Who came up with this useless product?

[Mental Magpie]

That  ranks right up there with the iced tea maker in degree of useless.

I have to disagree.  The less time I have to spend making something I don't like (I make it for Dark Boyfriend), the happier I am.

Actually, It takes less time and fewer steps to make it without the teamaker for me. As well as less mess and less counter space.

I have a pouch and water plus the machine.  Pouch goes in, water goes in, and done.  I don't have to stand around and watch things boil or stir things or any other such thing.  Pouch goes in, water goes in, and I walk away.  I like that.

[snowdragon]

That  ranks right up there with the iced tea maker in degree of useless.

I have to disagree.  The less time I have to spend making something I don't like (I make it for Dark Boyfriend), the happier I am.

Loved my Ice Tea Maker....used it til it broke and still morn the loss of it.

[RingTailedLemur]

I'd like to complain about the new "eco friendly" sinks and dryers that are popping up everywhere. You know, the sinks with motion detectors/automated handles that you push once so they dispense a measured amount of water? I don't know who came up with those, but I need more than 4 seconds to actually wash my hands. In some cases I have to pull back and convince the machine that I'm a different person so it will give me more water.  And while the idea of paperless hand dryers is a good idea, there's usually only 2 in a bathroom, and they aren't efficient enough (the Dyson Airblades in Europe are awesome, the dryers in America are not) to dry my hands. And I can't spend a large amount of time drying my hands, because there's a queue forming up behind me. Argh.

Sorry but I love those. I get so mad when I go into a bathroom and some fool has left the tap running because they are too lazy or disinclined to turn it off. Women in some parts of the world spend half their lives carrying water from filthy water sources and would be weeping at the thought of beautiful clean water being treated with such disrespect.

Fiskars makes a really swell hand dryer too.  It doesn't have the tube of air that points down and you 'scrub' your hands under.  THIS one has two sides, and both flow out some fierce wind you put your hand between.  Like a double sided version hand sized thing of the Big jumbo air blowers than blow most of the water off your car at the car wash.  I know I'm explaining it horribly, but it really does work well on your hands.  I've only seen it at the Valley Faire Food Court in San Jose, and I like it lots.  It's pretty loud though, which is obnoxious.

Hands go in the gap while the air comes from either side to, basically, squeegee your hand.

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Like the Dyson Airblade!  I like those, they work so much better in public loos than the regular hand dryers.

...

I'm excited about a device in a public loo.  I am my mother.   

[Wulfie]

That  ranks right up there with the iced tea maker in degree of useless.

I have to disagree.  The less time I have to spend making something I don't like (I make it for Dark Boyfriend), the happier I am.

Loved my Ice Tea Maker....used it til it broke and still morn the loss of it.

Same here. I never had to worry about someone not rinsing out the coffee grounds out of the basket or not rinsing out the coffee caraf before making tea. Coffee is a migrane trigger for me and clean pure ice tea is worth the hassel for me (before I started making Fridge Tea)

[Mental Magpie]

That  ranks right up there with the iced tea maker in degree of useless.

I have to disagree.  The less time I have to spend making something I don't like (I make it for Dark Boyfriend), the happier I am.

Actually, It takes less time and fewer steps to make it without the teamaker for me. As well as less mess and less counter space.

I have a pouch and water plus the machine.  Pouch goes in, water goes in, and done.  I don't have to stand around and watch things boil or stir things or any other such thing.  Pouch goes in, water goes in, and I walk away.  I like that.

Boil?  Counter space??   To make ice tea, I fill a pitcher with water.  Put in teabags, and put the pitcher in the fridge.  Next morning, I have iced tea!   There's nothing to boil, nothing to take up counter space.
Been doing it this way for YEARS.

Dark Boyfriend doesn't like it like that, unfortunately; doesn't think it gets the right taste out of the tea bags.  I guess it's only useless if you make tea a certain way and only helpful if you make tea a different way.

[Elfmama]

That  ranks right up there with the iced tea maker in degree of useless.

I have to disagree.  The less time I have to spend making something I don't like (I make it for Dark Boyfriend), the happier I am.

Loved my Ice Tea Maker....used it til it broke and still morn the loss of it.

Same here. I never had to worry about someone not rinsing out the coffee grounds out of the basket or not rinsing out the coffee caraf before making tea. Coffee is a migrane trigger for me and clean pure ice tea is worth the hassel for me (before I started making Fridge Tea)

Just rinsing out a carafe or machine innards won't work, anyway. Those oils that give coffee its flavor are very penetrating, and have to be scrubbed hard to get them out.  Even bleached, sometimes.  I think it was Dark Magdalena who says she doesn't like it?  Do you dislike tea because you think it tastes like very weak coffee? It is not supposed to taste ANYTHING like coffee!  Tea has flavors all of its own.  And you certainly don't have to stand around and wait while it boils!  Pour boiling water over the tea bag.  Done. 

[Mental Magpie]

That  ranks right up there with the iced tea maker in degree of useless.

I have to disagree.  The less time I have to spend making something I don't like (I make it for Dark Boyfriend), the happier I am.

Loved my Ice Tea Maker....used it til it broke and still morn the loss of it.

Same here. I never had to worry about someone not rinsing out the coffee grounds out of the basket or not rinsing out the coffee caraf before making tea. Coffee is a migrane trigger for me and clean pure ice tea is worth the hassel for me (before I started making Fridge Tea)

Just rinsing out a carafe or machine innards won't work, anyway. Those oils that give coffee its flavor are very penetrating, and have to be scrubbed hard to get them out.  Even bleached, sometimes.  I think it was Dark Magdalena who says she doesn't like it?  Do you dislike tea because you think it tastes like very weak coffee? It is not supposed to taste ANYTHING like coffee!  Tea has flavors all of its own.  And you certainly don't have to stand around and wait while it boils!  Pour boiling water over the tea bag.  Done.

I don't like coffee either 

If I'm to pour boiling water over the tea bag...then I have to wait for the boiling water.  No, I don't stand there and wait, but I have to keep checking.  I don't like that though it is minimal effort; I want even more minimal effort.  It's just easier for me with a machine.

[lady_disdain]

Have you tried an electric kettle, Magdalena? I love mine!

[Mental Magpie]

Have you tried an electric kettle, Magdalena? I love mine!

No, Dark Boyfriend brought the ice tea maker into the relationship (that just sounds funny) because he's just as lazy as I am so I've only ever used it.

[Luci]

Back again, with my tea recipe:

The equivalent of 4 tea bags in a pint canning jar 1/2 filled with water. Microwave 1 1/2 minutes (2 in my old microwave). Let it sit for 4 min to 12 hours. The staples on the tea bags are not large enough to spark.

Pour that tea concentrate into a 1/2 gallon container, add water to fill.

I use 2 black tea bags and 2 Constant Comment bags. It makes me happy. If I don't have Constant Comment, I add 1/2 lemon juiced.

No counter space, no boiling that I have to supervise, and it's ready when I am.

I hate sweet tea, but the sugar can be added at step 3.

[Mental Magpie]

Back again, with my tea recipe:

The equivalent of 4 tea bags in a pint canning jar 1/2 filled with water. Microwave 1 1/2 minutes (2 in my old microwave). Let it sit for 4 min to 12 hours. The staples on the tea bags are not large enough to spark.

Pour that tea concentrate into a 1/2 gallon container, add water to fill.

I use 2 black tea bags and 2 Constant Comment bags. It makes me happy. If I don't have Constant Comment, I add 1/2 lemon juiced.

No counter space, no boiling that I have to supervise, and it's ready when I am.

I hate sweet tea, but the sugar can be added at step 3.

That's still a lot more planning than "Pouch in, water in, I go away".  I have to measure out the equivalent of 4 tea bags, I have to press the buttons on the microwave, I have to come back when the microwave is done, I have to pour the concentrate into something else, and add water to that, too.  I'm not saying your way is difficult, but I am saying that an ice tea maker is not a useless product.  Pouch in, water in, done is a lot simpler, IMO.  Maybe not enough simpler for you to justify an ice tea maker, but enough for me to.

[Piratelvr1121]

And just so I am not straying too far off topic here, my favorite useless product ever was the flowbee. You put an attachment on the end of yur vacuum hose, and started vacuuming around your head, and the attachment would cut your hair as it was being sucked up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3G1cwqYkO4

"just bounce it all over your head!"

I'm sorry, right now all that's going through my head is the part of Wayne's World when the guy comes on with the "Suck Cut."  He demonstrates it's use on Garth, saying "As you can see, it sucks as it cuts!"

That someone actually made one is just too funny.

[Lynnv]

That's still a lot more planning than "Pouch in, water in, I go away".  I have to measure out the equivalent of 4 tea bags, I have to press the buttons on the microwave, I have to come back when the microwave is done, I have to pour the concentrate into something else, and add water to that, too.  I'm not saying your way is difficult, but I am saying that an ice tea maker is not a useless product.  Pouch in, water in, done is a lot simpler, IMO.  Maybe not enough simpler for you to justify an ice tea maker, but enough for me to.

My mom feels that way about hers.  She and her DH drink a LOT of iced tea and they love their iced tea maker in the way that some people love their coffee machines.  It wouldn't make sense for me since I seldom drink iced tea, but they use it almost daily.

[Harriet Jones]

That's still a lot more planning than "Pouch in, water in, I go away".  I have to measure out the equivalent of 4 tea bags, I have to press the buttons on the microwave, I have to come back when the microwave is done, I have to pour the concentrate into something else, and add water to that, too.  I'm not saying your way is difficult, but I am saying that an ice tea maker is not a useless product.  Pouch in, water in, done is a lot simpler, IMO.  Maybe not enough simpler for you to justify an ice tea maker, but enough for me to.

My mom feels that way about hers.  She and her DH drink a LOT of iced tea and they love their iced tea maker in the way that some people love their coffee machines.  It wouldn't make sense for me since I seldom drink iced tea, but they use it almost daily.

I found it useful, too.  I don't drink tea, and my boyfriend-at-the-time did.  It was so much easier to set the machine up, press the button, then have correctly made sweet iced tea sometime later.  Making iced tea without the machine isn't hard, but having the machine was nice.

[lowspark]

I used to have an Iced Tea Maker and loved it. I agree - no muss no fuss. But when I remodeled my kitchen, I installed a hot water dispenser so now I use that instead. Hot water and bags into pitcher. Let stand 5 minutes. Remove bags, add ice. No waiting for the water to boil so it's very convenient. I love that hot water dispenser. It's great for any instant hot drink or food such as oatmeal. But I agree, the iced tea maker was perfect for my purposes.

The pancake maker is $43 on ebay! Wow. That's a lot of money for something that makes two itty bitty pancakes at a time.