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From: "Gary R. Schmidt" <grschmidt@acm.org>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.fandom
Subject: Re: Things I never thought would disappear
Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2024 22:49:39 +1100
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On 11/10/2024 09:54, Joy Beeson wrote:
> 
> Things I never thought would disappear:
> 
> 
> Stockings shaped to the leg
> 
Oh, they're still out there, generally only in expensive silk for 
expensive women.  (I may or may not buy the occasional pair for a lady 
friend.  Or two.  :-) )

> wool socks
> 
Plenty of all-wool socks available here.

> unbleached muslin
> 
Ok, a bit harder, usually only available as an "organic" product, but in 
the fabric stores.

> plain cream
> 
In the refrigerator at the supermarket.

> canned tomatoes  (You can get what we used to call "salad tomatoes",
> but not tomatoes that are simply canned.)
> 
Oh, so many varieties of canned tomatoes, local, overseas, Italian, ...

> There's not even a retronym for petroleum jelly, which has been
> replaced by white petroleum jelly  (What's now called "white petroleum
> jelly" didn't even exist, at least not where laymen could see it.)
> 
Okay, this one doesn't translate well.  Vaseline's been Vaseline for as 
long as I recall, and I don't see any change from fifty years ago.  What 
is "white petroleum jelly", pray tell?

> Paperback books the size and shape of paperback books
> 
The exist, but not as many publishers create them, true.

> Newspapers.  Replaced by press-release papers that are fading fast.
> 
Yes, declining, but we still have two dailies here, and a few weeklies 
and monthlies published on newsprint.

> Old newspapers as a cheap, ubiquitous, and inexhaustable resource for
> every purpose.
> 
Well, yes, the newspapers are smaller, and so much more expensive!

> Definitive stamps that allowed one to mail a letter without affixing
> an opinion.  I didn't even know that plain, ordinary not-special
> stamps *had* a name.
> 
We've had variegated stamps for so long I'd almost forgotten that the 
Penny Black existed!

> Road maps.
> 
Got a 2021 Melways in the car!

> Street signs are at risk of heading for the endangered list.  I got
> very lost after one was rotated ninety degrees and nobody bothered to
> twist it back.
> 
Don't see much vandalism of that type here.

> User manuals.   Nowadays, the time to go obsolete is about half the
> time it takes to write a halfway-decent manual.
> 
Management won't fund decent manuals.  And yes, the ones that exist are 
usually out of date.

> The World Wide Web.  Nodes are still around, but one can't crawl from
> one to another to another.
> 
It's evolved, that's all.

> Mattresses that it's possible to tuck a sheet under.
> 
My mattress will happily keep a flat sheet on it, but I mostly use fitted.

> Beds that one can sit on.
> 
Not a problem here, I was with a friend who was bed shopping earlier 
this year, sittable beds were quite findable.  Even in IKEA.

> Carpet samples
> 
Again, we have them in the carpet stores here.

NOTE: YMMV as I live in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.  :-)

	Cheers,
		Gary	B-)