Are you old??

Started by URnotmeRU, Sep 22, 2003, 01:22 PM

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URnotmeRU

I found this on MSN today.


By Mark Patinkin:

I remember being shocked when typewriters began showing up in antique stores.

It's gotten worse.

You can now find early computers there - or in the antiques section of Web sites like Ebay.

It got me thinking about a new definition of old.


Old doesn't just apply to those who can remember life before airplanes or television.

You qualify if things you once considered cutting-edge technology are now antiques. Or when the latest trends you swear you embraced just yesterday are things the MTV generation never heard of.

So, today, a list.



You know you're getting up there if you remember when:

* Your computer's ready-mode was a black screen with a single curser.

* Apple was bigger than Windows.

* Or should I say PCs, since for a while, there was no such thing as Windows.

* There was just "DOS."

* And they were called microcomputers instead of PCs.

* Contrary to free-market theory, your phone choices and bills were much easier because AT&T was a good old-fashioned monopoly.

* There was this amazing new video game called "Pong."

* And you thought it had the most advanced graphics imaginable.

* AOL was just another start-up online service that could easily have lost out to rivals called Compuserve and Prodigy.

* A 20-something guy named Dell came up with the nutty idea of selling computers by mail.

* Jane Fonda went from sex symbol, to feminist activist, to dutiful wife of a powerful man, to obscurity.

* And that powerful man was known not as Ted Turner founder of CNN - but "Blackbeard Among the Bluebloods" for winning the America's Cup while scandalizing Newport society with raucus behavior.

* And there was no question U.S. sailors would of course win the Cup - forever.

* It was called VD instead of an STD.

* The first true laptop computer was a Radio Shack TRS-80.

* And if you were hip, you referred to it affectionately as a TRASH-80.

* Burning a CD was the act of a pyromaniac.

* Sean Connery was Pierce Brosnan.

* The new walkaround phone that gave you astonishing mobility was a cordless one you could take around the house.

* And it got better reception than the one you can now take all over the country.

* Only wives got alimony.

* Steve Jobs ran Apple. I mean, the first time.

* There was a guy on 60 Minutes named Mike Wallace who was so old you figured he'd retire at the latest by 1990.

* TheMideast was simpler because Iran was run by a dictator called The Shah, who wanted power rather than Jihad.

* Mail was something you wrote on a piece of paper and put into a stamped envelope.

* And you didn't get 110 unsolicited pieces of it every morning promising to enhance your anatomical assets.

* No normal person had speakers on their computer.

* The diners at the next restaurant table were smoking cigarettes and you barely noticed.

* The only thing you knew about Robin Williams was he played a weird alien named "Mork" on television.

* A 1-gig hard drive seemed as big as a warehouse. (Today, most are 40-times that.)

* An 8-track tape the size of a paperback book was an advanced concept in compact music recording.

* Everyone knew what an LP was.

And now the final test of whether you're getting up there:

* Even though there are plenty of LPs in antiques stores, you still have 400 in your attic, because deep down, you still think the format will come back.

Mark Patinkin can be reached at [email protected].


Copyright © YellowBrix Inc 2003
 http://www.bcentral.com/articles/isyn/default.asp?newsid=20039182&cobrand=msn&LID=3800
nd the time will come when you'll see we're all one and life flows on, within you and without you. - George Harrison

nebulousone

I said yes before I even read this.

Then I read it and said yes again.

Thanks alot.
i]Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.[/i]
~Abraham Lincoln

AliciaGoMavs

When you were little, what age did you consider "old"?  I remember thinking that 30 was old, and 40 was way old.  Someone 50 or older, in my little mind, was around when the dinosaurs walked the earth.  It's funny what kids think is old.  :)
Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother's eye."  --Jesus Christ
NAB Matthew 7:5

SacredNaCl

Nothing really novel about selling computers mail order.

The first micro was sold that way as a kit, generally with advertisements appearing in magazines like Popular Science and Popular Mechanics and Ham radio magazines.

When the PC platform was opened up to competition by reverse engineering, the mail order firms took hold in mass as evidenced by the thousands of ads in PC Magazine, Compute, OMNI.

Guess knowing that makes me old too?
reedom Is Merely Privilege Extended Unless Enjoyed By One & All.

cunegund

I think Mike Dell was quite the entrepreneur...

Selling High Quality *custom built/to order* computers via the mail with super FAST delivery was novel and very cool.

His Success kinda proves that to me.

tricycle

well shit, I'm old I guess.

I remember when I was in my 20's, and 30 seemed ancient, then I was 30 and 50 seemed like it might be old.

Now that my 30's are almost over 70 seems like it might be middle-aged
trange little girl ....

Thom

My kids tell me I am the originator of Cliff notes - with real cliffs.  (Which is ridiculous - we used clay tablets when I went to school.....)

URnotmeRU

:lol:  My son told me one day that when Moses parted the Red Sea, there I was, flopping around on the seabed like a fish out of water.
nd the time will come when you'll see we're all one and life flows on, within you and without you. - George Harrison

cunegund

I know 30 year olds who act/look like 50...

And 50 year olds who could pass for thirty.

My 20's are lasting forever though :)  can't complain...and I know that feeling won't last forever.

I still remember lots of DOS commands too ... when I Forget those, I'll know I'm getting old :)

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