Cities were so much cleaner before the development of the horseless carriage.
Posted on 05/30/2014 3:25:36 PM PDT by NYer
“In my first job, each document typed included 5 onion skin papers, separated by carbon papers. If one mistake was made, the entire document was tossed and the process began anew. Hence, emphasis was placed on one’s ability to type without error. Of course, once someone announced that no mistakes could be made, a mistake took place and the document was tossed.”
I was one of two boys in my high school typing class. I knew I needed to know how to type. And I did a lot of typing in high school and college after that.
When I was in Basic Training in the Army, one Saturday we were in formation and the Lieutenant asked if any of us knew how to type. Normally you do not volunteer for anything, but I said I did know how to type. I was ordered to report to the orderly room, and for the next two weeks I replaced the company clerk, who was going on leave. The No Errors allowed applied to everything I typed for that two weeks. I soon learned to type error free. But, oh how it would have been so nice to have a word processor then!
And as for the Word Processor not knowing, that is okay, because I know. I regularly over-rule my built-in Word Processor corrections.
I was at Benning in 1983 and whoever had the assignment of getting the company newsletter out got to type it out on a mimeograph thingy. An error required putting some kind of liquid on the stencil, letting it dry, and then re-typing the word. Oh, what fun.
White-out
Or we could go to the library and look it up. That option seems to be deliberately side stepped. Probably because it is the exact same thing you do with Google except now it is a bit easier.
Countless pointless arguments can be settled with a few keystrokes leaving us with more time to enjoy being with other people.
When the light turned red on us yesterday at a corner, the three other people standing there all pulled out their smartphones.
I agree.
Ah yes, Army & typing. My section chief told the 1SGT that I could type and I became the shadow clerk for the 6 weeks before the annual general inspection retyping all of the battery commander’s policy letters, DFs, & etc. We had just gotten a new commander a couple of weeks before. The 1SGT did offer to have me given a clerk-typist’s MOS as my secondary (I was a 13E, field artillery fire direction center) so that if I decided to make a career of the Army I’d have a 2nd MOS to make it to retirement if my hearing got too bad to continue working with the guns. I declined saying that if I stayed in it would not be in artillery. 3 years later I reenlisted for military intelligence
Well, take cell phone for instance. they didn’t exist 15 years ago. Anyone who is paying attention can see that they are robbing people of their ability to interact with the people around them. They are isolating and somewhat dehumanizing. People used to sing, and in some places like England and South Korea they still do. But here in the USA very few people seem willing to expose themselves to embarrassment by singing.. The songs of todays pop culture are no singable, why? Because they are aimed at people who don’t sing. Every bit of progress is not necessarily a good thing. I asked my students to copy something off the board and one of them said they could not read some of the words because my handwriting was bad. So I said they could copy it from page 96 in their book. And then they said, “Why should we copy it if it’s in our book?” If you don’t understand the problem with that sort of attitude then you are part of the problem. Of course I wanted them to write it down so that they would actually become more familiar with it. But the mentality is that they can just look it up on their phones or “whatever”. We are creating lazy people with all our technological gagets.
My son was a gunny in the Marines. Even developed a faster way to put guns on target that has been written into the manuals.
But as for ‘military intelligence’...some would say that is an oxymoron :)
I completely agree with this. When my wife and I got married, we instructed the DJ that our preference was that the music volume should be lowered such that it fades into the background and doesn’t inhibit conversation among our guests.
Cities were so much cleaner before the development of the horseless carriage.
I'm oooooold! And I'm not happy! And I don't like things now compared to the way they used to be. All this progress -- phooey! In my day, we didn't have these cash machines that would give you money when you needed it. There was only one bank in each state -- it was open only one hour a year. And you'd get in line, seventeen miles long, and the line became an angry mob of people -- fornicators and thieves, mutant children and circus freaks -- and you waited for years and by the time you got to the teller, you were senile and arthritic and you couldn't remember your own name. You were born, got in line, and ya died! And that's the way it was and we liked it!
Life was simpler then. There wasn't all this concern about hy-giene! It my days, we didn't have Kleenex. When you turned seventeen, you were given the family handkerchief. ... It hadn't been washed in generations and it stood on its own ... filled with diseases and swarmin' with flies. ... If you tried to blow your nose, you'd get an infection and your head would swell up and turn green and children would burst into tears at the sight o' ya! And that's the way it was and we liked it!
Life was a carnival! We entertained ourselves! We didn't need moooovin' pitchurrrres. In my day, there was only one show in town -- it was called "Stare at the sun!" ... That's right! You'd sit in the middle of an open field and stare up at the sun till your eyeballs burst into flames! And you thought, "Oh, no! Maybe I shouldn't've stared directly into the burning sun with my eyes wide open." But it was too late! Your head was on fire and people were roastin' chickens over it. ... And that's the way it was and we liked it!
Progress?! Flobble-de-flee! In my day, when we were angry and frustrated, we just said, "Flobble-de-flee!" 'cause we were idiots and we didn't know what else to say! Just a bunch o' illiterate Cro-Magnons, blowin' on crusty handkerchiefs, waitin' in lines for our head to burst into flame and that's the way it was and we liked it!
One of my biggest complaints for a long time. Various forms of media has caused us to become so completely dissociated as human beings, and addicted to "objects" that control us. Like a powerful tool, they should only be used for a specific purpose, and prudently.
Genuine, quality human interaction amongst friends and family has become such a rarity these days. Instead Facebook has taken over as the surrogate, because it's "more convenient." How very sad, and tragic. Humans were not meant to operate by "remote control" or electronically, but sadly, that is what has happened. The technology has been abused horribly.
BTW....nice to "see" everyone here again. One of the reasons why I curtail my "media"...too much of a good thing. Many of God's blessings to all on this Holy Pentecost Sunday.
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