Should You Skimp or Splurge: a Case of Quality Vs. Quantity

Alex

There's a big difference of how most people today shop as compared to their parents (or grandparents) - and that difference is quality vs. quantity.

In this interesting article for MSN Money, Emma Johnson takes a look at her wardrobe and wondered why "our forefathers were poorer than we are, and yet they had better stuff, relatively speaking."

But appreciation for quality craftsmanship has been swept aside by freely available consumer credit and high-end design on low-cost merchandise, says Dayana Yochim, personal finance writer at The Motley Fool.

"Credit cards let us instantly satisfy our retail desires," Yochim says. "Our grandparents had to delay that gratification. They figured that if they had to save for it, they'd better get the best they could. Now retailers want to catch that fleeting desire."

This trend has given birth to the "fast fashion" phenomenon, where retailers like H&M and Forever 21 sell runway rip-offs for pennies on the couture dollar, and consumers wear these garments for a single season before replacing them.

If you've bought a lot of cheap junk thinking that you just saved a lot of money, this story is for you: Link - via DonationCoder


Comments (4)

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Newest 4 Comments

I've tried to steer clear of cheap stuff lately. It's just not worth it. The clothes smell like chemicals (which no amount of washing seems to get out), the shoes give you blisters, and the toys... well, I guess they're okay if you don't mind a bit of heavy metal exposure. I may not have the newest and best of everything, but at least I know that what I do have will last a while... and won't cause me physical harm.
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Blue jeans are a classic example of this.

Remember in the 60s and 70s they would last for years and it was no sin to patch them as they got faded.

Now all jeans look new and are thrown out with any sign of wear. If you want them faded and with holes in them, you buy them that way.

Also T shirts are another example of items that are discarded after any wear
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@Miss Cellania: How would that work? The knight would say that the knave would lie, and the knave would say that the knight would lie.
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I so nearly have the answer.

If you ask all three guardians "How would chaos answer the question 'is chaos telling the truth today?' ", then you will always get Y, Y, N. N will be the Knave. And this will also tell you which of Ja/Da is yes.

If only you had one more question to ask the Knave which of the other two was Chaos...

Of course you might get lucky and hit an N in the first two Guardians you question; but that's not a solution.

Only one
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Ask each person if the third person is Chaos. If the first two answers are the same, ask the third person if the first (or second person) is Chaos. I'm not going to list out all my handwork, but I think that system works.
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Nevermind, my solution should be amended so that the third always answers for one or two, but I cannot resolve the condition when the first two answers are the same based on whether or not Chaos is lying.
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Hmm, you have to ask the same person all three questions, right?

So, the first question is "Are you a liar." All three will answer no to that, so you know what the word for "no" is. Second question, "Will person number 2 tell me that person number 3 is a liar?" If the answer is yes then chaos is a truth teller, if the answer is no then chaos is a liar. The next question is "will person number 2 tell me that person number 3 wants me to go this way?" If chaos is a truth teller then yes means that's the bad way, no means it's the good way. If chaos is a liar then yes is good, no is bad.
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With two people you ask which way to your village. The liar will point to the truthful village and the truthful one will point to his own village so they will both point the same way.
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With two people, I think the question is "which way will he tell me is safe" and the answer will be the way to danger. This question is much harder because if you go to the original post, there is a clarification that the Knight and Knave do not know whether Chaos will answer truthfully.
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At what point do logic puzzles become so convoluted and arbitrary that they pass from intriguing to nonsensical? Wherever that point exists, this one has blown past it with the speed of an unladen sparrow.
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I have part of it solved

if you ask "does ja (or da, doesn't matter which one) mean no?", and the person answers with the same word, then they're lying, so you'd be able to tell who the knight or the knave is by seeing which one is the "odd one out"

here's why:

If ja meant no, and the person answered with ja, then they'd be lying, because they'd either be:

A) saying "yes", which, if you think about it, would contradict itself, or
B) saying "no", which also would contradict itself (by saying "no", they're confirming the question, while at the same time negating it)

either way the person is lying. There will be two "knaves" or two "knights" when you ask the question to all three. Whoever is left out is the true knight or knave.
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I think this is the answer:
Ja=yes Knight Knave Chaos (truthful)
Are you Chaos? da ja ja
Does Ja = yes? ja da ja
Does Da = No? ja da ja

Ja=yes Knight Knave Chaos (lies)
Are you Chaos? da ja da
Does Ja = yes? ja da da
Does Da = No? ja da da

Ja=No Knight Knave Chaos (truthful)
Are you Chaos? ja da da
Does Ja = yes? ja da ja
Does Da = No? ja da ja

Ja=No Knight Knave Chaos (lies)
Are you Chaos? ja da ja
Does Ja = yes? ja da da
Does Da = No? ja da da

So if one answers the same for all 3 questions while the other two answer different for 1 & 2 then the one that answered all the same is chaos and Ja is yes, then you know who knight and Knave are.

If two answer the same for all three then the one that didn't is Chaos and Ja is no and the one that agreed with Chaos on question 2 is Knight.

Anybody see anything wrong in the logic?
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correction:

If two answer the same for all three then the one that didn't is Chaos and Ja is no and the one that said Ja with Chaos on question 2 is Knight.
*********

This took forever to write out the logic in words.
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@ Cluck: No you have three questions MAX and you must ask EACH knight ONE question. You can't ask three questions and have all three answer each one.
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wow...all you have to ask is one question to all three. A question that you know the answer to (is green grass green?). You can figure out who is telling the truth from that. Then ask a fourth question to the person that was telling the truth about which path is safe. This is a logic question that states you can only ask three questions without giving the reason for that. Actually, you can ask as many questions you like.
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soberdrunk-
What about knowing what's yes and what's no? And where do you get the part about asking as many questions as you like?

I'm sure the riddle involves the tossing of the coin somehow.
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I've had the rhetorical conversation before about color. Orange was the subject, and what if I perceive "orange" the way you perceive "green" and it Always boils down to empty rhetoric.
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Ask Guardian A, “If I asked you, “Are you Chaos?” in your current mental state, would you say “ja”?”
If A answers “ja”, he’s Chaos. Then ask Guardian B, “If I asked you, “Are you Knight?”, would you say “ja”?”. The answer is “ja” if B is Knight, and either way the problem is now solved.

If A answers “da”, he’s either Knight or Knave. So ask him instead, “If I asked you, “Are you Knight?”, would you say “ja”?” If the answer is “ja” he’s Knight; otherwise he is Knave.
So, now, ask him “If I asked you, “Is guardian B Chaos”, would you say “ja”?” If he answers “ja”, B is Chaos, and C is the opposite of A. If he answers “da” then C is Chaos and B is the opposite of A.
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Very Easy... Ask one of them it does not matter weather he is a knight or a knave. Ask "what will you say if the other guard will point the correct path?" if the guard you asked answered "the left" go to the right.. if he answered "the right" go to left.. simple...
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