Buggy whips anyone?

[Rex R]

It has occurred to that the fountain pen industry has quite likely followed the buggy whip into the past, ( thanks bic). Can you think of other things that have gone that way recently? (Past 50 years or so).

 

[Sandy H.]

I happen to turn pens as a hobby and fountain pens are quite alive in that hobby. Having said that, it can be ego/elitist at times, but they even still make dip pens. I have one fountain pen I made and I'm not a fan, but some people pay big bucks for well made fountain pens.

To add my item to the list, I think the point and shoot Polaroid instant camera is pretty much a non-starter now-a-days. I spent my childhood seeing/hearing the 'flash, pop, zoo-woo-ooo-oooh-ahh-zing' that my mom took to every school performance I did. She was a hard-core instant picture mom and while I wasn't a fan at the time, I love the things she captured back then. Regretfully, the technology they used fades over time. Obviously this instant-photo technology has been replaced by the smartphone/DSLR world where you get crazy high resolution pictures with your phone or similar electronic device. I find it interesting that it is very rare that people get pictures printed/developed at the high quality their phone cameras can take. Now its all on the device or forwarded to someone's email. I guess that means photo-albums are also moving the way of the dinosaur in most households.

Hopefully this thread takes off. Seems fun to remember the things that are uncommon today and to also see the things that stuck around (the revival of vinyl records for instance).

Sandy.

 

[Sooner Boomer]

Things you don't see anymore (part 2)

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/things-you-dont-see-anymore-part-2.906039/
Things you don't see anymore (part 3)

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/things-you-dont-see-anymore-part-3.987392/
Things you don't see anymore (part 1)

you can't see it anymore

 

[manixFan]

Holy cow, it’s a long list. Think of all the various music reproduction methods that aren’t around anymore: (at least in by anyone other than a hobbyist). Vinyl, 8-track, cassette, and even CD-ROMs. Same with communications - pagers, landline phones, CB radios, etc. I remember back in the early 90’s we were looking at space to lease and the building owner was saying how he would only allow short term leases because PageNet (a paging company in case not obvious) would likely soon want the entire building. We declined and picked a building where we stayed 20 years. PageNet was gone less than 5 years later.

Tony

 

[Cape Byron]

To add my item to the list, I think the point and shoot Polaroid instant camera is pretty much a non-starter now-a-days. I spent my childhood seeing/hearing the 'flash, pop, zoo-woo-ooo-oooh-ahh-zing' that my mom took to every school performance I did. She was a hard-core instant picture mom and while I wasn't a fan at the time, I love the things she captured back then. Regretfully, the technology they used fades over time.

Yeah, well. When Fujifilm stopped producing instant pack film (pull apart) I shed real tears. I now have about 20 cameras I won't ever use again (when I run out of pack film).

Other things I miss are manners and value for money, but I'm an amiable curmudgeon.

Mostly.

 

[Sooner Boomer]

Oh, yeah, cameras and similer tech. I've got an HP digital camera from the mid '90's. It uses Compact Flash. I made sure to get plenty of "carts". Now they're useless because I have no interface to read them with. And I don't miss using the POS camera - you press the shutter button, and IT decides when to take the picture on its own schedule.

Speaking of tech, computer drives, both hard and floppy. I've got an old boat anchor, a Seagate 25MB full height RLL hard drive that's actually worth something. It's huge and heavy, and came from a time when computers also did double duty in winter as space heaters. At the other end of the spectrum, I have a 20MB HP "Kittyhawk" microdrive.



I've got 8", 5 1/4", 3.5" floppy drives, Iomega Zip and Jazz drives, and a cute little "floppy" drive that is IDE-based and can read/write normal 3.5 floppies as well as the 120MB "super disks".

All worthless junk - until you find it's critical to have one! (and, nope! not win11 compatable!)

 

[Rex R]

The four track tape cartridge stayed in use at your local radio station for a long time because it worked(commercials, PSA,news & weather).

 

[Rob Campbell]

Anyone else remember these?

 

[prfesser]

The chem dept where I taught had a 20 MB tape backup drive. Probably long since sent to the trash.

In the 80s there were dot-matrix printers---which still exist in concept, except we call them "inkjet". And then there were the "letter quality" impact printers. I printed a 150 page dissertation on a daisy-wheel printer. Fed one sheet at a time. I was up until 6AM feeding paper...

 

[Marc_G]

Sadly, ALPS printers are fading into the sunset, taking with it the easy printing of white, silver, gold for waterslide decal purposes.

 

[Antares JS]

Holy cow, it’s a long list. Think of all the various music reproduction methods that aren’t around anymore: (at least in by anyone other than a hobbyist). Vinyl, 8-track, cassette, and even CD-ROMs.

Vinyl has seen a resurgence in popularity among audiophiles who prefer the sound of analog recordings. When I go to pre-order new albums by my favorite metal bands (I'm a dinosaur in this regard and still collect CD's), I usually see a limited run of a few hundred to a few thousand vinyl copies available.

While I can see why vinyl would come back in that limited way, Sabaton's most recent album is apparently going to be available on cassette. It baffles me why anyone would choose a cassette over a CD.

8-tracks are definitely completely dead though. My grandfather had an 8-track player so I'm a little familiar with them. I thought they were neat, the tapes looked a bit like Nintendo cartridges to my 90's kid brain.

Funny story, I was going to say video game cartridges for an on-topic item, but even those have arguably made a comeback in the Nintendo Switch, although the cartridges for that console are more akin to SD cards than the old, bulky NES and SNES cartridges. Apparently solid-state electronics advanced enough that starting to make cartridges to sell games on made sense again.

 

[Mugs914]

I miss the local "mom and pop" hobby shop, hardware store, drug store, five and dime stationary store, etc. Like in the background of that Fotomat picture above.

Also the local speed shop...

 

[Zeus-cat]

Common sense

 

[Funkworks]

I was sad when a local A&W tore down its drive-in canopy.

But man would I like to see a new 50's themed drive-in inspired by this, where instead of rollerskates, the waiters and waitresses would use somekind of electric scooter, monowheel, "hoverboard", Segway or other similar contraption. Just making a 50s vision of the future live, using current tech.

 

[Rob Campbell]

...

 

[Rob Campbell]

I miss the local "mom and pop" hobby shop, hardware store, drug store, five and dime stationary store, etc. Like in the background of that Fotomat picture above.

Also the local speed shop...

+1 on the locally owned hobby shop

 

[Mushtang]

Elevator operators.

People used to freak out at the thought of getting into an elevator that didn't have a human making sure it didn't fall, go too fast, stopped at the right place, etc.

Same thing will happen with self driving cars I'm sure. My grandchildren will likely not need to learn how to drive. My son is learning how but probably won't own more than 1 or 2 cars that he'll drive himself.


https://medium.com/swlh/what-do-self-driving-cars-and-elevators-have-in-common-b6816312bdd2

 

[RocketRev]

In some locations around the country, where you are too far from the nearest Big-box hardware/lumber store, one can still find the local hardware store. They are a bit more expensive because they have to be to stay open, but there's still some of them out here in fly-over-land.

And if you're really lucky, you live close enough to one of our rocket vendors to stop by and peruse the piles. Wildman's is about 40 minutes from my front door! Not quite the same a the old mom+pop hobby store with all the plastic models, trains, and planes, but still, when it comes to rocketry, it's extremely rare when Tim doesn't have what I'm looking for. And usually he can get it if he doesn't have it right at the moment.

I remember walking two blocks to the local mom+pop hardware store in the little town l lived in, to buy a box of 22 long rifle ammo for my Remington 501. And if you think that's odd, I remember taking the rifle to Shop Class with me in 7th grade. Just walked into the school with it in its case. Nobody thought anything about it. Sure the principal wanted to see it. I took it out of the case, handed it to him. He immediately pulled the handle to open the bolt, made sure it was unloaded (like one is supposed to), and handed it back to me with just one question. Why did I bring it to school. I told him I was taking it to shop class so that I could put on the Redfield peep-site and globe front site, which I had in my pocket and showed him. That little single-shot plinker became a real tack hammer after that. The principal said OK and walked away like it was just a normal day at junior high. Because it was a normal day in junior high..... I miss those days of civility in the our country when a person could actually live their life without someone assuming that you were a terrorist just because you owned a gun. No permits, no FOID card, and no hassle buying ammo even when you were in junior high.

Brad

 

[MClark]

Elevator operators.

People used to freak out at the thought of getting into an elevator that didn't have a human making sure it didn't fall, go too fast, stopped at the right place, etc.

Same thing will happen with self driving cars I'm sure. My grandchildren will likely not need to learn how to drive. My son is learning how but probably won't own more than 1 or 2 cars that he'll drive himself.


https://medium.com/swlh/what-do-self-driving-cars-and-elevators-have-in-common-b6816312bdd2

Person- Take me to the shooting range.
Car- I’m sorry, "Shooting Range" is not an approved destination.
Doors Lock
Car- New destination, Police Station for gun confiscations and re-education.

 

[MJW]

Person- Take me to the shooting range.
Car- I’m sorry, "Shooting Range" is not an approved destination.
Doors Lock
Car- New destination, Police Station for gun confiscations and re-education.

One can only hope! If someone were dumb enough to do that after we finally get back to the founder's intent (2nd Amendment is a right conferred only to the states, not individuals) the car should be smart enough to respond accordingly.

 

[neil_w]

One can only hope! If someone were dumb enough to do that after we finally get back to the founder's intent (2nd Amendment is a right conferred only to the states, not individuals) the car should be smart enough to respond accordingly.

Let's not head down the path of politics and ruin this thread, shall we (not)?

 

[boomtube-mk2]

Common sense

Commonsense is so rare these days it has been categorized as a "Super Power".

Compact Florescent Lightbulbs was an industry that came and went it less than 20 years.

 

[jqavins]

To add my item to the list, I think the point and shoot Polaroid instant camera is pretty much a non-starter now-a-days.

I read recently that those are still used by insurance adjusters because the pictures are harder to doctor than those from digicams.

[L]andline phones...

I have a land line phone. There is zero cell coverage where I live (for all practical purposes) and a land line is still absolutely essential in places like that.

In the 80s there were dot-matrix printers

I still see impact dot matrix printers in daily use in businesses that still use multipart forms.

Point is, several of these things have important niche uses, not just hobby and nostalgia. They've become rare, but still important in their places.

 

[Antares JS]

I read recently that [Polaroid instant cameras] are still used by insurance adjusters because the pictures are harder to doctor than those from digicams.

Now that is interesting. I wouldn't have thought it, but it makes sense.

I did think of one that is definitely going the way of the dodo... optical disk drives in PC's. Almost all games and software packages are downloaded these days. When I built a new PC two years ago, I actually had to dig a little bit to find a case that had a slot for an optical drive. My current personal and work laptops have no optical drives at all.

 

[Mushtang]

2nd Amendment is a right conferred only to the states, not individuals)

How do you figure? The Bill of Rights reinforces guarantees of individual rights, and limits the federal and state governments.

 

[les]

Key punch cards - learned programming at college using those (and even initially used them at my job for a few years)
Telephone operators - pick up the phone and dial 0 to get a real person to help place a call (especially long distance). My mother used to be an operator.
For most areas, public telephone booths
"Free Range" kids - leave the house on your bike in the morning, just be home by dinner.

 

[boomtube-mk2]

Telephone operators - pick up the phone and dial 0 to get a real person to help place a call (especially long distance). My mother used to be an operator.

Or dial 411 for "Information" and get a helpful person that will get a telephone number for you.

 

[jd2cylman]

When I was pretty young, we had a “party line” for phone. Two (or more) different homes shared a phone line. Probably early 70’s.

 

[neil_w]

Or dial 411 for "Information" and get a helpful person that will get a telephone number for you.

Or another number to get the time: "At the sound of the beep, the time will be 5:43".

How about paper maps? They still exist, but how often do you see someone actually look at one anymore?

 

[jqavins]

There's another one. My sister in law's husband is an EMT, and I've learned that ambulance drivers all keep paper maps, because they can mark the maps up. "Use the service entrance on the east side of the building", for example.