Stuff that hasn't changed in 50 years? I have two ideas..

Stuart G

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Sun Aug-02-09 07:14 AM
Original message

Stuff that hasn't changed in 50 years? I have two ideas..

Aspirin and bricks ...exactly the same as they were 50 years ago..Any other ideas

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datasuspect

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Sun Aug-02-09 07:28 AM
Response to Original message

1. um, actually modern bricks are inferior to those fired 50 years ago.

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Stuart G

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Sun Aug-02-09 07:33 AM
Response to Reply #1

2. I honestly thought that bricks had stayed exactly the same..So had

a couple of people that I had talked to.

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HopeHoops

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Sun Aug-02-09 09:23 AM
Response to Reply #1

5. Quite true. They break so much easier.

Actually, the old bricks are almost impossible to break without the right tools!

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datasuspect

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Sun Aug-02-09 09:26 AM
Response to Reply #5

6. my friend in the trades can break bricks with his hands.

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ornotna

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Sun Aug-02-09 10:07 AM
Response to Reply #6

8. Must be cheap bricks

Edited on Sun Aug-02-09 10:07 AM by ornotna

I have encountered modern bricks that will destroy a high quality percussive masonry drill bit. Some modern bricks are damn hard.

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HopeHoops

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Sun Aug-02-09 10:24 AM
Response to Reply #8

9. Not if you hit them just right.

Drilling is an entirely different issue than breaking. You can snap one over the edge of another and get a clean break with little effort. One of the guys at my family's karate school breaks the 2" 8x16 paving blocks with his forehead. That's a really incredible thing to watch! It is just hitting it in the right place with a clean strike.

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datasuspect

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Sun Aug-02-09 10:37 AM
Response to Reply #8

13. today's bricks are perfectly suited for modern programmatic construction

Edited on Sun Aug-02-09 10:39 AM by datasuspect

in terms of craftmanship, modern applications and construction methods don't compare well to the construction methods employed in the very recent past.

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blockhead

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Sun Aug-02-09 05:11 PM
Response to Reply #8

35. some brick are harder than others because

various regions of the country have different properties of quality and color based upon the clay. I like the look of old Chicago commons.

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nuxvomica

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Sun Aug-02-09 04:04 PM
Response to Reply #1

29. Do you have a link on this?

I'd like to know specifically what has changed about the manufacturing process, for a project I'm working on.

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mwooldri

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Mon Aug-03-09 09:16 PM
Response to Reply #1

60. Not necessarily true.

If you're fixing a 300+ year old house and you got to do some brickwork, then modern bricks just don't do it. Got to use the traditional method.

Yes, bricks have changed. But there are outfits that still make the bricks the same way they did in the Victorian ages and before that. (though they tend to use gas rather than coal for the kilns these days).

Mark.

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GoddessOfGuinness

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Sun Aug-02-09 07:57 AM
Response to Original message

3. Humanity

Collectively speaking, we are basically the same as we were 50 years ago. While some countries have made great strides with regard to their treatment of women and minorities, others have taken giant steps backward. Prisons are still places where revenge is satisfied. The Haves are still hacking it out with the Have Nots.

But 50 years is such a short amount of time in the grand scheme of evolution, so it's to be expected, I suppose.

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Bertha Venation

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Mon Aug-03-09 08:59 AM
Response to Reply #3

46. well said

:thumbsup:

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HopeHoops

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Sun Aug-02-09 09:22 AM
Response to Original message

4. SPAM, Wonder Bread (it is a wonder it is bread), Velveeta

Of course, when you have achieved perfection, why mess with it - and by perfection I mean "perfectly disgusting".

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Xipe Totec

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Sun Aug-02-09 05:28 PM
Response to Reply #4

39. There's whole grain Wonderbread now.

go figure.

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HopeHoops

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Mon Aug-03-09 08:53 AM
Response to Reply #39

45. A whole new experience in cardboard, I'm sure.

I certainly wouldn't touch the stuff myself.

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KamaAina

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Mon Aug-03-09 09:07 PM
Response to Reply #39

58. And turkey SPAM, and SPAM with Tabasco, etc.

The various SPAM mutations are usually test-marketed on Guam, which, believe it or not, consumes considerably more of the stuff per capita than we do. :eyes:

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GoddessOfGuinness

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Mon Aug-03-09 03:51 PM
Response to Reply #4

54. SPAM

We still don't know where it came from. :rofl:

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HopeHoops

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Mon Aug-03-09 10:17 PM
Response to Reply #54

63. Um, actually we do...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_%28food%29

Not for the feint of heart.

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Sanity Claws

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Sun Aug-02-09 09:41 AM
Response to Original message

7. House electricity

We still flip on switches the same way.

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JVS

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Sun Aug-02-09 10:24 AM
Response to Reply #7

10. Speak for yourself! I got the clapper

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Ikonoklast

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Sun Aug-02-09 02:37 PM
Response to Reply #10

26. Better see a doctor.

Antibiotics will help that.

What? Oh.

Nevermind.

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Lionel Mandrake

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Sun Aug-02-09 11:29 AM
Response to Reply #7

14. Electricity has changed in the USA.

Edited on Sun Aug-02-09 11:43 AM by Lionel Mandrake

The voltages have crept up. When I was a kid, they were 110 and 220. Now they are 120 and 240. I don't know why.

50 years ago I used to replace fuses. Now I flip circuit breakers.

50 years ago, most plugs were not polarized. If you got a shock from an appliance, or your audio system made a hum, you were advised to reverse the plug.

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ashling

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Sun Aug-02-09 01:21 PM
Response to Reply #14

16. most plugs were not polarized.

or grounded

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Lionel Mandrake

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Sun Aug-02-09 02:25 PM
Response to Reply #16

22. That was true in 1959 (50 years ago).

According to Wikipedia ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Electrical_Code

... it wasn't until 1962 that the National Electrical Code required new 120-volt receptacles to be both grounded and polarized.

Polarized or grounded 110V plugs would not fit in the older receptacles.

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ashling

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Sun Aug-02-09 02:30 PM
Response to Reply #22

24. I know

and the house we rent is still not grounded properly

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marzipanni

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Sun Aug-02-09 02:08 PM
Response to Reply #14

21. My husband and I moved into his grandparents' old house

I discovered this- Don't stand on the kitchen floor with bare feet making waffles with an antique electric waffle iron. YOWZA! I'm glad the waffles stuck, because that thing gave me quite a shock! I'll don some rubber soled shoes if I attempt using it in the future!
My little old Singer� portable sewing machine gives a gentler reminder to reverse the plug, a slight buzz under the fingertips.

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Lionel Mandrake

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Sun Aug-02-09 02:35 PM
Response to Reply #21

25. The wiring in your house is unsafe.

You might want to have an electrician take a look at it.

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Brother Buzz

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Sun Aug-02-09 03:51 PM
Response to Reply #25

28. The house electrician, me, says the wiring is fine after I put a penny in a fuse socket

Actually I'm joking about the penny, but the ungrounded/uninsulated antique electric waffle iron with an unpolarized plug was the culprit. The waffle iron is back in the museum collection in the basement with other antique appliances OSHA never wants to see, like the electric curling irons from the twenties or the electric toaster with the totally exposed heating elements from the teens.

Marzipanni's antique sewing machine buzz is caused by an unpolarized plug inserted backwards into a polarized receptacle (maybe I should be the good husband and replace the plug on the old sewing machine).

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Lionel Mandrake

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Sun Aug-02-09 05:18 PM
Response to Reply #28

36. Do you have GFCI receptacles in the kitchen?

The type of receptacle called a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) depends on microelectronics, which didn't exist fifty years ago. GFCIs are now required in kitchens, bathrooms, and certain other places.

If the waffle iron had been plugged into a GFCI receptacle, Marzipanni would not have received much of a shock. The GFCI would have noticed that the current on the hot side was greater than that on the neutral side (the missing current running through her feet), and the GFCI would have tripped -- like a circuit breaker, but much faster.

Since you're an electrician, you already know this stuff, but some other readers probably don't know about GFCIs.

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Tuesday Afternoon

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Sun Aug-02-09 10:26 AM
Response to Original message

11. charcoal and on the other end of the spectrum, diamonds

grass is still green and the sky is still blue............

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_dynamicdems

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Sun Aug-02-09 10:29 AM
Response to Original message

12. These...

Of course there are fewer OF them, but the remaining redwoods have remained the same, maybe a few more rings. :)

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gmoney

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Sun Aug-02-09 11:51 AM
Response to Original message

15. Roofing shingles and gutters

Maybe they've changed a little, but they haven't improved. It bugs me that asphalt shingles held onto plywood with nails is still the way it's done. Seems so primitive and prone to failure from things like, oh, wind, hail, trees, time, etc.

I know you can buy expensive gutters that promise not to get full of leaves and crap, but the basic gutters still suck.

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crispini

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Mon Aug-03-09 11:18 AM
Response to Reply #15

52. Get a tin roof!

My next roof is going to be "Galvalume" steel. Radiant barrier plus roof all in one!

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Deja Q

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Sun Aug-02-09 01:22 PM
Response to Original message

17. If they cost $20 per pill in a hospital, aspirin has changed a lot

:yoiks:

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mwooldri

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Mon Aug-03-09 09:32 PM
Response to Reply #17

61. Aspirin hasn't changed, it's the delivery method.

cents or even fractions of a cents for the aspirin, megabucks for someone to pick it up from store and bring it to your bedside.

Might as well ask a family member to run to the drugstore for me if all the nurses are going to do is give me aspirin.

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NJmaverick

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Sun Aug-02-09 01:23 PM
Response to Original message

18. Toliet Paper

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Auggie

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Sun Aug-02-09 01:50 PM
Response to Original message

19. Tabasco Sauce. Jack Daniels.

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rug

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Sun Aug-02-09 02:05 PM
Response to Original message

20. Checkers.

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REP

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Sun Aug-02-09 02:29 PM
Response to Original message

23. Bon Ami

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bif

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Sun Aug-02-09 03:15 PM
Response to Original message

27. This hasn't changed in 50 years, maybe even more.

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marzipanni

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Sun Aug-02-09 04:13 PM
Response to Original message

30. You'll find quite a number of things if you look around in The Vermont Country Store

The Vermont Country Store has people write to them saying, " I loved (fill in the blank)_______, but I haven't been able to locate it in stores for years. Is it still made?" and often this item appears in their catalogue. For people like me, born mid-twentieth century and before, it brings back many memories!
http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/Shop?searchid=7KM1SRCH&feedid=googlebrand

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LostInAnomie

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Sun Aug-02-09 04:14 PM
Response to Original message

31. The recipe for most major whiskey brands.

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BB1

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Sun Aug-02-09 04:37 PM
Response to Original message

32. Dupe.

Edited on Sun Aug-02-09 04:40 PM by BB1

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BB1

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Sun Aug-02-09 04:38 PM
Response to Original message

33. Eggs.

They haven't changed much. Just like blisters on your feet, I'll bet they look the same as blisters from the fifties!

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Gidney N Cloyd

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Sun Aug-02-09 04:48 PM
Response to Original message

34. Bicycle tire pumps. Mens wallets.

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Robb

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Sun Aug-02-09 05:21 PM
Response to Original message

37. Sweating copper pipes for water supplies.

You can yell about PEX all you want, gimme a decent lead-free solder (OK, so the solder has changed) job for my hot 'n cold.

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Xipe Totec

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Sun Aug-02-09 05:27 PM
Response to Original message

38. Enteric coated aspirin is new

It does not disolve in the stomach, but in the intestine.

Keeps it from ulcerating your stomach.

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Tangerine LaBamba

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Sun Aug-02-09 06:13 PM
Response to Original message

40. Q-tips

Toilet paper.

Kleenex.

Paper.

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jmowreader

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Sun Aug-02-09 07:21 PM
Response to Reply #40

42. Paper is not the same. The pH has changed, and so has the way they make it

50 years ago, paper was made from ground-up wood, it was bleached with chlorine and it was acidic. Today's paper can be made from ground wood but is largely made from chemically dissolved wood, it's bleached with hydrogen peroxide and it's alkaline for longer life.

Toilet paper and kleenex are 100 percent recycled; back then they were usually virgin wood.

Q-tips had wooden sticks.

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Tangerine LaBamba

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Sun Aug-02-09 07:26 PM
Response to Reply #42

44. Thank you -

I'm glad you take these things seriously. I've learned something.

Thanks............

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JVS

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Mon Aug-03-09 04:10 PM
Response to Reply #40

55. Qtips with a plastic shaft have come onto the scene in the last 30 years

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whistler162

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Sun Aug-02-09 06:55 PM
Response to Original message

41. My underw...... never mind!

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jmowreader

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Sun Aug-02-09 07:24 PM
Response to Original message

43. Johnson's Paste Wax

Brasso.

Parson's Ammonia.

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Blue_Tires

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Mon Aug-03-09 09:00 AM
Response to Original message

47. a lot of simple tools

hammer, axe, wedge, pulley, wheels, and if we are talking abstract, then most of the whole world of mathematics remains unchanged for centuries...

and what about the pencil?

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Blue_Tires

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Mon Aug-03-09 09:12 AM
Response to Original message

48. what about any number of classical musical instruments?

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snooper2

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Mon Aug-03-09 09:17 AM
Response to Original message

49. Pipe Wrench, crowbar

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woo me with science

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Mon Aug-03-09 09:51 AM
Response to Original message

50. Crisco, wax paper, baking soda. nt

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Stuart G

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Mon Aug-03-09 11:11 AM
Response to Original message

51. The last change in the copper penny was...in 1959...They seem

to be exactly the same as they were then..

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NoPasaran

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Mon Aug-03-09 11:19 AM
Response to Reply #51

53. According to the US Mint, the metal has changed

And I quote:

" In 1962, the cent's tin content, which was quite small, was removed. That made the metal composition of the cent 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc.

The alloy remained 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc until 1982, when the composition was changed to 97.5 percent zinc and 2.5 percent copper (copper-plated zinc). Cents of both compositions appeared in that year."

http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/fun_facts/index.cfm?action=fun_facts2

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fishwax

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Mon Aug-03-09 10:00 PM
Response to Reply #51

62. they've got new designs now, though

In honor of the bicentennial ...

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riderinthestorm

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Mon Aug-03-09 08:45 PM
Response to Original message

56. Toasters, gate hinges, gardening tools, pencils, books

well in the case of books I mean the basic design, not the content which has changed dramatically. I will say that with books, I think we're going to get to e-books sooner ratherrr than later. Enjoy the paper versions while ye may!

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Orrex

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Mon Aug-03-09 09:05 PM
Response to Original message

57. Teflon and Velcro

Take that, manned space exploration apologists!

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kwassa

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Mon Aug-03-09 09:08 PM
Response to Original message

59. Paper clips

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