Name that quote

[nomadpete]

57 minutes ago, old man emu said:

Where's this from? 

 

"At the third stroke it will be ...."

 

And none of your smut!

Testing the memory there Old Mate. Trying to remember, dialling 1103 perhaps?

Precisely! Pip. Pip. Pip.

[pmccarthy]

1 hour ago, old man emu said:

Where's this from? 

 

"At the third stroke it will be ...."

 

And none of your smut!

The talking clock

[Yenn]

Time to see a doctor, or maybe too late.

[red750]

3 hours ago, old man emu said:

Where's this from? 

 

"At the third stroke it will be ...."

 

And none of your smut!

That's "George".

[Jerry_Atrick]

3 hours ago, old man emu said:

Where's this from? 

 

"At the third stroke it will be ...."

 

And none of your smut!

Oh, OME.,. that is such a tempting line to respsond to with smut.. You foul tempter, you..

 

It is from our version of what the British called the talking clock.. I can't remember the number you dialled from the landline, but it was literally a voice telling the "correct" time. How they aligned it to the atomic clocks, I never know.

[old man emu]

4 hours ago, nomadpete said:

dialling 1103 perhaps?

Close, but no Vap. (Not allowed to give cigars as prizes now) I thought you were correct, but I just checked and it was 1194. Here's a link to the story of the Australian "Talking Clock" introduced to Australia by the PMG, if you can remember that mob.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-16/talking-clock-continues-to-tick-on-the-internet/11605112

 

Telstra shut down the talking clock in September 2019. but fora dose of  nostalgia, go here: http://1194online.com/

[Cosmick]

1 hour ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

Oh, OME.,. that is such a tempting line to respsond to with smut.. You foul tempter, you..

 

It is from our version of what the British called the talking clock.. I can't remember the number you dialled from the landline, but it was literally a voice telling the "correct" time. How they aligned it to the atomic clocks, I never know.

Precisely 

[octave]

I recall as a child my friends and I would call the talking clock and also dial a prayer, not for religious reasons but back then we got a thrill from going to a phone box and calling someone (albeit a recording) for free. 

[Jerry_Atrick]

I remember thosse old red phone boxes and pay phones. I recall we worked out a way to make the calls for free form them. I can't quite recall what it was.. maybe have been as brutal as yelling down it.

 

Memory is slipping.. But I remember very well the girl I called from there to get some privacy from my parents - both of whom were exceedingly prudish even for that time.

[onetrack]

I was quite surprised to find the speaking clock only started in 1953 in Australia. I always knew the number as 1194, but prior to that, it was B074.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaking_clock

[octave]

3 minutes ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

I remember thosse old red phone boxes and pay phones. I recall we worked out a way to make the calls for free form them. I can't quite recall what it was.

 

I seem do remember sticking a piece of coat hanger wire through the holes in the receiver and touching it to the body of the phone. This was the old button A button B phones. 

[onetrack]

SWMBO used to work on 1100 (faults and difficulties), and the operators would constantly get calls form mostly young scammers, saying they'd lost or forgot their phone money, and could the operator please connect them to their required number?

Some of the kinder-hearted women operators would do it, SWMBO is pretty ruthless, and would ask them how they lost or forgot their money? - and then tell, "Well that was pretty silly of you wasn't it? You'd better go and find some more money!" She's pretty shrewd, she can pick scammers and dishonest stories, straight up.

[octave]

We do forget how things have changed.    When I was young my parents would ring their parents in England (or back home as they referred to it) on Christmas day.  This had to be booked through an operator and was paid for in 3 minute increments.

 

Later (1979) I joined the air force and would ring interstate top talk to my now wife.  I remember rolls of 20 cent pieces (4$ each I think]. These calls could only be afforded on a Sunday night after 6PM.

 

By contrast I talk to my son who lives overseas regularly sometimes for hours for free and I can chat to my mother interstate. 

[onetrack]

When I first left school and started in business at age 16 with the older brother, we lived in a rented farmhouse with a party line! You had to spin the handle on the phone, wait for the local exchange operator to answer, them ask to be put through to the number you wanted - "Could I have East Yealering 43, please?" Then the operator would listen in to the call half the time, because they wanted to pick up gossipy titbits!

 

We had to maintain our own phone line in to the house from the main trunk line on the highway. This was two lines of heavy fencing wire on poles that ran for about 3kms. If a branch fell on this wire and broke it, you had no phone until you went and repaired it! The PMG would only repair "their" lines along the roads and highways.

 

Edited November 18, 2022 by onetrack

[nomadpete]

7 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

How they aligned it to the atomic clocks, I never know.

I wonder what George was synchronised to?

Pretty sure He was initially recorded before atomic clocks existed.

Also, he was always nice and clear. Whatever media was used, it didn't seem to degrade over the years. It might have been a wire recorder, the predecessor to the tape recorder.

[allowera]

What prank calls do you remember?

Things like :- "Is your refrigerator running? You'd better go and catch it then!"

Cheers.

[old man emu]

14 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

to make the calls for free

Not exactly free, but there is a washer that is the exact size of a 6d piece. Drop it in the slot and Press Button A.

 

Ring up Directory Assistant (aka Information) and ask how many nuts and bolts are there in the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

 

Here's the thread drift:

Only two men have survived falling from the Harbour Bridge. The first, Vincent Kelly, an Irishman, fell while working on the construction of the road level. He supposedly cheated death by dropping his toolbelt in the water to break the surface tension.

 

That's against the Laws of Physics. Objects, startting at the same vertical velocity, and ignoring wind resistance, will descend under gravitational attraction at the same velocity. Therfore, merely dropping the toolbelt would not cause the belt to reach the water's surface before the man's body. The version of the story that I heard was that the falling man had a sledge hammer and, holding it between his legs, with the head a few inches below his feet. The head would hit the water first and break the surface tension before the body reached it.

 

This story also sounds more like a theroetical example from a Physics lecture on surface tension.

[onetrack]

I would've thought that the surface tension of the water had little to do with being injured when falling into water from a height - it's the impact caused by trying to instantly displace the many kgs of water that you go into, that does the damage - as well as the major deceleration forces, which displace major organs and fracture bones.

I've heard it said that it's the equivalent of hitting concrete when falling into water from a substantial height.

[facthunter]

Water can break things Rough sea ops with seaplanes are pretty non-existent except for things like the Walrus. I would still prefer to land on water than cement. Terminal velocity is only about 130 MPH. at low altitudes. Nev

[old man emu]

This might be the most believable report:

A worker named Vincent Kelly survived a 55m fall from the bridge. In October 1930 he was working on the bridge when he slipped and fell 55m into the harbour below.

Miraculously, he managed to somersault in mid-air and land in the water feet first. He survived with a few broken ribs and was later awarded a medal by the company responsible for overseeing the works. Disregarding air resistance, falling through 55 metres from gets an object to 118 kph.

 

Given that it is said he somersaulted, that would have contributed to air resistance and taken off a few k's