Obsolete Skills Website

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://obsoleteskills.com /

Robert Scoble came up with the idea in a recent blog post to make a list of 'obsolete skills.' He describes these skills as things we used to know that are no longer very useful to us, a few examples include:

Dialing a rotary phone
Putting a needle on a vinyl record
Changing tracks on an eight-track tape
Shorthand
Using a slide rule
Refilling a fountain pen
Operating a dictaphone
Using the eraser ribbon on a typewriter

The community has started to create a much larger list of these obsolete skills, check out the full A-Z list.
****************************

Note: Cursive handwriting is on the list. I confirm that this is a skill that is being lost. I know young people who can't write in cursive other than to sign their names.

[Zywiec]

1. My kids still use fountain pens at their school for tests

and I listened to an album over the weekend being very careful to put the needle on the vinyl.

[Toucano]

24. No vinyl for me, but I do love a fountain pen.

And I use it to write in cursive. I must be a dinosaur!

[raccoon]

131. Here's another fountainpenosaurus. I have several of the cartridge kind.

I guard them carefully.

[hvn_nbr_2]

2. Using an eraser ribbon on a typewriter???

How about using a typewriter, period?

[annabanana]

86. White-Out on multiple carbon copies. . .

Some things you just don't miss.

[hvn_nbr_2]

106. OMG. Carbon paper. I haven't seen that in ages.

Well, let me amend that. I just looked in the back of a file drawer where I keep paper supplies, and there is an old package of carbon paper there.

[lightningandsnow]

3. Buying a roll of film is not obsolete.

Most serious photographers still use film cameras.

[lisa58]

6. I love film

[riverdeep]

19. Absolutely, pros making large prints STILL consider film the superior medium.

I'm not a luddite. This is just what I've heard. For a fascinating, balanced look at why, here's one photographer's explanation:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/filmdig.htm

Daytrippers do better with digital cause there's less things to go wrong.

[MonkeyFunk]

20. Yes, but it's a dying form

Some of the big manufacturers have gotten out of the film business. Some of the big camera makers are now making only digital cameras. Polaroids are now a thing of the past...

It will be an expensive, difficult hobby in the near future.

[TheMightyFavog]

49. Polaroid's probably going to be licensing film manufacturing rights to a different manufacturer.

Polaroid cameras are still particularly popular in the law enforcement community due to the fact that as far as photographic evidence goes, Polaroids hold up quite well in court. In the future, Polaroid enthusiasts might be able to find film sold at websites that supply police agencies.

[Andrea]

172. I'm glad to hear that

I used to work in law enforcement and I've actually wondered what they will do without polaroids.

Also, there are some artists that do really cool stuff by manipulating polaroids during the developing time.

[FloridaJudy]

52. It was an expensive, difficult hobby

In the past! I still remember my father setting up a home darkroom. It was expensive to equip and stock, and I still remember the screams of anguish if someone opened the door at an inopportune moment.

[MonkeyFunk]

82. Yes, I know

but it will get worse when you have to purchase film from a specialty manufacturer instead of at the local drugstore.

[unkachuck]

37. thanks....

....for the link, riverdeep....

"Digital is always stuck in whatever quality you shot it. Digital or video has nothing to rescan. What you got it is all you're every going to get. This is why Hollywood shoots movies, and even the better TV series, on film. 10 or 50 years from now they can still get better and better images by rescanning them."

....I'm not into photography but I found the article fascinating....

[slampoet]

168. Much is the same in Analog audio

besides the whole debate among studio engineers and musicians,


analog also has a home in a lot of commercial audio.

I see a lot of movie and tv location shoots that use a high-end analog audio deck as insurance backup for the digital audio systems. Analog has better results when you try to compensate for audio distortion that can come with actors shouting.

[NanBo]

111. most serious photogs

consider k. rockwell a nutjob.

Film has a place, but you will NOT find 'most' professionals using it--and most certainly not for sports. Seldom for weddings or portrait work either.

[riverdeep]

159. See #158, below. n/t

[Irreverend IX]

197. But how many pros make prints that large?

This guy considers 13" x 19" a small print. For most pro photogs whose largest print size is that of a magazine cover or a double-truck newspaper page, there's no point in using medium or large format. In 35mm there's no reason at all to use film, as the upper-tier Canon cameras already outresolve it, and as Rockwell points out, you need an incredibly expensive scanner to get all the resolution out of film anyway. For 99.99% of real-world photography clients, there's no reason not to use a DSLR.

[riverdeep]

198. Not many, proportionally. Film is a specialist medium, but it's still around.

And in some limited quarters, preferred. I don't know that it's 0.01%, but it's small. Apparently people read my original statement as simply 'pros still prefer film'; sorry if I implied that.

[dysfunctional press]

99. not for a whole lot longer...

i used to a purist as well...until i got my nikon d200.

i seriously doubt that photo film will be very easy to get, if at all in another decade.

[Tesha]

143. Most? I think we'll need a citation for that claim.

In commercial news photography, I don't think I've seen
a film camera for at least five years now.

Tesha

[riverdeep]

158. Take a closer look.

"Large format film still rules for serious landscape photography.

I use digital for people, fun shots and convenience. Digital replaced film in 1999 for big-city newspapers. " -from the above site

Hence, why I qualified with "pros making LARGE prints". Large as in 4x5 or 8x10 format film (not the print, the film- the print can be 30x40 or larger).

He may be considered a nut for his reviews, and probably other things, but the stuff in the quoted site makes sense. YMMV.

edit: let me include a counter opinion. Here's one large format photographer who's decided digital is 'good enough'.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/Cramer.shtml (4x5 vs. digital, Charles Cramer)

[riverdeep]

210. Sorry, I now see you were responding to someone else. n/t

[Tesha]

217. No worries! (NT)

[lpbk2713]

4. Finding & replacing a blown fuse in a fuse box.

[TexasBushwhacker]

8. You mean with a fuse and not a penny? N/T

[CTyankee]

95. My pre WW2 colonial house had a fusebox until I mercifully updated

both my electrical service and the system. But that wasn't until 2002! It was such a relief to be able to run the microwave and the electric coffee pot at the same time w/o blowing a fuse!
I'll never have an old house again!

[dflprincess]

116. My apartment still has a fuse box

n/t

[Phentex]

176. So does my house!

We still blow fuses on a regular basis. That's going to change soon though.

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

5. Cracking a buggy whip

although this one may come in handy in the near future.

[TexasBushwhacker]

7. Shorthand and dictaphone are still used in law offices

Dictaphones are also used by medical transcriptionists.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

77. Court stenographers use machine shorthand.

The machine is called a Stenograph.
Court reporters use a tape recorder for backup, but a tape recorder CANNOT replace a human, who makes sure the record is preserves, stops people who overlap and mumber, and so on.

The machine has separate keys for each letter, and you have to hit combinations of letters to spell out words. It's like piano playing and typing combined.

[sentelle]

9. Having a Conversation

In RL (or as the old Fogies call it) 'Real Life'
Having manners.

Handwriting.

[lisa58]

10. I still use shorthand and I have a turntable...

we have one rotary phone (because I wanted it) and an eight-track player in the basement that was left behind in our last move.

I know, we're old.

[Iris]

11. I have a feeling dictaphones are still heavily used in law and medical offices

[Andrea]

173. I work in a corporate law office

We have four attorneys. Two of them dictate on tape on rare occasions. One prefers to just dictate face to face. One is tech saavy and does his own letters. I'm not sure if this is typical or not.

[MonkeyFunk]

12. Using an analog clock

I know a 14 year old girl who has difficulty looking at a regular clock and telling the time. She has to do a lot of work in her head.

[Liberal_in_LA]

15. Reading Roman Numerals

[LeftyMom]

57. Kids still need those for super bowls, gang graffiti, and...

I think that's about it.

[Quantess]

59. Roman numerals are still fun....for nerds! LOL....

I liked Roman Numerals when I was a kid, and I learned them on my own.

It's still a relevant skill, when you're trying to figure out what year a certain movie was released, as the numerical year is often not printed and only the Roman calendar year is offered.

edit grammar

[Art_from_Ark]

62. And speaking of movies,

what about Rocky V or Star Trek IV or Nightmare on Elm Street XXVII?

[Quantess]

72. Rocky Vuh....?

Huh?

[eridani]

67. My nerd DH once wrote a program to convert Roman numerals to hexadecimal n/t

[Quantess]

70. Oh my! Would that be your Dear Husband?

Not, Divorced Hubby, I'm taking a guess...

What the heck is hexadecimal? I'll have to look it up.

[FloridaJudy]

89. Base sixteen numeral system

0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,A,B,C,D,E,F,10

Developed by people who have eight fingers on each hand.

Some computer languages use it, I guess because it's a power of two.

[immoderate]

134. Right. It's very easy to convert binaray (base 2) to hexadecimal (base 16)

And computers work in binary.

--IMM

[FloridaJudy]

145. There are all 10 kinds of people

..those of us who know binary, and those who don't.

My dad was a mathematician. I know a lot of geeky jokes.

[Andrea]

174. That one is my fav geeky joke. n/t

[eridani]

185. Hexadecimal is base 16. And yes, that woudl be Dear Husband

The Electronic Frontier Foundation came up with the world's first (and AFAIK only) hexadecimal protest chant.

One two three four
Toss the lawyers out the door
Five six seven eight
Innovate, don't litigate
Nine A B C,
One Two Three is not for me
D E F 0
"Look and feel" have got to go!

[OnyxCollie]

71. My girlfriend is a college instructor

and is often asked by students creating outlines where the Roman numerals are located on a keyboard.

[Kitty Herder]

63. Most wall clocks are analog. So are most non-sports style watches.

How does a child get to be 14 years old and not learn how to read an analog clock.

[MadinMo]

94. Aha! You know one too?

I know a 15 year old girl in a similar situation. She'll look at my watch (analog) and ask what time it is. Such misery.

[immoderate]

136. blow their minds and tell them that the hour hand...

points to where the sun is in the sky! (How does it know?)

--IMM

[Xithras]

153. I realized that my daughter couldn't read one when she was 9.

We didn't have any analog clocks in the house, and her elementary school used all digital clocks. I ended up hanging two analogs in my house just because I wanted my kids to know how to read them. They do fine now.

[hyphenate]

13. Think of all the new useful skills

being added to the world even as we speak! (er, post)

Texting
Using a calulator
Using a computer
Understanding a computer
Being able to literally interpret the bible! (awright, so it's a skill most of us, other than the religious right cares to be proud of, but what the heck! The fundies don't realize that their dispensationalism isn't that old)



And here are a couple of obselete ones to add to the list:

riding a unicycle
lighting a gas lamp
lighting an oil lamp
calligraphy (similar to just knowing cursive writing, but more complex)
being a blacksmith
torture (ooops, sorry, that's not obsolete, even if we wanted it to be )
I suggest common sense is slowly beginning to be obsolete

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

27. Blacksmiths aren't obsolete. I know one.

[RebelOne]

88. Why would blacksmiths be obsolete?

Horses still need shoes and people still own horses for pleasure. And what about race horses?

[A HERETIC I AM]

124. Actually, Horses are shod by a Farrier...

and one does not have to be a Blacksmith in order to be a Farrier.

A Blacksmith is capable of making almost anything out of Iron or Steel as long as it can be done using hand tools or the most basic of machines. (It would be a stretch to ask a Blacksmith to make a 4' X 8' sheet of 1/4" cold rolled steel, or a car body for example)

A farrier is one who is knowledgable of horses in general and hooves in particular and is skilled at the proper fitment of a horseshoe to the hoof.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farrier

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacksmith

[FloridaJudy]

53. Oil lamps are still in use

For camping and emergency situations (like earthquakes, hurricanes and floods). Now trimming the wick correctly is s dying art.

[Kitty Herder]

64. I still have to be able to light gas lamps and oil lamps when I

stay in my family's cabin in the mountains. No electricity there. We have to use an outhouse there, too. Doesn't require any skill, but it does require a certain lack of squeamishness. My sister-in-law struggles with it.

[Ms. Toad]

221. Calligraphy is still used

for quite a few ceremonial and award certificates.

[villager]

14. I wonder if Peak Oil will change this list any? Once the infrastructure ain't what it used to be,

etc...

[liberal4truth]

69. Yeah, it will. Remember when Bakelite was around before plastic?

I know I don't, because I am not _THAT_ old , but I still see it from time
to time.

Plastics will be on the hit list of things to go south, when things get tough enough.

[Tesha]

144. Bakelite *IS* a plastic, specifically, a "thermosetting plastic resin".

Arguably, it was the first "plastic".

Tesha

[FloridaJudy]

186. But celluloid was plant-based

There are still some plastic-like celluloid objects around from early in the last century. I imagine they're hot collectibles now.

[biggerfishsmallpond]

16. hedge fund manager? n/t

[Rosemary2205]

17. shorthand it NOT obsolete. = I saw it listed as a desired skill just yesterday in a job ad

[raccoon]

137. Really? Rosemary, that's grand! Was it for an Admin Asst? nt

[Rosemary2205]

141. Executive admin asst - starting $120,000 yr

They were looking for assist to a CEO.

[Brigid]

216. Shorthand?

Is there even any place to learn that anymore?

[Karenina]

18. Music notation...

[kineneb]

33. not really, at least in the classical world...

computers make better-looking copy, but sometimes hand-written is still faster...

[Karenina]

91. It really is!

The computer is great for corrections but lousy for dictation.
Also the programs seem to be written by those whose musician/geek mix is skewed heavily to the latter.

Thinking of you!

[Occulus]

118. In a previous phase of my life I used Finale almost exclusively

Wonderful piece of software. It's Midiscan can scan in written notation and interpret it correctly. My glee when I discovered this knew no bounds, as I have quite a bit of handwritten notation I might want to plug into Finale one day, and the whole point-and-click thing is very tiresome.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

163. I use Cakewalk.

You can point and click or you can play realtime MIDI signals on your keyboard into your computer. I have an awesome Kurz that does everything except make bread and answer the door.

[DarienComp]

209. Foul!

As long as orchestras exist, notation will as well.

edit: Sibelius 5, people. that software kicks serious ass.

[drmeow]

21. A lot of the skills are rare

but not yet obsolete for example - adjusting the pendulums in a clock. They still sell new grandfather clocks which need adjusting.

[Mind_your_head]

22. One of the obsolete skills listed - COMMON SENSE

I'll agree with that! and 'Kay and RRrrrrrr'

Thanks for posting this one. It's both funny and sad to read through the list at the site.

[angrycarpenter]

23. repairing anything

Many just buy another whatever and throw-out the old one. Appliance resellers love the fact that many fridges, washers and dryers get discarded over a 5 dollar part.

Also if it is made in China it is made to break quickly and be impossible to fix.

[Posteritatis]

43. Half the appliances in this house broke down in the last week

Said house being full of college students (a few of which are engineers), the depths of creativity involved in restoring them to working order would make McGyver say, "uh, come on, guys, that's a bit much."

[sergeiAK]

92. I lived in a house with 9 engineering students in college

Sounds way too familiar.

[Posteritatis]

161. And you survived?!

This one only has a couple and it's nuts enough at times.

Great conversations though. "Dude, why's everything on the couch and floor?" "I decided to reduce the potential energy of the house." "Ohhhhh!"

[sergeiAK]

184. Barely

One night one of them decided to "increase the entropy" of the house. Which apparently consisted of tossing things about, then making piles of unrelated stuff and balancing furniture on them.

It was interesting, to say the least.

[fed-up]

25. I use a rotary dial phone-the ring is louder and it works when power goes out nt

[Posteritatis]

44. I want a rotary-dial cell phone. (nt)

[napi21]

45. I don't know about the ringer, but all you need to have a phone work

when the power goes out is a wired phone. I've had a hard wired touch pad phone forever, and I won't give it up! I have 2 cordless phones in the house too, but when the poser goes out, the only link I have to anyone, including the pawer co. is that hard wired phone in my kitchen. It always works and I don't have to pay any of those HIGH monthly cell phone rates either!

[RB TexLa]

26. I have a rotary phone in the garage n/t

[vanlassie]

28. Breastfeeding!!!

Ha Ha Ha Sorry! Couldn't help myself.

vanlassie

[alfredo]

29. mule skinning

[Canuckistanian]

30. Ethics advisor to the Republican Party

Ooops, silly me.

They never had one.

[Richard Steele]

31. I know how to "push-start" a manual transmission car with a dead battery.

I know how to make booze from any sugar-bearing liquid
and occasional access to fresh air.

I can tear down & set up a Stanley™ #7 plane....
and that includes sharpening the blade so finely
that only a very CAREFUL man can dare shave with it.

I know how to start a fire with nothing but a hunk of dry wood,
a hard rock, and a real big chunk of ice-
is that a "lost" skill, or one that never was even "known"?

[alfredo]

58. Double clutching. Most don't know what the hell a bit and brace is.

How many can repair a Sturmey Archer 3 spd hub, much less know if the pawls are worn out. They may not even know what a pawl is.

Cure Goiter?

Whitworth treads


Noodling

[A HERETIC I AM]

125. I took one of those apart once when I was about 10.

Got it back together - but had a few bits left over!

Still worked, though. As I remember, the pawls were fine.

[alfredo]

156. The springs were hard to reset. The Shimano 3 spd was very difficult

to reassemble because the pawls didn't allow the gear assembly to go all the way back into the body. You had to depress them with a rubber band, and a string attached to the band. You drop the string through, get the pawls past the internal shoulder, then pull the string and rubber band out.

[Kitty Herder]

66. I don't think "push-starting" cars is obsolete. I see people doing it

now and then. I've done it fairly recently.

[goodgd_yall]

68. I didn't know about it until about 2 years ago

When a couple helped me start my car whose battery had died. There was many a time I had called triple A to jump my battery and I didn't even need to.

[Art_from_Ark]

81. I have heard that push-starting a new model standard

can damage the catalytic converter.

But I used to push start my old Ford Pinto all the time.

[Hardrada]

119. I used to push start (with help) my old VW bug numerous times.

If the day was too hot or too cold it meant push-start. I later sold this car for a thousand more than I paid for it and it is still in use!!

[Tesha]

147. You'd have to try really hard to damage the converter.

The bigger problem is that with modern, computerized,
fuel-injected cars, if the battery is flat, there
may not be enough electricity left to run the electric
fuel pump, the computer, and the fuel injectors so
the car won't start anyway.

This wasn't so much of a problem in the old days when
cars had mechanical fuel pumps, carburetors, no computers,
and the only electricity you needed was the juice to fire
the spark plugs.

Tesha

[Xithras]

154. Many newer standards cannot be push started.

Push starting is usually done because your battery is dead, and new cars allow the computers to control fuel and air flow, or fire the injectors in response to engine position sensors. That won't work with a dead battery. Even if the computer does have enough power to activate, the last few generations of cars will not inject fuel into the cylinder if the engine is not in a running state. This is done to eliminate having excessive amounts of fuel injected into the engine, which can increase startup emissions or shorten the life of the catalytic converter.

[yardwork]

133. How do you start a fire with a hunk of wood, a rock, and a big chunk of ice?

I might need to know how to do this one day!

[Richard Steele]

149. If you ever really NEED to know how to do this, you're in serious trouble!

Beat some the dry wood into as fine a pulp as you can with the rock,
until you have a small pile of very fine fibers & shavings to start
your fire with.

Find the CLEAREST section of ice you can- you'll need a piece 5 or 6
inches thick, big enough to carve into a 18-24 inch circle.

Then, by rubbing with the rock, grind that piece of ice into a bigass
MAGNIFYING LENS. When the shape is right, friction-polish it by rubbing
briskly with your gloved hand. (assuming your gloves aren't back at the
house with your matches)

Obviously, ice doesn't make as good a lens as glass does- that's why you
need such a big one. But an ice lens that size CAN focus enough sunlight
to ignite that bed of dry wood pulp you prepared.

[yardwork]

150. That's great! Thank you!

I'm making a mental note to avoid ever being ialone in the wilderness where the ice is 5 or 6 inches thick - but if the worst happens, I'll know what to try.

[JNelson6563]

214. haha that reminds me!

Years ago, more than 20, I had this crappy car with a stick. Starter went out and it took me a few days to get it into the shop. For those few days I parked it in the large parking lot at the end of my street. Every morning I made my brother take me down and push start my car. When I got to work I'd be sure to park it so that someone could push start me again. haha Ah the good old days!

I was just going to add "driving a stick shift" to this list but your post took me on a side trip down memory lane.

Julie

[Ms. Toad]

222. My 17 year old daughter drives a stick.

Two of the three cars in our family are stick, and the only reason the third one isn't is because when they stopped making the Honda Insight the only used one I could find the CVT version.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

32. One surprising omission from the list is keypunching

given all the obsolete computer tasks that ARE on there.

I bet some of the young'uns don't even know what keypunching is, but "keypunch operator" used to be a fairly common job description in help wanted ads.

(I couldn't figure out how to add a new entry, at least not in any way that wouldn't be incredibly complicated.)

[FloridaJudy]

54. It's in there

I had to do a search using the phrase "punch card", but it's there.

I doubt anyone under forty knows the meaning of "Do not fold, spindle or mutilate" anymore, though.

[kineneb]

34. have vinyl. have turntable...and keeping it.

I can't afford to replace the vinyl with CDs, and some recordings are out of print.

[Andrea]

46. Smart move

I finally got rid of my 5000+ albums because I just couldn't bear to move them across country one more time. I thought I would replace everything with CDs as I wanted to play them. I was naive. Lot of stuff is not available on CDs or MP3s.

[slampoet]

164. I still make a little money sometimes selling rare vinyl. Enough to pay one bill a year.

You are right about some things not being available on other formats. I still haven't given up my reel to reel because there are some things you can't even get on vinyl let alone CD.

[elizfeelinggreat]

103. here is one way

I got my DH this and he really loves it. I don't know if he'll part with his albums but now he has CDs that he could never find in a store. It was less than $100 from Costco.com.


http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=112074...

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

196. Another way, if you like your current turntable

I got an older model of this thing, and it worked great for recording vinyl to hard-drive. Some records without clear breaks between tracks were a little tricky to separate into separate mp3 files. Audacity software helped.

http://www.xitel.com/USA/prod_inportdl.htm

[rockymountaindem]

35. I'm 21 and I always write in cursive

It's become a matter of personal pride, since nobody else I ever see does it.

[Better Believe It]

36. Here's A Few

Obsolete Jobs and Devices

Gas Station Attendent

TV Repairperson

Typewriter Repair

UHF TV Converter Box Salesperson

Player Piano

TV rabbit ears

radio rabbit ears

computer rabbit ears! (I have a very old computer that has poor internet reception without the ears)

Steam Locomotives

Steam Powered Cars (Stanley Steamer)

Steam Powered Motorcycles

and finally

Steam Powered Bicycles!

[Andrea]

48. Funny thing

In NJ there are no self-serve gas stations. I believe it's illegal or something. Whenever I go there, I find it a great luxury to have someone else pump my gas.

[Codedonkey]

51. Same laws in Oregon too...

I always find it weird going to a state that doesn't allow for you to pump your own gas... It just doesn't feel right or something...

[Quantess]

75. Yes, it's weird for me at gas stations, too... I want to hop out and do it myself

Except it is NOT faster to pump your own gasoline, and it is not cheaper, either! I've been living in WA where you have to pump your own gas, but now I live primarily in Oregon. I actually appreciate the gas pumpers we have in Oregon, and, there is no gas price increase due to the state mandated workers. Oregon has the lowest priced gas, on average, of the western coastal states

Of the *Western coastal states, California has the highest gas prices, then Washington, then Oregon.
*(excluding Alaska, only because I can't remember)

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

139. Do you tip your gas-pumper-person?

I haven't seen one of those in many years.

But I haven't been in OR or NJ in many years.

[Quantess]

171. No, nobody ever tips the gas pumpers.

I've never known anyone to tip a gas pumper, ever.

[Andrea]

178. That's true in NJ, too, about the price

I guess that's a good argument to use with people who are against raising the minimum wage. Most prices are set by what the market will bear, not according to the overhead costs.

[yardwork]

135. I know. I discovered that about ten years ago.

I was driving through NJ and I started to get out of my car and the attendant came running up to me. He thought something was wrong. I said I was just going to pump some gas and he told me that I wasn't allowed to do that! I told him that in my state everybody pumps their own gas now. He acted like I was from Outer Mongolia or somewhere.

[Andrea]

177. Yes, I remember

One time I was driving through Outer Mongolia and needed gas. I sat in the car for awhile. Then the cashier came out and said, "Do you think you're in NJ or something?".

[madinmaryland]

104. TV Rabbit ears are making a comeback.

To get digital signals from over the air tv stations. I've seen ads for them!

[Manifestor_of_Light]

165. I'm still using a TV set with rabbit ears.

Here are a couple of obsolete skills I have: Piano player, violinist.

Violinist includes knowing how to tune a violin and how to restring it, and where to take your bows and fiddles to get them repaired.

[CTyankee]

202. It's news to me that violinists today can't tune their violins!

As a season ticket holder to a symphony orchestra, I hear them doing it all the time when the Concert Master nods to the oboist for the Concert A.

[Codedonkey]

41. I forgot how to write in cursive.... hell, I forgot how to print...

stupid computers...

[napi21]

47. OK, maybe this is a dumb quesdtion, but how do you write a note, or make a grocery list, or write a

short note inside a B'Day card? I wouldn't know how to do any of those things if I didn't do them in cursive.

[Codedonkey]

50. Hmmm...

I just email and txt msg everything...


I kind of say that in jest, but it's actually pretty true. Of course short notes or birthday card I will just 'print' it. That's mostly because my cursive writing is horrid... I can't think of anything more than a paragraph that I have actually written out in a few years though... At work we use either email or instant messages for communicating...

[margotb822]

38. I write in cursive, and people think it's odd

I have since I learned. I guess it was easier for me, but I like it and I plan on continuing (although, I once lost two points on a spelling test because my teacher didn't like my cursive 'f'...I'm still bitter about that. I would have had 100!)

[mitchtv]

39. 99key adding machine? Mimeograph?

some of my HS skills

[Lydia Leftcoast]

55. Typing on ditto masters!

Then running off the copies with that ink that smelled like bubble gum.

[Quantess]

76. Sadly, I do have a faint reminiscence of Ditto Sheets.

[annabanana]

85. (ahh the smell of fresh mimeo in the morning)

- one time part time Teacher's Assistant -

[madinmaryland]

105. I always liked it when the teachers brought a freshly mimeo'd test

into the room. One sniff made taking the test a bit easier!!

[Quantess]

40. repairing socks.

Driving a car with non-powered steering.

Cursive handwriting is overrated, anyway. I won't miss it.

[asdjrocky]

42. I got to say-

Item number two on the list- Putting a needle on a vinyl record, has been pretty damn good to me. But then I've been a DJ, and a mixing DJ, for more than 20 years. Wouldn't know what to do without my vinyl.

[Quantess]

60. The youth who missed out on vinyl..... have missed out.

Digital sound is a cheap imitation, IMO.

[WritersBlock]

73. So true. n/t

[Art_from_Ark]

80. I disagree

Nearly all the vinyl records I ever had, even brand new ones, made crackling sounds and quickly got scratched and eventually would skip or get stuck on the same 3 seconds of song.

I do miss my old 45 collection, though, but that's in large part because I loved the smell that our old 45 player from the 50s made.

[NashVegas]

97. I Used to Cue With My Feet

If I got bored.

[asdjrocky]

179. I could scratch with my feet-

But not very well.

[FloridaJudy]

56. Banking a fire in a stove/fireplace

So that it will continue to smolder but not flame up overnight. Saves you the bother of restarting it in the morning.

Fireplaces are a luxury item these days, rarely used as the sole source of home heating or cooking. A few backwoodsmen might know howto do this, but I doubt the average suburbanite does.

[SidDithers]

61. Critical thinking?...nt

Sid

[Kitty Herder]

65. If cursive handwriting is obsolete, am I going to have to start

writing in print so that people can understand what I'm writing? I'm not sure I can break the cursive habit.

[Rue]

169. I'm the same way.

I write in cursive all the time. Block print makes my fingers cramp up, so I avoid it as much as possible.

And I'm 26-a kid by many people's standards. I think I'm the only young person I know who regularly writes in cursive. I've even had professors comment on the quality of my handwriting and ask me how I learned it. I'm just writing more-or-less standard Mc Guffey cursive I learned in the third grade!

[DainBramaged]

74. cranking a mimeograph machine

(It was the original "copier")

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

93. But who doesn't miss the contact high from the ink?

[TexasBushwhacker]

102. and smelling the fumes! n/t

[Tesha]

191. You know that's not a "Mimeograph", right?

Mimeograph was the trademark for a duplicator that
pushed ink through the stencil.

The machine in the picture is, generically, a
"Spirit duplicator". With each passing page (soaked in
the "duplicator fluid"), it dissolved a little of the
master sheet's ink (usually purple) off of the master
and onto the duplicated page. "Rexograph" (sp? But I think
that's the exact brand shown in your picture) was the
trademark for one brand of these machines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_duplicator

Tesha

[Manifestor_of_Light]

78. Sewing.

Does anyone have their own sewing machine and make their own clothes anymore? I have tons of material and patterns I need to sell. Or does anyone mend their own clothes?

On edit: Does anyone else know how to do pattern drafting? Make your own pattern to fit your body if you can't find a pattern in the style you want?

[Quantess]

79. My mom was a seamstress, and she taught me to sew, throughout the 1980s.

However, the need for sewing is declining fast! No need to "peg" pants legs, no need to raise the hem, no need for fitting the bustline on an otherwise great dress, no need to tailor the waist on those pants that are already out of style.

I suppose it's all thanks to sweatshops.
These days, clothing is fairly disposable.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

84. It's fun to buy strange material and make something wild and unique.

Even at JoAnn's you can find some strange material.

However, for a real selection you need to go to the big city. We have two stores, High Fashion Fabrics and High Fashion Home, that have amazing stuff. They have even started selling furniture.

www.highfashionfabrics.com www.highfashionhome.com

[FloridaJudy]

148. I have two sewing machines.

One's an antique Singer Featherweight, which is really a hot item on eBay - you can't get them for much less tha $500 these days. The other's a old Kenmore.

Many sewing machines cost several thousand dollars these days: they're basically dedicated computers for sewing and embroidery. Not too many people sew their own clothes any more - you can get them at Target for much less than the cost of the fabric - but there are a lot of quilters and fabric artists. Sewing and fabrics are really a thriving industry.

You can try selling your fabrics on eBay: you might get quite a few offers, particularly if they're "vintage". You could also give them to a quilter's charity (they make quilts for hospitalized children and disaster victims), and get a tax deduction.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

167. Thanks. Old Singers are great.

I have an old Featherweight from the 1930s. All steel and they will never wear out. With Buttonhole attachments they make fabulous buttonholes.

I also have two Singer Slant-O-Matic 401A's from the 1950s. Also all steel and will never wear out. Have cams,do zigzags, and are a bit fancier than Featherweights. Have a drop in bobbin.

The Slant-O-Matic is the apotheosis of the steel sewing machine.

[CTyankee]

204. My daughter, in her late 30s, learned to sew from her grandmother.

She copied a designer bridal gown out of a Brides Magazine and made her sister's wedding dress and the entire female wedding party dresses (her own Honor attendant dress, the two bridesmaids dresses, and the flower girl's dress. They were beautiful.

[Ms. Toad]

223. We just bought the pattern for me to make my daughter's prom dress

I hate Vogue - they always make everything unnecessarily complicated, but that's the dress she fell in love with. We won't be making the pattern, but I will almost certainly alter the pattern for a custom fit. I haven't used a pattern without altering it since the early 90s when the largest Santa suit pattern I could buy was still too small for the Santa it needed to fit.

I have a White Jeans Machine and a Babylock serger. They don't get as much use as they used to - so I am looking forward to this prom dress project!

[SpiralHawk]

83. Being a republicon with honesty and integrity

obsolete.

[zanne]

87. Shorthand will always be convenient.

When I'm on the phone and taking directions from a "fast-talker", shorthand is the only way to go. It's so obsolete, I have used it for private reminders for myself. (If nothing else, writing a note in shorthand and leaving it out will drive other people crazy).

[Bucky]

90. bookmarking for obsolete skills

I need more of them

[CTyankee]

96. Standard shift in automobiles that most people drive.

I finally gave up the stick shift back in 1994. Using the clutch in stop and go traffic was such a pain that I said "No more!"

[dysfunctional press]

100. lots and lots of people still prefer a stick...

especially in sporty cars.

[CTyankee]

101. Yes, in sporty cars. I am talking about regular cars.

Standard shift was called that because at one time every car came equipped with a stick shift as the "standard." Now the standard is automatic transmission. As I dimly remember from way back in the early days of automatic, the system had flaws and some people felt that stick was more reliable, especially in snow. I know because that is why I drove stick shift cars til 1994. By then automatic transmissions had improved greatly and people who needed to drive regular commutes with traffic didn't want to put up with stick shifting and clutching. Sporty cars aren't driven for that purpose, generally speaking, so that's a different experience...

[dysfunctional press]

115. a lot of people get a stick in smaller cars too- to make them feel sportier...

and to get better gas mileage.

[CTyankee]

140. Huh, I didn'tknow that stick shifts got you better mileage!

How much on any given car is it? I neverhear that suggested as a way to save on mileage, which is odd considering that everybody wants to save on gas these days...

[dysfunctional press]

142. the difference used to be a bigger, but newer automatics have narrowed the gap...

a couple of current examples:

The Toyota Yaris, equipped with a five-speed manual transmission, is rated under the new EPA test procedure at 32 mpg in combined city-highway driving. The Yaris, equipped with a four-speed automatic transmission, is rated at 31 mpg in combined driving.

The six-cylinder Ford Mustang is rated at 20 mpg when hooked to a five-speed manual transmission and 19 mpg combined with a five-speed automatic.

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/auto/car-guide-2007/20...

[Manifestor_of_Light]

183. In the big city you can destroy a stick shift from the stop n go traffic.

You can also destroy an automatic tranny from the heat. Either way, you'll destroy the clutch from riding it in traffic, or the auto tranny fluid will break down from the heat.

Big cities in the South are BAD!!!

[Tesha]

192. So don't "ride the clutch". Learn to always fully engage or disengage the clutch.

Do so, and it will last 200K miles or more, even in city
stop-and-go traffic.

Tesha

[dysfunctional press]

200. people who know how to drive don't ride the clutch.

take some lessons.

[hvn_nbr_2]

107. Wanting a stick shift, I actually left a car salesman speechless once.

I test drove a car that, as it turns out, didn't even have an option for a stick shift. I told the salesman, "When I'm driving on a steep and windy, one-lane, dirt-and-gravel road, on the edge of a 2000-foot cliff, with no guardrail, in a rain, wind, and fog storm, I don't want a machine deciding to shift gears for me." He looked at me with the blankest look and couldn't say anything.

[we can do it]

162. I Left Several Car Salesmen When They Told Me "NO ONE" Drives a Stick

[BigDaddy44]

114. I just got a car for my teenage daughter

And got her a stick shift. I think it makes her a better driver. And she loves it. Says it feels like she's REALLY driving.

[CTyankee]

203. Younger people do love the feel of the stick shift. I know I did when I learned it.

As I got older and did more driving in traffic (and my muscles and bones aged) it wasn't so thrilling any more...

[NuttyFluffers]

98. writing class notes in cursive all the time.

i'm just faster in cursive than printing. printing is so slow... granted a great deal of my letters are loosely made. the fastest printers i've seen still couldn't keep up with the furious cursive note takers i've seen -- at the more outrageous speeds their cursive starts to borderline shorthand. i just cannot imagine surviving college and high school without the rapid fire note taking i've been trained to do. in fact, even when i write in Japanese, especially with the Chinese characters, i cannot imagine writing in full printing mode. the skipping of strokes becomes invaluable at some point.

[lildreamer316]

108. DJs are keeping the turntable and vinyl QUITE alive!!

Husband is a trance/electro/house dj; we got two very nice turntables and a lot of vinyl. A LOT.

[Laughing Mirror]

109. Putting a needle on a vinyl record is now a recognized art form

Since DJs began experimenting with cueing, beat mixing, scratching, & sampling records in dance clubs starting in the late 1960s.

[last_texas_dem]

110. I plan on keeping the vinyl and cursive handwriting alive!

I was born in 1983 which, I believe, was the same year that the CD debuted, but I always grew up playing records because I listened to so much of my dad's music. I don't think I even knew until I was around ten or eleven that new releases were already not being pressed in vinyl (and in a couple years, it was be gone altogether except for specialty-type releases). It just weirded me out when a couple of my younger cousins didn't even understand how records work. The whole setting the needle into the groove to select the track you want just amazed them (I'm not sure why they didn't realize that just pushing a button to skip ahead like on a CD is actually much easier! haha) But I think it's funny that just being able to play a record is considered a "skill"; it doesn't exactly take any ability. DJing is another thing entirely, of course...

On rotary phones, it sucks that they have pretty much disappeared because, at least based on an anecdotal example, they seemed to be much better made. My parents had a rotary phone that lasted from the early eighties until it fell off the table last year. In that same amount of time, they had probably gone through a dozen cordless phones. They only had the rotary phone because when they first moved to a house in the early eighties, the phone set-up was analog and not digital and so the rotary phone was required. But it served them well. I'm curious if rotary phones were substantially better made in general or if theirs was just a particularly good one.

Oh yeah, and in terms of cursive... I find it kind of odd that they've decided not to teach it. I wonder if it's just another "impractical" thing being pushed out with the emphasis upon standardized testing. I think I was kind of in the last wave of schoolchildren who learned it. To me, cursive is "real" writing, and it just seems odd that it's no longer considered to be valuable. Guess I'm just old ahead of my time, but in some ways I've always been...

(Apologies for this post just kind of rambling and jumping around... I sometimes have a tendency of doing that!)

[trackfan]

112. Vinyl is still my most reliable music delivery system.

When my CDs stop playing - which is often - there's no easy way to get them to start. If I have a glitch on a record, I just move the needle a tad.

[Hardrada]

120. And I used to carefully get skips out of LP's. You can't "unskip"

a CD as easily. And I know how to splice cassette (or Ampex) tapes too. Had to learn that for the time I was a college radio announcer!

[BlooInBloo]

CDs have been obsolete for years.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

170. Why are CDs obsolete, pray tell?

I listen to CDs. I do NOT listen to MP3s because the high fidelity and dynamic range are just NOT THERE. I refuse to get an iPod.

My ears can tell the difference between a CD with 44.1K full digital sampling and a tinny compressed MP3.

Maybe they are obsolete if you have bad hearing.

[Tesha]

193. Based on the volume at which they listen to their headphones...

...it's a pretty safe bet that most of the iPod generation
*HAVE* bad hearing (or will soon have bad hearing).

"What?"

Tesha

[slampoet]

113. Show me an entry on this list and I'll show you a money making niche,

or at least an aspect of it.

I have used all the above skills , except shorthand, on the collectibles market. Admittedly that is an area that deals with antique things though.

But there are skills like this that are said to be disappearing but if you look at the field there are a bunch of 50-85+ year old people who are making a living doing this and would love to show you how to make a living doing it too.

Boing Boing, (I think, can't find the link) had a story about someone who was a master nib maker and fountain pen person for the Sailor Pen company of Japan. People were recently amazed when he visited a US pen convention because he was doing pen repair on site "while you wait" for the people who came to him. American Collectors hadn't seen fountain pen repair without waiting 10-15 days.

I myself have passed up or left good jobs in disappearing areas like chimney sweeping, iron smelting, bookbinding, custom furniture making...yet all are areas that if you have that skill and/or you are younger and willing to learn you can work there and sometimes find an area where you are the monopoly.

Find a disappearing skill and you may find a disappearing market but you also may find a market that you can rule.

[CTyankee]

206. Custom made furniture is quite the thing in the upscale market!

My daughter, who can afford it, had her round kitchen table made. It is beautiful but looks like Pottery Barn. That horrified her when I said it; she told me that Pottery Barn's quality was such that the least little bump would mar the finish. Her table is solid wood.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

117. I have met more than one young person who cannot tell time on a standard clock.

They rely on their cellphones to know what time it is.

[The2ndWheel]

123. How about living without time?

There's a lost skill. Now it's either the never ending clicking of the clock, or the relentlessly quiet forward motion of digits.

[Hardrada]

121. Whistling! I never hear people whistle tunes or anything anymore.

[Hardrada]

122. How about using spindles and changing speeds to play

various speed LP's. Or building a superior stereo system with woofers and tweeters.
(woofahs and tweetahs)?

[progressoid]

126. Bah. I still use a needle on vinyl.

And have rabbit ears on a TV.

[yardwork]

127. I have a turntable and still play my old vinyl records on it.

It does take a little skill to drop the needle right where you want it to go - my kids are mildly impressed that I can do this.

edit - typo

[cloudbase]

128. I've still got my slide rule.

I remember being told to get the best one I possibly could, because I'd be using it all my professional life. I break it out from time to time to give it some exercise.

[raccoon]

129. Hey, I still use shorthand! Not to take dictation for a boss, but to write down stuff

in a hurry, or write down stuff I don't want other people to read.

[BlooInBloo]

130. Hahaha - it's funny seeing how proud people are of their obsolescence.

[raccoon]

132. How young?

"I know young people who can't write in cursive other than to sign their names. "

[kskiska]

138. Blotters, ink, socks and nylon stockings (with seams) sold by foot size

I learned cursive writing using a scratch pen, dipping it in the inkwell and blotting afterward. Blue-black ink was the most popular for fountain pens.

Nylons were sold three pair to a box in various shades. I remember my mother wrapping the folded foot portion of the sock around my closed fist to check the fit before purchasing.

Crinolines, often horsehair.

Girdles. Just about all women wore girdles in the 40s and 50s, whether they needed them or not. My mother had a rubber girdle that once burst as she got out of a car. She thought an old operation scar had opened up.

Men's garters to hold their unelasticized socks up.

Those old wooden frames with a handle in grocery stores to slide the purchases up to the cash register to be rung up by a cashier who mentally calculated your change. Replaced by conveyer belts. Grocers in small stores totaled up your order in grease pencil on the brown paper bag.

Phone booths with a seat, a fan, and a closeable door.

S&H green stamps, blue stamps, and others given by supermarkets to be licked and stuck into books that could be traded in for items in a catalog.

[CTyankee]

201. We gotta be the same age cuz I remember everything you list!

One thing though, do you remember the days before all number phone numbers. Exchanges used to be names (abbreviated) followed by a number. Growing up in Dallas, my exchange was LA 8 (Lakeside). And who can forget "Pennsylvania 6-5000" (Penn station, made famous by a Glenn Miller song)and "Butterfield 8" by John O'Hara?

[WCGreen]

146. I never used a dictaphone...

Cause it hurt too much...

[katty]

151. can't operate a dictaphone or change eraser ribbon, but

still know how to do the rest.

[calico1]

152. Writing letters. Who does that anymore?

And pen pals.

Teletype machines.

Those antennas on top of your roof that everyone had. Remember those? Well older DU'ers do I'm sure. My dad would get up on the roof every now and then to "tune" it and my mom would yell to him if the TV looked okay or not.

Special Delivery mail

Party lines

Dumb waiters (and no I don't mean at a restaurant )



I do NOT miss carbon paper. Ugh.

I DO drive and love stick shift cars for whoever listed that. If you live where it snows it gives you better control of your car and as someone else mentioned, better gas mileage. My car isn't sporty btw, it's a Subaru Forester.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

155. My dear calico1!

Our house, which is six years old, BTW, has a dumb waiter in it!

We use it every single day, too!

[Manifestor_of_Light]

181. I wish they'd bring back foldup ironing boards.

I lived in a duplex that was built in the 40s. There was a narrow door in the kitchen wall. Open it and a small ironing board fell out. Very handy!!!

[Tesha]

194. They still exist. And IKEA sells a "pop-up" ironing board that looks like a kitchen cabinet drawer.

You pull the drawer out, flip up the board, and off you go!

Tesha

[Manifestor_of_Light]

213. Thanks for the info, Tesha!!

I live about 2 miles from an IKEA store.

I had no idea they are so rare.

[Tesha]

218. You lucky devil!

> I live about 2 miles from an IKEA store.

You lucky devil!

We used to have to travel all the way from New Hampshire
to Exit 13A in New Jersey to go to an IKEA (say, 275
miles away).

Then they built the store in New Haven (about 150 miles away)
and we bought an entire kitchen re-fit through that store;
we had to plan things very carefully to get it all accomplished
in just a few trips.

Now, we feel spoiled because IKEA's only 70 or so miles away
in Stoughton, MA. We can practically hop on down there to
get our hit of lox and Swedish meatballs.

We keep hoping they'll abandon their plans to build the
Somerville IKEA and instead build one in Salem, NH.

Tesha

[CTyankee]

205. A little cubby in the wall for toilet paper that I have in my half bath

next to my kitchen. I have a prewar Colonial house. The cubby has a little door and the toilet paper roll is on the inside of the door. You can shut it to save on the space. That little toilet/sink room is so tiny you need every help you can get!

[Fox Mulder]

157. Common Sense is an obsolete skill.

[pink-o]

160. I didn't see Piano Tuning

...Not quite there, but pretty soon I fear. I remember being a teenager, and when the power would go out I'd just grab the candleabra, ala Liberace, light 'em up, and play the funky upright till the lights came back on. Now, if the power goes out I'm screwed unless I have batteries in the piano!

[Manifestor_of_Light]

182. Everybody used to make one of their daughters learn piano.

For family entertainment, before they had radios and phonographs. The only reason I found out I had musical talent was that we were keeping my grandmother's upright piano for her. I started messing with it and the parents said "Let's give her lessons!". That was quite fortunate because the parental units had NO musical ability. I shudder to think what would have happened had we not discovered my great obsession in life, when I was five years old. Picked up a second instrument at age ten. Also sang in choirs and took voice lessons eventually.

Most people have no imagination now. They don't visualize because they see everything created for them in movies, and don't learn how to play an instrument to make their own music and sing.

Passive entertainment is nowhere near as much fun as active entertainment!

[HysteryDiagnosis]

166. Used to be it took our whole clan to run down

a woolly mammoth. Now not so much.

[bmbmd]

175. I won district in slide rule in 1972.

Still have the medal. Can't find the slide rule, though.

[Liberal_in_LA]

207. Lost my slide rule also

[Ms. Toad]

219. I know where my slide rule is,

and for multiplication and division can still give my daughter and her calculator a run for her money.

[conscious evolution]

180. Film strips

Anyone remember them?

[riverdeep]

211. Yes.

Filmstrips were great because it was your chance to zone out for awhile, the teacher too.

There was also something else, but I don't know what it was called. It was basically a slideshow projector with an audio soundtrack. And one of us would get the job of turning the dial when the 'beep' would sound, moving it to the next slide.

[conscious evolution]

212. That is what we called

a film strip.
You ran a film that looked like a negative thru the projector.Each strip had between 5 and 10 slides.
You advanced each slide when the beep on the 78 rpm companion record sounded.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

187. Not just young people

I'm 45 and never write in cursive except for my signature - I learned it, but just suck at it.

[0rganism]

188. batch file programming is NOT obsolete!

There's whole industries which use sequential scheduling of long interdependent tasks to run in the off-hours using shared resources. Hell, even moderately compute-intensive jobs during business hours get queued up for batch processing. Maybe the days of big iron are gone, but they've been replaced by clusters of various kinds which behave much the same from a user's perspective. Batch files are not obsolete, just underappreciated.

[conspirator]

190. Neither COBOL programmer

I have seen COBOL and AS400 jobs advertised recently

[Tesha]

195. Well, if that's how you get your CICS... (NT)

[Norrin Radd]

189. Waging wars should be obsolete.

[PVnRT]

199. Those are obsolete because of technology

You don't need shorthand with a laptop; nor do you need to replace an eraser ribbon. Why use a slide rule when you have a calculator?

As for cursive, who the hell cares? Is it more important to communicate, or have flowery curves on your letters?

Frankly, this just looks like another "Goddamn kids these days..." list that I have no use for.

[Tesha]

220. Actually...

> You don't need shorthand with a laptop

Actually, short-hand is probably faster than typing
on a laptop and the motion of a pen over the paper
is certainly less distracting than the constant
clicking of a keyboard. And, "Oh shit, Windows just
did that thing again... Can you start again back on
page one of the dictation?"


> Why use a slide rule when you have a calculator?

Well, no reason today except perhaps as a learning
tool. But if society collapses, the slide rule will
still keep working for a hundred years or more;
how will the batteries in that scientific calculator
last?


Some of these "obsolete" technologies still have their
purpose. Hell, even COBOL still has its uses.

Tesha

[Union Label]

208. Those are reasons that I like this DVD rental website

A whole bunch of shit available to rent http://smartflix.com/

[babydollhead]

215. comparing glaciers to "moving slowly"