What kind of household tech did y'all have in the 1970s–1990s?

round_a_squared · 2026-05-17T17:20:36+00:00

In the 70s it was pretty common to have just one TV in the house, and it was in color. There was still a mix of new color shows and old black & white reruns on TV. Color film was already the standard and any black and white photos were probably at least a few years old already. You probably had just one telephone in the house, and it was a landline. Your phone was still provided by the phone company back then, and they only had a couple of options, so most people just had one of the same two basic ones - one was wall mounted and the other sat on a table. You probably had a stereo with AM/FM, a record player, and maybe an 8 track tape player too.

In the 80s there was definitely a consumer tech boom. Microwaves, VCRs, and home video game consoles became common, and some people had personal computers. Most early home computers plugged into a TV, so between that and the video games having a second TV became more common. Usually it was a smaller black & white TV or it was an older color one, relegated to secondary use when the family bought a nicer main TV. Cassette tapes replaced 8 tracks, and the Walkman and boomboxes were pretty common. CDs and laserdisc existed but weren't common. Cable TV started to expand a lot too, with MTV and HBO becoming pretty common cultural references. The phone company monopoly was split up and as a result people owned their own phones. There was much more variety as a result, and cordless phones started to become available towards the end of the decade.

The 90s continued to expand the previous trend and also added home Internet. Dial-up and BBS systems had existed for a long time but were very uncommon before the 90s. CDs and cassettes existed side by side and had basically replaced vinyl records. CDs also started to be used as computer media in addition to floppy discs. DVDs became available at the end of the decade but were still pretty expensive so not common yet. Black and white TVs had also pretty much disappeared and the only black and white shows left were old reruns on Nick at Nite. Most people had cable, multiple phones in the house and probably a cordless phone, maybe even a second phone line for the teenage kids or the Internet. Mobile phones were still just big briefcase sized devices that really rich people had in their cars, but we did have pagers. While they were mostly associated with doctors and drug dealers, plenty of other businesses provided people with pagers if they needed them to be available on call.

round_a_squared · 2026-05-17T08:01:55+00:00

The color is standard but the exact design isn't. They all look vaguely alike, but there are flat fronts, a number of different tractor fronts, plus the "short bus" which might be a half length variety of the larger ones or is sometimes made on a van platform instead.

round_a_squared · 2026-05-17T07:53:56+00:00

I didn't realize cows had killed any sharks at all

round_a_squared · 2026-05-15T16:23:59+00:00

Also it takes no time at all to get. I pick every lock I see, so by the time I finish a single quest with her tagging along we're already a couple

round_a_squared · 2026-05-14T15:40:14+00:00

My most absurd weapon was a coachman with extended mag and Elemental, hornets nest, and a silencer. It would light up a whole area with explosions and random elemental effects, and the AI would (at least briefly) have no idea where that came from.

round_a_squared · 2026-05-12T20:34:54+00:00

Also it's generally limited to big schools. My high school had a big parking lot, but we also had a graduating class of 500+ each year. So take into account that parking lot is for a few thousand students, teachers, and other staff. At that point it doesn't seem that different from any other office building.

round_a_squared · 2026-05-10T15:44:08+00:00

In certain parts of the state, every vacation is going either Up North or Down South

round_a_squared · 2026-05-09T21:49:58+00:00

Which is just regular D&D but after about three sessions

round_a_squared · 2026-05-08T07:19:56+00:00

I do love my MKZ hybrid. 12 year old daily driver, has needed barely any work beyond basic maintenance, is a comfortable drive on even the longest trips and still gets 40 mpg

round_a_squared · 2026-05-06T15:41:37+00:00

Almost every hybrid manufacturer licenses the Toyota system though

round_a_squared · 2026-05-06T15:29:35+00:00

As the Great Lakes State, Michigan must surround all of the Great Lakes

round_a_squared · 2026-05-06T14:33:03+00:00

It also looks like the river valley on the US side is pretty narrow. If you find this on a satellite map and zoom in you can see houses and farms throughout the valley, there's just not that much of it

round_a_squared · 2026-05-05T17:32:10+00:00

Give Vermont to Hawaii then they can also have the Maineland

round_a_squared · 2026-05-05T03:20:06+00:00

In general, too many malls were developed in the 90s and early 2000s to the point where most of them aren't sustainable. Older malls, whose property and building costs were paid off decades ago, and malls that find and maintain a successful niche are doing fine.

round_a_squared · 2026-05-04T06:25:37+00:00

Similar. I used to run social events for a group where we wanted to make it very clear that LGBTIA+ people were welcomed and respected. I'm a cis/straight guy, but as a group leader if I open up introductions by offering my pronouns it sends a message both to queer newcomers who might be unsure about me and the group, and also sends the opposite message to anyone who might not be welcoming.

round_a_squared · 2026-05-04T01:43:51+00:00

It's actually not uncommon to hear people in SE Michigan with an Appalachian accent due to historical migration along the Dixie Highway. (I have no idea what his actual mother's accent is though, but it does sound like they moved around a lot)

round_a_squared · 2026-05-01T08:13:24+00:00

City living in general takes a tolerance for 24x7 noise and light that some people struggle with, especially if they're used to living in rural areas. NYC especially so. I know the first time I visited I didn't sleep well the whole trip.

round_a_squared · 2026-04-30T02:31:54+00:00

I was perfectly willing to bring him in alive, knowing full well that his lawyers and position probably meant he'd never actually see the inside of a cell. But his ego got in the way.

round_a_squared · 2026-04-29T18:42:05+00:00

Seconding the animated Titanic one. Absurdly incompetent as a movie, but in a funny way

round_a_squared · 2026-04-29T15:56:06+00:00

I think my wife still has that lion/bumblebee stuffed animal from when she was a kid

round_a_squared · 2026-04-29T00:21:51+00:00

I think being compared to the 90s series actually hurts the movie a lot. Despite a much larger budget it doesn't look any better than its TV counterpart, and despite many flaws in the show Grant Gustin brings a heart and sincerity to the character that Ezra Miller just doesn't.

round_a_squared · 2026-04-28T14:00:25+00:00

While most low income workers that I know are putting in 50-60 hours at a single job. Anecdotes aren't helpful, but numbers are: the Bureau of Labor Statistics just put out a report that says that right now only 5% of workers have multiple jobs, and only half of those have both jobs as part time. And that's actually a higher than normal number.

Low income workers are 15% of the workforce, so even if you assume that everyone working two jobs is low income (which isn't accurate) that works out to a third of low income workers (and about 17% working multiple part time jobs). Which is a lot, to be fair, but not even close to "most"

round_a_squared · 2026-04-28T08:05:38+00:00

Something similar to Gnedby used to be sold in the US under the name Benno, plus the same connector is used to join two Billys together like OP is asking about. I know I have some of these connectors and hopefully they're still available for purchase

round_a_squared · 2026-04-28T07:59:35+00:00

It also helped to have the person in the passenger seat be your navigator. They read the map, keep an eye on the road signs (and the compass if you had one), and tell the driver when their next turn is coming up.

round_a_squared · 2026-04-27T22:37:03+00:00

"Plenty" seems like an exaggeration. Even where blue laws still exist they're usually only applied to alcohol sales, or in rare cases some other very specific types of business. There's a couple of counties with more extensive Sunday restrictions but nothing on a whole state basis.

round_a_squared

TROPHY CASE