Inventions whose time has passed - Page 2

**Jennifer G.** · #16 Feb 16, '12, 5:53 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by cjmclark

32% of homeowners with a 2-car garage can only fit 1 car inside, and 25% of all homeowners with garages don't park any cars in them.

I would say in my neighborhood this statistic is closer to 75%.

Same with my aunt's neighborhood. It's all new houses, but it looks more like a sports gym storage for kids toys.

Bobby Jim · #17 Feb 16, '12, 7:42 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Georgia

Here's one, the mechanical clock. They're pretty much all electric now. No one winds a clock and they no longer tick.

When we are attacked by an Electromagnetic Pulse weapon, as some Doomsday prophets predict, your mechanical clock will be the only source of official time in our Neo-Stone Age society - all those electric clocks will only be right twice a day. The official Time keeper will thus assume a position of status and authority, making him or her a target for attacks from those who would usurp that authority.

Bobby Jim · #18 Feb 16, '12, 7:47 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by cjmclark

The garage.

Once a great place to work on your car while listening to TV on your radio.

Attachment 13050

Now, since your a** is on the couch watching your hi-def TV and you're not working on your own car anymore, it's a great place for all your extra junk.

Attachment 13051

32% of homeowners with a 2-car garage can only fit 1 car inside, and 25% of all homeowners with garages don't park any cars in them.

I would say in my neighborhood this statistic is closer to 75%.

I fit both cars in the garage. But there's not enough light to really work on the car. I'd probably mess it up anyway. Dang computer controls everything now. And if I mess with the computer I won't pass the California smog inspection. Back to parking myself on the couch in front of the hi-def TV....

Inego de Loyola · #19 Feb 16, '12, 7:48 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobby Jim

When we are attacked by an Electromagnetic Pulse weapon, as some Doomsday prophets predict, your mechanical clock will be the only source of official time in our Neo-Stone Age society - all those electric clocks will only be right twice a day. The official Time keeper will thus assume a position of status and authority, making him or her a target for attacks from those who would usurp that authority.

I'll just give them the sundial from my backyard

Bobby Jim · #20 Feb 16, '12, 9:58 pm

With all due respect to suggestions like mechanical vs electric clocks, and carburetor vs fuel injection, I was not merely thinking about one technology being superceded by another, like the way CDs superceded cassette tapes superceded 8-tracks.

I was thinking more along the lines of all the great ancillary inventions that go by the wayside as these technological changes happen.

So for example, back in the mid- to late '80s, there were all kinds of great things you could get to enhance your cassette tape listening experience. My parents had a nice tape deck (with the silver matte finish) with two levels of Dolby Noise Reduction, a 3-way switch to optimize performance for "Normal", "Metal", and "CrO2" tapes, a digital display for the audio level on the left and right stereo channels, a very smooth "eject" mechansim, and jacks for a left and right mike so the two kids could record their own play-by-play and color commentary for the big game, plus we had the big headphones with the 1/4" jack so you could look like the real deal and listen to yourself live.

And one of my friends had the boom box with the dual tape decks with the high-speed play & record, so you could copy your friend's new Van Halen tape in just 5 minutes, and then create a mix tape with that, along with some Journey, Bon Jovi, and Def Leppard for your girlfriend, with an overdub button and a built-in mike so you could record your own personal DJ remarks between songs.

With the death of the cassete format, you can't get cool stuff like that anymore. And if you could you'd find that your awesome mix tape was just a bunch of whispers and hisses, like I found when I popped my "Chicago 17" cassette into my car's tape player after sitting in there for about 14 years worth of the summer heat. It's a pity, or "c'est dommage" as the French say.

LegoGE1947 · #21 Feb 17, '12, 3:58 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inego de Loyola

I'll just give them the sundial from my backyard

Of course all this might cause the earth to rotate backwords so that the sun would rise in the west and set in the east.

Inego de Loyola · #22 Feb 17, '12, 4:26 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by LegoGE1947

Of course all this might cause the earth to rotate backwords so that the sun would rise in the west and set in the east.

So then, TIME WOULD MOVE BACKWARDS

on topic though VHS re-winders. though they may not count as they were superseded by these:

.....

Catholic90 · #23 Feb 17, '12, 6:12 am

For mixtapes, you just create a playlist for iPod. With the audio editing programs one can add comments. Now kids make YouTube clips and post them online! With smartphones, they can access the video anywhere.....

centurionguard · #24 Feb 17, '12, 6:32 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Catholic90

Answering machines are no longer needed.

Well; not the Answering machines that had an erasable loop cassette tape.
Today's are all electronic base phones with wireless phone sets placed around the house.

Guess I never really liked phones really. Their convenient strictly when you have to use one only.

But I like the answering machine aspect to monitor your calls especially during supper time between 4pm and 8pm when you get 1001 pesky calls either trying to sell you something, charities outside the church wanting money, or someone asking you to do a phone survey.
I don't know it gets irritating after a while.

Incidentally; I don't own a Cell phone, never will...why?
Don't want a noose around my neck. People today are more attached to their cell phone than they are to God.

Here's an interesting article about cell phone craziness. http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/smar...our-cell/23057

manualman · #25 Feb 17, '12, 8:40 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Catholic90

Voice comes included with my cell phone. I just forward my land line to my cell phone, so anyone who calls my land line gets my cell phone. If I don't answer, they can leave a message on my cell phone.

Easy peasy.

So your solution is to use cell phone minutes to get your messages instead of pushing one button on a machine. Each to his own.

Side rant: PLEASE people set up your voice mail as follows: "Hi it's Joe, leave a message." Please kill the long, tortured process of beeps and canned messages followed by the personalized message. We all just want to leave the message and move on!

Neil_Anthony · #26 Feb 17, '12, 9:01 am

Banana peeler devices

K-McD · #27 Feb 17, '12, 2:02 pm

Simple:

UNIONS

Catholic90 · #28 Feb 17, '12, 2:10 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by manualman

So your solution is to use cell phone minutes to get your messages instead of pushing one button on a machine. Each to his own.

Side rant: PLEASE people set up your voice mail as follows: "Hi it's Joe, leave a message." Please kill the long, tortured process of beeps and canned messages followed by the personalized message. We all just want to leave the message and move on!

Well, I NEVER use all my minutes in my plan, and I have rollover minutes, so I have thousands.......

I text more than I talk, too, so there is that! The nice thing about my cell phone is that I can program the repeat telemarketing numbers as "Telemarketer" on my caller ID (not the "unknown caller" that usually shows up!) so I know not to answer if a telemarketer calls. They never leave messages. So --- no minutes used!

Irishmom2 · #29 Feb 17, '12, 5:15 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Catholic90

Voice comes included with my cell phone. I just forward my land line to my cell phone, so anyone who calls my land line gets my cell phone. If I don't answer, they can leave a message on my cell phone.

Easy peasy.

Well maybe easy for you. But then again, you also think math is fun.

LegoGE1947 · #30 Feb 17, '12, 5:25 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inego de Loyola

So then, TIME WOULD MOVE BACKWARDS

on topic though VHS re-winders. though they may not count as they were superseded by these:

.....

Why would we need a DVD rewinder? I think the world needs a screen door for submarines.

Also when I was a child we had a local news broadcast on tv that was sponsored by Schlitz Beer. They had on the set a world globe with the name Schlitz Beer on it that rotated backwards!