# Things That Once Amazed Us but We Now Take for Granted



## Barbara L (May 7, 2008)

Another thread made me think of this.  I'll never forget that day in White Front around 1970 (give or take a year).  A woman was demonstrating this gadget called a microwave oven.  We watched her cook hotdogs in it and were amazed by the speed at which they cooked!  Now I stand there urging the microwave (how long has it been since I have added "oven" to its name?) to "HURRY UP!"

So, what once amazed you but you now basically take for granted?  It does not have to be cooking related.

Barbara


----------



## Katie H (May 7, 2008)

What a great idea, Barbara!

Not  something I  saw, but something that was part of my childhood.

There are those of us who  remember Dick Tracy.  Okay, then, do you remember his  two-way wrist radio?  Well, guess what, it's here.

Look at all  our modern electronics. PDAs, cell  phones that take photos, etc.

Dick Tracy would be amazed.

And, by the  way,  we'll never put a  man on the moon.


----------



## auntdot (May 7, 2008)

The computer.  When I was a kid there were none.  Then there were the behemoths made of all kinds of vacuum tubes and other large components that were limited to universities and some very large compahies.  But now we all have them in our homes, on our laps at airports and at all sorts of places, well, we could not live without them. And all people under the age of thirty or so take them for granted.

It has expanded everyone's world.  I remember my first TI-99 computer.  It was little more than a toy, you could not do very much with it.

Now I am connected to the world.  I continue to be amazed. But yep, I do usually take them for granted.


----------



## expatgirl (May 7, 2008)

computers, computers, computers..........where were these marvels when I was in high school and university?????????  I had term papers every semester from my sophomore year in high school till when  I graduated from Texas A&M in 76.  Even had a term paper in invertebrate ecology?????  Do you know how many notecards I went thru and placing them on my bed like poker cards for the best play??  And none of this downloading of Google or Wikipedia to get info------late, dusty hours of poking thru old bound mags and relics only to find that your article that you were panting to have was either being bound & not back for another 3 months or some cretin had cut it or torn it out.........yep, those were the Dark Ages for sure.....never mind the email and staying in touch with everybody


----------



## expatgirl (May 7, 2008)

oops forgot to mention the first Texas Instruments calculator.  DH was a grad student and it had just come out.........no, kidding we saved and scrimped to have him be able to afford it....he was in Mechanical Engineering and needed it........we still have it and would probably be considered an antique today..........it didn't even rate as a scientific calc. ---just basic functions and it cost nearly cost $200--a fortune back then but so nove at the time


----------



## expatgirl (May 7, 2008)

I meant "nouveau"---I arrive in the states Friday and the first thing I will do is have my vision checked----


----------



## Barbara L (May 7, 2008)

auntdot said:


> ...I remember my first TI-99 computer. It was little more than a toy, you could not do very much with it.
> 
> Now I am connected to the world. I continue to be amazed. But yep, I do usually take them for granted.


We had a Texas Instruments computer too.  We just played games on it, but they had the best games!  Their Munchman was much better than PacMan!

It's funny, we begin to take all these things for granted, but let them break down and we fall apart!  

Barbara


----------



## Barbara L (May 7, 2008)

I just remembered something else.  I remember when I was in high school (I graduated in 1975), everyone was in awe of the kids who ran the video equipment.  And then when they came out with video players (Beta of course) for home use, that was something!  VHS wasn't far behind, but I remember the first pre-recorded video tapes available for sale were extremely expensive.  We rented, but we couldn't afford to buy them at first!

Barbara


----------



## expatgirl (May 7, 2008)

oh, do I ever remember Beta tapes-----engineer hubby convinced me that they were better "constructed and designed" than the VHS---btw----if you're dating or married to an engineer... the words "construction and design" can take over all decisions in the future.....listen to your inner instincts....I watched Beta tapes being phased out and VHS taking over....boy what a dummy I was!!!  One good thing out of all of this.....I can tease my DH about it hahaha


----------



## attie (May 7, 2008)

TV,- people crowding around the shop window down town watching black and white TV. 
Refrigerators,- saved me a lot of work riding my bike down to the butchers shop every morning to get a block of ice for the ice chest.

When I think about it, we have come a long way in just my life time, now we take so much for granted.

We would never have dreamed that one day we could communicate instantly with people on the other side of the world with a screen and a keyboard.

I have just found out that my great-great Grandfather was transported out from England as a convict, he got seven years in the Penal Colony for robbing a coach, his booty was 11 schillings worth of odds and ends.


----------



## flukx (May 7, 2008)

While I am still rather amazed at some of the things we are doing in space, I think it is easy to take it for granted. For example, I think (though was not born) that back during the "space race", some of these things must have been quite amazing (the first satellites, the moon, etc). Now, we have robots roaming around on mars taking soil samples, pictures, air samples and we have probes smashing into asteroids moving at tens of thousands of miles per hour. Pretty amazing stuff that doesnt get much attention anymore.


----------



## DrThunder88 (May 7, 2008)

I remember...monochrome video display adapters...barely.  Sorry, I'm 25.

Camera phones are pretty amazing though.  Definitely a sci-fi concept.  That's one thing I look forward to when I eventually get a cellphone.


----------



## auntdot (May 7, 2008)

Thanks attie, yep TV.

When I was a young kid we had none.  Then we got a GE, I think it measured about a yard in length, was very heavy (diodes, triodes, all kinds or resistors and capasitors) and the screen was about 8 inches.  Yep.

And we loved it.  Had to have the TV repairman in all the time until we realized we could take out the vacuum tubes and take them to the pharmacy and test them.  That was great about half the time, but the there were too many other components that went on the blink.  The TV repair guy was there with great regularity.

I suppose I have become inured to the amazement of the TV.  

But to turn my interest to cooking, it is Teflon.  Wow, has that changed everything.

Although I rarely use it now.


----------



## suziquzie (May 7, 2008)

I guess I gotta go with cell phones. 
My uncle had one of those first ones, the size of a brick, I thought it was so cool! Now mine is the size of a credit card AND i can take pics and video with it! 
Also video games. We had Radio Shack version of "pong" it had 4 games on it and the dials were conected. all just lines and dots. To see the graphics and things DH can do on his xbox 360 is something else! 
Oh, and internet. Wow.


----------



## LadyCook61 (May 7, 2008)

I think digital cameras are amazing. I worked with film cameras for over 40 yrs. Got my first digital camera in 2003.


----------



## Andy M. (May 7, 2008)

Barbara, thanks for this thread.  It really got me thinking.

We have been living in a most amazing period of history.  The twentieth century was an unparalleled period of technological growth.  While I wasn't around for the whole century, I have witnessed the arrival of many of the most amazing devices that have become commonplace.

Consider these:

Television
Color Television
Portable radios
Air Conditioning
Personal computers
VCRs
DVDs
Microwaves
Blenders
Food Processors
Frost free refrigerators
Electric Can openers

Cars - Look at how cars have changed!  Think of a Model T Ford that had to be hand cranked to start up, and compare that to a 2008 average car.  They have automatic transmissions, navigation systems, sound systems, AC, heat, power everything...

The list goes on.


----------



## quicksilver (May 7, 2008)

*Transitor radios. Still, anything wireless. It just amazes me. Who was weird enough to figure that out?*


----------



## expatgirl (May 7, 2008)

which brings up another question....would you want to go back???? I'm not sure....I love computers too much though I'm not very adept at using them....no, I like things the way they are


----------



## LadyCook61 (May 7, 2008)

expatgirl said:


> which brings up another question....would you want to go back???? I'm not sure....I love computers too much though I'm not very adept at using them....no, I like things the way they are


I would not want to go back. I like new technology.


----------



## AllenOK (May 7, 2008)

Andy, add to your list:

Indoor Plumbing
Flush Toilets

My mother can tell me that they didn't get indoor plumbing at her parent's farm until sometime within the last 60 years.

I am old enough to remember records and record players.  I mean, actual vinyl!  Cassettes were just becoming the thing.  My father had a fairly decent record player, as well as a reel-to-reel machine.  Then, CD's hit the market.

My first couple of radio's were the "walk-man" type.  Small, extremely portable, most cassette player than radio, as the circuitry for radios kept getting smaller and small.

Now, we have portable MP3 players.  You don't even need to take your CD's with you when you travel, that is, if you even purchase music on a CD anymore.

Here's another way to look at it.  Go and watch one of the original Star Trek eppies.  You all already mentioned cell-phones.  Our cell phones can do much more than a Star Trek Communicator.  There was one eppy where you see some nurse use a weird device to spray some kind of liquid over a patient.  That device quickly became common-place.  It was a spray-mister, used for cleaning chemicals today.

Can you imagine what is going to happen in the next 50 years?


----------



## GB (May 7, 2008)

Everything listed so far has been great.

I will add remote controls. I remember sitting in my grandparents TV room when they had their remote control. It was attached to the TV with a thick wire. We thought it was the most amazing thing ever. It was the size of a box of tissues.

Computers would top my list. My father has been in the computer business for my entire life. When I was in nursery school in the early 70's I remember my entire class taking a field trip to my house to see our computer. It was this huge thing with a screen that could hold about 3 words of text at a time. You took your phone receiver and plugged it into the suction cups on top to get it to work. We used to play a game on it called Animal. It was a 20 questions type game where the computer would guess what kind of animal you were. Everyone was amazed at this machine and what it could do.


----------



## Andy M. (May 7, 2008)

GB That had to be the coolest.  Having your class come to your house for a field trip!


----------



## GB (May 7, 2008)

We lived just a 5 minute walk from the school so everyone just walked down to my house. It really was cool. I was proud as a peacock.


----------



## Jeekinz (May 7, 2008)

GB said:


> I will add remote controls. I remember sitting in my grandparents TV room when they had their remote control. It was attached to the TV with a thick wire. We thought it was the most amazing thing ever. It was the size of a box of tissues.


 
My first thoughts.  LOL

We had that cable TV remote with the 15 foot wire.  It had 12 or so buttons and the side control to select higher channels.  No matter what, someone would walk by and catch the cable on their foot ripping it clean from your grasp.  LOL  ROTF


----------



## suziquzie (May 7, 2008)

My brother and I got in a little trouble once,
we were caught using the remote to play jump-rope.....


----------



## GB (May 7, 2008)

Here are a few more...

Garage door openers
keyless entry for cars
Cable TV


----------



## Wart (May 7, 2008)

AllenOK said:


> Can you imagine what is going to happen in the next 50 years?



I hope to live to see it (I'm 49).

Take for granted ... thats a rough one.


Electronic Fuel Injection. When the truck or car is very VERY cold and I turn the key and it starts without having to play gas pedal games ... That still brings a smile. And no carb ice.

2 gig SD card. Wife got into eBay. I took pictures with the SLR I got in '80 or the one she got in '77, had the pictures developed, scanned and used them in the auctions at a cost of about 25 cents per graphic. This started getting expensive and time consuming so in '99 we got a Sony Mavica that wrote to floppy. I was thrilled. I could take a mess of pictures and have auctions posted in the time it took to get the pictures back from the developer (if we waited for them). But as time went on listening to the Ca Chunk Ca Chunk of the floppy drive got taxing. Plus the writing to and retrieval of data from the floppies more than once started getting iffy. Plus Disks are getting hard to find.

Last November we got a Nikon DSLR. Last week I got a 2 gig memory chip for it (had been using a 512 meg chip). Last weekend I was at Relay for Life and filled the chips. Twice. I put a stop watch on the transfer from the chip to computer, transferring 2 gigs of 600+ Raw format and high res JPG graphics (RAW + B) took 5 minutes 30 seconds. Slow card.  If I used this card once cost per picture would have been just over 6 cents a picture. But it can be used many times ... this all Makes me smile.


----------



## Andy M. (May 7, 2008)

Wart said:


> ...2 gig SD card. Wife got into eBay...


 

I have to say that digital photography is one advancement that continues to amaze me.  My first camera was an Eastman Kodak Brownie.

Now I can take pictures, load them onto my computer, mail them around the world and print them in the time it used to take to laod a new roll of film into the Brownie.


----------



## Barbara L (May 7, 2008)

All the responses are great--keep 'em coming!

One of our dearest friends lived to be either 104 or 105 (her daughter-in-law didn't bother to let us know she had died, so I'm not sure which) and died around 1987.  I loved to listen to her tell about her early days.  It always amazed me because she was alive during the inventions of so many amazing things.  

Did you know that the head of the U.S. Patent Office wanted to close it down in 1899 because, "Everything that can be invented has been invented?"  Pretty amazing considering most of the things that have been invented have been invented since he said that.

Barbara


----------



## Wart (May 7, 2008)

If someone has a history do they really ever take things for granted?

Can you imagine a 16th century cook ever taking a gas range for granted? Ok, so that's a bit far fetched.

I take the telephone for granted. But then it was there when I was born.

And last night I'm fast forwarding through Paula Abdul and commercials with the DVR and the thought crosses my mind: Wow, you know what this would do to a video tape?

Last weekend I'm taking loads of pictures and marveling at the lack of cost and instant feedback on the LCD.

I putter in woodwork. And I've been to Williamsburg numerous times. Quite often when I'm running the 50's jointer or the 60's and 80's table saws I think of what was needed to make a board in the 17th and 18th centuries. One person gets in a pit, another straddles the log, push and pull the saw between them. Ouch.


Something I have noticed in my short history of coming up on 50 years is advances in technology allow more people to do more things but they just don't seem able to do these things as well.

No simple explanation for this. Mayhaps because things are becoming easier people don't pay as much attention to what their doing. Other times I think it has something to do with safety nets.

I think it also has something to do with what was written well over 100 years ago, their taking the talent and skill out of the craftsman and putting it in the machine (paraphrase). Machines really don't have soul and I think soul is missing from much of todays work.

When doing my woodwork I oftenly stop and wonder, would I be able to do these things if I had to start by straddling a log and pulling and pushing a saw. Maybe, but would I want to? No.


----------



## Rob Babcock (May 7, 2008)

Man, there's a ton of things that blew me away when I first saw them that are pretty passe now.  A few of mine:
*
The Compact Disc (CD)-* The first time I heard a CD I was dumbfounded!  One of my best friends was the first person I knew to have one.  It was a wedge shaped portable model, can't recall the brand.  He brought it over to my house and plugged it into my stereo and cranked up Boston's _Third Stage_.  I couldn't believe it!  The intro started very quietly and built to this thunderous crescendo, yet there was no hiss!  And the whole idea of a laser reading microscopic pits seemed miraculous to me.  I recall turning the disc, staring in fascination at the rainbow of light reflecting off the back.  The CD revolutionized music for me and set me down the path to becoming a bigtime audio geek.  But now I have about 1,000 CDs and they're no big deal.

*The DVD-*  Another miraculous invention.  The day I bought my first DVD player and hooked it up is a day I won't forget.  The picture and sound were a stunning step up from VHS.  The first movie I heard in Dolby Digital seemed like pure sorcery!

*The Personal Computer- * When I was a kid a computer meant a Commodore PET!  It was a one peice thingy with the small green monochrome monitor.  No graphics, just ASCII characters.  No HD, no CD- there weren't even floppies back then; if you wanted to save something you plugged in a special tape recorder.  When the Apple computer came along it seemed like rocket science!

As Expatgirl mentioned, it's hard to overstate how computers have changed things.  When I was back in HS and college researching a report meant a trip to the library.  I used to have to order stuff from the State Library; they photocopied it and mailed it out to you.  The most advanced thing I had to type it up on was the (dazzling at the time) IBM Selectric electric typewriter.

Look at things now!  I recently went back to school; in my Tech Writing class I did a 13 page research report on Japanese knives.  I did most of my research online and conducted some interviews w/experts via e-mail without leaving my chair.  I think wrote it up on my PC using OpenOffice software which automatically corrects simple mistakes and flags spelling errors.  I seamlessly inserted images into the copy, and when I couldn't find an appropriate photo online I grabbed my digital camera, took a picture of a bunch of my Japanese knives and imported it into my paper.  Back in HS it would have taken a professional printshop a couple weeks to do what I banged out in a few minutes.

I'm not sure what's more amazing- the degree to which technology has advanced over the last few decades or the degree to which we take it for granted.


----------



## Rob Babcock (May 7, 2008)

GB said:


> Everything listed so far has been great.
> 
> I will add remote controls. I remember sitting in my grandparents TV room when they had their remote control. It was attached to the TV with a thick wire. We thought it was the most amazing thing ever. It was the size of a box of tissues.



When I was a child, I _was_ the remote control- just ask my Dad!


----------



## Rob Babcock (May 7, 2008)

Wart said:


> Something I have noticed in my short history of coming up on 50 years is advances in technology allow more people to do more things but they just don't seem able to do these things as well.
> 
> No simple explanation for this. Mayhaps because things are becoming easier people don't pay as much attention to what their doing. Other times I think it has something to do with safety nets.
> 
> ...



Some great points.  Technology does allow us to do some things easily that used to require a lot of skill.  But used properly it also allows us avenues of expression that we didn't have before.


----------



## Wart (May 7, 2008)

Andy M. said:


> I have to say that digital photography is one advancement that continues to amaze me.  My first camera was an Eastman Kodak Brownie.



Mine was a Kodak Instamatic. Mom and Dad got it for me so I would keep my hands off the Argus.

Then came the Poleroid and finally the SLRs. Then the photo classes and the dark room(s).



> Now I can take pictures, load them onto my computer, mail them around the world and print them in the time it used to take to load a new roll of film into the Brownie.



Amazing, isn't it?

Did you know the take up spool for the Brownie is probably more valuable than the Brownie itself? I found this out when I sold some old rolls of film on eBay.



Barbara L said:


> Did you know that the head of the U.S. Patent Office wanted to close it down in 1899 because, "Everything that can be invented has been invented?"



As a matter of fact Yes I did know that was said.

Being the person I am I suspect the true motive was removal of protections a patent offers inventors. Don't forget the era. Capitalists were (and are) out to remove any barrier to making money. Nothing wrong with making money but ....

Did you know most employment applications/ contracts stipulate intellectual properties of the employee belong to the employer?


----------



## Constance (May 7, 2008)

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.

Air Conditioning: The movie theater was the first place in our town to get AC, and Saturday and Sunday afternoon matinees became very popular in the summer time. The stores were quick to follow, but most people didn't have it in their homes for a long while.


----------



## Wart (May 7, 2008)

Rob Babcock said:


> Some great points.  Technology does allow us to do some things easily that used to require a lot of skill.  But used properly it also allows us avenues of expression that we didn't have before.



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.

Case4 in point is when design moved from the drawing board to CAD. Anyone else notice the switch to inorganic designs in the late 70's and early 80's? I firmly believe this was due to the limitations of that eras CAD. It took years to climb out of that hole. Not sure they have yet, not completely.

Also, ...

We were having problems making things fit. I asked the 'engineer' how he derived his numbers. His answer was "The machine (computer) does that". So it falls to me to give a Mechanical Engineer a math lesson so he can understand the problem? And I'm the Shop Ape?


----------



## JoAnn L. (May 7, 2008)

*All of the features on phones.*

Quite a difference since I was growing up. We never had a telephone until I was 12 years old. When we finally got one it was on a party line. For those who never heard of one, you shared the same phone line with someone else. So if they were on the phone you would have to wait until they were done talking. When you wanted to make a call you told a telephone operator what number you wanted.


----------



## miniman (May 7, 2008)

I would add gaming machines. I was so excited as a teenager to get a computer game that loaded from a cassette player - took ages to load and was really basic. Now my boys have DSLites with the game chips just slotting in and fantastic graphics and speed.


----------



## GB (May 7, 2008)

The microchip. This thing is in EVERYTHING now and most of the time you would never even think of it.


----------



## B'sgirl (May 7, 2008)

I know computers have been mentioned, but I'll be more specific and say the internet. All that information right at your fingertips! I've been able to use it to find diaper rash remedies, Celiac diagnosis for my son, info on politics and government, all the latest news, ebooks--not to mention the ability to send a message to DH whenever I want to during the day. It's great!


----------



## bethzaring (May 7, 2008)

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. (May 7, 2008)

bethzaring said:


> ...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 (May 7, 2008)

*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 (May 7, 2008)

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 (May 8, 2008)

Wart said:


> 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 (May 9, 2008)

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


----------



## pdswife (May 9, 2008)

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 (May 9, 2008)

Andy M. said:


> 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 (May 9, 2008)

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


----------



## Saphellae (May 9, 2008)

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 (May 10, 2008)

Rob Babcock said:


> 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 (May 10, 2008)

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 (May 10, 2008)

B'sgirl said:


> 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 (May 10, 2008)

Constance said:


> 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 (May 10, 2008)

T.V.
Remote Controls
Radios
Cell Phones

I know all of this has been mentioned already


----------



## Katie H (May 10, 2008)

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 (May 10, 2008)

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 (May 10, 2008)

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 (May 14, 2008)

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 (May 14, 2008)

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.


----------



## Wart (May 14, 2008)

Flourgirl said:


> 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 windshield when we had to stop short.



Let's not forget those were metal dash boards in those cars and trucks. Usually with stylish protuberances and sharp edges that didn't break.




> How did we survive?



I seem to remember bouncing off the dash once or twice, How did I survive? I think with brain damage. LOL




> anyone remember Prodigy?



And CompuServe?


----------

