Things you can't find any more (via the New York Times)

Knowing I'm a nostalgic freak, Zed sent me the link to this comment stream, which was, I think, closed after 1403 posts. Things I thought of as I read through the entries are posted below the box, and I made a few comments along the way...

From I Love It, It's Perfect, Now It Changes
Why does PaperMate have to change the exteriors of their ballpoint pens so often? Are human hands evolving quicker than I thought?

Tidal Burst Gatorade, it was turquoise and tasted way better then any other Gatorade, bring it back.

Analog volume controls. I think pretty much anyone who has been forced to listen to music either just a bit too loudly, or a bit too softly because the volume he really wanted to select lay just between your two of his digital volume control button's volume settings knows what I'm talking about.

For teachers and students the centuries old blackboard-chalk combination was much better than the dry erase markers of today.

For several decades now, musicians cannot buy anywhere in the world what once was a standard piece of equipment: the electric (square box) metronome. This solid, reliable successor to the wind up type, (which is still sold!!) has given way to a tiny, tinny, portable battery operated version with all sorts of bells and whistles attached such as a tuning tone.

Thanks to "consumer advocates," mowers have become so "safe" they no longer pose a serious threat to a blade of grass.

Cereal that turns mushy in the bowl. My favorite was Wheaties until they "improved" it to make it stay crispy. I don't need all that crunch first thing in the morning.

Nabisco "Golden Fruit" cookies–rather like adult poptarts, raisin-filled, slightly crispy wonders that could be toasted and buttered or eaten as is (was). The closest thing now made is imported from Denmark and is easily four times the price and less tasty.

Tomatoes with flavor. Sign says tomato… tastes like potato.

Nabisco marshmallow sandwich cookies. Packed eight to the box, two boxes to the pack. A whole boxful with a glass of milk was more than worth the slight nausea later on.

pine brothers cherry cough drops

What happened to the bench-style front seat for the cars? It seemed that with it, cars were so much roomier.

I shudder whenever I see "new and improved" written on a product that I have found to be great. I think it actually indicates that a cheaper way has been found of producing the item.

Dannon yogurt in the fabulous "Prune Whip" flavor…around for ages and then disappeared in the '70s, I think, when blended yogurts started to take over "fruit on the bottom" types. For years I have told people my aunt had scores of the tubs Prune Whip came in stored in her cabinet. I thought it was Cool Whip in a prune flavor. Zed was amazed to see this entry - he always thought I'd made it up...

Whatever happened to those flat raisin cookies? The ones that had a thin layer of cookie outside the raisins. They were chewy and not sweet. There are no substitute for these cookies.

Halogen Lamps. They were cheap ($20), gave off beautiful colors, lasted forever, and had a dimmer setting. Every college student had them.

I miss the old New York Times. ... It had a very serious and dynamic set of readers' forums where people from around the world could discuss issues such as the Iraqi war, cloning, pedophilic priests, the fall of communism, the rise of Islamism or any number of topical subjects in real time... Apparently it's been replaced by a "post a comment" venue where we get to give opinions on candidates' spouses, chocolate pudding and Maidenform bras.

The original Nomad MP3 player from Creativ labs, I bought one of the first ones and used it for years. Capacity was limited to 128mb but that was enough for me as I tend to listen to the same song on repeat mode for hours.

Authentic wood windows operated by ropes and pulleys. Half the windows in my house were replaced in the '90's (by a former owner) with expensive vinyl for the sake of "energy efficiency/low maintenance." Those windows are now failing and will need replacing–so more money and waste in the landfill–How is this good for the environment?. Meanwhile the original wooden windows (120 years old) operate beautifully and I don't have condensation forming between the glass. Don't get caught caught up with the hype! It's a vicious cycle.

WordPerfect 5.0 . . . the best word processing program ever . . .
versionized out of existence! I LOVED THIS PROGRAM TOO. I never got with the "What You See Is What You Get" program - it was great to see the coding and be able to do some simple coding.

Whatever happened to Puffed Rice? One of my favorite cereals just vanished from the stores! You can still get Puffed Rice at Kroger's, I go to that store specifically to buy it and get ten bags at a time.

Bob Edwards on NPR.

Yahoo TV. It used to be a good place to search for TV schedule. Now Yahoo TV is useless.

Calvin and Hobbes! Without them the world is a darker place.

Fruit that tasted really good. I would have preferred they keep selling us apples with a few flaws rather than genetically modify them so that they look great but have no taste.

Here are some that weren't mentioned that would be on my list:

• Bras without hardshell padding - the ones they sell these days stand up all by themselves with no body inside them.
  
  
• "The Original Ginsu Knife" (I've had one for more than twenty years, it cost $3.75, it still is wonderfully sharp) has been brought back but it costs $26 or so with shipping and (kiss of death) has been "improved" so I'm afraid to buy one.
  
  
• Chock Full O'Nuts whole wheat donuts - this one was my aunt's favorite, actually, I mention it in her honor.
  
  
• Woolworths cloth sandals - made in China, lasted for hundreds of miles of walking.
  
  
• People on tv who are aging naturally and have NOT had face lifts.
  
  
• Women on tv who have NOT gotten breast implants.
  
  
• Ben and Jerry's Rainforest Crunch ice cream. My ex-husband complained I would dig the goodies out and then it was "Rainforest Silence."
  
  
• The Ricoh Ripro Jr. copier - I have one which is almost 25 years old and still running but every single part of it is deteriorating. Can't get parts. Made incredibly cheap good looking copies on plain paper.

There were a lot of things on the New York Times site I never knew in the first place so I can't miss them - other things I didn't know had disappeared! Living a long time guarantees there will be lots of things you used to like that you can't get any more.

What do you miss?

Technorati Tags: nostalgia, discontinued+items