[crotchety old man]
Do I need to remind you whippersnappers of the Black Sox? Do I? Joe was guilty as sin! GUILTY! ::koff koff::
Where am I? What day is it? WHERE’S MY MATLOCK!
[/crotchety old man]
We were talking about this very thing over the weekend, and got on the subject of how we ever got along without the new technology. (VCRs, microwaves, answering machines, cell phones, etc.)
Ever make fun of someone for having one of those “new-fangled” answering machines? Is so, you’re old.
Just who the hell did they think were? Do they think they are that important? He’s not a doctor; why on earth would he need one of those things?
Having a machine answer the phone…well, I never…
Kinsey…
When I was born…they didn’t even have repeats.
Daily, the guys upstairs have a ringing phone. An actual mechanical ringing phone. And the phone that i dismantled, put together without any of the screws, and used in my room until I was 12 was a ringer as well. (The movers picked it up and it fell apart, being simply a grouping of parts that looked and worked like a phone, but were not actually attatched to each other.)
I don’t know about it helping to encourage profs to think of their students as that ignorant. I know the one prof that gets under my skin this term is one who knows that children have no appreciation for art and literature and constantly reminds us of this loss in our lives. Its condescending and rude. I’d rather be held to a higher standard than forced to a lower.
There’s hope for us, after all.
[Wipes tear from eye.]
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Zenster *
**
[QUOTE]
…I feel quite fortunate to have lived in a time when:
[li] Cars could be started without a key.**[/li][/QUOTE]
You mean your family had a car with a crank?
Good heavens, man, how old are you?
MC,
First of all, I want to tell you that that is funny as hell!
Second of all, the English Teacher in me wants to ask how you managed to describe a group of movers so well: “…simply a grouping of parts that looked and worked like a phone, but were not actually attatched to each other.” (watch your misplaced modifiers!)
You know, on reconsideration, we red-penners are an annoying bunch, aren’t we?
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by sdimbert *
**
What’s a pen?
You have no idea how cool that is! You are now my idol, and there’s nothing you can do about it.
Oh, I was born in 1981. (Early '81! Jan. 3rd to be exact.)
Most of the OP’s list doesn’t apply to me, a few of them do. I still have a record-player/8-track player somewhere. And I’ve never watched MTV on purpose. I never had cable until this year at college (it comes with the rent to the apartment I’m staying at). And I know about the styrofoam BigMac containers because somewhere in the State Park where I used to live is buried a special little salamander, whose styrofoam casket shall preserve her forever.
First, what is or was “tanbark”? (Referred to as a playground item.)
Second, re the list in the OP – since Hiroshima, has any generation not been afraid of nuclear war?
Medea’s Child, that was a complete scream. What a hoot, the operable telephone as aggregate sculpture! Now I can see why you enjoyed the smiley art thread so much. As with myself, you too have this rather eccentric urge to propel the mundane into the realm of art in a somehow tasteful fashion.
Unfortunately, the list promotes the idea that because you haven’t known through personal experience the items on the list, that you somehow haven’t lived, haven’t learned, haven’t suffered, haven’t really experienced life to its fullest. Kind of narrow-minded, but then again it’s a good chuckle for us old fogies (Paul The Fogie - b. 1968).
The phone thing reminded me of something else…and I’ll ask the question here, not make an assumption…
How many of you born in the eighties have ever used a rotary dial phone? (MC, I’m betting the one you dismantled was one of those heavy black rotary dial ones from Bell Labs.)
You have heard of Bell Labs, right?
also…
Have you ever used a manual typewriter?
Do you remember what you were doing when you heard the shuttle Challenger had exploded?
Just curious…
We used an ABACUS! With FIVE BEADS! And they were all RAZOR SHARP!
[SUB]Damn kids.[/sub]
Our neighbor had a rotary phone that I used on occasion. I have a couple of other occasions to use them as well, some of those not too long ago.
They used to have manual typewriters at the doctors office that I went to. They were set up along the back wall and meant to be toys for the kids waiting to see the doctor. HOwever, I don’t believe that I have ever actually used one to write on.
I don’t remember where I was when I heard about Challenger, but I think that I heard about it from an episode of Punky Brewster, which used to be my favorite TV show.
Tanbark = Large coarse chunks of redwood bark employed as a ground covering. A source of tannins and tannic acid used in leather tanning, the name transfered into common use in the recreational industry. The bark is semi-soft (between balsa wood and cork), inexpensive, and by its acidity discourages weed growth while giving amazingly painful splinters for the same reason.
If it weren’t for the difficulty involved with disposing of the bombs I would almost be willing to argue that our credible nuclear deterrent did its job like nothing else could of. The kleptocracy of the Soviet Communist regime respected one thing only, overwhelming force. Anything less than Mutual Assured Destruction may not have worked against them.
Since the 1980’s, those with access to critical information and knowledge of strategy pretty well knew that nuclear war was not going to happen. All that remained was for the Soviet war machine to gut itself trying to copy a technology well beyond its means to reproduce. The American public was led to believe otherwise probably just to whip up domestic military spending.
Sadly, we are faced with enormous complications in the disposal and disposition of these surplus weapons. The security of those remaining in less politically stable areas poses a significant risk to the United States. Happily, the threat of anything approaching worldwide nuclear war is rapidly approaching zero, as it should be. Current generations should never have to know the fear of nuclear holocaust. It remains to be seen if nuclear terrorism can be averted as well.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Zenster *
**
I had an English teacher who told our class that nuclear war WAS going to happen, and that basicaly we were all going to die. Keep in mind that this was in 1994. I don’t know what was wrong with that guy, but he scared the shit out of me.
Many a family’s progress has depended on a crank being handled. However, this has nothing to with cars, merely something else just as transporting.
In reality, I was refering to my family’s 1957 Cheverolet station wagon that could be left with the ignition switch unlocked and useable for starting the engine without a key.
[QUOTE]
Originally posted by Zenster
**
Hee!
Sounded like you were referring to crazy (yet entertaining) uncles and similar Embarrassing Relatives who needed to be kept under wraps… but on second thought, I’m guessing procreation… 
**
Hah! How about having to program DEC PDP-10 by flipping toggle switches to enter an 8 bit character, then starting all over for the next character, etc etc, until you have one simple command entered in - then finding out you made one stupid mistake and starting over again.
Then figuring it out by reading the display and deciphering the blinking red lights. When we got a teletype machine, it was considered the greatest thing in the history of the world!!!
Next, someone will tell about having to change the tubes manually on their ENIAC!!
Whoa! I knew it was going to get to this level sooner or later.
I used a slide rule in high school - does that count???
I walked backward 3 miles to school in a driving snowstorm with temperatures in the -20 degree area. (Before windchill)