# Ubiquitous items from relatively recently youngsters may not recognise **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 19, 2023, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362 "2023-03-19T15:27:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2023, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/201 "2023-03-21T06:22:21Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > They were in every gift shop, novelty store, and Spencer’s Gifts when I was a kid. Spencer’s itself is probably unrecognizable to most under-20s these days unless they’re weirdos who still hang out at malls. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2023, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/202 "2023-03-21T06:37:45Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > > [@Galactus](#): > > > > According to Wikipedia 8-track was commonly used in German cars and all over Europe. > > [8-track tape - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8-track_tape#:~:text=The%20format%20was%20commonly%20used,%2C%20Italy%2C%20Sweden%20and%20Japan). > > > > Blaupunkt produced 8-track car stereos in the 1970s. > > This very much surprises me. I wouldn’t worry too much. The wikipedia page lists as its “cite” that 8-tracks were “popular” in Germany an 8-track fan page that has a grand total of 2 German email addresses of 8-track collectors. What a time to be alive it must have been during the heady days when 8-track fever swept through Germany. Sorry for the “I’m going to shit on wikipedia” detour. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2023, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/203 "2023-03-21T11:28:53Z")
cartridge video games … my nephew found an old atari Pacman game and thought it was a movie… now we’ve played the old games but he’s just never seen a physical atari 2600 game cartridge what makes it confusing is my aunt and a lot of people always referred to any cartridges as “tapes” if anyones not seen one before : > **[A Studio shot of an Atari 2600 Pac-Man Game Cartridge. A popular...](https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/pac-man-atari-2600-game-cartiridge-gm536078917-57742588)** > > A Studio shot of an Atari 2600 Pac-Man Game Cartridge. A popular video game from the 1980's is popular with collectors and retro gamers worldwide. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2023, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/204 "2023-03-21T13:36:26Z")
Yeah, I took a computer science class as a college senior, in 1982, and we used punch cards, but they were already on their way out. “Relatively recent” they aren’t. Percolator? Maybe. Hand boiler. Nope, never even heard the term. As for FM radio, I haven’t used one (AM or FM) in at least five years… ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2023, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/205 "2023-03-21T13:41:51Z")
On my first computer programmer job, about 2 months in, they took all the younger IT staff (MIS back then) and had us empty a large closet. It was filled of boxes of programs. Yes, programs as they were on punch cards. The oldest programmer looked kind of teary eye as us kids were laughing and dumping this old stuff. There was also a card sorter for when some hapless Operator accidentally dropped a box or stack of cards. I did come up in the era of reel tapes still being used however. Huge racks of tapes in the computer room storing all kinds of sales data. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2023, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/206 "2023-03-21T14:39:29Z")
Do pagers count? I remember my dad had one when I was a kid. No idea how ubiquitous they were in the 90s and 2000s. I doubt kids today will recognize a pager. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2023, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/207 "2023-03-21T14:40:21Z")
As Pagers died off under 20 years ago. They should count. Good addition I would say. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2023, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/208 "2023-03-21T14:48:35Z")
Ah, pagers! When I was a 1st year medical resident, I got my first one. Audio pager only, no screen or text messages on it. It only worked within the hospital. Damn thing shrieked at me day and night, “whoop whoop whoop, Dr. M, call the ER, 8175!” Of course half the time the message was incoherent so I couldn’t return the call. It ruined naps, fun conversations at the nurses station, and everything else. One of my fellow residents flushed his down the toilet on purpose when it woke him up one too many times. ---
**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:** [March 21, 2023, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/209 "2023-03-21T14:53:20Z")
I’m thinking a modem. If we are limited to items and not people, can I throw “John Hughes film” in here? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2023, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/210 "2023-03-21T14:57:08Z")
Actually a lot of kids still know John Hughes films. Also they are not items. But even if they don’t know his great teen movies like _Breakfast Club_ or _Ferris Bueller_, they probably know _Home Alone_ and maybe _Beethoven_. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2023, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/211 "2023-03-21T15:23:26Z")
My kids would recognize one; I had one (audio only) as a volunteer firefighter just over a decade ago. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2023, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/212 "2023-03-21T15:58:26Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > As for FM radio, I haven’t used one (AM or FM) in at least five years… Since you mentioned AM, I heard recently that one of the major car companies has stopped putting AM receivers in its cars. I can’t remember which one, though. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2023, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/213 "2023-03-21T16:32:01Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Me too. I think most of them would be tech objects that only some types of scientists of a certain age would know about at all. That’s not exactly everyone except ‘youngsters’. I can understand radiometers being obscure. Hand boilers, though, I’m surprised that people here haven’t seen. They are mass-marketed as “love testers” or “love meters”. > **[Hand boiler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_boiler)** > > A hand boiler or (less commonly) love meter is a glass sculpture used as an experimental tool to demonstrate vapour-liquid equilibrium, or as a collector's item to whimsically "measure love." It consists of a lower bulb containing a volatile liquid and a mixture of gases that is connected usually by a twisting glass tube that connects to an upper or "receiving" glass bulb. > A hand boiler functions similar to the "drinking bird" toy: The upper and lower bulbs of the device are at different tempera... ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2023, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/214 "2023-03-21T16:50:37Z")
How about this?: [![](https://cdn3.volusion.com/na6ye.akxn9/v/vspfiles/photos/1451855-2.jpg?v-cache=1470328566) ](https://cdn3.volusion.com/na6ye.akxn9/v/vspfiles/photos/1451855-2.jpg?v-cache=1470328566) ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2023, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/215 "2023-03-21T16:57:58Z")
Hand boiler sounds like something you’d encounter in a science class (except for biology and ecology I avoided these because I am unable to do math), or for some period that I missed, as a novelty item. Now film cannisters, boy I spent a lot of time with those. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2023, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/216 "2023-03-21T17:00:16Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > That doesn’t look neither like a hot lather machine nor like a neck massager, but like something for the hair. So what the heck did it do? It looks like it is a motor with an off-center weight that is strapped to the top of your hand to make your hand vibrate. Something like [this](https://www.amazon.ca/Vibration-Offset-Weight-Vibrator-Motors/dp/B0B4ZZ2KXY). ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2023, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/217 "2023-03-21T17:33:02Z")
I did programming in FORTRAN on punch cards at university in 1980. We did the chaff in balloons trick in a guys dorm room. We rigged the balloons to pop when he opened the door. He got us back by pouring the chaff into the air inlets on our cars so it was a confetti storm when you turned on the fan. I know of everything in this thread so far but the only one I haven’t used (or had used on me in the case of the head massager) is a slide rule. I’ve fiddled with one but never for any actual calculations. How about microfiche? In my first job as a programmer not everyone had their own terminal so if you needed to look at your code it was on a microfiche reader. [![](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microform#/media/File:Microfiche_reader_and_source_code.jpg) ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microform#/media/File:Microfiche_reader_and_source_code.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2023, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/218 "2023-03-21T17:51:48Z")
In 1998 I was working for a company and for Y2K reasons was pressed into being a SAS “programmer” again after a few years working in Finance. I got a message telling me that some data I was trying to access had been migrated to tape. I had to open a ticket to have it restored to Random Access Storage. I thought this was some kind of figure of speech. But apparently it really was some guy in the data center next door who would go get some kind of tape cartridge with the data on it and load it back onto the mainframe. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2023, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/219 "2023-03-21T17:57:47Z")
> [@kferr](#): > > How about microfiche? In my first job as a programmer not everyone had their own terminal so if you needed to look at your code it was on a microfiche reader. Oh yes, microfiche. When I started studying at Siegen University in 1989, there still weren’t any computers for users in the libraries and all the research for books had to be done by microfiche. It worked. ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2023, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362/220 "2023-03-21T18:13:58Z")
When I started the tapes were reel-to-reel and had to be manually mounted by operators, or as we referred to them, “tape apes”. At the insurance company I was at the actuary master file spanned 80 reels of tape. Then cartridges that looked similar to 8-track tapes replaced reel-to-reel, but still had to be manually mounted. These days the tapes are all handled by robots in a big box full of tapes and tape drives. Manual intervention is only needed to add or remove a tape from the tape library. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ubiquitous-items-from-relatively-recently-youngsters-may-not-recognise/981362.md?page=12)