Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

[HudsonHawk]

Nothing will beat a Metal Halide bulb.

Back in my rock n roll roadie and spotlight operator days, we had those old carbon arc spotlights. Man those things were intense.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Three words: carbon arc lamp.

Super Trouper.

 

[jamespowers]

Back in my rock n roll roadie and spotlight operator days, we had those old carbon arc spotlights. Man those things were intense.

Nothing wrong with intense. I just hate dim.

 

[Gregg Axley]

My oil company cronies and I thank you.

I ran my street rod yesterday and today.
I supported you too, although not very much.

 

[Zombie_61]

...As for your feeling that CFLs don't provide enough light, you might try simply getting a higher watt CFL. If you're replacing a 40W incandescent, and you feel the 40W CFL isn't enough, put in a 100W CFL. A 100W CFL still uses less power than a 40W incandescent.

I've considered doing that, but deep down I object to it on principle. If the CFL bulb manufacturers say their "40W" bulbs are a suitable replacement for an incandescent 40W bulb, then they actually should be; I (and other consumers) shouldn't have to go through a "trial and error" period to figure out which of their bulbs really is a suitable replacement for whichever incandescent bulb has just burned out.

On a semi-related note, I'm beginning to believe I've finally reached my lifelong goal of becoming a curmudgeon.

 

[LizzieMaine]

On a semi-related note, I'm beginning to believe I've finally reached my lifelong goal of becoming a curmudgeon.

Curmudgeons are born, not made. It's always been there, it's just taken a while to come to the surface.

Signed,
A Curmudgienne.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I've considered doing that, but deep down I object to it on principle. If the CFL bulb manufacturers say their "40W" bulbs are a suitable replacement for an incandescent 40W bulb, then they actually should be; I (and other consumers) shouldn't have to go through a "trial and error" period to figure out which of their bulbs really is a suitable replacement for whichever incandescent bulb has just burned out.

By objective measures, the CFL is more than suitable. It's just some people don't like them, ironically probably because they give off too much visible light and that affects the hue, making it appear bluish and cold.

On a semi-related note, I'm beginning to believe I've finally reached my lifelong goal of becoming a curmudgeon.

Congratulation. Now get those kids off your lawn!!

 

[Zombie_61]

Curmudgeons are born, not made. It's always been there, it's just taken a while to come to the surface.

True, but without the "patina" that comes with age it's difficult to not come across as nothing more than a whiny, bratty, punk kid. *yucky*

 

[LizzieMaine]

True, but without the "patina" that comes with age it's difficult to not come across as nothing more than a whiny, bratty, punk kid. *yucky*

I was young once, and I stunk at it.

 

[3fingers]

The post office. I just found out today that my towns post office will be going to part time counter service with part time employees. This will soon I have little doubt mean the end of our office.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Pre-Amtrak intercity passenger trains. Even in the early 1960's there were still a few decent options for travel by rail in the US. I'm glad I got to experience at least a small part of it.

Interstate highways, cancellation of postal contracts, jet airliners, and other economic realities brought about Railpax/Amtrak by 1971, and it was initially designed to fail. For a number of reasons , not the least of which being the fact that there is a significant segment of Americans who enjoy travelling by train, Amtrak soldiers on 43 years later. All in all, they do as well as can be expected, but rail travel is a shadow of what once was.

 

[jamespowers]

I was young once, and I stunk at it.

Well, it isn't like we got a manual. I wasn't very good at it either but given a second chance.....

 

[Zombie_61]

...I wasn't very good at it either but given a second chance.....

If I knew then what I know now...I'd probably still screw it all up.

 

[jamespowers]

If I knew then what I know now...I'd probably still screw it all up.

If I knew then what I know now, I probably would have been married five times by now. Some things are not meant to be learned too early.

 

[rjb1]

Rail travel has pretty much gone away for a lot of the country. I rode one of the last Nashville to Miami trains back in the early 70's. It was almost surreal, since everything (and I mean *everything*) that Arlo Guthrie sang about in "City of New Orleans" happened during that trip.
Whenever I hear that song I just stop what I'm doing and get flashbacks from that trip. ("This train's got the disappearing railroad blues...")

 

[ChiTownScion]

Rail travel has pretty much gone away for a lot of the country. I rode one of the last Nashville to Miami trains back in the early 70's. It was almost surreal, since everything (and I mean *everything*) that Arlo Guthrie sang about in "City of New Orleans" happened during that trip.
Whenever I hear that song I just stop what I'm doing and get flashbacks from that trip. ("This train's got the disappearing railroad blues...")

Sounds like the old Floridian. Amtrak axed that one early.

The first 5 or so years of Amtrak were pretty miserable, although a few of those "Heritage" cars were well maintained by their parent roads. The Great Leap Forward was when they finally had an all Head End Power fleet: at least then you were fairly well sure that you'd be warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

 

[rjb1]

I believe it was the Floridian. That would have been about 1972. I knew that passenger-rail service was about to end, so as this thread says, I wanted to ride it before it disappeared in my lifetime.
There were only about three or four people in the whole car I was in, and one of those was a drunk sitting up at the front who would stand up at intervals and loudly offer a swig to any of the other passengers from the bottle he had "concealed" in a paper bag. (remember Arlo's line about "pass the paper bag which holds the bottle...")
I finally figured out how to deal with him, which was to watch for him starting to get up, at which point I would slump down in my seat and pretend to be asleep.
By coincidence I had the flu (or something) at that time, so being sick added to the surreal nature of the trip.

 

[Retro Spectator]

Bench seats. The Ford Crown Victoria, Mercury Marquis, and Lincoln Town Car all had semi-bench seats. They were the last cars to have them. They discontinued them in 2011.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Bench seats. The Ford Crown Victoria, Mercury Marquis, and Lincoln Town Car all had semi-bench seats. They were the last cars to have them. They discontinued them in 2011.

The Chevy Impala had bench seats up until the 2014 model year. Pickup trucks also still have bench seats.

 

[LizzieMaine]

General interest magazines.

I was killing time the other day looking at a magazine display stand, and it struck me that fully three-fourths of the magazines on display were designed solely to encourage you to consume commodities: decor magazines telling you your house isn't stylish enough, fashion magazines telling you what to buy so you won't be dowdy, car magazines telling you how inadequate your twenty-year-old Toyota is, hobby magazines telling you what expensive equipment you need to get with the program, bridal magazines force-feeding young women the idea that the wedding is more important than the marriage, and on and and and on, ad disgustium.

In the entire display there was one newsmagazine -- Time. One business magazine -- Forbes. One literary/journalistic magazine -- the Atlantic Monthly. One magazine for old working-class farts like me -- the Readers Digest. And several sports magazines, most of which seemed to focus more on betting odds and statistical mumbo-jumbo than on explaining why Clay Buchholz's arm has gone to hell this year. Everything else existed for the sole purpose of selling you more crap -- not just in the ads, but in the editorial content.

Pick up a copy of the Saturday Evening Post or the Ladies Home Journal from the Era. Now that's a magazine with something for everyone: features on everyday people, essays on current events, decent fiction, cartoons, editorials -- some of which are supreme bunk (the Post) and some of which are good common sense (the LHJ) -- and even the occasional bit of poetry. There's nothing like this in print today, except maybe the New Yorker, which has always been too full of its own cosmopolitanity for the likes of me. There isn't even really anything like this on the Internet. And we're the poorer for it.