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#1
10-02-2007, 01:52 PM
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Re: Obsolete Skills
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] I used to be able to tap-dial any number on a rotary dial phone. Useful for stealing calls when there was a padlock on the dial. [/ QUOTE ] I know what you're talking about, but i bet 90% of the people who read your post will have no idea. I can't remember the last time I even saw a rotary dial phone. [/ QUOTE ] A friend of mine has a rotary in his living room. He calls it the "age test". Its pretty much a fool-proof indicator if someone was born after 1980 when they go to make a call, pick up the receiver, then stare at it blankly for about a minute. Oh, and I do popcorn on the stove top. 
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#3
10-04-2007, 04:12 AM
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Re: Obsolete Skills
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] I used to be able to tap-dial any number on a rotary dial phone. Useful for stealing calls when there was a padlock on the dial. [/ QUOTE ] I know what you're talking about, but i bet 90% of the people who read your post will have no idea. I can't remember the last time I even saw a rotary dial phone. [/ QUOTE ] A friend of mine has a rotary in his living room. He calls it the "age test". Its pretty much a fool-proof indicator if someone was born after 1980 when they go to make a call, pick up the receiver, then stare at it blankly for about a minute. Oh, and I do popcorn on the stove top. [/ QUOTE ] Heh. The 'obsolete skill' went from tap dialing to using a rotary phone at all. (I'm only 22 so I had to Google the tap dialing thing as well)
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#5
10-07-2007, 08:03 PM
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Re: Obsolete Skills
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] I used to be able to tap-dial any number on a rotary dial phone. Useful for stealing calls when there was a padlock on the dial. [/ QUOTE ] I know what you're talking about, but i bet 90% of the people who read your post will have no idea. I can't remember the last time I even saw a rotary dial phone. [/ QUOTE ] A friend of mine has a rotary in his living room. He calls it the "age test". Its pretty much a fool-proof indicator if someone was born after 1980 when they go to make a call, pick up the receiver, then stare at it blankly for about a minute. Oh, and I do popcorn on the stove top. [/ QUOTE ] I encountered many rotary phones in my childhood, and I think I know what you mean by tap-dialing (sorta walking your fingers through the tiny space?)... and I was born in 1985 [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]
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#6
10-09-2007, 06:21 PM
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Re: Obsolete Skills
Here's Wikipedia on tap dialling:
[ QUOTE ] Tapping It is possible to trick a phone system into thinking that a rotary dial is being used. To do this, one finds the little button, switch, or hook that is pushed down when you hang up the phone. To "dial" the digit 1, tap it once. For the digit 2, tap it twice QUICKLY (ten taps per second for UK phones and in North America). For the digit 3, use three taps, etc. The digit 0 is ten taps. (But see above if you are in Sweden, New Zealand or Oslo.) In the UK it used to be possible to make calls for free from coin-box phones (payphones) by tapping. This was on phones with A and B button boxes. (These were phased out between 1958 and 1994 as subscriber trunk dialling was introduced.) A person caught tapping could be charged with 'abstracting electricity from the GPO'. (several cases of dishonestly using telephones without paying were prosecuted under this offence). The Post Office introduced a special Bellset for use in the A/B box to prevent tapping for use in areas where the problem was especially bad. These delayed by a second or so the closure of the line loop (and hence the return of dialling tone) when the handset was lifted. In popular culture, tapping was used in the movie Red Dragon as a way for prisoner Hannibal Lecter to dial out and circumvent a phone with no dialing mechanism. [/ QUOTE ]
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#7
09-19-2007, 02:33 AM
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Re: Obsolete Skills
I didn't read the whole thread, so there may be someone else with the skill - I know how to use a slide rule. My dad was a mining engineer and taught me when I was about 8 yrs. old.....
Safe to say it's a lost art.....lol. MM MD
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#10
09-19-2007, 11:11 AM
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Re: Obsolete Skills
[ QUOTE ]
Writing in cursive. [/ QUOTE ] This is a very good example. I haven't written in cursive, or even printed a long paragraph in YEARS. A month or so ago, for whatever reason, I decided to write a few sentences in cursive. I'd totally forgotten several letters, heh. Also, blowing on Nintendo cartridges is also a pretty accurate answer. There's also a certain amount of pressure you need apply to get the game to work and not display that flashing grey screen. I still play my Nintendo these days, but I'd have to assume that most of today's children have no idea about the old school games. I wonder if their attention span could handle something so simple when they're used to the graphic heavy games of today.
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