What Old Technology Has Been Replaced by Modern Innovations?

[jtbell]

I remember when McDonalds was just a local hamburger stand - just one.

I don't go back quite that far (at least my memory doesn't), but I do remember when all McDonald's had a counter on their sign that proudly announced how many hamburgers the chain had sold so far: "100 million served"... "200 million served"...

Of course, they eventually had to switch to the Carl Sagan version: "Billions and billions served."

 

[FredGarvin]

Does anyone remember making actual carbon copies on an old Gestetner, hand crank copy machine? My Dad had one in his office for the longest time.

 

[Moonbear]

MB, I didn't realize that anyone still makes popcorn this way... Hmmmmm, I may try it again, but if I burn myself it will all be your fault.

Perhaps I should remind you to put the lid on the pot too?

Just put a tablespoon or two of oil in a heavy pot, and about 3 kernels of popcorn, put on the lid, place it over medium-high heat. When the first few kernels pop (I always do three in case you have a "dud"), the oil is ready. Quickly add your 1/3 cup of kernels, put the lid on, and wait. When you hear the popping start (shouldn't take long at all), start shaking the pot. When the popping slows down, take it off the heat, wait a moment or two longer for the last little explosions to stop (otherwise they'll all jump out of the pot when you open the lid), add salt or butter to taste (I can eat popcorn popped this way completely plain, but still add a little salt and butter anyway) and enjoy!

And yes, when I was growing up, my mom did it the scalding oil in a cheap (thin) pot and too high of temperatures and burn half the popcorn way too.

 

[Evo]

One of the most heavenly smells - hot buttered popcorn, one of the worst smells - burned popcorn.

 

[Evo]

Does anyone remember making actual carbon copies on an old Gestetner, hand crank copy machine? My Dad had one in his office for the longest time.

I remember having to type with carbon paper if i wanted copies.

The good old days of changing typewriter ribbons, unsnagging the keys

 

[jim mcnamara]

What kind of flavor does that add?

It's a way of getting potassium into foods that are otherwise low in K. But they don't know that - it's simply traditional.

 

[Ronnin]

Speaking of copies, has anyone seen or knows of anyone still using a mimeograph machine. I remember the teachers back in school having to wave the papers before they passed them out. The smell was unmistakable.

 

[jim mcnamara]

The mimeo fluid tasststestes good, too. hic.

 

[Math Jeans]

I remember a 32 bit graphics card being the best in the market.

I remember Windows 98

I remember a time without blue laser pointers .

 

[turbo]

I remember when Alpine ski boots were all made of leather and they laced up the front. Actually, my first few pairs were all of this type.

 

[Dr Transport]

Speaking of copies, has anyone seen or knows of anyone still using a mimeograph machine. I remember the teachers back in school having to wave the papers before they passed them out. The smell was unmistakable.

Back in the early '90's I taught at a community college that used them. If you wanted photocopies for a you had to submit them 5 days in advance, mimeographs were immediate if you ran the machine.

 

[rewebster]

I remember the family going outside to watch Sputnik fly over head.

My dad worked on the Mercury and Gemini projects at McDonnell-Douglas (before that-Vandenberg) and there was a private showing of the Gemini return capsule that we all were able to go up and touch. I remember sticking my fingers under the plexiglass to feel the grooves formed on the shield from re-entry.

 

[turbo]

I remember having to type with carbon paper if i wanted copies.

The good old days of changing typewriter ribbons, unsnagging the keys

I remember having to type my term papers on onion-skin (very thin light paper) so that the carbon copy would be crisp enough to read clearly. My electric typewriter really snapped the print-heads down, and if I used regular typing paper for the top copy, the carbon paper would bridge, and lower-case e's, a's, etc could be quite filled in and hard to read.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I remember the family going outside to watch Sputnik fly over head.

My dad worked on the Mercury and Gemini projects at McDonnell-Douglas (before that-Vandenberg) and there was a private showing of the Gemini return capsule that we all were able to go up and touch. I remember sticking my fingers under the plexiglass to feel the grooves formed on the shield from re-entry.

Was that in Long Beach? I had a friend in Scouts whose dad worked for either NASA or an associated contractor like Douglas, and we also attended a private showing of a capsule [not sure which one anymore].

 

[rewebster]

Was that in Long Beach? I had a friend in Scouts whose dad worked for either NASA or an associated contractor like Douglas, and we also attended a private showing of a capsule [not sure which one anymore].

We lived in a suburb of St. Louis (McDonnell-Douglas headquarters are there) in the early '60's.

I remember watching them build the Arch at St. Louis.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Ah.

One side of my family comes from Highland Ill, which is just down the road about thirty miles.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I remember when the top of my head wasn't shiney.

 

[Moonbear]

I had this set containing a spring powered cannon that fired a projectile about the size and weight of a real 44 bullet, and spring loaded wall that would explode when hit. I can still recall that the wall mechanism was fairly stiff and required a good bit of force to actuate, so those projectiles must have really been zinging along. I guess that's why I don't recall being shot... I don't think anyone wanted to try that one.

Oh, that reminds me of a toy I had that was my father's when he was a kid (unfortunately, I was not as good about taking care of toys as he was, so most of them are gone now). It was a spring-loaded cannon too, with a crank to adjust the angle, and you loaded little wooden balls into it, about the size of marbles. I also remember learning to never aim a loaded cannon at your little sister if your mom was within earshot.

 

[rewebster]

I remember when the top of my head wasn't shiney.

Shiney like a light bulb?

that means that you're always having an idea (I guess it depends on the wattage too)


I remember when I only took aspirin for hangovers

 

[RonL]

I remember a 32 bit graphics card being the best in the market.

I remember Windows 98

I remember a time without blue laser pointers .

What about Windows 3.0, running on a 8088 clone, at 4.77MHZ. With One full meg of Ram. I still have it in the shop, on a shelf with all my other ones. 386 x 33, 486 x 66dx 2, ...

 

[RonL]

I remember when MTV played music videos.

You mean like this

 

[scorpa]

When I was younger we still had a party line, but I was to little to remember so I guess that doesn't count.

 

[Evo]

When I was younger we still had a party line, but I was to little to remember so I guess that doesn't count.

It counts.

I'll bet a lot of the younger members don't know what a party line is.

 

[Evo]

I remember when nothing came in plastic containers.

 

[rewebster]

I remember getting a hula hoop and a sailing satelite I think the year they came out

about that same year '57 or '58 I remember asking my dad to build a skate board (a board with a roller skate taken apart attached to the bottom)

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I don't go back quite that far (at least my memory doesn't), but I do remember when all McDonald's had a counter on their sign that proudly announced how many hamburgers the chain had sold so far: "100 million served"... "200 million served"...

Of course, they eventually had to switch to the Carl Sagan version: "Billions and billions served."

Whoops! I guess I don't go back quite that far either. There was a split in the company in the early days and for a time there were actually two separate McDonald companies. It appears that the McDonalds that we know today had opened the first franchise a little before my time, but I do remember seeing the original.
http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/about/mcd_history_pg1.TopPar.0008.Image.gif

 

[rewebster]

I think in the mid seventies you could still get two hamburgers and a coke for less than a buck



I remember when Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo for 45 billion dollars

 

[scorpa]

It counts.

I'll bet a lot of the younger members don't know what a party line is.

It made me feel so old when my parents told me we had one of those when I was little.

 

[SticksandStones]

I think in the mid seventies you could still get two hamburgers and a coke for less than a buck



I remember when Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo for 45 billion dollars

I remember when 45 billion dollars was a lot of money.

 

[binzing]

I know what a party line is. Its a phone connection that multiple people can connect in. A more "ghetto" form would be the old tin can and string trick.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I remember the last days of the grand Movie Palaces - when even the local neighborhood theaters followed this theme.

The Paramount Theatre in Seattle, Washington
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4b/Paramount_Northwest_16.jpg/800px-

Paramount Theater, Oakland, CA

 

[NoTime]

I remember Bikini Atol.

 

[turbo]

It counts.

I'll bet a lot of the younger members don't know what a party line is.

We were on a party line. When I was in HS (when we finally got a phone) you would have to pick up the phone to see if anybody else was using the line. Our phone had a magneto and a battery set, encased in an oak box. You would pick up the handset and if the line was clear, you'd crank the magneto to alert the operator, and she would jack in and say "number pleeeeze". You would give her the number (generally 3 digits in a small exchange like ours) and wait to get connected. Once someone on the other end picked up, you'd have to listen closely. If you heard a single click, the operator had jacked out. If you heard a fast double click, the operator had only pretended to jack out and was listening to your entire call. That was the signal that you you should start spreading crap about the telephone operators, the town's officials, the administrators of the school district, etc. If you did it casually, those old biddies would repeat it verbatim, sometimes with embellishments.

 

[wolram]

I remember when we could have bread and butter or bread and cheese never both.

 

[jtbell]

I remember using a book of trig tables to calculate answers to problems, in high school. I once had a contest with a chemistry classmate, to see who could solve problems faster. He used a slide rule, I used a book of trig tables. I won.

 

[Huckleberry]

Johnny Unitas and the Baltimore Colts, played Green Bay, in the playoffs before the first Superbowl (i think 1958) don't remember missing a single Superbowl.(on TV)

I remember my grandfather giving me an autograph from Johnny Unitas and I was like, "Thanks Grampa. Who is this guy?"

I remember basic Dungeons & Dragons and other paper and pencil role playing games.

 

[Andre]

Atari 520 ST with a high resolution 640 x 400 monochrone screen, making graphic games for the kids like "Yatzee", "mouse race" or "memory" with GFA basic when the PC struggled along on 3.77 Mhz/ text only.

graphics for text characters was 8 x 16 bits only though, while a friend showed proportional text on his Commodore Amiga. So, left with no choice but developed a proportional text print function also in 68000 assembler, making full use of the 32 bit long word feature.

 

[sas3]

I remember when this computer was top of the line
http://www.1000bit.net/lista/dati/trs80coco2/trs80_coco2_2.jpg

As sad as this sounds I still have one of them.

 

[rewebster]

I remember Bikini Atol.

Something my dad never talked about, but I remember my uncle told me that's why my dad and mom were stationed in Hawaii in '47 and '48 while he worked on the project.

I remember sonic booms all the time back in the 50's (southern California)

 

[jim mcnamara]

One of the most heavenly smells - hot buttered popcorn, one of the worst smells - burned popcorn.

I remember being able to smell burnt popcorn. My sense of smell turned off years ago.
I can still smell rosemary - if I go out to the bush by the door, grab some leaves and smash them in my hand. The dry stuff doesn't work.

 

[NoTime]

Something my dad never talked about, but I remember my uncle told me that's why my dad and mom were stationed in Hawaii in '47 and '48 while he worked on the project.

I remember sonic booms all the time back in the 50's (southern California)

I was a little young to truly understand what was going on.
We were visiting my grandparents (the only people I knew besides one of my friends parents that had a TV) a few weeks before the first hydrogen bomb test.
They had this truly horrible commercial describing the end of the world if they were allowed to continue. A few weeks later, I asked my parents if they had stopped it because we were still here.

The only time my friends parents ever let us come into watch TV was for the launch of the US Nautilus, the first atomic powered submarine. My parent's bought our first TV maybe a year later.
Before we got our TV we were driving thru the City and they had a COLOR TV running in one of the shop windows with a color show playing. My father parked the car and we walked back two blocks to look at it.

 

[rewebster]

I remember our first color TV --1965--I thought Bonanza was the first color show?--maybe it was just the most popular that was in color

I also remember that it had to be de-gauss-ed every once in a while by the local TV technician as the picture would turn green

We also got our first snowmobile that year--dad worked for a boat company where we lived in Minnesota about 100 miles NNW of the twin cities that tried to get in on the ground floor with snowmobiles---geeezz was that place cold---it stay below minus 10 days and nights for 7 days straight with lows going to -34 and -35---brrrrrrrrrr

 

[NoTime]

I remember our first color TV --1965--I thought Bonanza was the first color show?--maybe it was just the most popular that was in color

I also remember that it had to be de-gauss-ed every once in a while by the local TV technician as the picture would turn green

We also got our first snowmobile that year--dad worked for a boat company where we lived in Minnesota about 100 miles NNW of the twin cities that tried to get in on the ground floor with snowmobiles---geeezz was that place cold---it stay below minus 10 days and nights for 7 days straight with lows going to -34 and -35---brrrrrrrrrr

1965 was about the time that color TV became less expensive than a new car.
The show I mentioned (some special event like the Emmys or something) was in the neighborhood of 1954.

-30 - Brrrrrrrrrrrr is right! You can spit and it'll freeze before it hits the ground. Sounds like a little firecracker going off.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I also remember that it had to be de-gauss-ed every once in a while by the local TV technician as the picture would turn green

I still have my dad's old degaussing coil.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

8080a

 

[_Mayday_]

The forefront of gaming software.

http://www.937mike.com/images/imagemanager/pacman.gif ​

[/URL]

 

[larkspur]

I remember when a Chevy Nova was thought to be a smaller car. I saw one today and it looks huge compared to most sedans (not SUVs) on the road today.

 

[binzing]

Nah Mayday, pong was there first, LOL.

 

[turbo]

I remember when a Chevy Nova was thought to be a smaller car. I saw one today and it looks huge compared to most sedans (not SUVs) on the road today.

My house-mate had a beautiful dark blue '62 Nova convertible with a white top, wide white-walls and regular (non-power) steering. It was a fairly heavy vehicle for its size, and standard procedure was to swing out a bit and cut your front wheels in the direction of your turn if you had to come to a stop (usually on left turns on 2-way roads) before you had to make a turn. Ronnie did this and was ready to turn into our street when an old lady in a Caddy slammed him from behind, shoving him into the front of an on-coming 3/4 ton GMC pickup. The results were not pretty. His car was totaled (luckily he was only slightly injured) and the insurance company left him with almost nothing, citing the age and depreciation of this pristine older car.

 

[Kittel Knight]

I remember when "I love Lucy" was a successful tv show...