Skills For "Living The Era"

[NakedGhost]

I just went through this whole thread, and it's fantastic! Y'all should collaborate on a book or something

As a kid I always wanted to help out around the house but for some cockamamie reason wasn't allowed to, (come on, free labor!), and now I'm surrounded by any number of machines that do all of the work for me...and it makes me feel like just another one of the lazy, convenience-addicted herd. I'm in my early 20s, attempting to get started in my career and moving on with my life, and at a point where I really have to do everything for myself... and you know what, I like doing things the hard way! It's the sort of thing I daydream about.... so now I just need a good guy who'll let me be a house-husband so I can find the time to do it all "properly" ;P

Miss Lizzie, I found this thread with much thanks to you. You're one of the main reasons I keep coming back to this board that I so rarely post on. Keep up the fantastic work, you're a lady to be cherished :]

 

[dnjan]

BP pens came under a lot of fire when they came out. They were leaky, expensive, and unreliable.

And they spawned the scourge of engineers - the pocket-protector.

 

[John in Covina]

Indeed. A lot more people used dollar Esterbrooks from the drugstore, which is why those pens are still very easy to find today, and why the higher-end pens are so valuable.

Most people made do with a plain steel dip pen clipped into a wooden "penholder." Writing with one of these requires a certain knack, as to knowing just how much ink you want to pick up at a dip, but it's an easy skill to pick up with practice.

One thing you will see in movies is that while fountain pens were used by many people, hotels used dip pens for their patrons to sign in the register for a long time afterwards.

 

[John in Covina]

Did you bring your own slabs of marble to school or were they provided free of charge? Or did P.E. class involve quarrying new writing-surfaces?

i remember the paper they handed out in grade school was so coarse that there were small chunks of wood in the paper you had to write around.

 

[John in Covina]

John Updike wrote a lovely piece for the New Yorker lamenting the end of the post office dip pen:

"We liked the old pens... True, they were splayed, split,and encrusted, but seeing a herd of scrawny cattle we do not curse their suffering..."

Full piece here.

A public pen suffers all the indignities that a public basketball hoop does. Someone is always out to ruin it.

 

[Shangas]

In "Hound", Sherlock Holmes deduced the hotel pen and ink from the writing. Because it was so splotchy and scratchy, he figured it had to be a hotel pen. Only a nib that was constantly abused by everyone who touched it, would produce such terrible writing.

 

[jamespowers]

i remember the paper they handed out in grade school was so coarse that there were small chunks of wood in the paper you had to write around.

Like writing on bark.

 

[vitanola]

Like writing on bark.

I would have thought that they were at least using slates by the time you went off to school.

 

[jamespowers]

I would have thought that they were at least using slates by the time you went off to school.

Noep. I had paper. Do tell about slate though. Never heard of it except on the Flintstones.

 

[vitanola]

Noep. I had paper. Do tell about slate though. Never heard of it except on the Flintstones.

I mean that they had progressed beyond bark, and you were writing on slates.

 

[jamespowers]

I mean that they had progressed beyond bark, and you were writing on slates.

If I were writing on slate then you must have been writing on clay tablets. lol lol

 

[vitanola]

If I were writing on slate then you must have been writing on clay tablets. lol lol

No. I'm not quite that old.



Papyrus


Truth be told, in kindergarten and first grade a slate and a pack of chalk were required equipment in our school bags.

This was in 1967 and 1968, in what was then the fastest-growing school system in the country.

I suspect that the "Powers that B+" felt that writing practice on a slate saved rubbish collection, for the quantity of trash for pickup increased tremendously after most of the schools in our district converted their boilers to natural gas firing. By the time I entered the second grade the schools which no longer used coal as boiler fuel were all equipped with incinerators, and slates immediately disappeared from use.

 

[Flicka]

In visiting the bank today, it occurred to me that writing a cheque is probably a GES. I haven't written one in years.

I have never written a cheque, and as far as I know, there hasn't been a single Swedish bank who's handled them for about 10 years.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Truth be told, in kindergarten and first grade a slate and a pack of chalk were required equipment in our school bags.

This was in 1967 and 1968, in what was then the fastest-growing school system in the country.

I suspect that the "Powers that B+" felt that writing practice on a slate saved rubbish collection, for the quantity of trash for pickup increased tremendously after most of the schools in our district converted their boilers to natural gas firing. By the time I entered the second grade the schools which no longer used coal as boiler fuel were all equipped with incinerators, and slates immediately disappeared from use.

And now in 2013 it seems that a laptop is now required equipment in students' school bags.

 

[jamespowers]

And now in 2013 it seems that a laptop is now required equipment in students' school bags.

In public school---yes.

 

[3fingers]

And now in 2013 it seems that a laptop is now required equipment in students' school bags.

The school district I live in began issuing laptops and tablets with the required text books loaded on them 2 years ago. Most of the work is done on them. Apparently little pencil and paper is used now. They claim it is cheaper than buying the text books. I don't know what happens when the machine meets an untimely demise or is lost. This is a rural district, in an agricultural area. If it is not at your school yet, I would wager it is coming soon. The district in the town I work in is much larger, but has only begun to experiment with this process.

 

[LizzieMaine]

So I guess the skill of making a brown-paper-bag book cover is passe?

1. Secure a large brown paper grocery bag.

2. Cut down the side of the bag at the seam, all the way to the base.

3. Cut off the base of the bag.

4. Flatten out the bag with the printed store logo facing you.

5. Place the book to be covered in the center of the bag.

6. Trim the bag until it is about four inches larger all around than the open book.

7. Fold the edges of the bag inward to the width of the book.

8. Insert the front cover of the book into the flaps thus formed by your fold, to approximately three and a half inches.

9. Fold the bag around the edge of the front cover, and burnish with your finger or a pencil to form a firm crease.

10. Repeat with the back cover of the book.

11. Close the book. The paper cover should fit tightly over the closed book.

12. Write the title, your name, and home room on the paper cover. Decorate as desired with random doodles, slogans, or symbols.

 

[jamespowers]

So I guess the skill of making a brown-paper-bag book cover is passe?

1. Secure a large brown paper grocery bag.

2. Cut down the side of the bag at the seam, all the way to the base.

3. Cut off the base of the bag.

4. Flatten out the bag with the printed store logo facing you.

5. Place the book to be covered in the center of the bag.

6. Trim the bag until it is about four inches larger all around than the open book.

7. Fold the edges of the bag inward to the width of the book.

8. Insert the front cover of the book into the flaps thus formed by your fold, to approximately three and a half inches.

9. Fold the bag around the edge of the front cover, and burnish with your finger or a pencil to form a firm crease.

10. Repeat with the back cover of the book.

11. Close the book. The paper cover should fit tightly over the closed book.

12. Write the title, your name, and home room on the paper cover. Decorate as desired with random doodles, slogans, or symbols.

I remember doing that.

 

[3fingers]

^^^ Me too. It's not easy to even find a real grocery sack any more.

 

[dnjan]

So I guess the skill of making a brown-paper-bag book cover is passe?

One could make a brown-paper cover for a laptop as well. Just leave openings for the cooling vents ...