I thought about him Sunday while using some CLR for the first time on the glass doors in my shower (it worked well). He was great at what he did, and beyond the personal tragedy his passing represents to his family, it will probably have a materially negative effect on infomercial retailers coming out with new products. May he rest in peace.
I couldn't agree more. Mays was "the man" amongst Pitchmen. There are other good ones, but he stood out.
There is another way to look at this, however:
While his loss will clearly lower the revenues for the informercial retailers, this might not be a bad thing from a societal perspective. Some of these goods are valuable (CLR is a good example), but a lot of the things he sold were scams.
"Mighty Putty" is a great example. Mighty Putty, for those of you who don't know, is Epoxy Putty. You can buy the exact same product at Home Depot or Lowe's or Tru Value for about 1/4 the cost that Mays was selling it for.
So right there we have a problem - gouging.
And there are other problems re: what expoxy putty is used for. That's the other problem with Mays and his ilk - they aren't known for giving you fair warning about what you are buying. Epoxy is "forever." Once it cures (or "hardens" if you prefer), and it hardens fast, it only comes off with a chisel. That's not hyperbole, btw.
Once cured, you can't sand it. You can't smooth it. You can't adjust it. It's harder than the plaster, wood, or plastic that you have bonded it to. You can't even cut it with any real control.
Some other issues with it:
If you don't have strong hands, you are wasting your time. Epoxy putty has to be torn off of the tubular-lump that it comes in, and it's a lot stiffer than modeling clay. Tearing off a piece is hard. If you decide to "save your hands" and cut it, you had better clean the knife IMMEDIATELY or your knife is now coated (ruined, perhaps) with a coating of epoxy.
Either way, once you tear off a chunk you have to knead it. A lot, actually. Note that the 'core' is white while the outside is another color. Epoxy is a two-part adhesive, and you have to mix it quickly. That's not easy unless you have reasonably strong hands.
And it dries a lovely puke-green or turd-gray, depending upon what color the outer layer is.
Mays pitched it as an "around the house" adhesive, useful for hanging pictures or re-attaching pieces of your shoe (or whatever). And he implied that anyone can use it. These are either misleading or very misleading, depending upon your view.
Epoxy putty is fantastic for emergency repairs. A leaky pipe, a failing joint, a roadside re-attachment of a fender after an accident. But all of these are temporary.
As a permanent adhesive there aren't a lot of situations where epoxy putty is the right choice.
I don't think that Mays was evil, but he was no Boy Scout. Having him off the air might not be the worst thing that happens to the American consumer...
Err, uh, nice sentiment I suppose, but that quotation is actually spoken in reference to the second coming of Jesus Christ (Matthew 24:36, parallel passage in Mark 13:32). I am willing to entertain some doubts as to whether the passing of Billy Mays is a specific sign of that.
You may not live to see the literal second coming, but for everyone of us He comes as a thief in the night. So while one layer of the scripture certainly refers to the literal second coming, another and equally valid reading also refers to the fact your death may come like a thief in the night and you'll see the Savior just the same.
He had been scheduled for a hip replacement operation, his third one* in fact. Not too many 50-year-olds need such surgery. Perhaps his body was just much more "worn" than most people his age.
3rd? Seriously? Holy cow!! What the hell was he doing that he's had to have 3 hip replacements? How did he wear out an artificial hip so fast? He wasn't a former pro athlete or anything.
Oxyclean is a revelation and nothing I've used has been as effective on the sweat stains of my gym clothes/ other organic stains. Nothing cleans the soap scum out of my shower better than Kaboom.
I thought about him Sunday while using some CLR for the first time on the glass doors in my shower (it worked well). He was great at what he did, and beyond the personal tragedy his passing represents to his family, it will probably have a materially negative effect on infomercial retailers coming out with new products. May he rest in peace.
Dave,
I couldn't agree more. Mays was "the man" amongst Pitchmen. There are other good ones, but he stood out.
There is another way to look at this, however:
While his loss will clearly lower the revenues for the informercial retailers, this might not be a bad thing from a societal perspective. Some of these goods are valuable (CLR is a good example), but a lot of the things he sold were scams.
"Mighty Putty" is a great example. Mighty Putty, for those of you who don't know, is Epoxy Putty. You can buy the exact same product at Home Depot or Lowe's or Tru Value for about 1/4 the cost that Mays was selling it for.
So right there we have a problem - gouging.
And there are other problems re: what expoxy putty is used for. That's the other problem with Mays and his ilk - they aren't known for giving you fair warning about what you are buying. Epoxy is "forever." Once it cures (or "hardens" if you prefer), and it hardens fast, it only comes off with a chisel. That's not hyperbole, btw.
Once cured, you can't sand it. You can't smooth it. You can't adjust it. It's harder than the plaster, wood, or plastic that you have bonded it to. You can't even cut it with any real control.
Some other issues with it:
If you don't have strong hands, you are wasting your time. Epoxy putty has to be torn off of the tubular-lump that it comes in, and it's a lot stiffer than modeling clay. Tearing off a piece is hard. If you decide to "save your hands" and cut it, you had better clean the knife IMMEDIATELY or your knife is now coated (ruined, perhaps) with a coating of epoxy.
Either way, once you tear off a chunk you have to knead it. A lot, actually. Note that the 'core' is white while the outside is another color. Epoxy is a two-part adhesive, and you have to mix it quickly. That's not easy unless you have reasonably strong hands.
And it dries a lovely puke-green or turd-gray, depending upon what color the outer layer is.
Mays pitched it as an "around the house" adhesive, useful for hanging pictures or re-attaching pieces of your shoe (or whatever). And he implied that anyone can use it. These are either misleading or very misleading, depending upon your view.
Epoxy putty is fantastic for emergency repairs. A leaky pipe, a failing joint, a roadside re-attachment of a fender after an accident. But all of these are temporary.
As a permanent adhesive there aren't a lot of situations where epoxy putty is the right choice.
I don't think that Mays was evil, but he was no Boy Scout. Having him off the air might not be the worst thing that happens to the American consumer...
Err, uh, nice sentiment I suppose, but that quotation is actually spoken in reference to the second coming of Jesus Christ (Matthew 24:36, parallel passage in Mark 13:32). I am willing to entertain some doubts as to whether the passing of Billy Mays is a specific sign of that.
You may not live to see the literal second coming, but for everyone of us He comes as a thief in the night. So while one layer of the scripture certainly refers to the literal second coming, another and equally valid reading also refers to the fact your death may come like a thief in the night and you'll see the Savior just the same.
Also a description of the second coming and of judgment (1 Thessalonians 5:2, 2 Peter 3:10). It's not really a funereal reference.
He had been scheduled for a hip replacement operation, his third one* in fact. Not too many 50-year-olds need such surgery. Perhaps his body was just much more "worn" than most people his age.
* = presumably, one was being re-done
3rd? Seriously? Holy cow!! What the hell was he doing that he's had to have 3 hip replacements? How did he wear out an artificial hip so fast? He wasn't a former pro athlete or anything.
He was, I believe, a former college lineman, however
Re Billy,
Oxyclean is a revelation and nothing I've used has been as effective on the sweat stains of my gym clothes/ other organic stains. Nothing cleans the soap scum out of my shower better than Kaboom.
RIP Billy Mays
Stolen from another site:
That's pretty hilarious...