Death To Laundry Machines And Air Conditioners

[Era Might]

[quote name='Laudate_Dominum' timestamp='1312697174' post='2282851']
I'm with you on this Era. Always have been. Admittedly I'm less with you today than I would have been at earlier points in my life. A compelling argument for A/C: wife pregnant during a hot summer. A compelling argument for washing machines: cloth diapering.
[/quote]
Women all over the world get through pregnancy without air conditioning. But "special cases" such as you raise can be accommodated without making A/C a regular lifestyle luxury. That's the real issue for me: I'm not against technology just because it's technology, I'm only against it to the extent that it replaces our natural and social abilities rather than helping us use them.

[faithcecelia]

I enjoy handwashing but may try the plunger idea.

Here in the Uk we may not get the highest temps parts of the States get, but the humitity is crazy. We don't habe aircon, just a magazine as a fan and lots of talcum powder!

[Basilisa Marie]

I went to Austria for a summer study abroad, and did all of my clothes in the bathroom sink because it cost extra for laundry...and I wanted to keep my gelato money.

My dorm in college didn't have AC for all four years, so in late August I rigged up a fan in the window with a tray of ice in front of it. If I imagined hard enough, there was one cool spot to sleep in.

[CatherineM]

I got the plunger idea after watching a show set in Victorian England, and they washed their clothes using something called a copper posser.
[img]http://www.steptoesantiques.co.uk/acatalog/vintage_MIXEDBOX10_280910_7506n-W110.jpg[/img]

[Sarah147]

When I was with the FI Sisters, we had to wash our under clothes by hand. It was not fun at all.

[arfink]

You. Are. Nuts. If I lived in the wilderness without power I'd do these things. [b]But[/b] I don't, and don't plan on doing so. I figure you can safely use technology if you know how to build and maintain it to some degree. If I was forced to I could make a simple air conditioner with heat-conductive tubing, some fans, water, and maybe a pump. That's all the first AC units used back in the day in movie theatres and they worked well enough. Heck, I know how to make chemical batteries in a wash tub. And how to build solar panels. I just don't bother when I live in town and I have things like mains power for cheap. Woot.

[Era Might]

[quote name='arfink' timestamp='1312753459' post='2283096']
You. Are. Nuts. If I lived in the wilderness without power I'd do these things. [b]But[/b] I don't, and don't plan on doing so. I figure you can safely use technology if you know how to build and maintain it to some degree. If I was forced to I could make a simple air conditioner with heat-conductive tubing, some fans, water, and maybe a pump. That's all the first AC units used back in the day in movie theatres and they worked well enough. Heck, I know how to make chemical batteries in a wash tub. And how to build solar panels. I just don't bother when I live in town and I have things like mains power for cheap. Woot.
[/quote]
A plunger is technology. Just a simpler piece of technology.

It's impossible to live in the wilderness without power, since your body has power naturally. You have hands to lift and carry, legs to walk, a brain to think, etc. But our technological society isn't particularly interested in preserving these things. That's not to say that our technology doesn't sometimes help these things, but that's not the real goal (if it were, then it would require a willingness to set voluntary limits on what and how we create things, and even more importantly, on what we use and how we use it). The goal in our society is to make anything we can think of, and get people to buy it (air conditioners, televisions, cars, washing machines, computers, etc).

I'm all for creating simpler (and more durable) pieces of technology that would make it realistic for people to use and repair things they use frequently rather than feeling dumbfounded at how the things they use work and having to buy a new one at regular intervals. But that wouldn't serve the economy very well, even though it would serve our natural abilities and not eliminate them.

Edited August 7, 2011 by Era Might

[Seven77]

I think that using artificial air conditioning (a/c) at higher temperatures (78-80) on days above 82 degrees+humidity is the way to go. Moderation is the game. Era, tell me you use those wind circulation instruments known as fans.

[ardillacid]

[quote name='Era Might' timestamp='1312754168' post='2283106']
A plunger is technology. Just a simpler piece of technology.

It's impossible to live in the wilderness without power, sinlce your body has power naturally. You have hands to lift and carry, legs to walk, a brain to think, etc. But our technological society isn't particularly interested in preserving these things. That's not to say that our technology doesn't sometimes help these things, but that's not the real goal (if it were, then it would require a willingness to set voluntary limits on what and how we create things, and even more importantly, on what we use and how we use it). The goal in our society is to make anything we can think of, and get people to buy it (air conditioners, televisions, cars, washing machines, computers, etc).

I'm all for creating simpler (and more durable) pieces of technology that would make it realistic for people to use and repair things they use frequently rather than feeling dumbfounded at how the things they use work and having to buy a new one at regular intervals. But that wouldn't serve the economy very well, even though it would serve our natural abilities and not eliminate them.[/quote] I like your philosophy even if you don't know what power means

I don't hqve ac and after awhile u don't even notice. I didn't own a car for the first 22 years of my life and got along just fine.

[Era Might]

[quote name='Seven77' timestamp='1312765505' post='2283164']
Era, tell me you use those wind circulation instruments known as fans.
[/quote]
Indeed I do. Though if I were a rich man I'd hire people to fan me all day with palm leaves.

[quote name='ardillacid' timestamp='1312765807' post='2283169']
I like your philosophy even if you don't know what power means

I don't hqve ac and after awhile u don't even notice. I didn't own a car for the first 22 years of my life and got along just fine.
[/quote]

[b] pow·er[/b]
   [pou-er]
–noun
1.
ability to do or [url="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/act"]act[/url]; capability of doing or accomplishing something.

[homeschoolmom]

You people are weird.

[arfink]

[quote name='Era Might' timestamp='1312754168' post='2283106']
A plunger is technology. Just a simpler piece of technology.

It's impossible to live in the wilderness without power, since your body has power naturally. You have hands to lift and carry, legs to walk, a brain to think, etc. But our technological society isn't particularly interested in preserving these things. That's not to say that our technology doesn't sometimes help these things, but that's not the real goal (if it were, then it would require a willingness to set voluntary limits on what and how we create things, and even more importantly, on what we use and how we use it). The goal in our society is to make anything we can think of, and get people to buy it (air conditioners, televisions, cars, washing machines, computers, etc).

I'm all for creating simpler (and more durable) pieces of technology that would make it realistic for people to use and repair things they use frequently rather than feeling dumbfounded at how the things they use work and having to buy a new one at regular intervals. But that wouldn't serve the economy very well, even though it would serve our natural abilities and not eliminate them.
[/quote]

Repairability is the ultimate test of a technology IMO. Now, my definition of that is considerably higher than most people's, since I can handle digital circuits up to a certain complexity level. It's one of the reasons why I continue to enjoy playing with / tinkering with really old (aka vintage) computers, which are simple enough to get into and repair/modify/tinker with. Without a microscope and a UV doping machine, that is.

[Papist]

Wait until you have children and need to do 2-3 loads of laundry a day.

[4588686]

[quote name='Era Might' timestamp='1312427551' post='2281272']
Wow you're amesome. I wish I could just move to Central America and use the pila. I just have a small bucket in the tub.
[/quote]


You seem to love everything about poverty. Except for actually being poor, of course.

[homeschoolmom]

[quote name='Papist' timestamp='1312827066' post='2283381']
Wait until you have children and need to do 2-3 loads of laundry a day.
[/quote]
I was going to say exactly this.