Good things about modern life

[Cian]

Not forgetting the secret societies like the Masons

sssh... we have masons on here

I hate secret societies. Nearest thing to one I'm in is one where you can't be a copper or a journo.

 

[Pevenseagull]

A few good things about modern life:

The seaside's supposedly a bit cleaner
American Music Club have reformed
Purple sprouting broccoli
Grand Theft Auto games have improved
Mushtaq Ahmed playing for Sussex
Booze Brothers
Downloading music
Organic vegatable delivery
The quality of flat pack furniture has improved
More kitchen gadgets
Cycle lanes
Sean Wright-Phillips
Uncut magazine
The Simpsons
Bjork
Working from home
The increased availability of Tanqueray gin
Better restaurants
Channel 4's test match coverage
Less Carla Lane
M&S Cotton-Tech shirts at £25 a pop
The death of cassette tapes
An increased appreciation for the absurd

 

[London Irish]

A few good things about modern life:

Less Carla Lane

You don't have to bother about the rest.

 

[NMH]

More paranoia surrounding casual sex.
Covert dangers from terrorism and 'unknown threats'
vandalism is rife
footballers get big, then want megamoney or else.
fans boo and berate players, get on their back for slight mistakes.
Food additives to add weight, mass-production farming, pesticides.
Homogenised milk, orange juice.
Hormones in everything, including drainage, getting into drinking water so that man requires viagra to get wood.
Quality health attention costs more (though technology has improved everything)
Digital technology actually reduced sound quality, though we were told otherwise (scratch a cd and it's stuffed! - plus the sound-frequency waves are stepped and compressed)
Transistors replaced valves (tubes) but although you don't wait for your amp to warm up - it sounds empty and sterile.
Kids walking (and driving) around with a tiny phone on their ear but can't get involved in the here-and-now. Can't anyone just let their answering service take a message? Why is a distant voice so much more important than the conversation they are in?
Political correctness.

 

[Cian]

NMH, this was meant to be GOOD about modern life, not bad.

And a scratched record is instantly bad whereas a scratched CD has ECC that stops the damage being automatically killing to the music. And legit CD's aren't compressed in anyway, its raw audio.

 

[Cian]

Oh, and "valve audio sounds better" is crap. Its only people born before 1970 that even hold that opinion because of weird nostaligia they have for massive amps that took all day to come up right. Get me a nice Denon transitor amp with their fancy capacitors anyday. Same if not better as the best valve amps.

 

[Eddie the Seagull]

Money

Internet

Mobiles (must 10 years since I last used payphone)

CDs

Supermarkets/24 hour garage

Satelite TV

Kebab vans

Being able to buy a season ticket & the £6 for burger, chips & drink ()

 

[alan partridge]

Indoor toilets

 

[GNF on Tour]

Better guns and wars in general.

 

[NMH]

NMH, this was meant to be GOOD about modern life, not bad.

And a scratched record is instantly bad whereas a scratched CD has ECC that stops the damage being automatically killing to the music. And legit CD's aren't compressed in anyway, its raw audio.

Without the valley there is no mountain, grasshopper.
Anyway, telling anyone who has history that the present is all better, is asking for a few examples.

A cd that is scratched on the information side is not going to play through. Same as a scratched record might sound, so might a cd skip if you don't handle with care.
The wear factor of a cd is better, indeed, because there is no mechanical, physical contact with the surface.

Sorry, but I happen to know that digital media is missing warmth - but having only just discussed my foibles with a sound expert, I am assured that there is actually a superior medium on the way very soon. It will beat EVERYTHING that has gone before, and fill in the blanks that digital sound has - and also be superior to vinyl and tape analog.
It isn't quite here yet, but I believe it will make regular CDs redundant. Save up to buy yet another copy of Dark Side Of The Moon, people!

 

[NMH]

Oh, and "valve audio sounds better" is crap. Its only people born before 1970 that even hold that opinion because of weird nostaligia they have for massive amps that took all day to come up right. Get me a nice Denon transitor amp with their fancy capacitors anyday. Same if not better as the best valve amps.

Not crap at all, and not "weird nostalgia" either. Ask Oasis why they went out of their way to find the old valve 'Beatle' amps (Selmer ? I can't recall exactly).
How about these hybrid amplifiers with valve pre-amps and solid state mixed? Why do these amp makers bow to "weird nostalgic" demand.
A few wealthy loonies are paying outlandish amounds for Macintosh and Quad valve stereos, with Garrard or Planar decks and Ortofon arms. Nutters, spending thousands on old gear!
....Or do some people simply believe their ears ?

I know I'd like to have the Quad two-monos-separated-by-stereo-pre-amp system of mine back, and just replace the aging valves.

Tell you what, I hope there are a few like you MYOB, who find their parents' old 'Bluesbreaker' guitar amp, or a Selmer 30Watt (that Led Zep's Jimmy recorded with, mic'ed once at 3 inches and once at the back of the room) or my old 80watt Watkins 'WEM' bass amp, and decide to chuck that old shite my way. I'll 'ave that crap all over again! My stuff never took all day to 'come up right', either - it took about 30 to 50 seconds for the valves to warm up, then it was good for all I could put it through, never clipped anything- almost took out the windows a few times though.

'Orses for courses though, if people prefer sterility and shallowness, comparable lack of audible terrain.....or never had anything else to compare with except transistors......... then I suppose they'd HAVE to be blissfully ....er......unaware. Love that surround-sound with 7 selections of environments, sounds very 3-D when the Star Wars spaceship rumbles across the screen.

 

[NMH]

By the way, if digital was superior to analog, I suppose God would have equipped us with digital ears and vocal chords.
Are they real, or are they Magnavox?
Well! Mine must still be analog!

 

[Yorkie]

A few good things about modern life:


The quality of flat pack furniture has improved

Channel 4's test match coverage

The death of cassette tapes

I remember life prior to cassette tapes and flat pack furniture.

Do you really think Channel 4 is better with all the adverts? I loved the BBC coverage.
I like all the graphics that they use now but most of that was introduced by Sky.

 

[Gwylan]

Funnily enough, I was talking about this with my mum last night. We were reminiscing about washing days, when everything had to be boiled and washed by hand. My mother was 34 when she got a washing machine - that's a lot of scrubbing by hand.

And I remember when the first one up had to light the fire. That meant emptying the old ashes and getting coal out of the bunker - still, I should be grateful that I didn't have to sweep chimney as well.

I agree with Yorkie, there's so much stuff that we take for granted. When I was young, we not only lacked a washing machine, we had no phone, no fridge, no TV, no central heating and no car. Foreign holidays were completely unknown, restaurants were uniformly bland (although you could buy bread and cheese that actually tasted of something) and shops all closed at 5.30 (or 1.00 on Wednesday).

People's life expectancy was about 15 years lower than it is no, children were dying from childhood diseases and polio and tubercolosis were real threats.

Anyone who gets nostalgic for the 'old days' must be mad. There are some awful things about modern life but they far outweigh the good.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Cold beer

Shops opening on a Sunday

Euros

Internet cafes

Online bookies

Trains whose doors open by means of a satellite system

Actually, scrub that last one...

 

[Cian]

Tell you what, I hope there are a few like you MYOB, who find their parents' old 'Bluesbreaker' guitar amp, or a Selmer 30Watt (that Led Zep's Jimmy recorded with, mic'ed once at 3 inches and once at the back of the room) or my old 80watt Watkins 'WEM' bass amp, and decide to chuck that old shite my way. I'll 'ave that crap all over again! My stuff never took all day to 'come up right', either - it took about 30 to 50 seconds for the valves to warm up, then it was good for all I could put it through, never clipped anything- almost took out the windows a few times though.

'Orses for courses though, if people prefer sterility and shallowness, comparable lack of audible terrain.....or never had anything else to compare with except transistors......... then I suppose they'd HAVE to be blissfully ....er......unaware. Love that surround-sound with 7 selections of environments, sounds very 3-D when the Star Wars spaceship rumbles across the screen.

Unlikely to find any old valve kit around my house, my dad has the same opinion. Been all modern solid state stuff for years. Got a 1983/4 era Nad amp for the TV, great sound off it.

 

[B.M.F]

Can't believe no one has said NSC yet
opportunities to travel has got to be right up there.
the collapse of communism
bringing down the Berlin wall
no death sentence in this country
more liberal views on sex
and sex before marriage not being frowned upon

 

[cheshunt seagull]

Less racism on TV - in the 70s it was quite common to hear 'paki' jokes on family TV shows

Less racism at the Albion - in 1974 a young black teenage sub playing for Huddersfield Town was subjected to a sustained barrage on monkey noises from the West Stand seats and had to be taken off.

Better Chinese food - when I was growing up it was just beanshoots and micro dots of chicken swimming in water and grease or Vesta Chow Mein

Better beer - Not just Carlsberg or Ben Truman

The Channel Tunnel

North Stand Chat - now someone outside Sussex can be as informed about the Albion as someone living in Portslade

Fast food home delivery - no need to interrupt your drinking to get a takeaway

M25 - okay, a pain when it is jammed, like last Saturday, but my journey to Brighton would take twice as long without it

Less cringing deference to the Royal family

Recognition that work-place harassment is a genuiine problem, that bully in your office need not be viewed as just a 'character' .

 

[Pevenseagull]

I remember life prior to cassette tapes and flat pack furniture.

Do you really think Channel 4 is better with all the adverts? I loved the BBC coverage.
I like all the graphics that they use now but most of that was introduced by Sky.

But on the odd occassions when I've flicked the TV on and there are 2 adverts back to back it normally means that a wickets fallen and I have enough time to get all excited in a fresh and different was. Not to mention how much I get off on Simon Hughes' technical reports AND it's left the BBC to focus on Test Match Special on R5 which makes me feel all cosy.


mmmmmmmm cricket