Obsolete Skills
 

The other night, as I was taking a piss and getting a drink, I had the Daily Show on pause on my DVR, I realized the skill of timing a commercial break is about to be completely lost. I could take my sweet ass time with no sense of urgency because I had nothing to fear, there was NO WAY I could miss anything on my program. I use to rule at timing commercial breaks. I could perfectly time a break to do my required activities (pissing, making a sandwich, getting some ice cream, etc.) in the allotted time and be back before missing anything of my show or sporting event. With Tivo, there is no longer a need for this skill.


I was thinking how for guys older than me (I am 31) with no intention of ever getting Tivo, they still use this skill all the time and have no idea it is becoming obsolete. For the guys a lot younger than me who have always had Tivo, they will obviously never develop this skill, nor even realize its existence in the first place. Only those who have spanned this gap, living with TV before Tivo, yet young enough to buy and embrace Tivo will realize the passing of the guard so to speak.


Are there any other skills you have had that have become obsolete through advancements in technology? Are there any other cool skills that our parents possessed that we have no idea even exist now?

-Phil

Re: Obsolete Skills
 

Guessing who is calling on the phone?

James

Re: Obsolete Skills
 

Philuva,

Researching information without the Internet!

It's hard to imagine the way we had to write reports looking up stuff in card catalogs and microfilm and stuff at the library. Oh man, that sucked. The difference between being good at that or not was incredible in terms of how long it took to get a report or research paper done.

Re: Obsolete Skills
 

grammer

Re: Obsolete Skills
 

I posted a lame joke that Diablo correctly pointed out was a lame joke, so I deleted it.

On a more serious note, I'm starting to think that math is an obsolete skill. I have so many students that can't handle simple calculations without a calculator. Things like handling powers of ten, simple square roots, etc. If I want a more precise square root or a logarithm while working something out at the board and I do it in my head, they look at me like I'm insane. Math without an electronic crutch is a lost art. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

By the way, if anyone doesn't know the simple techniques for taking square roots and logarithms in your head, I can explain it if you're interested.

Re: Obsolete Skills
 

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By the way, if anyone doesn't know the simple techniques for taking square roots and logarithms in your head, I can explain it if you're interested.

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That'd be cool.

Most of my math classes, ever since high school calculus, have banned calculators. Is that unusual?

Re: Obsolete Skills
 

hm, ive never thought about math as an art form before. i dont think i agree though.

Re: Obsolete Skills
 

[ QUOTE ]
That'd be cool.

Most of my math classes, ever since high school calculus, have banned calculators. Is that unusual?

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I imagine they only ban calculators with a SOLVE function, which is pretty much any graphing calculator. That function allowed me to skate through high school math classes with ease. A lot of people still don't know how to even work a calculator properly, though.

Re: Obsolete Skills
 

Balancing a check book and checks in general really except for a few occasions.

Re: Obsolete Skills
 

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Balancing a check book and checks in general really except for a few occasions.

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I have never done this and have almost forgotten why it's necessary. Excellent choice.