A to Z - N

For my A to Z Challenge theme I will be posting items that are no longer with us or are close to becoming extinct.

These are great items to use if you are trying to set a time period in your story or to stay away from if you want your story to be timeless.


Nickel–cadmium battery (NiCd battery or NiCad battery) is a type of rechargeable battery invented in 1898. Since the 1990's Nicds have been replaced by Nickel metal hydride and Lithium Ion rechargeable batteries with better capacity.  The heavy cadmium metal is worse for the environment and these batteries can only be purchased as replacements in the European Union.


 New Coke one lesson I have learned at work is you don't mess with people's pay or their food.  Coca-cola learned that lesson the hard way. The new, sweeter, version of Coke was introduced April 23, 1985.  There was a public outcry which caused the company to go back to their to the original Coke formula, okay not the 100 year old original because cocaine was understandably removed, only three months after the release of New Coke. Marketing had to add the word Classic coke to all their cans and bottles to assuage consumers.

 Nintendo Virtual Boy  was it's shortest-lived system.  It was on the market for only six months in 1995. I think it was a little to ambitious for the available technology. The Nintendo Virtual Boy was a bulky, red headgear that completely obscured a gamer's vision as he tried to play games rendered in rudimentary 3-D graphics. It was expensive, retailing at $180, and only 14 were ever available in the U.S.

Happy Writing!