From: grschmidt@acm.org   
      
   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-)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)