Thread Number: 86772
/ Tag: Other Home Products or Autos
Number PULEAZE! Part Five: |
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Post# 1113422   4/1/2021 at 05:19 (1,114 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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All about vintage telephones up to 1989. Advertisements, humor, history, collections, equipment, restoration/repair, technical questions, resources or just plain memories, it's all here. While emphasis is placed on American telephones, vintage telephones from around the world are also most welcomed.
"Hello central???"
Part One: http://www.automaticwasher.org/c...
Part Two: http://www.automaticwasher.org/c...
Part Three: https://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?79508
Part Four: https://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?81652 |
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Post# 1113424 , Reply# 1   4/1/2021 at 05:21 (1,114 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1113425 , Reply# 2   4/1/2021 at 05:23 (1,114 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1113427 , Reply# 3   4/1/2021 at 05:27 (1,114 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1113429 , Reply# 4   4/1/2021 at 07:22 (1,114 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1113430 , Reply# 5   4/1/2021 at 07:24 (1,114 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1115791 , Reply# 6   4/28/2021 at 07:57 (1,087 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1115793 , Reply# 7   4/28/2021 at 07:58 (1,087 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1115794 , Reply# 8   4/28/2021 at 08:00 (1,087 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1115796 , Reply# 9   4/28/2021 at 08:01 (1,087 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1122067 , Reply# 10   7/1/2021 at 20:29 (1,023 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1122068 , Reply# 11   7/1/2021 at 20:30 (1,023 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1122069 , Reply# 12   7/1/2021 at 20:32 (1,023 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1122072 , Reply# 13   7/1/2021 at 20:35 (1,023 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1122073 , Reply# 14   7/1/2021 at 20:36 (1,023 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1122101 , Reply# 16   7/2/2021 at 05:58 (1,022 days old) by jamiel (Detroit, Michigan and Palm Springs, CA)   |   | |
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They were acquisitive in the West, completing acquisitions through the 50s and 60s to build up their footprint. Believe they didn't get the areas in Riverside County (Palm Springs/Coachella Valley) until the early 60s--before that it was the California Telephone Company. There's also a youtube out there from the Sunland-Tujunga independent telephone company touting their handling of a cutover/conversion in the late 50s which seemed to be before they got absorbed by GTE. You're right about the quality in Ohio, though...my aunt in Oberlin tells a story about her husband not hearing about a job offer because the call never came in in the early 70s.
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Post# 1122123 , Reply# 18   7/2/2021 at 11:22 (1,022 days old) by ea56 (Cotati, Calif.)   |   | |
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When we first moved to the Northern California Coast in ‘63 we had a PT&T toll station 5 party line. No dial service, you picked up the receiver and the operator came on the line and you gave your number and the number you wished to call and the operator rang in down. If the number you were calling was someone on your party line, you hung up while the operator rang the number and listened for the rings until your party answered, then picked up the receiver and proceeded with your call.
Then in ‘71 General Telephone acquired the phone service for the area and introduced dial service. I was already away from home for almost a year when this happened. Mom was over the moon getting a private line and dial service. I don’t recall her having any difficulty with receiving or placing calls. However the billing was another matter. She frequently found that calls listed on the bill seemed excessive in time and the number of calls. The only calls that were local ie. no charge were within a 15 mile radius, everything else was a toll call. So she kept a spiral bound steno tablet next to the phone and meticulously recorded EVERY call made from the phone, the number called, date, time of call and disconnect. This way she was armed to dispute any invalid charges. I believe that AT&T now has the service for this area again. Eddie |
Post# 1122154 , Reply# 19   7/2/2021 at 16:42 (1,022 days old) by RP2813 (Sannazay)   |   | |
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Sometime in the 1960s, GTE took over the long time mom & pop telephone company that served the Los Gatos area of what is now Silicon Valley, including the portions of the Santa Cruz mountains that were on the Los Gatos exchange. Service was horrible and subscribers were pleading over the ensuing decades for Pacific Telephone (Pacific Bell after the court ordered divestiture by AT&T in 1984) to assume the exchange, but it was not to be.
When Dave and I moved out to that area in 1989 and landed in GTE territory, we got to experience the sub-optimal service first hand. At least we weren't subjected to the weird Automatic Electric telephone sets that seemed like toy phones, since by that time we could use our own equipment. We had problems with both delayed dial tone and unbreakable dial tone, which is when you dial a number and still have a dial tone instead of a ringing signal.
I started working for Pacific Bell in 1991 and a co-worker of mine had worked for GTE in Los Gatos. She said the reason why Pac Bell wasn't interested in taking over the GTE exchange out there was because the mountainous region was a maintenance nightmare.
Once GTE morphed into Verizon, things got better and we even had services available that Pac Bell, the overwhelmingly dominant provider in the region, didn't even offer. We were upgraded to a 5E switch, which was superior to what Pacfic Bell was providing in the vast majority of its switching offices.
Toward the end of our 19 year stay in that area, Verizon's Time of Day recording went totally bonkers. The time lady would provide information such as, "At the tone, the time will be 4:20 and 98 seconds" or whatever. It wasn't long before the telcos were allowed to discontinue that service altogether so it was clear that Verizon had stopped maintaining it in anticipation of that decision.
Continental Telephone served the Gilroy area for many years. It was a much smaller operation than GTE, but I think at some point in the '90s Verizon took over.
The one independent provider in Northern California that gets high marks from its subscribers is Roseville Telephone in the northwest portion of greater Sacramento. Not that it makes much difference anymore since residential land lines are being abandoned by subscribers and the telcos are discouraging them. Other than the reliability factor, they just don't make sense anymore. I removed all long distance access from my land line after receiving an $11 charge just for having it as an option. All long distance happens from my cell phone now. At some point I'll end up on VOIP. Another high quality essential consumer service will be soon be gone forever, and there will be no chance of any telco building out new networks -- fiber or otherwise -- in the future.
I've been told that low income subscribers who are on "Lifeline" discounted service will soon be receiving cell phones and losing their land line service. What goes around comes around. In the beginning, telephone service was only marketed for business use, and that's rapidly becoming the case again well over 100 years later. |
Post# 1122164 , Reply# 20   7/2/2021 at 17:27 (1,022 days old) by wayupnorth (On a lake between Bangor and Bar Harbor, Maine)   |   | |
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Post# 1125729 , Reply# 23   8/14/2021 at 00:06 (980 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1125730 , Reply# 24   8/14/2021 at 00:07 (980 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1125731 , Reply# 25   8/14/2021 at 00:09 (980 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1125732 , Reply# 26   8/14/2021 at 00:18 (980 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1125745 , Reply# 28   8/14/2021 at 05:28 (979 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1125766 , Reply# 29   8/14/2021 at 08:30 (979 days old) by jamiel (Detroit, Michigan and Palm Springs, CA)   |   | |
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Here the Bell System was totally integrated--at the cost of innovation, in some cases--never did you see anything but Western Electric associated with it (was a big deal when BellSouth after divestiture made a move to Nortel). Our independent sector (roughly 60% of the landmass/30% of the population...correct me on this statistic) could range far more widely. There were some big providers (Automatic Electric, North Supply, others) which competed for the independent company's favor...North Supply even licensed the Ericofon (the one-piece design from Ericsson). I had fun once (while I was working at a non-Bell cellular company) visiting the Telefonmuseet (telephone museum) in Stockholm, Sweden. It was obviously a paean to the wonders of Ericsson, but did make you realize that there was a big sophisticated telephone industry outside of the Bell System and outside of North America)
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Post# 1125799 , Reply# 32   8/14/2021 at 19:19 (979 days old) by RP2813 (Sannazay)   |   | |
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I ditched my Long Distance service with AT&T a couple of months ago. I was being charged almost $12 a month just for the privilege of having access. I use my cell phone to make all toll calls now.
At some point I'll probably switch to VOIP since my land line dial tone, which still comes from the central office, is carried over fiber, but it goes through my gateway for internet access so when the power goes out, I lose my dial tone. If the dial tone still ran through copper, I'd not be as likely to switch to VOIP, which in my experience (talking with my sister, who has Vonage) is inferior to switched network service. |
Post# 1125815 , Reply# 34   8/15/2021 at 06:42 (978 days old) by WhiteWhiskers (Silicon Valley, California)   |   | |
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For several years now I've been using an Obihai OBi202 (now owned by Polycom), Google Voice, and my high speed broadband connection, to make and receive calls. The voice quality is EXCELLENT. This month Poly released a firmware update for the Obi202, so there's still support for this wonderful box. I can call anybody in the United States and talk for as long as I want for FREE.
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Post# 1125839 , Reply# 35   8/15/2021 at 09:12 (978 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1125865 , Reply# 36   8/15/2021 at 16:00 (978 days old) by iej (.... )   |   | |
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Probably our most memorable 1980s phone from Telecom Éireann (Ma Bell’s Irish equivalent) Built by Nortel in Galway
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Post# 1128103 , Reply# 38   9/8/2021 at 19:47 (954 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1128111 , Reply# 39   9/8/2021 at 20:16 (954 days old) by RP2813 (Sannazay)   |   | |
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Post# 1128169 , Reply# 41   9/9/2021 at 07:48 (953 days old) by vacerator (Macomb, Michigan)   |   | |
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primary school, Kids still said their phone numbers with the alpha prefix. Those first two letters were the abbreviations for the central switching officees. In our locale, we had AV for Avennue, DU for Dunkirk, LI for Lincoln, WO for Woodward, etc. |
Post# 1128559 , Reply# 42   9/13/2021 at 15:30 (949 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1128560 , Reply# 43   9/13/2021 at 15:32 (949 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1128561 , Reply# 44   9/13/2021 at 15:33 (949 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1128562 , Reply# 45   9/13/2021 at 15:35 (949 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1130843 , Reply# 47   10/10/2021 at 13:14 (922 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1130845 , Reply# 48   10/10/2021 at 13:15 (922 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1130846 , Reply# 49   10/10/2021 at 13:17 (922 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1130847 , Reply# 50   10/10/2021 at 13:18 (922 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1130848 , Reply# 51   10/10/2021 at 13:20 (922 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1133056 , Reply# 53   11/9/2021 at 09:33 (892 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1133060 , Reply# 54   11/9/2021 at 09:56 (892 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1133061 , Reply# 55   11/9/2021 at 09:58 (892 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1133062 , Reply# 56   11/9/2021 at 09:59 (892 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1133065 , Reply# 57   11/9/2021 at 10:01 (892 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1133066 , Reply# 58   11/9/2021 at 10:06 (892 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1133067 , Reply# 59   11/9/2021 at 10:08 (892 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1133068 , Reply# 60   11/9/2021 at 10:09 (892 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1133069 , Reply# 61   11/9/2021 at 10:11 (892 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1133070 , Reply# 62   11/9/2021 at 10:13 (892 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1133071 , Reply# 63   11/9/2021 at 10:14 (892 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1142141 , Reply# 65   2/14/2022 at 05:16 (795 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1142142 , Reply# 66   2/14/2022 at 05:17 (795 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1142143 , Reply# 67   2/14/2022 at 05:19 (795 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1142144 , Reply# 68   2/14/2022 at 05:20 (795 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1142146 , Reply# 69   2/14/2022 at 05:21 (795 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1142147 , Reply# 70   2/14/2022 at 05:23 (795 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1143295 , Reply# 71   2/27/2022 at 11:32 (782 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1143297 , Reply# 72   2/27/2022 at 11:34 (782 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1143298 , Reply# 73   2/27/2022 at 11:36 (782 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1143299 , Reply# 74   2/27/2022 at 11:39 (782 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1143300 , Reply# 75   2/27/2022 at 11:41 (782 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1143306 , Reply# 76   2/27/2022 at 12:48 (782 days old) by ea56 (Cotati, Calif.)   |   | |
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Post# 1144819 , Reply# 77   3/18/2022 at 21:55 (763 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1144821 , Reply# 78   3/18/2022 at 21:57 (763 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1144822 , Reply# 79   3/18/2022 at 21:58 (763 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1144897 , Reply# 81   3/19/2022 at 22:05 (762 days old) by iej (.... )   |   | |
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Introduction to dial telephones - GPO film from 1933 They did everything in film noir and Received Pronunciation back then… |
Post# 1144901 , Reply# 82   3/19/2022 at 22:46 (762 days old) by jamiel (Detroit, Michigan and Palm Springs, CA)   |   | |
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One fascinating fact about the North American Numbering Plan (country code 1) is that there is no inherent way to identify numbers by technology as there was developed in most of the rest of the world. You're entirely unable to tell the difference when dialing 10 digits whether you're dialing a landline or mobile (which resulted in a mobile party pays system in North America). The rest of the world utilizes technology-specific numbering so you can identify technology (which results in a calling-party pays system, and calls to mobiles are typically more $$ to place than a call to a landline. It's actually illegal to differentiate technologies in US/Canada (New York proposed a cellular-only area code which was shot down toute suite!)
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Post# 1145659 , Reply# 84   4/1/2022 at 15:01 (749 days old) by iej (.... )   |   | |
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Some adverts for long defunct Mercury, the first telco in the U.K. to break BT’s monopoly. The brand no longer exists but the ads were very quirky: |
Post# 1146111 , Reply# 86   4/9/2022 at 09:58 (741 days old) by jamiel (Detroit, Michigan and Palm Springs, CA)   |   | |
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That was a fun blast from the past---with the privatized North American telephone system, these were done at a more local level (rather than by the GPO). Reuben Donnelly was one big directory printer (they also printed the Sears Catalogue as well as magazines).
My grandparents lived in suburban Chicago, but not in an Illinois Bell territory, so they had a wimpy telephone book only covering Des Plaines and Park Ridge, the areas covered by that company, but there was always a big Chicago phone book hanging around for dining room booster service :) They tended to use exchange boundaries in our area to provide the smaller phone books, which wasn't always convenient when one lived near a boundary--- |
Post# 1146146 , Reply# 89   4/9/2022 at 20:33 (741 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1146464 , Reply# 91   4/13/2022 at 16:15 (737 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1146466 , Reply# 92   4/13/2022 at 16:17 (737 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1148533 , Reply# 95   5/11/2022 at 19:46 (709 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1148534 , Reply# 96   5/11/2022 at 19:48 (709 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1148535 , Reply# 97   5/11/2022 at 19:49 (709 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1149397 , Reply# 98   5/23/2022 at 23:47 (697 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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Post# 1151746 , Reply# 100   6/19/2022 at 18:25 (670 days old) by Ultramatic (New York City)   |   | |
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