Hand them an open newspaper and ask them to fold it.
See if they can dial a rotary phone.
See if they can fold a map.
Ask them to parallel park.
Ask them to spell parallel without a spell-check.
more?
Posted by Darth_Mauve (Member # 4709) on :
Have them find a book using the Dewey-Decimal system.
Have them play a record at the correct speed.
Posted by Wingracer (Member # 12293) on :
And watch them laugh at you for being so ridiculous.
Do you know your pike drills? How's your skill with a longbow? Can you plow a field with an ox? Know how to drive a steam locomotive?
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Everyone needs at least one old timey skill mastered and at the ready if they want to be of use in the post-apocalyptic new world order when Z Day comes.
Dead weight takes on a new meaning when you're useless to the group.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
Have them peel the plastic off a new CD.
Have them insert a cassette tape correctly into a player and then play it. Have them fix said cassette if it gets unwound a little.
Have them find a location the old-fashioned way: without GPS.
Have them load a film camera, take a whole roll of pictures without a screen to help, and then get those pictures developed.
Have them write a letter to someone, prepare it for mailing, and then put it in the mailbox and lift the flag.
Posted by lem (Member # 6914) on :
Have them play through a video game without referring to a wiki.
Posted by narrativium (Member # 3230) on :
quote:Originally posted by advice for robots: Have them load a film camera, take a whole roll of pictures without a screen to help, and then get those pictures developed.
Have them develop the film themselves.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
quote:Originally posted by narrativium:
quote:Originally posted by advice for robots: Have them load a film camera, take a whole roll of pictures without a screen to help, and then get those pictures developed.
Have them develop the film themselves.
Not sure it's worth the argument, but that's beyond the scope of this thread. I'd say among the general population in the 80s, where I was pulling that from, few knew how to develop their own film. Everyone knew how to drop it off at the Fotomat, however.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
1: Adjust the tracking on a television set.
2: Demonstrate kindness by rewinding.
3: Play videogames with a joystick.
4: Apply for and get a job from a newspaper.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
Pop popcorn without a microwave
Replace the roll of paper for the fax machine
Rewind a cassette tape using a pencil
quote:Everyone needs at least one old timey skill mastered and at the ready if they want to be of use in the post-apocalyptic new world order when Z Day comes.
Dead weight takes on a new meaning when you're useless to the group.
This worries me. I'm not sure how useful I would be to the group. I can do basic sewing/mending by hand and I am a decent cook, but I think my biggest asset would be my husband, he of the emergency-medically trained, Eagle Scout, familiar with wilderness survival, good at any basic home construction including plumbing. So I'll just stick next to him, I suppose.
Posted by Wingracer (Member # 12293) on :
My basic chemistry and mechanical skills would come in handy. I could make a still for alcohol, make black powder, possibly a few other explosives if I could find the needed ingredients and maybe even a pharmaceutical or two.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
Use a library card catalog.
Drive a stick shift.
Use Whiteout.
Load a piece of paper into a typewriter.
Make a mix tape.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
balance a sony discman on the dashboard just right so that it doesn't skip very much
battle using those old nokias that were sturdy enough to be used as weapons
navigate cable tv menus and ondemand
tolerate your mockery for how you got to live in a world in which a living wage wasn't an exception
Posted by Reticulum (Member # 8776) on :
*puts on coke bottle glasses and waves cane*
Back in my day, kids actually had respect for things!
Posted by narrativium (Member # 3230) on :
quote:Originally posted by advice for robots: Drive a stick shift.
Hey, I still do that, and my car is a 2013 model.
quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: battle using those old nokias that were sturdy enough to be used as weapons
Play Snake on said phones.
Posted by Darth_Mauve (Member # 4709) on :
Pick up a TV channel using rabbit-ear antenna, where one of the rabbit ears has been replaced with a wire coat-hanger.
Properly use a belt to keep one's pants above the plumber's crack.
Change the channel on a TV without using a remote, but using a dial, and when that fell off, using a vice grips or flat-head screwdriver.
Open a capped bottle using a bottle opener.
Work the doors on a walk-in pay telephone.
Untangle a tangled spiral phone cord.
Posted by Wingracer (Member # 12293) on :
quote:Originally posted by Darth_Mauve: Open a capped bottle using a bottle opener.
That's a skill that hasn't quite vanished thanks to craft brews that occasionally still come without a twist off cap.
Posted by stilesbn (Member # 11809) on :
quote:Originally posted by Wingracer:
quote:Originally posted by Darth_Mauve: Open a capped bottle using a bottle opener.
That's a skill that hasn't quite vanished thanks to craft brews that occasionally still come without a twist off cap.
And Mexican Coke. Mmmm real sugar...
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
quote:Originally posted by Darth_Mauve: Change the channel on a TV without using a remote, but using a dial, and when that fell off, using a vice grips or flat-head screwdriver.
We only had one of those TVs, but I do recall my mom shrieking at me for ramming the dial over to a higher channel.
quote: Pick up a TV channel using rabbit-ear antenna, where one of the rabbit ears has been replaced with a wire coat-hanger.
Not possible anymore- no one is broadcasting in those frequencies. Sad?
quote: Work the doors on a walk-in pay telephone.
Believe it or not, they still have these in Czech Republic. Saw one the other day.
quote: Open a capped bottle using a bottle opener.
Also still the norm in Europe. A fact I have to be reminded of when I visit home. Of course, any competent European can open a bottle with a variety of handy objects: keys, lighters, a lamp-post, etc.
Come to think, I have one: ask someone for a lighter.
Posted by Wingracer (Member # 12293) on :
quote:Originally posted by Orincoro: [QUOTE] [QUOTE] Pick up a TV channel using rabbit-ear antenna, where one of the rabbit ears has been replaced with a wire coat-hanger.
Not possible anymore- no one is broadcasting in those frequencies. Sad?
If you have a digital ready TV, you can still pick up lots of channels with nothing but a coat hanger antenna. For an old TV, you need a digital converter to go with it.
Posted by Wingracer (Member # 12293) on :
quote:Originally posted by Orincoro: Come to think, I have one: ask someone for a lighter.
Still common. I was asked for one today in fact.
Posted by rav (Member # 7595) on :
Just make them do your taxes on an abacus.
Posted by Wingracer (Member # 12293) on :
quote:Originally posted by rav: Just make them do your taxes on an abacus.
My grandfather showed me how a slide rule works once but I remember none of it.
Posted by rav (Member # 7595) on :
and to think, that's how we got to the moon! Interesting thread, with links to how slide rules work