Things that used to be common place in people’s homes

[najaB]

Be well surprised if whistles weren't de rigueur for those types of kettle! Maybe bells as well!

The problem is that, inevitably, at some point it gets dropped/knocked or in some other way damaged so that it no longer whistles. Or, not wanting to wake others up while making a late-night cuppa you leave the spout open so that it won't whistle... either way, a trip to the store to get a new kettle is the next step, having recreated the conditions on the sunlit side of Mercury in your kitchen...

 

[Ediswan]

Be well surprised if whistles weren't de rigueur for those types of kettle! Maybe bells as well!

Thw whistle was often a separate part, easy enough to forget to put it on.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

To be fair, some types of electric kettle don't seem to automatically switch off either, if you leave the lid up.

 

[Gloster]

To be fair, some types of electric kettle don't seem to automatically switch off either, if you leave the lid up.

...and even if you don’t.

 

[Lucan]

I have four desktops (with tower cases) in the house, and two laptops. Two of the tower cases are under my desk now. A fifth desktop is on loan to my daughter. The desktops have some components up to 30 years old. My main desktop gets upgraded components from time to time (and some parts cascaded), but the need has been rare over the last 5-10 years - the tech has been levelling out. Some of the others are for special purposes like running Win 95 for a professional grade fast scanner that has no later drivers. Nowadays my main laptop is only used for taking outside for the car diagnostics.

I find laptops an inferior experience and when any part of them fails (I've had a few) they are not economically reparable, or reparable at all. The advantage of laptops was to carry around for business, but don't people use tablets or smartphones for that these days? I do have a smartphone.

 

[najaB]

The advantage of laptops was to carry around for business, but don't people use tablets or smartphones for that these days?

Depends. If you just need to be connected to the office for email, calendar, meetings, etc. then a tablet or phone will do. If you want to actually be productive on the road then you need a proper screen and keyboard. There's still a significant premium on those as compared to similarly specced laptops, though convertibles/hybrid prices are getting closer to those of pure laptops.

 

[WelshBluebird]

For me - we have literally just got a brand new desktop for gaming. Nothing come close in terms of performance (gaming laptops have slower components and are often so heavy with poor enough battery life that they just become essentially desktops anyway, and whilst they are great, the new consoles don't always cut it). But for other things aside from work - we have a chromebook and that does everything else we need (zoom, facebook, email, google docs etc).

The advantage of laptops was to carry around for business, but don't people use tablets or smartphones for that these days? I do have a smartphone.

I am not sure I'd like to code or fix production issues on a multi million pound website on a tablet or smartphone!

We actually moved from desktops to laptops for work right at the start of last year. Really lucky timing considering what ended up happening as it just meant that people could take their laptop home (as many of us started to do anyway as we are often on call for production issues). Before that the way of remote working was via the company VPN and then using RDP to get onto your office desktop - which was not a fun experience!

 

[najaB]

We actually moved from desktops to laptops for work right at the start of last year. Really lucky timing considering what ended up happening as it just meant that people could take their laptop home (as many of us started to do anyway as we are often on call for production issues). Before that the way of remote working was via the company VPN and then using RDP to get onto your office desktop - which was not a fun experience!

As I commented above, in my company the default computing provision on joining is a laptop. However, exactly as you pointed out there are a lot of jobs for which you really need a desktop. So most of the developers and support techs have at least one desktop as well.

It has meant that our switch to remote working was pretty seamless - grab the laptop and monitor(s) and set up at home. After a year, it's going to take some convincing to get a few people back into the office!

 

[takno]

As I commented above, in my company the default computing provision on joining is a laptop. However, exactly as you pointed out there are a lot of jobs for which you really need a desktop. So most of the developers and support techs have at least one desktop as well.

It has meant that our switch to remote working was pretty seamless - grab the laptop and monitor(s) and set up at home. After a year, it's going to take some convincing to get a few people back into the office!

I've been working for 15 years in companies where people do a proportion of their work from home, are regularly on support at times when they need to be mobile, may well work from multiple offices, and need to bring their computers into meetings. I've never offered anybody a desktop and only one person ever asked. It does mean that the laptops have to be reasonably top end and on a reasonably regular replacement cycle, but the cost of that is usually only around 1% of the total cost of employment.

Having rewritten half of one of our early products on an 7 inch eeePC while stealing wifi from a coffee shop in Las Vegas, I've come to appreciate having something a little more powerful to hand when I'm on the road.

 

[PeterC]

Having worked as both an IT consultant and as a magazine editor I have found a laptop fine for over 95% of the time. The remainder being occasions when a larger screen would have been useful but has never been a show stopper.

I always use an external mouse and keyboard though, a laptop isn't designed for anybody who has learned to type.

 

[najaB]

It does mean that the laptops have to be reasonably top end and on a reasonably regular replacement cycle, but the cost of that is usually only around 1% of the total cost of employment.

Yeah, ours are on a three and bit year replacement cycle. Mine was due to be replaced in December but lockdowns, travel restrictions, etc.

 

[Ediswan]

I have long been a fan of laptop docking stations. Use the laptop as if it were a desktop base unit. Docks used to be fiddly to use, now they can be as simple as a single USB-C connection.

 

[AY1975]

One thing that I don't think has been mentioned is the soda siphon or syphon. They were quite common in the 1970s and 80s. We had one when I was a kid in the early '80s. You had to put a sparklet bulb into a special holder which you then screwed onto a screw fitting on the siphon, then you unscrewed it.

I've noticed quite a few of those sparklet bulbs lying in the gutter at the edge of the road lately, so there must be people who still have them!

 

[py_megapixel]

I've noticed quite a few of those sparklet bulbs lying in the gutter at the edge of the road lately, so there must be people who still have them!

Yes there are some places round here where I've seen literally dozens of those all over the road. It makes me think, what use could someone possibly have for them? Are the containers being used for some other illicit purpose these days?

 

[jfollows]

Yes there are some places round here where I've seen literally dozens of those all over the road. It makes me think, what use could someone possibly have for them? Are the containers being used for some other illicit purpose these days?

I'm thinking you are referring to Nitrous Oxide, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrous_oxide

Recreational use​

Aquatint depiction of a laughing gas party in the nineteenth century, by Thomas Rowlandson

Whippit remnants (the small steel canisters) of recreational drug use, the Netherlands, 2017

Recreational inhalation of nitrous oxide, with the purpose of causing euphoria and/or slight hallucinations, began as a phenomenon for the British upper class in 1799, known as "laughing gas parties".

Starting in the nineteenth century, widespread availability of the gas for medical and culinary purposes allowed the recreational use to expand greatly throughout the world. In the United Kingdom, as of 2014, nitrous oxide was estimated to be used by almost half a million young people at nightspots, festivals and parties. The legality of that use varies greatly from country to country, and even from city to city in some countries.

Widespread recreational use of the drug throughout the UK was featured in the 2017 Vice documentary Inside The Laughing Gas Black Market, in which journalist Matt Shea met with dealers of the drug who stole it from hospitals, although with nitrous oxide canisters being readily available online, the incidents of hospital theft are expected to be extremely rare.

A significant issue cited in London's press is the effect of nitrous oxide canister littering, which is highly visible and causes significant complaint from communities.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

I'm thinking you are referring to Nitrous Oxide, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrous_oxide

Even here in suburban St Albans you often see these NOS cannisters around , so being a good citizen I often pick them up carefully and put them in the recycling bin. (and wash hands after that of course)

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I've noticed quite a few of those sparklet bulbs lying in the gutter at the edge of the road lately, so there must be people who still have them!

Often sold as "cream chargers". (For aerating whipped cream and similar products). Must be the 'Bake Off' effect!

Yeah, that'll be right!

 

[Bald Rick]

I've noticed quite a few of those sparklet bulbs lying in the gutter at the edge of the road lately, so there must be people who still have them!

Even here in suburban St Albans you often see these NOS cannisters around , so being a good citizen I often pick them up carefully and put them in the recycling bin. (and wash hands after that of course)

More often than not these are CO2 cannisters from cyclists reinflating their tyres after a puncture. Naturally I take my empty cannisters home, but some cyclists are less conscientious.

 

[ABB125]

More often than not these are CO2 cannisters from cyclists reinflating their tyres after a puncture. Naturally I take my empty cannisters home, but some cyclists are less conscientious.

Is CO2 a common inflationary gas is bike tyres? I've only ever come across "normal" air being used (though my bikes have always been at the lower end of the price spectrum, and always off road models).

 

[Bald Rick]

Is CO2 a common inflationary gas is bike tyres? I've only ever come across "normal" air being used (though my bikes have always been at the lower end of the price spectrum, and always off road models).

The only ones I ever see are CO2.

 

[ABB125]

The only ones I ever see are CO2.

Well that surprises me! Though to be fair, the last time I bought a bike was getting on for 8 years ago, and comparing the gas inside the tyres isn't really something the average 11/12 year old does...

 

[Bald Rick]

We might be at cross purposes. Normal bike pumps use atmospheric air. I’m talking about the quick inflators which use a small canister of high pressure CO2 discharged into the tyre. Like this:

Lezyne Trigger Speed Drive CO2 Inflator Silver | Wiggle

Buy your Lezyne Trigger Speed Drive CO2 Inflator Silver from our Pumps range at Wiggle. £23.99. Free delivery available.

www.wiggle.co.uk

 

[ABB125]

We might be at cross purposes. Normal bike pumps use atmospheric air. I’m talking about the quick inflators which use a small canister of high pressure CO2 discharged into the tyre. Like this:

Lezyne Trigger Speed Drive CO2 Inflator Silver | Wiggle

Buy your Lezyne Trigger Speed Drive CO2 Inflator Silver from our Pumps range at Wiggle. £23.99. Free delivery available.

www.wiggle.co.uk

Ah ok, I've never come across one of those either!

 

[MattA7]

Do people still use bars of soap nowadays. Used to be a pretty standard item by the sink and bathtub but nowadays I believe it’s all liquid antibacterial handwash and shower gels.

 

[najaB]

Do people still use bars of soap nowadays.

Yes.

 

[birchesgreen]

Do people still use bars of soap nowadays. Used to be a pretty standard item by the sink and bathtub but nowadays I believe it’s all liquid antibacterial handwash and shower gels.

Yes i do, i hate those liquid soaps.

 

[DelayRepay]

Do people still use bars of soap nowadays. Used to be a pretty standard item by the sink and bathtub but nowadays I believe it’s all liquid antibacterial handwash and shower gels.

I use bars of soap. They are cheaper than the liquid alternative, last longer and involve less waste plastic.

Plus you can store the unused bars in your sock drawer to make your socks smell nice!

 

[GusB]

Do people still use bars of soap nowadays. Used to be a pretty standard item by the sink and bathtub but nowadays I believe it’s all liquid antibacterial handwash and shower gels.

I still use bars of soap. I find that some shower gels seem to leave a sort of film, as if they haven't rinsed off properly.

I was buying Shield for a while, but recently the fragrance seems to have changed and I'm not too keen on the new smell.

 

[adrock1976]

While on the subject of soap, a different type of soap i.e. laundry powder is that I have not seen Bio-Tex prewash powder for a good number of years. It does not seem to be made anymore, as I cannot find it in Tesco, B&M, Home Bargains, etc.

I remember it was quite common in the 1980s/90s.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

While on the subject of soap, a different type of soap i.e. laundry powder is that I have not seen Bio-Tex prewash powder for a good number of years. It does not seem to be made anymore, as I cannot find it in Tesco, B&M, Home Bargains, etc.

I remember it was quite common in the 1980s/90s.

You have to look quite hard for bars of soap these days. Quite fond of Pears and Carbolic , but the family do not agree.