Last person to post wins

[ukmav]

Efficient is surely just how effectively one works nothing to do with easy or difficult, it is easy to sit in a chair all day but not very efficient if you are supposed to be digging a hole, equally it is difficult to work without a break for twelve hours but quite efficient if in that time you get done something which would normally take two days.

I think train driving was probably fun when we had steam enginesalthough quite hard work then, now it would be really rather mundane unless of course your idea of excitment was travelling at high speed on a track in one direction all day.

[none of the above]

Efficiency is getting the work done in the least wasteful manner... if there is an easy way and a hard way of doing something, digging a hole say... and I do it the easy way and you're doing it the hard way... which is better off if the job is done in the required time?


Trains will always be interesting, though the steam ones were more of a handful indeed. Those odd places around the country where oily overall clad chaps spend their time polishing old engines are a wonder...
I would be the sort of train driver that did cheeky announcements to the passengers... as well as putting the speed on to see how fast they can go. I like the national railway museum too, it's full of nice big engines which makes me happy.

[ukmav]

easy difficult same thing to different people in many ways and not necessarily any guide to efficiency.

Big steam engines not my kind of thing nor are small ones either really although they are far better both aesthetically and engineered than today's graceless ugly little lumps of plastic.

[none of the above]

High volume manufacturing has carefully considered your application but unfortunately at this time there is no employment opportunity for someone that has such a casual attitude to being efficient. Good luck...


It's those great lumps of metal that put this country on the map... it's not a bad thing.

[ukmav]

Given that I am more interested in quality and longevity than quantity, I am completely unconcerned about that sector of industry's feelings about me, nor would I choose to offer it my services. I would however argue, that what high volume industry and from your arguments yourself calls efficiency would perhaps be better defined as profitability but even then I am not sure they have it right. It is all a question of interpretation really and I am perfectly happy with mine, quite content in the knowledge that I do not fit into the modern world in this regard, and equally confident that I am right.
What put this country on the map was cartographers I think you will find! But I have nothig against steam engines they are a reminder of a time when Britain seemed to be somewhat better than it is now.

[none of the above]

Goodness me, maybe you do need a spell seeing what it means... it's not the end result but the whole process... still, I won't bore peeps with the technicalities of it or the fact that those bad old "modern world" things are what you're using to post that. It'll be wasted, plus it's nearly time for my breakfast.

I wonder how long it will take to get my lawnmower going for the first time this year, and have I got some petrol for it.

[ukmav]

The end result is what the whole process gives you so if the end result is poor it stands to reason the whole process needs looking at. Quite frankly if you compare the quality of now, in any sector, it does not really stand up very well to the quality of even 20 years ago. I also question modern accounting methods and how the gross wastage is justified. The technological ideas may be significantly advanced but that in no way affects build or even material, quality.
I envy you if your lawn is dry enough to cut regardless of how long it takes to get your mower going.

[none of the above]

Could a car come with a seven year warranty twenty years ago?


The mower started first pull, I know its ways though and the rest of the year it will mess me about. There was about four hours this morning when the clouds had buggered off though I was out visiting someone by then so I wasn't bothered. It's supposed to be a bit frosty tonight which I'm not best pleased with, my cougettes will get miffed.

[ukmav]

Did a car need a seven year warranty twenty years ago or fifty or a hundred? How many cars built today will still be on the roads in 100 years either numerically or as a percentage of the number produced in a year? The fact that today they offer a 7 year warranty is merely indicative that there has been a problem with quality due to a lack of care in the whole process that the manufacturers have had to take action on and now wish to boast about rather than any great advance in quality.

Still not cut my lawn but had a day almost without rain here so am going to try in the morning, I suggest a blanket for your courgettes.

[jinjin]

Build your house on a golf course and use the association's service to take care of the grass, snow and ice on your property throughout the year.

[none of the above]

A golf course is full of annoying people waving sticks about.

Anyway, for much over half of those twenty years I've been in that automotive business... obviously I must have missed where certain components have got less reliable or the testing less comprehensive.

It's been a super day here, in more ways than one. The courgettes have their own little cloches to keep warm though, nothing worse than a miffed veg.

[jinjin]

Both can be correct. For example, in computers, the reliability of magnetic storage (e.g. hard disc) has improved over the years and this provided people with larger capacity storage at a lower cost. Today, magnetic storage is more reliable that it has ever been in the past. However, the demands for large storage capacity has also increased dramatically over the years. Thus, an increase in data bandwidth usage results in an increase potential for failure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmMCNbAtrlc

[none of the above]

Twenty years ago ukmav was on-line praising his reliable computer...

[ukmav]

No actually he was not, first version of windows he ran in his domicile was 95 which would make it about 15 years ago, and that was on monitored dial up so he did not spend very much time on the internet as it was so incredibly expensive and rather slow. I agreed technology had moved on so that is not an admission. Besides I thought you were referring to the car industry which as I pointed out or perhaps you did has relatively recently started to give 7 year warranties led by the Japenese companies I think you will find. I stated correctly that this was in response to the industry at large working on a problem caused by poor quality, not sure if you remember seeing Japanese cars of the eighties (ok a tad more than 20 years ago ) the Datsun Cherry in particualar springs to mind, running around with more holes than bodywork. Rust, of course, was the problem which was solved by a two pronged approach use better quality metal to build the car from as well as taking better care of that metal during the manufacturing process, and build some/most of the body from plastic that led to the longer than usual guarentee being given ostensibly as proof they had overcome the problem. The fact that you have been in the industry does not necessarily equip you to tell us, the consumer, that today's product is better than it used to be, in fact I would say the opposite. By all means annouce, declare and explain the changes that have been made BUT it is for us to decide if that is better.
I would also question that as we now live in a throw away society wherby if something goes wrong, even something as simple as the element in a kettle we throw the kettle away and buy a new one not replace the element as used to be the case 20 years ago, can't really think that is an improvement. Cars used to have panels repaired rather than replaced after an accident I know partly down to labour costs these days as well as design crash zones etc BUT the old panels which used far more metal to manufacture were stronger and could be beaten back into shape I would very much doubt if you could do that with modern car panels even if they were made of metal.

[none of the above]

Such a lot of words for three in the morning...


It's a day for idle amusement, avoiding mates and their endless attempts at dodgy surprises, eating cake and getting up to no good... ace.