Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

[ortega76]

I have heard about that and wondered, "Well, how are they going to give e a signature to a legal document?" I asked my 8 year old's teacher if they will be teaching it to him next year, so far it seems they will. I am prepared to teach my boys in any case.

I have a feeling we'll be using thumbprints to "sign" all legal documents in a few years. I always found the Japanese use of stamps ("chops"?) for use in official documents to be fascinating.

 

[Tango Yankee]

I have a feeling we'll be using thumbprints to "sign" all legal documents in a few years. I always found the Japanese use of stamps ("chops"?) for use in official documents to be fascinating.

Yup, biometrics will likely be the way to prove your identity for everything from your signature to getting into your car and home.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

If I recall correctly, biometric scanning, aka thumbprints are easily faked.

 

[ortega76]

I just opened a book from the library and I smiled to see the old pocket for due date cards. I miss the librarian stamping them for me. For that matter, I wish I had the room, because the local library was selling off one of their old card catalogs this past summer.

 

[LizzieMaine]

When's the last time anyone saw WANTED BY FBI posters on the post office wall?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

When's the last time anyone saw WANTED BY FBI posters on the post office wall?

Never. I remember going to the post office shortly after moving to where we are now to pick up the mail in the PO box & I don't recall seeing them. That was in late 1988.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

You think they could at least put up local wanted posters.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

When's the last time anyone saw WANTED BY FBI posters on the post office wall?

I used to love leafing through them when I was a kid.

 

[Foxer55]

Lizzie,

When's the last time anyone saw WANTED BY FBI posters on the post office wall?

I believe it is no longer politically correct to put up those posters.

 

[LizzieMaine]

We had them here until very recently, but the space they occupied is now occupied entirely by marketing materials. I can't pinpoint exactly when the change happened, but I'm pretty sure it's just within the past couple of years. That's the way it is with marketing -- it doesn't jump out at you all at once, instead it sneaks up and engulfs you like some vast, all-consuming amoeba.

Wanted posters were the best thing about the post office when I was a kid, that and the smell -- a weird combination of disinfectant and rubber cement.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

We had them here until very recently, but the space they occupied is now occupied entirely by marketing materials. I can't pinpoint exactly when the change happened, but I'm pretty sure it's just within the past couple of years. That's the way it is with marketing -- it doesn't jump out at you all at once, instead it sneaks up and engulfs you like some vast, all-consuming amoeba.

Wanted posters were the best thing about the post office when I was a kid, that and the smell -- a weird combination of disinfectant and rubber cement.

I would venture to guess that the Internet had been instrumental in eliminating wanted posters from the post office.

 

[LizzieMaine]

When's the last time anyone googled "the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List?" I'd be surprised if anyone under 40 even knew that such a thing existed.

 

[jamespowers]

I used to love leafing through them when I was a kid.

Yeah, me too. Those people were usually pretty goofy looking too. lol lol

 

[Shangas]

I have a feeling we'll be using thumbprints to "sign" all legal documents in a few years. I always found the Japanese use of stamps ("chops"?) for use in official documents to be fascinating.

Not just Japan. China too. And it's perfectly legal. Yes. They're called chops. Chinese name-stamps or name-seals. I have one on my desk.

 

[Stray Cat]

They're called chops. Chinese name-stamps or name-seals.

..and it may turn pretty nasty if it gets lost, if I may add.

 

[Shangas]

Chops have a long tradition in China. People still make them. You can buy them easily.

 

[Wally_Hood]

Got one when a traveling student in Hong Kong; can't find it anywhere now. For Westerners, the most familiar use is the stamp of the various owners on paintings, scrolls, and what not; each successive owner would stamp the item with their "chop."

 

[LizzieMaine]

It was also common for silver coins of various countries to circulate thru the Orient -- with chop marks used to affirm that they were deemed by their various owners to be legitimate and not counterfeits. Often these coins would be so marked up that it was difficult to figure out what denomination they were.

 

[Shangas]

China was on the Silver Standard for a long time. It refused to trade with the West in ANYTHING but silver. Salt, gold, western goods...pffft. SILVER.

 

[3fingers]

Considerably more mundane than things from the Orient, but these being discontinued really ticked me off. To rub salt in the wound, the snot nosed stock boy at the grocery store delivered the bad news by saying "Yeah, they quit making those, only the old people ever bought them anyway."