What is the oldest thing you own that you still use daily?
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A stove spatula my mom had in the 1940s. Not daily but I use it routinely. I hand wash it instead of putting it through the dishwasher.
We also have my wife's grandmother's old, completely out-of-tune standup piano. Nobody in our house plays piano. We use it to take up space, accumulate clutter, and make sure that area of the room is unusable.
I read that as "stone spatula" and thought that thing was ancient
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Just wondering what passes the test of time? I personally have an old Casio watch and if you count fruit trees, those are pretty old too.
I've got this little blue plastic cup I've had for almost 30 years. Use it for my toothbrush. Got it when I was a kid and it's the only toothbrush holder I've ever had since.
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Hah! I don't know if it's because of how old the wood is, but it's not very splintery, it has a smooth fossilised feel even though it's so uneven.
Yeah, I'm sure anything that would have splintered off already has by now with how worn it looks. It shouldn't be an issue now unless a chunk breaks off.
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Most of it is a decade old at best ^^
sauce: https://book.bionumbers.org/how-quickly-do-different-cells-in-the-body-replace-themselves/
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Hmm, do you literally only own things you bought new?
The question was about what I use daily.
The oldest thing I own is an end table from late 70s. Don’t use it very often though
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I went downstairs and took one just for you:
His thing was that he didn't want obvious electric lights in the lobby because Aztecs didn't have electric lights. But it was decided that giant glass columns in earthquake country in the 20s was a bad idea, so they didn't do it
Aww, that's a shame they didn't go through with it. I don't see why it would be an issue structurally. You'd just need to build the structural spiller in the center, then put lights around that, then glass around that. LEDs would make this so much easier, but it still should have been doable. You could even make the glass "floating" so the floor/ceiling shaking wouldn't break it.
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Hmm, probably cookware from the 1960's. Furniture too, if that counts. It's possible something in the kitchen is actually a generation older, although I'm not sure.
If you include decorations as opposed to just tools it goes back almost arbitrarily (I have 19th century heirlooms, pre-settlement arrowheads and Cambrian period fossils), but I think the spirit of the question is more about things finding a totally pragmatic application.
Edit: I also have a touch-sensitive lamp of a similar age to the cookware. I'm not sure how it works exactly, but I'm guessing the entire exterior is one big capacitor, and it must have a very early transistor inside to switch it. It's not quite used daily, but it's sure interesting.
Obligatory Technology Connections
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The question was about what I use daily.
The oldest thing I own is an end table from late 70s. Don’t use it very often though
wrote last edited by [email protected]Ah, okay. There has to be someone out there that's fully in this material century like that.
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Mmm, delicious non OSHA-compliance. No handrails, no problem!
I'm fascinated with those joints. Are they nailed at all, or is it just held together by gravity, friction and the exterior walls?
No nails, gravity and large wooden stakes / dowels. It's amazing to me that people made this by hand, and by the looks of it it was some exquisite craftsmanship, but it's still functional hundreds of years later, unlike most things created today.
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Can it still receive regular radio too?
Yup absolutely. FM and AM, thats why I had it restored.
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Obligatory Technology Connections
wrote last edited by [email protected]Huh, very cool! Nobody in the family could remember where mine actually came from. Nobody else knew enough about electronics to be impressed by how old it is, either. Actually I'm lucky it came up.
There's no markings I can see. If Alladin had a patent on it maybe that would be the place to start looking for the model.
There's no mechanical relay I can hear and no tube warmup period, but on the other hand it has no boot period and it does behave oddly depending on the quality of mains power (so analog). The person who almost certainly bought it died in the 1970's.
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Just wondering what passes the test of time? I personally have an old Casio watch and if you count fruit trees, those are pretty old too.
I have a washcloth I got when I was like 6.. I’m almost 40. It’s a really nice mesh washcloth and somehow it only has one extra hole that shouldn’t be there, as well as a seam for the edging that needs to be fixed.
I’ve used it almost daily for my face that whole time.
But the oldest thing I have that I sort of technically use is a wheelchair from WWI. It functions as a chair in my living room. I don’t really think it counts, being furniture, though.
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No nails, gravity and large wooden stakes / dowels. It's amazing to me that people made this by hand, and by the looks of it it was some exquisite craftsmanship, but it's still functional hundreds of years later, unlike most things created today.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Ah, the old style of woodwork. People have almost forgotten it now - really, anyone uninterested in history has, although the traditions lasted longer than you'd think - but nails were once expensive. Scraping things to fit and using wood's natural flexibility can get you a good way, and the fact it shrinks and hardens after being cut down can also be used to great effect. Although, in this case the fact the female part is a full log makes me somewhat doubtful greenwood techniques were used, aside from maybe to make the dowels.
They would have made this thing entirely without power tools as well (so it's no wonder they skipped the nice finish). Two centuries ago they probably were using modern hand saws and the like, although certain archaic tools like the drawknife could have been in their kit as well.
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Just wondering what passes the test of time? I personally have an old Casio watch and if you count fruit trees, those are pretty old too.
Probably my Ron Jon Surf shop beach towel I got while on holiday in Florida in 1997 (I live in the UK). Still in great condition and I wouldn't say I've looked after it particularly.
Also honourable mention to my oldest tech which is an HP touchsmart 600 PC I use for youtube in my bedroom, it's from 2011 and still just about hanging on.
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Just wondering what passes the test of time? I personally have an old Casio watch and if you count fruit trees, those are pretty old too.
My back. Its getting creeky though.
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I have a washcloth I got when I was like 6.. I’m almost 40. It’s a really nice mesh washcloth and somehow it only has one extra hole that shouldn’t be there, as well as a seam for the edging that needs to be fixed.
I’ve used it almost daily for my face that whole time.
But the oldest thing I have that I sort of technically use is a wheelchair from WWI. It functions as a chair in my living room. I don’t really think it counts, being furniture, though.
That's cool. Where'd you get the wheelchair? Got a pic?
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Just wondering what passes the test of time? I personally have an old Casio watch and if you count fruit trees, those are pretty old too.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Maybe the iron skillets. I don't think a day passes that I don't use those. Or my house, it's from the 1940s. Some of the furniture is older than that too, though I don't think there is any one piece I actively use each day.
Truly oldest? Double entry accounting, I use nearly every day and that's from around 1300.
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I went downstairs and took one just for you:
His thing was that he didn't want obvious electric lights in the lobby because Aztecs didn't have electric lights. But it was decided that giant glass columns in earthquake country in the 20s was a bad idea, so they didn't do it
Wow, that looks great. Thanks for showing!
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Just wondering what passes the test of time? I personally have an old Casio watch and if you count fruit trees, those are pretty old too.
wrote last edited by [email protected]A large tooth comb I’ve had since middle school. I used it everyday until a couple of years ago when I switched to a brush better designed for my hair type, but I still use it on occasion. Not sure how I haven’t lost that thing throughout the years.
ETA: I’ve had the thing for over 2 decades!
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Aww, that's a shame they didn't go through with it. I don't see why it would be an issue structurally. You'd just need to build the structural spiller in the center, then put lights around that, then glass around that. LEDs would make this so much easier, but it still should have been doable. You could even make the glass "floating" so the floor/ceiling shaking wouldn't break it.
I think in 1925 their ability to cushion big hunks of glass was lower, and they didn't have safety glass. It was probably a good call, even though it was a cool idea.
