The world is so different than it was just 25, 50 years ago

[Calm]

I just got a package from the Netherlands. We had ordered a lovely quilt and a few other things from the Van Gogh museum a few years ago for my daughter, who loves his work and decorated her room to work with his almond blossoms (and she doesn’t like ripoffs so we went to the source as a treat).  We were quite excited waiting for it and its origins in the Netherlands made it even more unique.

Me, I am not so snooty. Mine today was a practical item…toothpaste.

How bizarre is it to buy toothpaste from the other side of the world and get it in a week or two. 

It’s made in the UK too, so why the heck is it coming from the Netherlands, lol?

Now to justify my purchase because dang, it’s expensive toothpaste…I hate mint toothpaste, always have and these days it even burns my mouth for some odd reason (so does cinnamon).  Can’t have anything with sorbitol, so that leaves out all the kids’ toothpaste (besides they taste terrible).  I buy fennel these days but wanted it with fluoride.  Could be buried in the pages of options, but the kind that popped up first on Amazon that actually had fluoride (it’s annoying that the Amazon search function can’t seem to differentiate between with or without something) had been recommended in a few places online, so I didn’t really put too much thought into it beyond checking ingredients before hitting ‘buy’.

I know you don’t have to actually use paste to brush your teeth and I often don’t, but I have been programmed enough that it just doesn’t feel as clean.

It was Amazon which I know is global, but I usually think US or China.  It’s disorienting to get international mail from odd places that amounts to mostly the same thing I can get around the corner, just a wee bit better (Americans who don’t like mint apparently mostly want fluoride free).  It’s not something I would have expected to become a commonplace occurrence that long ago.

Last Christmas I got two Moomin advent calendars from Finland (23 characters from the books each, I got a kaleidoscope with my set, my daughter got a magnifying glass; it was idiotic how excited I was over this cute little cardboard tube as we collect kaleidoscopes as well…though only on occasion and inexpensive ones).

No flying cars yet, no individual nuclear power units for the home, but this much more realistic than teleportation delivery service from anywhere in the world is still pretty amazing.

I never bought even as a kid we were going to have teleportation in 50 years.  I am kind of disappointed we don’t have space hotels and colonies on the moon yet.

I have way too much fun little stuff from around the world all over my house,  it is quite delightful to be able to be so frivolous with so little effort.

I was even able to complete with the help of eBay  a Winnie the Pooh book collection I started when I was 8 years old (one was a present from my favorite teacher, the other was the first book I ever bought myself the following year on a field trip to the Natural History Museum in Chicago).  To be able to find the exact edition almost 60 years later and to be able to afford it with just 15 minutes work one day when it occurred to me I might as well try…I cried when I put the all the four on my shelf instead of just two.  It filled a hole in my soul.

I also now have every mystery written by Agatha Christie.  Had made a very good start on that collection because of my mother-in-law and a neighbor giving me their collections.  Too close not to finish it off, lol.

I almost ordered a Lone Ranger horse my husband had been jealous his brother got instead of him when young kids (early ‘60s, I think he got Tonto’s horse), but he’s not into walking that far down memory lane as much as I am and hasn’t organized the knickknacks he already has well enough to appreciate them yet (we are both semi-hoarders, but I am organized and he is not).  I did find a hallway to clear out of clutter and set up four display shelves for him, but that took care of maybe a tenth of what he has out.

So what are you doing these days you never thought would happen, but can now because of technology or something else?

Edited June 25, 2025 by Calm

[Tony uk]

These days, technology has moved on at rapid pace. Especially the way computers have evolved and mobile phones. 

Computers have gone from big bulky boxes, to lap tops. I can watch TV channels, films, listen to music and visit websites the represent all types of institutions and organisation. And I can send emails rather than post a letter. Mobile phones, make calls but are also miniature computers that I can put my jacket pocket. 

Forty years ago, I would have thought all this belonged in some far fetched science fiction film. 

[Amulek]

2 hours ago, Calm said:

So what are you doing these days you never thought would happen, but can now because of technology or something else?

I get the weekly letters from some of the missionaries who are serving from our ward, and one of them wrote how he spent an hour or two yesterday helping this blind lady set up her new Meta Glasses. She can now ask her portable AI assistant what she is 'looking at.' So cool.

Earlier today I dropped a photograph of an itinerary for a one day excursion at one of the stops on my vacation next week and asked it to organize everything by time and let me know if there are any hidden gems we're missing out on. It instantly spit out an hour-by-hour updated schedule with alternative destinations and ideas for most of the things on our list. It then asked if I wanted it in a convenient, mobile format. Advancements in AI are only going to get better (I hope).  

 

Edited June 25, 2025 by Amulek

[Okrahomer]

11 minutes ago, Amulek said:

Advancements in AI are only going to get better (I hope).  

Yesterday, I had an hours-long “argument” with Copilot about a regulatory/legal question.  The more I dug in, the more it came back with incorrect conclusions.  I finally found a document that irrefutably refuted Copilot and it said:  “Apologies for the earlier confusion.”  Ha!  AI needs to learn not to be so certain about everything, at least when its conclusions are not based on reliable/official documents.

But on the other hand, Copilot has definitely helped speed my response time for difficult or complex questions.

[bluebell]

I remember when texting became a thing.  My husband and I thought it was the stupidest thing ever.  "Who's going to want to type out a conversation when you can just call the person??".   My prediction about texting was a true as Tony uk's predictions about computers turned out to be. 

[Calm]

53 minutes ago, bluebell said:

I remember when texting became a thing.  My husband and I thought it was the stupidest thing ever.  "Who's going to want to type out a conversation when you can just call the person??".   My prediction about texting was a true as Tony uk's predictions about computers turned out to be. 

I always saw it as an introvert’s dream communication, lol.  I hate talking on the phone.  I have no clue why it feels so much easier to text. Maybe because I can take my time to respond rather than feel immediate pressure 

Edited June 25, 2025 by Calm

[Tony uk]

7 hours ago, bluebell said:

I remember when texting became a thing.  My husband and I thought it was the stupidest thing ever.  "Who's going to want to type out a conversation when you can just call the person??".   My prediction about texting was a true as Tony uk's predictions about computers turned out to be. 

😁😁👍

[telnetd]

17 hours ago, Tony uk said:

Forty years ago, I would have thought all this belonged in some far fetched science fiction film. 

The movie "I, Robot" seems plausible in the next 40 years if AI doesn't re-enact the movie "Terminator".

[Tony uk]

4 minutes ago, telnetd said:

The movie "I, Robot" seems plausible in the next 40 years if AI doesn't re-enact the movie "Terminator".

Oh so true. 

[Stargazer]

18 hours ago, Calm said:

So what are you doing these days you never thought would happen, but can now because of technology or something else?

When I was on my last tour in the Army from 1980-83 we were in Germany, my mission country. We lived in a US military housing area just down the street from the University of Ulm. The World Wide Web was then just a twinkle in Sir Tim Berners-Lee's eye. Years later we were living in Olympia, Washington and had purchased our first PC and a modem, whereupon I used a browser (Netscape Navigator) to do what was later called "surfing the web." I think it was around 1995. For some reason, one of the first websites I navigated to was the website of the University of Ulm. I called to my wife to come look and we both stood in awe and amazement that we could see data that had just downloaded from a place 4,000+ miles away that we had known many years before. It was quite a feeling of wonder!

Since then, of course, all this has become quite prosaic. If I can't watch a film in high definition coming from anywhere on the planet I feel indignant. When we've talked about selling the house here in Sussex, England and moving to, say, Devon, my first requirement is a minimum bandwidth of 100 Mbps. 

In 1985 I got a job with the Washington State Patrol as a data communications tech, and our double Sperry-Univac minicomputer had two huge five foot tall disc drive cabinets, and their capacity was enormous: 100 KB each! And now? Sitting on my desk is an array of hard drives with a total capacity of nearly 30 TB! They take up a space about 4 inches x 5 inches x 9 inches. My smartphone makes those Sperry-Univacs seem like abacuses.

Oh, yes, and when SpaceX launches a brace of Starlink satellites, and lands the booster back on a tiny platform in the middle of the ocean, it's like >Yawn<, so what else is new?

 

[Amulek]

45 minutes ago, Stargazer said:

In 1985 I got a job with the Washington State Patrol as a data communications tech, and our double Sperry-Univac minicomputer had two huge five foot tall disc drive cabinets, and their capacity was enormous: 100 KB each! And now? Sitting on my desk is an array of hard drives with a total capacity of nearly 30 TB! They take up a space about 4 inches x 5 inches x 9 inches. My smartphone makes those Sperry-Univacs seem like abacuses.

Seriously. The smartphone in your pocket today is millions of times more powerful than the computers used during the Apollo moon landings, and far more capable than the entire MIT computing network of that era.

 

[Tony uk]

I think at one time, not so long ago. The most complicated part of a motor vehicle was the engine. Now the majority of vehicles seem to have on board computer, and all types of electrical components. I think soon, a Physics Professor will be needed to work out any issues with a vehicle.

[Tacenda]

4 hours ago, Stargazer said:

When I was on my last tour in the Army from 1980-83 we were in Germany, my mission country. We lived in a US military housing area just down the street from the University of Ulm. The World Wide Web was then just a twinkle in Sir Tim Berners-Lee's eye. Years later we were living in Olympia, Washington and had purchased our first PC and a modem, whereupon I used a browser (Netscape Navigator) to do what was later called "surfing the web." I think it was around 1995. For some reason, one of the first websites I navigated to was the website of the University of Ulm. I called to my wife to come look and we both stood in awe and amazement that we could see data that had just downloaded from a place 4,000+ miles away that we had known many years before. It was quite a feeling of wonder!

Since then, of course, all this has become quite prosaic. If I can't watch a film in high definition coming from anywhere on the planet I feel indignant. When we've talked about selling the house here in Sussex, England and moving to, say, Devon, my first requirement is a minimum bandwidth of 100 Mbps. 

In 1985 I got a job with the Washington State Patrol as a data communications tech, and our double Sperry-Univac minicomputer had two huge five foot tall disc drive cabinets, and their capacity was enormous: 100 KB each! And now? Sitting on my desk is an array of hard drives with a total capacity of nearly 30 TB! They take up a space about 4 inches x 5 inches x 9 inches. My smartphone makes those Sperry-Univacs seem like abacuses.

Oh, yes, and when SpaceX launches a brace of Starlink satellites, and lands the booster back on a tiny platform in the middle of the ocean, it's like >Yawn<, so what else is new?

 

My dad worked at Sperry-Univac in Utah long ago. Is it the same company that made a minicomputer? My dad was in the quality control that made parts for the Sergeant missile for the US Army. Just curious, and the thought of this brings me close to my dad.

[Tacenda]

I remember the time of being a bank teller and computers coming onto the scene in the year 1979 I believe. Wow, blows my mind what technology has brought us. I'm nearly afraid of what will happen in the future and what will be available. Not that excited, I'm already addicted to social media and my laptop, and who knows what I'll be addicted to in the future, makes me want to escape to the mountains and become a hermit or someone who lives off the land. 

[Stargazer]

On 6/26/2025 at 8:10 PM, Tacenda said:

My dad worked at Sperry-Univac in Utah long ago. Is it the same company that made a minicomputer? My dad was in the quality control that made parts for the Sergeant missile for the US Army. Just curious, and the thought of this brings me close to my dad.

Sperry-Univac used to make some very good minicomputers. I think the ones we had were of the Univac 9000 series. This photo of an example of the model 9400 looks very much like the ones we had. Our system differs in that we actually had two of them, such that if one failed the other would automatically do a "failover."  We had to run 24 hrs per day 365 days a year.

[Tony uk]

8 hours ago, Stargazer said:

Sperry-Univac used to make some very good minicomputers. I think the ones we had were of the Univac 9000 series. This photo of an example of the model 9400 looks very much like the ones we had. Our system differs in that we actually had two of them, such that if one failed the other would automatically do a "failover."  We had to run 24 hrs per day 365 days a year.

I imagine, what is in the photograph. Can now be operated from a laptop. 😊

[blackstrap]

I have found that old age shakes and fat thumbs makes texting on my phone dddiiiffficuult.

[Emily]

On 6/25/2025 at 1:31 PM, Calm said:

I know you don’t have to actually use paste to brush your teeth and I often don’t, but I have been programmed enough that it just doesn’t feel as clean.

You could go retro on the toothpaste and use baking soda on your brush. Tried and true method of my grandma who kept it in a salt shaker with large holes and just shook some over her wet toothbrush. We would use it when we visited her.  It freshens the breath, leaves the teeth feeling clean, and no chemicals beyond the soda. 

[Emily]

On 6/28/2025 at 9:56 PM, blackstrap said:

I have found that old age shakes and fat thumbs makes texting on my phone dddiiiffficuult.

Speech to text works quite well on most phones now. It's all my brother uses and generally the only thing that seems to get garbled is unusual names.

[Calm]

15 hours ago, Emily said:

You could go retro on the toothpaste and use baking soda on your brush. Tried and true method of my grandma who kept it in a salt shaker with large holes and just shook some over her wet toothbrush. We would use it when we visited her.  It freshens the breath, leaves the teeth feeling clean, and no chemicals beyond the soda. 

I try to keep sodium low in my diet plus I hate the aftertaste…which makes me more prone to not brushing.  But it’s always my backup, especially if my mouth is tender for some reason.

 I am liking the new toothpaste, a little chalky…because it actually uses chalk, lol. I had just scanned the ingredients to be sure no problems with it, so hadn’t made the effort to actually register what was in it; when I first got hit with the ‘inhaled the chalk dust while cleaning the chalkboard’ afterfeel, I was thinking “hmm, I wonder what ingredient gives that chalky impression” and promptly read “calcium carbonate” from “chalk”.

Edited June 30, 2025 by Calm

[Calm]

15 hours ago, Emily said:

Speech to text works quite well on most phones now. It's all my brother uses and generally the only thing that seems to get garbled is unusual names.

I hate having to think about punctuation as it ruins my train of thought.  It’s automatic when writing.  There is also something odd about hearing myself talk…not like I don’t talk to myself all the time.  I assume that odd feeling disappears quite quickly though.

Still dictation is tons better than it used to be.

Edited June 30, 2025 by Calm

[Tony uk]

51 minutes ago, Calm said:

I hate having to think about punctuation as it ruins my train of thought.  It’s automatic when writing.  There is also something odd about hearing myself talk…not like I don’t talk to myself all the time.  I assume that odd feeling disappears quite quickly though.

Still dictation is tons better than it used to be.

My own issue sometimes. When typing the words, sometimes I get carried away trying to type what I am thinking. It looks good at a glance, and I send off before I have checked. Sometimes, the spell changes whatever I have typed, and changing it wrongly. Other times I type wrong and spell checker does not correct. 😱

[The Nehor]

On 6/28/2025 at 1:27 AM, Tony uk said:

I imagine, what is in the photograph. Can now be operated from a laptop. 😊

There are watches with several orders of magnitude more processing power.

[rodheadlee]

On 6/28/2025 at 8:56 PM, blackstrap said:

I have found that old age shakes and fat thumbs makes texting on my phone dddiiiffficuult.

I used the microphone button and talk to it. I have fat thumbs and the old age shakes too. 

[rodheadlee]

I read a lot of spy novels and some of the authors actually go to each place these novels take place in and the restaurants are real places and so forth. Anyways, I love the map function on my phone and I turn on the satellite and follow along to all the hotels and all the restaurants and all the tourist spots. I have visited Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Monaco, Germany,  Russia and numerous other places with this method. I'm learning about Ghana right now.