And, yes, I’d like to think I can tell the difference between the way this setup sounds and something that’s a few steps down.

The difference is that the $400,000 car can do more than the $30,000 car. You won’t generally get to do that in traffic, but there are places where you can do it, and so it can make a difference. I still think cars in that price range are silly, but much less so than an timepiece like this.

As to size, it’s true that it’s becoming difficult to find a watch with a face much below that size...here the case seems to me to be out of proportion to the face and movement (but that’s a matter of taste, I know).

That’s certainly true in part, and pocket watches also served the function of jewelry in some respects. However, as I have already said, by the middle of the 20th century, watches were primarily functional devices. The near-universal need for a way to find out what time it was drove prices down significantly, to the…

Likely true. But by the mid-20th century—a point at which humans had become much more cognizant of time (but hadn’t yet developed cell phones)—a watch was a functional item almost to the point of being a necessity. The one I got in ‘71 was a gift from my grandparents in recognition of my coming to the cusp of…

By my rules, I’m not entirely certain that the Singer is still a car. Nevertheless, there are settings in which one can operate a Singer-type vehicle and gain a bit more bang for the buck than one could with the Toyota. I don’t think the same can be said for the watch.

Well, I was including a Casio with a stopwatch function, etc. Gilding the lily a little, I suppose.

I owned an an automatic Bulova from 1971-1985 (approx). It worked well. I have no argument with a fine piece of work, but (while it’s certainly true that I can’t afford this watch) I would question why this beast has to be this size. My Bulova was a good deal smaller and lighter, though it contained no exotic…

Quality and “gee whiz” factors are often confused. I have a Mont Blanc pen that my wife gave me 32 years ago as an engagement present. I’m a lawyer and I use it regularly for signing things and for note-taking. It’s black and white and works every bit as well as the diamond-and-gold-encrusted models. I grok your…

I have a real problem with calling something like this a watch. It’s interesting that it’s a mechanical device, in the same way that vinyl LPs are interesting or Bakelite telephones are interesting. True, it tells time. And it (sort of) fits on your wrist. And it probably does a whole lot of other neat things as…

George Orwell didn’t exactly have a name for them, but in 1984 he described the work of one of his characters this way:

Back in the ‘80s, I shopped at Aldi in Chicago. They had one of every kind of item, and it was all house-brand (I particularly remember “Tasty Buddy” (sp?) crackers). It wasn’t terrible, and it was dirt cheap.

Ford Taurus Stationwagon. Three little words which translate to: Big, heavy, underpowered. Need more be said?

This likely need not be said, but—the suggestion in the original post only applies to electric water heaters. If, like me, you have a gas water heater, you will still save energy, but it will be on your heating bill, not your electrical bill.

Do the mice go *into* the bottle? Dang, it makes it hard when people misuse commas.

In my younger, poorer days (C. 1982), I had an all-manual film-based Nikon SLR, a 50mm lens, and couldn’t afford a flash. So I practiced shooting 1/4- or even 1/2- second exposures. One photo taken this way, shot in the Art Institute in Chicago, eventually made it onto a magazine cover.

Miller is an asshole. End of line.

But you left out “Aztek.”

True. Though I suspect anyone who finds a dead phone these days will plug it into a charger...given the short lifespan of batteries in smartphones, it’s kind of expected that anything you find lying around will be dead.

My “label” is an email address that I use for forwarding only, incorporated into my lock screen.