They Still Make You?

They Still Make You? The Business Insider Hopes Not

As the decade winds down, I have stumbled across several lists of technologies and customs that became either obsolete or far less prevalent over the past 10 years.

They Still Make You? covered New York Magazine's list a couple of weeks ago. 

We also covered the Law Librarian Blog's list of obsolete learning technologies.

The Business Insider has compiled it's slide-show of technologies it found had become obsolete in the past decade:

1. PDAs
2. E-mail accounts you have to pay for
3. Dial-up
4. Getting film developed
5. Movie Rental Stores
6. Maps
7. Newspaper classifieds
8. The Landline
9. Long-Distance Charges
10. Public pay phones
11. VCRs
12. Fax machines
13. Phone books, dictionaries, encyclopedias
14. Calling "411"
15. CDs
16. Backing up your data on floppies or CDs
17. Getting bills in the mail
18. Buttons
19. Losing touch
20. Boundaries
21. Paper
22. Bonus: Record Stores

One caveat is that many of these are still ubiquitous---no one knows quite why--- but still a good indicator of what we will be seeing less of in the years to come.

The article is worth the read for the commentary and pictures.

They Still Make You? Learning Technologies We Should Look Out For

As the decade winds down, I have stumbled across several lists of technologies and customs that became either obsolete or far less prevalent over the past 10 years.

They Still Make You? covered New York Magazine's list a couple of weeks ago.

Here is the list put together by the Law Librarian Blog of learning technologies that became obsolete during the aughts:

1. Scantron Sheets

2. Overhead Projectors and Transparencies

3. Classroom VCR/DVD Players

4. Course Packs and Course Readers

5. Photocopiers

6. Microfiche

7. Language and Computer Labs

8. Paper Journals and Periodicals?

Um, maybe not obsolete...or even rare enough to make They Still Make You?  But still, nice to see what our material might be down the road.

They Still Make You? New York Magazine Doesn't Think So

New York Magazine compiled a slide show of 17 things that were ubiquitous at the beginning of this decade (the aughts), and now are either gone, or so rare...well, let's just say that when they do appear, you have to ask "They Still Make You?

Here is New York Magazine's list (helpfully transcribed by the Consumerist):

1. Answering machines
2. Lickable stamps
3. Foldable road maps
4. Cathode ray tube TVs
5. Incandescent light bulbs
6. Paying for pornography
7. Smoking in bars
8. Fax machines
9. Hydrox cookies
10. Cassette tapes
11. The French franc
12. Floppy disks
13. Phone books
14. Polaroid photos
15. Bank deposit slips
16. Subway tokens
17. The Rolodex

My challenge to readers, now, is to be on the look out for these items in your day-to-day life.  Find them, photograph them and send them to theystillmakeyou@gmail.com with a quick narrative of where and how you encountered the item.  As always, we'll post your findings and start a healthy discussion about life in the post-cassette tape era.

Mercury Thermometers

Once upon a time you could find out your body temperature by sticking one of these in an orifice:

(photo by Beth L.)

The mercury thermometer has been phased out over the past generation.  Something about it being made out of glass and containing mercury-- health hazard and all that.

Anyway, reader Vance L. sent in the following story:

A friend related this story to me.  She needed a new thermometer.  She want to a major drug store (beginning with a W) and looked for one.  All she could find were electronic thermometers.  The one she broke was a mercury one.  So she asked a clerk who was about 19 or 20.  He told her there is no such thing.  That mercury is dangerous and she must be mistaken, nobody would put mercury in their mouth.  She was so taken aback by he attitude and ignorance she asked for the manager.  When she told the manager what happened he laughed and took her to a shelf where the thermometers were and reach to the back for a mercury thermometer. 

Mercury thermometers: They Still Make You?

Follow Up Friday

We here at They Still Make You like to revisit past blog posts, and find out what has happened to our found arcana since first writing about it.

• PRI's The Takeaway reported this week that vinyl albums are making a come back, and may be this holiday season's hottest gift.

• A friend told us of her experience encountering a cash only deli.  

The deli had not posted a sign indicating that it was cash only, which is specifically why our friend chose to get a salad at that establishment.  She had canceled her ATM card due to fraudulent activity and was waiting for her bank to issue a new one.  To fill the gap, she was relying on her credit card only.  So, she went into the deli, ordered a big salad, waited as the clerk made it, and then when it was time to pay she flashed the plastic -- you know where this is going-- only to hear:

"Sorry, cash only"

And because our friend could not get cash due to not having an ATM card, she had to walk away from the salad.  The joke's on the deli.  They are the ones who relied on a 'nearly bygone' business practice, failed to post signs informing customers of that fact, and then wasted supplies on a salad they could not sell to our friend because they refused to accept her [necessary] method of payment.

• And finally, a follow up from Katie W., our Tab drinker: "Me and my mom and my aunt are keeping Tab alive!! :)"

Let us know what you think about these things they still make, or anything else.

Cormac McCarthy's Typewriter

The New York Times reports that Cormac McCarthy's typewriter is up for auction at Christie's:

Mr. McCarthy agreed to auction off his Olivetti Lettera 32 and donate the proceeds to the Santa Fe Institute, a nonprofit interdisciplinary scientific research organization with which both men are affiliated.

McCarthy used the Olivtetti to write "No Country for Old Men", "All the Pretty Horses" and "The Road."  As the author explained to the Times,

"I have typed on this typewriter every book I have written including three not published. Including all drafts and correspondence I would put this at about five million words over a period of 50 years.”

According to the Times' report, the auctioning off of this particular typewriter does not signal the end of McCarthy's use of typewriters in general.  McCarthy's friend John Miller tracked down another Olivetti Lattera 32:

“He found another one just like this,” a portable Olivetti that looks practically brand new, Mr. McCarthy said from his home in New Mexico. “I think he paid $11, and the shipping was about $19.95.”

Typewriter users: They Still Make You?

Albums Released on Vinyl

The New York Times reports that author and humorist (St.) David Sedaris's new audiobook, “Live for Your Listening Pleasure,” will be released, in part, on vinyl.

According to the Times,

Reminiscent of Blue Note albums from the 1950s and 1960s, the cover features a photograph of a woman sprawled on a white shag rug with a come-hither look, albums strewn about. Albums are enjoying something of a renaissance, posting $57 million in sales in 2008, more than double the previous year and the best for the format since 1990, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. The format is so rare for audiobooks, however, that the Audiobook Publishers Association has never even tracked its sales.

While the vinyl album will feature 2 out of the 5 tracks from the compact disc version, the album

will [provide] a code enabling purchasers to digitally download the entire program.

Rest assured Gen-Y-ers.  If dragging your parents' old record player out of the attic proves too taxing (or your hipster sibling got to it first), you can just download the whole thing to your iPod and call it a day. 

Albums released on vinyl: They Still Make You?

Faxing Important Documents

A casual perusal of craigslist turned up the following:

"Fax resume with salary requirements."

Businesses that required applicants to fax resumes: They Still Make You?

Analog Watches

A couple of weeks ago, I had the following g-chat conversation with my friend:

Friend: It's always hard for me to adjust to standard time after daylight savings.  It always throws me for a loop.

Jenn: I spent half of today thinking I was really behind schedule-- then I realized I hadn't set my analogue watch back

Friend: An analog watch? Those things still exist????

Analog watches and people who wear them: They still make you?