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Skills For "Living The Era"

NakedGhost

New in Town
Messages
17
Location
Metro Detroit, MI
I just went through this whole thread, and it's fantastic! Y'all should collaborate on a book or something :D

As a kid I always wanted to help out around the house but for some cockamamie reason wasn't allowed to, (come on, free labor!), and now I'm surrounded by any number of machines that do all of the work for me...and it makes me feel like just another one of the lazy, convenience-addicted herd. I'm in my early 20s, attempting to get started in my career and moving on with my life, and at a point where I really have to do everything for myself... and you know what, I like doing things the hard way! It's the sort of thing I daydream about.... so now I just need a good guy who'll let me be a house-husband so I can find the time to do it all "properly" ;P

Miss Lizzie, I found this thread with much thanks to you. You're one of the main reasons I keep coming back to this board that I so rarely post on. Keep up the fantastic work, you're a lady to be cherished :]
 
Messages
11,579
Location
Covina, Califonia 91722
Indeed. A lot more people used dollar Esterbrooks from the drugstore, which is why those pens are still very easy to find today, and why the higher-end pens are so valuable.

Most people made do with a plain steel dip pen clipped into a wooden "penholder." Writing with one of these requires a certain knack, as to knowing just how much ink you want to pick up at a dip, but it's an easy skill to pick up with practice.

One thing you will see in movies is that while fountain pens were used by many people, hotels used dip pens for their patrons to sign in the register for a long time afterwards.
 

Shangas

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,116
Location
Melbourne, Australia
In "Hound", Sherlock Holmes deduced the hotel pen and ink from the writing. Because it was so splotchy and scratchy, he figured it had to be a hotel pen. Only a nib that was constantly abused by everyone who touched it, would produce such terrible writing.
 

vitanola

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,254
Location
Gopher Prairie, MI
If I were writing on slate then you must have been writing on clay tablets. lol lol

No. I'm not quite that old.



Papyrus:D


Truth be told, in kindergarten and first grade a slate and a pack of chalk were required equipment in our school bags.

This was in 1967 and 1968, in what was then the fastest-growing school system in the country.

I suspect that the "Powers that B+" felt that writing practice on a slate saved rubbish collection, for the quantity of trash for pickup increased tremendously after most of the schools in our district converted their boilers to natural gas firing. By the time I entered the second grade the schools which no longer used coal as boiler fuel were all equipped with incinerators, and slates immediately disappeared from use.
 

Flicka

One Too Many
Messages
1,165
Location
Sweden
In visiting the bank today, it occurred to me that writing a cheque is probably a GES. I haven't written one in years.

I have never written a cheque, and as far as I know, there hasn't been a single Swedish bank who's handled them for about 10 years.
 
Messages
13,460
Location
Orange County, CA
Truth be told, in kindergarten and first grade a slate and a pack of chalk were required equipment in our school bags.

This was in 1967 and 1968, in what was then the fastest-growing school system in the country.

I suspect that the "Powers that B+" felt that writing practice on a slate saved rubbish collection, for the quantity of trash for pickup increased tremendously after most of the schools in our district converted their boilers to natural gas firing. By the time I entered the second grade the schools which no longer used coal as boiler fuel were all equipped with incinerators, and slates immediately disappeared from use.

And now in 2013 it seems that a laptop is now required equipment in students' school bags. :rolleyes:
 

3fingers

One Too Many
Messages
1,797
Location
Illinois
And now in 2013 it seems that a laptop is now required equipment in students' school bags. :rolleyes:
The school district I live in began issuing laptops and tablets with the required text books loaded on them 2 years ago. Most of the work is done on them. Apparently little pencil and paper is used now. They claim it is cheaper than buying the text books. I don't know what happens when the machine meets an untimely demise or is lost. This is a rural district, in an agricultural area. If it is not at your school yet, I would wager it is coming soon. The district in the town I work in is much larger, but has only begun to experiment with this process.
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,715
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
So I guess the skill of making a brown-paper-bag book cover is passe?

1. Secure a large brown paper grocery bag.

2. Cut down the side of the bag at the seam, all the way to the base.

3. Cut off the base of the bag.

4. Flatten out the bag with the printed store logo facing you.

5. Place the book to be covered in the center of the bag.

6. Trim the bag until it is about four inches larger all around than the open book.

7. Fold the edges of the bag inward to the width of the book.

8. Insert the front cover of the book into the flaps thus formed by your fold, to approximately three and a half inches.

9. Fold the bag around the edge of the front cover, and burnish with your finger or a pencil to form a firm crease.

10. Repeat with the back cover of the book.

11. Close the book. The paper cover should fit tightly over the closed book.

12. Write the title, your name, and home room on the paper cover. Decorate as desired with random doodles, slogans, or symbols.
 
So I guess the skill of making a brown-paper-bag book cover is passe?

1. Secure a large brown paper grocery bag.

2. Cut down the side of the bag at the seam, all the way to the base.

3. Cut off the base of the bag.

4. Flatten out the bag with the printed store logo facing you.

5. Place the book to be covered in the center of the bag.

6. Trim the bag until it is about four inches larger all around than the open book.

7. Fold the edges of the bag inward to the width of the book.

8. Insert the front cover of the book into the flaps thus formed by your fold, to approximately three and a half inches.

9. Fold the bag around the edge of the front cover, and burnish with your finger or a pencil to form a firm crease.

10. Repeat with the back cover of the book.

11. Close the book. The paper cover should fit tightly over the closed book.

12. Write the title, your name, and home room on the paper cover. Decorate as desired with random doodles, slogans, or symbols.
I remember doing that. :p
 

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