Mt Whitney Zone Forums The Chat Room Remembering when (for the over-50 crowd!)

I wish I was an Oscar Mayer Wiener . . .

The young grasshoppers blithely use CC: in their email client to include extra recipients. How many of them know exactly how that came about?

Carbon copies - we had to type so carefully back then.

Oscar Mayer Weiner Mobile Puts On Chains In Sierra

Not something you see every day. I'm sure it made the chain installers day!

Remember this great movie, starring Doug, RichardP and Shin?

"Easy Hiker"?

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.

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.

Bump

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?

Back When by Tim McGraw

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

FWIW, The US Environmental Protection Agency began operating on December 3, 1970.

This thread needs a bump.

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"

- Herman's Hermits - "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Walker"

- The Beatles - "I Get by with a Little Help from Depends"

- Marvin Gaye - "I Heard It Through the Grape Nuts"

- The Bee Gees - "How Can You Mend a Broken Hip"

- The Temptations - "Papa's Got a Kidney Stone"

- Nancy Sinatra - "These Boots Aren't Made for Bunions"

- Paul Simon - "Fifty Ways to Lose Your Liver"

- Roberta Flack - "The First Time Ever I Forgot Your Face"

- ABBA - "Denture Queen"

- Leo Sayer - "You Make Me Feel Like Napping"

- Commodores - "Once, Twice, Three Times to the Bathroom"

- Johnny Nash - "I Can't See Clearly Now"

No, this is not posted in the wrong thread...

I was wondering where the hell that was. Then I was the trees for the forest. Since you brought up Studebaker, I will bring up Studebaker Hoch.