今天上午给公安的大队长们上课。最近给公安上课太多了，时间不够。难得的是，来接我的警车司机师傅自己的女儿今天高考。

前几天服务器罢工，国内的朋友们都无法访问，在这里表示歉意。等找到好的服务器了，再搬家。

今天美国新闻不少，我感兴趣的不多。

在美国佛蒙特州的切尔西，一位妇女因为冲狗做鬼脸而被捕，她是冲一条警犬做的鬼脸，她的律师当然要向媒体喊冤。

移民法案啊、干细胞啊、八国会谈啊、导弹防御啊。都不如下面这条回顾让我感慨。

今日美国，半个世纪的回顾。那些在我们身边消失的事物。

（在美国消失了，在我们身边有的还很繁荣呢）

Times have changed for Michael Jackson (No. 24 below) and vinyl records (No. 5) since he released Thriller 25 years ago. Today, we look back at 25 years of other changes in our lives. Some things are still around (No. 4), some not (No. 6). Disagree with our picks? Tell us at usatoday.com, and we’ll post yours.

Sylwia Kapuscinski, Getty Images

1 Indoor smoking （室内吸烟）

The workplace once had clouds of secondhand smoke and first-rate smokers. You could even puff away in the rear of jets. Attitudes have changed, forcing smokers outside, rain or shine.

 

Chris Pizzello, AP

2 Service stations

It’s easier to find chips and a hot dog than free air or somebody to clean your windshield as service has transformed into convenience shopping and self-serve fill-ups. Want fries with that?

 

Alexander Zemlianichenko, AP

3 The Soviet threat

The United States’ Cold War rival ended with the stroke of a pen in December 1991. The “evil empire” was undone by internal changes, the desire for independence by its satellites and economic pressures.

 

Handout

4 Typewriters （打字机）

The computer keyboard on your desk used to be a thundering, hulking device. The electric model sank the manual, only to be trumped by a revolution in technology that continues to this day.

 

Henry J. Koshollek, AP

5 Vinyl records （密纹唱片）

Music used to be big. Literally. Before palm-sized CDs took over, songs were embedded in vinyl platters the size of hubcaps. And then there were 8-tracks and cassettes. But that’s another story.

 

AP

6 New Coke

Introduced in 1985 as a replacement for Coca-Cola’s flagship brand, New Coke is considered one of marketing’s all-time duds. New Coke evolved into Coca-Cola II before being discontinued in 2002.

 

7 Carbon paper

If you worked with typewriters, you’re familiar with the flimsy, filthy filament. To make copies, you’d need a sheet of this purplish-looking stuff. Type “good riddance.” In triplicate.

 

8 Betamax （BETA带的录象摄象机，我们还在用）

Betamax was the most popular video format in the early 1980s. By the end of the decade, VHS was king. What happened? Some say Betamax’s limited recording time was the culprit.

 

D. Kevin Elliott for USA TODAY

9 Phone booths （电话亭，使用中）

Don’t tug on Superman’s cape — especially when he’s been trying to find a place to ditch his Clark Kent duds. The bulky boxes with a phone inside have gone away for the most part. Sorry, Clark.

 

10 Leaded gasoline

The EPA phased out leaded gas in the mid-1990s, citing threats to the environment and public health. Lead was blended into gasoline to boost octane levels and enhance engine performance.

 

 

11 Rotary dial phones （旋转拨盘电话机）

Imagine your cellphone, only stationary and way bulkier, with a numbered wheel that you had to spin seven to 10 times or more, depending on your call being local or long distance. Oy.

 

Handout

12 Videos on MTV （MTV里的视频）

Before reality shows and the like filled its airtime, MTV forged its identity with wall-to-wall videos and the veejays who loved them. OK, who misses 1984’s 99 Luftballoons by Nena? Anyone?

 

Handout

13 Baltimore Colts

One of the NFL’s cornerstones ended its stay in Baltimore with a whimper in 1984, hitting the road for Indianapolis. The Colts’ Marching Band lived on, even after the Ravens took the field, till 1998.

 

 

14 Oldsmobiles

The last Olds rolled off the assembly line in April 2004, signaling a shift in the U.S. auto marketplace and marking the end of a renowned brand. Also deceased: Plymouth (2001) and AMC (1987).

 

Getty Images

15 Civility （礼貌）

It can be rough out there ?whether on TV, radio, the Web or at sporting arenas. Today抯 discourse has plenty of 揹is,?and it can be pretty 揷oarse,?too. And whatever happened to thank-you notes? We could go on.

 

Handout

16 ‘American Bandstand’

The TV dance show, a sensation in Philadelphia in the 1950s before going national on ABC, survived countless shifts in musical tastes. Bandstand ended its run in 1989.

 

Michael Madrid, USA TODAY

17 Beverage pull tabs （饮料易拉罐拉环，国内还到处都是，这也是我喜欢王老吉的原因之一）

Once, to open a beverage can, you’d pull a metal ring from a can, creating a tiny blade you’d rediscover walking barefoot. Tabs that stay attached to the can did away with pull-tabs.

 

Chris Ocken, AP

18 West African black rhino

At 12 feet long and 3,000 pounds, the rhino might appear indestructible. Last summer, it was “tentatively declared as extinct” by the World Conservation Union. Blame illegal poaching.

 

19 Hand-crank car windows （手摇汽车门窗）

Before your car was controlled by electronics, you could get a brisk workout just opening the window for a little air. No fingertip controls here, thank you. Crank, two, three. Repeat.

 

Tim Parker, Reuters

20 Home run kings

Roger Maris got a record and an asterisk in 1961 when he passed Babe Ruth’s season record. He’s been passed by Mark McGwire (70) in 1998 and Barry Bonds (73) in 2001. More asterisks to come?

 

Lennox McLenden, AP

21 Hair bands

The music: bad. The hair: worse. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, the mix was magical for bands such as Poison, Ratt and Cinderella. Some continue to tour, testing the endurance of leather pants.

 

Roberto Borea, AP

22 The afternoon newspaper （下午报纸，我们的晚报）

Remember the kid on the bike who never quite reached the porch with your afternoon daily? He moved on, as did lifestyles and the media world. City afternoons became lonelier for newspaper readers.

 

23 Transistor radios （晶体管收音机）

Before iPods, the handheld music-delivery system of choice was the transistor radio. The transistor tuned in to whatever your local radio station was dishing out. It’s the very definition of “quaint.”

 

File photo

24 Michael Jackson （大家都认识）

The Jackson 5’s lead singer evolved into, well, the “King of Pop,” selling gazillion of copies of 1982’s Thriller. Sales slowed as various accusations and trials came. Today, he is believed to reside in Bahrain.

 

Handout

25 Checker cabs

The iconic yellow Marathon cab — you know, like the ones in the movie Taxi Driver — stopped being produced in the early 1980s. The last Checker cab in New York City was retired in 1999. So it goes.

 

Reported and written by USA TODAY’s Robert Fleming. Photo research by Mike Tsukamoto.