Retro Tech

[Taomeow]

1 hour ago, old3bob said:

I could surf but not ice skate worth beans...(thus a danger to myself and others with knife like runners on my feet ;-)

 

I could windsurf, but never tried surfing without a sail.  And with a sail, I wasn't that much of an expert either -- when the wind was too strong, blowing in the opposite direction of where I was going, I usually ended up on the opposite shore of a 3-mile-wide lake and then it took me forever to figure out a way to get back.  The first time it happened, my vacation mates eventually realized I was stranded there or I wouldn't have been late for dinner, and got in a canoe to "rescue" me -- I had to switch to the canoe, changing places with a more experienced windsurfer who was able to navigate it back against that stubborn wind.

 

 

As for the ice skates, you are right about knives on your feet -- "knives" is actually what the style of the second pair in my picture is called in my native tongue.  You do feel badass thus equipped, but then, people who haven't mastered the regular ice skates typically don't attempt the "knives," so they tend to know what they're doing.   

[old3bob]

water sports can be great fun and challenging, btw. I found competitive water polo (in high school) to be very exhausting , thus taking the fun out of it.

[old3bob]

 

tried this a few times...but it will take a whole lot more than just a few trys to create a good stone tool or blade.

 

Edited August 12, 2021 by old3bob

[old3bob]

these days kids are mostly seen behind a computer....and hand writing is not used much.

[silent thunder]

Was surprised to find out my son could not read cursive, so now I'm teaching him, as it is no longer part of the curriculum in our elementary system.

[Nungali]

 

5 hours ago, silent thunder said:

Was surprised to find out my son could not read cursive, so now I'm teaching him, as it is no longer part of the curriculum in our elementary system.

 

 

Well,  God damn it , I am not bloody surprised that  those arses have cut that  stupid shit out of the effing curriculum  those little bastards should not be reading  shit like that any way ! 

[Nungali]

How come handwriting  was so .... calligraphic ....   in the past . I have sighted an old diary of an early relative ; page after page of near perfect exactly the same writing .   Also an old autograph book , the writing in it is beautiful  and  seems carefully constructed .

 

( I was always a careless messy writer  ... even  rewards at school of licorice  for good handwriting didnt seem to help ) .

 

Hand writing ( although perhaps  not cursive) will continue, because  ..... graffiti 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 14, 2021 by Nungali

[Taomeow]

 

3 hours ago, Nungali said:

How come handwriting  was so .... calligraphic ....   in the past . I have sighted an old diary of an early relative ; page after page of near perfect exactly the same writing .

 

In my time/place of learning to write, they made us practice.  Made a big deal of it too.  In some cases, practice made perfect.  And everyone had to learn the hard way:

 

 

  

 

It added endless frustration to all things school -- and also a good chunk of extra brain power, due to continuous formation of new neural connections which fine motor skills in the hand are so good at facilitating.    

[Nungali]

Well, yes, you are very good at it , but how on earth where you able  to write in ink with a nib like that on the screen ? 

[Taomeow]

12 hours ago, Nungali said:

Well, yes, you are very good at it , but how on earth where you able  to write in ink with a nib like that on the screen ? 

 

I have a Stylo cell phone with a built-in stylus.  All it took was to sharpen it a bit.  

 

I actually do prefer handwriting messages on my phone to typing them, but then I use my finger rather than the stylus -- it's faster this way (though not necessarily prettier.)  Another bonus of having endured, in 1st grade, teacher's sarcastic outbursts -- e.g. when she looked at my painstaking line of 2 2 2 2 2 2 2...  and yelled, "I told you to practice writing the figure 2, not to draw three rows of little rocket men!!"       

Edited August 15, 2021 by Taomeow

[Nungali]

5 hours ago, Taomeow said:

 

I have a Stylo cell phone with a built-in stylus.  All it took was to sharpen it a bit.  

 

I actually do prefer handwriting messages on my phone to typing them, but then I use my finger rather than the stylus -- it's faster this way (though not necessarily prettier.)  Another bonus of having endured, in 1st grade, teacher's sarcastic outbursts -- e.g. when she looked at my painstaking line of 2 2 2 2 2 2 2...  and yelled, "I told you to practice writing the figure 2, not to draw three rows of little rocket men!!"       

 

What ?  Thats 'a thing ' now ?

 

  ...  or is it a  leg pull to lo-tek Nungali  ....

 

 

 

[Taomeow]

35 minutes ago, Nungali said:

 

What ?  Thats 'a thing ' now ?

 

  ...  or is it a  leg pull to lo-tek Nungali  ....

 

 

 

 

LG Stylo.  I bought it in 2018 and the option of writing messages in longhand with the built-in stylus was the selling point for me.  'cause I am also lo-tech and the idea was to at least slightly defy the new technology with those old school skills.

 

I think I was the last person on Earth to get my first smart phone to begin with.  I remember still not having one when there were pictures in magazines of Mongolian shepherds and African nomads using them.  But eventually this particular colony of the Borg assimilated me too.

 

 

[old3bob]

I can't remember the last time I talked with a switchboard operator (or made a party line call as in one line that several people used)...alas one cpu will never replace all those helpful people!

 

 

Edited August 16, 2021 by old3bob

[silent thunder]

 

I resisted, held out. on joining the cell phone revolution... until my gal got pregnant.

 

Summer of 2005 I finally got my loathed digital leash.

 

Thank the gods it has a power switch which is its one redeeming feature.

[zerostao]

On 6/7/2021 at 6:43 PM, Nungali said:

Aston Martin Laguna

 

 

 

Looks like a hearse, like maybe the one that the dark spy from Mad magazine would drive in some scheme to thwart or bury the white spy.

those two; spy vs spy, sure used a lot of retro tech. the mountain dew vending machine; perhaps would've even snared me at certain moments.

 

i know sometimes i speak in ways you don't fully understand nungali.

for clarification, i said, hearse, 

not

Spoiler

 

[Nungali]

21 hours ago, Taomeow said:

 

LG Stylo.  I bought it in 2018 and the option of writing messages in longhand with the built-in stylus was the selling point for me.  'cause I am also lo-tech and the idea was to at least slightly defy the new technology with those old school skills.

 

I think I was the last person on Earth to get my first smart phone to begin with.  I remember still not having one when there were pictures in magazines of Mongolian shepherds and African nomads using them.  But eventually this particular colony of the Borg assimilated me too.

 

 

 

Ha!  There was a show here on tv a while back, on traditional tribal African village ( of some type , cant remember ) the start of the show was; a tribal man emerges from his simple hut , some animals are corralled in a stick fence enclosure. The sun rises, he stretches , a rooster crows  ..... but it is the ring tone on his mobile, which he fishes out from his robe   ....    

 

I got my smart phone 2 weeks back .    The old style un smart one I got before that, I was forced to ;  My Boss : " Out of the 600 people on the call sheet , you and the head Director do not have a phone number listed - get one or loose your job ! " This i phone I was forced to as well, my other one could not do QR codes, which are compulsory now .

 

I never even had a lap top ,  a few years back I was running our supreme court case , out of my cabin - strewn with papers and folders and books and ....  some kind soul bought me a lap top for it .  I used to go into town and to the library to go online

 

Yes, I got assimilated .   Thing is , all that stuff aint designed to work 'out here '  not enough back up infrastructure  and one problem fix leads to another problem ..... cant patch it up with wire and bamboo !   So a love / hate relationship has developed .

 

 

[Nungali]

20 hours ago, old3bob said:

I can't remember the last time I talked with a switchboard operator (or made a party line call as in one line that several people used)...alas one cpu will never replace all those helpful people!

 

 

 

 

Remember this one ?

 

[Nungali]

11 hours ago, zerostao said:

Looks like a hearse, like maybe the one that the dark spy from Mad magazine would drive in some scheme to thwart or bury the white spy.

those two; spy vs spy, sure used a lot of retro tech. the mountain dew vending machine; perhaps would've even snared me at certain moments.

 

i know sometimes i speak in ways you don't fully understand nungali.

for clarification, i said, hearse, 

not

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

 

Ummmm .... yeah , I DO know what a hearse is  !

 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited August 16, 2021 by Nungali

[old3bob]

It's only a matter of time until these quadracycles come back, although with a lithium battery pack, high tech electrical motor and carbon fiber frame!  (don't know about the style of clothes)

 

[Nungali]

 

 

Kodak 'Hawkette'

 

 

Edited August 18, 2021 by Nungali

[old3bob]

we still have a Nikon FG 35mm slr from the 80's that has been repaired twice and works but will not do so again because of the high cost of doing so.   May try and get a telephoto for it if the price is right.  I'm not even sure how much longer one can get film developed?

[Taomeow]

Children's playgrounds were quite interesting back in the day

 

 

 

 

[freeform]

5 hours ago, Taomeow said:

Children's playgrounds

 

As someone that grew up with pretty unsafe play areas, I can concur with the video above

[Taomeow]

4 hours ago, freeform said:

 

As someone that grew up with pretty unsafe play areas, I can concur with the video above

 

Me too.  In my entirely unsafe unsupervised play endeavors as a kid, the most popular playgrounds were massive construction sites nearby.  It's true that I have a scar above my knee from miscalculating a jump across a wide trench, falling in and slashing my leg on a sharp end of some steel reinforcement rod.  But it was no big deal, just a couple of stitches and a lot of pride for taking it in stride.  Whereas the worst trauma of my childhood was caused by a poorly coordinated and very overweight teenage boy running in the street and tripping and falling on me.   

[old3bob]

For bigger kids, I did so in the late 60's & early 70's, but without flips...

 

"Jumping Off La Jolla Clam – San Diego Fines, December 26, 2009 by Albert 21 Comments

Kurt “Dirty Kurtie” Stadler (closest) Eric Powers (middle) and Foster Thompson show how to do a triple somersault off the clam during the Rough Water Drink – Photo by Brian Munoz and used in La Jolla Magazine’s write up about the Clam back in 1985

There are only three common sense rules to jump off the Clam.

1. Be a very good surf swimmer, not a pool swimmer.
2. Know how to read tide charts, so not to jump at low tide (this is a no-brainer) and never jump when can see the rocks protruding from where you are suppose to land at, this means, it is very low tide. (Humm, again a no-brainer)
3. Time your jump to hit swell. Does this mean, huh … extra water to land in?

Fact remains, either one of the above is the cause of 100% of all injuries or deaths. Only three rules …  but we all know some people are just idiots or do not believe in common sense.

After 1993 the San Diego City started to enforce a no-jumping law or what many call, Laws for Idiots, which before, the only price jumpers paid for their feat was a few scrapes on the barnacle-sharp rocks and occasional $50 citations from lifeguards. But after the deaths of three teenagers from 1995-1996 and the rescues of many jumpers who required hospitalization, the city has cracked down on leaping from the Clam.

Those who are caught will be required to appear in court, with minors facing the added indignity of having to be with a parent. They will face a fine of up to $280. The penalty, enacted by the San Diego City Council, went into effect on June 27, 1996. As of 2009, I believe that fine is now $500, plus the cost of the emergency service if required,which can be in the 1000s.

When item #1 of the requirements is not followed drowning usually occur  when powerful winter swells slam jumpers against the cliff. Stunned or knocked senseless, the jumpers fall victim to the cold water and the surging swells or a good rip current takes them back out.  Rocks covered with slippery moss also causes hindrances when jumpers are unable to craw out and than panic!

When item #2 or three is not followed, this is where major injuries happened, like a broken neck or back.

Just about everyone during the 60 and 70s knew about jumping Deadmans and the Clam.

In fact, it was being jumped off on regular bases back in the early 30s, but the Meda beach crowd really started to make it popular event during the Rough Water Drink. This was a time when the courage of alcohol got even the most timid primed to take the 20 foot leap.

Did I say, 20 feet? Yeah, only twenty feet and it was not like you were watching the Acapulco cliff divers in Mexico, which I believe the jumps are 60-80 feet or Box Canyon’s, 70 feet or Deadmans  just a little south at, 100 feet.

It has been said, the reason it is called, “The Clam” is because the two main edges of the cliff stick out over the water and round in the middle to form the shape of a clamshell, but according to locals, a name given because it looks like something else when viewing it from the ocean …

…. hummm I wonder what that is???"

Edited August 20, 2021 by old3bob