Nostalgia is a particularly powerful and motivating emotion, and as the years continue to move swiftly by, it's easy to wish that we could turn back the clock, perhaps to a time when life was more simple. However, when we consider the things we used to put up with in everyday life, it's amazing most of us are still sane. Here are 10 things that we're not looking back on with misty-eyed melancholy.
Dial-up internet
The dulcet tones of dial-up modems at the start of the internet age seem so far removed from today's superfast broadband, that it is almost comical. Most of us had to plan our web surfing sessions in advance, because the computer and telephone normally shared the same line, so you could only use one or the other. The modem would dial a number, strange noises came in quick succession and, once they stopped, you might manage to get online. But even then, the connection speeds were painfully slow.
Fax machines
Before email became the standard way for people to communicate with each other, there used to be a bulky contraption in the corner of every office, called a fax machine. You'd need to feed your papers into the awkward tray and pray they'd be scanned without mishap, before the machine made a bizarre collection of screeching noises as it transmitted the information to a recipient machine that was often just a couple of rooms away, such was the novelty value of this space age technology. Initially, these things used thermal paper that curled up and faded to invisibility as soon as it was exposed to sunlight. Not our finest hour.
Video stores and rewinding tapes
It used to be a Saturday night ritual, scanning the shelves of video rental stores for a film to watch while devouring a Chinese takeaway. If you were lucky, you'd manage to get a tape that wasn't worn out or previously mangled and then there was "that" sticker, the one that got everyone's backs up. Be kind, rewind, it said. If the advent of DVD has to be celebrated, never mind the heightened picture and sound quality, it was the fact that we didn't have to spend 20 minutes listening to the high pitched whizz as a VHS rewound back to its beginning that made the investment worthwhile.
Terrestrial television
It might seem absurd to today's youth, but what we watched on television, not all that long ago, was dictated to us by a small handful of broadcasters who beamed programmes into our living rooms via radio waves. Terrestrial television required rooftop aerials, or antennas, that needed adjusting after a strong gust of wind by someone on a ladder while another person from within the home would shout about signal strength. People actually died doing this.
Pagers
Americans and Canadians might know these odd little devices as beepers and, in the 1990s, when only a small proportion of us had mobile phones, they experienced a few short years of extreme popularity. Emergency workers and doctors found them invaluable, but it was thrusting young executives that had them fastened to their belts – you weren't anyone in business unless you had a pager. And all they did was alert the wearer that they needed to contact someone else once they found a payphone. Once we all got mobile phones, the pager went the way of the dodo and nobody mourned its passing.
Getting lost
Smartphones are immeasurably useful – but even if the only app we could download and use was Google Maps, they'd be worth having, especially in the UAE, where new roads seem to appear from nowhere overnight. Before this magnificent technology was available to the masses, we had to buy satellite navigation units (or "Sat Navs") that required constant updates and proved irresistible to smash and grab thieves. But even they were preferable to enormous, folding paper maps that were impossible to refer to while on the move, requiring constant lay-by stops, lest we get even more lost. Good riddance.
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Read more:
The Toys That Made Us looks back at toys of the 1970s and 1980s
Listen: Today's top songs remixed as 1980s hits
What happens if we lose our anchors to the past?
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Touching taps in public conveniences
Traditional taps are fine if they're in our own homes, but when it comes to public washrooms, it's not particularly nice having to handle them after everyone else has, well, you know … So for those of us that are a bit OCD, the introduction of the "sensor tap" was a cause for celebration. Just wave a hand in front of said device and out comes a steady flow of water, which halts after a few seconds. There are two major benefits of these items: they're hygienic and avoid possible cross-contamination, and they save huge amounts of water, so they're good for the planet.
Pre-millennium tension
We really did believe that planes would fall from the sky, street lamps would go dark, hospitals would cease to function and that humanity would enter mass hysteria, never to re-emerge. All because computer designers had forgotten to ensure their machines could carry on functioning beyond the final second of 1999 and it was assumed they’d all register the new year as 1900, not 2000. The Millennium Bug, as we came to know it, never did bite, thanks to the decisive action of governments worldwide and the efforts of programmers. The planet was able to roll into the 21st century with barely a Ctrl-Alt-Delete required anywhere.
Audio cassettes
Apart from their appalling sound quality, audio cassettes were really bad at lasting more than a couple of plays without becoming a tangled mess in your hi-fi or answering machine. As soon as we could record onto compact discs (itself a practice that has all but vanished), the audio cassette was, at long last, obsolete.
Film processing
Another industry decimated by mobile phone technology, a few short years ago no high street or shopping mall was complete without a photo processing lab. There's an entire generation of people now who have no idea about film cameras, which we all used to haul around with us on holiday, using rolls of film that could hold up to 36 images. Once they'd been used up, we'd drop them off at the lab and hope for the best. Maybe, just maybe, the resulting images – printed on matt or glossy paper – would be sharp and in focus.
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
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How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
- Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
- Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
- Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
- Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
- Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Barcelona v Liverpool, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE).
Second leg
Liverpool v Barcelona, Tuesday, May 7, 11pm
Games on BeIN Sports
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
if you go
Getting there
Etihad (Etihad.com), Emirates (emirates.com) and Air France (www.airfrance.com) fly to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, from Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively. Return flights cost from around Dh3,785. It takes about 40 minutes to get from Paris to Compiègne by train, with return tickets costing €19. The Glade of the Armistice is 6.6km east of the railway station.
Staying there
On a handsome, tree-lined street near the Chateau’s park, La Parenthèse du Rond Royal (laparenthesedurondroyal.com) offers spacious b&b accommodation with thoughtful design touches. Lots of natural woods, old fashioned travelling trunks as decoration and multi-nozzle showers are part of the look, while there are free bikes for those who want to cycle to the glade. Prices start at €120 a night.
More information: musee-armistice-14-18.fr ; compiegne-tourisme.fr; uk.france.fr
Match info
Karnataka Tuskers 110-3
J Charles 35, M Pretorius 1-19, Z Khan 0-16
Deccan Gladiators 111-5 in 8.3 overs
K Pollard 45*, S Zadran 2-18
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
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England's all-time record goalscorers:
Wayne Rooney 53
Bobby Charlton 49
Gary Lineker 48
Jimmy Greaves 44
Michael Owen 40
Tom Finney 30
Nat Lofthouse 30
Alan Shearer 30
Viv Woodward 29
Frank Lampard 29
'Midnights'
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Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge – Rally schedule:
Saturday: Super Special Spectator Stage – Yas Marina Circuit – start 3.30pm.
Sunday: Yas Marina Circuit Stage 1 (276.01km)
Monday: Nissan Stage 2 (287.92km)
Tuesday: Al Ain Water Stage 3 (281.38km)
Wednesday: ADNOC Stage 4 (244.49km)
Thursday: Abu Dhabi Aviation Stage 5 (218.57km) Finish: Yas Marina Circuit – 4.30pm.
Who is Mohammed Al Halbousi?
The new speaker of Iraq’s parliament Mohammed Al Halbousi is the youngest person ever to serve in the role.
The 37-year-old was born in Al Garmah in Anbar and studied civil engineering in Baghdad before going into business. His development company Al Hadeed undertook reconstruction contracts rebuilding parts of Fallujah’s infrastructure.
He entered parliament in 2014 and served as a member of the human rights and finance committees until 2017. In August last year he was appointed governor of Anbar, a role in which he has struggled to secure funding to provide services in the war-damaged province and to secure the withdrawal of Shia militias. He relinquished the post when he was sworn in as a member of parliament on September 3.
He is a member of the Al Hal Sunni-based political party and the Sunni-led Coalition of Iraqi Forces, which is Iraq’s largest Sunni alliance with 37 seats from the May 12 election.
He maintains good relations with former Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki’s State of Law Coaliton, Hadi Al Amiri’s Badr Organisation and Iranian officials.
Coffee: black death or elixir of life?
It is among the greatest health debates of our time; splashed across newspapers with contradicting headlines - is coffee good for you or not?
Depending on what you read, it is either a cancer-causing, sleep-depriving, stomach ulcer-inducing black death or the secret to long life, cutting the chance of stroke, diabetes and cancer.
The latest research - a study of 8,412 people across the UK who each underwent an MRI heart scan - is intended to put to bed (caffeine allowing) conflicting reports of the pros and cons of consumption.
The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation, contradicted previous findings that it stiffens arteries, putting pressure on the heart and increasing the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke, leading to warnings to cut down.
Numerous studies have recognised the benefits of coffee in cutting oral and esophageal cancer, the risk of a stroke and cirrhosis of the liver.
The benefits are often linked to biologically active compounds including caffeine, flavonoids, lignans, and other polyphenols, which benefit the body. These and othetr coffee compounds regulate genes involved in DNA repair, have anti-inflammatory properties and are associated with lower risk of insulin resistance, which is linked to type-2 diabetes.
But as doctors warn, too much of anything is inadvisable. The British Heart Foundation found the heaviest coffee drinkers in the study were most likely to be men who smoked and drank alcohol regularly.
Excessive amounts of coffee also unsettle the stomach causing or contributing to stomach ulcers. It also stains the teeth over time, hampers absorption of minerals and vitamins like zinc and iron.
It also raises blood pressure, which is largely problematic for people with existing conditions.
So the heaviest drinkers of the black stuff - some in the study had up to 25 cups per day - may want to rein it in.
Rory Reynolds
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