Here's an interesting article I came across...
100 Things Your Kids May Never Know AboutI have to admit, a few items on the list are things I'm going to miss as they seem destined to fade into history.
There are some things in this world that will never be forgotten, this week’s 40th anniversary of the moon landing for one. But Moore’s Law and our ever-increasing quest for simpler, smaller, faster and better widgets and thingamabobs will always ensure that some of the technology we grew up with will not be passed down the line to the next generation of geeks.
That is, of course, unless we tell them all about the good old days of modems and typewriters, slide rules and encyclopedias …Audio-Visual Entertainment
1. Inserting a VHS tape into a VCR to watch a movie or to record something. I actually still use my VCR seeing how the hard drive on my HD receiver likes to die on me 2. Super-8 movies and cine film of all kinds. Super-8 is unknown to me 3. Playing music on an audio tape using a personal stereo. See what happens when you give a Walkman to today’s teenager. Haha, I loved my old mini cassette stereo 4. The number of TV channels being a single digit. I remember it being a massive event when Britain got its fourth channel. TV Ontario use to be channel 2 on the old cable dial…now it’s channel 265 5. Standard-definition, CRT TVs filling up half your living room. We didn’t have a huge CRT TV, so it wasn’t overwhelming, but I know those massive ones 6. Rotary dial televisions with no remote control. You know, the ones where the kids were the remote control. I know those ones but thankfully I was born into the remote control era…phew! 7. High-speed dubbing. I use to trade songs on cassette with a friend of mine…high speed dubbing was a life saver! 8. 8-track cartridges. I had never seen an 8-track tape until a few years ago when a co-worker of mine showed me the 8-track player in his pick-up truck 9. Vinyl records. Even today’s DJs are going laptop or CD. I love vinyl! 10. Betamax tapes. I don’t know anyone that had a betamax recorder( 11 - 100 )It just finished pouring rain. Yet another wet day this summer. It sure is putting a damper on my plans. The weekend family get together picnic is now officially postponed to late next month, due to uncertain weather this coming weekend. In a way, I'm not disappointed. I've never really had "fun" during those things because, even though I don't really see some of my relatives that often, we never really have stuff to say to each other, plus they still treat you like you're 12 years old. The only questions that are "grown up" related are the "when are you getting married?" or the "oh, you do that type of work? Why don't you go work for so-and-so company?" type ones. Yeah, things that have no real answers are always the greatest conversation subjects.
So, it's not all that bad. In one way, I won't get to see people I haven't seen in a while, but in another way, relatives in small doses is better than meeting the whole army at once.
If the weather does hold up, I think I'm going to turn a long overdue visit to the zoo into a reality on Sunday. If it does rain, I can always go indoors, into one of the pavilions, so it shouldn't be a waste of a day. It'll also be the second road trip of the week.
Earlier this week, I paid a visit to Niagara Falls. That too had been a destination I failed to visit for a number of years. It turned out fun, even though it started to rain while I was down there. Bastard summer weather!
I'll make another entry about that, complete with a few pics, provided I get my lazy ass around to uploading them. And, as always, I have an interesting, almost embarrassing, tale to tell about that adventure! Nothing is ever easy as pie with me.