{"id":7938,"date":"2013-05-31T11:05:09","date_gmt":"2013-05-31T18:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/?p=7938"},"modified":"2013-05-31T11:05:09","modified_gmt":"2013-05-31T18:05:09","slug":"ive-got-a-little-list-obsolete-technology-left-handed-problems-la-drivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/?p=7938","title":{"rendered":"I&#8217;ve Got a Little List: Obsolete Technology, Left-Handed Problems, LA Drivers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-4974\" alt=\"userpic=fountain-pen\" src=\"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/userpicfountain-pen.jpg\" width=\"70\" height=\"63\" align=\"right\" hspace=\"5\" vspace=\"5\" \/>The unifying theme for today&#8217;s lunchtime news chum is enumeration: these are all lists of things. Further, they are all lists of things with which I have some disagreement:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.livescience.com\/37004-12-outdated-technologies-refuse-to-die.html\"><strong>12 Obsolete Technologies Americans Still Use<\/strong><\/a>. Andrew Ducker brought this list to my attention. I disagree with many of these items &#8212; both with the &#8220;obsolete&#8221; aspect, and the implication that there is no rationale for their use. For almost all of these, I&#8217;ll argue that there are still narrow use cases that justify their use. #2 Pagers, for example, have the advantage of being one-way, which make them ideally suited for environments where one is worried about information exfiltration. #3, Dot Matrix Printers, are needed in cases where multiple copies are required and printing multiple originals is burdensome (or when a real signature is required). #5, Pay Phones, are vital for emergencies and cases where people either cannot use or cannot afford cell service. #7, landline phones, are a vital backup communication medium when the power goes out (they have independent power, whereas VoIP depends on main power), and still have superior sound quality to cell lines. #9, film, has inherent artistic qualities that cannot be duplicated with digital (which is the same argument for #12, vinyl). #11, fax machines, can provide security advantages as it is not stored. Which do I use? #7, #8, #11 (some places still require it), #12.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.buzzfeed.com\/katienotopoulos\/the-18-worst-things-for-left-handed-people\"><strong>18 Worst Things for Left Handed People<\/strong><\/a>. Being left handed, I agree with many items on this list, although some I disagree with. For example, #5 &#8212; really now? Pushing the ball? If so, then how can I write with a fountain pen. Similarly, with #6, that&#8217;s only a problem if you are using ink that doesn&#8217;t dry fast enough. #7 is only a problem if you don&#8217;t take care where you sit (it&#8217;s now automatic for me to sit in the correct corner), and I&#8217;ve never had a problem with #10 or #15. Some of these still annoy me, such as #1, #2, and #12, and my personal pet peeve is #16 &#8212; those signature capture machines are never designed for left handers.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.buzzfeed.com\/erinlarosa\/things-only-drivers-in-los-angeles-will-understand\"><strong>30 Things Only Drivers in Los Angeles Will Understand<\/strong><\/a>. This, perhaps, is the list I have the greatest disagreement with, for much of these are things that <em>native<\/em> Los Angeles people have no problems with. For example, regarding #1 &#8212; I never scream on the freeway &#8212; I just turn on a podcast and go with the flow (or get off and get some tea and wait for the mess to subside). As for #4, Sigalert is so yesterday &#8212; real people use <a href=\"http:\/\/quickmap.dot.ca.gov\/\">Quickmap from Caltrans<\/a>. As for #3 &#8212; that sign isn&#8217;t even from Los Angeles, although <a href=\"http:\/\/articles.latimes.com\/2013\/mar\/21\/local\/la-me-holland-parking-signs-20130322\">the parking signs can be confusing<\/a> (which <a href=\"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/?p=7539\">I&#8217;ve written about before<\/a>).\u00a0 As for #11, real Angelenos know to visit the Auto Club for most DMV services. #17 is really only a excuse for those that live in the LA Basin &#8212; those in the valley will drive anywhere. However, #13 is most definitely true!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The unifying theme for today&#8217;s lunchtime news chum is enumeration: these are all lists of things. Further, they are all lists of things with which I have some disagreement: 12 Obsolete Technologies Americans Still Use. Andrew Ducker brought this list to my attention. I disagree with many of these items &#8212; both with the &#8220;obsolete&#8221; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/?p=7938\">Read More &#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[168,252,251,101],"class_list":["post-7938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-chum","tag-driving","tag-left-handedness","tag-modern-technology","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7938"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7945,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7938\/revisions\/7945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}