The Energon Pub

News Credits: 7 · Fri Jul 24, 2009 2:19 am

I came across this article and found it rather interesting. It might take you on a trip down memory lane. or you might have a chuckle but it really makes ou think about how much has changed since those days.

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/07/100-things-your-kids-may-never-know-about?npu=1&mbid=yhp

Fri Jul 24, 2009 5:53 am

wow I feel old now... especially the one about VHS.

Fri Jul 24, 2009 9:52 am

Nah. My children will visit a museum. They'll know the VHS!

(Besides, I still have mine at home. I have to watch my old MST3K tapes on something.)

News Credits: 1 · Fri Jul 24, 2009 2:53 pm

I'm only 20 and there is so many of those things which I remember. Time flies!

News Credits: 1082 · Sat Jul 25, 2009 12:16 pm

Well, we all know that time goes on... but I am sure there is a list of these for 25-30 years ago that our parents looked at... in a magazine, newspaper, or as a TV special, obviously since there was no internet.

Like an 8-track cassette/player
33RPM
Rabbit ears

Listen to Jon Hefron for more references that our kids will probably never experience.

News Credits: 2 · Sat Jul 25, 2009 1:13 pm

How far we've come:

The hard drive of an IBM 350 RAMAC computer is placed into the cargo compartment of an airplane for shipment.

News Credits: 1 · Sat Jul 25, 2009 4:26 pm

Sad hing is I've still got a lot of that stuff at my house. Sure, i do live with my grandmother but still, it's like going back in time. The only thing they forgot was Matlock and Perry Mason reruns. lol I use a rotary phone and we don't have caller ID or a guide on the tv. I've got things taped on my VCR right now.

News Credits: 2 · Sat Jul 25, 2009 7:23 pm

I have two VCRs, use 'em both all the time. I have a LaserDisc player too; grabbed it and all four Alien movies off eBay for less than $75.

News Credits: 1 · Sat Jul 25, 2009 7:35 pm

Sigh. Further proof that I am ancient and should be preserved in carbonite immediately before further decay sets in.

I remember all of those. I remember no VCRs period. No home computers. No texting. No answering machines: you could miss a call! Better yet, you could actually be unreachable for a while.

I even remember things they forgot.

ARPAnet, anyone?

HK, I even remember morse code. I tap out cuss words during boring department meetings.

News Credits: 1 · Sat Jul 25, 2009 9:20 pm

I'm so far out of it all I never even thought about this. I don't even own a cell phone. Throw one at me, tell me to call someone, I'll ask the number and then have trouble turning the darn thing on. lol. Kids these days have it easy with speed dial. And that texting crud.

I may have missed it in the list but I can remember when Lincoln logs made of real wood. You could eat them all day. lol

Thu Aug 20, 2009 7:45 pm

I actually saw a cassete recorder in Walmart not to long ago and it was more expensive than a I-Pod Home!!! WTF? Anyone remember videos on Beta tapes? My parents still has some in their house. Why I don't know since they don't have a working Beta tape player.

News Credits: 1 · Thu Aug 20, 2009 9:37 pm

Adding to the depression, every year Beloit College releases a list of things the incoming class (Class of 2013) will not know. Linkydink: here.

Blue jello? I didn't even know there was such a thing!

HK, oooooold.

News Credits: 1 · Fri Aug 21, 2009 12:41 am

14. Text has always been Hyper.

LOL

News Credits: 2 · Fri Aug 21, 2009 10:14 am

19. The scream of a modem connecting.

And they should consider themselves blessed!

30. Blowing the dust out of a NES cartridge in the hopes that it’ll load this time.

I still have my old SNES. And yes, this does help, as it always has.

32. Joysticks.

I'm not sure what they meant by this. Did they stop making Joysticks? I don't think they did. And that Novint Falcon looks awesome.

53. Waiting several minutes (or even hours!) to download something.

Like I said before, blessed!

78. Neat handwriting.

Wait, you can write neatly?!

81. Han shoots first.

This is silly. Han always shot first. If I recall, they released an unedited DVD wherein Han shot first as he was supposed to.

85. “Don’t know what a slide rule is for …”

I don't know what a slide rule is for.

Sat Aug 22, 2009 5:50 am

Ooh! I got one!
Playing with toys or action figures where YOU had to make up the backstory and adventures with your own little imagination cause there wasn't any TV show or movie about it. And the fact that that these items were still popular despite that.

Sat Aug 22, 2009 5:22 pm

LOL!! I may be 18 but I know lots of this stuff.

Especially the VHS thing. We have a VCR and most of the movies in my house VHS's

News Credits: 1 · Sat Aug 22, 2009 5:37 pm

cassette tapes, MS-DOS, turning over your Playstation, and Has Shoot first, are all classics. Nice find. :APPLAUSE:

News Credits: 22 · Sat Aug 22, 2009 8:16 pm

Wow. Talk about a stroll down memory lane. I was born in '82, and I can remember most of that. Not Betamax though.

News Credits: 22 · Sat Aug 22, 2009 8:19 pm

Shadowman wrote:32. Joysticks.

I'm not sure what they meant by this. Did they stop making Joysticks? I don't think they did. And that Novint Falcon looks awesome.

I think it was a reference to Atari. I *loved* my 2600. I wish I still had it.

News Credits: 2 · Sat Aug 22, 2009 9:16 pm

Rodimus Prime wrote:
Shadowman wrote:32. Joysticks.

I'm not sure what they meant by this. Did they stop making Joysticks? I don't think they did. And that Novint Falcon looks awesome.

I think it was a reference to Atari. I *loved* my 2600. I wish I still had it.

Then they should have said Atari Joysticks, just "joysticks" is like saying "They don't make controllers anymore" when really you mean SNES controllers. And even so, that's one controller from one console, not nearly all that noteworthy. How about the N64's three-armed controller? Or a time when controllers DIDN'T have analog sticks?

News Credits: 22 · Sat Aug 22, 2009 9:44 pm

Shadowman wrote:
Rodimus Prime wrote:
Shadowman wrote:32. Joysticks.

I'm not sure what they meant by this. Did they stop making Joysticks? I don't think they did. And that Novint Falcon looks awesome.

I think it was a reference to Atari. I *loved* my 2600. I wish I still had it.

Then they should have said Atari Joysticks, just "joysticks" is like saying "They don't make controllers anymore" when really you mean SNES controllers. And even so, that's one controller from one console, not nearly all that noteworthy. How about the N64's three-armed controller? Or a time when controllers DIDN'T have analog sticks?

OK...I didn't make the list up. Just trying to help...but I do understand and agree with you. They should have clarified it. There are still joysticks around.

News Credits: 3 · Sat Aug 22, 2009 10:35 pm

hellkitty wrote:Adding to the depression, every year Beloit College releases a list of things the incoming class (Class of 2013) will not know. Linkydink: here.

Blue jello? I didn't even know there was such a thing!

HK, oooooold.

Oh, crap. I graduated high school in 1991.

I feel incredibly old.

And I had to google 'womyn.' I had no idea what that was.

News Credits: 2 · Sat Aug 22, 2009 11:36 pm

hellkitty wrote:Adding to the depression, every year Beloit College releases a list of things the incoming class (Class of 2013) will not know. Linkydink: here.

Blue jello? I didn't even know there was such a thing!

HK, oooooold.

Okay, I have to question a few things on that list:

6. Salsa has always outsold ketchup.

What kind of evil alternate universe was this list written in where salsa outsells ketchup? Because I don't believe a word of that.

19. They have never understood the meaning of R.S.V.P.

Everyone understands the meaning of RSVP.

27. Christopher Columbus has always been getting a bad rap.

Since when?

34. They have always been able to read books on an electronic screen.

Are we talking about students born in 1991 or 2001? Because e-books are a fairly recent invention.

44. There have always been flat screen televisions.

There were flat screen TVs in 1991?

51. Britney Spears has always been heard on classic rock stations.

There is no classic rock station on the this planet that plays Britney Spears.

Mon Aug 24, 2009 4:11 pm

Shadowman wrote:
51. Britney Spears has always been heard on classic rock stations.

There is no classic rock station on the this planet that plays Britney Spears.

I better not hear Britney Spears on a Classic Rock station. Ever.

News Credits: 2 · Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:48 pm

Shadowman wrote:
hellkitty wrote:Adding to the depression, every year Beloit College releases a list of things the incoming class (Class of 2013) will not know. Linkydink: here.

Blue jello? I didn't even know there was such a thing!

HK, oooooold.

Okay, I have to question a few things on that list:

6. Salsa has always outsold ketchup.

What kind of evil alternate universe was this list written in where salsa outsells ketchup? Because I don't believe a word of that.

19. They have never understood the meaning of R.S.V.P.

Everyone understands the meaning of RSVP.

27. Christopher Columbus has always been getting a bad rap.

Since when?

34. They have always been able to read books on an electronic screen.

Are we talking about students born in 1991 or 2001? Because e-books are a fairly recent invention.

44. There have always been flat screen televisions.

There were flat screen TVs in 1991?

51. Britney Spears has always been heard on classic rock stations.

There is no classic rock station on the this planet that plays Britney Spears.

6) Depends on how you count it; more salsa was sold more dollar-wise, but ketchup moved more units.

19) Actually less than 50% of people who attend major gatherings answer an RSVP. I'd wager even fewer know what that stands for.

27)Columbus is quite the controversial figure; ask a Native American, among others. Personally, I think he gets an undeserved bad rap.

34) Well, it's kind of a technicality. Books were availible via USNET and the like, or on cd-rom, and the first ebooks were out in '97-'98.

44) Technically yes, the first LCD monitors were out about that time.

51) Yeah, totally calling BS on that one. She's not even on the pop stations anymore.
Truth be told though, I have been hearing more and more late '80s/early '90s rock on the classic stations....