DO YOU STILL REMEMBER YOUR GRANDPARENT'S PHONE NUMBER?

Remember these 10 things you don’t need to remember anymore?

Credit: Eric Rothermel

If you were born more than 25 years ago you probably recall a time when you had to remember things like a phone number, an address, directions for going somewhere, birthdays, and many more things you don’t need to remember anymore. Technology helps us in a million different ways in our daily lives and one of the most frequent examples is the amount of things that it "memorizes" for us. Listed below you will find ten things that were once stored in our brains and have now been transferred to technological devices. Do you remember them?

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There was a time when everybody knew the telephone numbers they used the most.

It was the most common thing, knowing your close family members, friends, or even work telephone numbers. Maybe you even remember some of those numbers to this day.

Nowadays, since cell phones have become a universal and integral part of our world, nobody knows anybody’s phone number. We just trade contacts and look for their names whenever we need to make a call.

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Back in an age where with no social media, like Facebook, birthdays and anniversaries were dates usually remembered, or at least, marked in paper calendars. And, while we still remember the birthdays of our closest relatives and friends, most people rely on social media platforms like Facebook, to remind them of everybody else’s birthdays, or push notifications that simply pop up on our cell phone screens with the relevant information.

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Knowing an address number was a common thing back in the day when contact information was not a standardized thing readily accessible on our cell phones. It may be hard to understand in a day and age when most addresses are forwarded to us on WhatsApp messages, sometimes with a location pin even, but it was very normal to have to write down addresses on a piece of paper until you remembered them.

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Since we just mentioned addresses, there is no sense in beating around the bush with this and we must talk about another item on this list that is intrinsically connected with the former: directions.

There was a time when it was normal to carry around a city map if one was unfamiliar with the area or ask a stranger for directions. And, while some people still do those same things, most of us rely on the Maps location on our smartphone to guide us anywhere we go.

Who needs to memorize streets and corners beforehand when they can simply take their phone and ask to be guided with whichever voice they prefer?

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Some people still use them. Maybe you do too. Do you remember schedule diaries? People wrote their appointments in those books or maybe used little Post-it notes on their freezer doors and bathroom mirrors to remind them. And, when the day of the appointment came, they had to remain vigilant of the time and remember what was that they had to do and where.

These days, your smartphone will send you one or more reminders during the day, with directions if needed, possible departure times, and several recommendations.

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Granted, it was much more simpler to remember one or two passwords a couple of decades ago than the million ones we are required to create and remember these days. Back in the day, unless you were a spy or something of the sort, there weren’t that many passwords to recall. But the ones that we had, were usually stored in our heads, or maybe written down in little papers and folded into our wallets.

Nowadays, Google will recommend a password and offer the remember it, and auto-complete any instance when it is needed, so you don’t have to worry about it.

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Those crumpled pieces of paper stored in our pockets, containing shopping lists and things to do were an ubiquitous item in our lives. And, if the list was tragically forgotten at home, we had to try and remember whatever was on that list.

Once again, smartphones have replaced such lists with a very convenient notepad application that even reminds us to check it once in a while.

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Browsing through cookbooks, asking people for recipes, storing handwritten papers and magazine pages with recipes in notebooks, asking for the advice of more experienced cooks, and remembering quantities and procedures were common practices in an age before the internet and even more so, in an age before smartphones.

These days, all you have to do if you want to cook anything is look it up on your phone and a million different recipes, with detailed videos will pop up immediately. And, if you don’t have a kitchen timer, you can set up multiple simultaneous alarms on, again, your phone.

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Waiting for the weatherman on the TV, or looking up the forecast in the newspaper, or asking somebody for a rain prediction were pretty much the only ways to know how the weather was going to behave in the following days.

It seems like the smartphone has come to solve this situation too, since all you have to do now is look into its permanently updated forecast to know how the weather is going to be in the next 10 days.

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In a day and age when a photographic camera was a separate device from a telephone, certain skills were necessary to handle it. Even an amateur aficionado needed to learn a thing or two about the focus, aperture, exposure, and a few other things before he or she was ready to go out into the world and take decent pictures.

These days, almost nobody owns a camera anymore. Most people just use the camera on their phones which requires a simple point-and-shoot attitude to the whole endeavor. Forget the ISO, composition, white balance, and all that. Your phone knows the procedure and will make sure all your pictures are perfect.

BEYOND SANTA

10 Ice-Cold Facts About the North Pole

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The North Pole, a distant realm full of icy wonders, captivates minds and imaginations worldwide. And what else would we expect from Santa’s wintery home? But beyond the myths and legends, the North Pole is a unique region of our planet, boasting a rich biodiversity and a set of atmospheric phenomena that can’t be found anywhere else.

Join us for an in-depth exploration of the frozen frontier to the North!

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The North Pole is located in the Arctic Ocean, at the northernmost point of Earth. At this geographical juncture, all lines of longitude converge, making any direction from that point south. Also, due to being at Earth’s axis of rotation, the North Pole experiences perpetual twilight during the winter months and unending sunlight during the summer. Interestingly, this extreme variation creates unique adaptations in both local flora and fauna.

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Surprisingly, the North Pole isn’t always in the same place! As if finding your way with a compass wasn’t difficult enough, the magnetic North Pole is slowly drifting across the Arctic Ocean. This movement, known as polar drift, is influenced by the flow of molten iron in Earth’s outer core and is faster than you would think. Since 2007, it has been estimated to move from 34 to 37 miles per year. You now might be wondering if we should toss out all our maps, but fear not! The Geographic North Pole (or True North) is firmly anchored, as Earth’s axis of rotation defines it.

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Unlike the South Pole, which sits atop a continent - Antarctica - the North Pole lacks a landmass beneath its icy surface. Instead, it is surrounded by the Arctic Ocean, making it a unique geographical feature defined by its position rather than solid ground. This vast expanse of floating ice poses unique challenges for exploration and research, with expeditions requiring specialized equipment and expertise to navigate safely.

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Throughout history, explorers have undertaken daring expeditions to conquer the North Pole. Whaling ships, icebreakers, skis, and even hot air balloons were used by daring explorers in their attempts to reach it. And while the early expeditions often ended in catastrophic failure, some eventually managed to reach it and make it back to tell the tale. One of the renowned North Pole explorers was U.S. Navy engineer Robert Peary, allegedly the first to reach the Pole on April 6, 1909.

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The Arctic's iconic apex predator, the polar bear, reigns supreme as the largest land carnivore on Earth. These magnificent creatures are superbly adapted to their icy habitat, with thick fur, insulating blubber, and keen hunting skills. Interestingly, the term "Arctic" comes from the Greek word "arktos," meaning bear, while "Antarctic" means "no bears," reflecting the absence of polar bears in the southern polar region.

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Climate change is dramatically altering the Arctic landscape, with the North Pole experiencing significant ice loss. The rate of ice melt has accelerated in recent decades, raising concerns about the ecological impact on polar wildlife and global sea levels. In fact, since we began to record and monitor by satellite the state of the planet’s ice caps in 1979, the North Pole has lost 35% of its original ice.

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The ground beneath the Arctic circle is perpetually frozen, creating a vast expanse of permafrost.

As temperatures rise, this frozen layer thaws, releasing massive amounts of stored carbon and methane into the atmosphere. This dangerous phenomenon actually accelerates climate change, and it can work as a sort of slippery slope where after a certain tipping point, planetary warming will be inevitable.

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Despite its seemingly inhospitable environment, the North Pole boasts a surprisingly vibrant and resilient ecosystem. Far from being an uninhabited barren, countless species call the Arctic home. From microscopic organisms thriving beneath the ice to large herbivores like caribou and Arctic hares and a large variety of predators like seals, whales, and polar bears, every layer of this intricate web of life plays a crucial role in maintaining the delicate balance of the Arctic.

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The Northern Lights, or aurora borealis, grace the skies above the North Pole with their mesmerizing dance of colors. This celestial spectacle is caused by charged solar particles colliding with Earth's magnetosphere. Notoriously elusive, their appearance is bound by a variety of factors, including solar activity, geomagnetic storms, and atmospheric conditions.

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Beneath the icy surface lies the Lomonosov Ridge, an underwater mountain range stretching across the Arctic Ocean. This curious geological feature plays a crucial role in determining territorial claims and resource exploration in the region. Currently, Russia, Denmark, and Canada all have territorial claims in the region, arguing that this hidden formation is actually an extension of their sovereign territories.