Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

[Bad Monkey]

I had a young (23) lady working for me about 5 years back now. I gave her an analog stopwatch to time a process and she just looked at me. I asked her if she understood what data we needed and she said "yes, but I've never used a watch like this." After a short conversation I realized that she couldn't read an analog clock face. And this was a college grad. When did kids stop learning how to tell time in grade school?

[Bertram Henze]

Competence for simple things keeps disappearing. Cooking is something you watch on TV but don't try at home. Some day the machines will realize they can do without humans.

[David L]

About 5 years ago, I was subbing for an American History class. I showed a video about the fifties (I was born in 1951).Afterwards, the students were asking questions about my experiences then. One student exclaimed, "Then You are a Primary Source!" I was gratified that they made the connection, but somewhat bothered by the conclusion.

[T.D.Nydn]

My best and most accurate watch I have is called a "lever set"...

[Hendrik Ahrend]

Instrument of the birth year? Superstition brings misfortune.

[FLATROCK HILL]

Superstition brings misfortune.

Good line Henry; I'm going to remember that one.
On second thought, maybe that explains why my (birth-year) '57 Panhead won't start.

[CES]

Mick Jagger. "Mick who?" "Oh, wait, he's that dude in the Ke$ha song!" SMH...

(That means "shaking my head" for those of you really old )

[Grommet]

Closest I have come to owning birth year (1950) items was a 56 Gibson Southern Jumbo and a 56 Austin Healey 100-4. Both gone long ago. If I was looking for something from 1950 it would maybe be something from one of the fine musicals Norma Jean made around that time. Or a big Martin flat-top.

Scott

[Bill Kammerzell]

I threw in the towel when I was told by a young man that he had "read about Woodstock in history class."

"Dad. Was Paul McCartney really in another band before he formed Wings?"

[Elb2000]

Why would I want to buy something that old?

[Timbofood]

My best and most accurate watch I have is called a "lever set"...

Lever set what?
All railroad grade watches, by definition,were lever set, it's an added layer of safety.
I agree with Tobin too, the reassuring tick rock of "real" clocks is a sound I dearly love.
I dated a girl years ago and I'd hang my vest with my 1922 Elgin in the pocket, one night she poked. E in the ribs and said,"How do you sleep with that sound going on!?" I hugged her closer and said "Hush, just listen and let the tick slow you down." The following week she acknowledged the calming nature of the sound!
My Mothers family farm clock ticks and chimes happily in my dining room, the school house clock my wife's late ex father in law rebuilt for her adorns another wall in there as well. The living room is home to a "Chelsea lighthouse service clock" made in 1912 the sound is wonderful when the stupid "mind sucking box" is off.
Talk about getting way way yonder off topic! Sorry, let me move this clock and I'll stand in the corner!

[AndyPanda]

Not a mandolin, but I recently picked up a Hammond B3 and Leslie cabinet from my birth year ('54). And if being my birth year wasn't enough .... Now bear in mind that I found this just around the corner from where I live now in California ... in the bench was all the original receipts and it was purchased at the very music store near where I grew up in Utah, the store I went to every chance I got and lusted after all the musical instruments.

[AndyPanda]

When my son was about 13, he was curious about who this Jimi Hendrix guy was ... so we bought a "best of" CD and played it loud in the car while driving home from the store (remember when you bought albums at the store?) and he kept laughing because he thought it was hilarious to be playing that kind of music loud. Turns out he thought only Rap music ever got played loud.

[DHopkins]

Ok folks, when we're you last asked what it means to "wind a watch"? There's one that makes me laugh out loud!
I have maybe six battery powered watches, everything else(30+\-) is mechanical! I'm an old codger!

I have never owned a digital watch. I spent a lot of time in broadcasting (full-time jobs and moonlighting jobs) and I wanted to see a graphic depiction of the hands in relation to the digits (usually the 12). It was easier for me to just glance at an analog watch or clock in situations where I was concerned about remaining time or elapsed time.

I also wanted as much accuracy as I could get because back then, the networks always kept accurate time. Toward that end, I bought a Bulova Accutron watch. Boy, that was neat! Bulky but neat. I still have it. Now, the only truly mechanical watch I own is an old Tag Heuer. It's self-winding. It actually winds a spring. If I don't wear it, it's good for maybe a day and a half and it's not terribly accurate.

As a war baby, I'll likely never find a mandolin made in '44. (1944 not 1844.)

[Charlie Bernstein]

I just don't see a lot of '52 instruments around.

G.E. Smith has a great story. I heard him tell it a while back and probably have some of the details wrong. But as I remember it, for his eleventh birthday, his mom got him an eleven-year-old Telecaster and eleven-year-old Fender Champ to plug it into. He's still playing the Tele.

[Petrus]

I am continually stunned by peoples' (people's?) ignorance "these days" (I put that in quotes because it's probably not a new thing in actuality.) I had someone ask me the other day what that "funny thing" was in between the two front seats of a small car on a lot and I finally went over to look in the window and the thing was obviously just an emergency brake lever. Apparently this individual had never seen a simple emergency brake lever (and I know they still make 'em, because it was a new car.)

The ironic thing is that with all the information resources we have at our fingertips today -- the Internet, DVDs, and so on -- you'd think people would be more knowledgeable about stuff in general rather than less. People use the excuse that such-and-such was "before their time" but for cryin' out loud, I've seen plenty of movies and read tons of books from way before my time, and know more about events that happened centuries ago than some people know about stuff that happened in the 1980s.

Seems to be just a general intellectual laziness and lack of curiosity. Not that everyone should be an expert on every bit of minutiae regarding my favorite hobby-horses (mandolins obviously, for one) but some basic awareness of history would be a big help.

[Tobin]

Petrus, I've wondered the same thing. With the proliferation of the "information superhighway", you'd think that people would be better informed and better educated than in the past. And in some respects, they probably are. Younger folks today have technical skills way beyond mine, simply because they grew up with the internet and modern computers.

But the great informational hopes of the internet were very quickly obscured by entertainment. When the average user sits down to surf the net (do they still use that term?), he or she is likely just looking for something fun to do. The motivation isn't to learn history or study a subject. And things of the past are, quite frankly, boring to them.

I do think that today's television and internet environment is one of "information overload". Advertising companies and media companies have it down to a science, in terms of using television and the internet to maximize profit potential and direct peoples' attention to what they are offering. Quality content is not their concern.

[Timbofood]

There are lots of places for crashes and accidents on the information stupor highway
DHopkins,
I have a couple of Accutrons, keep great time. My TAG keeps excellent time, how long has it been since you had that cleaned and ordered? Might be all it needs.
I agree, I think of time in terms of "Pie" too!

[Bertram Henze]

...And things of the past are, quite frankly, boring to them.

...so that they may feel free to repeat the mistakes of bygone generations, thinking they are trying something new.

But that's unavoidable - the important things are learned by heart, not by head, and what is failed to be learned that way will be new and exciting in a different disguise every time again and again.

[JeffD]

I am sure we all similarly vexed our elders when we were ignorant of whatever was important to them. We are where they were.

I remember my Dad having to explain to me who "William Conrad" was, who I first heard of in that television detective show Cannon. (Which is even more interesting because Cannon's thing was that he had a telephone in his car. It was a conventional handset with that curly cable running down to the center console between the front seats. At the time it was cool.)

Actually its a great thing. The only folks it doesn't happen to didn't live long enough.

[farmerjones]

There were so many instruments built around 1890 to 1930, it never occurred to me to pursue something half that old. There was junk built back then too. Exceptional vintage I can't afford. It doesn't stop me from looking for the rare piece that "punches above it's weight-class." I play contemporary pieces, for the most part. We could argue about Amati or Loar's acoustic understanding, but my bet is still on modern technology.
Who knows what 3D printing will come up with? Motivate somebody and Boom! Maybe somebody will stop texting long enough to innovate? I'd be happy if they just practiced hygiene.

Watch? I wear a COSC chronometer. +1.75 sec/day

[Timbofood]

My TAG is is also a certified chronometer chronograph. All steel, gray dial 6000 series.
My Ferguson dial Illinois PW is a Bunn Special.
The G.P. Birth year Karat gold automatic "Upjohn company" retirement watch.
I will not continue, the list is stupid long, I love watches!

[jaycat]

I should probably sell my Omega. I haven't worn it once since I retired six months ago.

[Mike Stewart]

Younger folks today have technical skills way beyond mine, simply because they grew up with the internet and modern computers.

Driving a car doesn't make you an auto mechanic. Changing your own strings doesn't make you a luthier. Surfing Facebook and Twitter all day doesn't make you technically proficient. When a "younger folk" can't get to Facebook because DNS is hosed, or their NAT is misconfigured, they have no more of a clue than you do. It's like assuming that the guy who sits on the couch all day watching daytime TV knows how to fix my 65" plasma screen. "Digital natives" is a myth.

When the average user sits down to surf the net (do they still use that term?), he or she is likely just looking for something fun to do.

Of course they do, just like someone gets in their car with no thought to enjoying the technical aspects. They just want to get to the mall. Folks often confuse use of a tool with the desired outcome. Most Twitter users use it not because they like the idea of information packets being formatted "just so" to fit the TCP/IP protocol and how it's really cool that four segments of three numbers routes their message to the destination endpoint. No, they just want to express outrage/happiness/cat pictures via the most expedient means possible.

TV had great potential as a learning platform. And over fifty years ago the chief of the FCC called it a "vast wasteland". And today a group of ZZ Top clones that make duck decoys is one of the top-rated shows on TV. It surprises me little that another form of content distribution has fallen into the same dark cesspool. Of course much like TV, there's quality on the Internet. I'm typing on it write now. But like TV, one just has to avoid what advertisers tell you should be doing with your Internet time. Facebook exists, doesn't mean you have to use it to live a fulfilled life.

As it concerns the topic at hand, that being ignorance when one is awash in information, the old saying goes that you can lead a horse to water...

[Gary Leonard]

Not birth year, but what about birthdate? Whenever a March 31st dated Loar comes around, I often wonder what I'd do if I had that type of money lying around!