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Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Whatever Happened To


Whatever Happened To

There have been a lot of things that have disappeared since I first saw sunlight.  Most of these things disappeared because they were replaced by something better.  Automatic transmissions have replaced almost all stick shifts and “three on the column.”  Satellite and cable have replaced antennae on the roof or “Rabbit Ears” on the top of the TV.  Dryers have made clotheslines obsolete.  These kinds of things didn’t really disappear, they were simply replaced by something far better.

Some things have just mysteriously left our environment.  They were here one day and suddenly “Poof” they’re gone.

We used to describe the size of some items by comparing it with a breadbox. 

“Is it bigger than a breadbox?”

Everyone knew just how big a breadbox was.  Everyone had a bread box.  Bread was always kept in a breadbox.  Today no one uses a breadbox.  Most people refrigerate bread.  Refrigerating bread keeps it from getting mold, but it makes it go stale faster.  I suppose today people buy bread to last for over a week instead of getting their “daily bread.”  We are more concerned with mold than staleness, but if you are a proponent on fresh bread to be used in a matter of days we should probably bring back the breadbox.

In the winter we always had electric blankets.  What happened to them? They used to work just fine and kept you nice and toasty.  Electric blankets replaced blankets and quilts in the winter, now blankets and quilts have replaced the electric blanket.  Why?  Maybe it’s the electric bill.  Either way it is probably better, green-wise, to lose the electric blanket.

Remember Sansabelt slacks?  Old people with expanding waistlines loved them.  They are now nowhere to be found.  I think my waistline would like them.

For several years, the big thing in cars was the wraparound windshield.  They looked really cool and provided good peripheral vision.  They just went away. I thought they were a good idea.  Also gone from cars are those little triangular windows in the front.  We called them cheaters, I have no idea why.  They were great for smokers, allowing smoke to exit without letting cold air in.  Maybe since almost no one smokes in their car anymore, the cheaters are just not needed.  I kinda liked them just to get fresh air circulating.

Fancy cars used to have white-sidewall tires.  They were really sharp looking.  When you washed your car, the last thing you did, was the white-wall tires.  (Do people even wash their own car anymore?) White-walls were really big, four inches wide, then they morphed into little one inch strips and finally they just disappeared.

A few years back every kid had wheels in their shoes.  I think they were called “Healies.” I thought they were pretty cool, perhaps a little dangerous, but cool.  Suddenly “poof” no “healies.”

When I went to grade school every kid brought their lunch in a lunchbox. They were usually decorated with some TV theme, were all metal with a little metal latch.  The box had room for a sandwich, a snack and a small thermos for milk or juice.  Dads who didn’t work in an office also brought lunch to work in a lunchbox…it just wasn’t decorated with a TV theme.  What happened to the lunchbox?  Have people stopped eating lunch?

Airports used to have vending machines where you could purchase flight insurance.  For 2 bucks, your loved ones could collect $100,000 if your flight ended badly.  What happened to flight insurance?  Are the airlines so safe, or have law suits replaced insurance.

Obviously we can live without these items, but I sort of miss them.  Sometimes old stuff just goes away and it is only the old folks that miss it.

Does anyone know where I can buy a Popiel Pocket Fishing rod?   

20 comments:

  1. Yeah, I've seen a lot of things disappear but often I still live in the past. Popeil.... seems to me I had a pasta maker by that name...... but no fishing rod. haha

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  2. My parents called the little triangle vents "louvers," and I was embarrassed when my husband informed me they were side vents. I grew up with a glove compartment and later learned from the same source it was a glove box.

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  3. there's the breadbox you promised. :) i loved the little triangle windows and that little flippy lever to open them with.

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  4. Yeah, I'll have a popeil out for sale at our lawn sale this weekend. Stop by, I'll make you a great deal

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  5. We called the windows 'wing windows', wouldn't mind seeing them come back. I took chicken noodle soup to school in one of those large-mouth thermos. Now, my oldest granddaughter takes one of those noodle bowls and nukes it at school.

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  6. Those little triangle windows were fantastic. I loved them as a kid. They were needed in the days pre air con. What about the Venetian blinds on the back windows of old cars pre window tinting?
    I keep my bread in a bread box by the way, and my kids got heelies for their birthday last year!

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  7. What about pogo sticks? I had one as a kid. What happened to them?

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    1. I had one until about four years ago...I'm 49.

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  8. Yes, many of these things have gone away. Most young people haven't a clue about these things either. You get that deer in the headlight stare from them if you mention one of these things.

    Have a fabulous day Cranky. My best to Mrs. Cranky. ☺

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  9. I definitely liked those little triangular windows. I wish automatic transmission would take over in the UK. In Europe it's almost all stick shifts ...

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  10. Come over here - we still have a lot of those things! Manual transmissions - with 6 forward gears! - and television aerials on the roof. My car has triangular windows (I call them quarterpanes) but they don't open. And there is an electric blanket on our bed - and many other English beds. And clothes lines? Every house has one. Bread bins are common as well.

    But perhaps we Britons are just backward.

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  11. We'd be appalled today if we had to crank our windows down instead of push a button!
    My well meaning dad chose a bread box as a Mother's Day gift one year. Boy did he get an earful before it went back to the store!
    School kids these days either eat crap from the hot lunch line or bring "Bento boxes" filled with nauseatingly cute food - like the adorable little mini bread dough spiders I'm working on now for my grandkids' "Halloween lunches!"

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  12. We had a bread box when I was a kid...but we don't now. I just buy new bread every week at the store. My mom freezes their bread but that definitely changes the substance of it, so I don't do that!

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  13. Try Walmart for the pocket fisherman!! http://www.walmart.com/ip/As-Seen-on-TV-Ronco-Pocket-Fisherman/10727613

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  14. Remember when movies had an Intermission in the middle so you could take a pee break. Peeing seems to be on my mind today.

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  15. I am feeling a bit dinosaur'ish. I still drive a stick shift and use an electric blanket in winter. Since the blanket allows me to really lower the furnace temps at night, I feel I am almost green. It really feels marvelous.

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  16. What about those clear plastic rain hats folded up like fans and tucked into a little sleeve? My mom used to carry those in her purse to keep her AquaNetted bouffant from becoming bedraggled in a sudden sprinkle.

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  17. My car is a stick shift, thankyouverymuch. I don't have a clothes line, but I dry a lot of my stuff on a collapsible rack that sits in the dining room where we never dine.

    What I want to know is what happened to chocolate Cool Whip. It was in stores for maybe a year or so, then it disappeared. Maybe I didn't buy enough.

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  18. Far better green-wise to lose the dryers as well. Those things chew up electricity like 3-bar heaters do. Clothes and sheets dried in the sunshine and fresh air smell much nicer anyway. Sunshine kills germs too, that's a plus. Just use the dryer when absolutely needed in the winter.
    We have a lot of TV antennas here in Australia too, not everyone can afford cable or satellite and are the shows really worth paying for?
    Like Val, I miss those little fold up rain hats too. My mum always had one and we were given one for Christmas one year, I never knew what happened to it.

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  19. Okay…from MY youth I seem to remember a lot of clear plastic covering people's couches. What was THAT about? So you had to sit on uncomfortable plastic all the time, which made your thighs sweat if you were in shorts…all to keep the fabric clean? Ridiculous!!

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