Daily Dose of Sultnpapper 06/28/18> Planned obsolescence … now I know what it is called.
One thing I really enjoy besides being able to write the daily dose is to interact with the people who actually take the time to read it and leave comments and suggestions. So when @natubat was kind enough to suggest I look into the story called The Light Bulb Conspiracy and told me I could probably find it on You Tube I decided to go look it up.
Boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen I am so glad I did, I always believed that there were some fishy things going on and this documentary film she suggest confirmed exactly what I was thinking and in some cases saying. So a tip of the ten gallon hat to Ms, @natubat.
I learned a new term, at least for me, planned obsolescence. We live in a growth economy society and the only way to sustain that type of growth is to design things to fail or to create products that will be quickly be replaced by other products that offer more features or just a better and more attractive appearance. That last part is solely the work of advertising agencies and marketing departments, if a product looks better, it must be better is what we have been told and just like fish on a hook we have been reeled in.
Planned obsolescence is the desire on the part of the consumer to own something just a little newer or a little sooner than really is necessary. If you were like me and are not aware of this film, I highly suggest you take the time to watch it. The film has a running time of just under one hour and in my opinion is an hour well spent. If you ever wondered why the printers we buy to print stuff at home seam to never last as long as we would expect them to, they answer that question for you in the film, and even tell you how to fix the problem in a lot of the cases.
I normally don’t do reviews except on the 15th of the month and that is BBQ, I also don’t want to get into the habit of reviewing things either but I am going to tell you a little more about The Light Bulb Conspiracy simply because it is even worse than I had figured it was. We won’t call this a review; let just say I got carried away on telling a story, which really captivated me.
They call this documentary The Light Bulb Conspiracy simply because they have the evidence to prove that there was in fact a plan by light bulb manufacturers around the world to cut down on the life expectancy of incandescent light bulbs. I don’t buy the light bulbs in our house, Mrs. Papper does, and I am usually the one who is tasked with changing them. There are a couple fixtures that require the use of a stepladder to do it so it isn’t something I can do just standing on the floor. She usually buys the bulbs that are “rated” for 1,000 hours so I don’t have to change them as often. I never have really kept track to see if we get 1,000 hours out of those bulbs but I suspect not.
Let me tell you we have been getting screwed by the light bulb companies since the 1920’s, and it is not by accident but by design. How long do you think I light bulb could really last? Let me be clearer on the question; how long if it were to be left on 24 hours a day seven days a week? My guess would have been around 5 years or so, that would be almost 44,000 hours. That sure as hell is way more than the 1,000 hours that we currently have but am I being unrealistic?
The answer is yes, I am being unrealistic only because we have been conditioned to think that light bulbs can’t last any more than the 1,000 or perhaps even 2,500 hours. The truth is even at 2,500 or 25,000 hours I wouldn’t even be close to the number of hours a light bulb that is properly designed and constructed could last.
Back in the early years of light bulbs those bulbs lasted and lasted, it was almost unheard of to have to change a light bulb once it was installed. In Livermore, California at their local fire station there is a light bulb that has been continuously burning since 1901, that is not a typo, 1901. That bulb is 117 years old and still working as I am typing this story; some quick math tells me that is over 1,000,000 hours. The folks at the fire station and the people of Livermore claim that it is oldest burning light bulb in the world. I don’t know that anyone could argue that or prove that it is not. They even have installed a webcam that is focused on the bulb so you can check on it yourself, I might also mention that they have had to replace the webcam since the first one crapped out; they are on the second webcam now.
As I am writing this I am wondering just how many light bulbs have ended up in the landfills around the world because some light bulb manufacturers decided to rip off the consumers and intentionally produce bulbs that are the equivalent of flash bulbs used on old camera’s when compared with how long a bulb could actually last.
Okay, I couldn’t stop myself; I had to see if I could come up with a number. I don’t put a lot of faith or trust in this number and I’ll explain why in a second but according to an article I found on the US Department of Energy website from 2013 over 971 million 60 watt light bulbs were in use in 2010, it made no mention of the 40, 100, 125, or 150 watt bulbs and if I’m not mistaken I think that there are even 200 watt bulbs or at least there used to be. Now the article didn’t say if those numbers were just in the USA or if that was worldwide but even if it was the entire world , that is a hell of a lot of bulbs that will find their way to the landfill in real short order.
The lack of faith and trust in that article is because in the “time line” type story about light bulbs they give the reader the impression that the early bulbs just didn’t have any longevity and that the manufactures made “improvements” that finally got the bulbs up to where they would last around 1,000 hours. You talk about a load of BS that is BS at its finest; the manufacturers intentionally downgraded the quality of the bulbs to only make them last 1,000 hours as documented by the film. They even have the paper work to prove it was a conspiracy that was well organized and carried out, including fines levied by their cartel for manufacturers who produced bulbs that exceeded the number of hours they had agreed upon.
Since the government uses light bulbs and they are normally purchased on contracts one could easily make the case that there was bid rigging and collusion, along with fraud and conspiracy every time a government agency purchased a light bulb. I have never heard of one light bulb manufacturer being indicted for any charges about the sale of light bulbs to government entities but there sure as hell should have been.
To make even a bigger stink of this let me mention CFL’s or compact fluorescent light bulbs, the US congress passed a law in 2007 that would restrict the manufacturing and sale of most common incandescent light bulbs and require that CFL bulbs be used in their place. Would it surprise anyone that three companies controlled over 80% of the CFL market place?
If I had the time and energy I would try and look up just how many congressmen got some nice campaign donations from those companies along with that piece of crap president with the initials GWB.
I would also look at just how much those same congressmen invested in stock in those three companies since they knew that those companies would have the upper hand and could no way lose since people would have to buy those products. If you or I acted on insider knowledge like that we would be wearing orange jump suits courtesy of the federal government as we would be brought up on charges of insider trading and convicted. However, when you make the laws you are pretty much exempt from having to follow them, that is why so many people want to be in the congress and senate.
The light bulb in the Livermore fire station was made in 1895 in Shelby, Ohio by the Shelby Electric Company and is proof that we have all been taken to the cleaners when it comes to light bulbs. The cartel that was known as Phoebus was really the founders of planned obsolescence, they may not have given it that name, but that was what they accomplished. Since then other industries have followed suit; making stuff last less long was the goal of Phoebus light bulb cartel, they cut the life expectancy of the light bulb dramatically and other industries took notice.
The tragedy of this planned obsolescence is being felt all around the world and this film really shows how this is happening. I was astounded to see just how much electrical items like computers and monitors are being sent to places like Africa to just be junked along the banks of the rivers. It is really disturbing how our first world countries are trashing these so called third world places. I always thought that old electronics were being recycled but I was in for a big surprise when it comes to that, I think you will be as well if you watch this film.
I might also mention here that even some of the companies that you might love as a consumer like Apple are in on this too. The Apple I-Pod is a prime example of just how they will bend you over and make you squeal. The Apple I-Pod when it came out had a battery that was not replaceable and Apple knew at the time the life expectancy of the battery was less than two years. Those I-Pods were about a $400 or $500 item, I never have been an Apple fan and I am glad that I never was or I might even be angrier than I am at the moment. Maybe it was karma that caught up with Steve Jobs.
There is plenty more in this film and I won’t go into anymore since this isn’t a movie review. On a scale of one to ten, I would rate this as an eleven if I were doing a review because I like when people just flat out tell you and show how things really are in the world. Here is the link to The Light Bulb Conspiracy that I watched on You Tube in case you would like to give it a viewing.
Until next time,
@sultnpapper
The You Tube link is provided as a courtesy to the readers of this daily dose and is not the property of @sultnpapper. It belongs to the owner that is listed with the You Tube account.
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Jeesh!!! That gets me hot under the collar but I'm not surprised. I think they do the same thing with cars to be honest. My husband watches a guy called Abe on Youtube...he follows him. This fellow takes apart products, like Dyson vaccume cleaners, and shows you how well they are made. BTW...I wouldn't buy a Dyson if I were you.
I'm going to watch this video with my hubby. I didn't realize they were dumping their garbage in other countries. That's disgusting! Thanks for heads up ..... and even though I was irritated you still made me giggle. Thanks for that as well.
I watched this film a few years ago, and the picture that sticks in my mind is the guy in Africa watching his beautiful riverside turn into a junk heap. It's shocking and upsetting.
I'm intrigued by your comment about Dyson. My mum has one, and I hate the thing! Even though I'm a Brit and should be supporting our industries - and despite all the hype, claiming that Dysons were going to change vacuum cleaner technology for the better. I think that must be psychological programming! I have a German-made Miele vacuum cleaner that's about 25 years old and works like a dream.
I eagerly anticipate your reaction after you have a chance to watch this film, also let us know your husbands thoughts as well. I'm not sure what brand of vacuum cleaner we have, I think it is a Hoover, but it is the one I had when I was single and the wife and I have been married 24 years come July. As long as she can still get the bags for it we'll continue to use it until it bites the dust, pun intended.
We have kinda iconic 'Henry' hoovers over in the uk and ive had my last one for about 7 years and it was already second hand. works great and when something has gone wrong the local repair shop can fix it in minutes very cheaply as i think they are very simple inside. my mums expensive dyson was always breaking and cost her a fortune
Dyson has gotten another bad remark on here as well, I remember their commercial where it would create enough suction to pick up a bowling ball. I guess the Dyson machine suck in more ways than just suction.
Fits the short talk we had yesterday as well.
This topic really disturbs me because it is pretty much the exact opposite of evolution or improvement. And god knows how many other topics aside from electronics this may cover.
Maybe we have learned how to live for a 1000 years some millenia ago already but then someone decided to use medicine to keep our lifespam in the double digits.
Okay, I am grasping at straws here, but.....
You might not be grasping at straws... I can't remember exactly but I remember that according to some time lines of ancient history there were kings and rulers that ruled for thousands of years. Did those "years" have the same number of days our current years have or maybe they didn't have medicines yet? You might very well be on to something...
I think that a huge factor regarding these kind of things comes down to mentality. We heavily underestimate how much influence our thoughts, feelings and core beliefs have on our physical performance.
And maybe this would be a good point to start. Living in a society where the "norm" is a life expectancy of 60-90 years, how are you supposed to even consider living past that if everyone tells you that this is impossible? Maybe if you were told all your life that you could actually live forever to the point where you believe it from the very bottom of your heart yourself, you could enhance it.
My ex-ex girlfriend always got heavily annoyed when I said "I will live forever" and actually tried to talk me out of it. How cruel!
These are things I have in my head every now and then.
I have always said that it is mind over matter, if you don't mind it , it don't matter.
I have lived my life as close to that as I can but now I am speaking out on things rather than just letting them not matter anymore since I have kids that will be here hopefully after I am dead and gone and I would like for this to a better place for them not a worse place.
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Excellent post! Reading it gets me hot under the collar all over again... if anyone ever needed proof that all the supposedly environmental measures taken by governments, all the Rio and Paris Conference hype etc, etc, really is just GREENWASH and thinking up new ways to tax people, this is it. If our dear leaders really wanted to solve the dire environmental problems of the world, they could solve most of them in a single stroke by banning planned obsolescence. But then they'd lose their kickbacks (and probably a lot more too).
This film first came to my attention years ago - probably around 2014 - when I received a brochure for a small independent film festival in Edinburgh. I was unable to attend, though I really wanted to. When I saw the write-up for the Lightbulb Conspiracy, I was so intrigued by it that I looked it up online and found it on YouTube.
Then the film disappeared for several years, as it was banned due to a lawsuit. After a while it re-emerged under the title it was known by in Germany, Mountains of Waste.
I'm so glad you've posted the link, as I couldn't find it last time I searched. Resteemed.
Thanks for the compliment and the suggestion. If a person were to really sit down and think about all this environmental pollution stuff it should be very apparent that the majority of the issue is the amount of waste we are producing from the planned obsolescence of products.
The leaders in government aren't about to do anything that will solve problems in my opinion. Solving the problem by eliminating the cause isn't how they work, they could be compared to medical profession in my opinion which only treats symptoms. It is a guarantee that both government officials and doctors stand to make a lot more money treating symptoms rather than curing the conditions that cause the problems. Big pharma is one industry that I could point to that both government officials and doctors too get kickbacks from for starters.
There have been a handful of cures for cancer that have been suppressed or flat been banned here in the USA simply because the pharmaceutical companies wouldn't be able to make a dime off of them. There is one doctor right here in the Houston, Texas area that is curing cancer and has been for years but the government continues to prosecute him on trumped up charges to shut him down. Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski is his name and he discovered this cure back in 1976. The Texas Medical Board is a disgrace to our state with how they have treated him and there is no doubt in my mind that it all has to do with big pharma paying off officials to shut him down.
Sorry to have gotten of track there, but government is about controlling people not about solving anything.
I completely agree. Haven't heard of Dr Burzynski though, but I'll look him up online. I think the health situation is much worse in the US because you have a private system of healthcare that makes it profitable. They are trying to bring this in in the UK too, but so far the money is made through reaching the health boards that decide which treatments taxpayer's money will fund.
I recently heard on an alternative radio show that mistletoe is an "alternative" treatment for cancer that can actually be obtained through the NHS. Apparently this is because it was used to treat the Queen Mum when she had cancer, the radio show reported. I hadn't realised that she had cancer, but I looked it up online, and sure enough, she did have it in the 1980s, but it wasn't reported at the time, and she lived until the age of about 103.
We recently heard that a distant relative was suffering from breast cancer. The prognosis wasn't too good. A few months her sister told us that she'd been given the all-clear. Apparently she had requested - and had received - the mistletoe treatment. I can't say whether this was actually responsible for saving her life, but I think she had specially requested it. It's not something that the doctors would normally offer.
I had not heard about mistletoe as a cancer treatment but I do know of a doctor in Italy that determined almost all cancers are nothing more than bad fungus that latches on in different parts of the party and is able to thrive because most peoples body ph levels are to low, he uses sterile water and baking soda to drench the cancers and you can watch the tumors as they shrink in size as they are being treated, he also makes sure that his patients maintain a body ph level around 7.9 to 8.1 as fungus can't survive in an alkaline environment, raising the ph level can be accomplished by drinking baking soda and water. It is funny how so many cures are just from basic items that are natural and readily available.
THis follows on to what we were discussing yesterday as well and i do remember watching that video and it is the norm these days for most companies of any product sad but true
LED Light Bulbs do last a lot longer than normal Light bulbs but I bet there longer life span is less than it could be and is also held back
Seeing how they are made by the same folks who used to make the incandescent light bulbs in many of the cases it would only make sense that the LED bulbs aren't being made to last as long as they possibly could for sure.
The LED bulbs I do know produce a lot of heat and they have to have heat syncs incorporate into them to dissipate the heat. So I'm sure that plenty of research has gone into what the "right" size sync is that makes the bulb better than CFL bulbs. It is probably a safe bet that even though they last longer than CFL bulbs, they could even last longer than they do if the heat sync was say 25 or 30% larger, it might double or triple the life of the LED.
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ah yes i remember seeing this doc years and years ago and i got just as mad as you! I also did the same thing of reeling off an almost endless list of companies i know now that this is most definitely part of their business model.
I've always been a tinkerer since teen years taking toys apart to see how they work so i've kinda sub consciously bought products that can be fixed or at least have parts swapped out when they fail. A windows pc, even my current mobile phone is relatively easy to open up and mess with.
ooo a website i discovered that you will love...https://buymeonce.com/
All the products they list are either guaranteed for life or at least are built to last. It's so satisfying finding companies making products as they should but sadly there seem to be less every year. cheap and shit these days.
thanks for the post, got me mad at the world again, which is a good thing!
Thanks for the read and reply, I will have to check out that link you provided. It just is real aggravating when you watch that film and see how we are shipping basically trash to other parts of the world to deal with, it is wrong on several levels, including the people running those countries that take our trashed out junk stuff.
Ah Yeh it's depressing. There's a small movement forming here in the uk of people taking all the packaging off items at supermarket checkouts to make a point of how much unnecessary wrapping there is. It's not quite the same as shipping broken consumables but it's another habit we need to address.
An ex gf of mine told me once when I was getting bogged down in how bad things are to just pick one element of my life at a time. Once the habit is changed move onto the next. It's really helped me manage the feeling of helplessness.
Oo have you seen coconut revolution? An island run on coconuts essentially. I won't explain it all but its worth a watch, should be floating around the Internet somewhere
No I haven't seen that, I might have to look around for it. Your ex gf gave you some good advice glad that you were smart enough to realize it and go with it.
Dude! I wrote a paper on the light-bulb and planned obsolescence. I'll send it to you on discord. You'll probably appreciate it.
I am sure I would enjoy reading it, please do. Thanks.
Something else we agree on.
Yes, and I hate to admit but I will, I had voted for his sorry ass and his father before I figured out what was going on with that whole family. Never again will I ever vote for a Bush, unless it is to cut it down or burn it.
We have another Bush here in Texas who is making his way through the system, he is currently the Texas land commissioner.
I'm proud to say I never voted for either of them. The way I feel right now, I may never vote for another establishment candidate again.
I will never vote an incumbent again in my life, I started that a few elections back. We have term limits provisions, it is called the voting booth. People just need to learn how to use it properly.