Devin
Administrator   Posts: 317 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Online
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posted on 11/5/2003 at 03:41 PM |
Here's a little game. I was recently trying to figure out all of the
cultural turning points that I've participated in somehow. What has
changed everything?
Here's the rules. No personal turning points, this is cultural turning
points. I want to know what people thought about stuff that changed things
for everyone. Not Fads. Here's examples:
I saw the "Video killed the radio star" video. I had no clue what I was
watching. I was just thinking "wow, it's kinda like watching a musical
play". There was no way to tell by looking at that video that this was
going to change the way kids grew up. I was about 12 when MTV started.
Before that, we didn't have anything like that to "show us what was cool" -
styles and stuff came from watching what the cool kids we knew were wearing
and doing. The media really didn't have much effect on it all. Imagine
that.
When I downloaded my first copy of the Mosaic web browser, ther was no
netscape - there was no Internet Explorer. Mosaic was the first graphical
web browser. Nobody I knew had ever seen anything like it. By today's
standards, it sucks ass, but back then I was the only one I knew who had
even heard of the internet. Trying to explain to my friends the feeling of
looking at pages on servers in different parts of the world, and seeing
this all instantly on my screen was futile. They just couldn't understand
what I was talking about until years later. I saw the potential of what I
was looking at - but that potential hasn't materialized quite how I
pictured it.
What are other people's takes on stuff like this? ____________________
So Sayeth Me
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callei
Extreme Fanatic   Posts: 759 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 11/5/2003 at 07:20 PM |
I handled one of the first prototypes of laptop computers. I thought it was
a silly idea because then people would have to work on the way to and from
work, not just at work. I was about 10 i think, maybe 11. Who knew?
____________________
Real goths wear silver and crosses to keep the werewolves and vampires
away.
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Ironboots
Extreme Fanatic  Posts: 893 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 11/5/2003 at 07:34 PM |
*sits in awe of the old-timers*
Wow, you guys are just maybe 10 years older than me and yet you have
experienced so many important things I will never fully understand...
It reminds me of the talks I had with my mother about the 60s and her
growing up...
Now then, if you don't pummel me for indirectly calling you old, I'll
dispense the most obvious turning point we've had in a while...
9/11. That thing changed things MAJOR. Bush became a good president,
America became the world's policeman, and hitting first is no longer a
crime. That day I spent in school, just watching the repetitive news on tv.
I enjoyed the lack of classes, but I was already starting to get sick of
the coverage, and the inevitable weeks of coverage to follow. But I thought
it would just be another USS Cole bombing... You know, everybody'd be angry
for a while but it'd settle down. No such luck...
____________________
Piggy's got the Conch!
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IamSquid
Extreme Fanatic  Posts: 658 Registered: 27/5/2002 Status: Offline
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posted on 11/5/2003 at 08:15 PM |
Well as far as computers go, I would not be suprised if the MIRA becomes a
major revolution in computers.
For those of yoo who are not aware of what a MIRA device is, it is a tablet
PC (similar to a laptop, but it is just a touch screen with only a USB and
a few other outlets, no keyboard, no pointers, etc.) which CAN function as
an indepeendant computer (the way I use mine) but is intended to be used as
a remote device for yor home PC.
Thus, instead of reading off of the moniter while standing straight-up yoo
can take yor computer to the couch, out to the porch, to the toilet, or
anywhere as far as the wireless will provide (but seeing as wireless is
it's primary input, it is designed to pick up wireless better than most
laptops).
It's still an experimental idea and not ready for commercial sale, I only
got mine from my former roommate because he was in love with technology and
toys. His version was Linux only so he had to install Windows and do a
bunch of other shit to work to his specifications.
Anyway, the idea is I wouldn't be suprised if some day fairly soon,
computers are a little less stiff, and lot more comfortable (and no,
designer colored Macs are don't count). I hate reading off of moniters
(unless they're LCD) and sitting upright, but because of the MIRA I can
have shitty posture and my eyes can relax a little. ____________________
i wanted to die, and then it progressed into wanting everyone else to
die so i could watch, and then me die.
-ickgirl
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callei
Extreme Fanatic Posts: 759 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 12/5/2003 at 06:34 AM |
| ooo I thought of two more that i am not sure about: Fake fat and Cable TV. ____________________
Real goths wear silver and crosses to keep the werewolves and vampires
away.
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Sardonic-Pain
Fanatic  Posts: 248 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 12/5/2003 at 09:28 AM |
| BARBIE! she changed everything! Little girls wanted the body image and you
could by all of her friends cause she is sooooo popular....I mean
seriiously can you walk any where without seeing a barbie doll...nope nope
nope....She revolutionized the doll world! ____________________
My Life is like a porno-Without the sex-Just the weird music
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bettie_x
Extreme Fanatic  Posts: 1570 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 12/5/2003 at 10:05 AM |
Hm, lemme think back...I might be wrong on a couple, but I'm pretty sure
that they came out when I was a kid....
The Challenger explosion, for one...first "real american tragedy" in a LONG
time (at least at NASA), Nintendo game system (I'm not sure when the Atari
2K came out, but Nintendo and Sega were the shizznit and look where we are
now...), the cultural phenom that was pacman (and then ms pacman), rubix
cubes, and "hypercolor" clothing material (what a perfect way for people to
not only watch you sweat like a pig during exercise but change ghastly
colors as well), the release (or at least popularization of) VCR's and then
Betamax; the dodo of the tech world (c'mon guys, you don't remember DVD's
the size of records?), the Internet (as we know it now and the whole "dot
com" phase everyone went through...and still is) and home computers were
HUGE and were for tech nerds, working types, or rich people, Microsoft 1.0,
AOL 1.0, CD's, the lawsuit and govt action to place and enforce parental
advisory on music, young Mr. Golden, the 10 year old that sat on a hill
picking off his classmates with a rifle (leading to the subsequent string
of ultra gruesome school shootings by students), Baby Jessica fell in the
well, giant unweildy and probably HIGHLY radioactive cell phones (yes, my
dad had one, which explains a LOT, like why he's almost bald now), THE
Pepsi commercial when michael jackson's hair caught on fire, The Gulf
War......ugh shit now I'm just listing shit I remember. I'm done. ____________________
Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas.
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MystryssRavynDarque
Extreme Fanatic  Posts: 648 Registered: 24/9/2002 Status: Offline
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posted on 12/5/2003 at 10:10 AM |
| Boy oh boy do I feel young.... I was born in 1985, and I remember my first
computer usage. My mom had an IBM and we ran all of our programs out of
DOS. We didn't even have the internet yet. We did not get the internet
until AOL became very popular. Does anyone remember 2.0? I do! In fact
it is on a laptop that I have. Our card programs we ran through DOS
created some really boxy people for the cards...it was cool then though! I
loved using the computer. We even had TETRIS on a floppy we ran through
DOS. The most fun though was our version of Family Feud we had on a floppy
and ran through DOS. It was the most fun in the world. All of the people
created by the computer would answer CORN even if they were asked what they
would take in the bath tub with them. *LMAO* I also owned this game, I
wish I knew what it was called, but you would go around to a bunch of scary
looking houses on Halloween and sometimes the apples you would get would
have razor blades in them. Possibly a piece of propogandha to teach us to
not take unwrapped food from people? HEHEHEHE! ____________________
"People always say what we are looking for is a meaning for life…I don't
think that's what we're looking for. I think what we're looking for is the
experience of being alive." -Joseph Campbell
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dead-cell
Fanatic  Posts: 344 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 12/5/2003 at 12:04 PM |
I'm right there with you Bettie, DVD's use to becalled Laser disc. Man
those things were huge. I remember my friend having the first C.D. player
on the block, and the first C.D.s. When CDs first came out no one knew just
what they were. Before CDs were called CDs, they were called Compact Disc.
CDs eventualy replace tapes, and floppy disc.
Anyone here remember how bulky cell phones use to be? ____________________
co-worker: "Your gay!?"
myself: "Didn't you see my rainbow pin?"
co-worker: "I just thought you liked skettles."
-(yes, it actually happened to me)
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MystryssRavynDarque
Extreme Fanatic Posts: 648 Registered: 24/9/2002 Status: Offline
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posted on 12/5/2003 at 02:20 PM |
| I remember Laserdiscs too. We still use them at my high school ____________________
"People always say what we are looking for is a meaning for life…I don't
think that's what we're looking for. I think what we're looking for is
the
experience of being alive." -Joseph Campbell
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Anya
Extreme Fanatic  Posts: 656 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 12/5/2003 at 05:09 PM |
Hmm...*thinks with a fried brain*
I would have to say the Amiga was my first computer - I played a lot of
adventure/shooting games.
Otherwise...*pets my NES saying in an un-enthusiastic, fatigued voice*goooo
Mario.
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Anya
Extreme Fanatic Posts: 656 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 12/5/2003 at 05:14 PM |
Oh yes, I would like to include loose usage of the IBM and DOS (I miss
those AD&D games).
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Remy
Occasional Poster   Posts: 34 Registered: 29/4/2003 Status: Offline
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posted on 13/5/2003 at 04:26 AM |
| I remember loading GEOS - the first operating system with a GUI I had ever
seen - on the Commodore 64 of a cousin when I was five or six years old. At
that time I was mainly interested in playing Bubble Bobble and
Ghostbusters, so this event didn't affect me much then. But even today I
prefer MS-DOS or Amiga DOS over Windows and the Workbench when it comes to
perform simple file operations like copying, renaming oder moving. ____________________
"A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of
nothing." - Oscar Wilde
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Dolorosa
Extreme Fanatic  Posts: 856 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 13/5/2003 at 07:20 AM |
Nuticles...
Artificial Testicles for dogs.
I was born in the era of absurdity.
____________________
In the valley of the Goats, the Goat Fucker is King
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burn1311
Occasional Poster  Posts: 28 Registered: 16/1/2003 Status: Offline
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posted on 13/5/2003 at 04:54 PM |
i gotta say 9/11. a lot of my friends had parents that died in the
attacks.
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bettie_x
Extreme Fanatic Posts: 1570 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 13/5/2003 at 06:53 PM |
Well I'll vouch for the husband here...he remembers Mt. St. Helen's blowing
up, and the even CREEPIER thing to ME was that he'd seen it quite a few
times BEFORE it blew. He was 6, and I was a month old to the day*lol*
I will say one thing more for the man, the man who successfully avoided one
of the most hiddeous social trends of our fucking CENTURY...one that
affected members of every social class and education level.
THE MULLET.
I've seen pictures, he never had one, thank goodness. He escaped the
dreaded mullet *whew* not many guys I know can say that...and they hide
their gradeschool/highschool albums whenever anyone's around.
____________________
Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas.
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Domkitten
Fanatic  Posts: 470 Registered: 23/9/2002 Status: Offline
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posted on 14/5/2003 at 12:49 AM |
Man, I had a colecovision. I don't know if any of you know what that is but
way back in the 1982 before nintendo but right after atari, I think, you
had colecovision. Colecovision
really rocked. I used to sit in front of that thing attached to our Zenieth
T.V. and play mouse trap and Zaxxon for hours. Zaxxon is the all time best
game I ever played next to Metriod. Man, It kicked some serious boottie.
You had to fly it through this giant maze with electric lazers, exploding
oilcans, it rocked.
For that I also remember Ronald Regan, The Iran Contra Affair, OJ Simpson,
and Saturday Night Live when it didn't suck to much. Now that was
definately a cultural milestone.
____________________
It's like kegel exercises for your throat.~Monolycus
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Domkitten
Fanatic Posts: 470 Registered: 23/9/2002 Status: Offline
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posted on 14/5/2003 at 01:10 AM |
Wa, I almost forget the coolest thing about the colecovision man. DONKEY
KONG. Who can say they have never played the most excellent game. The game
that launched the career of Mario and the Princess. Jumping up and down
climbing on steal beams, who didn't want to get into construction after
playing Donkey Kong for a few hours.
Again, one of the most influential games on an entire generation.
____________________
It's like kegel exercises for your throat.~Monolycus
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Xaoswolf
Fanatic  Posts: 463 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
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posted on 14/5/2003 at 09:32 AM |
Hey Dead-Cell, Laser Disk was a differant format that DVD, it's like Beta
and VHS.
Also, we shouldn't forget about the Divx format that flopped
And as for video games, if you remember playing on the NES and thinking you
are old school, I played pong and Intelivision. Plus, My first computer
had a tape drive in it, with a 4 MHz processor that I used to program in
Basic(not Qbasic or Vbasic mind you) and play Tuts Tomb.
I also drank Jolt, surge, and josta, the three best pops you can ever buy,
each with their own cult following.
Also, I used to go to elementary school with a big tape recorder so I could
listen to Jon Bon Jovi, that's right, I listened to him back when he used
all three names. ____________________
Sometimes I dream about dinosaurs shopping for cargo shorts at the Gap.
Does that make me a bad person?
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Remy
Occasional Poster Posts: 34 Registered: 29/4/2003 Status: Offline
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posted on 14/5/2003 at 09:47 AM |
| 4 MHz? That's quite fast when you recall the C64 had under 1 MHz. What
computer was it? ____________________
"A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of
nothing." - Oscar Wilde
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