27 Mar
2012
27 Mar
'12
2:54 p.m.
On 03/27/2012 05:34 PM, Brent Hilpert wrote:
Sure, but how many Straight-8s are there? A handful. This is a
self-limiting problem.
Everyone that wants some [rosewood/whatever] can come up with some
excuse for why their particular use is special and worthy ("I had a
deprived childhood and now I deserve a rosewood bedroom suite"). If
you're going to get it from the market it all adds to demand. And if one
subscribes fully to capitalist theory, it doesn't matter if it's old and
already harvested: new or old it all fits in one supply-demand equation.
Perhaps there are worthy uses of rosewood - maybe a PDP-8 front panel is
one of them - but simply saying 'this is just one little bit, it doesn't
matter' isn't an argument.
I believe it is, though, in this case. The reason it would be in
other circumstances is that once one person justifies it, everyone will
want to do it. Are we losing sight of the fact that "everyone", in this
case, means the handful of remaining Straight-8s in the world, and only
the subset of those that happen to need new panels?
Surely we have better things to get all up in arms about. Who's
worrying about that amazing stash of classic gear in Germany that has
been left for dead? THOSE aren't something that can be replaced by
planting some friggin' seeds.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
Specifically
without commenting on whether the issue is worth worrying
about, that is, addressing only this comment: "mind the pence and the
pounds will take care of themselves".
"Little by little makes a great pile". Thinking in the "one tiny
little additional load won't hurt anything" mindset is exactly what got
us in the environmental binds we as a species are currently in.
More importantly, it's how Microsoft software ended up as what it is.
"It's only a few more bits/clock-cycles"