Skills For "Living The Era"

[David Conwill]

Lizzie! Now THIS is what the Lounge was ALWAYS supposed to be about! Congrats and thanks!

Agreed. Great thread. It's wonderful to have a repository for this information that might otherwise be lost.

 

[jamespowers]

One could make a brown-paper cover for a laptop as well. Just leave openings for the cooling vents ...

Not quite the effect I want on a laptop. Then again, I have seen lampshades done similarly with a brown paperbag as the material and it looked ok. They even put some trim on it etc. I suppose you just use a continuous band; cut, glue and fold. Sort of like this:
http://www.ehow.com/how_6184041_make-brown-paper-lampshades.html

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Right next to the hammer and chisel?

Frederick Flintstone Elementary School?

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

And I was surprised to find that at some stores, they scan the check there on the spot and out of your account it comes before you've even left the register. Should have just used my debit card and saved the check. Alas, that lag time may be a thing of the past!

When I pay the cable bill (which I just use for internet) they scan it and hand the check back.

 

[jamespowers]

When I pay the cable bill (which I just use for internet) they scan it and hand the check back.

The check is then your receipt.

 

[Touchofevil]

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

Happily, not around here. They talk about wasting money on such things every once in a while, but I always shoot it down. Whether it is the district providing the technology or not, there is no proof that it leads to more learning for the masses. Smaller classes and more one-on-one is much more likely to return positive results than any technology. It is also much easier to flip pages in a textbook to find an answer than it is on an iPad.

 

[Touchofevil]

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.

We still do it. It saves us a lot of erasing when the books are returned.

 

[hatguy1]

Happily, not around here. They talk about wasting money on such things every once in a while, but I always shoot it down. Whether it is the district providing the technology or not, there is no proof that it leads to more learning for the masses. Smaller classes and more one-on-one is much more likely to return positive results than any technology. It is also much easier to flip pages in a textbook to find an answer than it is on an iPad.

Exactly. Spending money does not equal learning. A key concept that most have seemed to overlook these days. Glad that you haven't though.

 

[John in Covina]

Exactly. Spending money does not equal learning. A key concept that most have seemed to overlook these days. Glad that you haven't though.

many people have the habit of: "Spending Good Money After Bad." this is the concept of making a poor choice or decision and winding up having to spend even more than if you had made the better choice originally by having to "fix" the resulting problem(s).

 

[VintageBee]

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.

Omg I just thought about doing this today to hide an ugly binder cover!!!
Those were the days....

 

[dnjan]

So I guess the skill of making a brown-paper-bag book cover is passe?

Actually, obtaining a brown paper bag has become more difficult/almost impossible.

With bag surcharges at grocery stores, most people around us use re-usable bags.
We've even had to quit using brown paper bags as garbage bags because we don't always have a brown paper bag around.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Actually, obtaining a brown paper bag has become more difficult/almost impossible.

With bag surcharges at grocery stores, most people around us use re-usable bags.
We've even had to quit using brown paper bags as garbage bags because we don't always have a brown paper bag around.

I remember as a kid learning to fold the top edge of a grocery sack so that it would stay open to be used for trash. There was a certain skill to it, and it was quite the accomplishment in my mind to be able to do it correctly.

 

[hatguy1]

many people have the habit of: "Spending Good Money After Bad." this is the concept of making a poor choice or decision and winding up having to spend even more than if you had made the better choice originally by having to "fix" the resulting problem(s).

"if you throw enough money at any problem, you can solve it." Typed with dripping cynicism and sarcasm....

 

[jamespowers]

"if you throw enough money at any problem, you can solve it." Typed with dripping cynicism and sarcasm....

They both sound like government. ;p

 

[CataWhatas]

Eh, more like current parenting standards. I get that I'm very spoiled in being able to stay home. But, the answer to kids isn't "Here's a new game/toy/whatever, now don't bother me." You just get children who have no coping skills and aren't past the toddler age dictator attempts.

Whoever came up with the idea that telling a kid no ruins their self esteem needs a good smacking. Gak. I claim I don't say no that much, but three kids don't even need the word, I can give them the look and they know to shape up and behave. Which is why they can be taken places without causing a scene.

 

[jamespowers]

Whoever came up with the idea that telling a kid no ruins their self esteem needs a good smacking. Gak. I claim I don't say no that much, but three kids don't even need the word, I can give them the look and they know to shape up and behave. Which is why they can be taken places without causing a scene.

Get your smacking ready. It was Dr. Spock of course who made that crap popular. Not to be confused with Mr. Spock who used a his hand as a paddle in a strange way.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It wasn't the childhood lickings that damaged my self-esteem. It was constantly being told that if my brother hadn't died I never would have been born that did it. A parent's mouth is far more damaging than the flat of their hand. Discipline should never be confused with psychological abuse.


And now, to rerail this hopelessly derailed thread --


HOW TO APPRECIATE A "VINTAGE" RADIO PROGRAM

Radio entertainment was not written or performed for the twenty-first century mindset. To enjoy it as anything more than a corny novelty one has to put aside twenty-first century preconceptions and attitudes and try to listen to it thru the ears for which it was created.

1. Give the program your attention -- a dramatic program will require more attention than a comedy feature, but you can't expect to catch much of anything if you're posting on the Lounge, yapping on your phone, texting your stockbroker, or yelling at the dog while listening with half your brain.

2. Understand that radio acting technique is far more stylized than the sort of acting you expect on television today. Certain conventions exist as a result of the lack of a visual element and others are imposed by the characteristics of the microphone. If these performances don't sound "natural" to your ears, this is intentional.

3. Don't get your teeth in a turmoil because a character speaks in a dialect. This was considered am essential form of audio shorthand, allowing the construction of a basic framework for a characterization without a lot of detailed exposition. Radio programs didn't have time to give you an in-depth explanation of a character's background. Suffice it to say that if he says "Ayuh," he's from New England, if she says "y'all" she's from the South, and then listen to the dialogue itself to determine whatever else you need to know about the character in question.

4. Don't get distracted by sound effects, or the lack of sound effects. The modern caricature of radio is that every footstep was simulated by a sound man crunching his feet in a box, every door slam was heard, every car had squeaky brakes, etc. In fact, the better radio programs only used sound effects where absolutely necessary, and then only to the point where they established the action. You didn't need to hear every tick of a clock in the background, and you shouldn't expect to.

5. Many comedy programs featured highly-exaggerated, highly caricatured supporting characters. You aren't supposed to think of these characters as "real," they were essentially cartoons, and were accepted by the audiences of their time as such. "The Mad Russian" isn't supposed to be an actual Russian.

6. Don't be shocked when you hear double entendres in the comedy of such performers as Fred Allen and Henry Morgan. They may be subtle, but the cleverer comics knew how to sneak lines past censors. And the audiences appreciated the efforts.

7. Many comics featured "running gags" that based their humor as much on anticipation as on execution. The joke wasn't so much in hearing Fibber McGee's closet crash down for the fiftieth time, it was in knowing that it was going to happen and in seeing how they managed to work it in this week. Unless you've actually had the experience of hearing the program week after week over a period of years, you may not appreciate this type of humor.

8. Do *not* listen to any program in marathon sessions. Radio listeners never sat down over a weekend and listened to one Jack Benny program or one episode of "Dragnet" after another. They heard them one week at a time, mixed in with many other programs. Even the best programs start to stink if you try to take them in all at once.

9. Not all of "Old Time Radio" was good. Much of it was formulaic slop, ground out to meet a schedule by underpaid hacks. Listen to enough radio and you'll learn to distinguish the gems from the dross.

10. Be broad in your listening habits. Not all radio was kiddie stuff like The Lone Ranger or superhero fantasy like The Shadow or "her eyes raked my spine like the tinkling of ice in a glass of scotch" private eye stuff. Radio had everything from cheesy, worthless hokum to towering works of dramatic art, and you're cheating yourself if you only listen to the same old familiar programs. Take a chance, listen to something you never heard of once in a while, and you'll get a much more rounded perspective on what radio really was.

 

[jamespowers]

It wasn't the childhood lickings that damaged my self-esteem. It was constantly being told that if my brother hadn't died I never would have been born that did it. A parent's mouth is far more damaging than the flat of their hand. Discipline should never be confused with psychological abuse.

:eeek: Wow! That was really damaging! Geez, we are always careful what we say around the boys because of things like that.:doh:

Radio really was diversified and you had the chance to listen to the equivalent of today's trash TV.

 

[crif]

Dear LizzeMaine,
your ideas about defrosting are really impressive. I am very much interested in creative ways to live life. Here is one I want to share:
If you don't want tears while chopping onions,put a chewing gum in your mouth.

I Would like to know more,Please share your ideas.
Thank you!

 

[Stray Cat]

It wasn't the childhood lickings that damaged my self-esteem. It was constantly being told that if my brother hadn't died I never would have been born that did it. A parent's mouth is far more damaging than the flat of their hand. Discipline should never be confused with psychological abuse.

This I cannot comment, because I remain speechless.
Damages we absorb as children keep on, and only that: they grow with us, and they morph. An innocent comment (like many we hear while growing up) shape who we are now. Whenever someone asks me why am I harsh, crude and Spartan-like, I reply "You haven't met my other.

HOW TO APPRECIATE A "VINTAGE" RADIO PROGRAM

Radio entertainment was not written or performed for the twenty-first century mindset. To enjoy it as anything more than a corny novelty one has to put aside twenty-first century preconceptions and attitudes and try to listen to it thru the ears for which it was created.

All of the above can be packed in the sentence I quoted. Radio dramas were made to suit the trained ear.
Myself, I'm accused of being "stuck in XX century" - and it still took me some time to stop comparing radio-drama to a TV one, and to turn off everything else, so I can give my undivided attention to the story.
And once I did - a new world opened up.