April 08, 2013

Times change

Every once in a while I run into something that makes clear to me how much things change. That just happened; I was reading a Nero Wolfe story and a key point in it was that at one time there were riding academies near Central Park in Manhattan, and that rich people would go riding in Central Park. I wonder how long it's been since any horse not belonging to the NY Police has been there.

Here's another I thought of last night: When's the last time you heard anyone mention the term "carbon paper"? It's as obsolete as manual typewriters, and I last saw one of those when I was in high school. (Which was really a long time ago.)

Jeeze.

UPDATE: I'll be damned. Office Depot still sells it.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Weird World at 11:49 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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1 Oddly enough, last Friday someone asked me for carbon paper.  I'll admit staring at them in befuddlement.  Not that I didn't know what it was, I just couldn't figure out why they needed it.

It was for an art class.

Posted by: Wonderduck at April 08, 2013 03:24 PM (9jITs)

2

I was just wondering: in an era of laser printers and photocopiers, what the heck does anyone need carbon paper for?

Someone must be using it, though, or Office Depot wouldn't continue selling it.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at April 08, 2013 03:32 PM (+rSRq)

3 Maybe legal documents?  Maybe?  I can't imagine why carbon paper would be "more legal" than a photocopier, but...

Posted by: Wonderduck at April 08, 2013 03:34 PM (9jITs)

Posted by: Boviate at April 08, 2013 03:39 PM (KvJTj)

5 US military still uses it: I've had to fill out a quite a few leave forms in quadruplicate with carbon paper.

Posted by: skulgun at April 09, 2013 08:37 AM (8Yf3t)

6 Wow.  Talk about fighting the last war...

Posted by: ubu at April 09, 2013 10:23 AM (SlLGE)

7 When I was younger, around 10-12 (so about 15 years ago), I used carbon paper that my dad had brought home from work to trace anime pictures from the RightStuf catalogs that had been sent to me (even though I have no recollection of requesting them -- they somehow preemptively knew I would grow up to be an anime fan).  So, besides the intended use, there are certainly other things one can still use it for.

Posted by: MeganeNeko at April 10, 2013 04:33 AM (RXa2b)

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