How old is Grandma?

Pete McCluskey.

Lifetime Supporter
How Old is Grandma?



Stay with this -- the answer is at the end. It will blow you away.

One evening a grandson was talking to his grandmother about current events.
The grandson asked his grandmother what she thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general..

The Grandmother replied, "Well, let me think a minute, I was born before:
 television
 penicillin
 polio shots
 frozen foods
 Xerox
 contact lenses
 Frisbees and
 the pill
There were no:
 credit cards
 laser beams or
 ball-point pens
Man had not invented:
 pantyhose
 air conditioners
 dishwashers
 clothes dryers
 and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air and
 man hadn't yet walked on the moon


Your Grandfather and I got married first, .. .... ... and then lived together..
Every family had a father and a mother.
Until I was 25, I called every man older than me, "Sir".
And after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, "Sir."
We were before gay-rights, computer-dating, dual careers, daycare centers, and group therapy.
Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and common sense.
We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions.
Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege...
We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent.
Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.
Draft dodgers were those who closed front doors as the evening breeze started.
Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends-not purchasing condominiums.

We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CD's, electric typewriters, yogurt, or guys wearing earrings.
We listened to Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches on our radios.
And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to Tommy Dorsey.
If you saw anything with 'Made in Japan or China' on it, it was junk
The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam....
Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of.
We had 5 &10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents.
Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were all a nickel.
And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mail 1 letter and 2 postcards.
You could buy a new Ford Coupe for $600... but who could afford one?
Too bad, because gas was less than 20 cents a gallon. (Around 5 cents a litre!!!)
In my day:
 "grass" was mowed,
 "coke" was a cold drink,
 "pot" was something your mother cooked in and
 "rock music" was your grandmother's lullaby.
 "Aids" were helpers in the Principal's office,
 "chip" meant a piece of wood,
 "hardware" was found in a hardware store and
 "software" wasn't even a word.

And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby.
No wonder people call us "old and confused" and say there is a generation gap.
How old do you think I am?
I bet you have this old lady in mind....you are in for a shock!
Read on to see -- pretty scary if you think about it and pretty sad at the same time.
Are you ready ?











This woman would be only 60 years old.
 
Hmmm, I say she's about 110

TV was invented in 1926, first broadcast was 1935.
Penicillin was discovered in 1928, mass production started in 1943
Polio was 1962
Refrigerators/freezers were first produced for domestic use 1913 (with mass production in 1918), frozen *food* was first sold in 1930
Xerox was 1959
The plastic frisbee was invented in 1948 (although the frisbie pie dish dated from 1871).

Ball point pens were invented 1888, first 'Biro' sold in the US in 1945

First air conditioner was *installed* in 1902 (invented far earlier)
First domestic dishwasher was 1924 (again invented far earlier).

Hand cranked clothes driers were early 1800's, first electric one was 1915
 

Jim Rosenthal

Supporter
We had a nurse where I worked years ago who had a little girl who was born at home (like a lot of people would have been in the hypothetical time you described) Because she was born at home, with a midwife attending, she was brain damaged and will require care the rest of her life. Back when I was delivering babies, women and their husbands would ask me about home birth, and I would always say "well, that was how they did things in the early 1900s, and if you're comfortable with 1900s outcome stats for infant and maternal mortality, go ahead. But do it without me. I'd rather have all my mothers alive and my babies healthy"

And, for what it's worth, I strongly suspect that back in the teens and twenties of the 20th century, people were rhapsodizing about the good old days and how it was better when everyone milked their own cow and had a horse for transportation, etc etc. Or maybe not. Maybe this kind of manufactured nostalgia is a recent phenomenon. I sure hope so. I'd hate to think we've been this foolish for even longer than I remember it. The fact is that there isn't much from my childhood I'd like back, honestly, excepting all those years ahead of me.
 
And, for what it's worth, I strongly suspect that back in the teens and twenties of the 20th century, people were rhapsodizing about the good old days and how it was better when everyone milked their own cow and had a horse for transportation, etc etc. Or maybe not. Maybe this kind of manufactured nostalgia is a recent phenomenon. I sure hope so. I'd hate to think we've been this foolish for even longer than I remember it. The fact is that there isn't much from my childhood I'd like back, honestly, excepting all those years ahead of me.

Jimbo So true

"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for
authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place
of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their
households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They
contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties
at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.

ATTRIBUTION: Attributed to SOCRATES by Plato,"
 

Keith

Moderator
We had a nurse where I worked years ago who had a little girl who was born at home (like a lot of people would have been in the hypothetical time you described) Because she was born at home, with a midwife attending, she was brain damaged and will require care the rest of her life. Back when I was delivering babies, women and their husbands would ask me about home birth, and I would always say "well, that was how they did things in the early 1900s, and if you're comfortable with 1900s outcome stats for infant and maternal mortality, go ahead. But do it without me. I'd rather have all my mothers alive and my babies healthy"

And, for what it's worth, I strongly suspect that back in the teens and twenties of the 20th century, people were rhapsodizing about the good old days and how it was better when everyone milked their own cow and had a horse for transportation, etc etc. Or maybe not. Maybe this kind of manufactured nostalgia is a recent phenomenon. I sure hope so. I'd hate to think we've been this foolish for even longer than I remember it. The fact is that there isn't much from my childhood I'd like back, honestly, excepting all those years ahead of me.

I was born at home, breast fed and ate meat that was kept in a wire cage outside the kitchen door. We had ration cards early on but were as fit as a butchers dog. A trip to a restaurant or cafe was a treat, especially Lyons Corner Houses where all the waitreses were pin sharp in their black & Whites. Afternoon tea was a joy with a cake stand piled high with sticky buns oozing delightful stuff out of the sides. These were special memories, and because Father was a musician work was sporadic, so these little field trips meant everything.

At home I had to go outside for a shit and in those days the dustmen came around and collected your bin from wherever was convenient for YOU to leave it. Not many people had cars and the buses and trains ran on time. The funniest thing I ever did has a young person was race a motorbike on a lightweight stripped down tandem and we got reported if we rode on the pavements.

We received one Christmas present on the 25th and you know your parents had saved a long time for it. We lived in a rented flat - no-one we knew owned their own house in those days and as kids, we wanted for nothing. Our parents were strict. There was always a leather belt or a carpet beater somewhere in the background, and your bedroom became a lock-up if you trangressed too far.

There was always a dance every week at the local scout hall, and we hung out in coffee bars. There was zero alcohol in my peer group - no one was interested. I never knew anyone who had been arrested, injured in a fight or had any kind of crash in anything motorized. I never got ill except for a 10 day period when I had Asian Flu which was REAL flu that prevented you from walking, not a mere sniffle.

A girls body was a wonderous mystery, concealed as it was between multiple layers of clothing, to actually discover what was underneath was an epic and very entertaining mission - sometimes extremely disappointing and painful, but never ever boring.

We went to extrordinary lengths to look older so that we could circumvent the British Board of Film Censors ratings, and you could easily gain access to almost any airport whether military or civilan and ogle the planes from aside the runways.

Sundays was a very special day when you could eat yourself silly in a civilized fashion and then go out and create mayhem with your mates. There were no shops open and it was always a good day to jump in the jalopy and go to Brighton for the day, and as I had the only one in the street, I was always popular.

I could go on forever. I devised this brief list myself - not copied from the Interweb.. and,

Hell Yes! We had a better quality of life those days. Calmer, more peaceful and respectful but since the evil of continuous "GROWTH" came into our conciousness and the unacceptable face of capitalism life has very little meaning over what was quite obvious in the simple days.

Would I go back? YES YES and YES again.

Do I hate the environment we have created for ourselves today? YES YES and YES again.

And I say that hand on heart as someone that was part of our problem for over 50 years.

If you think you have a good quality of life now, you must be barking barking insane.

We just fucked it all up.
 
And I say that hand on heart as someone that was part of our problem for over 50 years.

We just fucked it all up.

Keith mate, we've all fucked it up in some way. Two years ago I ventured with my best mate and an estate car full of recording gear to the South of France where a Villa with a pool beckoned to record some tracks... 5 hours out of the ferry and we had travelled twenty miles, adding hugely to our woes (for a late night and a lack of booze was on the cards to get even halfway).

Why?

Because the French farmers had blocked all the roads that lead anywhere quickly. We stopped and chatted to them at length. Trouble is that we, in the round, agreed with their sentiments. Globalisation, the death of the small trader, the watering down of old values where you bought something from someone who bought something from you...

Sentimental? possibly, but at leat they can be bothered to cause disruption when it counts. I may not agree with their reasoning, but I have to admire their spirit.

We live in a country where apathy is King, and where "can't be bothered" is the new Nom de Plume for "it's my choice".

I too, although younger than you, was bought up by a man who was strict but fair, and I too remember a halcyon day that was far richer than those we have today.

Rose tinted glasses? Not really.

Ask yourselves: When I was younger, would I have missed the things I have now, or would I have been busy living my life anyway?

Mine would be the latter. Now I have stuff. Christ knows who wrote it, but you don't own your stuff, it ends up owning you... I try very hard to never make that the case.
 
Keith and Graham + 10000.

Nick, did Socrates say that just before the fall of the Greek Empire?

Pete,

No idea, my point was more along the lines parents and grandparents, myself included are full of stories around the problems with children and teenagers, how we all knew how to behave and show respect when we were young, but this is nothing new.


Another couple of examples from the net.

Plato complained about the youth of the day, also. "What is happening to our young
people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?" I think this is a direct quote, but can't find the reference at the moment.

Here's another one:

"I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise
[disrespectful] and impatient of restraint" (Hesiod, 8th century BC).

P.S. Hope this issue is not what caused G-Spot to emigrate to Austrilia
 
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Im not quite as old as some of you guys (62 ), but I can remember riding on the sledge behind two clydsdales as we went about farm tasks, also remember drinking milk straight from the bucket while Dad milked the cows ( by hand-no milking machines - even today I often ask guys who supply the giant factories that process milk now where the actual added value is?). and once that was done my brother & sisters all took turns at cranking the 'seperator' to make cream from the milk & then butter. First family car, a 2nd hand 'easyroll' ford 10, power went off at around 7.30pm, candlelight from thereon, party line for phone & with both the local JP & a Church Elder on 'our' line you had to declare an emergency to get its use. Made all our own entertainment, snow sleds in the winter, canoe out of a spare ( nicked) sheet of corrugated roofing iron for summer. Old pram wheels only lasted a couple of downhill runs on a trolley before the spokes fell to pieces, township with one shop was 2 miles ( walk ) away & not open on weekends. Only sports to play- Rugby or Hockey in winter, Cricket or Tennis in summer... Swimming was done in the rivers, no pools.

Didnt miss all the stuff the town kids got or had, because we never knew it existed. What did I get out of it, the ability to make do with what I had, & if I needed something I didnt have then the skills to make it from something else.
 
I somewhat disagree with some of the sentiments here. Look around at the world we now live in.

The better part of the 20th century was spent preparing for, at, or recovering from wars that were so horrendous they left most of the developed world in tatters and around 100 million people dead.

When was the last time you were called up to fight? When was the last time you saw your buddy blown to bits beside you? when was the last time your family was sent to the gas chambers? When was the last time you saw someone die from small pox?

Yes, the 21st century has its problems. But these are nothing compared to the problems faced by our parents (grand parents in my case). I live in a global world. I eat food my grand parents hadn't even heard of, I have been to places and seen things that were unthinkable just 50 years ago. I can get on an aircraft and be just about anywhere in the world in 24 hours. I go to hospital and have a better than 70% chance of coming out again. Small pox, polio, typhoid, cholera are all diseases of an earlier generation. (although still prevalent in the developing world, they are unlikely to strike me down at my computer) I use something call the "internet" to expand my knowledge base and converse with like minded people all over the world. My life expectancy is now near 100 years. If I contract Cancer I now have a better than 50/50 chance of survival. And child mortality rates have fallen thorough the floor in recent years.
In the realms of transport, medicine, communications, computing and nutrition the world is streets ahead of where we were just 20 years ago. And the world is a better place for it. You may want to look back and see a simpler world where a woman stayed at home to look after the kids and a father went out to work all day. Its not a world many highly educated women would want to return to.
You may want to look back, but it would be through VERY rose tinted spectacles if you think yesterday was better than today. Just stop to consider the advances in medicine, transport, technology over the last 10 years, and then think what tomorrow could bring.
 

Keith

Moderator
If anyone thinks the world is a "better place" now than what is was 50 years ago you have to be out of your minds and to suggest it's the same for every generation is disengenuous to say the least in THIS glorious era of pornography, greed, violence, imperialism and mental slavery.

It's not just what happens in your own back yard..:evil:

I am desperately sorry for the millions that have sacrificed themselves over the past 90 years to bring us, what exactly?

People still die, people still get sick, people travel at an average 4mph in London, people make pointless journeys abroad burning up the atmosphere and if you type XXX into your search engine you will immediately be faced with the most graphically disgusting pornography.

Police are protecting children going to school in case they get robbed.

This is progress?
 

Jim Craik

Lifetime Supporter
If anyone thinks the world is a "better place" now than what is was 50 years ago you have to be out of your minds and to suggest it's the same for every generation is disengenuous to say the least in THIS glorious era of pornography, greed, violence, imperialism and mental slavery.
Posted by Keith.

Keith,

I know its always been part of human nature to mostly remember the "good" from the past. I can remember my Granfather who fought in WWI, lived through the real Depression and watched his sons go off to WWII say exactly the same thing.

Additionally, I remember the "good" times growing up in the 1950's, but I can also remember the rest, and no way would I go back!

Your quote about today,

***THIS glorious era of pornography, greed, violence, imperialism and mental slavery***

Greed has always been there, go back and read about sweat shops, union busting, Tamany Hall.............

Violence, you must be kidding, WWI, WWII, Korea, Stalin, China, millions and millions of deaths with nothing gained.

Imperialism: You must be kidding.....................

Mental slavery: Have you forgotten REAL slavery!

Pornography: It has been around forever. Think of the Roman statues and all those nude paintings, at least today there are some regulations.

**********************

Keith, I think that alot of this is just perception. When I was young, if a horrable crime happened in my area we would hear all about it, but for the most part, if something happened in another state or another country, we would not hear about it.

Today, any nasty crime, anywhere in the world is brought to us immediatly and gives the appearance is that the crime rate is rising, but its not!, The crime rate is way, way down.

Additionally, (you all know this is my pet peave) in the past we never had a major news service that spent most of its time pointing out whats wrong with the World/Govenment.

Govenments, when you were young were just as bad, if not worse, but for the most part we did not hear, of care about it.
 

Keith

Moderator
So Jim, where are the lessons we learned?

We had a chance after WWII and what happened. Your post goes to prove that not only nothing has changed but it's only got worse.

What happened when 'superior communications' informed you that the President of the USA had just taken a shit? It got you and millions of others involved in something that was none of your damned business. We elect politicians to manage the country for us and it's unlightened fools that think they know better.

Right now in the USA you have probably 100 million unelected experts filling cyber space with crap and pouncing on nay, dissecting every single syllable that a politician makes and filling cyberspace with garbage because you think somehow that you are involved in the decision making process. That's an improvement? That's progress? The Govt daren't fart now in public in case it's reported on Assbook - your 'improvements' to society have hogtied and neutered the entire political process.

But Jim, I do agree that there has been many improvements. I can get coke, crack and heroin on my street corner and can get as much porn and violence on my many screens at the click of a button in my own front room. I am now much safer than I was 50 years ago because I am caught on at least 300 CCTV cameras everyday, and not only can they follow me around, they can take a face recognition photo so I'll always be safe wherever there is a camera. Oh yes, great progress my friend.

I can also pour out my hate to vulnerable souls who would never have known I exisited before the Internet and I can also persuade hundreds of other vulnerables that we should commit suicide at midnight because the world doesn't deserve us.

I can borrow any amount of money I need by just lying on the application form, and then if I can't pay it, someone else will bail me out.

How can it be an improvement? Just because it always was so, how can that justify it happening now? It isn't me looking BACK with rose coloured spectacles matey, it's you looking FORWARD with pink lenses and double vision.

I am relating this exactly as I see it. Please do not patronise me by suggesting that I haven't considered that every generation sees things the same way. Please understand my original post. I said, or intimated that things were a great deal WORSE 50 years ago than they are today, but the hardships and discipline bred better people and thus the quality of life was fairly harsh but very fair and appealing over what we have now.

A Fat Greedy Bloated Society of Strangers.

All we have now is marshmallow experiences devised by others - and 'improved' freedom or 'improvement' you perceive today is because you have allowed yourselves to become ensnared by the soothing propaganda that everything is better because you have more 'STUFF' and a bigger garage to pile it into.

Feeling poorly, downtrodden, depressed? Go and buy stuff you don't need with money you don't have - that always works, and because of the huge improvements in your lives when you decide you don't need 'stuff' anymore you can just sell it, hopefully for a profit instead of giving it to a deserving cause.

I am retired, sick on a State Pension and yet I have managed to give away thousands of pounds worth of high value 'stuff' I have acquired to kids who are trapped in the cyccle of violent video games, extreme bullying and absent parents. This 'stuff' is mainly musical and I actively try to encourage these kids to take up music. I am not a natural philanthropist but I am appalled at the life these youngsters are led into.
These are not poor kids either - their parents have lots of 'stuff' - why, they even have their own X Boxes and toys in the garage. The Dads like to dress up just like their kids, their Mum goes to Pilates and they both get drunk infront of their kids at night. I just feel so sorry for their children. And it works, believe me it works.

Locally, all the small traders have been squeezed out by multi-nationals in a town where the small independent trader was a main tourist draw. We have just lost the USP that makes us what we are. Landlords scenting the proximity of a corporate double their rents and thus a community is gone.

Progress, of course, but the price is too high for me and, I suspect for many others who don't perhaps swing from crystal chandeliers whilst pissing on the crowds.

To accept we live in an 'improved' world is to me saying that you fear to really understand (and are not interested) in saving millions of starving people in the world because it is not happening in your own improved back yard.

If America is truly interested in wearing the uniform of the World Policeman then they should get the hell out of everywhere and tackle Somalia. Properly this time - which is where my imperialistic comment was aimed. Maybe if I was to discover oil there, these people might be saved from the fundamentalist merciless political process of ethnic cleansing.

I'm am not sure how many people died from famine in the world 50 years ago, but I'll bet it wasn't many up against the likely millions this year.

But hey that's progress for you..

Finally Jim, I don't know about yours, but our politicians honourably resigned if they screwed up 50 years ago, but again, everyone else is to blame, but not me ?

More progress.

PS when I use the term "you" I don't necessarily mean "you", only sometimes... :)

PPS I am not depressed, bitter or upset. I am supremely frustrated that just when entering what I consider to be the most enlightened period of my life, when it all, like, clicks into place, instead of actually being out ther making a difference, I am stuck here typing garbage because the ambient conditions outside are not conducive to my health.

But, that's progress for you.
 
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