Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

[dh66]

I'll take pork belly. You guys can keep your coconuts.

I'm o.k. with that, as long as I can keep the rum, too.

 

[ChiTownScion]

I was riding home from work tonight and passed an excavation pit in the middle of the street with flashing LED pylons around the perimeter to keep the unwary from falling in -- and I had a flashback to when I was little, and they used to ring such pits with these round black metal things about the size of a cantaloupe with a flaming wick in the top. I used to think they were bombs, but they were just a very old form of safety light. I haven't seen these, or even thought about them in ages...

Went back to the original post of this thread and saw this. I believe that they were marketed under the name of "Toledo Torch."

 

[Paisley]

The Christmas bonus.

It's been replaced by the annual month-long shakedown--I mean, campaign--to donate to the United Way.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The Christmas bonus.

It's been replaced by the annual month-long shakedown--I mean, campaign--to donate to the United Way.

We're getting less of that this year, since our local "United Way" leader was accused of embezzling four million dollars. Ooopsie!

 

[Earl Needham]

The Christmas bonus.

It's been replaced by the annual month-long shakedown--I mean, campaign--to donate to the United Way.

Years ago, when I was in the Marine Corps and fresh out of boot camp, all our pay checks "disappeared" until we filled out a donation for for United Way. They don't get ANYTHING from me any more, once was the cure.

 

[Paisley]

At my workplace, the irony is that this isn't how we advise our clients to give to charity. (I work at a large accounting firm.) We advise them to give to charities that will give them Enterprise Zone Credits for the state of Colorado--meaning, they get a tax write-off. There are some terrific Enterprise Zone charities out there--a blood bank, a youth homeless shelter, and an outfit that takes excess food from restaurants and caterers and distributes it to the poor, to name a few.

 

[Paisley]

Years ago, when I was in the Marine Corps and fresh out of boot camp, all our pay checks "disappeared" until we filled out a donation for for United Way. They don't get ANYTHING from me any more, once was the cure.

A friend of mine had a brother, I think, who was denied coffee by the Red Cross because it was for officers only. This was in WWII. Fifty years on, she still wouldn't give them a penny. What's that saying about reputation taking years to build and five seconds to destroy?

 

[jamespowers]

A friend of mine had a brother, I think, who was denied coffee by the Red Cross because it was for officers only. This was in WWII. Fifty years on, she still wouldn't give them a penny. What's that saying about reputation taking years to build and five seconds to destroy?

Same thing with my family. Korea and WWII Red Cross left them a bit less than thrilled with them. :doh:

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Hotel letterhead correspondence stationery is all but gone. 5 years ago i stil saw it, but no more.

 

[Stanley Doble]

I have 2 rules about donating to charity. I don't give charity to people who are richer than I am, like doctors. And I am always generous with people and organizations that helped me when I needed it.

You would be surprised what a short list that makes.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

Lard's actually making a comeback. The triumph of hydrogenated vegetable shortening a la Crisco was one of the first triumphs of the Boys From Marketing, who sold people for almost a century on the idea that lard was bad for you, but people are finally wising up.

You have to laugh at reason #4. Since when is $7.50/quart economical? I pay less for decent olive oil for Caprese, and that'll last me an entire summer.

 

[Paisley]

My rule is that they have to do some significant good and not simply enable bad lifestyle choices. One organization I give to fights "policing for profit"; i.e., law enforcement seizing money or property without charging the owner with a crime.

I wonder at how many celebrities have started their own charities rather than just donating to existing ones, avoiding a lot of administrative costs and, presumably, duplication of efforts and lack of expertise in running a nonprofit.

 

[Paisley]

I last paid $2.99 a pound for pastured lard. By my calculations, that's $5 for 1.5 quarts, or $3.33 per quart.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I get Morrell's Snow-Cap Lard for about $1.50 a pound at the grocery store. Good enough for me.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Meanwhile, when's the last time anyone saw frozen strawberries in heavy syrup, packed in a rectangular metal-ended cardboard can? When did they start packing them in a plastic cup?

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

My rule is that they have to do some significant good and not simply enable bad lifestyle choices. One organization I give to fights "policing for profit"; i.e., law enforcement seizing money or property without charging the owner with a crime.

I've always suspected that the placement of No U Turn signs was more in the interest of revenue generation than actual traffic safety.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I have 2 rules about donating to charity. I don't give charity to people who are richer than I am, like doctors. And I am always generous with people and organizations that helped me when I needed it.

You would be surprised what a short list that makes.

One of the things that's come out in our local charity scandal is that an inordinate amount of money from the United organization was going to things like a white-water rafting club, a horse-riding club, and non-profits promoting other upper-middle-class pastimes. Really? When 90-year-olds are being evicted out of their homes and scraping old pizza boxes for food? That's the best you can do?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

My rule is that they have to do some significant good and not simply enable bad lifestyle choices. One organization I give to fights "policing for profit"; i.e., law enforcement seizing money or property without charging the owner with a crime.

I wonder at how many celebrities have started their own charities rather than just donating to existing ones, avoiding a lot of administrative costs and, presumably, duplication of efforts and lack of expertise in running a nonprofit.

That's called civil forfeiture.

 

[Paisley]

One of the things that's come out in our local charity scandal is that an inordinate amount of money from the United organization was going to things like a white-water rafting club, a horse-riding club, and non-profits promoting other upper-middle-class pastimes. Really? When 90-year-olds are being evicted out of their homes and scraping old pizza boxes for food? That's the best you can do?

I just took a look at the Form 990 for Mile High United Way. In 2011, they made 313 grants(!), many to organizations I don't support and some to places like the University of Denver (a tony private school) that I never suspected needed charitable contributions. I think I'll keep giving money to help homeless teenagers and victims of civil forfeiture.

 

[jamespowers]

I just took a look at the Form 990 for Mile High United Way. In 2011, they made 313 grants(!), many to organizations I don't support and some to places like the University of Denver (a tony private school) that I never suspected needed charitable contributions. I think I'll keep giving money to help homeless teenagers and victims of civil forfeiture.

They came to do good and they did very well---for themselves. :doh: