What *Could* You Do Without?

[LizzieMaine]

We had a thread a while back about those features of the modern world we couldn't do without -- but how about those things we *could* do without?

I thought about it this morning when I had to go out and buy a new telephone for my office. The main phone in my house is a WE 202 from the early thirties, heavy enough to crack walnuts, and still functioning as well as it did the day it was built. My office phone, a plastic Radio Shack dingus, gave up the ghost last night after only nine years of use -- and I was appalled to discover that the phones out now are even chintzier than they were in 1997. The one I ended up getting feels for all the world like the hollow plastic toy phone I had when I was six.

So, tops on my list of things I could do without --

•Cheap Plastic Telephones.

I'd also add --

•Alarm clocks that beep or buzz instead of a good honest *RING*

•Franchised big-box stores on every corner pushing out local merchants

• Self-Adhesive postage stamps. I kind of liked the taste of that glue.

• Multiplex movie theatres. Hell for me would be a thirty-screen googolplex with no live projectionist, stale popcorn, and all the aesthetics of a cell block.

• The Designated Hitter Rule.

• Pull-ring soup cans. What, we're too dumb and lazy now to know how to use a can opener?

• Plastic grocery bags. What do kids use nowadays to cover their books for school?

• Unopenable plastic blister packs on items that could just as easily be sold loose.


How 'bout you? Let's all gripe together!

 

[jamespowers]

Oh man I could live without plenty now. Mostly, I could live without the entitlement attitude that many folks have nowadays. They feel they are entitled to something without having to work for it and just because you have one.
I could do without:
Big Brother size Big Screen TVs
Stores that smell like a morgue
fake wood
fake chrome
fake food
polyester fabrics
things made in thrid world countries that don't last five minutes after you open the package
shoes made of fake materials(man-made)
cars that fold up like cardboard boxes and are generally ugly
women who have men's haircuts and vice versa
I am sure I can think of hundreds more but that is it for now.

Regards,

J

 

[Paisley]

Meandering suburban streets. I think I have a good sense of direction, but I tend to get lost in the 'burbs. If you're on a major artery and miss a turn, you have to go a mile to turn around. Bring back the street grids!

Lizzie, I know what you mean about cheapie phones. I threw away a GE phone several years ago. I bought a Uniden cordless and have been very pleased with it: good sound, good feel, doesn't show dirt or make-up. It sounds almost as good as my antique phone.

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

Oh god Lizzie, I hate blister packs so so so so so so much!

Other things I really don't need include - REALITY TV - I find it very embarassing for the people involved, for me, for the television network, and for humanity in general.

 

[jamespowers]

Other things I really don't need include - REALITY TV - I find it very embarassing for the people involved, for me, for the television network, and for humanity in general.

Oh yes, add that to my list. I can't stand those "how big of an idiot can I make of myself on national TV" shows. :eusa_doh:

Regards,

J

 

[mysterygal]

blister packs can be dangerous! hate opening them
I could do without battery operated children's toys!

 

[Baron Kurtz]

- TV
- Automobiles
- "low-rise" anything
- Movie theatres
- Snivelling self-righteousness
- lite beer
- beer that's not made from barley
- "whiskey" that's not made of barley
- technology that makes it "easier" to run our lives but in fact just adds more stress
- Pointless "administrators" who's only job seems to be to create pointless work to maintain themselves in a job.

Most i do live without. Some (tech stuff, admin) is unavoidable

bk

 

[jake_fink]

This big, hideous, plastic, dust-collecting desk hog I'm using right now. It's part glorified typewriter and part magazine shop and mail-order catalogue. It keeps me leashed to work when I'm at home, and it distracts me too easily from the other work I have to do.

Just try submitting a typewritten page to anyone, anywhere. Try to get through a query without "email the details". The computer and the person have fallen into that form of master/slave relationship where the one becomes indistinguishable from the other. Over-rated and over-used.

And it sucks up electricity all day and all night EVEN WHEN IT'S TURNED OFF!

Other than that, since neither I nor anyone in my family have medical problems I could do without pretty well anything. In a pinch.

 

[jake_fink]

- "low-rise" anything

buildings?

I'm living in a city that has too many ugly high rise buildings going up, with all the shadow and wind that goes with them.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

well my goal is to live in a cave in the mountains, so yeah get rid of those low rise buildings too. Take some high risers away wit dem.

bk

 

[jake_fink]

well my goal is to live in a cave in the mountains, so yeah get rid of those low rise buildings too. Take some high risers away wit dem.

bk

If it was a hut in the jungle you were looking for I'd suggest changing your title to Colonel.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I could do without this ridiculous U.S. law prohibiting the importation, production and sale of absinthe. Catch up with modern science and re-legalize the stuff!

.

 

[Absinthe_1900]

Yes! It is a silly regulation that is based on an old wives tale, instead of science.

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

Could live without:
Cell Phones (and do)
Alarm clocks that brake every two months (have myself trained so I wake up without one most of the time, and now have a good old wind up clock)
Modern movies (most)
Bad style
Radio stations that don't play any good music (not much selection out in the country here)
GMO’s (Genetically modified organisms (yikes! )
Novel's written in the modern style

 

[fortworthgal]

Oh god Lizzie, I hate blister packs so so so so so so much!

Other things I really don't need include - REALITY TV - I find it very embarassing for the people involved, for me, for the television network, and for humanity in general.

Ugh, yes! Blister packs are the work of the devil, as are reality shows.

I could also do without:

- Big screen TVs

- The ever-popular fad of dressing like a prostitute, aka "wearing as little clothing as I can legally get away with." This applies to all ages and also covers logos and slogans appearing on the booty of one's pants. Juicy it ain't, honey.

- Men's "haircuts." I hesitate to call them that, because most of the men I see look like they haven't had a proper haircut since they were 8 years old! Please, somebody bring back the barbershop!

- Cheap plastic anything.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Frankly, I could do without today's World War II reenactors who would have been declared 4F when the real war was taking place.


.

 

[fortworthgal]

Frankly, I could do without today's World War II reenactors who would have been declared 4F when the real war was taking place.


.

Ah, THAT can of worms. lol

 

[scotrace]

Ooooohhhhh.... I hear the "ouch" everywhere...

Blister Packs!!! What the HELL are we supposed to do when we have old arthritic hands and have to get stuff open??? grrrr....


All office desks are now hideous.
People who talk about personal problems on TV
The useless landfill fodder toys they give out with kid's meals - those things go in CEREAL boxes!
Restrictor plates
The mountains of additional paper in the modern paperless office

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Ah, THAT can of worms. lol

For some reason, I held my tongue when the subject came up in another thread. Guess it just spilled out this time ...


.

 

[Viola]

My list:

1) The popularity of 50 Cent.

2) The lack of new, credible, non-pretty male action heroes. What can I say, I like pulp. We need some new Eastwoods, Waynes, and even a new Bronson/Stallone/Willis up in this joint.

3) Nine-year-olds or even older kids who have never been exposed to the phrase "sit down and shut up." My trainstop is also a stop for a school for the gifted, and I now believe you can damage a child as easily by constantly telling them they're extraordinarily special as you can by leaving them chained up in the yard with the dog.