For Old Guys Only

Allen_Wrench · Oct 21, 2014

My wife loves the Panasonic cordless phone/answering machine I got for her a while back. (She's home most of the time, so it's really *her* phone.) It has talking caller ID, a ringer that CAN be turned off entirely, in addition to having different volume settings, and it can block whatever numbers you tell it to. And I've set different ringtones on it for certain people that she is not always in the mood to talk to. We already have a bunch of solicitors blocked. She loves that Panasonic cordless. She calls it "Jeeves".

NEAT TIMES · Oct 21, 2014

Was talking to an elderly Indian recently. Asked him what kind of winter weather he thought we were in for. He said; Very cold winter, he said he was reading weather signs.

Asked him what was the biggest indicator a very cold winter? He said; White men cutting lots of firewood!!

Ron

KCvale · Oct 25, 2014

MEASURE TWICE said:
Robo calls from carpet cleaners, and now politicians as elections are soon...
Maybe just get rid of LL and only use cell phone?

Registering Independent helps everything in life I think.

Get on the No-Call list for your land line, all I have for my own use is a land line and love it, if the call sounds like crap it's not on my end.

I don't know about you guys but I'm tired of a 2-party system backed by billions in attack ads in an effort to strangle control of power to just a small group and well, that's just not what America was for.

2door · Oct 28, 2014

Boy, do I feel old.

Had a tree trimmer working here today and he had a young fellow helper. The guy was mid 20s. I had my garage door open and he saw my car, my avatar, and he said, "Wow. What kind of car is that?" I told him it was a "hot rod". I got a blank stare. He asked, "A what?" I said, "it's a hot rod, a street rod. A 1930 Ford, 2 door sedan with a late model Chevrolet engine." He said he'd never heard of a "hot rod" and had never seen a car like it.

Am I that old? Could a twenty something kid never have heard the term "hot rod" or even saw one? I thought everyone would know what it was. The funny part was that he needed a place to plug in his cell phone because he'd forgotten to bring his car charger to work today.

Makes you stop and think of things, huh?

Tom

Greg58 · Oct 28, 2014

Tom a lot of the younger people are not around car like we were, they have a lot of other thing to spend their time thinking about. We didn't have all of the gadgets or game consoles, or cable TV for that matter. My brother and I used to pass the time on trips by naming as many of the car we met or passed by as we could. We each could name most of what we saw, today's cars are all cookie cutter cars, if you've seen one you've seen them all.

Mike B · Oct 28, 2014

Hehe, yeah "it's a hot rod"

C'mon, ya never read Hot Rod? Never seen American Graffiti

Eh, whatever. Who cares? Just tell him that Milner drove it -

I still see 'em here from time to time. Not often. The last guy had a roots on his and it sounded good. Low tone mufflers so you could hear the blower whine.

The guy had style!

Otero · Oct 29, 2014

Pathetic! A prime example of the dumbing down of
America. Next thing you know, they'll tell you they've
never heard of Marilyn Monroe.

MEASURE TWICE · Oct 29, 2014

Dang, I was driving past a parked car and thought I really ought to get a picture of it. Running boards on it all dusty and painted black. Opening on hood from sides with like gill slits. It definitely was a through back to the Dust Bowl times.

Maybe it is still there tomorrow to get a picture of.

MT

Ludwig II · Oct 29, 2014

I saw a manual typewriter yesterday, one of the last to be made, and it was in a shop window as an antique or a talking point.

xseler · Oct 29, 2014

Ludwig II said:
I saw a manual typewriter yesterday, one of the last to be made, and it was in a shop window as an antique or a talking point.

I still remember getting my fingers 'stuck' between the keys when I tried to type too fast.......and getting the hammers locked together. And the smell of liquid paper.

Sometimes the "Good ole Days" weren't.

Otero · Oct 29, 2014

I still have one of those; the advantage being nothing to plug in or
battery to run down. Somehow it's empowering to smack down those
spring-loaded keys and do homage to Mark Twain.

Ludwig II · Oct 29, 2014

The luxurious mechanical plunge of the key, the clack of typeface on platen. The carriage clunking and the DING!, the satisfying swipe at the end. Oh yes.

MEASURE TWICE · Nov 3, 2014

At college we had a lab assignment where we bread boarded some twisted pair of wires that went from one bench to another. A teletype on each bench. We got the thing to send messages back and forth. A lot of click and clacking of the type!

Still the most more memorable things were testing out my own stereo amplifier for Total Harmonic Distortion. I did not bring speakers to school and the ones they had could not take the full wattage. I decided to use an air core ceramic wire wound resistor of equivalent 8 ohm valve. I did not have them suspended above the desk, but on the particle board bench. I saw the results of the ridges of hot nicrome wire cause some scorching of the surface of the desk. At full load it was up to 10 % THD. Under 1 % for a normal volume where ear damage would not be such a risk.

The real risk I saw and probably should have had goggle or glasses on to see, but I did not need glasses then. The situation, a guy evaded the plastic cover on a measurement device called a curve tracer to test transistors. No cover but a wedge of a tooth pick allowing gobbs of current overloading the little transistor and molted metal and silicon was flying over on to the desk adjacent to this guy doing wrong. It hit the desk top smoking and sizzling like water in a frying pan. Eventually it burned down into the bench surface about 1 inch deep. This is where it left what looked like a ball bearing still glowing red for a while.

Fun ehh!

MT

xseler · Nov 3, 2014

On my recent vacation of fire trail riding, it seems that the bike fared better than me. The bike took some might hard licks without issue.........however, I think I may have cracked my tailbone. X-rays may be the next step.

Used to say that Superman had nothing on me ---- used to say.........

Otero · Nov 4, 2014

X.broken mine so often, it's hook shaped. Medically, there's nothin' much
can be done outside of sitting on a wheel barrow inner tube for the next month.

MEASURE TWICE · Nov 4, 2014

I got foot pegs and would stand 70 to 90 percent of the time due to that. Ouch sorry to hear. I have got foam I bought and am modding a banana seat with it. I plan to widen it near the back area and leave it the same width near the front. If I could afford to buy the shocks that go on the sissy bar that hold it the seat in the back and hinge it at the seat post I'd do that. Maybe I'll make my own of similar.

MT

Greg58 · Nov 8, 2014

We found out yesterday that several of the people on our road were having yard sales today, my wife loves that kinda thing, me not so much. On her way to work this morning she calls me and reminds me that I needed to go shop for both of us since she had to work, I'm glad I did. I bought a nice helmet for ten dollars. The picture below is just like it.
http://www.google.com/aclk?sa=L&ai=...%2Flike%2F251517843834%3Flpid%3D82&adtype=pla

Otero · Nov 9, 2014

Nice score, Greg. I've picked up a lot cheap goodies at yard sales
a new-in-box bike computer from the 80s for $1. a pristine Bridgestone
bike for $20,(too small for me, sold on CL for $125). That's just one of
a number of bikes I've flipped. A $75 3 spd trike, flipped for $175. What
with the arrival of the monsoon here, the sales have dried up, but I've
collected all manner of tools for less than 10 cents on the dollar of the
new price. They even gave me some of them. My greatest regret was
I could have gotten an old Whizzer engine for free, but I didn't
recognize what it was at the time. It wasn't complete, but nearly so.
I'm sure i could have gotten a good price for it.

2door · Nov 11, 2014

I remember when it was called, "bad weather". Now someone has decided to give it names, like hurricanes. "Astro"? Wasn't that George Jetson's dog's name?

For-crying-out-loud. It's a 'winter storm', not a media event. Give me a break.

Tom

xseler · Nov 11, 2014

2door said:
For-crying-out-loud. It's a 'winter storm', not a media event. Give me a break.

Tom

At my house, it's called "Soup Night" or "Chili Night". Was Tortilla Soup this evening.

Think we are supposed to get a bit of snow Saturday evening.

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