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Goddam. The 80s are a long time ago

post #1 of 114
1/27/06 at 12:13pm
Thread Starter 
  • Anders
  • Feared and Biased Moderator
I am watching "Beverly Hills Cop"
"I reject your reality and substitute it with my own" - President Bush
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"I reject your reality and substitute it with my own" - President Bush
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post #2 of 114
1/27/06 at 12:18pm
It hasn't been the 80's for more than 16 years.

There are 16 year-olds who never lived in the 80's.

Hard to believe.
Living life in glorious 4G HD (with a 2GB data cap).
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Living life in glorious 4G HD (with a 2GB data cap).
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post #3 of 114
1/27/06 at 12:23pm
Tell me about it.

I'm doing some work at a high school, and the I keep being brought up short by the frame of reference that these kids are using. Like "Star Wars" is roughly "Casablanca" in their time line.
They spoke of the sayings and doings of their commander, the grand duke, and told stories of his kindness and irascibility.
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They spoke of the sayings and doings of their commander, the grand duke, and told stories of his kindness and irascibility.
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post #4 of 114
1/27/06 at 12:32pm
STOP! STOP! STOP!

You are making me feel old.

Oh...wait...well...I am actually getting to be "old".



( ...slinks away to find his walker and Geritol... )
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post #5 of 114
1/27/06 at 1:01pm
I mostly missed the 80's being born in '83.

THANK GOD.

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post #6 of 114
1/27/06 at 1:08pm
Tomorrow (28 January) is the 20th Anniversary of the Challenger explosion. I was 4 years old. Damn.
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post #7 of 114
1/27/06 at 1:18pm
Quote:
Originally posted by ShawnJ
I mostly missed the 80's being born in '83.

THANK GOD.


so was i, but it still strikes me every so often. there are things i did, literally, decades ago. its freaky.

hope i die 'fore i get old.
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post #8 of 114
1/27/06 at 1:22pm
I remember taking a Chem 2 test in college -- printed out on one of the original Macs. I struggled at home with my Commodore 64 and "Bank Street Writer" with my "Gorilla Banana" dot-matrix printer with "no descenders" -- when I saw that test and found out you could actually do superscripts and subscripts I was completely blown away.

...like "grody to the max and back", man.

IIRC I was sitting in that same class when I head about the Shuttle, the instructor told us to 'get out' and go watch the coverage.

In our desire to impose form on the world we have lost the capacity to see the form that is there;
and in that lies not liberation but alienation, the cutting off from things as they really are. --...

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In our desire to impose form on the world we have lost the capacity to see the form that is there;
and in that lies not liberation but alienation, the cutting off from things as they really are. --...

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post #9 of 114
1/27/06 at 2:19pm
Quote:
Originally posted by ShawnJ
I mostly missed the 80's being born in '83.

THANK GOD.


This explains sooo much now.
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post #10 of 114
1/27/06 at 2:24pm
Quote:
Originally posted by dmz
I remember taking a Chem 2 test in college -- printed out on one of the original Macs. I struggled at home with my Commodore 64 and "Bank Street Writer" with my "Gorilla Banana" dot-matrix printer with "no descenders" -- when I saw that test and found out you could actually do superscripts and subscripts I was completely blown away.

...like "grody to the max and back", man.

IIRC I was sitting in that same class when I head about the Shuttle, the instructor told us to 'get out' and go watch the coverage.

Ha! When I was in high school I had a friend whose father had started a company to exploit "digital electronics". Basically pressure transducers that would send a voltage to a box where it would be 'digitized" and stored in "memory", to be used as an automated flow monitoring system.

I did some work for them, and "data collection" involved toggling through memory locations with a rocker switch, and writing down hexadecimal values displayed on an LED readout.

Then, someone would laboriously transfer the info to punch cards, which we then took to the local university to be run on the mainframe, all of which resulted in........ a dot matrix graph of flow values over time!
They spoke of the sayings and doings of their commander, the grand duke, and told stories of his kindness and irascibility.
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They spoke of the sayings and doings of their commander, the grand duke, and told stories of his kindness and irascibility.
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post #11 of 114
1/27/06 at 2:50pm
Quote:
Originally posted by addabox
Ha! When I was in high school I had a friend whose father had started a company to exploit "digital electronics". Basically pressure transducers that would send a voltage to a box where it would be 'digitized" and stored in "memory", to be used as an automated flow monitoring system.

I did some work for them, and "data collection" involved toggling through memory locations with a rocker switch, and writing down hexadecimal values displayed on an LED readout.

Then, someone would laboriously transfer the info to punch cards, which we then took to the local university to be run on the mainframe, all of which resulted in........ a dot matrix graph of flow values over time!


I hear you......remember Compuserve? -- when the modems were so slow you could watch the data flow in ASCII across the screen?

In our desire to impose form on the world we have lost the capacity to see the form that is there;
and in that lies not liberation but alienation, the cutting off from things as they really are. --...

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In our desire to impose form on the world we have lost the capacity to see the form that is there;
and in that lies not liberation but alienation, the cutting off from things as they really are. --...

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post #12 of 114
1/27/06 at 3:16pm
Quote:
Originally posted by DanMacMan
Tomorrow (28 January) is the 20th Anniversary of the Challenger explosion. I was 4 years old. Damn.

I remember very well sitting in my living room watching them show that footage, over and over and over and over. It unnerved me, so my mom read me a book, or i read myself a book or something with a book. I was also 4 at the time.

And speaking of reminiscing, i remember sitting in Junior High staring at a CD (or floppies? i don't remember) for some online service that had some sort of game/community system. I can't remember what it was called. I think it ended in an exclamation point. I remember wishing I could somehow call the server in Toledo and not pay long-distance fees (which were ~ $0.20/minute at the time).
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post #13 of 114
1/27/06 at 3:19pm
I remember the Challenger thing. I also remember the Reagan shooting. This was the first time something of that magnitude was on TV...and boy did they KNOW it. My goodness...for something like 3 days straight we kept seeing the same 5-10 seconds of footage over and over and over again. Whew!
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post #14 of 114
1/27/06 at 3:43pm
Quote:
Originally posted by dmz

I hear you......remember Compuserve? -- when the modems were so slow you could watch the data flow in ASCII across the screen?

Man, CompuServe. I think it cost more for a couple of hours of cruising the forums than a month of DSL.

Still, text only, so that's one way to keep things moving...
They spoke of the sayings and doings of their commander, the grand duke, and told stories of his kindness and irascibility.
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They spoke of the sayings and doings of their commander, the grand duke, and told stories of his kindness and irascibility.
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post #15 of 114
1/27/06 at 4:04pm
Quote:
Originally posted by Chris Cuilla
This explains sooo much now.

Your mother?
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post #16 of 114
1/27/06 at 4:39pm
Quote:
Originally posted by ShawnJ
Your mother?

Like I said. Thanks for proving my point.
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post #17 of 114
1/27/06 at 5:07pm
Quote:
Originally posted by Chris Cuilla
Like I said. Thanks for proving my point.

Well, she was good. What can I say?
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post #18 of 114
1/27/06 at 5:11pm
Quote:
Originally posted by ShawnJ
Well, she was good. What can I say?



You've said plenty.
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post #19 of 114
1/27/06 at 5:12pm


Alright, touché.

But I never liked those "age" comments. So stop?
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post #20 of 114
1/27/06 at 5:30pm
*Is interrupted from playing his Rubix Cube while listening to his Twisted Sister 78 rpm's, drinking a tall cool New Coke and keeping one eye out for the Russkies*

Damn you, Anders! Damn you!



You need skeptics, especially when the science gets very big and monolithic. -James Lovelock
The Story of Stuff
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You need skeptics, especially when the science gets very big and monolithic. -James Lovelock
The Story of Stuff
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post #21 of 114
1/27/06 at 5:40pm
I couldn't believe it recently when my two fifteen year old nephews had never heard of the movie Better off Dead. I immediately bought them a copy.
http://www.myspace.com/thedopes
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http://www.myspace.com/thedopes
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post #22 of 114
1/27/06 at 6:00pm
Quote:
Originally posted by trick fall
I couldn't believe it recently when my two fifteen year old nephews had never heard of the movie Better off Dead. I immediately bought them a copy.

How about any of the "brat pack" movies?
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post #23 of 114
1/27/06 at 6:16pm
I knew the 80s were a long time ago when I saw that perfect woman from Weird Science on that horrible celebrity weight loss show last night.
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post #24 of 114
1/27/06 at 6:52pm
Quote:
How about any of the "brat pack" movies?

I dunno, I'll have to see if they've ever seen St. Elmo's Fire.

Actually I'm more likely to recommend Less Than Zero.
http://www.myspace.com/thedopes
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http://www.myspace.com/thedopes
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post #25 of 114
1/27/06 at 6:57pm
Quote:
Originally posted by BRussell
I knew the 80s were a long time ago when I saw that perfect woman from Weird Science on that horrible celebrity weight loss show last night.

Oh no! The perfect woman got fat?

Always a freak out, when you see an actor from a movie you saw when you were a kid and still thought of as being exactly that same person (because, after all, you're still exactly the same person, right?) and they've gotten fat, or bald, or, you know, old.

Now, granted, she apparently had a rough time of it, but I remember seeing a picture of Margot Kidder (you know, Superman's girlfriend, for god's sake), and it was, like, oh my god, nobody's getting out of here alive...
They spoke of the sayings and doings of their commander, the grand duke, and told stories of his kindness and irascibility.
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They spoke of the sayings and doings of their commander, the grand duke, and told stories of his kindness and irascibility.
Reply
post #26 of 114
1/27/06 at 7:12pm
Quote:
Originally posted by Chris Cuilla
I remember the Challenger thing. I also remember the Reagan shooting. This was the first time something of that magnitude was on TV...and boy did they KNOW it. My goodness...for something like 3 days straight we kept seeing the same 5-10 seconds of footage over and over and over again. Whew!

The assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald... when I was five.


V/R,

Aries 1B
"I pictured myself sitting in the shade of a leafy tree in a public park, a stylus in hand, a shiny Apple Tablet computer in my lap, and a pouty Jennifer Connelly stirring a pitcher of gimlets a...
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"I pictured myself sitting in the shade of a leafy tree in a public park, a stylus in hand, a shiny Apple Tablet computer in my lap, and a pouty Jennifer Connelly stirring a pitcher of gimlets a...
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post #27 of 114
1/27/06 at 7:19pm
Quote:
Originally posted by Aries 1B
The assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald... when I was five.


V/R,

Aries 1B

Wow...you're really...uh...umm...nice weather isn't it.



( just funnin' ya A1B )
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post #28 of 114
1/27/06 at 7:23pm
I'm going to say it. . . I was born in '81, and very much wish that I was born in '71. I'm a pretty big fan of most of the goings on in the 80's, and can excuse most of the baggage. But most of all, given my line of work currently, I would have hit the dot-com boom SQUARE-ON.

So, in ten years or so, if I don't have a couple of Lotuses in the garage and some factories in developing nations, I'm going to blame it on being born too late.

Cat: the other white meat
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Cat: the other white meat
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post #29 of 114
1/27/06 at 7:32pm
Quote:
Originally posted by Chris Cuilla
Wow...you're really...uh...umm...nice weather isn't it.



( just funnin' ya A1B )

Seasoned?

Classic?

Old?

Saw the Apollo 11 moon landing live too.

V/R,

Aries 1B
PS=Also saw 2001 when it was in the theaters first run. Thought that was going to be my future. \
"I pictured myself sitting in the shade of a leafy tree in a public park, a stylus in hand, a shiny Apple Tablet computer in my lap, and a pouty Jennifer Connelly stirring a pitcher of gimlets a...
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"I pictured myself sitting in the shade of a leafy tree in a public park, a stylus in hand, a shiny Apple Tablet computer in my lap, and a pouty Jennifer Connelly stirring a pitcher of gimlets a...
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post #30 of 114
1/27/06 at 7:38pm
Quote:
Originally posted by Aries 1B
Seasoned?

Classic?

Old?

Saw the Apollo 11 moon landing live too.

V/R,

Aries 1B
PS=Also saw 2001 when it was in the theaters first run. Thought that was going to be my future. \

I like "classic" ("seasoned" is good too)...one day (not too long from now) that will (I hope) describe me too.

I am more of the "Shuttle generation" of the space program and the "Star Wars generation" (I remember seeing it in the theater like it was yesterday...now I have a 9-year old who wanted to see the last Star Wars episode when it came out because I saw the first when I was 9...some strange, geeky father/daughter bonding thing...Star Wars is on the DVD as a I type this).
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post #31 of 114
1/27/06 at 8:25pm
Quote:
Originally posted by Chris Cuilla
I like "classic" ("seasoned" is good too)...one day (not too long from now) that will (I hope) describe me too.

I am more of the "Shuttle generation" of the space program and the "Star Wars generation" (I remember seeing it in the theater like it was yesterday...now I have a 9-year old who wanted to see the last Star Wars episode when it came out because I saw the first when I was 9...some strange, geeky father/daughter bonding thing...Star Wars is on the DVD as a I type this).

I (think) that I saw the splashdown of Gordon Cooper's Mercury capsule. I saw the launches of most of the Gemini-Titan flights. I saw all of the Apollo launches.

I'm thinking of the blonde android guy shutting down at the end of Blade Runner talking to Harrison Ford.

Back in the day I knew the name and biography of all of the Astronauts who flew up through Apollo. I was certain that we'd land on Mars in the 1980's, a moonbase, etc. There was magic, real magic, in the air then.

The 70's really, really sucked.

V/R,
Aries 1B
"I pictured myself sitting in the shade of a leafy tree in a public park, a stylus in hand, a shiny Apple Tablet computer in my lap, and a pouty Jennifer Connelly stirring a pitcher of gimlets a...
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"I pictured myself sitting in the shade of a leafy tree in a public park, a stylus in hand, a shiny Apple Tablet computer in my lap, and a pouty Jennifer Connelly stirring a pitcher of gimlets a...
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post #32 of 114
1/27/06 at 8:50pm
Quote:
Originally posted by Aries 1B
The 70's really, really sucked.

Oh, you blasphemer!!! Beer Can hats weren't that bad!!!

In our desire to impose form on the world we have lost the capacity to see the form that is there;
and in that lies not liberation but alienation, the cutting off from things as they really are. --...

Reply

In our desire to impose form on the world we have lost the capacity to see the form that is there;
and in that lies not liberation but alienation, the cutting off from things as they really are. --...

Reply
post #33 of 114
1/27/06 at 9:01pm
Quote:
Originally posted by dmz
Oh, you blasphemer!!! Beer Can hats weren't that bad!!!

Disco and bad cop shows.
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post #34 of 114
1/27/06 at 9:19pm
Quote:
Oh, you blasphemer!!! Beer Can hats weren't that bad!!

I love beer can hats and do you remeber Bud Man?
http://www.myspace.com/thedopes
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post #35 of 114
1/27/06 at 9:32pm
Quote:
Originally posted by Aries 1B
I (think) that I saw the splashdown of Gordon Cooper's Mercury capsule. I saw the launches of most of the Gemini-Titan flights. I saw all of the Apollo launches.

I'm thinking of the blonde android guy shutting down at the end of Blade Runner talking to Harrison Ford.

Back in the day I knew the name and biography of all of the Astronauts who flew up through Apollo. I was certain that we'd land on Mars in the 1980's, a moonbase, etc. There was magic, real magic, in the air then.

The 70's really, really sucked.

V/R,
Aries 1B

I'm with you, Aries.

I grew up in Huntsville, AL, "Rocket City, USA", where at the dawn of the moon program the feds set up the Marshall Space Flight Center, where the Saturn V was designed and tested.

My dad moved there as part of a great influx of engineers from what were becoming "aero-space" companies (Boeing, in my dad's case).

We lived and breathed Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. I built countless models (I still remember exactly how the inside of the "instrument unit", a three foot high ring on top of the third stage of the Saturn V, looked on the inside.

My grade school days were regularly enlivened by a great generalized shaking and a huge plume of smoke in the distance, which was the result of static testing of the Saturn S1B, and later, Saturn V boosters.

After the tragedy of Apollo 1, Huntsville renamed three high schools Chaffee, Grissom and White.

In the heyday of the space program I don't think any of us would have ever believed that things would just sort of....stop.

I was a kid, of course, so I didn't get the politics of "beating the Russians" and it never occurred to me that once we had done that we would lose the popular will to continue.

We just knew that we would be building more permanent structures on the moon (Clavius base, here we come!), and a nice big "ferris wheel" space station, and then on to Mars!

It was magic, you're right. It seemed we could do anything. It was a long time ago.
They spoke of the sayings and doings of their commander, the grand duke, and told stories of his kindness and irascibility.
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They spoke of the sayings and doings of their commander, the grand duke, and told stories of his kindness and irascibility.
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post #36 of 114
1/27/06 at 9:48pm
(Sorry for hijacking the thread, young-uns)

About 2001-- it was our future, in a way.

The production design of the early scenes in the space station anticipated the look of public spaces such as malls, airports and hotel lobbies, by a good 20 years.

The prominent corporate logos, the directionless lighting, the cool white surfaces and "striking" modular furniture still look surprisingly contemporary.

I also saw "2001" (and also fully expected to live there) when it originally ran in theaters.

In the scene where the guy ("Heywood Floyd"?) calls his daughter back on earth on the video phone, the cost of the call flashers up on the screen when he hangs up.

I remember the original audience laughing because it was so insanely expensive: something like $3.65.
They spoke of the sayings and doings of their commander, the grand duke, and told stories of his kindness and irascibility.
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They spoke of the sayings and doings of their commander, the grand duke, and told stories of his kindness and irascibility.
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post #37 of 114
1/27/06 at 11:39pm
Quote:
Originally posted by ShawnJ
I mostly missed the 80's being born in '83.

THANK GOD.


Oh great, you were born two years after I graduated from high school.

The weird thing about growing older is that inside your head your about ten years behind your actual age. I'm just getting a handle on being over thirty.
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post #38 of 114
1/28/06 at 12:38am
"I grow old I grow old
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.\t

Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?\t
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.\t
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.\t

I do not think that they will sing to me."

Thanks for making me feel old, guys. And I was thinking about wearing my parachute pants, a Michael Jackson zipper jacket, some jelly bracelets and a couple of swatch watches to work on Monday.

Or maybe a Don Johnson 3-day beard. Remember how there were electric razors sold for a little while that would shave you to exactly that kind of stubble?
Gangs are not seen as legitimate, because they don't have control over public schools.
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Gangs are not seen as legitimate, because they don't have control over public schools.
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post #39 of 114
1/28/06 at 4:48am
Quote:
Originally posted by ShawnJ
I mostly missed the 80's being born in '83.

THANK GOD.


Holy Siva, YOU'RE A PUPPY SHAWN PATRICK.

It's really weird. I was always the youngest in any crowd but, slowly, secretly, I've become the oldest. I am 34. I am now the old cool guy. I didn't see it happening.

I remember the '70s. Beat that.
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post #40 of 114
1/28/06 at 5:13am
  • BR
  • Justified Arrogance
Quote:
Originally posted by Hassan i Sabbah
I remember the '70s. Beat that.

Ok, I didn't have to live in the 70s. There, I beat it.

 

“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.” 
-Sagan
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“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.” 
-Sagan
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