Exploring Old & New Technology: One Item at a Time

[BobG]

I remember when we got our first TV. We didn't have to get up to change channels, because there was only one channel that we could get, and that one wasn't too reliable. Most of the time, they showed an American Indian in the cross-hairs, with a very boring sound-track.

Hey, what are you watchin'?

I don't know, it's a movie about Indians, but it's really boring.

Hey man, that's not a movie, man. That's a test pattern, man!

Far out.

(How come PF doesn't have a test pattern when the server is down for maintenance and/or upgrades?)

 

[texasblitzem]

remeber the tv show on Nickelodeon, "You Can't Do that on Television!" Finally something funny from Canada, eh

 

[lisab]

I remember when we got our first TV. We didn't have to get up to change channels, because there was only one channel that we could get, and that one wasn't too reliable. Most of the time, they showed an American Indian in the cross-hairs, with a very boring sound-track.

I once ended a PowerPoint presentation with this...and no one knew what it was!

 

[Redbelly98]

Who collected Blue Chip Stamps? And what were the other [green] ones... S&H, or something like that?

S&H green stamps, ah the memories.

I remember when there were 3 major TV networks and 4 major automakers in the U.S.

 

[brewnog]

- Manual choke on your car

- Three Star and Four Star petrol

- Mega Bass (which was on my first ever Sony Walkman and made Bon Jovi sound amazing)

- My dad's first fax machine (which had a flatbed scanner and needed a separate phone to dial the number).

- Rabbit mobile phones (which had to be a few metres from a transmitter)

- Soda Stream

-

 

[turbo]

Seperate starter pedal (right by the left side of the firewall) - starter circuit not integrated into the key/ignition system.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Gasoline mixture control on gas pumps. You could select any ratio between regular and premium.

Leaded fuels: To this day, I still tell the pump attendent to "fill it with regular unleaded".

 

[jtbell]

I remember when the big signs in front of McDonalds' restaurants proudly announced "OVER 100 MILLION SERVED", then "200", then "300", etc., using numerals formed by a matrix of light bulbs so they could update it easily. After 900 million, they changed the signs to read "OVER 1 BILLION SERVED" with the "1" on a plastic sheet that could be swapped out when the next billion came along.

Finally they went Carl Sagan style: "BILLIONS AND BILLIONS SERVED".

 

[brewnog]

Leaded fuels: To this day, I still tell the pump attendent to "fill it with regular unleaded".

You still have pump attendants?! I remember those!

 

[redargon]

I remember:

- my dad's first cell phone with pull out antenna and maximum 15 minutes of talk time battery life. He used to have two batteries (with a cool double battery holder/charger) so that he could swap out if he needed to make an urgent call.

- playing games on a "computer" where you had to put a tape into, what looked like a cassette player, it would make some squealing noises and then you'd be ready to go.

- I remember my dad giving me his old 486 DX4-100. That thing was the bomb. I think I used to play Frogger and SimCity and maybe Doom on that. All the games were either on floppy (5 1/4") an later on stiffy.

- I remember playing Leisure Suit Larry 1 on a PC which had a couple hundred kB of RAM and a green and black screen. Oh and "black cauldron" a typing adventure game with little blocky graphics... go left... open door... pickup ring :)

 

[Alfi]

I remember when cartoons were for children.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

You still have pump attendants?! I remember those!

I heard they were trying to change it but in Oregon you must be served by a pump attendant by law. I've even heard that they will practically pounce on you if you so much as get out of your car.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

I remember when cartoons were for children.

I remember learning that they were originally for adults (see: Betty Boop, Flinstones smoking and drinking beer, ect). ;-)

 

[Chi Meson]

I remember when the "star" and "pound" buttons on touch-tone phones had no practical use other than instantly causing a busy signal.

 

[BobG]

I remember when the "star" and "pound" buttons on touch-tone phones had no practical use other than instantly causing a busy signal.

I don't remember what the star and pound did on rotary phones!

 

[Redbelly98]

I remember:

Seeing "Pong" in airports, then a few years later Space Invaders was all the rage.

Washing dishes by hand. Not only did my parents never get a dishwasher, they actually had one removed when our family moved to a new house. Grumble grumble.

And rotary phones, yes my parents kept theirs until just a few years ago. They would switch to a pushbutton phone over my father's dead body, which is what it took to get one of them installed in their house.

And black-and-white televisions ... I was ecstatic when my parents relented and finally made the switch to color, but we were the last ones in our neighborhood to do it.

EDIT:
(This came up in another recent thread.) Programming with punch cards.

 

[turbo]

Remember when Barney would pick up the phone in the Mayberry sheriff's office and tell the operator "Get me the diner."? We had to crank a magneto to get the attention of the operator, and give her the telephone number, knowing full well that she would eavesdrop on any call she could. Finally, when I came home on break from my freshman year in college, we had an actual dial telephone instead of that wall-mounted dinosaur. That was in 1970.

 

[Moonbear]

I heard they were trying to change it but in Oregon you must be served by a pump attendant by law. I've even heard that they will practically pounce on you if you so much as get out of your car.

NJ still has that antiquated law too. Somehow they reason that the fumes from pumping gas are too hazardous for the average person to be exposed to, so it's much better to expose some high school dropout to the fumes all day, every day, as they pump gas for everyone. (Though, that also brings to mind the common threat made to high school students if they didn't keep their grades up..."Do you want to end up pumping gas for a living?")

It makes me glad to live in another state. When I visit, if the attendant is too slow, as they usually are, all I need to do is hop out of the car and start opening the gas cap to get them to rush over and pump gas for me (or I just start doing it myself and when they protest, I plead ignorance with my WV plates).

 

[chaoseverlasting]

When walkmans and cd players used to rule...

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

NJ still has that antiquated law too. Somehow they reason that the fumes from pumping gas are too hazardous for the average person to be exposed to, so it's much better to expose some high school dropout to the fumes all day, every day, as they pump gas for everyone. (Though, that also brings to mind the common threat made to high school students if they didn't keep their grades up..."Do you want to end up pumping gas for a living?")

It makes me glad to live in another state. When I visit, if the attendant is too slow, as they usually are, all I need to do is hop out of the car and start opening the gas cap to get them to rush over and pump gas for me (or I just start doing it myself and when they protest, I plead ignorance with my WV plates).

I thought is was because they were afraid we would blow ourselves up by smoking while fueling. That's why gas stations in the PDRNSJ have to be at least 1000 feet away from any road.

 

[physics girl phd]

I remember learning that they were originally for adults (see: Betty Boop, Flinstones smoking and drinking beer, ect). ;-)

Oh my goodness yes! At a recent arts festival downtown, the public library was showing old cartoons and encouraged parents to take their children -- while the "Gumby" one they were showing when we first walked in was certainly fun... we had to get the boys outta there when "Betty Boop" appeared! The things she was doing to the pen that just drew her!

Oy! I thought since it was the public library they would be careful about what was shown...

 

[turbo]

Like Jessica said, "I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way."

 

[Math Is Hard]

I remember using "mucilage" adhesive.

 

[mgb_phys]

I remember using "mucilage" adhesive.

Is that in reply to physics girl's adult cartoon post?

 

[George Jones]

we had to get the boys outta there when "Betty Boop" appeared! The things she was doing to the pen that just drew her!

You certainly have piqued my curiosity about which Betty Boop episode was shown!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

You still have pump attendants?! I remember those!

Yep. And as TSA pointed out, they get pretty worked up if you try to pump your own. On my first visit to Oregon, when I stopped for gas and started to pump it myself, the attendent came running across the parking lot yelling at me! At first I couldn't figure what in the world this guy was getting so upset about!

The reason for the law is that many people need the jobs.

 

[HallsofIvy]

The first job I got after getting my Ph.D. was pumping gas in a gas station!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

The first job I got after getting my Ph.D. was pumping gas in a gas station!

YIKES! That had to be hard to take.

 

[Evo]

I remember using "mucilage" adhesive.

Oooh, yes, I used mucilage a lot!

 

[mgb_phys]

YIKES! That had to be hard to take.

Not really - they probably had on the job training

 

[jtbell]

I remember:

Seeing "Pong" in airports, then a few years later Space Invaders was all the rage.

I not only remember the original text-based Colossal Cave computer game, I probably took about a year longer in grad school than I should have, because of it. (Me: "KILL BEAR". Game: "WITH WHAT? YOUR BARE (BEAR) HANDS?" Me: ...nah, I'm not going to spoil it...)

And black-and-white televisions ... I was ecstatic when my parents relented and finally made the switch to color, but we were the last ones in our neighborhood to do it.

My parents got a color TV in time for me to watch the original Star Trek in color while I was in high school, but when I was in grad school, my roommate and I had only a small portable B&W set. I didn't get my own color set until my wife and I got one for the living room with the help of some money given by one of her aunts as a wedding present.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

My parents got a color TV in time for me to watch the original Star Trek in color while I was in high school.

Remember seeing rows of color TVs in the store, each one showing the same show in a different color?

 

[jtbell]

The analog color TV standard in the U.S. is/was NTSC = "Never Twice the Same Color".

 

[dlgoff]

Remember those 300MB disk-packs? You know; the multiplatter ones that were about a third of a meter in diameter that you top load in those huge drive control cabinets. Now you get 8GB in a stick.

 

[junglebeast]

The analog color TV standard in the U.S. is/was NTSC = "Never Twice the Same Color".

That's interesting...not something I noticed on the regular TV. I do however notice that all digital TV's look like crap in comparison to the now passed analog ones :/