Miracles of Modern Life (minor)

[jjquantz]

Sometimes I am easily amazed. I placed an order with Oxford University Press Tuesday night and the item was delivered to me this afternoon about 3:30. It was a $25 dollar item and shipping was only $9. Picked out of the warehouse, flown across the Atlantic and to my door in approximately 70 hours.

For only $9 !!!

 

[Koolau]

Despite all the (ever increasing) hassles of travel, I am still blown away that I can leave a small rock in the middle of the Pacific and arrive at my mainland place almost 5000 miles away in less than 16 hours, door to door. Full disclosure - sometimes it takes a bit longer, but it could take less if I weren't so frugal (okay, cheap!) YMMV

 

[RobbieB]

I'm amazed that I can buy really good stuff made in China on ebay cheap for "free shipping" and it gets here fast.

 

[CaliKid]

I'm amazed that I can buy really good stuff made in China on ebay cheap for "free shipping" and it gets here fast.

Exactly! A little electronic item for $2.00, with free postage, and it's being flown from China. Lol. That's a slim profit there after Ebay fees, postage and oh ya manufacturing the thing.

 

[RobbieB]

Oh yeah! I bought bags (100's various colors) for the same price as 5 at Radio Shack. Shipped free. And here in a week. And they all worked.

I love ebay!

 

[misshathaway]

Amazing that you can enter a street address for almost anywhere on your phone or computer and get directions for several modes of transportation to it, and a picture of the destination.

 

[Totoro]

Marveled today about this (yet again): Information about practically anything, with instant access and neatly laid out by magical fairies: Wikipedia.

I can summon all kinds of food to my house, better than I can cook myself.

 

[target2019]

Amazing that you can enter a street address for almost anywhere on your phone or computer and get directions for several modes of transportation to it, and a picture of the destination.

And shows you which way you're going, and then talks you thru the directions!

 

[travelover]

Phones. They work in any language.

 

[Tadpole]

Almost everything with a battery has a camera and "flash"light.

 

[W2R]

Permanent press! I am old enough that I remember doing the ironing for our family when I was a child, as one of my chores. What an awful, tedious, back-breaking task, not to mention the small burns that I always seemed to get on my hands.

But in recent years I haven't used my iron even once, and everything looks fine to me. I only buy permanent press instead of going out of my way to buy something that wrinkles, like linen. One of these days I'm going to donate my iron to Good Will, and they will probably look at it and say in puzzled tones, "What's this for?"

OK, permanent press isn't SUPER modern, but I am still awfully happy about it so I think it counts.

 

[MRG]

International calling. No operator, callback, and cheap.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

 

[braumeister]

Amazing that you can enter a street address for almost anywhere on your phone or computer and get directions for several modes of transportation to it, and a picture of the destination.

And shows you which way you're going, and then talks you thru the directions!

And I've notice recently with Google Maps that it will even tell you what time the next train/bus/tram will be at the nearest stop. Boggles the mind.

Also, last month I ordered something from England and it arrived four days later. It didn't fit well, so I asked for an exchange. They emailed me a label for free return, and I returned it via the UPS store a mile from my house. The replacement item arrived five days later. Just incredible.

 

[Walt34]

What is happening with radio control models of any type. I'm liking the little battery-powered foam airplanes with wingspans of 14" to 27" (for a sailplane) and weighing from 1.5 to 3 ounces. These I can fly in the back yard so I don't have to go anywhere. Now they have one with GPS and an autopilot so it will land itself near where it took off!

When I started in R/C in 1983 a "small" airplane weighed at least a couple of pounds and required a glow fuel (alcohol) powered engine. The power-to-weight ratio just wasn't there with ni-cad batteries for electrics to more than give a boost to a sailplane. And you needed a very large field to fly them.

 

[samclem]

Air conditioners. For less than a day's pay for most people in the US, we can buy a device that will keep several hundred square feet of our home cool and dehumidified no matter how hot it gets. It will run for about 10 years needing only about 10 minutes of care per year (rinse out the filter a few times). The cost for electricity is less than a dollar per day (i.e earned in about 3 minutes of work for most families in the US).
Summertime comfort that was unknown even to kings and the wealthiest people in the world less than 100 years ago.

 

[MRG]

Air conditioners. For less than a day's pay for most people in the US, we can buy a device that will keep several hundred square feet of our home cool and dehumidified no matter how hot it gets. It will run for about 10 years needing only about 10 minutes of care per year (rinse out the filter a few times). The cost for electricity is less than a dollar per day (i.e earned in about 3 minutes of work for most families in the US).
Summertime comfort that was unknown even to kings and the wealthiest people in the world less than 100 years ago.

+1

I grew up in PA, moved to the Midwest with a car without air. I often wondered what people did before ac in homes, and older native tells me about sleeping under trees in Swope Park. Good area to wake up dead today. That says bunches.

 

[Closet_Gamer]

Air conditioners. For less than a day's pay for most people in the US, we can buy a device that will keep several hundred square feet of our home cool and dehumidified no matter how hot it gets. It will run for about 10 years needing only about 10 minutes of care per year (rinse out the filter a few times). The cost for electricity is less than a dollar per day (i.e earned in about 3 minutes of work for most families in the US).
Summertime comfort that was unknown even to kings and the wealthiest people in the world less than 100 years ago.

+2

This and the whole information revolution.

I will never forget a handful of years ago my daughter got her first iTouch. We were sitting on her bed playing around with it and pulled down some imagery of mars. NASA had a probe active there at the time and we followed a link where we found the current weather on Mars.

I just sat there and considered the chain of human brilliance for my daughter casually pull down the near real time weather on a another planet to a device she was holding in her hand that had cost only a few hundred $$$.

 

[ls99]

Vacuum cleaner. A true miracle. Imagine trying to get a place truly clean without one.

No matter what kind of broom or feather duster, they just move the stuff around. Well, one can always try to wash everything.

But then the next miracle, indoor plumbing with running water and toilet. I grew up without either. First exposure to indoor plumbing when I arrived in the US at 17. Water carried in buckets from the community well, and outhouse. No joy like sitting on the throne in 10 below zero , with the wind whistling through the walls, and around the exposed regions.

 

[Just_Steve]

What is happening with radio control models of any type. I'm liking the little battery-powered foam airplanes with wingspans of 14" to 27" (for a sailplane) and weighing from 1.5 to 3 ounces. These I can fly in the back yard so I don't have to go anywhere. Now they have one with GPS and an autopilot so it will land itself near where it took off!

When I started in R/C in 1983 a "small" airplane weighed at least a couple of pounds and required a glow fuel (alcohol) powered engine. The power-to-weight ratio just wasn't there with ni-cad batteries for electrics to more than give a boost to a sailplane. And you needed a very large field to fly them.

I was watching these guys on TV racing R/C plans with cameras and they had on goggles to control the planes as if in the pilot seat, pretty awesome.

 

[Music Lover]

I can adjust the temperature in the house with a couple taps on the screen of my smart phone...regardless of whether I'm home or 500 miles away.

 

[omni550]

Skype.

Free software that allows you to video-conference for as long as you wish with one or several people scattered around the globe for free. Simply amazing.

It has allowed me to connect with previously unknown cousins (that I 'found' thru DNA testing and further online research) who live in Europe. Through weekly Skype sessions over the past two years I have developed a close relationship with them.

omni

 

[omni550]

Inexpensive DNA testing.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I bought a $99 23andme.com saliva test kit (price is now $198) in 2013...and it unlocked a world of relatives who live in Europe.

Upheavals by revolutions and wars over the past 100 years caused many individuals in the family to leave their homeland and lose touch with each other. I had always wondered if I might have some contemporary family members. It was a surprise and delight for me to find and connect with them.

omni

 

[RobbieB]

The internet. The global marketplace.

I love the internet, I can get anything I want on the internet. Just google up "anything you want" and you will find it.

My latest find, southern boiled peanuts. Had 'em first on a trip to South Carolina decades ago and liked them. So I had an urge and sure enough there they were, just a few clicks and keystrokes away. Ordered up 4 lbs of traditional and 4 lbs of cajun.

 

[Totoro]

Inexpensive DNA testing.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I bought a $99 23andme.com saliva test kit (price is now $198) in 2013...and it unlocked a world of relatives who live in Europe.

Upheavals by revolutions and wars over the past 100 years caused many individuals in the family to leave their homeland and lose touch with each other. I had always wondered if I might have some contemporary family members. It was a surprise and delight for me to find and connect with them.

omni

I did it too. Found out all my ancestors have been from here since at least 10.000 years. Same thing with relatives, all in a 200km radius.

Pestilence, wars, famine, upheaval, technology. We stayed put in Doggerland.

 

[MRG]

All the free and very cheap technology.

We use MyFitnessPal and Mapmywalk. How cool are they. Just scan in barcodes and get accurate calorie counts with macros. How the heck did folks track that before?(I know). Tracking both calories and exercise has amazing benefits.

Then all the free storage, really. I think back 20+ years ago when the capacity guy learned I was writing a compression algorithm for a couple of large files. He was saying a one byte increase in record length(of the current files) was a even million dollars in disk!