Nostalgia for obsolete technology

[Bill Mattocks]

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.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Super Elastic Bubble Plastic. OMG!

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

 

[Steve]

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.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

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.

 

[David43515]

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.

 

[Steve]

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.

 

[Steve]

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.

 

[CoryKS]

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.

 

[jks9199]

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...

 

[David43515]

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

 

[OnlyAnEgg]

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

 

[Andy Moynihan]

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.

 

[Andy Moynihan]

Also:

http://parliamentandwake.com/

Chalk it up to my weird nostalgia for IMPOSSIBLE technology

 

[OnlyAnEgg]

Also:

http://parliamentandwake.com/

Chalk it up to my weird nostalgia for IMPOSSIBLE technology

I'm somewhat partial to steampunk, myself

 

[CoryKS]

Madden Football '68

 

[crushing]

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

 

[Flea]

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?

 

[Cryozombie]

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.

 

[Cryozombie]

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.

 

[Ken Morgan]

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?