# Nostalgia for obsolete technology



## girlbug2 (Apr 3, 2010)

Actually _dialing_ a phone and _rolling down_ the car window--with a circular motion.

And what about those mini transistor radios that you carried around--mine was from radio shack, shaped like a ball, orange colored, and hung from my wrist on a strap.

Got any favorites?


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## Bill Mattocks (Apr 3, 2010)

girlbug2 said:


> Actually _dialing_ a phone and _rolling down_ the car window--with a circular motion.
> 
> And what about those mini transistor radios that you carried around--mine was from radio shack, shaped like a ball, orange colored, and hung from my wrist on a strap.
> 
> Got any favorites?



Stick shift - three on the tree.

Dialing the last four digits of a phone number if the person lived in town.

Making popcorn in a 'popcorn maker' with oil and a crank you turned to keep the kernels from sticking or burning.

MTV when it played music videos (OK, might not fit, but I miss it anyway).


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## Gordon Nore (Apr 3, 2010)

Manual choke on my mid-seventies Honda Civic. That item was a throw back to cars of earlier times, but it sure worked great in the depths of winter in the York University parking lot.


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## girlbug2 (Apr 3, 2010)

And I thought making popcorn with a hot air popper was obsolete technology! You are really from back in the day Bill


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## Gordon Nore (Apr 3, 2010)

I got another one. I needed a new watch. I don't tend to spend a lot of money on watches. I just keep wearing it until it doesn't work and then toss it. I remembered this watch from the Mammacher Schlemmer catalogue I get in the mail and ordered it.







It winds up. How's that for old school.



> *The Authentic G.I. Watch.*
> 
> This is an exact reproduction of the rugged, dependable hand-wound watch that was supplied in the millions to U.S. Army troops starting in the 1960s. Still requiring manual winding, it is kept as an heirloom by servicemen and their families. This men's watch has been re-issued by Benrus, the original maker, and still conforms to the military's rigid specifications with a stainless-steel water-resistant case, 17-jewel Swiss mechanical movement, and luminous dial and hands. It also includes a unique "hack" feature--the ability to freeze its sweep second hand with a simple pull on the crown--which allowed soldiers to synchronize their watches. Face is 1 1/16" Diam. Watch strap is medium green "tropical weather" canvas. With canvas and leather storage pouch. Requires winding each day. Fits wrists from 7 1/2" to 9 1/2" in circumference.
> 
> http://www.hammacher.com/Product/78658?promo=search


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## Big Don (Apr 3, 2010)

The Atari 2600! 
I walked into my Sifu's apartment, and what did I see, in its original box? A Nintendo Entertainment System!


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## Ken Morgan (Apr 3, 2010)

Vectrex machine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex

I still have two, with every game released. Still fire it up once in a while.


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## Bill Mattocks (Apr 3, 2010)

Gordon Nore said:


> I got another one. I needed a new watch. I don't tend to spend a lot of money on watches. I just keep wearing it until it doesn't work and then toss it. I remembered this watch from the Mammacher Schlemmer catalogue I get in the mail and ordered it.
> 
> It winds up. How's that for old school.



I actually forgot to mention wristwatches.  Mine is an Omega Seamaster bumper wind (it winds when you wear it by the movement of your body) circa 1953.  Keeps great time.


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## harlan (Apr 3, 2010)

I really liked 'Netscape'.


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## Andy Moynihan (Apr 3, 2010)

www.steampunkemporium.com


Enjoy.


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## Ken Morgan (Apr 3, 2010)

Andy Moynihan said:


> www.steampunkemporium.com
> 
> 
> Enjoy.


 
Way Cool! Thanks Andy!


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## Guro Harold (Apr 3, 2010)

I miss the general paradigm of "Solid State".

It freakin bugs me that every freakin thing needs to reboot, upgrade, crash, or freakin re-install right when I need it the most to turn on or freakin turn off!!!!!

The freakin tv needs to boot up, freakin Wii, freakin phone, freakin everything!!!

I hear now they have robot dolls that lonely people might buy for companionship. What's going to happen to the owner when that freakin thing reboots, upgrades, or re-installs right in the mist of doing it doing it's freakin thing?


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## Sukerkin (Apr 3, 2010)

I have to design failure-proof control systems to run on this stuff, *Harold* .  It's a nightmare woven from the fibres of an excellent idea that has not delivered on it's promises ... tho I think it will one day.  After all, the Starship Enterprise never suffered a blue-screen of death or a Restart Now to Install Updates lockout :lol;.


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## Brian R. VanCise (Apr 4, 2010)

Ah Bill I am with you on MTV actually playing music!

Also I miss drive-ins!  What a cool idea that just faded out!


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## OnlyAnEgg (Apr 4, 2010)

Vinyl albums
Tube technology
Party lines (though a pain, there's nostalgia there)
Cans that needed a church key (or screwdriver)


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## Ken Morgan (Apr 4, 2010)

Brian R. VanCise said:


> Also I miss drive-ins! What a cool idea that just faded out!


 
We still have one here http://www.mustangdriveinguelph.ca/index.html
They still play those corny little ads for the snack bar with the dancing hotdogs!


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## Scott T (Apr 4, 2010)

COLECO!!! (Though I still have mine, with Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong, jr, amongst others)
lap belts (only!) in cars
Hand-crank ice cream makers.
8-track tapes


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## grydth (Apr 4, 2010)

Guro Harold said:


> I miss the general paradigm of "Solid State".
> 
> It freakin bugs me that every freakin thing needs to reboot, upgrade, crash, or freakin re-install right when I need it the most to turn on or freakin turn off!!!!!
> 
> ...



What happens when the companion robot upgrades and the owner finds that the robot has been seeing someone else?


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## Bill Mattocks (Apr 4, 2010)

Technology I miss on cars:



Carburetors.
Ignition points.
Drum brakes.
Bias ply tires.
Molten-hot shiny vinyl seats in the summertime.
 
Oh, wait, that's technology I *don't* miss!  Here's some I actually do miss.



Steel bumpers.
Solid axles.
Wing vent windows.
Crank windows.
Glass packs.
Chrome.

Now that's better...


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## Sukerkin (Apr 4, 2010)

Why don't you miss carburetors and dizzies (distributors), Bill?  It used to be that if something went wrong with the ignition cycle you could fix it yourself.  Now most people can't.  I could probably have a stab at reprogramming the chip but I wouldn't *like* to .


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## Bill Mattocks (Apr 4, 2010)

Sukerkin said:


> Why don't you miss carburetors and dizzies (distributors), Bill?  It used to be that if something went wrong with the ignition cycle you could fix it yourself.  Now most people can't.  I could probably have a stab at reprogramming the chip but I wouldn't *like* to .



I had a motorcycle which had Lucas "Lord of Darkness" electrics on it.  Only leaked oil wherever I parked it.  And the carbs?  Monstrosities!

Of course it's all a bit relative now.  The tiny bits are much too small for me to see anymore, and I don't even do my own oil changes.


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## Bill Mattocks (Apr 4, 2010)

Super Elastic Bubble Plastic.  OMG!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Elastic_Bubble_Plastic


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## Steve (Apr 4, 2010)

Well, I don't know about missing them, but I still use a vacuum press coffee maker.  Rare these days, but before drip machines came around, this was the way just about everyone made coffee in the home.  I don't make much coffee at home, but use my vacuum press just about every weekend.

What about shrinky dinks?  That was space age when I was a kid.


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## Bill Mattocks (Apr 4, 2010)

stevebjj said:


> Well, I don't know about missing them, but I still use a vacuum press coffee maker.  Rare these days, but before drip machines came around, this was the way just about everyone made coffee in the home.  I don't make much coffee at home, but use my vacuum press just about every weekend.
> 
> What about shrinky dinks?  That was space age when I was a kid.



I remember shrinky dinks!  And space rocks.  And those things you threw on the ground that exploded, whatever they were called.

And I grew up with percolators for coffee-making.


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## David43515 (Apr 4, 2010)

Black and white TV, with no remote, and you had to let it warm up a minute before the picture came on.

I`m sure I`ll think of others later.


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## Steve (Apr 4, 2010)

Bill Mattocks said:


> I remember shrinky dinks!  And space rocks.  And those things you threw on the ground that exploded, whatever they were called.
> 
> And I grew up with percolators for coffee-making.


Percolators have also been around a long time, although I've never been successful making a decent cup of coffee with a percolator.  For whatever reason, the drip machine became the standard, while the vacuum press fell out of favor almost entirely and the percolator became the campfire backup.  

My vacuum press is a stovetop model, is low tech, has a reusable filter and is just cool to watch.  The physics involved are neat and the coffee is much smoother than you'll get from a french press, and will also have zero silt.  

Another old school technology I've fallen in love with is my pressure cooker.  I use mine at least once per week, usually more often.  They're great for steaming veggies, making soup, stews and roasts.  While I've never been good at planning ahead enough to really use my slow cooker, my pressure cooker kicks much butt.


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## Steve (Apr 4, 2010)

Anyone else have a Vic 20 or a TI-99A?  Those were my first two home computers.  I remember thinking I was totally badass with my 300 baud modem connecting to some other geek's bulletin board? 

And what about a few years later... anyone remember xmodem, ymodem or szmodem?  What about door games and autodialers for local BBS's...  ahhh... I killed some time in the early 90's on those.  I remember going from a 2400 baud to 14.4 and being amazed at how fast stuff downloaded.


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## CoryKS (Apr 4, 2010)

When I was very young, the drug store near our house had a vacuum tube tester.  It was a great big box with a bunch of sockets, and if the tv broke down my mom would pull out all the tubes and take them down to see which one had to be replaced.  You had to plug them in one by one until you found the culprit.


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## jks9199 (Apr 4, 2010)

stevebjj said:


> Anyone else have a Vic 20 or a TI-99A?  Those were my first two home computers.  I remember thinking I was totally badass with my 300 baud modem connecting to some other geek's bulletin board?
> 
> And what about a few years later... anyone remember xmodem, ymodem or szmodem?  What about door games and autodialers for local BBS's...  ahhh... I killed some time in the early 90's on those.  I remember going from a 2400 baud to 14.4 and being amazed at how fast stuff downloaded.


Got a VIC20 for my birthday one year... and bought a Commodore 64 a year or two later.  No hard drive, cassette tape to save programs...  Developed some really bad habits writing programs in BASIC on the VIC20, because it started with only about 3.5K available memory.  And it went fast...  Even learned some machine code at one point!

Remember when you had to start by booting up a desktop computer with a DOS disk, then load from a set of floppies the program you wanted to use... and that was all you could use the PC for until you put a new program on?  No Windows... just one program at a time...


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## David43515 (Apr 5, 2010)

Christmas tree lights with real colored bulb instead of LEDs.

Hand-cranked ice cream makers

Volkswagon Bugs

Jukeboxes

fountain pens (I still love to use them)

45 rpm records


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## OnlyAnEgg (Apr 5, 2010)

Partial nudity girly mags you stole from your dad
Screen doors
4 tv channels


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## Andy Moynihan (Apr 5, 2010)

On a related note:

I just yesterday completed my old school shaving setup and had my first ever complete wet shave with a badger brush, bowl of shaving soap, alum block and 30's era safety razor. And it was goooood.


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## Andy Moynihan (Apr 5, 2010)

Also:

http://parliamentandwake.com/

Chalk it up to my weird nostalgia for IMPOSSIBLE technology


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## OnlyAnEgg (Apr 5, 2010)

Andy Moynihan said:


> Also:
> 
> http://parliamentandwake.com/
> 
> Chalk it up to my weird nostalgia for IMPOSSIBLE technology


 
I'm somewhat partial to steampunk, myself


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## CoryKS (Apr 5, 2010)

Madden Football '68


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## crushing (Apr 5, 2010)

stevebjj said:


> Anyone else have a Vic 20 or a TI-99A? Those were my first two home computers. I remember thinking I was totally badass with my 300 baud modem connecting to some other geek's bulletin board?
> 
> And what about a few years later... anyone remember xmodem, ymodem or szmodem? What about door games and autodialers for local BBS's... ahhh... I killed some time in the early 90's on those. I remember going from a 2400 baud to 14.4 and being amazed at how fast stuff downloaded.


 
I had a C= 64 and an electric typewriter that would connect to it.  I made a huge technology leap when going from the C= 64 to the Amiga 500 with its brilliant graphics and amazing sound.  I wanted the NewTek Video Toaster, but could never justify the cost.  Eventually I did get an Amiga 4000.

Ah, the local BBS scene.  A bunch of old school BBSers from my area are now members of a local BBS Facebook group!  lol


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## Flea (Apr 5, 2010)

Beverage cartons that actually open like cartons rather than having screw caps.  Why did the corporatocracy decide we were _that_ lazy?  And to carry it to its logical conclusion, when to their MBAs personally show up at our breakfast table to feed us and pour the orange juice directly down our throats?


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## Cryozombie (Apr 5, 2010)

stevebjj said:


> Anyone else have a Vic 20 or a TI-99A?  Those were my first two home computers.  I remember thinking I was totally badass with my 300 baud modem connecting to some other geek's bulletin board?



Mine too.  I run a TI emulator on my PC so I can play Tunnels of Doom... and I just found my old C-64 in the attic in a box.  

I learned Basic on that old Vic 20.

10 PRINT "Hello MARTIAL TALK"
20 GOTO 10

lol.


Crushing:  I still have my Amiga500, I have no Toaster, but I do have a Genlock for it.


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## Cryozombie (Apr 5, 2010)

Andy Moynihan said:


> On a related note:
> 
> I just yesterday completed my old school shaving setup and had my first ever complete wet shave with a badger brush, bowl of shaving soap, alum block and 30's era safety razor. And it was goooood.



Thats pretty much what I shave with now.


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## Ken Morgan (Apr 5, 2010)

Andy Moynihan said:


> On a related note:
> 
> I just yesterday completed my old school shaving setup and had my first ever complete wet shave with a badger brush, bowl of shaving soap, alum block and 30's era safety razor. And it was goooood.


 
Way cool, I always wanted to try. Where did you get your supplies?


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## Steve (Apr 5, 2010)

CoryKS said:


> When I was very young, the drug store near our house had a vacuum tube tester. It was a great big box with a bunch of sockets, and if the tv broke down my mom would pull out all the tubes and take them down to see which one had to be replaced. You had to plug them in one by one until you found the culprit.


I have a couple of tube radios, along with a tube tester of my own.  I know that drill well.


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## Steve (Apr 5, 2010)

jks9199 said:


> Got a VIC20 for my birthday one year... and bought a Commodore 64 a year or two later. No hard drive, cassette tape to save programs... Developed some really bad habits writing programs in BASIC on the VIC20, because it started with only about 3.5K available memory. And it went fast... Even learned some machine code at one point!
> 
> Remember when you had to start by booting up a desktop computer with a DOS disk, then load from a set of floppies the program you wanted to use... and that was all you could use the PC for until you put a new program on? No Windows... just one program at a time...


I actually rigged a tape player to my TI-99A.  I remember spending hours remapping all of the keys on the keyboard.  I don't know why, but I thought it would be cool to type in "code", so I changed the letters on the qwerty keyboard to sillhouette pictures of naval ships.  But loading that took FOREVER with the tape drive.  



David43515 said:


> Christmas tree lights with real colored bulb instead of LEDs.
> 
> Hand-cranked ice cream makers
> 
> ...


I have a collection of 78's, all pre-WW2, but mostly from the 20s and 30s.  

Aircooled VWs are still around, aren't they?  I've owned 5 different VWs, but my pride and joy was a single owner '74 Ghia that I bought.  It was all original and in excellent condition.  Only aircooled VW I've ever owned where EVERYTHING functioned as designed, including the defroster. 




Cryozombie said:


> Thats pretty much what I shave with now.


I've shaved about 10 times since I got out of the air force in 1992.  If I did shave, though, I'd definitely go this route! 

Tech I miss:  stop motion animation...  like ACTUAL stop motion.  Not computer generated stop motion.


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## Flying Crane (Apr 5, 2010)

girlbug2 said:


> Actually _dialing_ a phone and _rolling down_ the car window--with a circular motion.


 
hmmm...
my car has manual windows, a manual transmission, manual locks, no GPS... it's a 2003, so not very old.  It's simpler, fewer things to break.

I still don't own a cell phone, have never been on myspace, facebook, twitter and the like.

I prefer bows and arrows, swords and spears...


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## Andy Moynihan (Apr 5, 2010)

Ken Morgan said:


> Way cool, I always wanted to try. Where did you get your supplies?


 
www.theartofshaving.com

Go. And enjoy.


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## Sukerkin (Apr 6, 2010)

Cryozombie said:


> Crushing:  I still have my Amiga500, I have no Toaster, but I do have a Genlock for it.



I threw an Amiga 500, Amiga 600, Amiga 1200, Video Toaster, external harddrive and lord-knows how many disks in the skip when we moved house.

Also a BBC Micro, Spectrum+ 3 and a zx80 mini-computer (not to be confused with the zx's of Sir Sinclair, it had a hard-drive like a washing machine engine ).

*Andy*, I too recently joined the anti-gel shaving revolution and went back to brush and shaving stick.  A bit more work but works much better, especially at keeping razors unclogged.


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## seasoned (Apr 6, 2010)

Gas stations were full service, may be again, so I hear. Pull up and for your .25 cents per Gal. you got windows cleaned, oil checked, and a friendly smile.
Phone booth on every other corner, and for a dime, you could call home.


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## girlbug2 (Apr 6, 2010)

stevebjj said:


> Tech I miss: stop motion animation... like ACTUAL stop motion. Not computer generated stop motion.


 
Some animators are still using real stop motion: check out Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox and of course the always lovable Wallace And Grommit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stop-motion_films


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## girlbug2 (Apr 6, 2010)

Sukerkin said:


> *Andy*, I too recently joined the anti-gel shaving revolution and went back to brush and shaving stick. A bit more work but *works much better, especially at keeping razors unclogged*.


 
Hmm, I've heard that before. I don't know if any women shave their legs with straight razors though..I'd feel strange, trying. But I'm tempted.


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## girlbug2 (Apr 6, 2010)

seasoned said:


> Phone booth on every other corner, and for a dime, you could call home.


 
AAAhhhhh, phone booths! People actually cared about keeping their personal conversations private, back then. How nice it must have been to not hear all the one sided gossiping and drivel that fills the air in public now.


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## Bruno@MT (Apr 6, 2010)

girlbug2 said:


> Hmm, I've heard that before. I don't know if any women shave their legs with straight razors though..I'd feel strange, trying. But I'm tempted.



Yes, I know several who do (I am the admin of www.straightrazorplace.com). I also know at least a couple who shave their nether regions with a straight razor. Leg shaves are fairly easy with a straight if it is sharp enough. You can wipe the foam right off, and take all hair with it in one go.

And because it is a single blade, it doesn't clog like those gillette cartridges. It is more environmentally friendly (no disposable waste) and cheaper (1 razor will last a lifetime. My oldest razor is 200 years old).

If you have any questions, or interest in getting started with a straight razor, I'll gladly answer your questions or bring you into contact with some of the women at our site. Or you can just drop by at the site and visit our Ladies Corner.

As to nostalgia: I am a dedicated straight razor shaver. I also restore antique straight razors and have recently started making custom razors myself.


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## Bill Mattocks (Apr 6, 2010)

Slingshots.
Peashooters.
Paper airplane technology.


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## Steve (Apr 6, 2010)

girlbug2 said:


> Some animators are still using real stop motion: check out Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox and of course the always lovable Wallace And Grommit
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stop-motion_films


Yeah, and they rock! 

Just watched Fantastic Mr. Fox a few days ago with the family. Very funny movie.  I wasn't aware that Coraline was actual stop motion animation.  Very polished!  I thought it was done on the computer.  Fooled me, I guess.


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## Steve (Apr 6, 2010)

girlbug2 said:


> AAAhhhhh, phone booths! People actually cared about keeping their personal conversations private, back then. How nice it must have been to not hear all the one sided gossiping and drivel that fills the air in public now.


 The only gossip I want to eavesdrop on is TWO sided gossip.


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## Andy Moynihan (Apr 6, 2010)

girlbug2 said:


> Hmm, I've heard that before. I don't know if any women shave their legs with straight razors though..I'd feel strange, trying. But I'm tempted.


 
Get good at the Balloon Drill first before using a full-on straight razor ( It's what barber school used to do--get some shaving soap, lather up a balloon, and if you keep the appropriate 30-degree angle you ought not pop the balloon).

This is the exact "safety razor" I use now:

http://www.theartofshaving.com/shop/product/67007/11

Remember that "Safety Razor" is a relative term( i.e. safer than a "cut-throat" or "straight" razor).It's safer than that, it STILL needs to be practiced with( I'm still getting the hang of it) but the shave is unquestionably closer than any 6 bladed cartridge monstrosity I've ever used. I also learned that if you push too hard or get too aggressive with it, it''ll let you know( gotta love that Alum block).

More strokes, not more force. it's heavy steel , let its own weight do the work.


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## Scott T (Apr 6, 2010)

Bill Mattocks said:


> Slingshots.
> Peashooters.
> Paper airplane technology.


 Yeah, you gotta love Dennis the Menace technology (Bart Simpson doesn't even come close!)


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## Andy Moynihan (Apr 6, 2010)

Some related old school shaving links:

How To Shave Like Your Grandpa:

http://artofmanliness.com/2008/01/04/how-to-shave-like-your-grandpa/

Straight Razor Shaving For Beginners:

http://artofmanliness.com/2009/10/06/how-to-straight-razor-shave/

The Case For Cold Water Shaving (Yeah, I'm not yet brave enough for this one either but here it is:

http://artofmanliness.com/2010/03/24/cold-water-shaving/


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## Bill Mattocks (Apr 6, 2010)

Kites made out of wood, paper, and string.  With a tail.


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## OnlyAnEgg (Apr 6, 2010)

My papap beat us with his strop when we was evil.

Notes to your friends in class
Teachers that could whack you if you needed it
Sports where only the winners won


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## Sukerkin (Apr 6, 2010)

Oh so true, *Egg*.  We are starting to see the consequences of not doing this for a generation or two.


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## Andy Moynihan (Apr 6, 2010)

I concur.


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## grydth (Apr 6, 2010)

girlbug2 said:


> AAAhhhhh, phone booths! People actually cared about keeping their personal conversations private, back then. How nice it must have been to not hear all the one sided gossiping and drivel that fills the air in public now.



Alas, phone booths had to be discontinued for the most part, as people had such trouble fitting them into their cars so they could talk while driving...

The few remaining booths today bear signs: For Drug Deals Only!


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## seasoned (Apr 6, 2010)

Back in grade school we had ink wells on our desks. Every few days the teacher would pick someone to go around and full them. Thank goodness for ballpoint pens. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			




Back in the good old days you could go to a place called carols drive-in and buy .12 cent burgers and .10 fries. 
And talking about drive-ins, we had some awesome times on a Saturday night. We would pull in and have people hiding in the trunk so they could get in free.
Back then it was 2 full featured films with cartons and a news reel. Would you believe a buck.
"Those were the days my friend, I thought they'd never end".


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## Steve (Apr 6, 2010)

We still have a drive-in theater down the hill.  The only difference between now and then is that you now get the audio via AM radio transmitters rather than crappy speakers. 

I miss reel to reel tape recorders.  

Books made of paper.  Oh, wait.  I'm 10 years too early on that one.  We should enjoy our books while we can before they're all ipadded and kindled away.


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## Cryozombie (Apr 7, 2010)

Andy Moynihan said:


> The Case For Cold Water Shaving (Yeah, I'm not yet brave enough for this one either but here it is:
> 
> http://artofmanliness.com/2010/03/24/cold-water-shaving/



Dude... after I read that last week, I tried it, and I wont go back.

Check this... I use Hot lather with my Brush and soap, then I turn the water on as cold as it will go, run the razor under it, and then shave.  I rinse the razor between swipes with the icy water... the most comfortable shave I have had in a long time... it actually shaved several days growth off with almost no pulling of hair, even in my sensitive upper lip area.

Don't be scared, try it, you may be surprised.


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## crushing (Apr 7, 2010)

stevebjj said:


> Books made of paper. Oh, wait. I'm 10 years too early on that one. We should enjoy our books while we can before they're all ipadded and kindled away.


 
What was old, may become new again:

Introducing the new Bio-Optic Organized Knowledge (BOOK) 

BOOK is a revolutionary breakthrough in technology; no wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. It's so easy to use even a child can operate it. Compact and portable, it can be used anywhere, even sitting in an armchair by the fire, yet it is powerful enough to hold as much information as a CD-ROM disc. 

Here is how it works: BOOK is constructed of sequentially numbered sheets of recyclable paper, each capable of holding thousands of bits of information. The pages are locked together with a custom-fit device called a binder, which keeps the sheets in their correct sequence. Opaque Paper Technology (OPT) allows manufacturers to use both sides of the sheet, doubling the information density and cutting costs. Each sheet is scanned optically, registering information directly into your brain. A flick of your finger takes you to the next sheet. BOOK may be taken up at any time and used merely by simply opening it. 

BOOK never crashes or requires rebooting. The Browse feature allows you to move instantly to any sheet, and move forward or backward as you wish.  Many come with an Index feature, which pinpoints the exact location of any selected information for instant retrieval. An optional "BOOKMARK" accessory allows you to open BOOK to the exact place you left it in a previous session, even if the BOOK is closed. BOOKMARKS fit universal
design standards; thus, a single BOOKMARK can be used in BOOKS by various manufacturers. Conversely, numerous BOOKMARKS can be used in a single BOOK if the user wants to store numerous views at once. The number is limited by the number of pages in the BOOK.

You can also make personal notes next to BOOK text entries with an optional programming tool, named: "Portable Erasable Nib Cryptic Intercommunication Language Stylus"-or-"PENCILS." 
Portable, durable and affordable, the BOOK is being hailed as the precursor of a huge entertainment wave. BOOK'S appeal seems so certain that thousands of content-creators have committed to the platform and investors are reportedly flocking to the new phenomenon. Look for a flood of new titles soon. 
&#12288;
BOOK TECHNOLOGY REBUTTAL

RE: The new Bio-Optic Organized Knowledge device, trade-name "BOOK." 

You should be warned that, re: the message quoted above, this BOOK technology has serious shortcomings in user outcomes which, while not apparent from an immediate usability analysis, seriously impair its market desirability. Research shows that prolonged and repeated exposure to this BOOK technology causes users to become contemplative, reflective, and, in severe cases, it can induce bouts of concentration and focused thinking, with common side effects that include swelling of the imaginative and/or analytical portions of the brain. Such swelling can impede market-critical emoto-cognitive functions like the impulse-purchase quadrant of the cerebellum. 

In one overlooked period of history, the installed user base of this BOOK technology spread with almost epidemic speed. This period, known in BOOKish techno-jargon as the Renaissance, saw that after the introduction of BOOK there were unpredictable outbursts of individual and collective creativity. But, as the record clearly shows, this BOOK technology has no useful market outcome, in that during the entire period of the Renaissance, historians can find no evidence of a single IPO. 

Initially taken from: http://www.attrition.org/attrition/book.html (but the link doesn't work anymore)


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