On Sat, 5 Jan 2008 21:47:30 -0800, "CalifBill"
wrote:

If you can still remember.

http://cruzintheavenue.com/DYRT.htm

I sure remember the Statler Brothers, and have at least one of their
albums.
Anybody remember that the first milk cartons were waxed?
You could scrape it off with a fingernail while munching your cereal,
leaving a pile of wax next to the carton, causing your mom to yell at
you.
Or real cellophane, which yellowed pretty quickly?
The luxury of getting rabbit fur gloves for Chistmas?
What made me first start thinking about how so many little things got
changed over my life time was the geared cutting wheel can opener.
That thing is 50 times easier to use the old type.
But one of my favorite Johnny Carson show moments was when Johnny
had a 100 year old working Nebraska farmer on his show, and put things
in wider perspective..
They bantered a bit, Johnny asking him if he still plowed with his
tractor. "Not much. My son does most of the plowing."
How old is your son? "Eighty-two."
Pretty funny. The audience was having a good time.
Now this was the early 70's, when we were walking the moon, and all
sorts of technological innovations were emerging.
Johnny asked the old guy, "What is the most amazing advance you've
seen in your life?"
I expected him to talk about cars or airplanes or space capsules or
color TV, and so did the audience.
The old man hardly paused, said just one word, and brought the house
down with it.
"Electricity."
We take a hell of lot for granted.

--Vic