An Old Fogies Stroll Down Memory Lane

[Starise]

I think I'm younger than many here, but still far from 'young'. I grew up immersed in technology. The first color TV we had was one I refurbished at around 16 years old and brought home all proud to have fixed it. I worked part time in a TV repair shop. Later on after electronics school, one of my first jobs was as a two way radio tech/installer. I started out installing systems and then moved to the repair bench. I went from there to Audio Visual equipment service. This was about the time projectors were going out and video was coming in to those formats, although many theatres still use reels even today. Took that knowlege to the HVAC field since HVAC is 80% electrical/electronic. Went from there to the commercial automation computer end of things where programs control distant units and read all sorts of points.

It was pretty amazing to see all of the advancements and how electronics is in pretty much everything today. I mean, even my dishwasher and grill connect to wifi.

Coming up though, we were lower middle class, and the older I got the more I understood my dad's alchohol problem and financial mismanagement is what was holding us back from living better. My mother would get a set amount of money which usually wasn't very much and she had to try to feed us 4 with it.

I attended the local public schools on the wrong side of the tracks as they say. We lived in the deep south where it was hot and humid pretty much all summer. My dad's answer was to put in a whole house fan and we all had fans. I didn't know what A/C was at the time. I only knew it felt really good when we walked into a department store. You don't really know what you don't have if you don't know any better. Microwaves? I hade no idea. I remembered the first ones as being very large and cumbersome and styled to fit in with those 70's olive green kitchens.

Our house would go from warm in the summer to freezing in the winter as southerners just don't prepare for cold days when they build houses, or they didn't back then. The house sat on blocks and my dad had left a big hole where he was working on the bathroom plumbing and all kinds of critters had access to the house in addition to the cold air coming in the winter. Front of house was jalouse windows which are practically useless for any sort of insulation. I remember breathing frost in my bedoom 15F outside and only one small gas heater at the other end of the house.

I remember cash registers that were more like typwriters of the day. I was pretty naive' as far as the evil that lurked out in the world at the time. I had a lot to learn.

[Dennis1209]

1 hour ago, tim_from_pa said:

Those are some great memories.  I'm a tad younger being born just after your first BW TV set but my older brother (9 years older) could relate.  However, we did not have color TV until the late 70's when I started college and we all still took baths (as opposed to showers) LOL.  Nikola Tesla was ahead of his time being a great enthusiast of oscillatory motions and AC.  If it were up to Edison, we'd have a power station every 3 miles dues to the inefficiency of DC.  As you know, you can't transform DC so the voltage level at the house is that of the power station unless you have a voltage divider circuit - but that's all resistance and thus extra loss (maybe use it for some form of heating or something).  At least with capacitance and inductance the line voltage can be transmitted high and transformed down to something useful thus being able to go large distances with little loss. Of course radio and TV technology is all based om AC as well.

Tesla, Einstein and especially Sir Isaac Newton are my favorite scientists. Only Sir Isaac Newton identified with Christianity.  From my knowledge the other two believed in a God, but more impersonal.  The universe, by virtue of it being orderly and mathematical, was seemingly their God. In short, the universe behaves as if it can think and reason regardless of the existence of mankind, thus, some sort of "mind" behind it.

That is precisely the way I understand it.

[Dennis1209]

56 minutes ago, Starise said:

I think I'm younger than many here, but still far from 'young'. I grew up immersed in technology. The first color TV we had was one I refurbished at around 16 years old and brought home all proud to have fixed it. I worked part time in a TV repair shop. Later on after electronics school, one of my first jobs was as a two way radio tech/installer. I started out installing systems and then moved to the repair bench. I went from there to Audio Visual equipment service. This was about the time projectors were going out and video was coming in to those formats, although many theatres still use reels even today. Took that knowlege to the HVAC field since HVAC is 80% electrical/electronic. Went from there to the commercial automation computer end of things where programs control distant units and read all sorts of points.

It was pretty amazing to see all of the advancements and how electronics is in pretty much everything today. I mean, even my dishwasher has wifi.

Coming up though, we were lower middle class, and the older I got the more I understood my dad's alchohol problem and financial mismanagement is what was holding us back from living better. My mother would get a set amount of money which usually wasn't very much and she had to try to feed us 4 with it.

I attended the local public schools on the wrong side of the tracks as they say. We lived in the deep south where it was hot and humid pretty much all summer. My dad's answer was to put in a whole house fan and we all had fans. I didn't know what A/C was at the time. I only knew it felt really good when we walked into a department store. You don't really know what you don't have if you don't know any better. Microwaves? I hade no idea. I remembered the first ones as being very large and cumbersome and styled to fit in with those 70's olive green kitchens.

Our house would go from warm in the summer to freezing in the winter as southerners just don't prepare for cold days when they build houses, or they didn't back then. The house sat on blocks and my dad had left a big hole where he was working on the bathroom plumbing and all kinds of critters had access to the house in addition to the cold air coming in the winter. Front of house was jalouse windows which are practically useless for any sort of insulation. I remember breathing frost in my bedoom 15F outside and only one small gas heater at the other end of the house.

I remember cash registers that were more like typwriters of the day. I was pretty naive' as far as the evil that lurked out in the world at the time. I had a lot to learn.

Speaking of yesteryear, how often did we hear anything about artificial intelligence (AI)?

Looking at what we are allowed to see with videos on YouTube, these robots are close to mimicking human looks, motions, expressions, and human intelligence. To me, it is scary where this is heading. I don't particularly appreciate pressing a bunch of buttons to get an actual human, press 2 for Spanish, or getting an Indian accent so thick you cannot understand.

I believe soon, when you need any help with anything, we will be talking to AI and not even know it. It is being used everywhere now; I can use it on the Bing search engine and ask questions. Hey Siri, hey Alexa, do this or that for me. I see AI as having a significant end-time role to play.

I probably will not see it in ten years; what will artificial intelligence, DNA tampering, and robotics look like?

In some ways, I yearn for yesteryear's less technical, simpler life. Soon, it will be required to use a form of technology and electronics to have an everyday existence. The younger generation is being brought up with it, and us old fogies forcefully must adapt to it.

Has anyone read the multitude of Terms of Service (TOS) changes you are bombarded with? Everything from your internet service provider to software programs, to Amazon and your bank. It is not for your benefit, security, or privacy; you have become their servant under their control and whims.  

[Starise]

1 hour ago, Dennis1209 said:

Speaking of yesteryear, how often did we hear anything about artificial intelligence (AI)?

Looking at what we are allowed to see with videos on YouTube, these robots are close to mimicking human looks, motions, expressions, and human intelligence. To me, it is scary where this is heading. I don't particularly appreciate pressing a bunch of buttons to get an actual human, press 2 for Spanish, or getting an Indian accent so thick you cannot understand.

I believe soon, when you need any help with anything, we will be talking to AI and not even know it. It is being used everywhere now; I can use it on the Bing search engine and ask questions. Hey Siri, hey Alexa, do this or that for me. I see AI as having a significant end-time role to play.

I probably will not see it in ten years; what will artificial intelligence, DNA tampering, and robotics look like?

In some ways, I yearn for yesteryear's less technical, simpler life. Soon, it will be required to use a form of technology and electronics to have an everyday existence. The younger generation is being brought up with it, and us old fogies forcefully must adapt to it.

Has anyone read the multitude of Terms of Service (TOS) changes you are bombarded with? Everything from your internet service provider to software programs, to Amazon and your bank. It is not for your benefit, security, or privacy; you have become their servant under their control and whims.  

Things are definitely changing for sure. I mostly just roll with the new things. I am into automation, so I automate everything I can lol.

In phone communications on those robot systems, if the hoop you need to jump through isn't there it can be a nightmare. Luckily I can usually still get through to someone. " For all other calls hit 0." Whew.

What I find more distressing is the reduced level of service at so many places. The virus made a lot of people lazy, and now with summer at least a few key workers are always on vacation, not to mention the ones working at home in fuzzy bunny slippers only paying half attention to whatever it is they are supposed to be doing.

[BeyondET]

3 hours ago, FJK said:

Indoor plumbing.

A true miracle of modern civilization.

Even the ancient modernized civilization had indoor plumbing dating back to around 3500 BCE.

[BeyondET]

22 hours ago, Dennis1209 said:

This present heat alert brought back memories. From my youth and first memories, so much has changed that reflection should boggle our minds compared to all previous generations. The upward swing of human longevity and creature comforts in our age is staggering. If I had to name one invention that stands out, it would be the harnessing and distribution of electrical energy. If we did not have dependable electricity, where would the world be?

A former Thomas Edison employee, Nikola Tesla, had Tesla not won the A.C vs. D.C. electrical war, most would still be backwoods. Hands down, Tesla was the most significant human inventor of all time. But, my musings for this thread are things I experienced from my earliest memories, compared to today's luxuries. The excessive heat warnings in my area for the near term remind me of how people got by yesteryear.

We were a lower middle-income family; mom was a traditional stay-at-home mother. Only the well-to-do could afford automobiles, televisions, and air conditioning. I remember ice boxes and ice delivery and shared telephone party lines. We were watching Dick Tracy cartoons and his wristwatch audio video communicator. My, how times have changed; science fiction is now our reality!

My dad surprised us with our first black and white RCA TV around 1957. With three whole television stations available, adjusting the "rabbit ears," waiting for it to warm up, and continually adjusting the vertical scrolling knob. All broadcasting ended at 2:00 A.M. and was replaced with a Native American test pattern.

I was an avid baseball player when our Atom league games were canceled for two weeks because of temperatures of 107-110 degrees daily, and I was devastated. But it did not stop me from going outside in the heat and playing with neighbor friends.

I remember a fan blowing outward in the dining room for nighttime use. In our bedrooms, we had the window cracked no more than 4-5 inches to get "cooler" air passing over us. My dad surprised my mother with her first automatic washer agitator, with the wooden roll pins to ring out the clothes—converting the existing coal furnace in the basement to natural gas. In retrospect, living in a major city (St. Louis, MO.) had technological and service advantages compared to country folk.

Oh, as a kid, one word and event sent chills down my spine: "dentist." Seeing and smelling smoke, fire, and brimstone proceed out of my open mouth, getting cavities filled. The 220-volt lightning pain when that drill bit sunk into a tooth nerve. What a blessing we now have in dentistry, healthcare, and pain management we have today. I should have listened better to Mom and the commercial, "you wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent." Imagine the quality of life before modern dentistry with toothaches all your life. I am sure some of the following had nothing to do with it 😊

I vividly remember collecting discarded soda bottles and cashing them in for 2₵ each to support my sweet tooth and dentist. Bazooka bubble gum sold for two for a penny, baseball cards with gum for five cents, Indian Head pennies and 90% silver coinage, and fifty-cent bleacher seats at Sportsman Park (St. Louis Cardinals). Taking street car trollies to the Mississippi River watching the Gateway Arch being built. Streetcar and bus tokens, tax tokens. During gas wars, nineteen cents a gallon of gasoline with Eagle Stamps. Getting everything from glasses to Funk & Wagnal encyclopedias with purchases.

The time and scenery it took traveling from St. Louis to Indiana, Pennsylvania, using two-lane highways because Eisenhower's Interstate system was just being implemented. Image, most of our roads originated from someone cutting and forging paths and crude bridges and ferries.   

Though too young to remember a flight on a TWA four-engine prop, the acceleration, and take-off of a new TWA Boeing 707. That flight convinced me I wanted to be in aviation and a pilot one day. For millennia, the fasted a human could travel was around 35 MPH by horse. In our generation, the sound barrier was broken, we broke the confines of the earth, and the nuclear bomb was developed and used.

The changes in modern technology and creature comforts we old fogies have lived through are nothing short of amazing. When in history has a generation experienced and witnessed such drastic changes (save for Noah & Lot)? I might also mention that societal morals and values have kept pace with the times.

With a humid 97 degrees outside, sitting in a 72-degree house, I just reached into my electrical refrigerator and poured a cold Coke over ice. I am about to press a mouse button and send information somewhere close to the speed of light. I may turn on the cable T.V. this evening, with 500+ channels to select from. Since it is too hot for a heavy meal to heat the house up, we may pop a frozen meal into the microwave and piping hot in only a few minutes. Imagine having no a/c and an indoor wood-burning cook stove in this weather preparing a meal. Then eight hours later, getting out of bed for the bedpan or a lovely trip to the outhouse 100 yards away.

I cannot speak for anyone else, but I am dependent, soft, and spoiled in the lifestyle I am now accustomed to. Losing power for even a few hours here is almost a major crisis.

What impresses you today compared to when you grew up?

 

In the 80's I thought the pager was impressive when it came out, until I had to hunt down a payphone to make a call.

[NConly]

2 hours ago, Starise said:

Things are definitely changing for sure. I mostly just roll with the new things. I am into automation, so I automate everything I can lol.

In phone communications on those robot systems, if the hoop you need to jump through isn't there it can be a nightmare. Luckily I can usually still get through to someone. " For all other calls hit 0." Whew.

What I find more distressing is the reduced level of service at so many places. The virus made a lot of people lazy, and now with summer at least a few key workers are always on vacation, not to mention the ones working at home in fuzzy bunny slippers only paying half attention to whatever it is they are supposed to be doing.

Well I have only been out of communications  a few years so it may be still around. There was a rule in even digital switch programing that if no key or tone was heard after a short time it will automatically  transfer to a person. that rule lasted the 30 something years in was in Phone business. It was put in because long after duel tone multi frequency (dtmf) push button came on the scene  many still had rotary phone at home.

[Neighbor]

On 8/22/2023 at 4:49 PM, Dennis1209 said:

If we did not have dependable electricity, where would the world be?

 

Lots of it's population would be on sailing ships blooding whales for oil I suppose. The rest would be gathered on the shoreline awaiting return to port of the ships, or close by tending stables and barns.

[garee]

On 8/22/2023 at 3:49 PM, Dennis1209 said:

This present heat alert brought back memories. From my youth and first memories, so much has changed that reflection should boggle our minds compared to all previous generations. The upward swing of human longevity and creature comforts in our age is staggering. If I had to name one invention that stands out, it would be the harnessing and distribution of electrical energy. If we did not have dependable electricity, where would the world be?

A former Thomas Edison employee, Nikola Tesla, had Tesla not won the A.C vs. D.C. electrical war, most would still be backwoods. Hands down, Tesla was the most significant human inventor of all time. But, my musings for this thread are things I experienced from my earliest memories, compared to today's luxuries. The excessive heat warnings in my area for the near term remind me of how people got by yesteryear.

We were a lower middle-income family; mom was a traditional stay-at-home mother. Only the well-to-do could afford automobiles, televisions, and air conditioning. I remember ice boxes and ice delivery and shared telephone party lines. We were watching Dick Tracy cartoons and his wristwatch audio video communicator. My, how times have changed; science fiction is now our reality!

My dad surprised us with our first black and white RCA TV around 1957. With three whole television stations available, adjusting the "rabbit ears," waiting for it to warm up, and continually adjusting the vertical scrolling knob. All broadcasting ended at 2:00 A.M. and was replaced with a Native American test pattern.

I was an avid baseball player when our Atom league games were canceled for two weeks because of temperatures of 107-110 degrees daily, and I was devastated. But it did not stop me from going outside in the heat and playing with neighbor friends.

I remember a fan blowing outward in the dining room for nighttime use. In our bedrooms, we had the window cracked no more than 4-5 inches to get "cooler" air passing over us. My dad surprised my mother with her first automatic washer agitator, with the wooden roll pins to ring out the clothes—converting the existing coal furnace in the basement to natural gas. In retrospect, living in a major city (St. Louis, MO.) had technological and service advantages compared to country folk.

Oh, as a kid, one word and event sent chills down my spine: "dentist." Seeing and smelling smoke, fire, and brimstone proceed out of my open mouth, getting cavities filled. The 220-volt lightning pain when that drill bit sunk into a tooth nerve. What a blessing we now have in dentistry, healthcare, and pain management we have today. I should have listened better to Mom and the commercial, "you wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent." Imagine the quality of life before modern dentistry with toothaches all your life. I am sure some of the following had nothing to do with it 😊

I vividly remember collecting discarded soda bottles and cashing them in for 2₵ each to support my sweet tooth and dentist. Bazooka bubble gum sold for two for a penny, baseball cards with gum for five cents, Indian Head pennies and 90% silver coinage, and fifty-cent bleacher seats at Sportsman Park (St. Louis Cardinals). Taking street car trollies to the Mississippi River watching the Gateway Arch being built. Streetcar and bus tokens, tax tokens. During gas wars, nineteen cents a gallon of gasoline with Eagle Stamps. Getting everything from glasses to Funk & Wagnal encyclopedias with purchases.

The time and scenery it took traveling from St. Louis to Indiana, Pennsylvania, using two-lane highways because Eisenhower's Interstate system was just being implemented. Image, most of our roads originated from someone cutting and forging paths and crude bridges and ferries.   

Though too young to remember a flight on a TWA four-engine prop, the acceleration, and take-off of a new TWA Boeing 707. That flight convinced me I wanted to be in aviation and a pilot one day. For millennia, the fasted a human could travel was around 35 MPH by horse. In our generation, the sound barrier was broken, we broke the confines of the earth, and the nuclear bomb was developed and used.

The changes in modern technology and creature comforts we old fogies have lived through are nothing short of amazing. When in history has a generation experienced and witnessed such drastic changes (save for Noah & Lot)? I might also mention that societal morals and values have kept pace with the times.

With a humid 97 degrees outside, sitting in a 72-degree house, I just reached into my electrical refrigerator and poured a cold Coke over ice. I am about to press a mouse button and send information somewhere close to the speed of light. I may turn on the cable T.V. this evening, with 500+ channels to select from. Since it is too hot for a heavy meal to heat the house up, we may pop a frozen meal into the microwave and piping hot in only a few minutes. Imagine having no a/c and an indoor wood-burning cook stove in this weather preparing a meal. Then eight hours later, getting out of bed for the bedpan or a lovely trip to the outhouse 100 yards away.

I cannot speak for anyone else, but I am dependent, soft, and spoiled in the lifestyle I am now accustomed to. Losing power for even a few hours here is almost a major crisis.

What impresses you today compared to when you grew up?

 

Thanks for the memories reminded me of Frank Sinatra    

[teddyv]

21 hours ago, FJK said:

Indoor plumbing.

A true miracle of modern civilization.

Another commentary I was listening said as much.

The fact we can turn on a tap on in our home and have clean water available is an incredible achievement.