You raise a good point nonetheless. Though it’s really the consequences of version nannying that concretely exposes the problem, as the masses are still brainwashed to think “the latest and the greatest”.

So ideally I would need to also convey exactly what shenanigans Transcend intends with version mandates for the point to reach people. And I don’t have that answer. I can only conjecture that they will most likely stop hosting all versions of the tools as a way to sabotage repair/recovery of old devices.

You’re missing one massive issue here, which is that - irrespective of the version you think you downloaded - they can use this tactic to force the latest version to be installed instead.

What do you mean: missing? Denying people control over their software and versions is of course an obvious and inherent facet to the problem.

Need an older version, because they broke a feature, changed the license terms, made something that was previous free paid-for, or otherwise? Too bad. That installer is only ever going to do one thing, and it’s the newest version (if, as you say, it continues to work at all).

Or worse, no version at all. Or a broken version (all software has bugs and that includes updates).

The HP shit-show

HP controls what inks you use to the extent of sabotaging your printer “for your protection” in an automated firmware update.

The TomTom shit-show

If you install the PC desktop tool for managing your TomTom from the CD that comes with your TomTom, it forces a check to ensure that you’re installing the latest (Internet required, despite this not being mentioned on the packaging). When you allow it to connect to the WAN, it discovers that there is a later version and it blocks you from installing the original version. When you run the latest version (your only choice), it then says “your device is no longer supported”, and refuses to load any maps (even original maps) onto old TomToms. My local flee market is trying to sell a huge box of old TomToms, two for a dollar, because of this shit.

🞜

I will not buy Amazon, HP, or TomTom products for these reasons (among many other reasons). Now I have added Transcend to the list.

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I got lucky on this recently. Saw someone threw away a working washing machine. I will never buy one because it supports companies who block repair (all of them have contempt for repairers). So the only way for me to get one is to pull one from a dump. I saw on one on a curb saying it just needed to be cleaned or something. I went straight to a shop that has cargo bikes and was able to rent one on the spot. They take reservations but I got lucky. Went straight to the washing machine and it was still there. I was surprised the bike could take the weight and was surprised how well it handled.

but fuck apps

The problem with most shared bikes is they impose a closed-source app exclusively from Google. I got lucky that a local shop has a website for reservations and you can just walk in and pick it up at the shop – which means a human has to collect a cash deposit. But no shitty app.

Mulo seems pricey as well. I would not pay more than $/€ 25/day (not electric). Maybe Mulo is electric.

Locomotion is donation based… interesting that that works.

I agree. But you have to start somewhere. The guideline has been converted into legislation in Belgium since last week.

Do you have more detail on what was implemented? I could only find this repairability index, which I suspect won’t be much more useful than energy indexes and nutrition indexes.

This is why I said at the local level. City council cannot change federal laws.

The EU has been grappling with right to repair laws for over 10 years now. It’s a complete shit show.

At the moment, a washing machine maker in the EU is only required to release repair documentation to professional repairers who are insured, not consumers. And they only have to do it in the 1st 10 years, not in the time period that things actually break. At the 10 year mark, they automatically lose the docs and stop making parts.

The law you reference is not yet in force AFAIK. But when it comes into force and each member state eventually legislates, look at what we are getting-- from your reference:

A European information form can be offered to consumers to help them assess and compare repair services (detailing the nature of the defect, price and duration of the repair). To make the repair process easier, a European online platform with national sections will be set up to help consumers easily find local repair shops, sellers of refurbished goods, buyers of defective items or community-led repair initiatives, such as repair cafes.

That’s crap. It’s fuck all. Consumers are not getting service manuals. They are just being told where they can go to get someone else to do the work. We can of course already find repair cafes because they publish their own location. But repairers at repair cafes are just winging it. You cannot bring them a large appliance like a washer. They don’t even have water and drain hookups. And even if one repair cafe made an exception for large appliances, their repairers are not insured and thus cannot legally get access to service manuals.

Everything at the state/fed/intl levels is a total shitshow. This is why I asked in the OP what can be done at the local level.

I should have linked the parent thread. Federal laws are a shit show. In the US, most states have paltry R2R protections typically only covering cars, wheel chairs, and farm equipment.

This is why I am collecting ideas for what we might petition LOCAL govs to do, like city councils.

I don’t think that is true. I never heard of a creativity test or measurement as a precondition to copyright protection. As I understand it, anything you write (regardless of artistic creativity) is automatically protected under an all rights reserved copyright unless you explicitly state otherwise.

I don’t quite follow the connection between retailer size and planned obsolescence. Do you have a Cliff’s Notes? Youtube has become a shitshow since Google now treats Invidious and Tor with hostility. We can no longer consider YT videos to be openly reachable. I am essentially blocked from YT.

(edit) I was able to find a rarely working invidious instance and fetch it. will watch it later.

I’ve wanted to play with packet radio for a while now. It’s a shame the article pimps a Cloudflare site (winlink). It’s fitting in a sense though because there is a ban on using encryption over the ham radio bands. So the emails over packet radio must inherently be exposed to the world anyway.

breathability is the key criteria for clothing. Polyester and synthetic fabrics are nearly all terrible at this compared to natural fibres.

Natural fibers cannot be grouped together in this way because there is a huge variation.

This is where cotton fails and synthetic microfibers come out ahead. Cotton retains water, swells when wet, and suffocates as water tension spans the threads that are thickened by the swelling. Synthetic microfibers wick moisture away, and do not swell when wet, which gives excellent breathability. Cotton is fine as long as you don’t sweat. Or exceptionally, if it’s extremely hot in some windy situations the water retention can be a plus. I used to don cotton and hose myself down before getting on a motorcycle on a hot dry day. The evaporative cooling effect worked wonders with the high relative wind. But outside of that niche, such as sports, microfibers are king which is why sporting goods shops fetch high prices for high tech synthetics. As someone who sweats profusely more than normal, cotton is a non-starter in warm climates. Evaporation from soggy cotton simply cannot keep up with the rate that I add sweat. So a cotton t-shirt gets soaked in sweat and remains wet the whole workout session, and for days thereafter.

I used to wear tighty whities which made my gear sweat. Switched to Pategonia boxers and wow what a difference in breathability.

Wool and synthetics are similar w.r.t. comfort hence the term “smart wool”. But indeed natural wool is pricey and non-vegan.

Doesn’t sound familiar, but maybe there is more than two.

(edit) just had a brief look at bombas. They seem like a great product but I didn’t see notice of a lifetime warranty.

Voting with your money works. But only when there are good options to vote for.

There are a couple BifL sock makers, but no BifL underwear makers. That’s the problem. If someone made loose-fitting stretchy aramid boxers with a drawstring that lasts 1+ lifetimes, people would pay $100/ea for them.

HUGE amounts of clothes are being trashed, many of them new; never worn. I wish I kept the link around. There were several articles in the past few years showing massive piles of clothes along the coastline of some poverty-stricken countries, with all the dyes leeching into the ocean. Fast fashion is the culprit.

Probably what disgusts me the most are political campaign t-shirts. Surely it’s the worst instance of obsolescence by design in clothing. Andrew Yang claimed to be an environmentalist yet his campaign t-shirts were made of non-sustainable cotton. Attempts to spotlight that were censored by Reddit.

If it’s OK and just doesn’t fit I donate it.

All the charities collecting clothes in my area are fussy. They want no flaws, and they want clothes to be cleaned. Apparently there is no infrastructure for repairing them or even simply washing them. Neighbors don’t bother… they just stuff a trash bag with clothes and put it out with other trash. Sometimes someone notices that and tears open the bag and rifles through it for stuff. I’ve moved into places where the previous tenant just left clothes and blankets behind. I dumped them in the clothing donation bins anyway, without washing. But it’s dicey… I could just be adding to their burden and have no idea if the clothes and blankets get used.

Patagonia boxers are made using recycled plastics and they also accept worn out boxers for recycling. Patagonia is the only boxers I have found that are very loose fitting (baggy in fact), silky feeling, yet stretchy, yet moisture-wicking all at once. Nothing like this seems to exist in Europe.

So here’s a debate: synthetic vs cotton

Synthetic boxers can be recycled and can be made from recycled plastics. But every time synthetic clothes get washed they shed microplastics which most sewage treatment centers cannot filter out. You would have to buy a special filter to attach to your washing machine. Researchers in Ghent discovered that the bacteria that loves perspiration also loves synthetic clothes but not cotton. This is why synthetic clothes get stinky fast and thus need more frequent washing than natural fibers.

Cotton production consumes absurd amounts of water (2700 liters of water to produce 1 t-shirt). And when you wash it, hang drying takes /days/ (whereas microfibers hang dry in a couple hours). So people use energy wasting tumble dryers when cleaning cotton. But cotton has the advantage of being biodegradable. You can simply compost/landfill finished cotton as long as it doesn’t have harmful dyes that leech out. There is also a cotton t-shirt that is claimed to wearable 7 times before each wash. IIRC it’s blended with silver for anti-microbial effects.

The environmental debate can go either way depending on which problem you want to focus on, but cotton is clearly lousy performing underwear considering how it retains water and gets soggy. The only natural fiber that performs well for underwear is wool (ideally Marino from what I’ve read). But the prices on that are extortionate. €60+ for one pair of wool boxers, and they’re tight fitting.

Anyway, the OP’s thesis is lost. There is no BifL boxers AFAIK.

There are BifL socks though, called “Darn Tough” which have a lifetime warranty. They have 1 competitor but I forgot the brand. Both use marino wool.

update

Patagonia plans to open a store in Amsterdam.

I have a shopaholic aunt who is said to wear things she buys once on avg. She could open her own 2nd hand shop (or if she moved her stock to Europe she could open ~6 2nd-hand shops). Many women in my family are inflicted with this disease to varying degrees. It’s a gender-specific disease that I think men are immune to.

I quit using a dryer. Hang drying will help elastics last longer. Though it still breaks eventually.

When you repair them, are you sewing new elastic onto them? i thought about just threading a shoe lace since some boxers us that drawstring design anyway.

I needed expensive custom orthotics. Of course making a costly medical modification to flimsy shoes is a terrible idea. The orthotic maker gave me this advice: buy leather shoes and make sure the inside is also leather. It was great advice because when the interior heal of the shoe is some kind of fabric it’s not long before the material forms a hole and the plastic skeleton is exposed.

I found some ugly tennis shoes (didn’t care); had 3 stripes (i think that’s Adidas). They were all leather inside and outside except the sole. They lasted like over a decade. The outer sole was the first to wear out. I can probably have them resoled.

But in general, if you go into a place that makes medical orthotics they will have the advice you’re after, and perhaps have specific recommendations.

Theoretically there is just one material more durable than leather: aramid (aka Kevlar™). Not sure if anyone is on the ball with making aramid shoes though.

I don’t really know the guy but I’m sure he is quite busy. He also runs infosec.exchange and a Threads-defederated variant of that, and an onion mirror, and fedia.io. fedia.io is on kbin/mbin and thus very buggy and he seems to put a lot of energy into chasing those bugs. IIRC he mentioned his bills are like $3k/month for one of or all of those nodes. Wouldn’t hurt to ask but the question should probably come direct from the interested admins. Maybe they could hire him.