Frugal Living: Oct 22, 2007

Monday, October 22, 2007

25 new messages in 11 topics - digest

misc.consumers.frugal-living
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.consumers.frugal-living?hl=en

misc.consumers.frugal-living@googlegroups.com

Today's topics:

==============================================================================
TOPIC: Ugly Dish Antennas Nauseate Me
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.consumers.frugal-living/browse_thread/thread/8fd795758fa3f8c5?hl=en
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== 1 of 4 ==
Date: Mon, Oct 22 2007 2:46 pm
From: "Don K"

"Seerialmom" <seerialmom@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1193078670.726196.30200@y27g2000pre.googlegroups.com...
> On Oct 13, 11:52 am, "unreelis...@aol.com" <user132...@aol.com> wrote:
>> I can't believe how many people are sticking those godawful gray
>> dishes on the FRONT of their otherwise beautiful homes.
>>
>
> That's the exact reason I still have cable....those dishes are ugly.
> I remember in the late 80's how excited people here were to finally be
> rid of rooftop antennas once they got cable. Why satellite companies
> haven't figured out a more visually pleasing way to grab signals is
> beyond me.

It's simply a matter of how much extra you are willing to pay for your
aesthetic sensitivities.

You could buy a flat phased-array antenna right now, that could be
built imperceptibly into the siding or roof of your house that would give
the same performance as the little "ugly" dish.

I'll leave it up to you to do the tradeoff to evaluate which is uglier though,
-- the dish, or the price of the phased array.

Don

== 2 of 4 ==
Date: Mon, Oct 22 2007 2:51 pm
From: me@privacy.net

>Corse those massive cables down the streets arent ugly at all, eh ?

Curious...do you have satellite TV Rod?

Or just get off air digital stations? If yes, how
many?

== 3 of 4 ==
Date: Mon, Oct 22 2007 4:42 pm
From: Siskuwihane

On Oct 22, 2:25 pm, "Rod Speed" <rod.speed....@gmail.com> wrote:
> Siskuwihane <Siskuwih...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Oct 22, 3:12 am, "joe brown" <j...@www.com> wrote:
> >> Siskuwihane <Siskuwih...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >>> On Oct 21, 3:39 pm, "joe brown" <j...@www.com> wrote:
> >>>> Siskuwihane <Siskuwih...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>>> On Oct 20, 3:13 pm, "joe brown" <j...@www.com> wrote:
> >>>>>> George <geo...@nospam.invalid> wrote:
> >>>>>>> Don K wrote:
> >>>>>>>> "George" <geo...@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
> >>>>>>>>news:IY2dnQDUcILNAoXanZ2dnUVZ_hadnZ2d@comcast.com...
> >>>>>>>>> joe brown wrote:
>
> >>>>>>>>>>> I went to Milwaukee on business a few years back. I was
> >>>>>>>>>>> shocked at how many homes - especially condos and apartments
> >>>>>>>>>>> - had satellite dishes just stuck on the sides and roofs of
> >>>>>>>>>>> buildings with absolutely no consideration given to
> >>>>>>>>>>> aesthetics whatsoever. Here in SoCal no homeowners'
> >>>>>>>>>>> association would ever allow that kind of fugly dish
> >>>>>>>>>>> placement.
> >>>>>>>>>> Only fools let goons like that tell them what they can and
> >>>>>>>>>> cannot do.
> >>>>>>>>> Or people that might care about how their surroundings look.
>
> >>>>>>>> Sometimes functionality takes precedence over aesthetics.
>
> >>>>>>>> Suppose you decided that round wheels look ugly on cars and
> >>>>>>>> square wheels would look nicer. Would you drive around with
> >>>>>>>> square wheels?
>
> >>>>>>>> Don
>
> >>>>>>> I understand what you are saying but I think this thread isn't
> >>>>>>> "anti-dish" but more "stupid installations of dishes" such as
> >>>>>>> where the OP had observed the all too common scenario where
> >>>>>>> there is a house with nice architecture and the dish is just
> >>>>>>> slapped onto the easiest available surface in front of the
> >>>>>>> house.
>
> >>>>>> It should go on the side of the house thats got the best view of
> >>>>>> the satellite.
>
> >>>>>> That should see the 'problem' only visible on one side of the
> >>>>>> street, the other side of the street should mostly have the
> >>>>>> dishes on the back side of the house if the street runs EW or
> >>>>>> close.- Hide quoted text -
>
> >>>>>> - Show quoted text -
>
> >>>>> "Should go" doesn't mean a thing to the "tech" who comes to
> >>>>> install it. Whatever is easiest is where it will go.
>
> >>>> Pity that if its put on the side of the house with no view
> >>>> of the satellite, it wont work, so he wont get paid, stupid.- Hide
> >>>> quoted text -
>
> >>> No shit dumbass, instead of putting it on the roof near the back of
> >>> the house and out of view, he'll put it on the front porch or front
> >>> of the house and cause an eyesore.
>
> >> Pity that wont work if the house is between the dish and the
> >> satellite, fuckwit.
>
> > No one is talking about locations that won't work,
>
> Corse that location for the dish wont work, fuckwit.- Hide quoted text -

Are you that much of a dumbass? My dish is on the roof at the rear of
my house facing towards the front. It has an unobstructed view of the
sky. The tech wanted to put it on the very front of the house because
that would be easier for him, I said no.

You sound as dumb and lazy as the tech, both of you don't know your
ass from a dish.

== 4 of 4 ==
Date: Mon, Oct 22 2007 4:46 pm
From: Siskuwihane

On Oct 22, 4:36 pm, "Rod Speed" <rod.speed....@gmail.com> wrote:
> Seerialmom <seerial...@yahoo.com> wrote
>
> > unreelis...@aol.com <user132...@aol.com> wrote
> >> I can't believe how many people are sticking those godawful
> >> gray dishes on the FRONT of their otherwise beautiful homes.
> >> I was driving to work and went past a row of old beautiful well-
> >> maintained gingerbread homes from around, oh, 1890's, and lo and
> >> behold, the disgusting dish was popping out on the porch of one of them.
> >> Jeez............
> > That's the exact reason I still have cable....those dishes are ugly.
>
> Corse those massive cables down the streets arent ugly at all, eh ?

Most new developments have underground utilites, but you can't afford
anything in a place like that.

==============================================================================
TOPIC: SMS to email and back gateway?
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.consumers.frugal-living/browse_thread/thread/05164fc5bbf659c1?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Mon, Oct 22 2007 2:54 pm
From: me@privacy.net

>Nokia, about to change to an N95 but I keep looking at the price and havent actually done that yet.
>
>The damned thing costs about the same as a cheap laptop
>and I keep looking at that and shaking my head at the price.
>
>Bit silly really given that I am rolling in it and the price is irrelevant.

Yep it is expensive phone!!

Actually tho I keep thinking that maybe Id be better
served with a desktop at home and a smart phone that
could serve almost like a laptop tho.

That what you do? Or do you have laptops as well?

==============================================================================
TOPIC: Why are they irregular?
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.consumers.frugal-living/browse_thread/thread/a2c4a2ed8b859458?hl=en
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== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Oct 22 2007 3:21 pm
From: mm

Am I getting a bargain or the opposite?

For years I've been buying Fruit-of-the=loom Jockey shorts, in
packages of three, colored, usually like one green, one blue, and one
grey pair per package.

Irregulars.

I thought I would be able to see what made them irregular and it would
be some stitching or something, and maybe I'm not a good inspector,
but I've never seen anything wrong with them.

What I do notice is that they seem to start getting a hole in them
after as early as the second time I wash them. And I only wear them
one day and then they go into the laundry. And I use warm water for
wash and cold for rinse, and the lowest temp above plain air for
drying. (I use the same temps for everything, to make it simple.)

Is this what makes them irregular?

I can imagine that they had a bad batch of cloth once, and they might
have made 10's of thousands of these and can only sell so many
irregulars in one month or year. But I bought some more years later,
and it was the same as before.

What do you think is going on?

I should buy some regulars and see if there is any difference, but
there's a complicated reason I don't have time, and I would still want
to ask you here anyhow.

How many times could I wash these if they were not irregulars, without
getting holes in them.

If you are inclined to email me
for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-)

== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Oct 22 2007 5:50 pm
From: George

mm wrote:
> Am I getting a bargain or the opposite?
>
> For years I've been buying Fruit-of-the=loom Jockey shorts, in
> packages of three, colored, usually like one green, one blue, and one
> grey pair per package.
>
> Irregulars.
>
> I thought I would be able to see what made them irregular and it would
> be some stitching or something, and maybe I'm not a good inspector,
> but I've never seen anything wrong with them.
>
> What I do notice is that they seem to start getting a hole in them
> after as early as the second time I wash them. And I only wear them
> one day and then they go into the laundry. And I use warm water for
> wash and cold for rinse, and the lowest temp above plain air for
> drying. (I use the same temps for everything, to make it simple.)
>
> Is this what makes them irregular?
>
> I can imagine that they had a bad batch of cloth once, and they might
> have made 10's of thousands of these and can only sell so many
> irregulars in one month or year. But I bought some more years later,
> and it was the same as before.

If there was defective fabric in the past there is no reason why there
couldn't be defective fabric on a later production run.

>
> What do you think is going on?
>
>
> I should buy some regulars and see if there is any difference, but
> there's a complicated reason I don't have time, and I would still want
> to ask you here anyhow.
>
> How many times could I wash these if they were not irregulars, without
> getting holes in them.
>
>
> If you are inclined to email me
> for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-)

==============================================================================
TOPIC: How much is a unit of electricity?
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.consumers.frugal-living/browse_thread/thread/dd99760ce8a255ef?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 3 ==
Date: Mon, Oct 22 2007 3:47 pm
From: Jeff

James wrote:

> On Oct 22, 1:52 am, Jeff <dont_bug...@all.uk> wrote:
>
>>Logan Shaw wrote:
>>
>>>James wrote:
>>
>>>>Is it from nuclear, hydro, gas, oil, or coal?
>>
>>>>Don't have a bill handy so I can't tell you what it cost me. Guess
>>>>it's high enough that most people have gas heat but low enough for
>>>>people to have electric range and stove instead of gas.
>>
>>>The question in your subject line is pretty ambiguous since there are
>>>several different units related to electricity. For example, there
>>>are volts, amperes, watts, and coulombs.
>>
>>>Probably you mean to measure the energy that electricity can provide,
>>>in which case the scientific unit is joules (watt-seconds), but the
>>>industry tends to use kilowatt-hours.
>>
>>>As for price, that depends on who you buy it from (and when), but for
>>>me it's about 10 cents per kilowatt-hour.
>>
>>>And as for whether electricity is good for heating, it tends to depend
>>>on the cost of the electricity and the amount of heat you need. I
>>>happen to live in a fairly warm climate where electricity rates are
>>>relatively low, and I have a heat pump (instead of resistive heating),
>>>so electricity is a good option for me. People who live where snow
>>>is not an oddity but a regular occurrence (a) may find that electricity
>>>is not the best option for them and (b) are, in my opinion, gluttons
>>>for punishment.
>>
>>>By the way, I'm not really sure what the main point of your post is. :-)
>>
>> Me too.
>>
>> But I think the OP *may* be trying to compare electricity with other
>>methods of heating.
>>
>> Electricity is sold by the kWhr (1000 watts / hour). There are 3413
>>BTUs in a kWhr or about 29 kWhr in a therm. At $0.10 kWhr that's
>>$2.90/therm.
>>
>>Natural Gas is usually sold by the therm. One therm is 100,000 BTUs if
>>burned 100% efficiently.
>>
>> I believe heating oils is sold by the gallon. One gallon is 1.385
>>therms if burned 100% efficiently.
>>
>> Now, electrity can be "burned" 100% efficiently, a little less if you
>>have a fan. It can also be used in a heat pump (the reverse of AC) so
>>that it can move two to three times more BTUs than it consumes. But heat
>>pumps lose their leverage as the temperature falls.
>>
>> I see heating oil is about $2.77/gallon. Ouch!
>><URL:http://www.westchestergov.com/consumergas/oilprice.ASP/> That's
>>about $2 therm.
>>
>> Natural Gas is about $1.34/therm (if you live in a deregulated market
>>you have to consider distribution costs, not just price per therm).
>>
>> And in a cord of dry wood, about 195 therms. Wood stoves tend to be
>>less efficient than other heaters.
>>
>> 100 SF of vertical south facing sunshine in december is about 1
>>therm (if collected 100% efficiently, usually closer to 50%) at a cost
>>of not much.
>>
>> Jeff
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> - Logan- Hide quoted text -
>>
>>- Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -
>>
>>- Show quoted text -
>
>
> Christ!
>
> I just wanted to know how much per kWH and the function of method of
> generation. I want to know if Quebec, WA, TN are really cheap because
> of big dams.
>
> Guess I better not ask the price of gasoline. It might overheat your
> brains.
>
You get what you get. Ask a better formed question in the first place
(go reread it) and you may do better. Or maybe you should just improve
your google skills, damn little isn't out there.

In the meantime, no one owes you an answer. We do this for our own reasons.

Jeff

== 2 of 3 ==
Date: Mon, Oct 22 2007 5:00 pm
From: Logan Shaw

James wrote:
> Christ!
>
> I just wanted to know how much per kWH and the function of method of
> generation.

Aha, so what you meant is "How much MONEY is a unit of electricity?".
You didn't say that; you just left everyone to wonder what quantity
you wanted to know how much of. There are a lot of different types
of quantities that "how much" can be applied to. For example, "how
much paint is needed to paint my living room" or "how much time does
a roast need to stay in the oven" or "how much time is needed to paint
my living room". Without any real indication that you had money in
mind as the quantity you were asking about, all I could tell is that
you were asking something related to both units and electricity, so
I took the shotgun approach and tossed out some random information,
figuring that that would either answer the question, whatever it was,
or you'd explain what information you were really after.

- Logan

== 3 of 3 ==
Date: Mon, Oct 22 2007 5:13 pm
From: E Z Peaces

James wrote:
> Is it from nuclear, hydro, gas, oil, or coal?

I was wondering the same thing.
>
> Don't have a bill handy so I can't tell you what it cost me.

I was just about to ask what it cost you. I see we think along the same
lines.

==============================================================================
TOPIC: Anybody Plays the McDonald's Monopoly?
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.consumers.frugal-living/browse_thread/thread/89d989c66e0c9f90?hl=en
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== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Oct 22 2007 3:52 pm
From: Lisa Drake

In article <e0VSi.15647$JD.4747@newssvr21.news.prodigy.net>,
larry <noone@home.com> wrote:

> Logan Shaw wrote:
>
> > So the scammer has a plan which seems clever but which is almost
> > certainly a complete waste of time. But then that should come as no
> > surprise. If a scammer had brains and the ability to come up with a
> > plan that works, they'd get a real job.
> >
> > - Logan
>
> They only print the one missing piece per puzzle near the
> end of the contest term ;-)
>
> Several years ago, the printing company of one of the chains
> running a contest printed 1000's of the missing piece. They
> voided the contest and sent the "winners" a coupon for a burger.
>
> -- larry/dallas

I'd like to see the article proving that...

== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Oct 22 2007 5:14 pm
From: Logan Shaw

Lisa Drake wrote:
> In article <e0VSi.15647$JD.4747@newssvr21.news.prodigy.net>,
> larry <noone@home.com> wrote:

>> They only print the one missing piece per puzzle near the
>> end of the contest term ;-)
>>
>> Several years ago, the printing company of one of the chains
>> running a contest printed 1000's of the missing piece. They
>> voided the contest and sent the "winners" a coupon for a burger.

> I'd like to see the article proving that...

I can't find one for a fast food contest, but just a few months ago,
there was this:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19859090/

Summary: Roswell Honda, a car dealer in Roswell, NM, ran a contest with
a grand prize of $1000. They hired a company named Force Events Direct
Marketing to print up 50,000 tickets. There was an error, and all 50,000
scratch-off tickets were grand prize winners. Oops!

- Logan

==============================================================================
TOPIC: HDTV (ATSC) converter
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.consumers.frugal-living/browse_thread/thread/51e50c60e676b9ff?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Oct 22 2007 4:17 pm
From: Jeff

Dennis wrote:

> On Sun, 21 Oct 2007 10:50:03 -0400, Jeff <dont_bug_me@all.uk> wrote:
>
>
>>Dennis wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
>>>With the Dell monitor, you can view SDTV (480i NTSC) via the composite
>>>or Svideo connectors, or HDTV (720p or 1080i) via the DVI or VGA
>>>connectors. As I've mentioned before, I use an ATSC HD tuner card in
>>>a PC to watch HD on my Dell monitor, using the DVI connector from the
>>>PC's video card. Works great.
>>
>> Then that's what I'll do. I've been waiting for Vista before I
>>upgraded (I'm at 2000) but it looks like I'll find an XP licence and go
>>that route. Then the card.
>
>
> Just remember to use care in selecting your video card. I wouldn't go
> with anything less than a 6200 w/256Mb (or equivalent). Remember,
> 1920x1080 (1080i) is about 2 megapixels of picture, and it must be
> deinterlaced, scaled to your monitor's resolution and refreshed 60 or
> so times a second.

Hmm, I can tell that I'll need to learn more about video cards.

What I have now calls itself a Radeon 9250 (256 meg) 8X. But it's
old... and no DVI.

I've been thinking about putting together another
> (frugal) HD-capable HTPC, and I've been looking at the XFX GeForce
> 6200 256 MB, available at Amazon for less than $50.

Let us know how that works out.

This is probably
> on the low end of cards sufficient for HD, but it is cheap, AGP (works
> with older motherboards), fanless (quiet) and shouldn't make huge
> demands on the power supply.

That seem right to me. There's a row of "Mom and Pop" stores here.
I'll shop to see if I can find that or something similar in an AGP. I
guess RAMDAC specs are meaningless for a DVI!

Any other chipsets to look for? I haven't been to Toms Hardware for
ages... Holy crap, video cards have gotten expensive!

In conjunction with the Nvidia PureVideo
> decoder, you should be able to make use of the hardware assist of the
> graphics card for decoding HD video, which offloads the main CPU.
>
> Good luck with your project. Expect some fiddling and tuning to get
> things right (and considerable satisfaction when it finally is :-).

I'm looking forward to it! Well, not the fiddling and tuning. Every
now and then I have to fix a friends computer and the process is always
the same, just keep plugging away until you outlast it!

Jeff
>
> Dennis (evil)

== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Oct 22 2007 5:10 pm
From: Dennis

On Mon, 22 Oct 2007 19:17:50 -0400, Jeff <dont_bug_me@all.uk> wrote:

<snip>

> Hmm, I can tell that I'll need to learn more about video cards.
>
> What I have now calls itself a Radeon 9250 (256 meg) 8X. But it's
>old... and no DVI.

You might give it a try before spending money on a new video card.

Just as a data point, I have a Radeon 9200 64Mb video card that does
not display HD video from full resolution MPEG2 files. However, if I
transcode it to a somewhat lower resolution Divx file, it will display
the video. (Hope I'm not confusing you here.)

>> I've been thinking about putting together another
>> (frugal) HD-capable HTPC, and I've been looking at the XFX GeForce
>> 6200 256 MB, available at Amazon for less than $50.
>
>Let us know how that works out.

It will probably be a while. I am in the process of finishing my
basement to include a family/TV room that will eventually house a
large screen HDTV. I will want the new HD-capable HTPC to go with
that.

<snip>

>> Good luck with your project. Expect some fiddling and tuning to get
>> things right (and considerable satisfaction when it finally is :-).
>
> I'm looking forward to it! Well, not the fiddling and tuning. Every
>now and then I have to fix a friends computer and the process is always
>the same, just keep plugging away until you outlast it!

When you get to that stage, there is a lot of useful information
available on the various online HDTV forums.

Dennis (evil)
--
The honest man is the one who realizes that he cannot
consume more, in his lifetime, than he produces.

==============================================================================
TOPIC: LCD power consumption
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.consumers.frugal-living/browse_thread/thread/b7795a2be395a19a?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Mon, Oct 22 2007 4:58 pm
From: Ron Peterson

On Oct 22, 1:24 pm, m...@privacy.net wrote:
> >Now, I guess monitors fall into roughly the HD rules and at 3' that 19"
> >or 20" is all you want. Of course the monitor resolution is higher but
> >too much is too much! I have a friend with a 24" and you need to back
> >off of it.

> Hmm interesting

> I would have never thought a 24" computer monitor would
> be so big for TV watching that you'd need to back off a
> bit!

The fovea of the high where high resolution vision occurs only has a
diameter of 5 degrees. If you want to view the screen completely
within the fovea, you would need to be back 20 feet.

--
Ron

==============================================================================
TOPIC: The Great Coffee Maker Conspiracy
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.consumers.frugal-living/browse_thread/thread/4c79d51b9221b364?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 6 ==
Date: Mon, Oct 22 2007 5:25 pm
From: Mark Anderson

Just the other day, the heating coil in my coffee maker of over 12 years
broke. I had a Braun Aromaster that cost $20 at the time. I really
liked the simplicity of this coffee maker in that there were only two
parts, everything was easy to clean, and since it was so simple there
wasn't much that could go wrong with it -- which is probably why it
lasted so long.

So Saturday I'm shopping online for a new one only to find out that
Braun doesn't make the Aromaster any more. They have an entire new line
of coffee makers that cost between $70 and $100. Who wants to pay that
much for something that just heats water dripping it through coffee
grounds? A coffee maker isn't much more complicated than a toaster.
Why did Braun get rid of their simple machine other than perhaps they
didn't want it competing with their more expensive ones?

So I looked at other brands hoping to pick one up at Target. All the
$20 machines had so many bad reviews it's almost as if Mr. Coffee, Black
and Decker, and others purposely produced a shitty low priced product to
get us to spend $50+ for the higher end coffee machines. Finally I gave
up and luckily one of my neighbors had a house sale and she had a clean,
not too old one for $10. Normally I wouldn't buy a kitchen appliance
used but since I know her and know that she's a clean person I bought
it.

So, in summary, I think there's collusion in the coffee maker industry
to get us to spend more money on coffee makers. Frankly, I don't give a
damned if a coffee maker has a clock or is "programmable" (whatever that
means). I just want it to make god damned coffee -- period. Can't
someone come up with a decent low cost coffee maker like the Braun
Aromaster once was?

== 2 of 6 ==
Date: Mon, Oct 22 2007 5:48 pm
From: Bert Hyman

In news:MPG.2186fb791bb3006b98996f@chi.news.speakeasy.net Mark Anderson
<mea@nospambrandylion.com> wrote:

> Can't someone come up with a decent low cost coffee maker like the
> Braun Aromaster once was?

Well, there's the Braun Aromaster :-)

http://www.braun.com/na/products/fooddrink/breakfast/coffeemakers/aromaster/models.html

I guess the problem is finding someone who sells it.

--
Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN bert@iphouse.com

== 3 of 6 ==
Date: Mon, Oct 22 2007 5:52 pm
From: "Don K"

"Mark Anderson" <mea@nospambrandylion.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.2186fb791bb3006b98996f@chi.news.speakeasy.net...

> So I looked at other brands hoping to pick one up at Target. All the
> $20 machines had so many bad reviews it's almost as if Mr. Coffee, Black
> and Decker, and others purposely produced a shitty low priced product to
> get us to spend $50+ for the higher end coffee machines. Finally I gave
> up and luckily one of my neighbors had a house sale and she had a clean,
> not too old one for $10. Normally I wouldn't buy a kitchen appliance
> used but since I know her and know that she's a clean person I bought
> it.
>
> So, in summary, I think there's collusion in the coffee maker industry
> to get us to spend more money on coffee makers. Frankly, I don't give a
> damned if a coffee maker has a clock or is "programmable" (whatever that
> means). I just want it to make god damned coffee -- period. Can't
> someone come up with a decent low cost coffee maker like the Braun
> Aromaster once was?

You say you just want to make coffee. I just checked the Walmart site,
and they have two 12 cup coffee makers that sell for $25.

Like you said, it's just a matter of dripping hot water over a filter filled
with ground coffee. Why should you care what a "review" says?

The last 2 new coffee makers I bought cost $12 and $20. You can consider
this to be a good review for the low-priced $25 machines.

Don

== 4 of 6 ==
Date: Mon, Oct 22 2007 5:58 pm
From: "jerryl"

"Mark Anderson" <mea@nospambrandylion.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.2186fb791bb3006b98996f@chi.news.speakeasy.net...
> Just the other day, the heating coil in my coffee maker of over 12 years
> broke. I had a Braun Aromaster that cost $20 at the time. I really
> liked the simplicity of this coffee maker in that there were only two
> parts, everything was easy to clean, and since it was so simple there
> wasn't much that could go wrong with it -- which is probably why it
> lasted so long.
>
> So Saturday I'm shopping online for a new one only to find out that
> Braun doesn't make the Aromaster any more. They have an entire new line
> of coffee makers that cost between $70 and $100. Who wants to pay that
> much for something that just heats water dripping it through coffee
> grounds? A coffee maker isn't much more complicated than a toaster.
> Why did Braun get rid of their simple machine other than perhaps they
> didn't want it competing with their more expensive ones?
>
> So I looked at other brands hoping to pick one up at Target. All the
> $20 machines had so many bad reviews it's almost as if Mr. Coffee, Black
> and Decker, and others purposely produced a shitty low priced product to
> get us to spend $50+ for the higher end coffee machines. Finally I gave
> up and luckily one of my neighbors had a house sale and she had a clean,
> not too old one for $10. Normally I wouldn't buy a kitchen appliance
> used but since I know her and know that she's a clean person I bought
> it.
>
> So, in summary, I think there's collusion in the coffee maker industry
> to get us to spend more money on coffee makers. Frankly, I don't give a
> damned if a coffee maker has a clock or is "programmable" (whatever that
> means). I just want it to make god damned coffee -- period. Can't
> someone come up with a decent low cost coffee maker like the Braun
> Aromaster once was?
>

Have you ever heard of Google?
http://www.wholesaleconnection.com/productDetails.aspx?product=1537&refer=1

== 5 of 6 ==
Date: Mon, Oct 22 2007 5:59 pm
From: "Chloe"

"Bert Hyman" <bert@iphouse.com> wrote in message
news:Xns99D1C994F3291VeebleFetzer@216.250.184.7...
> In news:MPG.2186fb791bb3006b98996f@chi.news.speakeasy.net Mark Anderson
> <mea@nospambrandylion.com> wrote:
>
>> Can't someone come up with a decent low cost coffee maker like the
>> Braun Aromaster once was?
>
> Well, there's the Braun Aromaster :-)
>
> http://www.braun.com/na/products/fooddrink/breakfast/coffeemakers/aromaster/models.html
>
> I guess the problem is finding someone who sells it.
>
> --
> Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN bert@iphouse.com

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-10-Cup-Braun-Aromaster-Coffee-Maker-Pot-KF-400_W0QQitemZ250178171617QQihZ015QQcategoryZ116010QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

== 6 of 6 ==
Date: Mon, Oct 22 2007 6:09 pm
From: "Evelyn C. Leeper"

Mark Anderson wrote:
> Just the other day, the heating coil in my coffee maker of over 12 years
> broke. I had a Braun Aromaster that cost $20 at the time. I really
> liked the simplicity of this coffee maker in that there were only two
> parts, everything was easy to clean, and since it was so simple there
> wasn't much that could go wrong with it -- which is probably why it
> lasted so long.
>
> So Saturday I'm shopping online for a new one only to find out that
> Braun doesn't make the Aromaster any more. They have an entire new line
> of coffee makers that cost between $70 and $100. Who wants to pay that
> much for something that just heats water dripping it through coffee
> grounds? A coffee maker isn't much more complicated than a toaster.
> Why did Braun get rid of their simple machine other than perhaps they
> didn't want it competing with their more expensive ones?
>
> So I looked at other brands hoping to pick one up at Target. All the
> $20 machines had so many bad reviews it's almost as if Mr. Coffee, Black
> and Decker, and others purposely produced a shitty low priced product to
> get us to spend $50+ for the higher end coffee machines. Finally I gave
> up and luckily one of my neighbors had a house sale and she had a clean,
> not too old one for $10. Normally I wouldn't buy a kitchen appliance
> used but since I know her and know that she's a clean person I bought
> it.
>
> So, in summary, I think there's collusion in the coffee maker industry
> to get us to spend more money on coffee makers. Frankly, I don't give a
> damned if a coffee maker has a clock or is "programmable" (whatever that
> means). I just want it to make god damned coffee -- period. Can't
> someone come up with a decent low cost coffee maker like the Braun
> Aromaster once was?

How about a plastic cone drip coffee maker?

--
Evelyn C. Leeper
He who knows only his own side of the case
knows little of that. -John Stuart Mill

==============================================================================
TOPIC: nick,adidas,bamp
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.consumers.frugal-living/browse_thread/thread/b31b35736d2660b5?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
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==============================================================================
TOPIC: Credit Card
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.consumers.frugal-living/browse_thread/thread/a045204c0c9523a7?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Oct 22 2007 6:30 pm
From: vij

Pls open the web site
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then click ads

Pls open the web site
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== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Oct 22 2007 6:47 pm
From: clams casino

vij wrote:

>Pls open the web site
>

and who could be more trustworthy than a repeat spammer from India?

==============================================================================
TOPIC: Green tomatoes recipes
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.consumers.frugal-living/browse_thread/thread/4e4a0a3e3a8e8841?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Mon, Oct 22 2007 8:13 pm
From: A Veteran

we have had an abundant year with the cherry tomatoes.
any favourite uses.? Salsa, ripening ideas, some are still green.
killing frost is near. some are bursting with the rains. the redder ones.
We have all the fried green tomatoes moves down.
TIA and peace out.

--
when you believe the only tool you have is a hammer.
All problems look like nails.

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Monday, October 22, 2007

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25 new messages in 14 topics - digest