E-mail recieved and thought I'd share it with you FOR EVERYONE BORN BEFORE 1986!!! According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 60's, 70's and early 80's probably shouldn't have survived, because our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paint which was promptly chewed and licked. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans. When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip-flops and fluorescent 'spokey dokey's' on our wheels. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or airbags - riding in the passenger seat was a treat. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle and it tasted the same. We ate chips, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy juice with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing. We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and no-one actually died from this. We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then went top speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into stinging nettles a few times, we learned to solve the problem. We would leave home in the morning and could play all day, as long as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us and no one minded.. We did not have Play stations or X-Boxes, no video games at all. No 99 channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones,no personal computers, no DVDs, no Internet chat rooms. We had friends - we went outside and found them. We played elastics and rounders, and sometimes that ball really hurt! We fell out of trees, got cut, and broke bones but there were no law suits. We had full on fist fights but no prosecution followed from other parents. We played chap-the-door-run-away and were actually afraid of the owners catching us. We walked to friends' homes. We also, believe it or not, WALKED to school; we didn't rely on mummy or daddy to drive us to school, which was just round the corner. We made up games with sticks and tennis balls. We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of...They actually sided with the law. Pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow as real kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good. For those of you who aren't old enough, thought you might like to read about us. This my friends, is surprisingly frightening......and it might put a smile on your face: The majority of students in universities today were born in 1986........They are called youth. They have never heard of We are the World, We are the children, and the Uptown Girl they know is by Westlife not Billy Joel. They have never heard of Rick Astley, Bananarama, Nena Cherry or Belinda Carlisle. For them, there has always been only one Germany and one Vietnam. AIDS has existed since they were born. CD's have existed since they were born. Michael Jackson has always been white. To them John Travolta has always been round in shape and they can't Imagine how this fat guy could be a god of dance. They believe that Charlie's Angels and Mission Impossible are films from the last few years. They can never imagine life before computers. They'll never have pretended to be the A Team, RedHand Gang or the Famous Five. They'll never have applied to be on Jim'll Fix It or Why Don't You. They can't believe a black and white television ever existed. And they will never understand how we could leave the house without a mobile phone. Now let's check if we're getting old... 1. You understand what was written above and you smile. 2. You need to sleep more, usually until the afternoon, after a night out. 3. Your friends are getting married/already married. 4. You are always surprised to see small children playing comfortably with computers. 5. When you see teenagers with mobile phones, you shake your head. 6. You remember watching Dirty Den in EastEnders the first time around. 7. You meet your friends from time to time, talking about the good Old days, repeating again all the funny things you have experienced together. 8. Having read this mail, you are thinking of forwarding it to some other friends because you think they will like it too... Yes, you're getting old!! Any thoughts, comments or eulogies welcome....... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! P.s any one know what Spokey Dokey was [ or is]??
Were spokey dokeys those little plastic things you stuck onto your spokes and the centrifugal force would send them to the rim until you slowed down enough, then they'd slide to the middle and click as you rolled? I am pleased to say that I don't sit around with friends and reminisce about the "good ol' days". I believe that the good old days don't end unless you let them. For me, these are the good old days. I can stay out all night and not need to sleep all day to make it up, and it surprises me more to see a small child with a book, a ball and bat, or a bike than with a computer. Unfortunately, the parents who are lawsuit-happy are from our generation(s). Where did they get that crap? Are they the super-boy golden-girl uber-achievers who can't accept that the world wasn't handed to them on a silver platter? Where did these schmucks come from?
Cost of putting an airbag in every new car in America: $50 billion. Lives saved per year: 400. Maybe we could have invested in a better healthcare system?
I suppose it is a bit like all the discussion about the banning of fireworks [ for the public] in certain parts of the world. Years ago when my ex-wife and I had children we moved deliberately to an area that was surrounded by a national park with the view that as the children grew they may take delight in exporing and having adventures in amongst the trees and mountain streams. Unfortunately it seems that video games and TV provided more passive adventure than the pro-active adventure that my ex and I remembered from our respective childhoods. They never once visited the park that was next door on their own....even though they lived next to it for nearly 20 years. I am not saying it is wrong or right, just observing how things change as generations come and go. It seems to me that the sense of adventure and exploration not to mention creative imaginings etc have diminished. The raft making , the temporary dam building across streams, the making of bike tracks and jumps, the exploration of forbidden shadows and black-berry bushes. The cardboard sleads used to slide down grassy slopes. These sorts of things seem to be just a memory now. The imaginary wars we used to have by throwing fireworks at each other, now stopped for fear of injury. The banning of open fires at many camp sites is another issue. I wonder sometimes whether the "injuries" we create by being so strong on regulation aren't more severe than that caused by the activities we have regulated so strenuously?
Thanks QQ, that made me laugh. Approaching 40, a lot of those things were very familiar. I never got to be on Jim'll Fix It, sadly, despite writing. I find it quite fantastic, and I have to keep reminding myself, lest I take this for granted, that I now have a lot of the technology I fantasized about as a kid. Computers (OK, mine doesn't talk, like the ones from TV shows did, but I could get the softrware if I wanted it) lasers (OK, mine doesn't blow stuff up, but that's probably for the best), and a 'Space 1999' type communicator, (well, my next mobile upgrade will see me with a 3G video conference capable handset.) etc, are here , right now. I wonder what technology today's youth wish they had, and whether they will see it in their lifetime?
Oh, teleportation, cyborg implants to make people healthier and more intelligent, free energy ... that sort of thing Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Failing that, free wireless Internet would be nice.
or a card clipped to the frame and clacked on the spokes i remember my first bike i must have hit every tree on the block it didn't have training wheels
I'm only 20 yet I recall alot of what's in that list. Guess it is only recently the world has gone to shit eh! I mean I used to walk to Primary school through one of the roughest places in the south of england, I'm still alive to tell the tale. Now, what's the worst that can happen to those suburbian kids nowadays? OMG thems terarists!! We're told to worry nowadays, fantastic. Oh, and I second the cyborg implants. That would be hella cool
Why is it that each generation that approaches middle-age feels compelled to talk about the "good old days" and denigrate the environment of the present "wayward youths." I'm sure our parents and (most definitely) our grandparents could have written a similary worded essay about the childhoods of today's 30-40 somethings. If only they would have had an Internet to distribute it.
Roman - So after ten years, that would be about $12,500,000 per life saved. This, of course, does not factor in all of the injuries (ranging from mild to severe) that airbags have prevented.
My friend, you are exactly describing my Ukrainian childhood. (I was born in 86). Then we came here and it's like whooa they got vcrs.
sleeper What about the injuries and fatalities airbags have caused? I wish they'd redo them so that they don't go off at such low speeds and don't come out with such kinetic force as they do, but still deploy quickly. A van being driven by a friend of mine got sandwiched at a moderate speed and the airbag went off (yay!) with enough force to rip the back of the driver's seat off completely (yowch!). He had to go into the hospital for his back due to the force with which he was slammed backwards. I admit that's better than having to go to the morgue for the same reason, but doesn't that sound like the force was a bit excessive? Does anyone know if they're trying to fix this?
I should've died before 5 actually. I did most of that, and as a consequence spent a lot of time at the hospital. Anyway, I also wouldn't believe in the "Good ole days" cos that's why, at least in my opinion, we're here: to fight to make each day better. In the words of Speed Levitch: "And so many think because then happened, now isn't." Sure, things are different now, but it also makes it interesting because we get to come up with new possibilities. Besides, you guys could easily move to a small town and still be able to enjoy some of those experiences. If we well wished to, we could learn to do without the technology and all the "oh so comfortable" things we've surrounded ourselves with. In a way we could say we are to blame for "learning" to take the road less traveled, but it's not like we can't do something about it. Ugh, old man mentality...ditch it! We're only as old as we let ourselves be. I refuse to feel old because I was born 5 years before 1986, and I can get along quite well with my cousin, who is 6 years younger than me just the same as my older cousin (he is 6 years older than me) got along with me.
I wonder why the author of the e-mail thought 1986 was so important? any one? Also I don't for a moment wish that things were as they were before 1986, I happen to enjoy living in the 90's [oops!! did I just say 90's....ha] May we need to think more about the changes we want and how to manage those changes better. For example the price of deregulation of working hours, the loss of penalty rates, the drive for greater wealth [ for whom I wonder] the loss of community time, [ the family picnic ] The increase in time awareness [ digital clocks, aging, tight work schedules to the second, download rates, hyper rate information transfers, push the time barrier in every direction etc etc] No time for jack shit!!!
IIRC that's the 'incept date' of the 'Internet'. Although I was using 'JANET' at that time, and could, via some hops and jumps, get onto other networks via a PAD, and I guess some of the networks I piggybacked off were 'Internet' links. I remember getting a full Internet connection, and having to change the routing on our VAX, and learning how to encapsulate Internet Email addresses differently. Conveniently, it's also 20 years ago, but I saw an email doing the rounds very similar to this last year, so I don't think it's the latter. Leaded petrol, Cold War, Yuppies? Don't miss that list. Music on Vinyl, and clunky cassettes, and in the UK, we got our 4th, yes 4th TV channel in 1982 I think? Although I liked album sleeves, esp gatefolds. When you'd spent hard earned cash on an album, you felt like you were getting something for the money. Lyric sheets, album art, photos of the band, it was all there, and visible. Not like the pokey little booklets that come with CDs. Yes, I like being able to speak to my friends via cellphone whenever I like, but don't like work being able to get hold of me at all hours. I think the rot set in with the invention of the lightbulb, personally, ...!
And.... and..... and...... track titles you could read with out a magnifying glass...or is it just me....?? ha When the word "digital" really had mote to do with a doctors method of rectal examinations. When "Get Smart " re-runs were all the rage and Super man was dressed in black and white. When Batman and Robin were not tainted with homophobia. [ also in black and white] When movies never had sequels, and sunbaking could be done with out a hat. When clubbing was fun with out the fear of HIV.
Okay, who here is old enough to remember "Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp"? My brothers used to laugh their asses at this show (we were just little kids). All I remember was a bunch of silly monkeys dressed like people on the TV, which was pretty hilarious to someone who was barely out of diapers! Do you ever see an old show from your childhood that you used to love and wonder "Man! What was mom putting in my Cheerios?"
Oh yeah. Well, for me it was Scots Porridge Oats, or Weetabix. But yes, I liked 'The Tomorrow People', and 'Mr Ben' most. Both pretty trippy stuff. Not to mention 'Dr Who' which wasn't strictly a kid's show.