Mrs. Homie and I were talking about hitting one of the St. Louis casinos this fall, and the thought occurred to me: 25 or so (maybe a few more) years ago the idea of a casino being anywhere near St. Louis would have been utterly foreign to me. As far as I can remember, when I was in my late teens the only casinos in the US were in Vegas and Reno.
Similarly, today my [del]dealer[/del] independent commodeties contractor scored some [del]doob[/del] firecrackers from Colorado, where firecrackers are completely legal. Back in the Day I’d have never in a million years have considered the idea that a state (let alone 16 states) would have a form of legalized firecrackers.
What are some other things you never thought you’d see?
Some Suggested Rules to Keep this Thread from Devolving Into a Flame War/Great Debate:
Let’s leave out political opinions (“I never thought I’d see two Bush administrations”) or religious matters (“I never thought I’d see people who still worship a diety”), etc.
I don’t have an I-Phone, but they all look alike from the back anyway, so…I’m immediately getting a big, friendly red “Don’t Panic!” sticker for the back of my “Guide”. <3
Back when Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle wrote The Mote in God’s Eye, they described a handheld computer/communicator with, well, long story short, it was a smartphone. I did not see that coming in my lifetime.
I never thought I’d see a horse bolt with an entire swing set caught swaying on its back, but I did.
My ex-SIL’s horse got away from her in in-laws big backyard. Ran up under the swing set, reared and pulled it right up out of the ground. It got caught on the saddle. She took off running up the road toward the county hospital, swing set knelling like a bell clapper.
We called the hospital. They called somebody else as she thundered past, scared to death, (we heard later.)
Good ending. She was subdued downtown and relieved of her “ride.”
Two things I never thought I’d see in my lifetime that have come to pass are the peaceful end to arpartid in South Africa and the end of the troubles in Ireland. I am literally dumbfounded every time I think about it. Makes me have hope for Israel.
Back in the 60’s I stopped at an old gas station with three bathrooms, and the signs were missing so I had to ask the attendant which one’s were for whites…
…at that point I’m sure a black president would’ve been in the “things I’ll never see” category.
I can’t really think of an answer to the OP. I think one side effect of growing up in the age of technology is you become accustomed to amazing things. I guess the most impressive and extraordinary thing I’ve learned about is the technology that allows physically challenged people to navigate computers with their minds. It makes me believe literally anything is possible if we do enough research.
I grew up during the ‘Race for the Moon’, but never dreamed I’d see ‘live’ pictures from two other planets plus from the moon of a third planet. Also, never thought we’d cooperate enough to have an International Space Station. At least, not in my lifetime, so maybe there’s hope for us yet.
When I was a kid, sticking a card in a slot and having a gate open automatically for you was James Bond/Batman stuff. Now I do it every day when I come to work.
Conversely, I never thought I’d see the day when the United States stopped sending manned vehicles into space.
I grew up surrounded by books - the walls of three or four rooms in our house were mostly given to bookshelves. I right now have seventy some full-length books, including a couple doorstoppers, plus nearly a year worth of two magazines and the New York Times, on a device about the size of an edition of Reader’s Digest.
On a more personal note, it’s been sixteen months and I still wake up sometimes absolutely astonished that I’m in the military. Hop in a time machine and ask my nineteen year old self what the odds of that are.
I’m not that surprised by the advent of personal computer technology, but I really never imagined I’d have an object in my pocket that could not only make a recording of me blathering nonsense, making stupid faces, etc., but almost instantly (without wires!) make it viewable by thousands or even millions of other people and potentially alter my life forever.
It’s really quite frightening, that much power being in so many wrong hands.
