There was a time...

Robson Valley

On a new journey
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,672
McBride, BC
From my #4. Now I gave gone and mislaid BOTH the instructions and the magnifying glass.
Don't believe this. Put my SAK pocket knife down 2 days ago. Where?
 

Wander

Native
Jan 6, 2017
1,418
1,986
Here There & Everywhere
I was out-witted by a thermos yesterday.

You know those ones you have at meetings - a jug of hot water with a lid where you hold the little button down as you pour so it can come out in a frustratingly slow dribble?
Thing is, how do you fill the buggers up? I spent ages trying to work it out.
I nearly did the inevitable - fill it up by the spout. But I knew that wasn't right. I had to be shown how to unscrew the lid...
 
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Robson Valley

On a new journey
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,672
McBride, BC
That's OK, Wander. Some days, learning the filling of the thermos jug is far more valuable that the meeting.

I found the instructions and the magnifier. I had put the shopping on top of them.
The SAK is long gone.
 

Paul_B

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 14, 2008
6,413
1,702
Cumbria
Have you tried to open a Child Safe tablet container?

Push, twist, squeeze. Sure.
Get the pliers and break it off.
I'll lend you my 4 year old!

You've got those containers wrong. They're not to stop children but to teach parents to treat kids better. I mean life and death drugs held in a container only kids can open! World domination through the latest must have kids toy! ;)

Just because my hat is tin doesn't mean it's not happening.
 

Paul_B

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 14, 2008
6,413
1,702
Cumbria
Those thermos jugs? Hate them! Hateful things. They have them in coffee shops. Don't like those places. Coffee is black stuff in a mug or cup which you can choose to add milk or cream to. There's nothing purer than that. I ask for coffee with milk. You what? That's at least 5 options you've given me and I suspect you can go on. Coffee with a little milk to pour in to my requirements. So she tells me I'm getting an Americano.

And then you ask for the milk that she's obviously forgotten. Oh, it's over there in the jugs! I can work a lot of technology kind of pick up on it instinctively but those jugs? Turn the lid one way nothing, the other way, nothing. Keep turning I've just put milk everywhere. So I walk away with a very milky coffee and hope nobody noticed.

Or I get a tiny dribble and the milk has run out. Either way those jugs need de-inventing IMHO.
 

Old Bones

Settler
Oct 14, 2009
745
72
East Anglia
I'd still like a tv that puts on a good picture where I don't have to enter a menu system to make contrast, balance, colour, advanced settings before exiting the menu system to check I like everything. Too much time spent meddling and not watching.

But thats something you should only need to do the once, although same brands (Samsung!) do seem to make like a bit more complex than they need to. AVFourm has a really good guide to setting up a TV, but just putting the TV on 'standard', and turning down the processing and backlighting a bit will be fine for most people. And even CRT TV's had menu systems for colour, etc - they were just a lot more basic.

For example I have to go through an incredibly complicated sequence of events in order to watch freeview on our TV. It involves three remote controls, a high level of manual dexterity and the patience of a saint.

Freeview should be built into all flat TV's - but if you've got another box hooked up to it, if thats powered up, the TV should default to it, which is normally fine but can confuse. I had a couple of customers the other week who'd bought the very decent entry Samsung 6400 4K set, and were complaining of 'black bars' and a poor picture. It turned out that that they'd been using a Humax (SD) PVR for so long that when they connected up their new TV, they set it up in the same way, and so were watching SD through the box and thus the TV. They didn't even know there was a Freeview HD tuner in the TV.
 

oldtimer

Full Member
Sep 27, 2005
3,322
1,996
83
Oxfordshire and Pyrenees-Orientales, France
I was a headteacher when IT really got started. I was totally clueless, not even knowing how to turn the computer on. Fortunately I had an excellent personal IT adviser who taught me all I needed to know. I will always be grateful to 8 year old Helen! She must be pushing 40 now.

Cody Lundin gives sound advice on adapting childproof cigarette lighters for survival use. "Get a kid to do it."

What's the point of grandchildren if not to keep us up to date.
 

Tengu

Full Member
Jan 10, 2006
13,035
1,643
51
Wiltshire
I am a firm believer in technology, and come the Robot Revolution, I will fight on their side, as a meathead ally.

(Id like to see one take over `my` job, though.)

But I dont like it when technology is inflicted on me. I like to pick and choose what I use.

(Whats a telly?)
 

Robson Valley

On a new journey
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,672
McBride, BC
We had a really nice IBM Selectric typewriter at work. Three different font balls, too.
One day, there was a computer keyboard on the bench instead. "You figure it out."
 

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