IKEA selling solar panels

I’ve put together several pieces of IKEA furniture and repaired them as well. The majority of their pieces are not very sturdy to start with nor are they built to last. Certainly not good advertisements for such a product as solar panels.

They’re not manufactured by IKEA or made of wood, dowels, and allen screws. I would add that most people wouldn’t pay what it costs to make a fine piece of furniture out of heavy quality woods either… Having said that, I have some IKEA items that have lasted for ages and have proven themselves well worth the price paid.

Shopping at an IKEA is still a waking nightmare tho’.

For everybody else, the WSJ link is login only so here’s another one:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/09/30/227790364/no-assembly-required-ikea-to-sell-solar-panels-in-u-k

“Hey, everyone lookit MIRÜFKOK!”

The rules for constructing an IKEA product name is that it must contain at least one spurious consonant, and one vowel must have an Umlaut.

The more interesting thing will be the assembly instructions. I can just imagine how the cheery figures will cover roof top safety.

Here are assembly instructions for something that isn’t an IKEA product. HJÜRL (PDF) They were created as a handout for my “Mechanical Artillery 101” “class” at the most recent NYC Maker Faire.

I have several IKEA pieces that are over twenty years old and in perfect condition. Like other shops they have goods at a range of prices and if you buy the very cheapest you won’t be buying the very best. The knee jerk reaction to an IKEA story is getting really tiresome.

Besides, the real fun of IKEA is not to dash in and buy ANYTHING as-displayed. The fun is in taking the component parts and hacking your own custom stuff together! I have all kinds of custom stuff I’ve made.

And the other things are:

Metal. Nobody does metals, especially steel and aluminum, better or more economically than the Swedes. That stuff will probably outlast everybody here.

And, nobody collects practical, ingenious basic designs for useful household stuff better than IKEA. You can keep shopping the As-Seen-On-TV crap in your local discount big box, or you can get stuff that actually works.

Like…4 pairs of good scissors for $1.99. Or, a magnetic knife rack for I think $12? The things each have a dozen strong neodymium mags in them - you can hardly buy those alone for that price!

If you don’t dig this kind of stuff, then it’s just not the store or you. But, don’t EVEN be trash-talking the toy store like that. I. Am. Not. Havin’. It. JUST. NOT.

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Got it!

SONNENBOKS

Just throw in a random umlaud somewhere.

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