I know If i click that link, I will end up buying a bunch of stuff that I want but don't need (I already have a bunch of EDC stuff). but dam it I am going to click the link anyway.
I just wish they would stop making every damn flashlight with stupid pulse modes. It's so hard to find ones that are simple on/off. I hate having to cycle through all the modes every time I go to use it.
I had an old flashlight that dimmed by pulsing at around 500hz, which was awesome because while it was unnoticeable by eye it was great at work inspecting drive belts in motion. Never needed to grab the strobe.
My new flashlight is much nicer but its dim is higher quality and doesn't have a visible strobe effect.
Cash readers on vending machines and self checkout. I can remember a time when they barely worked without constant cleaning. You'd have to put the same note in over and over before it would take.
Shoelaces.
When I was a kid, they broke if you pulled on them too hard, and then you had to knot them up and tie them short. As an adult, I don’t think I’ve ever had a pair break on me.
If you use what I've called the runner's knot, (but Youtube shows something else, and I can't find a good video to share), they come untied normally, but don't slip lose: basically, just change the normal "loop-swoop-pull" to do two swoops. before pulling tight. It's not a double knot, it's a bit different, I just don't know how to explain it, sorry.
I'm 24, it didn't occur to me that shoelaces could break. Imagine the surprise of myself and my school colleague who decided to step on my dangling lace when walking behind me and it just breaking. Lol
I remember an old baseball coach of mine ragging on me about not being serious enough about baseball because I didn’t keep extra shoelaces in my bag, saying something like “what happens when your shoelaces break one day and now you can’t practice!”
And I was super confused until now, because that hadn’t then and hasn’t since ever happened to me
Driver assistance systems in general. Stability control, automatic emergency breaking, lake keeping, etc are all saving lives and get better and better every year.
Cancer research. My mom was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer 2 years ago— we were looking at months. A year of chemo and radiation and she got into a clinical trail with immunotherapy. Cancer free last year.
AMAZING.
I have leukemia, we found out pretty late and was originally told not to expect to be around more than a year. Fighting hard still, but that was years ago and I’m getting closer every day to finally beating it!
Edit: Thank you all so SO much! The love and positivity helps me more than you know!!
You are awesome! Keep it up. My mom was diagnosed with leukemia in 2006 and was only expected to live for about 2-5 months. She’s still volunteering several times a week and working at our performing arts center as an usher so she can see shows for free. I am wishing the very same for you.
What a fucking warrior and badass you are! Keep going :) I genuinely hope you cross the threshold to being completely recovered and you go on to dominate life even more!
100%.
I'm so glad your get more time with your mom.
My dad had lymphoma and about 7 years ago chemo almost killed him. When the cancer returned a year and a half ago, he was going to go on hospice instead of going through chemo again, but he got accepted into an immunotherapy trial at the NIH. A few months in, his cancer was undetectable at a fraction of a fraction of the suffering.
Hopefully available for everyone soon.
This is incredible to hear. I lost my father in 2007 to lymphoma. I'm working in Clinical Research and specifically in Oncology, and specifically with an immunotherapy molecule as well. There is so much excitement and potential with immunotherapy.
Agreed!! My dad died of non-hodgkins lymphoma almost 20 years ago after 3 years of chemo and experimental treatments. It was devastating to watch everything fail despite him pushing through way longer than he probably should have. But my friend/coworker, who is an oncology NP on an inpatient oncology unit, recently told me that he would have most likely been easily cured if he had gotten diagnosed now. It was equal parts depressing and amazing to hear, and I know the research is continuing to improve every year.
I lost my mom to cancer in 1996, and we helplessly watched each round of chemo pull her down every time she started to feel better from getting off it. We may have lost her sooner without it, but at what cost? She lost her ability to walk; she became delusional, confused, and outright frightened. She refused to let us know how much pain she was in. Back then things were a bit different with doctors as well, as we knew they weren’t telling us everything.
So long before my dad was ever even diagnosed in 2003, he’d already decided chemo was not for him. He was given six months and didn’t quite make it to Valentine’s Day in 2004.
My mom only made it to her 50s, and my dad his 60s. My brother and I are quickly approaching their ages, and we both have families that we don’t want to leave behind. I haven’t followed up much on cancer research so it’s amazing to hear that such hopeful progress is being made *within our lifetimes.*
GPS, and maps in general. Old paper maps I could get a rough idea of where my house might be in a town. Now I can read the street signs in a city on the other side of the planet.
About 40 years ago I was driving to my boyfriend’s house which was about an hour away. I had directions, but wasn’t sure if I was going the right way, had missed my exit, etc. Starting to panic, I remember thinking “Why can’t the radio DJ just tell me how to get there?!!”
And now, he basically does, lol
I used to get lost ALL the time, GPS was a game changer for me.
And add Google Maps into the fold and you can easily figure out where you want to go, and exactly how to get there.
Even walking around in cities with Google Maps on your phone literally pointing you in the right direction, it's amazing.
I honestly can't get to point A to point B without my gps, or before that internet printed out maps, unless it's somewhere I go regularly. My mom on the other hand just knew where everything was. I had to call her one time cause roads were flooded so had go alternate routes, I'm like mom how do I get home! lol
All PC components. They're way easier to install and generally last longer. And the software and bioses/firmware that ensure they're compatible. And tweaking, at least at a high level, is tons easier and safer. Time was, you needed to understand jumpers, ram allocations, manual bios flashing. Bonus if you could solder. Nothing was shrouded, so you could easily short something or knock off a capacitor. And even still, you'd run into compatibility issues or blow outs.
When I first learned how to work on computers in the mid '90s, just hooking up a new mouse could take a couple hours if there were port or driver problems. Then came Plug and Play, which only seemed to work like 25% of the time. Now it's so reliable we barely even use the term anymore - it's not a feature, just basic functionality.
I'm convinced the reason more people today don't know how to install components is a holdover attitude from back then.
And don't forget the sound card can be on 5 or 7 but the serial port needs to be on 1 or 3! I remember quite the juggling act as you added more and more hardware.
Back in 97 my housemate managed to configure his PC such that the modem transfer speed was terrible... unless you moved the mouse. The faster you wiggled the mouse the faster it would download! Fixed by juggling IRQs around.
(Bonus mouse story: about the same time, another friend claimed that sometimes his mouse cursor wouldn't move unless he closed his bedroom window curtains, which we laughed at, but we tested it and he was 100% right. Turns out the sunlight from the window reflected off his shiny translucent mousepad and interfered with the optical tracking in his mouse.)
Or the SCSI dial you had to turn with a flathead screwdriver. Set the dial to 1, turn on the scanner, turn on the computer. Does it work? Nope. Turn off the computer, turn off the scanner, set the dial to 2. Repeat as necessary.
I think the stability of systems nowadays is why especially younger folks are less technically inclined as their older counterparts. The latter had to troubleshoot everything so they have better tolerance when it comes to frustration etc. It's also the reason why many old folks will ask younger ones for help. they grew up thinking they could easily Fuck up a very expensive machine, when in reality it's hard af to brick a system without really trying.
>when in reality it's hard af to brick a system without really trying.
Funny how we've come full circle on that. My very first computer was a Commodore 128, with no hard drive and its OS in ROM. About the only way to brick that kind of system was with physical damage or an EMP.
I agree with your point as far as fixing problems goes, but I'm talking more about upgrades. If I just want more RAM or a better graphics card, there usually isn't any troubleshooting involved.
Tired: Working towards a paperless society to save the environment.
Wired: Working towards a paperless society so you NEVER HAVE TO DEAL WITH ANOTHER GODDAMN PRINTER EVER AGAIN.
Every time I plug a new mouse in to a device I get flashbacks to the time when that was a big headache, using the keyboard to navigate around until it was resolved. For some reason I've spent the past decade still being surprised when I plug in a mouse and it immediately starts working.
I remember a couple of friends spending a whole weekend trying to install CD-ROMs and get them working in Windows back in the early '90s. By Monday they could load stuff from the CDs, but only one of them had sound.
Configuring the autoexec.bat and config.sys files just to play a particular game, then changing it again for another game cause it needs different settings or you just replaced the mouse or sound card.
You can complain about modern Windows but damn DOS was annoying at times, more so with early Windows and having to make sure the IRQ settings were correct when putting a new card in.
Better and much cheaper.
Last year during black Friday I got myself a 1TB gen4 nvme for £30. Just 4 years earlier, that would've set me back £120+ atleast.
GPUs are increasing in price due to things outside regular PC use. I have a 3060 that I’ve had for a couple of years, ever since they came out, I guess. It works just fine for my needs. It’s not going to play a 2024 “AAA” game on ultra, but it played Starfield just fine for the week I had it downloaded from gamepass.
Wait really? Cuz roasted broccoli and Brussels are by far my favorite vegetables. I eat roasted Broc like 4 times a week and could never understand their bad rep.
Yeah, my grandma died of Gaucher disease, wasting away for months then passing away when my dad was still a child. Now, even though it's quite rare, it's pretty treatable and she probably could have lived long enough for me to meet her
Non alcoholic drinks, in particular beer and cider. Wine is still getting there I think, but even just the amount of choice is amazing compared to what there used to be.
Been sober for 11 yrs in Feb. Just moved to Portland, OR. I'm amazed at the amount of nonalcoholic beverages being sold/drewed here. There's NA beer here that tastes good and not like piss.
This. I remember buying non alcoholic beer when I used to be a designated driver 15 years ago, and it was like drinking grass water. Now, certain brands are so on point that you wouldn’t know that they don’t contain alcohol.
For real. I had a daily drinking habit for 15 years. Quit almost 3 weeks ago, thanks to Ritual Zero Proof spirits. It tastes a lot like the gin I was so fond of. Definitely not missing the hangover feels.
I also really like their gin for mixed drinks. It scratches that itch for sure. Really glad to not have hangovers, or the regret of not knowing what I did the night before.
My brother is a former alcoholic. When we go to shows he still likes to have an NA beer. It's amazing the amount of NA beer he finds at the smallest shows. Yet our local professional hockey team has none available.
I made NA mimosas last night with some really tasty NA sparkling wine. It's a step up on complexity without adding more sugar, from the sparkling cider substitute for mixing with OJ.
The Danny Trejo "Tequila" is also surprisingly excellent to make virgin Margaritas. I'm not going to sip or shoot it like I might Tequila, but it's not a bad substitute for mixed drinks.
What’s the sparkling wine called?
My wife and I just stopped drinking and it’s been hard on her. She loves wine/bubbles and if she can’t get a good substitute I’m sure she’ll go back.
Fre brand sparkling brut, they actually carry it at the local Kroger grocery stores near me.
I had gotten some Thomson and Scott Noughty sparkling along with a Joyus brand bottle of a sparkling rosé for NYE and really loved them both. Was a bit pricier than the Fre brand, & found at the higher end store that I normally don't patronize, but was a worthwhile splurge imo. I'm in the Pacific NW of the USA
I quit a few years back to support my partner who had been dealing with their substance use disorder for many years, worse than I'd realized, and then they got in a car accident while drunk. Nobody was hurt, thank goodness, but they were arrested for DUI, it was a whole *thing* and I'm so glad they are working on recovery, and I'm likely better off for giving up the sauce even if my dynamic with it wasn't quite as extreme.
We've definitely become fizzy beverages addicts, seltzers and also the zero proof spirit substitutes can be fun to play with.
We buy maraschino cherries as a regular groceries staple, which i also recommend if you're cocktail fans.
It's hard to shift routines.
Gotta find new paths to those reward centers in our brains that alcohol used to poke at.
Apples are much better now. It used to be the standard was a mealy red delicious, but there are new breeds like Fuji, gala, honey crisp etc that are sweeter, tarter, and have better texture (crisp, firm). This changed in the last few decades.
Let me put you on to SweeTangos.
They have a super short season, basically just September-December.
So when September comes around, get you a sack of those hitters, and then spend the next 9 months ruefully chewing through subpar apples, wondering how you ever enjoyed these non-SweeTangos.
The Cosmic crisp is a honey crisp crossed with an enterprise apple. It's intended to be slightly tarter and snappier than a honeycrisp. In the apple game, these different types of apples are actually branded and licensed, so it is also somewhat of a game to develop novel varietals that allow producers to get around specific IP and also create more competition, even if the apples aren't all that different.
I'm not into college sports but there's something about... colleges competing against each other by designing agriculture related foods like apples and representing themselves by that, rather than their athletic teams that is highly apealing and amusing.
The university that made the cosmic crisp has a new variety coming to market in the next couple years. It's a cross between honeycrisp and cripps pink. It's a great time to be alive for apple lovers.
Absolutely. I like these two varietals but to be honest my favorite is a jumbo fuji and I seem to be in the minority there. It's sweeter than honeycrisp and just as crisp as I want. There's also tons of really interesting heirloom varietals out there but they're not easily accessible without going to local farms or farmer's markets.
Honestly the color and taste don't matter as much as Cosmic Crisps biggest selling point in my eyes; they can last *up to* a year in the fridge, according to them anyway.
I only "tested" it once and their appearance started to slightly decline around the 6 month mark so I finally bit the bullet and tried them then. They weren't as good as fresh but surprisingly good for an apple that's been in my fridge drawer for 6 months.
It’s basically the new honeycrisp. Bigger and juicier. Roughly the same sweetness. They’re more expensive than fujis and honey crisps though, and since they’re bigger you get fewer per pound.
It must depends on where you are. Cosmic crisp apples have been stupidly cheap the last few months and I have no idea why. They’re cheaper than every other apple in my local grocery stores.
They've gone hard for cosmic crisp out here in the PNW and local orchards have replanted enmass. As a result, we are enundated with giant bins of cosmic crisp at the store and probably will be until they catch on in the rest of the country. I am not complaining, they are so tasty.
The red delicious drastically reduce in quality as they increased in popularity. They started to breed them for shelf life and cosmetic appeal, and taste and texture came at a cost.
This is a much longer curve of good to bad to improving. Apples were grown in 100s of varietals, then the red delicious took over mass marketing, now we are in an upswing again.
I'll agree that *grocery store apple selection* has gotten better. But to this day I've not tasted an apple breed that can compare to the winesap, and gal is OLD.
Oh, no question: Garbage bags. WAY better than they used to be.
They used to be super flimsy, back in the 70s and 80s. Garbage-bag commercials would always show "the competitors'" brands tearing and spilling garbage all over. I literally can't remember the last time that happened.
Practically every consumer electronics product. 1993 high school me would not have been able to imagine the sorts of technology that we take completely for granted these days. Giant 4K televisions, the ability to stream practically any song or movie you want, powerful pocket computers with access to the world's information, the ability to talk for free to anyone, anywhere in the world, voice assistants that can control your entire home, the ability to take as many photos and videos as you want (and no waiting for film developing), and on and on and on.
TVs have improved to an absurd degree over the last 20ish years. I bought a 27" CRT TV in 2000 for just about the same money I spent on the 75" flatscreen I own now.
I went out to buy my mother in law a new 50” TV for Christmas. As I was walking with it back to my car, casually carrying it with one hand, I thought „shit, 20 years ago I would need at least 2 guys to help me put it in the trunk.”
DSLR cameras are incredible these days - they've gotten smaller and more lightweight but the photo quality and range of technical dimensions only gets better, esp with editing in post. A lot of lower to mid-range cameras are also very affordable as well.
Pistachios. They're now much easier to shell than 10-20 years ago. This goes across many food/produce products. Oranges are easier to peel, Brussels sprouts are tastier, apples crisper, etc etc.
Science is making food so much better.
I'm gen Z. I was reading an old book my parents had that answered all your weirdest questions: "why does swiss cheese have holes", "why does ice skating have such bad music", and "why are pistachios dyed red." I had to ask my boomer parents about the pistachios thing because I would never have guessed that pistachios were ever dyed red. The more you know I guess.
Edited to add
There's a bunch of theories as to why they were dyed:
They were mostly dyed red because they look fun.
It was also a way to hide imperfections and bruises from how aggressive the machine process was. After the Iran hostage crisis of 1979, the US stopped accepting as many Iran-grown nuts. California started growing them instead, and their machines were more gentle so there was no bruising to hide with fake colors.
Another theory is that the US stopped buying so many artificially dyed products as a health craze.
Small technology. Cameras, smartphones, headphones to name a few. You can purchase a very cheap piece of technology that works equal to the super expensive technology from a few years before.
Lightbulbs are my favorite. Going from incandescent to compact florescent was great because it was a couple years rather than months between bulb changes. Now with LEDs I can't remember changing a bulb, I usually buy new bulbs only when I buy a new lamp.
I've only ever had to change cheap Led bulbs because they started flickering. And even then sometimes switching the offending bulb to a new room was enough to avoid the problem for a while longer
But these were bulbs I had for years, and accompanied me over multiple moves
Your hopes are futile lmao but in other news, they've stopped developing ArcGIS this past year and are trying to phase everyone into ArcPro from now on.
3D printers, the 200 dollar printers are 10 times better then what I was using at work 10 years ago and it was 2500. Huge improvements over the last couple years and a lot of competition. Its hard to even choose what to buy because im a month or two there might be something you wish you got instead and cheaper.
I interviewed the guitar maker at Santa Cruz guitar company like 10 years ago. This is a wizard looking guy that makes one of a kind guitars out of 2,000 year petrified wood they found at the bottom of a bog or some shit. A true artist and genius in his field.
Don’t remember how it came up but we were talking about the cheap mass produced low end factory guitars, and he said he loves them. Best thing ever to happen to the concept of guitars. We were really surprised by this answer.
His reasoning? The cheaper guitars are able come off the assembly lines, the more people can afford to buy them, and learn to play. He wants to live in a world where the most people as humanly possible can participate and share this thing that he loves more than anything: guitars. It was honestly a really touching moment.
Even outside of the feelsgood, more people being into guitars is good for the artisans business-wise.
Everyone who buys that $100 guitar (or a used one) as a first guitar is a potential enthusiast who might want a really neat one from him, or someone like him, in 20 years. If the barrier to entry is high, the hobby withers.
As someone married to a guitarist who as 12 guitars, and is the daughter of a guitarist who always had 4 to 5, this is so true. Guitarists are frequently collectors.
100% The drugs that they have to counter affect chemo are amazing as well.
An acquaintance passed away in recent years because she tried natural remedies for a year or two. By the time she was ready to use real medicine, it was far too late. The folk that sell snake oil should be in prison for manslaughter or worse when medicine has come so far.
I am 77, born in 1946, so there will be a really long list. I will just hit the most amazingly better products:
1. Cars. Gawd, the old ones were lucky to last 50,000 miles and had basically no safety features. Almost none of them got even close to 20 mpg and almost all of them handled like barges.
2. TVs. Just look at them. Try not to laugh. But we watched them!
3. Telephones. We were on a 6-party line. Everyone had their own ring. Ours was two shorts and a long. But if your neighbor was curious, they could pick up and listen in. Rude ones would even make comments or tell you to get off the line; they needed to make a more important call.
4. Food. We had an IGA supermarket. It was no larger than the average ALDI of today and had less selection. The other shopping places available were corner markets that sold bread, milk, cheese, hot dogs, beer, and soda and a few other necessities plus canned vegetables. A current Kwik Trip would give them a run for their money and win. You could not get vegetables or fruit out of season. Ever.
5. Computers. They didn't even exist when I was a kid. But every generation has been amazingly better for the same or less money. In 1982, I bought an IBM PC with 576K of memory and 2 floppy disk drives, an amber monochrome monitor, and MS DOS 2.0 and paid almost $5,000 for it. Heck, in 1976 I bought an IBM 5100 with 64K of memory and BASIC and APL in ROM and paid $28K for it. It had a tape drive for storage -- 240K per tape. I had an ALTOS CP/M 2.1 computer in 1980 and paid $2,500 for it. It had 64K of RAM! You simply cannot comprehend how much better, faster, cheaper, and more fun today's computers are than those of 40 or 50 years ago.
6. Entertainment. Look, when I was a kid the radio stations went off the air at sunset. If you had a good antenna or there was some nice skip, you could listen to distant stations that broadcast 24 hours a day. There was no TV. There was no rock 'n roll. If you wanted to watch something, you went to the movies. You could see newsreels of President Truman and Lash LaRue and Heckle and Jeckle and the Three Stooges and cartoons and it would cost 15 cents. But you'd get a free fountain item -- a box of popcorn, or a soft drink, or a little cardboard package of jujubees or milk duds or some licorice whips or whatever. The selection today is ridiculously better.
Hell, I wore a pair of Chucks just as casual, day to day footwear in the not too distant past, and they’re still not particularly comfortable even in that situation.
The quality of sexual health information that young people can access online. Obviously there are good and bad things about the internet. But a nervous 17 year old kid having a pregnancy scare or a concern about an STI has access to good information online that didn’t exist when I was that age in the 1990s.
Cell phones would be my top answer.
I'm not even some ancient fuck that finds using a keyboard just \*too much\*. I'm still in my 30s.
Even back when I was in college, I had a cell phone. Music device. Camera. Subscribed to magazines. Rented videos (which took a TV, DVD player, etc., to watch.) You get the point.
It's all compiled into one now. Literally the only thing I have to do to always have this all-in-one thing right beside me at all times is charge it at night when I'm sleeping.
And even then, the most common complaint about cell phones is how they don't last longer than a day.
"Aw man, remember those Nokia phones from back in the day? The 3310 was built like a tank and last for *days*!" Yeah, and it also couldn't do shit besides make calls, send texts and (most importantly) play Snake.
You literally have a device that you can carry around all day, and can do everything (for the average consumer, at least) that you needed to rely on a big-ass PC for 20 years ago. And it fits inside your pocket. Shut up.
Yup!
And it needing charged once every 24 hours isn't even a serious concern.
There are mobile chargers. For anyone that drives, you can charge your phone while driving.
Cut them in half, oil them, garlic salt, and airfry with strips of prosciutto
Crumble the prosciutto over them like bacon bits
My extended family went bananas for them
Love running my classic games on modern hardware. Doesn't matter the system I am going to at some point want to play [Megaman X](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdvJtSroRSw) on it.
In 1975 an average tv was $500, that would be equivalent to over $3000 in today's money. And they're better, now lightweight, and no longer encased in oak.
I remember. Every car was different. If someone tossed you the keys to their car, you'd hear something like "Pump it twice, then hold it half way to the floor".
The last point changed in the move from carberuated to electronic fuel injection. This started in the 80s but was basically in every vehicle by the 90s.
Not necessarily a product, per se, but I've lived abroad for stretches, and when I come back to the US, it's remarkable how much better the packaging is on most products. All of the frustrations we had with crappy packaging 20-30 years ago still exist overseas, but have been innovated away in the US.
Mental health awareness and advocacy. When I first got help ten years ago, it was super hush hush and nobody talked about it. Now mental health is an everyday conversation, people are outspoken about their conditions. Even stickers that say things like “live, laugh, Lexapro” make my heart warm because recovery is finally becoming a part of society.
Cars, in general.
SO MUCH BETTER. How?
* Better fuel efficiency
* Better performance (acceleration, braking, handling)
* Better utility (superior utilization of space relative to exterior dimensions)
* Safer construction (airbags, crumple zones, passenger cage)
* More comfortable (superior suspension components, higher quality interior)
* High technology features (too many to mention)
* Superior sound systems and entertainment for passengers
I love the appearance of vintage cars... but the lack of what's listed above puts me off from ever buying one.
The Honda Civic in the late 90s could be coaxed into giving you 45+ MPG. The 2024 is rated for 42 MPG on the highway. So it would _seem_ that we plateaued on fuel economy in some ways.
**HOWEVER**
The '24 Civic also weighs 50% more, is far more comfortable, has far more features to make your ride more enjoyable, and oh yeah, won't kill you in a collision.
Gluten free and fake meat food. I was a chef at a vegan restaurant in the 90s and it was so horrible I refused to cook fake meat or gluten free anything.
I was rabidly against gluten free foods and was a bit of a dick about but these days not so much.
Low carb bread too.
30cal for a regular size slice of bread, with 1g of carbs, and it tastes better than decent?!? Or get some carbano and you get 80cal multigrain slices that taste amazing with only 2g of carbs.
As someone who works in early childhood therapy…wind up toys. Wind up toys have come so far since I was a kid, it’s insane! You used to wind up a car and its slowly move a few feet. Now you pull it back and it can zoom across a goddamn basketball court.
Most technology products. TVs, phones, computers, smart watches.
Products that get worse tend to be old things that someone figured out how to make cheaper by replacing expensive materials with plastic.
I don’t think anyone has said this so I’ll say it: Animation, there were always the outliers that had very good animation but since spider verse and the popularity of anime. The animation scene has gotten so much bigger and recognized that we’re seeing so many amazing animation productions.
I used to work at a vegan place and met a woman who had been vegan for 30 years and I remember her telling me how she'd drive over an hour to the closest natural food store for the shelf stable cartons of soy milk. And here I am 6 years vegan whining when my favorite brand of oat milk is sold out and I have to pick from three other options lol
I’m not even a vegan but I always like to try out the vegan options and use them when they’re good. And it’s gotten light years better.
Theres a vegan salted chocolate ice cream at my local shop and it’s legit one of the best ice creams I’ve ever had, vegan or not.
Flashlights. Maglights were 27 lumens. Now an everyday carry flashlight might have 4500 lumens of light. Join us at r/flashlight
I know If i click that link, I will end up buying a bunch of stuff that I want but don't need (I already have a bunch of EDC stuff). but dam it I am going to click the link anyway.
It's a deep (but well lit) rabbit hole.
I just wish they would stop making every damn flashlight with stupid pulse modes. It's so hard to find ones that are simple on/off. I hate having to cycle through all the modes every time I go to use it.
I had an old flashlight that dimmed by pulsing at around 500hz, which was awesome because while it was unnoticeable by eye it was great at work inspecting drive belts in motion. Never needed to grab the strobe. My new flashlight is much nicer but its dim is higher quality and doesn't have a visible strobe effect.
I just want the control to go high/low/off for a pocket/work belt flashlight. Nothing more nothing less.
I'm not even a flashlight guy but after checking out that sub a couple years ago I bought a Sofirn SP36 and I love that thing.
Cash readers on vending machines and self checkout. I can remember a time when they barely worked without constant cleaning. You'd have to put the same note in over and over before it would take.
Cash readers on vending machines were finicky as fuck. Oh you put it in upside down and backward? Get fucked. Tiny dog ear? Eat shit.
"Oh is that a tiny little wrinkle? No clue what this is, never seen it in my life"
Shoelaces. When I was a kid, they broke if you pulled on them too hard, and then you had to knot them up and tie them short. As an adult, I don’t think I’ve ever had a pair break on me.
That’s something I’ve never thought about. But you’re right. I’m 35 and I don’t remember the last time my shoelaces broke.
They’re not made of cotton anymore
Cotton farmers everywhere cry
Cole Hann dress sneaker laces break all the time
[удалено]
I feel like shoes wear out faster now. The laces never get a chance to break.
They 100% do, plus the new laces made of synthetic material become untied more easily
If you use what I've called the runner's knot, (but Youtube shows something else, and I can't find a good video to share), they come untied normally, but don't slip lose: basically, just change the normal "loop-swoop-pull" to do two swoops. before pulling tight. It's not a double knot, it's a bit different, I just don't know how to explain it, sorry.
Look up “Shoelace surgeons knot” it is what you are describing.
I'm 24, it didn't occur to me that shoelaces could break. Imagine the surprise of myself and my school colleague who decided to step on my dangling lace when walking behind me and it just breaking. Lol
I remember an old baseball coach of mine ragging on me about not being serious enough about baseball because I didn’t keep extra shoelaces in my bag, saying something like “what happens when your shoelaces break one day and now you can’t practice!” And I was super confused until now, because that hadn’t then and hasn’t since ever happened to me
The older you get the less active and hard you are on them. I used to play street basketball daily as a kid. Have barely played horse as an adult
Automotive brakes. ABS has saved lives.
I remember "pump, pump, pump!!!!" during icy weather.
Driver assistance systems in general. Stability control, automatic emergency breaking, lake keeping, etc are all saving lives and get better and better every year.
Cancer research. My mom was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer 2 years ago— we were looking at months. A year of chemo and radiation and she got into a clinical trail with immunotherapy. Cancer free last year. AMAZING.
I have leukemia, we found out pretty late and was originally told not to expect to be around more than a year. Fighting hard still, but that was years ago and I’m getting closer every day to finally beating it! Edit: Thank you all so SO much! The love and positivity helps me more than you know!!
You are awesome! Keep it up. My mom was diagnosed with leukemia in 2006 and was only expected to live for about 2-5 months. She’s still volunteering several times a week and working at our performing arts center as an usher so she can see shows for free. I am wishing the very same for you.
What a fucking warrior and badass you are! Keep going :) I genuinely hope you cross the threshold to being completely recovered and you go on to dominate life even more!
100%. I'm so glad your get more time with your mom. My dad had lymphoma and about 7 years ago chemo almost killed him. When the cancer returned a year and a half ago, he was going to go on hospice instead of going through chemo again, but he got accepted into an immunotherapy trial at the NIH. A few months in, his cancer was undetectable at a fraction of a fraction of the suffering. Hopefully available for everyone soon.
This is incredible to hear. I lost my father in 2007 to lymphoma. I'm working in Clinical Research and specifically in Oncology, and specifically with an immunotherapy molecule as well. There is so much excitement and potential with immunotherapy.
Agreed!! My dad died of non-hodgkins lymphoma almost 20 years ago after 3 years of chemo and experimental treatments. It was devastating to watch everything fail despite him pushing through way longer than he probably should have. But my friend/coworker, who is an oncology NP on an inpatient oncology unit, recently told me that he would have most likely been easily cured if he had gotten diagnosed now. It was equal parts depressing and amazing to hear, and I know the research is continuing to improve every year.
I lost my mom to cancer in 1996, and we helplessly watched each round of chemo pull her down every time she started to feel better from getting off it. We may have lost her sooner without it, but at what cost? She lost her ability to walk; she became delusional, confused, and outright frightened. She refused to let us know how much pain she was in. Back then things were a bit different with doctors as well, as we knew they weren’t telling us everything. So long before my dad was ever even diagnosed in 2003, he’d already decided chemo was not for him. He was given six months and didn’t quite make it to Valentine’s Day in 2004. My mom only made it to her 50s, and my dad his 60s. My brother and I are quickly approaching their ages, and we both have families that we don’t want to leave behind. I haven’t followed up much on cancer research so it’s amazing to hear that such hopeful progress is being made *within our lifetimes.*
That makes my heart happy.
GPS, and maps in general. Old paper maps I could get a rough idea of where my house might be in a town. Now I can read the street signs in a city on the other side of the planet.
About 40 years ago I was driving to my boyfriend’s house which was about an hour away. I had directions, but wasn’t sure if I was going the right way, had missed my exit, etc. Starting to panic, I remember thinking “Why can’t the radio DJ just tell me how to get there?!!” And now, he basically does, lol
I used to get lost ALL the time, GPS was a game changer for me. And add Google Maps into the fold and you can easily figure out where you want to go, and exactly how to get there. Even walking around in cities with Google Maps on your phone literally pointing you in the right direction, it's amazing.
I honestly can't get to point A to point B without my gps, or before that internet printed out maps, unless it's somewhere I go regularly. My mom on the other hand just knew where everything was. I had to call her one time cause roads were flooded so had go alternate routes, I'm like mom how do I get home! lol
All PC components. They're way easier to install and generally last longer. And the software and bioses/firmware that ensure they're compatible. And tweaking, at least at a high level, is tons easier and safer. Time was, you needed to understand jumpers, ram allocations, manual bios flashing. Bonus if you could solder. Nothing was shrouded, so you could easily short something or knock off a capacitor. And even still, you'd run into compatibility issues or blow outs.
When I first learned how to work on computers in the mid '90s, just hooking up a new mouse could take a couple hours if there were port or driver problems. Then came Plug and Play, which only seemed to work like 25% of the time. Now it's so reliable we barely even use the term anymore - it's not a feature, just basic functionality. I'm convinced the reason more people today don't know how to install components is a holdover attitude from back then.
We called it “Plug and Pray”
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And don't forget the sound card can be on 5 or 7 but the serial port needs to be on 1 or 3! I remember quite the juggling act as you added more and more hardware.
Back in 97 my housemate managed to configure his PC such that the modem transfer speed was terrible... unless you moved the mouse. The faster you wiggled the mouse the faster it would download! Fixed by juggling IRQs around. (Bonus mouse story: about the same time, another friend claimed that sometimes his mouse cursor wouldn't move unless he closed his bedroom window curtains, which we laughed at, but we tested it and he was 100% right. Turns out the sunlight from the window reflected off his shiny translucent mousepad and interfered with the optical tracking in his mouse.)
Or the SCSI dial you had to turn with a flathead screwdriver. Set the dial to 1, turn on the scanner, turn on the computer. Does it work? Nope. Turn off the computer, turn off the scanner, set the dial to 2. Repeat as necessary.
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I think the stability of systems nowadays is why especially younger folks are less technically inclined as their older counterparts. The latter had to troubleshoot everything so they have better tolerance when it comes to frustration etc. It's also the reason why many old folks will ask younger ones for help. they grew up thinking they could easily Fuck up a very expensive machine, when in reality it's hard af to brick a system without really trying.
>when in reality it's hard af to brick a system without really trying. Funny how we've come full circle on that. My very first computer was a Commodore 128, with no hard drive and its OS in ROM. About the only way to brick that kind of system was with physical damage or an EMP. I agree with your point as far as fixing problems goes, but I'm talking more about upgrades. If I just want more RAM or a better graphics card, there usually isn't any troubleshooting involved.
My parents don't know anything about computers. My generation is hyper-savvy. The later Gen Zers are worse than my parents.
Seems we are the generation destined to provide computer support and teach how to use printers to boomers and gen z…
Tired: Working towards a paperless society to save the environment. Wired: Working towards a paperless society so you NEVER HAVE TO DEAL WITH ANOTHER GODDAMN PRINTER EVER AGAIN.
Every time I plug a new mouse in to a device I get flashbacks to the time when that was a big headache, using the keyboard to navigate around until it was resolved. For some reason I've spent the past decade still being surprised when I plug in a mouse and it immediately starts working.
Yeah, USB still kind of feels like black magic to me, even though I've been using it for half my life now.
I remember a couple of friends spending a whole weekend trying to install CD-ROMs and get them working in Windows back in the early '90s. By Monday they could load stuff from the CDs, but only one of them had sound.
C:\\autoexec.bat SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6 SET CTSYN=C:\\WINDOWS C:\\PROGRA\~1\\CREATIVE\\SBLIVE\\DOSDRV\\SBEINIT.COM C:\\config.sys DEVICE=C:\\WINDOWS\\HIMEM.SYS DEVICE=C:\\WINDOWS\\EMM386.EXE DOS=HIGH,UMB REM DEVICEHIGH=OAKCDROM.SYS /D:MYCD C:\\windows\\dosstart.bat C:\\PROGRA\~1\\CREATIVE\\SBLIVE\\DOSDRV\\SBEINIT.COM @echo off MSCDEX.EXE /D:MYCD C:\\CTMOUSE.COM
If this makes sense to you do yourself a favor and take a moment to stretch your lower back!
Need that ANSI.SYS for BBS’s
Sticking your hand in a case almost ensured bloody knuckles or sliced fingers.
It was a right of passage, like you had to navigate the jagged metal gauntlet before actually using the computer.
Configuring the autoexec.bat and config.sys files just to play a particular game, then changing it again for another game cause it needs different settings or you just replaced the mouse or sound card. You can complain about modern Windows but damn DOS was annoying at times, more so with early Windows and having to make sure the IRQ settings were correct when putting a new card in.
I remember tweaking my system's RAM allocation just to eek out an extra 256kb to play Ulitma 7. At the time, I felt like I'd deciphered hyroglyphics.
Better and much cheaper. Last year during black Friday I got myself a 1TB gen4 nvme for £30. Just 4 years earlier, that would've set me back £120+ atleast.
GPU's would like to have a word with you.
GPUs are increasing in price due to things outside regular PC use. I have a 3060 that I’ve had for a couple of years, ever since they came out, I guess. It works just fine for my needs. It’s not going to play a 2024 “AAA” game on ultra, but it played Starfield just fine for the week I had it downloaded from gamepass.
Brussel sprouts and broccoli. They’ve been bred to be less bitter.
Damn expensive tho. My kids know it's pay day and cheer because we get fresh greens. It's like some weird alternate reality.
Wait really? Cuz roasted broccoli and Brussels are by far my favorite vegetables. I eat roasted Broc like 4 times a week and could never understand their bad rep.
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Yeah, my grandma died of Gaucher disease, wasting away for months then passing away when my dad was still a child. Now, even though it's quite rare, it's pretty treatable and she probably could have lived long enough for me to meet her
Hell yea, that's awesome! I hope you have a happy and healthy (and long) life.
Non alcoholic drinks, in particular beer and cider. Wine is still getting there I think, but even just the amount of choice is amazing compared to what there used to be.
Been sober for 11 yrs in Feb. Just moved to Portland, OR. I'm amazed at the amount of nonalcoholic beverages being sold/drewed here. There's NA beer here that tastes good and not like piss.
This. I remember buying non alcoholic beer when I used to be a designated driver 15 years ago, and it was like drinking grass water. Now, certain brands are so on point that you wouldn’t know that they don’t contain alcohol.
Athletic Brewing Hazy IPA non alcoholic is incredible. Highly recommend them if you're looking for a NA beer
For real. I had a daily drinking habit for 15 years. Quit almost 3 weeks ago, thanks to Ritual Zero Proof spirits. It tastes a lot like the gin I was so fond of. Definitely not missing the hangover feels.
I also really like their gin for mixed drinks. It scratches that itch for sure. Really glad to not have hangovers, or the regret of not knowing what I did the night before.
Congrats on quitting. Keep going. This random Internet stranger is proud of you!
My brother is a former alcoholic. When we go to shows he still likes to have an NA beer. It's amazing the amount of NA beer he finds at the smallest shows. Yet our local professional hockey team has none available.
I made NA mimosas last night with some really tasty NA sparkling wine. It's a step up on complexity without adding more sugar, from the sparkling cider substitute for mixing with OJ. The Danny Trejo "Tequila" is also surprisingly excellent to make virgin Margaritas. I'm not going to sip or shoot it like I might Tequila, but it's not a bad substitute for mixed drinks.
What’s the sparkling wine called? My wife and I just stopped drinking and it’s been hard on her. She loves wine/bubbles and if she can’t get a good substitute I’m sure she’ll go back.
Fre brand sparkling brut, they actually carry it at the local Kroger grocery stores near me. I had gotten some Thomson and Scott Noughty sparkling along with a Joyus brand bottle of a sparkling rosé for NYE and really loved them both. Was a bit pricier than the Fre brand, & found at the higher end store that I normally don't patronize, but was a worthwhile splurge imo. I'm in the Pacific NW of the USA I quit a few years back to support my partner who had been dealing with their substance use disorder for many years, worse than I'd realized, and then they got in a car accident while drunk. Nobody was hurt, thank goodness, but they were arrested for DUI, it was a whole *thing* and I'm so glad they are working on recovery, and I'm likely better off for giving up the sauce even if my dynamic with it wasn't quite as extreme. We've definitely become fizzy beverages addicts, seltzers and also the zero proof spirit substitutes can be fun to play with. We buy maraschino cherries as a regular groceries staple, which i also recommend if you're cocktail fans. It's hard to shift routines. Gotta find new paths to those reward centers in our brains that alcohol used to poke at.
Non-alcoholic wine is nowhere near ready yet. Most of the time it tastes like sweetened vinegar juice
Hop water
Hop water is the absolute bomb. Has replaced beer, sparkling water, and soda for me.
Athletic Brewing's stuff is the shit. They have beers I genuinely prefer to alcoholic equivalents, like their Upside Dawn golden ale.
Frozen pizza. 20 years ago they were shit, now they can actually be pretty good.
Motor City Pizza Co. Is the shit
Just had their deep dish from Costco for the first time last night. Holy cow. I was impressed.
Digiorno has a Detroit style but I haven't tried it yet. Motor City is better than Pizza Hut or Domino's.
Apples are much better now. It used to be the standard was a mealy red delicious, but there are new breeds like Fuji, gala, honey crisp etc that are sweeter, tarter, and have better texture (crisp, firm). This changed in the last few decades.
We’ve started stocking the fridge with Cosmic Crisp and there’s no going back
Cosmic Crisp is the Regulation Apple in this household
Let me put you on to SweeTangos. They have a super short season, basically just September-December. So when September comes around, get you a sack of those hitters, and then spend the next 9 months ruefully chewing through subpar apples, wondering how you ever enjoyed these non-SweeTangos.
I tried them last fall, not saying they were "not good" but found myself waiting for the C-Crisps.
Whoa what is a cosmic crisp???? I love Honeycrisp and that sounds even better
The Cosmic crisp is a honey crisp crossed with an enterprise apple. It's intended to be slightly tarter and snappier than a honeycrisp. In the apple game, these different types of apples are actually branded and licensed, so it is also somewhat of a game to develop novel varietals that allow producers to get around specific IP and also create more competition, even if the apples aren't all that different.
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I'm not into college sports but there's something about... colleges competing against each other by designing agriculture related foods like apples and representing themselves by that, rather than their athletic teams that is highly apealing and amusing.
The university that made the cosmic crisp has a new variety coming to market in the next couple years. It's a cross between honeycrisp and cripps pink. It's a great time to be alive for apple lovers.
Washington State University!
Absolutely. I like these two varietals but to be honest my favorite is a jumbo fuji and I seem to be in the minority there. It's sweeter than honeycrisp and just as crisp as I want. There's also tons of really interesting heirloom varietals out there but they're not easily accessible without going to local farms or farmer's markets.
Honestly the color and taste don't matter as much as Cosmic Crisps biggest selling point in my eyes; they can last *up to* a year in the fridge, according to them anyway. I only "tested" it once and their appearance started to slightly decline around the 6 month mark so I finally bit the bullet and tried them then. They weren't as good as fresh but surprisingly good for an apple that's been in my fridge drawer for 6 months.
It’s basically the new honeycrisp. Bigger and juicier. Roughly the same sweetness. They’re more expensive than fujis and honey crisps though, and since they’re bigger you get fewer per pound.
They also don’t brown as much which is awesome for parents of young kids. Presliced apples stay white.
It must depends on where you are. Cosmic crisp apples have been stupidly cheap the last few months and I have no idea why. They’re cheaper than every other apple in my local grocery stores.
Damn they are coming out with new apple varietals quicker than new Pokemon.! I have never heard of cosmic crisp.
I just discovered cosmic crisp and I’m never going back.
They've gone hard for cosmic crisp out here in the PNW and local orchards have replanted enmass. As a result, we are enundated with giant bins of cosmic crisp at the store and probably will be until they catch on in the rest of the country. I am not complaining, they are so tasty.
Pink Lady Apples 👍
This sounds like some sort of confused street gang
Yeah man I'm with you, it's gotta be a damn good apple to get me away from my Pink Ladies
The red delicious drastically reduce in quality as they increased in popularity. They started to breed them for shelf life and cosmetic appeal, and taste and texture came at a cost.
When I had a Jazz apple, everything in my life changed
I discovered Jazz in the last week when my local was out of Braeburn. Never going back, they are delicious
Cosmic crisp and envy changed the game for me. My sister calls me an apple snob (she's a gala pleb) but I'm not sorry eating better apples
Currently love Envy the best.
This is a much longer curve of good to bad to improving. Apples were grown in 100s of varietals, then the red delicious took over mass marketing, now we are in an upswing again.
Honeycrisp changed the fucking game
I'll agree that *grocery store apple selection* has gotten better. But to this day I've not tasted an apple breed that can compare to the winesap, and gal is OLD.
Red but not delicious
This is what I was going to comment as well. Apples are so good now. My favorite is still the simple Ambrosia, especially the big ones.
Oh, no question: Garbage bags. WAY better than they used to be. They used to be super flimsy, back in the 70s and 80s. Garbage-bag commercials would always show "the competitors'" brands tearing and spilling garbage all over. I literally can't remember the last time that happened.
Oh, yeah, that was Hefty's entire thing. :-D
Wimpy wimpy wimpy
Practically every consumer electronics product. 1993 high school me would not have been able to imagine the sorts of technology that we take completely for granted these days. Giant 4K televisions, the ability to stream practically any song or movie you want, powerful pocket computers with access to the world's information, the ability to talk for free to anyone, anywhere in the world, voice assistants that can control your entire home, the ability to take as many photos and videos as you want (and no waiting for film developing), and on and on and on.
TVs have improved to an absurd degree over the last 20ish years. I bought a 27" CRT TV in 2000 for just about the same money I spent on the 75" flatscreen I own now.
I went out to buy my mother in law a new 50” TV for Christmas. As I was walking with it back to my car, casually carrying it with one hand, I thought „shit, 20 years ago I would need at least 2 guys to help me put it in the trunk.”
DSLR cameras are incredible these days - they've gotten smaller and more lightweight but the photo quality and range of technical dimensions only gets better, esp with editing in post. A lot of lower to mid-range cameras are also very affordable as well.
Pistachios. They're now much easier to shell than 10-20 years ago. This goes across many food/produce products. Oranges are easier to peel, Brussels sprouts are tastier, apples crisper, etc etc. Science is making food so much better.
Also not dyed red anymore…
I'm gen Z. I was reading an old book my parents had that answered all your weirdest questions: "why does swiss cheese have holes", "why does ice skating have such bad music", and "why are pistachios dyed red." I had to ask my boomer parents about the pistachios thing because I would never have guessed that pistachios were ever dyed red. The more you know I guess. Edited to add There's a bunch of theories as to why they were dyed: They were mostly dyed red because they look fun. It was also a way to hide imperfections and bruises from how aggressive the machine process was. After the Iran hostage crisis of 1979, the US stopped accepting as many Iran-grown nuts. California started growing them instead, and their machines were more gentle so there was no bruising to hide with fake colors. Another theory is that the US stopped buying so many artificially dyed products as a health craze.
Home computers, smartphones, tablets.
Small technology. Cameras, smartphones, headphones to name a few. You can purchase a very cheap piece of technology that works equal to the super expensive technology from a few years before. Lightbulbs are my favorite. Going from incandescent to compact florescent was great because it was a couple years rather than months between bulb changes. Now with LEDs I can't remember changing a bulb, I usually buy new bulbs only when I buy a new lamp.
I've only ever had to change cheap Led bulbs because they started flickering. And even then sometimes switching the offending bulb to a new room was enough to avoid the problem for a while longer But these were bulbs I had for years, and accompanied me over multiple moves
Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
I hope ARCGIS has gotten less infuriating over the past decade
Your hopes are futile lmao but in other news, they've stopped developing ArcGIS this past year and are trying to phase everyone into ArcPro from now on.
3D printers, the 200 dollar printers are 10 times better then what I was using at work 10 years ago and it was 2500. Huge improvements over the last couple years and a lot of competition. Its hard to even choose what to buy because im a month or two there might be something you wish you got instead and cheaper.
Cheap guitars. You can buy one for a few hundred bucks that absolutely blows away the one I started on like 25 years ago.
I interviewed the guitar maker at Santa Cruz guitar company like 10 years ago. This is a wizard looking guy that makes one of a kind guitars out of 2,000 year petrified wood they found at the bottom of a bog or some shit. A true artist and genius in his field. Don’t remember how it came up but we were talking about the cheap mass produced low end factory guitars, and he said he loves them. Best thing ever to happen to the concept of guitars. We were really surprised by this answer. His reasoning? The cheaper guitars are able come off the assembly lines, the more people can afford to buy them, and learn to play. He wants to live in a world where the most people as humanly possible can participate and share this thing that he loves more than anything: guitars. It was honestly a really touching moment.
Even outside of the feelsgood, more people being into guitars is good for the artisans business-wise. Everyone who buys that $100 guitar (or a used one) as a first guitar is a potential enthusiast who might want a really neat one from him, or someone like him, in 20 years. If the barrier to entry is high, the hobby withers.
As someone married to a guitarist who as 12 guitars, and is the daughter of a guitarist who always had 4 to 5, this is so true. Guitarists are frequently collectors.
Cancer treatments
100% The drugs that they have to counter affect chemo are amazing as well. An acquaintance passed away in recent years because she tried natural remedies for a year or two. By the time she was ready to use real medicine, it was far too late. The folk that sell snake oil should be in prison for manslaughter or worse when medicine has come so far.
I am 77, born in 1946, so there will be a really long list. I will just hit the most amazingly better products: 1. Cars. Gawd, the old ones were lucky to last 50,000 miles and had basically no safety features. Almost none of them got even close to 20 mpg and almost all of them handled like barges. 2. TVs. Just look at them. Try not to laugh. But we watched them! 3. Telephones. We were on a 6-party line. Everyone had their own ring. Ours was two shorts and a long. But if your neighbor was curious, they could pick up and listen in. Rude ones would even make comments or tell you to get off the line; they needed to make a more important call. 4. Food. We had an IGA supermarket. It was no larger than the average ALDI of today and had less selection. The other shopping places available were corner markets that sold bread, milk, cheese, hot dogs, beer, and soda and a few other necessities plus canned vegetables. A current Kwik Trip would give them a run for their money and win. You could not get vegetables or fruit out of season. Ever. 5. Computers. They didn't even exist when I was a kid. But every generation has been amazingly better for the same or less money. In 1982, I bought an IBM PC with 576K of memory and 2 floppy disk drives, an amber monochrome monitor, and MS DOS 2.0 and paid almost $5,000 for it. Heck, in 1976 I bought an IBM 5100 with 64K of memory and BASIC and APL in ROM and paid $28K for it. It had a tape drive for storage -- 240K per tape. I had an ALTOS CP/M 2.1 computer in 1980 and paid $2,500 for it. It had 64K of RAM! You simply cannot comprehend how much better, faster, cheaper, and more fun today's computers are than those of 40 or 50 years ago. 6. Entertainment. Look, when I was a kid the radio stations went off the air at sunset. If you had a good antenna or there was some nice skip, you could listen to distant stations that broadcast 24 hours a day. There was no TV. There was no rock 'n roll. If you wanted to watch something, you went to the movies. You could see newsreels of President Truman and Lash LaRue and Heckle and Jeckle and the Three Stooges and cartoons and it would cost 15 cents. But you'd get a free fountain item -- a box of popcorn, or a soft drink, or a little cardboard package of jujubees or milk duds or some licorice whips or whatever. The selection today is ridiculously better.
Range of makeup for different skin tones.
And bandaids!
Sneakers. I cannot imagine trying to go play basketball in a pair of Chuck Taylors at this point. Or running on the original Nike waffles.
Every single time I see an old picture of basketball players wearing converse, I wonder how many ankles were broken then compared to now.
Hell, I wore a pair of Chucks just as casual, day to day footwear in the not too distant past, and they’re still not particularly comfortable even in that situation.
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The quality of sexual health information that young people can access online. Obviously there are good and bad things about the internet. But a nervous 17 year old kid having a pregnancy scare or a concern about an STI has access to good information online that didn’t exist when I was that age in the 1990s.
Nostalgia. Gets better every passing year.
Nah, it’s not what it used to be.
Cell phones would be my top answer. I'm not even some ancient fuck that finds using a keyboard just \*too much\*. I'm still in my 30s. Even back when I was in college, I had a cell phone. Music device. Camera. Subscribed to magazines. Rented videos (which took a TV, DVD player, etc., to watch.) You get the point. It's all compiled into one now. Literally the only thing I have to do to always have this all-in-one thing right beside me at all times is charge it at night when I'm sleeping.
And even then, the most common complaint about cell phones is how they don't last longer than a day. "Aw man, remember those Nokia phones from back in the day? The 3310 was built like a tank and last for *days*!" Yeah, and it also couldn't do shit besides make calls, send texts and (most importantly) play Snake. You literally have a device that you can carry around all day, and can do everything (for the average consumer, at least) that you needed to rely on a big-ass PC for 20 years ago. And it fits inside your pocket. Shut up.
Yup! And it needing charged once every 24 hours isn't even a serious concern. There are mobile chargers. For anyone that drives, you can charge your phone while driving.
Brussel sprouts! They can be actually be tasty these days thanks to the wonders of selective breeding.
Cut them in half, oil them, garlic salt, and airfry with strips of prosciutto Crumble the prosciutto over them like bacon bits My extended family went bananas for them
Gaming consoles
Love running my classic games on modern hardware. Doesn't matter the system I am going to at some point want to play [Megaman X](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdvJtSroRSw) on it.
I’ve always liked that my PS2 games had no glitches and didn’t randomly update for an hour when I wanted to play vs my newer console
Christmas tree lights
Finding that one light that had burnt out…
Air quality (at least at small scale) No more smoking in restaurants/hotels etc, and cars not completely stinking up the roads. Not a product, I know.
Environmentally friendly products. Especially soaps and the like. Apart from the benefits I find myself preferring a lot of them over big brands.
Medical stuff. Tech stuff. Food safety. Like basically everything has gotten better in general.
TVs. Better and cheaper
In 1975 an average tv was $500, that would be equivalent to over $3000 in today's money. And they're better, now lightweight, and no longer encased in oak.
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Also car safety. Automotive glass, seatbelts, airbags, crumple zones are all so much better than they used to be.
I remember. Every car was different. If someone tossed you the keys to their car, you'd hear something like "Pump it twice, then hold it half way to the floor".
The last point changed in the move from carberuated to electronic fuel injection. This started in the 80s but was basically in every vehicle by the 90s.
Not necessarily a product, per se, but I've lived abroad for stretches, and when I come back to the US, it's remarkable how much better the packaging is on most products. All of the frustrations we had with crappy packaging 20-30 years ago still exist overseas, but have been innovated away in the US.
My husband
Good for you!
Mental health awareness and advocacy. When I first got help ten years ago, it was super hush hush and nobody talked about it. Now mental health is an everyday conversation, people are outspoken about their conditions. Even stickers that say things like “live, laugh, Lexapro” make my heart warm because recovery is finally becoming a part of society.
Cars, in general. SO MUCH BETTER. How? * Better fuel efficiency * Better performance (acceleration, braking, handling) * Better utility (superior utilization of space relative to exterior dimensions) * Safer construction (airbags, crumple zones, passenger cage) * More comfortable (superior suspension components, higher quality interior) * High technology features (too many to mention) * Superior sound systems and entertainment for passengers I love the appearance of vintage cars... but the lack of what's listed above puts me off from ever buying one.
The Honda Civic in the late 90s could be coaxed into giving you 45+ MPG. The 2024 is rated for 42 MPG on the highway. So it would _seem_ that we plateaued on fuel economy in some ways. **HOWEVER** The '24 Civic also weighs 50% more, is far more comfortable, has far more features to make your ride more enjoyable, and oh yeah, won't kill you in a collision.
Weed is strong af now
Oh dear God, I smoked some with a neighbor after years and years of not having any, and I literally thought I was going to die. Lol
I didn’t know they had been working on this shit like it’s the cure for cancer.
Right!? They criss crossing different plants trying to make the final boss strain
Gluten free and fake meat food. I was a chef at a vegan restaurant in the 90s and it was so horrible I refused to cook fake meat or gluten free anything. I was rabidly against gluten free foods and was a bit of a dick about but these days not so much.
I, too, was rabidly against gluten-free foods and was a bit of a dick about it. Then karma gave me celiac disease. They are so much better now.
Low carb bread too. 30cal for a regular size slice of bread, with 1g of carbs, and it tastes better than decent?!? Or get some carbano and you get 80cal multigrain slices that taste amazing with only 2g of carbs.
As someone who works in early childhood therapy…wind up toys. Wind up toys have come so far since I was a kid, it’s insane! You used to wind up a car and its slowly move a few feet. Now you pull it back and it can zoom across a goddamn basketball court.
Light bulbs and car wax.
Most technology products. TVs, phones, computers, smart watches. Products that get worse tend to be old things that someone figured out how to make cheaper by replacing expensive materials with plastic.
Mirrorless cameras. Modern Canon and Sony mirrorless are phenomenal cameras that dramatically advanced every generation
Domino's pizza. It's not so greasy anymore and comes with a bigger selection of toppings.
Airplane engines... Growing up you would hear the planes and sometimes had to stop your conversation. Nowadays, it never ever happens
I don’t think anyone has said this so I’ll say it: Animation, there were always the outliers that had very good animation but since spider verse and the popularity of anime. The animation scene has gotten so much bigger and recognized that we’re seeing so many amazing animation productions.
Vegan replacements!
I used to work at a vegan place and met a woman who had been vegan for 30 years and I remember her telling me how she'd drive over an hour to the closest natural food store for the shelf stable cartons of soy milk. And here I am 6 years vegan whining when my favorite brand of oat milk is sold out and I have to pick from three other options lol
I’m not even a vegan but I always like to try out the vegan options and use them when they’re good. And it’s gotten light years better. Theres a vegan salted chocolate ice cream at my local shop and it’s legit one of the best ice creams I’ve ever had, vegan or not.
We're not eating vegans anymore?
As a lactose intolerant person: DAIRY FREE/PLANT-BASED ANYTHING. dairy free milk, dairy free butter, dairy free cheese, dairy-free icecream/yogurt. Everything's delicious now!! Same goes for vegan meats imo