It had to come. Aldi is selling 3 Dimensional printers. Of all the quirky things that are selling in their middle isles! Last week it had self lifting toilet seats, foldable wheel chairs, a drone with spare blades, and boxes of Allen keys. The Allen keys are needed to assemble the toilet seat, the drone and wheel chair. I often notice the shopper picking up products of which their use remains totally baffling and mysterious. They proceed to look it up on the notice board to read what it actually is. Afterwards the gaze travels back to object and turn it around fondly, happy in the new-found knowledge of the totally useless product. Many then use the mobile phone to transmit the good news about this mysterious product back to a spouse or partner, possibly for approval.
Of course the real shopper buys it regardless. They don’t care what it is. That is the magic of clever commerce and mindless shopping. In any case, this week it is the special 3D printer. It comes with different coloured spools of what looks like very strong shark-fishing line.
I must admit that if the choice last week was between buying the self-lifting toilet seat or a drone, I would have gone for the drone. The idea of a need to be propelled upwards in an upright position after the use of the loo, fills me with dread. It seems like only yesterday I was soaking off postage stamps from my parents letters and neatly arranging them in my album. This was way back in the serenity of Holland, back in Rotterdam and the use of postal stamps. I still have the album in which I could add extra pages. The pages were held together by screws and nuts. Some of the stamps date back to the 1800’s.
In fact, I was fantasising about hovering the drone by remote control, while hiding well out of sight, menacingly over our Body Corporate ‘bad neighbour’s’ backyard, taking pictures of her while cutting down more of her garden, or worse, slashing other peoples’ gardens. I must desist.
Is the 3D printer the start of a new era as the computer or internet were experienced so many years ago? Jets are flying with components made by 3D printers and the printing of artificial limbs and body parts is becoming the norm. It is actually called ‘additive manufacturing.’ It makes replacing broken items now within the reach of everyone. I suppose I could use it to make soles for my shoes or a replacement for the broken battery holder for the remote control of the TV.
Soon our lounge room or office will store the 3D printer in addition to computer, normal printer, phone and files, errant laptop, a cooling fan and column heater, chairs, books on computers and virus detection, boxes of discs and lonely chargers, and of course miles of cables and power extensions going in all directions. Some people have 3D printing another 3D printer as a replacement or spare.
In social situations, we will mingle around and after a couple of drinks, ask how the 3D printing is going. A brave man might well mention in a jocular fashion. ‘You are looking very nice today, Mavis.’ ‘Are you wearing your new 3D’s today?’ Mavis was known to have started a small business 3D printing lingerie with matching boudoir items to sulk with.
No doubt mobile 3D printers will come about and people will be seen crossing the street all terribly busy with the 3D printing of boxes of hot chips with 2l coke or a quick coffee. On line 3D dating will be eagerly exploited. Photos of blokes proudly showing 3D printed additions. Girls will advertise showing 3D printed cleavages with proportionally alluring 3D printed hips.
It will come about.
Tags: 3D, Blokes, Body Corporate, Boudoir, Cleavage, Coke, Drone, Photos
February 16, 2016 at 4:01 am |
A 3 D printer from Aldi? What next? My daughter told me not to buy any more gadgets without her approval. Just a waste of money all those gadgets. Perhaps the younger generation is smarter than we are. On the other hand we throw out so much stuff during the last few weeks that we have space for that printer?
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February 16, 2016 at 4:18 am |
I have a kind of electronic note book that I used in Bali last year. The keyboard is so hidden it only comes up when you search for it on ‘settings.’
Then a ‘kindle’ that seem to be married to a book supplier and doesn’t accept the Amazon books on my computer kindle. They are all not used.
Numerous phones. Chargers that are all knitted together.
We have far too many sauce pans, especially frying sauce-pans. We have three cast iron sauce pans as well as enamelled sauce-pans. Then, non-stick sauce-pans. Don’t mention knives and forks. Enough for an entire orphanage.
It will all end up with Father O’Reilly.
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February 16, 2016 at 5:12 am |
Dream it and it will happen. lol
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February 16, 2016 at 9:14 am |
The stuff of dreams is the only reality, Cathy.
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February 16, 2016 at 2:03 pm
I feel the same, Gerard. Without dreams, we would have no life.
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February 16, 2016 at 7:30 am |
And your paintings in 3D I would love to see!
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February 16, 2016 at 9:11 am |
You are too kind! Thank you.
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February 16, 2016 at 8:12 am |
I have 30 years of stored cables and plugs Gerard. None has a device attached to it. Should I keep them in case they will work with a 3D printer?
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February 16, 2016 at 9:10 am |
So glad to hera from you, Andrew. Are you lying low behind the lichens or what?
The cables and plugs move around in the drawer. My gransons have devices and ask me for chargers because they loose them.
No matter how many chargers I have, none fit their devices.
It is all so difficult.
The 3 D printers at Aldi’s all sold within one day. Is there a revolution coming?
Could wars be fought between 3D printed soldiers instead? Fighter jets already are 3D printed.
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February 16, 2016 at 11:12 am
I’m in HK at present Gerard. Been having my ticker checked as I’m breathless again. Lacking energy. Flying to Britain tomorrow but back again in 3 weeks. Looking forward to seeing Lulu.
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February 16, 2016 at 11:31 am
Sorry to hear about your ticker, Andrew. Lulu and Milo or any canine are good for tickers. You stay good, Andrew.
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February 16, 2016 at 11:04 am |
Love the painting, Gerard, I envy people who can paint, draw, or even do stick figures.
Yes, Aldi’ s has become a lottery like, club keno, where one can gamble and win or lose. We aren’t great Aldi fans, but Mrs M has picked up some cheap noise cancelling headphones, and a good chainsaw sharpener. I guess small things affect small minds.
As for three dee. I can’t believe it, except I was reading that a small Melbourne company custom built a sternum and about a third of a rib cage for a bloke in Italy, all on line and out of titanium.
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February 16, 2016 at 11:39 am |
Thanks, Big M.
We mainly go to Aldi for the salmon cutlets and the Spanish vino. The 3D’s were sold in one day.
I heard some blokes use them for printing ‘perfect wives,’ as if perfect husbands are a plenty! Wives print for love, romance and croisants for breakfast.
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February 16, 2016 at 12:06 pm
I suspect that I will move onto the $1.99 Shiraz when I retire.
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February 16, 2016 at 1:57 pm |
Gosh I love Aldi. I can’t wait for a 3-D printer. It would be such a big help in my workroom when I restore furniture. That would be such a big plus.
The flight to Australia might not be a bargain 🙂
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February 16, 2016 at 10:10 pm |
Yes, plenty people use them for repair jobs. Like making new knobs for the oven or dishwasher. I don’t really know much about them. They are making inroads into the world of consumers.
Restoring furniture? That sounds really interesting. We had our old kitchen chairs seats re-woven some years ago. It took a long time to find someone who could do it to the original cross pattern. We have eleven of those very old chairs.
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February 16, 2016 at 2:46 pm |
The Aldo store in my town, is a mere fraction of “your” Aldi. There is nothing fancy about the store and it is not stocked with much more than inferior produce. I have been in the Aldi twice and I didn’t like the store at all. But your store sounds like a virtual shopping mall.
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February 16, 2016 at 10:13 pm |
Our Aldi is fairly big and does have a lot more than produce, which is always fresh. There has been a break-out of Salmonella poisoning but it was all traced back to the much bigger super-markets and not Aldi. A bad patch of lettuces were to blame.
I lost my phone once but it was found by Aldi staff when it started to ring. They found it behind some lettuces.
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February 17, 2016 at 2:40 am
Ring a-ding and lettuce find that phone.
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February 17, 2016 at 12:21 pm
Ha,ha 😉
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February 16, 2016 at 5:23 pm |
I was in Aldi yesterday and comments on how many things there are that I didn’t know I needed. We haven’t had 3D printers yet, though. Perhaps I could print off a clone of myself and send it to all the places I’d rather not be …
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February 16, 2016 at 10:18 pm |
The prosthesis is one area where the 3D printing has come in to greatly benefit those that have lost limbs etc. (especially those children in war torn countries)
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February 17, 2016 at 10:06 am
I know very little about this technology, but that sounds amazing.
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February 16, 2016 at 5:38 pm |
“On line 3D dating will be eagerly exploited” Or maybe, Gerard, you will just print up the girl or guy of your dreams… 🙂 –Curt
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February 16, 2016 at 10:20 pm |
I have the genuine one already. I think you might too, Curt. 😉
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February 17, 2016 at 2:39 pm |
Oh, phooey. 3D printing is so yesterday. The scientists now have added a fourth dimension, time, and are busily printing up things like 4D flowers that open when placed in water. That’s something I could go for — although I’m still rather fond of the real thing.
My mom used to shop at Aldi’s in Kansas City. It was purely a grocery store there, too, with the same bad produce that Yvonne mentioned. I only learned recently that Aldi’s and Trader Joe’s are the same company. It may be that our TJs is your Aldis.
As for devices, I’ve been pondering. I have a flip phone, a Kindle, and a camera that require charging. And I have precisely three chargers. It doesn’t work for everyone, but a Thoreau-like approach to gadgetry can be pretty satisfying.
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February 18, 2016 at 1:43 am |
Very nice Linda,
Perhaps soldiers in 4D printed form which dissolve in Gladioli when immersed in gun powder or exposed to explosive devises would be a goer.
I have more chargers in the drawers now than tea-spoons.
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February 18, 2016 at 10:45 am |
Will Aldi sell these, Gez: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-18/3d-printed-ear-structure/7178884
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February 18, 2016 at 10:15 pm |
That is amazing. Is the ear alive?
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February 18, 2016 at 10:26 pm
I don’t think it’s alive, but the fact that one can make something as complex as a replacement for living bone, muscle and cartilage means one can probably build more complex organs.
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February 20, 2016 at 10:26 pm |
I barely do 3-D let alone 4. Your Aldi is our
Trader Joe’s though your seems to offer more than 2 Buck Chuck and food.
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February 21, 2016 at 4:57 am |
The Aldi here is hugely successful, killing the much bigger rivals. Not least because they charge a refundable deposit on the inter-locking trolleys.
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February 22, 2016 at 1:01 pm |
Aargh! I’m sure you are right. In our post office the other day I watched the post-mistress turn over a stamp and cover the back with Prittstick glue. I asked why, and she said otherwise she’d have to lick it. Just to the right of her hand was a little pad with a sponge, which in the old days would have been damp for just this purpose. Baffled, I let her get on with it.
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