Obsolete skills
Discussion
jas xjr said:
Mental arithmetic. Nobody seems to bother at work,they reach for a calculator instead.
Letter writing,when was the last time anybody wrote one of those ?
Interesting one that. I decided to write to a magazine the other day and when I looked at the letters page of the current issue, I noticed every letter had been sent via e-mail. Disappointed by this, I promptly picked up my pen and paper.Letter writing,when was the last time anybody wrote one of those ?
Fishtigua said:
kev b said:
Setting up carbs and distributors, points gap/dwell, timing.
A daily job on Yank V8s and V6 outboards, thanks.Stick your vacuum gauge up your bum, I can balance carbs by ear
I can also tune a trembler coil by ear, double clutch, heal toe, use a crash box, use a file on small jobs quicker than you can set it up on a milling machine, sharpen chisels, use a library.
Morse Code - A1A - Wireless Telegraphy
Taught to professional standard but sadly no British Merchant fleet to speak of back in the '80s so no jobs for wet-behind-the-ears ROs.
A skill that's never left me though (tad rusty perhaps!) and I recall at the end of three years training that I could identify every other member of my class (sending Morse) by ear. Everyone had their own peculiarities, almost like an accent.
Anyone else remember the good old Datong Morse Tutors?
Taught to professional standard but sadly no British Merchant fleet to speak of back in the '80s so no jobs for wet-behind-the-ears ROs.
A skill that's never left me though (tad rusty perhaps!) and I recall at the end of three years training that I could identify every other member of my class (sending Morse) by ear. Everyone had their own peculiarities, almost like an accent.
Anyone else remember the good old Datong Morse Tutors?
Major Fallout said:
Fishtigua said:
kev b said:
Setting up carbs and distributors, points gap/dwell, timing.
A daily job on Yank V8s and V6 outboards, thanks.Stick your vacuum gauge up your bum, I can balance carbs by ear
I can also tune a trembler coil by ear, double clutch, heal toe, use a crash box, use a file on small jobs quicker than you can set it up on a milling machine, sharpen chisels, use a library.
Welcome to my hell!
Pot Bellied Fool said:
Morse Code - A1A - Wireless Telegraphy
Taught to professional standard but sadly no British Merchant fleet to speak of back in the '80s so no jobs for wet-behind-the-ears ROs.
A skill that's never left me though (tad rusty perhaps!) and I recall at the end of three years training that I could identify every other member of my class (sending Morse) by ear. Everyone had their own peculiarities, almost like an accent.
Anyone else remember the good old Datong Morse Tutors?
I do. I tried and tried to learn Morse for ham radio. "listen to it as if it's music" they said, plus loads of other tips but I just did not sink in.Taught to professional standard but sadly no British Merchant fleet to speak of back in the '80s so no jobs for wet-behind-the-ears ROs.
A skill that's never left me though (tad rusty perhaps!) and I recall at the end of three years training that I could identify every other member of my class (sending Morse) by ear. Everyone had their own peculiarities, almost like an accent.
Anyone else remember the good old Datong Morse Tutors?
AW111 said:
DervVW said:
map reading is fast becoming a lost art... bad thing?
I didn't mention that one, since I map-read competetively Although in Historic rallying, so probably counts as obsolete.
I also have a boat, and if you can't read a map, you shouldn't be out on the water, IMO.
shouldbworking said:
Those were the days. 
227bhp said:
That isn't welding. 
Mmmm not sure about that - to get the outer case out, you need a nice deep line of high power weld filler, and you can only do that if you can weld. And then you go and hit this with a hammer, so the weld integrity gets tested.(I can see where you're coming from though, so the distant whooosh has gone somewhere else)
Gorilla Boy said:
AW111 said:
Prompted by a post in the trivial thread, I have the following skills, among others :
Drafting (pen & ink on film)
Stick arc welding
Hand splicing wire rope
All of these took time and effort to learn, earned me money at the time, and are now totally obsolete.
What collection of useless skills do we have on PH?
What should we do with that power?
Ive literally just come off a ship where i was the sole engineer on board, had to use stick welding to fix a broken crosstree and the AB had to splice some new towing rope..Drafting (pen & ink on film)
Stick arc welding
Hand splicing wire rope
All of these took time and effort to learn, earned me money at the time, and are now totally obsolete.
What collection of useless skills do we have on PH?
What should we do with that power?
KaraK said:
I suppose I'm pretty handy in a couple of programming languages that are all but extinct if that counts? Actually I suppose it's sort of a built in thing with IT - I've probably got the knowledge to do hundred of IT things that just aren't even remotely relevant to anything you'd encounter today (fine tuning config.sys and autoexec.bat anybody?)
Yeah, and setting of the irq's dmas for sound/graphis cards. Sounds a bit tossy, but i miss all that stuff in windows - stop making it so damned easy. I suppose i could just install unix?!hidetheelephants said:
Gorilla Boy said:
AW111 said:
Prompted by a post in the trivial thread, I have the following skills, among others :
Drafting (pen & ink on film)
Stick arc welding
Hand splicing wire rope
All of these took time and effort to learn, earned me money at the time, and are now totally obsolete.
What collection of useless skills do we have on PH?
What should we do with that power?
Ive literally just come off a ship where i was the sole engineer on board, had to use stick welding to fix a broken crosstree and the AB had to splice some new towing rope..Drafting (pen & ink on film)
Stick arc welding
Hand splicing wire rope
All of these took time and effort to learn, earned me money at the time, and are now totally obsolete.
What collection of useless skills do we have on PH?
What should we do with that power?
At the Monaco GP weekend. Could there be a more high profile venue to break down?
Bastid thing.
Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff