Technologies We Grew Up With That are Now Obsolete

[Diputs]

I prefer standard transmissions. If the battery is dead, you can jump start it!
I feel more connected, one with my vehicle with a manual transmission.

The last car I bought was a Nissan Juke. Manual transmissions weren't available. As much as I LOVED that car, I'm glad it's gone.

If I'd known it had a "Continuous Variable Transmission" I wouldn't have bought it. New technology. I don't like being the Guinea pig. At around 150,000 miles, lots of people ended up with serious problems that can only be fixed with new transmission. They made it next to impossible to simply check the fluid level.

There's so many things you can do with a manual, and can't with an auto. You can also tow a manual, not an auto.

You can also push-start a manual, and not with auto.

And the list goes on and on. Automatics also don't know if a vehicle is loaded, or if it is towing something, and thus, it doesn't adapt the gear usage accordingly. And that is already a weak point of autos. So, even worse then.

And snow, guess what. It doesn't know.

 

[ChrisGreaves]

... I wrote about technologies that existed when I was young that no longer exist. In that thread, I wrote:

I miss the piano-roller player in the Front Parlour of the farmhouse. No electricity; powered by my calves.
Cheers, Chris

 

[bob466]

Pounds...Shillings and Pence. Gallons...Feet...Inches and Miles all long gone.

 

[KGIII]

Feet...Inches and Miles all long gone.

We still use those here in the US. I'm an odd duck (for my region) who is fairly fluent in the metric system.

 

[ML_113]

And snow, guess what. It doesn't know.

For me the best advantage of a stick shift is when the car starts skidding, just press the clutch down then start steering (and pray). Ya you shift an automatic to N, but when panicking, it’s harder.

 

[camtaf]

For me the best advantage of a stick shift is when the car starts skidding, just press the clutch down then start steering (and pray). Ya you shift an automatic to N, but when panicking, it’s harder.

Steer into it, & drive out of it...

 

[MikeRocor]

I learned to drive on an automatic but my older brother taught me how to drive a manual. My sister in law had a chevy chevette with a manual transmission and she was kind enough to let me use it pretty often as I didn't have a car of my own so I became accustomed to driving with a stick.

One day I was driving my dad's station wagon, with an automatic (and with my dad in the passenger seat). The thing was, his transmission had developed a slow leak that, when the fluid got a little low, would cause it to upshift a little late, allowing the engine to rev a little higher than normal.

In a moment of relaxed inattention, I heard that engine running a bit fast and my left foot just all on its own hit the clutch pedal in order to upshift. Of course there -was- no clutch pedal in that car so I ended up pressing the brake the whole way to the floor instead - at about 40 MPH. Fortunately, we were both wearing seat belts, there were no vehicles behind me and my dad was the only witness.

 

[KGIII]

I heard that engine running a bit fast and my left foot just all on its own hit the clutch pedal in order to upshift.

Now that's something I've done - except the brake part.

It also took me a while to adjust to paddle shifting.

 

[wendy-lebaron]

LOL talking about cars... remember anti-lock brakes? Especially by General Motors?

I read somewhere they were more problematic than the old disc-front/drum-back combo. Sometime in early decade-2000 I drove an early 1990's Chevrolet Lumina. Nothing special about it, except anti-lock brakes. Which was the thing I would have modified for a car otherwise pretty good to drive. Too bad I was allowed to do it once. :/

 

[bob466]

We still use those here in the US. I'm an odd duck (for my region) who is fairly fluent in the metric system.

We went from Pounds...Shillings and Pence to Dollars and cents in 1966...many people couldn't understand that sixpence was five cents.

When we went to Metric in 1971...1 pound of meat was 2.2kg. 1kg of meat is 2lb which was twice as expensive...how confusing was that.

 

[KGIII]

many people couldn't understand that sixpence was five cents.

And now you have dollerydoos! And they're plastic!

I still have some plastic Australian currency kicking around somewhere. I've got currency from all sorts of areas, mostly what was left over at the end of my vacation.

I sort of wish we'd do away with coinage. It's not going to happen, but it'd make life easier. I still use cash a great deal and end up with all sorts of coins as change.

 

[bob466]

And now you have dollerydoos! And they're plastic!

I still have some plastic Australian currency kicking around somewhere. I've got currency from all sorts of areas, mostly what was left over at the end of my vacation.

I sort of wish we'd do away with coinage. It's not going to happen, but it'd make life easier. I still use cash a great deal and end up with all sorts of coins as change.

Notes are all different colours and sizes...we have new plastic notes now and look great...
https://www.banknotes.rba.gov.au/australias-banknotes/next-generation-banknotes-program/

You don't want to do away with some coins like we did...we lost our one and two cent coins...when you buy something they either round it up or down. If something costs 98c you pay $1.00...over time it adds up and now there's talk of getting rid of the 5 cent coin...it's a ripoff.

 

[ChrisGreaves]

We went from Pounds...Shillings and Pence to Dollars and cents in 1966...many people couldn't understand that sixpence was five cents.

Worse. They LIED to us!
They said that a (new) 10-cent piece was equal in value to an (old) one-shilling piece.
But us Yilgarn kids were smart enough to count to twelve, and we noted that although last week a shilling was rewarded with twelve sugary penny-sticks, this week we received only ten.
I have never forgiven politicians for that, and today still hold them to blame for programming errors, regardless of which language I am using .
Chris

 

[ChrisGreaves]

I sort of wish we'd do away with coinage. It's not going to happen, but it'd make life easier. I still use cash a great deal and end up with all sorts of coins as change.

Change your wishes!
Our human society works because we invented tangible tokens of value, to wit, metal coins. (Then banknotes, then personal notes (chequebooks), then debit/credit/tap cards, and now eTransfers)

You should know what happens when the power goes out (all blood tests must be rescheduled because "our compyter is down"), tap and swipe don;t work so you can't buy bread. Bit-coin and its breed appear to be an early attempt to do away with tangible tokens.

The alternative to tangible tokens is a return to Barter, and in 30 years of delivering training I could nor find a grocery store that would swap a month's worth of loaves for a half-day's training.
Cheers, Chris

PS apologies to all; I still can't work out how to add a :grin: smiley.

 

[KGIII]

You should know what happens when the power goes out (all blood tests must be rescheduled because "our compyter is down"), tap and swipe don;t work so you can't buy bread. Bit-coin and its breed appear to be an early attempt to do away with tangible tokens.

I think you misread my post. You might wanna try that one again.

(Hint: I like cash. I just don't like coins. I'd rather do the rounding thing and be 'ripped off'.)

 

[ChrisGreaves]

I think you misread my post. You might wanna try that one again.

(Hint: I like cash. I just don't like coins. I'd rather do the rounding thing and be 'ripped off'.)

And I think that you ms-read MY post (HUGE grin!; I still don't know how to enter smilies ...)

I do believe we are on the same wave-length. I think in terms of "tangible tokens", which was originally only metal tokens (a.k.a.coins). Banknotes, as in a ten-shilling or a five-dollar note arrived to save us hauling around a ton of silver, and later a ton of cheap metal coated in silver.

I don't like the weight of coins either. I live in a small town and at the checkout just hand the poor overworked cashier all my coin, let her take out an optimum amount, while I stand there with a sheaf of five-dollar notes to make up the total.

For all that I am not fond of a ton of metal in one trouser pocket, I would NOT like to do away with the idea of "tangible tokens". I'm happy to deal with heavy coins as long as I have that easily-translated wad of banknotes to pay day-laborers. to tip delivery guys, and generally to hand out as signs of appreciation.

With best of wishes. Chris

 

[KGIII]

I don't like the weight of coins either.

We could even introduce an 'honesty in pricing' type of thing, where things are priced to the nearest dollar and listed at that price. If it's worth less than one note's value, you get multiples of that item and call it good.

I haven't done this since COVID, but I usually have a 3 day party every summer. People come from all around, we have a giant fireworks show, folks camp, there's a stage and portable toilets...

Over the year, I put all my change into a large empty water bottle (like you might see in an office). Any child under 12 can participate and the one that carries it the furthest (typically trying to make a lap around the house) gets to keep all the change inside.

It's usually a few hundred dollars worth of stuff I find entirely useless.

My credit union has a machine I could dump the coins into, but you can only put so many coins in at once and you have to keep moving them to filter them. It'd take a long time to do an entire jug of coins. I value my time more than that.

I have about three of the jugs full of change right now. With any luck, I can convince someone to take them with them over the holidays.

 

[bob466]

Worse. They LIED to us!
They said that a (new) 10-cent piece was equal in value to an (old) one-shilling piece.
But us Yilgarn kids were smart enough to count to twelve, and we noted that although last week a shilling was rewarded with twelve sugary penny-sticks, this week we received only ten.
I have never forgiven politicians for that, and today still hold them to blame for programming errors, regardless of which language I am using .
Chris

As soon as a pollie opens their mouth...the lies fly out. Albanese said the other day when the temp was 44c...it must be climate change...no arbo it's Australia.

 

[Mike13Foxtrot]

Me being the TV remote. Son change the channel to ??? turn up the volume.

 

[ML_113]

I would like to see mmol/l not g or mg/l on my blood test report.