I'm over the ripe (and getting better mind you!)old age of over 50, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!
You kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!
I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!
There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!
Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our @$$! Nowhere was safe!
There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!
Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?
We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!
There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a damn call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MY GOD !!! Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.
And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!
We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! Â With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!
You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!
There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-finks!
And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!
And our parents told us to stay outside and play. All day long. Oh, no! No electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside you were doing chores!
And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were luckily, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!
See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980's or any time before!
Since I am that "over 50" crowd, I appreciate the CDs, cellphones, and the like.
I'm over the ripe (and getting better mind you!)old age of over 50, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!
But we had cigarette commercials on TV. They were more entertaining than most of today's shows. Try finding one of those now.
Sure we had to move to change channels, but there was never more than one decent show to watch anyway (besides those cigarette commercials, which were the same on every channel). Today, you can wear out your fingers looking for anything decent to watch.
Our parents could not keep track of us with cell phones, GPS, and the like.
In our day, people went to the moon. And back. Today, all we have is science fiction.
And, of course, I could decide to hike Mt. Whitney on Friday morning, drive up that evening, and do it the next day. No permit, no hassle. And I'm talking Labor Day weekend.
Gary, that was freakin' classic! I still maintain that the posts by you and wagga make this the most entertaining message board out there.
It was only 3 short years ago that I could look at a topic title like yours (For the Over-50 Crowd) and ignore it. Unfortunately, no longer.
As I was born in 1957 and therefore grew up pretty much in the 60s, bells were ringing all over the place while I read your diatribe. Are you sure you didn't live just down the street from me? Coupl'a thoughts that struck me while I was reading:
TV - there were only 3 networks back in the 60s - ABC, CBS and NBC. Maybe you got PBS if you were lucky. No cable, no Direct TV, just the stupid rabbit ears on top of the (black and white) TV set - which only worked if you were standing by the set holding on to them.
Music - if you were lucky there was a Top 40 AM station, and that was it. Later on in the early 70s you got an FM album station, but you pretty much heard what the DJ and the record companies wanted you to hear. Portable music was the harmonica in your back pocket and your imagination. A big day was grabbing your 45s and going over to a friend's house to listen together - usually on some tiny, carry-case mono turntable with tinny speakers. Oh yeah - and popular music actually consisted of tunes that could be hummed.
School - started after Labor Day, ended by Memorial Day. The summer was 3 months long, like it's supposed to be. None of this starting the first week in August crap. And your teachers usually had permission to paddle you within an inch of your life.
Comfort - The first 13 years of my life I lived in a home with no air-conditioning. In the 1960s cars weren't generally air-conditioned - other than those 4 windows. Schools weren't usually air-conditioned. You had to go to the grocery store and hang out in the frozen food aisle to get cool on those 95-degree, 90 percent humidity days. In Atlanta, that was pretty much May through September. Strangely enough, I don't recall being miserable or uncomfortable in the summer. It was all I knew at the time. Imagine that now, especially you folks in the Mojave and the Central Valley.
Culture - I remember in 1968 or 1969 the Beatles were scheduled to make a live appearance on some variety show - I don't remember which one. They were actually doing it remotely (wow, what technology!), and there was this huge build-up for two weeks beforehand. I and all my friends were so jazzed to see them. The night of the show I turned it on with a high level of anticipation. When my dad heard the opening notes ("Revolution", as I recall), his exact words were, "Oh hell no you don't - no hippie $%#@ in THIS house!" Click went the channel - to something like Lawrence Welk or Hee Haw. I was so bummed.
Oh yeah - and the "Ratfink" was an extremely popular toy - along with the Trolls, Rock-em Sock-em Robots and GI Joe. I miss my Rock-em Sock-em Robots . . .
As I was born in 1957 and therefore grew up pretty much in the 60s,
1955
Originally Posted By: Bulldog34
TV - there were only 3 networks back in the 60s - ABC, CBS and NBC. Maybe you got PBS if you were lucky. No cable, no Direct TV, just the stupid rabbit ears on top of the (black and white) TV set - which only worked if you were standing by the set holding on to them.
Car54 WhereAreYou, MyFavoriteMartian...
Originally Posted By: Bulldog34
Music - if you were lucky there was a Top 40 AM station, and that was it.
yeah.
Originally Posted By: Bulldog34
Culture - I remember in 1968 or 1969 the Beatles were scheduled to make a live appearance on some variety show - I don't remember which one.
In those days, I lived in a country town. (You could Google it, I suppose) I had a friend from a well-off family who owned a TV set - B&W. They had moved 300 miles from Sydney, which, unlike my town, had actual TV stations.
So what to do? We hooked up a wire from the clothes line to the spark plug of the lawn mower, started it up, & watched the resulting snow.
More content than many of the channels available today.
Gunsmoke, Mr. Ed, The Addams Family, The Green Hornet, The Rifleman, Andy Griffith, Dragnet, Batman, Bonanza, Leave It to Beaver, The Munsters, the Beverly Hillbillies, Mighty Mouse, The Lone Ranger, Tom & Jerry, Speed Racer, The Disney Hour, and on and on and on! For only 3 networks, there was a lot of good programming.
Actually, it was later in the Beatles career - I'm thinking 1969, during their Abbey Road phase. I was 11 or 12 at the time. When they all had really long hair and beards - as my dad loved to point out to prove they were "hippies". They performed two songs from somewhere in London - I believe I heard them start off with "Revolution" before my dad changed the channel. I found out the next day at school that the second number was "All You Need Is Love". Helluva combination when you think about it . . .
Back then it was not possible to hear the terms "Corrupt Data", "Five Years" and "Backup" in the same sentence.
Bet John Lennon could have done it. Anyone who could pen the lyrics to "I Am the Walrus" and "Strawberry Fields" would've had no trouble. Of course, just like in those two songs, no one would have a clue what the hell he was talking about. Including John.
Client had a mere 800 MB of data, so the single flipped bit (alpha rays?) was in a collection of 6.4 gigabits. Located & repaired. I'm off to buy a lottery ticket!. Nah, fix is logical, not luck.
I'm listening to Ludwig's 1st piano concerto (Serkin pere playing), just as unfathomable as John's lyrics.
Today my son & I have celebrated a Century between us.
I guess I am the old man so far. Born 1/21/53. I remember getting our 1st TV in 1958. B&W with "Rabbit ears" antenna to tune in our snowy picture.Wires and clothes hangers helped occasionally to get a better picture.Loved Mickey Mouse Club with episodes of Spin and Marty and Popeye cartoons."I'll fight to the finish cuz I eat my spinach." The Nelson Family; Father Knows Best; I Love Lucy; were a few of the family favorites that we all watched together cuz we only had one TV and 3 stations to choose from.Programs were few and when there were no shows to broadcast the staion went off the air leaving only a test pattern on the TV.
Rod you are just a kid. I was born in 1937 (age 72) We had about an 8 or 10 inch black and white TV and bought one of those magnified glass lens on a stand in front of the TV that made the TV set look like it was 15-18 inches.
CMC2 Kids!! They can barely read. M Squad, Bat Masterson, Naked City, to name only a few. What's with the video games? My birth date shall remain a mystery.
Whoa, great responses from everyone. You, too, Steve C. and wagga.
I remember those days...
I remember going over to a neighbor's house (with my parents) to watch the Wizard of Oz. Our neighbors bought this weird contraption called a "color television." Whoa, Judy Garland looked hot in those ruby reds! Yowzer, Yowzer.
Don't forget the TV repair guy. Gee, I wonder how many children are offspring from those visits? Remember, the man worked while the woman stayed at home. I'll stop here.
I remember my father asking for "fill-up" with $2.00. Oh yeah, the service attendant washed your windows and checked your during in the process.
Speaking of under the hood. I remember seeing an engine and being able to change the oil, air, spark plugs. Carburetor! Now, there's a word googling for!
A/C? Yeah, didn't know about that until the mid-70s. Fans or swamp cooler were the order of the day. A/C in autos? I remember my Grandfather purchasing a 1967 Buick with power windows, A/C, and the like. Granddad was a cruisin' dude. He loved to drive from Bancroft, ID to Soda Springs (SE Idaho) to go a bowlin'.
Alan after all the medical difficulties the past 2-3 yrs I frequently feel like I might be 144 instead of a youthful 72.
Serious, when I wrote the (72) I immediately thought I should have clarified it but talked myself out of it. Shows what a quick & bright group we have on Steve's site here!!
Alan after all the medical difficulties the past 2-3 yrs I frequently feel like I might be 144 instead of a youthful 72.
Serious, when I wrote the (72) I immediately thought I should have clarified it but talked myself out of it. Shows what a quick & bright group we have on Steve's site here!!
You kindly served up an opportunity for cheap humor.
You saved me from trying to be the oldest one on the thread for a brief period. For the record, I hail from 2/11/52 (I was 0 then).
I was born in '47, and I remember when I was 3 or 4 watching B&W TV. My favorite show was Dave Garroway's news progam - I think it was on NBC - because I liked his sense of humor, but even more was that he had a chimpanzee named J. Fred Muggs. It was a gimmick, of course, but I remember watching the show hoping for a glimpse of J. Fred.
Am still a bit of a news hound today. J. Fred Muggs has passed on, but his place has been taken by humans with names like Beck and Limbaugh.
Speaking of under the hood, I remember seeing an engine and being able to change the oil, air, spark plugs. Carburetor! Now, there's a word googling for!
And you had to gap the plugs and set the points in the distributor - needed a big-ass Chilton's manual for that too! I got my driver's license and first car in 1973 - just in time for the Arab Oil Embargo to double the price of gas (all the way to 70 cents a gallon). New license, my first car, and I couldn't afford to drive it around the flippin' block.
And nobody except the well-to-do flew anywhere for vacation. It was always a long drive somewhere, usually in mid-summer with the 4-port A/C going full blast (windows, for you young whippersnappers). And all the exits didn't have gas/food/lodging like now - sometimes you had to drive a long, long way between gas stations and eats. You always had a packed picnic basket in the car going to/from. And lest we forget, the Interstate freeway system was just getting started at that point. Most long car trips - at least through the mid-60s - were on state or US highways.
My dad had this thing for Daytona Beach - every damn year, twice a year (4th of July, Labor Day), we would drive down to Daytona and do the same exact crap each time. That went on for 13 straight years. I've deliberately not set foot in Daytona for over 35 years now. One cool thing came out of it though - in 1969 we were there for the Apollo 11 launch. We drove out to Cocoa Beach and watched it from about two miles away. By far the loudest, most spectacular thing I've ever seen. It was deafening, even that far away. Seeing Deep Purple live was loud, but didn't come close to this. We got back home to Atlanta in time to see Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. That was absurdly cool.
Oh yeah - Captain Kangaroo, Have Gun Will Travel, Gidget, Bozo the Clown, Prudential of Omaha's Wild Kingdom with Marlon Perkins, Saturday double-feature matinees at the theatre, and drive-ins - I loved drive-ins! I bet every town in America had a "Starlight" Drive-In at some point.
Comic books were 10 cents and there was only one kind of Coke. You were a kid and wanted to go somewhere, you got on your one-speed bike and pedaled there. Hugh Heffner was the only one who used the term "playdates".
And if you went to a national park that had bears, they had garbage dumps near the main road to attract them so tourists could gawk and take pictures. Or feed them through a cracked window. My, my, how times have changed.
I could never figure out if Howdy Doody looked like Alfred E. Neuman or vice-versa.
Coupl'a more thoughts:
The crossover phenom is old hat - we used to call them family station wagons. Cars were big and lanes were wide. You didn't park your car in the garage, you parked it in the carport. Leather wasn't an option on a pick-up truck, and your vehicle damn well didn't talk back to you or tell you where to go.
Recycling meant returning your glass soda bottles for the 5-cent deposit, not organizing your trash six different ways at additional expense. "Green" was what was in your wallet or yard, not your politics or philosophy. When you were a kid short on cash, you spent the morning combing the streets for discarded soda bottles to redeem for the deposit. Then the surly guy behind the counter would try to gyp you out of half of them because they had little chips. I really hated that guy . . .
Telephones made . . . phone calls. And only phone calls. And you usually did it on a clickety-click rotary dial. Even in that thing called a phone booth - I think it's in the Smithsonian now. And remember the exchange call-words - like, "my number is Drake-8, 8108"?
There used to be two types of guys in the world - the Gilligan Test. You were either a Mary Ann kinda guy or a Ginger kinda guy. Now I guess Gilligan and the Professor are in play. I'd prefer to never meet the Skipper kinda guy . . .
Men didn't drink wine, and Schlitz and PBR were "premium" beers. An imported beer was from another state. You bought beer at the liquor store, not the grocery store. Grocery stores sold groceries. And only groceries. You wanted medicinals, you went to the drug store. Same for film, hardware, gardening, books, and toys. You went to that appropriate store. The closest thing to a variety store was the good old five-and-dime (Woolworth's ring a bell?). Condoms were kept discreetly behind the counter, not displayed for impulse-buy at the damn register in VIBRANT COLORS ("Daddy, what are these?"). Bread came in white, wheat, and buns. Period.
Polyester and Polaroids were cool, labels and instructions were in English only, and fireplaces burned wood. A trip to McDonald's was an EVENT. You were embarrassed to be caught driving a Toyota, and Honda only made lawnmower engines. If your Datsun (Nissan) was anything other than a Z, you hid it. Ford, GM and Chrysler actually turned a profit without govenmental handouts.
Skateboards were for leisurely riding down the sidewalk, not to hospital emergency rooms. I never - ever - saw anyone wearing a helmet while riding a bicycle. They would have been laughed out of school. Roller-coasters were all wooden and it didn't cost an average worker's day's pay to get into an amusement park.
Peyton Place would be PG now, Dark Shadows is still cool, and Future Shock came and went. You didn't need a license to drive a boat or own a gun (that was for you Cali folks), and the weatherman was no more off-target than he/she is today. And Sean Connery is the one and only 007.
Oh yeah - and there were a greater percentage of us out in the wilderness and national parks . . .
This just in - Ed Roberts passed on. I have an Altair 8800 construction manual somewhere around here. Anybody ever here build a computer with a soldering iron & bags & bags of parts?
It is easy to slip something by us old guys Steve.
Lunch Date:
A group of 40 year old girlfriends discussed where they should meet for lunch. Finally, it was agreed upon that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because the waiters there had tight pants and nice buns.
10 years later at 50 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for lunch. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because the food there was very good, the wine selection was good also, and the waiters were cute.
10 years later at 60 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for lunch. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because they could eat there in peace and quiet, the restaurant had a beautiful view of the ocean, and the waiters were sweet boys.
10 years later, at 70 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for lunch. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because the restaurant was wheel chair accessible, they even had an elevator, and the waiters were kindly.
10 years later, at 80 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for lunch. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because they had never been there before.
Times may have changed, but the human spirit has not.
Men, womend and children of all ages and all walks (hikes) of life. Cancer survivors, amputees, "bypassers" have done what those three fishermen from Lone Pine, Charles Begole, A. H. Johnson, and John Luca on August 18, 1873, had done. Let's not forget the first women, Miss Anna Mills (later, Mrs. Johnston), Miss Hope Broughton, Miss Mary Martin, and Mrs. Redd, on August 3, 1878. Failure was not an option.
By now many of you have received your ticket to the top. For some, your first; for others, your "umpteenthty." Another season is upon us.
When you reach the top, you are in good company! You earned it.
Michael Jordan said: "Don't be afraid to fail. Be afraid not to try."
By now many of you have received your ticket to the top. . .
Hmmmmm - for me that was the Too-Bad-So-Sad notice in Saturday's mail. Four TBNTs in the past 5 years - I'm just not living right or something. We're still coming in July, but it's a lot easier on the mind travelling 4000 miles RT with your family to climb a mountain when you know you actually have a ticket to the dance. Appears I'll be watching the Inyo website like a hawk the next 3 months and, failing that, making my presence felt at the InterAgency Center.
Inyo NF doesn't update the website very often, weekly at best. To get an advance reservation, you have to telephone them and ask if there is anything available -- as often as you can!
However, most people with reservations do not bother to phone in and release the spots. They just wind up as no-shows on the check-in day (the day before their hike).
I once suggested to Inyo that they offer a partial refund to those releasing at least two weeks in advance, but was told that paying out money was very difficult.
I think you are practically assured of getting whatever permits you need just by doing the walk-in at the 11 AM time the day before you want to hike as long as you go for a week-day. (Some are released earlier in the morning as people checking in release unused slots).
If it is any consolation, Inyo tells me when they get their on-line electronic reservation system running, they will give priority to repeat applicants who got nothing in the prior year(s), and lower priority to repeaters who already got permits. Seems like a good idea to me seeing all the people with amazing success rates.
Thanks Steve, you 38 year-old savant you! I'll definitely be ringing the FS line off the hook. My dilemma is that we wanted to do a one or two-nighter on the mountain, and I know those don't come available as often as the dayhike openings. Whitney would be the only point in the trip that we would be backpacking, so our decision to ship all the extra gear out beforehand (bags, pads, tents, larger packs, etc.) is dependant upon knowing we have overnight permits in hand a week or so before we leave. Without at least 4 overnight permits secured, I really don't want to go to that trouble and expense. The rest of the itinerary is all around dayhikes for a week in Yosemite, Mammoth and the Whites while staying in a condo in Mammoth (your idea, remember? A good one too!).
Obtaining dayhike permits once we're there is better than nothing, and that's what we'll try if necessary - but I have no expectation that my wife and daughter will summit, nor really enjoy it as much as a one or two-nighter. I don't even know if I could get them out of bed at 1:00 or 2:00 am. I recall very little from the return half of my dayhike last year except that I was whipped and wanted a big-ass WPS cheeseburger and a beer. Aside from the dayhike being a grind, you don't have time to stop and smell the roses - uh, er, marmots.
I realize I am beginning to sound like a stuck record, but look at the numbers in the unused column of the overnight permits for the 2009 season.
There are SO many unused, and THOSE numbers are after all is said and done at the end of the date of entry, NOT the beginning of the period the day before!
If I were you, I'd set the dates and ship "all the extra gear out".
Maybe about 20 years ago, Jane Fonda went hiking with a group out of Lodgepole or Wolverton in Sequoia N.P. They went out to Pear Lake and then up to the Table Lands. Only somehow Jane got separated from her companions, and wandered farther east and north. I think she spent the night out without camping gear.
...And I think Max over on that other board is a troll. Has a diff IP from Yosemite Sam, but hails from the same "IrvnCa" Stay tuned, he's probably not done over there.
By now many of you have received your ticket to the top. . .
Hmmmmm - for me that was the Too-Bad-So-Sad notice in Saturday's mail. Four TBNTs in the past 5 years - I'm just not living right or something. We're still coming in July, but it's a lot easier on the mind travelling 4000 miles RT with your family to climb a mountain when you know you actually have a ticket to the dance. Appears I'll be watching the Inyo website like a hawk the next 3 months and, failing that, making my presence felt at the InterAgency Center.
But Gary, regardless - we will HAVEFUN!
There are a lot of other things to do...
One never knows what can happen...
We will be there at Lone Pine Campground July 16 through 18 site 17. Plenty of room for another family! And it's shaded!
Thumbs up. That brings back memories. Back in elementary school days, our folks allowed 30 minutes of TV per kid per evening. My brother and I pooled ours every Tuesday so that we could tune in to KABC-TV at 7:30-8:30 PM.
Good one John - I loved Emma too! Back in the late 60s she was the bomb, especially with that silky Brit accent.
How'd the river trip go - kayaking wasn't it? We need to get together and haul some weight up a mountain soon. The clock is ticking - nine weeks for me and - what? Twelve for you?
Hi Gary. Yes, the Okefenokee is a river. The head waters of the Suwannee River. Spent two good nights out in the swamp. The bull alligators were just giddy with the warm days and their rising testosterone levels. Lots of bellowing for lady alligators going on. Not too much unlike my college days. And yes, a leg workout is in order. I'm up for anything from KM dayhike to one or two nighter. Let me know. If you get a hankering to hike on exposed gneiss (granite like rock) we should head down to Arabia Mountain in Lithonia. It's Panola Mountains twin. It's a nice park and you can spend an entire day there. Some parts were quarried back in the day which left these nice ledge like features to scamper about.
American Graffiti was one of the best movies ever! The Wolfman playing himself, albeit in some small burg in Wisconsin. I think that movie defined the term "retro".
Gumby and Pokey - I forgot about them. Good 'ole clay animation pioneers!
Gary, man I forgot all about Rat Patrol. You just don't know how many times on I-285 I've felt the need of a Jeep with a 50 cal. mounted in the back. Also, here's a blast from the past F Troop. One of my favorites.
American Graffiti was one of the best movies ever! The Wolfman playing himself, albeit in some small burg in Wisconsin. I think that movie defined the term "retro".
Viewing a copy this weekend. Set in Modesto, filmed in Petaluma.
Star Trek, my friend, not Star Wars. Trek was the 60s, Wars was '77. Too many Sierra Nevadas or Moose Drools with the Occasional group last night?
Oh yeah - and the Johnny Weismuller Tarzan movies. Nothing better than a Saturday matinee double-feature with a couple of Weismuller Tarzans or Connery 007s!
That's too cool Mike! Got any memorabilia handed down? I bet any surviving cavalry troop flags from back then are priceless.
Also, Rin Tin Tin reminded me of Lassie. Don't think anyone's mentioned Lassie yet. Collie's were real poular back then, but I can't recall the last time I saw one.
And John, I agree - a desert jeep with a .50 cal would serve you in good stead on 285 - and many other places in this sleepy little town . . .
Just discovered Pandora - an Internet radio. Select a genre or artist, & it will play that & similar tracks. I thought I had a fairly good grounding in Baroque music - Pandora tossed up half dozen composers that I had never heard of.
It is a very sad story of a botched operation to repair nodules. I cannot imagine how heartbreaking it must have been/must bee to know that the voice is gone forever.
Say, when do we get to start Remembering when (The 1980's)
Here, I will help out: Miami Vice, Who Shot JR?, Dynasty,jumpsuits,...
BTW, in Europe, we used to get old re-runs of The Man From UNCLE -- none of you old dudes even mentioned Illia!!!!!.
When they went on the blink, you took all the tubes out of the sockets, put them in a shoebox & went down to the drugstore. They had a machine on top of a cabinet. You just stuck each tube into one (of many) sockets & pressed the "Test" button.
If it was good, you moved onto the next. When a tube failed you picked out a replacement from the cabinet, using the SKU number. Paid up at the front counter, stuck all the tubes back in, put the back cover on to keep the cat out, & Kulyakin comes on the screen in stunning black & white.
I know some of you think I'm making all this up...
wagga that is absolutely correct.We usually went to Thrifty Drug Store cuz they had a tube tester.Amazing how simple it was for even us kids to fix the tube TVs.
wagga that is absolutely correct.We usually went to Thrifty Drug Store cuz they had a tube tester.Amazing how simple it was for even us kids to fix the tube TVs.
And I think, present-day, kids still have a better chance of fixing a modern TV than adults do . . .
And yeah Bee, the Man from Uncle was one of my favorites. Who could have forseen David McCallum 40-plus years later as Ducky Mallard on NCIS?
Tube TV sets...When they went on the blink, you took all the tubes out of the sockets, put them in a shoebox & went down to the drugstore. They had a machine on top of a cabinet. You just stuck each tube into one (of many) sockets & pressed the "Test" button...I know some of you think I'm making all this up...
I remember my father taking those tubes to the hardware/appliance store. If that didn't work, you called the TV repairman.
Tube sets were all analog while today's sets are all digital. Digital requires about one bazillion components to do the same function an analog circuit consisting of a few reactive components and a vacuum tube can do.
At least back in the day repairing a TV was a reasonable option. Now it's a matter of deciding whether to repair your existing 3 year-old set for $800, or saying "screw it" and springing $1500 for a(nother) new one with a warranty. TVs have gotten to be like Richard Pryor's old line about home repairs:
Tube sets were all analog while today's sets are all digital. Digital requires about one bazillion components to do the same function an analog circuit consisting of a few reactive components and a vacuum tube can do.
But give me digital any day. The math is easier.
Let's say you want your wholly analog TV to remember that you were watching channel 24 when you switched off, & want it to come back up on channel 24 when you turned it back on. Well, if Wang had invented it yet, magnetic core might be around, but it cost 10 times more than the TV set - let alone the logic to implement it.
I don't think there was enough core memory ever manufactured that would allow you to turn the set off then back on and remember which channel you were watching. That would probably take a couple of megs of memory.
My grandparents had a set with a remote in the late fifties that would use vibrating reeds to activate a motor that would rotate the tuner rotating mechanism. Quite the hot shoe device of the day. Hot shoe???? Whut???
There was a thing called a delay line memory that IBM used in the System Three. It was a piece of piano wire about 30 feet long I believe (coiled up of course)that was twisted on one end with a little solenoid for about a msec or so. It would take a bit of time for that twist to wave its way down to the end of the wire where that twist would be detected. If I remember correctly you could store about a Kbyte or so. I may be off on the numbers though. I'll see if there is anything on google.
Puppy cost nearly $10 million in 1972 dollars. 80 MHz! 2 Megabytes of memory! 250 MFlops!
My desktop production machine runs 50 times faster, has 2000 times the memory and 30 times the megaflops. The solid state disk is millions of times larger and thousands of times quicker than the million dollar disk installion in the first Cray-1. And the SSD cost less than $200. And the heat dissipation is 500 watts, not 115 Kilowatts.
No computer stuff....I'm computer illiterate. My wife or son fix my computer for me.
I remember, when I was a kid in 1964. My older sister begged my parents to be able to watch TV to see something called "The Beatles". I was so excited and was hoping my sister could convince my parents that we should watch it. I couldn't believe it when "The Beatles" turned out to be 4 guys singing and playing music......and NOT a monster movie, like the movies "Them" or "Earth vs the Spider".
What a letdown.
I also remember going to Yellowstone. In the early and mid '60's, the bears were everywhere. We would see the cars all stopped and call it a "Bear Jam". People would walk out of their cars to feed them..... and the bears would stand up on the sides of cars. My brother tried to take a picture of a bear from our Corvair and when the bear came over, my brother rolled up the window and caught the bears nose in it! The bear actually got a bloody nose and some blood dripped down the window.
My brother tried to take a picture of a bear from our Corvair and when the bear came over, my brother rolled up the window and caught the bears nose in it! The bear actually got a bloody nose and some blood dripped down the window.
Corvairs; 1 gallon of gas and 1 quart of oil.Drive 15 miles pull over and put in another quart of oil that was blown all over the inside of its rear compartment engine.
Corvairs; 1 gallon of gas and 1 quart of oil.Drive 15 miles pull over and put in another quart of oil that was blown all over the inside of its rear compartment engine.
Obviously spoken from experience! The other thing I recall was replacing the fan belt regularly.
My first wheels were a '68 Roadrunner with a 426 Hemi (at age 16 - talk about too much car for a driver's experience level). It was used, of course, and pretty much run ragged when I got it in 1973, but I thought I was cool. Between the nearly-blown valves, the thirsty carb, and a teenager's driving habits, I was lucky to get 6-8 mpg. Sucked down a quart of oil a week as well. And this was during the Arab Oil Embargo when gas prices had doubled overnight. I couldn't afford to drive it much more than to school and back. But I had to drive it to school - and rev up those Cherry Bombs!
Wish I still had that car. Or even just the engine block. The photo below scrolls across my monitor several times daily to remind me of what an idiot I was for letting it go:
And 'Tude, you really rocked it with this thread you started! I went back and leisurely reviewed the entire thing with my coffee this morning - your initial post is just about the funniest thing I've ever read! Steve, the Chat Room was a great idea. I suspect this thread will go on for a long, long time.
Okay Bulldog.....beat this. My FIRST car was a 1965 Cadillac Convertable with a 429. Leather seats, automatic everything. I loved opening the top at a street light. I not only "thought" I was the coolest. I was! The girls loved it. I blew up the engine within a year.
Awesome car Bulldog. My first car was a hand me down 61 Ford Comet station wagon with a 170 cc engine. Talk about a pile of crap.I worked and saved enough to buy the coolest 64 Ford Van in the San Fernando Valley.Smokey Metalic Gray with blue pin stripping and deep dish Crager wheels.Raised in the back and completely wood paneled with cabinets and carpeted floor.It was a bad assed surfer van.
quillansculpture wrote: > I blew up the engine within a year.
LOL!
Reminds me of a story I heard back then: Some teenagers were horsing around with daddy's Cad. They found out that they could rev the engine in neutral, then pop it into drive, and lay rubber. Only the last time, they not only laid rubber. Major parts fell out all over the road.
Okay Bulldog.....beat this. My FIRST car was a 1965 Cadillac Convertable with a 429. Leather seats, automatic everything. I loved opening the top at a street light. I not only "thought" I was the coolest. I was! The girls loved it. I blew up the engine within a year.
And I'm sure you blew it in L.A style - Sunset Strip or Hollywood Blvd? No, wait - Mulholland! Near the Hollywood sign!
After the Roadrunner finally gave up the ghost, I drove an Olds Delta 88 for a number of years. Talk about going from cool to drool.
Great find Bee! The complexity of those lyrics is, to me, just sheer genius. When our daughter was 7 she absolutely fell in love with it - she could sing the whole thing, but of course didn't have a clue what any of it was about.
Anybody here (besides me) ever use these for rock-climbing? Note the 4 nasty carbide-steel fangs crimped on near the front! I can report, however, that running & sliding on steel plate street covers at night is awesome.
I had a pair of hobnailed boots in 1948-1949. Used them mainly on trails, including a section of the John Muir Trail, but did some minor class 2-3 mt climbs too,not any rock climbing. Mine were 2nd hand from a surplus store and not nearly as pretty as the ones you display.
I was born in 1960. I remember when man first stepped on the moon, we lost Martin Luther King, the flags burning in protest of Vietnam, hanging on to the tailgate of my father's truck as he drove down the road, doing chores, hanging out in the smoking lounges in high school (yes, we were allowed to smoke in school), the introduction of the birth control pill, how much less women were paid than men for the same job, "Imagine" by John Lennon was at the top of the charts, seeing Bob Marley live in concert....but most of all I remember the big rule about going out to play - go out and play all day but be home by dark.
Maybe we shelter our children too much these days? It's really not any worse of a world than it was in 1960, but because we are exposed to so much more information than we used be; so we have grown fearful.
...It's really not any worse of a world than it was in 1960, but because we are exposed to so much more information than we used be; so we have grown fearful.
I think you're on to something, Kathy. There are other reasons our society seems more fearful as well. Life in general has become easier (at least in some countries) and one doesn't need to take as many risks to survive and thrive as previous generations. Risk-taking is a learned skill, and without practice our skills are dulled.
This has been such a good thread that it deserves to be resurrected.
Goldline. Remember climbing with it? I've hardly ever used kernmantle-style rope.
Here is a scary paper - and not just for the math!
"An interesting exercise is to work out the optimal number of anchors required for a 160 ft lead climb. First, we will assume that the first anchor is a great one, and that we can get off the ground 6 ft. A fall from just one foot above this anchor would fail a 2000 lb anchor!."
That my friends, would destroy a friend cam.
I've never used cam-style pro, but I've hung off a RURP.
Well, I totally missed this thread while it was running, but I'll just chime in here....
Originally Posted By: + @ti2d
I'm over the ripe (and getting better mind you!)old age of over 50, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!
You kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!
I've got a big "59" birthday coming up next month , so I fit right in this nostalgic generation, and I will say this - I totally disagree
I grew up in SoCal (San Diego County) and I NEVER remember going to school and worrying about accidently stumbling into the wrong crowd, guns, or gangs. Yes, there were drugs out there...everyone knew who did them, but even those drugs were nothing compared to the horror of what is available now. And "peer pressure".... OMG! Look at what the kids are exposed to nowadays... crap on TV...magazines and tabloids are constantly printing the latest popstars- scantily clothed....and these are our young people's role-models? Not to mention that every scandal that happens in this county and elsewhere is public property and accepted matter-of-factly. Regardless of lessons they are (hopefully) taught at home, they see people everywhere acting and behaving otherwise....how confusing!
We were the lucky ones to grow up in a much more "wholesome" world. Reading (in this thread) and remembering all the old TV shows, music, "playing outside", Mom being there when I came home from school, being in band (and not being considered a "geek"), going to the roller-rink....and so many more wonderful memories... I know how good WE had it. The world changes and some of these changes are inevitable, but I wouldn't trade places with this younger generation for the world.
"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers." --Socrates (via Plato), 4th century B.C.
And lets not forget:
"I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on the frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words. When I was a boy, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise and impatient of restraint." -- Hesiod, 7th century B.C.
Kids these days, y'know? I mean... those days. No wonder the world is so messed up, if kids like those ended up in charge.
Steve, that was funny! Remind me again what it was about . . .
I still think that Gary's initial post starting this thread is one of the best I've read. I remember the day he posted it last year - I had to read the whole thing to my wife while she was making dinner. I don't think I've laughed as hard since ('cept maybe over the one Lynn threw out the other day on the Silly Jokes thread - I still crack up at the thought of France's white flag factory burning, paralyzing their entire military capability!).
Shlomo, 80, marries Becky, a lovely 25-year-old. Because of the great difference in their ages, Becky thought it sensible to book separate hotel rooms on their honeymoon - she was worried that he might overexert himself. On the first night, Becky is preparing herself for bed when there is a knock on her door. When she opens it, there is Shlomo ready for action. They unite in conjugal union and it was good. Shlomo says goodnight and leaves. Becky once again prepares to go to bed. But five minutes later, there's a knock on her door. It's Shlomo again, once more ready for action. Pleasantly surprised, Becky again invites him into her bed and again they make passionate love. Shlomo kisses her goodnight and leaves. Becky is now quite tired but as soon as she puts her head on the pillow, there is a knock at the door and there, yet again, is Shlomo, looking very sprightly and once more ready for l-o-v-e. Again they make it. This time, before Shlomo leaves, Becky says, "I am really very impressed with you, Shlomo. I thought you were past making love, but you've proved me wrong. I've made a good choice in you - you're a special lover. Most of my other lovers could only manage it once, yet you were able to do it three times." On hearing this, Shlomo was very confused. He then looks her in the eyes and asks, "Do you mean I've been here already?"
I was walking down the street when I saw an very elderly gentleman sitting on a park bench, crying. I was concerned, so I approached him and asked what was the matter. "I just got married last week," he said, "to a beautiful 25-year-old woman, and we've been having incredible sex day and night." "Why is that such a problem?," I asked. He sobbed, "I can't remember where I live."
Vaudeville. Do any of us remember it? It sort of re-surfaced with Benny Hill. I think it's time to come again will be soon, give the rotten state the world is in now. Just sayin'.
Whilst looking for something else, I stumbled on these Newsreels . Remember when news wasn't available inside 10 seconds 24/7/365? The first is definitely worth watching. Some of the rest is jingoistic and possibly not so PC by today's standards. The color record of the Japanese surrender is simply amazing.
And, yes, much of this happened before I learned how to operate diapers.
Next time Governor Brown or President Obama want to raise our taxes so that the state and the country can become more GREEN, think back on the following, because all of us over 50 and our parents before us were GREEN long before it became POLITICALLY CORRECT.
In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bag because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.
The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."
The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. The former generation did not care enough to save our environment."
He was right, that generation didn't have the green thing in its day.
Back then, they returned their milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.
But they didn't have the green thing back in that customer's day.
In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn't have an escalator in every store and office building.
They walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks.
But she was right. They didn't have the green thing in her day.
Back then, they washed the baby's diapers because they didn't have the throw-away kind.
They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts - wind and solar power really did dry the clothes.
Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But that old lady is right, they didn't have the green thing back in her day.
Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house - not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief, not a screen the size of the state of Montana .
In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn't have electric machines to do everything for you.
When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not polystyrene or plastic bubble wrap.
Back then, they didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power.
They exercised by working so they didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But she's right, they didn't have the green thing back then.
They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water.
They refilled their writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
But they didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service.
They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances.
And they didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.
But isn't it sad that the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks were just because they didn't have the green thing back then?
[I hope you GET IT, the point being that we of the older generations didn't NEED the Green Thing, as we weren't anywhere near as WASTEFUL as the Modern Generations are. And most of us oldies still aren't so wasteful.
Next time Governor Brown or President Obama want to raise our taxes so that the state and the country can become more GREEN, think back on the following, because all of us over 50 and our parents before us were GREEN long before it became POLITICALLY CORRECT.
I enjoyed the piece except tor the above paragraph. The fact is that neither Governor Brown nor President Obama have tried to raise our taxes in order to make us more green.
That said, those of us who grew up in the age of V-8's should not preach too stridently about how green things were back then. The fact is that I came in from recess many days during elementary school with my lungs burning because the LA air was so totally poisoned with oxides of nitrogen. That ain't very green.
I was originally from the Fresno area. The entire central valley economy was based on cheap water from government projects. Neither green nor capitalistic.
Back in LA, in the good old days, train and streetcar lines went extinct and everyone moved out to the suburbs, totally dependent on the automobile.
I could go on and on, but it would not make those of us who grew up during the malling of America look very green.
I needed a good laugh today and re-read some of this thread. For the new people on the board, start at the first post. Hopefully it will put a smile on your face.
Barb, Gary's initial post for this thread was one of the classics. LMAO every time I read it. Don't know what got his motor running that particular day, but I'm glad it did. Very enjoyable thread.
As I remember it, the word "environment" was not even used to describe "the environment" back then. Rachel Carson came out with her book in 1962 "Silent Spring", but it hardly changed most people's minds in the sixties. We were too busy guzzingly 25 cent a gallon gasoline, building parking lots (some people refer to these as freeways), and tearing out all of the mass transit systems. People smoked everywhere, we had our food scraps hualed away by a truck, we burned our trash in the back yard and bottles of any kind were thrown on the road (predeposits). The black soot from citrus smug pots in the winter required clothes to be re-washed. We had to drive halfway across our city to look up information for a school assignment at the "local" library. And, we drove to the drive-in for our cultural experience. Yes, I worked since I was in the third grade, but all of my friends did not work until they got out of high school. Would I want to go back...NOOO! Do I think people are doing everything they could be doing to be green now...NOOO! I only thing that has really changed is we now associate the word environment to "the environment". Something that has always bothered me about the inventor of the Diesel engine Rudolf Diesel. This engine was originally intended to run on a combination of fuels including coal dust and peanut oil. For some reason he suddenly disappeared and all Diesel engines were made to run on oil based products. The more progressive governments look to future renewable energy sources the more we go backward. Would you drive a car that runs on a renewable source like peanut oil?
Don't you remember The fizz in a pepper Peanuts in a bottle At ten, two and four A fried bologna sandwich With mayo and tomato Sittin' round the table Don't happen much anymore
We got too complicated It's all way over-rated I like the old and out-dated Way of life
Back when a hoe was a hoe Coke was a coke And crack's what you were doing When you were cracking jokes Back when a screw was a screw The wind was all that blew And when you said, "I'm down with that." Well it meant you had the flu I miss back when I miss back when I miss back when
I love my records Black, shiny vinyl Clicks and pops And white noise Man they sounded fine I had my favorite stations The ones that played them all Country, soul and rock-and-roll What happened to those times?
I'm readin' "Street Slang For Dummies" Cause they put "pop" in my country I want more for my money The way it was back then
Back when a hoe was a hoe Coke was a coke And crack's what you were doing When you were cracking jokes Back when a screw was a screw The wind was all that blew And when you said, "I'm down with that." Well it meant you had the flu I miss back when I miss back when I miss back when
Give me a flat top for strumming I want the whole world to be humming Just keep it coming The way it was back then
Back when a hoe was a hoe Coke was a coke And crack's what you were doing When you were cracking jokes Back when a screw was a screw The wind was all that blew And when you said, "I'm down with that." Well it meant you had the flu I miss back when I miss back when I miss back when
As I remember it, the word "environment" was not even used to describe "the environment" back then. Rachel Carson came out with her book in 1962 "Silent Spring", but it hardly changed most people's minds in the sixties.
FWIW, The US Environmental Protection Agency began operating on December 3, 1970.
For all of those who miss those great old tunes from the 60s and 70s, there's good news! Some of your old favorites have re-released their great hits with new lyrics to accommodate maturing audiences. You youngsters won't know what we're talking about.
- Bobby Darin - "Splish, Splash, I Was Havin' a Flash"
Carter: 
