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Hau‘oli Makahiki Hou

As is the often the case at this time of year, I am thinking about where we are and where we have been. I think the most impactful change that has occurred in my 62 and 1/4 trips around the sun is how ubiquitous instantaneous access to knowledge has become.

I used to spend untold hours in the library looking shit up. Several days every week reveling in the silence and aroma of paper-bound information. Now I can't remember the last time I set foot in a library. I don't even own a library card anymore! Astounding. My library card was my most prized possession when I was a whippersnapper.

My library is in my pocket now. Instantaneous access to information of unimaginable scale - accessible at any time from wherever I choose to be.

What'll they think of next?

Hau‘oli Makahiki Hou yall.

I'm more like I am now than I was before.

Comments

  • I think the same and i bring it up in discussion all the time.
    Someone will say something round the table or round the fire, and you think to yourself 'that doesn't sound right'.

    Out comes the smartphone and typing into mama google the question so you can say, 'Well that's bullshit'.

    Used to be i'd have to go home, look it up in the encyclopedia, print a copy out at the library and then next time you see the person hope that you have the paper in your pocket and the same people are round the table so that people know what the fuck you two are talking about.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • I was remembering when to get a ride home from the movies I’d pre arrange to make a collect call from a pay phone to my parents then just hang up or quickly say “dad come pick me up” when the operator asked for your name.

    Then there was looking thru microfiche for records or old papers.

    I just had a chance to use a great tool that corrects something that has made me insane with anger for a few years...

    Seems like every time I want to learn about something I can find a scientific paper that has been written about it that was made using public funds at public universities using government funding but always seems to be behind a paywall.

    SCI-HUB has kind of fixed that. Simply find the link to the paper in question then put the url into Sci-Hub and out comes the paper!!

    Friggin awesome.

    Hackers, crackers and technology are truly the new hero’s of the age.

  • Yeah beepers were cutting edge....

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • edited December 2017

    I only had one pager once, for work back in the mid-80s. After going off numerous times between Daytona and Orlando on I-4, it ended up on the bottom of the St. Johns River at the Lake Monroe bridge. Damn things were amazingly annoying.

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

  • My wife was a beeper chick. Now she is the phone chick.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • I used to love going to librarys and bookstores. Now you can get almost anything online. I am have a few less trips around the sun than some people here. But I can still remember real pinball machines. They were like WOOWWW... I know I would be anywhere near close to knowing anything about distilling without this web board and some others. Thanks gents and Ladies.

  • edited December 2017

    Pinball! How many hours of my misspent youth were spent shooting for high score?! Bally Fireball was my favorite. I have an ongoing project to buy one Fireball and bring it home. The cost of freight to Gilligan's Island is more than the cost of the machine

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    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

  • edited December 2017

    Captain Fantastic was my second favorite:

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    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

  • edited December 2017

    I give my son shit about spending so much time playing online games, and D & D. Thinking about how I spent my time when I was his age, I guess the apple really doesn't fall far from the tree. Pinball was the online games progenitor now that I think about it.
    Well, at least I was standing while I was playing :))

    Where we were and where we are...

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

  • edited December 2017

    I definitely left off with pin ball. Pong was fun I guess but seemed so,,,,one dimensional. Never even made it Space Invaders or Pac Man.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • I was thinking of putting one in my distillery when I finally find a location, or build one. It will be good for the punters alhtough it might be hard trying to get some people to leave.

  • edited December 2017

    After school paper run at local newsagent then an hour on the pinball machine at deli next door. To be young and silly again. Actually still silly when i come to think of it so only the age and toys have changed.

    And a happy New Year to all.

  • Oh my the 80's....I remember driving a company truck with a vhf radio and Motorola private frequency radio, toting a beeper and ye famous Motorola brick size cell phone....just no way to stuff that huge thing in jeans pockets ..lol

  • Is that a phone in your pocket or are you just VERY happy to see me?

    Zymurgy Bob, a simple potstiller

    my book, Making Fine Spirits

  • used to spend hours playing frogger, pac man, galaxies, gyrus etc. The Mrs bought me a sit-down games table with 60 of the classic games in it last year. Top fun after a few drinks.

  • Yeah, got one of the stand up ones for the grandkids, but it has 600 and something games on it. Mostly shit but it does have the classics, galaga, space invaders, donkey kong etc.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • I am thinking of getting a couple of those things and a pin ball for my distillery. But I have to build the shed first.

  • It still cracks me up every time my son (21 years old and on the internet 24-7) tells me he has no idea about something or how to fix it. I tell him to do what I always do and never had while growing up; Google it. Both he and my wife think I am some sort of genius and can fix anything.

  • edited January 2018

    One of our favorite customers:

    Barcade® - The Original Arcade Bar

  • edited January 2018

    @FloridaCracker said: It still cracks me up every time my son (21 years old and on the internet 24-7) tells me he has no idea about something or how to fix it. I tell him to do what I always do and never had while growing up; Google it. Both he and my wife think I am some sort of genius and can fix anything.

    When I was growing up my dad made me work with him whenever he fixed anything, "Come on Kid. We've gotta put a new head gasket in the Torino (change the element in the water heater, fix the TV, take down that tree, repair the roof, fix your mom's sewing machine...)." It seemed like my dad could fix anything. I didn't much appreciate the gift he was giving me at the time. I had no choice but to participate.

    You can find tutorials about fixing just about anything these days on YouTube, but they don't teach you the basic conventions - "righty-tighty, lefty-loosey", make double sure the electrical breaker is in the off position, relieve pressure before opening, discharge the capacitor before touching the wires... Simple shit that is ingrained in our knowledge. Thank you Dad!

    It's my 18 year old son's turn now to get the "Come on Kid" treatment. He's pretty good about it. I think he enjoys the opportunity to learn new swear words.

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

  • Flyboard Air
    (turn the sound off)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wObBrd9wB6M

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

  • Funny how the flyboard air makes the other technologies around it (jet skis, drones) seem quaint.

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

  • Remind anyone else of the green goblin?

  • edited January 2018

    That movie came out when my son was little. He called him The Green Gompkin. In our family the name has stuck.

    But yes, that's exactly what I though of when I saw this the first time.

    The original flyboard was the the water-powered version - tethered to a pump on the water surface.

    Dis kine mo bettah!

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

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