What's something modern you won't miss when it becomes obsolete?

[belfastboy]

In the Before Times I shopped much as you do -- I often dropped the lovely missus downtown and swung into a supermarket (a couple of them are right on the route back home) and picked up what I needed for that night's dinner. But she's been working from home for 14 months as of yesterday and has been quite clear in her view that I take as few opportunities to be exposed to the virus as reasonably possible. This was of more concern when cases were spiking and vaccines were not yet available. (I got my second Moderna on April 6.)

As to Uber et al ...

Yeah, it's easy to object to the model from a "labor" perspective, but it's really no more exploitative of the workers than the taxicab industry has been in most American locales for many decades now. I'm highly sympathetic to the immigrant fellow who paid some hundreds of thousands for a taxicab medallion a few years ago that's worth a very small fraction of that today. For him, that really sucks. Uber and Lyft were operating in clear violation of many cities' ordinances, but there was little political will to enforce because the riding public clearly preferred the service over the taxicab operations. Better vehicles, more timely service, and generally less expensive (a lot less, in most cases). It's much more efficient.

I imagine it might be different in a big city but in the smaller centres (under 100K residents) where we use Uber all the drivers we have used love driving for Uber. They use the model largely as a side gig or love the flexibility it offers. To a person they loved the gig.
When I worked in larger cities I would take taxis. The last cabbie I spoke with in a larger Canadian city said his business slumped a bit when Uber first arrived but it soon returned to normal levels. His take is they have expanded the market and more people are using car hire services rather than cutting into a finite pie. They also help out during peak times like the end of hockey games when there are just not enough cabs to meet the episodic demand. Uber drivers come out of the wood work and pick up the slack.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Well, I mean, I'm living on a food budget of $4 a day right now. And all I was able to grow last year was a few mangy-looking tomatoes.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Well, I mean, I'm living on a food budget of $4 a day right now. And all I was able to grow last year was a few mangy-looking tomatoes.

I'd dearly love, though, to see lawns abolished. One of the greatest wastes of resources in our entire society.

 

[belfastboy]

In the Before Times I shopped much as you do -- I often dropped the lovely missus downtown and swung into a supermarket (a couple of them are right on the route back home) and picked up what I needed for that night's dinner. But she's been working from home for 14 months as of yesterday and has been quite clear in her view that I take as few opportunities to be exposed to the virus as reasonably possible. This was of more concern when cases were spiking and vaccines were not yet available. (I got my second Moderna on April 6.)

As to Uber et al ...

Yeah, it's easy to object to the model from a "labor" perspective, but it's really no more exploitative of the workers than the taxicab industry has been in most American locales for many decades now. I'm highly sympathetic to the immigrant fellow who paid some hundreds of thousands for a taxicab medallion a few years ago that's worth a very small fraction of that today. For him, that really sucks. Uber and Lyft were operating in clear violation of many cities' ordinances, but there was little political will to enforce because the riding public clearly preferred the service over the taxicab operations. Better vehicles, more timely service, and generally less expensive (a lot less, in most cases). It's much more efficient.

I imagine it might be different in a big city but in the smaller centres (under 100K residents) where we use Uber all the drivers we have used love driving for Uber. They use the model largely as a side gig or love the flexibility it offers. To a person they loved the gig.
When I worked in larger cities I would take taxis. The last cabbie I spoke with in a larger Canadian city said his business slumped a bit when Uber first arrived but it soon returned to normal levels

At the risk of sounding like a jerk, have you tried grocery shopping in person? I am 53, near 54, and even in the midst of a pandemic, I have never shopped for food using a phone.

Perhaps not the best example of why a smart phone is an absolute necessity.

^^^^^
The Internet and the appliances we use to access it have made obsolete some occupations and made possible (or at least much more feasible) new ones.

Lyft and Uber won’t work without smartphones. It’s been poison to the taxicab industry, but it’s a much better way for the customers to get where they wish to be.

Artisans in niche fields find their customers online, and vice-versa. As our old friend Art Fawcett put it to me in a phone conversation well over a decade ago, you either get aboard that train or you get run over by it.

. His take is they have expanded the market and more people are using car hire services rather than cutting into a finite pie. They also help out during peak times like the end of hockey games when there are just not enough cabs to meet the episodic demand. Uber drivers come out of the wood work and pick up the slack.

Well, I mean, I'm living on a food budget of $4 a day right now. And all I was able to grow last year was a few mangy-looking tomatoes.

I'd dearly love, though, to see lawns abolished. One of the greatest wastes of resources in our entire society.

I guess in a fully utilitarian world where aesthetics are not accounted for then that would make sense but we live in a world where folks just seem to receive great joy in having lawns. Thankfully gov't has not intruded into our lives to the extent they deem our lawns to be an excessive waste of resources. Being old I am optimistic that day will not come in my life time but I would not rule it out for future generations.

 

[tonyb]

I imagine it might be different in a big city but in the smaller centres (under 100K residents) where we use Uber all the drivers we have used love driving for Uber. They use the model largely as a side gig or love the flexibility it offers. To a person they loved the gig.
When I worked in larger cities I would take taxis. The last cabbie I spoke with in a larger Canadian city said his business slumped a bit when Uber first arrived but it soon returned to normal levels. His take is they have expanded the market and more people are using car hire services rather than cutting into a finite pie. They also help out during peak times like the end of hockey games when there are just not enough cabs to meet the episodic demand. Uber drivers come out of the wood work and pick up the slack.

I can cite numerous anecdotes of taxi operators taking a huge hit since Uber and Lyft and other transportation services came onboard.

Taxicabs used to be the primary way by which blood and human tissue moved from blood bank to hospital and hospital to hospital. Taxicabs were used by hotels and airlines to move misdirected luggage where it needed to be. Taxicabs transported school kids who for whatever reason (behavior and disability of one sort or another) couldn’t ride the bus. Restaurants used taxicabs to transport food to customers at their homes and hotels.

Most of that end of the ground transportation business is now done either in-house or by other transportation providers. To a large degree, the taxicab industry had itself to blame for that loss of business, because they took it for granted.

It is true, though, that the pie has expanded. Getting one’s driver’s license and first car at age 16 isn’t the rite of passage it was in generations past. Operating one’s own car is far costlier, even in adjusted dollars, than it was in my early driving years. There are more people needing more transportation all the time. The beauty of Lyft and Uber is that the supply rises and falls to meet the demand. It used to be that you just plain couldn’t get a taxicab to get you home from the supermarket on a Friday afternoon before your ice cream turned to soup, and you couldn’t get a realistic estimate from the dispatcher as to when your cab might actually arrive. With Lyft and Uber, you just look at your smartphone to see who’s coming for you and where he or she is right now. From the consumer’s perspective, it’s a far better alternative.

 

[belfastboy]

I can cite numerous anecdotes of taxi operators taking a huge hit since Uber and Lyft and other transportation services came onboard.

Taxicabs used to be the primary way by which blood and human tissue moved from blood bank to hospital and hospital to hospital. Taxicabs were used by hotels and airlines to move misdirected luggage where it needed to be. Taxicabs transported school kids who for whatever reason (behavior and disability of one sort or another) couldn’t ride the bus. Restaurants used taxicabs to transport food to customers at their homes and hotels.

Most of that end of the ground transportation business is now done either in-house or by other transportation providers. To a large degree, the taxicab industry had itself to blame for that loss of business, because they took it for granted.

It is true, though, that the pie has expanded. Getting one’s driver’s license and first car at age 16 isn’t the rite of passage it was in generations past. Operating one’s own car is far costlier, even in adjusted dollars, than it was in my early driving years. There are more people needing more transportation all the time. The beauty of Lyft and Uber is that the supply rises and falls to meet the demand. It used to be that you just plain couldn’t get a taxicab to get you home from the supermarket on a Friday afternoon before your ice cream turned to soup, and you couldn’t get a realistic estimate from the dispatcher as to when your cab might actually arrive. With Lyft and Uber, you just look at your smartphone to see who’s coming fir you and where he or she os right now. From the consumer’s perspective, it’s a far better alternative.

In my city the taxi lobby is very strong and resisted Uber for years. The city finally relented and the tipping issue was the weekend times when the bars would empty and not nearly enough cabs to meet demand. Cabbies would refuse fares out to the suburbs as it meant dead heading back into town. So in effect it was pushing drinkers into their cars as their only way home. Thus, now we have Uber. I also think it is a different scenario in smaller centres where the taxis are few....and waits can be long. Almost all the drivers we have encountered use it as a side gig, retired, student, supplemental income etc. and rides are never more than a 10 minute wait.

 

[tonyb]

As to lawns ...

The greater Denver area is having its wettest springtime since 1944. It’s greener here than I’ve seen it in my nearly seven years here. No need for sprinklers. Yet.

But with this exception, a grass lawn here requires more than a little supplemental water. Xeriscaping is increasingly popular. The dewy-eyed bride and I are considering it for our front yard, the utility of which is only as a buffer between the house and the public right-of-way. We’re thinking rocks and boulders and succulents. I’ve seen many such yards that look quite good and require no water other than what little of it falls from the sky.

But we will keep the lawn in the fenced-in backyard. Our dogs need a comfortable place to romp. And poop. Rocks won’t do.

 

[belfastboy]

I can cite numerous anecdotes of taxi operators taking a huge hit since Uber and Lyft and other transportation services came onboard.

Taxicabs used to be the primary way by which blood and human tissue moved from blood bank to hospital and hospital to hospital. Taxicabs were used by hotels and airlines to move misdirected luggage where it needed to be. Taxicabs transported school kids who for whatever reason (behavior and disability of one sort or another) couldn’t ride the bus. Restaurants used taxicabs to transport food to customers at their homes and hotels.

Most of that end of the ground transportation business is now done either in-house or by other transportation providers. To a large degree, the taxicab industry had itself to blame for that loss of business, because they took it for granted.

It is true, though, that the pie has expanded. Getting one’s driver’s license and first car at age 16 isn’t the rite of passage it was in generations past. Operating one’s own car is far costlier, even in adjusted dollars, than it was in my early driving years. There are more people needing more transportation all the time. The beauty of Lyft and Uber is that the supply rises and falls to meet the demand. It used to be that you just plain couldn’t get a taxicab to get you home from the supermarket on a Friday afternoon before your ice cream turned to soup, and you couldn’t get a realistic estimate from the dispatcher as to when your cab might actually arrive. With Lyft and Uber, you just look at your smartphone to see who’s coming for you and where he or she is right now. From the consumer’s perspective, it’s a far better alternative.

In the last year of my mother's life her meds were delivered weekly by taxi from the pharmacy. It lasted a week until her meds mysteriously began to disappear. Included in the bubble pack were her 4 times daily dose of hydromorphone. We switched to a small family run pharmacy and the pharmacists husband personally delivered them to my mother's locked med box.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Front yards -- they're too small to be considered "lawns" -- in my neighborhood are about twelve feet between the house and the street, so they're useful only as parking places. Or places for the neighbors to let their dogs crap. Or kids to throw McDonald's wrappers. You get the idea.

I let the dandelions and clover grow wild on what little yard I have, and figure at least the bees can get something good out of it. Plus it hides the dog crap and the McDonald's wrappers.

I think I'd be very unhappy living in suburbia, so I'm glad I don't.

 

[tonyb]

...

I think I'd be very unhappy living in suburbia, so I'm glad I don't.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that when I was a young fellow I lived in a very close-in neighborhood, in one of those districts commonly called “the inner-city” back then (which was code for various things), because that was where the inexpensive housing was. These days I live in the suburbs, because that’s where the inexpensive (relatively) housing is.

And I’m sure I’ve mentioned how annoyed I am by the relatively recent arrivals to my old in-city neighborhood who pride themselves on “saving” the district and how much they treasure the “diversity” they’ve mostly priced out.

You won’t find many architectural gems in this generic 1970s-built suburban subdivision. You might find a Mercedes-Benz in a driveway around here, but it would probably have significant body damage and at least a couple hundred thousand miles on it.

What you will find around here is what you used to find in town — working-class families, people in hues other than white (not that white people aren’t also well represented), recent arrivals to this fair land, etc. I’m comfortable here.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's more the surroundings that would bug me, the big lawns, the houses spaced wide apart, the whole car-centric layout. I've never lived like that in my life, and it doesn't appeal to me at all. That's why I resist the gentrifiers who are trying to push people like me out of town with all that I can muster. They'll get rid of me eventually, but I'll be in a box when they do.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^
I’d like to think that this type of development has had its day, but when I see the sprawl that goes on for miles and miles, new houses going in all the time, one development not unlike the next one, I gotta acknowledge that that day has yet to pass. Car-centric, indeed. Those places couldn’t exist without the personal automobile.

When we bought this place, in 2015, there were 15 acres of open land less than half a mile away. There are now two apartment developments there, with a combined 800 units. There’s also a light-rail station right there (transit-oriented development, it’s called) and ready freeway access. And now more commercial development to cater to all those people.

Some long-time residents grumble about it. And I kinda get it — the district has changed quite a bit from what it was. But it certainly isn’t all for the worse. You now actually *can* function without a car here. (I wouldn’t choose that, but a person could.) And I’d rather see more and better use made of existing infrastructure than even more suburban sprawl.

 

[LizzieMaine]

We don't have freeways here, fortunately -- and I live fifty miles from the nearest interstate. That's so far been the one thing saving this town from complete destruction. A lot of the people who came up here fleeing the pandemic are already complaining that it takes too long to get to Boston. Well, it wouldna' took so long if you'd stayed in Newburyport.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^^
Yeah, being far removed from an Interstate goes a long way toward keeping a small town small.

If you build it, they will come.

 

[Harp]

There's a lot of things the public prefers that I find morally objectionable -- Uberism, Amazon, the billionaire cult, consumption-driven society in general. So I don't give them my support or my money. Simple as that. Doesn't make any difference to them, but it does to me.

I turned to Amazon Books when the pandeomonium struck. Bookies, my favorite book shop haunt is still closed.

 

[Turnip]

Multifunctional, electrically multiadjustable couch systems…

 

[tonyb]

Multifunctional, electrically multiadjustable couch systems…

Somehow I’ve lived this long without even knowing what that is, exactly, but I get the sense I will be none the poorer when it is no more.

 

[Turnip]

Somehow I’ve lived this long without even knowing what that is…

Never mind…

 

[LizzieMaine]

It sounds like that adjustable-bed thing that Art Linkletter used to shill for on late night TV. "Please send me the information booklet you spoke about on TV! See how easy!"

Along those same lines, I'm awful tired of hearing every stupid gadget somebody is trying to sell being described as a "system," as though the purchaser was getting the advantage of decades of advanced aerospace research every time they buy a toothbrush. The only thing more obnoxious is the ubiquity of the word "tactical," as in that dopey commercial where they show Mr. J. Random Bonedumb scouting his dooryard with his advanced tactical flashlight. That'll show those woodchucks.

 

[tonyb]

… The only thing more obnoxious is the ubiquity of the word "tactical," as in that dopey commercial where they show Mr. J. Random Bonedumb scouting his dooryard with his advanced tactical flashlight. That'll show those woodchucks.

“ … the same technology used by our heroes in uniform.”

Bell & Howell used to be a respected brand, widely known for the quality of its products, as was Sharper Image. Now both may as well be Ron “But Wait! There’s More!” Popeil.