I Realized That I'm Really Old!

[columbus]

When I discouraged my kids from watching the Three Stooges because they were
too 'violent'.

I am so old that my mother seriously controlled our media consumption. I wasn't allowed to watch Star Trek*, because she didn't approve of it. The Three Stooges were also on her bad list, although us kids saw it once in awhile because my dad liked them.
Tom

*not allowed to watch it at home. My parents firm parenting set a really low bar for Forbidden Fruit. That probably had more influence on my character than the actual rules

 

[BSM1]

When I tell people that life is possible without cell phones. We used to function just fine without them.

...,or TV shows use to not be in color...

 

[Polymath257]

Pretty soon I won't remember it either.
Different phenomenon?

You know they say memory is the second thing to go as we age?

 

[Wu Wei]

How I know I'm old

I use to have to get off the couch to change the channels on the black and white TV with only 3 channels
I use to have to manually roll the windows up in the car
I use to dial the wired telephone
Remember when the Internet didn't exist
And if you wanted to get information you went to a library, not your computer
We all wanted electric typewriters to make life easier
And lastly, there was no computer in my house...or any school I had been in, by the time I graduated high school....

 

[Polymath257]

How I know I'm old

I use to have to get off the couch to change the channels on the black and white TV with only 3 channels
I use to have to manually roll the windows up in the car
I use to dial the wired telephone
Remember when the Internet didn't exist
And if you wanted to get information you went to a library, not your computer
And lastly, there was no computer in my house...or any school I had been in, by the time I graduated high school.... we all wanted electric typewriters

My wife mentioned having to take punchcard lessons in high school. Because that was going to be *useful*.

 

[Father Heathen]

I remember when electronics had faux wood paneling and when you turned the channel, you literally did so with a clicking nob. Oh, and UHF and VHF were a thing.

 

[Brickjectivity]

When movies showed on TV they were called 'Specials', because it was special to put a movie on TV.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

How I know I'm old

I use to have to get off the couch to change the channels on the black and white TV with only 3 channels
I use to have to manually roll the windows up in the car
I use to dial the wired telephone
Remember when the Internet didn't exist
And if you wanted to get information you went to a library, not your computer
We all wanted electric typewriters to make life easier
And lastly, there was no computer in my house...or any school I had been in, by the time I graduated high school....

I'll bet that you also remember Polaroid cameras and flash bulbs, paint-by-number kits, hand held transistor radios, Fizzies, skate keys, typewriters, carbon paper, purple mimeographs, pay phones, Roosevelt dimes, station wagons, Beeman's and Blackjack gum (five cents), saccharine, bicycle pumps, rooftop antennas, Sambo's restaurants, sardine cans with metal keys for twisting off the metal tops, tin (not aluminum) foil, dedicated car phones, bobbie pins, butch wax, shoe polish that rolled on as a liquid, Radio Flyer red wagons, leaded gas (and ethyl), PanAm airlines, Woolworth's, Brylcreem and Wildroot, Blue Chip and Green Stamps, slide rules, metal ice trays with levers, pinball machines, wax mustaches and teeth, mercurochrome, milk delivered to the door, and twenty minute waits after eating before being allowed into the pool.

The days of introducing a stuttering pantsless pig as cartoon character for kids, and ending an animated sicom's theme song with "We'll have a gay old time" are probably gone for good as well.

 

[columbus]

I use to have to get off the couch to change the channels on the black and white TV with only 3 channels

I am so old that my dad had a voice activated TV remote.
"Tom, put it on channel 4"

Tom

 

[Polymath257]

I'll bet that you also remember Polaroid cameras and flash bulbs, paint-by-number kits, hand held transistor radios, Fizzies, skate keys, typewriters, carbon paper, purple mimeographs, pay phones, Roosevelt dimes, station wagons, Beeman's and Blackjack gum (five cents), bicycle pumps, rooftop antennas, Sambo's restaurants, sardine cans with metal keys for twisting off the metal tops, tin (not aluminum) foil, dedicated car phones, bobbie pins, Radio Flyer red wagons, leaded gas (and ethyl), PanAm airlines, Woolworth's, Brylcreem and Wildroot, Blue Chip and Green Stamps, slide rules, metal ice trays with levers, pinball machines, wax mustaches and teeth, mercurochrome, milk delivered to the door, and twenty minute waits after eating before being allowed into the pool.

The days of introducing a stuttering pantsless pig as cartoon character for kids, and ending an animated sicom's theme song with "We'll have a gay old time" are probably gone for good as well.

I *loved* the smell of mimeograph fluid!

And I think I was the last person to get a slide rule when heading off to college.

I also typed my own dissertation *in math*, although on an electric typewriter with removable 'balls'.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

...,or TV shows use to not be in color...

or even when in color, only owning a b&w tv...

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

I *loved* the smell of mimeograph fluid!

Did you see Fast Times at Ridgemont High? (6 second excerpt)

 

[Polymath257]

Roosevelt dimes,

You mean *Mercury dimes*? Roosevelt dimes are still being minted.

 

[pearl]

saw it once in awhile because my dad liked them.

As did my husband. Another of his favorites that I banned from the kids was the old Sat afternoon, I think, wrestling matches.

 

[Wu Wei]

My wife mentioned having to take punchcard lessons in high school. Because that was going to be *useful*.

First college computer class was Fortran with punch cards.

I'll bet that you also remember Polaroid cameras and flash bulbs, paint-by-number kits, hand held transistor radios, Fizzies, skate keys, typewriters, carbon paper, purple mimeographs, pay phones, Roosevelt dimes, station wagons, Beeman's and Blackjack gum (five cents), saccharine, bicycle pumps, rooftop antennas, Sambo's restaurants, sardine cans with metal keys for twisting off the metal tops, tin (not aluminum) foil, dedicated car phones, bobbie pins, butch wax, shoe polish that rolled on as a liquid, Radio Flyer red wagons, leaded gas (and ethyl), PanAm airlines, Woolworth's, Brylcreem and Wildroot, Blue Chip and Green Stamps, slide rules, metal ice trays with levers, pinball machines, wax mustaches and teeth, mercurochrome, milk delivered to the door, and twenty minute waits after eating before being allowed into the pool.

The days of introducing a stuttering pantsless pig as cartoon character for kids, and ending an animated sicom's theme song with "We'll have a gay old time" are probably gone for good as well.

HEY!!!! How old do you think I am....Skate keys are before my time.....or at least I think they were.....

I am so old that my dad had a voice activated TV remote.
"Tom, put it on channel 4"

Tom

I remember when my Grandparents got a "Big" console TV (remember those)...that was color and had a remote. It had 2 buttons, manual buttons, one for going up the channels and the other for going down. If you wanted to turn the thing on or adjust the volume you had to go to the TV...but you could change channels...all 3 or 4 of them....sitting on the couch....or from the back porch.... I was in elementary school at the time and I was wondering what the range of the remote was...I got as far as the pack pouch....of course it took a few tries... I was to short to aim the remote at the TV through the window...so I had to jump up and down...outside...on the back pouch...until I got it right.... and while I'm at it...does anyone call it the back porch these days

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

You mean *Mercury dimes*? Roosevelt dimes are still being minted.

Oops! You're correct. Thanks.

Add buffalo nickels to the list as well.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

First college computer class was Fortran with punch cards.

First programming was in SAAL (single address assembly language) and the output medium included paper tape. The computer was a Ford Philco with 32K working space.

Remember the computer printer paper with alternating green and with horizontally striped fields and holes on the side that were detachable?

 

[Wu Wei]

First programming was in SAAL (single address assembly language) and the output medium included paper tape.

Remember the computer printer paper with alternating green and with horizontally striped fields and holes on the side that were detachable?

I have no idea what you are talking about .,...never heard of, seen. or worked on a Dot Matrix printer...err...umm...I mean....there was a printer with paper like that

 

[columbus]

Remember the computer printer paper with alternating green and with horizontally striped fields and holes on the side that were detachable?

The back side was white. My dad brought home bales of used paper from work for the kids to color on.
Tom

 

[Unveiled Artist]

I am NOT old. I repeat, I am NOT old. My body may be aged 72, but that has nothing to do with me. Old is still 20 years into the future although that might be getting down to 19 soon.

I think you got your numbers wrong. You're 27 remember?