Things that are archaic
phone booths
I was watching a movie it had phone booths in it in Manhattan. There are no phone booths there that I recall....
I asked a friend's sixteen year old daughter if she had ever used a 'pay phone'. I had to explain what a pay phone was.
Archaic also rans:
rotary dial phone
film camera
"little black book"
knobs (like on a TV or radio, nothing has knobs anymore)
Also archaic, the phrase: "Don't touch that dial..."
"I'm a small black woman in a big silver box ..."
It's even rare to see payphones anymore. Where does Superman go to change these days?
We're a bit short on honest-to-goodness video arcades (not just a corner of the movie theater or a theme restaurant).
phone booths
I was watching a movie it had phone booths in it in Manhattan. There are no phone booths there that I recall....
There are quasi phone booths in GCT, I think they only take cards or can make collect calls. I'll ask Mrs. Foot, she told me about them.
It just occurred to me that we may have lost phone booths because Americans have become too fat to comfortably fit in them?
Heck, you can hardly find a pay phone of any sort around here, let alone one in a phone booth. I blame the ubiquitous cell phone. Also, is this just my small town or are those big mail drop boxes disappearing elsewhere, too?
Night watchmen.
It's all done with video and cameras now.
elevator operator.
Why are sound effects people still using the vinyl record player scratch?
There are payphones at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. My kids had never seen them before. I called them on my cell phone so they could use one.
Dot matrix printer paper. My wife was volunteering at the elementary school the other day, and the librarian had her separating the sheets of old dot matrix paper so kids could draw on them.
I live in a small village and we still have the call box that was around when I was a kid. It used to be that the teenagers hung around scaring away the old folk who wanted to use it but now thanks to mobiles the coffin-dodgers get free run.
Why are sound effects people still using the vinyl record player scratch?
Don't they have the laugh-track people who made Dick van Dyke more amusing since we weren't sure where the funny parts in the show were laughing at jokes on current sitcoms? Those sound effects guys hold on to stuff forever.
Cassettes and cassette players; records and record players
Does anyone still use dial-up internet?
Night watchmen.
[YOUTUBE]4tA1YfAMnug[/YOUTUBE]
guilty pleasure song for me.
I LIKE it.... so fuck you. I slip from shadow to shaaaa ha dooow
Don't they have the laugh-track people who made Dick van Dyke more amusing since we weren't sure where the funny parts in the show were laughing at jokes on current sitcoms?
is it me? I can't parse this, meow. You been hanging out with tw?
We still have plenty of pay phones here. Probably not as many as there used to be, but still plenty about.
Archaic are cars without power steering over here. The only one I know of that's still registered for the road is my fathers '76 land cruiser.
is it me? I can't parse this, meow. You been hanging out with tw?
Just take a deep breath and try again ... laughtracks. Archaic. Still using the same recorded giggles as I Love Lucy. Now, look at UT's comment about turntable pop and hiss.
Do kids still plaster their walls with posters of their idols? Mine don't... but they could just be weird.
Does anyone still use dial-up internet?
Millions of people do.
really? thanks. I did wonder that it wouldn't have disappeared, but here it seems there are discounts on bundles that make high-speed non-dial up "free" or cheaper. I don't know anyone who uses dial-up any more, even my friends who are so anti-technology they still don't have cellphones. But we are in a suburban college town.
elevator operator.
and table cleaners at Horn and Hardart...
;)
and table cleaners at Horn and Hardart...
;)
not to mention the change girls.
Do kids still plaster their walls with posters of their idols? Mine don't... but they could just be weird.
Denial. Not just a river in Africa...
Our car doesn't have power windows. It's funny when we give rides to other kids. Some of them can't figure out how to roll down the window. They have to ask one of our kids how to do it.
Our car doesn't have power windows. It's funny when we give rides to other kids. Some of them can't figure out how to roll down the window. They have to ask one of our kids how to do it.
one of ours doesn't. Thor was so excited to manually wind down the Window! (he's too little to sit in the front and it's a 2-door, so he was just passing time and wondering what the windy things were.... :lol:
Does anyone still use dial-up internet?
The phone lines in my area only support dial-up Don't be hatin' ;)
the biggest thing for me in watching movies and such is the pre/post cell phone split. Mobile phones have changed our behavior so much.
Remember the scene in Lethal Weapon when Roger stops the car, and uses the "mobile" phone in the trunk of the car to complain about how crazy his partner is?
I was about to mention that very scene! The damn thing is bigger than a shoebox. :lol:
Speaking of archaic, has Urbane Guerrilla been about lately? ;)
We still have plenty of pay phones here. Probably not as many as there used to be, but still plenty about.
Ditto the UK - I can see the one we used to use before we had a telephone from this very room.
Archaic are cars without power steering over here. The only one I know of that's still registered for the road is my fathers '76 land cruiser.
I have never owned a car with power steering yet. Then again I sold my last car a good five years ago.
Do kids still plaster their walls with posters of their idols? Mine don't... but they could just be weird.
Yup. Just on Friday one of the boys was telling me about his new Ben 10 poster. We weren't allowed to put anything on the walls, but Dads made us two huge corkboards from leftover tiles. My sister's mostly had official posters of men she fancied, mine had poems, things I'd traced from '20s and '30s fashion magazines and pictures of models from Just Seventeen. And cats. In a film or a novel I would have become a stylist. Or a lesbian.
I had all kinds of random shite on my walls. Posters of stars, poetry, book covers that I thought were interesting. A whale and a bowl of flowers ala Hitchhiker's. The 'Atheist's prayer'. Some bull-fighting pictures.
The end third of the room was raised up on a platform, with steps up to it, like heavy wood decking. The bed was sunk into that and there was a beam overhead that marked the start of that little section, with the ceiling there high, and the rest of the room brought lower. It was like a little cave, with a big window. A bed sunk into the middle and a desk at one end. The entire thing pretty much was covered with stuff.
That sunken bed was awesome, but it was a motherfucker to change the bedding.
My nieces have a few posters up. And calendars.
The first thing I thought of when I read the Op was the difference between the pre-mobile phone world, and the post-mobile world. As has already been mentioned, narratively it has a profound effect on movies. It's one of my pet delights actually, spotting that kind of time-bound plot point.
Unions.
Well not quite, but soon to be.
Johnny Fuckerfaster "jokes."
The toaster repair store.
Pagers
I was a telesales assistant for a company providing alpha numeric pager systems to corporate and medical sectors in the 90s. I remember at the time that they had much better coverage than any of the mobile phone providers. Intercity Paging. Got took over by motorolla and our branch closed. Funny watching mobile phones become so ubiquitous.
One of the really cool things about working for that company, was that i had my own alpha numeric pager :0 Used to love it when it went off on the bus or train *grins* I liked the idea that people might think I was 'on call' :p Of course, most often when it went off it was cus J was messaging me to tell me to pick up more milk or whatever on my way home lol.
Typewriters, my sig not withstanding. I'm of an age when we still had to use typewriters my first couple of years of college - getting the footnotes right was a nightmare!
I held off on an electric typewriter for years. I used to do a lot of writing when i was in my teens and early twenties, and generally preferred to write by hand, but did get quite attached to my mum's old Adler typewriter. It was a bastard and it hated me (it musthave done, because it took great delight in skinning the tips of my fingers when they went through the keys). But, for some reason, i liked it.
I did break and get an electric typewriter when I was 21/22 ish. Was very cool, with its corrector ribbon and its little memory store.
That was like, a year or so before PCs began to really take off in the high street.
Phones: party lines, where you shared your line with one or more families. MAN that sucked and my 'rents got our own line when my brother and I became teenagers.
I tried to explain to my nieces about rotary dials phones. It was hard to sneak calls to your best friend when "you just saw her on the bus on the way home what could you POSSIBLY have to talk about?"
My mom had one of those big office electric typewriters on which I cranked out my 25 page history paper, with footnotes. Took me forever. Mom kept asking if she could type it for me, but I was writing it as I was typing it, pretty much (had all the research done, just hadn't plopped it all together. Got an A+ anyway!)
Then I got my roomies older electronic (I was a sophomore) when she got a new one because she typed papers for lawbags for money in college. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
Another probably obsolete thing: making money for typing law papers for law students.
Acoustic Coupler Modems. 300 baud.
They are difficult to describe to kids who have only known 14.4K, DSL, or cable.
That kind of modem was very, very hobbyist here. I realise it wasn't exactly mainstream over there either, but in the UK our computer and comms development was on a very different path.
I never quite got over the disappointment of realising that my new Vic20 wasn't actually going to let me hack into anything, least of all the Pentagon.
14.4k was my first connection. Prior to that I was part of the great unconnected multitude, hawking my C64/Amiga to and from mates' houses to interact.
Needle and thread: I don't know if I could locate it in the house, don't know that I've used it in over 10 years. (but this may be a product of the fact that I don't dress nicely, ever)
Similarly, tying things together with *string* seems like an elegant way and yet I don't know what string is available here and whether I could find it if I needed it.
Just been sewing velcro onto a dress - I'll be attaching gold cardboard hearts to it tomorrow. I wanted to keep it as a potential vampire dress for the future, while still transferring it into the Queen of Hearts.
We have string in our house and I know where it is. I was looking for it just the other day but don't remember what for. It's usually used for the garden - tying things up and supporting them. I got a package from ebay wrapped up in brown paper with string. I was so delighted about it I mentioned it in my feedback :)
When I've needed string for a houseplant or something, I've twisted together a bunch of those paper-covered wire twisty ties, having been unable to find regular old string (like kite string.) There's something comforting about a ball of string, to me. That might be because I remember a book about a kid who was sick and home in bed and rigged up his whole room with string and I think some kind of pulley system so anything he needed he just pulled the right string and VOILA. (Never mind all the jumping around he did getting everything in place.)
I don't think the USPS lets us use string any longer, it gets stuck in the automated postal machines.
I have a ball of string, and I think there may be some twine lurking about as well.
Needle and thread: I don't know if I could locate it in the house, don't know that I've used it in over 10 years. (but this may be a product of the fact that I don't dress nicely, ever)
Lil' Pete sewed her Jr Prom dress this year. It was lovely but I suspect that is the first and last dress project.
Isn't she pretty! She favors her dad, too! :)
I have a sewing machine, smaller needle/thread kit for things like buttons and repairs, and probably 3 different sources of plain string. But I really only use the sewing machine once a year or so for the kids' bigger costume projects.
Griff, your daughter is beautiful, and I'm sure you checked out her date thoroughly... but honestly, he looks old enough to be her father!
He's hot though.
I mended a swim suit with needle and thread during a meet on Saturday (not while the swimmer was wearing it). That caught people's attention. It was a practically new Speedo Endurance racing suit, but the seam had come apart.
I always have to re-sew the buttons on the new suits I buy.
If I lose a button, I may as well throw the shirt away. I am not sewing on a stupid button. I lost my buttoneer, and I hate sewing.
I'm such the anti-domestic. :(
Shawnee. I am disappoint.
Griff, your daughter is beautiful, and I'm sure you checked out her date thoroughly... but honestly, he looks old enough to be her father!
He's hot though.
funny as hell.
Lil' Pete sewed her Jr Prom dress this year. It was lovely but I suspect that is the first and last dress project.
Wow, Griff. She's mesmerizing. She's as gorgeous as her mom, so I expect she'll have an extra long walk through the snow when that time comes...;)
You people are the amuse.
funny as hell.
SG has been on a tear, hasn't she? Exceptionally entertaining lately.
We can't have archaic and eat it too.
SG has been on a tear, hasn't she? Exceptionally entertaining lately.
Thanks Spexx, I felt I did crack out the funny last night.
Long overdue.
We got twine.
Do they still have those Emergency Call Boxes on the interstates out west? I'm guessing not.
We have a wide variety of string. Some in huge quantities. I've got a roll of twine that's about half gone now, but it was something like a quarter mile long when it was new. But that reminds me, we're getting low on the general purpose kitchen string. Need to buy another spindle of that. String should be bought at general purpose hardware stores. You know, the little mom and pop places. They usually have a great selection.
Yes, but do you have a box of "pieces of string too short to save"?
[YOUTUBE]MKPLHLVZtD0&start=52s[/YOUTUBE]
I have string in my toolbox. Occasionally useful.
Well, then, you flog 'em to death with it.
:lol2:
The
Society for Creative Anachronism, but that's really kind of the whole point.
The other day, we were watching a show from 1981 hosted by the Smothers Brothers called "Young Comedians." Jerry Seinfeld was featured, with a bit about mugshots in post offices.
Do any post offices still have mugshots hanging up anymore? I only recall noticing them when I was a kid in the '70s, bored to death while waiting in line with my mother.
Lately it seems the USPS wants post offices to appear more like retail stores, and mugshots don't exactly fit in with that image...
Do any post offices still have mugshots hanging up anymore?
Yeah. They do. I saw this one just recently.
:biglaugha
That is one ugly mug though, I tell ya.
Equality
quoted for shits and grins. ya big baby.
This laptop I am trying to get working is archaic. But I can get to the cellar with it, so that is all that matters.
Why are sound effects people still using the vinyl record player scratch?
As asked by the NT Times.
[COLOR="Navy"]Then there’s the record-scratch sound, still used frequently in ads and comic scenes to indicate someone’s train of thought going off the rails. Isn’t it weird that we still use that sound? For the most part, the last 20 years’ worth of viewers and listeners have never even heard that sound in real life! (In a 2008 NPR segment, the host asked some teenagers if they could identify the sound. They couldn’t. “I have no idea…. I know I saw it on TV.”)[/COLOR]
I wonder if at some point it will be replaced by the pulse sound you get if your mobile is too close to speakers?
I wonder if at some point it will be replaced by the pulse sound you get if your mobile is too close to speakers?
One of the things that made the needle slide work was that the sound itself - raw, scratchy - worked well with what it represented. I don't think the bleep, bleep of the mobile phone works in that regard.
But I bet that someone who comes up with a good substitute will do well off it.
How is it that kids don't know what that sound is, when so many djs and bands still scratch records in their music?
quoted for grins. ya big shit.
I would like this archaic looking table top radio.
I know. It's so archaic but I like it.
That looks a bit like the one my gran and grandad had when I was a kid. Cept theirs was set into a wooden cabinet.
That's a beautiful radio. You don't see too many that look like that. Simple, clean lines, attention to quality. Does it work as well as it looks?
I know. We all have probably seen one at one time or another unless a person was born in the 80 's. This one has a partial wooden cabinet. It's so nostalgic isn't it?
That's a beautiful radio. You don't see too many that look like that. Simple, clean lines, attention to quality. Does it work as well as it looks?
The reviews say so. I have not bought it. I don't really NEED it, having the pc and some sennheiser headphones. I WANT it though.
http://www.amazon.com/SANGEAN-WR-11-Table-Top-Radio/dp/B001BGGD8A/ref=pd_sim_e_8I love old radios. I have a standing Philco that looks pretty much like the one in the picture. It works. I also have a desktop wooden one that I can't find a similar picture of (it needs a cord, don't know if it works otherwise.) My dad gave me the big radio, I bought the little one at an auction.
I had a friend whose dad collected old radios. Rooms and rooms of them. I find them completely fascinating. I need more room, would be fun thing to collect.
Have someone fix it. I don't know about collecting them tho. Imagine yourself at 80 with a bunch of cats and old radios. Not unless you are going to set up an antique shop. imo
That would be very cool. The difference would be only in the presentation. I guess I am just a snob. sorry
Isn't it funny how we gravitate toward things as we get older? I keep telling myself not to buy that cheesy little apple teapot. Not yet.
There is not one funky little thing here. It would look so out of place. A midlife crisis purchase at any rate. I'll wait 20 years.
It would be cool if the old radios picked up old radio stations. Seems abhorrent to use a beautiful old radio like that antique to pick up the local shock jock's stupid banter and the sidekick's moronic and sycophantic laughter.
I haven't tried it in a while, but it gets shortwave.
I remember playing with it in my parent's basement, and getting old shows like "The Shadow Knows." So, somewhere, they were doing the old radio shows and we picked them up. Unless we really went back in time a la Twilight Zone.
My brother's satellite radio in his auto gets some classic radio shows, there's a station for them. You could hook that up, but it would sound too "clear" probably.
It would be cool if the old radios picked up old radio stations. Seems abhorrent to use a beautiful old radio like that antique to pick up the local shock jock's stupid banter and the sidekick's moronic and sycophantic laughter.
I remember playing with it in my parent's basement, and getting old shows like "The Shadow Knows." So, somewhere, they were doing the old radio shows and we picked them up. Unless we really went back in time a la Twilight Zone.
I don't put it past kids to have ultra remarkable experiences.
Reminds me of that movie. Frequency.
What's the frequency, Kenneth? :)
About twice a week, Louise.
It would be cool if the old radios picked up old radio stations. Seems abhorrent to use a beautiful old radio like that antique to pick up the local shock jock's stupid banter and the sidekick's moronic and sycophantic laughter.
Yeah, it would be cool if they were twilight zone-y and would only play vintage radio. I've often thought about finding an old carcass and fitting it with a bose machine or some such. Then I could play the Pennies From Heaven soundtrack on a continuous loop.
Together again, for the first time...it's Martin and Lewis!
It would be cool if the old radios picked up old radio stations. Seems abhorrent to use a beautiful old radio like that antique to pick up the local shock jock's stupid banter and the sidekick's moronic and sycophantic laughter.
No, that would not be cool. Ten points off Gryffindor.
Do not put you faith in supernatural phenomenon unless you can be sure what power is behind it and whether it has your best interests at heart.
Crikey people, didn't you learn anything from
Christine?
It would be cool if the old radios picked up old radio stations. Seems abhorrent to use a beautiful old radio like that antique to pick up the local shock jock's stupid banter and the sidekick's moronic and sycophantic laughter.
Don't hold back, Glatt. Tell us how you feel.
Slide rules, 45 records, and 8 track tapes!
When is the last time you saw a caboose?
I have never seen a caboose.
I have never seen a caboose.
They're a shy Canadian relative of the haggis, that's why.
When is the last time you saw a caboose?
True. I always waved at the guy, they always waved back. No more cabooseseses.
I want to live in a caboose.
bread and dripping.
We called those Pepere Sandwichs.
Coz our pepere would always eat 'em.
When is the last time you saw a caboose?
My friend's father had one moved onto his propeerty in the Pocono Mountains and used it as a summer cottage.
I remember seeing a campsite with some of them you could rent. Really cute.
Here're some:
http://www.cassrailroad.com/caboose_rental.htmlbread and dripping.
Dad still has bread & dripping on the odd occasion we have roast beef.
Then again, he used to have cold Yorkshire puddings with jam.
Grandad always talked about kippers and jam, but I don't know that he ever ate it. Jam would seem like an expensive addition to something that didn't really need it.
Ashtrays in pubs/ workplaces.
Nothing dates a TV drama quite as much as people smoking inside.
It's because the ban is relatively new - in 10 years time it will all simply look "old" whereas now it's recent enough to jar.
(Watching The Green Wing the other day and was really quite shocked to see people smoking at work).
Yeah, it would be cool if they were twilight zone-y and would only play vintage radio.
Jeffty is Five
Ashtrays in pubs/ workplaces.
Nothing dates a TV drama quite as much as people smoking inside.
It's because the ban is relatively new - in 10 years time it will all simply look "old" whereas now it's recent enough to jar.
(Watching The Green Wing the other day and was really quite shocked to see people smoking at work).
I've been watching Mad Men, though it's made now it's set in the late 60s early 70s, they smoked all over the damn place in those days. EVEN ON PLANES!
Roseanne did a bit about it on her show: Lucy smoked, Desi smoked, Bewitched smoked. I don't know about the second Darrin but the first Darrin smoked.
Jeffty is Five
Gotta read that tonight.
Have you read Ellison's account of his brief tenure at Disney? (part 3)
http://harlanellison.com/iwrite/mostimp.htmCash registers that do NOT calculate the change
Typewriters that type on paper (and carbon paper and white out)
Slide rules - straight and circular
One-man Post Offices
Sears Roebuck Service Departments
Sears Roebuck
Soon enough. They're closing over 100 stores.
Land navigation without a GPS device.
Land navigation without a GPS device.
But what happens when the Aliens take out ALL the GPS sats ???
What ya going to do then Mister Smarty Pants ????
Gotta read that tonight.
Have you read Ellison's account of his brief tenure at Disney? (part 3)
http://harlanellison.com/iwrite/mostimp.htm
Yep. Years ago. Its either in one of his forwards or was part of his Glass Teat essays.
Cash registers that do NOT calculate the change
I love freaking out checkers by having exact change ready before I'm rung up.
Typewriters that type on paper (and carbon paper and white out)
Have two. One electric, one manual.
Slide rules - straight and circular
Got one of them, too.
One-man Post Offices
Limerick and Skippack, Pa. Both are one-man operations. Skippack wont deliver mail to any houses .... all PO boxes.
Sears Roebuck Service Departments
Now that I really miss. Cant remember the last time I considered Sears the place to buy electronics.
Land navigation without a GPS device.
I just took an orienteering class.
Damn. I'm feeling old.
Land navigation without a GPS device.
But what happens when the Aliens take out ALL the GPS sats ???
What ya going to do then Mister Smarty Pants ????
That is exactly what I'm saying. Map and a compass have become archaic.
...One-man Post Offices...
Post offices in general, soon.
They're closing a huge one in Bowling Green, KY.
Map and a compass have become archaic.
I've never used a compass except in team building yomping exercises (yawn) but I stopped driving before SatNav came in, so it would be weird for me not to use a map.
Chances are I would plot an unfamiliar journey online, but I'd still want something beside me, written down in case of diversions/ accidents etc.
BUT the two teens working with me on the 27th both have SatNavs in their cars now (the 17yo got hers for Christmas) and find the idea of maps seriously archaic. Like, who has a map in their car anyway? Why? Then again, neither of them have driven anywhere unfamiliar to them yet. The day after I passed my driving test I drove into Central London! The day after that I drove the evil ex to a job interview in Reading (reasonably sized city I had never been to before).
I guess if I ever drive again I will succumb to SatNav - I'm not anti it or anything. It just seems odd that the beauty of maps has been lost so quickly to the next generation.
Writing a letter by hand, putting into an envelope, licking a stamp and sending it off in the mail has become seriously archaic. All in all there is something different about the hand written word that is different then the type written word. It seems more permanent and much more intimately connected to me.
Writing a letter by hand, putting into an envelope, licking a stamp and sending it off in the mail has become seriously archaic. ...
Which probably explains ...
Post offices in general, soon.
Yea, true. I just hope they don't go away completely. Besides when the aliens take out all of our satellites and the electric grids, we may need those post office networks once again.
That's why I still love sending cards.
And especially those sent for no precise reason, as I don't trust the post to get anything anywhere on time.
It's a slice of sunshine when you know someone has gone and chosen and bought something for you, put thoughts on paper, addressed it and stood in line to get the correct postage. A value way above the actual cost.
That said, if I have a lot to say I do type it.
I still write because it's necessary at school. But I find my typing fingers can keep up with my brain more nimbly than my writing fingers.
My postal service is already in serious decline. Our pay stubs were stuffed with a coupon for a ham or turkey for the holidays, it took 10 days for mine to arrive in my Dad's mailbox, not my box which they never use.
Yea, true. I just hope they don't go away completely. Besides when the [COLOR="Red"]chinese[/COLOR] take out all of our satellites and the electric grids, we may need those post office networks once again.
FTFY
...i feel so young (26.. 27? need to count, remind me sometime next week).
off the top of my head from things i grow up with that are disapearing for more and more of my generation:
home phones (smartphone+skype+wifi & turn your data off when your home)
cable/satalite tv setups (websites for movie streaming of ill repute)
wall hanging or floor standing clocks (mobiles)
wall hanging calanders (screensaver widgets if you want changing pics)
books of local road maps that always used to be out of date (GPS)
magazines (currently fashionable only because they are archaic)
CDs/DVDs (not big enough for anything you can't just upload anyway)
music players (download MP3s on the pc and upload to your mobile)
dictionaries & encylopedia's (urban dictionary / google define / wikipedia)
fixing services (howstuffworks + youtube + free time)
globes (google earth/maps)
peep shows (online porn)
newspapers (everything)
...
wall hanging or floor standing watches (mobiles)
Not quite sure what this one means. Do you mean clocks?
Not quite sure what this one means. Do you mean clocks?
:o fixed. now lets pretend that never happened.
From the way we're moving today, my dog and I are archaic.
*grins* pretend what never happened?
WOW! Now I feel BLOODY old.
home phones (smartphone+skype+wifi & turn your data off when your home)
[COLOR="Blue"]Our home phone is still the best way to get hold of any of the three occupants in this house[/COLOR]
wall hanging or floor standing clocks (mobiles)
[COLOR="blue"]We totally rely on these in school, and the clock in the kitchen updates itself to GMT, so we set everything by it[/COLOR]
wall hanging calanders (screensaver widgets if you want changing pics)
[COLOR="blue"]We need to know who is doing what when - all appointments and holidays are on there, so if someone is out you can still ascertain their availability[/COLOR]
books of local road maps that always used to be out of date (GPS)
[COLOR="blue"]I've written about this before - I still value them[/COLOR]
magazines (currently fashionable only because they are archaic)
[COLOR="blue"]eh? I just bought my neice a magazine subscription. Not everyone can access the internet all the time.
Dads has just subscribed for a second year to a mag I introduced him to - he loves having bite sized world information (and it's not as biased as their newspaper - shhhhhh)[/COLOR]
dictionaries & encylopedias (urban dictionary / google define / wikipedia)
[COLOR="blue"]I use online for immediate spelling, but I use paper at school for spelling and specific meanings if I am wary of my knowledge. Both should be used more![/COLOR]
fixing services (howstuffworks + youtube + free time)
[COLOR="blue"]? Professionals + job well done = no worries about home insurance[/COLOR]
globes (google earth/maps)
[COLOR="blue"]?!?! Still have globes in school and they are especially useful when showing where things happened, where people are moving to or even where people have been on holiday. They give a great sense of scale and distance. Some things need to be seen 3D[/COLOR]
newspapers (everything)
[COLOR="blue"] Broadsheets are still worth reading. Tabloids never were anyway[/COLOR]
I'm not disagreeing with the post.
I'm just explaining how it is different to me/ my generation and/ or why some of these things are still relevant to me/ us.
I'm not anti new technology, if I have a use for something I'll use it archaic or not.
[COLOR="Blue"]Our home phone is still the best way to get hold of any of the three occupants in this house[/COLOR]
most of it really depends on whether you have internet avalible to you at all times or not, which really depends on what companies are availble to you and where you live, and its usually best to research for the companies you don't know about and check for "competiton encouraging" laws enforced on providers in your local mancupality.
for example for me (israel) there's a law that phone companies are required to treat new customers who got their phone elsewhere exactly like they would if they bought it from the same company.. including the payment reinversement most payment plans have.
now if you buy a smart phone online from a supplier rather then a service provider, and then use a 12-24 month payment program, you will actually make a profit of the reinversement.
in other countries (canada) companies will give you a completely free smartphone because they expect most customers to have no idea how much their data packs (mobile internet access) will be. other countries have their own tricks. there's always something.
either way, that is why is the first thing you do is download a desktop app to turn data on/off easily. you get a skype or a google-call number, you set up a referal to your actual number, and you pretty much get free calls and no data charges or nearly so whenever your in a wi-fi zone (malls, resturants, office buildings, and ofcourse set it up in your house).
limit your time using the data pack and phone service within the range which will give you the reinveresement for the payment (if it depends on it). get an app to monitor it. beyond that use it for emergencies only.
now yes, there are many packages that combine internet and cable tv and phonelines and mobile lines and they tell you that the other services are free... which is always bullshit. google unlimited highspeed internet [insert your area] and its likely their will be a few companies giving internet only services for a much lower flat monthly price.
place a cable between your tv and a convenient spot for your laptop and add links to your ill-reputed video streaming websites of choice, and you pretty much got all of the services you would have gotten otherwise. alternatively their are "Streamers" which are gadgets that streamline the process.
most households can save hundreds of dollars a month.
....and now I feel old lol
I understood about 40% of that communications strategy.
Address numbers on business buildings, or painted on curbs
Good Humor ice cream trucks
Hiking boots that don't leak
Leaded gas
....and now I feel old lol
I understood about 40% of that communications strategy.
Me too!
All I know is we have three different mobile numbers, but our phones are not always at our fingertips. Mine is often in my bag.
One call to the landline will get an answer 90% of the time.
I've lived without a landline before.
It was limiting then and I think it would be now.
0800 numbers, 0845 numbers, verification of address, many job applications etc.
And we know how reliably available I am with a mobile phone *grins*
Odds on at any one time if someone tries to contact me, I'll have left the bastard on silent, lost it in the back of a taxi cab or just lost the signal in my stupid communications blackhole of a house :p
honestly i think it has less to do with age and more to do with having had to learn how to live on a single low income with a 3 member household; its the petty things you really don't want to have to look for or think about, but once you did its sort of worth it regardless of your economical situation.
back to topic:
toilet paper in japan (bidet + drier + awesome toilet sits).
Films that fade over time. Look at tv and movies from the 80s and they look faded. Even the early 90s. That won't happen with digital media. It'll be aged by what it's showing and the quality of the effects possible, but the image will be as clear and the colours as sharp as on day one.
Poverty. aw shit that's still going on
This is the opening paragraph of a Must Read book,
In the Absence of the Sacred written in 1991.
When I first read this book, I bought 25 copies of it and gave them away to friends.
The Author also wrote
Four Arguments for the Elimination of TelevisionMe too!
All I know is we have three different mobile numbers, but our phones are not always at our fingertips. Mine is often in my bag.
One call to the landline will get an answer 90% of the time.
I've lived without a landline before.
It was limiting then and I think it would be now.
0800 numbers, 0845 numbers, verification of address, many job applications etc.
We got rid of the land line recently. Paid for one that we never used for three years. Only calls we got were around dinner time..."Hi I'd like to talk to you about..." We each have a mobile, my mobile number hasn't changed in at least 4 years I put it on anything that asks for my number. I like the mobile phone, took me a while to catch on myself, but I really do like the benefit of the technology.
We got rid of the land line recently. Paid for one that we never used for three years. Only calls we got were around dinner time..."Hi I'd like to talk to you about..." We each have a mobile, my mobile number hasn't changed in at least 4 years I put it on anything that asks for my number. I like the mobile phone, took me a while to catch on myself, but I really do like the benefit of the technology.
ok so the next step:
1. do you have wireless internet connection? if not, set one up.
2. is your phone an android smart phone? if not, check your provider if you can (this might be an option on the iphone but i can't say for certain).
if or when the ansewr to both is yes, download an widget/app to turn on and off data. when your at home, turn it off.
download skype to your mobile and get a skype number or (if your in the US) download google voice and get a google voice number.
in the settings to either one you set it up to redirect to your actual mobile phone number.
then you give your new skype/google-voice number to your friends and family.
if you are calling or recieving calls when your at home or in any public area with wifi, you can answer from your mobiles, your doing it for free.
saves a lot of money.
This is the opening paragraph of a Must Read book, In the Absence of the Sacred written in 1991.
When I first read this book, I bought 25 copies of it and gave them away to friends.
The Author also wrote Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television
cool! missed the mark on fax, synthetic fibers, and antibiotics, whatever. Times, they are a'changin'!
cool! missed the mark on fax, synthetic fibers, and antibiotics, whatever. Times, they are a'changin'!
Interesting! I looked up when the first synthetic fibers were made and there seems to be a distinction between synthetic and artificial. Cellulose acetate, for example is made from processed cellulose and not strictly a synthetic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_fiber
He was a few years off with Antibiotics and almost a century off with fax machines! Holy cats, who knew fax machines were that old?