5th Mar 2014, 12:23 am | #1 | |
Dekatron
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Forgotten Knowledge
I saw this in a thread in Vintage Audio
Quote:
For people of a certain age, it just feels as though we were born knowing how to do certain things, like start a record player by pulling the tonearm to the right, but that appear completely counter-intuitive to younger people who probably have never encountered the equipment in question before. I suppose a telephone dial is also pretty non-obvious to someone who has only ever seen phones with keypads. What other little "skills" are disappearing as technology changes?
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5th Mar 2014, 1:07 am | #2 |
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Re: Forgotten Knowledge
Tying shoelaces?
Laying a coal fire. ................
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5th Mar 2014, 2:12 am | #3 |
Heptode
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Manchester, UK.
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Re: Forgotten Knowledge
Sitting down and listening to an album from start to finish. Nowadays with the advent of music downloads, preferred tracks are cherry-picked and the rest left. I see that as a slight against the artists concerned.
Manually tuning a radio. Digital auto-search was an answer to a question no one had asked, surely? Lacing up a reel of tape on a tape recorder. Still, for me, a satisfying thing to do. It never ceases to amaze me how many people my age (45) and older don't know how to do this. I know it was in decline since the widespread adoption of cassette technology but what about all those old tapes people had before then? With a lot of things now, it seems as if the knowledge of such things has been bulk-erased (another one!) from people's memories, people who are old enough to know better. Regards, Paul |
5th Mar 2014, 8:47 am | #4 |
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Re: Forgotten Knowledge
Repairing electronics down at component level.
John. Last edited by 60 oldjohn; 5th Mar 2014 at 9:03 am. |
5th Mar 2014, 9:03 am | #5 |
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Re: Forgotten Knowledge
Handling LPs properly, i.e. by the periphery and label area only, a skill taught to me by my father when I was about 5.
So many people seem to put their grubby paws all over the playing surface, presumably because you can get away with it with a CD. Nick. |
5th Mar 2014, 9:04 am | #6 |
Dekatron
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Re: Forgotten Knowledge
And reading a clock with hands (yes honestly!). I've come across several bright teenagers recently who didn't have a clue!
N. |
5th Mar 2014, 9:42 am | #7 |
Octode
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Newport, Gwent, UK.
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Re: Forgotten Knowledge
Hello,
How to hold a pen properly, as opposed to the 'stirring porridge' method. Michael |
5th Mar 2014, 9:46 am | #8 |
Nonode
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: South Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK.
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Re: Forgotten Knowledge
Programming a video recorder.
Keith |
5th Mar 2014, 9:47 am | #9 |
Nonode
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Location: Warsaw, Poland and Cambridge, UK
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Re: Forgotten Knowledge
How to load a computer program from cassette.
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5th Mar 2014, 10:10 am | #10 | |
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Re: Forgotten Knowledge
How to get from A to B (even on foot sometimes !) without being told by a disembodied voice where to turn.
How to keep the utilities working and the supermarkets stocked without the internet (we may regret this very much indeed one day). Quote:
Cheers, GJ
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5th Mar 2014, 10:24 am | #11 |
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Re: Forgotten Knowledge
I have to admit that I also cringe whenever I see people leaving paw marks over CDs and DVDs. OK, you can get away with it, but it is hardly going to improve them.
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5th Mar 2014, 10:24 am | #12 |
Octode
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Location: Carmel, Llannerchymedd, Anglesey, UK.
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Re: Forgotten Knowledge
"Netting" a stand-alone transmitter & receiver.
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5th Mar 2014, 11:09 am | #13 |
Rest in Peace
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Re: Forgotten Knowledge
Putting on a tie? Switching off lights? Using almost any basic hand tool. Reading a map. Programming in assembler. Working out roughly what a circuit will do before running the simulator.
I handle my CDs with almost as much care as LPs, but then I was always taught to handle books carefully too. I remember many years ago lending a book to a friend and right there in front of me he/(she?) broke the back of it as he opened it. |
5th Mar 2014, 11:18 am | #14 |
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Re: Forgotten Knowledge
Using a slide-rule or log-tables.
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5th Mar 2014, 11:30 am | #15 |
Pentode
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Poole, Dorset, UK.
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Re: Forgotten Knowledge
We had a 2 day power cut over Christmas and although inconvenient (we had a houseful of family) we managed well. Out came the Tilley lamps and petrol stoves (remember how to prime and light those - safely?), out came the battery powered LED inspection lamp and out came several of my restored and battery operated vintage radios.
What was interesting was when my 13 year old grandson turned up, he didn't initially grasp the fact that he couldn't plug in his laptop, there was no WiFi, he couldn't charge his mobile phone and there was no TV. He had also never had to use a candle to use the 'little room'. He managed to tip hot wax all down his trousers. We did eventually get him playing cards as he really didn't know what to do with himself with no power for his toys. Although when I say toys, I guess he would classify all that technology as essential. How times change! More worrying are the shops and supermarkets who can't take your money when their tills and stock control systems go down. Dylan
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5th Mar 2014, 11:31 am | #16 |
Octode
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Re: Forgotten Knowledge
Wiring a mains plug. I have met people who actually think it's illegal to wire a plug yourself!
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5th Mar 2014, 11:34 am | #17 |
Nonode
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Re: Forgotten Knowledge
Teaching that words which begin with an "St", e.g: Student, Station etc are not pronounced as Shhhtudent & Shhhtation. Or words ending with a "G" are not pronounced with a "K", e.g: Anythink, Somethink.
Now like they're not like bothered with like teaching kids the "I Before E, Except After C" 'cos like it may demoralise the poor little darlings !
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5th Mar 2014, 11:42 am | #18 |
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Re: Forgotten Knowledge
Darlinks?
David
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5th Mar 2014, 11:49 am | #19 | |
Octode
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Re: Forgotten Knowledge
Quote:
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5th Mar 2014, 11:52 am | #20 |
Dekatron
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Re: Forgotten Knowledge
Which reminds me of another of my bugbears - closing doors! I blame the prevalence of self-closing doors these days for the forgotten art of closing a door after going through it. As a child, this was drummed into me by a shout from my father, "Were you born in a barn?" To which, with my usual cheek, I would usually reply along the lines of, "You probably have a better recollection of my birthplace than I do!"
This loss of skill would appear, however, not to be common in my village, given that the village shop has a sign reminding people not to attempt to close the door (because it strains the self-closing mechanism).
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