You are too old if you remember.......

[cpzilliacus]

What I also liked about all the Warner Bros. cartoons from the 30s through the 50s was that the cartoons were written for two audiences-you had the obvious yuks for the kids and the more subtle humor for the adults (I didn't notice this until I was older and was watching the cartoons on TV and picked up on the subtle humor, especially if you recognized the history going on at the time).

Definitely true of the Road Runner series of cartoons.  And they had far-and-away the best music to go with the opening credits: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwYQsZuh2CM

Edit:  Mopar put the Road Runner to work selling its hopped-up Plymouth, and featured him in one of the best car commercials ever made:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyHHzBdzc-s

[PHLBOS]

Mopar put the Road Runner to work selling its hopped-up Plymouth, and featured him in one of the best car commercials ever made:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyHHzBdzc-s

The horns of those vehicles even did the signature Beep Beep when pressed as well.

The formula for the Plymouth Road Runner was simple: take a mid-size Plymouth coupe (Belvedere then later Satellite and even the Volare) with little or no options and add a high perfromance engine and Voila!

[roadman]

Until Warner Brothers outsourced their animation department to DePaite-Freling (best known for the Pink Panther cartoons) in the mid-1960s, the Road Runner cartoons also had several ground rules that could not be breached.  Chief among these was 1) the Road Runner never left the paved road and 2) the Coyote never spoke.

[roadman65]

^ I moved to Florida in the early-1980s, and it wasn't uncommon back then or now to see a mix of folks wearing shorts and someone donning a fur coat when it turned 59 degrees. Everyone seems to be caught off-guard or over-prepares during the first "cold snap". Of course, this varies on where you lived: Gainesville or Tallahassee might hit 30 for a high, while Miami's enjoying 75-80 degrees that afternoon. Or Tampa having a February morning of 35 with fog, warming up to 80 by mid-day, just to make things difficult.

So it seems like it's always been (ab)normal to see that...on the other hand, winter or autumn clothing lasts 20+ years.

I moved to Florida in November 1984 and I thought it was just delightful to walk around in a T-shirt and shorts while the locals were sliding on sweaters and looking at me funny.

Late 1985? I was the local in the long pants and sweaters looking at the ones without and going "Just got here, huh?  You'll learn..."

Yeah but now its many of those who have lived down here for years wearing shorts in all types of temperatures.  It used to be the newbees wearing shorts in sub 70 degree weather, but now you see just as many long time locals in shorts as much as the tourists or newcomers.

I worked for a national uniform service company and all the drivers would wear their short pants (the company provided both long and short pants as uniform) on days where the temps hit 30 along with their heavy winter jackets.  Yet inside the plant where the employees were shielded from the cold, we wore our long pants cause it still was not warm enough for us.

I think shorts now are some sort of political statement it would seem as its being even worn in church to worship where pastors and priests are not saying anything anymore.

[NE2]

Back in my day we all wore straitjackets to church.

[roadman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyHHzBdzc-s

The horns of those vehicles even did the signature Beep Beep when pressed as well.
[/quote]

The cartoon Road Runner's voice was originally just that - a 1940s klaxon horn.  Mel Blanc noted in his autobiography that he was asked to do the sound years later when the studio lost the original horn.

[1995hoo]

Sometimes a job is just a job.

It really seemed intentional. How could anybody who knows what a "job" is not realize that many people would take it to mean that?

I've always wondered whether the person who wrote Shawn Johnson's Ortega commercial realized the double entendre. I'm sure she did.

[agentsteel53]

I think shorts now are some sort of political statement it would seem as its being even worn in church to worship where pastors and priests are not saying anything anymore.

yeah damn those silent pastors.

... wait what?

[PHLBOS]

Until Warner Brothers outsourced their animation department to DePaite-Freling (best known for the Pink Panther cartoons) in the mid-1960s, the Road Runner cartoons also had several ground rules that could not be breached.  Chief among these was 1) the Road Runner never left the paved road and 2) the Coyote never spoke.

What was the reasoning for those ground rules (I never knew of such)? 

I never really paid attention to #1 and other than some screams the only 2 episodes (involving just the Road Runner & the Coyote) I remember the Coyote actually saying anything was the episode where he get caught in a beartrap (he's walking in the shape of the trap and just says "Ouch.") and the other turns into a TV show where 2 kids are watching and asks why does the Coyote want to eat the Road Runner in the first place (that episode replays the Acme Batman outfit scene as well as the Greco-Roman catapult malfunctions).

[roadman]

Until Warner Brothers outsourced their animation department to DePaite-Freling (best known for the Pink Panther cartoons) in the mid-1960s, the Road Runner cartoons also had several ground rules that could not be breached.  Chief among these was 1) the Road Runner never left the paved road and 2) the Coyote never spoke.

What was the reasoning for those ground rules (I never knew of such)? 

I never really paid attention to #1 and other than some screams the only 2 episodes (involving just the Road Runner & the Coyote) I remember the Coyote actually saying anything was the episode where he get caught in a beartrap (he's walking in the shape of the trap and just says "Ouch.") and the other turns into a TV show where 2 kids are watching and asks why does the Coyote want to eat the Road Runner in the first place (that episode replays the Acme Batman outfit scene as well as the Greco-Roman catapult malfunctions).

According to Mel Blanc's autobiography, the ground rules I mentioned were actually established by Chuck Jones, the series' creator.  However, Mr. Blanc gave no reasons as to why the rules existed.  Rule # 1 actually gave rise to the infamous "Coyote paints a white line across the desert to trap Road Runner" gag that appeared in several variations over the years.

And the "turns into a TV show" episode you mentioned was actually a cut-down version of a 20 minute feature called "Tales of The Road Runner" done for Warner Brothers in the late 1960s by DePaite-Freling.  It hasn't been shown on TV in years, but a nicely restored version of it appears in one of the early Looney Toons DVD collections.

[SSOWorld]

You remember when I-39 in wisconsin north of Portage didn't exist - better yet - it was a 2-lane road between Point and Portage!

[vtk]

... the Challenger disaster.

I have two memories from that year, and both are about mildly unpleasant experiences while someone other than Mom was looking after me.

[DeaconG]

I worked Shuttle prelaunch support for Challenger on the graveyard shift; looking at TV pictures of parts of the service structure covered in ice I said to myself "They aren't launching, they'd be fools to do so."  It was unseasonably cold that morning when I left work.

I woke up that afternoon to loops of the shuttle blowing up.

It's been a long time since I used the language I used at the top of my voice in my apartment that day.  My former coworkers who worked the launch still won't discuss it.

[elsmere241]

I didn't see it live, but the principal came on the intercom and announced it.  (I was in 8th grade.)

That day was also the beginning of the end for my sister's battle with leukemia.  She turned five in February and died the first week in August.

[roadman65]

I remember that day just like 9/11.  I heard my sister announce it as I was working the swing shift at Steak and Ale in Clark, NJ that the shuttle blew up.  The first thought was Krista McCullough, the teacher who was not a normal astronaut, as the news media for weeks played the story of the teacher chosen to go up in space as part of a special program for the shuttle mission.  I thought of her perishing first as she was the first time a civilian was chosen to do something like this.

Anyway, I rushed to the television and Dan Rathner was the anchorman during the special news break, and then seen it all on replay after replay with the announcement first stating "malfunction" and then later confirming the shuttle blowing up.  I was in disbelief as I felt that the crew was up in space at the time doing their mission.

[bugo]

I don't want to go back and read the entire thread, but has anybody mentioned Saturday morning cartoons? ...It makes me sad to know that this tradition has gone away.

That was our time, as a kid. Nobody would tell you to change the channel.

I never noticed this until about two years ago; there are no cartoons on any of the major networks on a Saturday morning, which surprised me when I flipped channels while watching with my daughter. Some of the cable networks do have cartoons, but essentially they're on at any time of day. My dad told me that back in the 1940's and 1950's cartoons were a "leader" for movies (along with the news and later, the B-reel movie on Saturday morning matinees), so the tradition predates TV.

It's really meaningless fluff now; I mean, most of the cartoons were just ads to get you buy the toys that related to the shows, right? Can't imagine how the infomercials really sell that well, but what do I know...?

Edit: I guess a variety of reasons contributed to its demise.

What I also liked about all the Warner Bros. cartoons from the 30s through the 50s was that the cartoons were written for two audiences-you had the obvious yuks for the kids and the more subtle humor for the adults (I didn't notice this until I was older and was watching the cartoons on TV and picked up on the subtle humor, especially if you recognized the history going on at the time).

Yes!  I didn't realize it until I was grown.  A modern cartoon like this is Spongebob.

[bugo]

All things considered, this problem is a lot less annoying than the smut deposits I had to deal with when I still used mice with mechanical tracking (another "You are too old if you remember . . ." item which I am quite happy to forget, TYVM).

You are too old if you remember cleaning the crap off the rollers of a mouse at a public computer.

25 is "too old"?

[bugo]

I use a corded mouse with my laptop.  If I misplace the mouse, I only have to follow the cord to find it.  No batteries to die.  Scott's concerns are another reason that I haven't gone wireless.

[Brandon]

You remember when I-39 in wisconsin north of Portage didn't exist - better yet - it was a 2-lane road between Point and Portage!

Or you remember when I-39 did not exist at all.

[NE2]

25 is "too old"?

Yep. Into the ovens.

[Brandon]

25 is "too old"?

Yep. Into the ovens.

"Governor Santini is brought to you today by Soylent Red, and Soylent Yellow. And, new, delicious, Soylent Green: The "miracle food" of high energy plankton, gathered from the oceans of the world. Due to its enormous popularity, Soylent Green is in short supply, so remember–Tuesday is Soylent Green day."

[US71]

I use a corded mouse with my laptop.  If I misplace the mouse, I only have to follow the cord to find it.  No batteries to die.  Scott's concerns are another reason that I haven't gone wireless.

My dads (well, my mom's now)Mac has a wireless mouse. I replaced it when it "died"every 2 months and it became a chore to replace the batteries. I'm surprised I haven't had to replace the wireless keyboard.

[roadman65]

You remember when I-39 in wisconsin north of Portage didn't exist - better yet - it was a 2-lane road between Point and Portage!

Or you remember when I-39 did not exist at all.

I remember when I-43 did not exist either.

Also when I-75 stopped at Tampa instead of Miami.
When I-40 ended at Raliegh at the current I-440/ US 1 & Wade Avenue interchange instead of Wilmington.
When I-664 in Hampton Roads was only a dotted line on all maps.
When US 301 crossed the Rappannock River at Port Conway on a drawbridge.
When the original two lane James River Bridge was there and its current bridge was under construction twice!  I saw both it's two lane original followed by its widening project.
When I-95 did not go through the Fort McHenry Tunnel, or should I say when it was discontinuous through Baltimore.
When I-95 had its own separate sequential exit numbers for both the JFK Highway and its independent freeway.  There was no Exit 1, but started with Exit 2 at the I-695 interchange even though the actual toll facility started at MD 43 with ramp tolls at all exits in MD and even DE on three DE Tpk interchanges.

That is it for what I care to remember for now.

[J N Winkler]

I'm surprised I haven't had to replace the wireless keyboard.

Wireless keyboards drain far less current, so they go for much longer between battery changes--the main thing that kills them is mechanical wear.

When I cut the cord in 2006, I got a wireless keyboard/mouse combo.  The keyboard takes two AAA batteries and usually goes for at least a month between battery changes.  The mouse takes two AA batteries and I was lucky to go for about two weeks between battery changes (no power-saving sleep function).  Since the keyboard had coil-sprung keys (like the old Model M keyboards) and I was untroubled by the short battery-change intervals for the mouse (I always have a charger and spare batteries in the same room as the computer), I continued using the combo after I purchased a new computer in 2011.

However, in 2012 I had to replace the mouse because it was no longer registering clicks properly.  I determined that this was because the clicker box inside the mouse had gotten dirty from wax buildup, so I cleaned it and the mouse worked more reliably.  Unfortunately I lost a spring when it flew out as I was disassembling the mouse for diagnosis and repair, so I started having problems with spurious clicks, and decided to replace the mouse altogether.  I decided to treat myself to a Logitech Anywhere MX mouse, whose advertising claimed multi-month battery life and infrared tracking (I was tired of feeling like I was risking my eyesight whenever I lifted the mouse).

The Anywhere MX has turned out to be a bit of a disappointment--battery life is more like a few weeks since I use my computer too intensively to trip the power-saving sleep function often, and tracking issues have developed after just a year of use.  But I still use the keyboard I bought in 2006 even though there is now so much wear on the home keys that only the "J" and ";/:" keys still have fully readable labels.  It drops keystrokes when line of sight to the receiver unit becomes attenuated, but this problem is not bad enough that I have felt justified hunting for a replacement.  I am in any case not aware of any Bluetooth keyboard models with coil-sprung keys.

[bugo]

There were 2 narrow truss bridges over the Fourche LaFave River and its relief just north of "Y" City, Arkansas, on US 71.  They were removed in the early '80s.  The bridges were quite different from each other.