A clear indication of when you have TOO MUCH stuff

Earlier today, I'm watching a youtube of the latest and greatest technology of Western Electric's new telephone electronic switching system, from 1965. If anyone is interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seY_V0utWLY

An interesting video, the newfangled planar transistors, growing clean but lumpy silicon crystals to a whopping 3" diameter, glass sealed magnetic switches (reed relays)... and then at the end, thin-film deposition of resistors on glass.

Wait a minute, those looks familiar. Really familiar.

The following tiled jpegs, (I finally figured out how to do that, but not very well), the first two are screen grabs from the 1965 video, the last was a photo taken today on my work bench, dated 5-64.

Yup, I got way too much stuff.

Gene

Maybe you need to open your own museum and start charging. At least you'll get some return on your beloved relics.

I've got a buddy who works for the telephone company, and he collects and refurbishes all kinds of old phones. He's got the craziest phones! And he gets them working too! Along with a couple of actual telephone booths he's gotten through his job, which he also got working.

Fun stuff man - more pix please!!

Mike

The town where i live allows us to cart old junk to street one day a month and they cart it away...  I still have more to go.

JR

Sod's law dictates that the thing you throw away this week is the one thing you really need next week.

Cheers

Ian

ruffrecords said:

Sod's law dictates that the thing you throw away this week is the one thing you really need next week.

Cheers

Ian

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I have been alertly waiting for that to happen for years now... so far not even close.  8) Some of the legacy computer gear in that photo were SOTA for 1970s but not even rare enough to be museum fare yet, if they were remotely memorable the shipping cost would exceed their street value (some people collect old heathkit gear but they don't pay for it, or shipping).

I am the guy who cuts line cords off of gear before I discard it, so I have been waiting for regrets that never came.

Closest scrape yet was a couple weeks ago, when I needed quarters to feed the air pump at the gas station so I could fill up the flat tubeless front tire from my old riding mower. In my simplification drive, I have been using loose pocket change accumulated over decades to buy gas for my lawnmower, and haven't used any paper money for that in over a year.....  but the last of my quarters were used to buy the last batch of gas a few weeks ago, so I had to scramble to scrape up 4 quarters. I found one in the dryer lint trap, and the final 4th quarter was in my car ashtray.  So I dodged that bullet.  : Two weeks later the tire was flat again, so I have a tube on order. 

Still have a lot more detritus to discard, but every month is a new opportunity.

JR

ruffrecords said:

Sod's law dictates that the thing you throw away this week is the one thing you really need next week.

Cheers

Ian

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Without fail. You can have it for 20 years and never need it. Till the day after you get rid of it!

ruffrecords said:

Sod's law dictates that the thing you throw away this week is the one thing you really need next week.

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Unfortunately, I've found that if you try to game the system by throwing it away in hopes that you'll then need it, it doesn't work.

I had a spare bolt or screw or something that I remembered was for something important, but couldn't figure out what it was from. I figured that if I kept it, I'd never find out, but if I threw it away I'd need it.  I chose to throw it away so that I'd find out what it was from, but never did.

mattamatta said:

Unfortunately, I've found that if you try to game the system by throwing it away in hopes that you'll then need it, it doesn't work.

I had a spare bolt or screw or something that I remembered was for something important, but couldn't figure out what it was from. I figured that if I kept it, I'd never find out, but if I threw it away I'd need it.  I chose to throw it away so that I'd find out what it was from, but never did.

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Exactly my point, it's a superstition or legend , not real.

JR

Phrazemaster said:

I've got a buddy who works for the telephone company, and he collects and refurbishes all kinds of old phones.

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Funny you mentioned that, just a few days ago, I got a '60's rotary phone in the mail. I did not ask for it.

Does rotary pulse dialing still work these days?

Fun stuff man - more pix please!!

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Be careful what you wish for.... 

JR:

The town where i live allows us to cart old junk to street

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Why get rid of a DECwriter? It's not like they take up much space. ;D See attached.

Two weeks later the tire was flat again, so I have a tube on order. 

Still have a lot more detritus to discard, but every month is a new opportunity.

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Do I need to send a boxtruck to Hickory on a rescue mission? 

Your new zero-turn mower? Two things you may want to consider:

https://www.harborfreight.com/1-3-hp-3-gallon-100-psi-oilless-air-compressor-97080.html

These seem to be perpetually on sale for 40 bucks, and work fine.

https://www.slime.com/us/products/auto/sealants/

Dealing with the onslaught of cactus needle punctures in TX, I can vouch for this stuff. Seems latex based.

Ian:

Sod's law dictates that the thing you throw away this week is the one thing you really need next week.

Click to expand...

I have lived my whole life under that premise, and it has saved me large amounts of money over the years. And time, as it is right here in stock, right now, just gotta find it.

My parents went through the US depression of the 30's, and instilled the value of "save everything, waste nothing". It stuck, and I'm still stuck. Any other way of life seems ludicrous, wasteful, and not as much fun. Yeah, FUN. If I have to explain that to anyone, then they just don't get it. Anti-consumerism.

Sod, must be the British cousin of Murphy. Murphy states many things, including "if you have a giznat and can't find it, a day after you buy a new one, you will find the one you already have". A friend has a philosophy on this: "If you know you have it somewhere, but can't physically lay your hands on it, do you really have it?"

Gene

Gene Pink said:

Sod, must be the British cousin of Murphy. Murphy states many things, including "if you have a giznat and can't find it, a day after you buy a new one, you will find the one you already have". A friend has a philosophy on this: "If you know you have it somewhere, but can't physically lay your hands on it, do you really have it?"

Gene

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They are two different guys really. Murphy's law states 'Anything that can go wrong will go wrong'. Sod's law states that 'The thing you threw away yesterday is the thing you desperately need today'.

Cheers

Ian

ruffrecords said:

They are two different guys really. Murphy's law states 'Anything that can go wrong will go wrong'. Sod's law states that 'The thing you threw away yesterday is the thing you desperately need today'.

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Different sides of the same coin? I'll bet Sod and Murphy bent elbows together, down at the pub.

Gene

Gene Pink said:

Different sides of the same coin? I'll bet Sod and Murphy bent elbows together, down at the pub.

Gene

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Indeed, and I bet the table collapsed at Murphy's end and Sod threw away the glue to fix it the day before.

Cheers

Ian

ruffrecords said:

Indeed, and I bet the table collapsed at Murphy's end and Sod threw away the glue to fix it the day before.

Cheers

Ian

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Thanks Ian, I literally laughed out loud at this!

Gene Pink said:

Funny you mentioned that, just a few days ago, I got a '60's rotary phone in the mail. I did not ask for it.

Does rotary pulse dialing still work these days?
Be careful what you wish for.... 

JR: Why get rid of a DECwriter? It's not like they take up much space. ;D See attached.
Do I need to send a boxtruck to Hickory on a rescue mission? 

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The decwriter II was a rock solid (7 wire?) dot matrix printer with a built in acoustic modem, that was still working when I took it out of service decades ago. I bought it used back in the 70s for something like $700 (?) and it was a good soldier.

Your new zero-turn mower? Two things you may want to consider:

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If you showed up last weekend I might have given it to you  , but you would have had to get it unstuck from my muddy rain ditch.  :...  I got it free eventually but promised myself to never buy another mower I can't lift by myself.  I typically cut the outer edges of my yard  with my old snapper but one of the tubeless front tires went flat (again after only 2 weeks) so I carefully mowed the edges with the big dog mower... By the time I felt myself sliding sideways it was too late to save it. What is worse with the zero turn mowers the front wheels are biased to turn when you change direction, so trying to rock it forward and back, causes the front wheels to turn at right angles and dig holes in the mud.  ??? 

https://www.harborfreight.com/1-3-hp-3-gallon-100-psi-oilless-air-compressor-97080.html

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My next door neighbor has about 3 air compressors but wasn't home at the time.

These seem to be perpetually on sale for 40 bucks, and work fine.

https://www.slime.com/us/products/auto/sealants/

Dealing with the onslaught of cactus needle punctures in TX, I can vouch for this stuff. Seems latex based.

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Not a puncture, but in my judgement a poor seal with the rim...I put a tube in my other front tire a couple years ago. Tube for wheel two on order coming from china on a slow boat.

Ian: I have lived my whole life under that premise, and it has saved me large amounts of money over the years. And time, as it is right here in stock, right now, just gotta find it.

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I have a well stocked back lab (well stocked for a few decades ago), but I can usually cobble together electronic repairs.

My parents went through the US depression of the 30's, and instilled the value of "save everything, waste nothing". It stuck, and I'm still stuck. Any other way of life seems ludicrous, wasteful, and not as much fun. Yeah, FUN. If I have to explain that to anyone, then they just don't get it. Anti-consumerism.

Click to expand...

Yes, I am a pack rat from way way back...  When I moved south from CT back in the mid 80's I hired a dumpster to discard accumulated junk. I wanted to order a small half-sized dumpster, but they gave me a large one for the same price... When they arrived to pick it up, the full sized dumpster was overflowing , with a pile next to it that didn't fit in...they collected that too...  FWIW some of the stuff in that street photo could have been discarded decades earlier without being missed at all. 

Sod, must be the British cousin of Murphy. Murphy states many things, including "if you have a giznat and can't find it, a day after you buy a new one, you will find the one you already have". A friend has a philosophy on this: "If you know you have it somewhere, but can't physically lay your hands on it, do you really have it?"

Gene

Click to expand...

There are many variants to "Murphy's law". My understanding is that Murphy's law originated in the aircraft component industry and said something to the effect "if a component can be installed backwards or upside down, it will be with bad outcome". So the law described an engineering discipline to design components that can not be installed wrong (that I try to follow). I recall seeing an old aircraft industry magazine that would publish photos of components installed incorrectly.
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6301146/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/murphys-law-rules-outer-space/#.WUFMtxPyui4

Apparently still a problem.

JR

Gene Pink said:

it is right here in stock, right now, just gotta find it.

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That's my problem... I've already looked everywhere I can think of, but it must be somewhere I can't!

I just went through this last week with some forstner bits... I have them somewhere, but I at least think I checked everywhere.  Too much junk!  In process  of organizing things, but that makes it worse because everything is piled up on one side of the garage to make work space on the other to build and install the things I need to store the stuff.  When it's done, though, I'll have a sweet new lab bench setup that I'll definitely post about.

> never buy another mower I can't lift by myself.

Wrong. You buy a bigger machine to pull it out.

I had a 500lb tractor, now have a 6,000lb truck and a 11,000lb tractor. (And I had that stuck a few times.)

I admit I mow around the ditch with WalMart's cheapest, a machine I can lift with one hand.

ruffrecords said:

Indeed, and I bet the table collapsed at Murphy's end and Sod threw away the glue to fix it the day before.

Click to expand...

That's good, ya got me too.


@ JR + PRR:

https://www.harborfreight.com/2500-lb-atvutility-electric-winch-with-wireless-remote-control-61297.html

And a youtube test of the above, jump to about 5:10 for the real test. ;D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5I4NeeqEBo

Also comes in handy for tire changing and blade removal and sharpening.

Gene

Gene Pink said:

That's good, ya got me too.


@ JR + PRR:

https://www.harborfreight.com/2500-lb-atvutility-electric-winch-with-wireless-remote-control-61297.html

And a youtube test of the above, jump to about 5:10 for the real test. ;D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5I4NeeqEBo

Also comes in handy for tire changing and blade removal and sharpening.

Gene

Click to expand...

Yes, I already heard one suggestion about an inexpensive electric winch, and it would be useful while I'd need to figure how to attach it to the back of the mower..  I also thought about attaching a winch drum to the back wheel hub, so the spinning wheel would winch itself out of the ditch.  It doesn't need to lift thousands of pounds, just pull it in the right direction enough to overcome the shifting mud.  8)

[edit]  a $19 come along, or cheap hand winch could provide enough lateral force... the nice thing about the electric winch with remote is that you can  modulate the winch action, while driving the stuck mower.  There are not always conveniently located trees, but simple anchors pushed into the dry dirt could probably do the job. [/edit]


I will try harder to not get stuck in the future... but this time I thought I was well away from sliding into the ditch and was wrong... I have the safety switches rigged on my old snapper riding mower so it can run with me off the seat, so if it gets stuck I can get off and pull it free.

JR