10 Things That Will Soon Disappear Forever (And 7 That Refuse to Die)

[Midpack]

DW and I both had only manual trans cars until then mid 90's because it was fun, but I don't have a dog in this fight. Just some data FWIW.

Available in nearly half of new models in the United States a decade ago, the manual transmission is going the way of the rumble seat.

Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Alfa Romeo, Volvo, Lexus, Chrysler and Buick no longer offer a single model with manual transmission. Audi, Jaguar, Cadillac and GMC offer only one.

Edmunds senior analyst Ivan Drury said fewer than 3 percent of current U.S. car sales are manual vehicles — compared with 80 percent in some European and Asian countries, and down in the U.S. from 7 percent in 2012 and 25 percent in 1992. “That number is never going to go back up,” Drury says. “The trajectory is down, headed for zero.”

Ferrari’s product marketing chief Nicola Boari says the company decided to end all manual transmission production because demand was “close to zero.”

The [modern] automatic gear boxes work better, and shift more efficiently, than any pro driver with a stick shift can.

http://www.seattletimes.com/nwshowcase/automotive/these-are-the-manual-transmissions-dying-days/

 

[Big_Hitter]

Deleted

this

 

[kombat]

P.S. It's interesting that when quoting somebody you get to see whether or not they used one or two spaces after the period. The board software maintains the original but in display it becomes one space.

It's not the board software, it's your web browser. Modern browsers discard superfluous whitespace, even though it's present in the delivered content. If you right-click and select "View Source," you'll see the extra spaces are still there.

The old two spaces after a period were done in typing because of the limitations of the typewriter.

No, it wasn't a limitation of the typewriter, it was simply that it provided a more readily visible visual cue in breaking up adjacent sentences. You're instead probably thinking of the rationale for the layout of the QWERTY keyboard, which was in fact intended to both slow down exceedingly fast touch-typists, and separate letters that frequently appear close together, in order to reduce the risk of the keys jamming. It's a fascinating anachronism that makes no sense in modern typing (why is the key under my right pinky finger the semicolon? Why would such an obscure character get such prime real estate?), but it's well-established and would be too disruptive to change now.

It also allowed typewriter salespeople to provide a nifty demo of their products without having to become touch-typists themselves, as the word "typewriter" can be spelled entirely using only the letters in the top row of the keyboard.

Another bit of interesting trivia: (Virtually?) All keyboards have little bumps on the 'F' and 'J' keys, so touch-typists can properly position their hands and fingers without having to look down at the keyboard.

Regarding manual vs. automatics, I can understand that modern automatics can shift faster than a human driver, but I'm still skeptical that this results in increased performance. As I understood it, the problem with automatic transmissions wasn't solely the time required for shifting, but rather they require power to do their job, which is that much less power available to the wheels. In addition, they are more complex, and weigh more, meaning the car itself is heavier, so the same engine must accelerate a greater amount of mass, further degrading performance.

Full disclosure, both my wife's car and my own are manual transmissions.

 

[ERD50]

...
Regarding manual vs. automatics, I can understand that modern automatics can shift faster than a human driver, but I'm still skeptical that this results in increased performance. As I understood it, the problem with automatic transmissions wasn't solely the time required for shifting, but rather they require power to do their job, which is that much less power available to the wheels. In addition, they are more complex, and weigh more, meaning the car itself is heavier, so the same engine must accelerate a greater amount of mass, further degrading performance.

Full disclosure, both my wife's car and my own are manual transmissions.

Actually, some modern "automatic" transmissions are manual transmissions under computer control. I just read up on the tech, very interesting. They use two clutches, one for the odd # gears, and one for the even # gears. These gears rotate freely on their shafts, and a cog (on a splined section of the shaft) is slid over to lock a gear to the shaft when needed. So going from 1st to second, the even # clutch is disengaged and it glides a cog to lock gear #2 to its shaft. Then it starts disengaging clutch #1 as it is engaging clutch #2 - a seamless transfer of power.

If it sense you are increasing speed, it will prep gear #3, and so on. The only downside I heard of is if you speed up, slow down, then speed up quickly, the trans may 'hunt' for a split second, preping the lower gear, then the higher gear.

Here's a great breakdown - geek out (this guy has become much better in the past 6 years!)!

-ERD50

 

[jim584672]

Things I got rid of:

Cassette tapes/CDs - Played into the computer and turned into .flac files, then tossed.
DVDs / Blu Rays - Ripped into the computer as .mkv files, tossed.
Paper statements - Scanned in, tossed. Only keeping paper tax returns.
All statements and bills are now electronic and paperless.
Pictures scanned in and chucked.
No longer pay cash, got rid of all change.
Old floppy disks transferred to HD and thrown out.
VCR tapes/player, tape machine, and CD player all gone.
Landline gone a long time ago, use cell phone and magicjack as backup.

Offsite backup via the cloud, strong encryption applied.

 

[jazz4cash]

Learning how to type was probably the most useful thing I learned in high school. I took the class for two reasons; I knew they couldn't require me to buy a typewriter and therefor the class would have no homework, and I was one of two guys in a classroom full of girls.

I did the same thing. My aunt told me i could earn money for college if I could just learn to type 25 wpm. My high school was all male college prep curriculum so I attended SUMMER SCHOOL to take typing and sit in a class full of girls. I got up to about 85 wpm despite the distractions and it's one of the most useful skills I have. Amazing how people react.... I guess I don't look the part.

 

[Curmudgeon]

RE: manual transmissions: I drive one, and taught my kids. My brother-in-law says he can't find people to hire for his business that know how to drive the manual transmission trucks he owns.

A couple to add to the 'Will disappear' list:

1. Cursive handwriting - apparently it's not taught in the schools anymore!
2. Wired phones (although, my daughter loses our cordless phone headsets so often, I'm thinking about attaching each of them to a base station with a lentgh of wire, just to prevent them from getting lost)

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Perhaps there should be a thread on manual transmissions...geez.

The audio discussion reminded me of when CDs started coming out. I was always excited to see one that was recorded "DDD" as opposed to "AAD". As a youngster, I thought the audio was *far* superior. But, I think the albums that I had sounded better on my linear drive turntable (Technics)...and it had an optical eye and could skip songs. It was way cool for 1980 something.

For reading on above DDD designation, please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPARS_code

 

[redduck]

Things That Will Soon Disappear Forever

The remnants of my ability to comprehend.

 

[Nemo2]

The remnants of my ability to comprehend.

Aw, don't be so negative, it'll be hours before that happens.

 

[redduck]

Aw, don't be so negative, it'll be hours before that happens.

Before what happens?

 

[Nemo2]

Before what happens?

 

[Hyperborea]

It's not the board software, it's your web browser. Modern browsers discard superfluous whitespace, even though it's present in the delivered content. If you right-click and select "View Source," you'll see the extra spaces are still there.

Yes, thank you for expanding on that. However, I didn't say that the board displayed anything but that the board software maintained the spaces. I'm well aware of how text display works having spent 25+ years being involved in computer text and layout and involvement with 3 of the standards bodies in the area. Some of you are now possibly viewing text that has passed through my software.

No, it wasn't a limitation of the typewriter, it was simply that it provided a more readily visible visual cue in breaking up adjacent sentences. You're instead probably thinking of the rationale for the layout of the QWERTY keyboard,
<snip>

No, I really did mean limitations of typewriters. There are a fair number of typographic conventions that changed because of the limitations of typewriters. The double space after the period because the fixed pitch type used in all the early typewriters and even most of the later ones, the use of underlining instead of italics, the use of caps instead of bold, the straight quotes because of a limitation in the number characters available, and more are all the result of limitations in typewriters.

Regarding manual vs. automatics, I can understand that modern automatics can shift faster than a human driver, but I'm still skeptical that this results in increased performance. As I understood it, the problem with automatic transmissions wasn't solely the time required for shifting, but rather they require power to do their job, which is that much less power available to the wheels. In addition, they are more complex, and weigh more, meaning the car itself is heavier, so the same engine must accelerate a greater amount of mass, further degrading performance.

You're thinking of old style "slush box" automatics with a torque converter. As was pointed out above the dual clutch computer controlled manual style transmissions are far faster and better performing than any human. They have been used in professional racing for years and in high end sports cars. It's only in the last 10 or so years that they've come down in price enough to be available in moderately priced cars.

Even the more traditional automatics have improved. My wife's Mazda with it's SkyActiv technology has a much improved automatic that gets a higher EPA mileage rating (city, highway, and overall) than the manual version of the same car. It has a 6 speed automatic and the torque converter locks up over a broader range than earlier transmissions getting the fluid connection out of the power transfer.

 

[kombat]

What limitation of mechanical typewriters necessitated two spaces after a period?

 

[aja8888]

Actually, some modern "automatic" transmissions are manual transmissions under computer control. I just read up on the tech, very interesting. They use two clutches, one for the odd # gears, and one for the even # gears. These gears rotate freely on their shafts, and a cog (on a splined section of the shaft) is slid over to lock a gear to the shaft when needed. So going from 1st to second, the even # clutch is disengaged and it glides a cog to lock gear #2 to its shaft. Then it starts disengaging clutch #1 as it is engaging clutch #2 - a seamless transfer of power.

If it sense you are increasing speed, it will prep gear #3, and so on. The only downside I heard of is if you speed up, slow down, then speed up quickly, the trans may 'hunt' for a split second, preping the lower gear, then the higher gear.

Here's a great breakdown - geek out (this guy has become much better in the past 6 years!)!

-ERD50

Far from being new....

DSG - designed by VW over 10 years ago. I had one in each my 2006 Jetta and 2014 Passat diesels:

6-Speed DSG Gearbox < Technical Glossary < Innovation & Technology < Volkswagen International

 

[gladiator280]

A hell of a lot more than anyone one of us can ever imagine !

I am currently going to skim thru a book my brother lent me . It is called " The future of the professions "

" How technology will transform the work of human experts "

ISBN 978-0-19-871339-5 for anyone that loves to read .i hope this book isn't too dry .

 

[Hyperborea]

What limitation of mechanical typewriters necessitated two spaces after a period?

The fact that typewriters are monospaced or at the least all but some high end later models (i.e. IBM Selectric). With monospacing the break between sentences gets lost without double spacing. Modernish (i.e. last 20-30 years or so) font technology also allows for kerning - selectively tightening or widening intercharacter spacing based on the pairs of characters. This can be used, and is in higher quality fonts just like a high quality printer used to do by hand, to improve the spaces between words to be more visually uniform even if they aren't metrically uniform.

 

[W2R]

I haven't read this whole thread, so this may have been said before. Also, beware because I am slightly pessimistic about this and have worried about it for years.

But anyway I think (much to my dismay!) that the written word itself will disappear forever within our lifetimes. Here are some trends that foreshadow this:

1) Even now, on the internet, when you click on a link it is very difficult to read much before the video starts blaring noises at you, pop-ups appear, and so on, making it almost impossible to read.
2) Seems like everyone wants to watch things on video instead of reading.
3) People are using stupid tweet-ish abbreviations even when they aren't tweeting (and I am guilty too, remember my original username? Want2Retire).
4) Nobody gives a hoot about spelling or grammar any more. Check any forum other than this one for proof.
5) Libraries are becoming sources of videos and internet access.

 

[REWahoo]

Also, beware because I am slightly pessimistic...

Saw your comment and thought of this:

 

[aja8888]

4) Nobody gives a hoot about spelling or grammar any more. Check any forum other than this one for proof.
(

Even the Houston Chronicle doesn't care anymore!

 

[W2R]

Even the Houston Chronicle doesn't care anymore!

Neither does nola dot com, the online version of the now defunct New Orleans Times Picayune (we have no newspaper any more).

And REWahoo, I am at your post! Er, I mean, I am laughing at your post.

 

[ejman]

Sure, I can see that they would do that. I didn't know about the KT-120 or KT-150 but from what I read they appear to be tweaked models on the old KT-88 which is a common tube used in high powered bass guitar amps. If they can take an existing design, tweak it a bit, and then charge more money why wouldn't they. But without the mass of guitar amp tubes sold they wouldn't be able to keep the factory doors open. Most of the manufacturers would go away. There might still be some production but the price would have to rise to cover the whole cost of running the factory. It's a similar situation to car manufacturers, Chevrolet couldn't survive producing just the Camaro without significantly increasing prices.

Sidebar: As to the use of "tube snob", I don't understand why people want to spend a lot of money to distort the music they want to listen to. Tubes add a warmth to sound reproduction. That warmth is distortion. I can see why a musician might want to distort the sound - they want to do that to create the sound. But in reproduction you want to get the original sound back again. At one time tube amplification was the only way to do that but that's no longer true and hasn't been for a long time. Solid state amps reproduce the original sound more true to the original. I understand spending money on quality components and good speakers but too often in my experience the "tube snobs" believe in magic fairy dust type things that have no basis in science or engineering - often over cheap components like cables where some manufacturer makes a dubious marketing claim like "directional" and adds $100 to the price. Guitar players aren't exempt from this magical thinking either though they often do it over capacitors and pay $30 for old style paper in oil capacitors in a high-pass tone circuit where a $1 mylar film capacitor does the exact same job.

You know, I've been retired for 15 years now. At this stage of the game I'm not really interested in trying to convince anyone of anything. I know what I like. If you haven't listened to a good tube system I recommend you do and see what you think. If it floats your boat great. If not, great also. Please enjoy whatever it is you enjoy

 

[Texas Proud]

RE: manual transmissions: I drive one, and taught my kids. My brother-in-law says he can't find people to hire for his business that know how to drive the manual transmission trucks he owns.

A couple to add to the 'Will disappear' list:

1. Cursive handwriting - apparently it's not taught in the schools anymore!
2. Wired phones (although, my daughter loses our cordless phone headsets so often, I'm thinking about attaching each of them to a base station with a lentgh of wire, just to prevent them from getting lost)

FYI on cursive.... my sister told me that they were going to pass or have passed a law in Texas requiring the schools to teach cursive.... so it might not yet be dying...

 

[kombat]

What limitation of mechanical typewriters necessitated two spaces after a period?

The fact that typewriters are monospaced or at the least all but some high end later models (i.e. IBM Selectric). With monospacing the break between sentences gets lost without double spacing.

With all due respect, you're simply saying the same thing I did. "The break between sentences gets lost" is just another way of saying what I said: "[A double space] provided a more readily visible visual cue in breaking up adjacent sentences."

As I said, there was no technical requirement for two spaces after a period. It was not a mechanical limitation of the typewriter. Nothing would "jam up" without that extra space. It was simply a grammatical convention, born of the nature of monospaced fonts, and rendered anachronistic with the advent of proportional width fonts. In other words, it's nothing more than an outdated tradition.

 

[kombat]

Regarding cursive, I have heard from some teacher friends and relatives that it's being dropped from numerous curriculums. I wonder, then, how this generation and subsequent ones will know how to sign their name to things?