h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Seven years on from the last post - there must be loads of things that have slipped into obsolescence in that time -

dial up connections using modems, when was the last time you heard that chirping noise of a connection being made.

Any more?

U91473

interestingly, an early comment was "phones don't ring anymore" but now with polyphonic, MP3 etc ringtones, they do "ring" like whatever you want.

Nice to see someone reviving an old conversation. I wonder how many active researchers are subscribed to it, though?

Wimbledon FC.

Long live AFC Wimbledon.

PP

The main reason for the revival is the girlfriend mentioned earlier, then became my wife, then mother to my daughter and soon to a 2nd. With my daughter now 3.25 there are lots of things that I realise she will never experience - re-stimulated yesterday by seeing a health food shop selling "whole, unhomogenized, milk" so, with the lovelly cream on the top.

U91473

Things like -

Freedom - going out on your bikes & not coming home till you were hungry, or you had fallen off & wrecked the wheel. Often, the focus would not be how badly scored your hands & knees were, but the damage inflicted on the bike.

Chimney fires - great excitement, cos the fire brigade had to come out to them & people would gather in the street to watch.

'Jack Frost' patterns on the inside of the windows on a winter morning - you were able to scratch through them with your nails. None of that now with double glazing & central heating. Not that I'm complaining about that, cos it was bluddy freezin'.

"Chimney fires" still get them round these parts, with added excitement of thatch roofs going on fire to - usually one or two a year that make the news.

PS - but I agree with the staying out on bikes one - I must have been 5 or 6 when I was allowed just to "go outside to play"

>>dial up connections using modems, when was the last time you heard that chirping noise of a connection being made.<<

Last week. Damn telco couldn't get my broadband on in time.


The one I've been thinking of lately is superannuation. I told my mother ages ago that I wasn't assuming there would be a pension by the time I was old (I'm 40 something now). She thought I was being ridiculous. But the National govt has just suspended contibutions to superannuation for ten years until the country can afford it again. Won't affect current oldies, but those retiring in say 20 years. Not sure what will be there for the generation after me either.

>I must have been 5 or 6 when I was allowed just to "go outside to play"<

Yes. These days the little one cannot go off the street without a password agreed beforehand. When I was younger we used to play out all day, climb trees and fall out of them and play in a den in the loft of a derelict 3 storey house (until the other gang set the house on fire.

In relation to Sky TV having their way and the demise of video tape - there are so many ways to watch missed TV that we may yet loose video recorders. We still have one though and no Sky TV!. Nothing on it that we want to watch.

t.

I think way back in 2002 I didn't include VHS, floppy disks, vinyl records etc on the basis that they are ways of storing stuff that we still store - it is easy to say to your offspring that a VHS is what we used instead of DVD, BluRay or whatever you currently use.

Plus of course they have a very long tail to their life - whereas other things simply seem to vanish overnight

My daughters and I watched a VHS video just the other night. I was delighted that the video player still worked after sitting there unused for a few years.

They won't let me throw out the recording I made off the telly in 1984 of "The Empire Strikes Back" even though they have it on DVD.

Why?

Because the ad-breaks that interrupt the recording periodically are nothing like the ads we get now. They're of a different age, and not the sort of things that are easy to come by now.

Sorry, but I can't help but laugh at that(yes I know I'm a sick puppy - somebody has to be)

Looking at baby toys, I have to wonder why phone dials are on them anymore Well, not really phone dials, because there's nothing behind the finger holes

Oh, and size not being the only difference between little girl's clothing and women's clothing seems to be pretty much gone. I mean, call me old, but a 7year-old doesn't even have cleavage, much less a need to show it off!

I can't remember what the 2002 must-haves were.
I bet I get some for Fathers' Day, though.

One UK thing that could have been added when I started this in 2002 would have been "nationalized industries" but of course with the banks going splut and being now owned by us that ain't true - it is odd how some things you thought were gone (like flares) crop up again every so often

U91473

Splut - what a fantastic word

Disappearing in recent years, from UK anyway, slam door trains. I'm waiting for ones were the internal doors sound like those on the USS Enterprise.

Or even say "Thank you"!