# Say something that is true to a person in 1985 that will make you sound like a crazy person **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 20, 2022, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283 "2022-07-20T20:59:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 27
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/522 "2023-04-12T09:57:48Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Poppycock. Yeah. Amply and aptly debunked already upthread. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/523 "2023-04-12T13:07:47Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Hey, you know that irritating comedian that plays that space alien in that nit-wit show spun off from that other nit-wit show where the high school kids are really in their 30s? Yeah, that show is the reason we’ll refer to a two-time Oscar winner as Opie Cunningham. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/524 "2023-04-12T13:41:48Z")
What you could say about Ozzy Osbourne though, is that he is still married to Sharon and they are one of the most devoted celebrity couples. You’d be crucified in that conversation. Nobody believed it would last. I want to say they got married right around the time of the whole bat-head-eating nightmare. So people would talk about that and then say - dripping with sarcasm - “Oh, and he just got _married._ Bwaaa ha ha haaaa that poor girl.” For another topic: The most popular meal-replacement product among young people is called “Soylent.” The word was literally gag-inducing at the time. It made goosebumps appear on your arms. It was right up there with “The call is coming from inside the house!” ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/525 "2023-04-12T14:18:11Z")
No one in 1985 would be surprised that Robin Williams would finally have a successful movie career. And no one would have thought of him as an “irritating comedian” on a “nit-wit” show. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/526 "2023-04-12T14:55:33Z")
In 1985 Robin Williams _won_ the Best Actor Golden Globe for 1984’s _Moscow on the Hudson_. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/527 "2023-04-12T16:08:10Z")
So does that make me sound crazy like the OP asked? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/528 "2023-04-12T16:24:16Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > No one in 1985 would be surprised that Robin Williams would finally have a successful movie career. And no one would have thought of him as an “irritating comedian” on a “nit-wit” show. Also, there’s really not much mystery around why he killed himself. [He had Lewy Body Dementia](https://www.health.com/condition/neurological-disorders/what-is-lewy-body-dementia), and was suffering horribly from it. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/529 "2023-04-12T16:29:56Z")
Thought of one the other day in the car: Tom Hanks is considered one of the greatest dramatic actors of our time and maybe all time. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/530 "2023-04-12T16:38:33Z")
Sushi will be such a mainstream food you can buy it at a gas station. Not that you should, but you can. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/531 "2023-04-12T17:19:53Z")
That works! > [@"Wait, it's a different guy?" moments](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-its-a-different-guy-moments/960157/13): > > Early Tom Hanks movies are a little odd to watch because it’s weird to see Hanks in (say) Bachelor Party and Dragnet as the wild, irresponsible, sometimes jerkish guy, when after Big he was typecast as the everyman hero. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/532 "2023-04-12T18:09:45Z")
Seeing Hanks him in _Taxi_ as Jim’s dorm friend, I’m thinking, “That’s _Philadelphia_ guy?” ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/533 "2023-04-12T18:16:07Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > You gotta wear a mask to go into Wal-Mart or Target or such. Even crazier from covid days: you are **required** to wear a mask in a bank. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/534 "2023-04-12T18:19:20Z")
There are polka dots painted on the sidewalk in front of my church. They’re there so we know where six feet apart is. This also applies to the local elementary school. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/535 "2023-04-12T18:24:51Z")
We’re 30 years away from a working fusion reactor. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.E](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.e/32/8932_2.png) [@Mr.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.E)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/536 "2023-04-12T18:30:16Z")
“Life won’t be all that different 40 years from now. The TVs will be bigger, and everyone will have pocket computers that connect them to all the information in the world, but we still drive around in cars and wear the same sort of clothes and astronauts never leave low earth orbit and we all still talk shit about Donald Trump.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/537 "2023-04-12T19:08:38Z")
Wasn’t it already niche by then? National Semiconductor, Texas Instruments, and Rockwell had already given up on it by then. I vaguely remember bubble memory, but I was young, and don’t remember there being much hoopla about it in 1985. I mean if those companies were already like this isn’t worth pursuing, I’m guessing it’s not a stretch to think it wouldn’t make out in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/538 "2023-04-12T20:17:21Z")
National had committed to the technology. I believe we were well into 1985 when Bubble Memory was cancelled. It was leading edge stuff, National and Intel had new product introductions in '84. I was working on a Bubble Memory controller using our COP2404 dual processor chip when I got word that it wasn’t necessary. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/539 "2023-04-12T22:03:35Z")
You would remember better, but the New York Times ran an article as early as 1981 that bubble memory was dead. > **[THE COMPUTER BUBBLE THAT BURST (Published 1981)](https://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/20/business/the-computer-bubble-that-burst.html)** I know it’s hard to read anything there, but the idea even back then was no dice on the technology. According to Wikipedia in that article it is stated that National Semiconductor, among others, closed their bubble memory operations. But there were five others — including Intel, as you mention — that continued on. Maybe the bit about National is incorrect, but it seems to me that the whole technology was shaky by that point, so not unbelievable to hear the news that it went nowhere. I believe you were in the industry, so maybe it was still a big deal then, but as a young consumer, it was barely on my radar, so I suspect ther average person wouldn’t even know what bubble memory is. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/540 "2023-04-12T22:07:39Z")
Also, by 1985, I think most people - or at least, people to whom the term “bubble memory” was meaningful - understood the pace of computer development meant that things that were hugely important at the time might be entirely deprecated and forgotten in 5-10 years. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2023, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283/541 "2023-04-21T02:24:51Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > The kind of behavior that’s weird and creepy in person is also weird and creepy on line. But online you would have presumably have already interacted with the the other person online, so in some situations at least it wouldn’t be out of line to suggest private mesaging. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283.md?page=26) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-something-that-is-true-to-a-person-in-1985-that-will-make-you-sound-like-a-crazy-person/968283.md?page=28)