Obsolete skills
March 2nd, 2008
I found an enjoyable and amusing website today and thought I would share it with everyone. http://obsoleteskills.com/
I especially enjoyed the list of obsolete skills, complete with descriptions. Who knew I possessed so many, now rendered useless, bits of information and technical abilities. Here is a very short list of just a few of the items in the site that I am capable of doing and have done:
- Autoexec.bat editing
- Burnishing a cartridge connector with a pencil eraser to ensure a solid connection
- Changing vacuum tubes
- Cleaning head of a VCR
- Cleaning the balls inside a computer mouse for better traction
- Configuring Trumpet Winsock
- Config.sys editing
- Entering “freeware” programs from a magazine
- Finding channels on UHF
- Gopher
- Jumpers on a Motherboard
- Swapping floppy disks
- Switching to high beams by stomping on a button in the floor
- Using carbon paper to make copies
- Using a card catalogue
- Using correction fluid
- Using a filmstrip projector
- Word Perfect 5.x
I suddenly feel quite old, but wise.
Entry Filed under: General
6 Comments Add your own
1. Matt Domsch | March 2nd, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Just last week I had to set a jumper on a motherboard to clear out some bad data from NVRAM. Not so obsolete a skill.
2. matthew | March 2nd, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Matt: that is truly encouraging. Well, kind of. Sorry you had a problem requiring that skill.
3. Mackenzie | March 2nd, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Er….I still clean the lint off the mouse balls and the little rollers inside the mouse (it gets caked on those things). You just reminded me I need to buy more White-Out so I stop scribbling things out so much too.
4. Noridlo | March 2nd, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Remember the other button on the floor? The starter.
How about the manual throttle on the dash? That was bygone cruise control.
5. Lynoure | March 2nd, 2008 at 5:06 pm
First I thought the site was cool, then I noticed that people are eager to mark skills obsolete just because someone somewhere (e.g. middleclass American) does not feel the need to using that skill anymore in their daily lives. I’m most interested in skills that are so obsolete that a week long blackout does not make you miss them.
6. Niko Kruzel | March 4th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Well, VCRs are still in use around my household.
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed