Things we take for granted now that were only recently invented.

[Dick Foster]

Did you know that before just about 120 years ago, homes did not have refrigerators or air conditioning ? There was no radio or television. No cars or planes.

120 years ago?

• As recent as just perhaps 80 years ago, some people were still keeping food fresh with just an ice box with a big block of ice in it. Before that, they relied on food being salted to preserve it.
• A friend of mine had no electricity at all as a child in North Dakota.
• My parents never had an air conditioner until probably the 1980s.
• Radio only became fairly commonplace in homes between 80-90 years ago. Television more in the 1950s. My family never had color TV until well into the 1970s.
• Cars didn't begin to even come onto the scene to begin to widely replace the horse until about 100 years ago.
• The airplane came into the fore during WWi just over 100 years ago as crude, open cockpit planes with virtually no instruments or navigation. By WWII, they were better developed but had now reached the practical limits of propeller-driven engines. It wasn't until near the end of WWII that the jet engine became developed enough to begin to become practical to quickly replace the propeller.

Of course, I'm mostly speaking of times when these things were becoming fairly established, affordable, and widely known in the average American way of life.

Both of my parents grew up on farms with no TV or electricity to run one, no refrigeration, no telephone, no indoor plumbing or many many other things we take for granted. They also produced or hunted most of their own food except for staples like flour, salt, spices etc. My mom told me it was also common place to make clothes from the flour sacks that were printed for that purpose. Little went to waste. They even made their own soap using wood ashes and fat from bacon drippings etc. Our entire society could collapse leaving us struggling to exist and they'd probably not notice any significant change.

 

[the other mike]

Yesbut, who the fuck wants to go out into the Sahara desert collecting sand? Where are you going live, eat and sleep? Most sand for concrete comes from rivers. It's not just the sand but finding the right type of sand, especially for mission critical projects.

Actually, it would be killing 2 birds with one stone.
There's strong evidence that there are archaeological secrets and treasures buried deep in the desert sand...including proof of civilization that predates Biblical history to 12,000 years ago. We know there was sea-life and a rainforest there and evidence of rain-weathering on the Sphinx.

So there you go. We need the sand anyway...let's go dig up some history while we're at it.

 

[Dick Foster]

In Arkansas they were still using outhouses until I moved down here.

When I was a young child both of my grandparents had farms and outhouses. They didn't get indoor plumbing until I was 12 or so.

 

[toobfreak]

Did you know that before just about 120 years ago, homes did not have refrigerators or air conditioning ? There was no radio or television. No cars or planes.

120 years ago?

• As recent as just perhaps 80 years ago, some people were still keeping food fresh with just an ice box with a big block of ice in it. Before that, they relied on food being salted to preserve it.
• A friend of mine had no electricity at all as a child in North Dakota.
• My parents never had an air conditioner until probably the 1980s.
• Radio only became fairly commonplace in homes between 80-90 years ago. Television more in the 1950s. My family never had color TV until well into the 1970s.
• Cars didn't begin to even come onto the scene to begin to widely replace the horse until about 100 years ago.
• The airplane came into the fore during WWi just over 100 years ago as crude, open cockpit planes with virtually no instruments or navigation. By WWII, they were better developed but had now reached the practical limits of propeller-driven engines. It wasn't until near the end of WWII that the jet engine became developed enough to begin to become practical to quickly replace the propeller.

Of course, I'm mostly speaking of times when these things were becoming fairly established, affordable, and widely known in the average American way of life.

Both of my parents grew up on farms with no TV or electricity to run one, no refrigeration, no telephone, no indoor plumbing or many many other things we take for granted. They also produced or hunted most of their own food except for staples like flour, salt, spices etc. My mom told me it was also common place to make clothes from the flour sacks that were printed for that purpose. Little went to waste. They even made their own soap using wood ashes and fat from bacon drippings etc. Our entire society could collapse leaving us struggling to exist and they'd probably not notice any significant change.

I had an aunt and an uncle like that. I used to go to their farm for a week every summer. You could fish in their backyard. IMO, that is where Russia is ahead of us-- -- most Russians grow up knowing hardship. If we were smart, we would raise people giving them 5 years living like that to learn how to live off the land as nature intended, then as a nation, imagine how much heartier and resilient we would be as a whole if and when something went wrong?! And think how much more people would appreciate what they have rather than whine every time the cable goes out?

 

[Dick Foster]

Did you know that before just about 120 years ago, homes did not have refrigerators or air conditioning ? There was no radio or television. No cars or planes.

120 years ago?

• As recent as just perhaps 80 years ago, some people were still keeping food fresh with just an ice box with a big block of ice in it. Before that, they relied on food being salted to preserve it.
• A friend of mine had no electricity at all as a child in North Dakota.
• My parents never had an air conditioner until probably the 1980s.
• Radio only became fairly commonplace in homes between 80-90 years ago. Television more in the 1950s. My family never had color TV until well into the 1970s.
• Cars didn't begin to even come onto the scene to begin to widely replace the horse until about 100 years ago.
• The airplane came into the fore during WWi just over 100 years ago as crude, open cockpit planes with virtually no instruments or navigation. By WWII, they were better developed but had now reached the practical limits of propeller-driven engines. It wasn't until near the end of WWII that the jet engine became developed enough to begin to become practical to quickly replace the propeller.

Of course, I'm mostly speaking of times when these things were becoming fairly established, affordable, and widely known in the average American way of life.

Both of my parents grew up on farms with no TV or electricity to run one, no refrigeration, no telephone, no indoor plumbing or many many other things we take for granted. They also produced or hunted most of their own food except for staples like flour, salt, spices etc. My mom told me it was also common place to make clothes from the flour sacks that were printed for that purpose. Little went to waste. They even made their own soap using wood ashes and fat from bacon drippings etc. Our entire society could collapse leaving us struggling to exist and they'd probably not notice any significant change.

I had an aunt and an uncle like that. I used to go to their farm for a week every summer. You could fish in their backyard. IMO, that is where Russia is ahead of us-- -- most Russians grow up knowing hardship. If we were smart, we would raise people giving them 5 years living like that to learn how to live off the land as nature intended, then as a nation, imagine how much heartier and resilient we would be as a whole if and when something went wrong?! And think how much more people would appreciate what they have rather than whine every time the cable goes out?

As a young child I'd get to spend a week each summer with one or the other set of grandparents on their farms. I'd split wood for my grand ma, they both cooked on wood stoves, take my 22 and go squirrel or rabbit hunting, go coon hunting at night with my granddad who raised and trained the best coon dogs around, shucked corn and fed chickens, shot up box upon box of 22 ammo learing to shoot well, help my granddad build farm buildings, he was a great carpenter and lots of other cool stuff for kids to do. They both still used horses for plowing and such too. I always looked forward to those weeks on the farm. Even without TV I was kept busy, ate extremely well and slept like a log, plus I learned a lot.

 

[toobfreak]

Did you know that before just about 120 years ago, homes did not have refrigerators or air conditioning ? There was no radio or television. No cars or planes.

120 years ago?

• As recent as just perhaps 80 years ago, some people were still keeping food fresh with just an ice box with a big block of ice in it. Before that, they relied on food being salted to preserve it.
• A friend of mine had no electricity at all as a child in North Dakota.
• My parents never had an air conditioner until probably the 1980s.
• Radio only became fairly commonplace in homes between 80-90 years ago. Television more in the 1950s. My family never had color TV until well into the 1970s.
• Cars didn't begin to even come onto the scene to begin to widely replace the horse until about 100 years ago.
• The airplane came into the fore during WWi just over 100 years ago as crude, open cockpit planes with virtually no instruments or navigation. By WWII, they were better developed but had now reached the practical limits of propeller-driven engines. It wasn't until near the end of WWII that the jet engine became developed enough to begin to become practical to quickly replace the propeller.

Of course, I'm mostly speaking of times when these things were becoming fairly established, affordable, and widely known in the average American way of life.

Both of my parents grew up on farms with no TV or electricity to run one, no refrigeration, no telephone, no indoor plumbing or many many other things we take for granted. They also produced or hunted most of their own food except for staples like flour, salt, spices etc. My mom told me it was also common place to make clothes from the flour sacks that were printed for that purpose. Little went to waste. They even made their own soap using wood ashes and fat from bacon drippings etc. Our entire society could collapse leaving us struggling to exist and they'd probably not notice any significant change.

I had an aunt and an uncle like that. I used to go to their farm for a week every summer. You could fish in their backyard. IMO, that is where Russia is ahead of us-- -- most Russians grow up knowing hardship. If we were smart, we would raise people giving them 5 years living like that to learn how to live off the land as nature intended, then as a nation, imagine how much heartier and resilient we would be as a whole if and when something went wrong?! And think how much more people would appreciate what they have rather than whine every time the cable goes out?

As a young child I'd get to spend a week each summer with one or the other set of grandparents on their farms. I'd split wood for my grand ma, they both cooked on wood stoves, take my 22 and go squirrel or rabbit hunting, go coon hunting at night with my granddad who raised and trained the best coon dogs around, shucked corn and fed chickens, shot up box upon box of 22 ammo learing to shoot well, help my granddad build farm buildings, he was a great carpenter and lots of other cool stuff for kids to do. They both still used horses for plowing and such too. I always looked forward to those weeks on the farm. Even without TV I was kept busy, ate extremely well and slept like a log, plus I learned a lot.

Yep. My uncle actually built the house they lived in! Actually, the whole damned farm! 79 acres!

 

[the other mike]

I grew up in a middle class neighborhood in Ohio ( up on the hill ) in West Akron, but my best friend was a poor kid from the valley. My parents liked him because he was a good kid and played little league ball with me, and in the summer he would ride his bike up and we worked my hood- mowing lawns with our mowers, then rake leaves and shovel snow in the winters. We rode our 10 speeds all over that town...used to ride up to Highland Square movie theater and down to the country club to swim or play tennis, and the bowling alley to shoot pool and play foozball and pinball. Helped keep me out of trouble which I'll always be grateful for.

Parents divorced and we moved to a different part of town by high school and never kept in touch with him. Too busy chasing girls by then.

 

[toobfreak]

We rode our 10 speeds all over that town...used to ride up to Highland Square move theater and down to the country club to swim or play tennis, and the bowling alley to shoot pool and play foozball and pinball.

A bike was a way of life when we were kids. When I was 10-12 years old (or younger?), all of us used to travel by bike in at least a 1 mile radius from home. We were in traffic, on busy roads, going through woods getting places. We were gone for hours. Just so long as we were back around dinner time to report in. Nowadays, a kid's means of transportation is the backseat of their parent's car. The parents don't WANT them out nowhere, not even out in the yard, not even a block from the house. Not out of sight. Afraid they will get hit. A sunburn. Maybe get a pimple. Best they stay in the house and socialize by smartphone app, where they are safe.

 

[Dick Foster]

Did you know that before just about 120 years ago, homes did not have refrigerators or air conditioning ? There was no radio or television. No cars or planes.

120 years ago?

• As recent as just perhaps 80 years ago, some people were still keeping food fresh with just an ice box with a big block of ice in it. Before that, they relied on food being salted to preserve it.
• A friend of mine had no electricity at all as a child in North Dakota.
• My parents never had an air conditioner until probably the 1980s.
• Radio only became fairly commonplace in homes between 80-90 years ago. Television more in the 1950s. My family never had color TV until well into the 1970s.
• Cars didn't begin to even come onto the scene to begin to widely replace the horse until about 100 years ago.
• The airplane came into the fore during WWi just over 100 years ago as crude, open cockpit planes with virtually no instruments or navigation. By WWII, they were better developed but had now reached the practical limits of propeller-driven engines. It wasn't until near the end of WWII that the jet engine became developed enough to begin to become practical to quickly replace the propeller.

Of course, I'm mostly speaking of times when these things were becoming fairly established, affordable, and widely known in the average American way of life.

Both of my parents grew up on farms with no TV or electricity to run one, no refrigeration, no telephone, no indoor plumbing or many many other things we take for granted. They also produced or hunted most of their own food except for staples like flour, salt, spices etc. My mom told me it was also common place to make clothes from the flour sacks that were printed for that purpose. Little went to waste. They even made their own soap using wood ashes and fat from bacon drippings etc. Our entire society could collapse leaving us struggling to exist and they'd probably not notice any significant change.

I had an aunt and an uncle like that. I used to go to their farm for a week every summer. You could fish in their backyard. IMO, that is where Russia is ahead of us-- -- most Russians grow up knowing hardship. If we were smart, we would raise people giving them 5 years living like that to learn how to live off the land as nature intended, then as a nation, imagine how much heartier and resilient we would be as a whole if and when something went wrong?! And think how much more people would appreciate what they have rather than whine every time the cable goes out?

As a young child I'd get to spend a week each summer with one or the other set of grandparents on their farms. I'd split wood for my grand ma, they both cooked on wood stoves, take my 22 and go squirrel or rabbit hunting, go coon hunting at night with my granddad who raised and trained the best coon dogs around, shucked corn and fed chickens, shot up box upon box of 22 ammo learing to shoot well, help my granddad build farm buildings, he was a great carpenter and lots of other cool stuff for kids to do. They both still used horses for plowing and such too. I always looked forward to those weeks on the farm. Even without TV I was kept busy, ate extremely well and slept like a log, plus I learned a lot.

Yep. My uncle actually built the house they lived in! Actually, the whole damned farm! 79 acres!

That was back when a lot of people knew how to do a lot of stuff and had a breath of knowledge largely unknown today. Although they may call it simpler times today, life was neither simple nor easy. There was a lot to know that people today can't even guess at. Think of all the knowledge and work it took just to have ham or bacon for breakfast. They had to breed, raise and butcher the hogs plus know the many methods to preserve the meat like salt curing, sugar curing and smoking. It seems to me the simpler times are now when you can just buy a pound of bacon at the local grocery store. Yet somehow they managed to make it taste better too.

 

[the other mike]

We rode our 10 speeds all over that town...used to ride up to Highland Square move theater and down to the country club to swim or play tennis, and the bowling alley to shoot pool and play foozball and pinball.

A bike was a way of life when we were kids. When I was 10-12 years old (or younger?), all of us used to travel by bike in at least a 1 mile radius from home. We were in traffic, on busy roads, going through woods getting places. We were gone for hours. Just so long as we were back around dinner time to report in. Nowadays, a kid's means of transportation is the backseat of their parent's car. The parents don't WANT them out nowhere, not even out in the yard, not even a block from the house. Not out of sight. Afraid they will get hit. A sunburn. Maybe get a pimple. Best they stay in the house and socialize by smartphone app, where they are safe.

And a stocking full of video games from Santa.
Both my boys had them all - Nintendo, Playstation and Xbox, but they also played sports in high school - one played football and baseball, the other football and basketball. And they had bicycles but we live in the sticks so they had go carts and 4 wheelers growing up.

 

[toobfreak]

Although they may call it simpler times today, life was neither simple nor easy.

We knew the one things most elusive today:

• How to leave the house and go out for hours on your own doing stuff and planning ahead and being prepared without needing to be in 24/7 continuous contact with others calling them or getting calls. If you needed to call someone, you called them before you left or it could wait until you got back, and if someone wanted to get hold of you, it could actually wait until you got home and returned their call.
• When you went out and did stuff, you actually knew where you were going, what you were doing, and were prepared for what you needed to know when you got there. You didn't need GPS or internet access to research, look up or answer questions for you telling you what and how to do everything. You simply dealt with things as they occurred, on your own, made decisions and solved them.
• You didn't need a contract to fix home repairs and appliances, you did it all yourself. I just fixed my gas range in March taking it apart, finding, buying and putting a new gas igniter in the oven. Had to modify and repair a few parts. I have my own machine shop in my basement. Didn't need to even be taught how to use it, I bought lathes, milling machines, and taught myself how to use them. You didn't need push button emergency service in your car to come find you and bail you out. If you broke down, you dealt with and fixed the problem. I've traveled across the country by car staying in hotels with no phone and no one even knowing I was gone, where I was going or when I'd be back.
• How to pass time and entertain yourself when out with time to kill waiting for something without the need to check email or messages every 5 minutes or play games.

Some would call that competent, resourceful and self-reliant. To this day, I don't own a cellphone.

The worse thing is that years ago, companies had staff to take your calls and if you called a utility, etc., they answered the call immediately to within a couple minutes. Then someone realized: "Hey! We have these bozos actually carrying phones around with them everywhere they go! Even to the shitter and bed! Best of all, they are paying for it!" We are saving companies a TON of money. We have put a lot of people out of work. Now they expect YOU to be on call for THEM! Every time you call anywhere now, no matter who or when, they are all "experiencing higher than average call volumes." Bullshit.

Now they have a minimal inadequate phone staff and many times you call places, they tell you they have a 20 minute, 30 minute, or much longer wait. They often ask if you want them to call you back. Then you need to wait around the phone or carry it with you or not go out hoping they call you within hours! Sometimes they don't even call back the same day! I had Social Security recently tell me they had a 2 hour phone wait. The cellphone idiots have brought all this on themselves. I'm not a corporation---- no one should ordinarily need home, mobile, multiple phones to be reachable 24/7-- -- mankind survived for 4 million years without them. It's not a new world out there, just a stupider one.