Monday, March 28, 2011

Going, Going, Gone: Here's What's Disappearing

Those are my phone books: recycled before opening.
I ran into a site called Twenty-Five Things About to Disappear in America while searching for some info on disappearing movie ads in newspapers and this turned out to be more fun, so I'll share it instead. It's here in full (and full means full; lots of great info), but here is some of what it says (with the Top 25 ranked backwards):

25. U.S. Post Office. High price, service that is spotty.
24. Printed Yellow Pages. (See graphic; that's phone books. Came two days ago. They're in recycling. Never been opened.) Type's too small, inaccuracy's too large.
23. Classified ads. Think Craig's List.
22. Movie rental stores. NetFlix is the answer.
21. Dial-up Internet access. Do you really need an explanation?
20. Phone land lines. Old people are holding out. Nobody else is.
Anybody recognize this guy?
19. Blue crabs in the Chesapeake. Last year's harvest was smallest in more than 60 years. Too much fishing, pollution.
18. VCR. Ranks with the 8-track. (How in the hell are we going to save all the stuff we have on outdated media and what's next to be useless?)
17. Ash trees.
16.  Ham radio. What's a "ham" radio? (I know, but there's a good chance you don't. I'm older than you.)
15.  The old swimmin' hole. It's inside at the YMCA now. The outside one is polluted or dangerous.
14. Answering machines. Anything that ends in "machines" is likely gone.
13. Film cameras. I have a collection of cameras that go back as far as 130 years. They all work. But they never will again.
12. Incandescent bulbs. It's a matter of time and not much time.
11. Bowling alleys. I really don't give a dang.
10. The milkman. Not in Roanoke, though. That little dairy from Smith Mountain Lake is still delivering. Kinda cool.
9. Hand-written letters. My mother-in-law (not ex- yet) still writes them and people love getting them. Nobody likes writing them anymore, though.
8. Wild horses. Ask Congressman Bob Goodlatte about that. His record with these boys is not good. His environmental record is worse.
This little guy's vital. Better keep him.
7. Personal checks. Once again, it's the old folks holding on. Everybody else uses the check card. Easier, cheaper, etc.
6. Drive-in theaters. Again, not much to care here. Far too many alternatives and you can always park your car somewhere sexy and watch a movie on your laptop.
5. Mumps and measles. That's a good thing. I had both. They're not fun.
4. Honey bees. This concerns me. It should concern you. They have a lot to do with our food supply.
3. News magazines and TV news. Both began their exit with major corporate takeovers. I watch CBS Evening News these days just to see Ed Murrow and Uncle Walter Cronkite spin in their graves. Shameful.
2. Analog TV. Just watch a minute or two of an analog show and snap to a digital. You'll see why.
1. The family farm.

2 comments:

  1. Speaking of honeybees - check out this event at Hollins tomorrow night about "Robobees" - Harvard project investigating whether it’s possible to build an artificial hive of bees that can pollinate crops. www.hollins.edu. - Laura Anderson

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  2. Haha... let me know if you want me to take any of those old film cameras off your hands, Dan!

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