[scottiB]

Recently, I made crack in these forums about how Apple's AirPort improved my quality my life (or at least liberated it a bit). This got me thinking (at its least, pitiful---at its most painful): I'm 33 (no, I'm almost 33 and a half), and I'm amazed at the advancements made in my lifetime (and things that have gone the way of the dodo which I miss). So... .

My questions to you, dear posters (whom I've found very erudite and contemplative):[list=1][*] In your lifetimes, what piece of non-computer technology has enhanced your lives the greatest? Mine is the television (and stereo and cd player) remote control. Because, "When I was your age, son, we had to get up to change the channel from VHF to UHF!" (Funny, how I can't move to watch televison, but with an AirPort, I can't wait to move around!)[*] What is something that you all miss that has been "new and improved" out of existence? Mine is glass soda pop bottles. Ice-cold Coke (or Pepsi or whathaveyou) just plain tastes better when drinking it from a glass bottle. (I know that they still can be found in those dinky 6 1/2 or 10 ounce bottles; it's just not the same as a 16 ouncer in the pre-Metric system days)[/list=a]

From moronic to maudlin, from stupid to satirical, answer away and risk sounding like a crotchety retiree (Now that Jack Benny-- HE'S funny!--which he is)!

[wlonh]

ha! nyc has the 16 oz. cokes in that gorgeous lightgreen glass... ummm

there was no teevee in the house when i was born

what do i miss most? heavy duty plain old black telephones... western electric...

[yoyo52]

I've been watching the PBS series on teh 1900 house, and learned that a plain old washing machine can do in 40 minutes what it used to take 12 hours to do. My wife and I take turns washing. That's what I vote for. What do I miss? Metal and wood. Plastic is just not the same.

[scottiB]

wlonh,

I'll pay cash money for a case of that Coke, plus a finder's fee for you. I'll stash it in the basement for, you know, special occasions.

I live in Michigan, so I could even make back a dime a bottle (gee, sounds like a Seinfeld episode.....).

[wlonh]

in nyc they are generally sold at the storefront mom'n pop deli/grocery stores... out front they invariably have a fruit stand and a bunch of 16 oz. cokes lounging in a load of crushed ice...

ahhhhhhh...

i'll see what a case costs and shipping and whatnot... but do not hold your breath... it's not exactly a priority for me, sorry, but i will get back to you eventually

[scottiB]

Don't trouble yourself....

After my fit of hysteria, I had second thoughts. Shipping alone (and packing and whatnot) would be more than it's worth. Plus, there's always that nagging feeling of: Gee this wasn't as good as I remembered it being.

Thanks for the offer, but I'll just have to make a trek to NYC--maybe MWNY next year.

Wood and metal, I agree. I have a Heywood-Wakefield bedroom set from my parents. Nothing beats good wood--no double entendre intended.

[Arty50]

Believe me, the bottles are worth it. The Coke in the current dinky bottles tastes awesome, it's just hard to justify ponying up that much money for that much less product. I still buy it every now and then, it just tastes so much better. Also, the big bottles are cheap and readily available in Mexico, just be sure you wipe off the rim. Recycled bottles in Mexico are not crushed and remade, instead they are washed very poorly and refilled

The thing I miss most is plaster. Drywall sucks.

[wlonh]

by gawd i'd settle for just a damn plumb wall, anywhere, just one plumb corner is all i ask, for cryin out loud...

damn it crappy construction everywhere, everywhere

[reader50]

Gasoline under $1.

20 cent postage stamps.

Does this make me old or young?

ps I don't miss the TVs that you adjust with fist-on-top.

[bood69]

Video games for 25�.

[ThinkInsane]

Ah, 25� video games. Makes me nastolgic for the days of putting ONE quarter in pac man or defender....

I also miss the classic muscle cars (shut up Anthony). I just think the old cars are cool. High powered GTO's and 'Cuda's.... Nothing made today compares to the oldies.

Of course the nontechno invention that has improved my life the most would be cheeze in a spray can. How did you old timers get by with out that?

[Bockie]

cordless telephones...When my I got my first cordless (24mHz I think) I was the envy of all the kids in school.

text-only "video" games...my first console was the Commodore64 hooked to a nine inch b/w television I would spend hours on that thing.

[Feathers]

Radio-Shack walkie-talkies. Crummy 49mhz doo-hickeys running off a PP3. The signal 'ld get blocked by a sunday newspaper!

Nowadays kids have goddam mobile phones and bleepers and god knows what!

[wlonh]

jeez i had a set of those radio shack walkie talkies, space commanders or something like that...

reminds me of summer for sure...

[scottiB]

I had a similar set of walkie-talkies, ordered from--and here's another thing I miss--the Sears & Roebuck Christmas catalog. I began crossing off the days till Christmas once that catalog arrived.

[MacNZ]

Just as long as noone says Pre-pay cellphones, hate the things, yuppies!

Mine'd hafta be a Mac Plus which I use as a doorstop.

[keyser_soze]

People not using checks anymore. It's so annoying waiting in line at the gas station for some technophobe to write a check. ugh.

[Shades of Gray]

We didn't have indoor water or plumbing until I was in third grade. In a very, very, very cold part of the country, that can be disastrous in winter time! Indoor plumbing is high on my list of best ever!

What do I miss?
Thrashing machine (oats!)
19�/gal gas
A vehicle that you could repair yourself.


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patience - now that's a virtue I can't wait for!

[disectamac]

19� a gallon?

[wlonh]

i remember 19 cents per gallon of fossil fuel very well...

and a pack o' smokes for 20 cents, a coke was a dime, a Snickers a nickel

and on and on... right, Shady?

[disectamac]

A gal of gas was 19� and a pack of smokes was 20�.
today a gal of gas is $1.90 a gal and a pack of smokes is almost $4.00

and we're complaining about rising gas prices!?!?!? What about rising cigarette prices.

[Shades of Gray]

Yeah, the good old days.

I have never smoked, so I never paid attention to those prices. I used to help my mother role cigarettes for my father. It was a small device where you could pour the tobacco on top of the paper and then move the lever and it would roll and seal the cigarette. My father smoked three packs/day. Not surprisingly he developed emphezyma and asthma and could hardly walk by the time he was 62.

Movies were 25�, and big bag of popcorn 10�.

I do remember when the smalle coke bottles were only 5� - now I'm getting close to showing my age.

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patience - now that's a virtue I can't wait for!

[wlonh]

small cokes a nickel? u bet i remember that one... and i had one of those rolling machines, i think it was a Top... it was red and had a kind of cloth strip that you'd toss the tobacco into and roll it using a lever moving over a metal arch...

yikes...

and no i never used it for pot

[ThinkInsane]

ALMOST four bucks a pack? You must not live in New York. They are up five a pack here.

[wlonh]

four fitty here TI, manhattan

[bood69]

Here, you can easily find them for under $3/pack at most liquor stores.....

[scottiB]

In Detroit, coffin nails are around $4. I buy'em by the carton at Costco--$3 a pack. Even then, I could buy a 350 iMac for as much as I spend in a year. Gee, that's depressing....

Guess I'll go outside and have a square!

[disectamac]

I buy my cancer sticks by the carton also....saves money, I don't plan on quiting anytime soon either

[Shades of Gray]

Yeah, my father died nine years ago from them.

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patience - now that's a virtue I can't wait for!

[theMacDude]

My dad smoked for 45 years (15-60), then he died. Missed his Grandson by 5 years.


Anyway, I miss spare time and open space. It's too busy and crowded these days.

Digital cameras are pretty cool, but I guess they wouldn't be w/o computers...

[bood69]

Doing laundry tonight, It occurred to me that the Downy "ball" dispenser is pretty crafty.

[ThinkInsane]

$4.95 here Lon, I thought everything upstate was supposed to be cheaper. At least we have two reservations in easy driving distance

[The Godfather]

What do I miss? I miss that spanking Space Program the US had when they landed on the moon. Why won't they send a monkey to Mars???

[keekeeree]

Talking of Coke in glass bottles, and with Independece Day quickly arriving for those of us in the States got me thinking. I miss collecting all those Pepsi bottles(my family are Pepsi drinkers...but like Coke, it tasted better in glass bottles) over the course of a year. By the time the Fourth of July rolled around, we had this HUGE stack of glass Pepsi bottles stacked in the corner of our garage. We'd load them up into my dad's pick-up truck, and we'd haul them to the local bottler. We'd get the deposit back on all those bottles, and my brother and I got to split the money to spend it all on fireworks. Of course, you had to hang onto at least one big Pepsi bottle to shoot the bottle-rockets from.

[wlonh]

oh man, that is very very close to home...

ah, the smell of fireworks... the blackened hand from the firecracker that didn't quite get thrown fast enough...

[scottiB]

Bottle rockets--ROCK ON!

Speaking of glass bottles, in my youth there was a local (Detroit) pop (sorry, soda) company called Towne Club (perhaps they were also in other regions). Anyway, you could go there and mix-n-match cases of their flavored soda (rock 'n rye, lemon-lime, tutti-frutti, vanilla creme, etc). A huge hit in my family. Then the whole concept hit the skids and Towne Club went under.
Well a couple years ago, some nostalgic investors reopened the Towne Club name and offered cases in local supermarkets. I bought a couple cases for my twin nephews' eighth birthday party, threw the bottles in an ice filled tub--figuring it'd be a big hit.

Alas, one of my nephews grabbed a bottle from the ice, took a huge twist on the cap....and...he ripped a five stitch gash into the palm of his hand. He had never, ever used a bottle opener before--all the pop he'd ever drunk were in plastic bottles. The next few hours were spent in the ER.
What a party--letmetellyou.

[keekeeree]

LMAO - I hate to laugh at the misfortune of others (well...that's not entirely true ) But that is just WAY too funny! ScottiB, Thanks for sharing the story and brightening my boring afternoon at work.

[This message has been edited by keekeeree (edited 06-28-2000).]

Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory.
-Franklin P. Adams

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-Eliott Wolfe
Winnetka, Calif

[Anthony the PC lover]

I miss the orginal Super Mario Brothers for Nintendo (1984)---I actually remember saying "technology CANT get any better than THIS!!"