Cars and trucks made before the 2010’s. Wanna fix a new model car? I don’t have the diagnostic setup so that’s a no for me. Oh, and new key fobs make me really mad.
2010s* …apostrophes are for possession & contractions
Using a brush to paint my house as opposed to an hvlp setup
Do vinyl records count? I really like that they make beautiful noise from a simple electromechanical process.
There are some records which are “threaded” backwards, in that you start at the center and work out rather than start at the edge and work in. This is not standard, automatic turntables might not be able to handle this, but the reason they do this is because of the effect above. You can get greater dynamic range near the outside of the disc, and you probably want greater dynamic range near the end of the recording as the music reaches a climax. Consider Ravel’s Bolero, which is one long crescendo.
Scissors. Their value is noticed most when you cannot find them.
You can always use a knife instead.
But not as precise.
Yeah, but in most cases it’s far, far harder.
Swamp cooler
Axes, I have four and I will get another next year.
I have a hatchet for small tasks, a midsized axe for cutting small trees down and chopping, a Pulaski for landscaping/ digging tasks and I have a splitting axe/maul for splitting rounds.
There is something incredibly rewarding and fun about swinging an axe.
Brother!
The alarm clock
fire!
Automatic (mechanical) wristwatches.
I love the idea of a truly symbiotic relationship between a thoughtfully and carefully designed mechanism and a human. I walk around and live my life, and by doing so, I give it the kinetic energy it needs to keep its mainspring wound, and in return it tells me what time it is. Always. Without fail. I just have to tweak the time if it starts to get too far off, but that’s barely even an imposition. After a good long while, it’s prudent to have them serviced, but if you’re not observing any problems, it’s generally perfectly fine, and will keep ticking along as long as you wear it regularly.
I had a cheap automatic in college, sadly lost it in a move.
But I loved it so much, kept itself wound up without issue, and it was amazing to look at all the tiny parts that made it work.
There are some good enough automatics out now at very reasonable prices.
Of course there are also crazy expensive ones also, but they all do essentially the same thing - convert your movements into time measurements 😀
Similarly, I have a cuckoo clock. I could watch the internal mechanism for hours.
also, knowing you are listening to the same exact tick tock that has been heard for centuries
I’m a huge coffee drinker. Used to have a machine. It broke. Bend using an aeropress and French press for awhile and find that I really don’t miss the machine.
Same, I actually use a french press and then pour the coffee into the insulated carafe from my dead coffee machine to keep it hot until I finish it.
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Pasta House cheese grater
Dumb TVs. I love the option to turn it into a pseudo-smart TV with just a streaming stick. But, I’m always okay with a TV that just has the ports for basic things.
Submerged deep sea internet cables that connect the continents.
They’re fiber optic these days, and often include rebroadcasters and signal boosters. That cannot be considered low-tech.
Physically low, as in deep
You got me, I admit it
This confuses me.
Physically low… as in deep
I don’t see how the whole world Internet could rely on cable under the ocean when my phone cable might last barely a year and it just sits in my car, not under water. It’s like computers that control airplanes or NASA, but i constantly have to restart in order to get an email attachment.
Mass produced to be as cheap as possible, vs carefully built and engineered to last as long as possible.
Tweezers.
When you realize how many wars were averted because of them.