"Thirty Things that Need to Stage a Comeback"

[LizzieMaine]

What should a man tell his daughter when she says she wants to be a scientist or play baseball?

Don't be afraid to use the high hard one. The plate belongs to the pitcher.

 

[MikeBravo]

My goodness. I had no idea gentlemen here felt such a strong distaste for persons of the female persuasion. I am astonished and saddened.

I really have nothing more to add, nor, evidently, would I be welcome to do so.

I agree. That's some pretty full on comments there, guys

 

[Feraud]

Don't be afraid to use the high hard one. The plate belongs to the pitcher.

Ha, yes. That is great advice for any young lady!

 

[ortega76]

John, you must realize everything you stated above were produced in conditions where women were overtly, and in some cases legally discouraged from engaging in. To say a woman cannot be a stonemason or a warrior because "it's not in her" is misleading.
Our white, male American society never gave women (and many other groups) the honest opportunity and encouragement to flourish on their own.
Sadly it appears what human rights women have today is obviously begrudingly given.
You've set women up to fail then point a finger and say "look at how you've failed"..

:eusa_clap

 

[Gregg Axley]

....and my desks at work and at home aren't much better today. I usually have a rough idea where things are, though, and if someone tries to "tidy things up" on me, it drives me nuts.

Me too Lizzie.

 

[ortega76]

Ha, yes. That is great advice for any young lady!

Feraud, if I'm ever in NY, I owe you a beer. As a father to a wonderful daughter, the world is hers as far as I am concerned.

 

[tonyb]

...
As far as newspapers go, I always read mine from front to back, rarely tear anything out, and the only thing I'll do out of the ordinary is write rude sayings coming out of the mouths of political figures or celebrities I hate. When I'm done with the paper I neatly fold it and put it in the box for the dump. Doesn't everybody?

A friend who nearly 50 years ago had his room and board paid for courtesy of the People of the United States of America through the good offices of its Department of Justice (it was a little matter of him helping himself to certain assets of the bank that had once employed him) tells me that one newspaper was shared by a bunch of guys, and that a sure way to earn one's fellows' enmity was to damage that newspaper in any way, shape or form. He says that the paper ended the day looking like it had never been handled.

 

[John in Covina]

Nothing wrong with that as long as everyone sticks to their roles.
Men need to ask themselves how they want to be treated when they are not the warrior, athlete, surgeon, or engineer? Most men are nothing like this but ride the coat-tails of their species.
What should a man tell his daughter when she says she wants to be a scientist or play baseball?

Depends on how you want her to see her life. There are more women scientists now than ever before.

Baseball - if women insist on being in the MLB they will have to be in the 99th percentile of all women on earth to match the ability of the men. Is that one in 10 or 100 million that might make the grade? However if there is and there should be, women's baseball, that would be very good to pursue. However you should also say go to college and get a useful degree for when your career is over.

In towns and cities there's a thousand kids that want to be the next NBA star but all of them aren't going to make it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think if a woman makes it into the majors, she'll either be a knuckleball pitcher or a second baseman. The knuckler doesn't require a particularly hard motion to throw, and there have been several good female knucklers in the womens' game. One of them worked out with Tim Wakefield at the Red Sox spring training camp a couple years ago and he was very impressed with her mastery of the pitch. Second base would be a good position for a woman as well -- it doesn't require brute strength and values agility and coordination more than physical power. Many fine middle-infielders have been in the 5-foot-7/140 pound range, and there are a lot of female athletes who are bigger and stronger than that.

Women's pro baseball needs to make a comeback. I'm too old and too nearsighted to play, but I could be a very Durocheresque manager.

 

[Feraud]

Feraud, if I'm ever in NY, I owe you a beer. As a father to a wonderful daughter, the world is hers as far as I am concerned.

I'm going to hold you to that beer!

 

[vitanola]

I'm too old and too nearsighted to play, but I could be a very Durocheresque manager.

What a picture!



Miss Maine, You absolutely slay me!

 

[Widebrim]

My aunt, the longshoreman, would have had much to say.

With due respect given to your aunt, the exception is not the rule. Most men are physically stronger than most women, especially within their own age range. Doesn't indicate inferiority, just points to a fact. As Shangas mentioned, women have a higher threshold of pain, and as regards intelligence, their is no demonstrable difference. It is simply a matter of unequal qualifications: There should not be a "sliding scale" when it comes to physical tests for jobs which require physical strength.

 

[LizzieMaine]

But neither should sex be a bar if you can stand the gaff. My aunt could sling 100lb sacks of tapioca over each shoulder without breaking a sweat -- and there's an awful lot of whey-faced biscuit-pantsed linguini-armed mealy-mouthed males out there who get winded unboxing their iPhones. I'd rather have my aunt lugging a machine gun into combat than any one of them. She might have a little trouble keeping up, but after all, she's 93 years old and has been dead for two years.

 

[tonyb]

... there's an awful lot of whey-faced biscuit-pantsed linguini-armed mealy-mouthed males out there who get winded unboxing their iPhones. ...

How did you know I just got a new iPhone?

 

[Widebrim]

Yes. Poor, white, middle class Christian men have had it so tough down the ages.

Hi, Edward. I don't think anybody was claiming the above, but simply that there is now a double-standard in place. I served a few years in the U.S. Army (Infantry and Cavalry), and because women did not have to score as high as we men on Physical Training tests, it was a given that they would not be in ground combat units. Now, by a mere pronouncement on the part of Mr. Panetta, women can sign up for said units, even though there has been, as of yet, no indication that female GIs will have to score as well as men on PT tests. This is neither equitable nor logical, and that is the point. -Lee

 

[Widebrim]

But neither should sex be a bar if you can stand the gaff. My aunt could sling 100lb sacks of tapioca over each shoulder without breaking a sweat -- and there's an awful lot of whey-faced biscuit-pantsed linguini-armed mealy-mouthed males out there who get winded unboxing their iPhones. I'd rather have my aunt lugging a machine gun into combat than any one of them. She might have a little trouble keeping up, but after all, she's 93 years old and has been dead for two years.

I agree, but passing the grade is one thing, lowering the standards is another. (And hauling/placing a M2 .50 cal. machine gun receiver onto a vehicle turret was a chore, even for a big California boy like me...)

 

[Shangas]

How did you know I just got a new iPhone?

Hahahahaha!!

In all seriousness though. In those times, women had to be tougher and stronger than what they might be today.

Doing laundry by hand. Don't think it's easy. I don't mean carrying it to the washing-machine, dumping it in and pressing "GO". I mean literally doing every single stage by hand.

Cooking. Carrying water. Carrying firewood (if not also the splitting of it), or carrying coal, as the case may be, were all women's lot back in the old days. Even in her 80s, my grandmother carried her Singer sewing machine with her whenever she had to mend clothes. Gran's tiny. She towered over ants at about 5'3", and the machine weighed the better part of 35lbs. But she still lugged it everywhere.

Yes, men had to do stuff like smithing, tree-felling, logging, splitting etc., but women had to do tasks which were just as gruelling, if underrecognised/appreciated. That's not to say that women are as/are stronger than men, or vice-versa. Simply to say that both have the capacity for hard, strenuous work. But probably of a different type for each gender.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's probably safe to say that most modern people, male or female, would be unable to cope with the physical routine of the average working-class people of the Era. Physical labor is something that needs to stage a comeback.

 

[tonyb]

Don't tell me I have to get out of Barcalounger and find the remote.

Oh, the humanity!

 

[countryclubjoe]

But neither should sex be a bar if you can stand the gaff. My aunt could sling 100lb sacks of tapioca over each shoulder without breaking a sweat -- and there's an awful lot of whey-faced biscuit-pantsed linguini-armed mealy-mouthed males out there who get winded unboxing their iPhones. I'd rather have my aunt lugging a machine gun into combat than any one of them. She might have a little trouble keeping up, but after all, she's 93 years old and has been dead for two years.

This post is OUTSTANDING. It reminds me of an old Ty Cobb interview.

Interviewer-- Mr.Cobb, how would you do in todays modern game.
Cobb--- Well I would probably have a batting average of 293 and steal 14-15 bases and hit 3-4 home runs.
Interviewer-- SO Mr. Cobb your saying your numbers would be lower in todays game?
Cobb--- No you idiot, I'm saying I would have those numbers today, and I'm 70 years old.

Best regards
CCJ