Chat Do You Remember?

faramir.pete · Apr 4, 2018

Ruth said:
I am close to your age. Glad you like the topic! Wow, didn't know people relied on coal for heating.

Mmmm, I also recall that we were so hard up that my father used to go to the local railway yard and collect the coal that was spilled from the train tender to burn on our fires at home. Not one of his proudest moments, but he had a wife and three kids to keep warm.

Pete from Peterborough UK

psalms 91 · Apr 4, 2018

Yes, when I was little we had a coal stove, was really glad when we went to oil heat

tango · Apr 4, 2018

psalms 91 said:
Yes, when I was little we had a coal stove, was really glad when we went to oil heat

I have a friend in rural Pennsylvania who has an oil fired furnace, and who also has a backup furnace that burns coal. He has a fair pile of coal in his basement. I don't think he's ever needed to actually use it but it's there if he does.

Of course if the power goes out then a lot of furnaces won't work anyway. I keep thinking about measuring how much current my furnace draws, with a view to installing some kind of uninterruptable power supply for it. It would mean changing it from being hard-wired to having a plug, but that's no big deal.

Ruth · Apr 4, 2018

faramir.pete said:
Mmmm, I also recall that we were so hard up that my father used to go to the local railway yard and collect the coal that was spilled from the train tender to burn on our fires at home. Not one of his proudest moments, but he had a wife and three kids to keep warm.

Pete from Peterborough UK

Your father sounds like he's a very caring man.

Ruth · Apr 4, 2018

psalms 91 said:
Yes, when I was little we had a coal stove, was really glad when we went to oil heat

I guess I was more fortunate because we had one of those gigantic furnaces which my father never replaced. After he passed we had to put in a new one and wow was it a lot smaller.

Ruth · Apr 4, 2018

tango said:
I have a friend in rural Pennsylvania who has an oil fired furnace, and who also has a backup furnace that burns coal. He has a fair pile of coal in his basement. I don't think he's ever needed to actually use it but it's there if he does.

Of course if the power goes out then a lot of furnaces won't work anyway. I keep thinking about measuring how much current my furnace draws, with a view to installing some kind of uninterruptable power supply for it. It would mean changing it from being hard-wired to having a plug, but that's no big deal.

That's true-if the power goes out there's no heat.

ImaginaryDay2 · Apr 4, 2018

Appliances never seemed to break down. I think my parents still have the refrigerator they had from before I was born. It's in their basement, but working just fine. My mom was convinced she'd never use a microwave, but my dad bought one anyway. She was surprised how much she used it. When we got a new one, my grandfather got the old one. I think it lasted about 20 years, and it still worked when he got rid of it.

tango · Apr 4, 2018

Ruth said:
That's true-if the power goes out there's no heat.

Yep.... unless you have something that involves burning something yourself you gotta have power. Maybe a generator will make more sense than a UPS, depending on just how much power the furnace actually draws.

JRT · Apr 6, 2018

I recall seeing my first electronic calculator about 1966. It was a WANG and about the same size as my home printer. It cost $4000 and was basically a four function calculator. The first hand held scientific model calculator that I ever saw cost $600. Today you can buy one in the dollar store.

tango · Apr 6, 2018

... chalk hearts melting on the playground wall
... dawn escapes from moon-washed college halls
... the cherry blossom in the market square
... we thought it was confetti in our hair

(wonder who will remember the reference

)

Ruth · Apr 6, 2018

JRT said:
I recall seeing my first electronic calculator about 1966. It was a WANG and about the same size as my home printer. It cost $4000 and was basically a four function calculator. The first hand held scientific model calculator that I ever saw cost $600. Today you can buy one in the dollar store.

That's so true!

tango · Apr 6, 2018

JRT said:
I recall seeing my first electronic calculator about 1966. It was a WANG and about the same size as my home printer. It cost $4000 and was basically a four function calculator. The first hand held scientific model calculator that I ever saw cost $600. Today you can buy one in the dollar store.

I had a calculator that used red LEDs to show the display. Most of my friends had LCD calculators but I just liked my old thing - it was a gift and I just liked using it. At the time one way my friends figured whose calculator was the best was to calculate the factorial of 69, which was the largest factorial you could do on a calculator that went up to 9.999999E99

Sadly my calculator didn't have a factorial button but it was programmable, so I wrote a factorial function. My friends could typically calculate it within 3-5 seconds while my calculator finally arrived at the result after about two minutes. I loved that old calculator.

Now I have a calculator lurking in the basement that I haven't used in years, that I've had since the late 80s. It did everything I ever wanted and then some but now I've got a scientific calculator on my phone so couldn't even tell you the last time I used it.

Ruth · Apr 11, 2018

I remember when postage stamps cost about 3 cents!

psalms 91 · Apr 12, 2018

Yes and soda was 10 cents a bottle

Lamb · Apr 12, 2018

Penny candy out of the gumball machines!

Ruth · Apr 14, 2018

Those were the days!:hamster:

Ruth · Apr 25, 2018

Remember penny candy? Now a candy bar cost between 79 cents and 2.00!

psalms 91 · Apr 25, 2018

Yes, I can remember a candy bar for a nickel, gas 29 cents, I am getting to old

Ruth · Apr 25, 2018

psalms 91 said:
Yes, I can remember a candy bar for a nickel, gas 29 cents, I am getting to old

I am getting much older too. that is life and we are cool!:kumbaya:

psalms 91 · Apr 26, 2018

Ruth said:
I am getting much older too. that is life and we are cool!:kumbaya:

Yes we are Ruth and you are the coolest:smlove2::hug2::tea:

Chat Do You Remember?

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