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10 Modern Technologies We Lived Without in Primitive, Pre-Millennial America
Pajamas Media ^ | 05/08/2014 | PAULA BOLYARD

Posted on 05/08/2014 8:12:05 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

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1 posted on 05/08/2014 8:12:05 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: rdb3; Calvinist_Dark_Lord; JosephW; Only1choice____Freedom; amigatec; Still Thinking; ...

2 posted on 05/08/2014 8:17:37 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: SeekAndFind

air conditioning, indoor plumbing, washing machine and dryer, ball point pen, power tools, sneakers


3 posted on 05/08/2014 8:18:22 AM PDT by TexasFreeper2009 (Obama lied .. the economy died.)
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To: SeekAndFind

GPS see the website for my book
Www.gpsdeclassified.com


4 posted on 05/08/2014 8:18:28 AM PDT by Richard from IL
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To: SeekAndFind

My video game skills have not advanced beyong Pong and Space Invaders.


5 posted on 05/08/2014 8:18:46 AM PDT by FatherofFive (Islam is evil and must be eradicated)
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To: TexasFreeper2009

digital cameras (man I hated having to pay to have film developed)


6 posted on 05/08/2014 8:19:06 AM PDT by TexasFreeper2009 (Obama lied .. the economy died.)
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To: SeekAndFind
I love the Canon 21 Megapixel Digital Single Lens Reflex Camera I used to make this photograph!



Rocky Ramparts

7 posted on 05/08/2014 8:20:39 AM PDT by MeshugeMikey ( "Never, never, never give up". Winston Churchill)
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To: TexasFreeper2009

see above...


8 posted on 05/08/2014 8:21:00 AM PDT by MeshugeMikey ( "Never, never, never give up". Winston Churchill)
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To: SeekAndFind
Believe it or not, there was a time when human beings had to stand up and walk across an entire room to change the channel or adjust the volume on a TV set.

Not my dad. He had me!

9 posted on 05/08/2014 8:21:12 AM PDT by pgkdan
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To: FatherofFive

Ever since I was a young boy,
I’ve played the silver ball.
From Soho down to Brighton
I must have played them all.
But I ain’t seen nothing like him
In any amusement hall...
That deaf dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pin ball !

He stands like a statue,
Becomes part of the machine.
Feeling all the bumpers
Always playing clean.
He plays by intuition,
The digit counters fall.
That deaf dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pin ball !

He’s a pin ball wizard
There has got to be a twist.
A pin ball wizard,
S’got such a supple wrist.

‘How do you think he does it? I don’t know!
What makes him so good?’

He ain’t got no distractions
Can’t hear those buzzers and bells,
Don’t see lights a flashin’
Plays by sense of smell.
Always has a replay,
‘n’ never tilts at all...
That deaf dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pin ball.

I thought I was
The Bally table king.
But I just handed
My pin ball crown to him.

Even on my favorite table
He can beat my best.
His disciples lead him in
And he just does the rest.
He’s got crazy flipper fingers
Never seen him fall...
That deaf dumb and blind kind
Sure plays a mean pin ball.!!!!!


10 posted on 05/08/2014 8:21:40 AM PDT by envisio (Its on like Donkey Kong!)
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To: SeekAndFind
fun stuff! i remember getting my first calculator when i was in the 5th grade... it was what i asked for for Christmas... my sister-in-law had a sister who worked for Texas Instruments, and she and my brother got it for me... the numbers lit up in pretty red...

i also remember recording favorite songs from the radio... the hard part was to end the recording before the deejay or a commercial came on...

11 posted on 05/08/2014 8:24:22 AM PDT by latina4dubya (when i have money i buy books... if i have anything left, i buy 6-inch heels and a bottle of wine...)
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To: pgkdan

Ha, not only did I have to get up to change channel... I had to grab the tinfoil that was wrapped around the rabbit ears and stand in an awkward pose for entire episodes of MASH.


12 posted on 05/08/2014 8:25:00 AM PDT by envisio (Its on like Donkey Kong!)
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To: latina4dubya

RE: the hard part was to end the recording before the deejay or a commercial came on...

The annoying part is ALWAYS this — The DJ talks over the song as it is about to end.


13 posted on 05/08/2014 8:26:20 AM PDT by SeekAndFind (If at first you don't succeed, put it out for beta test.)
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To: pgkdan

Me too! Adjusted the rabbit ears, as well. My Dad thought I was mouthing off once, when I asked “who changes the channel, after my bedtime?”.


14 posted on 05/08/2014 8:26:56 AM PDT by jttpwalsh
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To: SeekAndFind
annoying part is ALWAYS this — The DJ talks over the song as it is about to end.

yeah--they did it on purpose...

15 posted on 05/08/2014 8:28:28 AM PDT by latina4dubya (when i have money i buy books... if i have anything left, i buy 6-inch heels and a bottle of wine...)
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To: SeekAndFind

Thanks! I am old enough that this is quite relevant to me.

I think it was 1975 when my grandfather purchased an early Texas Instruments calculator. Just the most basic of functions (add, subtract, multiply, divide). I think he paid around $300 for it.

My dad was in the Air Force stationed at a radar facility along the Gulf Coast. He told me how seagulls used to come swooping in off the gulf, fly too close to the towers, and immediately drop to the ground. An hour later they’d still be sizzling on the inside. I pointed out that he had missed his chance to invent the microwave oven.

I recently disposed of a non-remote television set I had purchased in 1991. And it was my primary set well into this century. It was obsolete even when purchased, but having grown up with such sets I thought paying extra for the remote was a waste. Thought about trying to get it fixed, but when Pennsylvania banned old TV’s from landfills I was afraid I might get stuck with it forever.

I got a TI-99 computer one year for Christmas. After spending 6 1/2 hours writing hundreds of lines of Basic code to accomplish something I could have done with a pencil in 60 seconds, I decided “it will never catch on!” and pushed it to the back of the closet. Total lack of foresight on my part.

Ahh, Pong! My brother and I spent hours on the display model at Sears. My dad thought it was stupid and refused to buy one.

Worked Christmas of ‘85 in an electronics store. The first really big Christmas for VCR’s. Sold over 300 units myself between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. They ran about $350. On a really good sale you could pick one up for $299.
Low-end individual cassettes went for about five bucks apiece.

When my cell carrier tries to upgrade me I tell them thank you, but I am perfectly happy living in the 80’s.

Though I refuse to believe that women EVER went without hair dryers.


16 posted on 05/08/2014 8:30:06 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: SeekAndFind

RE: Rotary phones.

They were ‘real’ fun when radio stations did that “be the 7th caller and win” contests.


17 posted on 05/08/2014 8:30:15 AM PDT by TomGuy
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To: SeekAndFind

We got an Amana Radarange in 1976. Three buttons, two twist knobs, no turn tray. Top of the line.


18 posted on 05/08/2014 8:31:12 AM PDT by Hoffer Rand (Bear His image. Bring His message. Be the Church.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Of all those, the modern “smart phone” as exemplified by the original iPhone and all it’s imitators, has been the most disruptive. That can be good or that can be bad.

Dropping land line phone typically more than offsets the cost of the cell plan unless you’re heavily into texting and downloading videos and such, which usually is due to teens on the plan. There’s a decent camera and video recording system in the phone, a calculator, basic and even full versions of business software, internet connectivity, GPS, it’s become a fairly indispensable device if all or even most of the capabilities present in the device are used.

I can foresee a day in the not too distant future, when “computer” and “camera” cease to mean anything to the average person beyond their cell phone.


19 posted on 05/08/2014 8:31:30 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: SeekAndFind

Besides all of the above, there was actually a time when cars didn’t all have air conditioning, power windows and locks, and/or remote entry key fobs with alarms.

In the distant past, “alloy” wheels on cars were often not even an option and certainly not common and many cars had 14” wheels with 15” reserved for large cars and full size pickups. 17” wheels were a relic from the 30s.

Remember overhead projectors and filmstrip projectors?

How about chalk and chalkboards, and those special chalk holders the teachers could use to draw lines on the board to teach penmanship (back when that subject was taught).


20 posted on 05/08/2014 8:32:20 AM PDT by chrisser (Senseless legislation does nothing to solve senseless violence.)
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