People in 1920s Berlin nightclubs flirted via pneumatic tubes (2017) • Hacker News Board

OfSanguineFire wrote: post #36

nicbou wrote: post #15

Berlin had one of the largest pneumatic mail systems in the world. A (highly recommended) Berlin Unterwelten tour covers it. There is still a big, beautiful Rohrpost building in Mitte close to the big Synagogue. The Real store at Leopoldplatz has a pneumatic tube system that reaches every cash register. You can see the tubes go up and along the ceiling. I believe that it's one of the failed Walmart stores from their…

> The Real store at Leopoldplatz has a pneumatic tube system that reaches every cash register. Isn’t this pretty common in hypermarkets? I’ve seen systems of pneumatic tubes running from the registers at Auchans or Carrefours in multiple European countries. I imagine that people don’t notice them just because pneumatic tubes are now so little a part of everyday life that one doesn’t even expect to see them.

Department stores in the past had this in Canada. Afaik they were used to send money from tills to the backoffice periodically after a certain level of cash in the drawer was reached.

Re: People in 1920s Berlin nightclubs flirted via pneumatic tubes (2017)

#76

Post by sinuhe69 » Tue, Jul 25, 2023, 3:32 AM UTC

Jun8 wrote: post #26

This is a titillating combination of remote (don’t know the person) and in-person (you can see them right there across the room. Something that’s impossible to recreate with Tender, etc. There are two fatal flaws to the system that’s described in the article and the more recent examples mentioned the comments, though: (1) first call takes all, you wouldn’t know how many people would be interested in you; and (2) deni…

Perhaps the continue (unfairly) occupation of the phone line would encourage someone to be brave and walk the distance to make a face-to-face conversation? :) Not too bad at all, isn’t it?

Re: People in 1920s Berlin nightclubs flirted via pneumatic tubes (2017)

#77

Post by mohn » Tue, Jul 25, 2023, 3:50 AM UTC

resonantjacket5 wrote: post #63

pests wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hypermarkets?

(Mainly usa context) Most of what people commonly call "us supermarkets" are also "hypermarkets". But basically it's combining not only department stores but also with grocery stores. For example Target used to not include groceries until recently. For Walmart it's the difference between their 'regular' Walmart and the Walmart Supercenters. (Target also has their SuperTarget variant) Most of Fred Meyer's are 'hyperma…

> For example Target used to not include groceries until recently.

There was a span of time where many of them didn't, but I was surprised to learn recently that the first ever Target store included groceries. See this 1962-05-03 advertisement[0] for the grand opening.

[0] https://i.imgur.com/vayeLPV.jpg

Re: People in 1920s Berlin nightclubs flirted via pneumatic tubes (2017)

#78

Post by ShadowBanThis01 » Tue, Jul 25, 2023, 4:26 AM UTC

Jun8 wrote: post #26

This is a titillating combination of remote (don’t know the person) and in-person (you can see them right there across the room. Something that’s impossible to recreate with Tender, etc. There are two fatal flaws to the system that’s described in the article and the more recent examples mentioned the comments, though: (1) first call takes all, you wouldn’t know how many people would be interested in you; and (2) deni…

This is easily solved with a call-waiting system, perhaps a display of pending callers. Or a time limit.

Re: People in 1920s Berlin nightclubs flirted via pneumatic tubes (2017)

#79

Post by pgreenwood » Tue, Jul 25, 2023, 4:28 AM UTC

Barrin92 wrote: post #33

rodgerd wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germany, up until the rise of the Nazis, was a popular destination for Eastern Jews fleeing pogroms, a centre of sexuality research, cutting-edge culture for music and film. We should do a better job of remembering that, because the reason none of that survives is "the Nazis murdered everyone". Particularly given the direct adoption of Nazi-era phraseology in modern political movements.

Yes, it's sad how little attention that period of German history gets especially abroad. Babylon Berlin is a fantastic German TV production that captures the cultural side of the late Weimar period very well.

The silent film; Berlin, Symphony of a Great City (1927) by Walter Ruttman always made a big impression me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdFasmBJYFg https://archive.org/details/BerlinSymphonyofaGreatCity

Re: People in 1920s Berlin nightclubs flirted via pneumatic tubes (2017)

#80

Post by Stratoscope » Tue, Jul 25, 2023, 5:03 AM UTC

Virgin America offered a service like this when I flew with them a decade ago.

If you saw someone you liked, you could make a note of their seat number and buy them a drink from your seatback display.

If they accepted the drink, you could start texting with them.

I never got lucky, but it was a fun concept!

https://www.usatoday.com/story/todayinthesky/2013/04/25/virg...