__________ is/are underrated.

[JayhawkCO]

Wite-Out tape.  How did we ever survive when liquid goo was all there was?  This has to rank up there with the microwave oven when it comes to life-changing inventions...

I'm glad I no longer work in a job with any paper forms.

I don't only use it at work, though.

What else do you use it for at home? Honestly, I use a pen less than once a week.

[kphoger]

What else do you use it for at home? Honestly, I use a pen less than once a week.

Notes to myself on chord charts that I play from at church, mainly.  Sometimes I need to make a correction.

[JayhawkCO]

What else do you use it for at home? Honestly, I use a pen less than once a week.

Notes to myself on chord charts that I play from at church, mainly.  Sometimes I need to make a correction.

I forget if I know this. What instrument do you play?

[Rothman]

What else do you use it for at home? Honestly, I use a pen less than once a week.

Notes to myself on chord charts that I play from at church, mainly.  Sometimes I need to make a correction.

I use a pencil...

[Scott5114]

In the casinos, correction tape/fluid wasn't allowed. Errors had to be corrected by a single-line strikethrough and initialed, because accounting wanted to see what it was we were correcting. So I've just gotten used to correcting errors that way (although I dispense with the initials).

[kphoger]

I forget if I know this. What instrument do you play?

Drum set, acoustic guitar, or keyboard–depending on the week.  I also sometimes do piano composition and choir arrangements at home but, for those projects, I generally start with pencil and staff paper before moving to the computer.

I use a pencil...

Congratulations.

Sometimes I'm changing a chord or a word that's part of the original document.  Sometimes I'm changing a note that I'd made in ink years ago because we've decided to do a section differently from now on.  Sometimes I'm covering up highlighter color, not words or symbols.  All sorts of situations in which "I use a pencil" does not apply.

[Rothman]

I forget if I know this. What instrument do you play?

Drum set, acoustic guitar, or keyboard–depending on the week.  I also sometimes do piano composition and choir arrangements at home but, for those projects, I generally start with pencil and staff paper before moving to the computer.

I use a pencil...

Congratulations.

Sometimes I'm changing a chord or a word that's part of the original document.  Sometimes I'm changing a note that I'd made in ink years ago because we've decided to do a section differently from now on.  Sometimes I'm covering up highlighter color, not words or symbols.  All sorts of situations in which "I use a pencil" does not apply.

Yeah, you should use a pencil and stop with the pen and highlighter.

[kphoger]

Yeah, you should use a pencil and stop with the pen and highlighter.

Wrong.  The correct answer is that you should use Wite-Out tape and stop with the pencil.

[Rothman]

Yeah, you should use a pencil and stop with the pen and highlighter.

Wrong.  The correct answer is that you should use Wite-Out tape and stop with the pencil.

But if I agreed with that, we'd both be wrong.

[kkt]

Wite-Out tape.  How did we ever survive when liquid goo was all there was?  This has to rank up there with the microwave oven when it comes to life-changing inventions...

I'm glad I no longer work in a job with any paper forms.

I don't only use it at work, though.

Remember the good old days?
  make a mistake
  pull the page out of the typewriter
  put a dab of Wite-Out over the incorrect letter
  wait a while for it to dry
  give up waiting, decide it's been long enough, put the page back in
  do your best to line the page up to where it was before
  type the correct letter
  SPLAT!  didn't wait long enough
  pull the page out of the typewriter
  put a dab of Wite-Out over the incorrect letter
  bang your head against the door a few times...

How more typewriters didn't see the end of a sledgehammer, I'll never know.

Do you remember before liquid whiteout?  Make a mistake, use a typewriter eraser that wears down top fraction of an inch of the paper.  Looks lousy.  Or, the ever-popular type the whole darn page again solution.  Typists really did need to be able to type error-free then.

[J N Winkler]

Do you remember before liquid whiteout?  Make a mistake, use a typewriter eraser that wears down top fraction of an inch of the paper.  Looks lousy.  Or, the ever-popular type the whole darn page again solution.  Typists really did need to be able to type error-free then.

I remember carbons.  In some cases I've been able to reconstruct letters my grandmother wrote by reading the carbon paper backward.

[kkt]

Do you remember before liquid whiteout?  Make a mistake, use a typewriter eraser that wears down top fraction of an inch of the paper.  Looks lousy.  Or, the ever-popular type the whole darn page again solution.  Typists really did need to be able to type error-free then.

I remember carbons.  In some cases I've been able to reconstruct letters my grandmother wrote by reading the carbon paper backward.

Yes.  The black got on your hands.  They were also a security problem for confidential typing.

[kphoger]

Yeah, you should use a pencil and stop with the pen and highlighter.

Wrong.  The correct answer is that you should use Wite-Out tape and stop with the pencil.

But if I agreed with that, we'd both be wrong.

Because you'd be wrong:  your opinion that Wite-Out tape is not underrated would be proved incorrect.

And because I'd be wrong:  my opinion that Wite-Out tape is underrated would no longer be correct.

Or, the ever-popular type the whole darn page again solution.

This is what my co-worker says she used to do.  Pull the sheet out of the typewriter, wad it up, toss it in the bin, and start over.  I couldn't believe it when she told me that!

[GaryV]

When the department secretary (they weren't called admins yet) got the first word processor, she was asked if it saved time. Her answer was that bosses would now ask for changes because it was easier to do. Before they would have said it was OK to leave it. So there was enough redo work that more than took up the time of retyping because of mistakes. I assume she was a pretty good typist.

Edit: this word processor was a stand-alone device, not a unique program on a computer like MS Word. It used some humongous floppy disks, like 8 or 10 inches.

[1995hoo]

A former colleague of mine who was fairly senior in his position–I'd guess he was in his late 50s or early 60s when I worked with him 20 years ago–used to complain that one result of software is that written work is "word-processed to death," by which he meant that people spend too much time focusing on their work's appearance and not enough on substance. I understood (and understand) his point, but I don't entirely agree with it. I think there's no reason why written work cannot look as professionally typeset as possible, subject to the limits of whatever rules might apply (e.g., if you're filing something in a court that requires double-spaced text, you're limited in that respect as to how you can format it). There is no reason to be routinely underlining things when you use proportionally spaced type, although the rare use of underlining for emphasis can be OK. There's no reason to use double hyphens in lieu of dashes unless you're required to use monospaced type.

I sometimes read a few hundred pages a week for work, so the way written work appears matters. It affects how easy it is for me to follow what someone's saying, and I especially notice sloppy stuff like when someone abruptly changes typeface midway through, or justifies part of a document but goes ragged-right on another part, or any number of other things.

[wanderer2575]

^^  My father routinely types up notes and documents that look like a ransom note, with a multitude of fonts and effects.  My efforts to get him to knock it off have so far been in vain.

[kkt]

When the department secretary (they weren't called admins yet) got the first word processor, she was asked if it saved time. Her answer was that bosses would now ask for changes because it was easier to do. Before they would have said it was OK to leave it. So there was enough redo work that more than took up the time of retyping because of mistakes. I assume she was a pretty good typist.

Good typist, lousy politician.

Edit: this word processor was a stand-alone device, not a unique program on a computer like MS Word. It used some humongous floppy disks, like 8 or 10 inches.

Yes, I've seen those in use, a long time ago.  Discs probably 8", unless it was a manufacturer just being different for the sake of being different.

[dlsterner]

Edit: this word processor was a stand-alone device, not a unique program on a computer like MS Word. It used some humongous floppy disks, like 8 or 10 inches.

Yes, I've seen those in use, a long time ago.  Discs probably 8", unless it was a manufacturer just being different for the sake of being different.

Likely 8", as that was one of two "standard" sizes of floppy disks, the other size being 5.25".  We had some of those word processing behemoths used by our admins that used the 8" floppies when I first started working.  I think Wang may have the word processor brand.

[kkt]

Edit: this word processor was a stand-alone device, not a unique program on a computer like MS Word. It used some humongous floppy disks, like 8 or 10 inches.

Yes, I've seen those in use, a long time ago.  Discs probably 8", unless it was a manufacturer just being different for the sake of being different.

Likely 8", as that was one of two "standard" sizes of floppy disks, the other size being 5.25".  We had some of those word processing behemoths used by our admins that used the 8" floppies when I first started working.  I think Wang may have the word processor brand.

Wang did make them.

[wanderer2575]

I still keep and balance my checkbook register by hand, and I have to use white-out tape now and then because I added something wrong or wrote something on the wrong line.

I admire your commitment to staying in the 20th Century.

I think I can count the number of checks I've written over the last five years on one hand.

Don't be so quick to knock it.  My wife does all of hers electronically, importing from the bank into Quickbooks, and more than once there's been a Quickbooks glitch and everything is lost.

[Rothman]

I still keep and balance my checkbook register by hand, and I have to use white-out tape now and then because I added something wrong or wrote something on the wrong line.

I admire your commitment to staying in the 20th Century.

I think I can count the number of checks I've written over the last five years on one hand.

Don't be so quick to knock it.  My wife does all of hers electronically, importing from the bank into Quickbooks, and more than once there's been a Quickbooks glitch and everything is lost.

I have an Excel spreadsheet into which I import the information from my accounts.

I have never had a glitch going back 10 years now.

[JayhawkCO]

I still keep and balance my checkbook register by hand, and I have to use white-out tape now and then because I added something wrong or wrote something on the wrong line.

I admire your commitment to staying in the 20th Century.

I think I can count the number of checks I've written over the last five years on one hand.

Don't be so quick to knock it.  My wife does all of hers electronically, importing from the bank into Quickbooks, and more than once there's been a Quickbooks glitch and everything is lost.

I have an Excel spreadsheet into which I import the information from my accounts.

I have never had a glitch going back 10 years now.

Just out of curiosity, what exactly are you tracking? I thought the point of balancing a checkbook was to make sure you didn't have any outstanding deposits or checks that weren't yet recognized in your statement? Since we have online access real time to your transaction history and confirmation of deposits whenever you make them at a branch or using your cell phone, I don't pay too much attention. I do pay attention to my credit cards for refunds and things of that nature.

[vdeane]

Same.  My checks came with a check register that's supposed to track everything to balance the account.  I may have done that for a few months initially when it was first set up, but the only thing I've done in the last decade or so is list what the checks I wrote are actually for, in case I forget by the time they show up in the bank statement.

[Rothman]

I still keep and balance my checkbook register by hand, and I have to use white-out tape now and then because I added something wrong or wrote something on the wrong line.

I admire your commitment to staying in the 20th Century.

I think I can count the number of checks I've written over the last five years on one hand.

Don't be so quick to knock it.  My wife does all of hers electronically, importing from the bank into Quickbooks, and more than once there's been a Quickbooks glitch and everything is lost.

I have an Excel spreadsheet into which I import the information from my accounts.

I have never had a glitch going back 10 years now.

Just out of curiosity, what exactly are you tracking? I thought the point of balancing a checkbook was to make sure you didn't have any outstanding deposits or checks that weren't yet recognized in your statement? Since we have online access real time to your transaction history and confirmation of deposits whenever you make them at a branch or using your cell phone, I don't pay too much attention. I do pay attention to my credit cards for refunds and things of that nature.

My sheet's for budgeting.  Transactions are actuals and then I project future expenses.

[JayhawkCO]

I still keep and balance my checkbook register by hand, and I have to use white-out tape now and then because I added something wrong or wrote something on the wrong line.

I admire your commitment to staying in the 20th Century.

I think I can count the number of checks I've written over the last five years on one hand.

Don't be so quick to knock it.  My wife does all of hers electronically, importing from the bank into Quickbooks, and more than once there's been a Quickbooks glitch and everything is lost.

I have an Excel spreadsheet into which I import the information from my accounts.

I have never had a glitch going back 10 years now.

Just out of curiosity, what exactly are you tracking? I thought the point of balancing a checkbook was to make sure you didn't have any outstanding deposits or checks that weren't yet recognized in your statement? Since we have online access real time to your transaction history and confirmation of deposits whenever you make them at a branch or using your cell phone, I don't pay too much attention. I do pay attention to my credit cards for refunds and things of that nature.

My sheet's for budgeting.  Transactions are actuals and then I project future expenses.

Gotcha. We have our budget for general categories and stuff but don't track it that closely. It's just good to know how much you can spend.