# I Was The First Person In My Town/Neighborhood To Have A (Fill In Blank} **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 12, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-was-the-first-person-in-my-town-neighborhood-to-have-a-fill-in-blank/585225 "2011-06-12T17:30:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-was-the-first-person-in-my-town-neighborhood-to-have-a-fill-in-blank/585225/41 "2011-06-14T19:57:19Z")
My own FM radio station with 2 miles signal reach in 1987 (high-school) with a radio show broadcast from my room. I built it from scratch (copper plate, BF transistor and all) based on some UK electronics magazine circuit diagram. ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-was-the-first-person-in-my-town-neighborhood-to-have-a-fill-in-blank/585225/42 "2011-06-15T06:57:35Z")
I was definitely the first person in my elementary school to have a Harry Potter book, but I can’t speak for the whole town. It was rather funny: I got into the series when only one book had been released in the United States. The rest of the school got really into Harry Potter the next spring, when Chamber of Secrets was about to come out in the US, and there was a day of “Why aren’t you reading Sorceror’s Stone?” and no one believing me when I said, “I read it back in November. Now I’m reading The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.” (I’m sure a bit of that was because 5th graders aren’t notoriously big Douglas Adams fans.) ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-was-the-first-person-in-my-town-neighborhood-to-have-a-fill-in-blank/585225/43 "2011-06-15T07:04:20Z")
Caller ID. ---
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-was-the-first-person-in-my-town-neighborhood-to-have-a-fill-in-blank/585225/44 "2011-06-15T08:23:50Z")
This ain’t even out yet. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-was-the-first-person-in-my-town-neighborhood-to-have-a-fill-in-blank/585225/45 "2011-06-15T12:41:52Z")
> [@Shayna](#): > > You are definitely ahead of me on that, as I only just learned about the existence of [BluWood](http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/pardonourdust/2008/05/whats-with-the.html) in the past week or so, when I saw it being used on an episode of some home improvement show I was watching. I love the fact that it not only prevents mold, mildew and termites, but it’s considered a “green” product, to boot! Yes, it’s a little more expensive but worth it in the long run. They are also researching the addition of a MSE fire inhibitor. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-was-the-first-person-in-my-town-neighborhood-to-have-a-fill-in-blank/585225/46 "2011-06-15T18:32:47Z")
1977: First Dungeons and Dragons rulebooks in Oswego, IL. In the early 80’s, I used to do ‘genealogy’ on D&D players when I found a new one in that small town. “Oh, you play D&D? Who’d you learn that from?” “John Smith.” “Ah, yes. John learned to play from Brian, who learned from Mike, who learned from me. So you’re my RPG great-great-grandchild. Cool!” ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-was-the-first-person-in-my-town-neighborhood-to-have-a-fill-in-blank/585225/47 "2011-06-15T22:15:24Z")
I think my dad’s family were the first in our town to have a TV (I wasn’t around then, of course). My family was probably one of the first in my school to have a home computer–a TRS-80, in around '76 or ‘77 (my dad’s best friend was the local Radio Shack owner). It even had “the Source” (an early ancestor of Compuserve), which came with a free hour of internet time. After we used that up, though, internet usage was severely rationed because it cost $9.95 an hour. We subscribed to CLOAD magazine, which was delivered on cassette tapes and contained programs for the TRS-80. I was a big ol’ nerd. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-was-the-first-person-in-my-town-neighborhood-to-have-a-fill-in-blank/585225.md?page=2)