The remote control. What are some other things that we commonly use now that it’s hard to believe we did without once
My cell phone, my TI-89 graphing claculator, microwave, hair gel/bleach/coloring, fake-n-bake, this keyboard that I’m typing on, etc…etc…
“It is now proved beyond doubt that smoking is one of the leading causes of statistics.”
The SDMB?
Automatic drip coffeemakers
Baby wipes (I use them for way more than just babies!)
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire
Notepaper cubes
Post-It Notes
Disposable razors
sippy cups
“The quickest way to a man’s heart is through his ribcage.” --anonymous redhead
Caller ID
Remote Start
We are, each of us angels with only one wing,and we can only fly by embracing one another
The automobile.
Mechanical pencils. Has anyone actually seen a good old-fashioned pencil sharpener recently?
Washers and dryers, hair blowdryers, electric curlers
“Do or do not, there is no try” - Yoda
I’ve pondered this before, Mark. I think of my parents and my grandparents and the amazing changes they witnessed during their lifetimes. Manned flight, electric light, telephones for everyone, a small step for (a) man, a giant leap for mankind. I’ve lived in the modern world all of my life, so it’s easy to overlook, in the near term, just how much things have changed.
No, we didn’t have portable communications or word processing as I grew up. My college papers were produced on a very unforgiving typewriter. Microwave ovens, part of almost everyone’s life now, were rare animals in the 1970’s, outside of convenience stores (where they had little warning signs for the pacemaker contingent). Remote controls for televisions (I almost said TV sets and then realized how archaic that sounded) only became universal in the early 1970’s. We still had pulse dialing as the norm throughout the 1960’s. Cable TV waged war on the society during the '70’s, but did not achieve near universal acceptance until the late 1980’s. Fax machines existed when I got out of college in 1980, but my business transactions continued to travel by mail until ~1986 when, suddenly, everybody got a modern fax machine.
And then, well, how about computers, folks?
Toilet paper.
But I long for the days when we “did without” beepers. Ah, those were quiet, peaceful times…
Markxxx: The remote control. What are some other things that we commonly use now that it’s hard to believe we did without once.
I was my father’s remote control. I sat about 6’ from the TV. He’d bark out “3… 10… 7…” Thank goodness we only had VHF channels. 
Judges 14:9 - So [Samson] scraped the honey into his hands and went on, eating as he went. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it; but he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey out of the body of the lion.
oh, post-it notes a dozen times over. no business could operate w/out them any more.
e-calendars that pop up to remind you to go to the next mtg or which dr. to call for what results.
direct deposit. i rarely have a reason any more to go to the bank, but when i must, it always is a hassle w/ a long line.
telephone headsets, especially for long telecons or while shuffling thru hardcopy files trying to find info for the caller.
the Internet (altho today I’m not sure I’m living with it… nothing is connecting except netscape)
We are, each of us angels with only one wing,and we can only fly by embracing one another
I think of all my grandmother saw in her life from the time she was born 1890 and when she died, 1984, and it just amazes me. I think of what has been invented in my life and it is just not as awe inspiring as what she went through.
My list of things:
Older inventions we take for granted:
Birth control
Tampons
Airplanes (thank you, Orville and Wilbur)
Air conditioning.
Radio
TV
Record players
Telephone
Indoor plumbing
Electricity
Modern Ones that we can’t live without:
Remote Control
Computers
CD players
Internet
post it notes ( a great invention)
liquid paper
fax machines
Cable TV
Drive thru fast food
ATM’s
Videos/DVD
1 hour photo developing
24 hour super duper mega markets
Disposable razors
Disposable diapers
Disposable everything ( when was the last time any of us really wore anything out?)
Disposable income.
Dishwashers
How could I forget this:
Epidurals and all advancements in medical care including, most importantly, vaccinations.
AWB…
My mother always said she didn’t need a dishwasher.
She bore four of them.
The most Invisible poster in the history of the boards. Posting invisibly since sept 1999.
Ben & Jerry’s
ATM Machines
Lycra
Magic 8-balls (for life’s really tough decisions)
Always be ready to speak your mind and a base man will avoid you.
-William Blake
Refrigeration
Record players
Direct deposit
My TI-83
(I know Shirley, special, and Democritus beat me to those last three, but they’re on my short list anyway.)
Buses stop at bus stations; trains stop at train stations.
There’s a work station on my desk.
I’m all for being spoiled by modern conveniences but nearly all the things we “couldn’t live without” fulfull needs that didn’t exist. The “need” was as manufactured as any invention. I’m not pointing fingers and I’m not trying to be a luddite as I’m as guilty as anyone in this respect.
That said I’ll have to put a lot of thought into the things I could not live without so it’s just just a list of the toys I like.
Come let us go, I’ve a cask of amontillado.