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Annael
Immortal
Mar 1 2015, 3:17pm
Post #26 of 176
(1938 views)
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and making change.
I'd say manual typewriter, but I got an electric one for graduation from high school so it's been a REALLY long time since I typed on a manual. I did learn how to type on one.
I know how to care for and ride a horse, but haven't done it in 20 years.
I have a lot of wilderness skills, thanks to Outward Bound and survival courses. Could build an igloo, for instance.
Also know how to make bread from scratch. All my friends have breadmakers; I still cherish my big ceramic bread-making bowl.
Technology-wise I remember punching cards to program the mainframe, using floppy and then hard discs to back up my files, and recording shows on a VCR and music on a cassette (still have the player). I still keep paper files even though I back stuff up to Dropbox. I also remember cutting and pasting stuff onto a piece of paper to make a flyer - and in fact, literally cutting and pasting typed material to move it around when writing a paper. For all that, I remember writing papers in longhand.
Using cards and microfiches to look stuff up in the library. Using a mimeograph machine.
I still prefer analog clocks. I remember rotary-dial phones and party lines.
Never did learn to use a slide rule, which is odd considering that my grandfather was a math professor. He had whole pages of logarithms memorized.
Finally, I used to be a pretty good downhill skier, as in "bring on the double black diamond runs!" I haven't downhill skied in 16 years and doubt I will again. Because I also remember when a lift ticket was $8 and you could get skis, poles, and boots for $50.
(Also remember when cigarettes were 50 cents a pack. Seriously, how does anyone afford to smoke these days?)
Since evidence can be adduced and interpreted to corroborate a virtually limitless array of world views, the human challenge is to engage that world view or set of perspectives which brings forth the most valuable, life-enhancing consequences.
- Richard Tarnas, The Passion of the Western Mind
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
(This post was edited by Annael on Mar 1 2015, 3:19pm)
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Greenwood Hobbit
Valinor
Mar 1 2015, 4:31pm
Post #27 of 176
(1884 views)
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In the late 60s we used to set up the microphone on the old Grundig and record 'I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again' from the radio every week. Also on tape at some point in the past was a reording of my mother singing 'Jerusalem' (not the 'and did those feet' one, the 'lift up your gates and sing' one) with the budgie chortling in the background; how I wish I still had that - Mum had a beautiful voice - but it vanished at some point over the years.
Slide projectors are pretty much gone too; Powerpoint, laptop and projector is the way to go if you're giving a talk and want to show people pictures now.
Banda duplicators and carbon paper - eeew, messy. Not sorry they're gone!
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Donry
Tol Eressea
Mar 1 2015, 4:42pm
Post #28 of 176
(1861 views)
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at this rate...the kids don't write anything anymore....another 15 years and it will be a lost art.
What's the matter, James? No glib remark? No pithy comeback?"
Twitter - @DonryFetor
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swordwhale
Tol Eressea
Mar 1 2015, 5:11pm
Post #29 of 176
(1890 views)
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I just hang things on hangers out of the washer, and let them dry straight... underwear, stuffed in drawer, socks not sorted...
I learned on a manual shift car (neighbor's... i survived one lesson each with Mom and Dad and fled to neighbor).. I think I remember how to... uh... shift... uh...
I have slides, no projector... slides.... from a Styx concert where I was Right Up Front... slides... 
I still remember the wonderfully intoxicating smell of fresh mimeographed papers in school (sniiiiiffffffff)... odd, because all other artificial chemical odors make me want to barf... (do NOT put that smelly thing in the bathroom or I WILL stick a fork in your forehead...).
Morse Code, that should be like Sign Language, something we all learn in school.
I had a typewriter, and found writing on a computer, where you can edit so much easier, was, well, so much easier...
I have absolutely no idea what a keypunch is...
Na 'Aear, na 'Aear! Mýl 'lain nallol, I sûl ribiel a i falf 'loss reviol...
To the sea, to the sea, the white gulls are crying, the wind is blowing and the white foam is flying...
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swordwhale
Tol Eressea
Mar 1 2015, 5:17pm
Post #30 of 176
(1858 views)
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road fund tax discs???????????????
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Clearly a UK thing. Waht????
In the US we have yearly inspections, so must have little sticker thingie in windshield on left to show your car won't fall apart in the path of a semi or something...
Also yearly license/registration renewal, with a little sticker that goes on your license plate (and you clean the plate verrrrrry well and you hope the glue is good).
I guess all of this helps pay for the roads... funny that we still use little stickers instead of license plate recognition computer systems or something.
And there are still a few folks who leave their license plates dirty enough so you can't read them (not...actually...legal) and know they're expired...
Na 'Aear, na 'Aear! Mýl 'lain nallol, I sûl ribiel a i falf 'loss reviol...
To the sea, to the sea, the white gulls are crying, the wind is blowing and the white foam is flying...
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Annael
Immortal
Mar 1 2015, 5:30pm
Post #31 of 176
(1863 views)
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My family still plays card games on a table, but how long before we all play them on our computers?
Since evidence can be adduced and interpreted to corroborate a virtually limitless array of world views, the human challenge is to engage that world view or set of perspectives which brings forth the most valuable, life-enhancing consequences.
- Richard Tarnas, The Passion of the Western Mind
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
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swordwhale
Tol Eressea
Mar 1 2015, 5:33pm
Post #32 of 176
(1862 views)
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vinyl and cursive and stuff oh my
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I forgot about that... I have a bunch of archival vinyl and nothing to play it on.
We'd better resurrect cursive because it is useful. I have been in situations where having a hardcopy of emergency info is important. And taking notes on an electronic device is just maddening... batteries die, texting on Tinkebell's screen is ridiculous for those of us with hands like dwarves, and pencils never fail (keep a knife handy for sharpening). Cursive is also useful for journals, sketchbooks and other handwrought stuff. There is a wonderful interest in scrapbooking (I work at an arts and crafts store) and that requires a total lack of electronics. Calligraphy is not dead yet either.
I think the UK vs US difference in stickshift use may have something to do with America's vast distances and the necessity of having a car to go those vast distances, as opposed to a smaller landscape with more public transportation.
Coins: I know people who will say "keep the change" (which most retail places can't accept), or who hate having it in their pockets (weight). An easy fix is to dump it in a container each day and let it build up... ala that first scene in UP.
I remember pen pals. One introduced me to LOTR by giving me an old set. I found her through a Star Wars magazine. She lived nearby and we hung out a few times. I do like the immediacy of online forums and emails and such. You also get to talk to a lot more diverse people from diverse places.
Annael! Brilliant skill set! Igloos... I have the dogsled to go with that.... If you can't downhill ski, get a dog and a pair of cross-country skiis and ski-jor... less expensive, trails are free.
In a sort of reverse of all of this... I no longer can go down to the river, and not see eagles. They have made a huge comeback since the 60s, and are all over the Chespeake watershed.
A friend of mine works for a local TV station and I am pretty sure he has the Skill of the Reel to Reel. Sadly, no longer necessary.
Na 'Aear, na 'Aear! Mýl 'lain nallol, I sûl ribiel a i falf 'loss reviol...
To the sea, to the sea, the white gulls are crying, the wind is blowing and the white foam is flying...
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Ataahua
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Mar 1 2015, 6:26pm
Post #33 of 176
(1864 views)
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I beg to differ that shorthand is obsolete.
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It's still taught in journalism schools and I use it every day in my communications job. It's also handy when writing Christmas gift lists as no one can read what I'm getting them! 
Celebrimbor: "Pretty rings..."
Dwarves: "Pretty rings..."
Men: "Pretty rings..."
Sauron: "Mine's better."
"Ah, how ironic, the addictive qualities of Sauron’s master weapon led to its own destruction. Which just goes to show, kids - if you want two small and noble souls to succeed on a mission of dire importance... send an evil-minded beggar with them too." - Gandalf's Diaries, final par, by Ufthak.
Ataahua's stories
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Ethel Duath
Half-elven
Mar 1 2015, 7:19pm
Post #34 of 176
(1847 views)
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cursive writing. We have so many family letters dating back at least 4 generations. The style of the oldest is different from what I learned, and also seems to predate the Palmer method, so it took me awhile to decipher some words. It'll be impossible once the skill is lost.
My kids learned it, but do not generally use it.
I iron a bit here and there. The absence of ironing has rendered obsolete one of my favorite phrases in violin teaching, for working out tough spots in a piece of music: "Don't keep ironing the whole shirt. Focus on the wrinkled spots."
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Magpie
Immortal
Mar 1 2015, 7:23pm
Post #35 of 176
(1812 views)
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we just plastered over the spot where our wall phone had been
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I have fond memories of the wall phone in the house where I grew up. Remember how you could cock it on the top edge of the console while you waited for someone to else in the family come take the call for them?
Are you able to find film and get it developed without too much hassle? I thought Kodak was going to stop making film.
LOTR soundtrack website ~ magpie avatar gallery
TORn History Mathom-house ~ Torn Image Posting Guide
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Magpie
Immortal
Mar 1 2015, 7:26pm
Post #36 of 176
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You would have to have an active landline account to use it though... correct?
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serendipitously, there was an article in this mornings paper (another almost obsolete item... the Sunday paper which used to be huge is now often not much bigger than the Wed paper which was only somewhat bigger than the other days) about cell vs landline in disasters/emergencies.
According to that article, one can get a landline for much cheaper than we're paying so I'm going to have call since I don't want to give it up but it's costing us way too much for how much we use it.
My handwriting is awful now too. It takes muscle strength that we don't have when we don't write enough.
oh, and... my husband who's a big fan of Hawaiian and Hawaiian style shirts still irons all of them. I will steam press wrinkles out of things between dry cleaning. We have a ironing board permanently set up in our largish bathroom.
LOTR soundtrack website ~ magpie avatar gallery
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(This post was edited by Magpie on Mar 1 2015, 7:27pm)
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Magpie
Immortal
Mar 1 2015, 7:37pm
Post #40 of 176
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I agree stick shift isn't obsolete
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I just threw that in there because other people listed it and it kind of served the same function of 'what color is this dress'. lol.
That is, what one person considers obsolete isn't at all considered that by another. Good discussion fodder. :-)
I learned on a stick. My dad was a mechanic and when I bought my first car in 1970, he said he'd do all the work on it for free. I just had to pay for parts at his cost and he couldn't fix an automatic. And he wouldn't touch a foreign car. :-)
And the Mister also fixed his own cars so we had sticks for years. I think the last one left the family about 2 years ago.
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Magpie
Immortal
Mar 1 2015, 7:46pm
Post #41 of 176
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my first job in 1970 was as a cashier at Kresge's Five and Dime.
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well... by the time I worked there, it was actually just 'Kresge's' but the Five and Dime hadn't been dropped that long before and lots of people who shopped there still called it that.
We had a couple of newer cash registers in the store but they had some that looked like this:
Egad I thought that thing was fun to work. I can't remember what all the choices were. The column on the left probably determined categories. Then you punched in the numbers for the cost of the item by choosing from the columns further over to the right. Then the last column I think was stuff like 'taxable' or 'not taxable' or something like that. Then you moved the lever to the proper slot - adding something - subtotal - amount tendered - etc. And for each entry you pushed that bar on the right.
So, I would probably hit 6 buttons (for an item priced over $10), move the lever, then hit the bar for every item rung up and a few less moves for the subtotal, total, and amount tendered process.
Some have talked about the thrill of driving a stick shift. This cash register was like that.
And the best part, when the power went out, you could still work it by turning a crank on the side so when that happened once, we were still able to service all the customers in the store on that register!
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Magpie
Immortal
Mar 1 2015, 7:56pm
Post #43 of 176
(1810 views)
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I prefer analog clocks, as well
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I realized I quickly determined the time by the position of the chock hands. I had to do more mental math to do that with a digital clock.
I also realized that when I took to typing the bulk of my correspondence (on a computer) rather than handwriting it out, I lost a good bulk of my spelling ability. I was spelling words by memorizing the movement of my hand. My hand moved in a particular motion to spell a word without my ever having to consciously think of the letters. When I typed them, I had to consciously think of the letters and I didn't have that 'memory' in my head quite as deeply ingrained.
For 5 years I had the dictionary site onelook.com on my bookmark bar because I used it so often. Now I just let the computer help me out with that.
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Magpie
Immortal
Mar 1 2015, 8:00pm
Post #44 of 176
(1812 views)
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slide projectors never worked right anyhow
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Slides were always getting stuck or were upside down or sideway. lol... there's a contextual humorous situation that no one would get now.
But we have tons of slides of pictures we took around 1975. We got out the projector about a year ago to watch them again.
My father had a ton of slides from my childhood which my sister has now. She keeps saying she's going to digitize them but like all the other things she's going to do... it never happens.
I finally, with great sorrow, threw out a large bag of my father's reel to reels because I knew in my hear I would never buy a reel to reel machine to play them. My sister's pretty pissed I did that. But I know if she had taken them they'd still be in a bag next to the slides on her 'someday, to-do list'.
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Mar 1 2015, 8:08pm
Post #45 of 176
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Brings back memories of high school, when I'd punch dozens of those, each one line of FORTRAN code, and rubber-band them together, and pray that they wouldn't get out of order when the teacher took them to the person over at Worcester PolyTech who ran them through their Hollerith card reader and into the university's computer...
...and then wait expectantly for the printout of my program (on the large teletype paper with the holes along either edge) to see whether it had run, or bombed...
Ah, that was the golden age of programming. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
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Annael
Immortal
Mar 1 2015, 8:14pm
Post #46 of 176
(1818 views)
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I've been slowly converting old slides to digital
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Borrowed my dad's slide scanner for the job. It's taking ages even though I've tossed a good three-quarters of the slides.
But what a trip down memory lane it's been!
Since evidence can be adduced and interpreted to corroborate a virtually limitless array of world views, the human challenge is to engage that world view or set of perspectives which brings forth the most valuable, life-enhancing consequences.
- Richard Tarnas, The Passion of the Western Mind
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
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Riven Delve
Tol Eressea
Mar 1 2015, 8:15pm
Post #47 of 176
(1810 views)
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I'm so glad I learned how to make change in my head during my teen-years job (we had one of those antique cash registers that ought to have been in the Smithsonian), because now that I have to work at the thrown-together concession stands at my kids' sports events, it helps to be able to do all that figuring in my head in 10 seconds or less. So pfft! to technology. It's not everywhere just yet.
“Tollers,” Lewis said to Tolkien, “there is too little of what we really like in stories. I am afraid we shall have to try and write some ourselves.”
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Aragorn's Sexy Scar
Bree
Mar 1 2015, 8:16pm
Post #48 of 176
(1824 views)
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I don't watch and record as much TV as I used to but I use my VCR to tape the odd sporting event, documentary etc.
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Dame Ioreth
Tol Eressea
Mar 1 2015, 8:52pm
Post #49 of 176
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OK, not needed in *legal* pharmaceutical professions anymore.  I learned it in pharmacy school though. That and how to fill capsules and how to calculate in apothecary units. I'm pretty sure that no one knows what a dram or a scruple is anymore.
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Heed WBA when building blanket forts.
ITLs don't get enough FAS. :)
Where there's life there's hope, and need of vittles.
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
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Ataahua
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Mar 1 2015, 9:10pm
Post #50 of 176
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Reminds me of when I saw The Hobbit stage show with TORN friends in 2005.
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The curtain was closed before the show started and runes had been painted onto them. One of the TORNies turned to the other and said, "They've got the runes wrong."
Geeks are cool.
Celebrimbor: "Pretty rings..."
Dwarves: "Pretty rings..."
Men: "Pretty rings..."
Sauron: "Mine's better."
"Ah, how ironic, the addictive qualities of Sauron’s master weapon led to its own destruction. Which just goes to show, kids - if you want two small and noble souls to succeed on a mission of dire importance... send an evil-minded beggar with them too." - Gandalf's Diaries, final par, by Ufthak.
Ataahua's stories
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