A true sign of getting old? [Archive]

Desmo

02-10-2009, 11:37

We've got a young lad who comes in after school and does a few odd jobs for us at work here. He was talking about what he'd been up to at school that day and said that in their design/craft class (or whatever it's called these days) they were using the school laser cutting machine.

My reply was...."blimey, back in my day all we had were lumps of wood and chisels" :o

Makes you feel really old ;D

Flibster

02-10-2009, 11:46

They're not allowed hacksaws, chisels or knives in case they hurt themselves...

Laser cutters... fine. No sharp bits..

Davey_Pitch

02-10-2009, 13:02

They're not allowed hacksaws, chisels or knives in case they hurt themselves...

They are in my school, and it's an all-girls school! Must admit it looks quite funny when I look in the technology classes as half the girls don't appear to know which is the sharp end!

Muban

02-10-2009, 13:04

I felt old when work experience guys tell us about the great PC steups their schools have.

I remember just before I left we got some of these http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=1011&st=1 Oh yeah baby!

Flibster

02-10-2009, 13:06

Creature

02-10-2009, 13:17

Even I didn't have laser cutters. Don't tell me i'm getting old too :(

Stan_Lite

02-10-2009, 13:39

When I was a lad it wasn't called design/craft, it was called woodwork and metalwork. We only had one bandsaw for the whole school, never mind lasers.

We had no safety specs/goggles and no gloves or protective clothing of any sort (except when working in the forge) - we had a box of sticking plasters and a tub of Swarfega.

Mark

02-10-2009, 13:48

I remember just before I left we got some of these http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=1011&st=1 Oh yeah baby!

Even before I clicked on the link I knew what it was...

I've broken, oh so many of them...

I've still got one. Last switched on about 10 years ago so no idea if it still works. :)

So, who wants to break it? ;D

Fayshun

02-10-2009, 14:00

Justsomebloke

02-10-2009, 14:38

I'm with Stan, We did Wood work or Metal work, I Loved them both but much mischief was had. :evil:
I'd have been able to attack the next class as well as my own with a Laser cutter. :D

Stan_Lite

02-10-2009, 15:55

I'm with Stan, We did Wood work or Metal work, I Loved them both but much mischief was had. :evil:

It's amazing how much fun you can have with a hacksaw, a 1/2" spanner and a can of WD40 when you're an adolescent boy :evil:

Grandad

02-10-2009, 16:23

certainly remember WD40 flamethrowers :p

Fayshun

02-10-2009, 17:04

The day the metalwork teacher went off sick and the woodwork teacher said "I'll trust you lot to work unsupervised" was the most productive one ever. Shuriken, throwing knives......

Jonny69

02-10-2009, 18:42

The freshers at university with me were born in 1991 :shocked:

Nobody had mobile phones when I was a fresher...

I had, like, a grant and stuff.

Nutcase

02-10-2009, 19:26

Nimbus' were modern, BBC B's and Masters here (still got 2 and 1 respectively :cool:).

I popped to the local to work snooker club for lunch today with a friend (I lost 2 nil at pool, but not touched a cue since Nov last year...).

There was a class of year 8 or 9 kids in playing snooker. It's a lesson apparently :shocked:

Feek

02-10-2009, 19:53

Nimbus' were modern, BBC B's and Masters here (still got 2 and 1 respectively :cool:)

We had a Commodore PET and some old thing that filled a room and ran on a very archaic version of BASIC with a terminal and tape reader.

Oly-593

02-10-2009, 20:17

Ha yeah. I remember the maths teacher had a Commodore Pet in his classroom and used to act like a King sat in front of his wee little green screen. ;D
Couple of years later we got a few BBC Micros' in with those 5 1/4 inch floppy drives and the 'Computer Studies' lesson was born.

All a bit late for me though, as I left school shortly after and discovered alcohol and girls were far more interesting.

By the time I kinda got back into computers my brain was well pickled and it was all about this 'PC' stuff and Windows 98! ;D

Mark

02-10-2009, 20:58

We had a Commodore Pet at my first boarding school. At my second boarding school, we had about 4 BBC Model Bs.

We then became the first (or at least one of the first) schools in the country to get the entire school wired up with a network of Nimbus PCs (the original model - the one linked above is a newer design). I volunteered to help with setting it all up and keeping it running (with another pupil and our Physics teacher). Even got a trip to RM headquarters out of it.

In the process, I learned enough to know how to bring down an entire network in about 5 seconds (mentioned it to a tech at a show and he asked for a demo - so I did :evil:). I like to think I did a good job on the network. I didn't do so good at my grades. :o

Nutcase

02-10-2009, 21:49

I got hauled up in front of the head of IT in my first week of secondary school for changing "Welcome to the Boswells School network" to "Welcome to the ****hole School network" ;D

Darrin

02-10-2009, 23:18

Woodwork Class - a place to laminate oak and teak together and spin it up on a lathe to make a multi-colored attitude adjuster (ie - baseball bat)

Metal Shop - a place to make plate steel Damascus style, then cut out throwing stars and see how far we could embed them in the cinder block wall. Also a place to watch a 50lb cylinder of acetylene come out of its mounting and fall on the floor - valve first. Quite the rocket show out of that one!! :shocked:

semi-pro waster

03-10-2009, 00:32

I've still got one. Last switched on about 10 years ago so no idea if it still works. :)

So, who wants to break it? ;D

Break it? Those things will outlast us all. I've had mates try to destroy old IBM PS/2s and despite flicking the power switch on and off a couple of hundred times they still switch on as if nothing has happened.

Grandad

03-10-2009, 01:22

IT anyone remember the RML 350z ?

and what is metalwork without a BASTARD file ? :p

Mark

03-10-2009, 10:45

I suspect you mean 380Z (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_Machines_380Z), and yes, I certainly do. Now those were built solid - metal case and two hulking great handles on the front.

I did my first bit of serious assembly language programming (still as a pupil) on one of those. Physics lab had one, and had bought an interface to plug in to it for taking measurements. Trouble was it either didn't come with any software or the software was crap slow, so I wrote an interface - in assembler - between it and the BASIC interpreter those machines were supplied with.

Streeteh

03-10-2009, 12:09

I've recently found employment in a school (network maintenance, it's basic as hell but it pays over £22k which seems to be the best i could hope for as a graduate from an average uni with no real work experience). When i was pottering around a class a couple of weeks back a teacher mentioned that time when a guy started a campaign to make Jedi a real religion via the census. One of the children put their hand up and asked:

'Miss, what's a Jedi?'

At which point i exclaimed rather dramatically. Turns out out of that class of 25 year 7s, only one of them had seen a star wars movie and it was one of the new ones, not even the classics.

I felt so old.

Fayshun

03-10-2009, 12:29

and what is metalwork without a BASTARD file ? :p

And tittering over the grease nipples on the metalwork lathe.

Von Smallhausen

03-10-2009, 15:32

We had BBC Model B's.
I am definately turning into my dad too, was driving up to Lom's mums t'other month when we drove past a girl obviously on her way to a night out, short skirt, low cut top, heels, the lot. My first thought was "She'll catch her death of cold going out like that."

Lies ...... ;) Your first thought was * w*** **** ** **** ** *o** ***** ** *** *r** *** **** **** ***** ***s.

Words starred for family forum reasons.

We called it CDT, Craft, Design and Technology and had Archnimedes computers.

For a project I designed an angled mirror to be used for checking explosives under vehicles and doubled as a looking up skirts thingy. This was before I joined the police and became less respectable.

I also made a gadget that bleeped when the bath was at a certain level using a pressure switch from a washing machine.

I could do it then but I really couldn't now. I have forgotten all that stuff now.

Chuckles

04-10-2009, 00:09

A real sign on growing old is interviewing people that were born in the 1990's :(

Darrin

04-10-2009, 01:25

I think the biggest sign I'm growing old is seeing a hot, young coed dressed to kill out shopping and seeing her mum and thinking the mum is hot!! ;)

Jingo

04-10-2009, 14:17

I find it disturbing that I have some posessions older than my girlfriend's little brother! :eek:

I find it hillarious that my uncle probably has socks older than my girlfriend's little brother ;D

Fayshun

04-10-2009, 15:43

I find it hillarious that my uncle probably has socks older than my girlfriend's little brother ;D

I did say to someone the other day "Listen son, I've got socks older than you, and they still work!"

volospian

06-10-2009, 08:50

We had a Commodore PET and some old thing that filled a room and ran on a very archaic version of BASIC with a terminal and tape reader.

lol, same here. We had PET 4000's and only one tape drive, so half the lesson was wasted while everyone had to wait in turn to load thier project, then, about 10 minutes after you managed to load it, it was time to start saving it again.

We also had a BBC Model B, but that was for teachers and "gifted" students only (which, basically meant the son of the IT teacher). Also I remember someone bringing in their brand new ZX-81, complete with RAM pack connected via the impressive HIPWV interface (Held In Place With Velcro).... woah... I mean seriously cutting edge!

Pheebs

06-10-2009, 10:36

The girl I used to baby sit has just left for her freshers week :(

Laser cutters?! What the heck?! That sounds like science fiction! Weird. How they going to cope when they need to like... make a shelf or fudge a door into place or something like that! You need to learn the basics surely?! Madness!

I remember visiting my old school a couple of years ago and saying to one kid:

Me: *all smiley and chirpy* "I used to go to school here once too!"
Kid: "Really? When?"
Me: "Ooooh about... 10-12 years ago!"
Kid: "Hah! I wasn't even born then!"
Me: *one more wrinkle pops onto the face instantaneously*

:(

A sign of getting old too I feel is the whole grunting thing. I clamber into a car and inevitably I go "Oooof" now. Never used to! What's that about!

Knipples

06-10-2009, 10:44

The girl I used to baby sit has just left for her freshers week :(

The girl I used to babysit for just turned 18 :'(

I cant cope with hangovers like I used to, gawd knows how I used to go out 3 - 4 times a week when I was at college and still function. Now I just can't do it.

I also have the "it sometimes aches when I get up" thing :)