Author Topic: Are you a Harbinger?  (Read 3931 times)

makattak

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Are you a Harbinger?
« on: March 05, 2020, 09:46:30 PM »
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/opinion/harbinger-failure.html

It seems economists have discovered people who consistently like and buy products that end up failing and being discontinued.

Not only that, but all their decisions are "wrong" as in not popular. AND tend to live near other harbingers.

I'd like to think I'm a harbinger, but I so rarely buy a "new!" "exciting!" product that I doubt it. Also most of the products listed sound revolting. Watermelon oreos? I barely like normal oreos. Cheetos lip balm? No thank you.

How about you? Any of you think you are a harbinger?
I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought

Ben

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Re: Are you a Harbinger?
« Reply #1 on: March 05, 2020, 09:49:43 PM »
What's the name for somebody who has to search forever for a pair of shoes that are comfortable for all day wear, and as soon as they find them, they're *expletive deleted*ing discontinued. Because that's what I am.
"I'm a foolish old man that has been drawn into a wild goose chase by a harpy in trousers and a nincompoop."

Fly320s

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Re: Are you a Harbinger?
« Reply #2 on: March 05, 2020, 09:57:55 PM »
What's the name for somebody who has to search forever for a pair of shoes that are comfortable for all day wear, and as soon as they find them, they're *expletive deleted*ing discontinued. Because that's what I am.

Normal.
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RoadKingLarry

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Re: Are you a Harbinger?
« Reply #3 on: March 05, 2020, 10:00:44 PM »
I usually discover something after it has been discontinued. I find it, use it, like it, then when I go to get more discover that it is no longer available.
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.

Samuel Adams

Andiron

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Re: Are you a Harbinger?
« Reply #4 on: March 05, 2020, 10:55:37 PM »
Lucked out this time.

They just killed the Danner Pronghorn boot. 

I  found out soon enough to grab several pair before the market noticed.  These boots WORK,  why change?

That said, anything that comes from China, or asia is suspect.
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Hawkmoon

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Re: Are you a Harbinger?
« Reply #5 on: March 05, 2020, 11:15:55 PM »
I usually discover something after it has been discontinued. I find it, use it, like it, then when I go to get more discover that it is no longer available.

^^^ The story of my life.
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Perd Hapley

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Re: Are you a Harbinger?
« Reply #6 on: March 06, 2020, 01:09:51 AM »
makattak, did it ever occur to you that maybe you'd enjoy the watermelon Oreos if your lips were coated with Cheetos gloss?

I think we need more research on the vast numbers of people who consistently like perversely popular garbage, like reality television, or ranch dressing. We need to figure out what's gone wrong with these people, so we can stop them.
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HeroHog

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Re: Are you a Harbinger?
« Reply #7 on: March 06, 2020, 03:12:51 AM »
For a time I was heavily into all things 9mm Largo and 8mm Hakims and FN-49s. Oh yeah, .303 Enfields both British and the P-14 Eddystone I had too.

PS: don't forget the 9mm WinMag AutoMag III's I had! :old:
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230RN

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Re: Are you a Harbinger?
« Reply #8 on: March 06, 2020, 05:47:11 AM »
Somewhere around here I have a couple of brochures for the 1970s Auto Mag pistol.

I usually discover something after it has been discontinued. I find it, use it, like it, then when I go to get more discover that it is no longer available.

#metoo  I first discovered this with disposable razors.  Found the perfect one, obscure brand, bought and used them for more than a year, then they disappeared.  That got me thinking about other similar instances and I reckon I fit the description of "harbinger."


K Frame

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Re: Are you a Harbinger?
« Reply #9 on: March 06, 2020, 08:03:00 AM »
No, not a harbinger, but I have latched onto some products over the years that were subsequently discontinued, much to my dismay...

Monchel soap (stuff was wonderful winter soap... didn't dry out my skin).

Planter's Cheese Balls... I'm one of a LARGE group of people who still mourn these.

Hershey's Bar None... the best goddamned chocolate bar ever made, bar none.

McDonald's Fried Apple Pies...
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Ben

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Re: Are you a Harbinger?
« Reply #10 on: March 06, 2020, 08:06:16 AM »


McDonald's Fried Apple Pies...

When did they stop making those???

I didn't order them a lot, but for a while, some years ago, they would throw one or two into my drive-thru order during their "get you through the drive-thru fast" years if there was a holdup of more than a couple of minutes. They were actually pretty good.
"I'm a foolish old man that has been drawn into a wild goose chase by a harpy in trousers and a nincompoop."

K Frame

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Re: Are you a Harbinger?
« Reply #11 on: March 06, 2020, 08:22:09 AM »
Early 1990s. I would occasionally get one and would turn it into a apple pie ice cream sunday.

Yeah, there's a good reason I'm fat.  :rofl:

Some places you can still get the "classic" fried pies. They were even offering fried blueberry pies in limited markets for awhile some years ago. That one I would have loved to have gotten hold of.
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makattak

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Re: Are you a Harbinger?
« Reply #12 on: March 06, 2020, 08:40:35 AM »
Early 1990s. I would occasionally get one and would turn it into a apple pie ice cream sunday.

Yeah, there's a good reason I'm fat.  :rofl:

Some places you can still get the "classic" fried pies. They were even offering fried blueberry pies in limited markets for awhile some years ago. That one I would have loved to have gotten hold of.

AH HA! That was why I loved McD's in high school. My favorite meal was two Big Macs for $2 and 2 Apple Pies for $1.

(I was a cross country runner. That barely satisfied my minimum caloric requirement per meal.)
I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought

RoadKingLarry

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Re: Are you a Harbinger?
« Reply #13 on: March 06, 2020, 09:01:33 AM »
Quote
Planter's Cheese Balls... I'm one of a LARGE group of people who still mourn these.

Planter's Cheese Balls have returned from snack food purgatory.
Picked some up a couple of weeks ago. Good, but I remember them being better.
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.

Samuel Adams

MechAg94

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Re: Are you a Harbinger?
« Reply #14 on: March 06, 2020, 09:11:51 AM »
Planter's Cheese Balls have returned from snack food purgatory.
Picked some up a couple of weeks ago. Good, but I remember them being better.
I will have to keep an eye out.

HEB grocery stores has a store brand cheese ball that is close. 
“It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones.”  ― Calvin Coolidge

K Frame

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Re: Are you a Harbinger?
« Reply #15 on: March 06, 2020, 09:18:44 AM »
Planter's Cheese Balls have returned from snack food purgatory.
Picked some up a couple of weeks ago. Good, but I remember them being better.

Most likely because the recipe has changed and they may be made for Planter's, not by Planter's...

Carbon Monoxide, sucking the life out of idiots, 'tards, and fools since man tamed fire.

zxcvbob

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Re: Are you a Harbinger?
« Reply #16 on: March 06, 2020, 09:53:39 AM »
No, not a harbinger, but I have latched onto some products over the years that were subsequently discontinued, much to my dismay...

Monchel soap (stuff was wonderful winter soap... didn't dry out my skin).

Planter's Cheese Balls... I'm one of a LARGE group of people who still mourn these.

Hershey's Bar None... the best goddamned chocolate bar ever made, bar none.

McDonald's Fried Apple Pies...

Have you tried Utz cheese balls?  They come in a 35 ounce plastic barrel at Sam's Club, or a 20-something (28?) ounce barrel everywhere else.  They are very similar to Planters, and maybe better.
"It's good, though..."

grampster

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Re: Are you a Harbinger?
« Reply #17 on: March 06, 2020, 10:08:25 AM »
Does it count if something I see that I might want in clothing or shoes that goes on sale is never in my size?
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HankB

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Re: Are you a Harbinger?
« Reply #18 on: March 06, 2020, 10:19:11 AM »
What's the name for somebody who has to search forever for a pair of shoes that are comfortable for all day wear, and as soon as they find them, they're *expletive deleted*ing discontinued. Because that's what I am.
I feel your pain.

For decades I wore Rockport World Tour shoes. The "same" ones I used are now made in another country using inferior materials and are formed on different lasts, so they don't fit.  :mad:

And don't even get me started on the multitudes of other products I quit buying once they were "new and improved" . . . which is just a euphemism for "lower grade item with higher profit margin."

And of course, most of the TV shows I like get cancelled and replaced by some inane reality show.  [barf]
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WLJ

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Re: Are you a Harbinger?
« Reply #19 on: March 06, 2020, 10:20:52 AM »
I think tt all started with me with Betamax. It may have started before that but that's when I first noticed.

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makattak

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Re: Are you a Harbinger?
« Reply #20 on: March 06, 2020, 10:28:26 AM »
I see now that my adoption of 6.8SPC has all but doomed it.

Incidentally, I also seem to be drawn to ALREADY FAILED calibers. I like .35 Remington. I know no one else uses it1, but I don't care. I'd even love to get a Remington Model 8!







1: It's hyperbole. Sue me
I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought

WLJ

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Re: Are you a Harbinger?
« Reply #21 on: March 06, 2020, 10:31:12 AM »
I see now that my adoption of 6.8SPC has all but doomed it.

Incidentally, I also seem to be drawn to ALREADY FAILED calibers. I like .35 Remington. I know no one else uses it1, but I don't care. I'd even love to get a Remington Model 8!







1: It's hyperbole. Sue me

Sometimes you just got to hang in there. Look at 10mm, it almost died and now it's enjoying a resurgence
"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us".
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grampster

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Re: Are you a Harbinger?
« Reply #22 on: March 06, 2020, 10:43:37 AM »
Sometimes I have found myself as the harbinger of a new product that I desire.  I have been buying some of my clothing from The Territory Ahead catalog for many years.  Several years ago I sent an e-mail to a VP of products suggesting that their casual pants would be improved if they put a three inch elastic set up in the side of their pants allowing for a more comfortable fit.  That way, those of us of the burly persuasion would be much more comfortable in the pants they were selling us.  Since the men who can afford their products would be more likely purchase pants of that nature, it would be a good idea.

I wasn't but a few months later they announced their new type of pants and shorts;  Comfort Waist.  It has become their best seller.
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K Frame

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Re: Are you a Harbinger?
« Reply #23 on: March 06, 2020, 10:44:49 AM »
Have you tried Utz cheese balls?  They come in a 35 ounce plastic barrel at Sam's Club, or a 20-something (28?) ounce barrel everywhere else.  They are very similar to Planters, and maybe better.


I grew up in Central Pennsylvania about 20 miles from Utz central.

Utz and Tastykake were the snacks of my youth.

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K Frame

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Re: Are you a Harbinger?
« Reply #24 on: March 06, 2020, 10:48:06 AM »
I'd call the .35 Remington anything but failed.

As far as I can tell, it's been in continuous production with rifles being made for it, for nearly 115 years.

It might not be hugely popular anymore but I bet it's going to be with us for a lot longer.

But, I know what you mean... I have a deep, abiding love for the .300 Savage...
Carbon Monoxide, sucking the life out of idiots, 'tards, and fools since man tamed fire.