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1975 - Then and Now

Woody

Solar Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 13, 2020
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159
Location
High Plains Northern Nevada
Talk about a blast from the past, I found an old Popular Science magazine October 1975 while doing some storage container cleaning/purging. I’ve attached some photos below of these articles that I thought I’d share with the forum.

Talk about bringing back a lot of fond memories. For those who were not around in the ‘70s well I can say is that a lot of technology changes were coming really fast. Electrical tubes were so passe since one now had transistors. Digital gate logic was coming on the scene for the average person. Soon we had handheld calculators! The days of Heath Kits, Radio Shack electronic kits, etc. Even the home phone was getting a face lift from rotary to a keypad. The reason I bring this up is because there were a couple solar/alternate energy articles in this magazine. Reading what they thought would be like, in comparison to what has been implemented today is rather interesting.

Oh well enjoy the articles from the past, I’m still waiting for my George Jetson’s Flying Car.
 

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Ahhh the days before cable tv, computers and cell phones. What the hell is a CD, DVD player? We’re taking everyone gettin a bucket O chicken some brews and going to the drive in movies tonight, ahhh the aroma of fresh pop corn wafting out of the snack bar and somebody untangle my favorite Jimi Hendrix 8 track tape. Even Fm stereo radio was new. What’s an 18 pack? ?
 
Oh man - 1975 - the year of the famed Altair 8800! ATT research-unix V6 released to commercial interests, not just internally and to universities ....

But this is what inspired Elon Musk in 75. Check out the 12v - 24 manual footpedal switch from low to high. This is WAY cooler than a Tesla!

Taking a ride in that thing is great - the driver makes you laugh with him at what a death-trap that thing must have been.


Just needs an upgrade from lead-acid to LFP and you're up to date!
 
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Aww the good times & memories !
Back when Popular Mechanics Mag had great articles, several DIY things.
Pop Science was also relevant, current and they also had their projects you could DIY with all the instructions...
The Current digital versions are a mere shadow of quality that they were. Or PayWalled like PopSci PRO... which is a waste BTW.

What is ironically weird, is 1975 they were talking solutions and people are still arguing over it 36 years later... so many things have been on hold or held up by "interests"... makes one wonder.

EDIT: thought I'd add. I was also constantly Gawking at the Bricklin Cars and dreaming about owning one, they were so damned cool ! $15K in 1975...
 
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FM stereo was being experimented with in the 1950s and a standard format was approved by 1962. KLH, GE, others had “hifi sets” with FM Stereo reception shortly thereafter. FM Stereo was not new in ‘75
 
I get Popular Mechanics. I'm not sure how. Maybe a free subscription my wife finagled? The articles lack the bite that I would like to see. There is usually only one article with enough depth to catch my eye. Too much of the "Top 10 tools of YYYY".
 
‘75 was near the peak in terms of an educated populace, and there were only 2/3 the number of citizens back then. NASA had men walking on the Moon and now 50 years later we’re using CGI to show how *some day real soon* we might go back — ‘puters. :rolleyes:
 
I still think that reforming and modernizing education is a worthy endeavor. We can still have the timeline with the compounding effect of responsible and thoughtfully modernized education.

Anyone watch the magic schoolbus cartoon?

When the most recent wave of consumer virtual reality ramped up, I gave demos of oculus DK1/DK2/CV1 HTC Vive/Index hardware to anyone who would stand to wear the silly headgear. Some people got slightly disoriented with big motion in the inner software world.

Universities sometimes record lectures and upload the video and sometimes even course material online so people can learn for free if they put the effort in themselves. That’s something great for the world! MIT Open Course Ware I’m looking at you!


If anyone here has a recent virtual reality headset, I personally recommend considering any of the following titles.. strong emphasis on education









We are still truly at the forefront of a very exciting time. There’s still many problems that humans collectively locally globally face. It’s still possible to fix the problems that have lingered or even worsened!
 
For those who don't know there is a site that has just about every old book and magazine available for download. Well mostly true you can only borrow some. All the publications are out of copyright or have been put on the public domain because nobody on this forum would do anything 'dubious' now would they? :ROFLMAO:
Anyway, I put Popular Science in the search box and one of the magazines was a copy from Jan 1920. There's an even older edition from 1872.
You can almost smell the old paper, so enjoy.
 
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