Philosophy Now Forum

Have you any advice to friends, enemies and strangers?

Which products or services, books or games, gizmos or snacks, garments or decorative items would you advise against?

Me, I think those weeny coffee pods are an abomination.

Skip wrote:Have you any advice to friends, enemies and strangers?

Which products or services, books or games, gizmos or snacks, garments or decorative items would you advise against?

Me, I think those weeny coffee pods are an abomination.

Shitloads of packaging for bugger all, yeah. Get some beans and an espresso machine. It's easy to make. Fuck, I hate heavy packaging, which can't be opened without hurting or cutting your hands. And it comprises more than the item itself.

Skip wrote:Have you any advice to friends, enemies and strangers?

Which products or services, books or games, gizmos or snacks, garments or decorative items would you advise against?

Me, I think those weeny coffee pods are an abomination.

Good one skip, I think it's those Clorox Toilet Wands with the disposable (flushable) cleaning heads, the Swiffer pads too. Stay away from any product whose answer for ease of use, places you on their treadmill, of continually sticking their hands in your pocketbook, wasting valuable resources, and finally, creating an ever gargantuan pile of waste. I never used pampers, I always used soft cotton washable reusable diapers. And my babies rear was just fine, as well as my pocket book, the landfill, the oil reserves, and what ever that fluffy cottony fiber fill was.

In Canada, we have a chain named Michael's. It's basically a department store for junk craft items. It's a garbage hoarder's dream. I'm sure you've seen it, Skip.

Yes. The fist Michael's I entered was in LA, in 1992, so I assume it's a USian chain. They had some very good art supplies back then and I was much amused that they kept the spray paint in padlocked cages. (I was a lot less amused by razor-wire festooned overpasses.) I was looking for an ergonomic pen for my arthritic mother; found scissors instead.
I recently visited the Michael's that opened in our nearest city just a couple of years ago: looking for replacement machinery for a carved wooden clock. Found some hands that seem to be made of nothing but paint, they're that flimsy; I'll have to make my own. In order to find even that, I had to walk past aisles and aisles of hideously overpriced magpie-bait. If you ever go in there, wear your shades and sunscreen.
Better yet, don't go in there.

Oh, how I miss the old subterranean Lewiscraft on ... Jeebus, I can't even remember was it on King or Adelaide.

Do not buy shiny plastic beads in tiny shiny plastic bags.

Do not buy air-freshener devices that plug into electrical outlets and emit a different nauseating scent every ten minutes.

Or any other air-freshener. Just open a frickin window and don't keep the garbage in your car. Also: make you teenagers clean up their rooms instead of just spraying perfume around. You're not fooling anybody.

Skip wrote:Do not buy air-freshener devices that plug into electrical outlets and emit a different nauseating scent every ten minutes.

Or any other air-freshener. Just open a frickin window and don't keep the garbage in your car. Also: make you teenagers clean up their rooms instead of just spraying perfume around. You're not fooling anybody.

Incense is alright. But I rarely use it. And I know a pretty aromatherapist who makes good, natural air scents, though I'm not overly keen on scents. After a while, they all get a bit nauseating.

Please do not buy road-hogging, vision-blocking SUVs in a time of congestion, peak oil and climate change. Outside of genuine off road use, driving what is effectively a small truck today in our crowded streets is selfish, denialist and collectively self defeating.

Do not buy toothpastes with micro beads in them. They get jammed in your gums, or go down the sink into the environment.

Are you listening, Crest?

Skip wrote:Do not buy air-freshener devices that plug into electrical outlets and emit a different nauseating scent every ten minutes.

Or any other air-freshener. Just open a frickin window and don't keep the garbage in your car. Also: make you teenagers clean up their rooms instead of just spraying perfume around. You're not fooling anybody.

My teenagers were shown the door after they finished high school. My wife felt that one smart-arse know-all was more than sufficient to her requirements and I was here first. I agree about the chemical sprays in the house but luckily I have an acre of garden with a very diverse range of both native and exotic plant species. We have fresh flowers in the house all year round which allows the dog and I to indulge in the occasional indiscreet flatulence.

Ah, spring and summer. Heather, lilac, lily of the valley... What I really like is a big bunch of yarrow. Cilantro's not bad. (Nothing covers, disguises or alleviates the new cat's gastric volatility.)

Don't buy fake flowers.