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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.
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*
Any others?
--
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.
-- My comment is above.
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!
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.