[Fun] I'm So Old I Remember....

when mainfraimes were the only kind of computers there were, and there were less then five of them on the entire planet, and wishing they were something everyone could have one to play and experiment with.

when everyone worked for the railroad, the utility company, or a brick and mortar storefront. or i suppose resource extraction. and everything except retail and government was unionized.

and because of that, 80% of the population was middle class.

when the top 10% were taxed almost 50% most of them actually paid it, and nobody bitched about.

when there could be nice things in public places and nobody destroyed them.

when most people who didn't live in cities weren't rich and didn't need to be to do so.

when fast food wasn't a job description.

when the sherman anti-trust law made it illegal for anything to be too big to fail, except the one and only phone company.

america BEFORE mccarthyism.

 

I remember life before television was in everybody's home. Only our more affluent neighbor's had a set.

 

My sparkomatic FM radio converter. Most all of the cars back in the 60's only had AM radio, with the sparkomatic you could tune in FM stations. What a treat......Finally local radio after 6pm.

 

i remember being broke


like it was yesterday

 

like it was today

 

broke is a relative term, and all my relatives live a long way away or are dead.
really broke is when standing in a soup line for half a day is the only way to get something to eat.

speaking of converters, radios that plugged into a cassette player slot, and modulators, for your 8 bit computer to use your tv as a monitor, because that was all there was.

isoir when surplus stores actually sold surplus. and hardware stores didn't sell furnature or appliances, but did sell tools and lumber.

when brookstone sold watchmakers and jewler's tools, and not expensive wierd crap toys.

heathkit. and you had to know how to send and receive ditty bop to get your f.c.c. 3rd.

 

Arthur Godfeys talent scout program.
American Bandstand
When bikes were either Shwinn , JC Higgins. Then Raleigh came to the states in the 50s.
When tennis shoes were of only two types and most were black.
Huge acrinilin (sp) under skirt/dress wear. HUGE undergarments.
Womens hair do's in the 40s
Being able to run free, even at 6 years old with no worries.
Buying cinnamon sticks to suck on.
Big bands touring--Glenn Miller, ect.
All candy was a nickel
Levis (one kind only) were 3 bucks.
When blacks were still being lynched. (wait--that was the 60s.
"segregation now, segregation tomorra', segregation forevea'" George Wallace
When the native Americans occupied Alcatraz
The electric cool aid acid tests. (metal garbage cans filled with cool-aid and acid at the Dead shows, unbeknowst by many partakers. Surprise-surprise!!!
When cars had no seat belts.
When Patty Hearst robbed a bank with the SLA.
When 20-30 bucks would fill a pickup with groceries.
My late lady friends family paid 8 BUCKS A MONTH RENT! (late 40s) Landlord hooked up electic to the house and raised the rent------50cents!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You could buy a new VW bug for 1200 bucks.
Seeing a double feature, a cartoon, a short subject for-------12 cents if you were under 12. 25 cents over 12.
Motoring to the coast with a canvas water bag strung from the front bumper to keep it cool to use in case your car heated up.
And oh-so much more.

 

fake stereo using a delay line, because real stereo wasn't broadcast yet. when it was fm that played the 'dangerous' music am wouldn't.
and those alphanumeric character portraits from booths at the county fair with a studio tv camera, a pdp 8e and a centronix style printer.
county fairs. and all the new technology exhibits at them. the technologies that were new before personal computers or the internet.
store window displays that had model or toy trains running in them, that weren't actually train or hobby stores.
second hand stores before they started calling themselves antique stores, where you could just by old crap that still worked, instead of being charged an arm and a leg for 'collector's items'.
when the word 'recycle' hadn't been coined, because people didn't throw anything away until it really was no longer usable, and reused everything instead.
lots of things came in glass jars, and when what came in them was used up, you'd wash them out and put something else in them,
or take them out in the garage/shop and use them to keep small parts and tools in them. even screws and nails.

 

LSMFT=Lucky Strikes Mean Fine Tobacco. (of course to me and and my grammer school friends, it meant--LSMFT= Loose Straps Mean Floppy Tits.)

Growing up (?) when ALL cars on the road were 40s-30s models. The big change in appearances was in '49.

 

I remember seeing a color Brochure advertising the Giant Redwoods in California-----there was a model in a bikini LEANING against a redwood tree in a provocative pose!!! Think it was the early 50s.

When most everyone hung their clothes on clothelines.

(sung)--Everythings better with Blue Bonnet on it.

 

the first whole earth catalogue
the first issue of mother earth news
the california wastern (skunk train railrod from fort brag to willits) when the mill in ft brag was still running and the yellow doodle but skunk cars shaired the rails with logs and lumber pulled by baldwin diesels and before they started run steam again.
when elevators had gates instead of doors and didn't always line up perfectly with the floors and some of them weren't even automatic but had a throtle instead of buttons for the floors.
when there weren't as many keep out signs and people didn't tear up every nice thing in a public place.
passenger service on the nwp, at least from willits north.
the portion of the sacramento norther in marysville and yuba city still being under wire, even though, by the time i got to see it, it had become freight only.
the sacramento northern trestle, in addition the the sp one and the old and new highway ones accross the yolo bypass.
when there was always a fire train on the ready track at norden and the snowsheds were still mostly wooden, and extended most of the way from the gap to truckee.
lake tahoe before bonanza and incline village, when most of its shoreline was wilderness.
the nevada county narrow gauge railroad bridge accross the bear river, still standing before they built rollins dam, even though the rails had been gone for 20 years.
and you could still walk the entire right of way from colfax to grass valley.

 

Ah yes--Mother earth news.---I remember when the publisher announced a lifetime subscription for 100 dollars. Wish I'd done it, but then ----

 

im so old i remember when MTV played crappy music videos instead of crappy "un" reality shows

 

I loved the Whole Earth catalogs. Wonder if they are still availalable --somewhere. Seems as if now would be a good time for another issue.

 

Good idea. There was soooo much alternative stuff in there. It seems that it would be a natural to have a section like the WEC in here. And Mother Earth News too.
I remember a small hand held well drilling device and other sources for all kinds of off the grid living.