Best products from r/AskOldPeople

I was 9 through 19 in the 1980s and unlike many others here, I do get why they are being "romanticized," if we take that word fairly loosely. I think a lot of it has to do with the 80s being perceived at the time as the ultra-modern decade, almost the science fiction decade.

You see, in the 1970s, technology was ramping up but it was more in the background. Some few people may have had computers at their work, but they were mainframes and were sort of in the back warrens, not where Sally the Secretary could see them. But most still used paper files. Almost no one had a computer or computer-like device in their homes.

In the late 70s, that began to topple. Home video games started to show up, like Telstar. Arcade games started to happen, like Pong. The first "kit" computers in the home. But it was slow. At the same time, movies, music, and TV started to get more impressive, "modern" special effects. Some of that had to do with the Moog synth in the 70s, then the first Star Wars. TV was lagging a bit here, though. Music was held back to a good degree by the Disco Era which was very powerful and was its own little island in time (and a fun one).

By 1980, I think people felt like "OK, let's do this! Space Age is on!" and everyone went nuts. Music got ridiculously synthy to the point that the whole band was just a synth. TV jumped in pretty soon after, with a show like original Battlestar Galactica hitting in 1980. So things were very science-fictional on TV, but also that pulled in general fantasy or absurd, unbelievable stuff. You had Buck Rogers, ALF, Manimal, Misfits of Science, Automan, Mr. Wizard, Mr. Smith (an orangutan politician in D.C.), The Phoenix (ancient astronaut with sun powers), Wizards and Warriors, The Powers of Matthew Star, Max Headroom, Knight Rider, The Greatest American Hero, Starman, Ray Bradbury Theater, Twilight Zone 80s reboot, V, Voyagers! and others happening mostly within about five weird years.

But you couldn't have music be all synthy and TV like that and have the clothes drab. They had to look ultra-modern, too. So you had DayGlo everywhere, or more plastic-looking materials like whatever parachute pants were made out of. You had angular looking clothing, like thin ties and shoulder pads and V-cut shapes. Even stirrup pants for girls had this angular, future society feeling, sort of. Then the hair had to be angular for guys, with mousse and gel spiking things up so guys looked like a detective from the future.

Sounds impressive, but we're not done. You have the launch of MTV, which was its own whole crazy phenomenon. They were able to be more experimental back then, so you'd have DEVO doing "We're Through Being Cool" and, even weirder, "Peek A Boo" which had laughing devils heads ("Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!") being circled by dancing Tylenol pills or something. In general, MTV was this bizarre hodgepodge, with total cheesy pop followed by hard-to-categorize stuff. But it was just huge.

Then, all this home tech starts to roll in and hard. The first wave of home video games! Atari 2600 is massive; it has its own magazine. Then you have this war of companies in this domain: Intellivision, Colecovision, others. This is all before the Nintendo even hits. At the same time, arcade games go absolutely bonkers and blow-up to the point that songs like "Pac Man Fever" are getting mass market airplay. Arcades become a "third place" for teens when they really need one. As if this wasn't enough, you get home computers for the first time, and the BBS Era, and, and...it's a lot, trust me, it was life-changing.

Home video watching hits, with the VHS tape and that's beyond massive. Home video recording happens. At the same time, cable TV blows up: HBO hits its stride, and new network competitors do, too. Prior to this, TV was basically three networks and a few affiliates. Now, most people had 50 channels to fill. A lot of that filler was 80s cheese, and you got the modern-looking but still bad feel of chroma-key, genlock, bad green screen, and other video effects.

While this is happening, movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark are hitting in theaters and Spielberg is hitting his stride with cultural steamrollers like E.T. Early 80s, for me, really are a special time for movies. I really don't understand it fully, but the movies were quirky but had heart. That would have to be its own whole post, though. If you want a real 1980s feeling movie, try After Hours; the sense of alienation, cheese, and darkness that only that time could do quite like that.

All this is just the pop-cultural froth, and that's what people are romanticizing. In the background, in the real world, we had the Cold War and we were all afraid we'd be killed by an exploding ICBM. The crack and AIDS epidemics. New York City was filthy and its no wonder Escape From New York came out then. But for those of us lucky to avoid the worst of the 1980s, safe in our suburban bubbles, it was a kind of quirky, innocent-in-its-way time.

Warning: this is a TLDR post!

Mind you, I'm a generator newbie and there are certainly lots of old timers on here who have plenty of hands on experience that would easily surpass my new found knowledge.

When it comes to portable generators there are basically two main types (hereinafter described as 'the old fashioned kind' and 'inverters'.

The old fashioned kind are the ones that construction sites typically use. They are gasoline powered and tend to sound like chainsaws while running. By contrast, typical inverter generators are often smaller and wrapped in sound deadening material that keeps their decibel rate at a level where you can hold a conversation while being near one and still hear the other person.

These construction type portable gens can also run on propane and in some cases natural gas. They are the least expensive of the two categories and will give you the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to maximum watts generated.

However, compared to the second category (inverters) they are the least fuel efficient to operate. Largely because in order to produce electricity they have to run at a constant speed of 3600 RPMs . So, while they may have a lower up front cost when you buy one - they can have a much higher operating cost long term due to higher fuel consumption.

In contrast, inverter style generators can idle at considerably slower speeds and can produce watts on demand without the need for those constant higher RPM's. The trade off being that inverters are limited in the number of watts they can produce. I was unable to find an inverter type generator that could produce more than 7500 watts.

Inverters also produce the kind of clean, steady, power required by sensitive electronic devices (PC's, tablets, etc) whereas the old fashioned kind can produce power surges that can damage such devices. Honda invented the inverter generator and their units are known for dependability and low noise but typically come at a very high premium compared to the competition.

As I was researching, I kept thinking about what our actual needs were. I realized that among those needs were having enough fuel on hand to keep the generator going for however long we needed it. Meaning, that given an emergency of sizable proportions, that might last days or even a week or two, we might be on our own with whatever fuel supply we had on hand and unable to easily replenish that fuel. In that case, a large gas hog type generator wouldn't be ideal.

Further to that, I factored in that generators tend to sit around for extended periods of time in between emergencies and gasoline will often start to go bad after as little as thirty days. That meant that whatever gasoline we stored for generator use would need a gasoline stabilizer added to it (Sta-bil is one). Letting the gen sit unused for a month or two with un-stabilized fuel still in the carburetor could lead to gumming it up. So, basically, gasoline powered generators require a bit more maintenance than propane powered generators.

The downside of propane powered generators is that, while they run cleaner, propane has about 10 to 15% less fire power than gasoline. Meaning, as in the case of the unit I bought that's advertised to run at 3600 watts? Fueled by propane it can only produce around 3300 running watts. With the lower powered inverter generators like the kind I've bought I will need to sacrifice my highest power suckers that run on 220/240, like dryers, heavy duty air conditioners, electric heaters, etc.

So, here's the deal. When it comes to what you need to keep yourself minimally served during a blackout, a smaller, inverter style, portable generator that runs on propane might be just the ticket. Because the truth is that you really don't need to power up your entire home all at the same time. Nor do you need to power your home for 24 hours a day. For maximum fuel efficiency you power it incrementally and for a few hours at a time.

For example, in the recent blackout we discovered that if we kept the standing freezer door shut that food stayed frozen solid for three and a half days without power. Meaning that, with a small portable inverter generator, that freezer could be powered up for a few hours every few days to keep things frozen and need not be powered on the entire time.

A portable inverter generator can be attached without a great deal of effort to your home's electrical panel (there are very affordable ways to do this and not so affordable ways to do this - I'll be using the quick and easy affordable method). Thus eliminating the need for extension cords.

Once the portable generator is attached, breakers in the panel can be turned off or on to supply specific rooms or receptacles with power. We have isolated the circuit that supplies power to the freezer and the circuits that supply power to my modem/router/PC, along with every other thing in our home. We went around with a wattage tester and tested all of our plug attached 110 watt stuff - made a list and figured out how much power it would all take. Added together it really wasn't excessive - handled incrementally it was entirely doable.

In the end I settled on this duel fuel model It's about half the cost of a comparable Honda or Yamaha inverter and it has the advantage of running on both gasoline and propane. It produces enough power to keep the important things we need going for a few hours a day. I'll be wiring it into our home's electrical panel tomorrow and should be prepared to weather the next power shutdown that is expected to start Saturday night and go on for as long as three to five days.

Having said all this, I would appreciate hearing from those of you with hands on experience with the use of emergency personal generators. As what I've written above is pieced together from research and can't compare to the knowledge you've gained from hard earned application.

TLDR: Old styled gasoline powered generators are super loud and can be gas hogs. New styled inverter type generators are more efficient and much quieter but can't produce the high wattage of older style generators. Actual power generation needs can be handled incrementally and sparsely by isolating parts of your home and running the generator for only a few hours each day. Dual fuel generators are desirable because they offer both gasoline and propane options.

In addition to what everyone else has mentioned: 3x5 cards.

They used to be stiff, almost like cardboard, which was great because they could be easily written-on without needing to be on a flat surface. They were stiff enough to be their own surface, more or less. And that was one of the main benefits of using 3x5 cards — being able to scribble on them whenever you wanted to.

These days, standard 3x5 cards are barely thicker than paper. They aren’t stiff any longer, and you need to put them on a flat surface in order to write on them, which mostly defeats the point of using 3x5 cards, at least for me. In order to save a micro-penny, 3x5 card manufacturers have mostly ruined their product.

Btw, you can still find good 3x5 cards but you have to look for ones labeled “extra thick” or somesuch, or pay thru the nose for Levenger’s good cards. I did run into these recently on Amazon, and they’re really good:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077Q573V3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but here's my odd, winding path. This is just hitting the wavetops on some of the stranger stories in my professional past (and we won't even talk about the personal side... ;-) ).

My college in the early 1980s had a VAX 780. Took up most of the room it was in. It was a beast, and as I recall had 8MB of RAM. I learned Pascal and FORTRAN, programmed for the college (I had access to the fastest connection on campus at a blazing 9600 baud!).

After making a wrenching decision about whether to go into neuroscience as I'd planned or divert into computing, I got a job as a software engineer intern working at Tektronix, then known for their green screen computers. I got to witness an argument including a bunch of the "old guys" saying that raster displays were a fad, and no one really wanted color on their displays. Seriously.

Then I was fortunate enough to be given one of the first Tektronix 4404s to use, a machine that ran Smalltalk on a very early windowing system. That was my introduction to object-oriented programming. This was in 1984.

A couple of years later I joined another company, and was part of the first team outside of Bell Labs to use C++, working on creating a brand-new kind of 3D CAD system (wireframe to start, though we were one of the first to use b-rep solids, and one of the few if not only systems to create an automated path from wireframe to solid models). We had no tools or anything beyond the compiler. We ended up modifying the language a bit too -- added arguments to destructors for example, which did not please Stroustrup when he visited. ;-)

From there I became a user interface designer, working on cutting-edge medical imaging software. The first time I saw my work being used, it saved the life of a five year old girl. Later I designed the UI for a major CT scanner, a new kind of microscope, a Xerox copier, and did the original work on those defibrillators you see in airports and such. I taught corporate courses in "user-centered design," similar to what's now known as "design thinking."

But, I got the feeling (completely wrong, as it turned out) that UI consulting was kind of on its way out. So naturally I went into game design.

My brother and I started a company, hired a bunch of others, and put out the first 3D MMOG, Meridian 59 in 1996. We then did another startup creating one of the first social networking sites (the Big Network) in 1997.

From there I went to Maxis (which had just been purchased by EA), where I led the design for SimCity Online, which became the Sims 2. Then off to Austin to lead a reboot of Ultima Online for Origin (reboot 2 of 5 as it turned out).

Then I started my third company, Online Alchemy, and worked on advanced character AI with DARPA while also trying (over and over) to pitch MMO concepts.

After nine years and lots of ups and downs I had to shut down the company, which sucked. Bad. But I did it, and went to join another company, where I learned a ton about free-to-play, mobile, and other kinds of games including running a quirky MMO that's still around (which led to the first time I became a meme, which is still bizarre). While I was there I also started teaching an online course in game AI and published the AI and emotions research work I had done earlier.

I did a brief stint as Creative Director in yet-another SF Bay area startup, and then, finally, decided to make the jump to academia where I am now. After a couple of years I wrote a textbook on advanced game and systems design, became the director of the program, and... well, I haven't ridden off into the sunset just yet. More stories to come, I hope!

Some people believe that there is one and only one perfect person for them.

Others think that there are several people who are out there, that you could have a successful long-term relationship with.

Harville Hendrix has written books on this subject. I think the right one for single people is https://www.amazon.com/Keeping-Love-You-Find-Personal/dp/0671734202

Whether you believe that there is one person, or many, it is also true that all relationships need work, they grow & change. There is no one person that stays the one true person if you never spend time together, and continue to enjoy each other's company.

There were quite a few of them. The really awesome ones were the little table top games that looked like tiny shrunken down arcade cabinets. They made Ms. Pac-Man, Galaxian, Centipede, and a few others that I can't recall right now.

The most popular one, though, was Mattel Electronic Football. You can actually buy a knockoff reissue of it today. To this day, I could play that for hours.

It helps a lot to know your path, but have her read this book:

https://smile.amazon.com/Range-Generalists-Triumph-Specialized-World/dp/0735214484

Talks a lot about career hoppers and people that ended up in great spots despite bouncing around.

With all that said, I do think a more direct path makes for a much easier life.

> Been flossing every other day + mouthwash + brushing teeth 3x a day

Floss daily, brush 2x a day preferably with an electric brush, use an anti gingivitis rinse. Don't clench or grind your teeth, wear a mouthguard at night if you do. See a dentist twice a year.

For exercise you're doing a lot of aerobic and strength, you need balance and flexibility. yoga is good for that, or a stretching program. that will help with the neck pain too. yoga often incorporates meditation.

It's very time consuming (takes decades) to become a millionaire by working for someone else. you need to go into business for yourself if you want to make it by age 30. And no guarantees there. And you definitely won't make it to million any time soon as an engineer. But engineering is awesome.

For everybody: Read younger Next year, they also have a book of exercises.

• https://www.amazon.com/Younger-Next-Year-Strong-Beyond/dp/076114773X
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Younger-Next-Year-Exercise-Program/dp/0761186123/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2/142-9884767-4401934?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0761186123&pd_rd_r=f505756a-b591-49d8-b7ea-429ed7fd91a7&pd_rd_w=pESrA&pd_rd_wg=XhkAK&pf_rd_p=a2006322-0bc0-4db9-a08e-d168c18ce6f0&pf_rd_r=7RCMTM44SRNCGM8328CB&psc=1&refRID=7RCMTM44SRNCGM8328CB

My mother is a retired nurse, and if you know anyone who worked in healthcare, they will tell you the last place they want is a nursing home. She would likely die within a few weeks, absolutely no exaggeration. So we have a nice wheelchair ramp into her home, plenty of rails in her walk-in shower, a nice seat and plenty of room to maneuver her walker. She has a push-button recliner and a handy remote control to turn on her bedroom lights and heater.

She is disabled, so I have to help her dress and cook for her and frequently pick up after her, but her mind is sharp and she takes care of her finances. It's just random things she needs help with, like her hearing and lack of dexterity makes it impossible to use automated phone menus, stuff like that. Every fall we buy cracked pecans that she opens to extract nutmeats, which helps her retain some range of movement in her hands.

I live with her now after years of rehabilitation following hospital screw-ups (some sent her to the ICU with organ failures due to hospital/facility incompetence). She has a much better quality of life and, again, both of us know she would be long dead if she were relegated to a nursing home.

Thank you for replying and answering my questions. As a non-childbearing woman myself, let me recommend you some books I've read to help me with understanding our place in this world.

Motherhood: A Novel, by Shelia Heti

Selfish, Shallow, and Self Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids by Meghan Daum

The M Word: Conversations About Motherhood by Kerry Clare

Be consistent and empathize.

Parenting with Love and Logic worked in raising my kids, who are both prepared for life and content.

Dad is diabetic. Mom's dinners were modified for his diet. We never had a lot of sweets/desserts. I remember a lot of ground beef (chili in CrockPot, sloppy joes from scratch-not sweet, "goulash"-Americanized hash mix with egg noodles, tacos, plain hamburgers-no buns, just homemade wheat bread Mom made), pork chops when they were cheap, and whole chickens. We had a indoor grill that had a rotisserie on it, and Mom would rotisserie the chicken or grill the burgers/chops. We'd have rice most of the time, not a lot of potatoes or noodles/pasta. Always at least one vegetable, most of the time frozen because they were freshest and cheapest. When it was harvest time, the veg came from our garden. Rarely was butter/margarine on the table.

When I was 7, Mom went back to work and I started taking over dinner duties. I tried to branch out some, made a baked crispy chicken (breaded with cracker crumbs, herbs), tried out different spices and herbs. Submitted my menus to Mom & Dad the week before for approval and grocery shopping.

This was the grill: https://www.amazon.com/Farberware-Open-Hearth-Broiler-Rotisserie/dp/B000VL2B6Y

I got this clock for my elderly mom. It has the time, day of week, and date - very large. You can change the display options a few ways. She really likes it.

It's nice for people who are home all day and can lose track of what day it is.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019G79V1Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1