So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[HanauMan]

I sometimes wonder what is so important that folk are continuously on their cell phones. People walking down the street, heads down as they tap away on their phones, folk waiting in lines at the grocery store or the bank, tap tap tapping away. Even when driving their POVs, you'll see some on their phones. And perhaps saddest of all, seeing children in the park or playground not playing but engrossed in their cell phones. We're seeing a slow build up of modern technology dependency that is causing concern within the medical professions.

I tend not to go to the movies or eat out much as everyone seems to spend all their time updating their Facebook pages or taking a million self portraits on their iphones.

This seismic change in society (personal computers and 24/7 reliance on cell phones) has happened so quickly over the past 20 years and I feel so left behind sometimes. I have a computer but I refuse to buy a cell phone (stubborn old dinosaur that I am).

 

[Trenchfriend]

I'm thankful for my old-fashioned 90s-childhood without the multimedia-brainwash.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

So trivial yet ticks me off?

Bums that beg for money at stop lights, and then give you a disapproving look for not giving them any change. Or these days, paper money.

Just remind them that the redistribution of wealth is anti-American.

 

[tonyb]

There seems to be an inordinate amount of people who drive a short distance to our town, get stranded through some strange circumstances and wander the grocery store parking lot asking for gas money to get home.
“I only really need just a few dollars...”

A fellow who "worked" an offramp near a former residence of mine used two different sets of props -- a gas can and a sign saying he needed "just a few dollars to get back home," and a bag full of clothes (presumably) with a sign asking for money for laundry.

I've encountered some with more, um, ambitious hustles, such as the guy with a short memory who ran the same "I need 20 dollars to get fresh oil and a new filter cuz I broke the old one" line past me a matter of days apart; and the fellow who knocked on my door desperately in need of 20 bucks to buy gas to drive to Tacoma to see his dying mother.

I could go on. I'm more respectful of the people who don't even attempt such BS. I have no way of knowing how much scratch the scruffy fellow with the sign reading "money for drugs" took in, but I respect his honesty, and humor.

 

[GHT]

This seismic change in society (personal computers and 24/7 reliance on cell phones) has happened so quickly over the past 20 years and I feel so left behind sometimes. I have a computer but I refuse to buy a cell phone (stubborn old dinosaur that I am).

Well said, I too thought that the world was leaving me behind but soon realised that it isn't. My cell phone, (we call them mobile phones,) is 20 years old, it's not the brick of the 80's, more like a two pound chocolate bar, the sim is the size of a credit card and the phone can only make and receive calls or send and receive texts. Originally it was analogue, so when digital technology came along I assumed that my phone would become redundant. Not so, a smart young fellow in a phone shop, had a play with it, put some sort of smart wizardry in it, and hey presto, it worked. The guy also gave me a couple of spare batteries, using all three batteries in rotation has proved that battery longevity really exists.

Technology dependency among children has become so prevalent that some kids don't know how to read a printed book, that is according to a recent news report.
Kids try to swipe book pages. At least today's phones, having a pre-programmed dictionary, has caused a demise in the text speak or txt spk that was so common place when phone users had to tap the keys one, two or even three times to call up the particular letter that they needed. Nowadays the dictionary automatically corrects misspellings although it can have hilarious consequences. I once, when texting my missus, misspelled third by omitting the letter 'H.' The dictionary changed it to turd, since then I have always proof read my message before sending it.

A fellow who "worked" an offramp near a former residence of mine used two different sets of props -- a gas can and a sign saying he needed "just a few dollars to get back home," and a bag full of clothes (presumably) with a sign asking for money for laundry.

We get Romanies and other travellers who blatantly ask you if they can syphon off "a couple of pints," from your fuel tank. The brazen cheek of it.

 

[Fading Fast]

Lennon had a certain nastiness in his voice that really made the better rock'n'roller. I'm thinking especially of his take on Twist'n'Shout, which was the highlight of their first album really. Not a nice person, but then that's not exactly uncommon among many of the "creative geniuses".



The official death certificate records "natural causes", specifically heart failure. Hardly surprising given the way he was canning it at the time, alcohol in particular. There are those who also claim it was an accidental heroin overdose (and that he was placed in the bath by a dealer seeking to avoid policed attention), but I've yet to hear any credible evidence for that. I don't believe it has ever been credibly considered suicide, though.

It's hard to say, really.... It is possible they might have had a bigger breakthrough (break on through.... ha....) at some later stage, maybe as prog gained popularity, but I suspect a young and mysterious death for Morrison has always rather enhanced his legend. Musically, I rate them much higher than some of their contemporaries and not quite contemporaries (like Led Zeppelin), but perhaps they just were never quite mainstream enough. Morrison certainly wasn't one to be prepared to play the game and make the sort of artistic compromises that mainstream success requires. If anything, though, I do think it's fair to say hi personal legend has perhaps taken attention away from the quality of their music over the years.

I think what Morrison and Doors did was impressive and, much of it, of high quality - but also, IMHO, much of the high quality material was too similar to itself. Had he lived, they/he needed to expand their sound or, my guess, they'd have been doing their greatest hits from a limited list.

Dying young, good looking, artistically successful and in a swirl of drugs and booze - also see Brian Jones, Hendrix, Joplin (she checked almost all the boxes) - definitely helped cement a certain mystique and hagiography to one's work in that era. They were early success and future promise that never had to be met / that never burned out / that never got fat, wore cheesy clothes and played Vegas.

 

[HanauMan]

Guess you're referring to Elvis in your last sentence. However, I'd wager a bet that more people still listen to Elvis Presley past their 20s and 30s than still listen to the Doors or Hendrix nowadays. Morrison, Hendrix, Jones, Joplin, hell, even Sid Vicious are kind of stuck in their eras while Presley had a wider audience base and a bigger cultural influence. And don't forget that Elvis also died young(ish).

 

[Fading Fast]

Guess you're referring to Elvis in your last sentence. However, I'd wager a bet that more people still listen to Elvis Presley past their 20s and 30s than still listen to the Doors or Hendrix nowadays. Morrison, Hendrix, Jones, Joplin, hell, even Sid Vicious are kind of stuck in their eras while Presley had a wider audience base and a bigger cultural influence. And don't forget that Elvis also died young(ish).

I agree - Elvis was bigger in his day and cast a bigger shadow. My snarky point was that his image took a hit with his cheesy Vegas era (which the others avoided by dying young and at their, then, peak), but no question, he was and is a much bigger cultural icon than any of the others I noted.

 

[Doctor Strange]

As a classic eighties Rolling Stone cover said of Jim Morrison: He's hot. He's hip. He's dead.

Which is to say, he couldn't turn into Old Elvis. All those musicians that died at 27 - Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison, Jones, Pigpen, etc. - couldn't ever "sell out" and play Vegas... and lose their rebel cred.

Count me as someone in my sixties who still listens to the Doors, but not Elvis. While I do like his early Sun records and recognize his historical importance, I was never a fan.

 

[tonyb]

I have no idea who is rightfully credited with noting on the occasion of Elvis Presley's death that it was "a brilliant career move," but it's a quotation for the ages.

 

[tonyb]

As a classic eighties Rolling Stone cover said of Jim Morrison: He's hot. He's hip. He's dead.

Which is to say, he couldn't turn into Old Elvis. All those musicians that died at 27 - Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison, Jones, Pigpen, etc. - couldn't ever "sell out" and play Vegas... and lose their rebel cred.

Count me as someone in my sixties who still listens to the Doors, but not Elvis. While I do like his early Sun records and recognize his historical importance, I was never a fan.

Bob Dylan did brassiere commercials for Victoria's Secret not so long ago.

 

[redlinerobert]

I make it a rule at our home when we get together for dinner, no cell phones at the table. Period. Your social lives are not that important....

 

[HanauMan]

I agree - Elvis was bigger in his day and cast a bigger shadow. My snarky point was that his image took a hit with his cheesy Vegas era (which the others avoided by dying young and at their, then, peak), but no question, he was and is a much bigger cultural icon than any of the others I noted.

Yes, I got your point. Had they lived and continued musically up to now I guess they would be sad relics of a bygone era, much like the Rolling Stones are now, or Bon Jovi or any other example you'd care to mention. The only person who continued with any credit was David Bowie, but then he changed his style all the time, thus keeping his old fans while reaping new ones with each change of his persona.

 

[GHT]

I agree - Elvis was bigger in his day and cast a bigger shadow. My snarky point was that his image took a hit with his cheesy Vegas era (which the others avoided by dying young and at their, then, peak), but no question, he was and is a much bigger cultural icon than any of the others I noted.

It's also worth remembering that although Elvis grew up in The South's bible belt, he never claimed to be more famous than Jesus.

 

[2jakes]

"Weather words”

 

[LizzieMaine]

I hate the word "no'reaster." It may have been used in writing by folksy poets in the 18th Century or whatever idiot justification the Wikipedia linguists like to use for it, but New Englanders never *said* it that way until the rise of TV weather channels. Traditional New England dialect is and has always been very specifically non-rhotic, and in a word like "Northeaster" the R sound is elided, not emphasized.

The traditional pronunciation, as used by every actual Old New Englander I knew before 1985, was "no'theasta." Stick that in your Weather Channel and shovel it.

 

[Zombie_61]

...Technology dependency among children has become so prevalent that some kids don't know how to read a printed book, that is according to a recent news report. Kids try to swipe book pages.

The other sister-in-law present at our Easter gathering shared a story about the two-year-old son of a couple she and her husband knew who, upon being presented with a book for the first time in his life, spent quite some time trying to figure out why he couldn't swipe the pages or enlarge the photos. My first thought was that it was a rather sad commentary on how modern life and modern technology have become so intertwined, and my second thought was that this surely couldn't have been an isolated incident.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I used to swipe pages as a kid, but only from books I couldn't afford to buy, and only when the librarian wasn't looking.

 

[GHT]

The traditional pronunciation, as used by every actual Old New Englander I knew before 1985, was "no'theasta." Stick that in your Weather Channel and shovel it.

Is there anywhere in the US that pronounces words like Warwick, the English way, as in Worick? Sometimes the letter 'w' remaining silent can be difficult to a foreigner, especially from an English speaking country. I know many an English person that pronounces the Scottish town of Hawick as, Hay-wick. The Scottish will smile and politely explain that it should be pronounced: Hoick.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

Is there anywhere in the US that pronounces words like Warwick, the English way, as in Worick? Sometimes the letter 'w' remaining silent can be difficult to a foreigner, especially from an English speaking country. I know many an English person that pronounces the Scottish town of Hawick as, Hay-wick. The Scottish will smile and politely explain that it should be pronounced: Hoick.

English, (that is, to say, from the country of England) has over the centuries developed pronunciations greatly at odds with the spelling, especially proper names. The thumping name of Cholmondeley is pronounced "Chumly." The equally awesome name of Featrherstonehaugh is pronounced "Fanshaw." Even the rather modest Wulf-Leigh is pronounced "Wilfly." While Sandwich retains its "w," the food named after the nobleman of that name is pronounced "sandwidge." Just English willfulness at work.