1.) I watched Neil Armstrong walk on the moon, live. On a black-and-white TV.
2.) I remember the invention of the cassette tape.
3.) When I first worked at a TV station, it was before VHS tapes existed. The new thing was U-matic (3/4") video "cassettes".
4.) I learned electronics using vaccuum tubes.
5.) I remember when calculators didn't have seven-segment displays, and used nixie tubes.
6.) When I was first programming computers, we had to use punch cards and paper tape. The PC didn't exist yet, and hard drives were still a ways from becoming commercially available.
7.) My first real programming job was rewriting the system for a computer that had magnetic core memory.
8.) Marylin Monroe was still alive when I was born. JFK was president.
9.) I used to laugh at Topo Gigo on the Ed Sullivan show.
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magicmarmot- Tom Ramcigam
- Magic Marmot Studios
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My biggest age-related thing is this: I am, within one month, as old as Star Trek. The original series debuted one month before I was born. So knowing how old I am means knowing how old Trek is at any moment.
I saw Apollo 11 land live, too, but I was three, and don't remember it. I do vividly remember the Apollo 17 flight, though. And, of course, I followed the Shuttle fanatically when I was younger.
I watched Mr. Rogers and Speed Racer, with Ultra Man to amuse me. I remember being amazed by the TRS-80, and awestruck by the Apple II. I remember thinking the Amiga would storm the world, and was shocked when it didn't. And I logged on to the Internet for the first time in June 1990. Heck, I even remember when AOL set up its first bridge to USENET, and rued the day that the intelligence level on the 'net seemed to collectively drop.