Care for some gopher?

Post #121,273 by marlowe 10/15/03 9:28:34 AM Reply	Care for some gopher? May you never have both the time and the necessity to do your own cooking on an exclusive basis. There's a lot to be said for knowing how, though. Gives the consumer a competitive option. The threat of DIY strengthens one's bargaining position. Against a monopoly, it may be the only card you have. I make it a rule to be able to do things myself whenever possible. And not to be forced to if I can help it. I've repeatedly had the experience of walking into a WalMart, looking around, and not seeing one damn thing I want. That's my beef with WalMart. They don't have what I'm looking to buy. Never mind the price, I'm just not in the market for secondrate merchandise. ---------------------------------------------------------------- DEAL WITH IT. Compromise is for suckers. Seeking a middle ground is what led to 9/11. "I do not want to be admired by scumbags and liars and wife beaters. I want to be admired by good and decent, intelligent and just people, and in order to achieve this I need to do things that make me despised by their opposites." - Bill Whittle Never mind all the mass graves. Where's the nerve gas? [link\|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/index.html\|http://www.angelfire...arlowe/index.html]
Post #121,277 by orion 10/15/03 10:06:35 AM Reply	Re: Care for some gopher? Not to mention the extra mess that is made to clean up after doing your own cooking. Microwaving only dirties one plate or bowl, cooking dirties the pot or pan or tray, plus the stove, and whatever else you used to cook plus the plate or bowl. All a matter of time, and in this rush-rush society many of us don't have the time to cook for ourselves even if we knew how. Which is why TV Dinners and Microwave food got invented. But I can make a poor man's burrito, with Flour Tortillas and sprinkle some shreaded cheese on it and add some lunchmeat, heat for 1 minute and add some vegtables to it like lettice and then wrap it. Quick and easy. WalMart has cheap stuff, both in price and quality. But not everything is poor quality, some ceilng fans are made for WalMart by a company I used to work for, they've been making ceiling fans for over a hundred years. Plus they got the same Consumer Electonics as the other places, GameCube, XBox, Gameboy Advance, Playstation 2, etc. The same DVDs and Books as other places. I had an idea to buy stuff from Thailand and sell it via a webstore in the US because it was cheaper than US products. Not electronics, because they have a different electric system there, and not games or software or videos because they have a big piracy problem there and it is hard to tell what is legit. I thought about household items, nicknacks, clothes, tools, etc, stuff that doesn't expire like food would. It would take a lot of money to start an inventory, and I'd have to find just the items that sell a lot. Problem is a lot of it is not a good quality, or has no warranty, but they are really cheap in price. Sort of like those Dollar Stores or Discount stores that sell refubrished or overstocked merchandise. Do it yourself, if more people did this, a lot of businesses would be out of business. People would rather pay someone to do it for them than to learn to do it themselves. If more people did the DIY method, Fast Food Places, Auto Garages, Plumbers, etc would be out of work. *"Lady I only speak two languages, English and Bad English!" - Corbin Dallas "The Fifth Element"*
Post #121,426 by marlowe 10/16/03 9:23:12 AM Reply	Depends how many more. DIY is the competition of second-to-last resort. (The competition of last resort is doing without.) If enough people just know how to things for themselves, the more monopolistic businesses would be forced to offer better value in order to stay in business. The good businesses would do so. The ones that don't do so - waste no tears on them. I don't do everything by myself, even when I know how. But just having that option means it's harder for vendors to take advantage of me. If more people did as I did, decent businesses would still be around and make a decent profit in a decent fashion, and most of our current scummy businesses would be forced to make some adjustments. Why, I can even conceive of Microsoft reforming and becoming an approximately ethical company. But only if we force them to. I can vividly remember when IBM was evil. IBM was the Microsoft of its era in the 1970s - an exact analogue to what Microsoft is now. Nowadays IBM is almost civilized. They did not come along willingly. But they came along. The trouble with big business is holding it accountable. Any business or other organization - big or small - can and will become corrupt and abusive, if it's not held accountable by external forces. Accountability makes all the difference. And competition is one of the surest forms of accountability. And the DIY option is a form of competition. Now I've got that Peter Gabriel song running through my head... ---------------------------------------------------------------- DEAL WITH IT. Compromise is for suckers. Seeking a middle ground is what led to 9/11. "I do not want to be admired by scumbags and liars and wife beaters. I want to be admired by good and decent, intelligent and just people, and in order to achieve this I need to do things that make me despised by their opposites." - Bill Whittle Never mind all the mass graves. Where's the nerve gas? [link\|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/index.html\|http://www.angelfire...arlowe/index.html]
Post #121,440 by inthane-chan 10/16/03 11:47:58 AM Reply	Wow. A Marlowe post I actually agree with.

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