Despite my best efforts, I could not get the washing machine to work properly. I managed to get it to start a wash program ... and then it stopped half way through. I managed to get it to start again ... for a bit ... and then it stopped for a second time. In the end my wife and I decided that rather than continue to wrestle with a recalcitrant washing machine, we would buy a new one ... so we did, and it should be delivered on Tuesday.
I also managed to undercoat my model coastal defence guns this morning, and with luck I should be able to begin painting the topcoat this evening.
So today has been a bit more upbeat than I had expected ... and one hopes that this positivity will continue into the new week.
I also managed to undercoat my model coastal defence guns this morning, and with luck I should be able to begin painting the topcoat this evening.
So today has been a bit more upbeat than I had expected ... and one hopes that this positivity will continue into the new week.
I just have trouble with 5 years being an acceptable life-span for a washer.
ReplyDeleteI've had the rock I beat my clothes on for 20 years. And I suspect it's a bit older than that.
SAROE,
ReplyDeleteThe mechanical parts of the washing machine work fine; it is the electronics that have gone wrong.
The 'new' washing machine we have ordered is far less sophisticated than the old one. In other words, it does not have loads of extra options that we ever use but which can still go wrong.
All the best,
Bob
PS. How much would it cost to buy a rock similar to the one you use?
I hope your "blues" will soon be whiter than white!
ReplyDeleteMike,
ReplyDeleteSo do I!
All the best,
Bob
The rock isn't too pricey. It's the shipping costs-that's where they get you.
ReplyDeleteSAROE,
ReplyDeleteWhat a pity! I'll just try to find something suitable nearer to home.
All the best,
Bob
Bob,
ReplyDeleteIt occurred to me how you could easily raise the money necessary to buy the finest washing machine ever made: simply follow Games Workshop's example and copyright the words "Portable", "Wargame", and "Portable Wargame". (Don't worry about those words having been in common usage for decades; GW certainly doesn't.) Then charge a preposterous amount of money for anyone using, modifying, or even just referring to your rules, not to mention their newly-copyrighted title, and voila--the cash should start rolling in!
Financially yours,
Chris
P.S. Please remit my cut in small, unmarked bills. Thanks.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting idea ... and one I might well use! (Don't worry about your cut; I have already arranged for a Nigerian Bank and the UN to pay the money directly into your bank account ... just send me the details and it will be done!)
Many years ago I was told that IBM had trademarked the words ‘Personal Computer’ and ‘PC’ … but that other computer manufacturers got around the problem by not capitalising the words. Eventually IBM stopped trying to ‘enforce’ its rights. I wonder if GW has made the same mistake.
All the best,
Bob
You didn’t know that washing machines have a saving roll, did you? It’s the critical hit table that is so darned expensive. Copyright law has been bent around from protecting a creator’s rights to being the big hammer large corporations use to grab what they don’t own and threaten to take you to court to prove them wrong. If you happen to be a few million short to sue or defend, too bad. At one point Kodak decided that they owned all the images produced on their paper and with their cameras. The courts didn’t uphold the absurd claim. I suppose pencil makers will hold copyright to every doodle ever made. On a more somber side, we are losing the copyright free status of lapsed works as big businesses pretends they created and copyrighted items that existed long before they existed. At the same time they beak copyright of small owners and dare them to go to court.
ReplyDeleteCoastConFan,
ReplyDeleteWell if washing machines did have a saving throw, you can bet that I would not get the required score!
My feelings about copyright are that if someone genuinely comes up with something new, then they should be entitled the benefits and rewards that accrue for it. The problem is that the use of copyright and trademarks has now become an area where the bullies can have their own way. Retrospective copyrighting is something that the law should NOT allow … but there are times when it appears that this is being allowed.
My own brush with copyright came many years ago. I wrote a set of wargames rules which were published. Some months later a very similar set of rules was also published by someone else. They were almost a word-for-word copy; the only difference was that whereas I had use metric measurements for movement and ranges, the ‘copy’ used imperial.
I did consider challenging the person concerned … but in the end it would have cost me too much money and what would it have proved? That they were a plagiarist (something that seems to have become the norm for many students!) and did not deserve the plaudits they received. I like to think that if they were so dependant for their success that they needed to copy other people’s work, then they really were not worth bothering about. I learned my lesson … and ever since then I have published my work pro bono publico.
All the best,
Bob