# Things From Your Imagination That You Never Thought Would Happen Until It Happened **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 21, 2015, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-your-imagination-that-you-never-thought-would-happen-until-it-happened/715629 "2015-03-21T20:41:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-your-imagination-that-you-never-thought-would-happen-until-it-happened/715629/21 "2015-03-22T17:11:24Z")
As I mentioned a while back, a few weeks ago I met a woman and we hit it off in spite of having _no language in common_. I had daydreamed about this, but didn’t think it was actually possible. And at the other end of my life… when I was five years old in kindergarten, I desperately wanted a specific piece of Hot Wheels track. I dreamed about it and yearned for it. But Christmas came, and it wasn’t there. I slowly forgot about it. Five years later, I got it for my birthday… ---
**Author:** ![Astraea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3e96dc/32.png) [@Astraea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astraea)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-your-imagination-that-you-never-thought-would-happen-until-it-happened/715629/22 "2015-03-22T19:26:31Z")
Black president. Also in middle school my class was required to do a project where we predicted some kind of future technology. I came up with a flip phone that would cost $500 (when that was considered an absurd price for a cell phone and unattainable by all but the wealthy.) The phone had all sorts of cool technology including the ability to send pictures to people or use the camera to have a live video chat with the person you were calling and could easily fit in your pocket. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-your-imagination-that-you-never-thought-would-happen-until-it-happened/715629/23 "2015-03-22T19:38:30Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I thought I’d never live long enough to see a black president. Me too. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-your-imagination-that-you-never-thought-would-happen-until-it-happened/715629/24 "2015-03-22T21:13:34Z")
> [@Marion\_Wormer](#): > > Hand held X-ray machines at the dentist’s. > > I cannot tell you how much dentistry has changed since the 1950s. Every time I go I always cheer up the techs and the dentist by exclaiming “O my goodness, this is so much better than the 60s!” They are always delighted. > > The only thing they need to work on is the horrible flavor of the pumice for polishing the teeth, and the new rapid setting mastic for impressions that tastes much,much,much worse than the old stuff. Oh, yes. I say this every time. My dentist has a cool machine that takes a picture of the exact shape of the space in my tooth from a piece breaking off, or a large filling coming out, and mills a piece of something or other (a cap? a crown?) that fits in precisely. All done in one sitting. Ditto with anesthesia for surgery. One minute you’re awake, next minute you’re awake again and the procedure is over. No nausea, no struggling to wake up, just a missing bit of time. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-your-imagination-that-you-never-thought-would-happen-until-it-happened/715629/25 "2015-03-22T21:25:29Z")
> [@MrsTime](#): > > I didn’t dream about anything as lofty as many here, all I wanted was a smooth topped stove. I hated gas and was afraid of cleaning electric stoves so I wished that they would somehow make a stove that was smooth and easily cleaned. I saw the first one in a sears window in about 1976 or so. A couple of years later I owned one. I have only owned smooth surface stoves from then on, and love them. Now if they would only make an oven that was truly self cleaning removing even the ashes… And how about a self loading and unloading dish washer? Oh yeah. My folks got one of the first ‘electric’ kitchens in Illinois. We had a freaking microwave in 1972, and a smooth glass top stove. We where a feature article in the newspaper. Got a glass top again with my remodel, yes, gas is better, but this thing is awesome. Cleaning? hmmm, hmm done. ---
**Author:** ![BobArrgh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobarrgh/32/2881_2.png) [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-your-imagination-that-you-never-thought-would-happen-until-it-happened/715629/26 "2015-03-22T21:42:49Z")
When I was a senior in high school in 1979, I read a news article about a pregnant woman who had no uterus and whose fetus was attached to her abdominal wall. In sociology class later that week, I said, “If a woman can have a baby without having a uterus, all that would be needed needed for a man to carry a baby to term would be an artificial placenta. And that can’t be too far away, since scientists are working on creating artificial skin.” (Somehow, the rumor spread at school that I was advocating that men should carry babies, and then it morphed into people saying that I wanted to be the first one.) Anyway, it happened in 2011. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-your-imagination-that-you-never-thought-would-happen-until-it-happened/715629/27 "2015-03-22T21:50:20Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I thought I’d never live long enough to see a black president. Me too. Hey, waitaminnit. [Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy] Is Obama…the Mule? [/Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy] And, to be clear: big Obama fan here. I think his ability to achieve much of his stated agenda in the face the opposition he has faced means he has done an amazing job. This is just speculative fun. **TrPolar** - congrats. Was advanced alien tech involved? Okay, maybe not. How about Google Maps? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-your-imagination-that-you-never-thought-would-happen-until-it-happened/715629/28 "2015-03-23T00:26:25Z")
> [@Astraea](#): > > Black president. For me that’s more like weed – expected but just a matter of when. Where I am surprised is that we got that before a female Veep (I don’t count Billery) or President. That was my only shocker in it all. ---
**Author:** ![diggerwam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/919ad9/32.png) [@diggerwam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggerwam)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-your-imagination-that-you-never-thought-would-happen-until-it-happened/715629/29 "2015-03-23T01:12:34Z")
I remember in 83-84 in a middle school political science/current events class and I was arguing in support of socialized medicine in US. We aren’t there yet but we getting closer. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-your-imagination-that-you-never-thought-would-happen-until-it-happened/715629/30 "2015-03-23T04:11:28Z")
Back in the late 80s when I started playing guitar I thought it would be so cool if there was a cable channel devoted to guitar players. Lessons, concerts by big time players, gear reviews, etc. Well, it never happened on cable TV but it sure as hell happened on YouTube. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-your-imagination-that-you-never-thought-would-happen-until-it-happened/715629/31 "2015-03-23T04:55:24Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > In the 70s and early 80s I was a big Steeler fan. One player in particular was my favorite, and it seemed like he always pulled off the impossible. I went to the Super Bowl victory parades, but never realized my dream of meeting the guy. > > Fast forward twenty some years. He is retired and in the Hall of Fame. Pure coincidence leads to us meeting. Even more coincidental, we now have some strange things in common that lead to us becoming buddies. Ooh, who was it? Franco? Rocky? Mean Joe? Stallworth or Swann? ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-your-imagination-that-you-never-thought-would-happen-until-it-happened/715629/32 "2015-03-23T05:22:50Z")
I’m still waiting for flying cars, personal robots, and humans to colonize the moon and Mars. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-your-imagination-that-you-never-thought-would-happen-until-it-happened/715629/33 "2015-03-23T05:24:03Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Back in the early 60s, when I had my first bf . . . one day I casually mentioned to him how wonderful it would be if gay men like us could get married and spend the rest of our lives together. He said “Dream on, that’ll never happen in our lifetimes.” I agreed. The possibility was unthinkable. You’ve probably realized that getting married is the easy part. Actually staying together is the toughie. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-your-imagination-that-you-never-thought-would-happen-until-it-happened/715629/34 "2015-03-23T05:28:23Z")
> [@BobArrgh](#): > > When I was a senior in high school in 1979, I read a news article about a pregnant woman who had no uterus and whose fetus was attached to her abdominal wall. In sociology class later that week, I said, “If a woman can have a baby without having a uterus, all that would be needed needed for a man to carry a baby to term would be an artificial placenta. And that can’t be too far away, since scientists are working on creating artificial skin.” > > (Somehow, the rumor spread at school that I was advocating that men should carry babies, and then it morphed into people saying that I wanted to be the first one.) > > Anyway, it happened in 2011. If you mean Thomas Beatie, he didn’t use an artificial placenta. As a female-to-male tran, he never had his uterus removed. So a person with a functioning uterus and ovaries became pregnant and delivered a live baby, which isn’t exactly groundbreaking. ---
**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:** [March 23, 2015, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-your-imagination-that-you-never-thought-would-happen-until-it-happened/715629/35 "2015-03-23T05:37:19Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Ooh, who was it? Franco? Rocky? Mean Joe? Stallworth or Swann? Nope. Splat. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-your-imagination-that-you-never-thought-would-happen-until-it-happened/715629/36 "2015-03-23T09:09:14Z")
A hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy - a handheld computer that contained encyclopaedic information about everything. I couldn’t really conceive how it could work, but hoped it might happen anyway. It’s actually way better than I’d dreamed, by about 1000x. I also wanted to have a collection of all my favourite movies, all lined up in a row on my bookshelves. Now I have all that and more, in multiple formats. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-your-imagination-that-you-never-thought-would-happen-until-it-happened/715629/37 "2015-03-23T09:47:05Z")
I used to want what we now know as a hands-free cell phone. Now I kind of find cell phones annoying. Useful, yeah, but socially disturbing. Don’t expect me to always be accessible, OK? ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-your-imagination-that-you-never-thought-would-happen-until-it-happened/715629/38 "2015-03-23T11:12:39Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > I used to want what we now know as a hands-free cell phone. > > Now I kind of find cell phones annoying. Useful, yeah, but socially disturbing. Don’t expect me to always be accessible, OK? I think that brings up a good point that as we get more “stuff” we add on new problems. Like your example of people on cell phones all the time or your having a quiet hike in the woods and your phone rings. Those hands free phones where you see people talking into the air. Even things like gay marriage - now they have to deal with divorce issues. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-your-imagination-that-you-never-thought-would-happen-until-it-happened/715629/39 "2015-03-23T13:12:14Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > **TrPolar** - congrats. Was advanced alien tech involved? Okay, maybe not. How about Google Maps? 😉 The most advanced technology back then was the steam engine, didn’t help much. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-your-imagination-that-you-never-thought-would-happen-until-it-happened/715629/40 "2015-03-23T13:48:16Z")
Back in the time of things like K-Tel compilation albums that you could only order off of TV, I always wanted the ability to only pick and have which songs I wanted for each disc. Now with things like iTunes, you never have to deal with stuff you don’t want to hear, let alone own. Soooooo cool. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-your-imagination-that-you-never-thought-would-happen-until-it-happened/715629.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-from-your-imagination-that-you-never-thought-would-happen-until-it-happened/715629.md?page=3)