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Stamps of the 80s
Noah Zoschke writes, "Last year the U.S. Postal Service held an online vote to see what people wanted to represent the 80s for a new set of stamps. It looks like a pretty good set, including video games, computers, Cabbage Patch Kids, and ET.
" The idea of licking ET doesn't quite appeal to me for some reason. I actually have a bunch of stamps from my younger days... it's definitely not a hobby I understand... but I can't understand collecting anything flat that doesn't have a casting cost.
What the postal service needs to do is create email stamps! For just $.33 you can send an email anywhere in the world, guaranteed by the legendary customer service of the postal service to be delivered within three working days.
Sorry, I'm just being sarcastic. I really can't wait, though, till the day when stamps are no longer necessary.
If you can't figure out how to mail me, don't.
For linux tips: http://www.linuxtipsblog.com
The 80s started...20 years ago....just look back at it...20 years ago..wow, long time, but so short in the cosmic scheme of things, and look, just look how times have changed, now personally i don't remember the 80s all that much ( i'm 21 in case you're wondering, i remember more of the 90s then i do the 80s ), but my god does time move fast. Sorry, i just thought this might be a good time to point out how fast time moves and do go catch the moment while you can, i think i'm going to go call my girlfriend and tell her i love her now.
/do/ remember very well that is on the stamps, is those goddamn cabbagepatch dolls, i was in love with 'em, drove my mother nuts, she actually ended up sewing one together for me ( she's actually pretty good ), but jeez, talk about the more things change the more they stay the same.....Pokemon, Cabbage Patch Dolls.....deja vu anyone?
ObOnTopic Comment: The one thing I
*out*
There is a great deal of easy money to be made in collecting. Eventually I think it more likely that people will simply have machine generated postage at either the post office or from personal machines (Pittney Bowes has machines for small Businesses already).
This will make all those cheasy ET stamps worth some cold hard cash. Unlike pokemon cards these have a future.
Slashdot social engineering at it's finest
Yes, but why do the calligraphy yourself? Use a calligraphy font, a fractal-based randomizer, a Beowulf cluster, and a Lego-based robotic arm with calligraphy pen! Engineer your way to her heart!
Steven E. Ehrbar
Any others?
--
Sheeeeeeeeeeeeet Let's see, back in the 80s all i had was an old Atari 32XE that hooked up to my TV, i'd sit there for hours and program in Atari basic and since i had no media i'd lose it the second i turned it off, those were the days. When 2400 baud was BLAZINGLY fast, back when baud and bps really WERE interchangeable. Okay sorry....it's waaaaaaaay to late for me to be posting at slashdot....talk about a tagient(sp?)
Thank you, Rob, for not linking to the online-vote page from slashdot before the vote was over.
--
The shareholder is always right.
And it's "tangent". But it's cool.
:) ah well, memories.....those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end, yes those were the days...
:)
GODDAMINT, that's what i typed the first time
On to the quiet darkness of slumber, to dream of yesteryear and all the promises it held.
Night!
Yes! Glad to see the good old IBM Personal Computer (PC). Not the AT, not the XT, but the original PC. I got one in Dec. 1997 which is pretty sad when you think about it. I was crusing along on an 8-bit bus and 4.77 MHz CPU. CGA (2-bit color) graphics, but I bet the text mode would work just fine in Linux (too bad the shape of the full-length board prevents me from putting it into a 16-bit ISA slot). The one I had, had a (c) 1984 BIOS (probably an upgrade) with a Seagate 20 MB (that's MB, not GB) drive. 6-pack plus card (to bring me up to the max: 640 KB RAM, game, serial, parallel, a clock that kept the time when you turned off the computer (heh)), 8087 Math Coprocessor (i.e. floating point unit on an external chip). Clicky-clacky 83-key keyboard. Cassette port. BASIC in ROM. Full height (think two CDROM drives on top of each other) 360 KB 5.25" floppy drive. I replaced the Intel 8088 with a clone that had fewer clock cylces for some instructions. I used that baby until I got my spanking new 486/66 in 1993. All you Apple II and Amiga fans harassed me all the while, but where is your Apple II and Amiga now? Ha! Now everyone is using glorified x86's and MS-DOS with add-ons. (Just funnin'. No flames please.)
t ml
The Personal Computer (in general) was Time's Man of the Year (called Machine of the Year since it isn't a man) for 1982. http://www.pathfinder.com/time/special/moy/1982.h
There's some really interesting stuff in that article.
Ok, I am a bit biased, since I didnt really see the what the big deal over cabbage patch kidsor ET was at the time, but I was a big transformers fan then (and still am), but seriously, if they're commemorating 80s pop culture, transformers are conspicuously absent. For one thing, unlike breakdancing or cabbage patch kids, they're still somewhat popular today. And, IMHO, transformers were one of the only worthwhile things to come out of that decade, culturally. so THERE.
wisconsin does not exist.
-- My comment is above.
Back in college in the mid-1980s, I knew a guy (not me, some other guy, totally unrelated to myself) who used his Apple II+ and ImageWriter printer (which was quite the 'l33t printer back in those days) to embellish ordinary envelopes with the magical sigil:
BUSINESS REPLY MAIL
NO POSTAGE NECESSARY
IF MAILED IN THE UNITED STATES
_______________
_______________
_______________
_______________
_______________
_______________
_______________
_______________
... exactly as used by junk mailers everywhere.
Being that this was undoubtedly a violation of Federal law punishable by 95 years in jail and a $6,000,000 fine, this dude (whose name I am frankly having trouble even remembering) only had the cojones to try his E-Stamp(tm) process on a single letter.
But it worked.
Now, if only this guy had thought to apply for a patent on electronically-printed postage, he would probably be a very wealthy man today.
But that wouldn't do me any good personally, of course, because I'm pretty sure I couldn't even come up with the bright young fellow's name. Not even if asked impolitely by men equipped with sunglasses and guns.
-- jm
Dahlmann tightly grips the knife, which he may have no idea how to use, and steps out into the plain.
I was 8 in 1980, so I spent my formative years wading through some awful clothes and music that you just can't dance to, at all.
It's funny that this topic came up, since just yesterday I was proclaimed "Out of touch" by an 18 year-old girl (her reason was that I din't "get" the Backstreet Boys). Anyway, that event, and this reminded me of the following list I was sent about a year ago. If you're over 25, I think you'll appreciate it.
***
The people who are starting college this fall across the nation were born
in 1980.
They have no meaningful recollection of the Reagan era, and did not know he
had ever been shot. And Jimmy Carter is that guy who builds houses.
They were prepubescent when the Persian Gulf War was waged.
Black Monday 1987 is as significant to them as the Great Depression.
There has only been one Pope.
They can only really remember one president. Who's Bush?
They were 11 when the Soviet Union broke apart, and do not remember the
Cold War.
They have never feared a nuclear war.
"The Day After" is a pill to them, not a movie.
CCCP is just a bunch of letters.
No one boycotted the Olympics.
T-shirts have always had designer names and sports logos on them.
They have only known one Germany.
They are too young to remember the Space shuttle blowing up, and
Tienamin Square means nothing to them.
They do not know who Qadafi is.
Their lifetime has always included AIDS.
They never had a Polio shot, and likely, do not know what it is.
Bottles have not only always been twist off, but have always been plastic.
They have no idea what a pull top can looks like.
Atari predates them, as do vinyl albums.
The expression "you sound like a broken record" means nothing to
them. They have never owned a record player.
They have likely never played Pac Man, and have never heard of Pong.
"Star Wars" looks very fake and the special effects are pathetic.
There have always been Red M&Ms, and Blue ones are not new.
And what do you mean there used to be beige ones?
They may have heard of an 8-track, but chances are they probably
have never actually seen or heard one. The Compact Disc was
introduced when they were 1 year old.
As far as they know, stamps have always cost about 32 cents.
Zip codes have always had a dash in them.
They have always had an answering machine and a computer.
Beepers are toys, not advanced technology.
Most have never seen a TV set with only 13 channels, nor have they
seen a black and white TV.
They have always had cable.
There have always been VCR's, but they have no idea what Beta is.
They cannot fathom not having a remote control.
They were born the year that Walkmen were introduced by Sony.
Roller-skating has always meant inline for them.
They have never heard of King Cola, Burger Chef, The Globe
Democrat, Braniff, PanAM or Ozark Airlines.
The Tonight Show has always been with Jay Leno.
They have no idea when or why Jordache jeans were cool.
They are nostalgic for corduroy jeans, wide legs, platform shoes, Candie's,
Pumas and rayon shirts - without experiencing the original versions.
Popcorn has always been cooked in a microwave.
And what's a hot plate?
They have never seen and remember a game that included the St.
Louis (Football) Cardinals, the Baltimore Colts, the Minnesota North
Stars, the Kansas City Kings, the New Orleans Jazz, The Minnesota Lakers,
The Atlanta Flames, or the Denver Rockies (NHL Hockey, that is)
They do not consider the Colorado Rockies, the Florida Marlins, The
Florida Panthers, The Ottawa Senators, the San Jose Sharks, or the
Tampa Bay Lightning "expansion teams".
They have never seen Larry Bird play, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a
football player.
They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.
The Vietnam War is as much ancient history to them as WWI, WWII or
even the Civil War.
They have no idea that Americans were ever held hostage in Iran.
They can't imagine what hard contact lenses are.
They don't know who Mork was or where he was from.
They never heard the terms "Where's the beef?", "I'd walk a mile
for a Camel," or "de plane, de plane!".
They do not care who shot J. R. and have no idea who J. R. is.
The Cosby Show, The Facts of Life, Silver Spoon, The Love Boat,
Miami Vice, WKRP in Cincinnati, and Taxi are shows they have likely
never seen.
The Titanic was found? I thought we always knew where it was.
They cannot remember the Cardinals ever winning a World Series, or
even being in one.
Kansas, Chicago, Boston, America, and Alabama are places, not groups.
McDonald's came in Styrofoam containers?
Do you feel old now? Remember, the people who don't know these
things will be in college this year...and they can vote!
...you lick his backside! I agree -- not an appealing idea. (Now just wait for someone to suggest licking Natalie Portman's backside...but I digress :-)
--
Infuriate left and right
SCO XENIX would run on the original IBM PC with a hard disk. I remember playing with it on an Altos 8086 system. It was slow but it was a real UNIX.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
This page lets you look at individual stamps. The blue is the bottom side of the brim of a boonie hat, which is on the head of the guy with the arm. It doesn't look like a real GI boonie hat.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
I just heard today on the radio that in a few weeks or months, you can walk into any Swiss post office with your floppy or Zip disk in hand and tell them to take all the letters you have on there, print them, package them, stamp them and mail them out for you. The cost should be significantly less than what it would take to pay your own people to do it.
I know this is quite off-topic, but I like this kind of getting lost customers back better than the "if all our ex-customers are now using e-mail, we'll just tax that" approach. After all, one significant advantage of e-mail (next to speed) is the time you save in preparing messages for delivery. With this new printing/packaging service, writing 200 letters is just as easy as writing 200 e-mails - it's just a matter of saving a digital document, and taking the disk to your local post office is akin to pressing the send button in your mail app.
I really hope the Swiss Post succeeds with this strategy. It might even help start-ups who would usually need at least eight hours to mail out invoices to 3000 customers for example..
They also offer UPAQ, a system that 128-bit encrypts sensible documents and provides authentification of both parties involved - in e-mail. You can even track your message and see exactly when the recipient opens and decrypts the file.
And you can even get stamps online - a huge collection. They really treat the electronic world well for a government-owned company. You can check out their English website here.
For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, the PMRC (Parent's Music Resource Center) was an attempt at censorship of the music industry by bored Washington housewives (Tipper Gore was one of the leaders) which was sparked off by Tipper hearing her child listening to Prince and the Revolution's song Darling Nikki (song about a woman masturbating for these purposes).
--
Never hit your grandmother with a shovel, for it leaves a bad impression on her mind...
What about:
* Quasi-metal pretty boy bands?
* The return of the miniskirt (esp. in denim)?
* Intellivision commercials starring George Plimpton?
* Weird Al?
* Tight designer jeans?
* The death of UNIX (it was generally assumed to be dying out by the end of the 80s).
Overall, it's a strange assortment. It's depressing in a way that the 1980s will be remembered for pop culture commercial fads more than anything else. I mean, really, those people who paid $100+ for Cabbage Patch Kids look back on it fondly? I'd be embarrassed.
Don't call me "Generation X," call me a child of the eighties
by Bryant Adkins
published in The Reflector
January 20, 1995
-----------------------------------------------
I am a child of the eighties. That is what I prefer to be called. The nineties can do without me. Grunge isn't here to stay, fashion is fickle and "Generation X" is a myth created by some over-40 writer trying to figure out why people wear flannel in the summer.
When I got home from school, I played with my Atari 2600. I spent hours playing Pitfall or Combat or Breakout or Dodge'em Cars or Frogger.
I never did beat Asteroids. Then I watched "Scooby Doo." Daphne was a Goddess, and I thought Shaggy was smoking something synthetic in the back of their psychedelic van. I hated Scrappy.
I would sleep over at friends' houses on the weekends. We played army with G.I. Joe figures, and I set up galactic wars between Autobots and Decepticons. We stayed up half the night throwing marshmallows and Velveeta at one another. We never beat the Rubik's Cube.
I got up on Saturday mornings at 6 a.m. to watch bad Hanna-Barbera cartoons like "The Snorks," "Jabberjaw," "Captain Caveman," and "Space Ghost." In between I would watch "School House Rock."
"Conjunction junction, what's your function?"
On weeknights Daisy Duke was my future wife. I was going to own the General Lee and shoot dynamite arrows out the back. Why did they weld the doors shut?
At the movies the Nerds got Revenge on the Alpha Betas by teaming up with the Omega Mus. I watched Indiana Jones save the Ark of the Covenant, and wondered what Yoda meant when he said, "No, there is another."
Ronald Reagan was cool. Gorbachev was the guy who built a McDonalds in Moscow. My family took summer vacations to the Gulf of Mexico and collected "Muppet Movie" glasses along the way. (We had the whole set.)
My brother and I fought in the back seat. At the hotel we found creative uses for Connect Four pieces like throwing them in that big air conditioning unit.
I listened to John COUGAR Mellencamp sing about Little Pink Houses for Jack and Diane. I was bewildered by Boy George and the colors of his dreams, red, gold, and green.
MTV played videos. Nickelodeon played "You Can't Do That on Television" and Dangermouse."
HBO showed Mike Tyson pummel everybody except Robin Givens, the bad actress from "Head of the Class" who took all Mike's cashflow.
I drank Dr. Pepper. "I'm a Pepper, you're a Pepper, wouldn't you like to be a Pepper, too?" Shasta was for losers. TAB was a laboratory accident, Capri Sun was a social statement. Orange juice wasn't just for breakfast anymore, and bacon had to move over for something meatier.
My mom put a thousand Little Debbie Snack Cakes in my Charlie Brown lunch box, and filled my Snoopy Thermos with grape Kool-Aid. I would never eat the snack cakes, though. Did anyone? I got two thousand cheese and cracker snack packs, and I ate those.
I went to school and had recess. I went to the same classes everyday. Some weird guy from the eighth grade always won the science fair with the working hydro-electric plant that leaked on my project about music and plants. They just loved Beethoven.
Field day was bigger than Christmas, but it always managed to rain just enough to make everybody miserable before they fell over in the three-legged race. Where did all those panty hose come from?
Deck the Halls with Gasoline, fa la la la la la la la la," was just a song. Burping was cool. Rubber band fights were cooler. A substitute teacher was a baby sitter/marked woman. Nobody deserved that.
I went to Cub Scouts. I got my arrow-of-light, but never managed to win the Pinewood Derby. I got almost every skill award but don't remember ever doing anything.
The world stopped when the Challenger exploded.It is to us what Kennedy's assasination was to the children of the 60's.
Did a teacher come in and tell your class? Half of your friends' parents got divorced. People did not just say no to drugs.
AIDS started, but you knew more people who had a grandparent die from cancer.
Somebody in your school died before they graduated.
When you put all this stuff together, you have my childhood. If this stuff sounds familiar, then I bet you are one, too. We are children of the eighties. That is what I prefer "they" call it.
Do you ever feel like there are people watching you? You're not alone.
There's a phrase that was coined at the end of the 1800's: "soi-de-cent." It's French for "end of the century," and it was used to refer to the mood of the times. Very backwards-looking, some gloom and feeling that everything important had already been done. It's just natural for people at the end of a century to look back over where they've (collectively, at least) been.
Things should be clearing up on this front fairly soon, if history repeats itself. I for one am more than ready to start looking forwards.
Jon
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
I mean if they did a "20 stamps of the 1590s" would they list the jump rope along with Columbus "discovering" the Americas?
;)
I should hope not. Columbus "discovered" the Americas in 1492. Remember that whole 500-year anniversary thing way back in the 1990's?
For more information, click here.
That was awfully fast... they're already planning stamps of the '90s over at this page. They have a stamp about sport utility vehicles. which I find appalling. Are we going to remember the '90s as a bunch of soccer moms plowing through good-natured citizens' passenger cars?
For more information, click here.
Gimme the Atari "fuji" logo, or stamps with Pac Man/Congo Bongo/Galaga....
Isn't that what the 80's were all about?
Heck, I still *collect* ATari 2600 carts, and XL/XE disk images. Those're some of the BEST games ever 'made for Linux'...
The weird thing about the reminiscing here is that it's all based around junk that advertisers marketed at people. "Oh, man, do you remember when McDonalds didn't serve breakfast or have Chicken McNuggets?" "Do you remember when The Simpsons was between-sketch filler on The Tracy Ullman Show?" "How about those clothes, like Flashdance sweatshirts and acid-wash denim and nylon running shorts?"
In a way, the quick changes in fads make time seem like it's just flying by much faster than it is (nostalgic relativity?). If you're in college, then just three years after you graduate you can go back to campus and see that everyone is wearing something different that you never would have expected. And it probably will be something that seems really dumb, like comically oversized pants or Herman Munster shoes (both of which are now soooo 90s).