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Familiar things fading into history

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January 11, 2012

by John Straka

Our government says we should no longer buy and use the standard 100 watt incandescent light bulb. We must use more expensive, more efficient bulbs. They are supposed to save energy. In a few years the old Edison light bulbs will be obsolete.

I've written about that subject before and as I get older, I find more and more things that are no longer used. Time marches on, and one after another, the old familiar things are out of date.

What I knew as a child is now seen only in a museum or in the home of someone old, like me.

I use a computer to type these columns now, and my typewriter sits there gathering dust. I wonder if one can still buy typewriter ribbon? Or carbon paper?

When I finish a column, I Email it to my editor. Maybe just 10 years ago, I would have thought that to be impossible. Me, using email? I don't even know how to spell it.

Pretty soon "snail mail" will be a thing of the past. All the letter carriers will be out of work. They will have to learn a new trade. Maybe repairing computers?

Stamps are changing, too. They used to have a monetary value printed on them. Now they are sold as "forever" stamps. They are good for one ounce of first class postage no matter what the amount is.

Packages are no longer weighed. They say "If it fits, it ships, for one flat rate."

There is talk of eliminating the paper dollar in favor of a $1 coin and getting rid of the copper penny. The silver dollars I have are made of real silver and the metal in them is worth more than one dollar. Plastic credit cards will some day replace paper bills and metal coins.

When credit cards become obsolete, all financial transactions will be conducted over the Internet. There simply will not be any more money. Will that be better than the old fashioned metal "charge-a-plate"?

Getting back to the 100 watt bulb, lighting must have started with the use of fire to provide light. Then came candles, kerosene lamps, neon tubes, mercury lamps and yellow sodium vapor lamps. Now we have those twirly CFLs.

Transportation has changed a lot. Walking, horseback riding, horse drawn wagons and buggies, horse drawn and electric streetcars, steam powered trains, Model T cars and trackless trolleys are all obsolete now.

In it's relatively short history, the automobile has evolved rapidly and much of what was part of the first cars is now obsolete. No more hand crank to start, no more 6-volt battery that needed distilled water added from time to time.

No more innertube that needed frequent patching and added air supplied by a hand pump. No more tire irons to remove the tire from the rim. No more alcohol in the radiator to keep it from freezing. No need to have a hygrometer to measure the alcohol in the radiator.

Modern cars don't even have a running board or a sediment bowl or a manual choke.

When I visit our local supermarket, I sometimes notice things that are missing from the shelves and display cases. Things we bought and ate and enjoyed when I was a boy. I don't see any pig tails for sale. No kidneys, no pigs feet, no fresh sauerkraut, no poppyseed. I don't see a hand cranked coffe grinder or any fresh yeast.

I don't remember the last time I saw a duck, goose or rabbit for sale. During hunting season, stores would display freshly harvested wild rabbits for sale, fur, feet and ears intact.

I did recently see limburger cheese for sale. I was tempted to buy some, but I didn't. My Dad would make a sandwich that included limburger and a thick slice of raw sweet onion. That was a good way to prevent catching a cold from another person because nobody would come near him. There is kind of an art to balancing the great taste of limburger with its distinctive aroma.

I remember the days when you could not buy ready made noodles or a cake mix. When many women baked everything from scratch and bought flour in 25 pound sacks. Those sacks could be used to make underwear or pillow cases and were almost as valuable as the flour that was in them.

I have lived long enough to remember the early days of modern entertainment. Many young people took lessons on piano, accordion, violin or other instruments.

If they did well, they would get a band together and play for their own entertainment. That led to being asked to play for parties, weddings and other occasions.

All entertainent was live because there was no way to record sound or pictures. There were brass band concerts, dances, the circus, vaudeville and burlesque. Then came the first black and white movies and that changed everything.

Television made the local kid playing an accordion obsolete. I think the circus is just about obsolete, too. Not too many people can make a living walking a tightrope or swinging from a trapeeze in a tent on an empty lot near the outskirts of small towns.

Cameras have gone from the large glass negative view camera to the hand held Brownie, the folding Kodak, and the 35 mm with focal plane shutter and interchangeable lenses.

The modern digital camera that does almost everything automatically puts all the other cameras on the way to a display case in a museum.

Now I have a suggestion for my "younger" readers. Ask a few senior citizens how my memories, as recorded in this column, compare to theirs. Be prepared to listen. I'd be delighted to know what they say.

Readers can send their comments to Straka care of the News Leader at newsleader@recordpub.com, or post comments on Straka's columns at the Opinion section of www.the-news-leader.com.




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