Things today's kids missed out on

[AvPD]

I have to ask, what is the appeal of paying for a shave at a barbershop considering that it only lasts 24 hours? Would you only go there for a quality shave before formal occasions? Was it a carryover from the era before good quality disposable razors and electric shavers?

 

[PhotonWrangler]

I'm guessing it's like getting a shoe shine or a manicure - it's a moment of self-pampering...?

 

[TorchBoy]

...and those moving sidewalks?

I thought people in the States didn't use sidewalks any more. Too dangerous, or something. So that's another thing that kids growing up today miss out on - walking to the local store.

 

[Monocrom]

Nowadays, you're lucky if the gas attendant cleans your windshield and back window while pumping your gas for you.

No moving sidewalks, but we have that Segway thing. Just as lazy, but much more efficient than making the entire sidewalk move.

 

[CM]

...TV's with rabbit ear antennas...

My DLP HDTV uses rabbit ears concealed behind a built-in cabinet. It was an upgrade from a paper clip antenna

Back to the topic, I have two big boxes of LP's stowed away (don't ask me why I still have them) I showed some of the albums to my 11 year old who got a kick out of the "antiques". I tried explaining to her that the album art was as much as part of the package as the music contained within the grooves of the LP. Today many kids take their CD's and throw the package away after the convert the music to 128kb (blechhhh!) MP3's. Boy I wish I had an old McIntosh tube amplifier for show and tell...

 

[PhotonWrangler]

My DLP HDTV uses rabbit ears concealed behind a built-in cabinet. It was an upgrade from a paper clip antenna

What's even funnier about DLP sets is that they take technology back to the old rotating color wheel, just like the original CBS mechanical color system of the early fifties! Everything old is new again.

 

[The_LED_Museum]

Here are some more...

o Recording music from the radio by setting a "piano key"-style tape recorder near the radio's speaker.
o Eight track tapes.
o Cassette tapes.
o Stereos & TV sets that used vacuum tubes instead of transistors and ICs.
o Two feet of snow on the ground on Halloween night in Juneau AK. USA - now it simply pours rain. .
o Plastic Halloween masks that had a characteristic odour to them - presumably so children would not wear them to school the next day.
o Getting apples in your Halloween bag *AND* being allowed to eat them afterward.
o Concert tickets (festival seating - even near the front) to "big name" bands for less than $10.00.
o Desk fans with metal blades that could break pencils & chop off fingers.
o Bottle Caps® candy.

I do *NOT* however miss getting zapped on the second anode of a boob-tube TV set. :green:

 

[chmsam]

The thing about getting a barber shop shave is that nothing comes anywhere near as close as a straight razor shave at the hands of a professional. It is a personal comfort thing to be sure but the feel is unbelievable.

KC2IXE is of course correct (and you must have dropped a deck to understand how important it was to mark one). And bluing is now mostly used as a grade school science experiment ingredient and is very hard to find but was a great "whitener and brightener."

I remember when seat belts were an optional item that had to be ordered.

I also remember when ordering options added only a week or two to the delivery date for your car. Chrysler had a unique couple of options for cars for a few years: a record player, a clear plastic steering wheel, and a push button automatic transmission on the dashboard.

 

[fnmag]

and a push button automatic transmission on the dashboard.[/quote]


Oh, yes! The push button Torque Flite transmission. That was a great transmission!
:thumbsup:

 

[TorchBoy]

Chrysler had a unique couple of options for cars for a few years: a record player, ...

:duh2: What sort of suspension did those cars have?

 

[jtr1962]

...and those moving sidewalks?

Last thing we need nowadays. Most people are already sedentary enough.

 

[frisco]

Riding in the back of a pick-up truck !!!!

You do that nowadays and your kids get taken by Child protective services!

Oh.... And remember the FlashCube !

frisco

 

[Monocrom]

Riding in the back of a pick-up truck !!!!

You do that nowadays and your kids get taken by Child protective services!

frisco

There was a story not too long ago about a dad who was driving with his kid in the back of his truck. Cop pulls him over, finds a case of beer seatbelted securely in the passenger seat.

Cop asks the obvious question.... Gets the obvious answer....

"I didn't want anything to happen to my beer on the way home, Officer." :shakehead

 

[TorchBoy]

Oh.... And remember the FlashCube !

http://www.rvupgradestore.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=486 ?

j/k

 

[TigerhawkT3]

-Guns, knives, fire, etc.
-Using tools for home improvement/repair and other projects
-Soldering (with lead, too)
-Calling your mp3 player an mp3 player instead of an iPod
-A videogame industry that wasn't an industry yet
-Suspenders
-Political incorrectness
-Not worrying about getting sued/fired at the drop of a hat
-80s action movies

As for that last one, it took me many years to get around to watching classics like the "Terminator," "Rambo," and "Rocky" series, and so on. Nowadays, people get the new old version. I literally smacked my forehead in disbelief when I found out a few hours ago that Stallone is starring in a new "Rambo" movie, called, creatively enough, "Rambo." Added to "Rocky Balboa" and whatever the new "Indiana Jones" movie is called (plus Star Wars Episode I-III, now that I think of it), I can't help but cringe at what Hollywood must be thinking. "Hey, this made us a lot of money a few decades ago! Let's pick up where we left off!" I'm sorry, Mr. Balboa, but you're no longer a heavyweight boxing champion. Let it go already.

 

[FrogmanM]

Riding in the back of a pick-up truck !!!!

You do that nowadays and your kids get taken by Child protective services!

frisco

We can still do that in Kauai and helmets when riding a motorcycle is optional.

This is an awesome thread, keep em coming! :thumbsup:

 

[Monocrom]

.... I'm sorry, Mr. Balboa, but you're no longer a heavyweight boxing champion. Let it go already.

I guess you don't want to hear that he plans on re-making "Death Wish."

With himself in the starring role.

(No I'm not kidding)!

 

[chmsam]

The record player option in the old Chryslers probably wasn't meant to be used while the car was being driven but I'm sure somebody did. Seems to me it was mounted between the front seats but I could be wrong.

As for the car suspension, those cars were pretty much land yachts. During the same era there was a Dodge station wagon and with the rear seat down you could lay a full sized 4' x 8' sheet of plywood flat on the floor in the back between the wheel wells. The old man had to add about 4' onto the back of the garage so the darned thing would fit and let you close the doors of the garage.

Ah, cars with tail fins!

And true, no cup holders, but 3 or 4 ash trays -- one on the dash, one on each of the rear doors, and one mounted in the middle of the back of the front seats.

These days it sometimes seems weird to notice the smell of someone smoking in another car as they are passing you on the highway. Years ago everyone smoked and doctors were used to advertise the benefits of smoking.

Beer cans you had to use a can opener on -- no pop tops, no pull tabs, nothing. Bottles that require a cap lifter are still around but I remember needing to carry a church key.

I have a Starr bottle opener mounted in the kitchen closet. We used to have one in the pantry of the house where I grew up. Remember pantries?

We had a Philco console radio in there, too. We had another Philco in the living room with a separate speaker console connected by a flat ribbon cable (cloth bound) and both radios had a tuning eye.

I remember listening to Dragnet on those radios.

The TV had a remote that operated the tuner by activating a servo to change the channel selector (push the button and the TV set would make this loud KA-CHUNK, KA-CHUNK! as the channels changed).

Highway Patrol ("21-50 bye")

It was past my bedtime, so I'd "watch" Alfred Hitchcock or the Twilight Zone by sitting at the top of the stairs and listening to our TV set while watching the picture on the set in our neighbors' house by looking in through their living room window on the side of their house.

 

[Monocrom]

Beer cans you had to use a can opener on -- no pop tops, no pull tabs, nothing. Bottles that require a cap lifter are still around but I remember needing to carry a church key.

I just happen to know what a church key is.

You can still get them.... Made in China, and using soft, cheap metal. Just put your thumb on the back of it when pushing down. Otherwise it'll bend upwards.

 

[flownosaj]

I have to ask, what is the appeal of paying for a shave at a barbershop considering that it only lasts 24 hours? Would you only go there for a quality shave before formal occasions? Was it a carryover from the era before good quality disposable razors and electric shavers?

A good barbershop shave is something I've only had once. Hot towels, hearing the blade stropped, warm cream, the feeling of air hitting the skin like it was the first time, real aftershave. You really don't know what you're missing till you get one.

The closest thing I've had since then has been getting the back of my neck shaved after a haircut. Close but no cigar.


TV: I know that they are on TV land, but The Munsters, Adams Family, The Brady Bunch, Smurfs and Superfreinds shaped much of my childhood. I wanted to be Ponch! The A-team fueled my need for violence as a young male--as long as nobody got hurt.

Sports: The Iron Curtian, baby! You just can't match the Steelers of the 70's.

Computers: I remember my Dad's first Commodore 64 then the Franklin IIE and playing Zork.


My first car was a manual shift, no power anything 1983 VW Rabbit. Damn, it was an entire body workout just driving that thing to the store.