Stock Stuff

 So I latched on to a rubber (like) end cap and pondered it.
It came from some old drug paraphenalia, namely a small plastic water pipe that had been used as a hash storage container.
The pipe makers had selected this part to be the bottom of the vessel containing the mouthful of water the pipe required. The end cap neatly and snugly fit over one end of the cheap plastic cylinder that was the vessel.

The end cap seemed generic. This notion was reinforced by the embossed text on the end cap. 5 lines of text, all but the first line alphanumeric code. (eg.    MS90376-24R  )

I imagine the piece came off of a shelf. A shelf at the manufacturer's site.
And I imagine that the manufacturer had made and inventoried lots of similar pieces, with similar but distinct text/code embossed on them.

I also imagine that the piece was inexpensive, in a relative sense, for the pipe maker to obtain.
And part of that pricing outcome was surely due to the 'generic' nature of the part.
I imagine the manufacturer sold that very part to lots of folks in different companies, for a whole bunch of different applications and uses. It was not a single purpose part. And the manufacturer had figured that out. And somehow the pipe maker discovered the piece or the manufacturer and was pleased that she did.

What's my point?
Well I'm advocating that these opportunities to explore cheap, generic parts be more convenient.
And I can see it coming not that far off.

With artificial intelligence type software that is all the rage in the mainstream media these days. This being a year post intro of Chat gpt.

I can imagine a creative type, a maker type, just browsing cheap, generic parts.
In a visually pleasing, effectively communicating, hyper convenient format (even as to ordering, payment  and delivery.)
Novel assemblies and uses might well result. And that would be a good thing.

So ends this piece.