No apology needed. Your presence in these forums is a mitzvah to us all.
Bless you for your reply and I apologize.
Dave, I have to say, I resemble that remark. (wink)
If you look again at my post, I pointed out I wasn't the person who did this. In fact, the thief lived down the hall in my dorm.
You raise a great issue, though. First, in principle, the theft of a long-distance phone call worth $2.25 is no different from any other kind of petty theft. It's no different from using a counterfeit $20. By the way, that $2.25 phone call in 1966 would cost $16.80 today...close to the $20 Mr. Floyd lost his life over.
Now, in my post I wasn't boasting, so much as I was recounting. At the time, I found the situation hilarious, even though I knew it was theft. After some 50 years I no longer find it hilarious, but I don't see it as a big deal, either. It's a sin I'm sure the Ancient of Days has forgiven a long time ago, even if he hasn't forgotten it.
If I had done either of your capers, I wuld really regret it today, and certainly would nut boast of it. Yes, there are things I did when i was young that i am ashamed of today, but if I wished to discuss technology, I'd use anonmous souls.
Was the crime of trying to pass a counterfit $25 bill any more seious than the capers you posted above? And you are, of course, not the only one. I did object to apublished story inovling theft of edible-drinkable (and delicious and cooling on a hot day) freight.
On the old black pay phones with the 3 coin slots on top, you could take a strip of paper you could get from cutting it from the cover of the phone book that all phone booths had. Slide it into the nickel slot and drop 2 pennies in it. It recognises them as nickels so you could make a call for 2 cents. I've done it back then.
In the Navy at the end of the piers in Norfolk there was a shed with about 20 pay phones in them. They didn't have dials, you'd pick up the receiver and the operator would ask for the number, you'd tell her and then she would say how much money to put in. If you talked over the limit of that money, she would come on and tell you to drop in more. Several times I didn't do that so I would ask if I could pay later. She asked my name and I would make something up or give the name of someone I didn't like. I would say, Warrant Officer Roland Bagley (I hated that bas@@@@) Worked like a charm.
NKP guy From a Bell Telephone truck garage and a friendly repairman he had obtained the pay phone mechanism of three coils that each made a different sound when the appropriate coin fell on them.
There was another system that used one DTMF pair repeated at a fixed interval to represent different coins: one for a nickel, two for a dime, five for a quarter if I remember correctly, and you could simulate this with a suitably-kludged tone dialer (although I never did).
But it literally never occurred to me to steal Bell System property to actually make the dings. (Like there was some ethical difference between that and 'theft of services'!!) And equally strangely I never went in for 'phreaking' with a blue box to synthesize the line-access codes. I'm beginning to realize some of the ways I was raised and remember weird contradictions in how we behaved in those days...
One of the delightful little details in the movie "Real Genius" was their method of making free (well, relatively low-net-cost) calls on the lab pay phone...
How to get free long distance calls in 1966 without having a grandmother who previously worked for Ma Bell? Here's how one college student (not me) accomplished it:
From a Bell Telephone truck garage and a friendly repairman he had obtained the pay phone mechanism of three coils that each made a different sound when the appropriate coin fell on them. Using a cigar box, he housed that mechanism. He had discovered that operators could not actually see the coins being deposited; they could only count the different sounds (nickels, dimes, quarters) and total them up. Therefore, the same three coins could be used over & over again to simulate the sound of many coins being deposited at the pay phone. Result: free long distance calls. In 1966 a long distance call was 35 cents for the first three minutes or $2.86 today, and 10 cents or 82 cents today for each additional minute. Thus a 20 minute phone call to one's loved ones could cost $16.80 in today's money. Before taxes.
Today one can call everyone anywhere in the USA for free, no matter how long one talks. Utterly amazing to this boomer
Btw, ever watch an old movie (think Cary Grant in "An Affair to Remember") on TCM and think how the entire (bad) situation the chartacters find themselves in could have been avoided if only cell phones had been invented?
Electroliner 1935 You had to disconect the non rented phone's ringer from the line. The Central Office could measure the number of ringers on the line.
You had to disconect the non rented phone's ringer from the line. The Central Office could measure the number of ringers on the line.
Give the man a gold star. All a person had to do was not connect the yellow wire to either the red or black terminals. Cannot remember which for private lines. For 2 party lines one house was connected to the red and other house to black. That way only called house telephone would ring.
The central offices could ring about 4 or 5 phones using the 105 volt AC ringer signal. Once electronic companies began selling their phones they would post on the boxes their REN ( ringer equivalence number ). A REN1 was the equivalent of a regular phone company 500 phone. But many of the aftermarket phones had a REN of either 0 or 0.1. Phone companies could not detect those phone at that time. So phone companies slowly sold their phones to subscribers.
Back to the RPOs...my dad's first job with the US Post Office when he started in 1943 was going from the downtown Minneapolis main post office to pick up mail coming in on mail trains at the nearby Great Northern and Milwaukee Road depots. In the 1980s we bowled together on a team in the Minneapolis Post Office bowling league with a teammate who was a retired RPO clerk.
BTW part of the reason my dad, who pretty soon after starting working for the Post Office became a Letter Carrier, never became a supervisor was that when the mail was taken off of the rails, all the RPO clerks were assigned to regular postal jobs. Because of their high pay scale, usually the only job they could be assigned to would be as a supervisor at a station (post office), even though they usually knew nothing about how a regular station worked.
Electroliner 1935You had to disconect the non rented phone's ringer from the line. The Central Office could measure the number of ringers on the line.
A roommate then discovered not only that you could wire up 'ringerless' extensions using ordinary two-prong plugs and outlets, but also that it didn't matter which way was 'up' (this was the era before mandatory polarized plugs. As part of the final "People Magazine Ten Best College Rooms" prospective room, pity that was never published, we had Tap-A-Lines wired around most of what remained of the furniture to simplify conversation, a kind of early version of the 'cordless phone experience'...
One of the funniest moments came at some point that year, when the roommate had an extensive cable of interconnections running between his room and mine to access the Strowger switch I had running many of the 'smart-home' features like curtains and lighting control ... another story. I was fast asleep in my raised bed when I heard knocking on the door -- when I went to answer it, there stood the Bell repairman in full regalia, saying there was something wrong with the phone. I turned around, and the first thing I saw was the two phone carcasses with various wires and components sticking out, and the second thing several 'extensions' plugged into Tap-A-Lines ... I thought we'd lose our phone service and be in debt to Ma Bell for decades over this!
Reasoning quickly, I figured Arthur had to be the source of the 'issue', so I let the repairman in and said "I think I can fix the actual problem pretty quickly" and reached up and tore down the line out of his suite. The repairman put his meters on and said 'Yep - that did it' ... and then turned his attention to the ringers. He was silent for a few minutes, and then said what I defectively remember as 'You know, if you put a capacitor between here' ... pointing to a particular spot in the wangled mess ...'and here' ... pointing to another, 'you'd get better results'. (He might, in fact, have said to wire a Zener in exactly the spot to avoid some of the charges!) I knew then we were going to live, and that Bell service was not a faceless monopoly...
Our "number" was Woodland WO5-5125 when I was a kid. My grandmother was a telephone pioneer, with Ma Bell as an operator. In retirement she had free long distance from her phone. There are days what with telemarketers and being hogtied to smart phones that I could go back to earlier times.
blue streak 1 Overmod. There was a quick way to add extensions that the telephone company could not detect. Curious ?
Overmod. There was a quick way to add extensions that the telephone company could not detect. Curious ?
blue streak 1Overmod. There was a quick way to add extensions that the telephone company could not detect. Curious ?
And then the phone company stopped supplying phones and you had to go out and buy your own.
RIP Western Electric
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Paul of Covington How many of you young whippersnappers remember picking up the phone, hearing the operator say "number please", and telling her the number?
How many of you young whippersnappers remember picking up the phone, hearing the operator say "number please", and telling her the number?
I'm not young anymore and I do remember that. It was just prior to area codes and Dad had to dial the operator to call relatives in Hammond Indiana.
blue streak 1Some of you may remember that dial tone had to change to allow touch tone to work!
(That was when there was still just one telephone mandated for each line and supposedly dire consequences would ensue if you made any changes to the premise wiring, let alone added your own extension phone. That alone seems like a whole other world now...
_____________
"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
Overmod ATLANTIC CENTRAL I remember when the phone exchange started with two letters. That were the start of a word. My telephone was LOWELL-7-3809. My grandparents in Kingston, PA had BUTLER-7-6945. I was told there was lots of fun in suburban Philadelphia where CYNWYD was used and people thought it was spelled as spoken to them...
ATLANTIC CENTRAL I remember when the phone exchange started with two letters.
That were the start of a word.
My telephone was LOWELL-7-3809. My grandparents in Kingston, PA had BUTLER-7-6945.
I was told there was lots of fun in suburban Philadelphia where CYNWYD was used and people thought it was spelled as spoken to them...
When I was really little, my parents had a two party line with just a two letter prefix (WH)+4 digits. Then it became WH8, then MO8 then 668, remaining the same until they passed.
ATLANTIC CENTRALI was born in 1957, graduated Severna Park High class of 75. Lived in that part of AA County most of my childhood. It was still pretty rural into the early 70's, not so much now. I have been in Harford Co for the last 26 years. Sheldon
It was still pretty rural into the early 70's, not so much now. I have been in Harford Co for the last 26 years.
Sheldon
At Severna Park HS my Uncle was the Principal for many years.
BaltACD As I recall - Severna Park wasn't upgraded to dial phones until the late 1950's...
I was in college then so not long after 1975...
I was born in 1957, graduated Severna Park High class of 75. Lived in that part of AA County most of my childhood.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL BaltACD northeaster About 15 years ago, I knew an old fellow, about 105 years old, who had worked for 50 years the mail car from Bangor, Maine to Portland, Maine and had memorized 500 Maine town names (pre zip code days) so that all his mail was sorted by the end of his run. I assume he worked the opposite train to return to Bangor. Very different world! Don't forget telephones - before the days of dials, let alone push buttons or tones. My Grandfathers phone number when I was a kid - Severna Park 45. When his phone system was upgraded to being a dial system and the Exchange Operator was done away with - his last 4 digits ended up being 4545. Severna Park - that's where I am from. I remember when the phone exchange started with two letters. In Severna Park MI7-6586 was out phone number. Sheldon
BaltACD northeaster About 15 years ago, I knew an old fellow, about 105 years old, who had worked for 50 years the mail car from Bangor, Maine to Portland, Maine and had memorized 500 Maine town names (pre zip code days) so that all his mail was sorted by the end of his run. I assume he worked the opposite train to return to Bangor. Very different world! Don't forget telephones - before the days of dials, let alone push buttons or tones. My Grandfathers phone number when I was a kid - Severna Park 45. When his phone system was upgraded to being a dial system and the Exchange Operator was done away with - his last 4 digits ended up being 4545.
northeaster About 15 years ago, I knew an old fellow, about 105 years old, who had worked for 50 years the mail car from Bangor, Maine to Portland, Maine and had memorized 500 Maine town names (pre zip code days) so that all his mail was sorted by the end of his run. I assume he worked the opposite train to return to Bangor. Very different world!
Don't forget telephones - before the days of dials, let alone push buttons or tones.
My Grandfathers phone number when I was a kid - Severna Park 45. When his phone system was upgraded to being a dial system and the Exchange Operator was done away with - his last 4 digits ended up being 4545.
Severna Park - that's where I am from.
I remember when the phone exchange started with two letters. In Severna Park MI7-6586 was out phone number.
As I recall - Severna Park wasn't upgraded to dial phones until the late 1950's, much later than the rest of the Baltimore area - at least the areas I was familiar with.
For some reason, I still remember the phone # we had in Dallas when I was 9. DA7-5973. Probably I remember because it was the first phone number I ever knew.
ATLANTIC CENTRALI remember when the phone exchange started with two letters.
northeasterAbout 15 years ago, I knew an old fellow, about 105 years old, who had worked for 50 years the mail car from Bangor, Maine to Portland, Maine and had memorized 500 Maine town names (pre zip code days) so that all his mail was sorted by the end of his run. I assume he worked the opposite train to return to Bangor. Very different world!
About 15 years ago, I knew an old fellow, about 105 years old, who had worked for 50 years the mail car from Bangor, Maine to Portland, Maine and had memorized 500 Maine town names (pre zip code days) so that all his mail was sorted by the end of his run. I assume he worked the opposite train to return to Bangor. Very different world!
Great video, a reminder of life before computers.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.