clark-Trimble experiments of 1935. Clark-Trimble was not primarily a physicist, and his great discovery of the Graduated Hostility of Things was made almost accidentally. During some research into the relation between periods of the day and human bad temper, Clark-Trimble, a leading Cambridge psychologist, came to the conclusion that low human dynamics in the early morning could not sufficiently explain the apparent hostility of Things at the breakfast table - the way honey gets between the fingers, the unfoldability of news-papers, etc. In the experiments which finally confirmed him in this view, and which he demonstrated before the Royal Society in London, Clark-Trimble arranged four hundred pieces of carpet in ascending degrees of quality, from coarse matting to priceless Chinese silk. Pieces of toast and marmalade, graded, weighed, and measured, were then dropped on each piece of carpet, and the marmalade-downwards incidence was statistically analysed. The toast fell right-side-up every time on the cheap carpet, except when the cheap carpet was screened from the rest (in which case the toast didn’t know that Clark-Trimble had other and better carpets), and it fell marmalade-downwards every time on the Chinese silk. Most remarkable of all, the marmalade-downwards incidence for the intermediate grades was found to vary exactly with the quality of carpet.
The success of these experiments naturally switched Clark-Trimble’s attention to further research on resistentia, a fact which was directly responsible for the tragic and sudden end to his career when he trod on a garden rake at the Cambridge School of Agronomy. In the meantime, Noys and Crangenbacker had been doing some notable work in America. Noys carried out literally thousands of experiments, in which subjects of all ages and sexes, sitting in chairs of every conceivable kind, dropped various kinds of pencils. In only three cases did the pencil come to rest within easy reach. Crangenbacker’s work in the social-industrial field, on the relation of human willpower to specific problems such as whether a train or subway will stop with the door opposite you on a crowded platform, or whether there will be a mail box anywhere on your side of the street, was attracting much attention.

(From 'Report on Resistentialism' by Paul Jennings)

I'm pretty much the exact opposite. My technology-gadgets last forever.

My first tape player, from back in middle school (about 18 years ago) was this neat little AIWA player that did both sides without flipping the tape, AM/FM radio, 3 equalizer settings, and barely bigger than the cassette itself. I found it a couple months ago when we were cleaning up, it still works fine and only has a small chip in one corner even though I took it to school with me every day in middle school and high school. Ended up going into the Good Will pile.

My stereo from high school (got it about 15 years ago) had a dual tape deck, record table, radio, separate speakers. Worked just fine until we ended up putting it in the Good Will pile about a year ago (got a new stereo for the living room which bumped that to the office which bumped my ol' stand-by).

My current 4 watches (300m water-resist for scuba diving, 200m water-resist for general sports, nice simple for work, dressy engagement present for dressing up) have lived for 7, 7, 9, 8 years respectively with only battery changes and 1 band replacement. All still work great, one other may need another band soon.

My current PC is sitting at home, 2 years old or so. Previous one (was 4 years old when I stopped using it) is sitting right next to it, just haven't made the effort of finding it a new home but it still works, boots up, etc. The one previous to that which I originally got in '97 lasted for 3 years before I replaced it. No components have required replacement but I have upgraded hard drives, memory, CD/DVD drives/burners, graphics cards, monitors, etc.

In general, almost all of my electronics last and I end up buying newer ones just because I want one and not because I have to. Maybe if my PC broke though I could convince my wife that we need a new/better one.

[QUOTE=Fiona]It is not you, Rookie, tis a natural law

Reporting: Summary



The Clark-Trimble experiments

A convenient point of departure is provided by the famous Clark-Trimble experiments of 1935. Clark-Trimble was not primarily a physicist, and his great discovery of the Graduated Hostility of Things was made almost accidentally. During some research into the relation between periods of the day and human bad temper, Clark-Trimble, a leading Cambridge psychologist, came to the conclusion that low human dynamics in the early morning could not sufficiently explain the apparent hostility of Things at the breakfast table - the way honey gets between the fingers, the unfoldability of news-papers, etc. In the experiments which finally confirmed him in this view, and which he demonstrated before the Royal Society in London, Clark-Trimble arranged four hundred pieces of carpet in ascending degrees of quality, from coarse matting to priceless Chinese silk. Pieces of toast and marmalade, graded, weighed, and measured, were then dropped on each piece of carpet, and the marmalade-downwards incidence was statistically analysed. The toast fell right-side-up every time on the cheap carpet, except when the cheap carpet was screened from the rest (in which case the toast didn’t know that Clark-Trimble had other and better carpets), and it fell marmalade-downwards every time on the Chinese silk. Most remarkable of all, the marmalade-downwards incidence for the intermediate grades was found to vary exactly with the quality of carpet.
The success of these experiments naturally switched Clark-Trimble’s attention to further research on resistentia, a fact which was directly responsible for the tragic and sudden end to his career when he trod on a garden rake at the Cambridge School of Agronomy. In the meantime, Noys and Crangenbacker had been doing some notable work in America. Noys carried out literally thousands of experiments, in which subjects of all ages and sexes, sitting in chairs of every conceivable kind, dropped various kinds of pencils. In only three cases did the pencil come to rest within easy reach. Crangenbacker’s work in the social-industrial field, on the relation of human willpower to specific problems such as whether a train or subway will stop with the door opposite you on a crowded platform, or whether there will be a mail box anywhere on your side of the street, was attracting much attention.

(From 'Report on Resistentialism' by Paul Jennings)[/QUOTE]
Ah, Moore's Law and its numerous siblings.

Now I can feel better about breaking the bank to fix my MP3 player.

[QUOTE=Darzog]I'm pretty much the exact opposite. My technology-gadgets last forever.

My first tape player, from back in middle school (about 18 years ago) was this neat little AIWA player that did both sides without flipping the tape, AM/FM radio, 3 equalizer settings, and barely bigger than the cassette itself. I found it a couple months ago when we were cleaning up, it still works fine and only has a small chip in one corner even though I took it to school with me every day in middle school and high school. Ended up going into the Good Will pile.

My stereo from high school (got it about 15 years ago) had a dual tape deck, record table, radio, separate speakers. Worked just fine until we ended up putting it in the Good Will pile about a year ago (got a new stereo for the living room which bumped that to the office which bumped my ol' stand-by).

My current 4 watches (300m water-resist for scuba diving, 200m water-resist for general sports, nice simple for work, dressy engagement present for dressing up) have lived for 7, 7, 9, 8 years respectively with only battery changes and 1 band replacement. All still work great, one other may need another band soon.

My current PC is sitting at home, 2 years old or so. Previous one (was 4 years old when I stopped using it) is sitting right next to it, just haven't made the effort of finding it a new home but it still works, boots up, etc. The one previous to that which I originally got in '97 lasted for 3 years before I replaced it. No components have required replacement but I have upgraded hard drives, memory, CD/DVD drives/burners, graphics cards, monitors, etc.

In general, almost all of my electronics last and I end up buying newer ones just because I want one and not because I have to. Maybe if my PC broke though I could convince my wife that we need a new/better one. [/QUOTE]
Invite me to your house for a month, and you'll have all the excuses you need

Yep! [url="http://www.wordspy.com/words/resistentialism.asp"]Les Choses Sont Contre Nous[/url]

Actually, I'm generally Like Darzog in this regard. Electronic things and similar items tend to last forever around me. Though, I can be quite talented at losing them.... Watches, sunglasses, keys....

Solution: Become Amish.

First of all, beat killing five computers in two years, while in the progress of killing another after seriously maiming it.

Second of all, Dj that is the most logical solution to a problem that I have encountered.

That was your list? Sounds like simple accidents to me. My list is probably twice as long as everyone on here so far combined, if I could only remember most of it. My mother blamed it on the fact that I had a little knowledge of computers; because a little knowledge is more dangerous than none at all. In my time, I have crashed or destroyed more computers than I care to count (I once committed the ultimate sin of taking a joyride through the Windows system registry folder). My mother got into the habit years ago of asking me point blank, as soon as I told her there was something wrong with my computer, "What did you delete?" That system registry fiasco shall haunt me the rest of my days. And I have trashed more drives than I'd like, and I even once brought home a virus and gave it to my mother's computer. I've broken my fair share of non-computer equipment, too. As for watches, well, I usuaully go through a lot of those, but I don't know for sure why. They probably stop due to my magnetic personality.

[QUOTE=Chimaera182](I once committed the ultimate sin of taking a joyride through the Windows system registry folder).[/QUOTE]
I like to believe that everyone who thinks they can fix computers has done somthing in that nature AT LEAST once. (in my case it was attempting to deleate the worst virus in computer history...THE FREE AOL TRIAL PEROID DISK!!! )

[QUOTE=Chimaera182]I even once brought home a virus and gave it to my mother's computer.[/QUOTE]
I would like to hear that story