Rip Van Winkel

Well King, i grew up before TV or computers. No cordless phones let alone cell phones. Slide rules were the ants pants before calculators came along. The list goes on mate. no plastic or biros. Power tools were very expensive & the domain of the tradesman.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

I am with Grumpy. I can remember when tv broadcasts were limited to 3 channels and programs only aired during prime viewing hours. Slide rules were the only tool available for performing scientific calculations. I first introduced to a hand calculator (not hand-held) in college that was a monstrosity by today’s standards. It definately was bigger than a bread box and could only perform 4 basic math functions.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

One of the biggest changes? Your using it right now.

The internet has empowered everyone to obtain knowledge that required a lot of effort in the past. Forty years ago getting information on cutting a dovetail required a trip to the library or perhaps you could have been lucky enough to know a craftsman who was willing to share information. Back then they were not so willing to share because it was their main income. Now it requires you to type “dovetails” in a google search box. Presto!

Grumpy is right on the cost of power tools back then. Very expensive relative to average income. Couple that with less free time to pursue a hobby like woodworking (mowing the lawn with a reel mower took much more time) and it’s easy to see why there has been such a boom in woodworking as a hobby.

Are we any smarter? Probably not, but we do have a lot more information to help us make decisions.

Good old days…..... blah, you can have them.

-- There is no such thing as scrap wood!, http://www.saltrivergallery.com

I forget where I saw this but ,”Here’s to the good old days, which we are having right now.”

-- bbqKing, Lawrenceville

I think computers and the internet have revolutionized the way people do business. I’m totally amazed at the amount of data that the internet provides. It truely has changed the world. Devices that host the internet in the future will only get smaller and smaller, and faster and faster. Information will be everywhere that we are. We’ll all see amazing things to come.

I read the other day that HP is making TTFT’s (Thin Transparent Film Transistors). It will be like cling wrap only it will host a processor and an image like a screen. They said that the technology will be so cheap, and so advanced, that even soda cans will have animated labels. The application for such a thing would be limitless. Heads up displays on anything flat. You could apply it to your windows and put in the view of a mountain scene, or Rome. You could potentially have “E-Paper” that would never run out of data. The uses are without boundaries.

-- As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17) †

We had the first tv in town. The clostest station was 100 mi away and it was a lot of snow. Toronto and Buffalo were the only channels. I remember that we used to watch wrestling. Gourges George and Angentina Rocca

The car that my father drove was a 1929 Whippet, I wish I had that car today. Dad sold it for $25.00 when we moved to the USA. I saw in a paper when we got there that someone had one for sale for $1000.00 and it was 1930 model.

I remember seeing Jack Ruby, shoot Lee Harvey Oswald. That wasn’t a tape. It was the actual shooting on live TV.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

I remember a time where most people read newspapers and were aware of local, state, and national events. Back then people could name Nobel prize winners and famous people who were famous for the great inventions they brought to our society. People learned how to think in school rather than how to pass tests, and kids played outside instead of text messaging the guy across the room who is playing a video game. By the way, this was not that long ago.

-- making sawdust....

I remember going fishing and not seeing anyone all day. I remember framing lumber that had been on the stump longer than it was on the truck. I remember journeymen craftsmen, not immigrant workers. I remember Made in the U.S.A. when it wasn’t just a ruse to juke import duties where we sent materials offshore to be reassembled and imported with an asterisk. I remember little league not soccer. Football was played in winter, outdoors. Canada had the best hockey teams, not Texas and Florida and helmets weren’t even grandfathered in.

I remember when skateboards went from clay wheels to urethane and I remember too when young girls in diners and coffee shops didn’t call everyone “dude”, regardless of gender.

I remember my favorite birthday present of an astronaut “upside down” pen. Tang. Space Food Sticks. When the ability to rebuild a carburetor or three speed bicycle hub were revered and disposable wasn’t on the label of the few remaining products manufactured “onshore”.

When “service” meant more to customers than it did to the cattle in the pasture. ;-)

And I’m “only” 44.

Karson, you must be older than me!. If only the 1929 whippet was in the family now, or is it?.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

ickle Me Elmo:

There is a factory in Northern Minnesota which makes the Tickle Me Elmo toys. The toy laughs when you tickle it under the arms. Well, Lena is hired at The Tickle Me Elmo factory and she reports for her first day promptly at 8:00 AM.

The next day at 8:45 AM there is a knock at the Personnel Manager’s door. The Foreman throws open the door and begins to rant about the new employee. He complains that she is incredibly slow and the whole line is backing up, putting the entire production line behind schedule.

The Personnel Manager decides he should see this for himself, so the 2 men march down to the factory floor. When they get there the line is so backed up that there are Tickle Me Elmo’s all over the factory floor and they’re really beginning to pile up. At the end of the line stands Lena surrounded by mountains of Tickle Me Elmo’s.

She has a roll of plush red fabric and a huge bag of small marbles. The 2 men watch in amazement as she cuts a little piece of fabric, wraps it around two marbles and begins to carefully sew the little package between Elmo’s legs.

The Personnel Manager bursts into laughter. After several minutes of hysterics he pulls himself together and approaches Lena. “I’m sorry,” he says to her, barely able to keep a straight face, “but I think you misunderstood the instructions I gave you yesterday…”

“Your job is to give Elmo two test tickles.”

-- work from your heart and your spirit will live forever

running water sure is a nice treat

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

good one Dan. I can remember a time when family and neibhors knew each other and would shut down the neiborhood to throw a party. I remember when families did things together. That was in the 70’s

-- There is no such thing as a mistake. Its called a design modification Rick Kruse, Grand Rapids, MI

When I was a kid snow used to come up to around my chin, now it barely reaches my knees… ;)

Seriously, I’m often reminded of a time when I was 17 or 18 and driving my wife’s grandmother home. She was in her late 80’s at the time. We stopped at an intersection and she said, “Aren’t traffic lights grand?”. I’ll never forget this, it put so much into perspective.

-- I'm a wood magician... I can turn fine lumber into firewood before your very eyes! - http://www.woodworkersguide.com