Ever miss the no internet days?

[HEyHEY]

I mean, when the world was not so accesible it seemed like so much more of an accomplishment when you found a new band out of nowhere, or a cool writer.
We all depended on word of mouth, posters, etc.

I think taking all these things for granted has killed our creativity a bit.

[Oeditpus Rex]

1. Very deep thought, d00d

I quite agree — and not just about bands or writers, but many other things.

None of which occur to me at the moment. :silly:

[Heidi]

2. How about handwritten letters,

with a nice fountain pen on good paper, instead email? Receiving a handwritten letter is a sensory experience. Email is just email. :hi:

[Oeditpus Rex]

I used to write letters all the time

I had pen pals.

There was this really neat feeling of anticipation when it was about time to get a letter, and they were usually many pages long — good for reading over and over.

I miss that.

[reyd reid reed]

6. Seems like no one writes letters at all anymore

It's becoming a lost art. Between the telephone and now the internet...they make it almost too easy.

[Oeditpus Rex]

But on the other hand

we can do videoconferencing and "webinars." :eyes:

[Heidi]

12. Don't forget PowerPoint presentations.

:puke:

[Oeditpus Rex]

15. Y'know, I think I've seen one or two

PowerPoint presentations.

'N' I don't care if I never see another one.

And I've never teleconferenced (at least not video) or "attended" a "webinar." :eyes:

[Heidi]

18. That crap just makes me cringe.

Oh, hey, I forgot to ask you whether you've ever seen this anti-jargon program. http://www.fightthebull.com/bullfighter.asp

I was thinking about posting the link in GD (some there could really use it) but I wasn't in the mood for a crucifixion. :eyes:

[Oeditpus Rex]

22. ROFL!

C'mon... gotta be a joke, right?

:rofl:

[Heidi]

23. No way!

I downloaded and installed it and it's not too shabby. Wait. I have go see whether it'll red-flag the word "jingoistic." :rofl:,

[reyd reid reed]

13. Oh yay.

Yippee. Wunnerful, just wunnerful.

[reyd reid reed]

5. Ooooh...

You can hardly find a good fountain pen anymore. I've been wanting one for ages...

[Heidi]

7. May I recommend

the Swiss-made Caran d'Ache "Ecridor"? It's what I'm using right now, and the beauty is that you can fill it, or use cartridges.



http://www.paradisepen.com/paradise/product.asp?s%5Fid=0&dept%5Fid=20185&pf%5Fid=Caran%5FdAche%5FEcridor%5FChevron%5FRetro&

[reyd reid reed]

9. Oh. My.

That is GORGEOUS. Absolutely GORGEOUS.

Thank you for that link!!!!

[Heidi]

14. Here's a better photo.

[reyd reid reed]

16. Heh...I have this thing about pens...

And THAT one is the Ultimate.

God, it's enough to turn me into a drooling idiot...

[Oeditpus Rex]

17. But aren't they kinda hard

to take notes with? :shrug:

[Heidi]

19. I don't take notes anymore.

:) (I have, though, taken telephone messages with this pen. Works fine. What do you think reporters used _before_ cheap ballpoint pens? :P )

[Oeditpus Rex]

24. Pencils?

[Heidi]

25. Perhaps.

:scared: I'll withhold judgment.

[Oeditpus Rex]

30. I've known old-school reporters

who always used pencils, or at least kept one with 'em. Their reasoning is sound: a pencil always writes... unless you break it.

[Heidi]

31. The new pencil.

Check your PMs. ;)

[reyd reid reed]

21. Where there's a will, there's a way

I could write a f'in' Epic with that one...I'd never wanna let go of it.

[Oeditpus Rex]

26. Just seems like it'd be a bit cumbersome

I once told a young reporter who used pens with caps that I preferred a retractable ball-point because when I wanted to take notes, I wanted to take notes right now, and not have to wait to take a cap off a pen and maybe drop it or somethin'.

:crazy:

[reyd reid reed]

28. I like retractable pens for some things

And I've got a pen and pencil set that I'm partial to right now...but it's on its way out, I think. I retreived the pen from Danny's bed tonight.


At least I got it back.

[Oeditpus Rex]

32. I love mechanical pencils

Hard to find good ones these days, though.

And I wish I could find a two-colored pen instead of those stupid four-color ones.

[Heidi]

36. As luck would have it,

here is the Caran d'Ache Ecridor mechanical pencil. It's what Call Me Wesley's using these days (because I bougt it for him.) :thumbsup:



http://www.carandache.ch/products/writing/ecridor/index.lbl?product=4.286

[Oeditpus Rex]

37. I prefer something like this:

And I want more choice in leads than just .5 or .7 mm. I want the grades.

[Heidi]

38. Sweet!

On of my other fetishes is Rotring Rapidograph pens. *Swoon* Yes, they're useless for a journalist, but beautiful for graphics work. (Standard line widths from 0.13 to 2.0 mm)

[Oeditpus Rex]

40. I used Rapidograph

when I was a drafting student. They're great for line work and lettering. :thumbsup:

[Heidi]

20. I have a pen thing, too.

It goes perfectly with my paper thing. :P

[reyd reid reed]

33. There's just something about finding a pen

That fits so perfectly it's like an extension to your hand and that writes smooth and doesn't skip or clump or stutter on the page. When it's the right size and weight and when it looks good too....well...it just doesn't get much better.

[reyd reid reed]

4. It's like a lot of things, though

There's a good side...there are people that I've met online and become very attached to, that I wouldn't have otherwise.

There's a bad side...it's a distraction and keeps me from getting things accomplished. It's always there, tempting me away from what I SHOULD be doing.

[enigmatic]

3. I don't know

If we had the internet when I was still playing in bands or writing my books, I might have had a completely different life, that's for sure..

[Heidi]

11. You would have had myspace groupies

when you were still young enough to do something about it. ;)

Just kiddin' ya, my friend. You're younger than me. :P

[enigmatic]

27. Hey, it's my birthday today!

43; I feel like a freakin' geezer:)

[Heidi]

34. You've only just begun, my friend.

:) Happy birthday! :hug: :*

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

8. I think I went outside more.

Without the internet though, I would have had a lot more issues coming out in HS and be less-informed today.

I was just given an ATV though, so I think I'll be going outside more often now. At least until I get bored of the trails behind my house. That thing is fun. It satisfies my need for fast things. The jeep isn't fun to drive and we keep the boats in CT.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

10. I do NOT miss the non-internet days one little bit!

And you can still write letters....

I actually did just that last week....first letter in a loooooong time.

It felt good to put pen to paper.....

But mostly I love email, and PM's and like that.....

I think that our creativity does not need to suffer because of the internet.

After all, I would never have become involved in digital photography if it hadn't been for DU.....

And my photographic skills (such as they are) have grown because of the help I've received here.....

:hi:

[RoyGBiv]

29. Sometimes, but not really ...

What I miss are the days of the early-Internet, and I mean back in the 80's when I had to hack into Department of the Interior computer through a phone number I discovered and access everything with the command line. (Did I say that out loud?) And when I say I miss it, I don't really miss having to do that. I just miss the intellectual exercise it was, which required a lot of creativity, and I miss the general lack of draconian security measures, DRM, copyright nazis. The slow speed, constant paranoia of getting caught, etc. I don't really miss that.

I remember being frustrated as a kid of living in a town with a crappy library where I could find books that referred me to other books and articles I couldn't get unless I filled out an ILL form and then waited for weeks and then had the librarian judge me over her glasses for the subject matter. Twelve year old boys aren't supposed to request through ILL a copy of the Hite Report, and they aren't supposed to want articles from Playboy from the 60's dealing with politics. It was a pain in the ass. When I want to know something now, I can find it, usually, and I can order books you couldn't get anywhere within 200 miles of where I lived since we had no bookstore here, and the ones in OKC didn't carry the reading material I desired. And I couldn't drive then anyway, so it was a chore.

I also miss the days before porn took over everything on the Usenet, but that's not really missing the days before the Internet.

[fizzgig]

35. what are those?

:P

yes, yes...i'm a terrible young'n

i must agree with peggy, though, i love email and internet messaging

i still write letters, but the internet allows me to more easily (and cheaply) keep in touch my friends who have scattered so far over the last few years

[laheina]

39. No way!

I'm an information junkie, and now I can find arcane data at the slightest whim. Not all that I want but more than I ever could before. :P

[MissHoneychurch]

41. To tell the truth: NO

I couldn't be part of this community.
I wouldn't have met friends I cherish a lot.
I wouldn't have got my internship in Savannah, GA or at least not as easy.

[mwooldri]

43. Well the Internet has a great positive for me. My wife & son.

Neither of which would have ever happened had we never 'met' via an online penpal/dating site.

Mark.

[mwooldri]

42. Ok, when is considered the start of the Internet era?

If it was when the World Wide Web was invented that then puts it around 1993. But the Internet existed way before that. There was Bulletin Board Systems, other 'nets, etc. I grew up in the UK - we had Teletext on the TV - constantly updated news pages in basic text form and just about going on today (but being phased out thanks to digital TV).

Before computers became commonplace then yes there was more written communications, flyers, posters, newsletters, etc.

Since I grew up when all of this happened, I can't say I miss the no Internet days because even though I was born in 1974 there hasn't been a no Internet day in my life. For there to be no Internet I'd have to double my age at least to have some real life experience of what it was like without Internet. And then we could say 'Ever miss the no TV days?' or 'Ever miss the no pirate radio days?' (if you were in the UK in the 1960's you'd know what I mean), or 'Ever miss the no radio days?' Maybe I am being a little over-romantic about 'ye olden days' but I just remember in my youth (early 1980's) that there was more to watch on TV with only 3 channels (and then a fourth), with shutdowns at night and breakfast TV being a new 'invention'. When daytime TV meant watching programming meant for teachers to show children in school, because that was the only thing on the TV. When two thirds of the channels I could get had no adverts (BBC 1 & 2 for two different regions vs ITV for two different regions)

I suppose we could go back even further and even say 'Ever miss the no printing press days?' Sadly, there's no one alive today who could tell us that the printing press was not a good thing and that it would kill creativity, no more nicely decorated hand-written lettering in bibles, etc.

Sorry to get deep on you here... but I guess I'm in that mood.

Mark.