This collection of memories developed spontaneously over a period in a CAD newsgroup early in 1997 under the subject of “Old CAD Drafters”. As technology continues to accelerate with no rest in sight, it seemed like a good idea to rescue this collection from being lost forever.
When we migrated content to the new website in 2009, “Old CAD Drafters” got a low priority, but we monitored the 404 Page Not Found Logs to make sure that popular pages were not neglected only to find that “Old CAD Drafters” was right up there as a highly popular page. So we promptly got it back online and have some upgrade plans underway to enhance it further.
As well as some obvious references to skill hard won and now redundant, many of the lines are what can only be called “Dad” jokes. Only other dads and old farts think they are amusing. Others, without the shared experience of manual drafting in the 50s, 60s and 70s and the transition to CAD in the 80s, don’t get the joke, or that warm flood of recall when these phases trigger fond memories of days long gone. That’s why we keep ’em here. It reminds a lot of people of the good old days.
If you have any other drafting-related reminders of the passage of time, feel free to send them to us. We’ll be glad to add them to the list. Thank you to the people past, present and future who contribute to this list.
Header image courtesy of NASA/GRC
