Typewriter, dial phone, clothesline - what else don't our children recognize?

[bertha katzenengel]

Old things, out of date things, obsolete technology. List 'em here!

How about 12-inch floppies? :rofl: Good ol' Wang.

[Writer]

1. Heck - how about 3.5" diskettes?

Or cell phones that were JUST TELEPHONES!

[fizzgig]

60. i found a whole box of those disks while i was packing yesterday

i have no idea what to do with them :rofl:

[Taverner]

124. 3.5" Disks??? You whipper snapper! I remember 5 1/4" Diskettes!

Floppy disks that were, in fact, floppy

[Writer]

147. Hey - I can do you one better...

I remember AUDIO TAPE MACHINES used by the TI computers.

Ooooooh.

[Rabrrrrrr]

155. Audio tape?!?! You're modern, loser.

I remember reel to reel.

Unfortunately, I just missed the punchcard days.

[SoCalDem]

157. WE still HAVE our 8-tracks & the stereo to play them

and I have most of my high school/college-era LPs.. (I graduated in '67).. I have Jimi Hendrix , Beatles, Brazil '66, Association, Dusty Springfield, Stones, and many more :)

[Rabrrrrrr]

159. Yeah, and I have a bunch of 76 RPMs

But we're talking computers here.

[Writer]

167. I remember reel-to-reel, too, neophyte!

:P

Oh - and I ALSO remember 3/4" VHS tapes.

[Taverner]

170. Or the stringy floppy

Tape drive that always munched the tapes

[supernova]

2. Texas Instruments calculators and slide rules for that matter

:rofl:

[Yavin4]

23. Parents Should Make Their Kids Watch The Mini Series "From The Earth To The Moon"

And constantly remind their kids that ALL of those NASA engineers,ALL of them, were educated as little kids WITHOUT computers or even pocket calculators.

[sakabatou]

64. There are still TI calculators

Just more... updated.

[pokerfan]

109. but HP has pretty much abandoned RPN

Kids today wouldn't understand postfix notation if it bit them on the ass...



Other things they wouldn't recognize:
• vinyl, eight-track, cassette
• party lines and life before answering machines
• life with only three channels and no vcr/dvr
• clamp on roller skates with four wheels NOT in line
• candy cigarettes

[struggle4progress]

116. Slide rules will be back: mark my words

[sinkingfeeling]

3. Clock faces with hands.

[reyd reid reed]

97. Those are all over my house.

I won't have one on the wall unless it ticks and has hands. I'm evil, though. I made all my kids learn on that kind. First watches all had hands.

I make 'em learn roman numerals, too.

I'm tellin' ya...I'm evil. I know this. They tell me.

Over and over and over and over again.

[MonkeyFunk]

100. my niece struggled to read a real clock

at the age of 14!

[muriel_volestrangler]

118. Really? Digital watches are a bit dweebish in the UK

Everyone would know how to read a clock face. Especially a 14 year old girl.

[pokerfan]

110. Roman numerals?

Teach 'em something useful like Base 12. :)

[Left Is Write]

174. We have plenty of them also - and my kids can read them.

Analog does bug my son, though. He likes to be very precise.

[BarenakedLady]

4. You said "wang"

hehehe

rotary phones, beta, 8-tracks, albums, cassette tapes, rabbit ears, channel dials, phones with cords!

[av8rdave]

5. Remember those modems you put the handset of the phone into?

Or how about dictaphones!

[Blue-Jay]

29. I had one of those!

Had to buy a new phone to fit the modem at the time.

[MonkeyFunk]

101. me, too!

The first modem I ever used.

[Kutjara]

52. "Acoustic Couplers."...

...I used to snicker every time I said it. It just sounded "dirty."

That I have a childish sense of humor is given. ;)

[crimsonblue]

108. My dad still uses a dictaphone for all of his patient chart dictations...

I'm pretty sure he is the last doctor in his practice to use it, but he refuses to change!!!

[av8rdave]

6. Reel - to - reel tape

[Left Is Write]

175. Speaking of which, I have a boxful of them.

Recordings of my radio history. I'd love to have them converted to digital media.

[Gormy Cuss]

7. You know, it's not nice to write

"12-inch floppies" and "Wang" in the same post without a warning.:spray:
I remember the Wang word processor stations and the Adventure game.

For other obsolete office equipment, how about mag-card typewriters, comptometers, and pneumatic tube systems?

[av8rdave]

8. Comptometers....

Those weren't those machines that punched out the cards for early computers to read, were they?

I remember using those in college. My Sophomore computer science class used a Bouroughs 6600 mainframe computer, programed in ALGOL.

Gawd, do I feel like a geezer!

[Gormy Cuss]

11. No. Comptometers were fancy desktop computing machines.

Like this:


They were used by accounting clerks and the like for summing receipts. I used them one summer doing inventory extension (taking the inventory count lists of units @ price and computing the value of each inventory item.)They weren't the same as calculators but were used for similar office functions.

You're thinking of a keypunch machine.

[av8rdave]

20. Oh...just color me dumb...

My grandfather had one. I just wasn't familiar with the term (I think he called it an "adding machine").

[bertha katzenengel]

43. oops

:spray:

Sorry about that! ;)

[FloridaJudy]

71. My bank still uses pneumatic tubes

In the drive-through.

But speaking of floppies, I used mine to play "Leather Goddesses of Phobos". But not the Wang.

[SteppingRazor]

9. Hell, by the time I have kids, they won't even know what CDs are. n/t

[Critters2]

10. I have a clothesline. In fact, I use my dryer so rarely that the door is rusting shut.

Your kids can come over and look at it, if they'd like.

[zanne]

12. I miss my typewriter.

Somehow, my ideas flowed freely while I was using an old, clunky typewriter. I even miss using carbon paper!

[Brigid]

150. Carbon paper?!

:rofl:

Now that takes me back!

[Richardo]

13. "splashdown"

[vard28]

15. Good one

That landing on the runway just isnt' exciting.

[vard28]

19. Oops! Wrong response thread

That damn Address-o-Graph machine

I used to have to type customer information onto metal plates, load the machine, and run off monthly parking passes. That thing was so damn loud.

[Yavin4]

24. TV Station Signoffs

At the end of the broadcasting day, TV stations would make an annuncement, play the National Anthem, and then sign-off with a high pitch tone.

Here's a good example from Raliegh, NC:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBiCebc-zxU

[pokerfan]

112. My abc affiliate still signs off on weekends

according to the guide anyway.

[vard28]

14. Mimeograph

A mimeograph machine is a mechanical duplicator that produces copies by pressing ink onto paper through openings cut in a stencil.


I loved bein' the teacher's helper and sniffing those purplish-blue copies I got to run off... LOL! :crazy:

[alphafemale]

79. The smell of fresh mimeogtaph ink...sigh.

[moriah]

89. That's what I was going to mention!

[struggle4progress]

117. Those purply-blues were dittos (or spirit copiers) not mimeograph:

unused dittos had two sheets, the back with the ink; you wrote on the front sheet, the ink came off the front of the back sheet and onto the back of the front sheet; then you ripped the back page off, and put the front sheet inked side out on the drum; as the drum turned, the solvent would dissolve a bit of the ink and press a reverse impression on the pages coming through the drum. The printed pages stank for quite a while afterwards, til they dried, but usually there wasn't enough ink on a printed page to come off and color anything

You've correctly described how a mimeograph worked, but probably nobody ever gave you a damp mimeograph page: the ink was usually black and very very sticky. If the machine wasn't adjusted correctly, each page would smear the print on the previous page as it came out of the machine: you had to keep the ink flow rate low. And the black ink was a horrendous mess: if you touched any damp ink letters, you got a mark on your hand that was hard to remove. The sticky stencil was hard to get off the drum, too, without making a mess

Mimeograph would be used when hundreds or thousands of copies were needed, with a more professional printed look: the purply-blue dittos were good for several dozen copies but then they became faint because the master had lost most of its ink

[vard28]

121. Yup, you're right

The ditto machine (spirit duplicator) used two-ply "spirit masters" or "ditto masters". The first sheet could be typed, drawn, or written upon. The second sheet was coated with a layer of colored wax. The pressure of writing or typing on the top sheet transferred colored wax to its back side, producing a mirror image of the desired marks. (This acted like a reverse of carbon paper.) The two sheets were then separated, and the first sheet was fastened onto the drum of the (manual or electrical) machine, with the waxed side out.

The usual wax color was aniline purple, a cheap, durable pigment that provided good contrast, but other colors were available. Unlike mimeo, ditto had the useful ability to print multiple colors in a single pass, which made it popular with cartoonists. One well-made ditto master could at most print about 500 copies--far fewer than a mimeo stencil could manage.

I was only in elementary school way back then and just remembered the name mimeograph, thought that's what it was called. I hadn't remembered the ditto word. Thanks!

[deucemagnet]

16. A coffee percolator.

I didn't even know they still made them.

[TommyO]

57. Still made, and I have a few of them

and even use them!

[fizzgig]

62. i've got one for camping

but i don't know that many kids my age (i'm 27) would even know how to set it up or how to tell when the coffee is done

[sakabatou]

68. I know what that is

But I don't use one. I use something similar to this:

[CottonBear]

17. My step-daughter didn't know what a stewardess was.

Her aunt is a "flight attendant" for Delta airlines. I referred to the aunt as a stewardess and got a blank stare and then a question: "What is a stewardess?"

[jobycom]

39. Good on her for that one.

[Seeking Serenity]

18. Music videos on MTV.

[DebJ]

21. "McCarthyism" . . . took some friends in their early 30s to see

Good Night and Good Luck and they were clueless. Never heard of McCarthyism.

[bertha katzenengel]

33. They should have been TAUGHT McCarthyism in history class.

That is just upsetting. One of the major lessons of American history, and they don't even know about it. It's shameful.

[DebJ]

84. Yup, that's why at the age of almost 53 I am in school to be a

History / Social Studies teacher. Student teaching this fall . . . Government and Politics during the most exciting campaign ever!:)

[bertha katzenengel]

125. Well, that is fantastic!

:yourock:

[Phillycat]

22. Albums, 8-tracks, reel-to-reels, cassettes

[Richardo]

26. Pretty much all magnetic media

:hi:

[carlyhippy]

164. Thank God 8 tracks will never be revived again!!!!

I HATED 8 tracks with a passion...I collect music, and had tons of albums, 45's and when 8 tracks came along, I only had 2...the Grease soundtrack and Fleetwood Mac Rumors, simply because it not available on records when I wanted to purchase them. Then when cassettes came about, after a big sigh of relief and thankfulness, I purchased many cassettes, then cd's

on the Rumors 8 track, I think there were songs I had never listened to, because to get to my favorite songs I would have to go to track 1, then in the middle of songbird at the 2nd "for you, girl" I would have to jump to track 3 to hear second hand news, yep, I don't miss 8 tracks at all

[madinmaryland]

25. John McCain??

[Lydia Leftcoast]

27. A key punch and the resulting "IBM cards," as well as

A stereo and/or radio that is a major piece of living room furniture and housed in a polished wood cabinet with brocade cloth over the speakers
Uncolored margarine
Opaque projectors
Filmstrips
Bonnet-style hairdryers for the home
Wringer washing machines
Clothespins

[BrklynLiberal]

28. My ex still says "pull the chain" when he means "flush the toilet."

He gets some VERY odd looks.

[zanne]

122. Is that where the term "Are you yanking my chain" came from? nt

[terrya]

30. Home delivery of milk

But I suspect a lot of people here have no idea what I'm talking about.

[bertha katzenengel]

32. What's that?

Yup. I remember. I remember the paper caps. I remember milk at school coming in a square carton made of heavy waxed paper, with a little inverted bottle cap punched into the hole on the top of the box. Remember those?

[terrya]

34. I sure do.

That's the way the milk was delivered in school.

[FloridaJudy]

72. First one to get to the bottle

Got to drink the cream off the top!

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

46. I have an older house

With a milk chute and a coal chute. Neither one gets any use these days.

[RebelOne]

48. I know what you are talking about and the milk was delivered in glass bottles.

[TommyO]

59. We had that back in the....

60's and even the first two years of the 70's.

In fact, we swore my brother was fathered by the milkman because he had blond hair, unlike either of my parents. Guess what color hair the milkman had?

[muriel_volestrangler]

119. Can still get that, in the UK

Not as common as it used to be, but they do it down my street, in a typical suburban town.

Home delivery from supermarkets is, of course, becoming more popular - milk etc. delivery, updated with internet pre-ordering.

[flvegan]

31. UHF.

[Doug.Goodall]

82. TVs with rotating knobs to change channels

What's that second knob for that starts on 13?
Or was it 14?

[alphafemale]

92. Outdoor TV antennas on a rotor with a dial you operated from inside.

You'd turn the dial inside and it sent a signal to the rotor outside and turned the antenna so it would tune in the station.

The inside unit would go ka-chunk ka-chunk ka chunk as the pointer was moving around the dial.

And there were only 4 or 5 stations.

But the stuff on them was worth watching.

[CottonBear]

134. I had one of those w/ an amp and pre-amp to amplify the signal.

I lived way out in the country. There was no cable TV service and, at the time, satellite involved purchasing one of those huge dishes.

[moriah]

91. If you tuned it to the really high numbers...

... you could hear your neighbor's old cordless phones!

I spent hours eavesdropping ...

[pokerfan]

113. That would have been analog cellular

The FCC gave the wireless carries some of the UHF television spectrum back in the day.

[moriah]

127. It was still fun!

Great entertainment in the summer.

I like listening to police scanners too, and have my amateur radio license, even though it's a no-code license and I have none of the equipment now.

I never heard anything juicy, but it was still cool.

[pokerfan]

137. I used to be a big radio geek

In fact, packet radio was one of the ways I accessed the internets back then. I also had a technicians clas license but I've since let it lapse.

Ince heard a guy calls his wife from his cell and tells her that he;s going to be working late. (yeah I know, how cliche.) Then he immediately calls his girlfriend and tells her he'll see her in about twenty minutes.

[sinkingfeeling]

35. I've got to add one more: pensions. I bought a second house last week and during the application

process, I got a call from the bank's 'underwriter' wanting 'proof' that my IBM retirement checks would be coming for the next 3 years and statements of my 'account'. I had to explain that IBM never set up an account with my name on it, but put over $54 billion into a pension fund for its retirees. I was able to find a statement in an employee manual about 'once you begin receiving your pension it will continue until your death.'

She had no idea what a pension was and thought I should have a quarterly statement like a 401K!

[Dora]

37. OMG. That's amazing.

Amazing, and woefully ignorant. Sounds like that underwriter lacked education and/or training.

[Orsino]

36. At least three Amendments. n/t

[AllieB]

38. I still have a clothesline and I'm in my 30s!

Saves on the electric bill.

[jobycom]

40. Rights, freedoms, and knobs on television sets. nt

[Seeking Serenity]

41. Television sets ON LEGS,

[jobycom]

42. I don't even know about those, and I'm 43.

:)

[Seeking Serenity]

44. I'm only 41, and I remember we had one.

Big huge thing made by Zenith. Nice wooden cabinet surrounding the picture tube (there's something else people won't remember before too long with fabric covering the speaker hole and four wooden legs.

Something similar to this:

[Redstone]

45. Model 33 Teletype. And even the concept of a Telex message. Money orders. Bankbooks.

Redstone

[One_Life_To_Give]

47. Three on the Tree

Dimmer button on the floor

Sound of the (Carb)Secondaries opening

Running Boards / Rumble Seats

And my mothers favorite "The Womens Pay Scale"

[fizzgig]

67. my boyfriend recently had to explain to me what a three on the tree is

i'd never heard of such a thing

[Redstone]

76. I've been trying to figure out when was the last year you could buy a vehicle (I'd guess

a pickup truck would be the last) with three-on-the-tree.

I think it was in the early Eighties, but don't know for sure.

Redstone

[flvegan]

81. Yup.

1981, I believe for GM. 82 is when they went all computer/fuel injection/emissions crazy. My ex father in law had one. Not an easy thing to learn to drive on the fly.

[pokerfan]

114. How about a starter on the floor?

and the neighbor had an early D4 Caterpillar that you had to crank to start. Our D6 had a gasoline starter motor.

[CottonBear]

143. My way cool 1976 red Camaro w/ a huge 8 cylinder engine had the dimmer switch on the floor.

I loved that car. It was such a gas hog that the gas gauge actually moved as one drove around. :eyes:

[ceile]

49. Tapes

My nieces (7,8 and 9) don't know what tapes are-just cd's.

[flvegan]

50. Datsun.

[bertha katzenengel]

66. Do you know how Datsun got its name?

The Japanese came up with this fabulous line of cars, but they didn't know what to name it. Their debut deadline was coming up and they couldn't come up with anything. Then one of the marketing guys said, "I heard of this German guy who is a whiz at naming things, let's get him!" So they flew the German guy over and showed him the cars and asked him to name their product. He said, "Ven do you neet ze name?" They said, "Tomorrow." He said, "Dot soon!?"

[WinkyDink]

138. I learned to drive on a 240Z. Awesome car.

[HughBeaumont]

51. Two words:

Chrysler. Cordoba.



Soft Corinthian Leather.

Oh yes.

[bertha katzenengel]

63. How is it that what was considered gorgeous in the 70s is now repulsive?

Was it just the decade? So much about the 70s makes me want to retch.

Or is it really just that car?

[HughBeaumont]

88. Oh COME ON! The Cordoba was MONEY!

I have good memories of those tubs because my grandpa owned one. I like the way it felt, and he had all the options (well, back then, AM/FM 8 Track and AC were considered options).

[Sheets of Easter]

135. Not to mention the Rrrich Corinthian Leather!

[Angleae]

111. Not to mention

Ricardo Montalbán

[Brigid]

151. Now that takes me back.

Haven't seen a Cordoba in years. And those Ricardo Montalban ads. . . just dreamy . . . :loveya:

I had a crush on Ricardo Montalban back in those days. Is he still around?

[sarge43]

53. Phonographs, 78's, 45's, LPs n/t

[HEyHEY]

54. Respect!

[loveable liberal]

55. I still have a rotary dial phone in my man cave.

best line in the house audio-wise. Only drawback is I cant see who's calling.

[RadiationTherapy]

56. How about work ethic?

[Seeking Serenity]

58. Pong

[TroglodyteScholar]

83. Yea, my first thought was Atari

AHHahaha, I had to come back to add this picture, too--SEXY!

[Rabrrrrrr]

61. Not talking during shows at the theater or during concerts or while others are talking.

Going to the beach and not needing to talk on the phone.

Going to a movie and not needing to talk on the phone.

Going to the mall and not needing to talk on the phone.

Driving a car and not needing to talk on the phone.

Going to camp and not needing to talk on a phone, text message with friends, or otherwise spend the week focusing on the phone instead of nature, friends, and the stuff around them.

Going to a coffee shop and not talking on the phone.

Keeping private conversations private.

[Redstone]

77. Seconded. With Oak leaf Cluster.

Redstone

[Rabrrrrrr]

148. You know, that was twice in one day that you agreed with me.

:thumbsup:

:woohoo:

Thanks!!

[AirmensMom]

65. Why

is clothesline in your list? :shrug:

My kids grew up with their clothes drying on the line and I just taught my 6-year-old grandson how to hang his up. He's a little too short, so I had to help him ... but I'm sure he could do it if he had a rock to step on.

OTOH, he'll probably never have to learn how to use a slide rule.

[datasuspect]

69. the outdoors, imagination

[Kali]

70. dirt clod fights

fireworks, tree climbing, bike crashing...UNSCHEDULED PLAY! yeah not many know any of that anymore.

[pokerfan]

115. we made dirt clod forts

and had dirt clod fights. A freshly plowed field was like Christmas.

[MadrasT]

73. A handwritten letter...

...that arrives in a mailbox, in an envelope, with a postage stamp on it.

[MadrasT]

74. Using a card catalog in a library

[La Lioness Priyanka]

75. real food. i find it amazing what passes for food,

[Redstone]

78. A camera that's not part of a phone, and has film inside it.

Redstone

[kwassa]

80. shows about history on the History Channel

[Seeking Serenity]

85. A-bloody-men!

Whose rotten idea was it to turn the History Channel into another reality-show network?

What the flippin' heck does ice road trucking or logging have to do with history?

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

129. The same guy that put Wrestling on Sci-fi.

:eyes:

[ScreamingMeemie]

86. I still use all three of those.

But not the floppies. The only "old" thing that I think maybe my kids wouldn't recognize is an 8 track cassette...or perhaps even a regular cassette for my son.

[DarkTirade]

87. Hell, I don't think I've ever seen a tape data drive at work.

I've seen pictures. :P And I was around when 'tape backup' was fairly common. But I never encountered it myself. And I certainly never encountered anything that actually ran off of tape in real time.

Speaking of tapes... anybody got any good solutions as to how to get a tape out of the tape player in my car? It's one of those that doesn't have the mechanical eject button, just an electrical one. And for some reason it glitched up and doesn't recognize that there's a tape in there. So it won't eject it when I hit the button. It's been there for a while and I'm getting a little tired of having to listen to the radio all the time. :P

[alphafemale]

90. Prank Phone Calls. Caller ID killed that dead.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

93. The Constitution of the United States

of America

[Brigid]

152. Yeah, I miss that too.

I just hope we get it back come November. :(

[proud2BlibKansan]

94. TV tubes

I can still remember taking those burned out tubes down to the drug store and buying new ones. Then watching my dad put them in the TV.

[alphafemale]

106. Tube Testers.

[RushIsRot]

95. Linotype machines. They're long gone as well as most hand-set type.

[reyd reid reed]

98. What about mimeographs?

I haven't seen one of those in...sheesh. I don't know how long.

[RushIsRot]

173. I haven't seen a mimeograph machine in years either, nor the

other with the more delightful odor, Ditto.

[reyd reid reed]

96. A television without a remote

and one that isn't cable-ready and has one of those little thingies in the back to attach the rabbit ears.

And the rabbit ears.

OH...and transistor radios.

There's TONS of stuff my kids don't recognize.

[CottonBear]

145. That's the kind of TVs we had. Never had a remote until the 1980s. I had transistor radios too!

;) My radio was in the shape of a Texaco (I think) gas pump! It was a promo item you got when you filled up!

[MonkeyFunk]

99. Some young guy at work today

was referring to a thin sheet of clear plastic, and described it as "you know... like those things they used to use. You'd write on 'em and show 'em on the wall".

He was talking about overhead projectors and the sheets used on 'em. It never occurred to me before that they're now obsolete. PowerPoint has replaced them.

[reyd reid reed]

103. The schools around here still use 'em.

Maybe we're just behind?

:shrug:

[femmocrat]

171. We still use them, too.

We only have one projector (for power point) per building. They drag them out for inservice days. LOL

[Bill McBlueState]

131. that's a good one

I'm pretty sure that in 2003, I gave the last journal review talk on transparencies that my department will ever see.

[Left Is Write]

176. Transparencies. And then there's film strips too.

Kids today don't know film strips.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

102. Slide-rules, telephone booths, and pay-toilets

[Kat45]

104. Pinball machines.

Don't really see those any more.

[bumblebee1]

105. Record players with needles

45 and 33 records to play on the players.

[Kali]

158. vinyl is totally making a cult come-back

you can buy record players all over the place - even ones with usb ports so you can transfer that vinyl to digital

[TheMightyFavog]

107. Nudie Magazines...

back in the days before the internet, you had to actually buy your porn from the local gas station or sex shop, or find out where your older brother was hiding his stash.

And after you were done umm.... looking at the pictures, they had hilarious dirty joke sections, funny adult cartoons, and great articles on everything from luxury products to politics and even awesome celebrity interviews.


Had it not been for my older brother's stash of back issues of Penthouse, I might still be a Republican. (When I was a little kid I Identified as a Republican because I thought Elephants were cooler animals than Donkeys.)

[WinkyDink]

140. There are plenty of "men's" mags in stores. Check Borders or Barnes and Noble.

[muriel_volestrangler]

120. Personal checks

over 2 years since I've written one. Shops in the UK don't accept them any more; all businesses take payment through debit/credit cards (or cash only). I have received one or two written by businesses since then, admittedly.

[Bragi]

123. Traveller's checks /nt

[carlyhippy]

126. lp and 45 records, pull tab cans, necklaces made from the pull tabs

perculators on the stove, cars that you have to push a button to start, ethyl gasoline,

[muriel_volestrangler]

128. "cars that you have to push a button to start"?

It's the latest fashion in cars. :shrug: Or are you predicting it'll be gone in a few years time?

[carlyhippy]

wow! I had no idea they were coming back

we had an old pickup that we put the key in had to push a lever in, then push the button to start the vehicle. I don't know about the keyless ignition that was on the website, it looks like it would be too easy to steal a car

[carlyhippy]

163. dup post

[momto3]

130. Cars with roll up windows.

My dad has an older model pickup without power locks and windows. My 8 year old could not figure out how to get the window down. :crazy:

[CottonBear]

146. My 1992 and 1995 Corollas have roll up windows. One less electronic thing to break. n/t

[latebloomer]

168. You know when you circle your hand around

to ask someone to roll down their window?

Good way to mystify kids.

[Book Lover]

132. Smallpox scars

which I am totally OK with.

[Brigid]

149. I have one of those.

I wonder if I still have the immunity. They say that the smallpox virus would make an excellent terrorist weapon if they could get hold of it, since we've been through about 30 years of not vaccinating people.

[Bill McBlueState]

133. chicken pox

My daughter got a chicken pox vaccine last year. Lucky her! She also got vaccinated for some other disease whose name I can't remember, but that put me in the hospital for a week when I was her age.

[WinkyDink]

136. Oops. Wrong place!

[AwakeAtLast]

139. WMUette doesn't know what cigarettes are

She is 6, and when somebody said the word she said, "What's that?"

[WinkyDink]

141. Handwriting. Encyclopedias. Fact-filled textbooks. And apparently, many animals:

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/attenborough-alarmed-as-children-are-left-flummoxed-by-test-on-the-natural-world-882624.html

And non-cartoon movies without nudity or swearing.

[johnnie]

142. Here's one

Saturday morning cartoons. There was nothing like it. I know they have the cartoon networks and whatever, but that is shown all day. Saturday mornings was about the only time we got to see them.

[Sheets of Easter]

144. This thing:

[Rabrrrrrr]

153. Oh, and penmanship and proper spelling

I forgot my conversations with some teachers a few weeks ago, who all lamented the fact that penmanship and spelling were taken out of the curriculum years ago, so that the teachers could teach 3rd graders how to use Powerpoint.

Seriously.

[Brigid]

154. Yeah.

What are they teaching in school these days, because I know it isn't grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

[Rabrrrrrr]

156. Seriously - they're teaching Powerpoint and word processing instead.

In elementary school!!!!!!

Of all the things that enrage me, that's one of the truly serious things that enrages me.

Elementary school children don't need to learn fucking shit about computers, for two reasons: one, they need to learn to use a pen and paper and should be spending their time playing and learning how to do the shit that they're using computers to do (that is, instead of learning how to do a presentation on Powerpoint, or a research paper on Word, they need to learn how to a goddamned presentation, and how to do a research paper), and two) by the time they are in the workforce, that technology will have changed so much that it's useless.

School should not be about learning how to use the technology of a corporate office. It should be about - and I know I'm old fashioned here - getting an education on, you know, history and math and science and how to think and how to learn and how to collate data and think and write and spell and communicate like an english-speaking adult.

[Brigid]

162. . . .

:toast:

[PVnRT]

160. This?

Lest we forget that the good ol' days weren't good for everyone.

[Brigid]

161. Now here's something that can stay gone.

[carlyhippy]

165. movies on a reel with a projector in the classroom, film strips, color slides of your last vacation

pay phones, american bandstand, arcade games that cost a quarter to play

[GoddessOfGuinness]

166. Oh yeah, and "Heeeeeeeeere's Johnny!"

[latebloomer]

169. I told my daughter she sounded like a broken record

She asked- "What's a record?"

[Left Is Write]

172. People don't use clotheslines anymore?

BTW, there MUST be a dirty joke somewhere in "12-inch floppies."