BS: Old Stuff - Still Good

Subject: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 29 Feb 12 - 11:24 PM

Athough not a report of momentous importance, a recently appearing article got me thinking about some "old things" that still are doing the job, even if we sometimes forget about them.

There likely are some here who don't remember what a "U-2" was [not the music(?) group], and my young trophy bride only thinks she knows what "muscle car" meant when it still meant something.

These two are put together in the recent:

Fast cars and a Cold War icon: U-2 spy planes keep watch on North Korea

The article doesn't say all that much, but there are a couple of "unusually nice" photos that some may find of interest.

The U2 was once made famous (and most people first heard of it) about 50 years ago when a pilot called Hawaii to inform them of an "engine out" situation. When they asked him where he was, he reported "about 115 miles out." When they asked for coordinates to dispatch rescue vessels, he said "don't bother, I'll glide it in." = AND HE DID.

It's nice to hear that it's still being useful.

Others may have more to say about using "Pontiac" and "muscle car" in the same description. ("She" said mustang - and I sort of gagged on it.)

Anyone else (who's old enough to matter) remember any other good examples of old things that still work ?

John

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: Rapparee
Date: 29 Feb 12 - 11:33 PM

Ah, the Soviet Union shot down a U-2 on May 1, 1960 -- 52 years back, pretty near. Francis Gary Powers was the pilot and it caused quite a bit of embarrassment to the US when he didn't have the decency to kill himself and was captured instead. BIG international stink, that.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: GUEST,Paul Burke
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 02:11 AM

What a stupid thing to say Rap. Would you die to save a country "embarrassment"?

Anyway, a real U2 was a 1.5V zinc-carbon battery, of the size known as D these days.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 06:24 AM

While military vehicles designed for use in direct combat (tanks, armored personnel carriers) undergo frequent upgrades, and while the Jeep has been replaced by the Humvee, basic transport vehicles don't appear to have changed a bit in at least fifty years. The supply truck your dad drove may be the same one your grandson is driving.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: Bobert
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 08:47 AM

Our next door neighbor when I was growing up was a U-2 pilot... Of course that wasn't what his title was as they were all classified as "test pilots" (wink, wink...) and, of course, it wasn't talked about but...

... that's what he did...

I'd like to have the job driving the muscle car but I think I'd take a pass on flying one of those planes... I'm a propeller kinda guy...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: saulgoldie
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 09:02 AM

Cross ballpoint pen, Esterbrook fountain pen, Zippo lighter, slide rule, any standard toaster, any standard coffee maker. Or must it be some sort of vehicle? Oh, and Schwinn bicycle. Or any bicycle, really. The most energy efficient form of locomotion in the world. (Lookit up!) Oh again, a Webster's unabridged dictionary. Lotsa olde goode shtuff.

Saul

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: Rapparee
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 10:11 AM

Paul, check out the CIA's reaction to the Powers' shoot-down and that of the CIA Director at the time, Allen Welsh Douglas. And I don't know about myself but there are plenty of those around the world who would.

Another thing that works well is a manual adding/subtracting machine. So do manual transmissions.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 10:15 AM

My house from 1913
My piano from 1906
My lamp shaped like a horse's head from 1945
My quartzite ripples from Baraboo - 2,000,000,000 years old

I was driving a Honda from 1995, but the DH wanted me to have more air bags, so I sold it. It was running fine at the time.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: Bert
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 10:17 AM

Ah yes Saulgoldie, the slide rule I still use one, it can beat the pants off of a calculator for speed.

Then there's the pencil
and beer
and tea
and feet and inches and miles.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 10:41 AM

Good suggestions, all; but if the list is limited to surviving things (still in use) the Schwinn bicycle is a bit iffy. The Schwinn name now belongs to Walmart, and ALL "Schwinn Dealerships" in the US were forced to "take down the name" a year or two ago. It's not known (by me) whether any "real Schwinn" factory still exists.

Walmart has brilliantly stocked only Schwinn accessories for bicycles for several years. Unfortunately, they have NOT stocked any Schwinn bicycles, and the "trade brands" they have sold don't use the same somewhat unique frame tube diameters as the Schwinn. The result of this brilliant strategy is that NO BICYCLE ACCESSORIES you can buy from Walmart will actually "fit" on ANY BICYCLE you get from them, without significant modification and/or significant "redesign ingenuity."

Bicycles, in general, seem to be a surviving (thriving) ancient and still useful device.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: olddude
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 11:25 AM

d28 martin guitar

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: kendall
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 12:42 PM

My 1937 Packard.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: Bill D
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 12:45 PM

The Burgess Shale.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: Rapparee
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 01:43 PM

Horses, for riding, carriages and plowing.
My 1968 Buck knife.
Flintlock, and for that matter matchlock, "gonnes."
Stetson hats.
Chaps.
The manual typewriter.
Vacuum tubes.
My HP 4L laser printer, still in use since 1987 or so.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: Amos
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 02:20 PM

Rapparre is a bit of an expert on things that are Old but still imagined to be Good. You should listen to him.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: kendall
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 02:47 PM

Pocket watches. Right Old dude?

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: gnu
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 02:55 PM

My 1914 Model 94 30cal Winchester. I got one what was built after 1964 and it's a piece a shit in comparison on accounta they made em "by hand" back in the day. The action is tight as a... you know. And the lever is edged so I don't cut my fingers when I'm jackin shells.. etc.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: Rapparee
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 07:21 PM

US Rifle, caliber .30, Model of 1903
US Rifle, caliber .30, Model of 1917
US Rifle, calbier .30, M1

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: number 6
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 07:29 PM

Old stuff still good .... the IBM midrange AS400, now known as the iSeries.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: Bert
Date: 02 Mar 12 - 01:07 AM

Cobol

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Mar 12 - 10:08 AM

Any flavor of Unix.
RS-6000 series.
Text-based coding when graphics aren't needed.
Tight programming.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: Amos
Date: 02 Mar 12 - 10:10 AM

THere are some beaut 50- '55 Chevies still on the road. Wide front seats, stick on the column, go like bat out of hell, make noise like motorboat...

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: Bill D
Date: 02 Mar 12 - 02:05 PM

"good" is a relative term... anyone want a beige Nehru jacket or a pair of Paisley overalls?

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: kendall
Date: 02 Mar 12 - 02:37 PM

Narrow neck tie? Spats?

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: ragdall
Date: 02 Mar 12 - 04:15 PM

My 1918 Edison Amberola phonograph.

rags

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 02 Mar 12 - 05:04 PM

Hi, Bill D. I like the Burgess shale too. My favorite is the animal that looks like a little vacuum cleaner.

A few months ago I visited a museum in Alberta that has a display about those fossils. The Royal Something Dinosaur museum. I recommend it.

Subject: Lyr Add: STUFF THAT WORKS (Guy Clark)
From: michaelr
Date: 03 Mar 12 - 02:19 AM

STUFF THAT WORKS
(Guy Clark)

1. I got an ol' blue shirt And it suits me just fine
I like the way it feels So I wear it all the time
I got an old guitar It won't ever stay in tune
I like the way it sounds In a dark and empty room

2. I got an ol' pair of boots And they fit just right
I can work all day And I can dance all night
I got an ol' used car And it runs just like a top
I get the feelin' it ain't Ever gonna stop

CHORUS:
Stuff that works, stuff that holds up
The kind of stuff you don't hang on the wall
Stuff that's real, stuff you feel
The kind of stuff you reach for when you fall

3. I got a pretty good friend Who's seen me at my worst
He can't tell if I'm a blessing Or a curse
But he always shows up When the chips are down
That's the kind of stuff I like to be around

CHORUS

4. I got a woman I love She's crazy and paints like God
She's got a playground sense of justice She won't take odds
I got a tattoo with her name Right through my soul
I think everything she touches Turns to gold

CHORUS

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: gnu
Date: 03 Mar 12 - 05:39 PM

I got a tattoo with her name
Right through my soul

Now, THAT is pure poetry.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: pdq
Date: 03 Mar 12 - 05:54 PM

The Song "Stuff That Works" is on the CD Dublin Blues. A great place to start if one is not yet a Guy Clark fan

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: frogprince
Date: 03 Mar 12 - 09:44 PM

PDQ, I'll second that.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: Midchuck
Date: 04 Mar 12 - 09:33 AM

The Song "Stuff That Works" is on the CD Dublin Blues. A great place to start if one is not yet a Guy Clark fan

Yup. Except that "The Randall Knife" may make you cry, and that will cost you machismo points.

"If a better blade was ever made, it was surely forged in Hell." Second best free advertising for a manufactured product ever recorded. The first was the conversation between Doc and Merle Travis re Gallagher Guitars, on the original "Circle" album.

P.

Subject: RE: BS: Old Stuff - Still Good
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 04 Mar 12 - 11:25 PM

At the risk of opening a new can of worms, I might suggest that the "Old that's still good" might include "advice" (?).

As in previous threads I've already posted advice for how ladies can more comfortably shave their bits, and in another have explained in detail the nature of tangles in the hair and how best to remove them, I might now suggest that those of the younger generations have not satisfactorily learned:

"How to keep the pudding from sticking to the spoon."

The necessity for this is occasioned by the usual assembling of the dirty dishes for washing up, where I find a number of utensils for which the cultural imperative that one should "lick that knife clean before you stick it back in the butter" has been completely and flagrantly ignored. With "stuff" left stuck to the spoons for long enough to have taken up residence, it often seems necessary to resort to chisels and scrapers to remove sufficent of it for ordinary dishwashing (by hand or by machine) to be fully successful.

The ability to lick the spoon clean before leaving on the plate is a highly desirable thing to acquire.

As there may be differences in what people call "puddings" I'll say that I'm using the conventional US colloquial meaning; but there are lots of edibles that behave similarly. When a clean and dry utensil is inserted, an adherent film is immediately formed that is sufficiently tenacious that when the consumption of the tasty thing is done, it's very difficult to "lick down to the bowl" and leave the utensil ready for the dishpan.

The simple solution, as taught to my granny when I was very young, is simply to "lick the spoon before you stick it in your pudding." If you do this, the first "scum" can't attach itself nearly as tightly, and you can lick the spoon clean and get to enjoy that very last teensy bit of the pudding; and the spoon will be much easier to wash when granny herds yer butt up to the sink and announces that it's time for you to argue with your sis about "who's gonna wash and which one gets to dry."

Not everything one eats with a spoon will require this method, and in a very few situations one might suppose it might seem "socially questionable" but if discretly done for those foods where it's helpful it allows a more complete enjoyment of your treats (you get every last bit off the spoon), and will be found to be quite helpful when you get to wash up after a big family feast.

Those to whom the technique is previously unknown should try it on a few things before offering too many opinions. Of course those where cultural differences apply different names to similar foods may wish to offer their own list of things for which this is a helpful little trick, and if it seems productive perhaps even a list of other things for which it is not.

John