(N/A) Things that have gone by the wayside

RyanB

RyanB

Super Administrator
Management Council Member
PoA Supporter
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Jul 21, 2010
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Chattanooga, TN
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Display name:
Ryan
Remember when you could call a certain number and an automated voice would tell you the current date and time? There used to be one for the city by CenturyTel (now CenturyLink) many years ago.

‘It is Tuesday September 18 @ 3:14pm Eastern Daylight Time’

Of course this was back before the days when everyone had a mobile computer in their pocket.

Is there still a number that will give you this information? Don’t ask me how I thought of this.

<digging through my memory archives on a slow afternoon>
 
Call 202-762-1401 for the time in the eastern time zone in 24 hour time and universal time. Also included is an old time clock ticking in the baack ground.

719-567-6742 for Mountain time.
 
Zeldman said:
Call 202-762-1401 for the time in the eastern time zone in 24 hour time and universal time. Also included is an old time clock ticking in the baack ground.
Click to expand...
Whoa whoa! That’s it!!

Thanks!
 
Dude weren’t you born in like 2001? :0
 
When I was growing up in Southern California the phone number was UL 3-1212. Authoritative woman's voice (sounded like a librarian) in a constant loop intoning, "At the tone the time will be ... eight ... fifteen ... and ten seconds. <beeep> ... <click-click> ... At the tone the time will be ... eight ... fifteen ... and twenty seconds. <beeep> ... <click-click> ... At the tone the time will be ... eight ... fifteen ... and thirty seconds. <beeep> ... <click-click> ...

Good performance throughout, but the plot was a little thin.

I bet that woman spent years at Julliard dreaming of a serious performing arts career, only to wind up as the Pacific Bell time lady. At least I hope her agent negotiated a good residuals deal.
 
Know what's not gone by the wayside?
wkBdI7S.png

A quick POA search shows this abomination of a word has not been posted. I posted an image so we can keep it that way.
 
Pilawt said:
I took its vacuum tubes to the tube tester at the local Thrifty Drug Store.
Click to expand...
Vacuum tubes? Is that what they used to use before Swiffer cleaners?
 
Party line telephone. Pick it up quietly and listen to the neighbor lady gossip.

Remember the scene in Superman (Reeves version) where he's looking for a phone booth and comes upon a pay phone on a stick?

Mattel Thingmaker, and not the new 3D printer version.
 
Floppy Disks! I remember getting my first USB drive in high school at a wopping 8MB of space! I think I found it the other day moving some childhood storage boxes at my parents.

Ryanb said:
Remember when you could call a certain number and an automated voice would tell you the current date and time? There used to be one for the city by CenturyTel (now CenturyLink) many years ago.

‘It is Tuesday September 18 @ 3:14pm Eastern Daylight Time’

Of course this was back before the days when everyone had a mobile computer in their pocket.

Is there still a number that will give you this information? Don’t ask me how I thought of this.

<digging through my memory archives on a slow afternoon>
Click to expand...

Local news channels use to have a weather number you could call with the same automated voice telling you the current weather and that day's forecast.
 
Savings bond stamps. It's been a while, so I can't remember the details. Once a week we'd bring to school whatever loose change we had or whatever our mom's would give us on the way out the door, probably no more than 25c. Then we'd buy a stamp to put in a savings book. Once that book was full, you could trade it in for a savings bond. I remember doing that up until about 3rd grade. Beats me if I ever got a savings bond.
 
Repairing pretty much anything on a consumer/residential level:
  • Try to get buy a globe for a fancy ceiling fan. Nope, ain't happenin', not available, throw that $200 p.o.s. away and buy a new one.
  • Repair a TV? Har.
Buying anything preassembled:
  • Buy a wheel barrel...go to work in the wheel barrel assembly factory.
  • Buy a porch swing...go to work on the porch swing assembly factory.
 
976 numbers. Used to call up for a recorded sex line.
 
All of the telephone stuff reminds me of another thing long gone.

Prank calls. The advent of caller ID pretty much put an end to "Hi, is your refrigerator running?" calls and a ton more.
 
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