Anatoly Shashkin💾
I've decided to scientifically determine today's relevancy of Weird Al's 1999 hit song "It's All About the Pentiums".
Here's my first pass with my subjective opinion about relevancy of each of the lines.
Reply with your suggested changes *and* reasoning for them. Everything will be considered. We'll figure it out.
Nov 10, 2022 at 5:40pmWeb
Show threadAnatoly Shashkin💾Nov 11, 2022
This is my final current relevancy chart of Weird Al's "It's All About the Pentiums".
A couple of changes. Haven't heard too many convincing arguments. Some are not clear cut, but these are my conclusions after 24 hours of deliberation. I also identified 6 lines that have little to do with the topic. Still, the song is predominantly REVEVANT imo! 🎉
Show threadMister Moo 🐮Nov 11, 2022
@dosnostalgic I consider this time well-spent.
Show threadHishamNov 10, 2022
@dosnostalgic I think Windows and macOS users still relate to "upgrade my system, at least twice a day" only it's undesired OS upgrade popups now
Show threadAnatoly Shashkin💾Nov 10, 2022
@hisham_hm That would be upDATING my system.
Show threadHishamNov 10, 2022
@dosnostalgic fair enough! long gone are the days when going from OS version x to version x+1 was an upgrade 😆
Show threadDavid BuchananNov 10, 2022
@dosnostalgic plug-and-play is definitely the de-facto way of doing things these days imho (and we are indeed no longer afraid of Y2K)
Show threadAnatoly Shashkin💾Nov 10, 2022
@retr0id The references themselves are too dated. Nobody uses them anymore.
Show threadDavid BuchananNov 10, 2022
@dosnostalgic Damn I'm getting old, but I guess you're right.
Show threadMatthijs De SmedtNov 10, 2022
@dosnostalgic I'm still at my PC daily, double-clickin' on my mizouse
Show threadMatthijs De SmedtNov 10, 2022
@dosnostalgic And I strongly agree with "What?"
Show thread13 barn owls in a trenchcoatNov 10, 2022
@dosnostalgic chatroom yakkers is just Discord. Current
Show threadAnatoly Shashkin💾Nov 10, 2022
@HauntedOwlbear But the reference is dated.
Show thread13 barn owls in a trenchcoatNov 10, 2022
@dosnostalgic because people don't "yak" anymore?
Show threadAnatoly Shashkin💾Nov 10, 2022
@HauntedOwlbear Because I haven't heard anyone say "chatroom" in like a decade.
Show thread13 barn owls in a trenchcoatNov 10, 2022
@dosnostalgic we might need a poll on this.
Show threadAnatoly Shashkin💾Nov 10, 2022
@HauntedOwlbear This is not a democracy!
Show threadzorkedNov 10, 2022

@dosnostalgic No do White and Nerdy, I think that's almost all green?

He even gets that JavaScript is still relevant.

Show threadCrankyUnicornNov 10, 2022
@dosnostalgic 🤣
Show threadbitcrush.ioNov 10, 2022
@dosnostalgic Perfect, no notes.
Show threadSpindley Q FrogNov 10, 2022
@dosnostalgic my commodore 64 is, in fact, really neato
Show threadAnatoly Shashkin💾Nov 10, 2022
@SpindleyQ That's why I left it. I feel like people mention C64 today a lot more often than a 286.
Show thread13 barn owls in a trenchcoatNov 10, 2022

@dosnostalgic ctrl-alt-delete is still the reboot/power options sequence on multiple OSes

(I should probably note at this point that I have never heard this song.)

Show threadAnatoly Shashkin💾Nov 10, 2022
@HauntedOwlbear Yes, I've already corrected this. Definitely a mistake.
Show threadChris YoungNov 10, 2022
@dosnostalgic "You're waxing your modem, trying to make it go faster"
Who's doing this these days?
Show threadAnatoly Shashkin💾Nov 10, 2022
@confusedbunny People who's internet isn't great? 🤷‍♂️ Modems are still very much a thing, in fact more people are aware of their existence today than 25 years ago.
Show threadChris YoungNov 10, 2022
@dosnostalgic Hmm, I think some reference to slow wifi is probably more relatable these days.
Show threadMans RNov 10, 2022
@dosnostalgic I'm assuming the "hundred gigabytes of RAM" was intended to be absurdly much. Now it's quite normal. Today, he might have said terabytes for the same effect.
Show threadbeeks!Nov 10, 2022
@dosnostalgic It's not a change per se, but "you could back up your whole hard drive on a floppy diskette" is probably an even better burn now than it was in 1999.
Show thread48kRAMNov 10, 2022

@dosnostalgic
Bravo!

Okay:
- Modems? Not relevant... unless we count cable modems maybe? Hrm... tough one

- Is the Etch-a-Sketch still a thing? Apparently so. Some toys just never die, do they?

- Why is desktop and laptop age no longer relevant? Because we all use phones instead?

- I guess this is also why the mizouse is red-X ☹️​

I just feel old now

Show threadAnatoly Shashkin💾Nov 10, 2022
@48kRAM Desktops and laptops *being obsolete* in a day/week isn't relevant anymore. Could still be using a 10 year old machine perfectly fine today.
Show thread48kRAMNov 10, 2022
@dosnostalgic Hrm. The original Weird Al tune came out in 1999. I'm trying to recall how we felt about upgrades back then. I want to say that this line was just Al poking fun at the extreme upgraders, but... were we upgrading more frequently in '99?
Show threadAnatoly Shashkin💾Nov 10, 2022
@48kRAM Yes, we were. Especially if you were a gamer. The 90s was a crazy upgrade time. A 3 year old machine would be ANCIENT.
Show thread13 barn owls in a trenchcoatNov 10, 2022
@48kRAM @dosnostalgic 4G and 5G modems might count, but only for people with shite wired connectivity
Show threadSchall und RauchNov 10, 2022
@dosnostalgic Some branches of civil service are still afraid of Y2K.
Show threadDigital Mark λ ☕️ 🕹 👽Nov 10, 2022
@dosnostalgic
IRC "chatroom yakkers": Still useful.
Workin' 9 to 5 at Hewlett-Packard: Best engineering job I had.
Show threadDan HallockNov 10, 2022
@dosnostalgic I'd flip:
A4 — Hewlett Packard is still giant, and still distinctly uncool. I think it still has the vibe.
A11/12 — the kind of poser singing this song is undoubtedly sitting at an RGB-blinged desktop with a mizouse and a GTX 3090
A21 — questionable but 286 was already absurdly behind the times in 1999 — 17 years old, and incapable of running Windows 95 or 98. If the C64 line stays, so does this one imo.
Show threadAnatoly Shashkin💾Nov 10, 2022
@danhallock A4 - maybe
A11/12 One is an extremely outdated reference, but the other is irrelevant. Compared to the 90s possible upgrades are pretty far between.
A21 People still bring up the C64, as it is representative of a certain era and feel, today. Nobody outside of retro tech people has even uttered the word "286" is over a decade.
Show threadDan HallockNov 10, 2022
@dosnostalgic “Your PC is so old only retro tech enthusiasts remember it” seems like exactly the dis here. You’re making my case :) (obvs. subjective though)
Show threadAnatoly Shashkin💾Nov 10, 2022
@danhallock You can't insult someone if they don't understand the insult and you have to explain the context
https://youtu.be/Rp81S0W0F7E
Scott Pilgrim - The Cleaning Lady

YouTube
Show threadDan HallockNov 10, 2022
@dosnostalgic LOL at the clip. I need to watch that movie.
Show threadDan HallockNov 10, 2022

@dosnostalgic D7-D11 — *less* widespread today, sure. But there are certain circles and hardware where people still feel immense pressure to upgrade frequently, from annual phone releases to GPUs.

A29 is interesting as posting “me too” online has such a different connotation now.

Show threadJosh JusticeNov 10, 2022
@dosnostalgic I had no idea “don’t feed the trolls” was that old
Show threadMolten SoftwareNov 11, 2022
@dosnostalgic dang, I still don't have a hundred gigabytes of RAM lol 😂