Obsolete Skills

[Philuva]

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

[James282]

Guessing who is calling on the phone?

James

[El Diablo]

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.

[NNNNOOOOONAN]

grammer

[theblitz]

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grammer

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Spelling? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Event Duality]

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grammer

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Spelling? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

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"Leveling" people still seems to be alive and well, though.

[jeffnc]

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grammer

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Not of mentioning spelling.

[.Alex.]

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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.

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This still applies for research on the internet!

How about all that time they spent teaching us to write in cursive in elementary school?

[Dominic]

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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.

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I always enjoyed going to the library and doing research...it was like I was solving a mystery...

I remember writing a screenplay that took place in the Amazon among El Dorado and The Lost City of Gold - beforehand, I had to do a lot of research on the subject matter. I got to go to the Library of Congress in DC and search to my heart's content.

Research always helped me come up with plot points and surprising facts I could then put in my screenplays.

I miss it.

[ahnuld]

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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.

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I dont think ive ever seen anyone doing that in my life. But my mom talks about how much of a pain it was too [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]