• LillyPip@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    . As an aside, I have to ask: Did you ever get sent up to the roof by your parents after a storm to reset the antenna? Or be the unpaid holder of the rabbit ears by the TV, moving this way and that so your old man could watch his game with the least amount of snow and rolling horizontal lines? I did.

    I was a weird nerd, and some of my fondest memories are helping my dad do engine work on our wood-sided station wagon (I was such a cliché) and going with him to the tv shop to pick up vacuum tubes for the tv after a loud pop and faint waft of smoke, then shimmying ass-upwards on the wall like spider man to hold the flashlight at the correct angle whilst my dad pulled the particle-board (I think, maybe cardboard) back off the television and taught me what every single part inside did.

    Best time of my young life, hands down.

    e: I’ve never been afraid of technology or learning things in my adult life. Thanks, dad.
    (And if you’re raising your child like this, thank you. You’re helping to make good people that way.)

      • LillyPip@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        almost the size of a couch, so I have no idea what was on the back of it because I could never have moved it.

        Oh yeah! Exactly! Mine was very similar to this, but a bit narrower. It was a behemoth, plus the cord was very short.

        Thus the shimmying ass-upwards to hold the torch. There was scant space back there, and making more was work.

        it was probably masonite or some kind of hard board on the back of the tv

        I think you’re right. It was a dark, dense, and very thick board, but not actual wood. I had a radio or clock or something with the same backing, now you mention it. I hadn’t paid much attention except it was thicker than the ikea shit, lol.

        And plugging a bad fuse with a penny,

        Wait, what? I completely missed that growing up.

        Brb.

          • LillyPip@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            It’s dangerous as hell, but it’s something people used to do on knob and tube wiring in old houses.

            Christ on a bike, don’t say shit like that to me – my house was built in 1886. O.o

            Codes changed after any number of fires…

            Just keeps getting worse from there. Some outlets in this place have seen all the world wars.

            There are more efficient ways to give me a heart attack, you know.

            BTW, I think your detractor is probably too scared to take me on

            I think you’re right. I was sticking around for the next volley of meme-facts, but it looks like the match has been called. :)

              • LillyPip@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                It’s all good, lol.

                I’ve been here for 20 years. If this place was gonna immolate me, it’s had plenty of chances.

                Thanks for the info about what to look for, though!

            • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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              1 year ago

              I was sticking around for the next volley of meme-facts, but it looks like the match has been called.

              Sorry if I have to sleep at night I guess?

              “Meme-facts”… Sorry if I provide actual sources instead of relying on personal feelings and experience.

          • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            BTW, I think your detractor is probably too scared to take me on

            You sound just like a COVID denier, hope you realise that? “My experience is true, people who researched the subject and found sources from those in the industry are wrong. Let me show you with anecdotes instead of sources to back my point!”