Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 28, 2024, 11:20:46 AM

Login with username, password and session length

Stuff you never actually use

Started by Neil, February 26, 2012, 01:01:14 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Neil

I'm looking at two boxed digital photo frames, and I've one sitting in the flat that I've meant to sort for around two years now. Has anyone ever actually seen one of these going? They seem like a great idea, but I've yet to encounter one that's been unboxed and filled with pics. Maybe everyone would just rather put shit on Facebook, anyway - I heard tonight about a woman who isn't on there, and who was fucking livid that all her wedding photos were plastered on it within a couple of hours of her nuptials, long before she herself had even seen them. And, y'know, she never wanted them on there anyway, and noone bothered asking.

Hank Venture

It's a great gift for older relatives. Just fill them up with family photos and you can give it to your gran for christmas.

23 Daves

The egg slicer.  It seems to have disappeared from my kitchen cupboard, actually, and was probably discarded in the last house move - but the very fact that I haven't once looked for it in the six years since or wondered where it had got to speaks volumes.  I'm sure there are some salads and certain recipes which may require you to very precisely slice a hard boiled egg into thin slithers, but let's face it, when would you?  And what's stopping you from just using a very sharp knife?  Nobody will notice.

Moving further up the cost scale, the biggest white elephant in the flat at the moment is almost certainly the Wii, which both the wife and I used for about a month after purchase before quietly deciding to ourselves that both the gameplay on the associated products was limited, and unbearably twee.  If we had children of a certain age we might have got more out of it, but it's presently unplugged and a cheap twenty quid retro games machine we can play Super Mario and Adventure Island on is plugged into the TV in its place. Says it all, really.   

Hank Venture

I use my eggslicer all the time. Eggs are good for you, egg on bread with a bit of caviar on top - delish.

I also have a console gathering dust. I bought a PS3 solely for the God of War  games, now I'm done with them I don't know whether I'll ever play on it again.

Snobbish Puerile Wanker

Garden shears, fireguard, cor anglais, flannels, deodorant, food, keys, explosive metal cigars, diamond skulls,

Nobody Soup

hand warmers, those things you're supposed to heat up and put in your pockets. the entire contents of the gadget shop.

Goldentony

You know when the girl I replaced finished work, she got one of those digital photo frames with a bunch of photos from her time there which actually caused the line manager to break down into tears when the thought of her going back over all those memories entered her mind. When I left they told me I was a miserable cunt and they gave me a tenner.

Ronnie the Raincoat

Churro maker.  I used it once and got second degree burns on my arm and neck. Fuck that churro maker.

Dusty Gozongas

Quote from: Neil on February 26, 2012, 01:01:14 AMI heard tonight about a woman who isn't on there, and who was fucking livid that all her wedding photos were plastered on it within a couple of hours of her nuptials, long before she herself had even seen them. And, y'know, she never wanted them on there anyway, and noone bothered asking.

I know this isn't the main thrust of the thread but I've never understood how people can get worked up over innocent photographs. May as well get pissed off by people having eyes and seeing a constant stream of your special moments. It's almost as if cameras steal one's soul or something.

[ontopic] The huge soft chicken two feet away from me.

AsparagusTrevor

I felt I was getting RSI from my computer-heavy job so I bought one of those Powerballs to give my wrists a bit more exercise. Got it last November.

I've used it four times so far, even though I keep it on my desk  for some reason I can never be motivated to pick it up and pull the cord.

HappyTree

I was warned, but did I listen?

The Kinect. I have used it once, the day I got it, to test the games and install it, etc. I thought, ok this is not perfect but it will be useful for exercising during the winter months. Bollocks. I realised I was deluding myself. It is actually just rubbish and I the thought of switching it back on to install it again fills me with dread. I needed a new Xbox anyway so I'm not that bothered, but unless I suddenly meet friends with children who need to be entertained I will probably just sell it. If a motion capture device is not perfect in its response then it is useless. It's like trying to walk when you're drunk.

On the positive side, stuff I use all the time is my iPod Touch. I would be lost without it. Most useful gadget I ever bought.

alan nagsworth

I am absolutely shit with gaming systems and I NEVER LEARN. Every console I've ever owned has had more play from my mates than myself, except the Wii which had a lot of tournament action before it became boring like the PS2 did within about a month of owning it or the Nintendo DS after about a week. I'm not a gamer in the slightest really but I fool myself into it every time something new comes out. I get bored of almost every single game I've ever played within a very short space of time. My Wii was boxed up when we moved house in October and hasn't been out in the new house at all.

Quote from: Neil on February 26, 2012, 01:01:14 AM
I'm looking at two boxed digital photo frames, and I've one sitting in the flat that I've meant to sort for around two years now. Has anyone ever actually seen one of these going?

I have, once, in my grandma's house. My dad had loaded it with photos from his recent trip to America and forgot to remove the one with him and his wife running stark naked down an empty Nevada highway. It didn't stay switched on for too long after that one popped up.

biggytitbo

I'm the same, after the novelty wears off I hardly use the game consoles I've bought over the years. My ps3 gets used twice a year tops.

greencalx


NoSleep

Quote from: AsparagusTrevor on February 26, 2012, 03:37:12 AM
I felt I was getting RSI from my computer-heavy job so I bought one of those Powerballs to give my wrists a bit more exercise. Got it last November.

I've used it four times so far, even though I keep it on my desk  for some reason I can never be motivated to pick it up and pull the cord.

You need to take up the challenge of starting it without the cord. My brother mentioned this the day he gave me a Powerball, so I worked out how to do it that same night.

Also, beware of gripping onto the thing too tightly as this causes strain on the joints and is entirely unnecessary thanks to the high-friction rubber ring encircling it. I'm not sure that it's particularly good for RSI but did used to relieve muscle strain in the neck and shoulders after sitting in front of a computer for too long; although I don't seem to suffer from this anymore. I still use the Powerball occasionally, to maintain strength in my fingers and forearms, but playing the bass and piano works just as well.

BlodwynPig

Its sad to think of all the discarded material wealth these days. However, it must have always been thus.

My Scalectrix maybe got 2 outings and the Millennium Falcon was rarely played with.

I got my mum a digital photo frame, but that is long boxed up and even she said "it was of its time".

rudi

Quote from: AsparagusTrevor on February 26, 2012, 03:37:12 AM
I felt I was getting RSI from my computer-heavy job so I bought one of those Powerballs to give my wrists a bit more exercise.

That won't help your RSI. You need a brace for your wrist to keep it straight, not more strees on the thing.

And you need to learn to use the mouse with both hands (not simultaneously; that would be mad) like wot I had to do.

On topic: 2 CD players, I guess. I tend to chuck stuff I don't use; I'm not the most sentimental person you're likely to meet.

Neil

Quote from: 23 Daves on February 26, 2012, 01:49:34 AM
The egg slicer. 

The council are putting a whole new kitchen in, and it was a great excuse for a clearout. Two vegetable slicer things went straight in the bin. What's the point in saving time on the chopping, if the washing up takes a hell of a lot longer? That's trading the fun bit for longer spent doing the worst bit - trying to clean awkward devices, too - to what benefit? More uniform tomato slices? Bin.

Replies From View



It probably came out of the box about twice - first for putting it all together at Christmas and playing it as a board game (rubbish), and second to ignore the game and muck around with the flimsy trap before realising it just wasn't as much fun as it should have been.  I felt like I must have been dead inside.

I blame this for making it look so sturdy and cool:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aLIrla9Jg4

Replies From View

Quote from: Goldentony on February 26, 2012, 03:26:02 AM
You know when the girl I replaced finished work, she got one of those digital photo frames with a bunch of photos from her time there which actually caused the line manager to break down into tears when the thought of her going back over all those memories entered her mind. When I left they told me I was a miserable cunt and they gave me a tenner.

It doesn't mean the line manager didn't break down into tears at the thought of going back over their memories of you.

It's very weird to be at the final day of work of the person you're replacing, or their farewell do or something. "You should come; it'd be a good way to meet everyone!"  And basically they're all saying things within earshot like "nobody will ever fill your shoes as far as we're concerned!" because hardly anyone knows who you are yet.  The closest you'll get to feeling like a ghost.

dandoystevski

Quote from: Ronnie the Raincoat on February 26, 2012, 03:29:33 AM
Churro maker.  I used it once and got second degree burns on my arm and neck. Fuck that churro maker.

RtR (er and family) yesterday:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-j7BOEOZRo

Cerys

Egg-slicers are awesome.  Sod using them for slicing eggs - they can be played like a little razor-sharp harp.  Who needs unpeeled fingers anyway?

Replies From View

I'd like to know what becomes of those adult men who buy Sonic Screwdriver toys and carry them around with them, fiddling with them in public because they believe it makes them seem like a mysterious time traveller.

Do people who use stuff they shouldn't use die when the stuff they keep using becomes objectively useless?  Like without our knowing it, we're involved in a one-of-us-has-to-go contract at the point the acceptable novelty has faded?  I imagine so, and I hope so too.

George Oscar Bluth II

I'd bought my second Xbox 360 (first one broke) by the time I realised that, actually, I just don't like games. It sits by my telly mocking me as I struggle to raise the desire to play on it. As do the copies of LA Noire and FIFA 12 I stupidly bought in the past year.

I've finished probably two games ever. Pokemon and MGS2. It's high time I remembered that when I'm next tempted to buy a game...

Replies From View

Quote from: Dusty Gozongas on February 26, 2012, 03:34:06 AM
I know this isn't the main thrust of the thread but I've never understood how people can get worked up over innocent photographs. May as well get pissed off by people having eyes and seeing a constant stream of your special moments. It's almost as if cameras steal one's soul or something.

Isn't it that it'd be nice to be shown your own wedding photos before they get shared with the public at large?  First it's that everyone thinks their photography is genius art now, so this is more important than the subject being "shared" whether or not they like it.  On top of that, facebook has conditioned people to "perform" to the people who'll see their stuff; there's something about being "the one who shared something" that beats sharing it privately with the few people to whom it means more.

Blue Jam

My smoothie maker. It took too much effort to make one drink, and a not-very-nice one at that as I discovered smoothies are in fact horrible. It was a bugger to clean, as well, I'm not surprised The Orgazoid hired Jeremy to clean his. Mine went to a charity shop when I moved house.

A really tiny grater I got as part of a hot chocolate gift set I got for christmas- mug, drinking chocolate, little packet of marshmallows, little bar of chocolate and a tiny grater with which to grate said chocolate. I took the mug to a charity shop but couldn't part with the tiny little grater, thinking it was quite cute and may one day come in useful for grating a really tiny amount of something. To this date it hasn't.

I have a big grater which actually is useful- well, three sides of it are at least. The one that looks like this isn't:



I've just learned this is for grating nutmeg and as I tend to buy nutmeg in powdered form anyway all this side does is hurt my hand when I'm using one of the other three sides. Has anyone ever developed a nice ergonomic grater? I've never managed to find one. One with a side with no grating surface would suffice but the designers seem to want to cover every square centimetre of the things with grating surfaces. Would it really be such a terrible waste to leave one side flat, and while serving no grating function, actually being more useful?

Thank you for reading all of my thoughts on graters.

23 Daves

Quote from: Blue Jam on February 26, 2012, 12:56:51 PM
My smoothie maker. It took too much effort to make one drink, and a not-very-nice one at that as I discovered smoothies are in fact horrible.

I love a smoothie, me - in fact I might make one in a minute, while we're on the topic - but can't you just make them in a blender?  Why would you need a smoothie maker, what are the supposed benefits?  I just throw some bananas, a bit of milk and yogurt and other bits into my Anthony Worrall Thompson blender (I try to blank his face out of my mind as I do it) and the results are fine. 

Quote from: Replies From View on February 26, 2012, 11:01:49 AM


It probably came out of the box about twice - first for putting it all together at Christmas and playing it as a board game (rubbish), and second to ignore the game and muck around with the flimsy trap before realising it just wasn't as much fun as it should have been.  I felt like I must have been dead inside.

It was ever thus.  As a child, I think Mousetrap was widely regarded as being the most pointless game I owned, and if I ever suggested we should get it out of the box (which I didn't very often) it would illicit groans from my Dad.  "Do we HAVE to set that up?"  It didn't even work properly - half the time the shoe that's supposed to kick the ball (or whatever it was) didn't connect and you'd have to start the process up all over again.  I'm surprised it's not worked its way into a Peter Kay routine.

So far as consoles are concerned, I'm a bit of a miserable old man around them.  I grew up with Commodore 64 games, and whilst I appreciate you had to load them all off tapes (which was time consuming) they were still usually things you could pick up and play with a spare twenty minutes of your time.  Too many games now are Epic - I want to just sit down for half an hour and have a quick challenge, not wander around post-apocalyptic or medieval landscapes for hours on end.  I don't have the patience.  The Nintendo clone I've got is great in that the games are so supremely tough you're usually dead within five minutes, so it creates a bit more of an adrenalin rush. 

Tokyo Sexwhale

Quote from: Blue Jam on February 26, 2012, 12:56:51 PM
My smoothie maker. It took too much effort to make one drink, and a not-very-nice one at that as I discovered smoothies are in fact horrible. It was a bugger to clean, as well, I'm not surprised The Orgazoid hired Jeremy to clean his. Mine went to a charity shop when I moved house.


On the other hand I like smoothies, but still don't bother with my smoothie maker, mainly because of the cleaning issue, but also because you might as well just buy some ready-made smoothies, or V8.

The other classic one is the toasted sandwich maker.  Like the smoothie maker it got a lot of use for the first couple of weeks until the hassle of cleaning it outweighs the enjoyment of the toasted sandwiches.

Replies From View

The solution to that toasted sandwich maker problem is to not bother cleaning it.  Let someone else do it.

Blue Jam

Quote from: 23 Daves on February 26, 2012, 01:01:01 PM
I love a smoothie, me - in fact I might make one in a minute, while we're on the topic - but can't you just make them in a blender?

I know, I should have bought a proper blender... my smoothie maker was basically a big blender fnar with a tap on it- it was also in the sale so it seemed like a b@rgain, until I discovered the tap would just get blocked with fruit pulp as an ever-slower trickle of smoothie poured through it. I may just get a hand-blender next, one of those would be good for making curry pastes and also one fuck of a lot easier to clean.

Mousetrap is also pretty annoying but it was at least more fun than this:



It's like Jenga's retro-futuristic older brother, only even more of a pain in the arse to set up and not much fun to play.

On the subject of games I've never owned a console but have bought a few games for my PC which just gathered dust when I accepted that I didn't like games. A friend said that was like saying I didn't like any films or books (though come to think of it a lot of people don't read) but having tried a few I just find them all frustrating and annoying. Years back I bought Black And White as it sounded like a great and unique concept but the gameplay was so boring, and with all games I can't be arsed to learn a set of controls- at least with something like Photoshop I can learn the keyboard shortcuts and they'd continue to be useful. Sorry Charlie Brooker, I doubt that even LA Noire or Portal would convert me.