Comments for Will Unwound

Comment on WILL UNWOUND #689: “Friday Fun…How Obsolete is your Life Style?” by Michelle

Michelle — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 00:17:27 +0000

We had to use slide rules on tests in my high school chemistry class. A few kids had calculators, but they were deemed too expensive for everyone to be able to afford one, hence the slide rules. This way no one had an advantage simply because their parents could afford some expensive technology. (I have no idea what was considered expensive. This was the mid-seventies, maybe $50?)

Now kids are expected to buy graphing calculators in middle school. No one can complete their homework without the use of a computer. It’s sad, really. The glitz means more, in some cases, than the substance. I’ve seen kids spend more time choosing a font than they did writing their paper. Don’t even get me started on the ones who can barely read or write cursive, or who don’t know how to use a phone book, or read a map.

I sound like my father, now.

Comment on WILL UNWOUND #689: “Friday Fun…How Obsolete is your Life Style?” by Amy Roebuck

Amy Roebuck — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 23:45:39 +0000

I want to answer #4 (obsolete technology I miss) with the manual card sorter. From the time I was in grade 6 and helped in the school library, through many years in many libraries, I enjoyed flipping the dividers over, putting the cards in each section in order, and flipping to the next set of cards. Did I like it for the tactile satisfaction, or auditory (flip, shuffle, flip), or simply because it was one of the few tasks in a library that one could complete!!

Comment on WILL UNWOUND #689: “Friday Fun…How Obsolete is your Life Style?” by Scott

Scott — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 23:45:19 +0000

1. What obsolete technology do I still use? Hardcover books (thought I’d throw that one out to get everyone going!

2. Which do I miss the most? DAT, it died before I was ever able to truly make use of it.

3. What am I happy to see gone? Cassettes. At one point we had several Springsteen concerts on cassette, most of which were not replacable, for legal reasons . However, the cassette player in my brother’s car had an strong appetite for the taste of cassette tape.

4. What library tool do I miss? Cards used to sign the items out of the library. I always found it interesting to see who had an item before me and when (the oldest was last checked out 25 years prior to me).

5. What do I miss least? The card catalog. Having to go out and check the shelf to find out that the item was not available was inconvenient for both the Librarian and the patron.

P.S. Ellen, unfortunately one of my lost cassettes had the early version of Thunder Road (Wings for Wheels) on it.

Comment on WILL UNWOUND #689: “Friday Fun…How Obsolete is your Life Style?” by mick

mick — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 22:35:02 +0000

My Spousal Unit has exactly the same philosophy. Indeed, at her annual evaluations she is chastised for keeping her phone off. Her response is that when the library buys her a cell phone, she will keep that one on, but that her own cell phone is for her to do as she pleases. Since she is too valuable, her boss never pursues the point.

I discovered a text message on her phone last week. It was over six months old and she never knew it was there. We have exactly the same model of Nokia so that we need learn only one interface, a black one for the car and a red one for the truck.

Comment on WILL UNWOUND #689: “Friday Fun…How Obsolete is your Life Style?” by laura pearle

laura pearle — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 22:32:54 +0000

1. What obsolete technologies do you still actively use?
Fountain pens (I have a growing collection) and a landline (not obsolete, but on the endangered technology list).

2. What obsolete technologies that have vanished entirely do you miss the most?
It’s not a technology, but tooth powder. Also not sure this qualifies, but there used to be a company, Heathkit, that made great electronic kits (I helped my father build our first color tv from one of those kits!)

3. What obsolete technology are you most happy to have gone, gone, gone?
IBM punch cards – last used one in ’87, at an investment bank (they were moving towards complete computerization then)

4. What obsolete library tool(s) do you most miss?
It’s not completely obsolete yet, but book cards in the backs of books. It was neat seeing how many (or how few) had borrowed the book.

5. What obsolete library tool do you miss least?
The card catalog (when you had to put new cards in, that is; otherwise I miss them!)

Comment on WILL UNWOUND #689: “Friday Fun…How Obsolete is your Life Style?” by Ellen

Ellen — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 22:32:00 +0000

I had a feeling you might recognize that phrase, Joe

Comment on WILL UNWOUND #689: “Friday Fun…How Obsolete is your Life Style?” by Joe Schallan

Joe Schallan — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 22:22:57 +0000

The screen door slams
Mary’s dress waves
Like a vision she dances across the porch
As the radio plays
Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey that’s me and I want you only…

–Bruce Springsteen, Thunder Road

Comment on WILL UNWOUND #689: “Friday Fun…How Obsolete is your Life Style?” by Linda Reimer

Linda Reimer — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 22:20:56 +0000

I remember those electric stylus pens too! If that is what they were called — I haven’t a clue. Although I do remember when I first started to work at my public library using one of those to write the title of a book on one that had a repaired spine. I never could write in a straight line so I’m glad those have been retired!

Comment on WILL UNWOUND #689: “Friday Fun…How Obsolete is your Life Style?” by Joe Schallan

Joe Schallan — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 22:17:23 +0000

An epitaph on my gravestone could read “He loved baked goods well.”

Regarding yeastacious matters…. Thank god real beer is making a big comeback!

Comment on WILL UNWOUND #689: “Friday Fun…How Obsolete is your Life Style?” by Ellen

Ellen — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 22:15:33 +0000

Y’all have covered the library technology I don’t miss so I can’t add anything. But there are things that I miss in this life. Back when sodas were a treat and came in glass bottles, it was so wonderful to plunge your hand into the store’s ice-filled cooler and find the coldest bottle in the bunch. It being Texas and the early- mid-60s, that little store had no air conditioning and it was mighty refreshing to reach into the cooler, get a Coke or Dr Pepper, and walk slowly back to my grandmother’s house.

I also miss proper screen doors. Made of wood with a long spring to bring it closed and a hook and eye to latch it … “The screen door slams …”