Things That Disappeared Without You Noticing

[Sperghetti]

Anyone remember those dispensers for temporary tattoos and really garish shiny stickers? They'd always have shit like cherries, skull n crossbones, rat fink and other boomer counterculture stuff in em. Almost every diner used to have them by the doors.

I'd add gumball machines in general to this one. Not just the ones that sold gumballs, but the ones that sold little plastic junk toys like sticky hands, superballs, or those plastic puzzles. You used to be able to find an array of those along with the sticker dispensers in the entrance of just about every grocery store, drugstore, and WalMart/KMart/whatever, and now all that's left in their place is a couple of claw machines and a Redbox that nobody uses.

I can answer this one - Insurance and Accidents, Kids play areas are disappearing in places that are more food orientated because it add's a huge cost per establishment and accidents relating to poorly maintained or inspected equipment cost a lot more than youd imagine so they are side stepping the issue as a whole by getting rid of them all together.

It's one of the downsides of living in a overly litigious society like the US and increasingly the UK.

I swear, lawsuits and people who screech about marketing unhealthy food to children are the two biggest killers of childhood fun.

 

[seri0us]

I'd add gumball machines in general to this one. Not just the ones that sold gumballs, but the ones that sold little plastic junk toys like sticky hands, superballs, or those plastic puzzles. You used to be able to find an array of those along with the sticker dispensers in the entrance of just about every grocery store, drugstore, and WalMart/KMart/whatever, and now all that's left in their place is a couple of claw machines and a Redbox that nobody uses.

The rings you could get from those toy junk machines were actually kind of cool for what they were.

 

[TurdFondler]

Those CD of the month club deals. Every few weeks in the 90s we'd get a catalog of shit tier CDs where they'd offer like 10 CDs for a dollar.

 

[Mesh Gear Fox]

Those CD of the month club deals. Every few weeks in the 90s we'd get a catalog of shit tier CDs where they'd offer like 10 CDs for a dollar.

And then charge you $125 for shipping and handling. One of my friends got caught up in one of those. He never paid because you can't really enforce a contract with someone who is a minor. They sent a bunch of notices to him, but it never went further than that.

 

[The Un-Clit]

And then charge you $125 for shipping and handling. One of my friends got caught up in one of those. He never paid because you can't really enforce a contract with someone who is a minor. They sent a bunch of notices to him, but it never went further than that.

Hah, I did the same thing with Columbia House as a teenager, except I went for cassette tapes. CDs were still recent and expensive enough that a player was out of my budget. Besides, Walkman! They fucked up fully half the tapes I ordered, sending me the completely wrong artist and album, but they also introduced me to 2 of my favourite artists to this day with said fucking up so I couldn't hold it too much against them.

I still never paid, though. Threaten my credit rating all you like, I'm 15 I don't have one. :p

 

[tehpope]

wired behind the neck headphones. Wanted to get a spare pair before I moved. The sony ones I have used to be like $15 and now scalpers are selling them for like $100+. Bluetooth ones are those one that hang at the bottom on your neck and have in-ear buds.

 

[Krystal]

Sillybandz. I remember everyone having them in 1st grade.

 

[RollerGator]

The gosh dang TV remote is always going missing.

 

[Mortin Shart]

Ronny was purged in the 2000s

 

[From The Uncanny Valley]

Mp3 players

 

[The Un-Clit]

Mp3 players

And mine, fully loaded with some of my favourite tracks and the only copies I had of some LITERALLY disappeared without me noticing.

It only had like 512Mb of storage, it was from the mid-2000s when there was a glut of cheap Chinese players you could get at the Night Market from $20-$100, but that bad boy held up for me for over a decade and the battery still charged up for well over a couple hours full usage. And then I loaded my phone up instead, and now I can't find the goddamn thing and belive it was left behind the last time I moved, along with a pouch of old-school AD&D hard-edged jewel-dice.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

I had this exact conversation with someone yesterday. Also remember those long cords would get tangled to hell and you'd have no choice but to buy a new one.

Something else that came to mind were cordless phones that allowed you to listen to your neighbor's conversations.

I used to have a chinese made plastic pistol(came in a bag not a box) that took a battery and made zapping sounds through a speaker on the side. If the trigger was held in about half-way then it picked up and played police radio instead. As a kid that was amazing.

There's like 80% less bugs, don't quote me. I remember moths and earthworms the most. Sidewalks would be full of worms after a rain, and digging even a little bit would net you handfuls. Now I don't see either.

I haven't seen a caterpillar or cocoon in years, same with daddy long legs and all the smaller butterflies. Dragonflies are a rare sighting.

Now almost any time I see a bug I take a picture, it's such a rare occurence.

Last year was the first year I noticed birds of prey out during the day. Usually they keep away from humans and daylight. It's gotta be dire if a hawk is hunting at high noon mid summer.

Now that you mention it, it is weird. As a small child the world was like Skyrim. That's a lizard, it goes into my pocket. That's a frog. It goes into my pocket. Daddy longlegs can always be found under windowsills so let me just run around swiping my hands under windowsills to scare them out...

There's still a lot of snails though.

But I can't remember the insect splattering on the windshield like in the past. Like when the ants grew wings and migrated, that was always splatterfest.

 

[Kiwi Lime Pie]

Coupon dispensers at grocery stores:

With the push towards digital coupons, this doesn't surprise me. Although I swear I saw some of these dispensers at the grocery store last week, it's still apparent there aren't as many of them as before and the selection is limited because companies want people to go to their web site or use their proprietary (if not shitty) phone apps so that they don't have to pay for print advertising and paper coupons.

But I can't remember the insect splattering on the windshield like in the past. Like when the ants grew wings and migrated, that was always splatterfest.

The flying ant migration still happens on occasion in my neighborhood but it either happens less frequently or takes less time now that there are fewer insects in general being seen as compared to years past. It even seems like there are less crickets chirping during the summer nights.

 

[Stop]

Zagnut bars. Tried it once because of Beetlejuice. Delicious stuff. Kinda like a Butterfinger but with toasted coconut instead of chocolate.

 

[Poppavalyim Andropoff]

Embossed tape label makers.

 

[IDanceonTrannyGraves]

Mp3 players

Funny, I bought mine a couple of years ago. Sony Walkman MP3 player. 8gbs, great interface, amazing battery life.
I love it, use it every day.
What retard wants to eat up their phone battery with playing music all day?

 

[ThinkThankThunk]

Since the thread is kind of on the topic of environmental collapse: trees. I was walking a friends dog since he fucked up his back and ran into some kids, and while they were petting him and talking I realized that they've never actually seen a forest. They shared their anecdotes about their time outdoors and it boiled down to variations of "we were in this shitty padded playground and saw a big dandelion once". The best reference they have for nature is a few klicks of government-subsidized, foreign-owned canola fields between here and the other towns.

They were genuinely mesmerized by the idea of there being enough trees in one area to cover the ground and create litter, or that a canopy could be dense enough to make light dance and flitter around the shadows, or that trees could get so dense you couldn't walk through them. I didn't even get into wildlife with them, just the mere thought of trees being able to grow larger than the handful of stunted imports that exist in the tiny condominium yards here had them excited. I was sad after that, thinking they were being deprived, then I realized that outside of driving past protected land I haven't seen anything like that around here myself in years. This entire region was aspen and cottonwood forest barely three decades ago, now I'd have to drive an hour or two to get to a park to see what it looked like. It makes me miserable.

 

[Caesare]

Thanks, Fam! I had no idea about this. Every former Quizno's seemed to die as soon as a Subway went up near it, or else were replaced by one after going tits up so it seemed the logical deduction.

There is still a Quizno's within walking distance of my house. I think I should appreciate it more and buy dinner there more often.

Their sandwiches stunk too.

This is one of the things people always seem to overlook when they talk about the decline of malls in the US. It's not that people would rather shop online, it's that half the stores that populated them even up through the early 00's no longer exist. You'd be hard-pressed to find a mall in the 90's that didn't have a record store.

The mall we went to had three, I remember. 3 CD stores that all sold the same shit. Who possibly thought that was a good idea?

 

[Sperghetti]

Embossed tape label makers.

I actually had this experience a few years back. Went to pretty much every local big box, office supply, and craft store in town looking for one… nope. Most low-end thing any of them had was an electronic label maker for $30.

I ended up ordering one online for about $12 and feeling like there’s no simple analogue device that will not be eventually replaced by an electronic version that costs twice as much.

 

[General Disarray]

Saturday morning cartoon shows. On all OTA networks, for hours on end. One day they were all replaced with "kids' shows" with live actors or educational programming like animal or zoo shows. And with their disappearance I've noticed that there are FAR fewer cereal commercials as well (with the exception of Cheerios and less frequently, Frosted Flakes).