I miss the sound of a type writer or the ring of a real phone

[blues90]

I was one of two males in the entire typing class in high school 1965 , thought it would help with my guitar playing because it required a sort of rhythm , beside that the class was one of the only ones left that provided a full credit . I'll never get used to a keyboard , never . You just can't rest a finger on a key and think and I can't type on a flat surface with square keys .

Also just the sound of a real set of bells ringing on a phone rather than these electronic bleeps and musical tones .

Oh, well , this is just another thing that happens when you get old and obsolete just like the technology .

[rug]

1. I'm going to tase the next fucker with a ringtone.

(Not all technology is bad.)

[blues90]

19. That's debatable

It all seemed to swarm in at once . I don't understand a thing about computers and have no patience trying to program in phone numbers on speed dial .

Look what tech has brought us , all sorts of insane noise including the powered lawn equipment and these ring tones , man I hate those .

I can hardly write well anymore because it's not required much and I miss paper and a letter with a stamp with someones personal effort on paper .

Technology inspires isolation , but that's my own personal opinion out here in the ether .

[rug]

26. Can't argue with you, blue. The only hand written mail I get is Christmas cards.

[NJCher]

84. that's debatable, too

I think forums like this are an excellent way to exercise one's writing skills. People who think they are just "wasting time" on DU might want to think about that.

The subject line becomes a "thesis statement." In the dialogue box, one puts the support.

I'm a writing teacher at a university and I have my students writing on blogs.

Oh and in reference to the OP, I miss the ring of a telephone, too. I even once went so far as to put in a typewriter sound on my computer so that when I typed on the keyboard, it sounded like an old-time typewriter. It even gave off a little ring at the end of each line! My spouse complained about it, though, so I quit using it.



Cher

[Skittles]

30. same here

what the FUCK is wrong with people? Why do they have those stupid ringtones???

[rug]

56. Kick their ass!

I'll hold your coat.

[Odin2005]

92. WTF? Ringtones are fucking awesome!!!

:rant:

[rug]

101. .

[opihimoimoi]

2. LOL, I was the ONLY DUDE in typing at high school....class of 58

I miss the erasers, the Underwoods, the Royals, and the bells too. Never got above 56 words a min.

[LSparkle]

9. I miss the satisfaction of the "plunk" of the element on the page

I still have an electric typewriter (even though I also have a computer) just because there is nothing (to me) more satisfying than facing the actual typed page. I learned to type on a manual Royal, had an old Underwood as a kid, then an electric Smith-Corona, worked for years on IBMS ... This was all back in the days when accuracy counted -- and I could type 120 wpm even considering errors (not much of a feat today but it sure opened office doors when I first started working in the '70s).

[opihimoimoi]

31. I still have an old Royal I bought and had refurbished...and an IBM Selectric

I bought in the early 80's....we haven't used them in ages.

120 wpm...damn

Come, we go eat, smile, laugh of the old daze.

[eleny]

39. My family's first typewriter was an Olympia

So I had to get the package of old fonts here ---> http://www.vintagetype.com/

I love the Olympia. Here's the full font.


Honest to god but when I see my own printing in that font coming out of the new fangled printer it's so nostalgic. My brother was a writer and used the Olympia for years and years. Each typewriter had it's own unique font. Those were the days. Ding!

[opihimoimoi]

69. Iz that Helvitica? Kinda looks like it....

[eleny]

98. I don't know the origins, just that it's the replica of the Olympia typewriter

[oasis]

41. 56 wpm in '58. Good enough to get one office job in "town".

Btw, Smith/Corona is my typewriter of choice.:hi:

[opihimoimoi]

68. I tell ya what....typing had helped me a lot in college, in the Fire Dept, and life in Gen

Now, its the computer and a printer...LOL

Hellos to Doni....

[BuyingThyme]

3. There's always the doorbell.

[cboy4]

4. You remind Dana Carvey's grumpy old man character:

"Everything today is improved and I don't like it. I hate it! In my day we didn't have hair dryers. If you wanted to blow dry your hair you stood outside during a hurricane. Your hair was dry but you had a sharp piece of wood driven clear through your skull and that's the way it was and you liked it! You loved it." :spray:

[AlCzervik]

5. me cell phone ring actually sounds like---a ring, like a black rotary telephone

right from ma bell, i also took typing "All good men should come to the aid of their country" like a bazillion times.

[ben_meyers]

6. Or how about the smell of the Ditto Machine,

Or the reproduction machine as Mr. Swenson called it. (to giggles from the back of the room)

[AlCzervik]

8. or ibm punch cards, remember those?

[blues90]

22. That was the new craze in jobs in the early 60's

Key punch operators .

[annabanana]

50. "do not bend, fold, spindle or mutilate". . . . . .n/t

[Tesha]

89. '029 or '026? (NT)

[Virginia Dare]

95. My dad used to bring those home to me for scratch paper..

remember the scene in that old Doris Day/Rock Hudson movie where the computer (which took up an entire room) went whacko and the cards flew all over the place? There was also a classic scene at the automat in NYC.

those were the days...

[LSparkle]

11. Remember smelling dittos when they were passed out in school?

I'm convinced kids got high off that stuff ...

[Mist]

48. Oh, for a whiff of mimeograph ink! Haven't smelled it in years......nt

[NJCher]

85. now they get high on computer air sprays

Noticed dust in my computer the other day. I went in to Radio Shack to buy some air spray cleaner and they asked for my date of birth. I asked why they wanted to know and the clerk said it was some law that they have to supply information for because kids buy the stuff and get high off it.

So the more things change, the more they stay the same.



Cher

[Mist]

88. I'm not sure we were getting high on mimeograph ink--it just smelled great! nt

[Captain Hilts]

51. College kids were still doing that in the 1990s. nt

[raccoon]

93. And some of the teachers wrote so sloppily you couldn't read it. nt

[panader0]

7. I gotta '39 Martin acoustic still sounds great.........

[blues90]

23. I have my first strat a 59 sunburst

well worn and still works just fine other than a few fret jobs .

[LakeSamish706]

10. Hey get this... My wife and I were in the same typing class in high school...

I used to beat her hands down throughout the two years that we took typing.... (She married me anyway) lol...

[Jackpine Radical]

17. Beating her hands down?

God, that creates a weird image.

[hootinholler]

67. Well that was ineffective...

She grabbed you anyway :D

-Hoot

[zabet]

12. We still have a rotary dial phone...

hard-wired pulse line.

[Breeze54]

24. C'mon citizen_jane!!! LOL! You got the new laptop, so

now it's time to get the new fandangled digital phone!! :P

I know you can do it and it's a lot faster calling the fire dept. with them! ;)

Send it on your list to Santa this year! :D

[zabet]

40. Meh...

At 44...I am an old
fogey stuck in my ways. :P

[Breeze54]

62. I'm almost ten years older then you!! - LOL!

Get with it, little sister! :P

[Yurovsky]

28. The phone company told us ...

we couldn't use a rotary phone on our line. I had an old one that was really cool (red!) that I used to sit under a glass cake dish (my "batphone").

[zabet]

42. I think there is some

type of converter or adapter
that will enable you to use the
phone. Our house was built in
1931 and moved to this farm in
1969 and the same phone is in
it from the rewiring after the
house was moved. It is in the
kitchen, a wall phone with the
cord to the handset that is 10'
long before stretching.

[blues90]

29. I have one too , even with the cloth cord , but the ringer does not work

anymore .

[zabet]

45. Common problem

in these old phones.
Search the web, there
are a few sites dedicated
to the upkeep and restoration
of these old phones.

[Historic NY]

13. I still got 3 Ma Bell land line phones even non-push button....

I miss my kitchen pay phone ringer as the new one doesn't seem to work for some reason. Typing I took it in Catholic HS and again in public HS. I used to be able to type around 60wpm.....asdf jkl;

The quick brown fox jummped over the lazy dogs back. :eyes:

[LSparkle]

14. Like Greg Kinnear's character in "You've Got Mail"

The writer obsessed with typewriters ...

[Canuckistanian]

15. Not me

Our family had the standard Bell Telephone - you know, this one:


for about 20 years. They never gave it up until the late-1970's.

To me, it represented the old way of thinking and I hated hearing that ringing telephone and my friends saying "You still got one of those things?"

I still remember the old telephone number - Clifford 9-0557 and the rhythm of that rotary dial for that number.

Nope, give me Touch Tone and speed dial, thanks.

[sjdnb]

16. Try this ...

http://www.colorpilot.com/soundpilot.html

Sound Pilot adds typewriter sounds to your computer keyboard. It creates the romantic sound atmosphere of the time of Remingtons. With every touch of the keyboard, there is a new sound. This makes the process of typing more interesting and intertaining, reduces stress, and helps encourage more rhythmical typing.

[KoKo]

18. The "Thrill of the clacking keys...the anticipation of the RIIIIIIINNNNN!"

It's gone...ain't coming back...and it's hard to deal with. I remember a battle with my late 78 year old father trying to upgrade him from a Dial Phone...years ago...to a "dial pad." I felt like the NEW THING...so HIP...and he just didn't understand my fervor.

Trying to get me onto a "Cell Phone" was worse for my daughter than for me to get my father to look at "Touch Screen" from his "Roto Dial." I have the Cell Phone...but hate the damned thing. Yet, you would have to pry my computer (only had one since 1996) from my Cold Dead Hands. Go figure? :shrug:

I feel...very out of touch sometimes. But...I use "Firefox/Thunderbird" and "Zone Alarm." I guess my old fart stuff sort of "picks and chooses." But my 78 year old Dad (now gone..died last year) was a little ahead of me in skepticism...but it's come so far since my encounter with him.

I guess the lesson is that we learn to upgrade according to our needs. And if we don't need it...what's wrong with "Roto Dial" compared to "All the Bells and Whistles" ...if you aren't going to use them if you have small needs. :shrug:

[theredpen]

20. How about a rotary cell phone? NO JOKE!

This is the ever popular Portable Rotary Phone. Phone comes fully assembled and tested. All you have to do is open the phone, insert your SIM card, and turn the unit on! The unit will utilize your phone number and account minutes. Phone dials out like normal through the rotary. Incoming calls ring the original, loud, gong style metal bells. This phone even has a dial tone! The internal cellular module works within any country that has one of the 900MHz, 1800MHz, or 1900MHz cellular bands (90% of the world). The Port-O-Rotary is truly international with up to 15-digit dialing, auto-frequency selection, '+' characters, and PIN # entry for pre-paid cards.

Each Port-O-Rotary is an original rotary phone that has been specially modified. There may be small scratches and scraps on the exterior, also known as 'character'. The battery can run the phone for 4-5 days (yes days) and is charged by an external jack on the rear of the phone (charger included).

Only $199(USD): http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=286

[KoKo]

25. Dream on...but it would be cool. And how about a "user friendly menu"

that doesn't involve lots of scrolling. I guess it depends on the phone you choose though. I liked it when there was ONE PHONE...and folks had made it ALREADY USER FRIENDLY...so I didn't have to choose among many styles of phones and phone plans and that stuff that makes one's head ACHE and need to go on MEDS to get rid of the headache after you dissed your phones and lost money...not understanding the whole Buy/Sell/Buy/Sell HYPE....ayyyyy.,

[theredpen]

35. Dream on? I'm not kidding. THIS IS A REAL PRODUCT YOU CAN BUY NOW.

I take it that you didn't click on the link. It is an honest-to-god ROTARY CELL PHONE.

Also available in red: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=287

[Raine]

77. That's COOL

:thumbsup: but unfortunately I think it would be to heavy and awkward for me to drag around. :-(

[NJCher]

86. OMD!

:rofl:

If I could find where to nominate you for a DUzy, I would do so!

:rofl:



Cher

[Raine]

108. Heh

:shrug: :rofl:

[Breeze54]

21. Add Remington typewriter sounds to your computer keyboard for Free!

Sound Pilot description
Add typewriter sounds to your computer keyboard

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Others/Fun/Sound-Pilot.shtml

Sound Pilot adds typewriter sounds to your computer keyboard.
It creates the romantic sound atmosphere of the time of Remingtons.
With every touch of the keyboard, there is a new sound.
This makes the process of typing more interesting, amuses,
reduces stress, and helps encourage more rhythmical typing.

Enjoy! :D

I learned to type on non-electric (Remington?) too but I quickly went to the electric
when it was offered in class and I could type 105 wpm with that! But keyboarding is OK.
I am missing the lettering on a lot of the keys on this older board now, so I make a
lot of mistakes.

[mcscajun]

37. Very cool. Needs a better "bell" when you hit the "Enter" key, though.

BTW...Love your Santa letter. :applause:

Hope Santa comes through!

[Breeze54]

63. I hope Santa comes through too!

:D

Here's to a great New Year and a new Democratic president! :toast:

[sjdnb]

38. I guess great minds ....

LOL!

I'm no Luddite, but there is something about tactile nature of an old book versus an ebook, the warmth and richness of an analog, vinyl, record, and the 'wholeness' of being physically with people versus virtually that I think many in the younger generation may never fully appreciate. I do know, that with my children, to some extent, the reliance on electronic 'assistance' has made them less independent and more impatient. I even know some people I would characterize as 'hermits', who pretty much lead their entire social lives online.

I love the internet/computers, but I worry about what the social, psychological, and, even, evolutionary effects might, over generations, be without some balance between natural/mechanical world and the virtual one.

[mcscajun]

27. I'm with you. Real Bells. :sigh: I miss 'em. Real clackety-clack keys, too.

The very early high-end keyboards had some positive click action, but try and find anything like that now. :(

I set my cordless phone and cell phone to the nearest approximation of the old-time phone bells, but it's just Not the same. (yes, I occasionally use ring-tones, but I'd trade them all for a good ole Bell Telephone metal Ring-Ring.

[eleny]

32. Did you know that there's ringtones like the old fashiond phone ring?

Our contractor got it for his cell phone. It's pretty wonderful. I want it.

I'm from the age of old bell rings on the phone. In fact, I think our family's first phone had a cloth wire. Sort of like this one but no space age curly wire. :D


Btw, here's a page that has an old ringtone you can listen to for a trip down memory lane <sigh>.
http://www.make4fun.com/mp3-ringtones.php?page=bell-ringtones&id=1159

[blues90]

36. The phone you have pictured is the same as the one we have other

Than the cord . ours has a brown cloth cord and is wired into the wall .

[bobbolink]

33. I miss not being accosted with peoples' private phone conversations!

Really, I don't want to hear what you all are talking about.

Saw a neat bumpersticker the other day... "You're driving a car, not a phone booth."

:thumbsup:

[Berry Cool]

53. Add to that one: "It's a bathroom stall, not a phone booth."

Unless you're Larry Craig, of course...

But seriously, where did people get the idea that sitting on the toilet was the perfect place to make a phone call from? I attended a workshop a while ago and every damn time there was a break, one of the women went into the bathroom as I did, selected a stall, dropped her pants, plopped her butt down, and called her office to catch up on what was happening and bark orders at someone. I couldn't escape her. Every time I went, there she was. I'm sure her underling loved being able to listen to all the lovely bathroom sounds as their boss phoned in for her updates.

[bobbolink]

59. OMG---how did you refrain from flushing her damned cell???

Do people even *think* anymore?

THINK... it only hurts for a little while....

[NMMNG]

71. Indeed

I was in a restroom recently and the woman in the stall next to me was discussing antidepressants with someone. "Is yours an SSRI? Mine is, and I never get an upset stomach. You should get your doctor to switch what you're taking, blah blah blah." Geesh.

[Matariki]

34. When I was a little kid back in the 60's I would DREAM of the shit that exists today.

I used to DREAM of having vast, encyclopedic amounts of knowledge held within something the size of my coin purse - along with the ability to 'look up' information about everyone I knew. And also I dreamed of being able to hold ALL my cumbersome and easily damaged vinyl LPs on a transportable device.

It's so nice my childhood dreams became reality. I revel in the technology. I LOVE the Interweb. Oh and my lawn mower is rechargeable and nearly silent, btw.

on edit - how did spellcheck miss 'withing'? Fucking lame ass technology ;-)

[dysfunctional press]

43. i miss the sound of the coins hitting the metal tray as the slot machines paid off...

vegas just doesn't sound quite the same anymore...:evilfrown:

[NuttyFluffers]

74. now that's a sound i dearly miss.

had a stint living in Reno for almost a year, and regularly visited Tahoe and Vegas w/ family and friends. casinos just aren't casinos w/o all that *plink, plink* of coins on the metal tray. it's all so subdued and muted in terms of sound. and the lights, the lights are all bright and neon but the place is lit up like day and there's no "fog bank" of mysterious smoke surrounding everything. i loved that as a child, it make casinos vaguely mysterious, magical, grown-up. now they're just boring "family friendly" places to lose money fast. unfortunately most american video game arcades have suffered a similar fate. fucking health-nazi, family-friendly bullshit... thank god there's plenty of underground stuff and foreign countries still available with this. american consumerism, as cheap and shallow as it was before, is not even entertaining like it used to be. i can't wait to go ex-pat, this place is a bore.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

44. I find these noises you so dearly miss extremely obnoxious, loud, and irritating. -nt

[Raine]

79. They've been replaced by even more

obnoxious, loud and irritating new annoyances like boom boxes that make your ears bleed and rattle your teeth when some thoughtless person blasts them for all to suffer with. :-(

[Captain Hilts]

46. I STILL use my Hermes 3000 manual typewriter for letters/postacards. Here's a picture...

http://www.mytypewriter.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=68

[Berry Cool]

47. OK, here's what I miss and I didn't even realize it until very recently when I saw it again:

The way a record looks when it's playing. The way the tone arm slowly skates through the grooves and inches slowly, slowly, slowly toward the center of the record as it plays, and the way its slow, gradual motion makes a kind of rhythm to accompany the music.

I had no idea how used I was to seeing it or how much I missed seeing it until I realized I had gone for ages without seeing it.

[Captain Hilts]

52. That color spectrum on Beatles albums....nt

[kineneb]

65. I could have a museum of "not-too-ancient" technology

-19-teens upright piano (formerly a player)
-circa 1930/40s eggbeater drill in shop
-1940s kitchen eggbeater, all metal w/wooden handle, still used
-1940s Wicks chamber pipe organ (oh, boy, the wiring...)
-1950s Royal manual typewriter
-1950s Sears table saw (1/2" arbor!)
-Grandma's 1950s Electrolux vacuum cleaner (still works just fine)
-slide rule (at least one)
-abacus
-1970s stereo system, with turntable, cassette deck, newer CD player

and of more recent vintage...
IBM Thinkpad 600e- running Linux!

[KharmaTrain]

49. I Sure Don't Miss Them

I've got an old Bell phone connected in the garage (ringer turned off) and my old Royal manual sits in the hall closet...my fingers still ache when I look at it.

I surely don't miss the gallons of white-out I used or the messy hands when changing a ribbon. And then how can we forget about using carbon paper if you wanted a copy (who had a photocopier???) and having to unstick the keys when your fingers got ahead of the typewriter.

Nah...I very much enjoy spell-check (when I am not too lazy to use it), erasing with a backspace, letting the printer do the dirty work and cut and paste and embed pics on documents.

[MadHound]

54. I inherited one of these from my grandparents

My grandmother was the first telephone operator in her little town back in the day. I inherited this phone from them, refinished the box, redid the electronics and hooked it into the phone network myself. It rings, I can even talk on it pretty well. But I really don't think that I'll turn that crank ever, it would piss off the phone company if I burned something out shooting a few volts down the line.

I also have an old Royal typewriter that I learned on. I still use it once in awhile, though it's getting tougher to find ribbons for the thing.

[Neecy]

55. I took typing in high school, too

The teacher was a horrid old dame who stalked us with a yardstick, and if she saw our backs touch the back of our chair that yardstick would come down like a ton of bricks to separate your back from the chair.

And she wasn't even a nun! WTF?

Great class, though. And it translated fine for me to a keyboard - in fact, I can type faster on a keyboard than a typewriter. It's a more natural position for your hands.

[AZBlue]

57. How about the sound of a tape rewinding in the VCR?!

[Raine]

78. VCR's are still around

I use one that I bought not long ago, so I hear the rewind all the time. :D

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

58. I hate - no - completely detest - the look of modern cars

To me THEY - HAVE - NO - SHAPE. They look like formless plastic electric shavers. All of them. Even the paint has a plastic look because, well, it's polyurethane and made of plastic. And those plastic bumpers and bumper skirts, plastic dashboards and even the cab forward look - are all things I absolutely loathe. And I hate to pop the hood on a modern car and see a jungle of twisted vaccuum tubes and computer chips inside.

I wasn't alive when the movie The Big Sleep was made, but I wish I could go into that world. It was more stylish as for the clothes, the architecture and even the cars. I wish I lived in a world where shapely cars like this were still on the road, like the 1939 Plymouth Business Coupe that Humphrey Bogart drove in that film.



And I loved the ribbon typewriters with the smell of oil, the look and sound of the telephones, and especially the offices that had windows in them you could actually open onto the street and that had plate glass on the entry door where your name could be painted on it. It was human-friendly, compared to the ugly boxy office towers of today where humans are hemetically sealed inside in an artificial atmoshphere and can't open the window. To me, everything about the modern world is made for ease, for convenience, but not for beauty or grace. Maybe it's a question of taste, but I say 'fuck you' to the modern world every time I take one of my old cars on the road and see the ugliness around me. And I own three old cars and no new ones.

[blues90]

61. Oh , I agree , that was industrial ART

Not the industry crap vacuum formed cars of today . I see the entire front end of a modern car come off with the slightest bump . And power everything , people are to lazy to turn a crank to open a window or move a seat .

You really have to wonder what sort of crap you are breathing that is emmited out of all that plastic and foam .

My car is a 1973 VW square back and it is still going strong .

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

70. Old VWs are great cars

I have a 1973 Saab, a 1969 Citroen, and a 1957 DKW, that look kind of like these:

[northzax]

91. oh yeah, I agree

fuel injection is an awful thing. and clutchless transmissions? oh dear. and what's with seat belts and airbags? anti-lock brakes? crumple zones? fuel efficiency? crap. all of it is crap. I long for the days when cars were death traps, and you only survived if you were a good enough driver.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

102. I'd say it in a less cranky fashion than you did, but I essentially agree.

While cars today are an aesthetics disaster, they are safer and more economical. Priorities, people, priorities.

[northzax]

104. heck, I also miss busy signals

people dying from strep throat, leaded gasoline, arranged marriages for 12 year old girls, having a 1 in 3 chance of dying before 18, slavery, children working in salt mines, women who did what they were told, no air conditioning, you know, the good old days.

progress sucks.

thus spoke mr. cranky.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

105. Methinks thy crankiness doth carry truth. -nt

[northzax]

106. and remember when we were allowed

nay encouraged, to use women to settle our gambling debts? damn, those were good times.

[blues90]

107. As old as my car is it does have fuel injection

And it is much more stable that an old carb . I can tell you that anti lock brakes can be ok at highway speeds but can also be a danger at low speeds .

I had a lady make a left right in front of me and I hit the brakes on a ranger truck i was roadtesting as part of my job at a ford dealership I worked at for many years , the ranger did not slow one bit , I know in my old 73 VW I could have stopped easy . Then with this 20 MPH collision the airbags went off not only could I not breath from the smoke or see I got burns on my hands and the airbag punched so hard it tore my watch off . I tried to get out of this smoking chamber and forgot the shoulder belt which yanked me back in . Then I realized with the ringing in my ears and being blinded that I better use caution stepping out of this truck because the people just kept rushing past me sitting in the middle of the intersection and I could have been run over .

All of this because of over reactive safety devices where if the system did not activate at such slow speeds nothing would have happened . I even had people blowing their horns and swearing "get that thing out of the way " no one cared to try to help me at all .

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

109. All of my old cars have seat belts

But I do hate air bags it's true and won't have one.

I'll put the fuel efficiency of every one of my old cars up against any SUV or monolithic pick-up truck on the road today. My 1957 DKW, with its efficient and simple (only 7 moving parts) 3 cylinder 900 cc engine gets 38 miles per gallon. And it will do 65 easily on the freeway. And that's my oldest car. There's nothing wrong with carburetors. I have a Weber and 2 Solexes on my 3 cars. They are cheap to maintain or rebuild with simple kits and very reliable. Anyone can learn how to rebuild them and adjust them and they can last a lifetime. Fuel injection with its computer chips is expensive and gets thrown away when it gets problematic. Are you aware that even today, all NASCAR cars use carbs in their race engines and not fuel injection, because carburetors are considered more reliable and do not involve more complicated and problematic electronic technology? Clutches are the same. Manual transmissions are more efficient than automatics and easier to work on. I can take apart and work on and replace the cluthces on all of my cars and I'm not a pro. Anyone with a little patience, a manual, and a few tools can do the same. My 1969 Citroen is one of the most highly advanced cars ever built. It's frame can withstand a 60 mph head-on collision and it's designed to have the engine go right underneath the car.

When my father passed away, he left me his late model Ford Taurus. The car was less than 5 years old and was already on its 3rd engine. I was hit from behind at about 5 miles per hour in stop-start freeway traffic. The small impact nonetheless destroyed the entire rear end. My insurance company estimated the cost of repair at over $6,000 and declared the car totaled. I have had minor impacts on my old cars and got by with minor and cheap repairs to the sheet metal and bumpers.

I notice that people today think they are driving a sofa in their living room. It doesn't feel like you are driving a car when you are in a modern car. Virtually every time I drive, I notice how aggressive and rude the driver's are in their giant SUVs or other large vehicles. They follow you just inches from your bumper and don't seem to realize they are driving massive monoliths that could crush smaller cars. Most of the drivers I see do not drive defensively. Instead, they are constantly gunning the accelerator and racing at 50 mph or more on surface streets between lights. I think it's the fact that they are in giant plastic torpedoes that makes them think they are invulnerable, without concern for the damage they could cause others.

As for disc brakes, two of my old cars have them. They've been around for a long time. My DKW is all drum, but those are very reliable and very cheap to maintain, if you don't drive the crap out of the car without paying attention to periodic inspections you should make to the vehicle.

People nowadays want to arrogantly drive their 2 ton tanks around the road, thinking they are in an easy chair, and paying no attention to the safety of others. In the meantime, I'm in an old jewel of a car and I drive defensively, because I want nothing to happen to my car and I look out for the unthinking bozos who are driving all around me.

[kskiska]

60. How about carbon paper? And blotters, and inkwells in school?

You really had to hit the keys hard when you had to make 3 carbon copies.

I learned to write script with a scratch pen and a blotter. Once we mastered that, we could progress to a fountain pen. I still love a fountain pen. Ball points were brand new back in the mid-50s.

[kineneb]

66. still use carbon paper- in my woodshop. nt.

[eridani]

83. And then the fountain pens got replaceable cartridges

--which young sexual harrassers in training would squirt down the necks of any girl unlucky enough to be sitting in front of them.

[baldguy]

64. Here ya go

http://www.typewriters.com/brother-em630.html




http://www.phonecoinc.com/topic.asp?map=1&horh=home&gorl=list&group=main&category=Modern&topic=01012

[FatDave]

72. OK, you guys are gonna love these

The guy that built these is my new hero.

http://www.datamancer.net/steampunklaptop/steampunklaptop.htm
http://www.datamancer.net/projects/engine/engine.htm

[eppur_se_muova]

73. Fantastic!! Right out of "The Difference Engine" ! nt

[Liberal In Texas]

99. That's what it reminded me of too.... good book. n/t

[NuttyFluffers]

75. that's beautiful!

y'know, he might be right about that "novelty period." i think the closest that comes to that might be Apple designs and a few Alienware, et al elite gamer setups. there is something to be said about form still being valuable to function. we're still human beings and our craving for aesthetics will not go away.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

103. Too cool! Perfect for an "alternate reality" movie!

One where the British Empire didn't collapse, Russia is still governed by czars, Germany is named Prussia, and...

[sjdnb]

76. Hey, vinyl is still the best

and, like fine wine and us old codgers only proves our true value with age.

[JVS]

80. As one of the last kids in the class to get a functional computer, I can't honestly say I miss it

When the home computer trend was starting to take off, my dad decided that a used TI-94 was the way to go. The thing basically only played video games and let us learn to program basic. By the time we got anything that could be used for effective word processing it was 1992. I must say that using the old manual (not even electric) and correction paper sucked total ass in classrooms where many students had access to good computers with spell check and other niceties.

[Hekate]

81. My daughter's cell phone has a rotary-phone-type ring that makes me jump every time

The only typewriter I miss is the IBM Correcting Selectric that was on my desk at my first secretarial job. What a fabulous keyboard -- completely ergonomic.

Unfortunately I typed my way through my undergrad years with a manual typewriter that had never been oiled or serviced. I learned to hit the keys really hard. I also literally cut my drafts to pieces with scissors and taped them together when I rearranged them. I added a lot of interlinear stuff as well.

Almost 20 years later I went to graduate school and word-processed my way through to a master's degree and PhD with a Mac, even doing my own dissertation start to finish without hiring a pro to do the word-processing. Back in the typewriter days PhD candidates had to hire professional typists who specialized in dissertations to make sure all the fussy bits were right.

What an incredible tool the computer is for composing and editing -- I edit continually as I write.

The only part I would really bring forward from the typewriter is the Selectric's beautiful keyboard. IBM should have consulted secretaries instead of engineers when they designed their first PCs.

Hekate

[Hardrada]

82. I wore out an SCM and was busy using a wonderful IBM Selectric

when the PC's came knocking. How about fountain pens? As functioning everyday objects I mean?

[trof]

87. Got you all beat. Massey Business College, 1955

I was 14.
An age when a boy with time on his hands could get into a lot of trouble.
;-)

My mom enrolled me in Massey Business College that summer.
I felt very grown up.
Hey! I'm going to COLLEGE!

Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning I'd put on a clean white shirt and a tie and ride the bus to downtown Birmingham for classes.

I think we used Underwoods in typing class.
The keys were blank. Just plain black.
There was a big chart of the keyboard layout on the front wall for us to use as a guide.
We learned to position our left hand fingers on the 'A', 'S', 'D', 'F' (second row of keys from the bottom) and the right fingers on 'J', 'K', 'L', and ';'.
And it didn't help to look at the keys because there was nothing to see.

We learned the specific finger strokes from the 'start' position to reach every other key. And practiced them over, and over, and over.

For a while I was a dab hand at touch typing but, like other skills, it's use it or lose it.
I'm a two-finger typer now, but still pretty fast.
:-)

[MedleyMisty]

90. Get a real phone or a real typewriter

and listen to it all you want. Why do you care so much about the technology that other people use?

[NashVegas]

94. I Don't Miss the Old Phone Rings a BIT!

When I hear someone's cell ring tone that's set to mimic the old phones, I just about jump out of my chair.

I'll give you the typewriter if you'd be cool with electric :)

[Virginia Dare]

96. I vote this thread the official DU Luddite thread...n/t

[DS1]

97. I assume you typed and mailed in this quote

I didn't know Skinner was offering this service. Hope he has a good document scanner :P

[BlackVelvet04]

100. Not me......

I like technology.