http://consumerbrigade.com/brokenworld Just another ConsumerBrigade.com weblog Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:33:34 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en [caption id="attachment_105" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Route this."][/caption]With the birthday season (that is, the season with numerous birthdays) fast approaching, thoughts naturally turn to pinatas. A pinata is a wondrous thing. In the process of being savaged with a bat or stick, it fulfills its single and ultimate destiny. A torrent of ... http://consumerbrigade.com/brokenworld/routers/ [caption id="attachment_102" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Video Home System"][/caption]Given the dizzying complexity and sheer number of moving parts that a typical video cassette recorder has within, it is a wonder that the product ever made it onto store shelves in the first place. There is many a curious tale to be told ... http://consumerbrigade.com/brokenworld/vcrs/ [caption id="attachment_99" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Idea this."][/caption]Following the path laid out by the post concerning Compact Fluorescent Bulbs, it is perhaps time to examine regular tungsten filament, incandescent light bulbs. Of course they fail, they even tell you as much on the box. I appreciate the kind and straightforward manner in ... http://consumerbrigade.com/brokenworld/a-bright-idea/ For the most part, they are quite a reliable enterprise these keyboards. One is being used right now to type this, if you can believe that. No, seriously, true story. The most common cause of failure it seems is not overuse, but spilling things onto the keys. There is a ... http://consumerbrigade.com/brokenworld/keyboards/ For those of you who are unaware, there are still radio broadcasts that use amplitude modulation. If ever there was an example of a broken technology this is it. Once FM (frequency modulation) came along, that should have spelled the logical end to AM. Frequency modulation had superior characteristics in ... http://consumerbrigade.com/brokenworld/amplitude-modulation/ [caption id="attachment_90" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="The Messenger of Death."][/caption]Every now and then, when a slow news day occurs and no celebrities have overdosed or checked themselves into rehab, the news media will do a sensationalized piece about the dangers lurking in the home (like drinking bleach!). Now, the media is entitled ... http://consumerbrigade.com/brokenworld/lights-camera-nothing/ [caption id="attachment_87" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Mmmm. Fleshy."][/caption]For those humans that can both read and prepare cooked food (not necessarily at the same time, we are not magicians here) this post may be of interest. As you may or may not know, there exists a class of product to indicate whether meat ... http://consumerbrigade.com/brokenworld/is-the-meat-done/ [caption id="attachment_84" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Ring."][/caption]Before nearly everything had an alarm function built into it, alarm clocks were a staple in modern society. Jarring to wake a poor soul with eyes still weary from a night's short slumber was their only job beside telling time. Having a single purpose does not ... http://consumerbrigade.com/brokenworld/wake-up-man/ [caption id="attachment_77" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Yeah!"][/caption]How many roads must a man walk down, before you can call him a man? That all depends on where the alternator breaks down (rimshot). Wire seems like one of those things that should be able to be relied upon. It is simple, macroscopic and low ... http://consumerbrigade.com/brokenworld/why-her-say-it-fast/ [caption id="attachment_72" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="pl. Discmen?"][/caption]No one really uses portable CD players anymore, but, like the dinosaurs, it is important to understand why they died. The first lumbering creature that met its untimely demise in a metaphorical bubbling tar pit, is Sony. The company itself was and is known for ... http://consumerbrigade.com/brokenworld/portable-cd-players/