View Full Version : Talk About Something YOU Lived Through That Nobody Today Could Relate To...
The whole Covid year was so life changing that life will probably never be like it was and in 20 years I don't think anyone will be able to relate to what things were really like in 2018.
1974 - Star Trek Communicators, actually walkie talkies with a almost three foot antennae that almost reached across the street if there was a completely unobstructed path. We thought we were high tech, one day I'd see 10 year old kids with iphones and I felt like we had two tin cans on a string in a tree house.
1979 - The Apple II plus. I was seriously next level and cutting edge. Dual floppy drives and an Epson dot matrix computer. I used to print out my homework and blow teachers minds when I handed it in. Now it seems like one of those casio calculator watches. By 1983 I was actually online with the damn thing although if you didn't have the modem information of a specific person there wasn't a lot of chatting going on. We sent to proto emails.
1983 - I bought a HK 91 and a HK 93 for $700. I remember feeling like a giant retard because earlier that year I bought an SP1 carbine for just under $200. I thought I got robbed hard, keep in mind I was still in high school and $700 was a lot of money. Speaking of high school, more than a few times I tossed my SP1, HK93 and about 500 rounds of 5.56 in the back of my Blazer and drove to school. It was in the school parking lot all day long because the range was just out of town and didn't make sense to drive back home, grab my guns and gear and drive back the way I just came. That would be an actual felony today, in 1983 it was just good time management. At least once I accidentally brought a 1911 into school because it got left in my backpack which doubled as a book bag. I was throwing books in my locker and went "oh shit...I can't have this in here", locked it in my locker and after class ran it out to my car.
I went to school with more hunting knives, switchblades and balisongs which didn't get left in the car than I can count. I actually had a teacher talk to me in the hall as I was throwing a bali into my locker, explained what happened and he told me to go put it in my car before I got in trouble. I made sure he wrote me a hall pass so I wouldn't get in trouble being late for my next class. Fast forward to 2019 and I went to check on my friend who was a resource officer at the high school and he actually asked me how I got in the building during hours. Very different world.
1994 - Clinton ban, if you lived through it, you understand. Glock mags were $100 and USGI mags were like $50. People actually paid money for themolds and pro mag BS. If you lived through it, it was like your great depression and in 2004 you bought 6 different AR rifles and at least 100 AR mags. You bought 100 HK G3 and FN FAL magazines because they were $1.99 each even if you didn't own a FAL or HK 91 yet. When P mags came on the market you bought another 100 of those. Unfortunately you didn't know to get 50,000 round of .308 when it was 10 cents a round for high grade NATO surplus.
Around this time PCs with 5 gig hard drives were several thousand dollars. Anyone who bought one wishes they spent that money on cheap surplus mags and part kits.
1998 - Not kidding, Like New condition HK G3 kits $199, any AK kit $75 to $100, G1 and Stg 58 FAL kits $100-150. Uzi kits $75. If only we'd known. At least we bought the crap out of surplus magazines.
1999, bought my first PC for just under a grand and joined the online revolution. AOL with a second phone line was like $100 a month for a 56k connection that dropped before you could post half of what I've already written.
2000 - Riding Todd Baileys ass all over the net because Special Weapons was just as good or better than factory HK guns. I remember when he got tossed from HKpro because he wrote a letter informing them he was in the process of buying HK (the factory in Germany) and intended to shut down all unauthorized HK websites.
ffhounddog
12-19-21, 02:30
Does taking a shit in the middle of a firefight in Mosul 2017 and laughing my ass off when I was still calling in supporting fires and returning fire with my M4 while squatting count? I’m just glad it was not runny.
Does taking a shit in the middle of a firefight in Mosul 2017 and laughing my ass off when I was still calling in supporting fires and returning fire with my M4 while squatting count? I’m just glad it was not runny.
I would think so in the grand scheme because anyone who hasn't done it, can't fully understand the experience. But I don't think it's very different from what guys did on Guadalcanal way back and I'm certain in 20 plus years, actual combat vets will be able to completely relate to your situation.
So yes and no. It's a bit like being in a knife fight, although not as severe as your experience. Things may change but trying to poke holes in the other guy with a sharp thingy while not getting poked by them is pretty much the same experience in 1628, 1847, 1944 or 2008. But nobody who hasn't done it for real has anything on anyone who has done it a few times.
Glad you were able to multi task. I generally need to concentrate when dropping a load. I can't be remembering grids and shit. Worst one I've read about was some 60 gunner who had to hold his position so while he was running belts he pulled down his pants, rolled on his side and offloaded a pile and then had to continue shooting with the stinkpile right next to him. That had to be rough. It's the little things that happen when you are trying not to get killed that make for the full experience.
You know somewhere, somebody had to do the full tilt firefight with a vicious migraine going on while trying to stay alive. In the Jungles fighting the Japanese, in the winter fighting the f'ing SS, in the desert fighting AQ or Isis or Talitubbies, that's got to be enough to make you want to stand up and say "F'ing Christ...Time OUT already...just give me a few minutes...maybe do this shit tomorrow instead."
FromMyColdDeadHand
12-19-21, 05:32
I was going to say dot matrix printers that printed at 80CPS,and using cassette tapes to store programs. You could read faster than the early dot matrix printers could print. Most kids don’t know what a cassette is. That I was geeky enough with my TI994A that I could tell what program was on the tape by how it sounded….
Not just not having cellular phones, but not having cordless phones, but not even that, you had to rent your corded phones from AT&T.
Smoking on planes- but only in the back….
Posting on Internet forums instead of on social media platforms.
Not gun related but hey we did it, had fun and didn't hurt anyone. 17 and no cares in the world.
Upstate NY, friend and I would ride around on Saturdays, drinking beer. Find road kill Opossum, take it to the furrier in which he gave us $3. Right next door was a Grand Union, we would hit the generic isle and buy a 6 pack of "BEER" (it had a white label that had "BEER") That and a bag of chips and we were off to find another. Sometimes hit pay dirt and found a Raccoon. With that-it was a knock on the back door of the bar and got a case of Lowenbrau.
And yes, SA, although you got a better deal, 425 for my HK91, sad I had to sell before going to bootcamp
Showing off your new shotgun or deer rifle in the high school parking lot. Even the principal or a teacher stopping by to admire it.
Absolutely nothing open on Sunday other than a few grocery stores. If you needed gas you better get it on Saturday.
Smoking area at high school- a few picnic tables under some trees where any student could go smoke.
Being 10 years old and riding my bike to the corners store to pick up a pack of cigarettes for my dad.
Gun racks in trucks, rifles in trucks at schools.
Being EXPECTED to bring your rifle to school, cause it's hunter safety week in gym class.
Skinny dipping with some girls at the rope swing on the bayou.
Watching Miller dance around, playing air guitar to SRV, in a minefield in Iraq. Calmly, cause you know the oblivious bastard is lucky enough to get away with it. Some days, God really does favor fools.
ETA:
Having an artillery shell skip off the sand in between everyone in your bivvy. Not exploding, just skipping through like a stone on a pond. After a couple minutes, and no other fire... everyone rolls over and goes back to sleep.
Having "Pong" as the only video game available!
Having "Pong" as the only video game available!
Not a "cartridge" or a program, but a console. And Pong is "ALL" it does.
Straight Shooter
12-19-21, 08:19
Having "Pong" as the only video game available!
Brother- if one wasnt "there" when that came out...its hard to describe the joy that now primitive little game brought to everyone.
Then, we got a game with the big SA revolver that shot a beam of light out at moving targets onscreen..and no shit, we thought it just could NOT get any better than THAT!
But, then...DUCK HUNT. And the world changed again.
BoringGuy45
12-19-21, 08:25
I remember being able to talk about guns at school, and while a few teachers would scold you with the usual 'violence is never the answer' crap, it didn't result in a SWAT team kicking down your doors.
I remember my friends calling each other "retard" "fag" "bitch" "fat" "ugly" etc. and I didn't have the entire community deciding we were unfit to live.
Landlines, no answering machines, no caller ID... Didn't make calls until after 9 pm when the rates went down.
Straight Shooter
12-19-21, 08:50
Just had this memory pop in my head: Shooting masses of pigeons on the town square.
Long before I was born, and for decades after, my hometown had a huge pigeon problem. They shat everywhere, ruined the Courthouse so bad the City spent thousands to repair and try to keep them out, theyd ruin your new washjob,and literally fly around all day in flocks of thousands, crapping on everything and everyone.
So, about '79-80..one Sunday a month from noon to six pm, we were allowed to walk around the square, or as I/we preffered, get on top of the buildings, and shoot pigeons untill we ran out of ammo, or had to shut down. IT...WAS..AWESOME.
We prepped for weeks ahead, buying ammo, plotting out what rooftop we were going to, and how early we needed to be on top to be first in the best spots. I cannot tell you the fun we had.
We shot MANY. It lasted for two summers, but then something happened..I heard some jackwad shot a transformer... and I personally witnessed a downed bird fly into a plate glass window at the old poolroom & crack it, before we stopped doing it. But the memories of a square full of dudes walking around with loaded shottys makes me smile.
Also- wont ever forget, old black men would go around with 5 gallon buckets, picking up them nasty ass pigeons, like it was manna falling from Heaven. I hollered down once and asked what he was gonna do with them.."We's gonna EAT em"! was the response..we fell out laughing.
Straight Shooter
12-19-21, 08:52
Landlines, no answering machines, no caller ID... Didn't make calls until after 9 pm when the rates went down.
For years...when I was old enough to use a phone, Id pick it up and hear others talking.
Most popular seat in the family car was the rear facing bench in a station wagon with no seat belts and the roll down window so you could be the tail gunner.
Getting to the airport 30 minutes before your flight and not feeling rushed.
NYC, Brooklyn in particular, in the 70s/80s.
Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll was not a metaphor or expression, it was like Thursday. That and a crime, a lot of crime. I was shot at twice.
Saw/experienced a few things I'm not sure if the statute of limitations is up on, so will not mention here.
Interesting times to have grown up in to say the least.
Good post to wind up the year. I'll just reply in reference to your experience, because I went through the same thing.
1974 - Star Trek Communicators, actually walkie talkies with a almost three foot antennae that almost reached across the street if there was a completely unobstructed path. We thought we were high tech, one day I'd see 10 year old kids with iphones and I felt like we had two tin cans on a string in a tree house.
Me: How about the first car cell phones or the bag phones? In the late 80s, at work, our supervisors had either permanent car mounted cell phones or bag phones. The bag phones were the size of .50 cal ammo cans and weighed almost as much as an AR 15 :)
1979 - The Apple II plus. I was seriously next level and cutting edge. Dual floppy drives and an Epson dot matrix computer.
Me: My first computer didn't come until the late 80s when I bought a used Tandy/Radio Shack PC from a friend. I think it was a 1000EX. Had to insert a floppy start disc to start it. :) Yeah, had the dot matrix printer too.
1983 - I bought a HK 91 and a HK 93 for $700. I remember feeling like a giant retard because earlier that year I bought an SP1 carbine for just under $200. I thought I got robbed hard, keep in mind I was still in high school and $700 was a lot of money.
Me: I never took guns to high school because I didn't have a car. But in the late 80s again, HK91 in my area were about $500 NEW, but that was way more than I could afford. I remember seeing an AR15A2 (used) with extra mags and the store was going to throw in some ammo for $500. I kept going back and forth to the store, wanted it real bad, when I finally decided to hell with it and going to buy it, it was sold. $500 at that time was more than a week's pay!
1994 - Clinton ban, if you lived through it, you understand. Glock mags were $100 and USGI mags were like $50. People actually paid money for themolds and pro mag BS. If you lived through it, it was like your great depression and in 2004 you bought 6 different AR rifles and at least 100 AR mags. You bought 100 HK G3 and FN FAL magazines because they were $1.99 each even if you didn't own a FAL or HK 91 yet. When P mags came on the market you bought another 100 of those. Unfortunately you didn't know to get 50,000 round of .308 when it was 10 cents a round for high grade NATO surplus.
Me: During the Klinton ban, I had an Olympic Arms XM177E2 clone (my first AR after I could afford one) that I traded a Ruger Mini 14 plus cash for. That gun was fragile. Every 500 rounds I would have to replace some parts in the lower that broke. The gun would also double feed every few magazines, maybe because I didn't have but a handful of old mags. Somebody wanted wanted a pre-ban bad enough to pay me $800 for it. So it was went away. I used that $800 to get a Rock River that run perfectly, the lower I still have today. When the ban went away I replaced the upper.
1999, bought my first PC for just under a grand and joined the online revolution. AOL with a second phone line was like $100 a month for a 56k connection that dropped before you could post half of what I've already written.
Me: When DSL internet became popular and affordable, I bought my first real PC, maybe it was a laptop. Was more reliable than whatever the other method was, and still used the regular phone line.
Still have a bunch of cassettes and LPs from my college days.
When we were kids, our parents let us ran loose in K-Mart. We would go to the electronics/tv section and played the Atari tennis/ping pong games there until our parents were done shopping. We were too poor to spend frivolously on video games. Our family didn't have cable tv until the early 80s. Our first "big screen" tv was a console 25" wood grain cabinet tv from Montgomery Ward !
You could buy guns (rifles, shotguns and handguns) and ammo in department stores and hardware stores!
The first VCR was almost $1000! and weighed a ton. You can't put anything on top of it because it was top loaded. When it gotten old, the tape compartment would sometimes jam or would actually ate the strand of tape.
Speaking of tapes, we had 8 track players at home and in our parents cars. My dad bought the 8 track players for the cars that we installed ourselves!
The Dumb Gun Collector
12-19-21, 09:52
LOL, that's a good one.
Does taking a shit in the middle of a firefight in Mosul 2017 and laughing my ass off when I was still calling in supporting fires and returning fire with my M4 while squatting count? I’m just glad it was not runny.
The Dumb Gun Collector
12-19-21, 09:59
I miss making prank calls. I guess you can do it now, but back in the 80's you could almost always get away with it. I remember a buddy calling a local high-rise hotel and asking how many floors they had. And when the guy asked why, he said "SO I KNOW HOW MUCH DYNAMITE TO BRING!" These days we probably would be in the nut house being prepared for trial as adults.
Unrelated, I remember going into a drug store and buying Potassium Chlorate, Magnesium, etc in huge jugs from the pharmacist. When buying he asked "whatcha going to blow up?" with a sparkle in his eye.
I remember when getting a porno mag was amazing. We treated our one or two 15 year old "Hustlers" as if they were Ancient Greek Manuscripts and we were Renaissance Scholars. The Internet ruined that fun for kids, probably much like the joy of flat WEARING OUT a tape from a favorite artist. Back then you would eventually listen to everything on the album These days kids just listen to hits because they don't have to give anything a chance to grow on them.
The whole Covid year was so life changing that life will probably never be like it was and in 20 years I don't think anyone will be able to relate to what things were really like in 2018.
1974 - Star Trek Communicators, actually walkie talkies with a almost three foot antennae that almost reached across the street if there was a completely unobstructed path. We thought we were high tech, one day I'd see 10 year old kids with iphones and I felt like we had two tin cans on a string in a tree house.
1979 - The Apple II plus. I was seriously next level and cutting edge. Dual floppy drives and an Epson dot matrix computer. I used to print out my homework and blow teachers minds when I handed it in. Now it seems like one of those casio calculator watches. By 1983 I was actually online with the damn thing although if you didn't have the modem information of a specific person there wasn't a lot of chatting going on. We sent to proto emails.
1983 - I bought a HK 91 and a HK 93 for $700. I remember feeling like a giant retard because earlier that year I bought an SP1 carbine for just under $200. I thought I got robbed hard, keep in mind I was still in high school and $700 was a lot of money. Speaking of high school, more than a few times I tossed my SP1, HK93 and about 500 rounds of 5.56 in the back of my Blazer and drove to school. It was in the school parking lot all day long because the range was just out of town and didn't make sense to drive back home, grab my guns and gear and drive back the way I just came. That would be an actual felony today, in 1983 it was just good time management. At least once I accidentally brought a 1911 into school because it got left in my backpack which doubled as a book bag. I was throwing books in my locker and went "oh shit...I can't have this in here", locked it in my locker and after class ran it out to my car.
I went to school with more hunting knives, switchblades and balisongs which didn't get left in the car than I can count. I actually had a teacher talk to me in the hall as I was throwing a bali into my locker, explained what happened and he told me to go put it in my car before I got in trouble. I made sure he wrote me a hall pass so I wouldn't get in trouble being late for my next class. Fast forward to 2019 and I went to check on my friend who was a resource officer at the high school and he actually asked me how I got in the building during hours. Very different world.
1994 - Clinton ban, if you lived through it, you understand. Glock mags were $100 and USGI mags were like $50. People actually paid money for themolds and pro mag BS. If you lived through it, it was like your great depression and in 2004 you bought 6 different AR rifles and at least 100 AR mags. You bought 100 HK G3 and FN FAL magazines because they were $1.99 each even if you didn't own a FAL or HK 91 yet. When P mags came on the market you bought another 100 of those. Unfortunately you didn't know to get 50,000 round of .308 when it was 10 cents a round for high grade NATO surplus.
Around this time PCs with 5 gig hard drives were several thousand dollars. Anyone who bought one wishes they spent that money on cheap surplus mags and part kits.
1998 - Not kidding, Like New condition HK G3 kits $199, any AK kit $75 to $100, G1 and Stg 58 FAL kits $100-150. Uzi kits $75. If only we'd known. At least we bought the crap out of surplus magazines.
1999, bought my first PC for just under a grand and joined the online revolution. AOL with a second phone line was like $100 a month for a 56k connection that dropped before you could post half of what I've already written.
2000 - Riding Todd Baileys ass all over the net because Special Weapons was just as good or better than factory HK guns. I remember when he got tossed from HKpro because he wrote a letter informing them he was in the process of buying HK (the factory in Germany) and intended to shut down all unauthorized HK websites.
the 'clicker'...aka tv remote. old school was left clicker for on and off and the right clicker up the channels
living through 80s with Soviet scare and all the talk of nuclear war
bb gun wars and walking to the park to do so with a cop stopping us and making sure we didn't aim for people's head and going to the 'dump' to shoot uzis ---NJ here
My folks didn't get a color TV until after I graduated from high school (in '86).
We had families that did not have indoor plumbing until the 1990s.
Electricity would commonly be out for a week or so (wood or coal stove for heat, oil lamps and no running water).
Our well went dry and we had to haul potable water from town and non-potable water from the creek for a few months.
Our "second bathroom" was an outhouse when the power was on and I had 3 brothers and sisters. That was fun in the winter. It was common for the kids to pop out to an outhouse when visiting another family.
My brother and I had a trapline we would run before school in the winter. Paid for school clothes some years.
All of this was normal when I grew up in the 70s, 80s (well, maybe not the B&W TV).
I have fond memories of talking to girls for hours on the corded phone, must have driven the folks nuts.
Worst time I remember was having to ride out with my Dad and brother at night in a COLD rain to round up cattle that got spooked by lightning and stampeded. A close second is my brother and I falling through the ice when it was bitterly cold. My mom had a hell of a time getting our frozen clothes thawed and off to warm us up after we walked the 1/4 mile or so home. We knew how serious it was because we didn't get in trouble.
Andy
P.S. There is a reason I live in the South now.
My folks didn't get a color TV until after I graduated from high school (in '86).
We had families that did not have indoor plumbing until the 1990s.
Electricity would commonly be out for a week or so (wood or coal stove for heat, oil lamps and no running water).
Our well went dry and we had to haul potable water from town and non-potable water from the creek for a few months.
Our "second bathroom" was an outhouse when the power was on and I had 3 brothers and sisters. That was fun in the winter. It was common for the kids to pop out to an outhouse when visiting another family.
My brother and I had a trapline we would run before school in the winter. Paid for school clothes some years.
All of this was normal when I grew up in the 70s, 80s (well, maybe not the B&W TV).
I have fond memories of talking to girls for hours on the corded phone, must have driven the folks nuts.
Worst time I remember was having to ride out with my Dad and brother at night in a COLD rain to round up cattle that got spooked by lightning and stampeded. A close second is my brother and I falling through the ice when it was bitterly cold. My mom had a hell of a time getting our frozen clothes thawed and off to warm us up after we walked the 1/4 mile or so home. We knew how serious it was because we didn't get in trouble.
Andy
P.S. There is a reason I live in the South now.
My dad grew up in northern Wisconsin. As soon as he could he joined the Marines to escape. He thrived in boot.... he got to sleep in, and they had indoor plumbing! Even after he retired from the Corps he said he never endured anything as difficult as his life growing up. And when he retired he said he'd never move back north.
1967 five years old getting dropped off at the airport to go and visit my Grandparents, Aunts and uncles in California. Parents handed me over to a Stewardess on the flight who at the end of the flight handed me over to my grandfather at the gate. before the flight took off at the start I got to sit in the "jump" seat and watch the pilot co-pilot run the check list with the pilot giving a simplified explanation of what did what and before they started engines I got my "wings" pinned on by the pilot and sent back to my seat. flew one more time before parents decided I was old enough to ride the dog with my brother and sister, remember one gent who was very tolerant of me enough so he didn't get mad when I fell asleep against him. remember no air conditioning except for the windows opening and people smoking on both the bus and airplane with out anyone flipping out
I spent time in Arkansas and SoCal growing up and there are a few things that stand out.
AR thru third grade, treeing coons and catching them in burlap sacks, swimming in ponds with snakes and even an occasional gator. Spotlighting from the back of older cousins trucks for armadillos, apparantly the holes were bad for cattle and horses.
LA in 4th grade, taking my rifle to school for show and tell. My teacher was a WWII vet and put it behind his desk till school got out.
Learning to ski behind a pick up with a 2X4 tied to a rope at the LA aquaduct.
Being the remote for Dad.
Using pay phones and always having that dime.
Getting on the bus for a 90 minute ride to the beach with friends at 11 years old. A dollar bought lunch and aquarter got you back home.
I miss making prank calls. I guess you can do it now, but back in the 80's you could almost always get away with it. I remember a buddy calling a local high-rise hotel and asking how many floors they had.
.
Let me see, about the time you were in high school, Warner Robins's "high rise hotel" had two stories? LOL If you're talking about Macon, maybe 15 stories max? :dance3:
Speaking of payphones, in college, my dad got me a "phone card", basically a collect call automatically charged to my parents home phone that I could use to call home (long distance you know). I could use it at payphones or any regular phone, but you had to talk to an operator.
Oooh, and when I was old enough, had a job and needed to fly, I would open a Delta Airlines schedule book (yes, a paper book) and look up the flights then call them on the phone to buy the ticket. Or I could just walk into the local Delta office and book a flight in person.
My folks didn't get a color TV until after I graduated from high school (in '86).
.
My parents did splurge and get a color tv in the mid 70s, a 19" from Sears. That sucker would lose color and everything turned green after about a year or so. I remember my dad took it back to Sears and they would give him a new one. That second one lasted about a year and they gave him another one. The third one lasted a couple of years and it turned green also. By that time the warranty ran out. Dad took it to a local repair shop and they fixed it. The color lasted another year or so then it turned green again. LOL. By the way, the whole time we had a second tv, 12" black and white ! None of our TV had remotes. I think it was into the early 90s before we had a remote TV.
Inkslinger
12-19-21, 12:00
Ripping women’s underwear adds out of catalogs and magazines to stash for quality time.
I miss making prank calls. I guess you can do it now, but back in the 80's you could almost always get away with it. I remember a buddy calling a local high-rise hotel and asking how many floors they had. And when the guy asked why, he said "SO I KNOW HOW MUCH DYNAMITE TO BRING!" These days we probably would be in the nut house being prepared for trial as adults.
Unrelated, I remember going into a drug store and buying Potassium Chlorate, Magnesium, etc in huge jugs from the pharmacist. When buying he asked "whatcha going to blow up?" with a sparkle in his eye.
I remember when getting a porno mag was amazing. We treated our one or two 15 year old "Hustlers" as if they were Ancient Greek Manuscripts and we were Renaissance Scholars. The Internet ruined that fun for kids, probably much like the joy of flat WEARING OUT a tape from a favorite artist. Back then you would eventually listen to everything on the album These days kids just listen to hits because they don't have to give anything a chance to grow on them.
Yeah me and a friend called a funeral home one day and asked "Who's playing tonight?" Guy actually chuckled and said "That's a good one!"
Smoking seats on an airplane.
Then also back when YOU were the remote control for the TV!
Grew up in Ohio and we lived about 90 minutes or so SE of Cleveland, in the Warren-Youngstown area. There was only the Big Three TV channels then (and PBS I think), and then some "independent" stations here and there. There was an independent Channel 61 out of Cleveland, but it wasn't very powerful and BARELY came in where we lived, even on a good day. I can remember turning the antenna to the NW with the little dial controller, and listening to it click slowly to where I had aimed it. Then I'd sit all the way across the room and squint so I could watch a BARELY watchable "Combat!" episode. LOL (this was obviously way before cable, talking the early 70's).
HK 91 I got was like $550 :) also used to buy berdan primed 308 odd case size forgot something like 870 rounds ? For something like $79 though :) HK dented the neck anyway so all good :)
Buying a brick of 22 for under $5
Being able to bring guns to school :) and leave them in your car with no worries to go shooting after !
Being able to shoot in gravel pits and dumps as much as you wanted ! Nothing like appliances that were fresh or the abandon cars to shoot up :)
Actually being able to speak your mind and say whatever you wanted nobody whined reported complained or was offended !
Traveling on airplanes and having actual china and glass and food service and food was awesome (dad was pilot always flew first) and not having to be strip searched or have long lines or take shoes off !
Road rage was so insane rare and folks actually let you in and used turn signals :)
Landlines, no answering machines, no caller ID... Didn't make calls until after 9 pm when the rates went down.
Local phone numbers consisted of just 5 digits, not to forget the rotary dialer.
Working on a ranch in Wy about 1990 and we had the antenna up on a piece of oilfield pipe. We could get two channels if the weather was right. NBC Denver or NBC Rapid City. To change the channel we took a pipe wrench and twisted the pipe to point to the other station. Good thing we didn't have much time for TV watching!
1_click_off
12-19-21, 15:57
Mail order catalogs.
Either call in and speak to a person or fill out the order form and give them the catalog number, page number, item number, item description, color you wanted and then thinking it was smoking fast service if the item showed up after 2 weeks but before waiting 3.
Diamondback
12-19-21, 15:58
Local phone numbers consisted of just 5 digits, not to forget the rotary dialer.
I don't remember this firsthand other than seeing past signs of it, but there are still signs around the town my grandparents retired to that reflect it... once upon a time, telephone exchanges were designated by NAME, with the first two letters matching the code for that number... for example, what we today would direct-dial as 253-580-1234, back then you'd have asked the AT&T operator to connect you to JUNIPER (JU = 58) exchange in Washington, then the operator at Juniper to patch you through to 0-1234.
I remember when this country was not populated by psychotics.
Diamondback
12-19-21, 16:11
I remember when this country was not populated by psychotics.
Clinically, more Narcissistic Sociopaths. https://thepoliticalinsider.com/6-reasons-why-liberalism-can-be-considered-a-mental-disorder/
The late Dr. Lyle Rossiter's book The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness has some relevance...
"Rather, the adult drive toward omnipotent control of others, in any arena whatever, is rooted in fears of separation, abandonment loss or abuse--the residual effects of early attachment gone wrong. The need to dominate others arises from the tyrant's need for absolute assurance that the catastrophic loss of dependency or the pain of abuse so devastating to him in his earliest years will not be repeated. In his determination to control the world, he constantly defends himself against what Karen Horney aptly described as the most basic of human fears: being alone and helpless in a dangerous, indifferent world, the nightmare of the abandoned, terrified child. Persons plagued with such fears easily conclude that it is in their greatest interest to dominate others, or to imagine that they can, and to set about achieving that goal through the manipulation of government power." - Rossiter on the psychopathology of the Leftist mind
http://www.libertymind.com/book-excerpts_257.html
Tale of contents, Part III being the section of relevance: http://www.libertymind.com/book-contents_258.html
Not a "cartridge" or a program, but a console. And Pong is "ALL" it does.
Yep, I remember standing in Golden Triangle (sorta like a Kmart) playing Pong for hours.
We used an outhouse, I think I was around 8 or so before the old house was upgraded. It was cold! I remember my grandfather never had a working bathroom in his house.
The first VCR was almost $1000! and weighed a ton. You can't put anything on top of it because it was top loaded.
My god I had forgotten about those top loaded tank VCRs. We got one around 79/80 along with cable tv with THREE movie channels...HBO, Showtime and The Movie Channel. Remember being a kid when you first got cable and watching tv till 3am every night for the first week?
My god I had forgotten about those top loaded tank VCRs. We got one around 79/80 along with cable tv with THREE movie channels...HBO, Showtime and The Movie Channel. Remember being a kid when you first got cable and watching tv till 3am every night for the first week?
The China Syndrome. First movie I watched on HBO. I had no clue what it was about, but by golly I watched it.
Here's another one, I'm in middle school and my dad and his shooting buddies (SOTs and mil guys) hit the range with their squirt guns (M-16s, M10s and a few other misc. FA's), come home to drop me and the guns off and THEY go to a bar while I have to clean all the guns on the patio.
I was in 6th grade and I knew how to break down and clean a M-16. I was dumb enough to think it was great fun for almost two years. M10s used to piss me off, I could never remember how to rotate the cocking handle to remove it from the bolt. Always took me about six tries.
The first VCR was almost $1000! and weighed a ton. You can't put anything on top of it because it was top loaded. When it gotten old, the tape compartment would sometimes jam or would actually ate the strand of tape.
My uncle bought a VCR in maybe 1982 and it was like $700. Not sure how much that is now but it isn't a small amount.
john armond
12-19-21, 19:03
My god I had forgotten about those top loaded tank VCRs. We got one around 79/80 along with cable tv with THREE movie channels...HBO, Showtime and The Movie Channel. Remember being a kid when you first got cable and watching tv till 3am every night for the first week?
Not only top load, but the ones that were two separate pieces, the half the tape went in, and the other half that had the bulk of the electronics. One half went in a shoulder bag so you could attach your camera to so you could record events…and the camera was attached to the part in the shoulder bag by wires.
ETA: just looked them up JVC portable VCR
My uncle bought a VCR in maybe 1982 and it was like $700. Not sure how much that is now but it isn't a small amount.
Like I wrote in an earlier post, my first full time job's pay was a little over $400 after tax, that was in 86. So $700 or somewhere near that amount in your year of 82 was a lot of money.
Inkslinger
12-19-21, 19:09
Remember remotes that used a wire to connect to the TV?
john armond
12-19-21, 19:13
Remember remotes that used a wire to connect to the TV?
Remotes that actually “clicked” when you pushed the button. I still call them clickers to this day.
Inkslinger
12-19-21, 19:18
Remotes that actually “clicked” when you pushed the button. I still call them clickers to this day.
The knob broke off the Zenith when I was a kid. We had a small pair of vise grips clamped on the shaft to turn the channel.
My god I had forgotten about those top loaded tank VCRs. We got one around 79/80 along with cable tv with THREE movie channels...HBO, Showtime and The Movie Channel. Remember being a kid when you first got cable and watching tv till 3am every night for the first week?
ha true!!!!!!
not only that but they were like 500-1k for one!
Riding in the back of pickup trucks. Dad had a shell on the back of his old 1968 Ford F-150 and put a piece of plywood on the rails of the camper shell as a bed. Us kids would sit on that plywood and look through the back window to watch where we were going. It didn't occur to me until I was a father myself just how precarious that perch was. We were above the bed of the truck and the shell was bolted to the top of the bed rails with six bolts used for bolting wood fences. I remember that two or three of those bolts loosened up and fell out before Dad fixed them and I didn't think anything of it. If that shell had come off, we would have been going with it. Dad and Mom regularly drove at 80-90 mph (although the national speed limit was 55) so it would have been a spectacular mess.
CB radio and all the shenanigans that went with it. Dad got his license in the late sixties and talked all the adults in the family to get theirs. Tee hunting, CB Breaks, R.E.A.C.T., illegal handles (Dad was Jackrabbit. Mom was SuperChicken. Once my littlest brother got lost at the mall and when security asked his parent's name, you can guess what his answer was.) I remember when rumors would fly about "Uncle Charlie" being in town and all the CBers would get all formal and start using their call signs instead of their handles to avoid getting a ticket. Heh. Never heard of anyone ever getting popped by the FCC. Not for using handles, shooting skip or running liners with several thousand watt outputs. (In those days, the "official" power maximum was 4 watts mitt, 5 watts receive and no station could transmit further than 150 miles.
Station wagons, much cooler than any minivan, especially if you were blessed with a Jeep Wagoneer.
Cruise nights, especially along Van Nuys Blvd.
Canyon running. Slamming your car or motorcycle at death defying speeds through any of the local canyon roads late at night into the wee hours of the morning. Topanga, Mulholland, Decker, Black Canyon, Brown's Canyon, Angeles Crest- just to name a few. I hate to think what would happen if we tried that today. One guy had a Vega wagon with a small block Chevy in it that could really hustle!
Getting kicked out of the house to play when HEE-HAW came on. Everyone in the clan from grandparents down to the smallest cousin would come over to have Friday night dinner, watch HEE-HAW and drink beer. Us kids would deliberately get rambunctious so they'd throw us out to watch their favorite show in peace. It wasn't unusual to not get called back inside until well after midnight.
In grade school, everyone had bicycles. No two were alike and were a direct symbol of our status in the neighborhood. At the bottom were junkyard bikes, cobbled together from what was left of hand-me-downs from older siblings and the worst of the worst were boys stuck riding their sister's step throughs in lavender, pink or some other pastel. The next step up were bikes from department stores, like Monkey Wards or Sears. Better than the junkyard bikes, but not good enough to be cool. At the apex was Schwinn ad the Schwinn of Schwinns was the Sting-Ray which set the style all us kids aspired to, with it's ape hanger bars, banana seat, tall sissy bar and frame mounted shifter.
The only kid with a bike cooler than a Schwinn Sting-Ray was Mike. He was the shortest kid in our grade. His father built custom choppers in his garage and built a custom bicycle for Mike. It had extended forks, a low seat that curved into a back rest and a custom sissy bar. It was primered because it was a work in progress. Nobody and I mean nobody had a cooler bike. Mike was the only kid in the neighborhood that never got picked on. Not by the neighborhood bullies. Not by any of the older kids. When he moved into our neighborhood, he was the only kid to wear a white tee shirt & blue jeans to school and none of the teachers bothered him about it. It wasn't long before the rest of us traded in our button downs for tee shirts.
In those days, the police would come with a special patrol car equipped with a chalk shooter on it's rear bumper and teach us about speed and reaction time. We'd all gather outside and an officer would drive the special car until it reached the designated where a blank would fire a piece of chalk at the pavement and fire again when the officer stepped on the brakes when he heard the bang. Then they'd come out and measure the distances. It was sobering how far a car would go before the driver could hit the brakes and bring it to a stop. They'd also pass out comics, coloring books, toy badges and encourage us to pay $2 to register our bikes in case they were ever stolen. Then we'd go back in our classrooms and practice earthquake drills- diving under our desks and such. I tell you what- when an earthquake did hit, I never did no diving under nothing. I just stayed where I was and just rode it out! When the ground is rippling underneath me, I ain't going nowhere!
Local phone numbers consisted of just 5 digits, not to forget the rotary dialer.
The 5 digit local dial worked here until the early to mid 1990's.
In those days, the police would come with a special patrol car equipped with a chalk shooter on it's rear bumper and teach us about speed and reaction time. We'd all gather outside and an officer would drive the special car until it reached the designated where a blank would fire a piece of chalk at the pavement and fire again when the officer stepped on the brakes when he heard the bang. Then they'd come out and measure the distances. It was sobering how far a car would go before the driver could hit the brakes and bring it to a stop. They'd also pass out comics, coloring books, toy badges and encourage us to pay $2 to register our bikes in case they were ever stolen. Then we'd go back in our classrooms and practice earthquake drills- diving under our desks and such. I tell you what- when an earthquake did hit, I never did no diving under nothing. I just stayed where I was and just rode it out! When the ground is rippling underneath me, I ain't going nowhere!
Community policing, I remember those days.
When I was in the 8th grade one of my buddies got ticketed for riding a dirt bike in the neighborhood. While he was getting written up in front of my house, one of my other buddies and I were in the garage doing martial arts (insert Step Brother joke here) and our bo / tonfa contact drills were apparently impressive enough that in the next two hours three different police cars parked in front of the house to come watch what we were doing and ask questions, etc.
That was when the cops could just drive by, stop in front of your house and walk up the drive way and go "hey that's pretty cool...where did you guys learn that?" and nobody freaked out. A couple of them were obviously martial artists themselves and came to see if we were legit, who our teachers were, etc.
Riding in the back of pickup trucks. Dad had a shell on the back of his old 1968 Ford F-150 and put a piece of plywood on the rails of the camper shell as a bed. Us kids would sit on that plywood and look through the back window to watch where we were going. It didn't occur to me until I was a father myself just how precarious that perch was. We were above the bed of the truck and the shell was bolted to the top of the bed rails with six bolts used for bolting wood fences. I remember that two or three of those bolts loosened up and fell out before Dad fixed them and I didn't think anything of it. If that shell had come off, we would have been going with it. Dad and Mom regularly drove at 80-90 mph (although the national speed limit was 55) so it would have been a spectacular mess.
CB radio and all the shenanigans that went with it. Dad got his license in the late sixties and talked all the adults in the family to get theirs. Tee hunting, CB Breaks, R.E.A.C.T., illegal handles (Dad was Jackrabbit. Mom was SuperChicken. Once my littlest brother got lost at the mall and when security asked his parent's name, you can guess what his answer was.) I remember when rumors would fly about "Uncle Charlie" being in town and all the CBers would get all formal and start using their call signs instead of their handles to avoid getting a ticket. Heh. Never heard of anyone ever getting popped by the FCC. Not for using handles, shooting skip or running liners with several thousand watt outputs. (In those days, the "official" power maximum was 4 watts mitt, 5 watts receive and no station could transmit further than 150 miles.
Station wagons, much cooler than any minivan, especially if you were blessed with a Jeep Wagoneer.
Cruise nights, especially along Van Nuys Blvd.
Canyon running. Slamming your car or motorcycle at death defying speeds through any of the local canyon roads late at night into the wee hours of the morning. Topanga, Mulholland, Decker, Black Canyon, Brown's Canyon, Angeles Crest- just to name a few. I hate to think what would happen if we tried that today. One guy had a Vega wagon with a small block Chevy in it that could really hustle!
Getting kicked out of the house to play when HEE-HAW came on. Everyone in the clan from grandparents down to the smallest cousin would come over to have Friday night dinner, watch HEE-HAW and drink beer. Us kids would deliberately get rambunctious so they'd throw us out to watch their favorite show in peace. It wasn't unusual to not get called back inside until well after midnight.
In grade school, everyone had bicycles. No two were alike and were a direct symbol of our status in the neighborhood. At the bottom were junkyard bikes, cobbled together from what was left of hand-me-downs from older siblings and the worst of the worst were boys stuck riding their sister's step throughs in lavender, pink or some other pastel. The next step up were bikes from department stores, like Monkey Wards or Sears. Better than the junkyard bikes, but not good enough to be cool. At the apex was Schwinn ad the Schwinn of Schwinns was the Sting-Ray which set the style all us kids aspired to, with it's ape hanger bars, banana seat, tall sissy bar and frame mounted shifter.
The only kid with a bike cooler than a Schwinn Sting-Ray was Mike. He was the shortest kid in our grade. His father built custom choppers in his garage and built a custom bicycle for Mike. It had extended forks, a low seat that curved into a back rest and a custom sissy bar. It was primered because it was a work in progress. Nobody and I mean nobody had a cooler bike. Mike was the only kid in the neighborhood that never got picked on. Not by the neighborhood bullies. Not by any of the older kids. When he moved into our neighborhood, he was the only kid to wear a white tee shirt & blue jeans to school and none of the teachers bothered him about it. It wasn't long before the rest of us traded in our button downs for tee shirts.
In those days, the police would come with a special patrol car equipped with a chalk shooter on it's rear bumper and teach us about speed and reaction time. We'd all gather outside and an officer would drive the special car until it reached the designated where a blank would fire a piece of chalk at the pavement and fire again when the officer stepped on the brakes when he heard the bang. Then they'd come out and measure the distances. It was sobering how far a car would go before the driver could hit the brakes and bring it to a stop. They'd also pass out comics, coloring books, toy badges and encourage us to pay $2 to register our bikes in case they were ever stolen. Then we'd go back in our classrooms and practice earthquake drills- diving under our desks and such. I tell you what- when an earthquake did hit, I never did no diving under nothing. I just stayed where I was and just rode it out! When the ground is rippling underneath me, I ain't going nowhere!
Skating the parking lot at North Hollywood high (had these amazing banked sides), and riding our bikes thru the storm drain tunnels and channels when one friend figured out the way they crossed each other.
Later, living in small, isolated beach towns (Playa del Rey, Cayucos) meant you could stay out til something like “whenever” as long as you staying inside the town borders.
And cable boxes connect by a long cord, and you chose the different cable channel lineup with push buttons and a 2-position lever.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Living at the mall.
Our city had two malls, and a man and his wife owned a snack shop at each of the malls...hot dogs, popcorn, candy apples, etc. My mom and older sister worked at them. On days off of school, the summer, I'd go and hang out, had the run of the mall. The store managers and owners knew me, my mom would give me $10 of quarters in a plastic bag for the arcade, I could go to movies for free. I loved that time.
FromMyColdDeadHand
12-20-21, 10:09
Ancients lost art of TV antenna manipulation and aluminum foil origami auxiliary antennas to improve all three channels TV reception.
Started a paper route in my seventh grade where I had to walk half a mile to the start of it and then a mile home from the end of it. Had to be back home by 6:30 to get ready for school. I really don’t remember what time I’d get up to do the route, but I do know that I never had my parents wake me up for it. Never missed a route. If I had to take my morning constitutional, there was the creek bed that was private, and I found a hustler there one morning. Like manna from heaven. Dried it out, and those wrinkled pages got me through high school.
Averageman
12-20-21, 11:04
Ancients lost art of TV antenna manipulation and aluminum foil origami auxiliary antennas to improve all three channels TV reception.
Started a paper route in my seventh grade where I had to walk half a mile to the start of it and then a mile home from the end of it. Had to be back home by 6:30 to get ready for school. I really don’t remember what time I’d get up to do the route, but I do know that I never had my parents wake me up for it. Never missed a route. If I had to take my morning constitutional, there was the creek bed that was private, and I found a hustler there one morning. Like manna from heaven. Dried it out, and those wrinkled pages got me through high school.
I used to be the guy to "Fill" in on paper routes, need to go to summer camp? I gotcha, Christmas at Memaws? I can do it. I made a fortune because I could name my own price and my own hours.
I think one time I was doing three routes, but I did well. Except your paper might get there at 9:00 am.
Christmas was a money maker every year.
One really relateable thing is those old Black Rubber Boots. If you actually wore shoes inside of these damned things you were crazy. The SOP was two pairs of sox and two bread bags. Carry your shoes and these things are great.
Otherwise, you were screwed. You can't get the boot on and buckled and then you can't get the boot off without losing the shoe inside it. It had all of the safety features of tires that were made in that era. I believe there were some with studs.
But if you went to grade school in the 60's these sucked.
FromMyColdDeadHand
12-20-21, 12:34
“Moon boots” and Wonder bread bags. Kids would look at you weird if you pulled out bread bags to keep their feet dry. Plus, there was no shame when you got to school, unless you had wheat bread bags, f’ing hippies…
triggerjerk
12-20-21, 13:45
Lots of stuff, but I guess the most gun forum appropriate:
Walking the neighborhood with my buds armed with pellet rifles shooting starlings, greckles, and chipmunks in the neighbor's yards. Only got yelled at once for shooting a squirrel in a woman's yard. I was confused because the lady living next door to her would feed me milk and home baked cookies as I shot out her back door to kill squirrels off of her bird feeder....
Inkslinger
12-20-21, 13:51
I used to be the guy to "Fill" in on paper routes, need to go to summer camp? I gotcha, Christmas at Memaws? I can do it. I made a fortune because I could name my own price and my own hours.
I think one time I was doing three routes, but I did well. Except your paper might get there at 9:00 am.
Christmas was a money maker every year.
One really relateable thing is those old Black Rubber Boots. If you actually wore shoes inside of these damned things you were crazy. The SOP was two pairs of sox and two bread bags. Carry your shoes and these things are great.
Otherwise, you were screwed. You can't get the boot on and buckled and then you can't get the boot off without losing the shoe inside it. It had all of the safety features of tires that were made in that era. I believe there were some with studs.
But if you went to grade school in the 60's these sucked.
One trick I learned from concrete works who wear the yellow version of these. Put a plastic convenience store bag over your work boots before put on the rubber boots. The rubbers come off much easier then.
triggerjerk
12-20-21, 14:25
And my 1st legitimate squirrel hunt was with one of dad's friends. As he was showing me how to clean a squirrel after the hunt, he made it clear that I had to leave the eyes in the skull because there were superstitious people who wouldn't cook or eat the brains if the eyes weren't in the skulls. Later, mom didn't cook the brains/skulls, and needless to say that, in the ensuing decades, the heads went out with the guts...
Cigarette vending machines everywhere, including hospitals.
Evil Black Rifle
12-20-21, 18:05
I had a Scwhinn Stingray. I helped my brother deliver papers miles from our house at 5AM, and most people left their front doors open. Mom had no idea where we were from breakfast until supper. My Dad had a Dodge Charger 500 with a 383 and my Mom had a Ford station wagon with a 390. Both had bias ply tires. My brother said the Dodge would get squirrely at about 110 mph. We used to jump the station wagon on a one-lane bridge over a creek. Nobody wore seat-belts. I carried a knife to school in my pocket from the 4th grade until I graduated. We played in the storm drains, had a raft out in the swamp, and rode dirt bikes with no helmets. My bother installed an 8-track in his car. If you were tall enough to buy a $2 movie ticket, you could watch R rated movies. Pong was a huge hit and we rode the bus all alone to the mall to play pinball and video machines. The only way to meet chicks was on the CB radio. Computers were big as a truck and were programmed with punch cards. My brother replaced his slide rule with a Texas Instrument handheld calculator that had red led's for the display, and cost a weeks pay. Later I worked at Sears part-time and got the employee discount on a top loading VCR that was huge, a new fangled thing called a microwave oven, and newly introduced radial tires. We had 5 TV station to choose from.
Watch this >> Modern Marvels, 1980's Tech. www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6dcYTRmurw
Living at the mall.
Our city had two malls, and a man and his wife owned a snack shop at each of the malls...hot dogs, popcorn, candy apples, etc. My mom and older sister worked at them. On days off of school, the summer, I'd go and hang out, had the run of the mall. The store managers and owners knew me, my mom would give me $10 of quarters in a plastic bag for the arcade, I could go to movies for free. I loved that time.
How did I forget that. Yes...the mall. A self contained mini city for kids. Hitting the drug store for candy bars and stuff at regular prices and then going to the movie theater. I remember when the price of soft drinks went up dramatically one summer at the refreshment stand and then as soon as the lights went down and the film started you heard about a dozen soft drink cans open. Everyone laughed.
Drive in theaters. Something about them. You could have a girl in your own bedroom who was constantly "no...somebody might come in / somebody could wake up" getting nowhere but if you were in the bed of a pickup you could almost take all her clothes off if you were smart enough to put down something like a futon mattress in the back of a pickup and have a comfy blanket.
Always pull in the space backwards "so we have more room to watch the movie" and 4 or 5 pillows to lean against didn't hurt. Once you were under the blanket it was on like donkey kong.
titsonritz
12-20-21, 19:28
How did I forget that. Yes...the mall. A self contained mini city for kids. Hitting the drug store for candy bars and stuff at regular prices and then going to the movie theater. I remember when the price of soft drinks went up dramatically one summer at the refreshment stand and then as soon as the lights went down and the film started you heard about a dozen soft drink cans open. Everyone laughed.
Drive in theaters. Something about them. You could have a girl in your own bedroom who was constantly "no...somebody might come in / somebody could wake up" getting nowhere but if you were in the bed of a pickup you could almost take all her clothes off if you were smart enough to put down something like a futon mattress in the back of a pickup and have a comfy blanket.
Always pull in the space backwards "so we have more room to watch the movie" and 4 or 5 pillows to lean against didn't hurt. Once you were under the blanket it was on like donkey kong.
Especially with mini-skirts and tube tops.
titsonritz
12-20-21, 19:30
Landlines, no answering machines, no caller ID... Didn't make calls until after 9 pm when the rates went down.
I remember that shared line thing, too.
I lived through ball lightning.
for me some of it was the beach and hanging out seeing what friends were doing going to crash the resorts before they started the whole wrist band thing :) going from resort to resort get into fun trouble :)
heard they stopped throwing candy from Santa on the fire engines (Waikiki) when I was really young like 7 or so that was a huge thing then going out the next day seeing all the candy and ants eating what was not found :)
sure other places used to do something like that ?
Especially with mini-skirts and tube tops.
Madonna clones. Spandex minis with bustiers. Remember when girls wore heels even with jeans?
titsonritz
12-20-21, 20:56
Madonna clones. Spandex minis with bustiers. Remember when girls wore heels even with jeans?
Oh yeah, CFM shoes.
I lived through ball lightning.
You gonna tell or leave us hanging?
Watching "Battlestar Galactica" when it first came on TV in 1978 :D
Saying "Yes Ma'am" and "Yes, Sir" to teachers all the way through high school.
Wearing 100% cotton green fatigues in my early USAF days, with brightly colored stripes and patches (OK, maybe some of you old timers did as well).
Those Spandex pants. Seriously unless you have seen a hot woman sporting those "live", you just won't get it.
The current leggings trend is good and all, but it just ain't the same.
Growing up with three generations of film on Saturday morning kiddie shows. When we got our first tv about 1952 there were very few original shows for children. Most every thing was pre-war. Silent 1920s shorts of Laurel and Hardy, Harold Loyd, Chaplin, Our Gang, Keystone Kops. Lots of 1930s cartoons from Fleischer, Disney and Lantz and a plethora of B westerns and jungle adventure movies.
Many farms like my grandparents still had no indoor plumbing into the late fifties. Grandma still used a wood stove. She would iron next to it with a bunch of flat irons on the stove, exchanging them every couple of minutes as they cooled. They had a wall telephone until about 1960 with a separate mouthpiece and earphone and no dial. You had to turn a crank to ring the operator and ask to be connected. A lot of fun for us kids. The outhouse was zero fun in -30 northern MN winters.
Dimmer switch on the floor of my first truck. Granted, that was before even my time (as a kid born in the mid 80s) but my first truck, a 1981 Chevrolet C10 with a long bed and rally wheels, still had one. 80s square body Chevrolets will always be my favorite trucks, almost entirely because of nostalgia for my first one. I was a moron for selling it at 19.
I got corporal punishment (swats) in high school. Got it worse when I got home. Pretty sure the principal would be arrested for that now, and parents generally think their kids are totally infallible today (my wife's a teacher and has to deal with that crap constantly).
When I was in high school in North Carolina in the 80s, if you’d had your drivers license for 18 months with no tickets or accidents, you could be a school bus driver. I figured I had to get there anyway…
Took it home on the weekends. Great way to get everyone to the beach! Or just siphon some gas into my ‘67 Mustang.
Even at the time I thought that letting 17 1/2 year-olds drive a literal bus full of kids, including grade schoolers, couldn’t have been the brightest idea.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Those Spandex pants. Seriously unless you have seen a hot woman sporting those "live", you just won't get it.
And pulling them down to just below the bubble and then...ahhh the memories.
Oh yeah, CFM shoes.
In our zip code FM pumps.
Leaveammoforme
12-21-21, 03:43
A couple buddy's and myself got nailed by the TABC in a sting operation. One gas station would sell us 15 year old baby looking mofos booze. The store got swamped with light gray crown vics right quick one night. My buddy was holding the 18 pack they just watched us buy. Clerk got cuffed. We got $50 tickets, lol.
Pretty sure kids go to a supermax for the same thing nowadays.
Inkslinger
12-21-21, 06:08
I got corporal punishment (swats) in high school. Got it worse when I got home. Pretty sure the principal would be arrested for that now, and parents generally think their kids are totally infallible today (my wife's a teacher and has to deal with that crap constantly).
Tell me about it! My Mom gave all my elementary school teachers free reign to hit me. My third grade teacher was the worst. He was probably 6’4” and close to 300lbs. It would be a couple times a week, dragging me out in the hall and pow! I’ll never forget one time he picked me up out of my chair by my hair. I was three feet off the ground with my little legs running in air like I was somehow going to get away.
Another memorable beating was from a different teacher. Me and another kid got into a swearing match on the playground. What we didn’t realize was we were right by the teachers lounge and the window was open. I can’t remember the teachers name, but she came out to the playground with a yardstick and drove us like cattle back to the classroom. She beat us from our legs to our head. Paddles with holes in them, they were always a treat to…
triggerjerk
12-21-21, 06:26
The huge d*ck on the camel pictured on a pack of Camel cigarettes. Got lucky more than once showing it to
ladies in the bar. Guess they thought I was camel from the waist down....
P2Vaircrewman
12-21-21, 09:04
When I played football in high school in 1958 we won the state championship. In 2018 we had a players and coaches reunion of the survivors. I mentioned to one coach that today he would have been charged with child abuse, he laughed and agreed. Two hour twice a day practices in 95 degree heat with one water break and salt tablets, full pads and hitting every practice.
Whiskey_Bravo
12-21-21, 09:13
I am sure these have been mentioned but rotary phones, being excited when we got our first cordless phone, hanging out at the mall all day , arcades, getting paddled in school,not thinking twice about having a gun in my trunk at school, building a computer and thinking I would never fill up a 200mb hard drive in my life and that my new 19200 baud rate modem was the shit.
Averageman
12-21-21, 12:47
When I played football in high school in 1958 we won the state championship. In 2018 we had a players and coaches reunion of the survivors. I mentioned to one coach that today he would have been charged with child abuse, he laughed and agreed. Two hour twice a day practices in 95 degree heat with one water break and salt tablets, full pads and hitting every practice.
We were doing a drill where you run five yards, fall on your belly and jump back up to run five yards and rinse and repeat?
My Buddy fell on a rattle snake, I don't know which of them was more surprised.
You gonna tell or leave us hanging?
A long time ago when I owned an Opel GT, I was test driving it after a repair. My father was in the car with me. Out of nowhere, an orb of light appeared in front of the car about 6 to 10 feet away. It matched the speed and direction of the car for well over a quarter mile.
The orb was probably the size of a soccer ball. I know this sounds crazy but we both saw it clearly. We didn’t know what it was until years later when the internet became a thing. Hell, I wondered if it was an alien space craft for years. It just streaked away faster than I can explain when it left.
That would be quite an experience. Thanks.
Adrenaline_6
12-22-21, 08:33
A long time ago when I owned an Opel GT, I was test driving it after a repair. My father was in the car with me. Out of nowhere, an orb of light appeared in front of the car about 6 to 10 feet away. It matched the speed and direction of the car for well over a quarter mile.
The orb was probably the size of a soccer ball. I know this sounds crazy but we both saw it clearly. We didn’t know what it was until years later when the internet became a thing. Hell, I wondered if it was an alien space craft for years. It just streaked away faster than I can explain when it left.
Growing up, a buddy had an Opel GT (gold). Funny...he was repairing that thing all the time too.
Averageman
12-22-21, 09:17
Growing up, a buddy had an Opel GT (gold). Funny...he was repairing that thing all the time too.
I owned and Opel in Germany, the damn thing was bullet proof.
john armond
12-22-21, 09:19
My senior year of HS we had a buddy a couple years older than us that had a night gig cleaning the inside of a local bank. This was right across from the fire department that had the field the yearly fair was held on. A few of us were planning on going to the fair, but our buddy had to clean the bank before he could meet us. We decided to help him clean inside so we could all get to the fair a little earlier. When the four of us exited the bank...carrying garbage bags... we were met by the cops that had surrounded the bank, guns drawn. Turns out one of us tripped a silent alarm or something. After being cuffed, searched, and placed in the back of squad cars, the bank manager was contacted and came to the scene. He verified my buddy and were were released. buddy lost his job, but we did make it to the fair, albeit a little later than expected.
That was one of two times police drew a gun on me my senior year.
Bomb drills in elementary school, mid 60’s. Diving under the desk, head to your knees arms protecting your head.
Later it became earthquake drills.
One thing we never considered/drilled for was active shooter emergency.
Bomb drills in elementary school, mid 60’s. Diving under the desk, head to your knees arms protecting your head.
Later it became earthquake drills.
We had those in the 80s.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
john armond
12-23-21, 14:19
Nuclear fallout shelter signs in elementary schools
Bomb drills in elementary school, mid 60’s. Diving under the desk, head to your knees arms protecting your head.
Later it became earthquake drills.
One thing we never considered/drilled for was active shooter emergency.
Early 70s south Florida I can remember seeing regular F4 Phantom flights daily out of Homestead AF base up and down the coast. Not sure if it was training or defensive patrols but Cuba was still a big concern.
Remember seeing as many as 8 at a time, 4 pairs. Whenever I played in the back yard I'd always look up and see them.
Nuclear fallout shelter signs in elementary schools
I grew up on Camp Lejeune, those signs were on some buildings but not others. It dawned on me years later that should Camp Lejeune befall nuclear attack the building with the sign would be just as toast as the building without.
Back in the early 70s me and my 2 friends would get dropped off at our hunting property to hunt squirrels, we were just kids about 15 years old. Our parents had to work so we were there all day until they would pick us up in the evening. At lunchtime we would walk to the local restaurant for lunch. We couldn't leave our shotguns outside, so we walked right in with them (unloaded and action open). We just put them in the corner and ordered our food. No one said a word about it.
Loading programs into the computer with:
Punch cards
Perforated paper tape
Cassette tapes
8, 5 1/4, 3 1/2 Floppy disc.
Computer monitors with green text on black.
110 baud dial up access to a BBS, the forerunner of modern social media.
Loading programs into the computer with:
Punch cards
Perforated paper tape
Cassette tapes
8, 5 1/4, 3 1/2 Floppy disc.
Computer monitors with green text on black.
110 baud dial up access to a BBS, the forerunner of modern social media.
We used reel to reel tapes on an Army system well into this century.
Andy
Loading programs into the computer with:
Punch cards
Perforated paper tape
Cassette tapes
8, 5 1/4, 3 1/2 Floppy disc.
Computer monitors with green text on black.
110 baud dial up access to a BBS, the forerunner of modern social media.
Yeah, I remember the green monitors. You guys with the fortran cards were one generation ahead of us. I knew some guys using cassette tapes but most of us were running 5.25" floppies. I remember seeing the 8" ones and it was like somebody brought their record collection.
When things went down to 3.5" floppies I knew we turned a corner. Entire encyclopedias with advanced graphics. Windows 3 changed everything but drove programmers like me crazy. Took away the ease of writing programs and made user more dependent upon purchased programming.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.