Author Topic: how old are you people?  (Read 8293 times)

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Offline innkeeper

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Re: how old are you people?
« Reply #50 on: August 04, 2018, 02:24:53 am »
BACK IN MY DAY, REPAIRMAN USED MIRRORS.
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Offline Nusa

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Re: how old are you people?
« Reply #51 on: August 04, 2018, 02:55:36 am »
Once upon a time, the only electronics I was around were a transistor radio and the van's ignition system.
For after-dark light, we had kerosene lanterns.
For water, we carried pails down the hill and filled them from a hand pump.
For milk, we carried a milk pail to the neighbors dairy farm and got it fresh and unpasteurized.
For refrigeration, we put stuff in the so-called cold cellar.
For heat and cooking, we had the classic cast-iron stove.
To fuel the stove, we had to saw logs with a hand-saw and later chop them up with an axe.
The toilet didn't flush, but we sometimes dumped a scoop of lime down the outhouse pit to keep the smell down.
There were no cell phones.

(edit to fix typo)
Once upon a time. I don't do much that way anymore, but many of you can't even imagine living without modern conveniences.
« Last Edit: August 04, 2018, 04:59:54 am by Nusa »
 

Offline basinstreetdesign

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Re: how old are you people?
« Reply #52 on: August 04, 2018, 04:51:16 am »
Only a couple years before I became interested in electrical/electronic stuff, I was 10.  We used to spend a few weeks at "the cottage".  It was a 3-room log cabin on a plot of land leased by my grandfather on an island situated just off the mainland.  My dad and his dad built it from a small camper and the trees they felled on the plot.  When the water was low you could drive over to it.  There was:

No internet
No cell phones
No satellite TV
No 911
No hydro
No telephone lines
No generator
No heat or AC of any kind
No traffic
No neighbours

Entertainment was provided by a crank-up Victrola, by conversation around a campfire by the shore, by fishing or by playing hearts under a naphtha gas lamp and identifying the moths that collected on the front windows at night.  Once a week we would trek into the nearest village for basic groceries and 50 lbs of ice for the ice box.

It was wonderful.
« Last Edit: August 04, 2018, 04:56:16 am by basinstreetdesign »
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Offline geekGee

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Re: how old are you people?
« Reply #53 on: August 04, 2018, 02:02:56 pm »
 

Offline innkeeper

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Re: how old are you people?
« Reply #54 on: August 04, 2018, 02:37:57 pm »
BACK IN MY DAY, WE USED CELEPHANE TO COLOR OUR TV'S.

what other colors did you need but green reddish-brown and blue for westerns anyway?

b&w tv hack - https://trulyskrumptious.wordpress.com/2012/11/29/instant-color-tv-screen/
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Offline KJDS

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Re: how old are you people?
« Reply #55 on: August 04, 2018, 03:08:55 pm »
I was in my mid teens when channel 4 appeared. That was the start of the downfall.

Snooker on a black and white portable as a kid - and still recognising the colours.  ;D

For those of you watching in black and white, the blue ball is the one next to the brown.

Online Alex Nikitin

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Re: how old are you people?
« Reply #56 on: August 04, 2018, 04:25:38 pm »
Once upon a time, the only electronics I was around were a transistor radio and the van's ignition system.
For after-dark light, we had kerosene lanterns.
For water, we carried pails down the hill and filled them from a hand pump.
For milk, we carried a milk pail to the neighbors dairy farm and got it fresh and unpasteurized.
For refrigeration, we put stuff in the so-called cold cellar.
For heat and cooking, we had the classic cast-iron stove.
To fuel the stove, we had to saw logs with a hand-saw and later chop them up with an axe.
The toilet didn't flush, but we sometimes dumped a scoop of lime down the outhouse pit to keep the smell down.
There were no cell phones.

(edit to fix typo)
Once upon a time. I don't do much that way anymore, but many of you can't even imagine living without modern conveniences.

My childhood was about the same with two exceptions - we had electric lights (no electric heating or cooling though, so the cellar was important) and on top of wooden logs we also used coal for heating. In winter it was not uncommon to wake up early in the morning and see some ice inside the house.

Cheers

Alex
 

Offline vk6zgo

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Re: how old are you people?
« Reply #57 on: August 05, 2018, 12:14:34 am »
Once upon a time, the only electronics I was around were a transistor radio and the van's ignition system.
A bit earlier for me, we had valve (tube) radios---- a "4valve" portable, & my brother's "regen" shortwave set.
Our horse didn't have an ignition system! ;D
Quote
For after-dark light, we had kerosene lanterns.

For outside, yeah, but in the kitchen, we had a "Aladdin" mantle lamp----great light!
Quote
For water, we carried pails down the hill and filled them from a hand pump.
Our well was never worth a damn, except for watering plants, so we had big galvanised water tanks fed off the house roof gutters.
In summer, we sometimes had to take a 44gal (55 US) drum into town to fill up at the standpipe.
( poor old horse didn't like that at all!)
Quote

For milk, we carried a milk pail to the neighbors dairy farm and got it fresh and unpasteurized.
We went one better, had our own cow!
Quote
For refrigeration, we put stuff in the so-called cold cellar.
No cold cellar, but the bottom of the "kitchenette", right near the cement floor was always pretty cool.
We could also hang ( waterproof ) things in a big waterbag under a tree.
Quote
For heat and cooking, we had the classic cast-iron stove.
To fuel the stove, we had to saw logs with a hand-saw and later chop them up with an axe.
We did this, too, but our block was pretty big, so we could often pick up reasonable sized bits of wood in the bush.
Quote
The toilet didn't flush, but we sometimes dumped a scoop of lime down the outhouse pit to keep the smell down.
Ours was a "chemical toilet"----it had some special stuff which the "dunny seat" lid dispensed every time you closed it, which was supposed to de-odorise things.
We ran out of the fancy stuff & used something else, can't remember what!
Quote
There were no cell phones.
No phones---- full stop!
Quote
(edit to fix typo)
Once upon a time. I don't do much that way anymore, but many of you can't even imagine living without modern conveniences.
 

Offline vk6zgo

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Re: how old are you people?
« Reply #58 on: August 05, 2018, 12:36:07 am »
I was in my mid teens when channel 4 appeared. That was the start of the downfall.

Snooker on a black and white portable as a kid - and still recognising the colours.  ;D

For those of you watching in black and white, the blue ball is the one next to the brown.
For a year or so before the introduction of colour TV on Oz, the stations were transmitting chroma, but no colour burst.
Various " hackers" devised a "chroma lock" & were watching colour well before the official date.
We had a Philips "k9" official receiver at my work, & discovered that we could do a simple " bodge" to do the same job.

One problem was that it would sometimes lock up in the wrong phase.
Nothing like watching "Pot black" with brown felt & green woodwork on the tables!
 


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