going...going...gone?
i was flipping through this article on the Top 25 Things Vanishing from America (thought it's parts one and two, so it ultimately comes out to the top fifty), and was thinking about the items listed. some i would miss if they really did become extinct, while others? meh. probably wouldn't even notice.
25. Pit Toilets - yeah, see, i am a BIG fan of indoor plumbing. (see also: girl who refuses to go camping. ever.)
24. Yellow Pages - i cannot even tell you the last time i used a phone book. i just look it up online.
23. Classified Ads - i don't know that i would miss them, per se. i didn't have much luck with them the last time i was job-hunting. seems everyone down here uses a temp agency these days.
22. Movie Rental Stores - now these i miss a little. i don't like to pay for a subscription fee for Netflix when i barely ever rent movies. usually i end up renting a movie on a whim--like when a baseball game gets rained out & there's nothing on tv.
21. Dial-up Internet Access - does *anyone* miss this?! it's been ten years since i went high-speed and i've never looked back.
20. Phone Landlines - i still have a landline. i actually don't like talking on my cell a whole lot. it's not terribly comfortable. plus, it's cheaper to have the cell plan i have and the landline that comes with my cable bundle with unlimited long distance than to make my cell plan unlimited.
19. Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs - while i cannot say that i will personally miss them, it makes me sad that we've overfished them to the point where they could be gone. especially when i think how many of them likely go to waste.
18. VCRs - i still have a couple of movies on VCR tapes, but mostly all DVDs. i have a VCR/DVD combo so at whatever point it stops working, i will just replace the few tapes i have left. what really bugs me is that everything is going Blu-Ray now. i can't afford to keep replacing everything i own every five years for something that costs even more! and i have a lot of tv show series in DVD--not cheap!
17. Ash Trees - i would miss ash trees. we don't even have them here (i don't think) but my grandparents had one in their yard & i would be sad thinking they were all gone, forever. i can still clearly remember sifting through their bright yellow leaves at the bottom of the driveway while i waited for the school bus in the morning.
16. Ham Radio
15. The Swimming Hole
14. Answering Machines - while i do have a landline, i use the digital voicemail system that my service provider includes. one fewer thing to plug in is fine by me.
13. Cameras That Use Film - i am torn on this. i don't want one for myself, mostly because i like the immediate ability to see if the photo came out, and it's cheaper than developing a bunch of photos that didn't come out. (i'm also not one of those people who allows her photos to live on her camera indefinitely though. they're just too vulnerable there.) however, i love admiring the photos that others take with film cameras. they just have a different "feel" to them.
12. Incandescent Bulbs - i would miss them less if the new energy saver bulbs a) didn't take so long to actually come on and b) they didn't have such an obnoxious fluorescent glow. i like a softer, warmer light, and that just isn't as widely available in the newer bulbs--especially in the three-way bulbs which i like in my lamps. all in good time though, i'm sure!
11. Stand-Alone Bowling Alleys
10. The Milkman - i have to be honest. i didn't even know this was still a service being offered.
9. Hand-Written Letters - i really need to make a conscious effort to do my part in keeping this alive. there's just something about getting a real piece of mail that someone took the time to sit down & hand write, just for you.
8. Wild Horses - this makes me sad.
7. Personal Checks - not everything is available to be paid online. until it is, i would prefer to NOT have to pay for a money order, so i will be keeping my checks. (and balancing my checkbook by hand. you never know when having that information in black & white might prove useful!)
6. Drive-in Theaters - i have never been to a drive-in...
5. Mumps & Measles
4. Honey Bees - this is not good. not at all. i hope we can find a way to reverse this one.
3. News Magazines and TV News - the former, meh. the latter, despite the degree which they annoy me with their drama, i would miss being able to watch & listen to the news in the evening. sometimes a girl needs a break from reading all the live long day.
2. Analog TV - i've been a cable tv girl most of my life.
1. The Family Farm - i grew up on a family farm. no animals but plenty of fruits & vegetables in the garden & the orchard. i can't imagine small farms ceasing to exist. i wish i could find a good pick-your-own or truly *local* vegetable stand near me. around here, they all sell bananas which makes me distrustful of the source of all their produce.
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25. Professional Typists
24. Catholic Schools - since i am pretty sure they are including all parochial schools under the Catholic school umbrella here, i would absolutely miss them. i had a great education at a parochial school. i am sure people rethink paying a tuition when the public school option is free, but public schools get more scary by the minute. i liked having a small class in a safe environment. i would choose the same for my potential future children if at all possible.
23. Cash Registers That Make a Ka-Ching Sound - the last time i saw one of these was on It's A Wonderful Life (Get me! I'm givin' out wings!) but in a store? not even in my lifetime.
22. Wild Salmon - i refer you back to the one about the Blue Crabs.
21. Alleys - i don't frequent alleys. and i am ok with that.
20. Charcoal
19. Neighborhood Kids Who Will Do Odd Jobs - i think this is a combination of parents not feeling safe allowing their children to offer said service and the fact that kids seem to get lazier with each generation. both make me sad.
18. Trader Pits at the Stock Exchange
17. Cars With Manual Shifts - all cars should be automatic. i wish mine came with a chauffeur.
16. Homes Without Cable - i admire their resolve to be tv-free (which is pretty much your only option now that all tv signals have gone digital). i cannot make that commitment.
15. 401(k) Matches
14. Dental Coverage
13. Butcher Shops
12. Shade Tree Mechanics
11. No-Down-Payment Home Loans
10. 0% Balance Transfers
9. Customer Service - do not even get me started on this one. lack of customer service is one of my greatest pet peeves. to the point that i will choose a slightly more expensive service provider if they also offer good customer service. and yes, i do take the time to thank those providers for their good service whenever i have the opportunity. i also spread the word--in either case.
8. Known Toxins in Children's Products
7. Maple Syrup - NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
6. Sidewalks - i don't see them in the subdivisions but i do see them getting put in around town in various places! not having sidewalks would be a sad sad thing.
5. Fax Machines - i would not be sorry to see the one here at the office go. like, today.
4. Your Net Worth
3. 10 PM Drama on Network TV - speak for yourselves. i still have plenty of 10pm drama to keep my DVR working double-time! just because NBC made a regrettable mistake in that time slot doesn't mean all the networks jumped aboard!
2. The Daily Newspaper - i have only ever bought the Sunday paper. long as that one keeps going, there will be no complaints issued here. take it away, however...
1. Community Banks - my community bank appears just fine. in fact, i would think that with all the fallout associated with The Banks Too Big to Fail, the little banks have thrived. i know quite a few people who pulled out of The Big Banks & went small community bank. more secure, because they couldn't afford to make the mistake The Big Banks did, and *way* better customer service. in fact, if you don't use a small bank, i strongly urge you to check one out. i *love* my little bank.
14 with their own thoughts:
I'm from a maple syrup town in Ohio... I assure you it's doing well, BUT they are having trouble tapping the trees for syrup because people try and "tarnish" the pot. Odd, I know.
Rachel: Whew! good to know. ;-)
Ash Trees: I still miss the one we had cut down at the foot of our driveway in the old house!
I have 401(k) match & dental coverage at work...guess I'm lucky!
Maple syrup? Why! I had brunch with an old friend I hadn't seen in 12 years recently and her Mom & stepfather make maple syrup. She brought me a container cause she remembered how much I love real maple syrup!
Its a shame Jeter didn't make this list.
I can also say that ham radio, while changed, is still very much alive and well. It used to be used for local communication among families (as in calling home from the car to ask whether something needed to be picked up), and that has pretty much died out in favor of cell phones. But as a form of emergency communication, ham radio is still alive and gets through when nothing else does. I can still remember in Baton Rouge in 2005 after Katrina, cell phones were useless but a small VHF handheld ham radio worked fine. Also, thankfully, the number of licensed operators is remaining steady!
I don't do camping either unless we have a cabin. Been there. Done that. never again!
Some of these were very expected, and some were rather surprising. Good lists and good blog post :)
Wow that is a really interesting list.
My thoughts: Fax machines are evil and antiquated - I can't quite figure out why some people still rely on them so much. I maintain I'm too young to know how properly.
I really only enjoying reading the paper in the weekend, so I'm fine with being online the rest of the week.
Sidewalks are really going? That is so strange, but in my experience of walking on them in Florida I was the only one out usually.
Typists - that is funny. I always laugh watching "Mad Men" and think how cool it would be to have a secretary. Of course, if I was around in 1960 I probably would have been the secretary myself, but that doesn't factor into my fantasies.
Cheques- I haven't had a cheque book since 2003 when my bank decided I didn't need one anymore and it was almost impossible to get another one for some reason. They charge so much in fees that I've adapted to internet banking now pretty well.
Ham Radio is funny, I remember learning how to do it and how amazing it was to be able to talk to people all around the world about 20 years ago. Thank God for the internet is all I can say!
Yellow Pages - threw mine out this year as I couldn't be bothered with the space the two large books too up. Online is the way to go.
And I'm keeping my landline too - much nicer than risking cancer and I use it more than my mobile now anyway
Janet: According to the blurb in the article -- "Lately, maple syrup prices have skyrocketed. Last year was a terrible year for maple syrup, but what happened in 2007 was the real killer: Canadian reserves were exhausted (did you know there were maple syrup reserves? There are!) and prices went up 30 percent. So last year, when the season turned out terrible, prices went up steeply, 70 percent for some grades, driving the delicious syrup out of the family pantry and off restaurant menus."
Mega: Indeed. I am starting to suspect they are replacing body parts with robotic components in the off-season, using the same program they have been for Mo. ;-)
Daniel: I know you're doing your part! =)
Valerie: Amen!
Stacy: I was surprised by some too. And I hope they are wrong on some counts or that the recent trends can be reversed!
thisgirlsjourney: What time of year did you visit? If it was between May and October, we hide inside where its cool then. ;-)
March - so it was cool! I think it's just that Americans don't walk that much compared to other people (sad to say) but your towns and cities aren't necessarily planned very well for it either.
Drive-in Theaters>>> You never went to the theaters that were in Southington, Plainville or Newington?
Wow....they were great. I still went well into the early '90's.
Have not been to the one over in Lakeland but will go soon.
Like the old saying goes 'try it..you'll like it!!!!
25. I know where some good pit toilets are. And can't wait to use them because it will mean I'm in the high Sequoias... :-)
22. Thankfully we still have a few movies stores. But I doubt they will last long. Unless the government decides to bail them out.
18. Thanks to my PS3, I have a blu-ray player. But our tv is so old, it's pointless buying anything on blu ray.
17. why are ash trees going away?
16. Daniel and Steven have hams!
14. we have an answering machine. but it's WAY old. Not as old as my alarm clock though.
10. me too!
6. The two drive in's I went to when I was little are either gone or swap meets
5. Thank goodness for that. Next on the list... chickenpox.
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12. what's a shade tree mechanic?
6. What?? I see sidewalks all the time.
5. Really? The medical industry would come to a screeching halt without faxes.
4. Uh... YEP.
Nichole:
17. According to the article:
In the late 1990s, a pretty, irridescent green species of beetle, now known as the emerald ash borer, hitched a ride to North America with ash wood products imported from eastern Asia. In less than a decade, its larvae have killed millions of trees in the midwest, and continue to spread. They've killed more than 30 million ash trees in southeastern Michigan alone, with tens of millions more lost in Ohio and Indiana. More than 7.5 billion ash trees are currently at risk.
12. The article says a "shade tree mechanic" is someone capable of fixing a car in their driveway, something nearly impossible to do now that there are so many computers & complex parts involved in making a vehicle run.
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