Francine Hardaway is here and we’re talking about obsolete skills. Things we used to know that no longer are very useful to us. Here’s some we came up with. How many can you come up with?
1. Dialing a rotary phone.
2. Putting a needle on a vinyl record.
3. Changing tracks on an eight-track tape.
4. Shorthand.
5. Using a slide rule.
6. Using carbon paper to make copies.
7. Developing film/photos.
8. Changing the ball or ribbon on your Selectric Typewriter.
9. Getting off the couch to change channels on your TV set.
10. Adjusting the rabbit ears on your TV set.
11. Changing the gas mixture on your car’s carburetor.
By the way, the domain “obsoleteskills.com” is still available. I almost registered it, but how about if one of you does that and put a wiki there so we can keep track of all of the things we know that are pretty much useless now?
UPDATE: somebody put up a Wiki which is really cool.
Roller skate keys
Roller skate keys
Where’s the beef?!!
Where’s the beef?!!
[...] Now | Play in Popup | Download In this trendwatching podcast, Nora Young invites everyone to play Robert Scoble’s game of obsolete technological skills. What things can’t you do anymore? Years ago, Nora’s [...]
1. manually clicking over to pick up someone on the other line of the phone.
2. paying attention to how hard you hit your brakes.
3. pinball. real pinball.
4. presets on an old car radio
1. manually clicking over to pick up someone on the other line of the phone.
2. paying attention to how hard you hit your brakes.
3. pinball. real pinball.
4. presets on an old car radio
[...] Obsolete skills [...]
I’ve got one genuinely obsolete skill. I know how to adjust and repair all the old purely mechanical (non-electric, non-electronic) vending machines.
I’ve got one genuinely obsolete skill. I know how to adjust and repair all the old purely mechanical (non-electric, non-electronic) vending machines.
[...] Habilidades obsoletas [EN]scobleizer.com/2008/02/16/obsolete-skills/ por Tanatos hace pocos segundos [...]
[...] Posted on February 25, 2008 by Dex I could probably waste some time here. Inspired by a post at Scobleizer: Things we used to know that no longer are very useful to us. Here’s some we came up with. How [...]
Laugh…reading through these comments that contradict your list…methinks its evidence of the looooooooong tail!
Laugh…reading through these comments that contradict your list…methinks its evidence of the looooooooong tail!
I enjoyed reading this. Check out this site…
http://www.carlsonestopmall.com
I enjoyed reading this. Check out this site…
http://www.carlsonestopmall.com
Rabbit ears are back with HDTV
Rabbit ears are back with HDTV
[...] The idea for this project came out of a Scoble post last week. [...]
[...] Scobleizer recently asked people to come up with a list of obsolete skills. Someone duly registered ObsoleteSkills.com, created a wiki, and put up a huge A-Z list: [...]
The Dewey Decimal System is alive and well in Australia, but drive-ins are long gone, and I haven’t seen a rotary phone in decades.
The Dewey Decimal System is alive and well in Australia, but drive-ins are long gone, and I haven’t seen a rotary phone in decades.
This list is halfway to idiotic. It represents the can’t-do list of a couple of coastal American white boy geeks who live in a tiny world whose world is limited to the computer screen. These people think they are in some position to declare something obsolete because they themselves don’t use a skill in their tiny, uniformed world? Can you spell h-u-b-r-i-s or is that obsolete? The skills on the list that are truly obsolete are limited to the flash-in-the-pan world of computers. The rest are things the boys are just not familiar with. Duh.
This list is halfway to idiotic. It represents the can’t-do list of a couple of coastal American white boy geeks who live in a tiny world whose world is limited to the computer screen. These people think they are in some position to declare something obsolete because they themselves don’t use a skill in their tiny, uniformed world? Can you spell h-u-b-r-i-s or is that obsolete? The skills on the list that are truly obsolete are limited to the flash-in-the-pan world of computers. The rest are things the boys are just not familiar with. Duh.
I’m raising teenagers here in america, and am embarrassed to admit that since velcro replaced laces/grommets, my daughter took her time learning how to tie her shoes. When I was a youngster, that was an acknowledged mileston.
Also, my kids, until they were fairly old, would double check an analog clock with a digital. They stiil aren’t comfortable with the “to” or “til” side of the clock. It’s 9:45, NOT a quarter to ten. Yikes. And these kids have brains the size of planets, excellent teachers, and two old fart engineers for parents!
I’m raising teenagers here in america, and am embarrassed to admit that since velcro replaced laces/grommets, my daughter took her time learning how to tie her shoes. When I was a youngster, that was an acknowledged mileston.
Also, my kids, until they were fairly old, would double check an analog clock with a digital. They stiil aren’t comfortable with the “to” or “til” side of the clock. It’s 9:45, NOT a quarter to ten. Yikes. And these kids have brains the size of planets, excellent teachers, and two old fart engineers for parents!
how about kickstarting a motorcycle? rapidly going out of style this one.
how about kickstarting a motorcycle? rapidly going out of style this one.
[...] month also saw the launch of the Obsolete Skills Wiki, an idea originally proposed by journalist Robert Scoble, which preserves such knowledge as how to dial a rotary phone or how to use the eraser ribbon on a [...]
[...] a mention from Scoble, the Obsolete Skills Wiki was born to document skills which just don’t get used anymore. I [...]
[...] Kellett, recently inspired by a Robert Scoble post decided to host a wiki that compiles obsolete skills. Remember when you had to adjust the [...]
Proficient in both Freehand and Pagemaker…
HMK
Proficient in both Freehand and Pagemaker…
HMK
@87 Tuning a crystal set radio. Most of you do not even know what I am talking about since that was about 82 years ago. Enjoyed the comments.
@87 Tuning a crystal set radio. Most of you do not even know what I am talking about since that was about 82 years ago. Enjoyed the comments.
[...] the month-and-a-half since I started the wiki at ObsoleteSkills.com (thanks again for the idea, Scoble), it has been linked to from a whole bunch of blogs and websites, generating almost 3 million [...]
[...] response to this post by Robert Scoble, there are at least two wikis on obsolete skills. One is obsoleteskills.com run by [...]
I have a rotary phone in my living room…I rarely use it, the cordless gets all the attention. It still works just great! I hated it as a teenager we were the only people I knew who owned one. We keep it around as a conversation piece, and my kids think it’s funny.
I have a rotary phone in my living room…I rarely use it, the cordless gets all the attention. It still works just great! I hated it as a teenager we were the only people I knew who owned one. We keep it around as a conversation piece, and my kids think it’s funny.
Geez.
Fishing? Do you know how to design, build and repair a boat? Make fishing line from animal gut? Carve hooks? Make a stone or metal tool to carve the hook with?
Cooking with charcoal for 11 days :rolleyes:? Do you know how to make charcoal?
Do you plan to eat anything but fish and meat, or do you know how to sustainably garden? Do you know how to make hunting weapons?
What about digging a safe well? Constructing a pump? Making pots to cook food and purify water? Making baskets to gather food?
Tanning animal hides? Retting or combing, spinning and weaving fibers?
It’s amazing what passes for “survival skills” among people who’ve never had to do it for more than a couple of days. I guarantee you each one of the skills on this list takes more than “a few hours” to learn.
Geez.
Fishing? Do you know how to design, build and repair a boat? Make fishing line from animal gut? Carve hooks? Make a stone or metal tool to carve the hook with?
Cooking with charcoal for 11 days :rolleyes:? Do you know how to make charcoal?
Do you plan to eat anything but fish and meat, or do you know how to sustainably garden? Do you know how to make hunting weapons?
What about digging a safe well? Constructing a pump? Making pots to cook food and purify water? Making baskets to gather food?
Tanning animal hides? Retting or combing, spinning and weaving fibers?
It’s amazing what passes for “survival skills” among people who’ve never had to do it for more than a couple of days. I guarantee you each one of the skills on this list takes more than “a few hours” to learn.
thats it, brother
thats it, brother
[...] algo de un mes atrás, el blogger Robert Scoble propuso armar una lista sobre habilidades que han quedado obsoletas por los avances de la tecnología. [...]
Miller Time Stratumseind
I know that some people shower a lot, but was surprised by the results of this poll showing that 23% of people shower more than once a day, and that an additional 55% shower every day or almost every day. Several people in the comments on that page als…
[...] posting was inspired by an idea suggested by Robert [...]
For some of poorer folks who couldn’t afford a mimeograph machine, there was the hektograph. You bought a can of this liquid you poured into a large, flat dish and it gelled. Then you used an indelible pencil or a spirit master on a typewriter and made an original. This was “blotted” onto the surface of the gel and subquent sheets of blank paper were pressed onto this transferred image in the gel to create your copies. Slow, crude and CHEAP! I remember using this thing every year when as a kid, Dad sent out reminder cards to members of the community to send in their dues for the volunteer fire department. You could by the gel liquid at office supply stores.
Dean
For some of poorer folks who couldn’t afford a mimeograph machine, there was the hektograph. You bought a can of this liquid you poured into a large, flat dish and it gelled. Then you used an indelible pencil or a spirit master on a typewriter and made an original. This was “blotted” onto the surface of the gel and subquent sheets of blank paper were pressed onto this transferred image in the gel to create your copies. Slow, crude and CHEAP! I remember using this thing every year when as a kid, Dad sent out reminder cards to members of the community to send in their dues for the volunteer fire department. You could by the gel liquid at office supply stores.
Dean
Just a quick note to let you know I was very much inspired by this posting, just last friday I launched a Dutch wiki with obsolote skills, http://www.nuttelozevaardigheden.nl
Just a quick note to let you know I was very much inspired by this posting, just last friday I launched a Dutch wiki with obsolote skills, http://www.nuttelozevaardigheden.nl