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Vintage Things That Will NOT Disappear In Your Lifetime

Still have an old 1970s label maker but can't source the red or blue plastic strips that were used with them. A pity as they were so much easier to use than the electronic label makers of today.

Boy they sure aren't for me. The electronic one I have is so much faster, easier, clearer to read, come with different fonts and effects, not to mention you're able to correct mistakes before they print.
 

HanauMan

Practically Family
Messages
809
Location
Inverness, Scotland
Boy they sure aren't for me. The electronic one I have is so much faster, easier, clearer to read, come with different fonts and effects, not to mention you're able to correct mistakes before they print.

What you say is true, of course.

I used one at work many times and it worked well until the batteries went flat just as you needed it. It had a thousand different fonts and different colors for the letters and / or backgrounds but we only ever used one color / font combination to keep things standardized on the ward I worked on.
 
Messages
16,814
Location
New York City
Teaching college students, 75% of them prefer paper textbooks heavily. They are willing to pay almost twice as much over an ebook.

When I tell them about how some say "print is dead" half of them look at me like I've grown two heads. Television is far more dead to them than print... and they still consume a lot of television through streaming.

It's funny - newspapers and magazines are struggling in the physical print world (as we talked about above), but physical books - after an initial scare - seem to be doing okay with modest percentage increases in sales the last few years (as ebooks grow too).

It's all still in flux, but right now, the trends say newspapers and magazines will be all or almost all digital, but physical books look like they still have a lot of life in them.
 

2jakes

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,680
Location
Alamo Heights ☀️ Texas
It's all still in flux, but right now, the trends say newspapers and magazines will be all or almost all digital, but physical books look like they still have a lot of life in them.

Yep!
Thanks to "digital", I can read articles and ads from 100 years ago which are very helpful for my bicycle projects. Sometimes I will print a specific item for my files.

65D93088-3D70-45BB-9479-680541259350.jpeg

B9C50981-C926-44A4-A1EE-D03F83AB7FB5.jpeg

Also, have found many rare books @ eBay.

Still....I miss the newsstands and local
book shops.
 
Last edited:
Messages
10,560
Location
My mother's basement
It’s all about the advertising revenue. Or lack thereof.

The eyes on the page, or the screen, is what any commercial visual medium is selling.

Among my mantras when I was in the business was “there has to be something of interest in this paper to just about everyone.” Hence the gardening column, and the crossword puzzle, and the police blotter. From the ad staff’s perspective it mattered not one whit if the circulation numbers were driven by well-researched hard news stories of real importance or fluffy features about some local character’s prize-winning roses or the big goings-on at the senior center.
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
32,962
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
Yep. Journalism in America has always --- *always* -- been driven by the dollar. A newspaper is an advertising circular that uses "content" to get your attention, not an independent means of informing the public by means of courageous, intelligent reporting that happens to be supported by advertising. The tail has always, but always, wagged the dog.
 

3fingers

One Too Many
Messages
1,797
Location
Illinois
I no longer live where my family all came from but I still get the weekly paper. Last year I took the digital option. It was only slightly cheaper (not enough less considering the costs of paper and postage they aren't paying). I hate it. My subscription runs out soon and they will have to resume mailing it to me. Some things aren't better in their modern form.
 

Haversack

One Too Many
Messages
1,193
Location
Clipperton Island
One thing about radio out here in Fire and Earthquake Country is that a small radio is considered essential in one's emergency/bug-out bag. (Even better are the hand-crank radios that are often pledge-drive bonuses from public radio stations). Radio is still the best to quickly disseminate information quickly and broadly.
 

scottyrocks

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,160
Location
Isle of Langerhan, NY
It's funny - newspapers and magazines are struggling in the physical print world (as we talked about above), but physical books - after an initial scare - seem to be doing okay with modest percentage increases in sales the last few years (as ebooks grow too).

It's all still in flux, but right now, the trends say newspapers and magazines will be all or almost all digital, but physical books look like they still have a lot of life in them.

I wonder if there was as a big a hullaballoo when they went from carved stone tablets to printed parchment.
 
Messages
10,560
Location
My mother's basement
I wonder if there was as a big a hullaballoo when they went from carved stone tablets to printed parchment.

We really can’t downplay the effects of the printing press. It was bad news for scribes, and for those with an interest in keeping the masses illiterate. But for the run of humanity it opened the doors to knowledge and political power.
 
Messages
10,560
Location
My mother's basement
In this thread, just a minute ago, was a paid ad for — get this — a phone booth! Judging from what little the ad told me (without entering my contact info), the product seems to be aimed at office environments, where people might wish to carry on a conversation without being disturbed, or overheard.

I’ve mentioned before a drinking establishment with a phone booth built in to a wood-paneled wall. The payphone that was once in that booth is long gone, but the booth itself still serves as a place to carry on a telephone conversation with being disturbed or disturbing others.

It’s a grand idea, provided there’s a few square feet available for it.
 
Messages
10,342
Location
vancouver, canada
In this thread, just a minute ago, was a paid ad for — get this — a phone booth! Judging from what little the ad told me (without entering my contact info), the product seems to be aimed at office environments, where people might wish to carry on a conversation without being disturbed, or overheard.

I’ve mentioned before a drinking establishment with a phone booth built in to a wood-paneled wall. The payphone that was once in that booth is long gone, but the booth itself still serves as a place to carry on a telephone conversation with being disturbed or disturbing others.

It’s a grand idea, provided there’s a few square feet available for it.
When I was working my work took me into a great many office suites. Many of the new open concept high tech offices had little mini telephone rooms that you escape to and find some privacy for a phone call.
 

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