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

[roadman]

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.

I remember the Challenger disaster very well.  That morning, I was planning to go into Downtown Boston and make the rounds with my contacts at MassDPW and the MBTA about possible job openings.  However, as it was bitterly cold outside, my parents and I decided my rounds could wait another day.  Later that morning, I watched the liftoff with my father (one of the last times we watched a major news event on TV together before he passed away).  Right after the explosion, but before NASA made any statements, something in my brain clicked and I recall turning to my father and stating "Dad, I believe it just blew up!"

[Takumi]

I was supposed to be born on the day the Challenger blew up. Thankfully, I stayed in the womb another week.

[roadman]

I was supposed to be born on the day the Challenger blew up. Thankfully, I stayed in the womb another week.

Until I turned 16 and looked up my birth certificate before going for my learner's permit, my parents always celebrated my birthday on September 11th instead of September 10th (my next oldest brother was born on September 18th, so my mother was thinking "a week apart" with the dates).  It's a good thing we straightened it out, otherwise my 40th birthday would have been on September 11th, 2001.  I still recall answering my brother's "so what do you think of all this (9/11)" question with the comment "Well, I sure didn't expect the world to fall apart so quickly after turning forty!"

[formulanone]

I remember seeing the Challenger Disaster from outside our classroom in school (one of the perks of living in coastal Florida). Usually, the shuttle just "disappears" out of the atmosphere; so as kids, we were largely oblivious to what occurred, especially since there were clouds in our sky. Some kids heard about the explosion during the class break (somebody had a half-day field trip where they heard about on TV), but I figured it was the usual middle-school banter. It wasn't until two hours later in which my civics teacher broke the news to us, which changed the subject matter.

[1995hoo]

The day of the Challenger explosion we were home from school because it was a teacher workday. Our father stayed home from work because our mother was a teacher. My brother and I were playing Intellivision games when our father came in abruptly and changed the TV to the news. He'd just gotten a call from someone telling him about the shuttle.

Naturally, as I was in junior high at the time, the next morning at school people were already telling "cruelty" jokes like how you knew Christa McAuliffe had dandruff and stuff like that.

[elsmere241]

When the announcement came on the intercom, several students were griping that our English teacher (who had put in for the program) wasn't the teacher on the shuttle.

[Big John]

I was in High School when that happened.  A lunch monitor told us about it then the next class was Physics and the teacher had the TV on for coverage and the whole class period was spent watching that on TV.

[roadman65]

Naturally, as I was in junior high at the time, the next morning at school people were already telling "cruelty" jokes like how you knew Christa McAuliffe had dandruff and stuff like that.

I heard even worse, like an acronym for NASA being Need Another Seven Astronauts.  That was the very same day mind you.  People thought it was funny, but how crude being seven people lost their lives.

[roadman]

Question for all of you musing about the Challenger disaster - can you remember where you were when you first heard about Three Mile Island.  I was a junior in high school at the time, and we found out about it from our physics teacher.   Not only that, but over the next several days until the event was contained, our teacher used the event to give us a quick primer in nuclear physics. 

[Brandon]

I'll be darned if I can remember where I was for the Challenger disaster.  However, thinking of the recent tornadoes here (Washington & Coal City, IL), I remember most details of August 28, 1990.

It's funny how we remember where we were for certain events, but not others.

[elsmere241]

I don't remember Three Mile Island, but I was all of six at the time.

[1995hoo]

Question for all of you musing about the Challenger disaster - can you remember where you were when you first heard about Three Mile Island.  I was a junior in high school at the time, and we found out about it from our physics teacher.   Not only that, but over the next several days until the event was contained, our teacher used the event to give us a quick primer in nuclear physics. 

I was also six years old in 1979, so I don't remember that one.

Naturally, as I was in junior high at the time, the next morning at school people were already telling "cruelty" jokes like how you knew Christa McAuliffe had dandruff and stuff like that.

I heard even worse, like an acronym for NASA being Need Another Seven Astronauts.  That was the very same day mind you.  People thought it was funny, but how crude being seven people lost their lives.

True....although I have to acknowledge there have been some jokes on this forum about the signage for the partial interchange between I-95 and FL-407. I know, it's being expanded, but the combination was quite unfortunate: http://goo.gl/maps/Klhqd

[agentsteel53]

I remember all of May, 1986 (my last full month of living in Hungary) being dedicated to discussing some event called "Chernobyl".  I turned 5 on the 18th of that month, so it took me several years to piece together exactly what had been discussed.

[agentsteel53]

the next morning at school people were already telling "cruelty" jokes like how you knew Christa McAuliffe had dandruff and stuff like that.

... I don't get it.

[akotchi]

Question for all of you musing about the Challenger disaster - can you remember where you were when you first heard about Three Mile Island.  I was a junior in high school at the time, and we found out about it from our physics teacher.   Not only that, but over the next several days until the event was contained, our teacher used the event to give us a quick primer in nuclear physics. 

I was an 8th grader (I think) in the Lancaster, PA, area, 25 miles or so from the plant.  We had the Thursday, Friday and Monday after the incident off from school until they were able to figure out the extent of the damage and radiation threat.  My father worked in Middletown, PA at the time, much closer to the plant, but still had to go to work.

[NE2]

the next morning at school people were already telling "cruelty" jokes like how you knew Christa McAuliffe had dandruff and stuff like that.

... I don't get it.

This I guess? http://books.google.com/books?id=sHfVZFl4JTIC&pg=PA130
I still don't quite get it but bengoatse.

[1995hoo]

I sent him a PM with the punchline. Figured it was a little tasteless to post in the thread.

[vtk]

It's funny how we remember where we were for certain events, but not others.

I tend to remember where I was for almost all remembered events.  To put it another way, nearly all my memories have georeferencing metadata (starting around 1988—90). 

[bugo]

Head and Shoulders on the beach...

[cjk374]

What about actually changing the channel or adjusting the volume on the TV...MANUALLY! Or having to go outside to change the direction of the TV antenna to get better reception. 

[elsmere241]

Or getting cable for the first time and finding something different on every channel.

[formulanone]

TVs that didn't tell you the station / volume level on the screen, getting actual black & white static on the screen, and the tiny white dot that remained on the center of the screen when you shut it off.

[cpzilliacus]

What about actually changing the channel or adjusting the volume on the TV...MANUALLY!

Yes.

Or having to go outside to change the direction of the TV antenna to get better reception. 

No. Rabbit ear-type antennas, yes.

[roadman65]

How about when you had to wait a minuet or so for the set to warm up?  How about siting through the commercials, because we had no clicker to change the stations during break?  I also remember the show them songs that were played at the beginning and end of programs instead of the credits in very small letters while the network wants to sell you some other program at the end.  Then of course the opening credits now are displayed during the first scene in many shows.

[DeaconG]

Or using a modified coat hanger to get UHF stations when the loop that came with your TV broke...