Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Flying car continued

The more I thought about this topic today while I was at work, the more I realized that I could go on and on forever. Yeah yeah I know what you are thinking......But BD, you DO go on forever and ever everytime you post.

In the spirit of 'the first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one' all I can say is

Guilty your honor. No argument here. So on to more technology.

What about microwaves? Can you imagine your life without one? I sure can't, and yet I know there was a point and time in my life where either there was no such thing or there was no such thing in my house.

A big one that I can think of is video games. I LOVED video games as a kid. Hell, truth be told, I still like them a lot. In spite of the PS2 that is currently sitting in my living room though I fear I may finally be growing up. At some point and time in my life I owned an Atari 2600,5400,6200(i think was the model), an intellivision, and a colecovision, all while I was still a young'un. Save for the original atari, the rest were bought with LONNNNG saved allowance since mom refused to keep buying new machines.

Then as an 'adult' I have since purchased a nintendo, nintendo 64, supernintendo, a sega, a playstation, and now a PS2. It is a wonder I haven't broken down and bought the new xbox or the PS3. Well, IF you ignore the fact they are nowhere to be found it is a wonder at least. Anyone remember pong? Yup, I had that one too, and it was the shit I tell ya. The biggest ones, to me at least, were the atari 2600, and the original nintendo both of which made HUGE leaps in graphics and such for their time. HA! Try giving either one of those to your kids for Christmas next year, and they will send you to YOUR room!

I remember quite clearly one of my very favorite Christmas presents ever. It was a hand held electronic football game and the screen/field was about 3 inches long by an inch wide. The 'players' on this game were little red L.E.D hyphens, yes you got it HYPHENS! There wasn't any throwing of the ball. You simply hiked, and moved your hyphen left to right across the screen dodging the three other hyphens who would blip on different parts of the screen. It wasn't the game so much that made that my favorite, as much as the story behind it but that is a 'guess you had to be there' sort of thing that I won't bore you with...........yet.

A few other tech advances over the years:

Remember the splash the old sony walkman made on the scene. It was at the time almost a status symbol to have one. This progressed to portable cd players,that other thing whose name escapes me, and now Ipods. I am in the middle of no man's land when it comes to these things. That look and roll of the eyes I give my mother when trying to splain the concept of email, is the same one I receive when I start talking to younger people to learn about Ipods and such. I have very little to no clue.

A few nostalgic looks at the tecnology chain:

Eight tracks to Record players, to CD players, to walkmans, to that other thing, to Ipods.

Pong, to atari, to intellivision, to coleco, to nintendo, to Playstation, to Xbox.

Vcr's,(beta anyone?) to laser disc, to Dvd, to Blu ray(not sure what that is yet).

Rotary phones, push button phones, cordless phones, Car phones, Cell phones this size of a brick, to cell phones the size of a wallet sized picture which can TAKE pictures!

So I ask again,,,,,

Where the HELL is my flying car!?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

omg, it's gotta be the change of the year that makes us all think that way. christmas shopping for toys for my 6yr old does the same thing to me. i gotta admit though my all time favorite game was the original sim city on nintendo 64. btw i still have one of my mom's old rotary phones, i just can't seem to part with it, i wish i hadn't parted with my nintendo. happy new year to you bd and may it bring much fortune and memories worth looking back on in 20 years or so :) p.s. good luck with the techno stuuf, this is in reference to flying car parts 1 and 2

The Sarcasticynic said...

Around 1982 I bet a friend that within twenty five years, we'd all be carrying telephones small enough to put into our pockets. It's been 25 years. And here we are.

The Sarcasticynic said...

are you thinking of "Discman"?

briliantdonkey said...

Heather: that could be it(the time of year). I kind of wish I had my original nintendo too just to see it again. I would surely be disappointed so maybe it is better that I don't and live off the nostalgia instead.

Sarc:did you collect on your bet? 25 years plus interest adds up. Go buy yourself a new car, and send him the bill. Just make sure you splain yourself beFORE he manages to pull the trigger and you should be fine.

Re: discman,,,,,no more recent. I never had one so that is why the name escapes me, has nothing to do with age or memory being the first to go! I could look it up but I am being stubborn about it. Can't help it, it is what I do.

BD

The Sarcasticynic said...

actually, it was a gentlemen's bet. but now I wish we had actually put some money down.

christine said...

I actually STILL have those floppy discs for the computer, remember those? I can't stick them anywhere anymore so I really should throw them out.

Betamax and rewinding those that were eaten up by the machine, Ohh how can I forget?! I watched my first porn movie on Betamax, faked a tummy ache so I could stay home from school w/o parents just to watch it. Karma made the machine eat up the tape within seconds, and I had to pry the whole thing open with a screw driver. I was chitting in my pants!

I recently bought this $10 machine that plays old Nintendo cartridges. We've had tons of run recently with games like Tank & Pacman.

It's amazing how techonology can make us so lazy. Just look at our cars. It's too much to reach over to turn the volume up or down, they've installed buttons on the steering wheel. Oh and remote controls too, for those on the backseat.

Anonymous said...

Oh Dude... I loved me some Beta! What has got you waxing nostalgic?

briliantdonkey said...

aha! MP3 player! That is the one I am looking for. Stubborness pays off. That or my brain decided it better figure it out if I ever planned to get any sleep.

Bice: not really sure, just where my mind went.

BD