What’s on your mind?

[Scepticalscribe]

Having spent my professional career in libraries, needless to say I am more than fond of them! I grew up in an era where we learned and used cursive writing, where we used textbooks and reference books for learning, where when we went to the library we had to use the card catalog to find specific material and where it was placed. As for providing extra copies of something, the teachers all had to use the mimeograph machine, with its characteristic, distinctive ink and odor! The scent would waft through the school's hallways as someone was using the machine in the main office.

I remember in college and graduate school being enthralled by the magic wrought by a photocopier -- wow, look at THAT!

Term papers and such in high school, college and graduate school were all prepared on a typewriter -- a MANUAL typewriter, a graduation gift my parents gave me when I graduated from high school. It wasn't until later that I first saw and used an electric one and again was enthralled. Wow, so much faster and easier to type! I loved the IBM Selectric, with its choice of type styles/fonts via the little balls. Word processing machines fascinated me, too, when I saw them, and of course I was intrigued by computers and the possibilities inherent there.....

Much as I love my computers and devices, I will say that I still prefer to keep my grocery list via a pad and pen on the kitchen counter so that as I realize I'm running low on something I can quickly jot it down, and when it is time to head to the store, simply rip off the piece of paper and stick it in my pocket for reference while shopping. I also still keep a calendar on the fridge where I note all upcoming events, appointments and such.

Yes, I find that I tend to retain things much better if I have read them in print on a real page rather than simply online on the computer, iPad or iPhone. I definitely find that it works better for me to write things down, especially if doing a pros-and-cons decision-making sort of thing or when trying to pull together my thoughts for an important letter or document.

That brings back memories.

We always had type-writers at home, first, sturdy manual typewriters, later, that wonderful indestructible electric IBM golfball typewriter - because my mother worked as a company secretary; her office was in the house, (it is now my study) and we were encouraged to want to use them.

Actually, later, when I was an undergrad, my mother gave me a portable manual typewriter as a present (and had also sent my brother and myself on professional typing courses during the summer holidays of our first year at university, insisting, that as we both liked to write - and not just for student essays or term papers, or student magazines - this was an invaluable skill we needed for the kind of life that we might want to lead, or live).

 

[MacBH928]

This should be an Easter egg feature built into word processor suites. Have it randomly feign a crash around midterms or final and fake a loss of data.

Give it a good 10 minutes so, then a window calmly Let’s the user know that their data has been recovered.

With a note saying "And thats how it felt to use a computer in the 90s"

Pffft. You think auto save is a marvel? Some of us did all our schoolwork with pen and paper. We had to go to the library to get a book to look something up!

No wonder I hated school so much.

At least with pen and paper you do not lose your work and have to rewrite it from memory...unless your dog ate it!

Looking a word from the dictionary or a topic from a book was very painstaking especially when you had to add that bibliography stuff compared to a quick Wikipedia lookup, but my opinion it was much better for the learning process where the information is actually absorbed by your brain, today with Google look ups kids forget what they learned as fast as RAM loses its memory on a shutdown!

 

[LizKat]

Looking a word from the dictionary or a topic from a book was very painstaking especially when you had to add that bibliography stuff compared to a quick Wikipedia lookup, but my opinion it was much better for the learning process where the information is actually absorbed by your brain, today with Google look ups kids forget what they learned as fast as RAM loses its memory on a shutdown!

Back when I was in college we still had to do calculations in labs with a slide rule... or one of those 12x12 key mechanical calculators. Once I got my hands on a Texas Instruments calculator in the 70s when I was taking some extra science credits, I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

I agree that doing things with pencil or pen and paper makes it stick in the brain longer. However, I still keep a little solar-powered Pansonic calculator on my studio worktable now as a reminder of when that became a big timesaver over doing yardage cutting arithmetic with pen and paper and the rote-learned arithmetic from grade school days.

Sure I could use my iPhone's calculator nowadays, since I do keep that with me when I'm in the studio, but I like remembering how fun it was to have acquired that little Panasonic calculator: it's transparent so one can see the tiny circuits in it. They're likely more reliable than are the circuits in my aging brain for retrieval of my grade school arithmetic at this point.

 

[S.B.G]

I've been slowly regressing in some areas of technology vs the old ways. Recently I purchased a basic digital timer which runs on a couple of small batteries. I use a timer for laundry, cooking and something else that slips my mind right now.

I was using my phone for years to set a timer, but what I didn't like was having to ask Siri or Google 'how much time is left' or tapping the screen to show me the displayed time left.

First world problems, I know.

But with a basic timer the display is on all the time and I can glance at it and know when dinner is about to be ready or when I can go downstairs and retrieve my clothes.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Back when I was in college we still had to do calculations in labs with a slide rule... or one of those 12x12 key mechanical calculators. Once I got my hands on a Texas Instruments calculator in the 70s when I was taking some extra science credits, I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

I agree that doing things with pencil or pen and paper makes it stick in the brain longer. However, I still keep a little solar-powered Pansonic calculator on my studio worktable now as a reminder of when that became a big timesaver over doing yardage cutting arithmetic with pen and paper and the rote-learned arithmetic from grade school days.

Sure I could use my iPhone's calculator nowadays, since I do keep that with me when I'm in the studio, but I like remembering how fun it was to have acquired that little Panasonic calculator: it's transparent so one can see the tiny circuits in it. They're likely more reliable than are the circuits in my aging brain for retrieval of my grade school arithmetic at this point.

I loath using the iPhone calculator. I have a huge calculator at work with nice big buttons. It’s probably from the 90’s. But I much prefer physical buttons over touch screen.
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I've been slowly regressing in some areas of technology vs the old ways. Recently I purchased a basic digital timer which runs on a couple of small batteries. I use a timer for laundry, cooking and something else that slips my mind right now.

I was using my phone for years to set a timer, but what I didn't like was having to ask Siri or Google 'how much time is left' or tapping the screen to show me the displayed time left.

First world problems, I know.

But with a basic timer the display is on all the time and I can glance at it and know when dinner is about to be ready or when I can go downstairs and retrieve my clothes.

I have a Mrs AFB for letting me know when dinner is ready. I’m not sure about the washing. I put the dirty stuff in the laundry bin, then some time later it’s back in the closet clean again. Must be some kind of magic?

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I loath using the iPhone calculator. I have a huge calculator at work with nice big buttons. It’s probably from the 90’s. But I much prefer physical buttons over touch screen.

A passionate and heartfelt amen to this.

I have come to realise that I really dislike, even loathe, touchscreens, for I far prefer the physicality of being able to touch, hit, press, buttons, switches or dials (on a phone, a calculator, a keyboard, a car dashboard) than having to use a touch screen.

 

[steve1960]

I confess I still use a battery operated alarm clock to wake me up. If I wake up in the night I press the torch button on the alarm clock because I can't work out how to do it on my iPhone in 2 seconds. Dinosaurs will eventually rule the Earth!

Wait, I realise I don't need Apple products at all I need a Mrs AFB!

 

[Apple fanboy]

I confess I still use a battery operated alarm clock to wake me up. If I wake up in the night I press the torch button on the alarm clock because I can't work out how to do it on my iPhone in 2 seconds. Dinosaurs will eventually rule the Earth!

Wait, I realise I don't need Apple products at all I need a Mrs AFB!

No chance I'm trading her in. She's a keeper. It will be our 22nd Wedding anniversary this year.

 

[yaxomoxay]

How can I buy a cheap flip phone and make sure that phone calls and texts directed to my iPhone are transferred there? Thinking about - it to have iPhone free weekends (due to my job I need to be available for emergency calls and texts).

 

[Apple fanboy]

How can I buy a cheap flip phone and make sure that phone calls and texts directed to my iPhone are transferred there? Thinking about - it to have iPhone free weekends (due to my job I need to be available for emergency calls and texts).

Mrs AFB still uses a cheap slider phone from way back when. She has her iPad but prefers a cheap phone for emergencies when she is out.

 

[yaxomoxay]

Mrs AFB still uses a cheap slider phone from way back when. She has her iPad but prefers a cheap phone for emergencies when she is out.

is the phone # different? I need to be sure that phone calls and texts directed to my regular phone can be answered at any time.

 

[Apple fanboy]

is the phone # different? I need to be sure that phone calls and texts directed to my regular phone can be answered at any time.

It’s the only mobile number she has. She doesn’t have any calls on her iPad. I’d have thought you could set up call forwarding easy enough though.

 

[MacBH928]

Back when I was in college we still had to do calculations in labs with a slide rule... or one of those 12x12 key mechanical calculators. Once I got my hands on a Texas Instruments calculator in the 70s when I was taking some extra science credits, I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

I agree that doing things with pencil or pen and paper makes it stick in the brain longer. However, I still keep a little solar-powered Pansonic calculator on my studio worktable now as a reminder of when that became a big timesaver over doing yardage cutting arithmetic with pen and paper and the rote-learned arithmetic from grade school days.

Sure I could use my iPhone's calculator nowadays, since I do keep that with me when I'm in the studio, but I like remembering how fun it was to have acquired that little Panasonic calculator: it's transparent so one can see the tiny circuits in it. They're likely more reliable than are the circuits in my aging brain for retrieval of my grade school arithmetic at this point.

TIL: There were mechanical calcualtors, I thought those solar panels were the first ones. I have seen mechanical cash registers in movies probably but I was not sure what they were punching in it, I am guessing maybe just entering the price of items sold and a button to open the register.

 

[steve1960]

No chance I'm trading her in. She's a keeper. It will be our 22nd Wedding anniversary this year.

Oh congratulations, guess I will have to keep looking!

I know this is off topic but forgive me for a light hearted joke. I have also been married for 22 years this year..................but it took 3 wives to get there

 

[S.B.G]

So yesterday I went over to my folks house to help dad move and clean a few things around in the garage. The day went much longer than I anticipated. We, my dad and I, ended up cleaning a hell of a lot more of the garage than we set out to do. We did more than I originally thought, and a lot more than he thought.

We're not done yet, but we did the bulk and the hardest parts yesterday.

Last year, Novemberish, he had a new roof put on the house and the garage because both were leaking. The garage was severely leaking and it rained/snowed inside all over some of his tools and workbenches. Plus the entry door, frame and seals were shot to hell and he got that replaced at the same time as the roof.

With all that deterioration mice were getting in and there was a lot of water damage to stuff. So we, mostly me, cleaned up a back corner of the garage throwing out ruined stuff and other things that he was never going to use again. Plus we set aside a bunch of other things that my cousin is going to come by and take later. That was the original plan though, to move a few things out so he could come get it. But I got carried away and dad came along for the ride.

Cleaning all the mouse **** and piss, as well as dead mice was a task. The stench in the far corner was so strong that I had to wear a respirator while I cleaned.

Once I got to the back wall I saw that over time the concrete floor and the wall had shifted and separated so I also sealed it back up with silicon caulk. There were bugs and ants coming in all over, and possibly even mice in one spot.

On Monday I'm going back over and going with dad to the dump to get rid of all the stuff we cleaned out. We filled the back of his F-350 dually Super Duty truck with trash from the garage.

We're not yet but we got the hardest stuff done.

So today I hurt from the hair down which I expected would happen. I do not intend on doing anything today but laying around, napping and watching TV.

 

[Apple fanboy]

So yesterday I went over to my folks house to help dad move and clean a few things around in the garage. The day went much longer than I anticipated. We, my dad and I, ended up cleaning a hell of a lot more of the garage than we set out to do. We did more than I originally thought, and a lot more than he thought.

We're not done yet, but we did the bulk and the hardest parts yesterday.

Last year, Novemberish, he had a new roof put on the house and the garage because both were leaking. The garage was severely leaking and it rained/snowed inside all over some of his tools and workbenches. Plus the entry door, frame and seals were shot to hell and he got that replaced at the same time as the roof.

With all that deterioration mice were getting in and there was a lot of water damage to stuff. So we, mostly me, cleaned up a back corner of the garage throwing out ruined stuff and other things that he was never going to use again. Plus we set aside a bunch of other things that my cousin is going to come by and take later. That was the original plan though, to move a few things out so he could come get it. But I got carried away and dad came along for the ride.

Cleaning all the mouse **** and piss, as well as dead mice was a task. The stench in the far corner was so strong that I had to wear a respirator while I cleaned.

Once I got to the back wall I saw that over time the concrete floor and the wall had shifted and separated so I also sealed it back up with silicon caulk. There were bugs and ants coming in all over, and possibly even mice in one spot.

On Monday I'm going back over and going with dad to the dump to get rid of all the stuff we cleaned out. We filled the back of his F-350 dually Super Duty truck with trash from the garage.

We're not yet but we got the hardest stuff done.

So today I hurt from the hair down which I expected would happen. I do not intend on doing anything today but laying around, napping and watching TV.

I can relate. I have a dream that one day I’ll empty the garage and seal and paint the floor in there. But I know I’ll probably never get round to it. Too much stuff to have to store somewhere.
Of course before we moved from our old place in December (we were at our last house 18 years), we did get rid of a load of stuff. But there is always more. I have a week off early July and one of my to do’s is a few trips to the tip now they are open.

 

[steve1960]

Last Friday I decided to walk to the Immigration office to collect my new ACRI card. Not content with that I then walked to the shopping mall and picked up a few things and then walked back to my apartment. Figure I did at least 2 hours walking in 35 degrees heat. Spent the weekend recovering in severe pain all over. Man I feel old!
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For anyone clearing out their loft (attic) or garage you are only done when Lord Lucan is not riding Shergar around. Google it

 

[Scepticalscribe]

So yesterday I went over to my folks house to help dad move and clean a few things around in the garage. The day went much longer than I anticipated. We, my dad and I, ended up cleaning a hell of a lot more of the garage than we set out to do. We did more than I originally thought, and a lot more than he thought.

We're not done yet, but we did the bulk and the hardest parts yesterday.

Last year, Novemberish, he had a new roof put on the house and the garage because both were leaking. The garage was severely leaking and it rained/snowed inside all over some of his tools and workbenches. Plus the entry door, frame and seals were shot to hell and he got that replaced at the same time as the roof.

With all that deterioration mice were getting in and there was a lot of water damage to stuff. So we, mostly me, cleaned up a back corner of the garage throwing out ruined stuff and other things that he was never going to use again. Plus we set aside a bunch of other things that my cousin is going to come by and take later. That was the original plan though, to move a few things out so he could come get it. But I got carried away and dad came along for the ride.

Cleaning all the mouse **** and piss, as well as dead mice was a task. The stench in the far corner was so strong that I had to wear a respirator while I cleaned.

Once I got to the back wall I saw that over time the concrete floor and the wall had shifted and separated so I also sealed it back up with silicon caulk. There were bugs and ants coming in all over, and possibly even mice in one spot.

On Monday I'm going back over and going with dad to the dump to get rid of all the stuff we cleaned out. We filled the back of his F-350 dually Super Duty truck with trash from the garage.

We're not yet but we got the hardest stuff done.

So today I hurt from the hair down which I expected would happen. I do not intend on doing anything today but laying around, napping and watching TV.

Sounds like a busy, yet ultimately rewarding day.

 

[Mefisto]

Gömböc, turtles and evolution among other things.

And the minds that come up with things like this.

 

[JayMysterio]

More for me personally, than anyone else...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1276587686346870785

 

[LizKat]

A passionate and heartfelt amen to this.

I have come to realise that I really dislike, even loathe, touchscreens, for I far prefer the physicality of being able to touch, hit, press, buttons, switches or dials (on a phone, a calculator, a keyboard, a car dashboard) than having to use a touch screen.

Well I'm only partly with you on that one. Remember those cellphones that were like touchtone phone keyboards where numbers had to suffice for letters? Made me crazy. When I saw the virtual keyboard on the screen of the first iPhone during the keynote presentation, I understood immediately that I was in Apple's target market.

But I don't do much typing on a virtual keyboard, I must admit. For something past a text message or a grocery list update, I do tend to haul out a laptop.

On my mind: popped in to offer up a truly astounding offering by Apple's autocorrect. I typed "braggin' on my giardiniera" into the subject line of an email to a niece, meaning to ship her a photo, and Apple converted my pickled veggies into

"braggin' on my hoard inkers"​

​

Yeah. Go figure. At least I caught that wonderment before it got mailed.

 

[Clix Pix]

Interestingly enough, LizKat, I, too, saw the possibilities inherent in an iPhone when I watched that keynote and realized that, hey, it would be a little computer right in my pocket and it not only would make and receive phone calls, it would be my address book, my music collection, my books....and a way to read and respond to email on the go. One of the first benefits that caught my attention was that virtual keyboard and I realized that, hey, no more horrible trying to convert numbers to letters and messing up so that inputting anything new like someone's address was a disaster -- sign me up!!! So, yeah, on Launch Day of that very first iPhone I was in line....

I was enthralled by this magical new device when at home it was time to set things up. Wow.... And years later I am still enthralled.....

That said, though, I prefer typing on either the iPad or an external keyboard to typing on the iPhone, but when it's needed, when I absolutely must respond quickly to a text and I'm out somewhere with the iPhone and that alone, it is certainly doable and I'm more than happy to have this little computer in my pocket or purse....

 

[Huntn]

Well I'm only partly with you on that one. Remember those cellphones that were like touchtone phone keyboards where numbers had to suffice for letters? Made me crazy. When I saw the virtual keyboard on the screen of the first iPhone during the keynote presentation, I understood immediately that I was in Apple's target market.

But I don't do much typing on a virtual keyboard, I must admit. For something past a text message or a grocery list update, I do tend to haul out a laptop.

On my mind: popped in to offer up a truly astounding offering by Apple's autocorrect. I typed "braggin' on my giardiniera" into the subject line of an email to a niece, meaning to ship her a photo, and Apple converted my pickled veggies into

"braggin' on my hoard inkers"​

​

Yeah. Go figure. At least I caught that wonderment before it got mailed.

As of OS13, you can swipe your finger around to type words by default on iPhone and with the floating keyboard (iPad) which is definitely easier for typing.

How to Slide to Type on the iPad Floating Keyboard

www.iphonelife.com

New Home

Guiding Tech publishes in-depth consumer tech content that includes explainers, buying guides, analysis, cool lists and information.

www.guidingtech.com

 

[Apple fanboy]

As of OS13, you can swipe your finger around to type words by default on iPhone and with the floating keyboard (iPad) which is definitely easier for typing.

How to Slide to Type on the iPad Floating Keyboard

www.iphonelife.com

New Home

Guiding Tech publishes in-depth consumer tech content that includes explainers, buying guides, analysis, cool lists and information.

www.guidingtech.com

Strange. I never use the drag feature. Probably because of the way my brain works. Just typed this post that way and took me twice as long.

 

[yaxomoxay]

New family member