# Stuff worse than it used to be **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 8, 2016, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556 "2016-02-08T20:48:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/81 "2016-02-09T14:30:21Z")
**Breyer’s Ice Cream** – I’ve complained about this on the Board before. Their ice cream used to be the essence of simplicity – their vanilla ice cream had only cream, vanilla, and sugar in it. It was wonderful. But now they’ve added various gums to all their ice creams, and it ruins the texture and, IMHO, the taste. As others have argued, it makes it less sensitive to mistreatment between the factory and your mouth, but they used to cope with this just fine before the change. I argued about this with a home ice-cream-maker. His position was that, well, perhaps it could be shipped without mishap to the store, but that it was at home that it was likely to sit out too long, or be otherwise mistreated. My opinion is that I don;'t need the company protecting me from myself that way – nobody puts preservatives in the raw chicken I buy so that I don’t get sick from bacterial growth if I leave it out on a counter. Give me back my old Breyer’s! ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/82 "2016-02-09T15:02:14Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **Breyer’s Ice Cream** – I’ve complained about this on the Board before. Their ice cream used to be the essence of simplicity – their vanilla ice cream had only cream, vanilla, and sugar in it. It was wonderful. Absolutely right. Breyer’s is not a quality brand for me, anymore. I prefer Meijer’s store brand, honestly. I do, however, still like Hershey’s milk chocolate bar. And I like the taste of Cadbury’s as well. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/83 "2016-02-09T15:43:06Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Nah. The art, today, is vastly better than the flat, exaggerating, same-same two dimensionality of the old days. A lot of comics today are painted. Many use 3-D graphics programs to make objects that are consistent when viewed from various angles. > > [Wonder Woman, c. 1960.](http://www.comicvine.com/images/1300-2611983) > > [An example of Wonder Woman art these days.](http://hubpages.com/literature/Wonder-Woman-Costume-History#slide7294263) > > Seriously: the art today is vastly better than in the past. > > I’ll debate with y’uns over the quality of the writing, but anyone who thinks 60’s art was better is just plain flat-out objectively wrong! No. you’re wrong. Comics aren’t just drawing figures or images so they look 3-D (and if you mean perspective, artists have been drawing images in perspective for years without the aid of computers) It’s storytelling! To be a professional comic artist you need the ability to tell the story visually. You’re the director. You choose the proper moment for close-ups, for wide angle, etc… The masters of the 60’s, 70’s 80’s, they knew how to do that. They could tell a concise story in 22 pages and you felt as if you not only got your money’s worth but that you read a damn good story. Today, they concentrate on pin-up pages, over rendered drawings (so they can resell the art at conventions). They can’t visually tell a story if their life depended on it. Comics aren’t just drawing pretty pictures, it’s like watching a movie only on the printed page. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/84 "2016-02-09T15:58:46Z")
> [@Tibby or Not Tibby](#): > > Cats and dogs. > > . Yeah… Back in my day any respectable cat or dog kept the kitchen floor cleaner than Jesus’s surgery ward. These days, something get’s dropped on the floor and the damn dog can’t even find it. And if he does, he looks up at me like “what, you expect me THAT?”. ---
**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:** [February 9, 2016, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/85 "2016-02-09T17:00:55Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > A cellophane (?) fish that I was never certain what it was supposed to do; [Fortune telling fish!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM3ngMbHUyc) ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/86 "2016-02-09T17:34:25Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Good God! John Romita Jr., John Byrne, Brent Anderson, whoever the hell it is doing Dr. Strange right now – Chris Bachalo – and how about lesser-known geniuses such as Rod Espinosa – they all blow Kirby out of the water. Kirby’s style was angular, wooden, stilted, and hyper-ornate. He’s much too “iconic.” > > ([Here’s an example of Rod Espinosa having fun](http://orig11.deviantart.net/99aa/f/2016/004/6/8/clariette_by_rodespinosa-d9mq1eo.jpg). See how very superior it is to [Kirby playing much the same game](http://technoccult.net/wp-content/uploads/galactus1.jpg).) > > No, I missed the whole Fourth World/New Gods thing. I only started admiring DC when the Teen Titans came along and started a big change away from the silliness that had been so pervasive so long. OK there’s some stuff there, for the posters. But they all mostly look like the same artist, drawing in an anime style. Every one of them worships Jack Kirby and is riffing on his advances. They would not describe themselves as blowing him out of the water. Barry Smith is a big influence on them too. Hyper ornate? Looks like mastery to me. Kirby was the original master of filling space, but that’s exactly what these guys try to do too. Kirby became stiffer and lost his currency after he had been in the business 35 years! Before that he was making the template for a whole industry. That Wonder Woman is from the 40s BTW. I’d much rather read that. ---
**Author:** ![Waltzes\_with\_Cacti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90ced4/32.png) [@Waltzes\_with\_Cacti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waltzes_with_Cacti)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/87 "2016-02-09T17:37:08Z")
Twining’s Earl Grey tea. Twining changed the formulation seven or eight years ago and now, instead of being the most delicious brew in the world, it tastes like soap. I’ve hoarded one box of pre-change Earl Grey that I bought at the Twining’s shop on the Strand, and I’m keeping it until a very special occasion occurs. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/88 "2016-02-09T17:42:54Z")
> [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](#): > > Well, if you live in Oregon or New Jersey they still pump your gas. Self service is against the law in those states. > Not sure if they’ll clean your windshield or not. They do that to make work for gas station attendants. The rest of the world figured out a long time ago that normal people can & will pump their own gas. > [@Morbo](#): > > Talking on the phone. Remember how nice it was to use a landline and you could hear everything clearly? Cell phones are so much worse. Throw in Bluetooth headsets, dead zones, static, etc and it’s a garbled mess. It’s not your imagination. I read an article recently (perhaps on [Cracked.com](http://Cracked.com)), and cell phones really do have much worse audio quality than landline phones. iPhones are among the worst. In their never-ending quest to create thinner & thinner phones, Apple uses the tiniest speakers & microphones they can find. With the result that it sounds like you’re having a conversation over the supermarket intercom system. I’m going to don my Cranky Old Man hat and say music. Pop music these days is awful. You know it’s bad when the music industry pimps keep trying to convince us that Adelle’s “Hello” is a hit. (Sorry, Adelle. You’re a good singer, but that song is unmitigated crap. Slow, boring, _maybe_ OK to play over the end credits of a movie, if the movie had a downbeat ending.) I think the major problem is there’s no guiding force behind modern pop music. When I was young, rock was the major scene. More recently, rock has faded and hip-hop became the big scene. But now hip-hop has faded, and so far at least there’s nothing to replace it. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/89 "2016-02-09T17:52:28Z")
**The Hard Rock Cafe.** Specifically their nachos and veggie burgers. My husband and I literally plan vacations around Hard Rock Cafes and I’ve been to 34 different ones. Then they changed their nachos from “absolutely freakin delicious” to “unedible crap” by putting some kind of nasty queso cheese on them. Then they changed them back to shredded cheese, but they’re awful now. Plus the veggie burgers used to be the best we’ve ever had - until this past January when we went to the Hard Rock in Orlando and neither of us could finish our dinner it was so gross. Soggy, messy veggie burger and craptacular nachos. We were actually quite sad at the decline of their food quality. **Vachon** treats. Canadians might only know what I’m referring to, I don’t think they’re in the US. Jos Louis, Half-Moons, Flakie, Au Caramel - used to be chocolate and cake goodness - now they taste literally like nothing. Like you know you’re eating it because it’s in your mouth but you can’t taste anything. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/90 "2016-02-09T17:53:29Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > They do that to make work for gas station attendants. The rest of the world figured out a long time ago that normal people can & will pump their own gas. Actually, according to the laws on the books in New Jersey, here’s their reasoning. At least their reasoning in 1949: The Garden State self-service gas station ban dates back to 1949, when the New Jersey Legislature passed the Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act, primarily over concerns about the safety of consumers pumping petroleum themselves. Many other states will follow suit, but eventually overturn their self-serve bans. New Jersey’s law, meanwhile, lives on as an iconic peculiarity of life in the Garden State — almost a badge of honor for New Jerseyans who haven’t a clue how to work a pump. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/91 "2016-02-09T18:01:49Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > That Wonder Woman is from the 40s BTW. I’d much rather read that. The [more “realistic” one](http://usercontent1.hubimg.com/7294274_f520.jpg) looks as though it’d make a better poster or other one-off. For reading 30 pages, I can see the benefits of the simple clean lines versus the over-rendered figure with weird shadows calling out “Look at my volume of form!” and light reflections everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/92 "2016-02-09T18:19:54Z")
I’m all for spectacle escapism to numb your nihilistic existence, but realistically speaking mainstream Hollywood movies are more childish and degenerate than ever. Awesome in a fratboy meathehad sense maybe, but good? Wall to wall super hero movies is what the people crave. Adults in tights running around and punching bad guys in the face. This is our culture, people. Everyone praised Mad Max for practical effects, but it’s still nothing but a two hour car chase, explosions, and T&A. It’s like a parody of an action movie that went over the line twice. Video game wise, the FPS genre has been a dumpster fire for years. A lot of the classic video game series have seen huge quality drop offs. StarCraft 2, Diablo 3, all the Counter-Strike remakes, whatever the hell Nintendo is doing to Metroid. Hard to be optimistic for Doom 4. Thank god for indies that pander to nostalgic sensibilities. Online comment sections for many sites are atrocious. Click here to expand! It’s like they don’t want you to use it. Come on, I need my daily fix of racism and conspiracy theories. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/93 "2016-02-09T18:26:18Z")
I find it hilarious that people are arguing about art…ART! > [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](#): > > No. you’re wrong. > > It’s storytelling! To be a professional comic artist you need the ability to tell the story visually. You’re the director. You choose the proper moment for close-ups, for wide angle, etc… The masters of the 60’s, 70’s 80’s, they knew how to do that. They could tell a concise story in 22 pages and you felt as if you not only got your money’s worth but that you read a damn good story. …I tell my artist when I want a close up or what I think the angle should be or what I think should happen on the page turn. It’s collaborative. Comic book pacing has changed. They are paced like movies now-6 issue stories for the most part that are allowed to roll out slowly (I find this leads to more padding than anything- 4 issues seems more natural). During the time you love they were paced like 22 minute cartoons. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/94 "2016-02-09T18:49:56Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > I find it hilarious that people are arguing about art…ART! > > …I tell my artist when I want a close up or what I think the angle should be or what I think should happen on the page turn. It’s collaborative. > > Comic book pacing has changed. They are paced like movies now-6 issue stories for the most part that are allowed to roll out slowly (I find this leads to more padding than anything- 4 issues seems more natural). During the time you love they were paced like 22 minute cartoons. That’s all well and good if you’re talking about a graphic novel. A 100+ page graphic novel should have movie like pacing, should have “padding” (for want of a better word) but **NOT** 22 page $4.99 comic books. Really, how **stupid** do you have to be to pay around $5 for a flimsy, padded, pin-up page comic that doesn’t tell a story, but only a part of a story? Really, have people really gotten more and more stupid over the years? You want to tell a story that takes time to unfold and feel as if you just watched a movie, fine. Then make a complete graphic novel. Just don’t expect me to be dumb enough to shell out money for chapters each month. ---
**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:** [February 9, 2016, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/95 "2016-02-09T18:59:30Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Nah. The art, today, is vastly better than the flat, exaggerating, same-same two dimensionality of the old days. A lot of comics today are painted. Many use 3-D graphics programs to make objects that are consistent when viewed from various angles. > > [Wonder Woman, c. 1960.](http://www.comicvine.com/images/1300-2611983) > \ She’s no Jessica Rabbit, but I wouldn’t kick her out of bed for eating crackers. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/96 "2016-02-09T19:04:08Z")
Most everything that has been outsourced to China. There are some exceptions. Computer printers. My last one lasted a whole two years. I went to a friend’s house to install my old computer to replace her ancient one; she has an old HP printer that’s built like a tank and is still working perfectly. Many of the new ones get poor reviews. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/97 "2016-02-09T19:07:46Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’ll second and third this. Chemistry sets have seriously wimped out over the past few decades, where now they only have things devoted to “goop” and fragrances and the like. > > The chemistry sets I had let you make plastics, coat things with gold, perform electroplating, Make fluorescent paint, and the like. Back in the fifties they had “atomic energy” sets with radioactive pins, scintillation screens, and little geiger counters. Today you can’t even mix ferric ammonium sulfate and sodium ferrocyanide to make Prussian Blue. That used to be the sort of standard “vanilla” experiment it seemed that every chemistry kit had. > > If you really long for the Good Old Days, and can’t afford to buy a vintage set, have a look at one of the best Chemistry Guides for Young Kids, **The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments** : > > [Best Science Fair Ideas and Projects by Grade Level](http://chemistry.about.com/b/2012/10/01/download-the-golden-book-of-chemistry-experiments.htm) > > [http://r.search.yahoo.com/\_ylt=A0LEVz7r6LlWT1QAW.lXNyoA;\_ylu=X3oDMTEyMW1hdjVsBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwM1BHZ0aWQDQjE1NjNfMQRzZWMDc3I-/RV=2/RE=1455053164/RO=10/RU=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekityourself.com%2Ffiles%2FThe-Golden-Book-Of-Chemistry-Experiments.pdf/RK=0/RS=n2mTOn5lSOUjJ2Xb0SWWlKPTcVg-](http://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0LEVz7r6LlWT1QAW.lXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEyMW1hdjVsBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwM1BHZ0aWQDQjE1NjNfMQRzZWMDc3I-/RV=2/RE=1455053164/RO=10/RU=http%3a%2f%2fwww.geekityourself.com%2ffiles%2fThe-Golden-Book-Of-Chemistry-Experiments.pdf/RK=0/RS=n2mTOn5lSOUjJ2Xb0SWWlKPTcVg-) > > [http://r.search.yahoo.com/\_ylt=A0LEVz7r6LlWT1QAYulXNyoA;\_ylu=X3oDMTEyczVpdTJmBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwM4BHZ0aWQDQjE1NjNfMQRzZWMDc3I-/RV=2/RE=1455053164/RO=10/RU=http%3A%2F%2Flibrary.sciencemadness.org%2Flibrary%2Fbooks%2FBrent\_GBC.pdf/RK=0/RS=najo7kDeZJ6WeJtMVAXQpsxNaKc-](http://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0LEVz7r6LlWT1QAYulXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEyczVpdTJmBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwM4BHZ0aWQDQjE1NjNfMQRzZWMDc3I-/RV=2/RE=1455053164/RO=10/RU=http%3a%2f%2flibrary.sciencemadness.org%2flibrary%2fbooks%2fBrent_GBC.pdf/RK=0/RS=najo7kDeZJ6WeJtMVAXQpsxNaKc-) > No wimping out with this book. It tells you how to make chlorine gas (and handle it safely). It has you igniting magnesium, igniting pure hydrogen, and doing all sorts of burning experiments. It tells you how to safely taste hydrochloric acid. But it also tells you how to make two or three different kinds of plastic, and soap. And you learn a LOT of practical and theoretical chemistry in the process. I grew up on this book, and still have my copy. > > You might be a little frustrated because some of it has been made obsolete – nobody makes batteries with carbon rods and manganese dioxide anymore – you can’t cut open an alkaline battery and get the same stuff. And they’ve stopped selling home chemicals at stores, dammit. But with perseverance you should be able to cobble a set together. > > I was lucky, as a kid. I had older male cousins who usually didn’t use their kits, so I inherited them. I also had a chemist uncle who gave me old test tubes and random labware. Yeah. And then you had to go and make an interociter. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/98 "2016-02-09T19:10:32Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > The [more “realistic” one](http://usercontent1.hubimg.com/7294274_f520.jpg) looks as though it’d make a better poster or other one-off. For reading 30 pages, I can see the benefits of the simple clean lines versus the over-rendered figure with weird shadows calling out “Look at my volume of form!” and light reflections everywhere. That’s exactly why I couldn’t read a modern comic if I wanted to. The higher quality paper and ink doesn’t improve a “comic book” to me. It just looks like they lost the thread. But I’m older now. There used to be a thing called “camp” where older images had an appeal. Liking comics, I couldn’t see these images as “outdated.” That’s actually the only appeal comics have for me now. So you can take my arguments with a grain if you want. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/99 "2016-02-09T19:14:24Z")
> [@Tibby or Not Tibby](#): > > She’s no Jessica Rabbit, but I wouldn’t kick her out of bed for eating crackers. I would. But I have a dog named Crackers and even I have my limits. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556/100 "2016-02-09T19:16:44Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Yeah. And then you had to go and make an interociter. That was different – for that you needed an electronics kit. And THOSE were better, too, in the Old Days. I had several hand-me-down sets from my cousins, but my favorite was one I talked an electronics store into selling me cheaper because it was missing parts. The kit had a relay that you could use to turn on and off plug-in devices, like TV sets. It had an internal relay, too, that you had to build. It had a couple of different photocells and a moisture-sensing cell, and lots of components with an easy-to-connect layout. When I looked for an electronics set for MilliCal the best Could find was ca magnetic snap-together set that did simple circuits, like lighting LEDs and powering motors. Still, she used to to make a propellor launcher that amused the cats. Nobody makes Interociter Kits anymore. And if they did, they’d probably include the schematics. In my day, you had to figure out how to put them together. > [@](#): > > Ever hear of an interocitor? No? Well, don’t be surprised — neither had Cal Meacham, electronics engineer and chief of research at Ryberg Instrument. Nor had Cal ever heard of a catherimine tube with an endiom complex of plus four. Yet those, and other equally bewildering apparatus, were offered for sale in the catalogue from Electronic Service Unit 16. > > Unfortunately, there wasn’t a single clue in the catalogue as to how an interocitor functioned, or even what it was, yet judging from the list of parts and the accompanying diagrams, it was an enormously complex piece of equipment. Cal realized that even if he ordered a set of interocitor parts, and somehow succeeded in putting one together, he would have no way of knowing if it were operating properly or not. – from the dust jacket to _This Island Earth_ by Raymond F. Jones [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-worse-than-it-used-to-be/745556.md?page=6)