On Thu, Sep 08, 2011 at 09:46:59PM +0530, Deepa Mohan wrote: > A lot of lists like this may not be relevant to countries and cultures other > than the one in which the author lives.
True enough. They may not even be relevant to other people in the same country; the guy I passed this afternoon on the street in a wheelchair wouldn't appreciate the advice to get a bicycle, for example. I do have a little bit of an advantage here, though: I live in Argentina, a middle-income country, and I used to live in the US, a rich country. So I left out things that only applied in one of those two places, like "shop at garage sales" (I don't know what the equivalent of a garage sale is here; maybe an estate auction?) and "learn Spanish so you don't get charged a higher price" (rarely useful in the US and even more rarely useful in India, I imagine). > I have no clue when I will have power/electricity in the house to run my > vacuum cleaner, and none of my neighbours even need, or use, one. So why > would they share one with me? Maybe you should share a generator with them as well as a vacuum cleaner. <http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_SPM125101348P?prdNo=14&blockNo=14&blockType=G14> advertises an 800-watt generator for US$128, which should be enough to run one small vacuum cleaner at a time, or light up several houses at once. I think those are cheaper here in Argentina but I can't point you at websites. How much do they cost in India? An AC inverter to run the vacuum cleaner off a car battery (do you have a car?) is probably not a good idea, for two reasons: it costs almost as much as the generator (e.g. <http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_02871495000P?prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1> is 750W for US$90) and you'll only be able to run the vacuum cleaner for a few minutes at a time that way, since a vacuum cleaner uses a lot more power than a car alternator can provide. On the other hand, it would probably pollute less and use gasoline more efficiently. Cleaning rugs with a vacuum cleaner is a lot easier than beating your rugs periodically, and the rugs last longer. At Velatropa, an ecovillage I visit periodically near here, they have very unreliable mains power. They have a broken laptop there that charges its battery from the mains power when there is some, and its battery powers several tiny fractional-watt white LED lights at night, which illuminate the kitchen enough to cook by. When they have mains power, they can also use the laptop with a discarded CRT monitor they've hooked up to it. > Can I wear dollar-store flipflops (which is the *cool* way of mentioning > our very own "hawaii chappals* to a play, to a meeting? It probably depends on how stuck-up the other people at the play or meeting are. I wore them to meetings all day today ("CISL", the "International Free Software Conference", or rather one of a number of conferences with that name). I do that several times a week. I was probably wearing them the last time I went to a play. > As for not washing dishes....I want to see any household where this is > acceptable (not bachelor pads.) It's not acceptable in my household, that's for sure. And yet, sometimes I let the dishes go longer than I should: a failure to take the opportunity to create a little bit of prosperity for the cost of a little hot water and soap. > As for sharpening knives...I've not sharpened a knife in more than a > decade.... Why is that? Do you not cook, do you cook with dull knives (dangerous and limiting), or do you have someone else who sharpens your knives for you? > Please, spare us the ridiculosity of these > conspicuous-consumers-turning-to-conspicuous-simplicity lists. I totally > agree with SRS' "bah". I would add, like Enid Blyton's P.C. Goon."Gah". I don't think I've ever been a particularly conspicuous consumer. I appreciate your feedback, though. It's highly educational, if unintentionally amusing. Kragen
