Do you have an obsolete skill?

[buddhu]

Fewer and fewer people even KNOW about igpay atinlay.

And MY obsoleted skill is using the word "fewer." (Instead of "less.")

ME TOO! That is a pedantic pet hate of mine - the way people choose the wrong one. The rule is so simple that it just grates.

That is not an obsolete skill, just an increasingly rare one.

[djm]

I have a few skills that are ridiculously outdated, like assigning selector wiring for step-by-step telephone switches. I was learning this, along with #5-crossbar and relay assignments at the same time digital telephone switching was replacing them all.

I also remember analogue telephone carrier systems like P-carrier and N-carrier (P-carrier had solar powered repeaters at the top of the telephone posts, which worked until the birds, attracted by the warmth, covered the solar panels with sh!t). I also put in the early T-1 digital carrier systems that swept out all the analogue carrier systems in a matter of only a cople of years.

Now the digital phone switches I put in thirty years ago are being replaced by IP telephony, so that within twenty years there will be no remnants of the technologies I knew, even the ones that were new at the time.

Here is a manual skill that I need to develop: http://youtube.com/watch?v=fvNUdcDtTwo

djm

[dwinterfield]

In my teens I worked in an ice cream shop. I learned how to thin a 5 gallon tub of marshmellow with a few onces of water and my right arm, up to the bicep. We had to thin it so it would come off the spoon quickly while serving it. This did not involve gloves and would rightly bring the wrath of the Board of health if still practiced today.

[Joseph E. Smith]

I harvest wild cane, dry/cure and make reeds out of it. The trick is harvesting the 'right stuff' for use in making reeds for Uilleann Pipes.

Here a few photos of the process... the first one is of myself about to be swallowed by one of the cane breaks (Arundo Donax) I harvest from.







While it isn't quite dead yet, reedmaking for the Uilleann Pipes certainly isn't something that the young are in a rush to find themselves doing right out of college. To the best of my knowledge, I am only one of a few people here in the states (3-4?) who make UP reeds pretty much full time.

[missy]

I still OWN a slide rule! I also used to be able to run an adding machine and type on a Selectric.

I also can shoot a recurve bow, started target shooting when I was 10. I attempted to shoot a compound bow once, it made NO sense to me.

I can butcher and process deer.

I can ride a horse bareback.

Probably my most useless skill, however, was being able to carry 50 helium filled balloons AND tie a loop to go around a kid's wrist at the same time. Used to work at an amusement park.

Oh - and djm, Tom worked for Bell Labs / AT&T / Lucent, so while I have no idea what the heck you are talking about, I bet he would!!!!

[Ro3b]

Way back in the not-often-discussed period of my life when I was in the SCA, I learned to throw knives and axes with a fair expectation of accuracy. But I'm not sure if this counts as an obsolete skill. I mean, I do lead a session.

[Wanderer]

Almost all of my obscure skills have to do with technology that's been replaced by computers...I used to work in the paste-up/advertising department of my local newspaper when I was in my early 20's.

I know how to use a Velox camera to make half-tones (images made up of dots for newspapers) and for growing/shrinking artwork. All this can be done in commercial editing software now.

In the old days, we would take ad elements and story elements, and run them through a machine which put a thin coating of wax on the back of them, so we could rearrange them on a page. When we liked what we had, we'd use a hand rolling pin to fix them to the page. If I had to trim story parts or the spaces between paragraphs to fit stuff on the page, I did it with an Exacto knife. These days, I'm sure all of that's done in software now too.

I also used to do diazo microfilm copying, which sucked because the machine smelled like a littler box--hot ammonium fumes develop the diazo copy after it's been exposed to UV. But I'd wager this hasn't changed at all. It was pretty simple technology. Wind a spool of microfilm, and a spool of diazo film on a machine..the machine puts one on top of the other, passes it over a very bright ultraviolet light, and then through a metal box that has hot ammonium vapors, and then out the other side to be spooled up. I can't imagine how they'd change it

[gonzo914]

I can still copy edit a manuscript by hand on paper. . . . with a pencil . . . using all those funny marks.

And I can still use a slide rule. I even bought one a few months ago in an "antique" store. It was marked 10 dollars. I said "I'll give you a buck for it." I got it for two. Demand must be down.

And I am actually able to get up out of my chair, walk over to the television and change the channel or the volume without using the remote. It does tucker me out somewhat.

--30--

[Tyler]

I dunno if this truly counts as obsolete, but I know how to tune and ballance a carburetor as well as rebuild one.
Mention the word carb to a lot of people from my generation and they'll show you a hole in their bong
I know how to gap a set of points and how to rebuild a non-verto clutch (hell, if you even know what a non-verto clutch is, you oughta get a gold star)
I write the first drafts of my short stories on an IBM Selectric.
I write with and care for several sets of fountain pens.
I used to make my own oak gall ink and reed or feather quills, but haven't done so in quite a while.

[Doug_Tipple]

All through my school years I helped my dad in the auto body shop (circa 1955-61). At that time we filled in the dents in a fender or door panel with lead . The lead came in foot-long sticks and was delivered to the shop in small boxes that weighed close to 100 pounds. The trick was to get the bare steel hot enough so that the lead stick would melt and leave a glob of lead attached to the steel. Then with a torch in one hand and a wooden spreading tool in the other hand you alternated between heating the lead and spreading it around with the spreading tool that also had to be periodically dipped into a can of motor oil for lubrication. If you got the lead too hot, it would run and sag. At the correct temperature you could spread the lead like it was puddy. I think that this is a skill that has been largely lost, because I doubt that anyone uses this method of metal-finishing anymore. For one thing, lead is too expensive and is considered a hazardous material. Secondly, the metal panels of cars are now so thin that if you tried to heat them with a torch, you would get major deformation of the panel. Now plastic is used instead of lead.

[djm]

I also used to do diazo microfilm copying

Holy cow! I haven't thought of or heard of those things in .... well, a lot of years. One of my first full time jobs as a teenager was with the federal census bureau. We would run these big cameras that would photo the census forms, turning the pages automatically. We would send most of the films out to the lab, but occasionally we would pull a film out and develop it locally on a diazo machine for quality control. The stench you refer to is the anhydrous ammonia used to develop the film as you said. We were in a basement (naturally) and any time the wind shifted to the east, the crappy ventilation system would be overpowered, and we'd be sent running to prevent our lungs from being burned out by the ammonia.

Thanks for the memory ... I think.

djm

[Tyler]

All through my school years I helped my dad in the auto body shop (circa 1955-61). At that time we filled in the dents in a fender or door panel with lead . The lead came in foot-long sticks and was delivered to the shop in small boxes that weighed close to 100 pounds. The trick was to get the bare steel hot enough so that the lead stick would melt and leave a glob of lead attached to the steel. Then with a torch in one hand and a wooden spreading tool in the other hand you alternated between heating the lead and spreading it around with the spreading tool that also had to be periodically dipped into a can of motor oil for lubrication. If you got the lead too hot, it would run and sag. At the correct temperature you could spread the lead like it was puddy. I think that this is a skill that has been largely lost, because I doubt that anyone uses this method of metal-finishing anymore. For one thing, lead is too expensive and is considered a hazardous material. Secondly, the metal panels of cars are now so thin that if you tried to heat them with a torch, you would get major deformation of the panel. Now plastic is used instead of lead.

I actually know several body shops here that will do lead blocking on a car (granted, these are people who specialize in restoring classic cars and have the technology to make regular use of lead safe).
I learned the basics from one who we're fairly close to; I suppose I should have listed that on my list of obsolete skills.

[djm]

I think that this is a skill that has been largely lost, because I doubt that anyone uses this method of metal-finishing anymore. For one thing, lead is too expensive and is considered a hazardous material.

Lead is still used on fixing up old cars. I was watching them do this American HotRods. But I think you are right about newer cars. They are so thin to make them lighter for fuel economy (yeah, sure).

djm

[Wanderer]

I also used to do diazo microfilm copying

Holy cow! I haven't thought of or heard of those things in .... well, a lot of years. One of my first full time jobs as a teenager was with the federal census bureau. We would run these big cameras that would photo the census forms, turning the pages automatically. We would send most of the films out to the lab, but occasionally we would pull a film out and develop it locally on a diazo machine for quality control. The stench you refer to is the anhydrous ammonia used to develop the film as you said. We were in a basement (naturally) and any time the wind shifted to the east, the crappy ventilation system would be overpowered, and we'd be sent running to prevent our lungs from being burned out by the ammonia.

Thanks for the memory ... I think.

djm

Lol, what was worse for us was when the film got snagged in the developing chamber. We had to undog a heavy metal plate, remove it, and get a face full of hot ammonia to get to the film.

Before that job, I'd never before had the pleasure of having my lungs completely shut down and refuse to take a breath

[djm]

Yes, I remember the film sticking to the rollers inside. Even if I was in the back of the last camera bay furthest away from the developer, it seemed like mere seconds before we all knew that someone was having problems with the diazo again. :roll:

djm