# Things that you just don't see anymore. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 12, 2005, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705 "2005-02-12T04:01:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/41 "2005-02-13T00:35:18Z")
Motor scooters. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/42 "2005-02-13T00:46:31Z")
> [@Rufus Xavier](#): > > When I was a kid, every weekend you could hear the ice cream truck making its rounds. Now that I think of it, I haven’t seen or heard an ice cream truck in years. I see and hear one here every day. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/43 "2005-02-13T00:58:36Z")
> [@](#): > > Soda vending machines that dispense glass bottles. Remember those with the little glass door and you had to “pull” the bottle out. I’ve seen these in Germany along with **Cigerette Machines**. The problem with **Weeping Willows** is that they need lots of water to thrive. Their root system spreads very far and wide and can decimate a household’s plumbing and water supply. This is why most are seen by lakes and rivers. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/44 "2005-02-13T01:03:18Z")
**Baker** maybe this is something she is looking for: [Delonghi](http://www.125west.com/DeLonghi_Kitchen_Coffeemakers_Retro_Percolator_coffee_percolator.html) ---
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/45 "2005-02-13T01:04:25Z")
> [@FrostySonofThunder](#): > > Those cans of compressed air that were sold to unclog drains. I forget what they were called, but the ramifications of not using them correctly probably led to them being yanked off the market for legal reasons. I imagine that quite a few people used them to get rid of a clog in one sink, went to another sink in the house, and went “How the hell did this muck get all over the place?” Actually, people would (contrary to directions) first try to unclog the drain with Drano or something. Then, when that didn’t work, they’d whip out the compressed air canister and spray caustic muck all over the place. Not a good idea. > [@FrostySonofThunder](#): > > Wood burning kits…no, no, no, not that kind…The ones that had a tool that looked like a big soldering iron you were supposed to use to char designs on pieces of wood. Can’t imagine why **that** isn’t sold any longer;) You can still find those in hobby stores – they just aren’t popular. Probably never really were all that popular. > [@FrostySonofThunder](#): > > Erector sets I just bought an erector set today at K-mart. Definitely still sold. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/46 "2005-02-13T01:21:07Z")
Something that went out before I was old enough to have children was peregoric. My dad said they used to sell this as a teething or colic relief for babies. IIRC, it was cocaine or morphine or heroin based, so that didn’t last long. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/47 "2005-02-13T02:28:33Z")
(From a British perspective, and not a very young one either) Flint ‘wands’ for lighting gas stoves Concept albums, with gatefold sleeves and sci-fi artwork Pro sports players whose shirts are _not_ sponsor-blighted CND rallies, protests and propaganda Ushers in cinemas walking backwards holding a torch Milk in glass bottles with coloured foil denoting variations Offices without PCs everywhere Typewriters All-in-one radio / cassette player / alarm clock units, green LEDs on front Stylophones Theramins Rock keyboard players with teetering walled stacks of assorted keyboards Libraries that rubber stamp the books Telly ads of the ‘Can you tell Stork from butter?’ variety Compilation LPs of current hits by studio musicians trying their ‘soundalike’ best Traditional striped barber shop poles Traditional pawn broker’s signs Cars with a manual ‘choke’ on the dashboard Green Shield stamps and similar, petrol stations boasting ‘Quad stamps!’ The test card, and afternoon ‘test’ transmissions on BBC2 Pogo sticks Frozen ice lollies with riddles on the wooden sticks Kids’ playgrounds without fences, warning signs or legal notices Crisps with little blue bags of salt TV sci-fi, primitive super-imposition effects with jaggy fringing round the actors Medicine sold with a clear plastic teaspoon strapped to the bottle Lucozade sold in stiff yellow cellophane for no known reason Vesta ready meals Hai Karate aftershave and is absurd TV ad campaigns The Oxo family Sitcoms based entirely on a non-white family having moved in next door Bicycles with cast iron frames Lace-up leather footballs Sitcoms based entirely on a divorced partner having moved in next door Trimphones Police officers with whistles for summoning assistance Panda cars Black and white holiday snaps People holding up colour photo negs, intrigued by the reversed colours Small red plastic barrels advertising Watney’s Red Barrel Bovril signs Travel agents with _nothing_ in the window except a big model aeroplane Signal boxes on the railways Smoking chimney stacks Electric fires, ‘flame effect’ via flickering lights under a moulded plastic ‘coal fire’ TV sets with rotary dials for ‘tuning in’ Ker-ching! cash registers with pop-up flags for all the different amounts Shops with working balance scales and a neat pile of brass weights Bus conductors with manually operated machines for printing real paper tickets Specialist book shops silent within except for the ticking of the clock Haberdashery departments ‘All because the lady loves Milk Tray’ adverts Boxers, interviewed before the big fight, wishing the other fellow good luck Timothy White chemist shops Night watchmen’s huts Big rectangular metal bread bins with ‘Bread’ printed on the front Singular blue ‘fog’ lamps on the fronts of cars Adverts by the Milk Marketing Board and similar pre-privatisation bodies Safety films telling you to wear something white if it’s foggy Toy dogs on wheels TV drama serials broadcast live Pre-pasted vinyl wallpaper Toy: hairless cartoon face + iron filings under plastic screen, magnetic pen Clockwork metal robots …I could go on (and on and on) but I won’t. ---
**Author:** ![meowpossum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/848f3c/32.png) [@meowpossum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meowpossum)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/48 "2005-02-13T02:28:37Z")
Lightning rods and TV antennas on houses. Soap flakes. White canvas Tretorn sneakers. Zagnut bars and Zero bars. Wire hangers. Bedspreads (not comforters, quilts, or duvets) Underoos. Cream deodorant. Vaccination scars. Prell shampoo in a tube. See-saws, roundabouts, and those animals on springs at playgrounds. Little mechanical rides for kids at the grocery store. Booberry cereal. Eggnog-flavored instant breakfast. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/49 "2005-02-13T04:02:19Z")
I just wore the other day a fringed leather jacket and square toed snakeskin boots, **Bosda.** No special occasion, I just go out of my way to find things I like. Similarily, I just taught myself how to use a slide rule today. Some things never go out of style. For my suggestions, you certainly don’t hear about people going cross country anymore on road trips, catching rides with whoever wants to stop. Were hitch hikers ever really popular, though? Along with that, CB radios are making a come back I hear, but still don’t see them at all. You also don’t see very intelligent and original sitcoms on TV anymore, with AD being a rare exception. Cassette tapes certainly aren’t sold in stores, along with the other outdated tech. Toy guns for kids have definitely gone by the wayside, compared to a time when you were either with the indians or you were with the cowboys. Sometimes, you would even be slightly red, which brings us to something else, bomb shelters, even though they made a big comback during the Y2 scare. Just about anything menacing, especially for kids, like Easy Bake Ovens and Cabbage Patch Dolls. Really cheap movies are a rarity, too, as well as balconies in theatres. Even though I haven’t been here for more then a couple decades, I could go on forever, but I’ll stop. ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/50 "2005-02-13T04:15:12Z")
[ul] [li]full-size black and white televisions[/li][li]5 cent candy bars[/li][li]10 cent comic books[/li][li]baseball doubleheaders (except for make-up games)[/li][li]“All transistor” radios[/li][li]25 pound laptops[/li][li]5.25" floppy disks[/li][li]floppy disk drives (close to extinction)[/li][li]people using WordPerfect[/li][li]monochrome computer monitors[/li][li]free celebrity autographs[/li][li]beta video cassette recorders[/li][li]milk bottles (or for that matter, milkmen)[/li][li]manual typewriters[/li][li]log tables (à la slide rules)[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/51 "2005-02-13T04:23:02Z")
You know what toy I loved as a kid? Nerf planes. Never see those anymore. Is there even Nerf anything anymore? ---
**Author:** ![Othersider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cab0a1/32.png) [@Othersider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Othersider)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/52 "2005-02-13T04:28:58Z")
> [@RancidYakButterTeaParty](#): > > Videos on MTV Or _music_ on MTV, for that matter. Kinda makes you wonder; I always thought MTV stood for “music television”. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/53 "2005-02-13T05:11:51Z")
Zombies. Remember the zombies? The **slow** kind? They weren’t all that dangerous, but didn’t they make life interesting? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/54 "2005-02-13T05:15:42Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Is there even Nerf anything anymore? I believe they’re now making trucks and APCs for the Army. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/55 "2005-02-13T06:16:19Z")
I’ve worn no pants but Levi’s 501s for a long time – they’ve been around since the mid 19th century. Do my laundry with me and you’ll see them. I’m a 45 year-old man, so if you’re referring specifically to women’s fashions, no disagreement. > [@Sylkyn](#): > > 501 Levis. Of course styles and fashions change, but 501 Levis for women were just so 80’s-great. Although I can safely bet once the bell-bottom trend fades away, we’ll be seeing a new emergence of these, even if they’re renamed. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/56 "2005-02-13T11:49:07Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Dot Matrix printers. They were everywhere once! Now they’re mostly for older POS (point of sale) retail systems or in back rooms for institutional multi-part forms. I just got my computer fixed from what turned out to be a very minor problem, and the invoice printint sounded odd. It was indeed a dot matrix printer that the two-man shop has never seen a real need to change since it still works. I noticed he was entering my info on a screen with green character fields. I don’t think that program used a gui at all. If it ain’t broke, plod along, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/57 "2005-02-13T11:51:30Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Dot Matrix printers are still used in the corporate and manufacturing worlds that I work in. They are the only ones that can produce multiple-part copies. Ah, that makes sense, and explains why the shop was using it. He wanted to make print-through copies: one for each of us, and the paper needs to be physically struck. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/58 "2005-02-13T18:02:38Z")
Lots and lots of businesses still use dot matrix printers, for a wide variety of uses. For some applications, for example, it’s kinda nice that you get a continuous perforated sheet. I, on the other hand, use it to make cards for my card catalogue at work. Chalk _that_ bad boy up under things you don’t see anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/59 "2005-02-13T18:12:33Z")
> [@ianzin](#): > > (From a British perspective, and not a very young one either) > […]Theramins Really? Were [theremins](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theremin) ever that common in Britain? I’d associated them mostly with Hollywood, or Russian-influenced avant-garde composers. ---
**Author:** ![Spree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@Spree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spree)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/60 "2005-02-13T19:21:11Z")
Frogs in the summertime. Butterflies. Honeysuckle - haven’t smelled it in years. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705.md?page=4)