True

"I've Never Been To Me" Charlene (1976/1982)

Charlene originally released this tune on Motown's Prodigal subsidiary in 1976, but even with anything goes '70s radio (even on the hardcore R&B stations, which were serviced heavily by Motown and where Millie Jackson was NEVER a problem), those radio programmers had a problem with THIS song.

It referenced everything from abortion to prostitution in a sort of girl talk over coffee manner, the kind you would overhear coming from a secluded corner booth in the back of a Denny's. The kind of things that would spell instant career death for not only the person who sang it, but the DJ playing it.

But if there's one thing I know about pop music (and I can point out many, many more examples), it's this: The more conservative the country gets socially, the more outlandishly sexually themed the pop songs become. It's a natural rebellion.

So when a Florida DJ found this song in 1982 (during the first years of the Reagan administration) and played it on the radio, the phone lines went berserk. So Motown re-released it.

Where in spite of radio station boycotts of the tune (especially in the South), the song shot up to #3 on the national radio pop charts in 1982. 

Cell Phone Ad From 1989

Horizontal Shower

If you ever wanted to spend $35,000 to get the feeling of showering in a Category 5 hurricane, I have good news.

Bathroom fittings and accessories company Dornbracht have come up with the Horizontal Shower, a shower which, as its name suggests, allows you to do what you have to do while lying on your back, side, or front. Stand up and you’ll bang your head.

The Horizontal Shower incorporates six shower heads – or what the company calls “water bars” – with the user able to control water temperature, intensity and quantity using the eTOOL, a small control panel located beside the head of the reclined user.

Three presets are included in the shower’s design, which apparently provide balancing, energizing and destressing effects – exactly the kind of relaxing treatment you’ll need after realizing you’ve forked out $35,000 on a shower.

Remember The Days Of 56k Modems?

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   http://lazylaces.com/56Kmodem/
   
  Ahhh...the 56k modem. Remember how we all thought that was the best and fastest way to get on the internet?
  
  When I first went online with my big bad Windows 98 (HA!) computer with 64 MB of RAM and only a 2 GB hard drive, I tried using those worthless "free" dial-up internet providers that were everywhere in the Roaring '90s when it seemed like you could pay ALL the bills AND provide free internet with banner ads. Unfortunately, they had a habit of cutting you off after an hour...then 30 minutes....then 15 minutes. Finally, I yelled uncle and signed up for actual internet service. (GOOD LUCK trying to call me then!)
  
  I think 56k still has it's place for non-computer junkie people who only use the internet to surf for something specific or use e-mail and nothing else. Or for the REALLY poor. It should always be there and really cheap if worse comes to worse.
  
  I learned how to tweak a 56k modem to run at it's peak. But it was still prone to cut-offs......
  
  I on the other hand am a power and speed FREAK, expecting nothing less than the FASTEST possible connection. I was a dedicated "netizen" and I wasn't changing for anyone.
  
  I used 56k until from 1998 to early 2001 when I moved up to broadband. I paid about $100 bucks a month for it then - a LOT less now (about $30 now), but when I first set it up and connected, I though I was in heaven.
  
  The only problem today is websites are a lot more complex and don't work too well with dial-up. An average home page in 1999 had only 50-200kb of data. Today, it's 1-3 MB or more. So load up times take a lot longer on 56k now. It took 15 minutes to download a 3 MB file in 2000 with dial-up. Today, it takes less than a nanosecond with broadband.
  
  Those were the daze......