And CRTs are unbelievably heavy in comparison, making them a bitch to move at all.

I'm using an old console TV that I've modified to hold a flat screen. I literally have a home server and a sound bar built into it the space that was originally just the tube and there's still enough space for my full grown ass to climb inside.

Yeah, but you could use them as a shelf.

Put stuff on top of them (just be careful when watering the plants).

I dropped mine down the stairs, the implosion from the vacuum tube was pretty impressive.

Circa late 1980s I remember our dad brought home a degauser from work, hey anyone remember what a degauser is? It was a magnetic box (VERY STRONG MAGNETS) with a tunnel to slide a cassette tape through, to erase the cassette tape. Well I don't remember which of us family members decided its storage place should be on top of the TV but what a fun science lesson that turned out to be 😄 If you moved the magnet around the TV in all different places, the distortion on the screen would follow wherever the magnet was, and IIRC the screen distortion wasn't permanent. The screen went back to normal when you removed the magnet from the vicinity.

I had some unshielded noise speakers that would change the color when swiped across the screen in one direction. And cleared it when swiped the other direction. Fun times!

The TV wasn't permanently messed up, you just needed to degauss it.

Klutz books were truly amazing. I had that one and several others, and they were incredibly formative for me.

I know, right? I've gone through like 4 in my lifetime and I haven't owned any in over a decade lol

Remember when the tube started to go and you had to leave it on all the time or whack the side of it when you first turned it on for the day, until it warmed up?

Rose tinted glasses.

The very first thing you have to learn for crt repair is how to safely discharge a capacitor.

I run a valve (tube) amp as my daily driver for audio and yeah, you do have to have a screw loose in this day and age. They're a lot better with modern passive components but modern valves are pretty hopeless in terms of longevity. For EL84s you basically have to buy old Soviet military stock (thank fuck Gosplan was so hilariously inefficient) or your amp will burn through them fairly quickly.

On the other hand if you look after them will probably outlive you. The valves are consumable components but the transformer is literally a big chunk of iron and copper, and they're dead simple to work on usually. Modern capacitors don't dry out and turn into resistors nearly as readily too.

I repair arcade games and often mention to curious onlookers: "Fifty years of putting miniature particle accelerators in every home and business!"

Man of culture I see

I would love for CRTs to be manufactured again, but that instutitional knowledge is probably long gone, as is the equipment that produced it.. so making them again would, probably, be a trillion dollar ordeal.

could be a timer set to go off after a month of no internet.

I have seen it mentioned in other threads that they may connect to open hotshots.
I don't know how true this is, but it would make sense.

CRTs can emit X-Rays, but they are properly shielded so they never leave the tube.

The X-Ray scare mostly came from a line of GE TV's in 1968 that had improper shielding and had to be recalled.

beam of electrons

Let's say it cooler: they were particle accelerators you pointed at your face.

Also, massive glass vacuum bottles that could implode if mishandled.

And with massive capacitors that could electrocute you if mishandled.

And heavy enough to seriously crush your foot (and possibly implode and electrocute you) if mishandled.

And the static electricity felt really neat on the back of your hand if you put it close to the screen.

They were so fucking cool, and we took them for granted, and now they're gone, and life is significantly less cool without them.

they did emit x rays but most of them was blocked by the leaded glass

I like this comment except for the fact it seems needlessly hostile

Someone not knowing there's a difference between "radiation" and "radioactivity" doesn't make them stupid.