# Modern device your parents had that you don’t have now **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 28, 2022, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-device-your-parents-had-that-you-don-t-have-now/970470 "2022-08-28T14:00:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2022, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-device-your-parents-had-that-you-don-t-have-now/970470/181 "2022-09-03T20:00:50Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > The one I had in the early 1990s was a Brother with a daisy wheel (it may have had two so you could switch from elite to pica). It looked something like this… I had something like this. It was a word processor in the sense that it would store about a line of text but you could see only a tiny bit of it at a time. It was really just a digital typewriter. The bad part about it was that the ink tape cartridge was badly designed. > **[Casiowriter CW-11 - VintageArcade](https://www.vintagearcade.nl/webshop/vintage/electronica/detail/1620/casiowriter-cw-11.html)** > > Casio Casiowriter CW-11. > Personal electronic Typewriter > > Jaar van uitgave: 1984 - 1986 > > Nieuw in de doos. Inclusief handleiding en nieuwe cassettelint. > > Uitgevoerd met een Nederlands toetsenbord. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2022, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-device-your-parents-had-that-you-don-t-have-now/970470/182 "2022-09-04T02:19:02Z")
I probably would still have an electric can opener if I didn’t watch Alton Brown talk about how dirty they are. We do have a digital clock. It’s not exactly the same as my parents. I have one that projects the time (and temperature) on the ceiling. It is very useful when I wake up in the middle of the night. I can see the time without fumbling with my phone and glasses. I can go right back to sleep without fully waking up. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2022, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-device-your-parents-had-that-you-don-t-have-now/970470/183 "2022-09-04T05:04:31Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > The one I had in the early 1990s was a Brother with a daisy wheel (it may have had two so you could switch from elite to pica). It looked something like this… Yeah, the one my folks had was quite similar to this picture, although I don’t think it was this particular model. They used it for several years before I convinced them to buy a computer. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2022, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-device-your-parents-had-that-you-don-t-have-now/970470/184 "2022-09-04T21:28:27Z")
See my thread about countertop dishwashers 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2022, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-device-your-parents-had-that-you-don-t-have-now/970470/185 "2022-09-04T21:35:57Z")
My mother had a stand mixer. I do too, but didn’t for the longest time - I got it when I convinced my husband it world mean making a specific recipe more often. What Mom DID have was a pull-out stand for the thing. It woud swing down and into the cabinet when not in use, and out and up when needed, meaning you never had to haul the thing out of storage, or have it occupying counter space all the time. That’s one of the features I’m interested in if I ever redo our kitchen. Something like this: Hardware Resources Soft-close Mixer/Appliance Lift 45lb Spring with Full Extension Lock [https://a.co/d/37ejY8q](https://a.co/d/37ejY8q) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2022, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-device-your-parents-had-that-you-don-t-have-now/970470/186 "2022-09-04T21:45:52Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > … > I got it when I convinced my husband it world mean making a specific recipe more often. > … Clearly the convincing happened. Has the frequently-made recipe? 🙂 The man whose kitchen counter space is full of someone’s specialty single-purpose appliances is curious. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2022, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-device-your-parents-had-that-you-don-t-have-now/970470/187 "2022-09-04T22:23:32Z")
Indeed! I saw that thread when it came out and have been meaning to go back to it to read it more carefully. I’m not sure I’d want to give up the counter space, but I want to at least think about it seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2022, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-device-your-parents-had-that-you-don-t-have-now/970470/188 "2022-09-04T23:17:25Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > My mother had a stand mixer. I do too My mom did not have a stand mixer, but we installed one when we remodeled our kitchen about 20 years ago. It gets used frequently, but it also takes up an entire cabinet worth of space. Our stand looks very similar to the one you linked to. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-device-your-parents-had-that-you-don-t-have-now/970470/189 "2022-09-05T00:57:10Z")
It has indeed - at least, somewhat more often, and more easily. Cheese Ball: 11 oz cream cheese, softened 10 oz sharp cheddar, shredded 3 oz bleu cheese, crumbled 1 tblsp grated onion 2-3 squirts Worcestershire sauce 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional) 1/2 cup dried parsley (hopefully I got that right; this is from memory) mix together. Shape into a ball. Roll in more dried parsley, and (if desired) ground pecans. Best if it mellows a day or so before serving. Let sit out a bit to soften when serving. Re getting a stand mixer: it’s NOT a single-use appliance. Well, it is, sort of, if you consider “mixing things” to be single use - but that’s a task a cook does a LOT. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-device-your-parents-had-that-you-don-t-have-now/970470/190 "2022-09-05T01:17:43Z")
Affordable new private airplanes. When I was a kid I knew several farmers who had purchased their own airplanes. In 1970 a new Cessna 172 cost $12,500. In comparison a Cadillac would cost anywhwre between $8,000 and $11,000. So the 172 was in luxury car range, affordable by the upper middle class. During the private aviation heyday, over 44,000 Cessna 172s were made, along woth many other light aircraft types. Today, a Cessna 172 starts at $432,000, and only a couple of hundred are made per year. Most other light airplane manufacturers are out of business. The middle class has been completely frozen out of the new airplane market. The few that sell go to flight schools, commercial operators and the very rich. Even used airplanes are getting priced put of reach. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-device-your-parents-had-that-you-don-t-have-now/970470/191 "2022-09-05T01:24:35Z")
As for modern devices in the home, should we include the vast array of accessories for record players and tape machines? Winders, brushes, cleaning materials, ‘cleaning tapes’ for your deck… all gone. Electric knives are interesting. They are still out there, but when I was a kid everyone had an electric carving knife it seemed, and now I can’t remember the last time I saw one. They seem about as useful as they ever were, but not as common. Is it because regular knives got better? Or were they always a bit of a gimmick and we just learned we didn’t need them? Ham Radio. It used to be very popular hobby, very high tech. Amateurs bounced signals off the moon, did relaying for armed forces personnel, all kinds of stuff. The internet and cell phones mostly killed it, although there are still hams around. The hobby is a shadow of its former self, though. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-device-your-parents-had-that-you-don-t-have-now/970470/192 "2022-09-05T01:47:02Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Affordable new private airplanes. When I was a kid I knew several farmers who had purchased their own airplanes. My farm had a grassed airstrip; now mostly plowed up. The man I bought it from (in the late 1980’s, he was in his late 60’s at the time) had had it graded, running diagonally across the farm (and rather messing up the drainage and topsoil depth in parts of several fields; but he wasn’t himself a farmer); and used to go flying for the fun of it; though he no longer had the plane by the time I met him. He had a decent job, but was certainly nowhere near rich. There’s a flying club near here, but I think most of the planes in use there are far from new, and some of them I think are in joint ownership. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-device-your-parents-had-that-you-don-t-have-now/970470/193 "2022-09-05T04:36:34Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Electric knives are interesting. They are still out there, but when I was a kid everyone had an electric carving knife it seemed, and now I can’t remember the last time I saw one. I wonder how many people actually bought them for themselves. I remember them being one of the more affordable wedding gifts. Maybe it became tacky to give them after a while and nobody missed them enough to buy their own. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-device-your-parents-had-that-you-don-t-have-now/970470/194 "2022-09-05T05:06:54Z")
Maybe. An explanation that just occured to me could be that back in the day we did a lot more preparing food from scratch, more cutting up of meat, so an electric knife might have been more desired… ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-device-your-parents-had-that-you-don-t-have-now/970470/195 "2022-09-05T07:22:21Z")
We have one of those! Put it in when we remodeled our kitchen about five years ago. We don’t use the mixer a real lot, but when we do this is very convenient. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-device-your-parents-had-that-you-don-t-have-now/970470/196 "2022-09-05T23:53:05Z")
In addition to an electric can opener and pressure cooker, another item my parents had that we are doing without is an electric trouser press. My mother got me one as a present, but it was virtually never used and was sold at a garage sale long ago. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-device-your-parents-had-that-you-don-t-have-now/970470/197 "2022-09-06T01:03:02Z")
Our parents and grandparents had the ultimate in high tech - some shoe stores would X-ray your feet so you could get perfect shoe sizes. Awesome! And so much easier for the shoe salespeople, who could sit there and X-ray a dozen feet per day. Also, people had those big vibrating belts you could put around your waist and just ‘melt the fat away’. Today we have to make due with stimulants. We have also lost our ability to make an infinite variety of cool cigarette dispensers for the living room and matching fancy lighters. You could even smoke while melting your fat away. Luxury. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-device-your-parents-had-that-you-don-t-have-now/970470/198 "2022-09-06T02:50:31Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Our parents and grandparents had the ultimate in high tech - some shoe stores would X-ray your feet so you could get perfect shoe sizes. Awesome! And so much easier for the shoe salespeople, who could sit there and X-ray a dozen feet per day. …while they and their customers absorbed unhealthy doses of x-rays. > **[The shoe-fitting fluoroscope: a little known application of the X-ray](https://www.healio.com/news/hematology-oncology/20120325/the-shoe-fitting-fluoroscope-a-little-known-application-of-the-x-ray)** > > Many of the greatest scientific discoveries are eventually changed and adapted for more practical and widespread use. Since its discovery by Wilhelm Roentgen in 1895, the use of the X-ray has become commonplace. Through the fields of medicine,... ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-device-your-parents-had-that-you-don-t-have-now/970470/199 "2022-09-06T12:06:35Z")
Back when foot X-rays were a thing, a veterinarian in western Pennsylvania was kicking ass in the operating room, doing orthopedic surgeries using fluoroscopy. Pretty cool, he was able to place pins into fractured bones with minimal invasion, since he could see without an incision. Of course, surgical gloves offer no protection against radiation and he ended up with severe radiation burns. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-device-your-parents-had-that-you-don-t-have-now/970470/200 "2022-09-06T16:52:46Z")
The whole Fluoroscope debacle reminds me of this recent comic: > **[Physics Safety Tip](https://xkcd.com/2662/)** > > In general, avoid exposure to any temperatures, pressures, particle energies, or states of matter that physicists think are neat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-device-your-parents-had-that-you-don-t-have-now/970470.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-device-your-parents-had-that-you-don-t-have-now/970470.md?page=11)