Ten modern conveniences we take for granted that didn’t exist before 1970.
Ten modern conveniences we take for granted that didn’t exist before 1970.
I especially like the picture of the audio cassette and the pencil with the caption, “Our children will never know the link between the two.”
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Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
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Ten modern conveniences we take for granted that didn’t exist before 1970.
I especially like the picture of the audio cassette and the pencil with the caption, “Our children will never know the link between the two.”
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
A few comments:
3) At the 1977 Boy Scout Jamboree, AT&T had a booth with side-by-side rotary and touchtone phones. Everyone was amazed at how much more convenient the touchtone was. Our family got our first touchtone in 1980. And yeah, you hoped the party you were calling had an answering machine.
7) There are some in the current generation who do know the connection between a pencil and music cassette. For some years now some bands have only released music on cassette.
9) I got my first calculator in 1978, and it did little more than the four basic math functions, plus square roots. My junior year in high school I bought a TI – 55. Programmable with an LED display. Yes, I did have the belt pouch. Curiously, I found later while taking advanced math courses in college that a TI – 30 worked just fine, as those courses were more conceptual and involved less calculating.
In 1970, most cars did not have air conditioning, this includes large Chryslers and Buicks and the likes,(yes it was optional), now even the lowest rung economy car has air conditioning, almost always standard. I would also guess many homes did not have a/c also, but as incomes grew and as women and wife’s started working in the office, the need for a/c also grew in the home, When I was a child, I was the t/v remote! I think maybe a larger contrast would be what we didn’t have in 1914, in many respects, the things we have today would not even be dreamed of by the rich and well to do in decades previous to 1970.
For reasons completely unrelated to Mr. Zimmerman’s post, I am simpatico on the car A/C thing. I’ve been looking for some 60’s Detroit iron the last couple of years, but I’m completely spoiled by auto A/C. It is hard to find a ‘cool’ car with factory A/C. I’m pretty much resigned to buying a car, and having A/C retrofitted.
Vintage air, I think.
I have built several cars over the years and in fact the after market complete systems like you get from companies like Vintage Air are actually better looking and better fitting than almost all the factory systems.
Just put one in a ’54 Ford F1. Looks factory. Its granda’s franken truck for her daily driving.
Classic Auto Air I think sells factory style systems to go into almost everything.
You have to remember that almost all the systems from each manufacturer back then were built almost identical to each other. Most parts from one Chevy would actually fit any other Chevy with a little fitting.
on the automotive front, one of the things that we lost in 1970 was the vent window on many cars that you could flip open and even direct outside air onto yourself, in this regard we went backwards.