On Wednesday, March 9, 2016 at 12:41:47 PM UTC-5, CRNG wrote:
On Wed, 09 Mar 2016 07:32:22 -0600, "Dean Hoffman"
wrote in


This is from the Carpe Diem site written by Mark J.
Perry. Manufacturing workers can now buy 11 appliances
with 152 hours of labor what used to cost them 886 hours
of labor back in 1959.

http://alturl.com/a7gqu or

http://www.aei.org/publication/monday-evening-links-6/

One other factor that needs to be considered is the life expectancy of
the appliance. I would guess that a modern appliance, e.g. a blender,
doesn't last nearly as long as a 1959 blender.

I don't know if I want my appliances to last as long as they used to.

A 1959 blender spun a blade.

A 2016 blender can be programmed for different consistencies, food
items, etc.

Our old blender had to be started and stopped to prevent cavitation - the
blade just spinning in a void and doing no work. Our new blender starts
and stops itself to allow the food to settle back down around the blade.
The smoothie button takes one push to run a pre-programmed sequence
of starts and stops to create really good drinks.

A 1959 range had little to no insulation and not only over-heated the kitchen
but caused severe burns on the hands of 2 year old girls who used the oven
door to help them stand up on Thanksgiving morning.

A new range can be pre-programmed for temperature and cook time, can actually
monitor the food temp, not just the oven temp, and is much safer and more
energy efficient.

Who knows what the next generation of appliances will be able to do?

As long as I'm not replacing them the every year, I don't mind a shorter
lifespan considering how fast the technology gets upgraded.