Wiki of obsolete skills

cute fuzzy bunny said:
All the stuff we've learned thats either obsolete or on its way to being...

Obsolete Skils: Skills/Skills
Click to expand...
suggesting, of course, that we too are obsolete and on the way to being ...

i was surprised by the great number of "skills" on the list that i was already too old to learn, so in one sense my skill set might be less depleted than is yours!
 
What's that ninth letter, sixth item? And they think we don't proofread anymore!
Click to expand...

You must be doing it the old-fashioned way.
 
Hey, I was really GOOD at a lot of those things!!! :mad:

Gee.

CuppaJoe said:
What's that ninth letter, sixth item? And they think we don't proofread anymore!
Click to expand...
Nobody cares any more except for us old fogeys. :mad: Civilization going down the tubes.
 
COBOL obsolete?

That was most of my career and it's still out there running a lot of big stuff.
 
Ouch. This hurts, and I'm just up to the "C"s. We're going to have to go over this with our kid.

One of my favorite authors, Jim Butcher, says that he's a writer because his résumé includes a number of skills that were obsolete 200 years ago...
 
Nords said:
Ouch. This hurts, and I'm just up to the "C"s. We're going to have to go over this with our kid.

One of my favorite authors, Jim Butcher, says that he's a writer because his résumé includes a number of skills that were obsolete 200 years ago...
Click to expand...

Latest Dresden should be out in paperback :D
 
I think the problem with cobol is that now that we're in the post millenium bug world, there are way too many people with skill in the language than there will be projects that need to be worked on. Unlikely to be a lot of new development either relative to the number of people who could potentially do the work.

Unfortunately, I discovered I possess a huge number of obsolete skills. :(

BTW, this wiki is being rapidly added to, since it just hit a bunch of major sites...so next week there could be quite a bit more...
 
As a lazy programmer, it's now a race between my current skill set and FIRE. I may have to actually sit down and learn something new... bummer.
 
Notmuchlonger said:
Latest Dresden should be out in paperback :D
Click to expand...
I'm #19 on my library's waiting list for that, and I should be picking up "Captain's Fury" in a couple days.

Both series are getting complicated enough to require an electronic reader and a word-search concordance... I haven't been able to memorize them the way our kid vacuums up Harry Potter novels.
 
Well I have the obsolete skill of egg candling, but I don't have the current skills to add to the wiki the obsolete skill.

Bummer.
 
Didn't notice an important one: spanking your kids.

On the receiving end of numerous training sessions in this fine art as a youngest but never got to pass on the time honored tradition. The current time-outs and groundings I am now trained to implement seem to lack the full impact I remember:rolleyes:

However, viewing Martha's avatar I am reminded that spanking your mate is still a very useful (though carefully cultivated) skill:cool:
 
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TargaDave said:
Didn't notice an important one: spanking your kids.
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I practice that one all the time.
Is it considered bad these days?

Especially effective when preceded by counting to 3.
Most of the time I don't need to go past 2 before
being taken seriously.
 
bpp3 said:
I practice that one all the time.
Is it considered bad these days?

Especially effective when preceded by counting to 3.
Most of the time I don't need to go past 2 before
being taken seriously.
Click to expand...

I live in a "progressive" college town and have two DD's that are somehow able to break into tears with barely a hint of provocation (I think they must practice or something). I'm still confused and completely out of my element after growing up with 3 likeminded rough-housing brothers and no sisters.
 
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Was Wiki updated overnight?, what a relief!!

Soon they may add: books and paper, but then maybe that's me--I'm obsessed with my e-reader.
 
Nords said:
I'm #19 on my library's waiting list for that, and I should be picking up "Captain's Fury" in a couple days.

Both series are getting complicated enough to require an electronic reader and a word-search concordance... I haven't been able to memorize them the way our kid vacuums up Harry Potter novels.
Click to expand...

I might check out that series then. I keep meaning to find the time. Needed to look up egg candling!
 
Back in the day, I taught slide rule. How erudite I felt, at the time. I am SO GLAD that I didn't base my career upon that particular experience.

I probably should have claimed unemployment based on it, though! Never did.
 
Want2retire said:
Back in the day, I taught slide rule. How erudite I felt, at the time. I am SO GLAD that I didn't base my career upon that particular experience.
Click to expand...
Our kid was doing logarithms in Kumon a few months ago and asked (quite reasonably) what they were for.

So I whipped out my father's slide rules (three of them!) and showed her how useful they could be.

She was horrified.

Anyone wanna buy a [-]used[/-] classic set of 50-year-old sliderules?
 
Nords said:
Our kid was doing logarithms in Kumon a few months ago and asked (quite reasonably) what they were for.

So I whipped out my father's slide rules (three of them!) and showed her how useful they could be.

She was horrified.

Anyone wanna buy a [-]used[/-] classic set of 50-year-old sliderules?
Click to expand...

Frank collects them. He bought one of those old bamboo Pickett sliderules at an antique shop for $25 last weekend. I think he could have bought it new for less than $5 way back when. So, hang on to them (or check out prices on e-bay!)
 
cute fuzzy bunny said:
I think the problem with cobol is that now that we're in the post millenium bug world, there are way too many people with skill in the language than there will be projects that need to be worked on. Unlikely to be a lot of new development either relative to the number of people who could potentially do the work.
Click to expand...


Seems like they have been trying to kill off COBOL for at least twenty years now. But, there are still some things it is best for. Where I work, we converted most of our stuff to Oracle a few years ago. But, still have a lot of COBOL. It still keeps me pretty busy. Mostly maintaining old programs, but still writing the occasional new one.

You're right that the new people coming in don't seem to be learning it. When I RE later this year, someone will have to dredge their old COBOL skills out of memory.
 
At 27, I can relate to way too many of these. I was *shocked* to hear that many schools no longer teach cursive! What do they do in third grade now?
 
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