I have one of those new-fangled dictaphones.


(Miraclefish How appropriate, you fight like a cow, Wed 10 Nov 2010, 16:29, 5 replies)

I love the geekery uncovered by this weeks QOTW
A couple of points:
a) great to see so many vinyl lovers on here. Vinyl is indisputably a far superior format to CD or MP3 as they work by playing back a series of samples of the music, while the track on a vinyl record basically mirrors the exact sound which was played into the pressing machine. It's like the difference between seeing something on TV and watching it actually happen in front of you.
b) I don't know where to start with redundant technology as I have loads, but one of my favourite things is my Transit minibus - from 1991 and still going strong (fingers crossed!), she needs a bit of fixing from time to time but mostly she's perfect, has moved me in and out of houses, as well as a lot of my family and friends, taken my band on tour a few times and never seriously let us down - Ruby, I love ya!
(rampants, Wed 10 Nov 2010, 14:37, 43 replies)

Mmmmm Beer.
I still drink real ale, pulled from a cask by a beer engine.
(Pugwash, Wed 10 Nov 2010, 14:15, 7 replies)

I still masturbate to porn mags!
I also rip them up when I've finished and stash them in the bushes of the local park
(Anne Frank started to build a loft conversion on, Wed 10 Nov 2010, 13:39, 8 replies)

I live in the sticks
We don't have gas or oil central heating. We have a wood burner.

Upsides...

I own & regularly use a chainsaw

I own & regularly use a selection of axes

It looks lovely

It smells lovely

It's carbon neutral & therefore good for the planet

Chopping wood although hard work is immensely satisfying & makes me feel very manly ;)

Downsides....

It's fucking cold in our house in the morning till the fire gets going again

ash ash ash ash ash ash ash ash ash ash ash ash ash ash fuckingash

Wood takes up a lot of room
(sittingduck Attention seeking, bullshitting fuck-knuckle, Wed 10 Nov 2010, 13:25, 25 replies)

Coat
Can't believe it's taken me all morning to realise this:

Today for the first time this season I wear my good winter coat. I was given this by my father about five years ago.

He was given it in the 1960s by his friend's father.

Who in turn had said it was from his father.

The coat is dark grey, of simple, understated style, made of tightly-woven wool with a thick lining, and weighs nearly as much as your mum (when dry-cleaned it needs at least three wire coathangers or they collapse).

My father's best approximation is that it's about 80 years old.

I look forward to seeing one of my nephews in it when he's in his mid-30s (my nephew, not my father, dipshit).
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Wed 10 Nov 2010, 13:04, 4 replies)

Banking
When I have to pay a cheque in, I write a letter to my bank and ask them nicely to pay it on. When I have to check my balance, I go to a cash machine.

I don't use telephone or internet banking. Dunno why, just don't really see the need to use it.
(Miraclefish How appropriate, you fight like a cow, Wed 10 Nov 2010, 11:43, 6 replies)

I dunno if this so much counts as "Redundant technology", but
In my dad's flat, everything nearly works, and due to his being a warchild, he far prefers to make do and mend.

His shower door doesn't quite fit flush to the bath, and as such, features a magic paperclip, which is bent in such a way that if you slide it under there, hook that bit over there, and bend that bit to there, it holds.

Marvellous.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Wed 10 Nov 2010, 11:01, 3 replies)

jesusfuck
This QOTW has inspired me to expand my vacuum tube driven technology into some valve radios. I've ordered a kit to make a "new" one, and I'm watching some old radios on Ebay.

OBVIOUSLY this means I've needed to order a valve driven kit to build an AM transmitter so I can listen to digital and FM content.

Why am I retransmitting high quality signals via shitty AM (illegally) so I can listen to them on 60 year old radios? I have no idea. I just really really want to.

Posted from my iShed
( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Wed 10 Nov 2010, 10:51, 10 replies)

Regular light bulbs
I use old fashioned (incandescent/tungsten) light bulbs. You know, i am all for all that bleeding heart liberal environmentally climate change stuff. I recycle, i keep a compost heap in my garden, i am not using weed killer or any chemical furtilizer, i buy organic food preferably from local farmers, and i keep a large vegetable garden. I am using my bike instead of my car whenever i can.

I even worked for Greenpeace once.

But i refuse, yes, refuse, to use current light saving bulbs. They are ugly. they are emitting bad light. And they are hazardous for your health if they break inside your home due to the mercury in them. As regular light bulbs are being phased out now, i have stocked up on them, to have a supply for the future.

Also the imminent zombie outbreak will start from light saving bulbs, but luckily i won't be infected.
(Robotnik, Wed 10 Nov 2010, 10:22, 24 replies)

Mums museum mixer
My Mum has a trusty reliable "Kenwood Chef" food mixer. It's big and noisy, I swear the house rumbles when it's in use, and I can remember her having it all my life. I'm in my early 30's now so it's been around a long time. In fact I've a horrible feeling her Mum gave it to her.

It still works perfectly though!

Last year we were having a wander around the local museum which rather bizarrely has a display of old kitchen appliances over the ages, literally 1920's washing machines, cookers from the 50's that sort of thing.

Then my Mum says something I didn't expect to hear.... "That's newer than my one!".

That's right, on display in a museum was a newer version of the food mixer my Mum uses at home. I think when it finally dies we will actually donate it to the museum!
(golddust QOTW now revolves around being a cunt, Wed 10 Nov 2010, 10:20, 5 replies)

Ted worked for Channel 7 in Sydney ~~~~
and way back in the 70s after the lighting on some live shows had been messed up, the station management decided they wanted a programmable system to switch spotlights, flood lights, microphones and even cameras on schedule.

So Ted and a couple of others set to and designed and built the thing from the ground up using a few integrated circuits and a host of discrete transistors, resistors, capacitors and all the rest.

It worked a treat after a few hours tweaking but it cost a bomb to design.

They used it two or three years, then were offered a mini-computer system at about a quarter of the original cost. Easier to program but not a flexible, said Ted.
(Redemption blamed it on the Bossa Nova since, Wed 10 Nov 2010, 9:36, Reply)

Occasionally
I watch TV.
(spinoza, Wed 10 Nov 2010, 6:32, 5 replies)

I was eating my tea last night when I suddenly thought to myself, "This milk must be seriously out of date."

nicked straight from sickipedia
( enoughblueskyforsailorstrousers, Wed 10 Nov 2010, 6:29, Reply)

I have a sat-nav unit in my car.
And I don't trust it. I will typically plan most journeys in advance by hand, using a road map, and use the sat-nav merely as a handy aide-mémoire for the trip. The sat-nav also knows about traffic problems, but more often than not will wait until I'm already stopped in traffic before letting me know there's some congestion.

I keep an A-Z of London and a road atlas of the entire country in the passenger seat-back pocket, just in case.
( flake has nothing against your right leg, Wed 10 Nov 2010, 3:44, 10 replies)

My Macbook
What a piece of shit that was. Came to me as a glistening beacon of hope and left 6 months later taking everything with it. Fuck you Apple, you make such good products, but why does everyone I buy have to go tits up? Back to my trusty* old PC.

*hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
( miltonlives on, Wed 10 Nov 2010, 0:46, 3 replies)

My Favorite Toy

click for bigger

Currently debating whether I can be arsed building a valve pre-amp for it, some Aussies make a nice kit, although there's nothing wrong with the pre I have, it's always nice to say 'I made this bit myself'.
( Slippery Mick ‏, Wed 10 Nov 2010, 0:08, 5 replies)

AutoLISP
Every day I work in the office I use AutoLISP programs, some of which I wrote more than twenty years ago.
(wkiernan, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 23:56, 7 replies)

I am so amazingly primitive
that I still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.
(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 23:24, 4 replies)

Classical vinyl
I used to collect classical music on vinyl - the original analogue Decca and HMV pressings from the late 50s through to the late 70s are of absolutely outstanding quality and some of them go for £100s of pounds now. If you put them through a good amp and a good record player they sound amazing. The guy who taught me about it had a magnificent turntable - a Linn Sondek - they still make them but they are extremely expensive.

What's more I used to pick up records in a charity shop for 50p and then keep some of the better ones and flog one or two to pay for the habit.

I don't collect any more as there never seems to be anything any good in the charity shops other than the cheesefest that is Mantovani and his sodding orchestra...

:(
(sugar_tits, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 23:24, 6 replies)

I have a quill. And a bottle of green ink.
I stopped using them when I learned that people who work at such prestigious institutions as The Telegraph, BBC Radio 4, and the Houses of Parliament, operate under the assumption that anyone who takes the trouble to write a letter by hand, in green ink, is a completely barking-mad nutcase whose opinions may be safely ignored/passed to the Police for further investigation.
( flake has nothing against your right leg, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 19:01, 1 reply)

My old work-issue Broom
I've had it 20 years. It's had 17 new heads and 14 new handles, but it's the same broom.
( The Incredible Sulk Finally remembered his password on, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 18:58, 4 replies)

My time machine
I know the technology is outdated and was lost to earth 100 million years ago, but how else did you expect me to come and answer this QOTW?

Length? I clubbed a Minotaurasaurus to death with it, my cave wench was proud.
(Turtlenuts, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 18:53, 1 reply)

Up until about 5 years ago
I had one of these: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_Mega_PC

It ran windows 3.1, had a MASSIVE 130mb hard drive and a 4xcdrom, not actually sure how that got in there though, I got the thing second hand from Poole borough Council.
When wanting to play something other than solitaire (or frontier actually) I'd slide the panel across on the front and stick a mega drive cartridge in.
Was probably one of the best pcs I've ever had for sheer entertainment value, I was gutted when the ex binned it.
(Mensa Reject has gone out, I'll be back on, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 18:17, 3 replies)

Vampires!
I'm so out of touch, my vampires are intimidating, day fearing, blood drinking scourges of the night. Not some sparkly pretty boys who are afraid to get laid.
(Mong goose, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 18:00, 3 replies)

Far from redundant, but old tech
I use a Fender Precision Bass, the design & construction of which has barely changed in 53 years..
(bassmeister Proud Patron Of The Alan Ladd Memorial Heel Bar, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 17:40, 12 replies)

Now it's got cold...
I've just been reminded of my very favourite bits of obsolete low-tech.

My Victorian hot pigs are awesome. They're honking great thick-walled ceramic bottles with screw-tops; you fill them with boiling water and they stay hot ALL NIGHT, none of this finding your hot-water-bottle all cold and flobby and disgusting in the morning. We've had them since I was a poor child from a family with no central heating and I would have fought my sister for them when the time came to divvy everything up.

I love my hot pigs.
(littlesunshine licked your blinky diodes on, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 17:34, 7 replies)

telephone banking
My girlfriend laughs at me as I prefer telephone banking to internet banking.

The reason may sound a bit mental: I don't like logging into my internet banking and seeing the balance. If I did that I'd gauge the full extent and horror of how fucked for money I was at that particular instance, and would have to have a little cry.

No. What I do is call up telephone banking and then when the helpful automaton reads out my balance I hold the phone slightly away from my ear so that I can't quite hear what's being said. As long as I can discern that the number being read out is at least double-digits, then I'm good to go to the pub.

This mature way of handling my finances illustrates how really, really shit with money I am.
( rofl harris, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 17:25, 5 replies)

Sometimes, when I'm in the mood
I will "'phone" my friends, and "meet" them in a "pub", where we'll drink ACTUAL beer, have an ACTUAL conversation, and sometimes (sometimes) even "DISCUSS" things, and offer DIFFERING opinions!


lol, rofl, omg, etc.

Of note: last night I was depressed to notice that one of our more flamboyant - and camp - friends has taken to saying "Oh Em Gee!".

I may have to have words/an extremely violent reaction.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 16:16, 10 replies)

My phone.
I've seen Big Issue sellers with nicer phones than mine. Seriously; it's depressing.
And now, every time I buy an issue from Smelly Barry down the Tesco I imagine him twittering it three seconds later:
"Just sold magazine to horrible prole with crap phone. He'll probably use it for toilet paper, poor degraded bastard. LOL, ROFL, ETC."
Pff. Who needs a colour screen for a phone call anyway?
(universalpsykopath loves what you've done with your hair., Tue 9 Nov 2010, 15:45, 10 replies)