Ok, so some things in the golden era were not too cool...

[HudsonHawk]

Yes, I remember them. I think I still might have the tapes around somewhere.

I still have "Business As Usual" on vinyl.

 

[ChiTownScion]

And then there's the Aussie who frightened a whole generation of children:


Although personally, I always thought that he was a lot more fun to watch than Paul Hogan.

 

[dh66]

And then there's the Aussie who frightened a whole generation of children:
View attachment 15349

Although personally, I always thought that he was a lot more fun to watch than Paul Hogan.

I was always kind of partial to the ones who frightened a whole generation of parents

 

[lolly_loisides]

I suspect the native population may rather disagree with you on this - weren't they there first?

Absolutely, they were here 40,000 to 50,000 years before Cook ever set eyes on Australia.

What, no mention of Errol Flynn?

Or Mae Busch and Peter Finch?

 

[jamespowers]

And then there's the Aussie who frightened a whole generation of children:
View attachment 15349

Although personally, I always thought that he was a lot more fun to watch than Paul Hogan.

Jacko!

 

[jamespowers]

I still have "Business As Usual" on vinyl.

On vinyl?! Man that was a long time ago.

 

[Zombie_61]

...Ceptin', of course, that Russell Crowe is actually a Kiwi...

Yeah, but that's a case of "six of one, half a dozen of the other" for those of us north of the equator.

What, no mention of Errol Flynn?

Or Mae Busch and Peter Finch?

My apologies; clearly my reference material was compiled by people who have never seen a black and white movie. However, Peter Finch was born in the UK, not Australia.

 

[lolly_loisides]

Yeah, but that's a case of "six of one, half a dozen of the other" for those of us north of the equator.

Don't let any New Zealander hear you say that! That's kinda like saying the US & Canada are "six of one, half a dozen of the other" for those of us south of the equator.

My apologies; clearly my reference material was compiled by people who have never seen a black and white movie. However, Peter Finch was born in the UK, not Australia.

D'oh! He did spend most of his formative years here & was an Australian citizen, as opposed to Merle Oberon who always claimed to be born in Australia (but was not).

 

[Benny Holiday]

Yes, they were, but "Australia" isn't a place, or just a piece of geography, it's a social construct, which didn't exist before the arrival of the surplus Irish population. Many Irish were exported in the 19th Century, including one of my great-great grandfathers, but in his case, it was to Pennsylvania.

Thanks Kilo that was my meaning.

Speaking of Paul Hogan, I saw a funny skit of his on a TV program the other night in which he's playing a man being sentenced in the dock in 18th C England. The judeg tells him, "You're hereby sentenced to trnasportation to Australia!" to which Hoges smiles, gives him the thumbs up and say "Thanks, good on yer mate!"

 

[Zombie_61]

Don't let any New Zealander hear you say that! That's kinda like saying the US & Canada are "six of one, half a dozen of the other" for those of us south of the equator.

Nahhh, those Canadians speak waaayyyyy more French than us 'Muricans.

But seriously, I know there's a difference between Australians and New Zealanders but I'm not sure most Americans do (or even care). And Australia and New Zealand are separated by the Tasman Sea; the only thing separating Canada and the U.S. is an arbitrary line on a map. lol

 

[LizzieMaine]

What made 1960s-1970s America so stupid and violent? A recent study says leaded gasoline.

 

[dh66]

I saw that awhile back, and while yes, I can see maybe a connection, because lead has been shown to cause brain damage, leaded gasoline has been off the table for how many years now? I certainly can't see a decline in violence and stupidity in America around me that would lend a lot of weight to this theory. It's the 20teens and there's been at least two generations of perps and dumbasses raised without exposure to it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

They outlawed leaded fuel for the general public in 1996, although fewer and fewer people were still using it thru the '80s and early '90s. The interesting point in the article to me is how long the lead lingers in the soil -- twenty years is nowhere near enough time for it to fade out of the environment.

That said, though, I'd suggest that the America of the turn of the century period -- 1890-1910 or so -- was awash in violence. The murder rate wasn't quite as high as it got in the 1960-80 period, but it was a lot higher than it was between the late thirties and 1960, and that doesn't include other forms of violent crime which likely weren't reported, especially among the "underclasses." And those turn of the century folk didn't have leaded gasoline to blame. Booze was good enough for them.

The lead thing is interesting to me because I grew up in an environment that was awash in leaded gasoline -- we all handled it, breathed it, lived with it. I don't think you could call any of us stupid, but an interesting hallmark of our family is that we all have violent tempers. The level of violence varies from person to person, but there isn't a one of us that simply snaps our fingers and says "oh fudge."

 

[HudsonHawk]

They outlawed leaded fuel for the general public in 1996, although fewer and fewer people were still using it thru the '80s and early '90s. The interesting point in the article to me is how long the lead lingers in the soil -- twenty years is nowhere near enough time for it to fade out of the environment.

Tetraethyl lead is still used in aviation gas. And 20 years is nothing, considering the breakdown products of tetraethyl lead can be even more toxic than the product itself.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Tetraethyl lead was used in gas from 1928 until catalytic converters came in, in 1970. The gas companies switched to unleaded to accommodate General Motors, leading exponent of catalysts.

They gradually switched to low lead and no lead as pre 1970 cars wore out and were taken off the road. Only after they stopped making leaded gas, did it suddenly become bad for you. I only know of one original study that proved leaded gas was an environmental hazard. It involved land near a major hiway interchange in Chicago, where several interstate hiways crossed.

I'm not saying leaded gas is good for you. But it seems funny that it was OK as long as Dupont and GM were selling it.

Other parts of the world continued to use leaded gas long after the US.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think Dupont, in this case, was blameless -- if I recall correctly the Ethyl Gasoline Corporation was a partnership between Standard Oil of New Jersey and GM. So add the lead debacle to the tally against Esso/Exxon/ExxonMobil.

While there wasn't a lot of environmental talk at the time, it was widely known that tetraethyl lead was a deadly poison even when it was still a novelty -- there's an Ellery Queen mystery novel from 1929 in which the killer slays his victims with a cocktail made with whiskey mixed with TEL distilled from gasoline. "Fiendish!" says Inspector Queen in astonishment. "An untraceable poison!"

At least one major oil company, Amoco, made a big deal of selling "pure, unadulterated" lead-free gasoline long before the advent of catalytic converters, and they stressed this in their advertising -- suggesting, but not stating outright, that lead was unhealthy for both cars and their drivers.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

Does anyone else refer to decaffeinated coffee as "unleaded"?

 

[Zombie_61]

Does anyone else refer to decaffeinated coffee as "unleaded"?

Yes, and we have no use for it.

 

[tonyb]

Does anyone else refer to decaffeinated coffee as "unleaded"?

I've heard it said many a time.

 

[Fading Fast]

Yes, and we have no use for it.

My girlfriend is with you on this; however, I like the taste of coffee, but get the shake and sweat from caffeine, so I drink unleaded and take the abuse.