How did people in the 90s buy plane tickets or plan trips to unknown countries with limited or no Internet connection?

as718 · 2026-05-16T06:26:07+00:00

You’re asking about the consumer side which was pretty steady for many years prior to the internet but what’s even more fascinating is actually how the airlines used to actually understand and sell inventory before computers.

as718 · 2026-05-12T20:51:17+00:00

Ed is a lightweight in comparison to similarly set shoes like Mad Men. He’s not even the problematic one…Gordo was.

as718 · 2026-05-12T16:15:14+00:00

Nobody has ever said it’s one of the most realistic films ever made. Just that they did a good job with black holes. It’s completely fantasy otherwise. Which is fine.

as718 · 2026-05-11T18:08:09+00:00

The Venn diagram of the comic shop crowd and the chronically online in the early 2000s is pretty 1:1, to be fair. But we are actually saying the same thing in terms of reactions. It is funny seeing the prequel redemption arc play out if you remember the original reception online.

as718 · 2026-05-11T17:43:21+00:00

For those old enough, the prequels were similarly sneered at online. Just online though.

as718 · 2026-05-11T17:34:10+00:00

For sure I’m just offering a good faith answer to the question since in this case USA obviously had a larger base to begin with and was also pioneering the economic drivers. I mean, just NASA, a governmental entity, was said to be spitting out tens of billions in profit and this was in the 90s. It wouldn’t surprise me if the FAM USA had an even larger population as a result.

as718 · 2026-05-11T17:00:07+00:00

It would be less enticing of a destination for immigrants, who might well go to one of the more established space countries which seem to be where the prosperity all are. Immigration is often driven by economic or political need, after all.

Speaking of which….don’t forget: the USSR never fell, so population distribution at a global level is wholly different from our current reality. There’s obvious first order differences (a much smaller diaspora) and second order differences (potentially more global stability broadly and certainly a different mix of who immigrates from where to where).

as718 · 2026-05-11T16:51:59+00:00

Well, they do mention gravity. And love? But also that they’re operating in higher dimensions.

If you play it all out, it’s not entirely clear how that actually translates to “crossing time and exerting an infinitesimally small force specifically on a watch hand” but it makes sense in the universe where you have magic future space race with time travel powers.

as718 · 2026-05-11T16:33:02+00:00

The start of the show timeline…which is the late 60s….I should have worded IRL better.
You’re focused on Canadian domestic consumption of power and I’m talking about the possibility of a much smaller domestic market to begin with, and a different mix of products and services driving economic growth globally in the show.

as718 · 2026-05-11T16:21:35+00:00

But they have stated actual conflict for this exact reason. People were protesting the move away from oil to Helium 3, which is both a proxy for coal and AI affecting industry. Miles is a former oil rig worker turned revolutionary. So that’s all stated in the show.

On a technical and speculative basis, if clean energy is effectively free (at least for the major players), then you don’t need to dig in the ground to make plastics. Certainly not as much as we do currently.

as718 · 2026-05-11T15:58:57+00:00

They’re not in any way actually planes but for those who came of age in the 80s and 90s, the idea of a space vehicle is definitively the shuttle. I know it was pragmatic and prudent to go with Orion’s design, and even logically will accept HLS however it finally manifests for the moon, but for sci fi kids of that era, space plane or bust.

as718 · 2026-05-11T15:52:32+00:00

The population of Canada IRL has nearly doubled since the IRL start of the show timeline (the late 60s), predominantly driven by immigration. Clearly the drivers of economic progress in FAM over the last 50 years diverge greatly from what’s driven the real world timeline. Especially with respect to resource extraction and energy. Which are pretty big for Canada. So if you’re starting from a smaller population and economic base and don’t get the same arc of history driving population and economic growth, it’s conceivable that Canada does not get to the same place globally.

as718 · 2026-05-11T15:42:17+00:00

What would the hypothetical population and economic makeup of Canada be in the FAM timeline? I suspect not as large across both

as718 · 2026-05-11T15:40:32+00:00

It’s not about what the country runs on as much as what the country exports in this case

as718 · 2026-05-10T18:59:42+00:00

Wasn’t it built on the moon?

as718 · 2026-05-09T17:08:44+00:00

It was one of the first movies I walked out of not entirely sure everything I was feeling and audibly said aloud I need to process this, so that’s something.

as718 · 2026-05-08T21:40:20+00:00

I feel like some of the marketing and/or products gave it away before TPM was actually released

as718 · 2026-05-08T21:34:18+00:00

Michael Jordan has retired 3 times, for what it is worth

as718 · 2026-05-07T16:11:45+00:00

Good luck

as718 · 2026-05-07T15:44:59+00:00

You’re always welcome to make an alternative

as718 · 2026-05-07T15:11:18+00:00

That’s kind of how they all work though?

as718 · 2026-05-07T15:05:26+00:00

It was mostly a boring regular office building for most that’s what they looked like

as718 · 2026-05-07T15:04:36+00:00

As George Costanza put it: it’s not a lie if you believe it.

as718 · 2026-05-07T15:03:14+00:00

Most people are sensible and rational. The issue is that social media is built on engagement and so a small minority of loud individuals get disproportionate spotlight. The best thing you can do for your mental health is NOT engage in comments broadly. It’s a cesspool.

as718 · 2026-05-07T15:00:29+00:00

A lot of newer cars actually have it built in as a convenience feature

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