And try to use the em-dash properly these days!
Ordinary choices are between bread and nothing.
A $45 keyboard is rounding error on a $500 keyboard if you decide to buy one.
And buying and trying the cheap one is how a person gets direct experience to make a well informed decision.
It's called "having a style", and there's nothing wrong with it.
NOT ME, NOT ME.
Revealing. I'll bet plenty still can't tell the difference (or don't care). I'm one. I've always used low-end laptops, mobiles, clothes, vehicles, anything else you can think of. I care that it functions (so I buy good brands and new) but everything else except price is a very secondary. When I read things like "rich, vivid colors" in a description of a screen, for example, or "clear, deep bass" for some earbuds, my eyes glaze over. Whatever. Does it work and will it last?, is what I want to know. I also don't care about (or even really notice) the taste of tap water. Water is water. All this must be related and I can't be the only one.
I have this for wine. I can tell an objectively disgusting wine but other than that I find most wines (I’m in Europe so it’s different) pretty decent. I’m working hard to keep it that way. I have friends who are almost always disappointed in their wine and have to pay a fortune for a bottle they’ll find decent. No thanks.
You may choose to reduce its meaning by not engaging or connecting with its story, but say you actually take the time to read through that page which bothers to talk about the tradition of the craft and even shows a picture of the artist, to still remain in that place is to deny it of any meaning behind all that was involved.
At that point, when you say something like that what others may hear is that you do not value the craftsmanship and artistry that accompany the product.
It’s okay not to like it and say it’s not for you, but to fail to recognize effort and deny craft is a bit rude, you don’t need to like it to be able to recognize it as something that exists in a different level than the status quo.
I’m not that way, but I wouldn’t put someone down who is that way.
I tend to think of myself as a realist, not a Philistine. I have Echizen laquer bowls I picked up in Japan and a headphone with Japanese cherry tree wood + Echizen, and while they're very beautiful to see in actual daylight, your PoV is not wrong either - from a functional PoV, they might as well be a more delicate plastic in terms of function.
Like any art that you might get, or something else you're obsessive about that other people don't give a rats ass about, it's all in the eye of the beholder.
Some people here will be rushing to buy the latter because the former is no longer available, even though they don't need a very average calculator in a premium case. (And if they did need a useful premium calculator, they'd buy an HP.)
When you spending $75,000 on a new suit, the tailor shouldn't be using a Dollar Store calculator.
I confess that I use a cheap solar Casio scientific for this purpose, not RPN. That dates back to when my RPN calculator was destroyed in the lab by accident, and I replaced it with something cheaper.
Utility-wise for the cost, it's not outstanding compared to regular calculators. If you spend enough time with S100X for the cost to be justified, then you are wealthy or you are spending way too much time at the calculator and should reconsider your workflow, e.g. using a spreadsheet or Python script instead, and those things are cheaper than this calculator.
Nothing wrong if anyone wants to buy it. But technically there is nothing special here, just the physical appearance/build.
A Grand Seiko could be an apt comparison, this is hand finished rather than mass produced on a production line. Also, by a Japanese craftsperson using a prized skill (lacquer vs zaratsu).
>> vanity item
Who covets a calculator? The attraction here is surely celebrating the craftsmanship and the story / history behind the product and firm that produced it.
Urushi is transformed by curing in a warm and humid environment to something that is food safe and not toxic - for example Japanese rice bowls. Then there are they myriad decorative techniques such as Rankaku - using quail egg shells for decoration.
I've recently seen the word "entanglement" in a completely different context. But Urushi entangles you in nature and your environment in way that is utterly breath taking. For example: https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2019/modern-masters-...
[edit for grammar and clarity]
That video is not online AFAICT, but there is another one about another artist, which includes some footage of an urushi workshop preparing the stuff, and her using it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeult7lZtbg
[1] https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/urushi-now-contemporary-ja...
I grew up playing in woods thick with the stuff and never had a problem. Then I had a hell of a reaction to it in high school, and it’s been cruel to me since then.
I saw it and I thought this looks really nice and I could buy one and have it for life. Was expecting to spend up to $300 for it already, but $630 and limited edition means I will probably never be able to have one.
Another question, does anyone know of a website where they publish news about these sort of products. Looking at home appliances, or basic every day products but are well built to be point of luxury.
If anything one of my dreams / idea is to actually open an online store and only sell these gadgets.
https://www.ebay.de/itm/147282358614
Yes, you will pay more than the original price. But once every 30 years or so I don’t give a fuck, I want this because the video showed a man working on it who cared.
I was never more unpopular at school than the day we had an exam and I was learning RPN on a calculator that beeped every time you hit the wrong key.
As it happens, i saw the exhibition at the V&A today. It's decent, but small. Has a bunch of artefacts, and then some videos of some of the artists working, which are interesting.
[1] https://www.msi.com/Business-Productivity/Prestige-13-AI-plu...
[2] https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/urushi-now-contemporary-ja...
[3] https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/luxury/article/the-ancie...
>A spin metal finish is applied to the rounding and decimal selector levers, giving them a unique brilliance.
Naturally, they mean that the levers were faced off on a lathe, then maintaining that center, machined to size/shape --- nice touch given how the chrome plated plastic buttons on my PRS-505 e-book reader wore down after years of use.
I personally appreciate Teenage Engineering design and also some of Braun designs. This calculator, hard pass for me.
- just like how you ll become good at coding if you stopped using an llm (for most of it atleast)
- i am not saying this to trigger anyone. i am speaking from personal experience
- 6 months ago i stopped using calculators to add, subtract, multiply and my abilities have sharpened slowly and steadily
- initially i had trouble adding / subtracting 3 digit numbers
- i have slowly come to the point where i can do 6 digit numbers now without a calculator and pretty fast
- obviously i wont be able to prove that here because people ll think i am using tools to paste the answer but if were to meet in real life like ever, you would be absolutely blown away by how fast i can math
- was at the bank the other day, the bank manager had a mini heart attack when i calculated the 8.5% interest rate on the 1st year precisely before he could use his calculator
- seriously give it a try. start with 2 digit numbers addition / subtraction for the next entire week and slowly up your game. it ll help you immensely
indestructible. small. solar (never out of battery; worked also with indoor electric light). contained all I needed for school (im from before the graphical calculator era).
I would buy it instantly, if it would be a scientific calculator, ideally with RPN.
Oh and i would have used a LCD with amber on black.
"Limited to 650 units. Sold Out"
https://www.casio.com/jp/basic-calculators/product.S100X-JC1...
"Limited to 650 units worldwide (production units)."