Time passes on.....

I had an office staff of over 20+, and they all had Royal manual typewriters, and 10 Key adding machines, (one gal insisted on keeping her full keyboard adding machine, it had a distinctive noise). I used the sound decibel level as a reason why this office needed work cubicles to protect hearing. The personnel department backed me.

When we bought the first IBM Selectric typewriters they thought they were in heaven.

When a mainframe computer was installed, and they had CRT's on their desks several older employees decided to retire.

When PC's were installed a few more decided to retire. By that time the staff was over 50. When I told my VP if we could install and maintain a good on-line product I could reduce staff at least 10%. He bet me I couldn't. A year and a half later we had reduced staff 30%, and reduced expenses 25%. (And all staff reductions were by attrition or transfer to another dept. no one was laid off)

During that period of time we had merged with another nearly equal size hospital and doubled the size of the staff (before installing the last computer system).

A few years after that I retired. I wonder what would happen if today you gave a young person a Royal Manual typewriter and a 10 key adding machine to accomplish their work if anything would get done.
 
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My folks home stereo still had an 8track player, although I kind of missed that, the hi tech audio advancement of my childhood was cassette tapes/decks.
Yes, I kind of miss rotary dial landlines too.
I believe even discs and DVD's are kind of old tech now.
 
Our radio was battery powered. No electricity. We would get to listen
for a couple of hours on Sunday evening.

Coal oil lamps. No electricity. These days we get a little upset if the
power goes out for an hour.

Big Majestic range for cooking, heating water, etc.

Pumped the water outside and carried it inside in a bucket.
The pump was not electric. It ran on elbow grease.

Burned coal in the Majestic which also kept us warm at night.

My job was pumping and bringing in the water, chopping kindling,
and bringing it in with the coal.

Kept food in our ice box. Carried a block of ice from the ice house
about every 3 days.

The little outhouse was a short walk down the trail, but I had a little
honey bucket under my bed so I didn't need to go down the trail at
night.

I little plane flew over and dropped leaflets telling us the Japanese
had bombed Pearl Harbor.

We didn't know any better because everyone we knew lived about
the same way we did. But then that was 76 to 78 years ago.

When I was 9 we moved in to the city. Couldn't believe all of the
conveniences. Even had a telephone. Still remember the number.
1477M. Pick up the phone and if none of the others on the party line
were using it the operator would say number please.
 
Also heard a piece on the local news recently that the
Local waste treatment facility is currently seeing an enormous increase of foreign objects in the sewage water. Apparently, no one has informed the current generation of what should and should not be flushed down a toilet. Imagine that.
 
My mom was born in 1912, and her cars through the years were always stick-shifts. She said she really didn't want to have to re-learn how to drive those new-fangled automatics....

This is a photo of a 1941 Hudson - she drove one of these for years after the war.

1941_HUDSON-image002_zpsib6ojx8h.jpg


I remember 15-cent hamburgers at the brand-new McDonald's, the only one in Phoenix in the middle '50s.

McDonalds-Central_and_Indian_School_zpsjnmsab3f.jpg


I remember when you could fix your own car, usually with only a crescent wrench and a screwdriver. I had a deal with the service station owner down the block - he'd let me use his lift so that I could adjust the brakes on my '50 Chevy for wear with a screwdriver as a lever on the cogged wheels that moved the brake pads in and out.

ME_AND_MY_CAR-ASU-1958_zpszuv864hn.jpg


I remember checking out M1 rifles through high school ROTC for matches over the weekend, and propping them in corners in classrooms until the armory at school opened up so I could check them back in.

I remember the awful smell of mothballs on our JROTC uniforms - they were WWII re-treads.

JR_ROTC-1957_zpszy75h5tu.jpg


I remember when our phone numbers were only 5 digits, but it took longer to connect while you waited for the rotary dial to return before dialing the next number.

I remember our new house in 1947 was not connected to a sewer line; mowing the grass that grew so fast over the septic tank with hand mower was excruciating.

I remember getting my first rifle, a Winchester model 69A when I turned 11. Here I am shooting it at about age 15.

ME-SHOOTING-1954_filtered_zps4q82btvz.jpg


I remember catching a cutthroat trout in the Yellowstone river with a stick, some string, a length of leader and a spinner in 1953.

YELLOWSTONE-1953-SMALLJPG.jpgoriginal_zpsy3z62ymq.jpg


I remember a really cute and nice young girl from way back in the 3rd grade; here's a juxtaposed pic of us on the same day in 4th grade.

KJ-2.jpg


I started dating her in high school, and I was totally smitten. She became my best girl.

KAYDIE-1957-WITH_1950_CHEVY_zpsqd7sgl7h.jpg


Four years later, when I was about to graduate from college, she asked me to marry her. Here is the result:

KJ-3.jpg


I remember the WWII home front years as a kid. Here is my uncle home on leave in 1943 - the kid is me - and note that he wears the same type of shoes as Ike...

SHOES_zpsk4qv2z3v.jpg


I remember 10" black and white TVs - we got our first one in 1949. We only had one TV station in Phoenix then, and the station's antenna was on the roof of a hotel. We used rabbit ears for reception; watched test patterns and heard the national anthem when the station logged off at midnight.

1948-TV-prices_zpswaejzwr6.jpg


I remember having a terrible crush on movie star Kathryn Grayson in my teens. I thought she was the prettiest lady in the movies. In later years we corresponded, and she sent me an autographed picture and an audio tape of a few of her many recorded songs. She's gone now - may she rest in peace.

KATHRYN_GRAYSON-Sopranos1_zpsppdrdq3e.jpg


I have fond memories of my first and only sports car, this 1965 Corvette Sting Ray roadster:

MY_65_VETTE-01_zpssc4z1ysf.jpg


Well, these are just a few of the recollections of an old man...

Tempus fugit.

John
 
There is certainly a benefit to research, technology and innovation when the result is better goods made faster and/or less expensively. But there are some things that have been really hard to improve upon, things like:

Griswold cast iron - The Griswold Company of Erie, PA was established in 1873 and closed down for good in 1957. Who would have thought that ordinary kitchen implements made at the latest 60 years ago would still be sought out and used? My #14 Griswold cast skillet has been part of my equipment for chili cookoffs for years. The picture shows it full of cubed meat I am getting ready to brown for a cookoff.

Browning .50 machine gun - This was developed in its final form before World War II. According to one of my reference books it is still being widely used. Is there anything that could replace it?
 

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hen the 3 on the tree locked up then you stopped and popped the hood. You pulled the shift rods up to even which was neutral. Shut the hood and drive the car or truck. It will shift fine till you get it stuck again.
I even had a 4 speed on the floor that had the same problem.
The you tube video about teenagers trying to figure out how to use a rotary dial phone is funny.
YouTube
 
The 48 Dodge pickup with a toploader three speed was my learner, and a surplus jeep.
We had indoor plumbing, but it was salty, so the drinking water came off the roof and into a cypress cistern.
My hometown streets were beach sand and oyster shell.
When we got our first electric traffic light, most everyone went down to the intersection and watched while the Constable turned it on.
The bauxite ships came from the West Indies, and sometimes the crews would bring their steel drums and guitars and play for a street dance.
We had one lawman on the island, and he deputized as necessary, which was very seldom.

And yes, it was in Texas. :D
 
The 41 Hudson pictured above sure brought back memories as that's the exact same car my parents brought me home from the hospital in.
Technology has NOT improved everything. I made ham salad the other day and ground up the ham in an old-time manual meat grinder you attached to the counter with a built-in clamp. It grinds the ham to exactly the right consistency for ham salad. It still does an excellent job and one was used by my parents and grandparents for the same purpose. These are made from cast iron and are virtually indestructible.
Jim
 
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How about taking your 22 rifles to school and leaving them in the coatroom all day, so you and your friends could shoot rats at the dump after school. And no one ever worried about or considered threatening to shoot anyone else at school with half a dozen rifles and ammo in the coatroom.

We didn't have a coatroom so I left my 30-06 and 20 ga in the window rack of my unlocked, '63 chevy 1/2 ton, which by the way, had a 3 on the tree; Friday nights during football games, I'd put them in the coach's office. Never kept any in the chamber, but the mags were always topped off. This was early 80s CA and my dad was chief of police.
 
The expressions I used when I was younger draw blank looks today:

"You sound like a broken record."

"This is where I came in."

"It's your nickel."

"Number one on my hit parade."

"They went through here like Coxey's Army."

"You may fire when ready, Gridley."

"Put it in the icebox."

"I feel like I've been through the wringer."

"Ration points". And "War Bonds".

"Double feature." (With a serial on Saturday afternoons, a cartoon and a newsreel.)

"Shovel on the coal."

"Check your oil, sir?"

Remember Leroy Anderson's novelty song, "The Typewriter"? You could play it today for anyone thirty or younger and he wouldn't have any idea what the hell he was listening to.

These threads really make me feel old. Fair enough, I'm a 1937 model.
 
Then as time went on vehicle entertainment systems advanced to the big honkin 8 track player screwed to the bottom of the dash board with open wires connecting to whatever you could find to make it work. Nothing like your favorite tune stopping mid way through as it clunks and advances to the next track.
 
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