What a fascinatingly stupid discussion. And I will prove it so: Desired, rare, sought after, beloved implies valuable which equals $, money, moolah, cash, cheese or whatever lingo you choose.

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However I have found the ones who cry the loudest and beat their breast in anguish are the cheapest, stingy-est SOB's on the face of the earth, generally. Not casting aspersions on the folks currently engaged in discussion, as I know you to be fine folks.

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And there is nothing sacrosanct about test equipment, no matter who makes it. It was designed for an economic life of 5-7 years. The stuff are MERELY tools used to perform a job. And when tools wear out, or are superseded, they are discarded.

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I have seen literally MOUNTAINS of HP & Tek go to the shredder. Uncle Sam just don't care.

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And complained about it, have tried to get guys to go in with me to buy the stuff out to save it, move it, store it, but no one with cash, time, energy or SPACE ever steps up.

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They want to pick it out of the dumpster. Which is fine, god bless you for your luck, but rare.

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So its no big deal. Really it isnt. We are dinosaurs clinging to our "goodies" which are rapidly becoming not worth the space they take up. My engineering students couldnt care less for these boat anchors. Apartments are small, and costly. And they do not have the attention span to learn how to fix things

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Take it from someone who still has mountains of the stuff, and realizes that all things eventually "go away".... I just brought back to the school a VERY large pile of TE that was donated, and have realized, while testing some of it, that almost all of it is probably sick or bad, or useless. All while hoping there is enough useful for the labs to have made fetching it (gas and time) worth it.? And there is not enough of me to fix it all.

J.Kruth

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? Ok, I really, really didn't want to entertain your desire for an
argument about this, because I've known people with this attitude
before, but you've made it so I cannot resist.

? Yes, of course, don't be an idiot, you go right ahead and do what you
want with whatever you own, and I will do the same.? But if you own
something that you know is rare, beloved, sought-after, etc etc by other
people, and you destroy it, that makes you an asshole, plain and simple.

? Nothing more.? There is nothing about "slavery" here.? ("Slavery"?
Really?)? Don't read anything else into what I've typed, and I'm not
going to argue with you about it.

? ? ? ? ? ? ? -Dave