Remember When

June 12th, 2014 at 3:36:08 AM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
Posts: 18136
Quote: Evenbob


What will the kids under 25 have to remember
when they're 70. Gas cars and paper money
and AM radio probably.


I think cable TV and broadcast radio, both of which will die off in favor of simply downloading what you want to hear or watching via streaming. Also daily mail delivery to your own house which will be replaced by cluster boxes just 2-3 days a week.

They will also say, Remember When:

everyone wanted a 2500+ square foot home in some suburb and commuted an hour plus to work?

You had 8 or more automobile companies to choose from when you bought a car

people got married

There was a huge Wal-Mart in every town

pot, heroin, and cocaine were illegal and would get you sent to prison

you went to your see your doctor in his small office

every country traded in USD even if the USA was not involved in the transaction

we were scared to death of global warming
The President is a fink.
June 12th, 2014 at 6:14:21 AM permalink
zippyboy
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 2
Posts: 665
Quote: AZDuffman
pot, heroin, and cocaine were illegal and would get you sent to prison

Here in Washington, weed is legal; and stores should be open to the general public later this month making it available to everyone. So watching old episodes of Cops on SpikeTV where someone gets arrested for a joint seems to obsolete. The cop makes a big deal about it ("Where's the weed? Is there any more in the car?"). Very soon, it should be legal everywhere and states will make tens of millions in taxes, and they'll resume talks to make codeine cough syrup legal again, and weak Ecstasy for suicidal mental patients, and so on.
June 12th, 2014 at 6:55:53 AM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
Posts: 18136
Quote: zippyboy
Here in Washington, weed is legal; and stores should be open to the general public later this month making it available to everyone. So watching old episodes of Cops on SpikeTV where someone gets arrested for a joint seems to obsolete. The cop makes a big deal about it ("Where's the weed? Is there any more in the car?"). Very soon, it should be legal everywhere and states will make tens of millions in taxes, and they'll resume talks to make codeine cough syrup legal again, and weak Ecstasy for suicidal mental patients, and so on.


I don't know that the tax revenue will be what they think it will be for weed. Too easy to grow and still sell without a permit. I could be wrong, but I think there will remain many home-based growers.

I do think it will be the gateway-drug to legalization of other drugs, or at least law enforcement giving up and deciding if people want to fry their brains, let them, just as long as they don't shoot up the streets and destroy the neighborhood. Heck, I saw some documentary show where the guy said the falling-apart crack house is no more and crack proprietors actually keep the place looking nice to avoid heat.

Codeine cough syrup again? We can only hope, it is great stuff. The question is do we get legalized cocaine, heroin, and meth? I actually see it happening. Cocaine and heroin would be easier to tax as they are not something that can be produced small-scale in the USA if they can be produced here at all, at least not the plants. Meth can be produced here and it would probably be better it be made in sanitary, controlled conditions in a lab rather than in an RV. The trick there is not to tax it so much that there is still profit in the homemade product. Price it out of the budget of the average hillbilly and they will still make it in the woods, right next to the still that mixes methanol with ethanol and blinds a few folks, but it is cheap to the end user.

Of course you have to ask what this does to society? That is another thread.
The President is a fink.
June 12th, 2014 at 7:06:45 AM permalink
Face
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 61
Posts: 3941
Remember when you could find a quality product? And is was usually Made in USA?

Working with grandpa is always a joy because all his stuff is from the 50's or older. He's got a hand powered air pump that's almost 70 years old. The damn thing don't leak a peep. Even pumping my truck tires up to 40psi, I can jump right on it and it's just solid. Chisel the hell out of something with those old chisels and they don't nick a bit. Old drill bits? Pfft. I got a set from my great grandpa, couldn't burn one up if I tried. I just got an old bureau, made with real cherry. It blows my mind. It was acquired by my great grandma in 1914, and the damn thing is still like new. Yeah, it's worn, but the drawers still slide, aren't warped, aren't cracked, aren't splintering. The iron casters still roll free and straight.

The drawer it replaced I dismantled by hand, no tools. I just grabbed the panels and yanked, pulled the screws right out of the shitty particle board. Got a new car jack for xmas, used it twice on an 1,800lb car, and the seals are already blown out of it. My air pump? The locking tab is plastic. Yup. It's broken off and I can't seal it to the valve anymore.

Wifey has been antiquing (not for profit, just random stuff for decoration). She got one end table and now I'm replacing everything. The quality of wood and construction beats everything. I have no worries of putting my 1,000 fish tank on one of those dressers. Old cabbage slicers that are still solid and sharp, old fishing bait buckets that are solid and not rusted, even my 60 year old Wards Westernfield 20g don't have a pit of rust or a crack in the stock.

WTF happened?!
Be bold and risk defeat, or be cautious and encourage it.
June 12th, 2014 at 7:51:11 AM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
Posts: 18136
Quote: Face
Remember when you could find a quality product? And is was usually Made in USA?


WTF happened?!


What happened is Americans decided they prefer cheap junk to quality products.

Cheap junk can be made to look cool, if you doubt that check out Harbor Freight. It is hard to walk thru one and not imagine a project. Also hard to imagine most of the tools there lasting more than a year or so.

I am guilty of buying a few things there. Some of the cheap stuff I have bought is not that important (furniture clamps and wire brushes) or for one use only (a hole saw.) But where are the good, Made-in-USA tools? Last Sunday I went into a Sears to look at some wrenches to begin building myself some decent tools. Almost all of the once-great Craftsman tools were Made in China! So sad.

I pay a little more for quality, USA made stuff. But in tools you either need to pay Cadillac prices for Snap-On, which is way above my needs, or settle for China junk.

I will build a set of tools, but it will take careful shopping I guess.
The President is a fink.
June 12th, 2014 at 8:07:45 AM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 346
Posts: 12545
Quote: Face
WTF happened?!


Nostalgia?

Remember when even minor car accidents resulted in major injuries or death? You know, before crumple zones, seatbelts, air bags and such? Remeber when driving 300 miles required filling up en-route? Remember when you had to stay home waiting for an important phone call? Remember your car breaking down and having to beg some homeowner or storekeeper for permission to use their phone, or looking for a public phone nearby? Remember having to drown food in oil or other fats just so it wouldn't stick to the pan? Remember when flying was very expensive?

Sure, some things were better in some ways. When flying was expensive, the airlines were concerned with providing a good expereince in flight, rather than simply packing as many people as possible into a plane. On the other hand one can travel more often, and farther, these days.
Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER
June 12th, 2014 at 8:35:16 AM permalink
zippyboy
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 2
Posts: 665
Quote: Face
Got a new car jack for xmas, used it twice on an 1,800lb car, ...

Lotus Elise? Yugo? BMW Isetta? What car only weighs 1800 lbs?
June 12th, 2014 at 8:41:04 AM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
Posts: 18136
Quote: zippyboy
Lotus Elise? Yugo? BMW Isetta? What car only weighs 1800 lbs?


A jack does not need to be rated at the weight of the car because it is only picking up part of the weight of the car, half or less. The rest is resting on the other wheels.
The President is a fink.
June 12th, 2014 at 10:33:41 AM permalink
Face
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 61
Posts: 3941
Quote: zippyboy
Lotus Elise? Yugo? BMW Isetta? What car only weighs 1800 lbs?


A gutted Honda CRX. 2,048lb off the showroom floor. Sans interior and windows, 1,800 has gotta be close.

Quote: Nareed
Nostalgia?


It isn't, though. No rose colored glasses, no memory fogged over time. I use these tools weekly, I use the furniture daily. They're just better .

I have a drawer full of busted ratchets and bent wrenches and screwdrivers I had to grind back to true. Ain't none of them ol grandad's. His stuff doesn't break, not even after 60 years of use.
Be bold and risk defeat, or be cautious and encourage it.
June 12th, 2014 at 12:12:22 PM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 346
Posts: 12545
Quote: Face
It isn't, though.


Isn't it?

Just because I put a question mark there doesn't mean I was asking a question ;)
Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER