Let me just pull this out from my files....
Back in my day...
- Thread starter Aldo
- Start date
Hola. I'm Finn's son from the future here to observe my folks before they had me and my siblings. Dad had told me of this place, a simplistic version of what we have in 25 years from now. He told me his login name and password so here I am.
Let me tell what I had in my day.
The TV didn't wake up us when the dog needed to go out.
The video game characters didn't remark on our clothes when playing a game.
The LBJ monument wasn't standing.
Nobody had seen the Cubs win a world series.
Let me tell what I had in my day.
The TV didn't wake up us when the dog needed to go out.
The video game characters didn't remark on our clothes when playing a game.
The LBJ monument wasn't standing.
Nobody had seen the Cubs win a world series.
Oh, my, you're older than I am!
Truman was still President when I was born, but I don't remember him. I do remember milk boxes, polio, slide rules (linear only), segregation and no A/C.Back in my day, connecting to the internet sounded like: kkrrthhthpphphhphBLINGBLINGBLINGkrrrthtphhphBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBOOP, and it was an exciting event.
Aaaaaggh! Dial-up internet and typewriters — two old technologies I’ll never miss.
Back in my day, you couldn’t say the word “fuck” in a movie. Now they say it and do it.
Ah, memories! In the early 90s I had a modem just so I could access the university library catalogue, and I usually had to wait 'til 2 in the morning to get through to it. It would disconnect you after 45 minutes even if you were still doing an active search.
Yeah! I remember anxiously awaiting David Gerrold's monthly Next Generation updates.Dammit, we had STARLOG to tell us sci fi/fantasy was coming!
On Friends
Before the Internet, you could basically count the number of friends you have on both hands (for the average person, I'd say), with your best friend being singular. The idea of having "thousands of friends" was unheard of... and really, it's still laughable on-line seeing people claiming multi-thousands of them when in fact most are just "virtual acquaintances" at that. When did "friend" lose it's true meaning?
There was no "BFF" (best friends forever), because you didn't think about time limits on friendships. It's no mystery that friendship strength changes over time, depending upon the age group (more volatile when you're young) and personal circumstances. I find it laughable seeing kids call each other "my BFF" one year, when the next they're really onto other friends.
On Technology
The only way to record a TV program was with a VCR. And... having to content with a sister and parents, sometimes there would be conflicting recording times. THAT was really frustrating, because we didn't have 2 VCR's.
American cars were mostly ugly... big fat ungainly behemoths with silly cosmetic treatments. The Japanese and Germans were producing comparatively small cars, but with good styling and reasonable fuel efficiency. Unfortunately the German cars weren't very reliable. The Japanese were. And little by little, the styling and comfort would improve. I had high hopes they'd produce much better cars, and many I'd dreamed of eventually became a reality. The American car companies took WAY TOO LONG to change course. It baffled me to no end.
The only "space station" we had was Skylab, launched in 1973. Unfortunately, the station was damaged at launch when the micrometeroid shield separated from the station and tore away, depriving the station of most of its power, removing protection from intense solar heating, and threatening to make the station unusable. I had hoped they'd be able to repair and build upon it and we'd have something like the equivalent of the international space station we've got today. The first crew was able to make enough repairs to extend the one remaining solar array and mount a heat shield to protect a massively exposed portion of the hull. But the Space Shuttle was delayed for too long and more extensive use couldn't be accomplished. It fell back to earth in 1979, dashing hopes for future space exploration in the near term.
Electric cars were like toys. A fun experiment... but then, something happened. GM came out with a reasonably performing electric car. There were high hopes that this would really become viable. But unfortunately "big oil" squashed that, and empowered the Middle East with enormous profits for many years to come. Without all of that wealth, it's highly unlikely the terrorist organizations we face today would've had even 1/10th the capabilities to do something like 9/11. Hybrid technology would've come much sooner and the average car would be getting over 40mpg.
On Politics
When the Vietnam War was finally over, it was a major relief... and the hope that we'd avert any future wars through better diplomacy. The only real threat was the USSR, but in reality it was not as bad as it was made out to be. It didn't matter how many ICBM's each side had... a few striking a country's soil would be devastating enough, plus the effects of up to 50 warheads striking the Earth would make life very unpleasant for the surviving inhabitants. It was really all a ruse for the military budgets to swell and contractors to make humongous profits. Anyway... who'd have thought the day would come when the USSR would collapse? It did... and unfortunately, our troubles didn't go away. The pesky "terrorist" problem came along instead. How convenient to have an "invisible enemy" so the government and military can continue to plunder valuable tax dollars far above the real need.
About the only major corruption we were familiar with was Nixon and Watergate. So, they broke into a Democratic office to steal political information in hopes of getting a leg up on the next election. Ironic how it was all unnecessary, as Nixon was re-elected without that assistance anyway. But the fool got caught, lied about it, and was duly impeached. The next impeachment we'd see would be over a man's infidelity and lying about it. Not about government policy, decisions, or allocation of resources. About his own personal life. How utterly ridiculous that it was even tolerated, that justices could even let a multi-million dollar investigation take place and distract the administration from attending to far more important things. But then, our justices had the big "R" stamped on their backs.
Sure, there was corruption back then, but it was very much contained. The Internet doesn't expose what would've ordinarily remained hidden. No, there's a level of corruption going on now that is unprecedented. I've never felt so much like we've lost our nation's integrity and morality than I do now. Back in the 70's and 80's, there was much greater trust. Also, it seemed like when there were issues compelling enough to fight, you could make a stink about it and things would change... even without the help of something uniting like the Internet.
Before the Internet, you could basically count the number of friends you have on both hands (for the average person, I'd say), with your best friend being singular. The idea of having "thousands of friends" was unheard of... and really, it's still laughable on-line seeing people claiming multi-thousands of them when in fact most are just "virtual acquaintances" at that. When did "friend" lose it's true meaning?
There was no "BFF" (best friends forever), because you didn't think about time limits on friendships. It's no mystery that friendship strength changes over time, depending upon the age group (more volatile when you're young) and personal circumstances. I find it laughable seeing kids call each other "my BFF" one year, when the next they're really onto other friends.
On Technology
The only way to record a TV program was with a VCR. And... having to content with a sister and parents, sometimes there would be conflicting recording times. THAT was really frustrating, because we didn't have 2 VCR's.
American cars were mostly ugly... big fat ungainly behemoths with silly cosmetic treatments. The Japanese and Germans were producing comparatively small cars, but with good styling and reasonable fuel efficiency. Unfortunately the German cars weren't very reliable. The Japanese were. And little by little, the styling and comfort would improve. I had high hopes they'd produce much better cars, and many I'd dreamed of eventually became a reality. The American car companies took WAY TOO LONG to change course. It baffled me to no end.
The only "space station" we had was Skylab, launched in 1973. Unfortunately, the station was damaged at launch when the micrometeroid shield separated from the station and tore away, depriving the station of most of its power, removing protection from intense solar heating, and threatening to make the station unusable. I had hoped they'd be able to repair and build upon it and we'd have something like the equivalent of the international space station we've got today. The first crew was able to make enough repairs to extend the one remaining solar array and mount a heat shield to protect a massively exposed portion of the hull. But the Space Shuttle was delayed for too long and more extensive use couldn't be accomplished. It fell back to earth in 1979, dashing hopes for future space exploration in the near term.
Electric cars were like toys. A fun experiment... but then, something happened. GM came out with a reasonably performing electric car. There were high hopes that this would really become viable. But unfortunately "big oil" squashed that, and empowered the Middle East with enormous profits for many years to come. Without all of that wealth, it's highly unlikely the terrorist organizations we face today would've had even 1/10th the capabilities to do something like 9/11. Hybrid technology would've come much sooner and the average car would be getting over 40mpg.
On Politics
When the Vietnam War was finally over, it was a major relief... and the hope that we'd avert any future wars through better diplomacy. The only real threat was the USSR, but in reality it was not as bad as it was made out to be. It didn't matter how many ICBM's each side had... a few striking a country's soil would be devastating enough, plus the effects of up to 50 warheads striking the Earth would make life very unpleasant for the surviving inhabitants. It was really all a ruse for the military budgets to swell and contractors to make humongous profits. Anyway... who'd have thought the day would come when the USSR would collapse? It did... and unfortunately, our troubles didn't go away. The pesky "terrorist" problem came along instead. How convenient to have an "invisible enemy" so the government and military can continue to plunder valuable tax dollars far above the real need.
About the only major corruption we were familiar with was Nixon and Watergate. So, they broke into a Democratic office to steal political information in hopes of getting a leg up on the next election. Ironic how it was all unnecessary, as Nixon was re-elected without that assistance anyway. But the fool got caught, lied about it, and was duly impeached. The next impeachment we'd see would be over a man's infidelity and lying about it. Not about government policy, decisions, or allocation of resources. About his own personal life. How utterly ridiculous that it was even tolerated, that justices could even let a multi-million dollar investigation take place and distract the administration from attending to far more important things. But then, our justices had the big "R" stamped on their backs.
Sure, there was corruption back then, but it was very much contained. The Internet doesn't expose what would've ordinarily remained hidden. No, there's a level of corruption going on now that is unprecedented. I've never felt so much like we've lost our nation's integrity and morality than I do now. Back in the 70's and 80's, there was much greater trust. Also, it seemed like when there were issues compelling enough to fight, you could make a stink about it and things would change... even without the help of something uniting like the Internet.
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