Friday, May 20, 2016

The smallest flame of spring

The photographs were taken at Sipoonkorpi National Park on May 5th.

I commuted by bicycle every day this week. So far this year I have got 1905 km riding the bicycle, and in May 386 km.

Yesterday I looked into the cycle computer, which had stopped showing speed. The only thing that changed in the display was the time. I looked into the contacts, and the location of the sensor. Finally I changed the battery and realized it was "best before January 2016". I had another similar battery, and now the cycle computer works once again. I have lost the user guide, but it was found on the net (search for "Union 10 cycle computer"), and thus I was able to set the time, which was running 19 minutes too early. The device cost something like 15 euro, and that was 11 years ago. I must admit I'm a bit surprised that it has worked so well for so long.

(Posting title is from the poem Orpingtons by Devin Johnston.)

2 comments:

Markus said...

Most probably that engineer constructing a device that lasts for such a long time already got fired ;)

It's always astonishing how long this little marvels of electronics can last, for me at least. If only our cameras would be similar, especially now as they have gained maturity.

Juha Haataja said...

This reminds me of the Phoebus cartel which existed to control the manufacture and sale of light bulbs and engaged in large-scale planned obsolescence.

Maybe it is part of aging but I have started to look at the durability of things more carefully than I used to. My laptop is soon eight years old, and I have an iMac from 2007 that still works with the newest operating system version. I'm still using a Nokia E7 phone from 2010, and it still works for the moderate needs I have. I'm not sure the current crop of devices is as well put together.