Things That Once Amazed Us but We Now Take for Granted

[bethzaring]

two things come to mind:

a dish washer

a computer printer. I think the first printer I had, had a silver ball that had the letters of the alphabet around it, can that be true? Anyway, a few years ago I found a letter on the Internet hand written by one of my great great grandfathers and I was able to print it out. I couldn't believe it, that the printer could print out a script letter whose letters were not written like a typewriter. I just made and printed out two Mothers' day cards with pictures of our flowering crabapple tree,... just blows me away..

 

[Andy M.]

...I think the first printer I had, had a silver ball that had the letters of the alphabet around it, can that be true?...

Yes, Beth, It can be and IS true. This technology originated with the IBM Selectric electric typewriter. There were interchangeable balls for different fonts.

 

[Dove]

My husband went home on leave after Navy Boot camp to see his parents first home. It had electricity and he didn't have to go out to the well for water or to the Outhouse either...LOL (1948)

TV??? what was that?? I was a teen when it first came out.
I have seen a lot of changes..some good and some not so good.

 

[MexicoKaren]

Constance - I remember going to the high school gym to get that first polio vaccine on a sugar cube! Funny, we were talking about this last night with some friends we went out to dinner with. He was born the same year I was (1944), and got polio when he was 7 years old. He had extensive surgeries to strengthen his legs and still has one leg much smaller than the other. His wife (a kid, born in 1953) doesn't remember any of that. And JoAnn - we also had a party line. If the neighbor was talking, you just had to wait....and wait...and wait....

 

[Rob Babcock]

So true.

Would I have even considered making that 'corner' in three steps if I had to angle the wood with am old block plane instead of my saw and jointer .... LOLOLOLOLOOLOL ! Not hardly! And the glue up ...

Yes, tools and technologies can be liberating BUT they can also be limiting.

I agree. You see the same thing in music. On the one hand, you could now write, record & release a very professional sounding album in your basement. But the ubiquitious Pro Tools software has, according to some experts, led to the homogenization of music that we now have. It seems that anything outside of the norm/average is hard to do with Pro Tools...odd rythms or meters are a pain. Since everyone out there is mixing their stuff on the same software, with all the same tools, and in the same manner, we end up with...well, a lot of the same!

Plus, the exchange of information we have now it great in lots of ways, but I think some regional distinctions have been lost. There used to be a "Seattle Sound" in music, region styles in architecture and lots of local flavors of food. Now, from Alaska to Florida you've got McDonalds, BK and Starbucks. Chain restaurants are homogenizing food. Much as Wal-Mart has done to retail chains have done to food. I work for an independant, family owned steakhouse that's been in the family since 1948. The owner often laments how hard it is to compete with Outback, etc.- they spend more on a months advertising than he'll gross in a year.

Globalization is a "mixed blessing" and a direct result of the Information Age.

 

[radhuni]

Television set amazed me in my childhood. I used to look at the back of the TV set to find those Lilliput.

 

[pdswife]

This isn't really a thing... but I think I take happiness for granted now. I'm sorry to admit that.

I didn't have the nicest life for the first 30 years....then I found Paul and things got so much better and it took so little for me to be really really happy and joyful. After almost 11 years of marriage I'm "used" to being happy. Happy is the norm. That's a wonderful thing but, I forget to tell Paul as often how greatful I am for him and our life. I'm going to go call him now.

smiles, T

 

[LadyCook61]

Yes, Beth, It can be and IS true. This technology originated with the IBM Selectric electric typewriter. There were interchangeable balls for different fonts.

hey I have that typewriter, still in use .

 

[LadyCook61]

How about the movies? It went from the silents to talkies then sound surround.

 

[Saphellae]

I think we take technology in general for granted.

We rely too much upon it. What would we do without it?

Also, another thing I think is our homes. I take my apartment for granted, because I'm not happy with the size or what have you, but I am glad I have a roof over my head and food in my tummy. Every day I walk by people who don't have a home.

 

[Wart]

I agree. You see the same thing in music. On the one hand, you could now write, record & release a very professional sounding album in your basement. But the ubiquitous Pro Tools software has, according to some experts, led to the homogenization of music that we now have.

I have seen several threads in these forums regarding music. So far I have been able to resist commenting on what has happened to the art form. Way back in the fog of my memory I recall debates on electric guitars being real instruments, and the MOOG, and I clearly remember one or two outrages over the first electronic drum kits.

At least there were HUMANS operating these instruments.

And then there are CDs and MP3s ...

About homogenization in other areas, I already mentioned CAD (but not everything I have to say about CAD and the GoofBalls running the programs, not by a long shot).

Remember when desktop publishing first came out? It wasn't difficult to figure out not only if the 'work' was done on Mac or PC but which particular program was used.

I mentioned photography. With digital dark rooms just about anyone can be a master, or at least proficient, in finishing. I've seen it written if the image is saved as raw data the 'picture can be taken again'. Coming from the land of film and chemicals many times I feel I'm not 'taking a picture' the first time.

And .....

Plus, the exchange of information we have now it great in lots of ways

Something about this exchange of information, out of your context, let's say I never heard of Pro Tools before. In a short amount of time I could find and read their web site, cruise music forums, read reviews, and author a post that would appear to speak from authority and experience. Heck, I could make people think I have the latest and greatest in the basement right now.

All this easy access to information creates allot of posers.

Back to you:

but I think some regional distinctions have been lost. There used to be a "Seattle Sound" in music, region styles in architecture and lots of local flavors of food.

Regional?

??

A Several years ago a couple co-workers and myself were having a conversation about music. One guy was in his mid 50s and the other in his mid 20s. The kid had no real idea what kind of music there was and is because he grew up listening to top 40 Urban music. I'm sure there are many counterparts to the kid in/with every distinct genre of music. Radio play has become so segmented one could go what, their entire life?, without being exposed to something 'different'. The older Gent and I were explaining how many top 40 stations use to play just about everything, last song could have been rock, this song country, next song an instrumental, and so on.

We're segmenting ourselves into narrower demographics.

Wheres this going with technology ... Enter Satellite Radio. When I was a kid the Family would pack up the tent and go road tripping for a week or two. Go an hour or so and we were looking for another radio station. Go a day and it was apparent we were not near home anymore.

Now we can cross the country, if not the world, and listen to the exact same thing we can hear at home. Fact I've seen SR advertised as taking home with you. What's the point of going all the way out there if your trying to recreate what you have here?

Also in our road trips when I was a kid I noticed that we get part of a day away from home and the places just didn't look the same, get a day out and , WOW , The buildings and architecture sure is different.

Last year Wife and I drove from Ohio to Florida on the east track and from Florida to Ohio leaning west. Mc Houses, Mc Plazas, Mc Architecture. Wife, who doesn't usually comment on such things, commented on this. And then a couple of months ago we went to Columbus. She said how she saw the same things in Florida.

It's not that were losing our regional distinctions in Arts, it seems we're becoming the same bland pap everywhere.


I'm not a Luddite (or what that word has come to mean), GOLLY, I HAVE TECHNOLOGY DEGREES!!!!! I would be cutting my own throat by trying to stop advancements or tying to turn back the clock.

It's that not all new things are good, not all old things are bad or outdated, and if I don't get the grass cut Wife is going to Geld me.

 

[GB]

Anyone who thinks that music these days is a lot of the same over and over is not hearing what is really out there. Sure stuff on the radio is more of the same, but there is plenty of music that is not radio friendly for the very reason that it is different than what is out there.

For a great example, check out Medeski Martin and Wood - Shack Man.

 

[buckytom]

I know computers have been mentioned, but I'll be more specific and say the internet. All that information right at your fingertips! ...diaper rash remedies, ...politics and government, all the latest news!

that just struck me as funny. they're eerily similar.

i'm not sure if i was ever amazed at anything physical, outside of the beauty and complexity of nature (which has kinda always been there, and is still just as amazing to me).
i was always so curious as to how and why electronic or mechanical things worked, so it was only a matter of "investigating them" to figure them out. it wasn't as much as amazing as it was a curiosity to be worked out.

my poor mom and dad. they had few things that had not been disassembled and resassembled. the latter being optional.

 

[Katie H]

Polio Vaccine: I remember what a wonderful thing it was when the polio vaccine was discovered. Everyone in town went to the high school gym and got their little vaccine soaked sugar cube for free.
For those of you who don't remember polio, it was a terrible, paralyzing disease that killed and crippled many children and young people, and doctors had no way of treating it except for the iron lung.
One summer, we had an outbreak in our town, and a boy just a block from our house got it. All our mother's knew to do was keep us home and try to keep us from getting over-heated. I remember taking naps on a pallet on the kitchen floor with the fan blowing on me. I also spent a lot of time playing in the bath tub.

Yep, polio was a scary thing. I remember getting a polio "shot" before the sugar cube dosage came around. Didn't like shots, like most children, but I couldn't dodge them. My daddy was a doctor.

Buck's older brother, Billy, died at age 8 of polio. Shortly thereafter Buck contracted it. No residual effects, thank goodness. Buck's mother has a letter from Dr. Jonas Salk apologizing that his vaccine wasn't available in time to save her son.

One of my elementary school classmates had polio and had to wear huge, heavy braces on her legs. As a child I was scared of the disease and the thought of braces like Becky's or of being confined to an iron lung.

 

[middie]

T.V.
Remote Controls
Radios
Cell Phones

I know all of this has been mentioned already

 

[Katie H]

As usual, this time of the year, Buck and I are sitting on our big front porch. Happened to glance over at our rose garden that has a pedestal with a beautiful cobalt-colored gazing ball.

That made us think of "why" gazing balls came to be. In Victorian times, folks amused themselves by gazing at things in shiny mercury glass balls out in their yards and gardens. Apparently they were entertained by the distortions the curved surfaces produced.

Can you imagine how "wowed" they'd be seeing programs on today's big screen TVs?

 

[MexicoKaren]

So true, Katie. I often wish my dad could have seen the computer games that are played today. He passed on in 1969 - and he loved pinball machines. He was fascinated with the little technology that was available then, and he would enjoy this all so much! (Your garden sounds wonderful, by the way. I'm glad you two are enjoying it.)

 

[LEFSElover]

We became best friends with our Bradley childbirth teacher and her husband. She lent me her new fangled microwave for a few months to heat up my edited to let a moderator know that nothing AT ALL bad was meant by the initials I put in here, so I'll rephrase, natures perfect baby food when husband was home alone. Trying to make it easier on him. I was a stay at home mom, but on the rare occasions that I got to go out to the store or whatever alone, he stayed with the little ones and fed the new little guy.
When she hinted for it back, I was devastated. I finally relented and gave it back to her, but not without annoyance gad what a great invention I thought that was. Still do.

And what about those Cuisinarts? They are fabulous.

 

[expatgirl]

yep, I was the Pioneer Woman who led the way to buying the first microwave in the family----everyone else was dubious---my mother in law flat out refused to buy one----never would use it she said. Then she came for a 3 day visit and saw how easy it made my life with her first grandchild and how handily it heated up leftovers.........then she was hooked........got her first one for her birthday a few months later......btw my microwave still works to this day...23 years later.........

 

[Flourgirl]

It wasn't something that we marveled at, but child car seats are definitely something we take for granted now. When I was young, we used to just slide around in the back seat, or worse yet, slide around in the front seat with mom's outstretched arm being the only thing between us and the windsheild when we had to stop short. How did we survive?

Also, I remember "watching" the beginning of the first Gulf War on what was then a fledgling internet- anyone remember Prodigy? Text only, but we thought it was so cool.