Karloff Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 to add to what I had already listed, the kids in my neighborhood, all of us would play baseball from 9 in the morning, till it was so dark you could barely see the ball coming at you. half way thru the summer, the ball would be 2/3 electrical tape anyway cuz the stitching was busted. and you'd usually start out with 1 good bat, but it would eventually crack. so we would nail it back together, and with the same electrical tape, tape over the nails. and you would learn just how to hold the bat, so it wouldnt sting the crap out of your hands when you hit the ball. you'd be a 11 yr old kid trying to hit against a 17 yr old pitching. by the time you got to little league, theyre pitchers didnt seem like that big of a deal. all I cared about was baseball. we would drag a garden hose out to the fence by the field where we'd play, for water... wouldn't matter if it was 100 degrees outside. we'd still be playing. kids are sissies nowadays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tman Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Retro... Yeah, I left out some of the "cold war" stuff like going out with Dad who was head of the local "Ground Observer Corps." I think it was a half big deal because we were only 90 miles or so from Omaha and SAC. Checking for Russian bombers, we were. Other stuff too. We mostly figured we were far enough from SAC the atom bombs wouldn't get to us, but the fallout could have been interesting due to prevailing winds coming mostly from the west. m We lived on and then next to Little Rock Air Force Base. I used to go to the flight lines and look at first the SAC then TAC then MAC planes. SAC was coolest by far especially the B-58. Once when I was at home there was an explosion of one of the Titan II missiles in one of the silo's of central Arkansas and the nuclear warhead came out of the silo and landed on some farmer's field. Luckily it didn't explode, I wouldn't be here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brundaddy Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 We were city kids. Running 12-ga shells through a steel flare gun, we discovered we could shred stop signs. So you could say I started shredding at a young age. Then we'd burglarize one of our usual spots to steal liquor. Juvenile delinquency at its finest. Milod, your reflection on the evolution of American societal problems may likely trace back to Bernays's "Propaganda," the how-to manual for social engineering psy ops. Bernays is the reason we think eggs and bacon are breakfast foods, for example (that ad campaign made up new words like "wholesome" and "hearty," IIRC). Ever pick up a copy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 kids are sissies nowadays. Hey. You could damage someones self esteem with that comment! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karloff Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Hey. You could damage someones self esteem with that comment! lol, thats a whole other thread ... here's your participatory trophy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Gibson Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Milod, I don't know when the changes happened either, I guess it's the "how to boil the frog" thing,, slowly things change, and like frog in the cool water, once it starts to boil... pfffft.. it's all over. There's just so many things that were common place back then that would never happen today. My dad had a tab at the local grocery store, he'd pay down his tab at some point during the month, and for the rest of the time, stuff that he bought there went on the tab. he worked at Raytheon and was paid once a month. this would never happen today, Cash, Debit or Credit, if you don't have that, there's the door. Seemed that even here, everyone in town, knew everyone else. I remember being out one night with my best friend, and getting pulled over by the local PD.. I was 18 and we could drink legally @18 back then, when I got stopped, it was obvious we'd been drinking a bit, empties on the floor, etc. although I admit I was not drunk, really didn't like the taste of beer back then.. but there was a bag o-weed on the front seat that I forgot to hide when we got stopped.. "Uh oh... trouble's comin" The cop took one look at my license, and knew my dad, so he rolls his eyes, and says "soooo... you're Ray Pelkey's kid huh?" My dad and I had the same first name... "yea, that's my dad.." My dad was Grand Knight at the local KofC counsel which had over 500 members back then (it seemed everyone knew my dad.. everyone.. no place to hide) and of course, almost all the cops were members, (Lucky me!) He hands my license back, takes the weed and the beer and he says "I strongly advise you to go home immediately". Would this happen today? not a chance... I agreed I would, and damn if I didn't want to ask him for the weed back!! LOL! Some good Gold it was!!! DOH! But, home we went, and lived to talk about it the next day... Dad never knew till much later when I was confessing things over a few beers one summers day sitting by the pool at my dad's house while my own two kids were in the pool. I had a lot of stories by then... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie brown Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 "When I was a Kid"...Sorry, there's no records, or memories, going back that far! CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8_4thesh0w Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 As a very young kid I remember having those shorts with pockets all over (basically cut-off cargo pants) and loading them with every creepy crawly thing I could catch. The next door neighbor lady warned my mom about checking the pockets before doing the wash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveinspain Posted February 26, 2015 Author Share Posted February 26, 2015 My brother and I also had a rocket launcher and a rocket with a capsule… Many a frog were launched into space... Survivors were let go... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karloff Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 My brother and I also had a rocket launcher and a rocket with a capsule… Many a frog were launched into space... Survivors were let go... lol, i still have a scar on my left hand from the engine of my Cox Corsair gas powered airplane that I bought with green stamps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 As for "propaganda," it's not at all that new. I do think that much of it dates to the printing press, though, in a cupla generations later as the press itself became ubiquitous. I know that Chomsky is a very talented propagandist in the later sense, and that claims of the New York Times' editors being "independent" is true only because they view "news" as meeting the agenda of their friends, their time and place, and that a very urban environment with a propensity toward more "governance," initially for reasons of population density and later out of habit and thence to their politics. There was a lot of "propaganda" involved in the separation of the U.S. from England, for example. Franklin had functionally a newspaper chain, even in those days of single-letter type that had to be set one letter at a time. "Common Sense" was widely distributed. When there then was a move for a new constitution to replace the "articles of confederation," the "Federalist Papers" were widely distributed and often read to those who weren't literate. I'd suggest that speed of dissemination of information (propaganda?) has increased significantly, but consider that the mere fact of changing clothing and weapons fashions will indicate that information was being disseminated widely before the press, before any idea of electronic media. The wire for stringed instruments in quality and differing sizes was a music revolution of its own. Clothing had a revolution after the U.S. "Civil War" of the 1860s thanks to the invention of the sewing machine and mass production. Photographs of wartime scenes then were available everywhere. I dunno. I think the big factors of change seen in the U.S. - I'm unsure about Europe and elsewhere - came at the separation from England, the 1860s civil war end and then at the end of WWII. In all three cases there was a huge change in manufacturing and movement of people and goods - and a significant economic changes that might easily be traced to the wars. So... I'm not sure that anything but speed has changed information dissemination much, especially after the invention of the printing press and its child the "newspaper" with advertising in it. But social change? Nobody's a prophet on this, but I think much of the "politics" we see today that have to do broadly with social changes, had to do with changes post WWII. Although women had the vote, in the depression it didn't appear to have made much difference then or, probably, now. Voting among so-called "minorities" is eyed through a certain lens involving skin color and ethnicity, but the "minorities" of different regional economics aren't viewed similarly; and that may or may not be a sort of "prejudice" involving the experience of folks involved whose own regional economics are naturally seen as "normal." For us? I think the big "social changes" affecting us have mostly been technology more than anything. The steel wires for instruments first, then the recording machines (I include radio and sound film in this) that disseminated all kinds of music for the ear, not just notes on paper, and finally electric amplification that allowed smaller "groups" to replace big band volume. Guitar became a major player in all genres because it could be heard, could do the job of everything from keyboard to violin solos. Social change... I've been privileged to see huge changes in the U.S. - whether I've particularly cared for them all or not. I've also seem splintering of culture. The "assumptions" of common culture have gone down the drain. Whether one likes the current "common core" educational curriculum in the U.S. or not, it would have the effect of getting us back to a relatively common foundation of knowledge. That's a good idea. Whether it's overly politicized and weighted to certain political perspectives is the issue, and is likely always to be. (As I recall, Marx was critical of the early math curriculums as being weighted toward aiding the function of capitalism, for example.) Splintering in music genres? I think no more than always, really, and "popular" music has had its variations among the more skilled and less skilled. We just have a lot more people involved with the opportunity for more splintering. Me? I still remember the 1950s as a marvelous time when streets were paved, the "National Defense Highway" system was begun, airplanes and personal cars replaced horses, trains and ocean liners, and yet kids in less populated areas at least could roam free with relative safety both physically and in their dreams, excluding the dangers of falls and the little old ladies of all ages and both sexes who wanted differing sorts of quiet around themselves. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorod Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Milod, I don't know when the changes happened either, I guess it's the "how to boil the frog" thing,, slowly things change, and like frog in the cool water, once it starts to boil... pfffft.. it's all over.(quoted from kidblast) This has been a good thread. I quess that "change" has to be a part of reflecting back to when we were kids. As a senior, I can say that I have never been fond of change, even in current times. For example, I don't like the way that underwear has transitioned from tags to tag-less briefs and t-shirts.(on the lighter side). More seriously, I don't like the way news media is being used to bend minds and manipulate and overload peoples "better sensibilities". It is a crazy world, these days...Upside-Down from what I learned as a kid. Control and Nannyism by Gov't beurocracy is most disturbing...to me, as well as loss of 'individual freedoms' to live my life as a law-abiding citizen, capable of making my own life decions for my family. The younger generation will never know the difference, from the freedoms we(older generation) had as kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Retro... I'll pass along what I said in 1971 to the big boss on the newspaper where I worked that got me kinda on an unofficial probation - regardless that I considered it then, and now, to be entirely non-political. We were complaining of the impact of the Gun Control Act of 1968 on the local economy, etc. I commented that it should be expected, and far more, because of the major population increases and increase of urbanization - both of which bring calls for more government control. A glance at the history of urban areas everywhere in the world from the old Gilgamesh epic to a check on New York City just on fire codes alone would tell one that. So regardless of my own feelings on such stuff, I'd say that largely those remain the elements bringing much of our current change in culture and politics. One can blame or credit the baby boom generation and the heavily "leftist politics" of the university environment (I encountered that big time at the first college I attended), but both functionally were outgrowths of the increase in population and urbanization. I saw that even as a kid who had the interesting experience of being raised basically "rural" and being thrust at 16 into a "urban-intellectual-liberal" environment in the same New England my great grandfather left in the 1850s because it was too crowded and government adding rules and regulations to control that growth. Yes, I think the U.K. will be a pattern toward which the U.S. likely is headed. Look at the electoral votes for President of the U.S. and it's obvious that urban U.S. controls that office regardless what politics may hold sway in the legislative houses. You're seeing that already. While subsets of politics tend to bring reactions, my strong belief is that eventually "conservative" will put one solidly into today's middle of the left wing, and "liberal" will be a more standard European socialist concept. Much change comes from other and somewhat peripheral political fights like immigration, etc., but the trend is in that direction, and has been since 1900. Note that I'm not saying that's good or bad. I'm glad I will be dead in 5-15 years, though. I love the technology, I love opportunities to learn we have today. I just don't care for the "follow the leader" stuff, whether in music, art or politics. I love my neighbors, but I prefer them spread out a little. Then again, even on my history and philosophy forum, I'm often considered something of a loose cannon when I point out logical fallacy in various arguments when those arguments favor a "group think" pattern regardless of logic or force of history. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxson50 Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Remember when the only jet powered air craft were military? I Do. Remember when everyone had a party line? I do. Remember when a family had a new baby meant the mother and child spent at least one week in the hospital, and nobody dared visit them until the bay was about three months old? I do. Remember when there were not any super markets? I do.Remember when all records were mono? I do. Remember when the good guys wore white hats and their bullets never killed anyone? I do. Remember when there was no such thing as disposable underwear? Not even for baby's ? I do. Remember when ambulances were built huge Cadillac or Buick station wagons? I do. Remember when gasoline cost .18 cents a gallon and gas stations gave you gifts for buying thier gas? I do. Remember when every gas station sold tires and did major repairs? I do. Remember when there wasn't any professional base ball teams west of Kansas City? I do. Remember when you could spend $10.00 and pay for diner for two and a movie? I do. Remember when savings accounts paid 8% interest ? I do . Remember when there was only 15 min.s of national news and 10 mins of regional news and we thought that was plenty?i I do. Remember when there was a curphew and you better be home by 10:00? I do. Remember when at 11:00 there was nothing on TV but a test screen? I do. Remember when we used short wave radio to listen to radio late at night? I do. Remember when you could buy a color TV but there wasn't any shows broadcast in color? I do. Remember when you could buy a cheese burger for .15 and there were hardly any fat people around? I do Remember when you went to the doctor and there was one lady at the front desk and one doctor in the back, and the lady at the counter was usally the nurse? I do. Remember when heroes were people like Doctor Linus Saulk who developed a way to prevent polio, THEN GAVE IT AWAY? I do. Remember when the board of education was a 3/4" plywood paddle behind the principles desk? I sure do! Remember when we got into a fight at school, then shook hands and went home? I do. Remember when the youngest person in the room was the remote control for the TV? I do. Remember when ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8_4thesh0w Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 We didn't have Ritalin... we had paddlin'! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tman Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 We didn't have Ritalin... we had paddlin'! Of which I was a frequent recipient, especially in school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Tman... I resemble that remark. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxson50 Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 If we had more paddling we would need any Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karloff Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 If we had more paddling we would need any Absolutely Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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