# Pranks/Jokes that Technology has made Obsolete **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 25, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pranks-jokes-that-technology-has-made-obsolete/632651 "2012-08-25T22:47:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pranks-jokes-that-technology-has-made-obsolete/632651/21 "2012-08-27T00:12:11Z")
> [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](#): > > Actually, in hospital settings pagers are alive and well–better to have something you can glance down at and ignore if you’re, say, seeing a patient, than to have a cell-phone go off. I wear a pager every day to work. Yeah, but there just aren’t enough pager numbers in existence to make the pager rager work. Back when everyone had one, there you could start at -0001 and make your way through -2000 and only have a handful of numbers not work. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pranks-jokes-that-technology-has-made-obsolete/632651/22 "2012-08-27T00:17:08Z")
Ah, good point. I suppose you could just infuriate the health care system by stealing a list of the hospital’s pager numbers. _That_ would be chaos! ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pranks-jokes-that-technology-has-made-obsolete/632651/23 "2012-08-27T01:03:05Z")
> [@Mdcastleman](#): > > Nah, they’ll just hack them the electronic signs now to spell dirty words. Or to warn of Nazi Zombies. I’ve witnessed a former acquaintance of mine doing this. He worked for the company that installed them so had easy access to them. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pranks-jokes-that-technology-has-made-obsolete/632651/24 "2012-08-27T05:07:36Z")
> [@GreasyJack](#): > > With the advent of electronic displays, the next generation may never know the joy of rearranging the letters on a marquee board to spell dirty words. There’s a Subway in my town that closed last year that has a marquee sign. Until last month, the marquee was still advertising the specials they had before they closed. It now reads “BABES, KISS MY LITTLE PONY AND RUN”. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingDragonFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@FlyingDragonFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingDragonFan)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pranks-jokes-that-technology-has-made-obsolete/632651/25 "2012-08-27T18:14:03Z")
> [@Mdcastleman](#): > > Nah, they’ll just hack them the electronic signs now to spell dirty words. Or to warn of Nazi Zombies. > **[Prank the Monkey: The ZUG Book of Pranks - Kindle edition by Hargrave, Sir John,...](https://www.amazon.com/Prank-Monkey-ZUG-Book-Pranks-ebook/dp/B00394F32O)** > > Prank the Monkey: The ZUG Book of Pranks - Kindle edition by Hargrave, Sir John, Al Natanagara, Al Natanagara. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while... ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pranks-jokes-that-technology-has-made-obsolete/632651/26 "2012-08-28T13:27:53Z")
> [@Mdcastleman](#): > > Nah, they’ll just hack them the electronic signs now to spell dirty words. Or to warn of Nazi Zombies. [You don’t know how right you are.](http://wearemoviegeeks.com/2009/01/zombies-ahead-road-sign-hacked/) (Or maybe you do and that’s why you mentioned it.) ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pranks-jokes-that-technology-has-made-obsolete/632651/27 "2012-08-28T13:39:19Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > You don’t hear about the ol’ pebbles in the hubcap number anymore. > Hubcaps are pretty uncommon and are there any steel ones still made? There was also the particularly vicious prank of removing the lug nuts and replacing the hubcaps. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pranks-jokes-that-technology-has-made-obsolete/632651/28 "2012-08-28T13:56:44Z")
> [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](#): > > Actually, in hospital settings pagers are alive and well–better to have something you can glance down at and ignore if you’re, say, seeing a patient, than to have a cell-phone go off. I wear a pager every day to work. What, never heard of SMS? ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pranks-jokes-that-technology-has-made-obsolete/632651/29 "2012-08-28T14:07:59Z")
Moving from Cafe Society to IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pranks-jokes-that-technology-has-made-obsolete/632651/30 "2012-08-28T15:11:04Z")
In high school, one of the D&D members got pissed at another one, and organized a campaign of filling in those postage-paid post cards for free information which used to be included in magazines\*. Like subscription cards, but just for info. The poor guy’s post box got overwhelmed with junk mail. \*And I wonder how long it will be before magazines will be obsolete. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pranks-jokes-that-technology-has-made-obsolete/632651/31 "2012-08-28T15:44:52Z")
> [@Civil\_Guy](#): > > I was having trouble with a dim-bulb boss during the time of DOS, yes, the time before Windows. A friend suggested that I help my boss by showing him that he should sometime or other (I forget the exact setup) “Deliver” all of his files. That is, at the command line prompt, he should type DEL _._ \. > > Under the best of circumstances, the prank and my subsequent career would have gone down in flames, so no, I never tried it. But it made for a nice daydream. I wrote a program so that when the computer booted up, it would ask “Delete all files? y/n.” No matter what you typed, it would put up messages that all files were being deleted. The target of this was Bill, our manager. The whole office was in on it. We waited for the day when Bill would come back to our office instead of being loaned out to a different one. He never did come back. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pranks-jokes-that-technology-has-made-obsolete/632651/32 "2012-08-28T15:50:38Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > You don’t see many flaming bags of dog poop since they invented microwave ovens. What does this even mean? ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pranks-jokes-that-technology-has-made-obsolete/632651/33 "2012-08-28T15:56:40Z")
I guess I am being whooshed…how does a microwave oven effect the flaming dog poo gag? Oh, do I miss the POTS: Opening the mouthpiece on a phone handset and putting a piece of clear tape over the contact on the carbon microphone element. “hello…Hello?..HELLO?” Filling the microphone compartment of that handset with confetti from the paper punch so that when the first prank was investigated, the confetti goes all over the floor. Paper punch confetti still works in umbrellas however…note that paper was supposed to disappear from offices decades ago. When I was a kid, I found one of the service test numbers that would disable the phone for 10 minutes. Leaving a pink “While you were out” phone message for someone to call back the male escort line, and ask for Zack. Internet porn and electronic media may yet kill the age old sport of taping a centerfold to the classroom projector screen and rolling it up to be discovered when the next film is shown in class. Now you have to swap a file, or rick-roll them to a porn video. They used to sell whistle-bang fireworks that you attached to a car’s spark plug. Pretty sure these only work with an old-school Kettering ignition system. When I was a little brat, once or twice I sneaked into a neighbors back yard and put peanut butter skid marks on the crotch of underwear hanging on the close line. I know some people still use close lines, but when I was a kid, it was the default…also a lot of yards were not fenced. Cars have gotten so sound-proof and AC so common, I wonder if you even hear rocks in the hubcaps, or a tin can dragging on a string? My favorite PBX prank that nobody could ever figure out how I did it: On a PBX, you couldn’t transfer an inside line to another inside line until it had been answered. However, if you got an outside line (9) and then dial back into a phone on the PBX, you can then transfer this to a phone on the next desk, and hang up. Both phones will ring until answered, and if both are answered, the people will be connected, and neither will have any reason for calling. Caller ID also killed this one: After someone has made an especially offensive racial joke, Wait 15-20 minutes and have someone whose voice they don’t know call and ask them to come to HR. We did this once, and then a while later the REAL call from HR came. Old department stores used to keep the PA pretty busy, paging customers to return to auto service department, lost kids, etc. Always great fun to have the lady page Mike Hunt…or some adults mom. Now the associates all have hand-held radios, spoil sports. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pranks-jokes-that-technology-has-made-obsolete/632651/34 "2012-08-28T16:01:17Z")
Now that banks scan deposit slips rather than stamping the backside, writing “This is a stickup…” on the back of the blank ones at the bank is less fun… ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pranks-jokes-that-technology-has-made-obsolete/632651/35 "2012-08-28T22:39:39Z")
Heh. This is several generations beyond obsolete, but I still giggle about it: we put peanuts (in the shell) in my boss’s _manual_ typewriter. We on the teller line would then watch intently for the boss’s first post-lunch time customer, groaning when he sent a new account request over to customer service, cheering when some obvious auto loan client came in. The boss would sit there with his customer discussing the loan terms or whatever, then turn to the typewriter and feed in a loan document, align it just so, and begin typing. The peanuts merrily popped up, one for each letter typed, to about eye level (Willis was a strong typist) as the strikefaces flew up to the paper. We’d call out, “Everything okay over there Mr. Redmond?” and then duck below the counter to laugh and snort and congratulate ourselves for being so clever. ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pranks-jokes-that-technology-has-made-obsolete/632651/36 "2012-08-29T00:05:04Z")
Get a strong magnet and [put it on the screen](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owI6Ya73ykI) of a CRT TV or computer monitor (it will permanently mess up the colors until somebody degausses it; the built-in degaussing isn’t effective for this). ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pranks-jokes-that-technology-has-made-obsolete/632651/37 "2012-08-30T01:34:51Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > What, never heard of SMS? The hospital I used to work at hasn’t, unfortunately. I just started a new job and I intend to get pages to my phone as soon as I upgrade from my old dinosaur! ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pranks-jokes-that-technology-has-made-obsolete/632651/38 "2012-08-30T01:44:09Z")
The ol’ “throw someone fully clothed into the pool” trick has lost a lot of its shine now that many people carry around several hundred dollars worth of stuff that hates water. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pranks-jokes-that-technology-has-made-obsolete/632651/39 "2012-08-30T03:20:51Z")
A friend of mine said he used to find two payphones side by side, and dial 0 on each of them for an operator. He’d then put the phones together and make the two operators talk to each other. Nowadays, around here, when you dial 0 you get an automated service instead of a real person, so this prank is probably not too possible anymore. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pranks-jokes-that-technology-has-made-obsolete/632651/40 "2012-08-30T03:22:13Z")
A friend of mine said he used to find two payphones side by side, and dial 0 on each of them for an operator. He’d then put the phones together and make the two operators talk to each other. Nowadays, around here, when you dial 0 you get an automated service instead of a real person, so this prank is probably not too possible anymore, even if you used cell phones. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pranks-jokes-that-technology-has-made-obsolete/632651.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pranks-jokes-that-technology-has-made-obsolete/632651.md?page=3)