It’s bunny season and I’m sure many of you know about bunny foo foo. I was looking up a little more on “foo foo” and landed of course on the wikipedia page covering little bunny foo foo. Isn’t that amazing? A wikipedia page on little bunny foo foo.
Maybe you grew up with encyclopedias being available on CD’s. I remember (still have it) the Microsoft Encarta set of CDs. At the time I thought wow this is the future. I’m not going to check but I bet they didn’t cover bunny foo foo.
Is foo foo derived from foofaraw?
When I was in school we had to search through volumes of actual heavy books for research on term papers. Oh and then we had to walk barefoot through deep snow, followed by burning coals after which we were scolded for not dressing properly. And then chop wood …. Ok enough old man, kids today have it much tougher. They can be bullied by a tweet.
On the topic of research, I got a call this week regarding my oldest grandson’s school project. He needs to report on his heritage and ancestors.
My mother was an immigrant from Slovenia. She arrived as a six year old child. My wife and I were fortunate a few years ago to visit her village and see her birth house. We met some distant relatives. So I put some information together along with some pictures and emailed (digitally transmitted miles away - amazing technology) it to my daughter.
My mom arrived with my grandmother and their timing was not so great. They arrived in New York City along with the stock market crash of 1929. I know the major events of her story but I wish I could interview her today and ask even more questions. My mom never made it back to her childhood village.
Another aspect of her story didn’t come together for me until just this week while putting together the information. My grandfather had come over to the states years before and had found steady work and got his US citizenship. After establishing a home here he sent for his wife and daughter.
The new realization for me - my mother not only was coming to a strange land with a strange language, she was meeting her father for the first time since she was a baby. Pretty much meeting him the first time at the age of six.
I found an old Apple ad from 1984. It was for the Apple IIc. This state of the art machine came with 128K of internal memory. Without getting into the various types of memory and all that, just think that your typical tiny 4G memory card in your camera is over 30,000 times larger than 128K. Also, the ad bragged about the 16 (yes sixteen) colors that “can bring a presentation to life”. Today’s screens have millions of shades of color.
Here’s an old ad for the Digital PDP-11 computer. That company doesn’t exist anymore.
(oh here is another back-when-I-was-young difference - women had to wear really short outfits to work and iron their hair.)
Recently, I have created a few more clips and updated my “Playing Around” page. Please click over and take a look.
This week I was surprised by a package addressed to me. Here’s a picture of the surprise I received from Google.
I suspect Mrs. 4444 could tell stories (she has posted some) about the technology impact in her school. But I know she has plenty of Friday Fragments to share, so don’t foo foo around and click her badge/button below.
35 comments:
My niece has some video with that damn foo foo song and my mother in law plays it over and over again just so she doesn't have to entertain the kid.
Wow. That Apple looks convenient AND 4MG? And I bet it only cost $4000.00!
Great story about your family. I love to hear the history of how families came to America.
so you are being a foo foo about it then?
thanks
the picture was a different computer called the PDP-11 but you make the right point. Looking at the rapid change in technology can amaze you. Also looking at styles can be amazing too. Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed my fragment of history.
Yeah, our grandparents had it tough and you are right, kids today have it tougher than we did ...
... perhaps our generation has had it the easiest of all?
Nice surprise! I love Google, I find the whole company and their philosophy fascinating. Do you read Wired magazine? There was a great article about them in last month's issue.
I also love old computer ads. We had an original "laptop" back in the early 90s and it was HUGE and heavier than a sack of potatoes. I thought it was really cool, anyway. You know what else I miss? The sound of dial-up modems. My kid will never know that feeling of waiting for the sounds of connection success.
I really enjoy hearing about people's ancestry. I keep thinking that I need to sit down with my grandmother and interview her on tape so that we have all of her great immigration memories recorded for future generations. I'm going to try to do that this summer.
Finally, I saw this and thought you needed to see it - http://consumerist.com/2011/03/dennys-introduces-baconalia-ice-cream.html
Your grandson would have great facts in his report. Just the other day I was searching and was really surprised that I found it on Wikipedia, but I can't what it was, but yes, almost everything is on reference.
My son just helped purchase and install a Mac Mini as a server in our office and you could believe how thin and small it is, it has like two computers in it.
Happy Friday.
128K and 16 colors was quite advanced for its day. I remember 16K computers, and the Commodore 64 was amazing when it came out with its 64k memory. You have to wonder what technology we'll have in 20 years, and what we'll be able to do with it.
My paternal grandmother's family had come to the US from Germany a few years before she was born. When they learned that they were expecting another baby, they moved back to Germany so that my grandma could be born in "the old country". They eventually moved back when my she was 11 or 12. If they had stayed in Germany, I wouldn't be here, today. Crazy, isn't it?
Encyclopedias are just one of the many things that technology has made obsolete. I still remember the salesmen going door to door, trying to convince parents that it would be beneficial to their school age children to have a set at home. It seems to me that they were pretty expensive, too.
Love the Google hat!
I'm a family history nut and love your mother's story. I'm actually in the process of starting a personal history business to help families capture stories like that one and preserve them for posterity. Top of my list is capturing my own parents' stories!
I'm sayin'!!! I remember usin' card catalogs and the great microfilm room in the college library for many a term paper. Oops, did I say that outloud????
When my daughter 'Social Butterfly' was five "Little Bunny Foo Foo" was her favorite song. She went around all the time pickin' up those field mice and boppin' 'em on the head!!! Heeehehe!!!
God bless ya and have a fantastic weekend!!!
I don't know. It's all relative. I can remember times in my life when the universe was crushing down on my every move. Other times when I was floating and diving in warm tropical waters. I believe much of it comes down to luck. thanks
Yes, I remember the importance of having a set of World book, since the library was six miles away and computers were still a world away. I can't imagine going back to that. It seems that there is so much we need to know----and we need to know it right away. How many husbands did Dinah Washington have? How about a recipe for corn pudding? How old is Miley Cyrus? Who won the Masters in 1988? Inquiring minds want to know.
that's a good ad but my "maple bacon sundae" experience was not that fun. I'll be posting about it soon.
Dial-up modems - yeah I was fascinated when a new modem came out that doubled the speed. Here's one back at ya - remember the BBS? Did you ever sign into one?
I read wired online but not all the time.
Yeah Mac - I have a mac mini sitting idle but I still plug it in once an awhile.
make better cartoons? Yes it amazes me and others, but for those that never understood it in the first place, I don't think it means anything. thanks - I need to check out your cartoon.
Good point but who is Dinah Washington? The only Dinah that comes to mind is Dinah Shore. So much seemingly useless information is available at our fingertips. thanks
I believe I read a comment of yours once that said you bopped armadillos on the head. true?
thanks and have a great weekend
Personal history business - interesting. I learned a few years ago that there were "high value" businesses that would create documentaries of people for their families. It cost many thousands of dollars, I recall. Did you hear about the Library of Congress (I think) project of interviewing people? They traveled around the country. thanks
We had a set of World Books growing up. They were useful but became outdated so quickly. Going back to Germany to have the baby was probably not an easy thing since even if you had the money the travel was still long and difficult. Everyone is a result of some decision made by an ancestor, don't you think?
Yes, I believe there are quite a few nonprofits that interview groups of people - homeless, veterans, etc. Usually their stories go into a collection. The book I'm writing (in my 'spare' time) is based on my g-g-grandfather's memoir that was part of a grant by UT back in 1900, interviewing Civil War veterans.
My grand kids love foo foo:) You can now officially say you know the middleweight boxing title holder...big gaudy belt and all...I am much happier with him coaching.
thanks - anyone wondering about that boxer - go see Doreen's blog
http://doreenmcgettigan.com/
Visiting your mother's village and actual home is pretty amazing. I got goosebumps thinking about it! Family histories are so important to pass from one generation to another--not always easy but so cherished when they are.
Hope your weekend is great. jj
Remember card catalogs to search through to FIND those heavy books? Don't miss them at all. A DEC 10 and a PDP-11 were the first LARGE computers I ever worked on in college. What students today can't comprehend is not only the fact that these machines were huge but also time on them was so precious. You were limited to just a few minutes a week to test programming and troubleshoot code so everyone could share the processor. Loved the history of your family. Great post! W.C.C.
thanks - The visit was very special to me. A few years later my younger sister made it to the house. My two other siblings have not, so I guess the level of importance differs. Of course, things are not always as simple as they might appear.
have a good weekend.
Oh yes some of the better libraries had the nicest looking wood card catalogs. I wonder if many of those were sold. You reminded me of how co-workers would fight with each other about running jobs that brought the system to a crawl. thanks.
Google sent you a cap?
yes - do you use Adsense? As you must know it doesn't really amount to anything but I figure oh why not. Maybe someday if my traffic increased a 1000 times it would. So because of that google offered me an Adword trial and the hat came with it. The best thing to come from it was the hat.
Oh yes, I was all over the BBS community. My dad was really into computers so we had one of the first modems on the block. I used to play card games online. I don't think they ever knew that they were dealing with a 10-year-old card shark.
Did you ever dial-up using Prodigy? That was what we had before AOL came around. I tried to start an online UFO club (again, I was 10) and ended up getting messages from people all over the place claiming that they had been abducted by aliens.
I actually miss card catalogs :(
Something about the fantastic organization and structure really appealed to me.
A 10 year-old card shark - good thing you didn't end up in Las Vegas. I enjoy a casino visit once in awhile but I believe the only way to make money in gambling is to own a casino. I don't recall using Prodigy but I remember it. We were on AOL back in the beginning. What's your take on UFOs now?
I've never been to a casino, and I really don't have much of a desire to visit one. I'd like to see the sights of Vegas, though. What's my current take on UFOs? Let's just say that, statistically speaking, I find it difficult to believe that we could possibly be the only intelligent life forms in the entire universe+whatever comes after that.
This is one of the longer threads in my comment section. I could just email you but maybe someone will join in the conversation.
I suspect you with your statistic and probability knowledge you would do fine in a casino. As the song said you need to "know when to fold them" and that should be applied to all their games. I never won much and never lost much either which is the way I plan to keep it.
UFO's - I'm nit picking a little but you answered a slightly different question. Intelligent life outside of earth is a little different than UFO visits. Maybe there is some unknown mode of travel but if the speed of light is the max speed limit, I don't understand how any intelligent life forms could find their way here. I agree with your statistical thinking but I believe we probably would be lucky to ever just communicate with whoever is out there. Oh wait I just got a tweet from the other side of the galaxy. They plan on commenting on my blog soon. Oh joy.
Nice hat :)
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