Stuff

[poliphilo]

The temperature monitor has gone on the blink.

We have a sensor out front and a sensor out back. One of them had stopped functioning so I changed all the batteries and now they've both stopped functioning.

"Planned obsolescence," says Ailz.

"And a few more bits of scrap plastic to be added to the tide of plastic the Earth is already struggling to deal with," I reply.

Ailz is reading a book called Stuff- which is about the way we junk up our lives with things we don't really need. I may read it myself or I may just absorb its contents by telepathy. After all, once you start thinking about it, it's pretty obvious. The problem is not so much that we don't know these things but that we don't engage with our knowledge.

For instance, who needs temperature monitors?

Scientists, I guess.

Scientists who are doing heat sensitive experiments.

But nothing I get up to requires that level of accuracy. All I need to do is stick my head out the door and the sensors in my skin will tell me whether I should wear gloves or not.

Comments

[cmcmck]

Our central heating has one, which is useful in that it switches it off when it isn't needed.

[poliphilo]

Fiar enough.

[qatsi]

Temperature is an odd thing, scientifically. More prosaically, I often doubt myself when it comes to temperature: at this time of year, I'll feel cold when it is mild (because the heating doesn't come on so much) and warmer as it gets colder.