Monday, April 16, 2012

What hath electronics sundered?

So, I was in the kitchen just now and the coffee machine (a nexpresso type; one cup at a time machine) wasn't working.  It gave the cryptic message "Call Operator with Error 350".
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And I (jokingly) said, "Just smack it on the side.  It's works with TV's." and I was rewarded with a look of total incomprehension from the young lady who broke the coffee device.  Really, she looked at me like I was talking Latvian.
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It took a co-worker, older than I, to explain (to me!) that youngsters don't remember the old days when you hit the TV.
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Oh dear!  I am now so old I remember smacking the TV to get it to settle on a channel!  I even remember (however vaguely) going with my baby-sitter to the supermarket, where they had an honest to god vacuum tube tester, so you could plug in the tubes from your TV - one by one, until you found the problem one. And you could buy a replacement from the cabinet in the front.
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(One of the other benefits of hitting the TV on the side was to pop one of the tubes back into alignment.)
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I don't even think you can open a TV now adays.
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Good Grief.