Remember When
Quote: 1BB
Remember when people would leave a bottle of liquor in their mailbox during snowstorms?
We used to tip our mailman, do people still
do that? I've seen it in old movies. Usually
with a fruitcake or a pint.
Quote: EvenBobWe used to tip our mailman, do people still
do that? I've seen it in old movies. Usually
with a fruitcake or a pint.
I still tip the mailman, with a box/bag of premium coffee ie Gevalia, with a bow on it. This year it's pure Kona from a friend of mine who grows it there.
Quote: EvenBobHow about when all phone numbers had
2 letters in front of them, like CH or LE.
And no area codes, you went thru an
operator for a long distance call. And they
were so expensive that you only called on
special occasions and everybody had to
talk real fast.
Those two letters corresponded with numbers on the dial and they were the first letters of a word. For example, Beechwood 45789 would be BE 45789 or 234-5789. Party lines were always fun.
Quote: EvenBobRemember when you could buy codeine cough syrup
over the counter? Its methylated morphine and man,
did it do the trick. Get the good stuff, and you felt
right as rain if took it every few hours. I don't
remember when they banned it, mid 60's maybe.
You can still get it with a script, but it's not nearly
as strong as the old stuff.
I dont know about currently, but you could still buy it in NJ 3 years ago. Robitussin AC, chericol, robitussion dac, ,,,,It was limited to 4 four ounce bottles a year.
you are right...very effective....the otc med for cough(dextromethorphan) is pretty much useless
Quote: beachbumbabsI still tip the mailman, with a box/bag of premium coffee ie Gevalia, with a bow on it. This year it's pure Kona from a friend of mine who grows it there.
Yeah, coffee. Who would have given coffee 40
years ago. Nobody. Now if you gave booze
you'd probably get a call from your PO. Coffee
is the new booze.
Quote: EvenBobYeah, coffee. Who would have given coffee 40
years ago. Nobody. Now if you gave booze
you'd probably get a call from your PO. Coffee
is the new booze.
Lol...better than a lump of coal in the mailbox, or nothing at all...you taking care of those WallyWorld delivery guys with all that kibble?
Quote: EvenBobHow about when all phone numbers had
2 letters in front of them, like CH or LE.
And no area codes, you went thru an
operator for a long distance call. And they
were so expensive that you only called on
special occasions and everybody had to
talk real fast.
When I first moved to the small town I still live in, I went from rotary phones to a crank phones. When you called someone it was like morse code. 2 long rings and 1 short ring meant someone was calling our house. If you wanted the operator you cranked 1 long ring.
Quote: kenarmanWhen I first moved to the small town I still live in, I went from rotary phones to a crank phones. When you called someone it was like morse code. 2 long rings and 1 short ring meant someone was calling our house. If you wanted the operator you cranked 1 long ring.
We had that on our dial phone. 3 shorts was ours. When
you heard somebody else's, you waited a minute and then
listened in. These rings were always on party lines. Sometimes
they would screech that they knew somebody was listening,
but just stay quiet and they would talk again.
Quote: LarrySI dont know about currently, but you could still buy it in NJ 3 years ago. Robitussin AC, chericol, robitussion dac, ,,,,It was limited to 4 four ounce bottles a year.
you are right...very effective....the otc med for cough(dextromethorphan) is pretty much useless
My ex-wife is a pharmacist, and she told me you can still get the codeine cough syrup, but you have to ask for it at the counter, show your DL and sign a form, same with the old Sudafed with real pseudoephedrine. I thought the bottle was 5 ounces, but could be four.
if you didn't run your 60's or 70's car every day,
it wasn't going to start when you needed it.
I haven't been anywhere since last Fri and it's
been 12 degrees here every day and my 12
year old car started right up today.
Driving in really cold weather wasn't an adventure
in the 60's (and before), it was a nightmare. The
modern cars are amazing.
Quote: EvenBobRemember when it was cold out, below 15, and
if you didn't run your 60's or 70's car every day,
it wasn't going to start when you needed it.
I haven't been anywhere since last Fri and it's
been 12 degrees here every day and my 12
year old car started right up today.
Driving in really cold weather wasn't an adventure
in the 60's (and before), it was a nightmare. The
modern cars are amazing.
Ah, those finicky carburetors. Right, Bob?
Quote: 1BBAh, those finicky carburetors. Right, Bob?
Not just that. Batteries were terrible, alternators
were terrible, even motor oil was nothing like it
is now. A 6 year old car was old. Now people
are driving 15 year old cars and think nothing
of it. My wife bought a Jeep Cherokee new in
1993 and she's still driving it to work every day.
That never happened 40 years ago.
Quote: HunterhillWhen it was going to be 15 below zero or colder, we would put a trouble light under the hood and cover it with a tarp to keep it warm enough to start in the morning.
I remember that. My dad had a bunch of things
he did. He used the light, he used starting fluid
that was sprayed into the air cleaner, he even
had a heater installed in the radiator in the mid
60's. He always got it started, he never missed
work because of the car. But you had to be
proactive or you were screwed. Always kept a
fully charged spare battery in the basement.
Quote: EvenBobHow about when all phone numbers had
2 letters in front of them, like CH or LE.
And no area codes, you went thru an
operator for a long distance call. And they
were so expensive that you only called on
special occasions and everybody had to
talk real fast.
And you would walk into the room and someone would say "SHHHH I am talking long distance " Or going on a trip and calling home and asking for yourself to let the wife know you landed safely ? Plus i was respected in my neighborhood for slamming the coin return button and just the right time to get my nickel back and free dial tone.
When I hired on AT&T in 69, the guys making most overtime were teletype repairman. Still amazed when get receipt at gas station, stores , etc. No damn keys inside there. Just spraying ink through a magnetic field. WTF
USA jobs are in India and other places due to cheap phone service. Used to have 1440 circuits on a tube, 10 tubes in a cable, and high maintenace costs. I remember when digital circuits came in. Then light guide Or as we called it PFM.
Started with 10,000 ckts on a strand of wire, then quickly went to over 100,000, then a couple 100,00 on each color on that strand.
PFM + pure F***ing Magic
And nobody putting 4kc in Babs ear at the FAA
Quote: EvenBobWe had that on our dial phone. 3 shorts was ours. When
you heard somebody else's, you waited a minute and then
listened in. These rings were always on party lines. Sometimes
they would screech that they knew somebody was listening,
but just stay quiet and they would talk again.
TRIVIA Dial phone was not invented at Bell Labs , but by a small town undertaker. Only 2 undertakers in that town. The other one's girlfriend was the operator and always tipped her boyfriend on latest fatality. LOL
Quote: BuzzardOr going on a trip and calling home and asking for yourself to let the wife know you landed safely ?
We would use the reverse charges trick. When we
hear reverse charges from dad, we would refuse
the call, that's the code that he arrived OK. I wonder
how many people did this, long distance was
prohibitively expensive.
Quote: EvenBobWe would use the reverse charges trick. When we
hear reverse charges from dad, we would refuse
the call, that's the code that he arrived OK. I wonder
how many people did this, long distance was
prohibitively expensive.
Probably everyone. Remember this commercial? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JxhTnWrKYs
Quote: EvenBobWe would use the reverse charges trick. When we
hear reverse charges from dad, we would refuse
the call, that's the code that he arrived OK. I wonder
how many people did this, long distance was
prohibitively expensive.
Kind of funny you posted this and snow today. Bad weather here, though I thought the roads were not bad but moderately bad.
Anyways in this business we have people driving long ways and the boss tells one to drive careful. So he says, "I'll ring once when I get home!" I say, "remember that?" Nobody else did.
Quote: BuzzardAnd you would walk into the room and someone would say "SHHHH I am talking long distance " Or going on a trip and calling home and asking for yourself to let the wife know you landed safely ? Plus i was respected in my neighborhood for slamming the coin return button and just the right time to get my nickel back and free dial tone.
When I hired on AT&T in 69, the guys making most overtime were teletype repairman. Still amazed when get receipt at gas station, stores , etc. No damn keys inside there. Just spraying ink through a magnetic field. WTF
USA jobs are in India and other places due to cheap phone service. Used to have 1440 circuits on a tube, 10 tubes in a cable, and high maintenace costs. I remember when digital circuits came in. Then light guide Or as we called it PFM.
Started with 10,000 ckts on a strand of wire, then quickly went to over 100,000, then a couple 100,00 on each color on that strand.
PFM + pure F***ing Magic
And nobody putting 4kc in Babs ear at the FAA
Was just thinking about such things. We did both the "refuse charges" thing and the one-ring hangup thing.
Remember when the dog would walk past the tv and the channel would change? (1970)
Remember when the first VCR's came out and the remote was on a long wire? (1980)
Remember when Compuserve was $40/hour on a really slow modem, and it was text only? (1991)
Remember when RAM memory was $40/1K chip? (1992)
Remember when HBO started and they put a filter on your coax if you weren't paying for it? All you had to do was go out and take it off your line.(1978)
Remember when ATT charged 60/hour for domestic long distance? (1998)
Remember when the FAA had us snuggled up to radars built with vacuum tubes? (Still do some places; nearly done with the refit, but the FAA is still the world's largest consumer of vacuum tubes last I heard. And too many of my friends are dying young of weird cancers. No known correlation, but the question remains.)
Disclaimer: those dates are local to my experience; not trying to say they're definitive for any particular item.
HBO the whole time I was there. Get a cable
box on the black market for 10 bucks and
remove the HBO filter from the line and we
were in business. It wasn't the felony it is
now, theft of service, what's that.
I thought they were the coolest things ever. Made excuses to go over my Uncle's house so I could watch it. Not only saw the Dream Team's 92 run but also most of Woodstock 94. Was some good times.
Quote: beachbumbabsbut the FAA is still the world's largest consumer of vacuum tubes last I heard. And too many of my friends are dying young of weird cancers. No known correlation, but the question remains.)
Yes, the tube manufacturers had two markets: Museums and the FAA.
Quote: beachbumbabsRemember when the FAA had us snuggled up to radars built with vacuum tubes?
OK, you stumped me on that one.
Quote: beachbumbabs
Remember when Compuserve was $40/hour on a really slow modem, and it was text only? (1991)
Was it really that much? That price seems quite high. I do remember Prodigy service about this time. was about $20 a month and they thought the big thing would be to book and buy things online. They were both ahead of their time and tried to do same as Betamax and keep it all in house.
Quote:
Remember when HBO started and they put a filter on your coax if you weren't paying for it? All you had to do was go out and take it off your line.(1978)
Who also remembers that back then HBO only came on the air midday and went off late at night? For that matter, remember when you wanted to get HBO?
Quote: PerditionFor some reason the old HBO logo intro used to scare the crap out of me. Because it was playing this music and then you went inside of the O. I'm like "why are they doing this". Also back then you had ON, NOW and the Z channel which I think they made a movie about a few years back.
I remember being completely blown away by the HBO logo graphics; they were stunningly good and a big leap forward. Was a lit up skyline at night and the lettering moved towards you, as Perdition said, and you were gradually drawn into the "o", with full stereo orchestra (in a time when nobody had stereo sound on their tv). Not scared, but definitely fascinated.
Quote: AZDuffmanWas it really that much? That price seems quite high. I do remember Prodigy service about this time. was about $20 a month and they thought the big thing would be to book and buy things online. They were both ahead of their time and tried to do same as Betamax and keep it all in house.
Compuserve was definitely 40/hour. I didn't realize what I'd gotten into and generated an $800 bill my first full month on it, not knowing the way to work it was to download your mail, read it offline, then go back on to send after you'd typed your responses. This was at a time when my take-home was about 1600/month; I freaked.
Quote: beachbumbabsI remember being completely blown away by the HBO logo graphics; they were stunningly good and a big leap forward. Was a lit up skyline at night and the lettering moved towards you, as Perdition said, and you were gradually drawn into the "o", with full stereo orchestra (in a time when nobody had stereo sound on their tv). Not scared, but definitely fascinated.
Well to be fair I was like 4 or 5. I guess a different perspective on it all. I thought I was going to be jailed inside the O for all eternity :(
I killed it in the summer of '89 when I wrote a program to calculate prime numbers. I wanted to see if the frequency of prime numbers decreased as the number increased. It ended up filling up my hard drive.
Quote: boymimboMy boss, Jim, in 1985 bought me a "state of the art" Radio Shack Tandy 2000, featuring a color monitor, 8MHZ Intel 186 processor, 20MB hard drive, and software. It was $8,000, a shitload of money at the time. I think he let me keep the computer as I went to university.
I killed it in the summer of '89 when I wrote a program to calculate prime numbers. I wanted to see if the frequency of prime numbers decreased as the number increased. It ended up filling up my hard drive.
I paid 600 for a used commodore 64 in 1987; it was my first computer. It was stolen in a housebreaking in 1988, and was the only thing the theives had not been able to fence when the police found them; it was out in a trash pile in their yard. (Still mad about that burglary, and it's been 25 years!)
No, especially as I had Compuserve in the 1980s and paid only $4/hour for 300 baud (I think it was $12/hour for 1200). However, you're right in that it was text-only. I also remember Compuserve having Eaasy Saabre, which was an online version of the American Airlines Saabre system that travel agents (remember those?) used to check flights.Quote: beachbumbabsRemember when Compuserve was $40/hour on a really slow modem, and it was text only? (1991)
I assume you mean $40/1MB, as I remember paying that on Clinton's first inauguration day (1/20/1993). At the time, hard drive space was about $1/MB. I remember buying 2 MB of RAM for my Atari ST around 1988 for $1000.Quote:Remember when RAM memory was $40/1K chip? (1992)
? - I remember paying $12 for an hour-long call from San Francisco to New York in 1983, although that may have been a "night rate".Quote:Remember when ATT charged 60/hour for domestic long distance? (1998)
Quote: beachbumbabsI paid 600 for a used commodore 64 in 1987; it was my first computer.
I assume it came with a printer, disk (or at least cassette) drive, and possibly a separate TV for a monitor? Back in 1984, I could get the computer (just the computer, without TV or peripherals) for $200 - and yes, I'm talking about a Commodore 64, not a VIC-20.
were geeks who ran an internet service for $40
a month, from a tiny office. It was heaven. It
was fantastic, and it did nothing, it stored nothing,
all it did was get online. Which was also nothing
except newsgroups. But man was it something..
Quote: ThatDonGuyNo, especially as I had Compuserve in the 1980s and paid only $4/hour for 300 baud (I think it was $12/hour for 1200). However, you're right in that it was text-only. I also remember Compuserve having Eaasy Saabre, which was an online version of the American Airlines Saabre system that travel agents (remember those?) used to check flights.
I assume you mean $40/1MB, as I remember paying that on Clinton's first inauguration day (1/20/1993). At the time, hard drive space was about $1/MB. I remember buying 2 MB of RAM for my Atari ST around 1988 for $1000.
? - I remember paying $12 for an hour-long call from San Francisco to New York in 1983, although that may have been a "night rate".
I assume it came with a printer, disk (or at least cassette) drive, and possibly a separate TV for a monitor? Back in 1984, I could get the computer (just the computer, without TV or peripherals) for $200 - and yes, I'm talking about a Commodore 64, not a VIC-20.
I think you're right about the 1/M rate; I started there and edited to 1/K, thinking I had it wrong. But I saved up to snap in the ram in 40 increments at the time, so yeah, it would be 1M.
The C64 had a cassette deck, monitor, and tower, and a keyboard (no mouse or anything). It was only about 20% off retail at the time, but every dollar counted back then; I bought it from a co-worker who was buying an IBM.
I absolutely paid $1/minute for long distance for several years, then the price kept dropping; really not sure when that was, but most likely early-mid 80's. by the time I dropped ATT in 2010 after 30 years, I was paying 29.95/unlimited.
Founded by an interesting Turkish immigrant [just finding this out myself]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erol_Onaran
PS, evidently our kind of guy - a big gambler it seems
Quote: EvenBobWhich was also nothing
except newsgroups. But man was it something..
I was talking to people all over the country
and all over the world on a daily basis. The
only way to do that before was short wave
radio, which was a real pain. It's seems silly
now, but then it was amazing.
I worked for a company that, in the late 90s, paid $25,000 for a plasma television.
In 1996, you could buy an analog Motorola Startac for $1000. In 2000, I got a digital Startac for $30; best cell phone ever.
In 2002, I paid about $100 for a 128 MB xD card for a Fuji camera.
That camera was 3 Megapixels and I couldn't understand how anyone could need 5 Megapixels (I thought anyone with 5 megapixels was just showing off).
In 2004, I paid about $100 for a 1 GB Compact Flash Card (and do you remember how compact these used to be?).
My most recent CF card purchase was about 2 years ago, and I think it was about $30 for 8 GB of a higher speed card.
300 baud
600 baud
1.2K baud - Now we're getting somewhere.... lol
2.4k - memory is getting foggy now - Need some help
32.6k ?
53.6k ?
First computer was a PCJr. $2000. No hard drive. 5 1/4" floppy 64k memory.
First computer hack - taking the 128K memory sidecard, removing the chips, cut a couple of lands, and making it 640k.
Second computer hack - taking a PC XT harddrive adapter card, modifying the PCJr comm bus to talk to the adapter card, and adding a 10M hard drive.
10M was HUGE ! All my DOS based games were stored in one place now.
Quote: CrystalMath
That camera was 3 Megapixels and I couldn't understand how anyone could need 5 Megapixels.
God, digital cameras. I was selling on Ebay so
I went thru a bunch of them. First one was
1 megapix, then 2, and so on. Price was always
cheaper as time went on. I took thousands of
pics for Ebay, 10's of thousands probably. I
still have the last one I bought in 2004 and
it still works great. I bought nothing but Fuji's.
E550, 6.5 megapix, still seems new to me.
Quote: beachbumbabs
I absolutely paid $1/minute for long distance for several years, then the price kept dropping; really not sure when that was, but most likely early-mid 80's. by the time I dropped ATT in 2010 after 30 years, I was paying 29.95/unlimited.
Where were you paying $1 a minute? I don't buy this number, even Telemex didn't rape that much for calls to the USA.
Quote: AZDuffmanWhere were you paying $1 a minute? .
99 cents a minute doesn't ring any (telephone) bells to you? It sure sounds familiar to me. Is there historical data somewhere?
Quote: beachbumbabsThe C64 had a cassette deck, monitor, and tower, and a keyboard (no mouse or anything). It was only about 20% off retail at the time, but every dollar counted back then; I bought it from a co-worker who was buying an IBM.
Tower? The C64, like the Apple II, had all of its electronics (except for the cassette or floppy drive) inside of the casing that held the keyboard.
Quote: RaleighCrapsModems:
300 baud
600 baud
1.2K baud - Now we're getting somewhere.... lol
2.4k - memory is getting foggy now - Need some help
32.6k ?
53.6k ?
The next jumps were, IIRC, 9.6k, 14.4k, 28.8k and then 57.6k (although you usually couldn't get that unless your phone lines were really good - I had trouble getting more than 40k).
Quote: rxwine99 cents a minute doesn't ring any (telephone) bells to you? It sure sounds familiar to me. Is there historical data somewhere?
Maybe for overseas calls? Pay phones didn't cost $1 a minute. 900/976 numbers were $0.99 after the first minute in some cases.
Sorry, I do not buy $1/min at all.
Quote: AZDuffmanMaybe for overseas calls? Pay phones didn't cost $1 a minute. 900/976 numbers were $0.99 after the first minute in some cases.
Sorry, I do not buy $1/min at all.
I don't remember the rates (way back when) although I do remember in-state calls often costing more then out-of-state.
Quote: rxwineI don't remember the rates (way back when) although I do remember in-state calls often costing more then out-of-state.
They often did. IIRC the system was set up weird that way, and even MCI and others said you had to call out of state to get the best discounts. This was often bad because many people just moved say from Pittsburgh to Philly and didn't get the discount.
Some other tidbits from back in the day:
--At first to get MCI service your long distance bill had to be >$25.00, later that was not the case
--Rates were 60% lower after 9:00 or 10:00 or on the weekend
--If you dialed a wrong number you would get a refund
--Besides long distance there were "toll calls" meaning if you called out of a certain area but within the same area code there was still an extra fee. This also got weird if you lived near a defining line, perhaps a county, and to call down the street could be toll but across town free. Granted that was unusual but it did hit some people
--On the former you used to be able to tell what part of town someone was from by the exchange. In small towns, like where I went to college, people would just give 4 digits since the first three were always the same.
--The last remnants of long distance fell about 1998-99. By this time the per-minute fee fell so low that they charged a fee of about $3 for just having the service. When I got my first cell phone with free LD and free weekends I soon got tired of that rip-off and told them to just shut the LD off. I remember the girl being confused as to how you could go without it. A few years later the "long distance bill" was a memory and a decade later I and many others just got rid of the land-line totally
Now you can get a free app so when on wi-fi you do not eat your minutes when you make, though not receive, a call.
But I still never heard of $1/min. Maybe from prison?
