{"id":4845,"date":"2014-12-13T09:27:18","date_gmt":"2014-12-12T22:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deadreal.com.au\/dead_things\/?p=4845"},"modified":"2020-10-14T15:29:25","modified_gmt":"2020-10-14T04:29:25","slug":"when-coolers-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deadreal.com.au\/dead_things\/when-coolers-die\/","title":{"rendered":"When coolers die"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Nothing to see here. Move right along. Your interest will not be piqued. There will be no arousal of curiosity, nothing to make you wonder \u2018Well, I never\u2026.\u2019<\/p>\n

Because what we have here is a box. And not just any old box \u2013 which might just possibly be slightly intriguing \u2013 but a box which is deliberately designed to work passively.<\/p>\n

A passive box. Is it possible to sound any more downbeat? Can\u2019t you just feel the intellectual stimulation evaporating faster than spit on a barbie?<\/p>\n

At least that\u2019s what I thought initially. I was expecting lots of stupefyingly mundane blue boxes like this:<\/p>\n

\"Another<\/a><\/p>\n

Because, after all, that\u2019s what a cooler is: just a blue block sitting there solidly, day after day, stubbornly resisting the laws of thermodynamics.<\/p>\n

Is it even possible to tell when a cooler has died? In theory, no matter where it is, it just keeps on doing what it has always done; silently, unobtrusively, almost imperceptibly insulating<\/em>.<\/p>\n

At times it can be hard to tell if these coolers have been abandoned or simply left outdoors in case they are unexpectedly called upon to keep something cool.<\/p>\n

Confession time: I have occasionally taken home a discarded cooler, thinking that it might make a nice addition to my collection of coolers (just joking!), only then to experience a slight pang of conscience that perhaps the cooler in question was not dead but merely resting. It\u2019s hard to give a second life to something which was barely breathing in the first place, if you get my drift.<\/p>\n

So, anyhoo, my expectations vis-\u00e0- vis dead coolers were low. But then, as it turned out, although there was quite a bit of this:<\/p>\n

\"Another<\/a><\/p>\n

There was also a bit of this (which I believe dates back to the 70s):<\/p>\n

\"cooler<\/a><\/p>\n

And this:<\/p>\n

\"Another<\/a><\/p>\n

And then a round one:<\/p>\n

\"cooler<\/a><\/p>\n

And a green one:<\/p>\n

\"cooler<\/a><\/p>\n

And even an upside-down one:<\/p>\n

\"cooler<\/a><\/p>\n

And so suddenly, you know, against all odds, the cooler is starting to look a little\u2026 err\u2026 cool.<\/p>\n

So there\u2019s probably a moral in there somewhere. Maybe even a take home. So to speak. I\u2019ll leave that for others to sort out.<\/p>\n

All I know is that I\u2019ll be giving those dead coolers a little bit more attention from now on. Respect.<\/p>\n\n\t\t