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OT: Things that have died in my lifetime

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i_r_machinist

Titanium
Joined
Apr 12, 2007
Location
Dublin Texas
Just for fun. I have a little quirk that I do. When talking about some subject or another I will mention "Just another thing that has died in my lifetime".
So...
A vehicle without a computer chip
Phone booths
Tape readers on machine tools
inserts that have no chip breaker topography
the space shuttle program
privacy (think google earth)
freedom to drink a beer and drive my boat, on a public lake
the "tonight" show
Spanking children
Promoting supervision from the ranks
attention spans
common sense
Music on tapes
leaded gasoline
shade tree mechanics
Real news, like Walter Cronkite used to report

gota customer
i_r_
 
Pluto's status as a planet.

The Cold War.

"The Friendly Giant" and "The Uncle Bobby Show" and a whole host of other classic TV shows.

Drinking and Driving as no big deal, and good riddance to it.

Music that was actually music, requiring instruments to be played with skill and proficiency, and singers who sang and didn't mistake their voice for another kind of instrument.

The '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, and '00s.

Muscle cars!

Disco.

"The Brick" cellphone.

Japanese streetbikes (not sport bikes) as Japanese streetbikes instead of Harley clones.


Oh man, I'm having way too much fun with this!!! :willy_nilly:

============

The only thing common about common sense is the name. I doubt there's ever been an overabundance of it in my lifetime.
 
Concorde - faster than sound travel
Regularly filling the petrol (gas) tank -driving for fun.

(we could be the most mobile generation in the history of the planet - future generations are unlikely to travel as widely)

8-track tapes - (not that anyone would miss the b****y things)
gramaphone needles

Spangles - small square sweets that would cut your tongue, if you weren't careful

Spares parts! (as opposed to boards or modules)


Personal responsibility - now it's always someone else's fault.

Replaced by some thing better?:
Slide-rules
Mechanical calculators - Comptometers
Analogue computers
 
Cathode Ray Tube

Quadraphonic sound

Rotary phones

Leaded gasoline....100ll is still around, check at your local airport, but yes it's on the endangered list.
 
gone or going, depending on the location

Phone Modems on computers and laptops
using RS 232 to transfer files to milling machines (possibly including DNC software?)
floppy disks (8.5", 5.25", 3.5")
Iomega Zip Disks (and other portable backup disks) replaced by USB memory drives.
 
buying spray paint, bb's, slingshots, paintballs, knives, asprin, or anything not made by hasbro before your 18.

lead stuff.

mail order or durgstore chemicals.

knives on planes! :( If we are going to crash and wash up on a desert island I will be seriously pissed to have no knife.
 
Atari Computers

Local Newspaper (Grammar and Spelling have deteriorated to the point of being offensively stupid on some days)

Germanys nonagression policy ( Afganistan....)

Tape Camcorders

Film and Photo Cameras using chemical processes


Severly endangered :
German made toy steam engines (Used to be a bit sloppy and slacky here and there but now they are using more and more plastic and general quality is worse than ever. Received a shipment of 10 machines for educational purposes.....guess they have all parts that have changed made in china :angry:)
 
Things that have died in my lifetime.

Repairable home electronics. And their repair-persons. Try to get a TV or radio repaired these days. Home appliances are not far behind.
Home canning of garden produce (though it may be coming back)
Self sufficiency of just about any kind.
Sitting down to write a letter, by hand. For any purpose.
Looking up anything in an encyclopedia. How long has it been since you even saw a set of encyclopedias? Do you even know what they are?
A rotary dialed phone. A party line (I'm a country boy, they didn't diethat long ago in my world).
This could go on forever. I was thinking recently about the fact that if the world changes as much in the next twenty years, let alone the next generation, as much as it has changed in the last twenty, we just as well move to Mars. Couldn't be much worse. (Or better, depends on you POV.)
 
Going outside and turning the antenna to get the OTHER channel on the TV.

Yeah, Electronic Repair is sorely missed here.

The Roadrunner/Coyote cartoon.

Mechanics that know what a honing stone is.
 
Rotary dial *what?*

pw_lathe_vfd_2.jpg


Got news for folks, all telco switchgear accepts dial pulse inputs. Hook the phone
up, it'll work.

Died in my life, the chance to drive around without seeing other drivers yakking on the
phone.
 
The "Holiday Tree," mentioned earlier, and thank you for doing so. I wonder if we have lowered ourselves to that extreme.

When you say "Merry Christmas" to someone, with a big smile on your face. how can the other person take umbrage at that? Do we have to "Polish the Apple" for everyone else?

Even worse, how can you look at someone, and tell what religion they are? If a person came up to you and said Happy Hanukkah, would you give him static, and tell him you are a "whatever," and make him feel bad? I doubt it.

I do believe we are giving way to everyone, and we are slighting, our own culture.
The culture that built this country.

Every country in the world has it's culture. Those cultures work for them, and those cultures are why we get in an airplane to go see the people, and see what they've built in there years.

It's "Differences," not "Sames" that makes things interesting. I believe "WE" are letting "OUR" government "Dumb Down" our culture and I don't care for the result.

I'm stepping down off my soap box now.

Best regards, and Merry Christmas to you all, with a BIG smile, :)

Stanley Dornfeld
 
Real light bulbs

Real paint

The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show

Hand-cranked pencil sharpeners

Analog radio tuners

Ladders without safety stickers

Sales help that knew what they were talking about

Cash registers

People who know how to make change

Bank tellers
 
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