Posted 01 September 2011 - 08:05 AM
Hm. I missed this?
I remember most of that stuff, with the exception of cartridge consoles (never had one myself, was LEGO and world atlas for me for fun!), modem internet (was too expensive to get, started years later with a 256 kbps broadband), pre-online banking (no money of my own as a kid! also not had an acocunt as a teenager and student, all in cash) and twist motion TV controls (the oldest one for me had 4 buttons on it!)
I actually do miss the old problems with communication. Mobile phones and social media really took out something there. It's like places stopped to matter completely. Used to be nice to catch someone at their home phone or actually at home when you were in the area and dropped by - now we get infuriated when someone isn't answering their cell. Most certainly people were meeting more face to face.
Letters... well, after one particularly important summer of my early teen life I got a physical, handwritten letter... I even wrote a response, but I never posted it. I do wonder how is the girl doing nowdays...
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.